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HETH AND MOAB.
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· KIOSK AT AMMAN.
Frontispiece.
HETH AND MOAB.
Explorations in Syria in 1881 and 1882.
BY
CLAUDE REIGNIER CONDER, R.E.,
AUTHOR OFTENT WORK IN PALESTINE," JUDAS MACCABÆUS,' 'A HAND-BOOK TO
THE BIBLE,' ETC.
PUBLISHED FOR THE COMMITTEE OF THE PALESTINE
EXPLORATION FUND.

ENAR.
LONDON
RICHARD BENTLEY & SON, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.
1883.
[All Rights Reserved.]
agang 1,1
redeasca & Keca
A
1
TO THE
RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DUFFERIN, G.C.B.,
This Volume
IS VERY RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
In this volume Captain Conder gives the more popular
results of his short but most interesting and valuable
campaign in 1881-82. The history of the expedition,
its promising commencement, and its untimely end,
have already been related in the pages of our
'Quarterly Statement' and elsewhere. While he was
waiting for the arrival of his instruments and his
surveyors, Captain Conder utilised the time by taking
a journey north in search of the long-lost Kadesh, the
sacred city of the Hittites: what he found, and how
he found it, is here told. As soon as his instruments
were landed he made preparations for the Eastern
Survey. This was to have been commenced in the
north, but there was fighting among the Druses, which
made it impossible for a party commanded by an
English officer of Engineers to work in the neighbour-
hood. Accordingly, Captain Conder attempted the
eastern side by way of Moab. How he set to work
without a day's delay, how he was ordered back by
the Turkish officials, and how he succeeded, while
viii
PREFACE.
being forced out of the country, in securing the
survey of 500 square miles, may also be learned from
these pages. Efforts were made through the kind
offices of Lord Dufferin at Constantinople to obtain
the Firman necessary for the resuming of the work,
but they were unsuccessful. Captain Conder returned
home in June, 1882, and began at once upon the
preparation of his memoirs. He was interrupted by
the Egyptian War, during which he served on Lord
Wolseley's Staff. On his return home he was in-
valided with typhoid fever, but returned to us in
May in order to finish his memoirs. These will be
ready in November, when the question of their
publication will be considered. In fulness of detail
and freshness of matter they much surpass the
'Memoirs of the Survey of Western Palestine.' It is
our earnest hope that this most important work may
be again taken up before long, and carried through
without interruption.
The illustrations of the dolmens and stone monu-
ments have already appeared in the Illustrated London
News, and are reproduced here by the kind permission
of the proprietors. I have only to add that Captain
Conder is, in this work, as in his Tent Work in
Palestine,' solely responsible for any identifications
proposed, topographical theories, and conclusions.
JAMES GLAISHER, F.R.S.,
Chairman of the Executive Committee.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
PREFACE
PAGE
vii
I. KADESH ON ORONTES
1
II. THE LAND OF THE HITTITES
35
III. THE LAND OF PURPLE
73
IV. THE LAND OF SIHON
103
V. THE LAND OF AMMON
151
VI. MOUNT GILEAD
173
VII. RUDE STONE MONUMENTS
190
•
VIII. SYRIAN DOLMENS
239
IX. SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS
X, THE BELKA ARABS
268
305
XI. ARAB FOLK-LORE
347
XII. THE FUTURE OF SYRIA
365
X
CONTENTS.
APPENDIX.
PAGE
SCRIPTURE GAZETTEER, EASTERN PALESTINE
401
NOTE ON THE MOSLEM RELIGION
406
NOTE ON THE JORDAN VALLEY CANAL
417
NOTE ON THE HAMATHITE INSCRIPTIONS
421
NOTE ON THE KHAR
427
NOTE ON SOME EXPLORATIONS WEST OF JORDAN
428
NOTE ON THE SHAPIRA MS.
429
NOTE ON VARIOUS POPULAR OPINIONS
431
INDEX
433
ILLUSTRATIONS.
KIOSK AT AMMAN
DOLMEN NEAR HESHBON
DOLMEN NEAR HESHBON
ARAB CIRCLE NEAR HESHBON
PAGE
Frontispiece
190
293
3,30
3
•
HETH AND MOAB.
A
CHAPTER I.
KADESH ON ORONTES.
THE evening of the 1st of April, 1881, found me once
again in camp in Syria, after an absence of more than
five years spent in work at home. Lieutenant Mantell
and I had reached Beyrout on the 29th March, and
were about to avail ourselves of the time which must
elapse before the arrival of our companions and heavy
stores, in endeavouring by a rapid march to reconnoitre
as much as possible of Northern Syria, especially with
the hope of fixing the site of the great Hittite capital,
which Egyptologists had been so long seeking in vain,
and which had been variously placed at Antioch, at
Homs, or in the middle of the long lake near the latter
town, now called Baheiret Koteineh.
Our tents were pitched on the heights near the
village of Kareiyeh, beside the Damascus road, and
thence we looked out north on one of the most beautiful
1
2
HETH AND MOAB.
and extensive views in Syria. Immediately before us
was the great gorge of the Nahr Hamana, with a grey
foreground of bare rocky slopes. Beyond the river
Lebanon rose ridge behind ridge towards the snowy
back of Sannin-the central point of the picture.
Precipices and crags: a stream fed by gleaming water-
falls several thousand feet below: a mid distance of
ruddy brown and dark indigo formed by the red rock
and the dusky umbrella pines which stood out like
great mushrooms along the ridges: grey and purple
cliffs beyond, here and there crowned with villages and
hemming in that wonderful theatre of crags whence
the sacred Adonis pours from its cave at Afka, the
shrine of the mourning Venus: further off again the
spurs of Sannin, flecked with snow, and the main ridge
8,500 feet above the sea: such were the details of the
picture, which increased in depth of colour as the purple
shadows lengthened and the wonderful glow of the
Syrian sunset smote the barren mountains. On the
right a tawny and dome-shaped summit stood out
against the sky, bearing the name of Church Moun-
tain,' from the ruined chapel to which the superstitious
Maronites yearly repair to pay their vows. On the
left the town of Beyrout was seen spread out among
its mulberries and dark pines on the spit of red sand.
The streams were all full, but the vines were not yet
in leaf, and Lebanon looked cold and barren indeed.
The white road meandered like a snake up the mountain
.
KADESH ON ORONTES.
3

slopes in glaring contrast with the general colouring.
As the sun set the patches of vapour spread faster even
than the long shadows; and the broad dark effect of
colour was swallowed up for a time in the hill mists,
until the electric moonlight, which is so marvellous in
Eastern lands, changed the whole scene to one of yet
more fairy-like unreality. It is a view which never
fails to charm the traveller. In the depth of the next
winter Sannin looked yet grander in the gloom of the
great storm as witnessed from St. George's Bay. In
the early summer of 1882 the vine-clad slopes and the
rugged precipices of Afka looked equally picturesque,
while the white line of the Troados in Cyprus lay like
a cloud on the horizon of the motionless sea.
The scenery of the great plain between Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon I have before endeavoured to describe.
The plains were on the occasion of our present visit
green with young corn, the hog's-back of Hermon was
white with snow, and as we descended into the Bukei'a
magnificent thunder pillars rose into the blue heaven
above the castellated crags of the Anti-Lebanon; and
a great flash of lightning was followed by the endless
roll of the thunder reverberating from ridge to ridge
and cliff to cliff.
From the flourishing town of Zahleh, picturesquely
perched on the stream above the poplar beds among
the russet hills, we went on to Baalbek, and here en-
countered the first symptoms of those vexatious diffi-
1-2
4
HETH AND MOAB.
culties with which we were destined to struggle for
the next fifteen months. A travelling order was
necessary, that we might obtain the required guards
through the somewhat disturbed regions of northern
Lebanon: for the Druzes were gathered in open revolt
in the fastnesses south-east of Damascus, and the un-
willing soldiers marched against them were deserting
in great numbers, and were scattered over the country
pursued by the irregular mounted police. This order
the Consul obtained for us, but his Highness the Waly
(Hamdi Pasha) had heard of our arrival, and intimated
that he had strict orders not to allow any kind of
survey or reconnaissance work to be undertaken by
Europeans of any nationality, unless newly authorised
by the Sultan himself. This was a pleasant message
indeed to be received by those who had been com-
missioned to continue the survey of Palestine east of
Jordan on the same method and with a degree of
accuracy equal to that of the Western Survey: it was
a change of attitude towards Englishmen and English
work on the part of Turkey, which we had been unable
to appreciate in England: for in the old days our
difficulties had arisen from the inertness of government
and from passive obstruction, whereas we were now
destined to contend with active interference, with acute
suspicion and stupid fear of the unknown intrigues,
attributed to us all the more because we insisted on
the purely antiquarian character of our mission, and
KADESH ON ORONTES.
5
сл
on the well-established reputation for fair dealing
which the Society may claim in Palestine. Even our
travelling order was delayed as long as possible, and
we started without it from Beyrout. We were obliged
to wait three days for it at Baalbek, and the letter
sent to Beyrout to give information of this delay took
eighteen days to travel a distance of fifty miles, and
only arrived after our return.
At length, on the 6th April, we turned our faces to
the little-visited district between Baalbek and Homs, and
left the great ruins escorted by two irregular horsemen,
and an infantry guard of honour of four, who presented
arms and expected a gratuity for so doing. And who
could refuse a few shillings to men who had perhaps
fought so bravely against hope in the Balkans, and
who were now not merely unpaid and unclothed, but
even reduced almost to starvation, unless they could
keep themselves alive by civil employment or by
robbery?
The road leads northwards by Nahleh ('the torrent'),
with its ruined temple on the southern cliff of the
stream, by Yunin and Resm el Haddad (the tracing
of the boundary'), across the deep 'Valley of Shepherds,'
through the dry and monotonous district of rounded
hills, white, brown, and tawny, of chalk and marl,
lying at the western foot of the Anti-Lebanon. On the
east a rough limestone ridge, on the west the broad
plain, with here and there a clump or row of poplars;
6
HETH AND MOAB.
and dusky Lebanon beyond, covered with dark mastic
scrub, and rising in a second ridge of tawny naked rocks
to the snowline. In the middle of this plain stands a
solitary pillar, which is called 'Amûd el Benât-'Column
of the Girls,'--and is traditionally connected with a
channel of water rising at it and fed by the Lebanon
lakes. Visiting the pillar a year later, it seemed to me
possible that, in common with one near Acre, it may
have been erected in its present position as a place of
penance for one of the followers of St. Simeon Stylites,
who, in the fifth century, imitated throughout northern
Syria the life of their master, who died, it is said, on
his pillar east of Antioch in 459 A.D. The idea of his
penance was not original, for the hermits of India and
Egypt had long before invented a similar symbolic
self-torture; but the practice became popular among
the early Christians of Syria, and it is difficult to see
with what other object solitary pillars are likely to
have been erected so far from any main road or ruined
town.
At noon we reached the little village of Lebweh,
and halted by the springs issuing from the bare slope
to the east of the village, which stands on a mound
by the open valley with a few poplars, and on the
north side foundations of an ancient building-
perhaps a temple.
Lebweh, though now a poor village, was a fortified
town in the twelfth century, and is mentioned in the
KADESH ON ORONTES.
7
Antonine Itinerary (about the second century of our
era); but it is doubtful whether it can be connected
with the Biblical Leboa (Num. xxxiv. 8; Ezek.
xlvii. 15) so often mentioned in connection with
Hamath, and once with Zedad. The question is,
however, of considerable interest in regard to the
boundary of the Israelite and Hittite dominions, and
is thus connected with the immediate subject of the
present chapter; it demands, therefore, a moment's
attention.
6
The northern boundary of the Land of Israel, as
defined in the Pentateuch (Num. xxxiv.), ran from
the Great Sea to a certain Hor-ha-Har, or Mount
Hor, quite distinct from that near Petra, and possibly
connected by name with the Khar or Har, by which
title the Phoenicians and their land are designated on
early Egyptian monuments. Thence the border passed
by the entrance' of Hamath (Liba Hamath) to Zedad,
apparently the extreme point. From Ziphron and
Hazar Enan (the enclosure of the springs') it went
eastwards to Shepham, and thence down to Riblah
east of Ain. This account is hard to follow, because
Riblah alone is fixed, being the village of the same
name which we passed subsequently north of Lebweh.
Zedad has with some probability been placed south-
east of Riblah and east of the Anti-Lebanon ridge at
the Jacobite village, Sadâd; and the entrance' of
Hamath is possibly the same as the place called Liboa
8
HETH AND MOAB.
Hazar
Zedad in another passage (Ezek. xlvii. 15). It is
generally supposed that the broad plain which extends
from south of Homs to Hamath is intended.
Enan appears to have been the western border of the
Damascus region (Ezek. xlvii. 17), and in this latter
passage the boundary of the Holy Land is drawn
through Hazar Enan from the sea (or from the west),
and thence described as follows: And the north
(Tzephon) northwards and the border of Hamath.'
The position of Hazar Enan is thus of great import-
ance, and the best suggestion which has been offered
is that the site is to be found at 'Ain el 'Asy, one of
the principal sources of the Orontes, and close to the
present north-west limit of the Damascus district.
In this case the curious expression, 'the north north-
wards,' is easily explained, for Strabo tells us that the
Orontes was called Typhon (that is Tzephon, ‘the
north' or 'the hidden'), perhaps, because it flows north-
wards. The modern name el 'Asy, 'the rebel,' is
perhaps connected with the idea of the ancient
Typhon or Set, the enemy of the Egyptian Osiris.
The passage in Ezekiel may possibly be rendered
'Hazar Enan and the Orontes northwards,' and in
this case it is not difficult to define the line, which
follows the Orontes to Riblah, where the broad Hittite
plain expands from the narrower vale of Coelesyria
(the 'entering in' to the Hamath region), and thence
the border may be traced east to Zedad, and south-
KADESH ON ORONTES.
9
wards to Damascus. The Lebanon is entirely ex-
cluded, and is, indeed, not mentioned in defining the
boundary, for it was no doubt already in the hands of
a strong Semitic race, the Phoenicians, with whom the
Kings of Israel were in league, while in the time of
David and Solomon at least the plains of Hamath
were ruled by the Hittite Princes.
It is true that a border so drawn does not agree
with the Talmudic view which places the northern
Hor at Mount Amanus, the modern Alma Dagh, north
of the Orontes; but this opinion has little critical
importance, and the Rabbinical boundary does not
agree with the Book of Joshua or with the conquests
of David. Sidon, Afka, the Amorites or hillmen' of
Lebanon, the Giblites or Phoenicians, the mountaineers
of the Anti-Lebanon, or of Hermon even, and of the hills
above Tyre, remained unconquered when Joshua died
(Joshua xiii. 4—6); but in David's time the Syrian
conquests were extended to include Damascus and all
Syria to Hamath, with Berothah (possibly Beyrout,
though this is often denied), and even as far east as
Euphrates. At whatever time the boundary thus
described was drawn, even Ezekiel does not mention
Lebanon as destined to form part of the Holy Land,
although that goodly mountain was promised earlier
to Israel. The line is one which appears to be the
naturally historical boundary between the Hebrews on
the south, the Phoenicians on the north-west, and the
ΙΟ
HETH AND MOAB.
Hittites on the north, while, as we shall see later, the
wanderings of Joab were bounded by the vicinity of
Riblah on the north, and did not include any part of
Lebanon beyond Sidon.
It is not easy very definitely to fix the position of
Mount Hor in Lebanon, but it is quite possible that
Sannin itself is intended, and it is probable that the
Litâny, flowing from Baalbek to Tyre, is practically
the real old mountain boundary between the Hebrews
and the Phoenicians.
To return to the springs of Lebweh, the most
southern sources of the Orontes, it is possible that
the name may have a connection with the Hebrew
Leboa, although the position has no great geographical
value, for the modern meaning-'a lioness-is not
the probable origin of the word.
From the springs we pushed on, having always in
sight the great monument of the Kamû'at el Hirmil
about to be described; and passing by the villages of
Neby 'Othmân, 'Ain, and Fikieh with its flourishing
Christian settlement, its stream, orchards, and well-
built houses, we mounted the bare marl slope which
leads to Râs Baalbek, a village on the edge of the
plain, with a fine spring and rows of poplars.
On the following day we diverged westwards to
visit 'Ain el 'Asy (where, as I have above mentioned,
Hazar Enan may perhaps best be placed), together with
the hermitage of Mar Marûn and the monument of
KADESH ON ORONTES.
I I
Kamu'at el Hirmil. The stream from Lebweh runs
gradually down northwards, until at 'Ain el 'Asy it is
in a gorge about 300 feet deep, of yellow limestone
arid and rocky, the slopes dotted with wild olives and
stunted firs. The rugged Lebanon rises on the west,
the flat plain extends eastwards above the gorge.
The stream, two or three yards wide, is fringed with
brambles. In a recess to the east, under a rocky cliff,
is a deep green pool, welling up from the earth and
shaded by a large plane-tree on its northern brink,
from the branches of which luxuriant creepers hang
down over the water. Two caves for cattle are
scooped in the tawny cliff, and little springs issue
under the rocks on the north and south. The pool is
about ten yards north and south, by twenty yards
east and west, full of fine cresses and fringed with osiers.
Such is the real birthplace of the famous Orontes,
which rushes northwards to the long lake of Koteineh,
and thence to the gorge of Hamah, and through the
marshes to the plain of Omk, where, turning west by
Antioch, it joins the Lower Kara-Su, and flows past
the oleander and myrtle groves of Daphne to the open
bay of Seleucia, under Mount Casius, where it forms
the true boundary of Syria, the border between the
Arab and Turkish populations.
A bright stream from the 'Asy pool flows some
fifty yards to join the Lebweh current, and more than
doubles the volume of the Orontes. Following the
12
HETH AND MOAB.
right bank of the stream, we saw beneath us the
gleaming river rushing over its rocky bed, breaking
here and there over rapids, and winding in a green
meadow, about a quarter of a mile wide, with a few
fruit gardens and wild olives, all walled in by barren
rocks, in a gorge some 400 feet deep. Two miles
from the pool, in the eastern cliff, is the hermitage
of Mar Marûn, the founder of the Maronite sect.
This hermitage, perched 300 feet above the bright
river on which it looks down, is not unlike the original
cave of St. Saba in the famous Judean monastery.
A gallery in the rock, forty yards long, leads to
chambers of various sizes cut in a precipice about
fifty feet high at the top of a very steep slope. The
entrance is defended by a loop-holed wall, the loops
round headed; but there is a pointed arch below the
gallery, and the masonry appears to be medieval.
The traditional Maron lived in the fifth century, and
is said to have had his eyes put out in this cave by a
certain Nicola; but the real founder of the Maronite
sect, if he ever inhabited this den, lived at a much
later period, and the earliest mention of the cave is
found in the works of Abu el Feda.
Climbing over the white bare chalky slopes east
of the river for another three miles, we reached the
interesting and conspicuous monument called Kamû'at
el Hirmil, which had been in sight even before reaching
Lebweh. It has been visited and described by Van-
KADESH ON ORONTES.
13
develde and Robinson, and was discovered by Dr.
Thomson in 1846. Traditionally it is the tomb of a
Roman Emperor, and architecturally it would seem
to belong to that famous period of Syrian art, the
age of the Antonines, when Syria and Perea were
covered with magnificent buildings, cities, temples,
and tombs.
The Kamu'a stands on the crest which divides the
basin of the Litâny from the plains of Homs, and
here we caught our first view of the lake which was
the object of our journey. The northern plain, twenty
to thirty miles wide, stretched away to Homs and
to the shining sheet of water some twenty miles
off. The little island mound could easily be distin-
guished in the lake, and a larger mound, black and
prominent, was seen beside the Orontes, south of the
sheet of water; this was the Tell Neby Mendeh, which
we afterwards discovered to be the real site of Kadesh
on Orontes. On the north-east, Riblah with its poplars
stood low beside the river, which has a very tortuous
course after leaving the ravines near the monument.
To the north-west, beyond the stream, the prosperous-
looking white houses of the village of Hirmil stood on
the slopes of Lebanon, amid gardens and orchards.
Lebanon itself sinks gradually from the white cedar
summit, 10,000 feet above the sea, towards the valley
of the Eleutherus, which divides it from the Nuseireh
mountains. On the east was the rich green plain,
14
HETH AND MOAB.
with the tall mosque tower of Jusieh, Zer'a also, and
Kuseir; and beyond rose the rocky Anti-Lebanon ;
on the south the dome of Hermon might easily have
been seen, but for the grey haze of the southern
breeze. It was a fit site for a great monument and
perhaps once witnessed a battle for the possession of
Syria.
The Kamu'a is a block of solid masonry, thirty feet
square and seventy feet high, in two orders each with
a cornice and flat corner pilasters, surmounted by a
pyramid. On the walls are bas-reliefs, which repre-
sent the hunting of the deer, the bear, and the wild
boar. The masonry is limestone, but the basement
is formed of three steps of hard black basalt. There
are numerous tribe-marks cut by wandering Arabs on
the sides of the monument, but, as in the case of other
Roman monuments beyond Jordan, there is no in-
scription to tell the date or ownership of the structure.
The swell on which the Kamu'a stands consists of
basalt, and the barren down to the north, treeless and
covered only with scanty grass, low shrubs, and thorny
bellân, is dotted with the camps of Turkoman nomads
similar to those of the Bedawin. Blocks of hard black
stone, covered with grey or orange lichen, are strewn
over the surface, and it is clear that these downs
rising out of the rich lower plain can never have been
more than a pastoral district. The most curious
feature of the scene, however-and one which I am as
KADESH ON ORONTES.
15
yet unable to explain-is the existence of what appear
to be innumerable barrows or graves of great size,
covering the swelling ground round the Kamu'a for at
least a mile in either direction. These structures
consist of flat piles of basalt stones, six to ten feet in
length, and about a yard broad and two or three feet
high. Some occur in rows; some crown the hillocks ;
some are on the slopes. They are not oriented, nor
arranged in any particular order, and with them occur
circles and enclosure walls of basalt, placed generally in
the hollows and constructed of small stones. We after-
wards noticed similar stone-heaps on the shores of the
lake of Koteineh, and they may perhaps prove to be
only Turkoman graves, for the Arabs east of Jordan
bury the slain hastily in a similar manner, by merely
piling stones on the corpses; but at the moment these
rude stone monuments were wonderfully suggestive
of the scene of a great battle round the central rally-
ing point at the Kamû'a.
Over the barren basalt downs our course was next
directed to Riblah, the most northern point visited by
the great Robinson. Before reaching the village, we
found traces of an aqueduct crossing the plain east
and west, and probably once fed by the waters of the
Orontes. The channel was formed by walls of mud,
and craters resembling dens of gigantic ant-lions
appeared to show where access had been made to a
covered waterway beneath. These mud aqueducts,
16
HETH AND MOAB.
which are not used in Palestine, occur throughout the
plains of Homs, and supply the city gardens from a
great distance. They are of interest, because it would
seem from the Egyptian sculptures that they existed
also in Hittite times, resembling those used by the
Assyrians and the Egyptians.
Riblah is a large mud village with a group of
poplars, well built, in the middle of the plain, on the
right bank of the river. It is said to be entirely in-
habited by Christians; but although famous in Semitic
history for nearly thirty centuries, it possesses no
antiquities, and owes its importance mainly to its ford
and its surrounding corn-lands.
The inhabitants were busily employed in making
bricks (libben) of sun-dried mud and straw. They
are a sturdy race, with eagle-like profiles and short
projecting beards, which, with the thick under-lip,
gave them a decidedly Assyrian cast of countenance.
It was most interesting to contrast these Semitic
agriculturists with their Turkoman neighbours; for in
this mixture of races—the Semitic tillers of the plains
and the Turanian shepherds on the downs-we find
a condition of society precisely parallel to that which
existed in this very region when Rameses the Great
attacked the Turanian Hittites and their bearded
Syrian allies. The gaily dressed women, tattooed with
blue all over their hands and faces, the older ones
with grey hairs dyed red in henna, were baking bread
KADESH ON ORONTES.
17
in the dome-shaped ovens built up of disks of camel
dung nearly two feet in diameter and three inches
thick, which form a conspicuous object in the village.
Even the tombs are of mud and straw, neatly modelled,
with a short pillar at each end; and in this remote
district, far from the influence of European ideas, we
might imagine ourselves transported back to the times
of the earliest Semitic civilization, and might have
seen without surprise the war chariots of Kheta Sar
sweeping over the broad flat plain.
a
From Riblah we rode on again to Kuseir ('the little
tower'), a large village, half Moslem, half inhabited
by Greek Catholic Christians. This is the seat of
government, and we underwent the tedious civilities
of the Kaimakam and the Bishop, who were suffering
from 'strained relations,' due to the disappearance of
a Christian girl carried off by the agents of the Moslem
Sheikh. Our arrival was as usual supposed to have a
political meaning, and no doubt the simple inhabitants
thought that the English Government had heard of
their troubles and sent officers to report on the facts.
We avoided political conversation as far as possible;
but we could not help hearing the often-reiterated
assurance, which was repeated throughout Syria when-
ever possible, that Christian and Moslem alike would
welcome the European Power to which in their despair
they turn to save them from the Turk.
On the morning of the 8th of April we rode out
2
18
HETH AND MOAB.
westwards to the dark mound of Neby Mendeh, near
which, in enumerating the names of the district, a
peasant on the evening before had casually mentioned
a ruin called Kades. The unexpected sound struck
my ear suddenly, and the situation was not at all that
in which I had supposed Kadesh on Orontes to lie,
but there could be no doubt of the genuineness of the
name; and it has since been ascertained that many
other travellers had found the ruin Kades on the same
spot, but without recognising the importance of their
discovery, a fact of which I was not at the time aware.
My attention had been directed towards the discovery
of the great city of Kadesh on Orontes early in 1880,
and several friends had kindly endeavoured to provide
the funds necessary for an expedition during that
year; but I had always supposed the island in the
Lake of Koteineh to be the real site, and was at first
very unwilling to believe Kadesh to have stood at
Tell Neby Mendeh. There is, however, no better
guide to identification than the discovery of an ancient
name, and whatever may have been written concerning
the migration of sites, we have not as yet any clearly
proven case in which a Semitic indigenous title has
wandered away from the original spot to which it was
applied for geographical or religious reasons.
For those who have not closely followed the process
of Egyptian and Hittite archæology during the last
twenty years, it will be convenient here to explain
KADESH ON ORONTES.
19
briefly the reasons which give so much interest to the
discovery of Kadesh on Orontes, and which led to the
conclusion that the true site has at length been
found. The Kheta or Hittites are mentioned as early
as the time of the 18th and 19th Egyptian dynasties
as a warlike race of Northern Syria, allied to many
other tribes in resisting the onward progress of the
Pharaohs. At Megiddo they encountered Thothmes
III., and Kadesh, their southern capital and sacred city,
was first attacked by that great monarch, who es-
tablished an outpost at the foot of Lebanon. The
most famous conflict between the Egyptians and the
Hittites occurred, however, during the reign of the
celebrated Rameses the Second, or Miamun, of the
19th dynasty. This monarch made an expedition
against Kadesh in 1361 B.C., and his exploits are
recorded in an epic composed by the court poet
Pentaur, while the subsequent treaty of peace, which
was engraved on a silver plate, is also inscribed on the
outer wall of the temple at Karnak. On the walls of
the Ramesseum at Thebes is a picture of Kadesh, and
again at Abu Simbel, not far north, is a battle picture
containing 1100 figures, and measuring 57 by 25 feet.
From these contemporary records it is possible to draw
very definite conclusions concerning the situation of
the town.
The history of the Egyptian attack appears to be
as follows. Leaving Thebes, Rameses marched along
2--2
20
HETH AND MOAB.
(
the coast to the Lebanon, and crossed over to the
Hanruta, or Orontes. The Hittites gathered a for-
midable confederacy, including Phoenicians, Mesopota-
mians, and tribes from Asia Minor. The vile chief
of the Kheta, with many allies accompanying him, lay
in ambush to the north-west.' The Egyptian army
was near a place called Shabatuna, on the border of
the land of the Amairo (possibly Amorites or ‘hill-
men'), and Kadesh itself is in the same account said
to have lain on the western bank of Hanruta,' or
Orontes. The poem gives a very hyperbolic account
of the courage displayed by Rameses, who, being far
in advance of his army, was apparently reconnoitring the
district north-west of Kadesh, having been deceived by
the statements of Hittite prisoners, who represented
the enemy as being far away north near Aleppo. The
Kheta passed over a ditch on the south of the town
and surprised the Egyptian monarch in rear, but in
spite of the surprise and of the confusion into which
the van of his army was thrown while advancing
(apparently) from the south to his aid, Rameses fought
his way out of the trap, and the 2,500 chariots of the
Hittites and their allies were driven back, and fled,
seized with panic, to the Orontes, in which many of
their men were drowned. Kadesh was assaulted next
day, but the Hittites at once submitted and signed a
peace.
The sculptures at Abu Simbel represent this great
KADESH ON ORONTES.
21
battle; but, as is common in such representations,
more than one episode is shown simultaneously on the
bas-relief. Kadesh appears as a walled city at a
point where the Orontes widens considerably. Rameses
charges the Hittites from the south (such being the
deduction from the fact that the text states that he
followed the west bank of the river), and the defenders
of the city are seen falling into the stream and en-
deavouring to cross it. On the opposite bank the
Prince of Aleppo is being held head downwards by his
followers, who are endeavouring to recover him after
dragging him out of the water, and an element of
caricature seems here to be introduced, as
in many
similar representations in Egyptian pictures. Other
forces are crossing the river north of the city, and the
previous episode of the reconnaisance of Rameses on
the north-west of Kadesh is represented on the
spectator's right. Fighting seems also to be going on
east of the city, but whether this belongs to the first,
second, or third epoch of the story is not clear. The
victory is commemorated in a second picture beneath,
where a third figure of Rameses is portrayed seated
on his chair of state.
In the picture of the Ramesseum Kadesh is seen
surrounded on all sides by a double ditch with bridges
on the east and west, but the bas-relief is unfortunately
injured close to the city walls on the spectator's right.
In this picture the Hittites and their allies are repre-
22
HETH AND MOAB.
sented as distinct races with different kinds of weapons.
The one race is bearded, the other beardless, and in
the Abu Simbel picture the Chinese-like appearance
of the Hittites, who have long pig-tails, is very re-
markable. They are a light red colour, with high
caps. Kheta Sar, the Hittite King, is elsewhere repre-
sented with curled hair and beard, and on certain bas-
reliefs with Hamathite or Hittite inscriptions figures
appear with curled slippers like those common once
among the Turks, and shown on Assyrian monuments
as distinctive of Armenian tribes.
The peace which was concluded between Kheta Sar
and Rameses was consolidated by the marriage of the
latter with Ramaur Nefru, the daughter of the former.
The document is of value as throwing light not only
on the civilization of the period, but also to a certain
extent on the question of the Hittite nationality.
The names of the Hittites here recorded do not appear
to be Semitic, but on the other hand their Gods, in-
cluding Baal, Ashtoreth, and Set, are those which were
adored by Syrians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians.
thousand war gods and a thousand goddesses are
invoked by the Egyptian signatories. Set of Aleppo,
Set of Daphne, Set of Orontes, and six other Sets are
called to witness by the Hittites, with many Ashtoreths.
The mountains and the rivers of the Kheta land are
addressed as divinities, with the mountains and rivers
of Egypt, the wind and the clouds. In this interesting
A
KADESH ON ORONTES.
23
tablet we are thus allowed a glance at the beliefs of
the Hittite race, and find them worshipping local
deities having a generic name (like the Madonnas of
Italy), with mountains and living water. Their princes
had many war-chariots, and scribes accompanied them
to record their actions. Their infantry fought in regular
ranks, and among their allies the learned have recognised
the inhabitants of the island of Aradus, the Mysians,
possibly also the Trojans, the Cyprians (according to
Brugsch), the Dardanians, the men of Carchemish (now
Jerabîs), of Aleppo, of Diblath, of Kinnesrin, of
Asshur, of Pethor, and of Mesopotamia. It was, in
fact, a confederacy of all Syria and Chaldea, of
Phoenicia and Asia Minor, to withstand the growing
power of the nineteenth Egyptian dynasty.
The study of Hittite antiquities has of late attracted
great attention, and has been especially elucidated by
Professor Sayce. The Hamathite inscriptions, though
discovered by Burckhardt early in the century, have
only of late years been copied and studied. Professor
Sayce has pointed out many striking resemblances be-
tween their symbols and those of the Cypriote syllabary.
Similar characters have been found also on seals of the
time of Sargon and Sennacherib, and inscriptions in the
same text have now been recovered at Aleppo, at
Jerabîs (or Carchemish) at Ibreez in Lycaonia, and on
the statues near Karabel and Smyrna, once known as
representing Sesostris and Niobe respectively. All
24
HETH AND MOAB.
these texts have been published by the Biblical Archæo-
logical Society, and have the remarkable peculiarity
(in common with the old wooden hieroglyphics of
Egypt) that even when the stone used is a hard
basalt, the letters are all in relief.
Bas-reliefs also occur in Asia Minor, with or without
inscription, which are evidently the work of races
akin to the Hittites. One of them is in the valley of
Karabel, north of Ephesus; a second south-west of
Angora, on the old road from Armenia to Lydia, re-
presenting warriors with the Phrygian cap and peaked
boots, spears and quivers. The walls of the fortress
on which these figures (each nine feet high) occur are
built in polygonal masonry. Fifty miles east of the
Halys another bas-relief shows us a procession of gods
in Phrygian caps, and goddesses in mural crowns,
treading on lions and leopards, with a two-headed
eagle and winged sun disc, as in Assyria. This sculp-
ture has ten lines of inscription in characters like
those of Hamath.
To apply the name of Hittite to all these monu-
ments is perhaps premature. The Hittites were one
among many tribes belonging to a great race, the
headquarters of which seem to have been in Asia
Minor or Armenia. It attained to power at an early
historic period, and established sacred capitals at
Carchemish on Euphrates, and Kadesh on Orontes,
both of which are now known. Their extension
KADESH ON ORONTES.
25
southwards was checked at the battle of Megiddo, as
early as 1600 B.C., and their strength was broken by
the rise of Babylonian power in the eighth century B.C.
In the Bible we find Hittites as far south as Hebron
in the time of Abraham; but in the eleventh cen-
tury, B.C., the Hittite princes are mentioned only in
northern Syria (1 Kings x. 29). Northern Syria is
the land of the Hittites' in Joshua (i. 4); and on
Egyptian monuments we find mentioned as early as
Seti I. great chiefs of the Rutennu, whom his
majesty brought from the land of the Kheta.' Ruten,
or Luden, is Syria in the decree of Canopus, and thus
the Hittites are found not in Asia Minor, but in
Aram, where lay their cities Aleppo, Tibhath, Kadesh,
Hit, and Pethor.
Hittite princesses were found in the harem of
Solomon, and the Hittite Uriah was one of David's
champions. 'Kadesh of the Hittites' is the true
rendering of the words which have been corrupted
into Tahtim Hodshi in our Bibles (2 Sam. xxiv. 6),
and their land thus bounded the conquests of David,
and the wanderings of Joab and of the census-takers
who were with him. This Kadesh is also probably
the Cadytis of Herodotus (iii. 5), a city of the Syrians
of Palestine, which he estimates to have been not
smaller than Sardis.
The name is radically connected with that of the
Kodeshoth, or 'holy women,' devoted as Nautch girls
:
26
HETH AND MOAB.
to the service of Ashtoreth, who probably had her
shrine here, as at Tripoli, Jerusalem, Kadesh Naphtali,
or Kadesh Barnea-wherever, indeed, a Kadesh or
'holy' city existed, from Syria to Gades in Spain.
A bilingual inscription (in Hamathite and Cuneiform,
for instance), is sorely needed to give the key to the
new language yet unread; but as there are many
unexplored sites in Asia Minor where monuments of
this class are awaiting examination, we cannot but
hope that the riddle will still be read. It will in the
end probably be found that the Hittite and the
Accadian (or mountaineer from the north) come of
one stock, akin to the old dark Turanian race which
the Semitic Assyrians subjugated in Chaldea; and the
pigtails of the Hittites seem to point to their kinship
with the Mongols and Tartars-the oldest, perhaps,
of existing Asiatic races.
The recovery of Kadesh is a contribution to the
study of this interesting old tribe, the eldest of the
sons of Canaan. It was thought that the island in
the lake of Koteineh was the probable site of Kadesh,
because this lake is called Bahret Kades by Abu el
Feda, who lived not far north of its shores; but it
should be remembered that there is no mention of
any lake in the Egyptian historic account of the city,
though the river is marked with the name Hanruta
on the bas-reliefs. The enlargement of the stream is
out of all scale if it is intended to represent the
KADESH ON ORONTES.
27
Koteineh lake, which is six miles long and two
broad; and as there is no mention of any boats or
rafts, while the defeated Hittites are shown endeavour-
ing to swim across the water and even to drive
through it, we may fairly conclude that an enlarge-
ment of the Orontes stream only is intended. It
would certainly have been a hopeless attempt for men
encumbered with arms to endeavour to swim nearly a
mile from the shores of the Koteineh lake to the
island in its midst, and had the city of Kadesh stood
on such an island, rafts or boats would have been
necessary for the attack, and the Hittites would
clearly not have submitted merely on seeing the line
of Egyptian chariots arrayed helplessly on the border
of the lake.
But in addition to this argument, we have the fact
that the Koteineh lake depends for its existence
entirely on the dam at its northern end. There can
be no doubt that this dam is Roman work, for the
character of mortar and of masonry so resembles the
constructions of the Romans in other parts of Syria.
According to the Talmud of Jerusalem and of Babylon
alike (for there are two distinct passages, viz., T. B.
Baba Bathra, 74 b, and T. J. Kilaim ix. 5), this lake,
which was then called Yam Hemetz, or the 'Waters of
Emesa,' was a reservoir, not natural, but constructed
by Diocletian, no doubt in order to carry a high
level aqueduct, as at present, to the city of Homs or
28
HETH AND MOAB.
Emesa. There seems no reason why this statement
should not be credited, and in speaking of Kadesh we
may, I think, leave out of consideration altogether the
lake of Koteineh, and confine our attention to the
Orontes at that site where the ancient name of the
Hittite capital survives unchanged.
From this preliminary sketch of the subject we
may now proceed to a consideration of the newly
found site of Kadesh.
It has been pointed out that the name was long
ago discovered by Thomson, and has been mentioned
by several subsequent travellers; but as they were
unaware of the historical importance of the site, its
identification remained unsuggested until 1881, when
we found the name Kades well known as applying to
ruins on the south slope of Tell Neby Mendeh. To
us the recovery of the name was an unexpected
revelation, for my original wish was to explore the
island in the lake further north, and I had con-
sequently overlooked the accounts given by Thomson
and others of the site of Tell Neby Mendeh. A visit.
to the spot, however, convinced me that the ancient
name, as in all other cases, had stuck to the original
site, and that no such migration, as is commonly
suggested by those who find ancient names in posi-
tions not in accord with their own theories, had taken
place in this instance any more than in others.
The name of Neby Mendeh, or Mendau (as Robinson
KADESH ON ORONTES.
29
heard it), is also interesting. He is said locally to
have been a son of Jacob: but his name recalls the
Egyptian Mentu or Mando, the war-god whom
Rameses himself is represented by Pentaur as invoking
in his attack on the city.
The great mound of Tell Neby Mendeh is from
50 to 100 feet high, and about 400 yards long. A
modern Arab village of stone and mud occupies the
centre, and the shrine, which is unusually large, is on
the higher part to the north-east. The dome shines
with whitewash; the walls are of basalt masonry;
beside it, stretching to the extremity of the mound,
is a cemetery of Moslem tombs, some of stone, others
of mud, but all correctly oriented. East of the village
are the high conical ovens built of round cakes of
camel's dung, which are common in this part of the
country.
Looking down from the summit of the Tell, we
perceived that the site was surrounded with water
just as in the Egyptian representations of Kadesh.
The Orontes flows east of the Tell, and is dammed
with a broad, flat bulwark of masonry, part of which
at least is modern, since a stone with a Greek in-
scription is built in. Above this dam, which is
opposite the higher part of the Tell, the river expands
into a wider reach than usual; the average breadth of
the stream is perhaps not more than 30 feet, but the
dam is about 25 yards long, and the wide reach, or
30
HETH AND MOAB.
lakelet, is about 50 yards across, fringed with rushes.
The water is taken from the upper side of the dam to
feed a little modern mill.
On the opposite, or western and northern sides of
the Tell, runs a separate stream called el Mukâdîyeh,
flowing from a spring called et Tannûr ('the Oven '),
which is at some distance to the south-west. The
brook is fresh and rapid, full of fish, and flowing
through gardens where it joins the Orontes below the
dam. Dr. Thomson visited the place in 1846, and
states that a ditch, cut across south-west of the Tell,
once joined the Orontes to the upper part of the
Mukâdîyeh stream, in such a manner as to make the
mound an island surrounded on all sides with water.
On the west there is a second channel or aqueduct,
between two earthen banks, flowing parallel to the
natural stream of the Mukâdîyeh, and thus the double
moat of Kadesh, as seen at the Ramesseum, appears
to have its modern representative. Two small foot-
bridges, each of a single arch, span these streams, just
as the western bridges on the bas-relief lead out from
the Hittite fortress.
On the south-west, just south of the Mukâdîyeh
stream, is another small mill, rudely built of basalt
chips, and beside it a travelling juggler was amusing
the peasantry with the antics of his bear. The mill
is called also mill of Kades' and the ruins of an
ancient city are here visible in the ploughland at the
KADESH ON ORONTES.
31
south-west foot of the Tell. A wall of alternate
courses of brick and limestone was first found, and
further south the foundations of a monument called
the Kamu'a, which perhaps once resembled the Hirmil
monument already noticed. On the west side of the
stream we found the fragment of a statue rudely
executed, apparently once a seated figure with a long
robe. The block was of marble, and four feet high.
It may have been Roman or Byzantine in origin.
West of the mill there are sarcophagi standing on
a floor of rubble mixed with coarse chips of pottery.
The natives stated that some twenty tombs exist
beneath. Beside the Kades mill are several well-cut
column shafts, and three very large blocks of basalt.
The brick and stone-work wall is of a style exactly
resembling that of the old walls of Stamboul which
were built in Byzantine times. It is probable that
the existing ruins on this side of the old mound
are those of the Roman town called Laodicea ad
Libanum, or Laodicea Scabiosa, first a Roman colony,
afterwards a bishopric. This city was founded
apparently by Seleucus Nicator (300 B.C.), and was
allowed the 'jus Italicum' by Severus (193-211 A.D.);
it is noticed by Ptolemy, Polybius, Strabo, and Pliny,
and shown on the Peutinger Tables. Its site was
identified by Robinson at Tell Neby Mendeh, from
the measured distances and other indications in the
ancient accounts.
32
HETH AND MOAB.
Of Hittite antiquities we found no traces, though
we sought them even within the sanctuary of Neby
Mendeh. But already, in 1846, Dr. Thomson found
the natives breaking up ancient columns at this spot,
and the work of destruction at an inhabited site goes
on with frightful rapidity. Excavations on the sides
of the Tell might lead to the discovery of such slabs
and bas-reliefs as are found in other Hittite towns
facing the slopes of the great mounds.
The view from the Tell is a fine one. On the
north-east, about four miles distant, stretches the
calm lake with its little island' mound, and to the left
of this is the pass which separates the Lebanon from
the Anseiriyeh range-a high saddle of dark basaltic
rock. The mounds of Shomarîn and Koteineh, with
the square enclosure of 'Noah's Ark'-hereafter to be
noticed—are also visible; and the broad plain towards
Homs is sown with similar great Tells rising from the
flat arable lands. The fortress of Homs can be seen
bearing about 47° north-east, and on the south,
Riblah and the Kamu'at Hirmil. The ranges of
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon bound the view; and there
is little else to note on the spot, for the neighbour-
hood is almost bare of trees, and consists mainly of
corn-land.
Here, then, standing on the acropolis of the sacred
Hittite fortress of Kadesh, we could in imagination
see enacted at our feet all the episodes of that battle
KADESH ON ORONTES.
33
We
famous more than thirty-two centuries ago, yet so
forgotten that neither Robinson, Thomson, Burton,
Drake, Porter, Wright, nor any other visitor, had
been aware of the importance of this prominent site.
We might picture the serried ranks of the Egyptian
infantry advancing northwards, with the light chariots
yoked each to its pair of horses, and hung with quiver
and shield. We could see the adventurous Rameses,
with his scanty following, coming down from the
rougher land into the open plain north-west of the
city, and the host of the Turanian warriors concealed
behind the river and by the great Tell itself.
might almost hear the cries of the wild Hittites dash-
ing over the bridges in their chariots to intercept the
incautious monarch, their long pig-tails floating behind
them as these red-booted and mustachioed princes,
with their cloaks swelling in the wind, urged on their
steeds. The dark beards and eagle noses of the
Semitic allies, with their shawl-headdress, so like that
of the modern Arab, contrast with the Tartar-like
mien of their Turanian masters, and with the slimness
of the Egyptians. The clash of the opposing chariots.
is hidden by clouds of dust from the corn-lands. The
first brigade of Ra, the god of light, gives way before
the Hittite charge; but Rameses, calling aloud to his
father, Ammon, to help him, rallies his hosts, and the
panic-stricken Syrians flee. The Prince of Aleppo
falls into Orontes, and is dragged out by his men,
3
34
HETH AND MOAB.
who, on the opposite bank, vainly strive to recover
him by holding up his feet to let the water run from
his mouth. The stream, the ditches, and bridges,
the distant mountains, are before us as of yore, and
all the stir and wild energy of the Abu Simbel battle-
piece seem to rise at once before the eye of the
imagination.
6
CHAPTER II.
THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
DESCENDING from the Kadesh hill, we proceeded
northwards to examine the lake of Koteineh and its
we
island, and passing by the little village of 'Ârjûn,
came, after a ride of two miles, to the Sefînet Nuh, or
'Ark of Noah.' This is an earthen enclosure about
300 yards square, with mounds at the angles, as though
indicating corner towers. The ditch outside we esti-
mated to be 40 feet deep and about the same width;
the building lies with its angles to the cardinal points;
the interior plateau, which is now plough-land, rises
above the general level of the plain.
At 'Arjûn is a Roman milestone, so that we are
clearly on an old Roman road from Emesa to Lao
dicea Scabiosa; but this curious enclosure can hardly
be a Roman camp. The tradition attached probably
indicates the antiquity of the monument, and perhaps
its religious character. It has lately been noted by
Assyriologists, that whereas Egyptian monuments
3-2
36
HETH AND MOAB.
have almost invariably their sides in the direction of
the cardinal points, the Assyrian buildings and pyra-
mids have generally their angles so directed. It is
possible, then, that the Sefinet Neby Nûh, or Ark of
Noah,' near Kadesh, might, if excavated, yield anti-
quities either Hittite or Assyrian. It is very curious
that an earthen enclosure should be called an ark:
but in Persia we have the legend of Yima's walled
garden, which escaped the winter floods. The Hebrew
Tebah, like the Egyptian Teb, was a coffer or box,
rather than a boat, and the Hebrew word for Noah's
ark, Moses' cradle, and Joseph's coffin is the same.
The legend of Noah's ark at this spot is clearly con-
nected with the Tannûr south of Kadesh, for the
Tannûr or 'Oven,' according to the Korân, was the
crevice from which the flood issued, and which again
swallowed its waters. Clearly there was once a flood
legend at Kadesh, but it is most probably to be com-
pared with that of the sacred cleft beneath the Temple
of Hierapolis further north, and with the holy lakes
which adjoined Phoenician and Philistine temples at
Aphek or Accho or Ascalon, not less than the temples
in Egypt.
Leaving Noah's Ark, we rode west to the shores of
the lake, which we reached about a mile below where
the Orontes enters it on the south. The east shore of
the lake is flat, shelly, and shingly, bordered with rushes
and with coarse turf; the ploughlands extend across
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
37
the plain to the east. The mound called Tell el Baheirah
rises as an island about three-quarters of a mile from
the eastern shore, and the lake is about six miles long
and two miles wide. The island is laid out in gardens,
and no traces of any ancient building are visible from
the mainland. It is cultivated by the peasants of the
neighbouring shores with the mattock, but no plough-
ing is there possible, because these primitive people
have not a single boat. As we sat on the shore we saw
strange figures standing erect, and apparently gliding,
pole in hand, over the little waves which were raised
by a fresh western breeze. Each naked figure was in
reality balanced on a diminutive raft, made of two
inflated goat-skins. These little rafts, resembling
some still used on the Euphrates, are unmanageable in
the wind, and of course liable to be upset when the
water is rough. They moved very slowly over the
lake, and where the water was shallow the sailor pro-
pelled his vessel with the pole. We might almost
fancy that we had stepped back into prehistoric times,
among a people who wore no clothes and had not
learned to make a boat; or that we were among the
savages of South America and Polynesia. To reach
the island it would have been necessary either to swim
all the way against the wind, or to wait till a raft was
built somewhere to the south-west of the lake; but
there seemed to be no special reason for visiting the
island, which is called only Tell el Baheirah, or The
C
38
HETH AND MOAB.
