_ 235 _ On the Saturday, 9th of the month, early in the morning, we took the road again, and two hours after dawn we camped in an uninhabited plain near some tumbledown houses and a spring of very bad water. On Sunday at the same hour we set out again, and during the afternoon we arrived at more tumbledown houses and a spring, also of dreadful water. On the Monday, well on in the day we struck camp, and a little after nightfall we arrived at a small, ill-maintained village called Benuit, situated to the east of the road, inhabited by few people, with very good water. Here I saw many terebinth trees, very thick and low-growing, with leaves like those of mastic trees which the Moors call chatalaguch. They give a very white fruit, round, like jujubes. Inside they have a kernel that can be eaten, and the oil of turpentine they give is very white and very clear, so that it looks like crystal. There are a great many of these trees throughout Persia. They use them to make pills which they eat in the morning for the sexual act. On Tuesday at nine o’clock we left this place. In the evening we camped at a small village of seven or eight houses, with very good water, but we found nothing more to eat than some very good carrots.
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