2-979-531 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Desert Route - Caravanserai, near El Arish, 1857. Middle Eastern scene. 'At the caravanserai gate hangs a large lantern, throwing a meagre light on the objects around. Camels and donkeys; men, women, children; an occasional goat, and a few stray hens, have here a common resting-place. Groups of travellers are assembled in various parts of the building making ready for the night: some have taken the wise precaution to mount up on the elevated platform in the building, to avoid as much as possible the plague of fleas; others, too weary to take this precaution, squat themselves down where they best can; some few are busy purchasing little requisites for their suppers from the scanty stalls of the venders many years established both outside and inside of the caravanserai'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.