Mound in the Lake,' and is said by the natives to
have nothing on it except a Mezr'ah, or 'sowing place,'
a hamlet of a few modern huts inhabited during the
season of cultivation.
The three black rafts were blown far down the lake
as we looked. The children from Shomarîn, Mudhân,
and Hauzal-villages near the lake-drove goats,
sheep, calves, and donkeys to drink its clear water;
and a chattering group of blue-robed women came
down to do the family washing. On the west beyond
the lake was the black saddle to which Lebanon and
Casius die down on south and north. The great
Crusading Castle, now called el Hosn, was visible
commanding this pass on the north side. The lake
itself extended north-east, with a great mound, called
Tell Koteineh, at its further end, and a smaller one
(Tell Shômarîn) on its eastern shore. A few plover,
and some grey water birds with black wings and red
feet, were flapping over the waves; and on shore the
hoopoes had already arrived, and a few of the 'little
pilgrims' or 'fathers of luck,' as the white storks are
affectionately called in Syria. The swallows were
also skimming in the bright and cloud-piled sky; the
scarabeus was rolling his ball; the orange-tip and
painted-lady and Apollo butterflies were swarming in
the open.
The blood-red anemone was in flower,
with the little pink vetch, the moon-daisy, and purple
orchid.
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
39
Following the eastern shore of the lake, we reached
our tents, pitched at the end of the great dam, and
were thus able to examine it at leisure. Here were
white chalk cliffs 20 to 40 feet above the shore line,
while opposite, on the north-west, the black basalt
comes down to the water's edge. A strong breeze now
blew the green and turbid water towards the dam,
tossing the surface of the lake into tiny breakers. A
flock of six white pelicans were slowly skimming up
against the wind. On the east, we looked across the
flat plain, with ruddy soil and green corn, to Anti-
Lebanon, whose furthest chain was broken into several
fine peaks, one of which was still streaked with snow.
The great Tells, which are perhaps Hittite towns yet
unexplored, stood out against the northern horizon,
and furthest of all a dusty hillock, crowned by a
white dome, marked the vicinity of the old Sun
Temple of Emesa. The villages of Sidd, Ikmeim, and
Koteineh are from one to three miles from the dam;
and the great aqueduct between high mud banks runs
hence from the lake to the city of Homs or Emesa.
Looking southwards across the water, which shines in
the sinking sun, one sees the black island and the
black Shomarîn mound, with dusky Lebanon crowned
with snow. Above the mountains were huge piles of
cumulus, and in the foreground the black masonry of
the basalt dam, against which the waves, which else-
where break on a rushy shore, were beating hard
40
HETH AND MOAB.
and sending up clouds of spray, while the water
poured down with a rushing sound in many
cascades through the broken sluices and over the
ruined masonry. The sun set, the breeze abated,
but the flock of pelicans was still slowly sailing away
up the water.
On the morning of the 9th, after a dip in the lake,
we proceeded carefully to examine the dam. It is
about half a mile long, built V shaped up stream, like a
starling below a bridge pier. The breadth at the top
is 25 feet, but it is thicker below, the courses being
stepped back from the bottom on the lower side. It
is constructed of coursed rubble, of basalt chips set in
hard cement, white, but mixed with pottery and with
charcoal. This mortar is always found in Roman
work in Syria. The rubble was originally faced with
a small basalt ashlar, which has also a very Roman
appearance.
The difference of level thus attained we measured
carefully, and found to be 10 feet, so that before
the dam was made the Orontes would have had
a fall of about 20 inches in the mile. This re-
presents a flow like that of the Thames; but as the
bottom of the lake, where examined, was found to be
always very flat, such a difference would most materially
affect the original breadth of the stream, which pro-
bably ran between banks, as it does both above and
below the present lake. Excepting perhaps towards
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
4I
the south, the sheet of water may be said to owe its
existence entirely to the dam.
The north-west end of the dam is marked by a little
tower, Crusading, or more probably Saracenic, and at
this end there are buttresses to strengthen the dam on
the down-stream side. We found a Greek inscription
on a block of basalt, five feet long, built above the
eastern door sideways. It seems to have been a tomb-
stone, possibly Pagan, with an age and an entreaty
for prayer.
We walked as far as possible along the dam trying
to reach a high piece of masonry resembling a pillar
in its centre, but were stopped by the stream rushing
through a broken sluice, which could not be passed
with safety.
Below the dam there are ruins on both banks of the
river, and about half a mile further down there are
mills. The village called es Sidd ('the dam') is
said to have been moved from these ruins further
east probably because of the great engineering
works falling into disrepair, and the region below
becoming marshy. There are remains of ancient
channels for irrigation leading from the dam, and the
aqueduct to Homs issues from the south-east end of
the same. On the west and south is a great field of
basalt, and the tents of Turkoman shepherds are
placed near the lake on the west shore.
A little shrine, now ruined, appears to have existed
42
HETH AND MOAB.
below the dam on the left bank of the river. Here
we found five shafts of basalt 24 feet in diameter, and
a stone cut out into an arch 3 feet in diameter, now
forming a Mihrab facing south. Close beside it is a
modern-looking tomb of mud and stone, hung with
votive rags on stakes stuck into the top. Around it
are the little piles of stones which Moslem pilgrims
erect, and it is called 'Jeriyet 'Aly,' or the slave of
the Imâm Aly Ibn Abu Taleb. This early convert of
the Prophet has become a mythical hero, and the
tomb of his slave is probably the site of a little
temple, perhaps built by Diocletian when he con-
structed (as the Rabbis tell us) the dam which makes
the lake of Koteineh. These notes will perhaps
suffice to show that though satisfied that we had
already found Kadesh, we did not fail carefully to
examine the lake and island where formerly the city
was supposed to have existed.
From the dam we rode about ten miles to the city
of Homs, the ancient Emesa, a place of 20,000 in-
habitants, including Moslems, Greeks, and Greek
Catholics (or Melchites); it has a wall measuring about
a mile and a half in circuit, but the citadel on the great
mound to the south-east was blown up by Ibrahim
Pasha. This city, known to Pliny as Hemesa, and
mentioned also by Strabo and Ptolemy, is in the
Talmud called Hamatz, and said to have been the
city of the Zemarites (Gen. x. 18), which is probably
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
43
a mistake. It became famous in Roman times as the
native place of the extravagant Bassianus, who called
himself 'Priest of the Sun God,' and Elagabalus (or
'God of the Mountain '), and became Emperor in
Rome in 219 A.D., being soon slain, and suc-
ceeded in 222 A.D. by Alexander Severus. Strange,
indeed, must have been the condition of society when
the proud Italian race allowed their national divinities
to be set aside by this effeminate Syrian; and when
senators and populace alike looked with approba-
tion on the procession of the black conical stone from
Emesa, when in sweeping Oriental garments Elaga-
balus paced backwards in front of his idol, accompanied
by the dancing girls, who were direct descendants of
the old devotees of Ashtoreth. Nor was the sun
priest content till he had married his obelisk to a
goddess and erected two shrines in Rome which out-
shone all former temples, although the foreigner and
his foreign sun emblems were tolerated but four years
in Italy.
The long Greek inscription now found in the
Mosque of Light,' in the city itself, is perhaps con-
nected with this famous episode, and the name of the
mosque suggests a connection with the old sun temple;
but whether this famous temple stood on the same
site or on the great mound beyond the walls must be
at present uncertain. The inscription may here be
given, as an error has crept into the version published
44
HETH AND MOAB.
It is more correctly given by Wad-
from my notes.
dington, as follows:
Κυκλοτερης κοσμοιο τυπος βασιλευς εκο (μισσεν)
Εθνεα παντα εχοντα σοφαις φρεσιν ηνιοχ (ευων)*
Whoever may be the King of the world in question,
it seems probable that Constantine fixed on this same
site for a great basilica which he built in Homs; and
tradition says that John the Baptist's head was here
buried, although his body lies at Samaria, and ac-
cording to others his head on Mount Ebal, or in the
mosque at Damascus. Such sites are certainly rather
distant from the gloomy fortress east of the Dead Sea
where he was executed.
Homs fell to the Crusaders when by bribery they
had taken the impregnable Antioch, and when the
imminent failure of the expedition had been averted
by this very doubtful success, and by the miracle of
the spear so opportunely discovered. From this city,
which they reached up the Orontes valley, they passed
down to the coast at Arka and Tripoli, thus avoiding
the rugged Lebanon, and thence they marched to the
plains of Lydda on their way to Jerusalem.
1281 the Saracens defeated at Homs the Mongol
* This is rendered by Dr. H. Hayman :
In
'The King (who is) the round image of the universe won over
The peoples having all things by driving a chariot with skill;'
This would no doubt apply to the Sun God of Emesa.
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
45
descendants of the old stock to which the Hittites
belonged, and Ibrahim Pasha took the city from
Turkey before his final defeat by the English at Acre.
If ever a railway should run from Tripoli to Damascus
and Aleppo, Homs will be near the junction; but at
present it is one of the least visited, and consequently
most Oriental, of Syrian cities.
Approaching from the south past the green mound
called Tell Bâba 'Amr, the dusty hillock of the citadel
first appeared on the right, with fragments of its
shattered walls. Towards the left rose several
minarets, and on the west of the city are beautiful
fruit orchards, with shady orange-groves, figs, lemons,
pomegranates, and poplars, enclosed in mud walls as
at Damascus. Here Mrs. Digby had once a pleasant
palace, as well as at the more southerly capital. The
city walls next appear of black basalt masonry with
round towers, evidently belonging to the best Arab
period--the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The
streets within are fairly paved with 'basalt, and many
of the houses are of the same material, with flat mud
roofs. Thus, as Damascus may be called a brick city,
Jerusalem a limestone town, Aberdeen a grey granite
city, Homs has the distinctive character of being a
black town of basalt. The numerous minarets, the
long narrow bazaars, the poplars, recall Damascus ;
but Homs is even more purely Oriental than the
Syrian capital. The pale merchants in snowy turbans,
46
HETH AND MOAB.
the water-carriers, sometimes with the green turban
of a Hajji or Sherîf, the dusky Bedawîn in lambs'-
wool jackets, stained red on the outer side (the wool
being inside), Circassians with silver daggers and
black Astrakan caps (perhaps like those of the
Hittites), and with innumerable cartridge cases on
the breast of their long coats, the blue and check-
patterned izars and black face-veils of the women, all
form a picture of true Eastern character, unspoiled
by the flaming advertisements of Cook, or the
gaudy Levantine imitation of western art and archi-
tecture. In such cities fanaticism still has a home,
and the Sokhta and the Derwish still scowl at the
Christian. Yet there are upwards of 7,000 Christians
of the Eastern Churches in Homs, of whom 1,500
are of the Melchite sect-that curious heresy founded
apparently on the old Ebionite Church of Pella,
and perpetuated by the early conversion of the
Beni Ghassan Arabs, whose Queen was the famous
Zenobia.
The town is full of fragments of Greek and Arab
inscriptions, and of coins and gems, among which I
found an almost unique Greek coin of Emesa, with the
head of the tower-crowned goddess on the obverse,
while little gnostic cornelians and garnets are common
as in other parts of Syria.
We left the city on the 11th, and climbed up the
hill of the Kal'ah, or fortress, where is a little shrine,
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
47
C
called, apparently, Mes-haf Othman, although Mes-haf
may only mean the place destroyed' by Muhammed
Aly. There was once a very fine sloping scarp to
this fortress, 60 to 70 feet high on all sides, of black
basalt masonry, with a fosse outside. On the top are
remains of the walls and casemates, and a granite
pillar shaft. The diameter of the mound is supposed
by Porter to be 300 yards. The view extends north
as far as Restân, and gives a good idea of the city.
North of the fortress, outside the town walls, are
remains of a Roman tomb, which is mentioned by all
travellers. It has brick arches, and remains of mosaic
on its walls, but does not appear to be of great
antiquity or importance.
c
The Mosque of Light' is evidently an ancient
basilica of three aisles, with a courtyard on the north.
The capitals of the pillars in the colonnades are of
early Byzantine character; but the eastern apse
appears to have been entirely destroyed. Our
entrance, though sanctioned by the courteous Governor,
caused grumbling among the Moslems. We, how-
ever, copied the Greek inscription above given before
leaving.
Here, at length, we were obliged to turn once more
south, although I felt sorely tempted, had time
allowed, to go on to Restân, Hâmah, Aleppo,
Carchemish, and Antioch; for it was a disappoint-
ment not to bring back a new Hittite inscription,
48
HETH AND MOAB.
especially one from the borderland, where their country
marched on David's kingdom.
These inscriptions are probably the oldest monu-
ments in Asia, and may almost vie with the Egyptian
records. The Hâmah stones are, it is true, no longer
at that city, for I found them, in 1882, in the
Constantinople Museum; but there is at least one
such text at Aleppo, and others may be hidden in the
great mounds of the land of the Hittites. The
emblems already known have the most curious forms.
Thus, for instance, a head with the finger raised to
the mouth (like Harpocrates), occurs four times on
the Hamath stones, and again on one from Carchemish,
while birds, and heads of cows and antelopes, open
hands, and hands with daggers, are accompanied by
knives like those which form hieroglyphic signs, with
a rod and two rings, a kind of fleur-de-lis, or a horse-
shoe. Many of the symbols resemble the good luck
marks of ancient races; but others are clearly con-
nected with the Cypriote characters. It seems as yet,
however, hopeless to expect these texts to be read,
until a bilingual example shall be found; and when
that lucky find occurs, a new chapter in Asiatic history
may be opened for our reading.
Our return route was to be by the valley of the
Eleutherus to Tripoli, as I was anxious to get an
accurate idea of the military advantages and dis-
advantages of this line, and of the possibility of con-
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
49
7
structing a railway from Homs to the best harbour on
the Syrian coast, which is acknowledged by all the
coasting captains to be that at Tripoli.
The pass west of the
higher, but does not
The rise of the line
Homs is only about 1,500 feet about the sea, and
is fifty miles from Tripoli.
Koteineh Lake is somewhat
probably exceed 2,000 feet.
would be about 2,000 feet in rather more than 30
miles, or about 70 feet in the mile; but it is hardly cor-
rect to state (as Commander Cameron has done), that
there is no engineering difficulty to be encountered,
for the district west of the lake consists entirely of
very hard black basalt, and the same formation occurs
in the pass north of Lebanon-the valley of the
Eleutherus river. There is also a kind of crater imme-
diately west of the high saddle, measuring some five
miles across. Thus considerable cuttings would be
necessary, and would have to be blasted through the
hard rock. This would very greatly increase the expense
of the line, and it is not by any means clear that a
better system for railways would not be to make
parallel lines along the coast and along the plains
east of Lebanon, with a cross communication up the
valley of the Orontes, by Antioch from the Bay of
Seleucia and the Gulf of Alexandretta (which I after-
wards visited), inland to Aleppo, and across to the
Euphrates. The Sharon railway to Egypt, and a line
from Damascus into the Hauran, would be part of
4
50
HETH AND MOAB.
1
this system, with a probable cross-communication
from Acre, through Tiberias and under Hermon, to
the capital. But let it not be hoped that such lines
will ever be laid down while the Turks hold Syria,
for, while on the one hand any European scheme is
regarded with not unnatural suspicion, it is, on the
other hand, certain that they consider their hold on
the country to be greatly strengthened by the diffi-
culty of communication. The Turk is not blind to
the advantages of science. He has adopted, and uses
very extensively for Government purposes, the electric
telegraph, which he is now extending to Mecca. But
he has no wish to see new hopes and new ideas roused
among his subjects by Western teaching, and he fears
the complications and sometimes unjust claims which
follow the spread of European enterprise, and the
sinking of European capital in public works in
Asia.
As a military road the line from Homs to Tripoli
still possesses those advantages which led to its being
chosen by the Crusaders, and which induced the un-
fortunate Midhat Pasha, when last he was Governor
of Syria, to commence the highway, which we found
complete all but the bridges-a very unfortunate
deficiency in any road. Along this road we journeyed
to the basalt moors west of the Lake of Koteineh, by
miserable black hamlets, with fields of thin stunted.
barley. There must be some 500 square miles in all
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
51
of this hard rock, which stretches south, as we have
seen, to Kamu'at el Hirmil.
Crossing the saddle we came in view of the broad
crater called el Bukei'a, which is dotted with fine
clumps of oak, and covered with Arab or Turcoman
encampments. Of our baggage difficulties and our
adventures with the fat Pasha of Tripoli it is not
necessary here to speak, for many of my readers will
have undergone such troubles, and all will have read
of them ad nauseam. After much difficulty, due to
the impression that we were political emissaries, we
obtained a new escort, and set forth from the Anseireh
village of Hadîdeh, on the 12th of April, to visit the
magnificent castle of el Hosn, which frowns from the
hillside north of the valley of the Eleutherus—now
called Nahr el Kebîr.
The crater, or low plain, where the river gathers
its head-waters, was extremely boggy, and hard to
cross; but we were well repaid by finding so perfect
a specimen of Crusading work rising on steep cliffs
above a little village. The very battlements of the
great round towers and the great oak gates studded
with iron are still in place, and the machicoulis over-
hanging the posterns. Entering the southern gate,
we rode up a long vaulted passage, the hoofs of the
horses clattering on the cobble pavement under the
dark tunnel, and thus reached the inner courtyard,
partly occupied by a beautiful Gothic chapel with
4-2
52
HETH AND MOAB.
windows of delicate tracery. On the south wall of
this little church, close to the door, is a mediæval
inscription, which is strangely suggestive of the proud
humility of the old Knights, and which is still fairly
legible in beautifully incised Gothic capitals.
'Sit tibi copia
Sit sapientia
Formaque detur
Inquinat omnia
Sola Superbia
Si comitetur.'
'May wisdom, wealth, and beauty be with thee,
But Pride spoils all, should she accompany.'
So reads the text; but wisdom, beauty, and riches.
have long since passed away from the land, and only
the evidence of pride and power is left in this huge
stronghold of the Frank.
On the south-east one can still see where the great
breach was once made in the outer line of ramparts,
although the Moslems built it up again with smaller
masonry when they had gained possession. Small Arab
huts are built against the chapel, which is inhabited
and partly hidden by these poor modern hovels.
We ascended several of the great towers, and
obtained an extensive view. Lebanon and Anti-
Lebanon, Kadesh and its lake, the Mediterranean, and
the tower of Safita (once the stronghold of the
Nuseireh chief, Ism'aîl Kaïr Bey), are visible, with
many villages, and rounded basalt hills sinking towards
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
53
the green sea plain and the yellow beach. Among
the names collected I find Tell Hetteh, which is no
doubt named (as are Hatta in Philistia, and Kefr
Hatta above Lydda) from the old Hittite race; but
perhaps the most interesting view was that to the
north, where, in a narrow valley at the foot of the
steep mountains of the Assassins (or Nuseireh), can
be seen a white monastery with a red-tiled roof. It
is called Deir el Ahmeireh (The Red Convent '), and
is consecrated to St. George. Pilgrimages to the spot
are recorded as far back as the seventh century, and
its vicinity is known as Abil el Kuds, 'the Holy
Meadow.' About a mile lower down the ravine is
the 'Ain el Fuwâr, or bubbling spring,' which is the
source of the old Sabbatic river. The water rises in
a cave about six yards long and two yards wide, with
a deep clear pool. At intervals of from four to seven
days a rumbling sound is heard in the mountain, and
torrents of water flow from the cave and from the
rocks around, and continue for five or six hours to
pour down the valley. The usual interval is four
days, but sometimes only two, and in 1822, when
Aleppo was destroyed by earthquake, there is said to
have been no flow at all for a year.
C
Such intermittent springs are not very rare in the
limestone mountains of Syria. We have an example
in the Virgin's Fountain (Bethesda) at Jerusalem; and
the plain of Kefr Kûk, in the Hermon district, is
54
HETH AND MOAB.
(
annually converted into a lake by a sudden flow from
under the mountains. The Nahr Sebta, or River of
Rest,' as the stream just described is called, is the
Sabbatic river of the ancients, which Josephus
(7 Wars v. 1) mentions as visited by Titus. He
correctly states the interval as being seven days, but
Pliny (H. N. xxxi. 11) got hold of the story incor-
rectly, and makes the river observe the Sabbath (as
the Bordeaux Pilgrim in 333 A.D. says of the Jerusalem
spring), running for the six week days and resting on
the seventh.
The name of the river is no doubt ancient, and due
to an observation of its periods of intermission; but
some archæologists have sought to connect it with the
Shabatuna mentioned in the account of Rameses'
advance on Kadesh. It appears, however, that the
name Shabtûn still applies to a valley south of the
site of Kadesh, and this fits better with the topo-
graphy of the battle.
Tradition states that a Christian prince here lost
his daughter, who was to have been married, but on
her wedding procession was carried off by an Arab
chief. This legend, related by el Wakîdi, still sur-
vives perhaps, half-remembered, at el Hosn, where
the inhabitants tell us a princess was shut up by her
father to prevent her marriage; but it is no doubt
only a variant of the old legend of Danae, which is
found all over Asia.
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.'
55
Kal'at el Hosn was called Hosn el Akrad (Kurds'
Stronghold) in the Middle Ages, and also Crac des
Chevaliers, a name which, like that of Kerak in Moab,
seems to be derived from the Syriac word for a
'fortress.' In 1180 it is found in possession of the
Knights Hospitallers, and it surrendered in 1271 to
the irresistible Bibars. On the south-west there is a
bas-relief, with two lions and an Arabic inscription
belonging to the time of the Moslem restoration of
the fortress.
It
The masonry of the Crusaders is here, as every-
where else, drafted with a boss, which is left rustic in
exterior walls, but finely finished in the interior.
is a very common mistake to suppose that such
masonry was found and re-used by the mediæval
architects, but we have now good evidence to show
that it was actually cut by the Gothic masons, as in
Cyprus also and elsewhere. Indeed, so far from
drafted masonry indicating Jewish or Phoenician
builders, we have no evidence whatever that these
nations ever used it, though we know that Greeks,
Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, and Arabs, all drafted
their stones. The Jerusalem temple-walls, and those
at Hebron, give no contradiction of this supposition,
for they are in all probability Herodian imitations of
Greek or Roman work. Here at Crac we find
masonry drafted, yet dressed with the peculiar Gothic
diagonal dressing, and, moreover, marked with masons'
56
HETH AND MOAB.
marks. We find pointed arches with the keystone
cut out to form the point, and yet drafted as are the
remaining voussoirs.
The masons' marks are of considerable interest, and
the subject has now been carefully studied in all parts
of Syria. They are distinctive of the Crusading work
of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and are found
on all the best finished stones in the walls of such
buildings, but especially on interior walls. The same
mark is found in places separated by hundreds of
miles, and in English cathedrals and Persian palaces
no less than in Crusading castles or churches. The
same mark is used in buildings which differ in date
by more than the life-time of a single man; and I
have found all the letters of the alphabet, save Q,
which seems to indicate that the masons were French
or Italian. I is doubtfully found, and so curiously
enough is D; but the marks are not merely letters,
for many very interesting signs also occur. Among
these more suggestive marks may be noted the
'Solomon's Seal,' or five-pointed star, 'David's Shield,'
or the double triangle, giving six points, the lituus,
or crozier, the fish, the cross, the trident, the arrow,
the fleur-de-lis, the hammer, and other well-known
emblems of good luck. The two first are Indian caste
marks, as is also the trident: the letters of the Slav
alphabet, dating earlier than the ninth century, are
also in many cases exactly like the Norman masons'
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
57
marks; and several of the masons' marks, found by
Ouseley on the old palace of Saaditalat, near Ispahan,
are the same as those copied in Syria, including the
cross, the arrow, the hour-glass, the trident, and the
square.
No doubt in some cases a letter was put on the
stone by way of claiming its workmanship-as, for in-
stance, at Rosslyn, where such a mark is found on the
famous 'prentice's pillar,' no doubt cut by that proud
mason to mark his own work; and this perhaps
accounts for the marks being always on the finest
stones. There is evidently no indication intended of
the position for which the stone was destined; but in
many cases it seems pretty clear that the signs were
intended as charms to secure good fortune to the
building, just as the hand or the Shield of David'
is now painted in red on doors
Moslem masons in Syria.
C
and walls by the
But to return to el Hosn, which is perhaps, with
exception of the magnificent stronghold of Kerak, in
Moab, the best preserved of Crusading fortresses,
though in size, perhaps, inferior to the great castle at
Banias and to others. El Hosn, or Crac, was one of
a great group of castles which defended the frontiers
of the principality of Antioch, and it commanded
the pass from La Chamelle (as Homs was then called)
to the coast. Mont Ferrand lay to the north-east,
and Chastel Blanc to the north-west, while others
58
HETH AND MOAB.
above Antioch, and at Turbessel, near Carchemish,
marked the north borders, where the principality
marched with the domains of the Count of Edessa.
While gazing on these enormous fortifications, we
become aware of the length of time necessary for
their building, and realize the long period during
which a settled Frankish rule endured in Northern
Syria. We are too apt to think of the first Crusade
as a mere raid, and to forget how three generations
of Franks succeeded one another even in Southern
Palestine, while Antioch remained in their hands as
late as 1268 A.D., or nearly a century after the fall
of the southern kingdom after the defeat of Hattîn,
in 1187 A.D. Acre was not taken till 1291 A.D., and
the names of the Casales round it, as recorded in the
Cartulary of the Holy Sepulchre, show how extensive
were the possessions of the Church, and of the Orders
of Hospitallers and Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth
century.
No sooner had the country been seized, than castles
began to be built. Toron, in Upper Galilee, is ap-
parently the oldest, dating from 1104; but Montreal
(at Shobek), far south-east of the Dead Sea, was
erected by the King of Jerusalem in 1115. The
prosperity succeeding the taking of Tyre in 1124
gave an impulse to architecture, and specially to the
erection of churches. The Castle of Ernuald was
erected in 1134, and Gibelin (Beit Jibrîn) in the same
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
59
year. Blanche Guard (or Gath), and Ibelin (Yebnah),
defended the country against incursions from Ascalon
after 1144. Mirabel (Râs el' Ain) was built five years
later, and Darum, on the Egyptian frontier, in 1170.
Beauvoir (above Beisân) is a fine example, commenced
in 1182, and probably the latest before the great de-
feat at Hattîn. The western advance from Damascus
was barred by the great line of strongholds in Upper
Galilee, extending from Banias to Acre, and including
Belfort, Hunin, Château Neuf (at the Huleh), Toron
(or Tibnîn), and Montfort (el Kurein), while on the
sea coast Castel Pelegrino, Tanturah, Cæsarea, Arsuf,
Kakon, and Plans formed a line whereby men travelled
to Toron on the Jerusalem road (now Latrûn), and so
passed safely to the Holy City. To say nothing of
numberless churches and minor fortresses, such an
enumeration of huge strongholds, each requiring un-
limited labour for several years to construct, bears
witness to the energy of men who had walked, be it
remembered, from France or Germany to Jerusalem.
Each fortress stood a siege before it fell to the Moslem,
and each was long the centre whence law and justice
emanated to a contented population of Syrian serfs.
The second and the twelfth centuries were the great
building epochs in Palestine, and neither Jew, Hittite,
nor Phoenician has left such marks on the country as
have the Romans of the Antonine period or the
Crusading Franks.
60
HETH AND MOAB.
The Assizes of Jerusalem show by what just and
wise rule the kings and princes of the twelfth century
gained willing submission from the Moslem serfs. The
coins struck with a cross on one side and Arab letters
on the other, bear witness to the trade which was
carried on between Christians and Moslems, as do the
treaties giving mutual facilities for hunting on their
lands signed by Frank princes and by the Sultans of
Damascus and Aleppo. In the height of their power
the Franks made the wild Assassins, and the Bedawin
even, pay annual tribute, and raised a native body of
horse called Turcopoles, under European officers.
There were no ideas of representative government
in those days, yet the native peasant was judged
by his Moslem peers, as was the baron by a court of
his equals. Each fief supplied a certain quota of
knights, of yeomen and of bourgeois men-at-arms. The
Casales, or feudal villages, inhabited by Greeks, Turks,
Syrians, whether Christian or Moslem, were divided
into gastines, and each gastine into so many ploughs
(like the modern feddân, or yoke). The population
was classed as lieges owing military services and of
Frank origin, and, as villeins or serfs, not obliged to
fight-an idea surviving in the Christian immunity
from conscription in Moslem lands in
times.
our
own
The downfall of this great system was due not to
discontent of the conquered, not even to the energy
of
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES:
61
the Arabs of Damascus and of Egypt, or of the Kur-
dish Saladin, but to the rapid degeneracy of the con-
quering race, especially when not annually recruited
by pilgrim settlers from Europe.
Foucher, of Chartres, already speaks of the mixed
marriages with Syrian, Armenian, and Arab baptized
beauties ; and William of Tyre draws a gloomy
picture of the immorality and luxury of the third
generation, especially of those pulani, as they were
called, who were the offspring of such unions. Well
might the old moralist warn the inhabitants of Crac
of pride which preceded their fall; and in later times
no doubt these great walls witnessed many an unholy
revel, many an act of tyrannous cruelty, instead of
the stern but impartial justice of the first strong
generation.
The accusations which are recorded
against the Templars-their secret initiation, their
adoration of a certain cat,' and of the mummy-like
Baphomet, with charges yet more horrible of trampling
on the Cross, of eating a new-born child (as also Jews
and Gnostics were said to have done), and of general
infidelity and immorality—are no doubt exaggerated ;
but we may thence conjecture how, when fanatic
enthusiasm had cooled and when constant intercourse
with the natives had broadened the views of the
knights, some, at least, were attracted by the mys-
ticism of Derwish initiation, or by the surviving
Gnosticism of Syria, and fell gradually into philosophic
6
*
62
HETH AND MOAB.
scepticism, thinly veiled beneath the cloak of the great
Orders of the Temple or St. John.
The associations of the fortress have led us into a
considerable digression, and we must now continue
our journey down the valley of the Eleutherus, where
the railway, without engineering difficulty,' is still
unmade. On the right is the Nuseireh mountain, the
old Mons Bargylus, which was inhabited by the
Assassins; on the left, Jebel Akkar, the furthest point
of Lebanon. Thus far Jonathan the Hasmonean pursued
the army of the Seleucidæ
of the Seleucidæ ; and in this region dwelt
the Arkites (at 'Arka), the Zemarites (at Sumrah),
the Arvadites (in the island er Ruâd), with Hama-
thites and Hittites. After a long ride we gained our
camp at 'Arka, close to the coast and to the old city of
the Arkites. We had accomplished thirty-five miles in
the day, but the night's rest was broken by the storm,
which drove us to the hospitable house of M. Blanche,
the French Consul at Tripoli. At this city we remained
till the 16th, visiting the harbour and the Derwish
monastery, and gaining many interesting hints from
the studious and scientific Frenchman, whose con-
tributions to the information published by Brugsch
and Renan have hardly, perhaps, been acknowledged
as they should have been by those authorities.
Tripoli is a well-built and picturesque town, stand-
ing on either bank of the river Kadîshah, which, per-
haps, retains its older name of Kadesh. There are
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
63
fine gardens stretching down to the port (Mînet
Trâblus), where is a district town, more than a mile
and a half distant. The river here flows nearly
north; the castle on the left bank is south of the
town, and the Derwish monastery is up the glen
further south on the same side. The mosque of el
Beidawy (an old church, it is said, of St. Anthony of
Padua) is two miles to the north, and has a pond of
sacred fish in its courtyard. The population is
estimated at 17,000 in the town, and 7,000 in the
port, including Moslems, Greeks, Maronites, Melchites,
and Jews. There are eighteen churches and twenty
mosques, and a trade in silk, in fruit, in sponges, and
in soap is carried on under the usual advantages of
Turkish rule.
The modern history of Tripoli begins with the
Seleucid monarch, Demetrius I., and the Crusaders took
the city in 1104, when Count Raymond of St. Gilles
built the castle and called it Mount Pilgrim. His
name survives in the Moslem title Sinjil applied to
the fortress, as at his camp, called also Sinjil, on the
road from Jerusalem to Shechem.
Count Raymond is said to have been buried at
Tripoli, and M. Blanche informed me that many years
ago some aged Janissaries survived in that castle, who
knew of a tomb there which may be found some day
to be that of the great Crusader. At present the
castle is a convict prison, Midhât Pasha having re-
64
HETH AND MOAB.
moved the criminals here from Acre: exploration is
therefore not allowed, nor would it be pleasant, if
indeed safe.
The old church of St. John is now a mosque, but
the sacred fishpond preserves the memory of an older
divinity of Atergatis, the Venus who rose from the
sea, the patroness of all Kadesh cities, who has yet
her fishpond in Acre, and who was adored by
Hittites and Phoenicians, as well as at Jerusalem and
Ascalon. The streets of Tripoli are fairly paved, the
Khan and bazaars, with great piles of soap, are pros-
perous, the women are plump and pretty, and in
1881 Mr. Austen, an English engineer, started a
tram from the port, which we found working and
affording endless amusement to the natives. Whether
it continues to amuse them and to pay, I have not
since heard.
The port is said to be the best on the Syrian coast,
better even than Haifa, or than the gusty gulf of
Alexandretta, or the shallow bay of Suweidîyeh. A
tongue of sand and rock runs out, as at Tyre or Sidon,
with a great reef towards the north-west, breaking
the force of the waves. The roadstead is, however,
shallow, not exceeding eight fathoms, and the old
mole from the reef is destroyed above water. The
boatmen of the port are said to differ in physiognomy
and dialect from the landsmen, and are, indeed, almost
Phoenicians. They still call the Eleutherus el Afros,
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
65
though the peasantry know it only as 'the Great
River.'
Turning eastwards, we see the town rising on a low
hill above its orchards, with their cactus hedges, and
backed by the steep Lebanon, veiled in mist. The
river, about twenty to thirty yards wide, is spanned
by two bridges, and is very rapid. One of the bridges
in the middle of the town is flanked by little shops,
resting on wooden brackets, so that when passing
along the street the visitor is unaware that he crosses
the stream.
Following the gorge of this sacred river, past
orange gardens, and vineyards between cactus hedges,
and under the dark-brown walls of the castle built on
the foundations of the old Mount Pilgrim, we reached
the white monastery of the Malawiyeh, or Dancing
Derwishes, an order recruited from among the respect-
able shop-keeping class, its members only distinguish-
able by the high cap of light-brown felt, in shape a
truncated cone, sometimes wound round with a green
turban. There are at Tripoli twenty Derwishes in
all, and the monastery is their club, to which they
resort every Friday to dance.
The revolutions of this sect have been often
described, but a few notes respecting the symbolism
and character of the dance may perhaps not be
considered superfluous. On Friday, 15th April, we
witnessed the ceremony, which takes place in the
5
66
HETH AND MOAB.
Liwân, or arched chamber, opening to the air on the
north, with a spectators' room on the east, and a
gallery above this for the musicians.
We were
courteously greeted in the Diwân, a separate building
to the north, with a view over the lovely gorge with
its rushing stream, and were then assigned places
close to the wooden railing on a level with the
parqueted floor where the Derwishes dance. The
male Moslem spectators had a gallery on the south,
and all the children of Tripoli, Christian and Moslem,
seemed to be scrambling behind us.
A poor member, or lay brother, was in charge of
the floor, which was swept clean. He allowed none
of the spectators to smoke, and even took away the
children's sweetmeats, for the solemnity of the cere
mony is quite equal to that of any rite in a mosque
or a Christian church. Bare-footed, he paced the
floor, and most good-naturedly he chid the young
men and children. Opposite to us, in a gallery
behind a thick wooden lattice, we could distinguish
white veils, while a few fingers, tipped with henna,
were at times thrust through, and other women looked.
down from windows in the dome above. About 2:15,
P.M., twelve Derwishes entered, bare-footed, followed
by the Sheikh. They were good-looking men of all
ages, one of the number being quite a child. They
had their conical hats on, and long cloaks, beneath
which they held the skirts of the white dancing-robe.
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
67
Eight of the cloaks were black, one green, and others
grey, perhaps indicating degrees of initiation. They
stood round the floor, facing south-west, and in this
corner a sheepskin rug, dyed blue (the sacred colour
in Tripoli), was placed on the floor. All but the
Sheikh and one other were barefooted: the latter was
an old man, who wore kid boots with a soft sole.
They stood with the great toe of the right foot placed
over the great toe of the left, the legs being close
together. This is a very ancient attitude of contem-
plation in India and elsewhere.
The Sheikh, who came last, was an ugly fat man,
with a snub nose; he had a green turban round his
hat, and wore a russet-coloured robe of fine stuff, with
very long loose sleeves, which covered his hands,
crossed in front. All the ring were now standing,
holding up their skirts under their robes, the eldest
member to the left of the Sheikh, who stood on the
sheepskin, and the rest in order of age. They had
washed their feet, and their beards were well trimmed,
so that there was no touch of wild or grotesque appear-
ance in their mien, such as is to be remarked among
the wanderers of other orders.
Silence was enforced on the native crowd, and the
Sheikh, having bowed to the south-west, stepped on
the
rug with heeled boots, and faced his followers. The
whole thirteen then prostrated themselves, with their
foreheads against the floor, and afterwards sat down in
}
5-2
68
HETH AND MOAB.
Oriental fashion, their arms folded under their cloaks.
A single voice was then heard chanting in the gallery
above us, and the Sheikh, still seated, recited a prayer,
his hands raised with the palms to the face and the
fingers upright. The twelve then kissed the floor, and
a hymn, invoking 'Aly and other Moslem saints was
sung from the gallery.
The soft music of a flute was next heard, and the
Sheikh rose, and followed by the rest, one by one they
solemnly perambulated the floor three times against
the sun.
Each in turn bowed to the blue rug, then
took two long strides past it, and turning back bowed
to the Derwish who followed. The walk of all was a
sort of gliding motion, the feet sliding or dragging
along the floor.
The towâf, or perambulation, completed, the cloaks
were removed by the owner of the green cloak, and
eight dervishes stood ready to dance in white dresses
tight fitting to the body, but with a full skirt to the
ground, the hem heavily weighted with lead. The dress
of one, who afterwards danced in the centre (and who
had been the keeper of the floor till the rest arrived),
was green, of a dull tint. The dancers stood with
one foot on the other as before, and with the
arms crossed on their breasts, the right above the left.
The first to the Sheikh's left turned to bow to that
dignitary, and then raised and kissed his right hand,
while the Sheikh appeared to breathe on his brow;
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES.
69
and, thus inspired, in perfect silence he began to re-
volve in an orbit against the sun, and spinning also
against the sun on his own axis. The seven others
followed until all eight were in motion, revolving
slowly round the room without ever coming in
collision or losing their relative position. Their long
robes gradually expanded into discs, or cones, and
their hands were slowly raised to the shoulder, and
then carried outwards until the arms were nearly
horizontal, the right hand having the palm upwards
and the left downwards. The head was at times re-
clined almost on the right shoulder, the eyes half-
closed, and the appearance not unlike that of a
mesmeric trance. The motion was due to turning on
the sole or heel of the left foot, the right being
brought round in front. If the reader will try he will
soon find how much practice is required to attain to
such even motion as was necessary to keep in
position.
The whole eight moved twice round the orbit in
about six or seven minutes, and the number of revolu-
tions of each dancer on his own axis we calculated to
be about two hundred. During the dance the oldest
derwish moved slowly among the performers, and
seemed silently to criticize their style. The Sheikh
stood on his carpet reciting a whispered prayer, with a
troubled air suggestive of mesmeric concentration,
though this may have been merely a fancy. The
70
HETH AND MOAB.
musicians in the gallery sang in discordant voices, and
with accompaniment of tambourine, tabor, and flute.
At length, the second revolution complete, the tam-
bourine gave a sharp clash, and all the dancers
stopped, although one or two gave a few extra turns
in their places. It should be noticed that the green-
robed dancer had gradually moved to the middle of the
ring, where he remained spinning as a centre, with
seven satellites. The time of the music was about
that of a slow waltz, and the revolutions thirty to the
minute.
The dance having been arrested, the performers
remained in their original positions with crossed arms.
They stood quite still, perspiring a little, and panting,
but not more exhausted than a European after a
waltz, and apparently free from giddiness. A long
chant was sung by a single voice in the gallery, and
then, after a rest of a few minutes, they began again
as before, dancing round the central green-coated
member. A third dance followed a second interval,
and then the eldest Derwish gave over and received
his cloak. The rest performed a fourth time, each
dance consisting of two complete revolutions in the
orbit. After the last round one member appeared
much exhausted. They prostrated themselves, kneel-
ing with their heads on the floor, which they kissed,
and the Sheikh then uttered a prayer. They then
received their cloaks from the green-coated member,
'THE LAND OF THE HITTITES?
71
and all stood up in place. The senior kissed the
Sheikh's hand, and then stood on his right. The
next kissed the hands of both, and stood again to the
right, and the others followed in order, each kissing the
hands of all his superiors, so that the boy of about
thirteen years
years of age kissed the hand of twelve
seniors; each superior also appeared to kiss or
breathe on the forehead of the inferiors, who saluted
him, and thus at length they were all drawn up,
facing north, with the Sheikh on the left. Another
prayer followed, concluded by a general Amen, which
sounded like the buzzing of a swarm of flies disturbed
suddenly, and then in order they walked slowly out,
the Sheikh in front, and put on their slippers and
dispersed. It was about 3.15, P.M., so that the whole
ceremony lasted just an hour.
During the ceremony a sweetmeat fell on the floor,
and was removed by the boy at a silent sign from the
Sheikh. A black cat also strayed into the circle, and
received a gentle hint from the toe of one of the
Derwishes; but the reverent decorum of the pro-
ceedings was never broken, and not a sound save
that of prayers and music was heard.
This ceremony was far more interesting and
suggestive than any ordinary Zikr, such as is seen in
any Syrian town, when the circle of performers repeat
the formula 'no God but God,' until they fall foaming
at the mouth. It contrasts with the fury of the
72
HETH AND MOAB.
Howling Derwishes at Stamboul, who tread on sickly
children laid at their feet, and with the disgusting
eating of scorpions and snakes by the Bedawi sect in
Damascus, who tread on coals, or, like Hindu fanatics,
endure the bath of fire poured from a brazier on their
heads. We could not doubt that the ancient dance
we witnessed was that of the Cabiri, the seven great
ones,' or planetary gods revolving round the green
centre of the terrestrial globe. The Malawiyeh are a
sect of Persian origin and considerable antiquity, the
richest and best recruited of the Derwish orders,
whose mosque at Konieh, in Lycaonia, contains the
tomb of Hazret Moulana, their original leader. Sacred
dances and symbolic processions are so common in
India that it may be from an Aryan rather than a
Semitic source that the ceremony is derived, but the
perambulation of sacred shrines is apparently men-
tioned in the Old Testament itself as a religious
ceremony performed by a Hebrew prophet: while the
towûf at Mecca is a procession round the shrine said,
even by Moslem writers, to be symbolic of the move-
ments of the heavenly bodies. The dance can now be
only witnessed in Syria at Tripoli, and at Damascus,
as well as at Konieh in Asia Minor. The modern
performers have possibly lost all tradition of the
original meaning, and regard it only as a sacred duty.
CHAPTER III.
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
THE road from Tripoli to Beyrout is one so little
known to tourists that it will perhaps be not too
hackneyed a subject for description, and the reflec-
tions roused by a visit to Phoenicia, and an examina-
tion of one of the finest collections of Phoenician
antiquities, forms an instructive sequel to the explora-
tion of the Hittite country.
Four miles south of Tripoli is the site of Marina,
where a cliff, covered with fresco, exists above a ledge
or platform of rock, in which are sunk several graves.
This place seems to have been a hermitage, where
the monks or hermits were also buried, and the
frescoes, judging from the character of the inscrip-
tions, would belong to the twelfth or thirteenth
century. They originally told the whole legend of a
certain abbot, with a representation of the Annuncia-
tion, and another of St. George. They have been
rudely painted over at a later period with Greek
74
HETH AND MOAB.
C
frescoes and larger inscriptions, the names of John, of
Demetrius, and of the Mother of God' being legible
above the smaller lettering. The rock is thus a sort
of palimpsest of medieval times. Such frescoes are
very rare in Palestine, and are becoming rarer; those
at Kasr Hajlah in the Jordan valley, preserved in the
Survey Memoirs, have since been entirely destroyed.
At the ruined monastery in the Kelt valley there is
another cliff, which once, like that of Marîna, was
covered with cement and painted with frescoes left
exposed to the weather. Votive lamps appear to be
still burned at Marîna, and there is a monastery of
St. James in the hills above.
Passing next Kalmôn, the Calamos of Pliny, we
reach the great promontory of Râs Shakka, some
fourteen miles from Tripoli. The country is here ex-
tremely rough, consisting of hard dolomite, which
stands up in grey pillars like giants turned to stone.
The promontory of Shakka rises above this formation
in a bold white cliff, not unlike that at Dover, with a
little sandy bay to the north. This is the old
Theouprosopon, or 'face of God,' a northern Penuel,
which, no doubt, was so named by Phoenician sailors
on the western sea. Here, climbing up over the soapy
marl, we take our last view of Tripoli, and descend
into the picturesque gorge of the River of Nuts.' The
ridge which ends in this cliff is called the Hill of
Light,' probably because it shines so white over the
C
C
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
75
wine-coloured sea; the ravine is commanded by a
little fort on the crag in its midst, once a famous
haunt of robbers, but now a station of the smart
Lebanon police. Emerging through gardens beside
the stream, we reach the shore again at Batrûn, nearly
twenty miles from Tripoli, a little Christian town of
two thousand souls. It is the Phoenician Botrys,
founded in Nebuchadnezzar's time, earlier than Aradus,
as a frontier fortress. The inhabitants were busy
with their Easter cakes, and appeared to be chiefly
Maronites.
On the 17th of April we rode from Batrûn thirty-
five miles to Beyrout, under continual storms of rain
and hail. The start was by the fitful light of the
setting moon, as she broke through the dark velvet of
the low cloud-banks. The silver streak across the
sea, the black boulders in the foreground, the roar of
the waves in the darkness, made a romantic scene,
which slowly vanished as the pale light rose in the
east, and the silver faded from the waters. The
moon-shadows, gradually disappeared as the light spread
and the clouds became whiter; the queen of heaven
hid for a moment in their banks, and emerged again
pale and shadowy as by day, turned to stone by the
glory of the Eastern monarch, as he suddenly peered
over the dark mountains.
The inhabitants of the villages were all celebrating
the Easter-tide in their churches, and we met hardly a
76
HETH AND MOAB.
soul by the way. At length, the shallow bay of
Jibeil came in view, with an open beach and a town
with walls perhaps some three centuries old. A
castle stood high above the water, and, together with
the Church of St. John towards the west, belongs to
the twelfth century. Passing by a huge sarcophagus,
which looks as if thrown up by the waves on the
beach, we enter the famous, but half-deserted, town,
and find the streets lined with great shafts of grey
syenite from Egypt, some supporting verandas and
trellises for creeping vines. Four miles to the south
is the Nahr Ibrahim, the
ancient sacred river of
Adonis, which we found swirling rapidly, a reddish
turbid stream, with broad margin of reeds and rushes.
From the theatre of rocks at Afka, high up on Lebanon,
with its groves and cascades, the sacred river plunges
down its deep gorge and hastens to the sea. Jibeil,
Afka, and Baalbek are almost in one line in the
direction of the summer sunset and the winter sunrise,
and not far east of Jibeil the old temple of Adonis
was excavated by Renan, while Phoenician antiquities
abound on every side.
Here, then, we find ourselves at the very centre of
the Phoenician worship, the holy Byblos, the city of
Adonis and Osiris. The great coffin by the shore
might to the imagination be the one which, covered
with sea-weed, was washed by the waves from Egypt,
and stranded at Byblos. It held, says the myth, the
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
77
mutilated body of Osiris, and it was made a pillar of
the King's house till the faithful Isis, having vainly
flitted over the Serbonian swamp, followed her lord to
Phoenicia, and restored to life the limbs mangled by
the dark northern Typhon. It was here that Philo, the
sacerdotal recorder of Phoenician legends, was born,
and already in Ezekiel's time (xxvii. 9) the Giblites,
or men of the mountain, were famous as shipbuilders;
and possibly in David's time, with the men of Tyre, as
masons (cf. 1 Kings v. 18, margin).
Here, also, at midsummer, the women went out to the
river to bewail Adonis ('their lord'), or Tammuz ('the Son
of Life'), and feigning to find his head in the sea, or
his infant form in a cradle of papyrus on the waters,
rejoiced to celebrate his new birth. The cradle was
fabled to come, like the coffin of Osiris, from Egypt,
where the Alexandrian women had, with tears, com-
mitted it to the waves. Not only does Lucian tell us
this, but a Phoenician scarabæus represents the cere-
mony, and in Isaiah (xviii. 2) we find the Egyptian
land thus denounced: Woe to the land,' says the
prophet, that sendeth ambassadors by the sea in
vessels of bulrushes upon the waters,' and Procopius
already perceives the true meaning of the passage.
C
At Afka, the ancient Aphek, named from the
'springs' (such being still the Syriac meaning of the
word), stood till Constantine's time the shrine of the
mourning Venus, with its booths for the Temple-conse-
78
HETH AND MOAB.
crated women, who resembled exactly the votaries at
Indian shrines, or in the fane of Anu among the Acca-
dians. The image had her hands wrapped in her robe,
and into the sacred spring by her temple fell every year
the star or heavenly fire called Urania. Her votaries
cut off their long tresses in grief for Tammuz, who,
born from the bitter tree' (Amos viii. 10), which was
torn open by the boar, was again slain at midsummer
by the same boar, so that his blood dyed red the
sacred river of Adonis, and the crimson anemone by
its banks.
'
It was no cold maiden of the dawn like Athene
who was here adored, but the great mother (Mylitta),
who rises from the waters, whether typified by the
moon, the planet, or the star Sirius-the queen of
heaven and of men, who, treading on her shell, her
tortoise, or her goat in Syria, becomes the bearded
Venus in Cyprus and dwells in the conical stone.
Coming from the Red Sea these hardy traders bore
their goddess with them; and the myth of Tammuz,
the feast of the 'sun-hiding' at the 'fulness of the
year,' the weeping and rejoicing, the marriage of
Ashtoreth to her lover, Dumzi, were all known in
Chaldea before the Mediterranean was reached. So
also was that variant of the story, which represented
Adonis (or Izdubar) as irresponsive to the love of the
goddess, and the tale of the sad descent of Ishtar-the
waning of the moon-when in hell she was shorn of
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
79
6
her glorious apparel, but received power through the
water of life to rise and live again.
Like most travelling and trading nations, the
Phoenicians were, however, very sensitive to foreign
teaching, and they took from Greece and Egypt as
much as they gave.
From Phoenicia, it is true,
Greece first received the story of Venus and Adonis,
the flood of Deucalion, the legend of Kadmus, the
· Eastern' man. The forms now known as those of
the earliest Greek alphabet bear out the assertion of
Herodotus that Greece owed her knowledge of
writing and the sixteen Cadmean letters to Phoeni-
cia. Dionysus, Heracles, Cybele-Cabira, Asklepios,
Palaimon, Atergatis, and some even say Poseidon,
were deities borrowed from Phoenicia by the Ionians;
but in return the custom of circumcision was discon-
tinued by the Phoenician sailors in consequence of
Greek derision.
The connection of Phoenicia, the 'purple land,' with
Egypt, dates back to the times of the eighteenth
dynasty at least, when its inhabitants were known as
Kaft, Khar (or Khal), and Fenek. The Semitic
Adonis had appeared as the sun-god, Aten, in Egypt,
in the sixteenth century, B. C., when Ku-en-Aten
established the cultus of his possibly Phoenician
mother. Typhon (the northern one'), Set (the
Hittite god), Athor, the Istar of Babylon, the Ashto-
reth of Gebal, were yet older members of the Semitic
80
HETH AND MOAB.
Pantheon imported into the cycle of the Osiris triad.
But, on the other hand, the Phoenicians failed not to
recognise in Horus and Osiris the same sun deities
whom they called Tammuz or Adonis. Horus
became Khar in their language, and Osiris was Asar.
Phoenician temples to such gods were built of
Egyptian granite, and scarabæi of Egyptian appear-
ance are dug up on the shores of Gebal.
C
On a monument of the time of Ku-en-Aten's grand-
son we see these Phoenician traders bringing presents
of horses, and vessels of gold, silver, blue-stone,
green-stone, and all kinds of jewels,' and accompanied
by little yellow dwarf slaves. They have the hook-
nose and Jewish-looking underlip and swarthy tint
of the Semitic race, and wear no hair on the upper
lip, but only beard and whisker. Some have their
black hair long and thick, with a white cord bound
round it. Some (probably priests) have shaven heads.
Their dress is a white shirt, like that of the fellahîn
of to-day, with a coloured fringe; their presents
include great gold amphoræ, like those of early Ionian
art, an ivory horn tipped with gold, and green vases
with two handles, also very Greek-looking, which may
be of bronze, or perhaps of malachite. A great vulture's
head is also carried on a tray, evidently a symbolic
representation, and one of the bearers has a cross
suspended to his neck, as have also some of the
Assyrian monarchs in the fifteenth century B.C.
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
81
A Phoenician bowl, dating from the eighth century
before our era, was dug up at Olympia, and might
easily be mistaken for Egyptian work. On its inside
the history of the sun is told in four pictures for the
four seasons. In the first we see two goddesses
(Venus and Persephone, Isis and Nephthys), one
standing beside the egg, one suckling the infant hero.
The crescent holding the sun in its embrace is the
sign of the season. The second tablet shows us the
young hero attacking the lion, and the goddess still
beside him. In the third he is weak and faint, while
the goddess offers him (like Parvati) a cup of
ambrosial drink. In the fourth the women rejoice
with pipes, harps, and tambourines, at the approach-
ing birth of the infant, who again appears as the
bowl turns round and the year revolves.
From such legends we may understand how vivid
was the realization of the sun myth among these
dark, hook-nosed traders of the stormy bays beneath
the frowning mountains; and their art tells us of a
wide trade, and of conflicting influences-that of the
Greek to the north, that of Egypt to the south, and
that of their native Chaldea on the east. At Beyrout
we were courteously invited to visit the finest local
collection of Syrian antiquities-that of M. Péretié,
who is since dead-and the Egyptian and Indian
appearance of the mirrors found at various places on
the Phoenician coast, of the scarabæi and seals, was
6
82
HETH AND MOAB.
extremely striking, while with these were discovered
little statuettes of Greek character, representing Venus
in every attitude, sometimes with armlets or collars of
gold.
One of the scarabæi obtained by M. Péretié from
Byblos (Jibeil) was cut out of a fine amethyst, and
some of his bronze heads dug up on the same coast
were remarkable for their negro features. He
possessed also Palmyrene texts, Assyrian bricks, bas-
reliefs of figures resembling Isis and the god Bes,
from Palmyra, with coins of the Seleucidæ, including
one almost unique of the usurper Tryphon, mediæval
signets, a rude ivory idol, French pistols of the seven-
teenth century from Diarbekir, and Cypriote pottery.
The gem of this collection is the bronze plate
found at Palmyra, which represents the history of
the soul according to the belief of Assyrians and
Phoenicians alike. The tablet is crowned by the
tiger-like head of a demon, whose wings, long body,
and bird-like legs occupy the reverse side. He is
apparently one of the evil Mas of the Accadians, and
appears again on the front. On this side are repre-
sented first, with their respective emblems, the seven
planets, as robed figures with beasts' heads, the right
hand raised, the left lowered, as among the Derwishes
in the last chapter. The corpse lies on its bier in the
second line, guarded by two priests or genii, cach
with the fish head-dress of the priests of Ea-the
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
83
creative god of ocean, who in the great Assyrian
triad answers exactly to Vishnu in India and Poseidon
in Greece. To the right the ghost (Utuk) passes safely
to the cavernous abode of the blessed, while the evil
demons, conjured by the priests, turn with lion-heads
and birds'-claws to rend each other. Lowest of all
Nin-ki-gal, the terrible queen of hell, suckling two
cubs and holding two snakes, kneels on the 'death-
horse' in her boat on the infernal river, where ghostly
fish are swimming, and beside which ghostly papyri
are growing. Followed by her dreadful husband,
Mulge, or Moloch, the king of the nether regions, she
approaches the offerings laid on the bank, and the
hideous pair open the great jaws of their lion-heads
to devour the dainties offered by surviving friends of
the deceased.
The Phoenicians, once such favourites among archæ-
ologists, are suffering from the reaction due to the
exaggerated importance previously attaching to their
history. At one time they were credited with almost
every antiquity which could not be otherwise accounted
for. All drafted stones, whether of Greeks, Romans,
Crusaders, or Saracens, were pointed out as having' the
Phoenician bevel,' though there is nothing to show that
Phoenicians ever either bevelled or drafted their masonry.
The great blocks at Baalbek are said to have been laid
by them, although it does not appear why in this case
the remains at Tyre, Byblos (Jibeil), or Sidon, are so
6-2
84
HETH AND MOAB.
much smaller in dimensions. As traders who explored
the Mediterranean coast, founding Carthage and Gades
and Marseilles, passing beyond the Pillars of Hercules,
and long jealously guarding the secret of the tin
islands on our coast, they were so celebrated that
even the bronze celts of Norway and Denmark (pre-
historic relics of early round-headed tribes), and the
dolmens of Cornwall-nay, Stonehenge itself-have
been said to be of Phoenician origin, though there is
no evidence of their having ever settled in England,
or having ever penetrated anywhere near the shores
of the frozen Baltic.
Nearer home they have been confused with the
Philistines, and credited with most of the antiquities
of Southern Palestine; but science is gradually con-
trolling such wild fancies, and reduces this energetic
people to its proper limits. The Philistines were
once also said to come from Crete, because they
were Cherethites; but the Survey map shows us
Keratîya, in Philistia, whence they were named. In
the Bible they are called sons of Mizraim, or of Egypt,
and Philistines, or Pelethites, emigrants,' as the
word is said to mean, from Egypt. The Phoenicians
cannot be said ever to have ruled any great distance
south of Accho, for as far back as history goes
Southern Palestine has belonged either to Egypt, to
Israel, or to Assyria. Ptolemy and Pliny agree that
the Crocodile river, south of Carmel, was the furthest
C
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
85
limit of Phoenicia, as it was also of the purple fisheries,
and they draw the north line at the Eleutherus, or at
the island of Aradus, not much farther north. But
Phoenicia had also her colonies, such as Carthage and
Gades (in Spain), and Phoenician inscribed stones have
been found at Citium, in Cyprus, at Athens, in Malta,
and at Marseilles, as well as at Sidon. In Rhodes,
Crete, Sicily, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Corsica,
and the Cyclades, they were once powerful, and their
mines remain in Samothrace as far north as Thasos,
and perhaps also in Cornwall. But the men who
carved the Moabite stone and the Siloam tablet were
no more Phoenicians, properly so called, than were
those who hewed the Samaritan texts at Shechem, or
struck the Hasmonean coins: for the Phoenician
character is but one of a family of Semitic alphabets,
which includes those of Judæa, Palmyra, Moab, and
Samaria.
However narrowly we may limit the Asiatic bounds
of this stock of hardy sailors who were the first to
learn to sail by the Pole-star, who crossed over from
the Persian Gulf, as Herodotus tells us, and settled
beside the bays and streams of the Mediterranean
coast, there is no doubt of the antiquity of their race,
and of the civilization of their best age.
Although the cosmogonies of Sanchoniathon are not
traced before the fifth century (B.C.) in Phoenicia, his
system is identical with that of Chaldea, and although
86
HETH AND MOAB.
the remains at Umm el 'Amûd are comparatively late,
and the inscribed coffin of Eshmunazar even has been
suspected of being much less ancient than formerly
supposed, while Tyre is not mentioned in the Penta-
teuch, and Sidon only as peopled by sons of Ham;
yet on the other hand the Kaft (who are known from
the bilingual decree of Canopus to be the Phoenicians)
appear as neighbours of the Hittites, according to the
Egyptian monuments, as early as the fourteenth
century B.C.
So much did their power increase in Egypt about this
period, that in the time of one of the last kings of the
nineteenth dynasty, a Phoenician named Arisu usurped
for a short period the royal dignity. Dr. Brugsch be-
lieves that the sailors and fishers of Lake Menzaleh are
descendants of old Phoenician settlers, and the same
may be said of the Neapolitan fishers, and of the
modern Carthaginians.
It
The earliest Phoenician coins are only of the Persian
period, and in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes a coin
of Laodicea has the legend, 'Mother of Canaan,' the
Semitic name, as Herodian states, of Phoenicia.
was by this title also that the Phoenicians of Carthage
still called themselves in the time of Justin, the
original meaning being only that of lowlander.'
6
The most southern purely Phoenician town yet.
known is now called Umm el 'Amûd, marked on the
Survey south of Tyre. This I visited in May, 1881,
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
87
but it had long since been ransacked by Renan. The
remains were, however, not earlier than Greek times,
although a Phoenician votive tablet to Moloch Astarte
was unearthed, and a long text in eight lines, invoking
a blessing from Baal, Lord of Heaven. In Greek
times this site was known as Laodicea, and the old
temple seems to have been consecrated to Hammon.
Possibly this may be the town of Asher, called
Hammon in the Book of Joshua (xix. 28).
The ruins here visible stand on a hill above the
shore, and are half hidden by the copse. The Temple
was apparently 100 feet wide and 180 feet long, with
three walks and a peristyle. It faced north of north-
east, and its pillars are only 18 inches in diameter.
The tombs near the shrine on the north are entered
from the face of the cliff, whereas Tyrian tombs are
all sunk from above. The most interesting remains
on the site are, however, those of two altars, which
almost exactly resemble the so-called 'libation tables'
of the Egyptians preserved in the Bulak Museum.
One of these had an eagle carved on the side, the
other was plain. The first was a block of limestone
three and a half feet high, and five feet by three feet
at the top; it had two flat basins, a foot square and a
few inches deep, sunk in the upper surface. The
second was three feet high and two feet eight inches
square, with a single basin of the same size as in the
former. No doubt on these ancient altars now
88
HETH AND MOAB.
tumbled over on the hill-side, libations to Ashtoreth
were often poured before Alexander came to break the
power of Tyre.
But if Gebal were sacred to the woes of Istar, not
less holy was the great Temple of Hercules or Mel-
karth (the City King') at Tyre; and it may not be
superfluous here to add some results of a visit of
several days' duration which I paid to Tyre in May,
1881, with a view of examining on the spot the
startling conclusions which were reached by Renan,
and which seemed to me to contradict all that we
know of Phoenician and Syrian antiquity, especially
in respect to the extent of the ancient city and the
position of its necropolis.
The priests of Melkarth told Herodotus that Tyre
was founded at a date representing 2750 B.C.; but
Josephus makes it only as old as 1250 B.C. That
the original city was on an island, joined to the main-
land by the mole made during the siege by Alexander, is
generally allowed; but the three points to be settled
were the position of the Egyptian Harbour mentioned
by Strabo, the site of the great Temple of Melkarth,
and that of the ancient cemetery and of Palætyrus.
On each of these points our visit seems to me to have
thrown considerable light.
Although doubted by some recent writers, there can
be no reasonable difficulty as to the Egyptian port.
It exists on the south side of the double island on
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
89
which Tyre was built; but in order to properly survey
its limits, it is necessary that the explorer should
swim or row out to what appears to be a natural reef
bounding the port. The plan published in the
appendix to the Survey Memoirs shows that the area
of this southern harbour, formed by a great mole on
reefs, is quite equal to that of the northern or Sidonian
port, and although both are very small, there is no
reason to suppose they were ever larger. The Tyre
harbours have an area of about 12 acres each; but
the great port of Sidon is not more than 20 acres
in extent. That at Cæsarea is 10 acres, and those at
Joppa and Jamnia are even smaller. The Tyrian
ships were no doubt small, but so were the Viking
galleys, and so are the craft which cross the stormy
German Ocean to our eastern ports. To the stout
seamen of old the smallness of their vessels was not
so evident as it is to ourselves, and thus the most
famous harbours of the ancient world are so small that
a single ironclad even could perhaps not have safely
entered the ports of Tyre or Sidon even before they
had been filled up purposely by Fakr ed Dîn.
As regards the Temple of Melkarth on the island,
there seems to me also little reason to doubt that its
site is marked by the ruins of the great Crusading
cathedral. This edifice, though just outside the little
modern town, is in the very middle of the ancient
double island, and on the highest part. It is oriented
90
HETH AND MOAB.
curiously enough on the line of the hill of Neby
M'ashûk on the mainland (the site of the Temple of
Heracles Astrochiton), and inside its walls lies a
magnificent monolith 27 feet long, forming a double
pillar, like those found in the ruins of Jerâsh and in
the angles of the Galilean synagogues, each half-
column being three and a half feet in diameter. There
are remains of a second similar shaft, and also of
single pillars of syenite. Other red granite columns
of similar dimensions have been taken away by the
Crusaders, and built as thoroughbonds into their city
walls, or thrown down to form jetties in the southern
harbour.
Now the granite came no doubt from Egypt; but
the column is of a style quite unlike any Gothic work
in Syria. No other church of the twelfth century in
Palestine has such a twin shaft, and its proportions
are quite out of keeping with the small masonry of
the cathedral walls, and with the white limestone
capitals which seem to have been cut by the Crusaders
to cap the granite pillars. Considering how constant
was the Phoenician' intercourse with Egypt, and how
often the red and grey granite is found in Phoenician
towns, we are justified in supposing it probable that
these shafts belonged to the Temple of Melkarth, and
that it was erected on this very spot, and directed to
face the sacred knoll on the mainland to the east,
where stood a shrine which, as the Tyrians told
THE LAND OF PURPLE,
91
Alexander, was older than that on the island. Con-
sidering how constantly Christian churches were built
on pagan sacred sites, reconsecrating at Rome, or even
perhaps at Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the cave of
Mithra or the hill of Venus, we need not wonder that
the old church, said to hold the bones of Origen, and
the medieval cathedral which replaced it, each pre-
served in their time the memory of the site of
Melkarth's granite fane.
The shrine of Neby M'ashûk, or the 'Lover Pro-
phet,' stands conspicuous on its isolated knoll, east of
the island, about forty feet above the plain. There
is a perpendicular cliff beneath the little domed build-
ing on the east side of the knoll, and a palm stands
beside the double dome. On the north side rude rock
steps lead up the slope, and on the north-west are
rock-sunk Tyrian tombs. The aqueduct from the
south passes close by the south side of the hill, and a
legend attaches to the spot of a cave full of honey in the
hill, which appears, however, to be mythical. Clearly
we have here also a Phoenician holy place with a
Phoenician cemetery—no doubt the Temple of Heracles
Astrochiton of the time of Alexander. So fascinating
was this divinity, that every woman who saw him fell
in love with him; but his wife is now buried beside
him, and no doubt looks after his ghost.
M. Renan would apparently have us believe that
Paletyrus, the city on the shore, stretched as an open
92
HETH AND MOAB.
suburb all along the coast from Râs el 'Ain on the
south to the Kasimyeh river on the north, which
would make a city one quarter the size of London;
but all we know of Paletyrus is the statement of
Strabo that it was twenty stadia south of Tyre, which
points to the site of the fine reservoirs at Râs el 'Ain.
The aqueduct thence is perhaps as old as Shalmanezer's
time, for he cut off its supply in besieging the island,
so that the defenders had only their cisterns to de-
pend on. No doubt the cemetery of Tyrian tombs.
east of Neby M'ashûk is an old Phoenician necropolis,
but it is quite unnecessary to suppose that the city
of Tyre therefore extended to the hills. Those who
were buried at this cemetery (called el Lawâtîn, or the
'lime-kilns') no doubt desired to be entombed as near
as rock could be found to the temple at Neby M'ashûk,
but it should be noted that the account of this site,
given by Renan, is greatly exaggerated. The 'im-
mense hypogees' are in some cases only quarry pits,
never roofed; in others they are excavations for chalk
or marl, used to make lime and for roofing houses.
They are not old, for in some cases they have Tyrian
tombs near their roofs, half broken away. Clearly, as
at other sites, the quarrymen found it easier to enlarge
the opening already existing in an old tomb-chamber,
than to work the indurated face of the rock. The
caves cannot compare with those at Beit Jibrîn, and
their name seems rightly to explain their origin.
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
93
But if the Tyrians were not here buried, where (it may
be asked) was their cemetery? This question we may, I
think, now answer. They were buried on the island,
where the modern cemetery now exists, south of the
town. Tyrian tombs consist of a chamber with kokim,
or tunnels for single bodies, running in from the walls
-three or four on each side of the chamber, as in
Jewish tombs of the earliest period; but there is an
essential difference between the two, for the Jewish
chamber was reached by a little door from one side,
the entrance being cut in the face of a cliff
or steep slope. The Phoenician, on the other hand,
like the Egyptian, sunk a shaft down from the flat top
of the rock, and placed his chamber at the bottom,
filling the shaft no doubt with stones, or covering it
with a slab. Thus, while the Jewish tomb remains
still recoverable, though rifled, the Phoenician is hidden
as soon as a little rubbish has gathered over the rock.
Curiously enough, we were able to prove this, and to
show where one Tyrian, at least, was buried on the
island, for in the cliff of the little bay in the south-
west angle of the double island is a hole, and through
this it is just possible to squeeze into a small cavern
called the Champion's Cave,' about ten feet by eight,
and eleven high. Looking up, we could see the shaft
which was the original entrance, covered with flat
slabs, which are hid beneath the soil in which the
modern graves are dug. The champion's grave had
94
HETH AND MOAB.
been plundered by some former visitor, and only the
place where his sarcophagus lay could be seen; but
on the top of the cliffs, which are about thirty or forty
feet high, a large sarcophagus is still lying. To prove
our contention more completely, excavations in the
cemetery would be necessary; but as single tombs are
rare, and the site of any necropolis generally immu-
table in the East, we may fairly consider that this dis-
covery indicates the site of the old Tyrian cemetery.
Such a suburb as M. Renan would have us suppose
is not indicated by any existing ruins, and has no
parallel in Syria. Jerusalem at its greatest, when its
suburbs had run far north, beyond the second wall, only
covered about 300 acres; and so narrow are the streets
of Oriental cities, that large populations are huddled
in very little space. Sidon, Ascalon, Samaria,
Shechem-all ancient sites of famous cities by which
it is possible to form a judgment-show us only a
small area concentrated round some central strong-
hold in positions defensible before gunpowder was
invented. There is no parallel to the huge Egyptian
city of Memphis, in Syria, and Tyre on its island was
no larger than Sidon or Joppa.
The almost complete disappearance of Paletyrus is
easily accounted for. Josephus says that in 332 B.C.
Alexander the Great used up its stones to build the
great causeway whereby he finally joined the island
to the main shore, and this great work, now hidden
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
95
beneath an isthmus of sand, would easily have
swallowed up an entire town.
Not, however, by its area, which cannot have ex-
ceeded about an hundred acres, must we judge the
importance of the city of Tyre. The account of its
trade given by Ezekiel (xxvii.), six centuries before
Christ, shows how wide a range Phoenician commerce
then embraced. The Grecian Archipelago sent its
silks Persia and Nubia, the Cimmerians, Ionia and
Tarshish, the Moschi, the Armenians, were among its
traders. The carbuncles of Syria, the spices of
Yemen, the riches of Mesopotamia, were thither
brought, with scented woods from India, no doubt
forwarded by caravans along the old line from Iran :
the wine of Helbon, the wrought iron from Asia
Minor, the flocks of the Syrian Arabs, cedar from
Lebanon, oaks of Bashan, or firs from the Hermon
sandstones, all found a market at Tyre. Nay, even
the 'souls of men' were sold by the Phoenicians, and
a high price was paid by Egyptian nobles for male and
female slaves from the land of the Khar, whether
as private slaves or as servants in temples. But their
glory was broken down by the Babylonian and the
Greek, and though now a dull town with a population
of 5,000 souls, Metâwileh and Christian, Tyre was
found by the travellers who visited it early in the
century a deserted ruin, 'a place for the spreading of
nets in the midst of the sea' (Ezekiel xxvi. 5).
96
HETH AND MOAB.
6
There is a remarkable passage in the same book of
Ezekiel (xxviii. 12), which seems perhaps to refer to
Melkarth, the City King,' or Hercules of Tyre. Take
up a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus,' it reads,
'and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah Elohim; Thou
sealest up
up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in
beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God;
every precious stone was thy covering. Thou wert
the anointed cherub that covereth (or defendeth); and
I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain
of Elohim; thou hast walked up and down in the midst
of the stones of fire.' The whole passage seems rather
to point to an acquaintance with the symbolism of
Tyrian Sun-worship, which it condemns, than to any
mortal monarch.
In connection with this idea may be mentioned a
very interesting gem belonging to Dr. William
Wright, the Secretary of the Bible Society, and
recently described by him, although without any
attempt to explain its symbolism. It presents just
that mixture of Egyptian and Assyrian features which
is common on Phoenician seals (as, for instance, on
that brought home by Prince Albert Victor of Wales
in 1882). A human figure with a disc in his hand is
flanked by a hawk-headed cherub on one side, and by
a scarabæus on the other. The hawk is the emblem
of Horus: the beetle is Cheper, the 'setting sun.' We
have thus the group of three, which in Egypt
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
97
represent the rising, mid-day, and setting sun. The
inscription in Phoenician letters reads Ani or Aneh,
which may be compared with the Assyrian Anu,
the eldest of the great triad of their Pantheon. If
this explanation is correct, we find the rising sun
represented as a cherub in Phoenicia, and have thus
a remarkable confirmation of the suggestion just
mentioned respecting the King of Tyre.'
C
Tyre (the rock') was essentially a holy city to the
Phoenicians. Here Ashtoreth was born, rising on her
shell from the deep. Here fell her star or thunder-
bolt on the island which it consecrated. Here, under-
neath the sea, were the two great menhirs called
ambrosial stones, and believed to have divine souls,
and these, though no man ever saw them, are shown
on Tyrian coins. Here Heracles, who was but a local
Adonis, reigned supreme. Here also his dog fished
the first murex from the water, and its purple was
seen to dye the dog's mouth, whence arose the pros-
perity of the city favoured by Melkarth. Here
games were instituted in honour of the 'waking of
Heracles,' or the new birth of Tammuz; and here the
great temple rose with its pillar of malachite (or of
verde antique), its never-failing altar flame, its white-
robed priests, with shaven heads. Women were no
doubt excluded from its precincts, as in the sister
shrine at Gades, and swine forbidden to the votaries,
in memory of the boar that slew the solar Tammuz,
7
98
HETH AND MOAB.
that same black boar which, under the name of
Typhon, swallowed the shining eye of Horus in Egypt,
where its flesh was equally abhorred by the Egyptian
priests.
In the Valley of Figs,' south-east of Tyre, there
is a tomb over which is a carving in relief, belonging
probably to the later Phoenician period. Guérin
(with less than his usual exactitude) speaks of it as
a figure of a shepherd with sheeps'-heads in crowns
round it. In 1881 I made a careful drawing on the
spot. The bas-relief is surrounded by a projecting
frame, and this measures two feet in height by one
and a half feet in width. The figure, much defaced,
represents a man in a long robe, and a sort of
arabesque of vine leaves (mistaken for sheep's heads
set in circles), runs up each side within the frame.
To the left the vine springs from an amphora, to the
right from a dog-like animal crouching at the feet of
the figure. As he has no crook or other sign of his
profession, it is rather bold to call him a shepherd, and
the ornamentation resembles the work on Jewish
tombs at 'Abûd, or on the lintels at Semu'a, south of
Hebron. The rock on which the carving occurs
measures six feet by four feet, and a tomb shaft is
visible below. It appeared to me more probable that
the figure (unless, indeed, it be that of the person
here buried) represents the Tyrian Hercules, with his
dog at his feet. The vine is always intimately con-
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
99
nected with such solar deities, as in the case of
Dionysus, also a Semitic divinity.
But sterner rites were observed in time of trouble,
of famine, drought, or siege, at Tyre. The Tyrians.
during Alexander's siege sought to appease their
angry god by sacrificing a child, and in his infernal
aspect the Moloch or 'King' of Tyrus no doubt often
received such victims. Wherever the Phoenicians
travelled, in Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, and Sardinia, we
trace this bloody rite. When, in the sixth century
B.C., Carthage was founded as a colony of Tyre, human
sacrifice and the rites of the Succoth Benoth became
so prominent, that a yearly victim, was offered there
(as also at Laodicea) to Ashtoreth; and a brazen image
(like that described in Tophet by the Rabbis) received
the child in its scorching arms, whence it slid to the
furnace within, as Diodorus relates. Even down to
the time of the Proconsul Tiberius the custom
held, until he hanged the priests of Carthage on the
trees of their own sacred grove, as Tertullian tells
us. Nor can we doubt the reality of these cruel
facts when we remember that human sacrifice, accord-
ing to Pliny, was only abolished in Rome in 87 B.C.
The memory of such deeds yet lingers in the minds
of the peasantry when they ignorantly accuse the
Jews of annually slaying a Christian child at the Pass-
over—a calumny widespread in Syria, Asia Minor,
and Egypt, even now. And whenever our imagina-
7-2
100
HETH AND MOAB.
tion becomes enchanted by the myths of pagan
systems, we should remember that their creeds were
not always beautiful and poetic, but barbarously
cruel and shameless.
What measure of independence was enjoyed by the
petty Kings of Tyre and Sidon we cannot easily
judge. Certain it is that the sea-coast was a high
road for the armies of Egypt in the fourteenth
century B.C., for the Dog River, north of Beyrout,
still shows us three Egyptian bas-reliefs, including
one of Rameses II., while six Assyrian sculptures
indicate the return current from Euphrates, when
the Eastern Monarchy became strongest. In the
reign of Rameses II., also, we find the Mohar, or
Egyptian tax-gatherer, driving his chariot from the
land of the Hittites down the Tyrian coast, but
whether he got any tribute, or was only a court
messenger, does not appear. On their rocky island
the Tyrians might remain safely shut up while an
army passed along the shore, just as Joshua did not
burn the cities that stood still in their strength'
(xi. 13); but it is perhaps more probable that the
Phoenicians were regularly allied to Egypt, at least
after the time of the battle of Kadesh.
6
The pride of Tyre has fallen, yet the old race can
scarce be said to be extinct. The sailors of Tripoli
are still Phoenician in feature and dialect; the sacred
fish of Ashtoreth are preserved at Acre and Tripoli ;
Maou
THE LAND OF PURPLE.
ΙΟΙ
the votaries of the goddess were forbidden to eat
fish at all, and even yet the so-called Moslems who
make pilgrimages to offer gifts at these ponds
jealously forbid that the sacred carp should be
devoured. We no longer see the fish-like Oannes
or Dagon, the lord of corn and of the plough (like the
creative Ea in Assyria), carved at the wayside shrine,
but his name is preserved in more than one Beth
Dagon yet; and the dome of Neby Yunas, though now
supposed to mark where Jonah was thrown up by
the great fish, no doubt replaces a Tyrian temple of
Hercules, who was swallowed alive by the whale, or of
Dagon, half man, half fish. We no longer hear of
Eshmun (the eighth ') as ruling the Cabiri, yet the
symbolic dance of the planets survives, as we have
noted in the last chapter. The name of Reseph of
Egypt, Phoenicia, and Cyprus, the satyr-like husband
of Anat, a thunderer' and a rain-giver, with
deer's horns, is still commemorated at the town
of Arsuf, as M. Clermont Ganneau points out, com-
paring him to Horus and Saint George, to which
names hundreds of others, Semitic and Aryan, might
have been added. The sacred trees and stone heaps
are still preserved, and the shrines stand as of old on
the mountain tops. The feasts of Hercules are said
still to be celebrated at Tyre, and Thoth or Set, the
'pillar god,' common to Hittite, Egyptian and Phoeni-
cian, reappears as the Prophet Seth. We can indeed
C
102
HETH AND MOAB.
C
hardly claim for the modern native of the Purple
Land' more than this, that while, on the one hand,
he has lost in civilization, in power, and in wealth,
he, on the other, no longer offers his children to a
wrathful deity, nor sacrifices his daughter to con-
secrated shame.
CHAPTER IV.
THE LAND OF SIHON.
THE object of the present volume is to describe, not
the difficulties encountered, but the results gained,
during our explorations in Syria in the years 1881 and
1882; but it may here be noted that most anxious
delays had to be encountered in consequence of the
attitude of the Turkish Government, and that all
that was done was accomplished in the teeth of the
categorical refusal of the authorities to permit either
Survey or any other kind of exploration. I, for one,
do not feel disposed to condemn the Sultan's Govern-
ment for so acting. They had seen such exploration
secretly carried out by the Power they have most
reason to fear in Northern Syria; they had just
suffered the loss of the province of Tunis, suddenly
wrested from their hands; they were aware that
trouble (partly of their own making, it is true) was
brewing in Egypt, and that French and Russian
intrigue was rife throughout Syria. It was, then,
104
HETH AND MOAB.
not unnatural that they should regard with suspicion
the long and familiar intercourse of an English party
settled among the disaffected Arab tribes, or dwelling
amid the rebellious Druzes. There is no doubt that
it was a time ill-suited for scientific research, and,
indeed, far more so than that during which the
Western Survey was completed, for in 1877 we were
in high favour at Constantinople, and, although war
was being carried on in the Balkans, Syria was all
the quieter in consequence, because great numbers of
the able-bodied men had been transported to Europe,
and in many districts only the elders, the women and
children were left.
The more quietly we set to work, the more likely
we should be to excite suspicion, and yet the only hope
of doing anything at all lay in escaping for a time
the vigilance of the Government. I soon found that
spies had been set to watch our movements, and that
there was no hope whatever of penetrating into the
Hauran. Our best chance lay in Moab, but how to
get there and stay there without its being known
was the difficulty. The Damascus Government had
received orders from Constantinople not to accept
the old Firman, under which all the former Survey
had been carried out, although it was not limited
either in time or in powers; for regulations have been
made since 1877 which limit the rights of explorers
and place great difficulties in their way. These may
THE LAND OF SIHON.
105
be overcome in times when the British and Turkish
Governments are on good
on good terms, but not when
English influence is as low as it was at Constantinople
in 1882.
Fifteen years ago the Turks had only just gained a
hold on the town of es Salt, east of Jordan, and the
Arabs of Moab and Gilead were virtually independ-
ent; but now that there is a military post in the
Hauran, and that the Governor of Nâblus annually
levies taxes on the tribes as far south as Kerak, the
state of the case is entirely different. Formerly a
covenant with the chiefs of the Arab tribes was quite
enough to ensure the protection of the traveller, as
it still is under ordinary circumstances in districts
like the Shammar or the Nejed, which are beyond
Turkish influence; but the danger in our case was
this, that the Turks have inaugurated a wily policy
which most successfully holds the Arabs in subjection.
They subsidize and protect the weaker faction in
each tribe (for every Arab clan is split into at least
two factions), and encourage it to thwart the plans
of the opposition. Thus our presence was certain to
be discovered sooner or later, through the jealousy
of some Government creature among the Bedawîn ;
and, although the Turks themselves might have done
nothing to endanger our lives or properties, there was
a very real peril in the fact that an 'accident' some-
times occurs in a manner most convenient for the
106
HETH AND MOAB.
ruling power; and even if this had entailed no loss
of life, it would have created an 'incident' which
might have seriously prejudiced the future of Pales-
tine exploration, and have brought down on the
head of the leader of the expedition the displeasure
of his superiors; to say nothing of the loss of valuable
animals, instruments, and stores, which might have
been carried off in a strong night raid by some tribe
really incited to attack us by the Turkish Govern-
ment, or of the claims for damages on the part of
muleteers and others, which would clearly not have
been paid by the Porte, or by the Bedawîn either.
When it is noted that we only left Syria a few
days before the Alexandrian massacres, and when
we remember the lamentable fate of Professor Palmer
and his companions, betrayed by an Arab Sheikh,
and butchered in the heart of the desert by Bedawîn
set on probably by the creatures of the rebel Egyptian
Government, it will, I think, be allowed that our
mission was pushed to the utmost limits consistent
with a regard for the safety of those whom I had
the responsibility of leading, and who so faithfully
followed me against their own judgment.
single member lost his life on that expedition, I
should have had a heavy burden on my conscience
for having led him into danger; and it is not
always when things appear to be going smoothly,
and Arabs are obsequious and Governors apparently
Had a
THE LAND OF SIHON.
107
asleep, that a small party of explorers is really most
safe.
It was clearly useless to endeavour to hide from
the Turks. They knew that our heavy luggage had
passed the custom-house, and that an expedition
had been organized to take the field. Accounts of
public meetings in England find their way through
English newspapers to the Turkish and Arab press,
and articles relating to his dominions are said to be
often translated specially for the information of the
Sultan. His Highness Hamdi Pasha was warned
to stop us by a telegram from Stamboul, and he was
doing his duty when he not only refused to aid us,
but announced that he could not even ignore us.
Had we been merely commissioned to travel, the case
might have been somewhat different; but our object
was to survey, as before, and survey is one of the
operations which the Turk regards with most suspicion
and terror. A man with a map can go where he
wants without a guide, and may thus pass through
the country undetected. A map, then, is
A map, then, is evidently
an incendiary document, and, like a newspaper article
or a book, it must not be allowed to escape Govern-
ment supervision.
But if the Waly was conscientious, perhaps some
of his subordinates might prove less vigilant, and a
visit to a provincial Governor might possibly do
good. I therefore waited on the Mudir of Nâblus,
108
HETH AND MOAB.
6
who governs all the country south of the 'Ajlûn,
and told him that though other travellers often went
over Jordan without notice, yet, as we wished to stay
some time, I thought it only courteous to call on him
first and explain that we were old friends who wanted
to see all the ruins at our leisure. His answer was
very significant. Others,' he said, went at their
own peril, but we should receive Government pro-
tection if our application was approved by the Sultan
and our papers found correct.' A few days after, this
most courteous of officials regretted, in a letter sent
through our Consul, that he could not countenance
our expedition.
Here, then, was a check; but not, as the Kurdish
Governor supposed, a checkmate. I applied duly for
a new Firman, and we settled down apparently to
wait for it—which we might still be doing-but our
real reason for waiting was that the Mudîr had gone
over Jordan to collect the taxes, and that we should
have fallen into his hands and have been at once
stopped if we had crossed over immediately. As it was,
the Turks were fairly thrown off the scent, and began
to regard us with the usual contempt which attaches
to the great company of European waiters for Fir-
mans.' Meanwhile, I had determined to use against
them their own weapons, and was in treaty with the
greatest of their opponents, the bold and wily Goblân,
of the 'Adwân Arabs, who represents the hopes of
6
·
THE LAND OF SIHON.
109
the patriotic or anti-Turkish party in Moab, and who is
as much a favourite among the Bedawîn as he is
detested by the Turks. Under his care. we knew we
might succeed for a time, for the Governor of es
Salt, though belonging to the Kurdish colony of
Damascus (fellow-countrymen of Saladin, who are
so valuable to the Turks on account of their fierce
determination), was at that time an individual not
given to temperance, and quite under the control of
his Christian secretary, who was willing enough to
give us the benefit of ignoring us, or indeed of infor-
mation concerning the doings of his superiors not
unlikely to be useful.
So close was the game of 'hide and seek' thus
run, that having obtained a faithful messenger to
reach Goblân, we arranged a meeting with him at
Jericho, and slipped over Jordan on the very same
day that the Mudir crossed over on his way back to
Nâblus. Lieutenant Mantell and I went on this
expedition with only a few natives, leaving our two
assistants, Messrs. Black and Armstrong, and most
of our tents en evidence, to amuse the officers who
had suddenly found it delightful to come out
camp,
camp, where we had
daily to the 'Ain Yalo
pitched. Our intention was to send for the rest as
soon as our contract with Goblân was signed and
sealed.
Thus at length, on the 17th of August, we met
IIO
HETH AND MOAB.
屋
​.
Goblân at Elisha's fountain, on the morning of a
summer day, with a temperature of 100°-not the
best of seasons for a camp 1,000 feet below sea-level
in the stifling Jordan valley. Riding slowly on a
bay mare, he approached with four mounted followers.
His figure was not unfamiliar, for I had met him at
intervals ever since 1873, but it is one remarkably
striking at first sight. A tall, gaunt man, with a
grey bronzed face, half-hidden by his shawl, one eye
red and sightless from the sword-cut which has
furrowed all one cheek, and of which he is much
ashamed, because it was a blow from an injured
relative, and not a wound received in fair fight. His
hair (as I saw accidentally one night) is long and
silvery, and his beard quite white. His age is probably
about seventy, though he either does not know it, or
else conceals it, for he told us that he believed him-
self to be about forty. He wore a double Kufeyeh,
the inner shawl black, the outer one black with gold
embroidery. His shirt was white and clean, with a
kumbaz, or long gown, fastened by a belt, with yellow
and purple vertical stripes. The white sleeves of the
shirt hung out beyond those of the gown, reaching to
his feet, which were cased in loose boots of red
leather, without any sock or stocking. Over all he
wore a beautiful abba, or cope-like mantle, of broad
white and amber-coloured stripes. This most pictur-
esque costume was strangely at variance with the
THE LAND OF SIHON.
III
long lean figure, the red eye, the muffled voice, the
thick obstinate nose, and the long gash on the bony,
dusky cheek; but the hand, so apt to wield the lance,
was as soft and delicate to the touch as a woman's,
with white nails carefully trimmed.
Goblân is a well-known character, and has been
mentioned by Warren, Tristram, and other explorers.
There is a touch of romance about his history and
character, which, although he is sordidly covetous and
of an evil temper, yet elevates him above the sadly
degraded level of his followers and kinsmen, who are
quite spoilt by their intercourse with the western
world. I do not believe that Goblân ever related the
story of his life to a European, but it is well known.
How he rode behind a stranger on a grey mare and
speared him, being led away by his covetous desire of
the beautiful beast. How the stranger proved to be a
chief of the neighbouring tribe of the Sakhûr Arabs,
and how a blood feud was thus commenced which yet
remains unsettled. Strange indeed was the sensation
of riding day by day with a man marked down for
vengeance, and liable to be slain by any relative of
his victim who might cross our path. Seated on the
great cairn at Sâmik above the corpses of men slain in
battle on the boundary of his tribe, Goblân pointed
one day to the black tents of the Sakhûr a mile away,
surrounded with feeding camels, and as we slowly
took our angles with a great theodolite, he remarked
II2
HETH AND MOAB.
quietly, If they knew I was here they would come
and kill me.' On another day he and I were alone
near the same border, when his quick eye perceived a
train of men on camels. He pointed them out, and
begged me to finish my mapping as soon as might be.
Yet he would not leave me till I was ready, and as we
retired three horsemen appeared in the distance and
followed us. We put a precipitous gorge between us
and them, and they called across as did David to Saul
at the 'Cliff of Division.' It was one of the relatives
of his victim with two followers, and although, while
slaying him, they would no doubt have left me quite
unhurt, an Englishman could not have stood by to
see his venerable guide murdered in cold blood on
account of a deed done many years ago.
I am told that Goblân showed the same trust-
worthy courage when he accompanied Colonel
Warren in Moab, at a critical moment, when an
English lady was dying and could not be moved,
but when the tents of his enemies were approaching
nearer every day, and hemming in this outlaw, who,
in his old age, lives with Arab foes on the south and
east, and Turkish enemies seeking his life or liberty
from the north and west.
Although I became disgusted with his grasping
desire for ever a little more money, and his covetous
craving for everything I possessed, I could not but
feel a respect and liking for this aged ruffian.
He
THE LAND OF SIHON.
113
was the best guide I ever met, and his manners had
none of the rude familiarity of some of his followers.
He was indeed a perfect gentleman, never intruding,
except on business or by invitation, into my tent,
outside which he lay on a sack every night. He
was fond of tea, but could not make a cigarette, and,
like most of his tribe, he never smoked. Many an
interesting conversation I have held in the evening
with Goblân, interrupted always by offers on his part
to retire if I was tired or sleepy. He was faithful
to us under very trying circumstances, when even
his own tribe deserted him, and his brothers feared
he was getting into trouble on our behalf. He dis-
regarded the repeated summons of the Kurdish
Kaimakâm at es Salt to leave our camp, partly, I
must admit, because the pay was good, but also,
I believe, because he had sealed a covenant with us
and would not draw back. Once, indeed, he picked
a quarrel with our headman about sixpence per diem,
and threatened to leave us alone to get on as best we
could, but even then, in the storm of a quarrel, with
five voices going at once, I was able, by an appeal
to his courtesy, to defeat his object, which was, I
believe, to get an excuse for going back from his
agreement. A chief of the 'Adwân,' I said, 'should
not quarrel with servants,' and, by a compromise,
which I was only too glad in reality to offer, I
retained his services. One motive for finally retreat-
8
I14
HETH AND MOAB.
ing in face of the Turkish Government was, in my
mind, a feeling of consideration for old Goblân, and
even now I should hear with the greatest regret that
the old outlaw had fallen a victim to his many
enemies.
At the time of our expedition he was arranging
for a new marriage, though he has sons and grand-
sons enough of all ages; but he had just been obliged
to give up to the Mudîr of Nâblus a ring which was
of great value, and a present from the Russian Grand-
Duke Nicholas, when he went to Jericho, in 1881.
There were two names Goblân could not bear to
hear uttered, namely, that of the Sakhûr Arabs and
that of the Turks. The Arabs of Moab regard this
venerable outlaw as their natural chief in case of any
outbreak against the Turkish Government, but he
is not likely to risk his neck in such a cause unless
he knows that European aid can be relied on. He
is the most wily of the politicians beyond Jordan,
and when, many years ago, his cousins of the Dîâb
branch (the elder division of the tribe) were induced
by promise of rewards and honours to go up to
Nâblus, Goblân counselled them not to do so, and
refused to go himself. No sooner were they in the
town than the treacherous governor seized them, and
the old chief Dîâb got his leg broken by the brutal
soldiery who took him to prison. Only by heavy
bribery did they escape, and Dîâb was obliged to
THE LAND OF SIHON.
115
abdicate in favour of his son 'Aly Dîâb, who is now
a Turkish favourite.
Such, then, was our Arab ally, and although an
acquaintance with the Belka Arabs has not raised
my estimate of Bedawîn character, it is but fair to
acknowledge that our success, such as it was, was
greatly due to Goblân. Our treaty obliged him to
furnish as guards and guides four mounted men, and
he remained with us as a guest, and acted as my
guide whenever I was out of camp. He led us to
Heshbon, where we encamped on the 18th, and where
Messrs. Black and Armstrong joined us. Here we
remained until the 10th of September, and then, by
Goblân's advice, moved a mile south to 'Ain Fudeili ;
for we were on the main route to Jerusalem, and a
quarrel might have arisen with the Sakhûr, since a
fight occurred just then, in the Jordan valley, be-
tween their tribe and the 'Adwân. The feeling,
indeed, was very bitter, for in the May of 1881 a
battle had taken place in which Satam, one of the
Sakhûr chiefs, was slain by the 'Adwân. While at
Heshbon we had some donkeys stolen by thieves
from Kerak, but for these Goblân paid finally in
part, asking me to make good the rest.
captured an old grey horse, which he offered in
exchange, saying it belonged to the thief's brother.
The thieves were known, but Mujelli of Kerak said
he would only restore the donkeys when we came for
His men
8-2
116
HETH AND MOAB.
them, whether as a threat or as an inducement I
never made out.
On the 20th September Goblân became very rest-
less, and wished us to move south, which we were
able to do, camping at the spring in Wâdy Jideid.
On the night after we moved this distance of eight
miles the Mudir of Nâblus reached our old camp,
and, to his disgust, found us flown. He sent an
officer to search for us, who arrived on the 23rd, and
said the Governor considered it too dangerous for us
to work alone, and that Goblân was to be taken to
prison if we had any fault to find with him. I
understood what was meant, and sent back word
that we were getting on capitally, and only begged
to be left alone, but I doubt what answer the officer
really carried, for our headman, Habib el Jemal,
induced him, I have heard, to say he could not find
us at all.
The reason of this pursuit was simple. The Hâj,
or pilgrimage to Mecca, was on its way south, on the
east side of the Moab plateau. The Arab chiefs went
north to Kal'at ez Zerka, to greet the celebrated old
Kurdish Pasha, Muhammed S'aîd, who was in charge,
and he noticed the absence of Goblân's familiar face.
This was the opportunity for his enemies, the Sakhûr
chiefs, and they were not slow to seize it, although
I had promised to employ and pay them handsomely
as soon as we left the 'Adwân country to cross into
THE LAND OF SIHON.
117
theirs. I had interviewed several of their chiefs, and
all appeared settled, but hatred of Goblân or fear of
the Turk seems to have made them decide to do us
an ill turn. They therefore at once replied to the
Pasha's question, 'Oh, Goblân is with the English
captains, who are measuring the land;' and none
who know the Arabs will suppose that such an
answer was merely a stupid indiscretion on their
part.
An explosion of wrath followed. Muhammed S'aid
reproached the Mudîr of Nâblus, and the latter fell
on the luckless Kaimakâm of es Salt. Telegrams
were sent to Damascus, and the country was raised
against us, and of all this we became aware through
friends, though Goblân never uttered a syllable to
indicate that he knew all about it. We were thus
discovered within a month after reaching Moab, but
were not yet run to earth. Fortunately, the base was
measured and the triangulation all arranged, so that
work could be pushed on fast now; but only 100
miles of actual survey were as yet completed. We
went at once south to Minyeh, and completed our
labours to the border of the Hameideh; but having
failed to make any satisfactory arrangement with this
small and wild tribe, I determined to try and put the
enemy off the scent by a march northwards; and this
succeeded for a little, for while we were hard at work
at 'Ammân, the emissaries of the Salt Governor went
118
HETH AND MOAB.
to look for us in the south. At length, on the 7th of
October, I was served with a peremptory order to
suspend operations and leave the country. I at once
replied, expressing extreme astonishment, and stating
that I had referred the matter to the British Consul
at Jerusalem and to the Waly. Thus we gained a
few days while letters were sent, telegrams exchanged
between Jerusalem and Damascus, and an answer
despatched to 'Ammân.
We all worked like slaves
until the 20th, and I then moved to 'Arâk el Emîr.
Here again we were summoned to desist, this time
with great courtesy, the Governor of Nâblus sending
word that nothing unpleasant was to be allowed to
occur,' while at the same time Goblân was com-
manded to leave us at once. I became alarmed at
this, because such words are sometimes intended (if
the seal, for instance, on the letter be upside down) to
be differently understood by the initiated. I there-
fore sent back word that we were going, but had
not mules enough all to go at once. Mr. T. Black,
being ill with dysentery, had returned to Jerusalem on
the 16th, and we moved down on the 25th to Kefrein,
in the Jordan valley, where we completed the Survey
as far north as Nimrîn. Thus, although discovered
four weeks after crossing Jordan, we did not finally
leave Moab until the 29th of October, and during this
period of eleven weeks we surveyed in all nearly 500
square miles, discovered 700 rude stone monuments,
THE LAND OF SIHON.
119
and obtained a volume of notes, plans, and drawings,
while Lieutenant Mantell took forty photographs.
I am glad to think that the home committee
approved of the general conduct of the expedition, and
I was grateful to them for the confidence they showed.
I should not fail also to state how well we were sup-
ported by our old friend, Consul N. T. Moore, C.M.G.,
at Jerusalem, although our position was one which
could not be officially recognised, as we were, in fact,
little better than outlaws making a raid in face of the
Government of the land. Lord Dufferin's kind
interest and endeavours on our behalf at Constanti-
nople also merited our gratitude, and I could only
have wished that it had been possible to remove the
groundless, though natural, suspicions of the Sultan's
Government as to our real object in exploring Moab.
But archæological enthusiasm is not understood in
Turkey, and we were thus forced for a time to suspend
operations until happier days, when temporary sus-
picion of the old English friend shall have passed
away or when the Eastern Question shall finally have
been settled.
The Eastern Survey will some day be completed, for
it presents no difficulty of formidable character in
itself. The country, with its bolder features, its broad
plains, its population more intelligent and willing
than the Fellahîn west of Jordan, can be more rapidly
and easily mapped than the rugged hills of Judea,
120
HETH AND MOAB.
and there is but little danger to the explorer if
favoured by the Government of the land. We may
hope, then, soon to see a survey on the east not inferior
to that of the west; but the fatal year 1300 of the
Hejirah, when all Syria and Arabia were excited by
the news from Egypt, was certainly not a time fitted
for scientific exploration in the wilds.
There was much fascination in the rough life in the
desert among men who were accustomed to danger all
their lives, but the Arab in time of peace and in time
of war is not the same man, and while those who
understand how to treat him may be quite safe in
ordinary times, even those who have most influence
will fail if they are pitted against an oriental Govern-
ment, which is neither so stupid nor so supine at
an important crisis as the Englishman is inclined to
imagine. I need not, however, say more on this
matter, for a memorable and most unhappy illus-
tration of the fact is still fresh in our memories in
Sinai.
From this long digression on the history of the
expedition we may now return to consider the results
obtained; and in the present chapter the sites of
Heshbon, of Nebo, of Minyeh, and of Callirhoe will be
considered, together with the plain of Seisaban, at the
foot of the Moab hills north of the Dead Sea.
The general aspect of Moab is the same throughout.
It is a plateau about 3,000 feet above the Medi-
THE LAND OF SIHON.
121
terranean level, or 4,300 feet above the Dead Sea.
The western slopes are generally steep. The lower
formation is the Nubian sandstone, which represents
our English beds lying beneath the Greensand, and
which stretches south to Petra and the Arabah. Above
this a dolomitic limestone, with bold precipices in some
places, forms the upper part of the hills, and is capped
with a soft marl full of flints, which rises on the north
of Wady Hesbân above the general level. The dip
of the strata is towards the Jordan valley, but it is
not nearly as sudden as on the west side of the great
chasm; for the Ghôr is clearly a gigantic fault, and the
slopes on its west, which descend from the Palestine
watershed, are very steep, with breaks or smaller faults
in places parallel to the line of the valley, whereas on
the east the strata are less contorted, and thus the
sandstone shows along the ridges of Moab and Gilead
almost to the sea of Galilee, as well as in the eastern
cliffs of the Dead Sea shore. The levels of the Dead
Sea tell the same tale, for they give soundings in some
places of 200 fathoms on the east, while on the west
the water is shallow.
The low white hills which project into the Seisaban
plain on its north side are the counterpart of the hills
round 'Osh el Ghurâb, north of Jericho, and are of a
white marl, probably of post-tertiary formation. They
lie unconformably against the sandstone, and mark the
level of that great lake of post-tertiary times which
I22
HETH AND MOAB.
once filled the plain of Jericho, and has now dwindled
down to the present Sea of Lot.' The history of
the various levels of this lake has been already briefly
noticed in 'Tent Work in Palestine,' and M. Lartet
and Canon Tristram have pointed out that the lake of
the Eocene period had even then, perhaps, no outlet
into the Red Sea (the Arabah having already a high
shed south of the Dead Sea), as is supposed to be
evidenced by the fresh-water character of the deposits
and the absence of marine fossils. This, however,
does not quite prove the absence of connection, but
merely that the lake was not then salt, as it now is.
The general aspect of the Moabite mountains rising
to the plateau is barren in the extreme. The sand-
stone varies from purple to a light tawny colour, and
the ridges are divided by deep narrow ravines, far
bolder than most of those west of the river. The
limestone is grey and bare, sparsely covered with
grass, and with the scattered retem bushes-the white
broom which is called 'juniper' in the Bible, of which
charcoal was made (Job xxx. 4; Ps. cxx. 4), and
under which Elijah slept in the desert. One of these
gorges will, I believe, be some day found to be the
true Brook of Cherith, where the great hermit found
refuge; for Cherith was 'in face of' Jordan, an
expression which generally seems to mean on the
east,' and certainly as yet no definite traces of Cherith
have been found in the vicinity of Jordan on its west
THE LAND OF SIHON.
123
bank. In spring the rounded shapeless hills are
covered with grass and wild flowers, and parts of the
plateau are now sown with corn; but the number of
trees in Moab might be counted on the fingers of one
hand, and the district thus presents a remarkable
contrast to that of Gilead, further north.
Another striking peculiarity of the land beyond
Jordan is its fine water supply as contrasted with
Western Palestine, especially with the upper lands of
Judæa. The rain, falling on the plateau and on the
Syrian desert further east, sinks through the chalk to
the impervious limestone beneath, and running west-
wards along this bed, issues in fine springs about
500 feet below the level of the plateau. From these
springs considerable brooks run down each gorge, even
in the dry autumn, and form affluents to the Jordan,
or deliver their waters into the Dead Sea itself.
Nothing was more remarkable in Moab when crossing
from the Hebron mountains and the Mar Saba desert
than thus to find ourselves suddenly entering a 'land
of streams;' but, as at Damascus, it is only the
immediate course of the stream which remains green,
with rushes, reeds, and brambles, while the moun-
tains above are as bare and colourless as though there
were no water at all in the land.
The zoology of Moab combines features of that of
the Judean hills with others of the desert fauna of
Beersheba or Mar Saba. The vulture and the eagle
1
124
HETH AND MOAB.
occur with the pterocles or sand-grouse, which we
found near Mâdeba. Bee-eaters and wild doves were
common. The storks appeared migrating south in
the end of September. Wild duck visited the 'Ain
Hesbân, and the Greek partridge was common,
though the smaller Caccabis Heyi was also found.
The African brown - speckled kingfisher, and the
-
common English species, both frequented the streams,
and in the gorge of the Zerka M'aîn we found the
beautiful grackle, a black bird with gold wings, first
described by Canon Tristram near Mar Saba, and
existing also in the Kelt valley, and further north
in the gorges of the great Wâdy Far'ah below Nâblus.
Four wolves came to our camp at 'Ain Fudeili,
whereas the wolf is almost unknown west of Jordan,
though I have seen one close to the river. Jackals
and hyenas were of course common. The gazelle
appears to be abundant on the plateau, and Goblân knew
of the roebuck (probably, however, in Gilead), which
he called himri; in the west, on Carmel, it is called
yahmúr. He also knew the bakr el wahsh, or 'wild
cow,' which he described as being the size of a cow
(the cattle being small), with horns lying back on the
head like a buffalo. It appears to be the bubale.
The bedn, or ibex, also exists apparently in the gorges
east of the Dead Sea, as well as on the west. Goblân's
father once rode down an ostrich, but they never
come so far west now, though the tribes in the desert,
THE LAND OF SIHON.
125
The
east of the Hâj road, sometimes capture one.
greyhound (sluki) and the falcon are still used by the
Arabs to hunt the gazelle.
Our first camp at 'Ain Hesbân was one of the most
bleak we ever pitched, but as the heat in the hills
rose for many days to 108° in consequence of a
scorching east wind from the eastern desert, while our
companions experienced 118° in the shade in the valley
below, we did not suffer save from the absence of
shadow. The beautiful clear stream flows out of a
cave and forms a brook two or three yards wide
running south. This, though shallow, has many fish
in it, and reminded us of the 'fish-pools' of Heshbon
by the gate of Bath Rabbim (Cant. vii. 4), which gate
we supposed might be the passage cut through the
rocks at the top of the steep winding mountain-path
from the stream to the city on the plateau above.
The flat ground near the spring is covered with coarse
turf, and is a favourite place for the 'Adwân camps.
There are a few clumps of oleanders near the water,
but the bed is clear and stony. Here all day long
the grunting of hundreds of the Beni Sakhr camels
might be heard, for they enter the 'Adwân territory
when the tribes are at peace, as there is no water on
the plateau, save in the tank of Ziza, and in a few small
wells, until Wâdy Themed is reached on the south.
Here, also, the blue-robed maidens of the Ajermeh,
who are allies or tributaries of the 'Adwân, were
126
HETH AND MOAB.
filling their black goatskins packed on impossibly
small donkeys. Here wild, half-naked boys drove
sheep and goats to water with sounds like those
natural to their charge. Here Ibn Faiz of the
Sakhûr came to see us, and was introduced by Goblân
as 'brother of Satam, whom my people slew this
year,' a remark which he received with complete
indifference.
Our first ride was to the 'Springs of Moses,' and to
the range of Nebo along the lower road by Sûmieh. At
Sûmieh and below 'Ain Hesbân are the mills, which
were erected by Dhiâb of the 'Adwân in the year
1191 of the Hejirah, but there are much older remains
in the valley, for its slopes are sown with dolmens, of
which more hereafter. The ruins of a little monastery
seem to have stood on a cliff south of the stream at
Sûmieh, and there are sarcophagi beneath, and rock-
cut wine-presses on the hills to the south. Thus,
though now utterly barren, this vicinity was once
cultivated. The site seems to fit that of Sibmah
(Numbers xxxii. 28; Joshua xiii. 19), and the dis-
covery of the wine-presses illustrates the prophecy of
the ruin of Moab, wherein the vine of Sibmah' is
mentioned (Jer. xlviii. 32; cf. Isaiah xvi. 8, 9).
The study of Biblical topography becomes very
interesting in this district, for forty towns of the
old kingdom of Sihon are mentioned in the Old
Testament, and of these at least twenty remained to
THE LAND OF SIHON.
127
be found when we entered the country. The border
of Reuben and Gad also required to be defined. As,
however, the Mishor, or plain, which was the lot of
Reuben, was evidently the plateau called Belka at
the present day, and as all the towns in the Jordan
valley (excepting Beth Jeshimoth, or Sûweimeh, close
to the Dead Sea) belonged to Gad, it seems best to
fix Jazer, the boundary town, at Beit Zer'ah, north of
Heshbon, the boundary valley being thus in all
probability the present Wâdy Hesbân.
The name Moab is often applied to this district of
the Mishor round Heshbon, although the Arnon was
the old north border of Moab proper (Deut. ii. 36);
but as the valley east of the Jordan and opposite
Jericho is called the Plain of Moab (Numbers xxxiii.
48), while the later Prophets include all the cities.
near Heshbon as Moabite, there is no impropriety in
extending the title as far north as Elealah; for it is
evident that the sons of Lot gradually encroached on
the pastures of Reuben, and extended the limits of
the Moabite kingdom to the borders of Gilead.
Just above Sûmieh, on the north, is an extra-
ordinary group of castellated
crags called
called 'the Castles,'
which we found to be entirely natural, though sur-
rounded with dolmens. Rather higher up, at the
bend of the valley, is 'Ain Fudeili, where Goblân
has his summer camp, and here the flat ground south
of the stream is called the Garden of Belkîs, a
128
HETH AND MOAB.
legendary queen of the Himyarites sometimes iden-
tified with Zenobia.
'
Riding southwards, we reached the so-called
Springs of Moses,' which are under Pisgah, on the
northern side. They are, no doubt, the ancient
'Ashdoth Pisgah,' or Streams of Pisgah, and the site
is mentioned by Antoninus Martyr, in 600 A.D., as
near Salmaida, and as called 'the Baths of Moses.'
It is a most picturesque spot. The northern spring,
rising in a shallow valley, pours its stream over a
cliff some thirty feet high, down which hang long
trailing creepers beside the water. The hollow below
the fall is full of maidenhair fern, and a large wild fig
grows up against the cliff. There are two cascades
again lower down, and the rushing brook disappears
in a narrow gorge, between tall canes and various
shrubs. The contrast of this vegetation with the
great blocks of limestone in the valley, the tawny
hill above, glaring against the blue sky, without a
tree or a blade of grass, is very effective. The
southern spring, some hundred yards away, issues
from a cave at the foot of a cliff, forming a fine
clear pool with a pebbly bed, flanked by two aged
wild figs, curiously gnarled and twisted, but with
rich foliage. The stream breaks down hence in a
rapid shoot to join the northern brook in the gorge.
To the south a high mountain, quite bare, and of a
drab-coloured limestone, rises steep from the valley
THE LAND OF SIHON.
129
with a ruined site on the sky-line. This is the town
and ridge of Siaghah, the Pisgah of Moses.
The cliff of the southern spring has a cottage
built on its lower ledge, against a cave, and here we
found, living with his family, a Greek Christian from
Taiyibeh, near Bethel, who had fled, because of
blood,' from the other side Jordan.
6
The ridge of Mount Nebo has been often described,
and some have claimed to know the very spot on
which Moses stood. Yet we were able to make one
or two additions to previous discoveries, and as the
view is of the highest interest and importance, a new
description may not be considered unnecessary. The
ridge runs out west from the plateau, sinking gra-
dually; at first a broad brown field of arable land,
then a flat top, crowned by a ruined cairn, then a
narrower ridge, ending in the summit called Siâghah,
whence the slopes fall steeply on all sides. The
name Nebo, or Neba (the knob,' or 'tumulus '),
applies to the flat top with the cairn, and the name
Tal'at es Sufa to the ascent leading up to the ridge
from the north. Thus we have here three names.
which connect the ridge with that whence Moses is
related to have viewed the Promised Land, namely,
first, Nebo, which is identically the same word as the
modern Neba; secondly, Siâghah, which is radically
identical with the Aramaic Se'ath, which is the word
standing instead of Nebo in the Targum of Onkelos
9
130
HETH AND MOAB.
6
C
(Numbers xxxii. 3), where it is called 'the burial
place of Moses'; thirdly (and this was a new dis-
covery of the Survey party), Tal'at es Sufa is
radically identical with the Hebrew Zuph, whence
Mizpeh and Zophim; it is the modern representative
of the old Field of Zophim' (or of views), in the
form Ascent of Zuph.' The field of Zophim is, no
doubt, the field close to the cairn of Nebo, and there
are, indeed, few places in Palestine as well fixed as
is this interesting ridge, whence Moses took his last
look of the land he was not to enter.
The name
Pisgah is not now known, but the discovery of
Zophim (cf. Numbers xxiii. 14) confirms the view
generally held, that it is but another title of the
Nebo ridge.
The view is much the same from Neba and from
Siâghah, and I have thrice carefully noted it on
separate occasions, although the autumn haze unfor-
tunately always obscured some distant features of the
view which are clear enough in the spring time.
Standing on the ruins of Siâghah (which are Byzan-
tine and of no great interest) one sees down into the
Jordan valley better than on the cairn of Neba, and
the latter has the disappointing peculiarity that it
commands no view at all to the east. The top is
actually lower than the level of the great shed or
western brink of the Belka plateau, and this ridge
shuts out entirely the eastern view towards Madeba
THE LAND OF SIHON.
131
and sites further east. On this side the view only
extends, therefore, a couple of miles, and on the south
only four or five, for here another parallel ridge of
equal height runs out from the summit called el
Maslûbîyeh, although the peak of el Mureijib and the
top of Tell M'aîn can be seen above.
On the north-east, the site of Heshbon appears on
the edge of the Mishor plateau, with Elealah behind,
and on the north the ridge of Neby Osh'a bounds the
picture, entirely concealing Hermon and the Sea of
Galilee. The view is therefore only extensive towards
the western half of the circle, and the chief places
were observed through our theodolites from both
Neba and Siâghah. The northern half of the Dead Sea
is visible, but the Lisân is concealed by the eastern
ridges south of Nebo. On the west rises the water-
shed of Judea and Samaria, while Bethlehem and
Jerusalem and the molehill of Herodium can be clearly
made out. The nest of the Kenite' appears on the
south-west (Numbers xxiv. 21), and thence the ridge
runs by Beni N'aîm-whence Abraham saw the smoke
of Sodom rising in the deep gorge-on to Olivet and
Mizpeh (Neby Samwîl), while the cone of Taiyibeh
(Ophrah) and the ridge of Tell 'Asûr (Baal Hazor)
with its great oak-trees-remnants of
an old
'enclosure' of Baal-are prominent objects. North of
these again are Gerizim and Ebal, with the cleft
between, indicating Shechem, and on the right Hazkîn,
9-2
132
HETH AND MOAB.
the lofty summit of 'Ezekiel's' mountain, and on the
slope lies Bezek, where Saul numbered Israel gathered
for the relief of Jabesh Gilead-a good deed which
brought its own reward, since the men whose eyes he
saved were those who rescued his body and that of his
son from shameful exposure on the wall of Bethshan.
Tabor and the castle of Belvoir (Kaukab el Hawa)
are said to be visible with the chain of Gilboa in clear
weather, but as Carmel is only 1,700 feet high, and the
ridge of Hazkîn 2,400 on an average, a very simple
calculation shows that, even neglecting curvature, it
would be necessary that Nebo should be 1,200 feet
higher than Carmel, or over 3,000 feet above the
Mediterranean, to allow of the place of Elijah's
sacrifice being seen at all. The actual height of Nebo
as now ascertained is only 2,643.8 at the cairn.
F
Returning south, the eye travels along the line of
the lower hills and the Jordan valley. The mosque
of Neby Mûsa (ignorantly supposed to be the site of
Moses's tomb) is visible, as is the cliff of the Quaran-
tania, with the dark groves round Jericho. The
Sartabah peak towers above the Far'ah valley, and
the black snaky line of this affluent (bearing to Jordan
perhaps the waters of Enon) is clearly marked. The
Jordan itself winds like a great dusky dragon through
the white valley, and the streams from the Jericho
plain creep down to meet those which dash from the
hills of Moab. The little island of Rujm el Bahr (the
THE LAND OF SIHON.
133
Cairn in the Sea) is visible off the north shore of the
Salt Lake, whose calm oily waters sleep shining under
the sun.
This island is perhaps an old jetty, raised
when the Crusaders or some other enterprising race
sought to realize Ezekiel's vision of a Dead Sea made
alive by traffic. The new Russian hospice at Erîha
(Crusading Jericho) shines white in the valley, and the
old brown fortress monasteries of Beth Hoglah and
St. John on Jordan are now partly rebuilt, and
entirely spoiled, by Russian money and monkish
vandalism.
At
our feet on this side Jordan we see the waters
of Nimrim, flanked by tamarisks and oleanders, running
by the mound whence they are named. Further
south, the Seisaban plain expands, the Moab ridges
receding to form a basin corresponding to the plain
of Jericho. This is the old Abel Shittim, or 'Meadow
of Acacias,' where the black tents of Israel were an
offence to the sight of Balak standing where we now
stand. The plain is yet covered with its thickets of
the thorny sidr or lotus, and with the scattered 'oshîr,
or 'apple of Sodom.' Just below us is the dusty
mound of Râmeh, with bushes all round it, which
look black rather than green. This is the old Beth
Haran, and behind it is Kefrein, Goblân's winter
home, with its hillock crowned by the tombs of his
ancestors. Zoar, at our feet, is not distinguishable,
but the tomb of Fendi el Faiz, the great chief of the
134
HETH AND MOAB.
Sakhûr, shines new and white. Coming from Nâblus
he fell sick, and died within the territory of his
enemies, the 'Adwan; yet, through the courtesy which
Arabs never fail to show, he here lies peacefully in an
honoured grave in Abel Shittim, the land of his foes.
Another tomb should also be noticed, namely, the
Kabr Abdallah, shining on the sky-line to our north-
east. Some have sought to connect this Servant of
God' with Moses, whose sepulchre no man knoweth
unto this day; but the idea is fanciful at best, for the
tomb in question is apparently that of a Persian
derwish, and has three more conspicuous monuments
of the Ghaneimât Arabs beside it.
C
The general effect of the scene thus described is
bare and colourless in the extreme. The distant grey
ridge is hazy and tame in outline; the Jordan valley
is white, with black serpent streams; the foreground
is yet more barren. But we are looking on the scene,
not, as probably Moses did, in early spring, when the
hills were newly bathed, the sky blue, the luxuriant
valley green; and we must not be led to express too
unfavourable a judgment on the Land of Promise as
he saw it from afar. The long reflections in the Dead
Sea, the white marl hillocks round Jordan's course,
the drab-coloured mountains, with shadows blue and
black, are, however, the features which rise to the
memory in recalling an autumn day on Nebo.
And now, having detailed the features of the land-
THE LAND OF SIHON.
135
scape visible from Neba or from Siaghah, it remains
to compare them with the Old Testament account of
the scene visible to Moses, or to Balaam when he
would have cursed Israel had he dared.
<
When we turn to the account of the death of Moses
(Deut. xxxiv. 1-3), we find a description which
answers well to that above given, with ony two
exceptions. The land of Naphtali (extending to
Tabor) can be seen, and the mountains of Gilead, the
land of Ephraim and of Manasseh, of Judah, with the
Negeb (the dry or south country), are seen for more
than a hundred miles. Jericho, the city of palm-
trees, and its plain, is at our feet unto Zoar, which
lies at the foot of the Moab chain. If we make the
simple change of reading towards' instead of 'unto'
in the cases of Dan and the western sea'-a change
not forbidden by the meaning of the Hebrew particle-
the whole account reads as correctly as that of an eye-
witness; but it is certain that Dan (if the site near
Bâniâs be intended), and the utmost, or hinder,' or
most western sea, cannot be visible from Nebo to any
mortal eye.
It is a physical impossibility to see
either, because the Palestine watershed hides the
Mediterranean, and the ridge of Mount Gilead bars
out the view of Hermon. The reader, then, must
choose either to accept the very small modification of
translation here suggested, or to attribute to Moses a
superhuman power of vision.
t
136
HETH AND MOAB.
Scarcely less interesting are the indications to be
derived from the poetic vision of Balaam; but these
may be better considered in connection with Baal
Peor-for, in strict accordance with the Biblical
account, we find that Israel, only partly visible from
Nebo, would be better seen from Bamoth Baal and
Peor.
We have not, however, yet finished with the subject
of Pisgah and the Field of Zophim, for close beside
the knoll of Neba we found, to our great delight, an
ancient monument which seems to have escaped the
attention of other explorers, namely, a dolmen, stand-
ing perfect and unshaken. Subsequent research
proved that others are to be found on the southern
slopes of the mountain, a little below the Field of
Zophim, and another specimen, which has been over-
turned, occurs to the west of the cairn of Nebo. A
great rude-stone circle was also found on the southern
slope, and the extensive dolmen centre of the
Maslûbîyeh is only just the other side of the gorge.
Clearly we are in the presence of an old centre either
of burial or of worship, and in another chapter will be
given in detail the reasons for supposing that these
monuments are altars rather than tombs. How
strikingly, then, not only at Nebo, but also at Bamoth
Baal and Peor, do these words recur to our minds,
'
Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here
seven oxen and seven rams' (Numbers xxiii. 1).
THE LAND OF SIHON.
137
I will spare the reader my own reflections on these
subjects. The facts are before him, and they are
strong enough to speak for themselves. There are
few episodes in the Old Testament as pathetic as is
the story of the death of Moses, who had steered his
fellows through so many dangers and through such
woes safe to the border of the Land of Promise, and
died when his work was done, leaving the fruits for
others to gather. There are few incidents more
dramatic than the tale of the wild seer of Pethor,
restrained from cursing and compelled to bless,
standing amid the smoke of the sacrifices, and gazing
on the black camp in the white gorge below while the
rude dolmen tables ran red with the blood of oxen
and rams, and the words of his chant came without
thought of his to the lips. Any paraphrase of mine
would but dilute the beauty and the power of the
ancient words, and each must draw his own reflections
from the stories so variously appealing to various
minds.
The base line having been measured, the Survey
spread east to the limit of the 'Adwân country—a
line drawn from Sâmik to the east of Mâdeba.
Heshbon, Elealah, Medeba, Beth Meon were included,
with the gorge of Callirhoe as the extreme southern
boundary, but we were compelled to leave unvisited
the palace of Chosroes at Mashita, and the mound of
138
HETH AND MOAB.
Dibon, far south of the 'Adwân limits. A word or two
about the above places and concerning Zara, Samego,
Shophan, and other sites, may here find a place, but
our main attention must be given in conclusion of the
present chapter to Baal Peor, Bamoth Baal, the route
of the Israelites, the grave of Moses, Callirhoe, and
the plains of Moab.
The
The ruins at Hesbân, on the edge of the plateau
high above the spring, are those of a large Roman
town, but present nothing of special interest.
great dolmen centre on the ridge west of Sihon's city
will be described later. The steep path from the
valley leads through a sort of cutting which may once
have been closed by a gate. This cutting stands out
conspicuous on the sky-line as seen from the stream,
and recalls the words 'Thine eyes-pools in Heshbon,
by the gate of Bath Rabbim' (Cant. vii. 4). The
gate of the daughter of great ones' might perhaps
have here led to the fishpools, which occur all along
the stream.
C
Elealah, further north, is similar to Heshbon, with a
great central mound. Of its ruins, as of all others in
the district, detailed notes were collected. Mâdeba,
in the middle of the plateau, was probably the largest
town in the district, and remains of a fine church exist
west of its citadel mound. Two pillars with an
architrave block above, stood before the west door, and
are called the gallows of Abu Rok,' after a powerful
6
THE LAND OF SIHON.
139
chief of old times, who is said here to have done justice.
A colony of Christians, under the leadership of a Latin
missionary, has recently been here established. We
found the priest dwelling, like an ancient father of the
Church, in a cavern, and the picturesque mixture of
Arab costumes with those of the Roman Catholic eccle-
siastics seemed to transport one back, in the dusky
light of this smoky cave, to the days when Jerome was
translating the Scriptures in his cell at Bethlehem.
The congregation has been won from the Greek
Church at Kerak, an ancient Christian community,
no doubt tracing back to the times when the Franks
built that great castle. The good Padre Paolo found
them sunk in woeful ignorance, and believing that the
Saviour was an ancestor of Mujelli, Sheikh of Kerak.
Beth Meon, a fourth ancient site to the south,
commands, from its great citadel mound, an exten-
sive view. On the north, Jebel Osh'a in Gilead
appears behind Heshbon; on the east, the whole
Belka, stretching to the low blue hills of the 'Anazeh
and to the Syrian desert, is seen. On the south, Dibon,
the famous town of the Moabite stone, is visible,
with the gorge of Arnon and the low flat summit of
Shihân, which preserves the name of Sihon. Kerak
cannot be seen, and on the west the ground rises
to the lip or edge of the plateau and entirely shuts
out the view. This, then, cannot be, as some have
thought, the site of Bamoth Baal. A more deso-
140
HETH AND MOAB.
late scene than that of the Hameideh country, south
of the great Zerka M'aîn valley, as seen from Beth
Meon, could hardly be conceived. The land is not
as flat as it is to the north, and the grey or drab-
coloured hills, the deep ravines, the shapeless stone-
heaps, present a monotonous and dreary waste, like
that of the Judean desert, a land well-called Belka,
or 'empty,' treeless and untilled as it now is.
In
More than one new discovery was, however, made
during our survey of the plateau. In Sâmik we
may recognise the Samego of Josephus. In Beit
Zer'ah his Zara, and, perhaps, the Jazer of the Old
Testament. In Medeineh, Madmen of Moab.
Sufa, the Shophan of Reuben. In Jemail, perhaps
Beth Gamul of Moab. In the Tal'at el Heith, south
of Nebo, Jeremiah's 'Ascent of Luhith.' In Minyeh,
not impossibly Minnith, famous for its wheat (for
there are plough-lands here even now). In Aleiyan,
perhaps Holon of Moab. In Makhsiyeh, the long
lost Jahaz. But yet more interesting is the investi-
gation of the course pursued by Israel on the journey
from Arnon to the plains of Abel Shittim, of which
a few words may here be said.
The earliest and most detailed account of the
advance of Israel (Numbers xxi. 13—20) mentions
six stations, namely, Arnon, Beer, Mattanah, Nahaliel,
Bamoth Baal, and Pisgah. Each of these camps
would, on an average, be about four miles from the
THE LAND OF SIHON.
141
next, and each, no doubt, was pitched near one of
the springs or streams of the country, except at
Beer, where a well was dug (v. 18). From another
passage (xxxiii. 45) it appears that Beer was pro-
bably close to Dibon. We may thus easily recognise
Mattanah as the great Wâdy Wâleh, with its rude
stone monuments and brook. Nahaliel, the valley
of God,' is the gorge of Callirhoe, above which, on the
north, stands another great group of both menhirs
and dolmens, and thus Bamoth Baal falls into place
as the ridge south of the stream of Wâdy Jideid,
now called el Maslûbîyeh, or the Crucified One,'
which presents a group of more than a hundred
rude-stone monuments. The Israelite journey was
thus in a straight line to Pisgah, and their camps
were at distances equal to those which the Bedawîn
accomplish on an average in their moves. Each
great brook is mentioned, and the line is that which
a large body of men must, of necessity, take, on
account of the absence of water on the flat plateau
further east.
6
The strange gorge of the Zerka M'aîn, where the
springs of Callirhoe still exist, was then the ancient
Nahaliel, or 'valley of God.' It is not impossibly to
this valley that allusion is intended where we read
that God buried Moses 'in a valley in the land of
Moab, over against Beth Peor,' for, as will be seen
immediately, there is reason to suppose that Beth
142
HETH AND MOAB.
Peor stood on the ridge immediately north of the
great ravine of Callirhoe.
The high places to which Balaam was brought by
the King of Moab, that he might thence see and curse
Israel, were three in number, each sacred to a Moabite
deity, each commanding a more or less extensive view
over the Jordan valley. The first (Numbers xxii. 41)
was that same Bamoth Baal, already shown to have
lain south of Nebo, whence only a peep could be
obtained, and which was a bare hill-top.' The
second was that Field of Zophim of which we have
already spoken. The third was the Cliff of Peor
that looketh towards Jeshimon,' and whence appar-
ently the whole host of Israel was visible in the
plains of Abel Shittim. The first, then, was the hill
of Baal the Sun-god, the second that of Nebo, or
Mercury, the third of Peor the Priapus of Moab, who
resembled the Egyptian Khem. At each site seven
altars were raised, one to each of the seven planetary
gods, the Cabiri of Phoenicia, whose aid was invoked
against the God of Israel.
Whether we consider the Jeshimon waste west of
the Dead Sea, or Beth Jeshimoth, close to the north-
east corner of the same lake, to be the place mentioned
in connection with Peor, it seems clear that this third
ridge cannot have been far from the other two stations ;
and if the view was more extensive, we must search
for a point projecting further west than the other
THE LAND OF SIHON.
143
two. Such a ridge we find immediately south of
that of Bamoth Baal, in the narrow spur which runs
out to Minyeh. The very name at once suggests a
connection with Peor, for it means 'luck,' or 'desire,'
and is intimately connected with that of Meni or
Venus-the proper wife of Peor; while a legend of a
magic well springing from the spear of 'Aly attaches
to the spot. It was, therefore, a most interesting
discovery to find, on the very edge of the cliff at
Minyeh, a line of seven monuments of large stones,
concerning which nothing could be learned from the
Arabs save that they were very ancient. In each
case a circle has existed, with a central cubical stone,
such as the ancient Arabs used to consecrate to their
chief female divinity, and each had originally a little
court or enclosure on the east, where the worshipper
may have stood with his face to the rosy west, the
proper quarter of Hathor or Venus in Egypt-the
home of the evening aurora seen behind the moun-
tains of Judah.
C
The view from this Cliff of Peor,' which is over
against Jeshimon, is more extensive than that from
either Bamoth Baal or Nebo. It does not materially
differ from the scene described already in connection
with Pisgah or Nebo, save in this respect, that it
commands a more complete view of the plains of
Shittim from Beth Jeshimoth to Nimrim, while on
the south-west the watershed, sinking from Hebron
144
HETH AND MOAB.
towards the Beersheba desert, is more distinctly
seen.
Here, then, we may picture Balaam standing on
the lofty knoll just south of the seven circles, setting
his face to the wilderness of Judah beyond the Salt
Sea (Numbers xxiv.). Hence he saw the twelve black
camps of Israel abiding according to his tribes spread
out like the black groves which fringe the Jordan's
tributary streams. Hence Moab, Edom, and David's
city could alike be seen. Here the rocky nest of the
Kenite, never to be wasted till Assyria carried him
captive, appeared as a peak on the south-western
horizon, at the ruin of Yekîn, where later monks
showed men the grave of Cain. Here was pronounced
the doom of those children of Sheth who adored, in
Peor and Nebo, but other forms of the pillar' Set, so
sacred to Hittites and to early Egyptians also.
6
C
Of the extraordinary monuments of el Mareighât,
further east on this ridge of Peor, above the springs
and oleanders of the valley of God,' an account will
be given in a subsequent chapter, and from the high
place of Balaam's prophecy we may descend into the
deep chasm of Callirhoe itself—the lower part of the
same Zerka M'aîn, or Nahaliel ravine, to visit the
springs where the diseased body of the Edomite tyrant
(Herod the Great) was vainly bathed before his
horrible death at Jericho. On the 30th of September
we rode south from Minyeh through white desert
THE LAND OF SIHON.
145
slopes, growing only sage and the retem broom, and
caught glimpses from time to time of the calm blue
waters of the Salt Sea reflecting the western precipices.
At length we reached the brink of the gorge-here
some 1700 feet deep-the stream being, near the
springs, still 1600 feet above the Dead Sea. Tawny
cliffs of limestone capped with chalk rise on the north,
and are seamed with gulleys, where the marl has
been washed down like snow streaks left in summer,
beneath the cliffs. On the south, is a steep brown
precipice with an undercliff of marl, and a plateau
stretching thence to another and yet another ridge;
beyond and above this plateau (on which are the
stone heaps of Machærus), appeared the shining waters
of the lake and its western cliffs, fading away into a
blue mist on the south. But the central feature of
this ghastly scene of utterly barren wilderness was
the great black bastion projecting from the southern
cliff, and almost blocking the gorge-an outbreak of
basalt which shows like a dark river in the valley of
Callirhoe, as seen from the west side of the Dead Sea.
It resembles the high spoil-heaps of an English coal
mine, and bears witness to the volcanic action which
has made the springs in this gorge of boiling heat,
and which no doubt accompanied the sudden de-
pression of the enormous fault now known as the
Jordan valley.
It took a full hour to reach the bottom of the
10
146
HETH AND MOAB.
gorge, and the scene beneath was wonderful beyond
description. On the south, black basalt, brown lime-
stone, gleaming marl. On the north, sandstone cliffs
of all colours, from pale yellow to pinkish purple. In
the valley itself the brilliant green of palm clumps,
rejoicing in the heat and in the sandy soil. The
streams, bursting from the cliffs, poured down in
rivulets between banks of crusted orange sulphur
deposits. The black grackle soared above, with gold-
tipped wings, his mellow note being the one sound
re-echoed by the great red cliffs in this utter solitude.
The brooks (which run from ten springs in all) vary
from 110° to 140° F. in temperature, and fall in little
cascades amid luxuriant foliage, to join the main
course of the stream, which is far colder and fresher,
flowing from the shingly springs higher up the
valley, and forming pools beneath white rocks of
chalk, which we found full of fish, and hidden in a
luxuriant brake of tamarisk and cane. The weather
being very hot, the thermal streams were not smok-
ing, but a strong smell of sulphur was very percept-
ible at times. Crossing three rivulets, from each of
which our horses, apparently aware of the heat of
the water, shrank back in fear, we reached the
principal hot-spring, which has formed a ledge of
breccia-like deposit in the valley, just north of the
basalt cliff. Here the chasm is narrowest, and the
main stream below could be seen winding among
THE LAND OF SIHON.
147
.
black boulders, which impede its course, with the
dark precipice frowning as though about to fall, like
Sinai in the Pilgrim's Progress.' The stream has
bored through the sulphurous breccia, and runs in a
tunnel of its own making, issuing from this hot shaft
about 100 feet lower, in the gorge itself. Here our
Arab friends stripped, and steamed themselves, sit-
ting on a frail platform of retem boughs, over the
boiling spring, which is surrounded with incrusta-
tions, white, yellow, or orange, of pure sulphur.
Here we heard again the legend of Solomon's black
demon slave, who discovered this healing bath for
his master, and we observed remains of a channel,
leading possibly to the baths, now buried beneath
the incrustations from the stream. And of all scenes
in Syria, even after standing on Hermon, or among
the groves of Banias, or at Engedi, or among the
crags of the Anti-Lebanon, there is none which so
dwells on my memory as does this awful gorge, 'the
valley of God' by Beth Peor, where, perhaps, the
body of Moses was hid—the fair flowing stream which
Herod sought below the gloomy prison of John the
Baptist at Machærus-the dread chasm where the
Bedawin still offer sacrifices to the desert spirits, and
still bathe with full faith in the healing powers of
the spring.
From Callirhoe we returned by the plateau under
Minyeh, where the grave of an English lady is still
10-2
148
HETH AND MOAB.
carefully respected by the 'Adwân chiefs, and from
this plateau, which extends to the top of cliffs above
the Dead Sea shore, the road leads north to the wide
basin of the Ghor es Sâfieh, or Seisebân plain, the
old Abel Shittim into which Israel descended from
Nebo.
This plain extends to Nimrim on the north, and is
the property of Goblân towards the south, and of
'Aly Diab. Near Nimrim it is partly cultivated with
maize, but much of its soil lies fallow, with scattered
groves of the sidr or lotus. Here grow the tall 'oshîr
shrubs, with their dusty apples of Sodom, and here are
mounds which mark the sites of Beth Haran, Beth
Jeshimoth, Kefrein, Beth Nimrah, and in all proba-
bility of Zoar. The white tombs of Arab chiefs stand.
on these mounds, or beside the streams which run to
meet the Jordan; and looking east, one sees the three
ridges of Nebo, Bamoth Baal, and Peor, running each
further into the plain. The hummock at Siâghah, the
peak at Minyeh, are each distinct against the sky-
line at Kefrein, and we thus look back from Israel's
point of view at the enchanter by the dolmen shrines,
or at the venerable leader of Israel, taking his last
look with undimmed eye at the western land before
he sank to rest in the 'valley of God.'
The whole extent of low spurs at the foot of the
Moab mountains between the Wâdy Hesbân on the
south and Kefrein on the north is thickly sown with
;
THE LAND OF SIHON.
149
1
dolmens, and menhirs, and rude circles. Here, then,
again we find these monuments, as before on Nebo, or
its companion heights, still existing at a spot once
consecrated to the worship of a Moabite deity. It
was among the groves of Shittim that the daughters
of Moab seduced the Israelites to worship Baal Peor.
It was not on the Cliff of Peor,' a day's journey
distant, but at some shrine in the valley of Shittim
that these sacrifices seem to have been offered, and
the occurrence of rude stone monuments, in each case,
at spots which are identified, on independent con-
siderations, as Moabite sanctuaries, cannot but be
considered a very striking circumstance in connection
with the history of dolmens and menhirs.
There is one more question which demands atten-
tion in concluding this sketch of the land of Sihon,
for it is in this plain of the Seisebân that students
have of late looked to find traces of the Cities of the
Ciccar,' which were overthrown when Lot escaped to
Zoar. It is probable that every important name has
now been collected in the plains of Shittim, yet
although Zoar may perhaps be considered as fixed,
no traces of Sodom or Gomorrah were discovered by
the surveyors.
The cities were destroyed, blotted
out, so that their names never appear again in the
Bible topography, and Josephus believed as some still
do in England, in spite of geological evidence-that
they lay beneath the salt waters of the Dead Sea.
150
HETH AND MOAB.
Zoar, 'the little' city, might in Arabic be recog-
nized as Saghir, 'the little,' and as first pointed out, I
believe, by the Rev. W. F. Birch, there is a ruined
mound, called Shaghûr in the Shittim plain, near the
foot of the Moab range. The name is perhaps as nearly
equivalent to the Hebrew as would be likely, and the
site is certainly appropriate. Zoar formed the limit
of Moab (Jer. xlviii. 34), and of the Jordan plain
(Deut. xxxiv. 3). It was not in the mountains, but
in the lowland (Gen. xix. 19), and the site of Tell
Shaghûr answers all these requirements. It is a
whitish mound, about forty feet high, and one hundred
and seventy paces north and south, by fifty-five paces
east and west, stony, and quarried on the east. A
little spring rises on the north, and on the east a
larger spring is surrounded with grass and rushes.
There was once a little hamlet about three hundred
yards to the west, and the site appears thus appro-
priate for such an insignificant village as Zoar is
described to have been. It is here, perhaps, that we
may picture the trembling Lot looking on at the
destruction of the Cities of the Plain, and from hence
he fled to the cave in the mountains above, 'for he
feared to dwell in Zoar.'
CHAPTER V.
THE LAND OF AMMON.
LEAVING on the south the valley of Heshbon, we enter
a district at a somewhat higher elevation, draining
north towards the source of the river Jabbok, which
has its head-springs at 'Ammân (Rabbath Ammon),
whence its course is at first in a northerly direction.
We here enter the territory of Gad, which extended
from the vicinity of Heshbon (Joshua xiii. 26), and from
Jazer (probably Beit Zer'ah) to Ramath Mizpeh and
Betonim (on the north), and from Mahanaim unto the
border of Debir. This lot of Gad included the cities
of Gilead and half the land of the children of Ammon,
with cities in the Jordan valley, namely, Beth Aram
(Râmeh), Beth Nimrah (Nimrîn), Succoth (possibly
Tell Deir 'Alla), and Zaphon (or 'Amâteh). In the
present chapter the southern half of this district will
be considered, including Rabbath Ammon and the
important ruins of Tyrus.
The children of Ammon no doubt originally owned
152
HETH AND MOAB.
the country westwards to Jordan, but became subject
to Sihon and his Amorites, or 'highlanders.' Israel
took from them the western or more fertile half of
their land, driving them into the desert east of their
capital, but in David's time we find them again
fortifying Rabbah (2 Samuel xii. 26), and at this period
there would seem to have been a lower city beside the
stream, and a fortress which was reserved for the final
attack in David's presence. The cruel sacrifices of the
defeated which are recorded to have followed the
capture of the city are sometimes thought to have
been intended, like those of Carthage or of Rome, as
a thanksgiving for victory.
The site of Rabbath Ammon is one of the most
weird and suggestive in Eastern Palestine. The
traveller from the south finds his way from the bare
plateau down into a silent valley, with a clear stream,
running over a pebbly bed and flanked here and there
with oleanders, while the cows and camels are
cropping green turf in the flat meadow between hills
utterly bare of tree or shrub. A great apse at the
spring-head, with a modern Arab graveyard, first
appear, and then a little Roman bridge with scattered
sarcophagi on the right. Gradually the Roman city
of Philadelphia comes in view in a gorge between hills
some 300 feet high. In the foreground a fine tomb
of Corinthian style, and behind this the ruins of a
church and of the Roman baths. On the south a
THE LAND OF AMMON.
153
steep brown cliff, on the north-east the hill of the
citadel, and close to the church or cathedral an early
mosque with a short minaret. The ruins of the Roman
houses and tombs cover the slopes, and the miserable
wattle huts of a Circassian colony, here planted by
the Turkish Government, are now perched above the
ruins of the city built by the Antonines. Some of
these poor exiles have seized on the theatre, living
where wild beasts were once caged, or where gladiators
awaited their fate. At this site, close to the mosque,
we pitched our camp for a fortnight, and again in
1882 I revisited the spot.
'Amman has so frequently been described, that
little seemed likely to be new in our investigations.
It is one of the finest Roman towns in Syria, with
baths, a theatre, and an odeum, as well as several
large private masonry tombs built in the valley,
probably in the second century. The fortress on the
hill, once surrounding a considerable temple, is also
probably of this same date. The church, with two
chapels further north, and perhaps some of the
tombs, must belong to a later age, perhaps the fourth
century. The mosque and the fine Moslem building on
the citadel hill cannot be earlier than the seventh, and
are perhaps as late as the eleventh century, and we
have thus relics of every building epoch excepting the
Crusading, of which there appears to be no indication.
There is not much to be learned from a study of
*
154
HETH AND MOAB.
the Roman town, but it is very striking to find how
large and rich a population must clearly have in-
habited this district in the second, and probably as
late as the sixth, century. At Nueijîs on the north,
at el Kahf, es Sûk, and other sites on the south,
splendid monuments still exist, which appear to have
been tombs of noble families. When we connect
these with the ruins of Heshbon, Medeba and Meon,
and Dibon on the one side, and with the great city
of Jerâsh on the other, with the innumerable early
Christian towns of the Hauran (miscalled Giant Cities
of Bashan), the endless Greek inscriptions of all
Peræa, and the relics of churches found even as far
south as Dibon, we perceive that, in spite of apparent
barrenness, the richness of Bashan, Gilead, and Moab
had been discovered by the Romans; and that, in
spite of the Nabathean and other nomadic tribes on
the east and south, a large settled population, repre-
sented even in the time of Christ by the Greek settlers
of Gadara and its allied cities of Decapolis, spread
over the plateau, even as far south as the Arnon, and
converting, in the second century, the Beni Ghassan
tribes from Yemen to a Christianity represented by the
present Melchite church, held its own, no doubt, until
the great wave of Arab conquest, under Omar, reduced
Peræa to its present condition of ruin.
More interesting, however, than any ruins of past
Christian times, were the early Jewish and pre-
THE LAND OF AMMON.
155
historic monuments, which we were apparently the
first to discover at Ammân. West of the citadel,
on the slope of a hill, we lit upon a very fine group
of dolmens, like those of Nebo or Heshbon. On
the south-west a single specimen of 'demi-dolmen,'
perhaps the largest of those east of Jordan, was also
found standing quite alone, and on the hills to the
west and to the north of Ammân we found several
magnificent menhirs, which seemed possibly to mark
ancient boundaries of the city lands.
C
}
In one of those curious archæological notes, of
which several are found in the Book of Deuteronomy,
there is mention made of the bedstead of Og; his
bedstead' (arish) was a bedstead of iron, is it not
in Rabbath, of the children of Ammon? nine cubits
was the length thereof and four cubits the breadth
(Deut. iii. 11). This passage has exercised the
ingenuity of many commentators, and is generally
supposed to refer to a basalt sarcophagus; but there
is no basalt at Rabbath, while all we know of early
tribes would render it very doubtful if Og was likely
to be buried in a sarcophagus.
The word may,
however, mean a hut (as in Arabic), or, more pro-
bably, a throne, while it is not impossible that the
word rendered iron' may mean (as in Talmudic
use) 'strong' or 'princely.' The monument, in such
case, would be Og's throne rather than his bedstead.
6
A memory of Irish dolmens suggested to me a
·
156
HETH AND MOAB.
possible connection between Og's throne and some
rude-stone monument which tradition might have
indicated as a giant's seat, just as in Ireland dol-
mens are the 'beds of Grain and Diarmed,' and con-
nected with legends of giants. It was, therefore,
very striking to find a single enormous dolmen
standing alone in a conspicuous position near Rab-
bath Ammon, and yet more striking that the top
stone measured 13 feet (or very nearly nine cubits
of 16 inches) in length. The extreme breadth was
11 feet. It seemed to me possible that it is to this
solitary monument that the name 'Og's Throne
might be attached, and I here give the suggestion
for what it is worth.
In the valley west of the city, and again on the hill
to the north, we found many specimens of the oldest
form of tomb, such as was used by Jews and
Phoenicians, namely, chambers with kokim, or tunnels
for corpses, in the side walls. Immediately north of
the citadel we found also a great underground
reservoir, having at its mouth a concealed passage,
which might perhaps have once led to the interior of
the fortress. This passage may be that of which
Polybius speaks as being used by the defenders of the
citadel during the siege by Antiochus the Great in
218 B.C. The secret was betrayed by a prisoner, which
led to the surrender of the garrison.
The principal Roman cemetery lay south of the
THE LAND OF AMMON.
157
!
town, the earlier Jewish, Ammonite or Amorite graves
are to the north and west; but we could not discover
any traces of pre-Roman ruins at 'Ammân, with ex-
ception of the early tombs, although the citadel hill
was no doubt fortified in some manner in David's time,
sufficiently, at least, to make the assault no easy matter.
The beautiful little Moslem building on the citadel
hill is one of the most interesting monuments of the
town. It appears to be an erection all of one period,
although the south wall has been injured, and perhaps
partly rebuilt. The building measures 85 feet north
and south, by 80 feet east and west. It has a
central court 33 feet square, and an arched chamber
leads back from each side of the court, measuring
about 18 feet either way. There are four other
chambers in the four corners, and on the north-west
was a staircase to the roof. The total height is
27 feet, and it did not appear to me that there was
any evidence that the central court had ever been
roofed in. It is incorrect to describe the building as
cruciform in any sense.
The interest of this building consists in the archi-
tectural style of its details. Each alcove, or chamber,
opening into the court has a fine arch of peculiar
shape, being very nearly semi-circular, but having
that same slightly elliptical form at the top which can
be recognised in the arches of the Dome of the Rock.
at Jerusalem, which would, I believe, if they could
158
HETH AND MOAB.
be measured carefully, be found not to be truly semi-
circular.
On each side of the arch is a panel decorated with
bas-reliefs in stone. These represent arches supported
on slender coupled pillars. The arch in this case is
represented of horse-shoe form, and decorated with a
dog-tooth moulding. It stands on a sort of cornice,
supported by three small sculptured arches, each with
dwarf twin-pillars. Above the large arch is a second
order of these arches also on dwarf twin-pillars. The
spaces under all these arches, between the pillars, are
elaborately ornamented with geometric designs, which
have a somewhat Byzantine appearance.
The main features of this wall and arch are so
closely similar to those of the Sassanian palace at
Ctesiphon, and so unlike anything else in Palestine,
excepting the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem, that
one cannot but suppose the 'Ammân building to be
of Sassanian or of very early Moslem origin.
The Ctesiphon example dates from 550 A.D., but the
panels at 'Ammân have been compared by Professor
Hayter Lewis with details of Greek churches of the
eleventh and thirteenth centuries, at Athens and
elsewhere. The dog-tooth moulding is also found
in Crusading work of the twelfth century, and in
Arab work of the fourteenth, although not quite of
the same character as that at 'Ammân. As regards
the arches, the larger structural ones are, as already
THE LAND OF AMMON.
159
said, very slightly elliptical; the sculptured ones are
in some cases horse-shoes, and sometimes round.
They are not very carefully executed, and those which
ought to correspond are not always quite of the same
shape. Each of the smaller arches is cut on a single
stone, and none are structural.
In 1882 it was discovered that a second building
like that just described had once stood on the north,
close to the outer wall of the fortress, but presenting
no new indications of style. The question thus raised
is one of considerable importance in connection with
the history of Arab architecture, and with that of the
building of the Dome of the Rock at Jerusalem. The
existence of a mosque, in the valley, with round
arches seems to show that the Moslems already were
building here in or before the ninth century, when
they first began to use the pointed arch, and as there
is no distinctly pointed arch in the building under
consideration, we should in the first instance be
inclined to ascribe its erection to the same period.
Ibn Khaldun, the historian, tells us that the Arabs
of the centuries immediately succeeding the Hejirah
employed Persian architects to build their mosques,
and Greek builders were also employed, as, for instance,
at Damascus, by Welid, the Ommiyah Khalif, suc-
cessor of Abd el Melek (705-715 A.D.). The Byzan-
tine style will, perhaps, be finally found to owe as
much as does the architecture of the early Arab
160
HETH AND MOAB.
period to the Sassanian style in Persia, and for these
reasons it may perhaps be suggested that the Greek
churches above mentioned owe their peculiarities to
Persian influence, rather than that they were the
models which Moslem architects copied.
The outer wall of the Dome of the Rock appears
most probably to be a structure of the ninth century
of our era, its gates bearing the date 831 A.D., and
the beams in its roof 913 A.D. The arches are round,
and the same peculiarity of a large arched panel with
a smaller arcade above, supported by twin dwarf
pillars, is here to be observed, as at 'Ammân or at
Ctesiphon. It is an indication, perhaps, of Sassinian
influence among the Arab architects of the time of
el Mamûn and his successor, and a valuable com-
parison may thus be obtained in Syria itself between
the Jerusalem dome and the 'Ammân building.
The indications of date which are thus to be traced
seem, then, to be as follows. An example in Persia of
the sixth century and one at Jerusalem of the ninth,
or early in the tenth. Details in Greece which are
variously dated from the sixth to the thirteenth
centuries, the later date being more probably the true
one. An Arab mosque of the ninth century, or earlier,
existing at 'Ammân, and a Sassanian palace of the
seventh century at Mashita. The general impression
obtained from such considerations seems to me to be
that in the mosque and the two buildings on the hill
THE LAND OF AMMON.
161
at 'Ammân we have remains of the most prosperous
Arab period-the ninth and tenth centuries, A.D.—
when the great Abbasiyeh Khalifs were ruling at
Baghdad; when science and art were being so eagerly
learned by the Arab from the conquered Persian and
Greek; when peace was stablished and trade flourished
by sea and land—a period including the 'golden prime'
of Harun er Rashid, the ally of Charlemagne, and the
days when Baghdad, the City of Peace,' was the
seat of learned societies of literature, law, theology,
and poetry; when Arab grammar was invented and
ancient books translated; the age in which Islam was
really great, and the Arab race really civilized.
C
To this age we owe much of our architecture, our
poetry, our mathematical and astronomical science;
and while Charlemagne was struggling with heathen
and barbarians, it was the Arab who tended the lamp
of knowledge, who spread the light through Africa
and Spain, and who treasured for future generations
the great discoveries of the Chaldean, the Persian,
and the Greek, at a time when Aryan races were
plunged in darkness, and when all that man had
already learned seemed in danger of being for-
gotten.
The Circassian colony at 'Amman is one of several
planted by the Sultan in Peræa. These unhappy
people, chased from their homes by the Russians, and
again driven from their new settlements in European
11
162
HETH AND MOAB.
Turkey by the late war, are now scattered in the
wilderness, where land has been assigned them to
cultivate. They have, however, the listless and dis-
spirited look of exiles who find it impossible to take
root in the uninviting district to which they have been
sent. Hated by the Arab and the Fellah, despoiled
of money and possessions, and having seen many of
their bravest fall or die of starvation, they seem to
have no more courage left, and will probably die out
by degrees, or become scattered among the indigenous
population. Our appearance at 'Ammân at once
aroused their apprehensions. They believed us to be
the pioneers of a Power which was about to seize the
country, and anxiously inquired whether they would
be allowed to remain where they were in case of an
English or French occupation. It was in vain that I
protested that our work had no connection with
politics. The Emîr begged hard to be made the con-
fidant of a secret which, he insisted, we knew, and I
was at length obliged, in order to get rid of him, to
express the opinion, that whether French or English
took Syria, there was no reason to suppose his settle-
ment would be disturbed, or that he would (as he
seemed chiefly to fear) be given up to the tender
mercies of Russia.
It is from such incidents, not less than from the
faces of the dead looking skyward on the field of
battle, that a man may judge of the sorrow which is
THE LAND OF AMMON.
163
:
brought upon the weak and poor by the restless
ambition of conquering races.
Leaving 'Ammân on the 20th of October, we
crossed the bare brown plateau to the south-west,
and descended into the deep valley called Wâdy es
Sîr. The scenery in this, and in the other gorges
near it, presents a striking contrast to that of the
plateau. Clear brooks are running between lawns of
turf, or breaking in falls over high precipices, hung
with brambles, and green with fern: thick oak
woods of most English character climb the slopes,
and here and there crown a white chalk-cliff.
Lower down are yellow, red, and purple sandstones,
the peaks and narrow ridges of the marl just over
the Jordan plains, broad wolds, dotted with trees
and with dark Arab encampments, and the deep
ravines, each with a narrow bed, in which the murmur
of the stream is heard, but its course is concealed by
the tall canes, or by the dusky oleander bushes, blush-
ing with ruddy blossom.
It was to this valley of Sir that the priest Hyrcanus
retired from Judæa. He was the grandson of the
daughter of the celebrated Simon the Just, the chief
of the Sanhedrin in Alexander the Great's time.
Joseph, his father, grandson of Simon the Just, was a
politician who had done great service to his country,
but on his death Hyrcanus quarrelled with his
brothers, and finding his faction too weak to oppose
11-2
164
HETH AND MOAB.
their forces, he retired to Tyrus beyond Jordan
(12 Ant. iv. 11). Here he made war against the
Arabs, and erected a strong castle surrounded by a
lake, and having on its walls representations of
'animals of a prodigious magnitude.' He also made,
in the rock that was over against him,' caves several
furlongs in length; banquet halls, and living rooms
are specified by Josephus, and the caves appear to
have been supplied with water. These retreats were
intended as fortifications against the assaults of the
Arabs, and there were large gardens and courts near
them. The name Tyre, given to the site by Hyrcanus,
probably meant 'rock' or 'stronghold,' and indicates
the cliff in which his caves were excavated. Here he
ruled for seven years, while Seleucus was reigning at
Antioch; but on the accession of Antiochus Epiphanes
(or in 176 B.C.), seized with fear lest his cruelty to
the Arabs should recoil on his head, he slew himself
with his own hand, and his wealth was confiscated by
the King of Antioch.
This account agrees in a most exact manner with
the character of the ruins still existing in Wâdy es
Sîr, at the site known as 'Arâk el Emîr, or the
Prince's Cliff.' The name Sîr, and that of the neigh-
bouring ruin of Sûr, no doubt preserve a memory
of the ancient Tyrus. A cliff here exists on the
north side of the valley, with a gallery, about a third
of a mile long, cut in its face, and a double row of
THE LAND OF AMMON.
165
*
caves, the upper, 46 feet above the ground, opening
on to the gallery, the lower on to the ground. A
sloping way appears once to have led up to the
gallery, and the entrances to the various chambers
are narrow, just as Josephus describes them, while
several cisterns are hewn beneath the level of the
gallery floor. In the upper tier is a rock-hewn
stable, with rock mangers for a hundred horses, and
over the door of another chamber is an Aramaic
inscription in large bold letters, which still remains
a puzzle to the archæologist.
It may, perhaps, be suggested, with regard to this
inscription, that the best reading would be 'Adniah,
which is quite borne out by comparison with Aramaic
texts of about the same age, although the second and
third letters might be otherwise rendered. Adniah
would come from Adnah, ' pleasure' or 'delight,' and
is connected with the Hebrew Eden. The inscription
might be compared to the 'Salve' on Roman thres-
holds, and would be appropriate to a banquet-hall,
such as Josephus makes Hyrcanus to have hewn in
this cliff. It is a suggestive relic of the short-lived
reign of luxury and pleasure which the renegade
priest here enjoyed during his tyrannical lifetime.
At the west end of the cliff a single boulder is
carved out, with niches placed in rows, such as are
sometimes found in the façades of Jewish tombs.
These, no doubt, once held lamps, illuminating the
166
HETH AND MOAB.
façade of the cliff in times of festivity. Looking
down from the gallery, one perceives a terrace partly
natural—a bank in the valley formed originally by
the stream-partly artificial, and levelled as a garden
or the site of a village. This platform is an irregular
triangle in shape, the base towards the cliff on the
north, and near the apex are the ruins of a hamlet.
It
On the south, about six hundred yards from the
west end of the cliff, and at a level considerably
lower than that of the platform or terrace just
mentioned, are remains of a castle or palace, standing
in an enclosure, which is at a somewhat lower level
than the mound on which the building is erected,
and which has on the south and east a kind of dam
with a retaining wall. On the east are remains of
a gate, and traces of an aqueduct occur to the north.
A raised mound leads from the vicinity of the gate-
way to the knoll on which the palace stands.
seems clear, therefore, that the palace was intended
to be surrounded by water, and part of its surround-
ing sunk-terrace or ditch is even now often wet from
the collection of surface drainage. The south wall
of the enclosure measures about 320 yards, and is
100 yards south of the palace. The latter measures
125 feet north and south, by 621 feet east and west.
The east wall is standing at its corners apparently
to the full original height of one course above the
cornice, and the three courses have a total height of
THE LAND OF AMMON.
167
21 feet. Two huge headless lions, facing north,
follow each other at the north-east angle, and
measure about 9 feet in length by 6 feet in height.
Two other lions, also headless, and facing south,
occupy the two corresponding blocks of the third
course in the east wall, above the simple cornice.
The palace had a gate on the north, another on the
south, and at least seven entrances on the east.
Traces of interior walls are visible. The great stones
are drafted, like those of the Jerusalem Haram, and
some of the blocks are 20 feet long and 10 feet high.
In the east wall are remains of two loopholes, at
different levels, and a stairway seems to have led to
the roof. The details of the pillar capitals, cornices,
and bases, present a rude approximation, in some
cases, to Ionic forms, in others almost to the
Egyptian. It seems, however, not improbable that
the building was never quite completed.
A curious feature of the ruin is the occurrence of pairs
of stone cippi, placed at intervals of about twenty yards,
each pair three or four feet apart. The stones are
about four feet high, each with a hole seven inches in
diameter near the top. The holes are countersunk
on one side, nine inches in width through half the
thickness. These pairs of stones were traced all along
the mound leading to the palace, and northwards for
some two hundred paces, and there were at least
seventeen pairs. Near one pair lay a stone 25 feet
168
HETH AND MOAB.
long, 8 feet high, and 2 feet 3 inches thick, and this
seemed to suggest the original use of the cippi. They
were no doubt intended to aid in the removal of
the huge stones from the cliff or caves where they
were quarried to the palace standing in the lower
ground. The holes may have served as rude pulleys
through which ropes were passed, and the stone, placed
on rollers, would be hauled towards the pair of cippi
in front of it. The stones being only a little over
two feet in thickness, would, when raised on end, pass
between the pairs of cippi, and the distance of twenty
yards, though perhaps too long to allow of tree-stems
being fitted in a sort of staging between the cippi, is
not too long for a rope. The purchase obtained by
passing the rope through such a pulley would, when
the hole was greased, be considerable, and the stone
fallen beside this line of posts, seems at once to
indicate the use which they served, and also the
unfinished condition of the palace when deserted by
its builders.
This palace is called Kasr el 'Abd, or the 'Black
Slave's Tower,' by the Arabs, and a legend attaches to
it which will be mentioned later. It has been called
by De Sauley an Ammonite temple, and supposed to
have been only in part the work of Hyrcanus. For
this conjecture there appears to me to be no founda-
tion whatever. The building is quite unlike any
known temple of Syria, Assyria, or Egypt, in form.
THE LAND OF AMMON,
169
It was clearly a defensive structure, with interior
rooms, like a palace. It answers exactly to the descrip-
tion of Josephus, and his account is the only one we
possess. The style of the architecture approaches
that of the tombs near Jerusalem, which are referred to
the second century B.C., and there is certainly nothing
in the Bible or elsewhere which would lead us to
suppose that the rude sons of Lot, Ammonite or
Moabite, or the Amorites the Zuzim and the Zam-
zummin who preceded them, ever erected temples of
such unusual form and of such classic style. The
archæologist in Syria is always tempted to give
greater, rather than a lesser, antiquity to any important
ruin than it can be shown historically to possess, and
the Ammonite temple of Tyrus must in my opinion be
classed with the 'pure Phoenician' work of Athlît, of
Banias, or of any other Crusading site, as a product of
archæological imagination which ignores the evidence
of history.
It was a well-chosen spot that Hyrcanus here
adorned. The view to the south is extensive, Nebo
and Pisgah, and even Peor, being visible above the
nearer ridges, which are dotted with trees. The
stream breaks rapidly down, forming dark cool pools
under the shadow of the great oleanders, which have
grown almost to the size of forest trees, reminding
one of the groves of Daphne, and of the dawn-nymph
changed into this dusky tree, with its blossom yet
170
HETH AND MOAB.
blushing red with Apollo's kiss. Surely it was the dafleh
or oleander, rather than the poisonous laurel, which
the Greek mythologists connected with the name of
Daphne (the older Dahana, or dawn), and there is no
flower in the East whose delicate tint approaches
nearer to the flush of the aurora than does the great
blossom of the dafleh or oleander.
Here, then, the luxurious son of Joseph lived in
enjoyment of freedom and fair scenery. Here, from
his caverns, he looked on at the Arab slaves dragging
great blocks to the palace rising on its island in the
artificial lake. Here, perhaps, he stored wine of
Helbon in his rocky cellars, and beautiful horses
snatched from Nabathean nomads were stabled in the
cavern above. Here, finally, he fell by his own hand,
and the silence of the wilderness descended on the
scene of his cruelty and pride.
More than one interesting indication is afforded by
the study of the ruins of Tyrus. Here we find drafted
masonry, nearly double the dimensions of the stones
which Herod carved, and capitals which bear evidence
of Greek and Phoenician or Egyptian influence. We
see that megalithic masonry is not of necessity to be
considered of immense antiquity, but rather indicates
a period when man had attained the ambition of execut-
ing great works, but had not learned the art of easily
constructing them by aid of such cement as the Romans
used. The invention of mortar enabled the architect
THE LAND OF AMMON.
171
to produce great results with much diminished effort,
and buildings like the Theban temples, the Jerusalem
Haram, the Parthenon, the Tyrus palace, point rather
to human power still in its infancy, and to a rude
civilization intermediate between that of the illiterate
dolmen builder and that of the true engineering
genius of Rome.
The inscription on the face of the cliff is equally
instructive. It is in a character akin to that of
the Hasmonean coins, and presents affinities to that
of the long text over the tomb of the Bene Hazir,
near Jerusalem, popularly called the Tomb of St.
James, in the Kedron valley. The Palmyrene inscrip-
tions of the second century after Christ present us with
specimens of a later development. The Moabite stone
and the Siloam inscription show us the Phoenician-like
character of an earlier age. Thus we see gradually
developing from the 'broken' character originally
common to Moabite, Phoenician, and Israelite, that
later upright' or square character which is now
known as Hebrew. The uncial Greek, the Samaritan,
the square Hebrew, are each and all descendants of
the original Semitic alphabet, which we trace monu-
mentally to the ninth century B.C. Square Hebrew
is scarcely older than Jerome's time as a distinct
alphabet, and the Hebrew points have an equally
insignificant antiquity; but the mystery of the origin
of the Aramaic alphabet is still a question to be
172
HETH AND MOAB.
solved, although the researches of Dr. Isaac Taylor,
and the discoveries of Halevy, and of others, have of
late done so much to clear up the history of the
alphabet. The Bene Hazir and Kefr Bir'im alphabets,
in Palestine, trace back for us the origin of the square
types to the second and first centuries A.D., and
perhaps even earlier, confirming the Talmudic ac-
counts of the parallelism of this alphabet with the
older Phoenician forms. Scarcely less interesting are
the discoveries respecting Nabathean, Himyar, Sabean,
Pali, and Æthiopic forms of the same age, in the
study of which the four Nabathean inscriptions found
at Medeba, and copied by us in Jerusalem, may
perhaps prove of importance.
CHAPTER VI.
MOUNT GILEAD.
THE previous chapters on Moab and Ammon refer
to the district surveyed in 1881. The country north
of 'Ammân, as far as Jerâsh, I was enabled to explore
in April, 1882, through the kindness of their Royal
Highnesses Prince Albert Victor and Prince George
of Wales, when I had the honour of attending them
on the first visit paid since the twelfth century by
any royal personages to the country beyond Jordan.
In the present chapter it is proposed to examine cer-
tain biblical questions concerning the sites of Penuel,
Succoth, Ramoth Gilead, and Mahanaim, and to say
a few words concerning the famous ruins of Jerâsh,
thus concluding the geographical part of the present
volume, from which we may turn to consider rude
stone monuments, Arab customs, Syrian superstitions,
and Bedawin folk-lore.
The tentative suggestions of a great authority have
a tendency to become established opinions among his
174
HETH AND MOAB.
disciples. It is thus that Gibeah of Saul and
Megiddo have been popularly fixed at sites suggested
by Dr. Robinson, but never shown to be appropriate.
East of Jordan the important town of Ramoth Gilead
has, in the same manner, become popularly identified
with es Salt, in consequence of a mere conjecture of
Gesenius, due to an equally indefinite suggestion of
Eusebius, which is not followed by his translator,
Jerome. As with many other cities once famous, the
incidental notices in the Old Testament leave the
situation of this town very vaguely indicated. Those
for whom the Books of Joshua and Kings were first
written knew so well where the more important sites
of their country lay, that it would naturally not
occur to a Hebrew writer specially to define their
positions. All that we can gather as regards Ramoth
is that it was a strong city in Mount Gilead, and
apparently not far from the northern border of that
mountain district, for it became the prey of the
Kings of Damascus, and the Bashan district was
ruled in Solomon's time by a governor whose seat
was at Ramoth Gilead (1 Kings iv. 14).
Another indication of some importance is also to
be found in the fact that chariots were employed in
a battle near this city (1 Kings xxii. 31-35) by an
army which came down the valley of Jezreel to en-
counter another army, apparently advancing from
Damascus. Chariots could never have been driven
MOUNT GILEAD.
175
over the rugged ridges of the Jebel 'Ajlûn, but in
the plains of Bashan, in the plateau near Jerâsh, and
further east, it would be possible to employ them.
To reach es Salt, where Ramoth Gilead is generally
shown, in a chariot, would have been a feat which
no ancient charioteer is likely to have attempted,
and still less any general commanding a force of
chariots.
Ramath Mizpeh (Joshua xiii. 26) has been thought
to be possibly identical with Ramoth Gilead, and also
with the Mizpeh of Gilead where Jacob erected a
cairn; but these names are both so common in Syria
and in the Old Testament topography, that we can
feel little certainty in the matter. Ramath Mizpeh
was on the north boundary of Gad, and is mentioned
with Betonim-a name which may survive in that of the
district of el Butein, south-east of the Sea of Galilee.
The most probable site of Ramath Mizpeh seems
perhaps to be Remtheh, west of Bozrah, in a situation
which agrees with the Talmudic boundary of the Holy
Land, which passed a Mizpeh supposed by the
Rabbinical writers to be that where Jacob and Laban
met; but although this district is one in which
chariots might be used, it does not seem to be
sufficiently within the limits of Gilead to be the
proper situation for Ramoth Gilead. A more probable
site for this latter may perhaps be that suggested by
Ewald, namely, the village of Reimûn, west of Jerâsh
176
HETH AND MOAB.
and north of the Jabbok. There is open ground on
the east, in the vicinity of Jerâsh, which might be
reached from the Jordan valley by chariots following
the course of the Jabbok; and the place is evidently
an old site, for there are rock-cut tombs on the west.
It should also be noted that the later Jews connect
Ramoth Gilead with Jerâsh, and although this may
not be a strong argument, it is certainly not one to be
altogether overlooked.
The Mizpeh in Gilead where Jacob and Laban met
(Genesis xxxi. 49), and the Mizpeh where Jephthah
had his house (Judges xi. 34), presumably in the
Land of Tob (Judges x. 17, xi. 3) may perhaps be
the same. The Land of Tob was, according to the
Talmud, the district south-east of the Sea of Galilee,
and its old title survives in the modern name Taiyibeh,
which applies to a village in this direction, and which
is radically the same with the Hebrew, signifying
goodly,' or fruitful. The most appropriate site for
Mizpeh would in this case be the present Sûf, a
village north-west of Jerâsh, and only some 3 miles
from Reimûn; and it is very remarkable that a fine
group of rude-stone monuments exists near Sûf,
showing in all probability that there was once a
sacred centre here. It is indeed curious to note how
closely connected are the dolmen centres of Eastern
Palestine with the early history of Israel. We have
seen this to be the case at Nebo, Bamoth Baal, and
6
MOUNT GILEAD.
177
Peor, as also in the plains of Shittim: Gilgal and
Bethel seem clearly to have been places where menhirs
once stood, and the group opposite es Salt may
perhaps be connected with the great altar Ed, if, as
Josephus clearly states to have been the case, this
altar was erected east of Jordan. At Dan, where
Jeroboam's calf temple was erected, dolmens are still
found, and if Sûf be indeed the Mizpeh of Gilead we
find a rude-stone centre also remaining at the Galeed
of Jacob.
Another place of importance still unsettled is
Mahanaim, where, according to the Septuagint, Israel
'saw the camp of God encamped' to which David
fled from Absalom, and where the sacred dance was
celebrated which is mentioned in the Song of Songs.
Dr. Grove believes that it should be sought south of
the Jabbok rather than at the northern site of Maneh,
where later travellers have placed it; and there is
another indication which points in the same direction,
namely, the identification of Succoth north of the
Jabbok. Jacob went from Mizpeh to Mahanaim
apparently on his way to Edom (Genesis xxxii.), but
fearing the approach of Esau, he 'passed over' Penuel
and over the Jabbok. It is not quite clear whether
Penuel was reached before or after Jacob himself
crossed the ford, but from the expression 'sent them
over the brook' (verse 23), it would seem that the
patriarch at Penuel was alone on the side of the
12
178
HETH AND MOAB.
stream opposite to that on which his wives, children
and property were awaiting him.
Now the later name of Succoth, according to the
Talmud, was Terala, and Mr. Selah Merrill has
pointed out the survival of the latter name in the
present Tell Deir 'Alla in the Jordan valley north
of the Jabbok. If we accept this position for
Succoth (and no better suggestion has been made
by any writer on the subject), it would appear that
the crossing of the Jabbok was from south to north,
not from north to south, and that the intention of
Jacob was to place a natural barrier between himself
and the brother whom he feared.
In this case
Penuel must be sought south of the Jabbok, which
may perhaps be considered to agree with the mention
of the same place in the account of Gideon's pursuit
of the Midianites, for Gideon passes from Succoth
to Penuel (Judges viii. 6—8), and thence to Jog-
behah, which has been identified in a perfectly satis-
factory manner at the large ruin of Jubeihah, on the
plateau between es Salt and Ammân.
Penuel signifies the 'face,' or 'appearing,' of God,
and may be compared to the Phoenician term, Pene
Baal, which was an appellation of the Carthaginian
goddess, Tanith or Artemis. The pagan idea was
the same as that found in India, where every male
deity has his Sakti, or 'power,' a goddess who is the
manifestation of her lord, and without whom he
MOUNT GILEAD.
179
cannot act. The Hebrew name, Penuel, was, how-
ever, derived from the manifestation of the angel, or
messenger, of God, with whom Jacob strove. We
have seen that in Phoenicia the name Face of God'
was applied to a magnificent promontory on the
Mountain of Light. The Biblical Penuel would seem
also to have been a ridge of some kind, since Jacob
'passed over' it as the sun rose. The place which
seems indicated by such considerations is the high
summit of Jebel Osh'a, north of es Salt, and although
the name Penuel has not been certainly recovered,
it may perhaps prove finally to exist. A valley
called Fâneh is shown on Murray's map, running
down from Jebel Osh'a to the Jabbok, and this
name would be exactly the most probable form in
which the Hebrew Penuel might survive. I failed,
it is true, to obtain any confirmation, in 1882, from
the 'Adwân guide, who seemed, nevertheless, to know
the district well, but further inquiry may yet es-
tablish the correctness of the title. Even if the
name be lost, the identifications of Succoth and
Jogbehah seem to point to some position like that
of Jebel Osh'a as representing the ridge of Penuel,
'the appearance of God.'
The site of Mahanaim should apparently be sought
further east. Jacob was on his way to Edom, no
doubt along the old pilgrim road from the north;
4
and in the account of the boundaries of Gad, we
12-2
180
HETH AND MOAB.
find Mahanaim specified as opposite the border of
Debir, or the edge of the ridge' (Joshua xiii. 26).
It would seem that these terms give the east and
west boundaries of the tribe, the other places men-
tioned in the same passage defining the north and
south limits, and the Jordan valley being enumerated
separately. In this case Debir may be understood
to be a general term rather than the name of any
town, a suggestion which applies equally to that
Debir or ridge (Joshua xv. 7) above the valley of
Achor, which marked the border of Judah.
The wood was east of
From another passage we learn that Mahanaim
was near some plain which lay between it and the
wood of Ephraim, where Absalom was killed (2
Samuel xviii. 6 and 23).
Jordan, according to Josephus, and may have been
one of those fine oak woods which clothe the slopes
of Mount Gilead, and from which the Saltus Hieraticus
of the fifth century was named, whence the modern
town of es Sâlt takes its present title. East of
es Sâlt is the extraordinary crater called el Bej'a by
the Arabs, the plain,' or sunken plateau, surrounded
by sandstone and limestone ridges, and possessing
a fine extent of arable land. Perhaps somewhere
east of this plain Mahanaim may yet be identified,
and over this plateau the messenger of evil tidings
may have run to tell David of Absalom's death. The
word rendered plain is ciccar, or circuit,' commonly
MOUNT GILEAD.
181
applied to the Jordan valley, but also to the vicinity
of Jerusalem. It would apply with much propriety
to the round basin of the Bej'a, if we are correct in
supposing the Wood of Ephraim to have been east
of Jordan. The dance of Mahanaim (Cant. vi. 13)
has been thought to have been a religious ceremony,
and Dr. Grove suggests that this city was consecrated
as the meeting-place of Israel with the angels; the
translation of the verse quoted is, however, uncertain,
and our English version reads instead, 'the com-
pany of two armies.' That Mahanaim was not near
Ramoth Gilead we may judge from the fact that it
was in Solomon's time the capital of another pro-
vince, namely, that of Gilead (1 Kings iv. 14).
The brink or cliff of Jebel Osh'a commands one of
the finest views east of Jordan. Here may be seen
the whole western watershed from Jericho to Tabor,
and far below are the sandstones of the lower spurs
which run out into the Jordan valley, beneath an
almost precipitous slope. Seen in the shifting lights
of an April day, this wide view of mountain and valley
which opens as the traveller reaches the edge of the
cliff is wonderfully picturesque and suggestive. The
distant ranges, faint and blue in the afternoon shade,
the strange peaks of the marl at Sartaba and near
Jericho, the dark line of Jordan, the green corn in its
valley, the warm hues of the sandstone, the wild-
broom and cytizus, the thyme and rock-roses, the
182
HETH AND MOAB.
thorny bell'an and bushes of arbutus and laurestinus,
which form the foreground on this breezy height,
combine to produce a picture in some respects not
unlike one in the highlands of Scotland, and remark-
ably unsuggestive of the burning East. On the south
the Dead Sea is hidden by a projecting ridge, but the
plateau of Neby Musa, the plains of Jericho, Olivet,
Neby Samwil, and Baal Hazor, are all distinguishable:
over the valleys of Phasaelis and Far'ah are seen the
Samaritan ridges, Ebal, Gerizim, Neby Belan, Sheikh'
Beiyazid, the Sartaba, Jebel Hazkin, with the isolated
tops near Tammûn and Tubâs. From the Râs el
Akr'a the Gilboa chain commences, and Tabor, Neby
Duhy, and the site of Bethshean are all prominent
objects. The Damieh ford (the ancient Adam) is
distinguishable on the road from Salt to Shechem.
The grey barren ridges of 'Ajlûn, whence Gilead
obtains its name of 'rocky land,' run out on the north,
concealing Hermon, and here on the sky-line stands
the Crusading castle of er Rubud, one of the strongest
of their chain of strongholds.
Close to this summit in a hollow stands the little
shrine of Neby Osh'a, with a large tree beside it.
Several other fine forest trees, oak and terebinth,
are scattered over the range, and stunted firs are also
frequent, but the forests are at a lower level covering
the slopes above the streams, which dip down to the
Jordan valley both north and south of this summit,
MOUNT GILEAD.
183
but especially in the region north of 'Arâk el Emîr
where is a great wood of oak and terebinth and other
trees, possibly part of the ancient Wood of Ephraim
where Absalom was slain.
The Samaritans state that the prophet who gives
his name to Jebel Osh'a was Hosea, not Joshua
(Hoshea), but whatever be the true origin of the pre-
sent title, the fact remains that this is one out of the
very few sacred domes east of Jordan. In Moab not a
single ancient shrine appears to exist, save perhaps
the grave of Abdallah near Nebo. To the north,
where villages are found, shrines are more frequent,
and near Jerâsh we have Neby Hûd and Bekr Elîyeh,
but Osh'a is the most conspicuous and famous of
the Trans-Jordanic shrines, and thus the hill is still a
sacred place. The reasons which seem to indicate
Jebel Osh'a as a possible site for Penuel have been
already given, and it may perhaps be thought that the
name God the Saviour' (Hosea), has some con-
nection with the older title Penuel, 'the manifes-
tation of God.'
.
In the valley to the south is the town of es Salt,
dominated by a small Crusading fort, rebuilt of late
years by the Turks, but still showing traces in its
rock-cut fosse, and foundations with drafted masonry,
of its mediæval origin. Salt appears also to have
been a Christian town at an earlier period than the
twelfth century, for there is a rock sepulchre in the
184
HETH AND MOAB.
valley to the south-east, which was converted at one
time into a Byzantine chapel with frescoed walls, while
some of the tombs here appear to belong to the same
period—the fifth or sixth century. It is only within
the last fifteen years that the Turkish Government
has succeeded in gaining a firm footing in this district,
which was previously independent, and paid no taxes.
Once gained, the Turkish influence is not likely to be
very soon lost, for a castle and a garrison and a
Kurdish Governor keep the village beneath them in
awe. Under the wing of the Government, missionary
enterprise has extended even to this remote mountain.
district, and a Protestant school has been established
some ten years since. The town stands above vine-
yards and pomegranate gardens. The flat roofs are
dominated by the low minaret of the mosque, and a
Greek convent is one of the most conspicuous
buildings. There is a fine spring, called 'Ain Jeidûr,
with a stream running down the ravine, called Wâdy
Jeidûr, and in this name we may perhaps recognise
the original title of the site, a Gedor or Gederah,
named from the sheep cotes' of Gad before the
present Latin appellation had been given to the
district. The Saltus Hieraticus, mentioned among
episcopal towns in the fifth century, appears, as Dr.
Grove points out, to be probably es Salt. In the
twelfth century Salt was a stronghold of Saladin, and
its fortress, destroyed by the Mongols, was rebuilt in
6
MOUNT GILEAD.
185
the thirteenth century by the famous Bibars. It is
now a town of some 2,000 inhabitants, including
about 400 Greek Christians.
Passing north-east from Salt through the crater of
the Bej'a, which is full of ruined sites, and over stony
hills commanding a fine view of the grey chain of
Ajlûn, dotted with dark oaks, the traveller reaches
the great gorge of the Zerka, or Jabbok, where,
between sandstone hills in a fertile vale, the rapid
stream runs in an eddying course, fringed by tall
canes and rushes. Hence on the north-east expands
a plateau, green with corn, on the slopes of 'Ajlûn;
and, crossing oak-dotted hills, the visitor approaches
this remote fertile basin, hidden in the bosom of
Gilead, and sees before him, amid the corn, by the
side of a stream falling in cascades into an oleander
crowded gorge, the great streets of pillars, the
triumphal arch, the temples, theatres, and baths of
Roman Gerasa. More than 200 columns are still
standing on this site, and the ruins of the city wall
show the extent of the town, which seems to have
risen suddenly, as though by magic, at the command
of the emperor. It is strange that in this great city
we find one of the noblest ruins of Syria almost
without a history, for the rise and fall of Gerasa
seem to be confined to a period of some four centuries
at most. A town existed here in the time of Alex-
ander Jannæus (85 B.C.), and its name is mentioned
186
HETH AND MOAB.
as that of a bishop's see in the fifth century, but
there are no traces of Crusaders or Saracens, any
more than of earlier eastern races, although Baldwin
II. attacked the place in the twelfth century. All is
Roman, either pagan or Christian. The two temples,
the two theatres, the hippodrome, and baths, belong
to the second century of our era, and bear inscriptions
including the names of the Antonines; there are also
other Greek inscriptions, with crosses, occurring in a
building which seems to have been a fine church.
To the student of classic art this site, so unspoilt by
the additions and mutilations of any subsequent
inhabitants, presents an almost unique example of a
great Roman city, yet to an Orientalist it has but a
faint interest on account of the comparatively recent
date of its monuments.
At Jerâsh we have a good example of the curious
circumstance that the historic sites of Syria are very
rarely connected with its most important monuments,
or even with its most remarkable natural features.
At Shechem, at Kadesh, at Bethel, or at Nazareth,
no magnificent remains of early date exist. Baalbek,
Kedes, Jerâsh, or even 'Ammân, are towns beauti-
fied by some of the finest Roman monuments of the
Levant, yet their history is almost unknown, and
their connection with Jewish or Israelite chronicles
is of the slightest. It is in the rock tomb, the
dolmen, the rude ledge where the libation was
f
MOUNT GILEAD.
187
poured, that we see existing evidences of the old
condition of the land in Hebrew times, and the cold
magnificence of cities built to order by the Roman
conquerors awakens no memory of the familar stories
of Hebrew prophets or rulers.
Travelling westwards from Gerasa we traverse a
region whose rocks are bored with Roman sepulchres,
and, passing by Reimûn, the possible site of Ramoth
Gilead, and by Sâkib, on its cliff down which a
stream falls in a long cascade, we gain the beautiful
glens which run down from the rugged 'Ajlûn to the
green valley of Jordan.
With exception of the woods of Tabor (now sadly
thinned), the copses of Carmel, the oaks of Harosheth,
and the groves of Banias, there is nothing in western
Palestine which can at all compare with the beauty
of the ravines of Gilead between Wâdy Hesbân on
the south and the Hieromax on the north. Beside
clear mountain brooks the horseman wanders through
glades of oak and terebinth, with dark pines above.
The valleys green with corn, the streams fringed with
oleander, the magnificent screens of yellow, green,
and russet foliage, which cover the steep slopes, pre-
sent a scene of quiet beauty, of chequered light and
shade, of un-Eastern aspect which makes of Mount
Gilead a veritable Land of Promise.
Sycamore, beech, ilex, wild fig, are said to be
among the species of its forest trees, and the carpet
188
HETH AND MOAB.
of wild flowers in spring is more luxuriant than else-
where. Clover and ragged-robin, the red and white
cistus, clematis, crow's foot, purple lupins, squills,
the pink phlox (commonly called Rose of Sharon),
the anemone, cyclamen, corn-flower, salvia, aspho-
del (both yellow and white), with vetches and wild
mustard, marigolds, borage, moon-daisies, pheasant's-
eye and cytizus, also orchids and broom, star of
Bethlehem and poppies, tulips and buttercups, are
among the familiar plants on these hills. The mock-
orange (styrax), the may, honey-suckle, and antir-
rhinum are found in the woods; and the oleaster, or
wild olive, is not unfrequent. The lentisk, which is
so common a shrub (with arbutus and laurestinus) is
akin (at least according to some) to the balm of
Gilead; but whatever be the real plant or shrub of
the balsam, the traveller who has wandered over the
Moabite deserts, or the scorching plains of Bashan,
will not fail to find that there is 'balm in Gilead."
In its glades he may hear the blackbird's note, the
nightingale, and the twitter of many familiar song-
birds. Here the tomtit, the hoopoe, the beautiful
jay, the roller, and the bee-eater, rejoice in the shade
of the woods by the clear streams; here the roe and
the fallow-deer still find a covert. The visitor can-
not wonder that Gilead should be indicated to the
persecuted Jews as a refuge and home, and, perhaps,
had Israel known what lay before them in the dark
MOUNT GILEAD.
189
mountains of the west, it would not have been only
Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh who chose for their lot
the eastern hills.
But Gilead still remains a prey to the wandering
Arab and the Turk. The Romans built cities, and
made roads marked yet by milestones in these rugged
ranges, but with the fall of Italian power the country
has reverted to the primeval nomad, who seems
destined to outlive each conquering race which for a
time makes Syria its own. Without roads, and far
remote from centres of commerce, a peaceful popu-
lation like that of a Jewish colony would find but
little opportunity for the development of the national
industrious and trading spirit. The colonies would
be exposed to constant apprehension of Arab attacks,
and would live a life like that of the priestly Hyrcanus.
If ever Palestine is to be re-peopled by the Jews, it
will be from such a centre as Haifa or Jaffa that the
colonies will most probably begin to spread, in districts
where the population is peaceful and settled, where
communication with the west is easy, and where
commerce rather than agriculture may be developed
with security.
CHAPTER VII.
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
THE exploration of rude-stone monuments in Pales-
tine is perhaps one of the most interesting features
of the Survey expeditions, and it has resulted in dis-
coveries and observations which may prove materially
to assist the study of this obscure but fascinating
subject. Not that it was a new addition to our know-
ledge that such monuments should be found to exist
in Syria, for they had been already mentioned and
described by Irby and Mangles, by Finn, Stanley, and
Tristram, as well as by earlier writers on Phoenicia,
by Palgrave in Arabia, and by Lieutenant Welstead
in the neighbourhood of the Red Sea while the
explorers of the Sinaitic peninsula reported the
existence of circles, which they believed to belong to
prehistoric times. No traveller had, however, the
opportunities enjoyed by the Survey parties, of
studying at leisure a very large number of examples
of these relics of the past, and nothing apparently

DOLMEN NEAR HESHBON.
To face p. 190
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
191
has as yet been written concerning their relations to
the rude-stone monuments of other countries, or
respecting their affinities with the Arab stone erec-
tions of ancient and modern periods.*
The distribution of the centres where these monu-
ments occur in Syria is also a matter of no little
importance, concerning which the completion of the
Survey of Western Palestine and the exploration of
the greater part of the country east of the river now
permit us to express a definite opinion. No dolmens,
menhirs, or ancient circles have been discovered in
Judea, and only one doubtful circle in Samaria. In
Lower Galilee a single dolmen has been found; in
Upper Galilee four of moderate dimensions are known.
West of Tiberias is a circle, and between Tyre and
Sidon an enclosure of menhirs. At Tell el Kady, one
of the Jordan sources, a centre of basalt dolmens
exists, and at Kefr Wâl, north of Sûf, near Jerâsh in
Gilead, there is another large centre. At Ammân several
fine dolmens and large menhirs are known to exist,
and east of the Damieh ford beside the road to es
C
* The principal authorities consulted in writing the present
chapter were: Fergusson's 'Rude Stone Monuments' (1872), Sir
John Lubbock's 'Pre-historic Times' (1869), Forlong's Rivers of
Life' (1882), the Journal of the Anthropological Society'
(1881, 1882), 'Indian Antiquary' (1881), Du Chaillu's Land of
the Midnight Sun' (1881), Borlase's 'Antiquities of Cornwall'
(1769), Le Normant's 'Lettres Assyriologiques,' 'Transactions of
the Institute of British Architects' (1878).
192
HETH AND MOAB.
Salt there is another considerable group. It is
doubtful, however, if all these examples added
together would equal the great fields of rude stone
monuments to be found in Moab, for it is calculated
that 700 examples were found by the surveyors in
1881, and of these over 200 were measured, sketched,
and described in detail in a regular register of dimen-
sions, while photographs were taken of the most
important examples of both menhirs and dolmens.
The relation borne to these ancient structures by
the rude-stone monuments of the modern Arabs
serves also to throw light on the subject, and several
interesting details of construction in the Moabite
examples may also be noticed as not having been
previously described in European examples. Canon
Tristram was fully aware of the great numbers of
the dolmens, but his journeys have been too hasty to
allow of careful study of the various groups. He
believed that cairns, circles, and dolmens were
peculiar to distinct districts, and that they were the
erections of distinct tribes, whereas the Surveyors
found cairns, circles, dolmens, and menhirs all exist-
ing together in one district, and were able to point
out distinct centres where the monuments occurred in
immense numbers, while between these centres the
country was almost entirely destitute of even single
examples.
Before detailing the results obtained from an ex-
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
193
amination of the Syrian rude stone monuments, it
will, perhaps, be well briefly to review the general
question as at present understood. Borlase, who
wrote on Cornish antiquities in 1769, and Stukeley,
and Sir R. Colt Hoare, are old-fashioned authorities
enough, and many modern archæologists appear to
have accepted the conclusions of Mr. Fergusson,
whose dissent from the earlier writers is vigorously
expressed in his magnificent volume on rude-stone
monuments, published in 1872, wherein the Palestine
Exploration Society is reproached with having found
no dolmens in Palestine, although one example, at
least, had then been discovered by the Survey party.
Mr. Fergusson believes nearly all dolmens to be
sepulchral, all menhir alignments to be rude repre-
sentations of victorious armies, arrayed in order of
battle. He dates Stonehenge as belonging to the
post-Roman period, and will not allow any of these
structures to be of pre-historic origin. The weak-
ness of these conclusions may, however, perhaps be
recognised when we reflect that no single instance
of sepulture in a 'free standing' dolmen (or under a
stone table not covered by any mound or cairn) has
as yet been proved, while so careful and scientific
an authority as Sir John Lubbock has not hesitated
to acknowledge Stonehenge and Avebury as pre-
historic temples of the bronze age. The observations
of members of the Anthropological Society respecting
13
194
HETH AND MOAB.
isolated menhirs outside stone circles have also cast
much light on the question of the use of such circles,
and the study of Indian examples among the Khonds,
the Khassia, and other pre-Aryan tribes of India, is
equally instructive. It is thus by no means a settled
matter that all such monuments are to be regarded
as sepulchral, and the remarks which are about to
be hazarded will be seen to be founded, not on the
obsolete ideas of the earlier antiquaries, but on some
of the latest and most valuable observations of our
own times.
Rude stone monuments have been found in India
chiefly on the west coast and in the central provinces,
but also in the Khassia hills north-east of the Ganges.
They are also known in the vicinity of Peshawur, and
in Afghanistan. They have been described in Persia
and in the centre of Arabia. They are numerous
in the country of Moab and Gilead, and along the
eastern shores of the Black Sea, in the Crimea, and
on the mainland to the north. They have not been
described in Asia Minor, but may very possibly still
be found there, as they are also known in Greece and
in the Morea. As we advance west, the number of
known specimens increases enormously, the shores of
Tripoli already giving several examples, while the
Algerine dolmens are, perhaps, the most numerous
in the world. In southern Spain they are known
in the province of Grenada, and all along the north
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
195
coast, as well as in Portugal. In Italy they occur
only in Tuscany, so far as is yet known, although
the rude Abruzzi mountains may perhaps yet remain
to be explored. In the southern part of Corsica, on
the north border of Lombardy, and round the Lake
of Geneva, other examples occur, while a somewhat
similar class of structure is recognised in Malta and
in the Balearic Islands.
France is, however, of all European countries,
perhaps the most fertile in known examples, but this
is in some measure due to the attention which has
been given to the subject in that country. Along
the southern shores of the North Sea and Baltic
similar monuments occur, in Hanover, Mecklenburg,
and along the Elbe; they are numerous in Denmark
and Sweden, and are found also in Prussia and east
of the Baltic. In our own islands they are met with
from north to south, but principally on the east coast
of Ireland and in Wales and Cornwall, while in
Scotland they are found both in the lowlands and
highlands, in the Orkneys, and western islands; in
Anglesea also, and in the north-west of Ireland, as
well as in the Isle of Man and in the Channel Islands,
examples occur. No doubt other countries not as yet
known to possess such remains will be found in course.
of time to present new examples, as has been the
case in Norway and Sweden, where Du Chaillu has
recently described newly found dolmens; but even
13-2
196
HETH AND MOAB.
with such knowledge as we possess it appears clear
that the dolmen building races most probably belonged
to some ancient Asiatic stock slowly spreading west-
wards into Europe-a course of migration which has
been firmly established in the case of the Indo-
European races through philological discovery. Rude
stone monuments have not been described among
negro races, and the antiquities of America are of
quite a distinct character; but, on the other hand,
the existence of such monuments among Semitic
tribes is a question of immediate interest in con-
nection with the present inquiry; and it may perhaps
appear probable, from considerations about to be put
forward, that in the dolmens and menhirs of Asia and
Europe we find the remaining works of an ancient
stock preceding both Aryan and Semitic races, and
belonging to the illiterate and consequently pre-
historic ages of the use of bronze and of flint.
There are, indeed, two branches to the present
inquiry. First, regarding the age of the monuments
in various countries, and their relation to the history
or traditions of the lands where they occur; and
secondly, respecting the meaning and use of the
various structures under consideration. These may
be divided into seven classes:-
1. Menhirs, and alignments and avenues.
2. Circles, both of stone and of earth.
3. Dolmens, or stone tables, free or covered.
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
197
4. Cairns of all sizes.
5. Mounds, including cists or solid.
6. Barrows and sepulchral structures.
7. Disc stones, which have been found in Moab.
Each of these classes requires some preliminary
description before the Syrian examples are specially
considered.
The menhir, or 'long stone,' is the simplest, and
perhaps the oldest, of human monuments. It is the
ancestor of the obelisk, and no doubt the earliest
method of marking a locality famous, whether as a
sacred spot, or as the burial place of a chieftain, or
again because of some historic or traditional event
there occurring. We should, however, be but half
recognising the character of such erect stones if we
failed to see in the menhir something more than a
memorial. Students of Indian archæology will be
aware that the stone lingam symbolizes something
beyond a mere cippus, or monolith. It is an object
of adoration, and even a personification of deity; and
the living stone, which is inhabited by a divine soul,
meets us wherever we turn in studying the Asiatic
mythologies. It may be necessary to give a few
instances of this original significance of cippi in
various countries, but the student of the Bible, or of
heathen antiquities, will alike acknowledge a period
when all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones.'
C
Arnobius in the fourth century acknowledged that
198
HETH AND MOAB.
before becoming a Christian, whenever he espied an
anointed stone, or one bedaubed with oil, he worshipped
it as though some person dwelt in it, he addressed
himself to it, and begged blessings from a senseless
stock.' At the present time the inhabitants of Tahiti
believe that even stones have souls, which return to
the deity when the stone is broken. In Brittany
the great menhirs are intimately connected with
peasant superstitions and with marriage ceremonies.
Some of the great groups of standing stones are
traditionally supposed to be wedding parties turned
by enchantment into stone, and it is very remarkable,
as Mr. Fergusson has pointed out, that the same
legend attaches both to a group of menhirs near
Peshawur in India and to another in Somersetshire.
Dances are still executed round the menhir in the
Orkneys by moonlight, on New Year's Day, and round
the menhir of Croisie, in France. Other menhirs erected
near water in Brittany are said to have been prayed to
in times of drought as able to grant rain. Holy stones.
were worshipped in parts of Ireland as late as the ninth
century. Maidens still lean against such stones in
remote rural districts, expecting to see their future
husbands. On the Stone of St. Fillan the sick were
laid as late as 1798, expecting to be healed, just as
the great Hamathite inscribed blocks were (till re-
moved by the Turks) considered capable of curing
any person laid on them. Borlase has conjectured
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
199
that the same practices were connected with Cornish
dolmens, while among the subjects of Queen Victoria
in India, many millions still worship the local lingam
stones. In Feejee the sacred menhirs are marked with
cups and circles approaching those which have been
found on the rocks in Scotland or the north of England;
and Mr. Fergusson has collected many interesting notes
of the late survival of such superstitions.
In the seventh century the Council of Nantes
decreed the removal and hiding of stones to which
vows were made, and such worship was anathematized
a century earlier by the Council of Tours, although it
is even now not entirely stamped out in parts of
France. A Council at Toledo subjects the worshippers
of stones to various penalties in 681 A.D., and Charle-
magne, in 789 A.D., condemned trees, stones and
fountains alike as being objects of popular worship.
The menhir was also in many cases the conscious
witness of a solemn oath. Thus the Woden Stone in
the Orkneys has a hole through which men passed
their hands, and thus holding them, swore faith to
each other—a practice recognised by the law of the
island down to a very recent period, for in 1781 the
Elders were specially severe on a young man whose
character was held in evil repute because he had
'broken the oath of Woden.' This stone is eight feet
high, and stands outside the circle of Stennis. In the
Isle of Man the laws are read annually by the stone
200
HETH AND MOAB.
of King Orry, to whom grass is offered, just as the
sick on St. Fillan's Stone are covered with hay, and
as the Indian kusa grass enters into the ceremonial
of many Brahmin rites.
The Greystone on the banks of the Tweed could
marry a couple. The holed stone of Apple Cross
cured those who thrust their heads into it. The Irish
still swear by the Stone of St. Patrick, in Cashel, and
the Blarney Stone had its prototype among the ancient
Kelts.
Among the tribes of the Khassia hills (the relics of
pre-Aryan inhabitants of India) the erection of menhirs
continues to our own days. These Khassias burn
their dead, and the menhirs appear to have no direct
connection with sepulchres. When the relatives of
any pious stone-worshipper fall sick, he vows a stone
in honour of some deity or ancestor to be erected if
the sick recover. In cases when the prayer is supposed
to have been heard, and the stone has consequently
been erected, other members of the tribe will make
similar vows, and a group of menhirs thus grows up
on a certain spot, while in some cases a pair support
a lintel, and thus form a trilithon or dolmen. These
are often found beside the grave where the ashes of
the ancestor invoked are buried; in some cases a sort
of turban is formed by placing a broader stone on the
top of the menhir, and we have here an approximation
to the turbaned headstone of a Moslem grave. The
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
201
erect stones are, however, not in themselves sepulchral,
though occurring beside a tomb, for in the case of the
famous Breton menhirs, and in many others, excava-
tions have been made without any trace of interment
having been found at the foot of the stone.
The preceding remarks show that the worship of
menhirs, which may be said to be universal in India,
where the original meaning of the emblem is perfectly
well understood by the initiated, still survives in
remote corners even in civilized countries of the west.
In Spain, indeed, we have an example of a dolmen
enclosed in a modern hermitage of St. Miguel, near
Bilbao, in Biscay, and of a dolmen forming the crypt
of a church in the Asturias, and we are thus reminded
of the letter of Pope Gregory, preserved by Bede,
which exhorts the missionaries of the Roman church to
reconsecrate to Christianity the ancient temples of the
land where the common people were wont to resort.
We must not, however, conclude that such stone
worship is of late origin, for it is certainly traceable
to the most remote antiquity, and is found as early as
we have any record of pagan rites. The cippus was
erected as a memorial probably long before historic
times, and men swore by sacred stones in Rome or
Greece, or among the Assyrians and early Semitic
tribes. The erection of rude stone monuments no
doubt denotes an advance in civilization from the
helpless barbarism of aboriginal tribes, such as the
202
HETH AND MOAB.
cave men, the dwellers in lakes, or those whose
kitchen middens are found in Denmark and Scotland;
but the entire absence of inscription, and the primitive
ornamentation of these monuments, seem evidently
to indicate an illiterate age. We must not indeed
suppose all rude stone monuments to be of even
approximately equal antiquity, for in our own times
we see savage tribes erecting menhirs and dolmens ;
and the bronze age in northern Europe, when writing
appears to have been entirely unknown, has been
brought down by archeologists to a period consider-
ably later than that of the early civilization of Egypt
and Assyria. But in this case the rude stone monu-
ments of countries where the arts and literature were
first known become of peculiar interest, because when
they occur in great numbers in such countries, we may
perhaps infer that they belong to a very early period,
or are at least the productions of an earlier and ruder
people, perhaps dwelling amongst the more civilized
race which had learned to inscribe its monuments.
For this reason the monuments of India and of Syria
are of special interest and importance.
Menhirs do not only occur singly or in small
groups. In France, in England, in Syria, and in
India, great fields of standing stones are found.
Amongst the monuments of Scandinavia, some of the
most interesting are the menhir fields which mark the
sites of battles. These appear, however, to be only
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
203
headstones to graves belonging to the early historic
iron age, as, for instance, the groups at Kongsbacker,
where a battle was fought about 500 A.D., which
may be compared with the gravestones of Greby in
Bohuslän figured by Du Chaillu. In these cases the
stones occur irregularly without alignment, the dead
being buried where they fell. In other cases-as, for
instance, at Braavalla Heath-circles surrounded the
graves, and a cairn or a single menhir stands over
them.
These headstones of a later age are, however, not:
of necessity illustrative of the older alignments; for,
as we have seen, groups of 'votive' monuments occur
in India, and no trace of interment has been de-
tected in connection with the Breton alignments.
Mr. Fergusson has suggested that the alignments
represent bodies of troops drawn up for battle (see
Rude Stone Monuments,' p. 55), and that dolmens, in
like manner, are not ordinary graves, but sepulchral
monuments on some ancient battlefield. It must, how-
ever, be noted that there does not appear to be any-,
thing yet known in the habits of existing semi-savage
races, or in the records of early history, which coun-
tenances the idea that such representations of battles
were ever erected. The struggle for existence in an
age of war, and of precarious subsistence on the pro-
ducts of the chase, would hardly allow of men devoting
so much labour for so useless a result. A single stone
204
HETH AND MOAB.
would commemorate an event quite as well as the
lines stretching for several miles which are found in
France, while as regards the dolmens it would appear
more probable that works of so great magnitude, and
requiring so much effort, were slowly and successively
erected, rather than constructed as graves on an
occasion when many men were slain in one day. So
far as history can guide us, the fate of those slain in
battle has generally been, either a hasty interment on
the spot where the body fell, or a consignment to
some great general pit or mound. We shall, more-
over, see later that dolmens cannot be considered to
be always sepulchral monuments.
The most famous alignments in England are the
lines near Merivale Bridge in Dartmoor, and the
Sarsen stones at Ashdown. In the first case there are
two parallel avenues, 200 yards and 300 yards long,
running approximately east and west (286 degrees).
The southern has a circle near its centre; the northern
ends in a circle on the east. The Sarsen stones occupy
an area of 500 yards north and south by 300 yards
east and west, and occur in three groups. The two
western groups are in rude lines in an east and west
direction; the eastern stones are very irregular. All
the stones are fallen, and they vary from 10 feet to
1 foot in height.
The Breton alignments are more remarkable than
the English examples. The Erdeven lines run in a
:
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
205
slightly serpentine course east and west for 1,500
yards, having a tumulus at the east and another at the
west end. The great lines of Maenec and Kermario
run south-west for no less than 2,200 yards, and end
in an irregular enclosure on the south-west. The
Kerlescant lines, north of the Kermario lines, are
more irregular, and terminate on the west in an
enclosure with a low tumulus.
These lines consist of from eight to thirteen rows
of stones, some of the finest being the stones of Le
Maenac, which are 11 to 13 feet high. The north-
eastern end of this, and of the other lines, consists of
smaller stones, more irregularly placed, and only
about 3 feet high. Another line at St. Barbe has
stones about 20 feet high. Dolmens, tumuli, and
menhirs are scattered over the whole district round
these alignments; and the village of Carnac, the name
of which is best known in connection with these
monuments, is on the south-east of the longest align-
ment.
It would be rash to express a decided opinion on
a question which has exercised the minds of such
authorities as Lubbock, Fergusson, and many other
famous antiquaries for so many years; but a few sug-
gestions may perhaps be hazarded without presump-
tion.
In the first place, these magnificent monoliths
are intimately connected with superstitious practices,
206
HETH AND MOAB.
and with peasant legends, especially concerning mar-
riage rites. Such traditions represent in France the
survival of the old paganism of the Breton race, and
there does not appear to be any legend connecting
the French or English alignments with battles, whether
historic or pre-historic.
In the second place, the direction of the lines is (as
will appear later) a question concerning which careful
local observations would be of value, because it has
been clearly shown that the pointer stones of English
circles have a connection with the solstitial rising of
the sun.
In the third place, the lines lead to circles or
mounds with which they are clearly connected, form-
ing avenues of approach, like the great avenues which
led to some of the sacred circles in England. The
larger menhirs appear to have been regularly ar-
ranged, as though all erected at one time; but the
smaller scattered stones may perhaps be subsequent
additions to elongate the line.
In Palestine we encounter a kind of monument, in
common use at the present day, which singularly
recalls the general idea of these alignments, and which
may possibly serve to illustrate their meaning. The
modern Arab, it is true, is far too indolent to attempt
any such exertion as would be necessary for the
raising of a granite block twenty feet high; but his
piety, on the other hand, compels him to leave some
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
207
record of his presence at every sacred spot. Thus,
along the main routes of the country stone monuments
are erected by Moslem pilgrims at every point where
a shrine first becomes visible. East of Jordan these
monuments have reference generally to the mosque of
Neby Mûsa, near Mar Sâba. On the west they may
be seen, for instance, on the north road, where the
Jerusalem Sanctuary first becomes visible; and there
is not a single shrine in Syria the appearance of which
in the distance is not so indicated along all the roads
surrounding it. Often and often I have seen the
stone heaps suddenly appear, and lifting my eyes, have
always distinguished the distant white dome, or the
minaret of the mosque, built above some place of
special sanctity. These monuments consist of little
pillars of stones, built up from those lying everywhere
on the ground. Sometimes there are six or seven
stones, the smallest at the top, making a pillar two
or three feet high-a miniature and degenerate repre-
*sentation of the ancient menhir. The appearance of
a field of such pillars is very curious; they are
naturally only frail structures, liable to be blown
down in winter, and many are fallen, but it is con-
sidered impious to move them, and pious to add a
stone or two to one half-fallen. They are called
Meshâhed, or 'witnesses,' and each pile testifies the
presence of the pilgrim who built it. When a great
number of pilgrims pass a certain point a large group
208
HETH AND MOAB.
will suddenly arise. In some places where no stones
can be found, groups of sticks in the ground appear
to take their place. The stone piles are sometimes
also found round the shrine, or in the courtyard of
the mosque, and the Jews also erect such piles in
sacred places, as, for instance, in the tombs of Zecha-
riah and of Simon the Just.
Similar piles mark the boundaries of fields in some
cases, but these are easily distinguished from the
fields of pilgrim monuments, which appear to have no
special arrangement, but are erected just where the
pilgrim stands when first catching sight of the shrine.
This practice, taken in connection with the con-
tinual erection of memorial stones in India, may
perhaps give some idea of the meaning of the menhir
alignments. They also may have been memorials of
visits to sacred shrines and circles, or votive stones
before the graves of the famous dead. Many may
have been erected at one time in regular rows, others
added later by individual pilgrims; but however this
may be, there is no doubt whatever that the menhir
is the emblem of the man himself who erects it, and
that such stones were of old considered to be them-
selves the habitations of divinities. The menhir-
raising races were neither children playing at battles,
nor mere utilitarians without religion, and their
greatest efforts were called forth by their religious
beliefs and by their faith in unseen powers.
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
209
Į
It is easy,. as we have seen, to find instances of the
very
late survival of superstitious practices connected
with such monuments, but it is perhaps more im-
portant to call attention to earlier examples, and
especially so in the case of Semitic races. Thus, for
instance, in the Bible we find Jacob erecting a menhir
at Bethel, and pouring oil upon it. He came by
night to a 'place' or shrine-possibly that where
Abraham's altar yet stood-and, as any other pious.
pilgrim of the time would have done, he left his
memorial stone, or Metzebah (rendered 'pillar' in the
English), at the spot, anointing it with oil-a custom
common throughout Semitic countries, and also found
among the modern Hindus.
The witness pillar of Mizpeh; the memorial pillar
over Rachel's grave; Joshua's pillar under the oak at
Shechem, in memory of the oath taken to serve
Jehovah; the stones of Bethshemesh, Ezel, and
Ebenezer, are familiar instances of memorial menhirs
among the Israelites. Saul and Absalom erected each
a' hand,' or memorial cippus, and Josiah found such
pillars at Bethel. On the other hand, the 'pillars,' or
cippi, erected by the Canaanites, and connected with
the worship of Baal, were destroyed by the reforming
kings Hezekiah and Josiah; and 'standing images,'
'images of stone,' are forbidden in the Levitical legis-
lation (Lev. xxvi. 1). It is possible that such a
cippus was erected by the Philistines at Geba, and
14
210
HETH AND MOAB.
C
again at Michmash, for the word rendered garrison'
in the account of Jonathan's adventure is the same
translated pillar' in other passages. To strike the
sacred boundary-stone would indeed have been a bold
action on the part of the subject Israelite youth
(1 Samuel xiii. 3), and might well be the cause of an
outbreak; but even if this be not the correct interpre-
tation of the episode in question, the sacred character
of the 'pillar' among Israelites and Canaanites alike
is sufficiently illustrated by the other passages quoted.
The oiled stones worshipped by Arnobius have
already been mentioned. At Tyre, two stones called
ambrosial, were believed to exist under the sea: they
are mentioned by Pausanias, and represented on Tyrian
coins. Sanchoniathon, the Phoenician, speaks of the
Batuli, which were stones believed to be Bethels, or
'houses of God,' inhabited by a divine soul, and at
Seleucia were the 'lapides qui divi dicuntur.' The
famous black conical stone of Emesa was carried in
procession by Elagabalus at Rome, as an emblem of
the Sun-god; and the conical stone was sacred to
Venus in Cyprus. At Phare, in Achaia, were thirty
stones which represented Hermes, and among the
Greeks long stones appear to have been sacred to this
ancient Moon-god, and cubical stones to the Mother
Goddess, Cybele. Yet earlier at Uruk the seven black
stones typified the seven chief gods-the mystic
planetary Cabiri or 'great ones.'
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
2 II
(
Yet more important to our present inquiry is the
stone-worship of the Arabs in the times of ignorance,'
before the preaching of Islam. Thus, at Mecca we
have the famous shrine which Muhammed only half
abolished, leaving the holy stone, but removing the
wooden dove and other images. The 'black stone' is
about seven inches by four inches in measurement,
and the surface is covered with depressions, said to be
due to the kisses of the devout. A red stone, said to
have been brought from the Belka (Moab), or even
from Babylon, accompanied the black stone. The
former appears to have been dedicated to Allât, the
Venus or Mother Goddess of Arabia, and the red
stone to Hobal, the male god of Fate. Moslem
writers also state that (as at Uruk) seven stones
surrounded the shrine, on which bloody sacrifices
(apparently human) were offered, the stones being
thus anointed with blood instead of with oil.
Herodotus (iii. 8) speaks also of the seven stones
by which the Arabs swore, and old Arab poems
mention the practice of swearing by the blood on
'Aûd, and the sacred stones of S'air: the former name
means 'the substitute' and the latter flame' or 'fire.
The Nabatheans at Petra worshipped a black stone
about four feet high and two feet square, called Dhu
Sher'a, or 'Lord of Desire.'
The chief Arab sanctuary at Taif contained a white
cubical stone sacred to Allât, the Mother Goddess.
14-2
212
HETH AND MOAB.
On the hills of Safa and Merwah, near Mecca, stood
the stones which represented the petrified lovers
Asâf and Nâila,* and the stone Khalisah (or 'purity')
was in the valley between them. In the valley of
Mena (or 'desire'), in the same district, there were
originally seven stones, of which three remain; and
the pilgrims who return from Mount 'Arafat ('know-
ledge') still throw ten stones at each of these monu-
ments, in memory of the defeat of Iblis by Abraham,
when he was tempted to offer Ishmael as a sacrifice.
St. Porphyry writing in the fifth century tells us that
the Arabs of Dumah used annually to sacrifice a child,
and bury it at the foot of a sacred cippus. We see,
therefore, that among the early Arabs, as among
Assyrians and Phoenicians, the menhir was a sacred
emblem, supposed to be the habitation of a deity, who
was appeased by libations of oil or of blood poured or
smeared upon the stone.
From menhirs we naturally pass to the considera-
tion of circles composed of standing stones, and of
bilithons, trilithons and menhirs enclosed in circles;
but before so doing there is one peculiarity connected
* Asâf appears to mean 'the cleaver;' he was son of Soheil or
Canopus; he was also called Nahîk, 'the afflicted.' Nâila is
translated she who embraces,' and she was the daughter of Dik,
'the cock.' She is also called 'the nourisher of the bird.'
These lovers are said to have desecrated the Kaaba (like Neptune
and Medusa), and were consequently turned to stone. El Khâlisah
appears to have been the Arab Venus. The Ansâb or Menhirs are
specially condemned in the Korʼan (Sura, v. 92.
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
213
with menhirs and dolmens which is worthy of notice,
namely, their connection with water. Du Chaillu has
remarked on the occurrence of rude-stone monuments
beside rivers in Sweden; and among the Celtic races
menhirs occur near springs, wells, ponds and swamps,
and were prayed to for rain. The Tyre stones were
under the sea, and east of Jordan the centres appear
invariably to be connected with fine spring heads:
where there are no streams no menhirs are found.
Many explanations might be offered of this circum-
stance, for rude tribes would not have wandered far
from water, and whether as habitations, tombs or
sacred places, the connection is not unnatural between
their monuments and the water supply, but it must also
not be forgotten that living water is extremely sacred
in the eyes of all Asiatics, and that the genii of the
springs had their shrines down to the very latest
pagan times. Further observations on this connection,
and also concerning the shapes of the mountains and
the distant views at centres where dolmens and
menhirs are found, might probably lead to interesting
results.
The great earthen circular mounds, from 100 to
300 feet in diameter, found at Stonehenge, Avebury,
Penrith, Arbor Lowe, and other places, are said by
Mr. Fergusson to be almost peculiar to England,
although there is one at Brogar, in the Orkneys. They
sometimes (as at Stonehenge) enclose rude stone circles,
214
HETH AND MOAB.
and there is no doubt that in some cases they were
meeting-places for the dealing of Justice, Motes or
Things, like the circle of Fiddes Hill, which has a sort
of raised daïs on one side, and where a court was held
as late as 1349. In Ireland a stone mound 300 feet
in diameter surrounds graves which contained un-
burned bones; but no remains have been found within
the great circles of Avebury or Stonehenge, although
the latter is surrounded with barrows of the bronze
age,
while outside the circle of Hakpen Hill many rows
of skeletons were discovered, lying with their feet
towards the circle. At Crichie, in Scotland, sepulchral
deposits existed within a circle, at the foot of each
stone composing it. The Stonehenge barrows appear
to have been shown to be of later date than the great
monument itself, and at Arbor Lowe tumuli of the
bronze period also occur outside the sacred circle.
Such instances seem to show that in our own islands
some circular enclosures are sepulchral, and that
others are centres round which extensive and ancient
cemeteries have gathered, and which may thus fairly
be thought to have been once venerated sanctuaries,
near which the Celtic barrow-burying tribes interred
their dead; just as the Jew, the Moslem, the Christian,
or the Hindu desires to be entombed close beside some
There is, however,
sacred temple of his faith.
another feature of the Celtic circles which has of
late attracted the attention of antiquaries, and pro-
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
215
6
mises to lead to important conclusions. In the case
of many British circles a single menhir has been found
standing outside the circle, on the north-east, or
at angle five degrees east of north-east, the bearing
being taken from the centre of the circle. This direc-
tion approximately agrees with that of the rising of
the sun at midsummer, as seen from the middle of the
circle. It has been proved by repeated actual observa-
tion that any person sitting in the middle of the altar-
stone in Stonehenge circle will see the sun on mid-
summer-day rising behind the Friar's Heel,' a stone
on the outer ditch, towards the north-east. At Ave-
bury, the Ring-stone, on the other hand, appears to
have a similar relation to the southern circle, but
points to the rising of the sun at the midwinter
solstice, while the Kennet avenue has the same rela-
tion to the great outer circle at the same site. Such
pointer-stones occur in many other instances, as, for
example, at Rollrich, where the King-stone stands
outside, on the north-east, as does the Hautville's
Quoit-stone at Stanton Drew; and the stone on
Stapeley Hill has the same relation to the circle of
Michell's Fold in Shropshire. There are instances in
which a menhir also occupies the centre of the circle,
and at Arbor Lowe there is a central dolmen. At
Brogar the dolmen is on or near the circumference,
and the same arrangement is found at Stanton Drew.
The position of the Watch-stone in the Stennis circle
216
HETH AND MOAB.
answers to that of Hautville's Quoit above, noticed.
Long Meg, at Penrith, is a menhir twelve feet high,
outside the circle of her sixty-eight daughters; but on
Stanton Moor the King-stone is westwards of the circle
of the Nine Ladies. There are, however, several circles
in this vicinity. The circle of the Grey Yawds, near
Cumrew and Penrith, consisting of eighty-eight stones,
has an outer menhir answering to Long Meg.
The subject of the relations of circles and solitary
stones has perhaps as yet not been sufficiently studied,
and the position of circumferential dolmens is also (as
we shall see later) a matter of great interest; but the
investigations of members of the Anthropological
Society during the years 1881-82 seem to leave little
doubt as to the fact that in many cases the pointer-
stone indicates the direction of sunrise at either the
winter or the summer solstice, while in other cases.
the sunset is also marked in the same manner.
The builders of rude stone monuments were, as we
have before noticed, not mere savages, but early
migrants of the later stone and bronze ages. It is
well known how much attention was paid by the
Aryan pastoral tribes, no less than by the nomads of
Semitic stock entering Chaldea from the south, to the
phenomena connected with the sun's path throughout
the year.
The Rita, or Asha, probably also the
Egyptian Ma, were originally but the unerring course
of the great luminary in winter and summer, by day
F
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
217
and night.
The Persians (following probably the
earlier Accadian and Sumerian sun - worshippers)
believe that the boundary mountain, Alborz, had a
hundred and eighty apertures, through each of which
the sun rose successively; and this idea is borrowed
in the later Book of Enoch. It can be traced back to
a time when the Aryans were dwelling no further
south than 49° 20′ north latitude, or north of the
Caspian, and no doubt roughly corresponds with an
amplitude of 90°, the sun rising in the north-east
in summer, and the south-east in winter. It is
evident that the solstitial rather than the equinoctial
rising would be the first to be observed by rude
tribes, for the sun could at these times be seen to
retrace his course on the horizon, as noted in con-
nection with any definite point-tree, stone, or cairn.
The return northwards heralded the commencement
of a more favourable season, the escape from cold and
famine, the approach of spring with its gifts of
herbage, and new-born increase of the herd and flock.
Little need we wonder, then, that in days when
calendars were unknown, when the certainty of
revolving seasons even was not yet a matter
beyond dispute, and when time was measured only
by days and nights, the shepherds and primitive agri-
culturists looked anxiously for the time when the
wintry sun should begin to retrace his course, or
marked with apprehension his return southwards on
218
HETH AND MOAB.
་
the horizon-little need we marvel that they erected
monuments which could serve as rude means of
measuring the movement of the sacred orb, and
specially indicated the furthest points north and south
of the true east, which the sun was observed annually
to reach in the new latitude of the immigrants' new
home.
Thus far, we have considered the sepulchral and
astronomical relations of British circles only, as well
as their connection with the administration of justice.
The same conclusions will be found to present them-
selves in glancing at the sacred enclosures of other
lands. It is, however, interesting to note that in
the examples already quoted, the external pointer
bears generally a male name, while the circle is female
-a group of ladies or daughters, with a king beside
them.
The Khonds in Eastern India, remnants of the
Dravidians or pre-Aryan populations, are a people
whose rites are said still to include human sacrifice,
and who worship in groves or on hill-tops, by streams
and springs. They have been found to use circles in
connection with the worship of the rising sun, the
tallest member of the circle being towards the east.
The worshipper perambulates the circle with the sun,
and sprinkles the stones with the blood of a cock (as
I am informed by Mr. W. Morrison), and we shall find
later a somewhat parallel case among the modern
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
219
Arabs of Moab. In Western India circles also occur,
with a graduation of size from a central stone, and
this central stone is the local lingam, or male deity, to
whom a cock is sacrificed, as mentioned by Mr.
Fergusson.
Sepulchral circles also occur in India, as, for instance,
at Amravati, and in the Nilgiri hills. In these cases
the circle is the enclosure which hallows the tomb,
and not the tomb itself, which is a cist or trench
inside just as will be described among the Arabs. In
the dark ages we must remember the magic circle
protected the enchanter-whether of Semitic or Aryan
race-from the power of external demons. At Shah-
poor, Colonel Meadows Taylor found circles connected
by alignments running east and west, and the tumuli
of Algeria have similar connecting lines of stones.
Mr. Fergusson believes the rude-stone monuments
of Moytura to mark the sepulchral sites of ancient
battlefields, but his evidence tells curiously in favour
of a connection with early solar mythology. As the
battles were supposed to occur 1,900 years before
Christ, and as the authorities quoted (the 'Annals of
the Four Masters,') belong to the seventeenth century
of our era, the evidence of the historical occurrence of
the battles cannot be said to be contemporary. When
moreover we note that the battle was fought on
midsummer-day, and that a king with a silver hand
took his share in the fight, we at once recognise
220
HETH AND MOAB.
the mythical element. In India we have the gold-
handed Savitar, and Hobal at Mecca had an arm
of gold. The gold or silver hand is a well-known
emblem of the sun-the great workman of heaven;
and the battles of Moytura, like those of Arthur,
are probably but Celtic versions of the ceaseless con-
flict of Indra with his enemies. Enclosures containing
menhirs and dolmens may in some cases be sepulchral,
but in others they are certainly not so, and such
an enclosure as that at Luneberg appears to bear
a close resemblance to the Dravidian circles of India
with their sacred lingam stones.
It is quite possible that the Tara circle in Ireland
may date as late as the fifth century, but it should
not be forgotten that we have much earlier notices of
stone circles in Asia, as, for instance, at Gilgal or under
Sinai, and in these cases the enclosures are not
connected with sepulture. Moses is related in Exodus
(xxiv. 4) to have built an altar under the hill,
and to have erected twelve menhirs, or pillars. The
altar was sprinkled with blood, as was the congrega-
tion of worshippers. The name Gilgal appears to
imply a circle, and applied to several sites, all appar-
ently sacred centres. At one Gilgal were 'pitched '
the twelve stones from Jordan (Joshua iv. 20), which
were emblems of the twelve tribes, and as late as
Samuel's time Gilgal was a place where justice was
dealt by the judge, while some translators have even
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
221
suggested that when Samuel is represented as going
' in circuit' to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh (1 Samuel
vii. 16), the real meaning is that he perambulated or
walked in procession round the sacred enclosures
at these three shrines.
From the consideration of the menhirs whether
alone, or in alignments circles and other groupings,
we must now pass to that of monuments consisting of
more than single stones. We have seen that the
Khassia tribes in the north-east of India erect
trilithons as well as menhirs as votive offerings to
gods and ancestors. In the talyots of the Balearic
Islands we have an even simpler erection, a T-shaped
monument, or bilithon, made by placing a large flat
stone on a single erect one; but generally speaking,
wherever the menhir is found the trilithon also occurs,
and the Stonehenge example finds an almost exact
parallel in the great trilithons discovered by Palgrave
near Eyûn, in Arabia.
The term 'cromlech,' or 'round stone,' is sometimes
applied to this class of monument, though perhaps
more correctly to circles of menhirs. The word
'dolmen,' usually rendered 'table-stone,' should, ac-
cording to Max Müller, be translated 'holed stone,'
implying either a gateway, such as is formed by the
trilithon, or else applying to menhirs and dolmens
pierced with a hole, as in the cases of the Ring-stone,
the Odin-stone, and in a peculiar class of holed dolmens.
222
HETH AND MOAB.
(
It is evident that an erection of two or more stones,
with a flat stone roof or table above, may have
had several uses. It might be an altar, a tomb, or a
dwelling-house; and chambers of great size are formed
under mounds by parallel rows of great stones, roofed
with flat flags. The earliest architectural efforts of
mankind are represented by this piling-up of drystone
monuments, consisting of blocks sometimes quite un-
shaped, but in other cases rudely hewn, and even
ornamented with rough sculpture. In the case of
dolmens, we have to consider not only trilithons and
stone boxes of four, five, and six stones, but also
galleries, like those called Grottes des Fées,' on the
banks of the Loire, built of perhaps a dozen stones in
all, together with the great chambered tumuli of the
bronze and late stone age, the kune-beds of Scandi-
navia, the giant beds of Ireland or of Ammon, the demi-
dolmens of France and Moab; while the cists in the
tumuli of the iron age, and the Arab trilithon altars of
our own times, are but degenerate representatives of
the older dolmens. It is clear that no hasty generaliza-
tion is possible in such a case, and that dolmens are
structures of primitive architecture, which may include
more than one class, and may have been built for more
than one purpose.
One very clear distinction may in the first instance
be drawn-namely, between the free-standing dolmen
In
and the dolmen covered by a mound or cairn.
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
223
studying the Moabitic groups, it became quite clear
that most (and probably all) of them could never have
been covered by any mound at all. Mr. Fergusson,
who may be considered the champion of the sepulchral
theory, points out very clearly that it is an error to
suppose that all dolmens were once hidden beneath
mounds. Instances occur in France and Algiers where
a dolmen stands free on the top of a mound; and even
if in such cases a grave were found beneath (of which
as yet there appears to be no known instance), the
free-standing dolmen would not be itself a sepulchre.
As regards buried dolmens, the evidence appears
to be strongly in favour of their having been sepul-
chral chambers. Thus, for instance, we find in Scandi-
navia the dolmen of Axevalla, which contained nineteen
cists, and was reached by a passage like that leading
to the chamber at Uby. Du Chaillu mentions a similar
chamber at Karleby, where, in 1874, were found more
than sixty skeletons, with flint implements and a
bronze spear-point. This great tumulus had three
chambers, and near it were several other graves with
passages, the general rule which was observed being
apparently that the passage, which was closed only
by a stone door, was on the south or east, and never
on the north.
In Brittany we have a magnificent example of this
class of monuments in the passage and chamber of
Gavr Innis; and in Ireland at New Grange, near
224
HETH AND MOAB.
Drogheda, is a similar structure under a tumulus;
but in the latter case there seems some evidence of
the re-use of stones not originally destined for their
present purpose. In India we find instances of burials
in dolmen-like structures down to the present day, as,
for example, in North Arcot, where Colonel Branfill
found structures 8 feet high and 16 feet long, built
of slabs of schist, and surrounded with circles of
menhirs, some of which were 10 feet to 15 feet
high. Bones, beads, and pottery, with human skulls,
were found within, and some examples had a hole in
the eastern end-stone. Some of the pottery had
Tamil inscriptions of the fourteenth and sixteenth
centuries; the holes varied from three inches to two
feet in size. Colonel Meadows Taylor gives in-
stances of similar stone boxes also with holes in the
end-stones, and containing bones and human ashes 10
but he also gives instances of monuments not closed:
and Mr. Fergusson mentions a singular practice among
the Mala Arryians who make a miniature dolmen box,
in which is enclosed a small stone, supposed to be the
habitation of the soul of the dead man, to which
offerings of sweetmeats and arrack are made. In
this case, the dolmen seems to be connected with the
idea of arks, such as are found among some of the
Indian hill-tribes, or like the tebah of the Egyptians.
But while we must admit that buried dolmens are
but a large variety of the chamber, or cist, found in
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
225
later tumuli of the iron age, and that stone boxes,
even when not so covered, are sometimes ancient
sepulchres, it does not by any means follow that all
trilithons, or other structures presenting a flat surface
or table-stone, are to be regarded as tombs. Nor
does the fact of their use to the present time in India,
or in Arabia, contradict the fact that such monuments
were erected in pre-historic times. Mr. Fergusson
has cited examples where rude stone crosses occur in
India in connection with dolmens and caves, as
though proving a late and Christian origin for Indian
examples; but he can hardly fail to have discovered
that the cross in India is found as a sacred emblem
among Buddhists and Brahmins alike from a very
early period. Nothing could be, primâ facie, more
improbable than the erection of rude stone monuments
by Christians in India.
Dolmens with holes of various sizes in the end-
stone are not uncommon in France, while holed
menhirs, as we have seen, have special importance.
In buried dolmens, or tomb-chambers, such holes, or
rather large openings in the end-stone, are often
found, and Irby and Mangles give an account of
dolmens west of es Salt which seem to have similar
entrances. In cases where a gallery on the east or
south is found, we have perhaps a development of the
same idea. Holed dolmens occur in Circassia, but
not a single specimen was found in Moab. There
15
226
HETH AND MOAB.
appears to have been a superstition in early ages that
the dead could not rest in peace in tombs without an
inlet for air, and this would perhaps account for the
larger openings in chambers and free-standing dolmens;
but it will not explain the holes in the Woden-stone,
the Ring-stone, the Stone of Applecross, which would
seem to be connected with some ancient rite.
In connection with this subject, it should be noted
that some free dolmens, or trilithons-as, for example,
in some cases near Carnac, in the Lanyon Stones, or
the Scandinavian dolmen of Orcust-have a 'sentinel
stone,' or menhir, so placed that its shadow falls
within the opening of the trilithon doorway at certain
seasons of the year.
No dolmens are known to bear any inscription,
and we may therefore fairly suppose that they belong
to an illiterate age. There are, however, well-known
instances of sculptured monuments of this class, and
many cases in which the stones have been hewn.
The lintel stones of Stonehenge have sockets on the
under side. The hewing might, however, be, as
Sir John Lubbock has proved, accomplished with
a flint tool, even in the case of granite, and the
sculpture is of that rude character which is not
uncommon among half-savage tribes. The famous
example at Confolens, where the table rests on
four pillars, of a character not earlier than the
eleventh century, is not conclusive, as the side-stones
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
227
highest ideas of
C
Similar cup and
may have been sculptured later than the time of
the original erection. The Nilgiri dolmens bear
representations of Hindu gods, but we know that
rude stone monuments are erected down to our own
time in India. The markings on the dolmen of
Herrestrup are also probably later than the dolmen
itself. The Dol ar Marchant in Brittany; the rude
spirals at Gavr Innis; the fern patterns and con-
centric circles at Loch Crew, and at Douth and New
Grange, appear to represent the
art in the dolmen-building age.
ring' marks are found on stones at Inverary, and
on rocks in Scotland and the north of England, and
they recall (as do the fern and palm-leaf patterns)
in a remarkable manner the rude attempts at orna-
mentation scrawled on the walls of sacred places
in Palestine by an utterly illiterate peasantry. The
spiral, the palm-leaf, the badly-drawn concentric
circle, will be found smeared with henna inside almost
any kubbeh or saint's-tomb in Syria, and it seems
scarcely necessary to suppose any deep significance
to attach to such primitive attempts at ornamenta-
tion. It is perhaps more remarkable that the Swastica
-a form of cross common among Buddhists and others
in India-should have been discovered on the rocks
of Rumbold's Mow; but this sign is evidently of
great antiquity, and reappears among the medieval
masons' marks, while in India it is a caste-mark among
15-2
228
HETH AND MOAB.
Vishnaivas. It is indeed only a variation of the Tau
wherewith Ezekiel is commanded to mark the faithful,
and was probably brought by immigrants from Asia,
for it has been found on Assyrian bas-reliefs, and at
Troy, as well as in Cyprus, Attica, China, and Japan.
No ornamentation of any kind has been found
on Syrian dolmens, excepting the tribe-marks of
modern Arabs, which are evidently quite recent.
Such sculpture as is above mentioned might well
belong to the illiterate bronze age, of which period
no inscriptions have been found; but so far as the
evidence of comparative date afforded by such mark-
ings gives any indication, the Syrian dolmens would
appear to be of great antiquity.
A far more important indication is afforded by the
existence of certain hollows observed in the table-
stones of dolmens. Du Chaillu speaks of these in
describing the free-standing dolmen near Fasmorup, in
Skane, and although he is a firm believer in the
fashionable sepulchral theory, he yet considers it
probable that sacrifices to the dead were prevalent.'
There are eight holes shown in his sketch, and he
gives their diameter as about two inches. Fergusson
describes a somewhat similar feature in the passage at
Gavr Innis, where three hollows are sunk in an
upright stone: Not only,' he says, are the three
holes joined, but a ledge or trough is sunk below
them, which might hold oil or holy water, and must,
C
Q
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
229
it appears to me, have been intended for some such
purpose.
Such hollows had been observed by Borlase, in
Cornwall, a century earlier, in rocks, near cairns
and dolmens; and also at the Giant's Castle in the
Scilly Islands. He observed them near the Cairn of
Burning,' with grooves or channels communicating
between them. Near the Tree Cairn and the Rock
of Burnings a dolmen is said to exist with small
basins scooped in the table-stone, and channels
leading to two of larger size; and several rocking-
stones have such hollows in their tops, while,
according to Borlase, they occur in connection with all
cairns in Cornwall. Such hollows are commonly
found on the table-stone of Moabite dolmens, as
will be seen later, and two facts were perfectly clear
respecting them: first, that they were artificial, and
not natural, and secondly, that they were intended to
hold some liquid. We have seen that stones used to
be smeared with blood and anointed with oil in
ancient times, and the most natural conclusion appears
to be that reached by the various authorities above
mentioned, namely, that in these hollows we find
evidence of sacrifices or libations of blood shed on
the table-stone, or of oil or water poured on it. To
this question we must, however, return later, in speak-
ing of the inclination of the table-stones.
Hollows in flat rock-surfaces are common in Pales-
230
HETH AND MOAB.
tine. In some cases they appear to be little mills for
grinding corn or for making gunpowder; but in others
they are too small for such purposes. It has long
been a question what could be the use of these smaller
hollows; but in 1882 I found that the sacred rock on
Gerizim had a well-marked hollow of the kind, near
the centre. It was evidently artificial, and the
Samaritans informed me that it marked the site where
the brazen laver stood in the court of the temple which
they believe Joshua to have here erected. The Sacred
Rock is a flat surface, dipping down westwards, on
which side a cave or trench has been scooped beneath
its surface. In all probability sacrifices were once
offered on this rock (as Gideon also offered sacrifice on
a rocky floor), and the blood flowed into the cave,
while that required for sprinkling the congregation
would be preserved in the hollow. The hole in the
Sacred Rock at Jerusalem may, in like manner, have
been originally intended to allow of blood being
drained into the cave beneath. In Moab the hollows
are sometimes found, not on the dolmen itself, but on
a flat rock beside it; and it is possible that in Judea
dolmens may once have stood where now the rock,
with its hollow cup, alone remains.
It may, however, be argued that evidence of sacrifice
on a dolmen is no evidence that the monument was
not sepulchral. We know that human sacrifices were
offered to the manes on tombs in primitive ages, and
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
231
we know that hollows occur on Moslem graves, which
might be survivals of the dolmen hollows. We know
that the Jews offer burnt-offerings at Joseph's tomb
on the pillars with cup-shaped tops which stand at
either end of the grave; and that shawls and silks
are burned in Galilee at the tomb of Simeon bar
Iochai. The menhirs round the grave-dolmens in
Arcot have hollows in the top, perhaps intended for a
similar purpose; and such hollows have been found
in the tops of menhirs in Moab. Further evidence is,
then, required to prove that dolmens are, when 'free-
standing,' not of necessity sepulchral.
It will be conceded that a trilithon is hardly what
would be expected as the form for a tomb. In the
early stone age men were buried in a sitting posture.
In the bronze age most tribes seem to have burned
their dead, though burying and burning sects then
lived side by side, as they still do in India. In some
cases the chief personage seems to have been buried,
and his slaves or wife burned-perhaps alive, unless,
indeed, these instances can be proved to show in all
cases a secondary interment. The practice of burying
in an extended position seems to be very late in
Europe, and the cists in covered dolmens, or the bench
round the chamber, generally exhibit skeletons crouch-
ing on their hams. This would, of course, be a possible
position for a body beneath an ordinary trilithon, or
in any free-standing dolmen; but in the Moabite
Dorm
232
HETH AND MOAB.
examples it was often certain that, if ever a body was
buried beneath the table-stone, it must have been
placed above the natural surface of the ground, for the
majority of the dolmens there stand on naked, un-
touched rock. There are other instances in which
the table-stone is supported, not on upright blocks,
but on several horizontal slabs; and in some of these
cases, at least, it was quite clear that this was the
original construction, and not the result of oversetting.
In these examples-and, indeed, in all those dolmens
which have tables only some foot or two feet above
the surface—it is impossible to suppose that they ever
covered a crouching corpse; and in many instances
there is no room for any corpse at all beneath the
table.
The examination of the free-standing dolmens of
Moab does not, therefore, favour the sepulchral theory,
and we have already seen instances in which the
trilithon appears to have had other uses.
Such are
the dolmens placed like gates on the circumference of
circles, or as altars within the circle. Such are the
rocking-stones of Brittany and Cornwall, with their
curious names and traditions. Such are the demi-
dolmens, one of which, in France, has been conse-
crated by a wooden cross; and these demi-dolmens
occur in great numbers in Moab, sometimes of
diminutive size, sometimes merely formed by prizing
up a stratum of sloping rock, and supporting it on
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
233
the down-hill side by a stone.
The object in such
cases is to obtain a flat table, and not the construction
of any box or coffin of stone. We must, also, not
forget the sacred dolmen forming the crypt of a
Spanish church; and we shall see later how minia-
ture trilithons are used as altars by the Arabs. The
traditions connected with dolmens are also of im-
portance. In Ireland they are the beds of giants, and
there is a curious superstition connected with crawling
through dolmens, which must be compared with the
ideas concerning passing between trees or pillars, or
through holes in rocks, and under door-sills, etc.,
which are found among Celts and Hindus, Arabs and
Turks, alike in East and West. Thus, for instance,
such practices are found at Kerlescant, in Brittany,
at Rollrich, in Oxfordshire, at Ardmore, in Waterford,
and at Craig Mady, in Stirlingshire-a resort of the
newly wedded. The dolmen in these cases is the
sacred gate leading to Paradise, and to pass through
it is to attain new life, or immortality-an idea not
directly connected with sepulture. We shall find in
Moab one ancient and many modern examples of such
altar-gates.
It may, however, be said that the existence of so
many dolmens at one site precludes the idea that they
were only altars; but we must remember that Balak
erected no less than twenty-one altars at one time in
Moab, on three sites, and that Hosea might be
234
HETH AND MOAB.
C
thought to have a dolmen centre in his mind's eye
when he says, 'Their altars are as heaps in the furrows
of the field' (xii. 11). The dolmen as an altar is not
indeed mentioned in the Old Testament, unless Jacob
found one at Bethel The Gate of Heaven' (Genesis
xxviii. 17); but Saul used a great stone for sacrificing
(1 Samuel xiv. 33), and Isaiah condemns the practice
of preparing a table for Gad' (lxv. 11). New altars
were built apparently whenever an important sacrifice
was to be offered, and sacred centres would thus in
time become crowded with such structures, like
heaps in the furrows of the field.'
·
In concluding an inquiry into the general subject
of early monuments, which has, perhaps, already
rather exceeded the proper limits, we must say a few
words as to cairns and mounds.
Cairns are often sepulchral, are sometimes beacons,
and often memorials. The most interesting question
in connection with such stone piles is that of their
gradual accumulation round a menhir. Thus, in
India (as Dubois tells us), stones are thrown at the
village lingam stones, not from any disrespect, but as
a sacred ceremony. The lingam in such instances
becomes the nucleus of a memorial cairn. The Arabs
throw stones at the menhirs in the Mena valley in
just the same way, and Greek ceremonies often ter-
minated by lithoboloi, or stone-throwings, commemo-
rating the ballot-stones thrown at Hermes (the menhir
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
235
deity) by the gods who purified him after the murder
of Argus. We find traces of such practices mentioned
in the Bible for instance, in Proverbs (xxvi. 8), ´As
he who throws a stone on a heap, so is he that
giveth honour to a fool.' Jerome renders it, 'As he
who throws a stone on the back of Mercury' and
the practice of throwing stones in honour of Marculim,
or Mercury, is mentioned in the Talmud and by
Maimonides. When Jacob erected a menhir at
Mizpeh, his followers made a heap of stones-appa-
rently round it (Genesis xxxi. 46); and the Highland
proverb mentioned by Sir John Lubbock, 'I will add
a stone to your cairn,' throws some light on the
meaning of this rite. The small stone thrown on a
cairn was an even simpler witness of the presence of
any individual than the pillar or menhir. The greater
the number of pilgrims, worshippers, or mourners,
the larger the cairn, and the greater the honour done
to the deity or the deceased. Mr. W. Morrison tells
me that cairns are still so erected in the Highlands,
each mourner adding his contribution, and hence the
saying above quoted is equivalent to the expression
of regard for the person addressed.
Cairns over the dead are common among Arabs,
but in cases where no interment has occurred, the
cairn has probably some such origin as above stated.
Near Jerusalem there are great cairns which do
not appear to be either sepulchres or beacons, but
236
HETH AND MOAB.
which may, perhaps, be sacred piles of the same
kind as those above noticed.
The use of mounds is very similar to that of cairns.
In all countries the dead are covered with tumuli,
but other great mounds are also found in all lands
which are not sepulchral. Such are the dagobas or
'blind topes' found in India and in Afghanistan,
which in some cases have a menhir standing upon
them, while near Carnac, at Rollrich, and in many
other cases, single menhirs stand on mounds and
knolls, which are but miniature sacred mounts. The
Tells of the Jordan valley have been excavated by
Sir Charles Warren, and found to be solid, without
any chamber or cist. In the Hittite country, both in
Asia Minor and Northern Syria, the plains are covered
with these great mounds or Tells, which, in some
cases, appear to have been faced with stones, inscribed
in Hamathite characters, or covered with bas-reliefs.
The Tells, like the dolmens, always appear to occur
close to water, and are not generally in defensive
positions, but in open plains. It may, perhaps, finally
be found that most of these mounds were sacred places,
and, indeed, in many cases they are so still. The great
mound near the sources of the Jordan, called Tell el
'Ajjûl, or the Hill of Calves,' suggests a connection
with Jeroboam's calf-worship, and the white dome of a
Makâm may often be found to crown the summit of
these great hillocks of clay or sun-dried brick.
C
RUDE STONE MONUMENTS.
237
7
Here for a moment we must pause, for the disc
stones of Moab may be left for the next chapter.
We have seen how the original idea of the menhir is
that of a memorial stone, often considered to contain a
divine soul. We have seen how the sacred circle,
though sometimes consecrating tombs, is originally an
enclosure connected with the worship of the sun,
and how the avenues and alignments have, at least in
some cases, an astronomical origin. We have dis-
tinguished between the dolmens which are sepulchral
chambers, and those which appear to be sacrificial
tables or symbolic structures, and between memorial
cairns and those which are sepulchral, as also between
tumuli and sacred mounds. The religion of the
ancient races is intimately connected with all rude
stone monuments, and temple and tomb are as closely
united as they still are in a cathedral, with its famous
dead, in our own land. Famous stones have names
which seem to give them a human individuality.
Such are the King-stone, Long Meg, or the stones.
of King Orris, Woden, St. Patrick, St. Declare, or
St. Fillan in the British Isles. In France we have
Pierre Martine and others, and the names given to
stones by the Khassia tribes, such as 'stone of the
oath,'' of grass,'' of salt,' are equally instructive. The
student who neglects the indications afforded by
tradition, and endeavours to make the monuments
tell a new tale without crediting that related by
238
HETH AND MOAB.
the descendants of those who erected the menhir or
dolmen who leaves out of account the beliefs and
hopes and sorrows of those childlike ages, and thinks
that man in savage times was but the utilitarian
which civilization has made him, is not likely really
to penetrate into the mystery of these earliest of
human monumental structures, and fails to sympathize
with the ideas of builders whose conceptions of
rugged grandeur, and of the moral effect of huge
masses and of number, still excite the admiration
of men in times when art and skill have so far
surpassed the first efforts of the illiterate and pre-
historic period.
"
CHAPTER VIII.
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
THE previous chapter has, to a certain extent, cleared
the ground, and indicated the important questions to
be considered in connection with the rude stone
monuments of Syria. We have to inquire first as to
the observations which seem to indicate the origin and
use of these monuments, the names and traditions
connected with them, their situation and relative
positions, their method of structure, and their more
important details or peculiarities; and secondly, we
may study their distribution in the country, with a
view of discovering, if possible, the approximate date
to be assigned to them, and the race which may be
supposed to have probably erected them.
South of Sarafend or Zarepta, between Tyre and
Sidon, and about a mile south of the ruin of 'Adlûn,
Consul Finn has described a rude stone monument in
Phoenicia. It was a quadrangle originally, consisting
of sixteen stones, six on each longer side. Of these
*
J:
240
HETH AND MOAB.
ten remain standing, and there are two outlying stones
on one of the longer sides. The stones are from four
to six feet high, and two or three yards apart. They
have been hewn, but not squared. Traditionally, they
are said to have been wicked men turned to stone by
a prophet while reaping, and the name of the prophet
seems to be Zer, or possibly Zir (of whom more here-
after). A depression in the ground was remarked in
the centre of the enclosure, and the place is called
Sûk Sairi, from the neighbouring village of Seirîyeh.
It is possible that the prophet should be called Seir
from this village, as in other cases.
The next nearest dolmen-centre is that discovered
west of Tell el Kady in 1882. We here found dolmens
made of basalt, at a ruin called Dhahr es Saghir.
These dolmens are smaller than those of Moab, evi-
dently because of the great weight of the basalt as
compared with limestone. They occupy the southern
side of a low spur between the Nahr Leddân on the
east, and another affluent on the west. The
The spur is
all of black basalt, with one or two small thorn-trees.
It commands a magnificent view of Hermon and of the
Crusading Castle at Banias, with the poplar groves
below, while close by, on the east, is Tell el Kady,
'the Judge's Mound,' with its magnificent terebinths
and its fine springs in the cane-brake. On the north
is Lebanon, on the west the Galilean ridge, and on
the south the broad plain of Jordan reaches to the
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
241
*
Waters of Merom, which shine in the distance. It is
nearly always at such sites, near clear streams, at a spot
commanding a fine distant view, that Syrian dolmens
have as yet been found in great numbers. The most
perfect example in the present instance is towards the
west, where a table-stone, 5 feet long and 3 feet broad,
is supported on smaller blocks, the upper surface being
2 feet above the ground. It is carefully adjusted by
two small pebbles inserted on each side, and there is
a flat hollow or cup in the stone near one end.
A second example further east appears to have been
either partly destroyed, or more probably is a demi-
dolmen. A stone 5 feet long is supported at one
end by a cubical block 2 feet high, and rests
at the other end on the ground. On the south-
east was found another structure, evidently artificial,
a great block of basalt, of about the same length
as in other examples, being supported on smaller
stones laid flat beneath it. Thus an inclined table is
obtained, the highest point of the surface being four
feet above the ground. In this case also a small
pebble is inserted to steady the top-stone, and there
are remains of a rude circle of smaller stones surround-
ing the principal block. The fourth example, a little
further east, is a dolmen like many in Moab, a great
* Detailed accounts of the dolmens and other monuments ex-
plored in Moab and Gilead, with measured plans, sketches, and
photographs, will be given in the Memoir of the Survey.
16
242
HETH AND MOAB.
flat stone supported on others also laid flat. There
are numerous remains of other dolmens on the sides
of the knoll, some apparently overthrown on purpose,
others presenting heaps which are not easily distin-
guishable from the natural basalt blocks of the
vicinity; but the four examples above mentioned are
clearly artificial structures, and it is very curious that
they should not previously have attracted the atten-
tion of the many visitors who must have passed
close by them in going to Tell el Kady.
In Upper Galilee a few examples of the same kind
were found by the Survey party in 1877. Four of
these, near Meirûn, are mentioned in the Memoirs and
shown on the Survey; they stand on flat ground east
of the summit of Jebel Jermûk, the highest mountain
in Galilee. One is called Hajr Muneik'a, 'the stone
of the little cup or mortar.' The covering stones in
these specimens measure about 11 feet by 7 feet,
and are 11 feet thick; these tables are raised only a
few feet above the ground.
South of Meirûn, separated from it by a valley, is
a ridge on which stands a stone called 'Hajr el
Hubleh,' or 'the Pregnant Stone,' near the ruin of
Shem'a. North of the Sea of Galilee there is another
dolmen on the ridge of 'Alieh, and this is called Hajr
ed Dumm, 'the Stone of Blood.' In 1882 I visited
the so-called Hajâret en Nasâra, west of Tiberias, at
the top of the open valley which is called Wâdy Abu
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
243
'Amîs, and which permits the traveller from the west
to obtain his first view of the lake beneath. This is
the modern site of the miracle of feeding the five
thousand, which in the Gospels is mentioned as
occurring on the east side of the lake. It is a rude
circle, ten paces in diameter, of basalt blocks unhewn;
the largest is now called 'the Table of Christ,' and
chips of the stone, believed to have miraculous power,
are taken from it by the Russian pilgrims. It is
possible that this site may represent a pre-historic
Gilgal, or circle, above the lake.
In lower Galilee a single rude stone monument was
found in 1872, on Mount Gilboa, near Deir Ghuzâleh.
It is described in the Memoirs, and appears to be the
first dolmen ever observed west of Jordan in Palestine.
A stone nearly 7 feet long here rests on supports
about 3 feet above the ground at the upper surface.
Other stones, beside this sort of door, form a rectangle
of about 14 feet side, and within this is a single
upright stone 6 inches thick, 2 feet broad, and 3 feet
high, placed opposite the centre of the doorway. The
bearing of this monument is 30° east of north, on
the line from the single stone towards the centre of
the door. The place commands a view west over the
plain of Esdraelon, but there is no water near the
ruin.
Crossing over Jordan, we must next mention the
dolmens of Sûf, which have been described by Consul
16-2
244
HETH AND MOAB.
Finn, and by several subsequent travellers. These
specimens appear to be of chert, or that brown, flinty
stone which runs in bands through the chalk. The
covering-stones in some instances measure 11 feet by
6 feet, and an end-stone, as well as two side-stones, ist
found. The table is generally about 4 feet from the
ground. Mr. L. Oliphant speaks of similar monuments,
apparently further north, near Mahneh, where some
believe Mahanaim to have stood. Mr. Fergusson
speaks probably of the latter group as not far from
Tibneh, at a place called Kefr el Wâl, whence they
extend for three or four miles towards Sûf. There are
evidently, therefore, dolmen-fields in Ajlûn which
may still be found to rival in extent those already
explored in Moab.
Advancing southwards, we find another important
group south of the Jabbok, on the road leading from
the Dâmieh ford to Sâlt. It was discovered by Irby
and Mangles, in 1817, near the foot of the hills; and
in their hurried glance at the spot they recognised
twenty-seven dolmens. Their account is remarkable,
for they speak of the end-stones as if pierced for a
door, and they distinctly state that this was not the
case in groups further south. The size of the dolmens
in this group appears to be about the same as in the
Sûf and Tibneh fields. The Arabs do not know of
any other group in the valley between that at the
Jabbok and those east of the Seisebân plain.
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
245
At Rabbath Ammon both dolmens and menhirs
were found by the Survey party in 1881. South-west
of the town is a single example of great size of the
demi-dolmen class. The top-stone measures 13 feet
by 11 feet, and is inclined at a flat slope eastwards.
On the west it is supported by a stone 6 feet high
and 5 feet wide, and there is a side-stone on the north.
In the middle of the table is a hollow about 2 feet
across and a few inches deep, and a regular network
of channels leads to this from the higher or western
end of the table. There are two other large hollows,
and nine smaller ones, in different parts of the stone,
several having little channels leading to them. There
is also a pair of such hollows on the flat rock, just east
of the stone. The monument stands on bare rock on
the west slope of a hill near the top. It commands
no particular view, nor is it near water. The stone is
a limestone, and the blocks, which are from 1 to 2 feet
thick, do not seem to have been hewn at all.
North-west of 'Ammân is a group of dolmens made
of flint or chert. They seem to have formed a rude
circle, but this may be merely accidental. There are
two standing and two fallen, one being a trilithon, the
other having an end-stone, as had also the two fallen
The top-stones are from 8 to 12 feet long.
There is another very small one near them, a stone
6 feet by 4 feet being supported at one end by a
stone only about a foot high. One of the larger
ones.
246
HETH AND MOAB.
examples has a hollow 2 feet by 1 foot, by 6 inches
deep in the cap-stone. This group is on the south-
west slope of a hill in a very hidden situation. There
is no water near, nor any view; but due west, on a
hill divided by a deep valley, there is a menhir
4 feet high and 4 feet wide by 1 feet thick. This
is still standing, and in its top surface there is a well-
shaped hollow, 6 inches in diameter and 4 inches deep.
South-east of Ammân are possible remains of two
other small monuments, and on the hill north-east
of the citadel in the ruins of Haddâdeh is a fallen
menhir 12 feet long and 6 feet wide by 2 feet:
thick, having a hollow in its side 9 inches deep. It
seems to have stood on a sort of stone socket still
remaining near it. Further north-east we found
another dolmen or demi-dolmen with a cap-stone
8 feet long, and near it two smaller examples, with
table-stones laid almost flat on the natural surface,
but just propped by a small stone at one end, so as
to give them an inclination from the horizontal.
These stones were 5 feet and 9 feet long respectively,
and west of this group is a great block or menhir
8 feet high and 9 feet broad at the bottom, still
standing in its proper position.
South of the Ammân monuments we found not
a single example until the vicinity of Heshbon is
reached, and here, in Wâdy Hesbân, the dolmens occur
in great numbers. A spur called el Kurmiyeh runs
!
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
247
out west from Heshbon, and from it there is a view
down the valley with its clear stream and over to the
Neby Mûsa downs west of Jordan, above Jericho.
There is a knoll at the end of the spur, and on this
is a ruined cairn about 15 feet in diameter, of small
stones. It appears to have had a circle of stones
about 2 feet high round it, and the diameter of this
circle would have been about 15 paces. The flat
rocks are here pitted by many round holes 1 to 2 feet
in diameter, and 6 inches to a foot in depth. There
are traces of a sort of double circular enclosure lower
down the slope on the west. The two rows are about
8 feet apart, and the stones, many of which are
curiously pointed, are 2 feet high. The diameter of
this circle would be about 200 feet. The slopes
beneath are sown with dolmens, some being the
finest we found at all in Moab. The first discovered,
on the north-east of the central cairn, was a trilithon,
with a cap-stone 6 feet long, supported on side-stones
to a clear height of 5 feet beneath the table. A
small stone placed on one side allows any person
mounting on it to reach the upper surface of the
table with his hands. Lower down on the north
slope is a group of five dolmens, one of which is a
magnificent example, of stones which seem to have
been rudely squared. The cap-stone is 9 feet long,
and there is a clear height of 54 feet beneath it. Of
this example Lieutenant Mantell obtained an ex-
248
HETH AND MOAB.
cellent photograph. Twenty-six dolmens in all were
examined on the slopes of this hill, varying in size
from the specimens mentioned to little structures of a
single stone 5 feet long, supported at one end by a
block only 14 feet high. Many examples were fallen,
others (as at Tell el Kâdy) consisted of a table with
other flat stones beneath it, a sort of pile which could
not have been intended to form a cist or box. In
one case a stratum of rock had been prized up, and
supported at one end by a stone. A menhir 5 feet
high was also found, and there is a rock-cut wine-
press on the hill. These monuments stand on hard
rock, and have no floor-stone, nor any excavation
beneath them. There is no orientation, and they
seem to have been built just where the stones were
found lying on the hillside. None are at the top of
the hill, and the builders do not seem to have been
able to carry the great blocks very far or to any great
height. Lieutenant Mantell observed that the side-
stones were almost invariably parallel to the contour
of the slope, so that the cap-stone might evidently
have been slid down hill and brought over the uphill
and flattest stone, to rest on the taller or downhill
block. These observations apply to the groups men-
tioned later, as well as to the Kurmiyeh dolmens.
In some instances hollows were found in the top-
stone, in others they occurred in the rock beside the
monument.
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
249
We subsequently found other dolmens near Sûmieh,
further down the valley, and a group of about twenty
more on the north side of the stream, near the same
site. These present no new peculiarities, but one
fallen example had five cup-hollows in the cap-stone
more regularly formed than is usual, and varying
from 2 inches to 10 inches in diameter. All these
specimens were drawn and measured. Some curious
excavations in large boulders or in cliffs occur, here
and elsewhere, in connection with the dolmens. They
are possibly tombs, but if so, the body must have
been buried in a cramped position, for the chamber-
often carefully cut out-is generally from 3 feet to
5 feet long, and about 3 feet wide and high.
Proceeding south, we reach Mount Nebo, and here
a well-defined dolmen was found north-west of the
flat ruined cairn which marks the summit of the ridge.
The cap-stone was very thick, and its top is some
5 feet from the ground. The side-stones were rudely
piled, and none of the blocks were cut or shaped. A
photograph was taken, and a fallen example with a
cap-stone 6 feet by 8 feet was found further west.
In subsequent visits, it was ascertained that on the
south slope of the mountain there is a circle about
250 feet in diameter, with a wall 12 feet thick, con-
sisting of small stones piled up in a sort of vallum.
At least one other dolmen is still standing on this side
of the mountain.
250
HETH AND MOAB.
**
The great valley immediately south of Nebo is
called Wâdy Jideid, and the spring of Jideid rises in
it. East of the spring is the hill called Kuweijîyeh,
and south of it is the ridge of el Maslubiyeh. Above
the spring in the upper part of the valley is the great
circle called Hadâniah, or 'Sepulture,' in which we
camped. It is an oval, 250 feet in major diameter,
with walls some 40 feet thick, formed by stones about
2 feet in diameter, quite undressed and heaped up
into a vallum. The interior is divided into two un-
equal portions by a similar stone-heap wall, 6 feet
thick; and on the south-east, outside the circle, is a
modern Arab sacred circle with a grave. This is
19 feet in diameter, and has on the north-west a little
trilithon, formed by two stones a foot high supporting
a table 2 feet long. This little altar was covered
with offerings, including small copper coins, a knife-
blade, and some pieces of blue pottery. This is a
good example of the grave circles which the Arabs
erect round the tombs of celebrated chiefs or holy
men, and it is from the existence of the smaller circle
probably that the place comes to be named Hadâniah.
The district round this circle presents a greater
number of dolmens than any other yet visited. They
extend from the plateau east of Kuweijîyeh, and
all along the north slopes of the Maslubîyeh hill, and
-
No less
some of the specimens are magnificent.
than 150 were here sketched and measured, and
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
251
in some instances there are rows of large trilithons
almost touching each other. In one case a floor-
stone was found inside the dolmen-chamber, with a
cup-hollow in it. It was clear from this great group
that these dolmens could never have been covered
with cairns or tumuli, and that they conceal nothing
beneath, for they stand mainly on hard rock, and
even the floor-stones were apparently found not to
cover any cavity. It was remarkable that though
there are over a hundred on the south side of Wâdy
Jideid, only one was found to the north; but the
reason was clearly that the dip of the strata is such
as to present a slope strewn with loose blocks on the
south, while only low cliffs without fallen stones are
found on the north, where the marl also occurs in
considerable thickness.
In the Jordan valley the dolmens reach from Wâdy
Hesbân to the hill east of Kefrein, occurring in great
numbers, but of small size, on the low spurs just at
the foot of the mountains. The number, explored
chiefly by Lieutenant Mantell, in this district, was
supposed to be some three hundred in all, in a dis-
tance of two miles. Several of these dolmens were
found on the top of a hillock which is a natural
feature, arranged apparently in a rough circle, and
with them a fallen menhir 11 feet long, with a recess
in the side. There were remains of circular enclosures
round the menhir and dolmens, and the mound itself
252
HETH AND MOAB.
which is called 'the ring-hill,' seems to have had some
kind of vallum round its sides.
The next important centre is at Minyeh, on the
crest or shelf which looks down on the plateau above
the Dead Sea cliffs. The monuments here found are
of a distinct character, although one somewhat similar
was remarked by Lieutenant Mantell in the Jordan
valley at the site just mentioned. There are seven
distinct monuments at Minyeh, most of which are in
so ruinous a condition as to be almost indistinguish-
able. The best preserved, of which a photograph was
taken, presents a cubical stone in a circle of large
stones rudely piled. The central stone is 3 feet by
21 feet, and 31 feet high. The diameter of the circle
is about 8 feet inside, and the walls are 4 feet thick,
and consisted originally of two courses of undressed
blocks piled up without mortar. On the east a little
courtyard, 30 feet across, is formed by a single ring
of stones. The Arabs have no tradition concerning
these monuments, though a legend of the miraculous
creation of the spring ('Ain Minyeh) by the spear of
Aly exists, as will be detailed in another chapter.
There is a flat rock just outside one of the monuments
in which a trough has been cut, 18 inches by a foot
in dimension, and 3 inches deep.
On the north bank of the Zerka M'aîn, just above
the springs which form the head-waters of the stream
in this 'Valley of God,' is a yet more remarkable site.
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
253
It is three miles east of Minyeh, but on the same
ridge, and it was visited, but only partly explored, by
Irby and Mangles. Here on a flat plateau stands a
single menhir called Hajr el Mansûb, a name identical
radically with the Hebrew word rendered 'pillar' in
the English version of the Bible, and applying to the
Canaanite menhirs. The same word is also used of
the stones erected and worshipped by the early Arabs
before Muhammed.
The Hajr el Mansûb is 8 feet high, 4 feet broad,
and 2 feet thick. It has evidently been hewn, for
the top is rounded like an ordinary headstone to an
English grave, while a groove 6 inches wide and 13
inches deep is cut right across on one side of the
monument 4 feet from the ground.
The Adwan, Beni Sakhr and Anezeh tribe-marks
are scored on the stone, but it is otherwise without
inscription or ornament a solitary and silent monu-
ment of an unknown past. It is not a milestone, for
we know what Roman milestones are like in this
country, and they are generally inscribed; nor is it
an Arab monument, for they all acknowledge it as
belonging to earlier times. The hills north, west,
and south-west of the Hajr Mansûb are sown with
dolmens, some being very perfect specimens. There
is a large wine-press on the slope east of the menhir.
Travelling south-west from the Hajr Mansub for
about three quarters of a mile, we find a flat piece of
}
254
HETH AND MOAB.
ground in which rises a low knoll, while a kind of
theatre of low hills surrounds it on north, west, and
east, a steep slope leading down on the south to the
springs in the great valley beneath.
This place
contains one of the most remarkable monuments of
Moab, namely, a large group of menhirs surrounded
by dolmens. The summit of the low knoll is occupied
by three very conspicuous stones standing erect, the
longest being 6 feet high. There seems to have been
a circle of smaller stones 15 paces in diameter round
them; and another circle, perhaps 300 yards in
diameter, round the knoll, is formed entirely of small
menhirs from 3 feet to 6 feet high. East of this are
alignments of similar stones, three rows north and
south being distinguishable. There appears to have
been a square enclosure defining the limits of this
site. The remains of a row of menhirs, running east
and west for thirty yards, are visible at the southern
edge of the plateau, above the steep descent, and
there is also a line running north and south from this
at the east end of the little plateau. The enclosure
thus defined would be about a quarter of a mile
either way, and it is sown with small menhirs erected
without order on the south and east of the circle
round the knoll. There is a single dolmen just
adjoining the circle on the west, and the hills to the
north and east are covered with dolmens, extending
towards the Hajr el Mansûb. There must be at least
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
255
150 dolmens at this site, and the number of the
menhirs is even greater. The place is known as
Umm Zuweitîneh, 'Mother of the little olive trees,'
although no such trees exist here. The Arabs say it
was once an oil manufactory, and point to the wine-
press already noticed as an oil-press. Those acquainted
with the stone presses west of Jordan will, however,
be well aware that a wine-press with shallow chambers
can never have been used in the manufacture of oil.
The menhir group is called el Marcighât, the things
smeared' (with oil or other thick liquids); but no
tradition was collected as to the original meaning of
the monuments.
In the next great valley south of the Zerka M'ain,
known as Wâdy Wâleh, there appear to be other
monuments of the same class which have not as yet
been fully explored. Irby and Mangles here men-
tion two menhirs, one 10 feet high, 4 feet wide,
and a foot thick, south of the stream, a second of
smaller size on the north bank. They were also
visited by Herr Schick some years ago, and he
speaks of the site as called Skander by the Arabs,
apparently from some legend of Alexander the
Great.
Another curious class of monuments are those
called Serâbît by the Arabs. There are two groups
of them on the spur called Mushukker, north of the
'Ayûn Mûsa; in one case there appear to be twelve
256
HETH AND MOAB.
تم
3
pillars, 1 to 2 feet in diameter, and 3 feet to 8 feet
high, each having a square block for a base, cut out
of the same piece. In the eastern group there are
twenty-four similar monoliths. They resemble Roman
milestones, but there is no ancient road near the
group, and they may be compared with the cippi over
Phoenician graves at 'Amrit. A stone 8 feet long
lies not far off, and is called Hajr el Mena, 'the
Wishing Stone,' and considered by the Arabs to be
capable of granting boons.
Three other ancient monuments must next be
noticed, which resemble great millstones, but are too
large ever to have been used for such a purpose.
The one is at the village Kufeir Abu Bedd, a ruined
site north of Nebo, at the edge of the plateau. It
stands erect, and is 9 feet in diameter and 12 feet
thick. It is sunk some three feet in the ground, and is
not pierced with any central hole, as millstones usually
are. The second, at the ruin of Kuweijîyeh, on the hill
above the Hadânieh circle, is also erect, and 6 feet in
diameter; this likewise is not pierced as a millstone
would be. The third is the so-called Mensef Abu
Zeid, or 'Dish of Abu Zeid,' and is 10 feet in diameter,
and 3 feet thick, pierced with a hole 2 feet in dia-
meter. A tradition attaches to it which will be men-
tioned later; it lies flat in the plain beside a thorn tree,
and it is difficult to imagine whence it was brought.
The great cairns and the modern stone monuments
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
257
remain to be described. Canon Tristram speaks of
cairns on the east of Kerak, and of circles some 100
yards in diameter, of which he found seven or eight
south of the Zerka M'aîn, resembling apparently those
larger examples already noticed at Hadâniah and on
Nebo. A ruined cairn is generally found on the hill-
top where dolmens exist, as at el Mareighât, at Maslu-
bîyeh, on Nebo, and at the Kurmîyeh.
In cases
where only the lower part of the cairn remained, it
appeared that the heap had been erected on bare
rock, and that it did not conceal any cist or dolmen.
Some of the cairns, as at Sâmik and Meseiyik, are
merely Arab burying places, where bodies were placed
on the ground and covered with stones. The older
cairns may have had the same origin, or like Jacob's
cairn at Galeed, may merely have been memorial
piles. The largest we found was on a hill-top at
Mekheiyit, and may be about twenty feet high.
The modern circles found in all parts of the Bedawin
country surround the tombs of celebrated or holy
men they are generally some 20 feet in diameter,
with a grave in the centre, and a wall about 3 feet
high, made by rudely piling up blocks of various
dimensions. On the west there is a sort of little door
or dolmen—a trilithon used by the Arabs as an altar,
on which offerings to the dead are placed. This
kind of altar is further noticed in another chapter.
The preceding pages are intended to give a con-
17
258
HETH AND MOAB.
nected account of all that is at present known
concerning rude stone monuments in Palestine, and
beyond Jordan. The survival of Paganism among
the Bedawin is not less certain than among the
Anseirîyeh in Syria, who have sacred stone altars at
shrines in the midst of woods north of the Lebanon.
It may now be interesting to summarize the important
indications which are obtainable from a study of the
Syrian dolmens and other rude stone monuments.
As regards menhirs, by far the most important
group is that of el Mareighât, discovered by the
surveyors. Here we find a square enclosure, an inner
circle, a central group on the top of the knoll, and
alignments on the east. We find them called 'the
smeared' stones, and we find the vicinity full of
dolmens; and on the north side are three of those
small chambers in the rock which have been already
noticed near Sûmieh. At 'Ammân we find menhirs
which may mark ancient boundaries, and which have
hollows in the top or sides, as though for the receipt
of libations or of small offerings. Taking these in-
dications in connection with what we learn in the
Bible concerning Jacob's stone at Bethel, and the
stones raised by the Canaanites and overthrown by
the reforming kings of Judah, we can have little
hesitation in supposing the menhirs of Moab and
Gilead to have been originally objects of Pagan
worship, which were once anointed
once anointed with oil, or
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
259
smeared with blood. The alignments and scattered
stones of el Mareighât may be supposed to be votive
offerings of pilgrims to this shrine, standing above
the head-springs of the Valley of God,' and on the
ridge of Baal Peor-the deity of whom the menhir
was the appropriate symbol.
6
With regard to the dolmens, we found in Moab no
evidence which would in any way serve to connect
them with sepulture. In many cases they were
clearly inappropriate for such a use, and the main
object of their erection seemed always to be the con-
struction of a flat table, arranged with a slight tilt in
the direction of its length. This tilt does not appear
to be accidental, for in some cases where the monu-
ment is well preserved the supporting stones have
evidently been arranged purposely so as to give an
inclination to the capstone. We found the dolmens
to occur in great numbers round certain centres, but
without any particular order of individual position.
The centres were generally near fine streams, and in
places whence a good view was obtainable, but to
these rules there are a few exceptions. Cup-hollows
were found in the capstones, and in flat rocks beside
the dolmens; and in one case the hollow was in the
floorstone of a well-built dolmen of five stones.
Channels connected the cups in more than one in-
stance, and the conclusion seems irresistible that they
are evidence of some sort of libation on the dolmen.
17-2
260
HETH AND MOAB.
Circles surrounded the dolmens in many cases, and
also surrounded the cubical stones of Minyeh, and the
menhirs of el Mareighât. In the latter cases the circle
had a dolmen on the west, and thus resembled the
small Arab circles of the present day which consecrate
graves. The dolmen in the modern instances is
simply a table or altar for offerings.
In speaking of dolmens it should also be noted that
at Hesban, Sûmieh, Nebo, Mareighât, and elsewhere,
large boulders or fallen crags were found near the
dolmen groups, each pierced with a little chamber
generally about 3 feet square and 5 feet long. These
are puzzling because of their small size. They seem
to be tombs, but if so the body must have been
placed in a cramped position, as in the 'stone age
tombs of Europe. It may perhaps be thought that
in these excavations we find the real graves of the
dolmen builders very rudely cut in rock at the
sacred centre where their monuments were erected.
The large circles of Moab bear some resemblance
to our English circular enclosures, allowing for the
difference of the soil in the harder desert districts.
They do not appear to have any outlying menhir, or
any internal grave, and their object is not distinct.
It should, however, be noted that in the case of the
Hadâniah circle, towards the direction of sunrise at
the summer solstice, about three-quarters of a mile
distant, the hill-top is crowned by a great cairn called
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
261
C
Mekheiyit, or the Needle.' On the hill of Kuweijiyeh
towards the south-west, half a mile away, is the great
disc-stone elsewhere specially noticed. It is not im-
possible that these monuments may bear to the
Hadâniah oval a relation similar to that of outlying
menhirs near British circles, as noted in the preceding
chapter.
In addition to those previously described, Lieutenant
Mantell discovered at Râs el Merkeb, east of 'Ammân,
two other examples of stone circles, one close to a
fine terebinth tree, the other about a quarter of a mile
further east. They were not very large, being about
25 paces (or 60 feet) in diameter, of uncut stones,
forming a vallum about 2 feet high. Close to each
are remains of three or four smaller circles, which
may be modern Arab graves, about 30 feet in
diameter. A tradition of the 'kneeling-place of the
Prophet's camel' attaches to this site, but was not
apparently well known. Other examples of these
large circles were found also at Kôm Yâjûz, Umm
Huwatt, el Mâberah, and at el Mahder, a site with a
name radically the same as the Hebrew Hazor. It is
more than probable that all the old Hazors or
'enclosures' were named from such ancient circular
monuments.
The cairns found in Moab may be either sepul-
chral or monumental. The Serabît must be classed
with the menhirs. The disc-stones do not seem to
262
HETH AND MOAB.
have any parallel in Western Palestine or elsewhere
(so far as I am able to learn), and their use and
meaning must remain at present undecided. They
may be solar emblems or they may have no religious
meaning; but the only notices of such monuments
of which we seem to have any trace refer to the
Hammanim or sun images' (2 Chron. xxxiv. 4),
which were destroyed by Josiah, while the name
Diblathaim, or Two Discs,' applying to a town in
Moab, as well as Diblath (Ezek. vi. 14), which I have
proposed to recognise in the modern Dibl in upper
Galilee, might be thought to have some connection.
At 'Amrît, in northern Phoenicia, a similar stone disc,
about 12 feet in diameter, stands on a block 15 feet
square and 10 feet high, and is surmounted by a
cone, giving a total height of 33 feet. This cippus
stands above a tomb chamber.
The evidence, so far as it goes, seems to me to
point very clearly to the use of dolmens in Moab
as sacrificial altars. The cubical stones at Minyeh
resemble those which were consecrated to Allât
among the early Arabs; and the dolmen with
its cup hollow is but a larger variety of the little
dolmen-table of the modern Arabs. Still it was not
by Arabs that these monuments were erected, and so
ancient do they seem to be, that only very vague
traditions of their original meaning survive among
the Bedawin.
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
263
The distribution of the Syrian dolmens, and other
monuments of the same class, may perhaps assist us
in forming an opinion as to their origin. Not a
single specimen was discovered in Judea during the
course of the Survey, and only one very doubtful
circle in Samaria. There does not seem to be any
probability that groups of such monuments have
been overlooked by the surveyors, who found them
elsewhere, nor has a single specimen been discovered
by any of the many careful explorers who have
journeyed through the country. On the other hand,
groups of fallen stones have been found more than
once which seemed very probably to have once
formed a dolmen, and cup-hollows have been ob-
served in rocks at various places in Judea where
dolmens might naturally be expected to occur.
In Galilee we find a few remaining dolmens, and at
the site of Dan, where Jeroboam's calf-temple was
erected, and which we know to have been long a
sacred place, a large group has been discovered, most
of the examples having, however, been overthrown,
apparently on purpose.
In Phoenicia only one menhir enclosure is as yet
known, but in Gilead and Moab there are probably
more than a thousand dolmens, and many other rude-
stone monuments. These occur at Nebo, Bamoth
Baal, and Baal Peor, and probably also at Mizpeh—
places where altars, cairns, and menhirs are men-
264
HETH AND MOAB.
tioned as existing in the times of Jacob and of Moses.
In addition to these indications, we have the fact
that similar monuments are found in extraordinary
numbers in the north of Africa, where the Phoenicians
established extensive colonies, being there even more
numerous than in Asia and Europe, where they may
be attributed to old round-headed pre-historic tribes
(akin to the Cushites, Accadians, Dravidians), the
Esquimaux-like aborigines of Europe, preceding the
Aryan migrants, to whom, nevertheless, the erection
of later examples must be also attributed.
The conclusion which seems most natural is that
dolmens and menhirs have been destroyed in Judea,
but were commonly used by the Phoenicians, the
Canaanite, Hittite, and Semitic tribes of Syria and
beyond Jordan; and that the custom of their erection
survived among the Nabatheans, Himyarites, and
other early Arab tribes, and, indeed, still survives
among their modern descendants, who unconsciously
copy in miniature the older examples.
The rude stone monuments of Syria have, so far as
is yet known, neither ornamentation, nor rune, nor
other mark of the engraver's tool: in comparatively
few instances they are made of hewn stone, very
rudely cut, but generally they are of rough blocks
and slabs entirely unformed. Thus, if there be any
scale of comparative antiquity on which we can rely,
connected with the finish of the monument, the Syrian
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
265
----
dolmens may claim to be considered among the oldest
of their kind.
These
In the Book of Deuteronomy we find again and again
repeated injunctions to overturn' the Canaanite
altars, and to break, or smash,' their pillars.
exhortations we find carried into practice by Hezekiah
and Josiah in Judea, and as the Book of Deuteronomy
is held sacred by the Samaritans, we are justified in
supposing that they also, at a somewhat later period,
may have destroyed the stone monuments of Hivites
and Amorites round Shechem. But Galilee was
always a land of Goim, or 'pagans,' with a mixed
population, over which the kings of Israel and Jeru-
salem had little control. Moab was the very centre
of Baal worship in the days of Jeremiah, and the
reforming zeal of Hezekiah did not affect the land
where Chemosh and Ishtar, Baal Peor, Gad, Nebo, and
Meni, yet continued to be worshipped. Thus, in
Moab, the dolmens still remain, but in Judah they
have been entirely destroyed. In Galilee only a few
are left, and at Dan they lie fallen like heaps in the
furrows of the field.
At an earlier period, long before the Law of Moses
existed, the fathers of the Hebrew race seem to have
used the same stone monuments, which were subse-
quently condemned in consequence of the cruel and
shameless rites with which they were connected in
Canaanite paganism. Jacob anointed a menhir, Moses
266
HETH AND MOAB.
even marked the altar in his circle under Sinai with
the blood of oxen. Joshua made a circle at Gilgal,
and the sons of Jacob a cairn on Gilead. The dolmen
is not distinctly mentioned in Hebrew Scripture, but
the libation on a rock, the sacrifice on a great stone,
the raising of 'hands' or cippi, is attributed to
venerated heroes of the Hebrew race, to Gideon and
Saul and Jacob, not less than to later worshippers of
Peor and Chemosh. The names which still adhere to
the Syrian monuments- smeared' stones, wishing'
stones, stones of blood,' are valuable confirmations
of what we gather from ancient authors concerning
the unctions, libations and bloody rites connected
with dolmens and menhirs.
The conclusions suggested in the preceding chapter,
after a consideration of monuments other than those
of Syria, seem thus to be confirmed by what we learn
from the monuments of the Holy Land. The menhir
is the emblem of an ancient deity, the circle is a
sacred enclosure, without which the Arab still stands
with his face to the rising sun. The dolmen, whether
modern or prehistoric, is (when free-standing) an altar
rather than a tomb. The cairn is not always
sepulchral, being sometimes a memorial heap; the
disc-stone is a distinct production, perhaps of a later
age. Such evidence as we possess shows that the
rude tribes beyond Jordan buried their dead in small
chambers cut in the rock, or in tombs similar to
SYRIAN DOLMENS.
267
those of the Phoenician and the Jew, and not beneath
the table-stone of a free-standing trilithon; while the
mounds of the Jordan valley and of the Hittite
plains, whether citadels or sacred hills, have as yet
never yielded sepulchral deposits.
To say that we still find the altars of Balak stand-
ing on Nebo may be premature. To point out the
great dolmen at 'Amman as the throne of Og may
be considered fanciful by some; but we may at least
claim that we find structures which seem to resemble
the early altars and pillars mentioned in Scripture
still existing at places which, on entirely independent
grounds, may be identified as representing the Mizpeh
of Jacob, and the holy mountains of Nebo, Baal and
Peor. While in Judea not a single dolmen now
remains standing, because in their zeal for the faith
of Jehovah, the good kings, Hezekiah and Josiah,
swept away for ever the 'tables of Gad.'
1
#
CHAPTER IX.
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
AMONG the original objects of research proposed in
the prospectus of the Palestine Exploration Society
was the study of manners and customs among the
inhabitants of Syria. In 1878 I endeavoured to give
a general sketch of this subject in 'Tent Work in
Palestine,' and several papers of interest by various
authors have since been published dealing with the
subject. During my recent visit to the country I
have, however, striven to collect information more
especially concerning the local customs and beliefs
which are connected with peasant superstitions, con-
cerning which very little has as yet been written.
The chapters of the present volume treating of Syrian
superstition and Arab folk-lore will, it is hoped, form
a novel contribution to the study of the native popu-
lations of Palestine.
The officers of the exploring parties have always
been fully aware of the interest and importance
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
269
attaching to this branch of research, and if the
published Memoirs contain but few notes on the
subject, it is not because it was forgotten or neglected.
It was, however, always a matter of astonishment to
me that so little could be extracted from the peasantry
concerning their beliefs, even when they were least
suspicious and best disposed. When we crossed over
Jordan, we at once came among tribes who possessed
tales and traditions which they were willing to repeat
to us; but under precisely similar circumstances I
found the Fellahîn still unable to do more than give
a name or a very simple incident; and it is only
gradually that it has been possible to form any con-
jecture on the subject of their beliefs. Throughout
Syria we find shrines connected with the names of
early patriarchs, such as Abraham, Noah, Cain and
Abel; and legends which are more or less distorted
versions of the episodes related in the Old Testament
are repeated in connection with these shrines.
exception of these stories, and of certain beliefs which
are survivals of the old Assyrian and Phoenician
faiths, there does not appear to be any 'folk-lore'
properly so-called among the Fellahîn, and the con-
clusions reached on the subject, as recorded in 'Tent
Work in Palestine,' were fully confirmed by careful
subsequent inquiry.
With
It is true that M. Clermont Ganneau, in his in-
teresting paper on the Arabs (that is to say, the
270
HETH AND MOAB.
Fellahîn) in Palestine, gives one instance which
would seem to contradict the supposition that but
little can be expected from the search among the
peasantry for folk-lore tales. He himself heard re-
lated at Sur'ah (or Zoreah), by Moslem peasants,
various legends of Sheikh Samat, which appeared to
be distorted reminiscences of the history of Samson.
So much did this discovery interest me, that in 1881
I fixed a camp for several days at the village in order
to investigate the question at leisure. As soon as we
became familiar with the inhabitants we were told
exactly the same story, but a circumstance entirely
unexpected was brought to light. The village has
for some years been the property of a Christian
Sheikh named Kublân, from Beit Jâla, and on in-
quiring from the Fellahîn how they learned such
tales of Neby Samat-suggesting that they had
perhaps heard them from their fathers-we received
at once the ready reply, 'Oh no! it was Kublân who
told us;' and the fact that the legend was obtained
from a Christian appeared in their eyes to increase
its value, as the more educated Christians of the
country are believed to know everything, like a
Frank.
Here, then, was the explanation of the apparent
anomaly, and the reason why legends of a kind not
found in the more primitive districts were so glibly
repeated in this instance. Kublân had for years been
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
271
adulterating our sources of information, by relating
Scripture stories to his tenants, in whose dull brains
they had remained half understood only, and thus
came forth again in their strange guise converted into
exploits of a Moslem hero fighting the Christian
infidels.
This instance alone is sufficient to show how care-
ful the explorer must be to trace to its origin every
tale he hears, and especially so in cases where the
peasantry have come in contact with Europeans. The
Latin monk, the Protestant missionary school-master,
have now for years been alike telling Bible stories to
the peasantry round Jesusalem, and these tales are
localized in the places commonly believed to be the
actual sites of the Scriptural episodes. No doubt the
monks and priests of the Middle Ages in like manner
familiarized the Fellahîn of that period with traditions
concerning the saints whose shrines were then rising
in such numbers throughout the land, and this
explains, perhaps, why it is that so many sites origi-
nally sanctified by Christian traditions have been
adopted by the Moslems; as, for instance, the shrine
of St. John near Castel Pelegrino (Athlît), the tomb
of Moses near Mâr Sâba, St. Matthew south of
Bethlehem, St. Paul and St. Gabriel in Philistia, St.
George at Ascalon, at Blanche-Guarde, and at
Darum, south of Gaza. In all these cases a purely
Christian tradition is unconsciously taken over by a
272
HETH AND MOAB.
Moslem populace, but no legend appears to survive
among them to tell how they first came to venerate
the shrine, or what was the character of the saint they
adore.
It is in the more remote corners of the country that
information on such matters should be sought, not in
the plains of Jaffa or the hills of Judea, where schools
and chapels have been built, and where hundreds of
pilgrims and tourists pass by every year. The
pseudo-traditions which are being disseminated in the
more civilized districts have no value in the study of
the primitive condition of the peasantry, and where
there is European influence no certainty can be at-
tained concerning the genuine character of any story.
The Fellahîn are not the only inhabitants of the
country among whom curious customs and super-
stitions may be observed.
be observed. The Oriental Jews are an
eminently superstitious race. The Samaritans have
legends peculiar to themselves. The Druzes, the
Ism'ailieh, the Anseiriyeh, the Christian Maronites,
have each and all peculiar superstitious ideas and
sayings. The Arabs, or nomadic tribes of pure
Arabian origin, have a religion and a folk lore which
must be treated as a distinct subject, and of all these,
as well as of the superstitions of the Moslem peasantry,
observations have been made during the course of our
explorations.
The Jews, as the original people of the country,
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
273
claim notice in the first place, and it is well known
that among Oriental Jews of the lower class (and even
among European Jews, especially those of Poland and
Russia), many superstitious practices occur which
have certainly no connection with the Law of Moses.
It is by no means easy for one not of their own nation
to obtain any information on this subject, although
the condemnation of such beliefs as that of the
Tashlich may be found expressed in Jewish news-
papers. The educated Jews of England, who belong
to the nobler stock of the Spanish and Italian Seph-
ardim, are fully aware of the degradation of their
Oriental brethren; but any who take interest in the
future of the nation, and in the Jewish projects for
repeopling their native land, should bear in mind how
wide is the distinction which must be made between
the cultivated European Jew of the West and the
ignorant and fanatical Jew of the East.
The Talmud itself contains much (especially in the
Hagada) which is evidently derived from Persian
sources. Its fables, its astrology, its legends, and its
minute prescriptions, are often far less original than
a Talmudist or a student not conversant with the
history of other creeds would suppose. The Mishnah
ought to be read side by side with the Zendavesta ;
the Hagada should be compared with the Parsee sacred
books; the Æsop-like fables of the Gemara are cer-
tainly but adaptations of stories from an older Aryan
18
274
HETH AND MOAB.
source.
Take, for instance, the prescriptions for cut-
ting the nails to which so great importance is attached.
The Babylonian Talmud forbids that nail-parings
should be left on the ground, lest women should tread
on them and miscarry. The nails are to be cut on
Fridays and in a certain order, and the parings to be
burnt or hidden; they must not be cut on Thursday ;
and all these prescriptions are carefully observed by
Oriental Jewesses, who hide the nail-parings in cracks
in the house-walls.
The superstitions concerning nail-cutting which
survive in England might be thought by those who
believe our race to be of Semitic derivation (in defi-
ance of philology and history) to have been taken
from such Jewish ideas; but the student will find in
the Pehlevi work called 'Shayast la Shayast' (and
also in the older Vendidad), a Persian parallel which
probably indicates the true origin of the Jewish
practice. The rule is this,' says the Parsee legis-
lator, 'that they should not leave a nail-paring un-
prayed over, for if it be not prayed over, it turns into
the arms and equipments of demons.'
(
The Jew who desires to free his brethren from the
grinding tyranny of Talmudic prescription cannot do
them a greater service than by studying and com-
paring the Zendavesta with the Mishnaic texts.
I have on one occasion seen performed on a house-
top in Jerusalem the ceremony called the 'Sanctifica-
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
275
tion of the Moon,' which to an uninitiated person so
closely resembles moon-worship, that I was hardly
able at the time to credit my own eyes.
This cere-
mony is, however, minutely prescribed in the Cabal-
istic writings. The worshipper, when the moon is in
the first quarter, is to stand on one leg (an attitude
common also to the Derwish sects and to Hindu
hermits), and after glancing at the moon, repeats
prayers, blessing her Former, her Creator, her Maker,
her Possessor. In the Ma Yasht we perhaps find the
real origin of this curious custom.
The Tashlich ceremony above noticed is supposed
to be countenanced by a passage in Micah (vii. 19),
and consists in laying the sins of any individual on
running water, which is visited on New Year's Day.
I have never detected it in Jerusalem, although the
Jews visit the stream from the Bîr Eyub when it
begins to run in winter. They also believe firmly in
the healing power of the intermittent spring called
the Virgin's Fountain (possibly Bethesda), in which
they stand waiting for the troubling of the water, as
a cure for rheumatic and other complaints.
The 'hand of might' is another Jewish belief which
may be supposed to have an Aryan origin. This
hand (generally painted red) is drawn on the lintel
or above the arch of the door. Sometimes it is
carved in relief, and before one house in the Jews'
Quarter, in Jerusalem, there is an elaborate specimen,
18-2
276
HETH AND MOAB.
carefully sculptured and coloured with vermilion.
Small glass charms in the form of the hand are also
worn, and the symbol is supposed to bring good luck.
The Jewish and Arab masons paint the same mark
on houses in course of construction; and next to
the seven-branched candlestick, it is probably the
commonest house-mark in Jerusalem. The hand is
one of the oldest of pagan symbols. It appears on
Roman standards and on the sceptre of Siva in India.
The red hand in Ireland sculptured on crosses, the
vermilion hand on temples in India, or in St. Sophia
at Constantinople, the bloody hand of Mexico, are
all no doubt examples of the same original concep-
tion. The Indian Sun-god Savitar is gold-handed, and
Zoroaster had hands of gold and silver. So also had
Hobal at Mecca; and King Madha, in Ireland, had a
silver hand. It is not from a Semitic source, then,
exclusively, that the symbol of the hand of might'
can be thought to have been derived.
C
Jewish ceremonies connected with birth and sick-
ness (as described by Chiarini) are equally instructive.
The chamber where a birth is expected is inscribed
with a charcoal line round the walls, and the names
of Adam and Eve, and the words 'Avaunt Lilith,'
for the Lilith, or female demon of the night, who
assaulted Adam and lies ever in wait for his sons, is a
succuba or lamia who is specially dangerous to new-
born infants. She is often mentioned in the Talmud,
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
277
and is even thought to be intended in Isaiah (xxxiv. 14),
where the 'night monster' is rendered screech-owl in
the English. The names of angels, Senoi, Sansenoi,
and Samnangelaph, are also written on the walls, and
when on the eighth day the circumcision takes place,
an empty chair is placed for the invisible Elijah, whose
presence is constantly supposed to accompany the
devout on such occasions.
The sick are laid in bed, neatly dressed, and washed;
the chamber is cleaned, and sweetmeats are placed
round it, with fragments of choice food left to tempt
the propitious spirits who may bring health to the
patient. The Jew indeed in the East lives in daily
dread of the shedim, or spirits, who are described in
the Talmud as crowding every building or desert spot,
who have claws like cocks, and may at times become
visible. It is in all probability from Persia, with its
hosts of genii and its endless struggle of guardian
spirits and demons, that the demonology of the Jews
is originally derived.
No less curious are the beliefs concerning death and
the last judgment. The east side of the Kedron
valley, east of the Temple, is covered thickly with
Jewish tombs, and no doubt many pious souls are
there laid by their own wish in sight of the loved and
regretted sanctuary of their faith; but there is also
no doubt that many are buried here in consequence of
the belief that any Jew not having his sepulchre in
278
HETH AND MOAB.
the valley of judgment must, at the last day, perform
a dangerous and painful underground journey to this
valley-a pilgrimage beset with grievous obstruction
from worms, serpents, darkness, and other obstacles.
In Poland it is said that a kind of fork is buried with
Jews to enable them to dig their way on this journey.
In Russia, Jewish cemeteries are called 'Jehosaphat,' in
order that they may become local substitutes in the
day of judgment for the valley beside Jerusalem. Of
the belief there can be no doubt, and it recalls strangely
the old Egyptian idea of the subterranean pilgrimage
of Osiris and his followers-the souls of the just-
through the gloomy region of Amenti, with its demon
serpents and other dangers.
The above are but a few examples of the innumer-
able superstitions which are noticed in the Talmud
and credited by Oriental Jews. Such ideas as the
bad luck of passing between two palms or two women,
of black cats and witches at cross-roads, with many
others mentioned in the Talmud, are clearly derived
from some other source than the Hebrew Scriptures;
and it appears to me very doubtful whether the Red
Heifer bridge, and some of the ceremonies therewith
connected, as described in the Mishnah, should not
rather be classed with the Persian myths of the
'Gatherer's Bridge,' and the cow which led souls across,
than supposed to have any really historical origin.
The Samaritans have been constantly accused by
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
279
the Jews of worshipping a dove on Gerizim, and,
although they indignantly deny the imputation, it is
curious that the Samaritan Book of Joshua contains
an account of the messenger-dove which carried letters
from Joshua to Nabih, king of the tribes beyond
Jordan. The book in question contains many curious
legends of the conquest which have no connection
with the Bible narrative. Four long chapters are
devoted to the history and death of Balaam: the
conquest of Shechem is related and the destruction
of the Canaanites by flaming angels; the Kings of
Greece, of Armenia, of Phoenicia and of Damascus
gather to battle in the plain of Esdraelon; and at
Keimûn beside Kishon Joshua and his followers are
shut up between seven walls of iron. Summoned by
the dove, King Nabih comes to his aid and transfixes
the leader of the giants who have enchanted the
Israelites with an arrow; a fountain springs up where
the arrow falls, and the magic walls are destroyed
suddenly.
These and other legends among the Samaritans
have evidently a mythical origin. They exist only
in a late literature, but appear to be copied from
some earlier books. In the course of several con-
versations with two successive High-Priests, I have,
however, found little that is not orthodox in their
beliefs. Amram, the late High-Priest, knew, however,
many things which his nephew and successor had
280
HETH AND MOAB.
forgotten. He knew the burial-places of all Jacob's
sons, and such of these as his nephew remembered I
collected in 1881, as may be found by those interested
in the subject in the second volume of the 'Memoirs
of the Survey of Western Palestine.'
The beliefs of the Druzes are no longer a secret to
the Western world, since De Sacy and others have
described their sacred books, found by the French in
1860 on Hermon. The whole system of their mystic
faith is founded on the early Persian heresies, which
resulted from the mixture of Moslem and Sassanian
beliefs; and there is little which is of any peculiar
interest or importance in their creed. It has been
thought by some European inquirers that their highest
grade of initiation leads to a knowledge of secrets
which might be of importance and value; but those
who know the Druzes best are of a contrary opinion.
If we may judge from the facts that the Druzes are a
prayerless people, and that they are allowed to deny
or abjure their religion whenever they may think
necessary, it would seem more probable that (as in
the case of the earlier Ism'aîleh) the highest initiation
leads to a complete scepticism. The meetings in the
Druze Khalwehs have a political far more than any
religious importance; and the Druze, though brave
and warlike, is untrustworthy, for this very reason
that no oath can bind him and that nothing is really
sacred in the eyes of his leaders. The brazen calf,
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
281
which is known to be kept in the Khalwehs or solitary
chapels on Hermon and elsewhere, is probably a sur-
viving symbol of the early Paganism of the Hermon
district. It is now considered an emblem of the folly
of the heretical 'Akkal ed Derâzi, and raisins are
derisively offered it to eat. Such cynical contempt of
the very teacher whose name still clings to the sect, is
just what should be expected of these sceptical mystics.
The Ism'aîleh, who take their name from the sixth
Imâm, who died in 765 A.D., and was expected to re-
appear at the last day, represent a sect from which
the Druzes have branched off. In Syria, a miserable
remnant of this Persian schismatic sect of Moslems
survives in the neighbourhood of Homs, in northern
Syria. In the twelfth century they appear as the
notable Assassins (that is, Hashshishîn, or Hemp-
smokers), sworn to obey the old man (or Sheikh) of
the mountain. The whole account of this Assassin
sect gives clear evidence of its Persian origin, and
Marco Polo describes a similar fanatical society with
a similar earthly paradise much further east, in a
later century. The Ism'aîleh have still grades of
initiation, secret allegorical interpretations of the
Korân, a belief in the transmigration of the soul, and
apparently a sacred drink like the Persian Homa.
They are credited with yet more curious tenets by
the Moslems and Christians of the Lebanon, showing
a connection with the Indian lingam worship; but
282
HETH AND MOAB.
the study of such late and syncretic systems has little
interest, because the various elements can be traced so
much earlier in Asia, in the Mazdean and Brahminic
systems, which survive in Syria mixed with Gnostic
and Moslem beliefs in a meaningless and hopeless
confusion.
The Anseirîyeh, who inhabit the range of Mount
Casius, near Antioch, and extend southwards to the
valley of the Eleutherus, are a similar sect. They
were first studied by Walpole in 1851, and an account
of their beliefs has been given by Mr. Laurence
Oliphant which is derived from an Arab source.
The Druzes consider them to be schismatics, who
separated from them on the question of the divinity
of Aly. In the Korân, the name Ansar' is applied
to those converts to Islam who joined Muhammed in
Medina after the Hegira; but the Anseirîyeh claim
to take their name from a certain Nuseir, who came
in 891 A.D. from Persia, and disseminated new
doctrines in Syria. They have
They have a ceremony of
initiation with a libation of wine. They never allow
women to become initiated, and the females of
these tribes are, perhaps, more miserably degraded
than any in Syria. They have a custom of eating
bread over a new grave, which recalls the ancient
funeral feasts; and the lingam worship certainly
survives in their secret meetings. The name of
Christ is venerated by them with those of many
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
283
other prophets, and their mystic ceremony of wine-
drinking is in their catechism connected with the
Christian Eucharist; but they are at the same time
sun and star worshippers, and are separated into four
smaller sects, who adore the moon, the stars, the air,
and the dawn respectively.
Professor Palmer* gives other details concerning
this sect, including their deification of Selmân el
Farsi, and their triad, which combines his name
with those of Muhammed and Aly, contrasted with
an evil triad of the first three Khalifs. Their third
degree of initiation teaches that only the powers of
nature are really divine, and discards all historical
dogma. Their great feast of the Consecration of
the Fragrant Herb,' which recalls the ceremonies of
the Druids recorded by Pliny, is apparently a sur-
vival of the Homa-worship of Persia; but this does.
not invalidate Professor Palmer's comparison with
the Assyrian rite noticed by Ezekiel (viii. 17).
From M. Blanche, the learned and devout French
Consul at Tripoli, I gathered a few further particulars.
He believed the Anseirîyeh to be a race distinct from
others in the mountains, being like the Druzes, tall
and fair-haired, with blue eyes. Their sacred places
are rude altars in groves of oak, the altar built of four
stones, and supporting little lamps. The Anseirîyeh,
he said, swear by these altars, and a murder was dis-
* See Besant and Palmer's 'Jerusalem,' p. 424.
De
284
HETH AND MOAB.
covered to his own knowledge by the fact that the
perpetrators refused to perjure themselves by swearing
innocence on one of their altars. One of these sacred
places is called Martmûra, and is in the hills above
'Arka, north of Tripoli.
From such indications it is clear that the Paganism
of Syria and the Mazdean faith of Persia are not yet
dead. The miserable relics of mystic sects which
survive in the north, together with the Druzes and
the Metâwileh (who are Shi'ah or Persian Moslems)
further south, are the surviving results of the great
struggle which commenced in the second century
and continued till the tenth. They are the pools left
on the shore by the great waves of opinion which
resulted from the struggle of Christianity and of
Islam against the ancient and fast-rooted systems of
Semitic and Persian Paganism. From the syncretic
spirit sprang the innumerable Gnostic sects and the
Moslem heresies, the Ism'aîleh, the Shi'ah, the Druzes,
the Metâwileh; and however curious may be the
products of these various mixtures of heathen, Moslem,
and Christian doctrines, there can be no reason to
suppose that the initiated possess any new secret
which is worth the knowing for the educated student
of the West.
The Christians of Syria are not less superstitious
than their Moslem fellow-countrymen, and those liberal-
minded Englishmen who have wished to promote
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
285
unity between Western and Eastern Churches are ap-
parently not aware of the utter degradation of the
Oriental ecclesiastical body, whether Greek, Armenian,
or Maronite.
The ignorance and venality of the
clergy is only equalled by the superstitious fanaticism
of their flocks; and the verdict which will be found
general amongst those who have longest known the
Oriental Christians will prove to be invariably un-
favourable to their morality and intelligence alike.
Among the Maronites several curious ceremonies
survive, which seem to bear a relation to the old
Paganism of the Phoenicians. The bride, conveyed to
her new home, is pelted with corn and raisins, and on
arriving she flings a pomegranate amid the party,
which is greedily seized and divided by the bride-
groom's companions. She then takes from her bosom
a piece of dough and sticks it on the door-post, while
the bridegroom, standing on the flat roof of the house
over the door, holds a sword above her head. It is
unnecessary to point out the pagan origin of these
customs, or their relation to marriage practices still
extant also in Europe.
The Maronites divide the month into lucky and un-
lucky days. The first five lucky, the next five unfor-
tunate, then four good days and four bad, three
propitious, three unlucky, and lastly two good and
two bad, making a lunar month of twenty-eight days
in all. The same kind of division will be found on the
A
286
HETH AND MOAB.
Accadian tablets translated by George Smith. Both
Christians and Moslems in Syria turn their silver
money in their pockets at the new moon for luck ;
and two persons meeting under the new moon will
each take out a silver coin and embrace, saying, 'May
you begin and end; and may it be a good month to us.'
(
The fear of sunstroke and moonstroke is said to be
connected with the belief in the evil eye. This super-
stition, so common in Italy, is universal in Syria.
The 'Ain Fârigh, or empty eye,' is specially dangerous
to children, who are therefore left dirty and ragged,
lest their beauty should cause them to be envied and
stricken by some person having the evil eye. The
houses are marked with signs in red paint for the
same reason. Among Christians it is generally a cross;
among Jews, the hand or the seven-branched candle-
stick; among Moslems, the sacred palm (which is carried
before the coffin in every Moslem funeral procession), or
the double triangle forming a six-pointed star. This last
is also a caste-mark in India, and a common mediæval
mason's mark. The bow and arrow is also a Moslem
house sign, and in Tripoli good luck is ensured by any
light-blue object. Eggs are there hung outside the
houses with a blue glass bracelet round them. This
last town is probably an old Kadesh, sacred to Venus,
for the blue colour is generally sacred to goddesses,
and red to male deities. In India, blue is the colour
of the Neptune-like Vishnu. At Hebron, on the other
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
287
hand, red is a female colour, as contrasted with green.
Each patriarch's tomb has a green covering, while the
embroidered cloths over the cenotaphs of their wives.
are red.
The evil eye, against which (and against all demons)
such charms have power, is supposed in some cases to
be so powerful that its possessor can slay with a single
glance. In the Babylonian Talmud it is stated that
ninety-nine persons die of the evil eye for one who
dies naturally. The very poorest wear a leather
amulet round their necks, as in Egypt, in Italy, or in
India—the same charm which is called the scapular in
Ireland. Some other very European ideas may also
be found among native Christians, as, for instance, the
practice of making April-fools on the day answering
to the first of that month.
About the middle of September the Maronites light
fires on the hillsides, and in 1881 our Maronite ser-
vants observed this custom on the Moab hills, as
though at home. Such fires are common at mid-
summer in many lands. The belief in healing springs
is another Lebanon superstition, and at Heitât, in the
Greek Chapel of St. George, is a picture reputed to
sweat oil, which is collected in a little cup below, and
sold by the priest as a panacea. At es Salt we find
the curious legend of a lintel-stone over the door of a
ruined chapel which is said to drop blood at certain
seasons in memory of Christian martyrs there slain.
288
HETH AND MOAB.
Above Râs Baalbek is a ruined convent in which a
spring is said to rise, falling into a trough among the
vaults: the water is believed to be capable of giving
milk to women who are nursing, and the same belief
exists with regard to the chips of limestone from the
rock of the 'Milk Grotto' at Bethlehem, which are
sold to be dissolved as a drink. In this last instance
the white marl is held to have been originally coloured
by a drop of milk from the breast of the Virgin
Mother.
Maundrell, in 1697, noted as a curious fact that all
the sacred sites in Palestine are shown in grottoes.
The number of these holy caves has not decreased
since his time. At Bethlehem the manger is in a
cavern. At Jerusalem we have the cave-chapels of
Adam, of the Cross, of the Prison, Peter's Cave on
Sion, the Grotto of the Agony, and many cave-tombs
under churches. At Nazareth the Holy House is a
grotto; on Olivet we have the caves of St. Pelagia
and the Credo; at 'Ain Karem are two grottoes
sacred to St. John, each with a sacred stone; on
Carmel there is the cave-chapel of Elijah. The
Moslems have their holy caves at Jerusalem and
Hebron; the Druzes have another on the top of
Hermon; with these are connected holy trees, sacred
pillars, consecrated springs, holy footprints, objects of
worship which are universally revered from England
to India or China.
When we read that the Bethlehem
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
289
grotto was long used as a Mithræum, where the resur-
rection of Tammuz was celebrated (as Jerome tells us)
down to the fourth century, and when we reflect on
the holy fire which at Easter breaks forth from the
Sepulchre at Jerusalem, we can hardly fail to recognise
a connection between the monkish sacred grottoes
and the old Accadian cavern of the dawn,' or that
cave in Alburz which was the prototype of all
Mithræa, and from which the sun went forth at
morn.
6
Among the Moslem inhabitants the Derwish orders
first claim our attention, but these are of Persian and
Egyptian derivation, rather than indigenous to Pales-
tine. Like the heretical sects already noticed, they
are secret societies, with vows of obedience and grades
of initiation, and have their prototypes in the Indian
hermit orders, the secret Gnostic sects, the Templars
or the Rosicrucians, of whose doctrines a survival
appears to remain among European masons. There
were twelve original orders of Derwishes, of whom
the most influential is that of the Malawiyeh or
dancing Derwishes, whose Persian founder was Hazret
Moulana, buried in the mosque of Koniah in Lycaonia ;
they have monasteries at Aleppo and Tripoli, but
their chief centre is at Konieh. In Egypt the fol-
lowers of Seiyid el Bedawi are perhaps the most
famous, and they also have their monastery at Tripoli.
The Bektashi Derwishes, who are not one of the
19
290
HETH AND MOAB.
twelve great orders, belong to a society founded by
Bektash of Bokharah, who lived in the fifteenth
century and is buried in Asia Minor. They wear a
vestment without sleeves, having twelve symbolic
stripes; their rules include contemplation, retreat, and
chastity. They have a sacred girdle (like the Persian
Kosti) made of white wool with three knots. They
have also a secret sign, like other orders, some of
whom pass their hands over their beards in a parti-
cular manner; and the candidates are admitted in
secret meetings, when they are said to stand naked on
an altar with arms crossed and a rope round their
neck, one foot resting on the other, as in the attitude
of contemplation among the Malawîyeh, and among
Buddhists in India. The altar is said to be twelve-
sided, with a seat each side for the initiators, and a
candle burning upon it. The candidate swears obedi-
ence, chastity, and other vows; prayers are offered
on the door-sill, and a sheep is sacrificed, of whose
wool the new girdle is made. This sect blows a
goat-horn, which is said to be symbolic of the god of
love. Many of the details of initiation recall the
practices of the Templars and of the early Gnostics,
and there can be little doubt that absolute scepticism
was general among the knights of the great order of
the Temple.
The dance of the Malawiyeh Derwishes is evidently
symbolic of the course of the planets; and the position
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
291
of their arms-the left hand down, the right raised—
probably typifies the female and male elements in
nature, as in the Indian images of Hindu deities,
where the arms are so placed. Their high conical
cap resembles the Persian cidaris and the mitre of
the Median magi. Among other orders, customs
equally indicative of pagan origin exist. The
Kadrîyeh in Egypt adore the sacred shoe of the
founder of the sect. The Ahmedîyeh, who carry red
banners, have a solemn annual ceremony of intro-
ducing an ass into their mosque, probably connected
with the old Egyptian symbolism of Set or Osiris as
an ass. The secrets learned in the higher grades of
initiation are unknown to Christians, but there is
good reason to think that among all Moslem secret
societies, as among Buddhists, the highest teaching is
a general scepticism; and that the lower grades who
charm serpents, carry banners or nets, eat scorpions,
or dance, or repeat the zikr (the name of God), are
held in ignorance of the fact that these wonders are
only intended by their chiefs to excite the admiration
of the populace and add to the power and fame of the
sect.
The mosque of el Bedawi, at Tripoli, contains in
its court-yard a cistern, or pond, of sacred fish.
These are believed to have disappeared during the
Russo-Turkish war, and to have been transformed
into Moslem warriors, who fought for the Sultan.
19-2
:
}
292
HETH AND MOAB.
is
St. Antony, be it
After the war they resumed their fish-form, and re-
turned to Tripoli, re-appearing in the tank. Accord-
ing to M. Blanche, the Beidawîyeh, as the mosque
called, takes its name from St. Antony of Padua,
whose church once stood here.
remembered, was the saint who preached to the fishes,
and it is probable that the sacred fish-pond was found
already existing by the Crusaders, and was then con-
secrated to the saint. Tripoli was once a sacred city
of Venus, and stands on the stream of Kadesha, or
Kadesh. To Venus the sacred fish were no doubt once
holy, and at Ascalon and Accho, down even to the fifth
century, the Syrian Venus had still her sacred ponds.
It is interesting, therefore, to note that there yet
remains at Accho (St. Jean D'Acre) another pond of
sacred fish, and that a riot was caused in this town
not many years ago by the imprudence of a monk
who fished up and broiled for his own eating one of
the supernatural fish of Accho.
Another very curious superstition relates to the
passing through a hole, or between pillars, which is a
sign of future happiness or a cure for disease. Among
the Jews the reverse belief is found, for the Talmud
states that it is unlucky to go between a wall and a
palm, or between two palms (like passing under a
ladder in England); two women, two dogs, two
snakes, or two pigs must in like manner not be passed
between. In Asia Minor, however, there is a sacred
1

DOLMEN NEAR HESIIBON.
To face p. 293.
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
293
holed stone through which infants are passed to give
them health and make them intelligent. In the Aksa
mosque the pillars on either side of the Mihrab form
two pairs, with a narrow passage between each pair,
and it was till quite lately the practice of the pilgrims
to squeeze between these pillars in order to secure a
future entrance into Paradise. There is now an iron
stanchion between each pair, placed by order of the
enlightened Raûf Pasha to discountenance such super-
stitious practices; but the pillars may still be seen,
worn thin by the constant repetition of the custom.
A black slab which was let into the wall under the
porch of the central north door (on the east side) has
also been removed. It used to be the practice to
walk from the porch to this wall with the eyes shut,
and any pilgrim who so walking managed to touch
the stone with his hand was secure of future bliss.
Superstitions connected with 'passing through' are
common all over the world. In Madras children are
passed under the sills of doorways, and many sacred
holes and clefts are crawled through in India. The
same practice was connected with dolmens, and in
England we have still survivals of such superstitions
in the practice of 'threading the needle' in Ripon
Cathedral, or in rustic superstitions concerning passing
through willow hoops or trees, or between stones.
In the same connection may be mentioned the
belief that it is unlucky to tread on a threshold. In
294
HETH AND MOAB.
all mosques a wooden bar at the door obliges those
who enter to stride across the sill, and the same
custom is observed in the rustic shrines. To step
across spilt water annoys evil demons, according to
Rashi, and is forbidden in consequence. In the
Bible (Zephaniah i. 9) those who 'leap' (or hop
across) thresholds' are condemned, and the priest
of Dagon would not tread on the threshold where his
idol fell (1 Samuel v. 5). The bride in Greece and
Rome was also, be it remembered, not allowed to
tread on the threshold.
C
Sacred foot-prints are common objects of worship
in many parts of the world. The feet of Vishnu and
of Buddha in India, the foot-marks of Christian
shrines in Italy, France, or Germany, are instances.
Herodotus speaks of the foot-prints of Hercules in
Scythia, and of the sandal of Perseus in Egypt.
Pythagoras measured such prints at Olympia and
calculated ex pede Herculem. At Mecca are
Abraham's foot-prints, and in Jerusalem we find
Christians venerating the foot-print on the summit
of Olivet, and Moslems adoring the Prophet's
foot-print on the sacred rock, and the foot-print of
Christ in the Aksa, which was shown as early as
600 A.D. The Prophet's foot-print was also supposed,
in the twelfth century, to be that of Christ, and the
prints on Olivet are mentioned by all the early
pilgrims. At Hebron we have the print of Adam's
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
295
!
foot in the Haram; beyond Jordan the Adwân rever-
ence the print of the Turkomâniyeh, a prophetess
who was on her way to Mecca, and made the mark
on the roadside when mounting her camel. At
Baalbek four giant foot-marks are shown on the
margin of the tank, in the court of the ruined
mosque, and are supposed to have been impressed
by some patriarch or prophet. Dubois tells us that
near Madura a large leather shoe is offered to a
hunter deity, while the Kadrîyeh derwishes, as
already mentioned, adore a holy shoe of gigantic
size, an emblem of the sacred foot which once dwelt
within. These practices are but variations of the
adoration of foot-prints. The Latin monks have
many sites where they show marks made by the body
of Christ or of some saint, the rock having become
as soft as wax for the time; and in the cave beneath
the sacred rock, the mark of the Prophet's head is
in the same way supposed to have been impressed
on the rock before he flew to heaven through the
hole in the roof of the cave, while Gabriel's finger
marks show how the rock was prevented from follow-
ing, reminding us of Arthur's finger marks on his
Quoit near Barmouth.
Of sacred trees in Palestine it is not necessary
to speak at length, since every great tree is sacred, and
hung with rags (which each mark a prayer or a vow);
for Syria is not the only land where trees are so
296
HETH AND MOAB.
'
consecrated, and the sacred tree of Egypt and of
Assyria is traced back as far as history goes. No
less certain is it that springs are believed by the
peasants of Palestine to be inhabited by good spirits.
The great cave at Gibeon is said to be sometimes
aglow with a supernatural light, when the local
prophet comes to brood above the water, and the
greatest excitement was caused by the smoke of our
magnesium torches, which was mistaken for a cloud
in which the offended deity had descended. At the
so-called Oven of Job,' near the Tâbghah springs,
on the borders of the Sea of Galilee, I found blue
beads and shells strung on thread, and hung on a
stick between the joints of the masonry; pieces of
barley bread had been thrown into the stream flow-
ing from the well, and there can be no doubt that
these were propitiatory offerings to the local deity,
who is now called Job. This name is probably derived
from the legend in the Korân, of the spring which
rose when Job stamped his heel on the ground. The
story is related of Ishmael also, as well as of Pegasus,
from whose hoof rose the fountain Hippocrene.
The reader is referred to Tent Work in Palestine'
for other details of the worship of local divinities,
which is the real religion of the peasantry. The
faith in ghouls, in the Jân, or Genii, who become
visible as whirlwinds, in 'Efrîts, or demons of hideous
appearance, in Kerâd 'monkeys,' or goblins, is very
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
297
strong and general, and the belief in ghosts (Kheyal)
is also common to Moslems and Christians, for at least
two well-known instances of haunted houses are to be
found in Jerusalem itself.
The offerings found in the peasant shrines are
worthy of notice; pomegranates, pomegranate flowers,
and little figs, with small coins, beads, blue pottery,
and sticks, are the commonest. It should be noticed
that the fig and the pomegranate are very ancient
symbols of fertility in Asia.
The various indications thus enumerated seem
clearly to show the survival of religious ideas quite
distinct from those of sun-worshippers. It is the old
tree and stone worship of the early Accadians and
Canaanites which is still preserved; and the fact that
mythical tales are absent is only natural among a
people who have not yet emerged from the more primi-
tive superstitions of a religion of fear, and of constant
deprecation of evil and mischievous spirits a kind of
early belief which finds expression in the magic tablets
of the Accadians, long before the planetary cultus of
the Assyrians had been systematized.
There are intelligent and cultivated men among
the missionaries of Syria, who have spent their lives
among the peasantry; and I have generally found
them convinced that mythology, such as is preserved
among Aryan races, has no existence in the traditions
of the Fellahîn-a conclusion which is strengthened
298
HETH AND MOAB.
by the recent discovery of the folk-lore of the trans-
Jordanic Arabs, who belong to an entirely distinct
stock, and who readily repeat legends of great
mythical interest.
The shrines of Noah and of other patriarchs have
legends attached which are of considerable antiquity.
The gigantic tomb of Noah is in the valley between
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, but near Kadesh on
Orontes a square enclosure of earth is pointed out as
Noah's Ark, and not far off is the Tannûr, or 'Oven,' a
name given to a spring whence the flood is said to
have burst forth. South of Ramleh there is another
Tannûr, with the same legend, at Gezer, and yet
further south is the spring of Noah's daughter or
wife. This legend of the Tannûr is found in the
Koran, and the pious say there was more than one
such mouth, and that all these cave springs assisted
in swallowing up the water again when the deluge
was over.
The legend of the dragon who swallows the water
of the Virgin's Spring at Jerusalem when he is awake
-which accounts for its sudden intermittent rise
when he is asleep, is well known. It is curious that
this spring is close to Zoheleth ('the serpent rock'),
but the story may be compared with the Vedic myth
of the struggle of Indra, the rain-god, with the
dragon who keeps back the waters-who is generally
supposed to have been a cloud.
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
299
*
Stories of Cain and Abel are told in Syria, which
are not Biblical. Abel was slain at Yekîn, where
Cain's grave is shown, south of Hebron; but the
murderer was forced to carry the body on his back to
Abila, north-west of Damascus, where Abel's tomb
is shown on the mountain top. Of Esau, also, the
curious tale is told that his head was buried in the
cave of Machpelah, but his body in the tomb at
Si'aîr, north of Hebron-a story which can be traced
to the Talmud. The legend of the gnat which pene-
trated into the brain of Titus, as related in the
Talmud, is found also applied by the Arabs to
Nimrod, and localized at Merd, north of Mâr Sâba.
Another personage of importance is Neby Shit,
identified with Seth, but probably representing
originally the Hittite and Egyptian deity, Set, who
is perhaps ultimately connected with Thoth, the
Hermes or Moon and pillar deity of Egypt and
Phoenicia. Shem and Ham, Lot, Jonah, Caleb, Nun,
and Joshua-Og even-have shrines in Syria, as well
as the three patriarchs at Hebron, and most of their
sons elsewhere; but perhaps the most generally
venerated of prophets is el Khudr, the Green One,'
who is confused with Elijah and with St. George;
who is venerated by the Druzes in the Carmelite
monastery, and at the springs of Jordan, as well as
by Moslems in all parts of the country. There can
be little doubt that the vivifying power of nature
C
300
HETH AND MOAB.
in the spring time is personified in this green deity,
who in the Korân is connected with Alexander of
the two horns.
At Tyre we found in Neby Ma'shûk 'the prophet
beloved of women,' a modern representative of the
Tyrian Hercules. His shrine stands on the knoll,
where probably the oldest temple on the mainland
was pointed out to Alexander; and a legend is
attached to the effect that a cave full of honey and
of bees exists beneath, which if opened would cause
the fall of the sacred monument. Here, as elsewhere
in Moslem shrines, a palm grows; and the legend
of the palm of St. Saba, the fruit of which is good
for barren women, and which the saint planted and
saw in a single night attain to full size and bear
dates, will be remembered by visitors of the monas-
tery.
A few stray legends attaching to other places may
be worthy of notice. Thus on Ebal is the cave of
Sitt Eslamiyeh, who is said to have flown from
Egypt and torn open the rock, apparently to hide
from her brother Selim. Others say her bones were
carried through the air from Damascus ; but what-
ever be the right legend, the little lamp in the cave
may be seen twinkling high up the mountain by
night.
Neby Skander (or Alexander), whose shrine is on
the volcanic peak west of the plain of Esdraelon,
i
1
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
301
is reputed to have had two rams'-horns, like the
Greek hero, who has become a mythical personage
in Asia. He met Abraham at the foot of Tabor,
and is thus connected with Melchizedek, King of
Salem, who was believed in the Middle Ages to have
encountered the patriarch at this same spot.
Still more curious is the legend of Neby Duhy
(the Leader'), whose tomb is on the conical hill
south of Tabor. He is believed to have been killed
near the Kishon, and his bones were carried by his
dog to the hill-top and there interred. This story
seems probably to have had a Persian origin, as the
dog among the Parsees consecrates the corpse by
placing its foot on it, while among the Semitic
people the dog is an unclean animal. Near Banias
lies buried a saint who is said himself to have been
a dog, but I have not been able to gather any details
concerning his career. Perhaps he may be considered
to be a relation of the famous moon dog Anubis, or
of the Vedic prototype of Hermes.
The Jisr Mujâmi'a, or 'Bridge of Gathering,' in
the Jordan valley suggests a connection with the
Persian Bridge of the Gatherer,' which reappears as
the bridge stretching from the Temple to Olivet, on
which the red cow walked, and across which, accord-
ing to the Moslems, the dead are to pass safely to
Paradise, or else to fall from its sword-like edge
into Gehennum beneath. The Jordan valley bridge
302
HETH AND MOAB.
is, however, said to be so-called because a gathering
of poets here competed for the favour of a fair
maiden.
In concluding this sketch of Syrian superstitions,
it may be worth noticing how deeply impregnated
with Paganism is the Moslem faith in all countries.
Some writers appear to regard the religion of Islam
as a pure monotheism of highly spiritual character.
Yet even Muhammed himself was not so free from
superstitious belief as to rise above the adoration of
the black stone which he preserved at Mecca when he
destroyed other idols.*
There is much in the Korân itself which is
known to be derived from Talmudic sources. Such
is the legend of Abraham's escape from the fiery
furnace into which Nimrod cast him. Other beliefs
are evidently of Persian derivation, as, for instance,
the angels Munker and Nakîr, who sit on the two
stones at head and foot of a Moslem grave, and
question the soul-an idea also to be found in the
Zendavesta. Muhammed retired to the cave in the
Mountain of Light, as did Zoroaster to the cave in
Alborz and his ascent to heaven; his tempting by
Iblis; his approach to the sacred tree of the limit,
whose leaves fall to denote deaths; his wondrous
steed Burak (or 'Lightning'), with a woman's breast,
and wings; his escape, like Bruce, behind the spider's
:
* See note at end of volume.
SYRIAN SUPERSTITIONS.
303
web, are all legends which have parallels in earlier
mythology. The Korân also contains traditions con-
cerning Christ, which are common to early heretical
gospels, such as that of His birth under the bowing
tree, and the phantom crucifixion of the Docetic
Gnostics. Stone and tree worshippers were the
Arabs of Muhammed's day, and such they still
remain in rural districts, in spite of the higher teach-
ing of Islam.
The eschatology of the Moslem faith has of late
attracted special attention for political reasons, but
those who have described the beliefs connected with
the coming of the Mohdy seem sometimes hardly
aware how entirely they derive their imagery from
the earlier Persian doctrines.
The year 1300 of the Hejirah was commonly
expected to be that in which the reincarnate Imam
should appear and the triumph of Islam be secured,
and this year coincides with 1882-3 of our era.
Many thought that Arâbi Pashi was the Mohdy
himself, others believed in the Sudan prophet, others
in the Senussi of Tripoli. Yet the orthodox belief
points to Aleppo as the scene of his appearance.
His coming must be preceded by a time of trouble,
with signs and evils of every description. The Earth-
beast who supports the world and the incarnate Iblis
will appear to oppose him on the plains of northern
Syria, and the Sunnee Moslems believe, no less
304
HETH AND MOAB.
devoutly than the Shi'ah, in this supernatural triumph
of their faith, and in the judgment which is to follow
immediately. Yet all this imagery can be traced in
the Zend Scriptures, probably as early as the time of
Cyrus himself, for the antagonist, the Earth-beast,
the time of trouble, the future triumphant prophet,
are prominent features of the Zoroastrian creed, with
the judgment and the wondrous bridge. El Borak is
but the Assyrian cherub or the Persian centaur, and
the tree of the limit is the tree of Asshur, or Allât.
Islam is no new faith, but a syncretic system based
on the Mazdeism, the Christianity, and the Judaism
which preceded it: in Western Asia it is a religion
which has begun to decline, and has almost ceased to
be a power capable of uniting men of various race and
of distinct aspirations; and those who believe that
the green banner could still rally the Indian, the
Egyptian, the Arab, Persian, and Turkish Moslems
against the civilization of the West, have failed to
appreciate the weakness of the bonds which still bind
together the various schools and sects of the Muham-
medan world.
CHAPTER X.
THE BELKA ARABS.
A RESIDENCE of three months in Moab,* combined
with former experience, allows of some degree of
familiarity with the tribes of the district, and permits
of a judgment being formed at least on those Arab
clans which claim to represent in Syria the pure
blood of the Nejed and of Yemen.
The recent campaign in Egypt, with its sad accom-
panying drama in Sinai, has given prominence for
the moment to the question of Bedawin character,
and the Nejed Bedawin have found a champion in
Mr. Blunt apparently convinced of the superiority of
their race, and of the high destiny which awaits them.
From the little tribes of the Judean desert or of
the Jordan valley, and from the impoverished clans
round Beersheba and Gaza, or those 'cousins of the
gipsies' who represent in Galilee the once powerful
tribe of Akil Agha, it may not be possible to form a
* This chapter is reprinted by permission from Blackwood's
Magazine.
20
306
HETH AND MOAB.
6
judgment of the Bedawîn at their best; but the
'Adwân, or Enemies,' who once held Judea in a
continual condition of terror, and who raided as far
as Jerusalem, and even to Jaffa, are proud sons of
the desert, who yet range over a district of a thousand
square miles, and who feign to consider the smaller
and older tribes, such as the Ajermeh 'Abbâd or
Ghaneimât, as their tributaries or serfs, although
they have of late years so decreased in power and
prestige that the inferior tribes have now the position
of allies and friends, rather than that of dependants.
The 'Adwân own all the Jordan valley and Mount
Gilead to the Jabbok, and on the south their influ-
ence extends to the Valley of Callirhoe and to Tell
M'ain. Their eastern boundary runs from near this
last place to Samik, and thence to Yedûdeh and el
Kahf, and east of Ammân to the Kal'at Zerka. On
the east and south-east the dominant tribe is that of
the Sakhûr or Beni Sakhr (Sons of the Rock'),
superior, if anything, in power to the 'Adwân, whose
country they appear to enter at pleasure, at all events
in time of peace, to water their camels at the springs
of Hesbân 'Ammân and in intermediate valleys. The
'Adwân possess far the richest country, and their
chiefs own lands at Kefrein, Nimrîn, and in the hills,
which are rudely tilled for them by the Ghawârneh,
or 'Men of the Ghor,' and by other Arabs of lower
caste. The 'Adwân also own sheep, goats, and cows,
THE BELKA ARABS.
307
whereas the wealth of the Beni Sakhr consists almost
entirely of camels.
South of the Zerka M'aîn, or ravine of Callirhoe,
dwell various small tribes, known collectively as
Hameidi, who have no superior chief, and who are,
in fact, dependants of the Beni Sakhr, as are the
'Abbâd and others of the 'Adwân.
The proper
method of treating the Hameidi appears to be to
enter into treaty with the Beni Sakhr chiefs, and visit
this district under their escort. The Hameidi are,
allied to the notorious Sheikh Mujelli of Kerak,
and the only hold which the explorer has over them
lies in the fact that they often carry corn to Jeru-
salem, and may there be detained by the Turks as
hostages. The Hameidi are a very degraded and tur-
bulent set, and without proper escort the traveller
would probably be pillaged in their country.
East of the Beni Sakhr, on the borders of the
Syrian desert, are found many tribes of the great
nation of the 'Anazeh, or 'Goat' Arabs, who extend
northwards east of Haurân. The tribes of Jebel
Ajlûn (the Beni Hasan) appear to be scattered and
powerless, as the settled population here holds its own.
For practical purposes the explorer need, therefore,
only deal with the 'Adwân and the Beni Sakhr.
The 'Adwân have two principal divisions-the
elder branch of Diâb, whose present chief is 'Aly, and
who live chiefly in the district north of Heshbon,
20-2
308
HETH AND MOAB.
descending in winter to Nimrin; and the younger
branch of the Nimr, those who follow Sheikh Goblân,
and who encamp near Heshbon, and descend to
Kefrein. Both these divisions of the tribe are now
very much diminished in numbers and in power, and
since they have begun to cultivate the land they have
also fallen off in martial reputation.
The young
chief 'Aly Diâb, a man of perhaps forty, has thrown
in his lot with the Turks; while Goblân represents
the native opposition, and adheres to the old tradi-
tions of independence.
The Beni Sakhr* were until lately a united and
powerful tribe, under a famous chieftain, Fendi el
Faiz. He left eight sons, and after his death they
quarrelled. The tribe was thus split into two factions,
one allying itself with the 'Adwân, the other, under
Satm, making a league with the 'Anazeh, once the
bitterest of the Beni Sakhr enemies.
In May, 1881, these parties came in collision near
the 'Adwân border, and Satm was slain in a skirmish.
Nevertheless, in the autumn of the same year, while
we were yet in Moab, the sons of Fendi el Faiz
* Some one, not apparently a philologist, has suggested that
the Beni Sakhr are representatives of Beni Issachar, and repre-
sent a 'lost tribe,' but, without considering the question whether
the old Jewish notion of 'lost tribes,' which we find perhaps first
in 2 Esdras xiii. 40-46, has any foundation in fact, it may be
remarked that the words 'Sakhr' and 'Issachar' have only one
letter-the final R-in common.
1
THE BELKA ARABS.
309
patched up their quarrels, and were consequently
regarded with much suspicion by the 'Adwân. The
principal chief, Satâm, brother of Satm, was in league
with the Turks, to whom he gave information of our
presence; and the malcontents of the Nimr are thus
shut
up in
in a corner between Satâm on the east, and
the Turks in es Salt, aided by their own relatives of
the elder branch. Such, roughly sketched, have been
the results of Turkish diplomacy beyond Jordan
during the last fifteen years; and to these causes of
decay among the Belka tribes is added the fear of
incursion from the south: for when Ibn Rashid and
the Arabs of the Nejed came up in 1880 as far as
Bozrah, the Belka Arabs all huddled together in the
Jordan valley and the lower hills, and their invading
kinsmen feasted joyfully on captured camels of the
Beni Sakhr and the Anazeh.
The history of the 'Adwân tribe, as related by
Sheikh Goblân, is as follows:-About three centuries
ago (or nine generations, all known by name), Fowzân
Ibn es Suweit, one of the Defîr tribe in the Nejed,
fled, in consequence of having slain his cousin, to the
Moab plateau, and found refuge with the Korda tribe
at Sâmik, east of Heshbon. He afterwards married
a daughter of Abu Heider, chief of this Korda tribe,
and had two sons-Saleh, from whom descend the
elder 'Adwân branch, called 'Ashîret Saleh, of whom
'Aly Diâb is now chief; and Jedid, from whom Goblân
310
HETH AND MOAB.
6
claims to be the eighth descendant. The heir of 'Aly
Diâb is a boy named Sultan; the heir of the Nimr or
younger branch is Goblân's son Fahed, the lynx,'
who has a boy named Fowaz. The names of the
intermediate generations have no special interest. It
may be noted, however, that Jedid and his de-
scendants all married into the Korda tribe (which has
now disappeared or become merged with the 'Adwân)
down to the time of Goblân's grandfather, Nimr, who
took a bride of the Beni Sakhr. Goblân's father, Fadl,
married one of the 'Ajermeh, and he has thus in his
veins some of the best and oldest Arab blood of the
country, for the 'Ajermeh, though now a small and
poor tribe, belong to one of the clans which the
'Adwân found in the Balka, when their fugitive
ancestor sought hospitality with the Korda in the
sixteenth century.
The ease with which Goblân recounted these pedi-
grees gives a good example of the way in which such
knowledge is orally preserved among a people entirely
illiterate. It is also remarkable that the tribes which
came most recently from the Nejed are those which
consider themselves the most noble, and which prac-
tically are the dominant class.
The names of the smaller tribes of the Moab
plateau we carefully collected, but it would be unin-
teresting here to enumerate them. The 'Ajermeh,
near Heshbon; the Ghaneimât, north of the Zerka
*
THE BELKA ARABS.
311
M'aîn; the four divisions of the 'Abbâd, round 'Arâk
el Emîr, and the D'aja, further east, appear to be the
most important of the thirty-five tribes whose names,
with those of their living chiefs, I collected, in 1881,
within the boundaries of the 'Adwân country. The
groups of the Beni Sakhr are equally numerous, and
we found that there were six principal divisions of
this great clan, stretching from near Kerak as far as the
Haurân, and including at least twenty-four families
or smaller tribes, of which the Fâîz family is the
most important, Fendi el Fâîz having ruled the whole
of the Beni Sakhr, and leaving eight sons, of whom
Satâm, since the death of his brother Satm, has now
become the leader.
As regards the numbers of these tribes, it is most
difficult to form an estimate. Every father of a
family has, however, his tent, and five souls may, as
a rule, be counted to a tent. The differences of rank
and wealth are shown not by the number of tents,
but by the length and newness of the family mansion.
The longest tent I ever saw was that of 'Aly Diâb,
and his camp consisted of 80 tents, or 400 souls.
The smallest camps will consist of perhaps three or
four tents, generally found, however, not far from a
larger settlement, and their arrangements are con-
stantly changing, as the Arabs seem rarely to remain
more than ten days or a fortnight in one place.
Goblân estimated the various Beni Sakhr tribes as
312
HETH AND MOAB.
ranging from 200 to 20 tents, and the average would
probably be about 60 tents. The Beni Sakhr, not
including those in the Haurân, number, according to
his estimate, 1,500 tents, representing a population.
of 7,500 souls. This is not likely to be an exag-
gerated estimate, as Goblân would not wish to make
them out more numerous than they really are.
Taking the same average for the 'Adwân and their
allies, we obtain a total of some 2,200 tents, or
11,000 souls, giving a density of 10 persons per
square mile, which appears to be a very probable
result for such a district as that of the Belka.
figures may not be without value at a time when it
becomes important to be able to estimate the pro-
bable numbers of various Bedawîn clans, concerning
which but little is as yet known.
+
These
Although the power of the dominant tribes, 'Adwân
or Beni Sakhr, has been materially diminished of late
years, such chiefs as 'Aly and Goblân still enjoy the
position of great gentlemen in the desert. When
crossing the Jordan, in 1881, I was particularly
struck by an incident which occurred. Goblân was
standing among his retainers, all mounted on strong
horses, when a poor Arab, with a wife and daughter,
came down to the river from the east, driving a
diminutive donkey. The women were afraid to trust
themselves in the water, even on its back, and looked
hopelessly at the rushing stream; but the man in-
THE BELKA ARABS.
313
voked the help of Goblân, with that peculiar mixture
of affectionate respect and simple familiarity which
is one charm of nomadic society, and his womenkind
were promptly hoisted on the two tallest horses,
behind two of Goblân's relatives, who went back on
purpose to the western shore, and again crossed the
ford to the east.
Nor was this the only instance of liberality and
courtesy which we remarked among the 'Adwân
chiefs. Although most exasperatingly greedy for
money, it must be confessed that Goblân spent it
with a princely lavishness. The guests of his
autumn feast and the poor pilgrim to Mecca alike
received a large share of the presents and wages
given by the Survey party, and it is by such lordly
munificence and hospitality that a great Sheikh re-
tains his influence among poorer and weaker tribes
in time of peace.
It is interesting in this connection to mark, among
a people entirely unable to write, the way in which
the virtues of the dead are recorded, and we found
that on the tombs of great chiefs were modelled in
plaster the horseman, with his sword and bow, on
one side, and on another the coffee-cups, pestle and
mortar, jug, and spoon for roasting, the paraphernalia,
in short, of Arab hospitality. In this rude manner
the prowess and liberality of the dead man were set
forth by descendants who could only mark the tribe
314
HETH AND MOAB.
to which he belonged, and were obliged to commit
his name to the pious memory of his children.
As regards Arab character generally, the result of
several years' experience is not by any means satis-
factory, nor have recent events tended to increase
our respect for the Bedawîn. The noble nomad,
ranging free as air in the desert, is an original
creation of Arab poetry, which has been somewhat
clumsily copied by those who see the possibility of
turning him to political account. He is represented
as naturally high-minded, hospitable, and observant
of his word or oath, brave to a fault, and generous
to prodigality. But what we have learned of his
actual character in Egypt or in Sinai only serves to
strengthen the impression made by a sojourn of
several months in the Belka. The recluse who would
wish to flee from the hard struggle of Western civi-
lized existence, who is disgusted with the insincerity,
the jobbery, the schemes and jealousies of European
society, the strife and the meanness of public life,
and the banalité of domesticity, will not find peace
in the wilderness. He will find only the same
passions, the same objects, the same insincerity and
absence of good faith among the mass of the Bedawîn
which he has deplored at home, and, although excep-
tions may exist, and men of higher character may
be recognised in the desert, the European will cer-
tainly find that he has made a change for the worse,
THE BELKA ARABS.
315
and will miss that which is best and noblest among
his fellow-countrymen.
A web of petty intrigue is spread all over the
Bedawîn country. Their quarrels, jealousies, and
infidelities are as petty and short-sighted as any in
the West. There is but one object which the Arab
places steadily before his face, and that is the acquisi-
tion of wealth. The influence which a European
may exert over them depends, no doubt, in great
measure, on personal character, and on knowledge of
the language, customs, and ideas of those among
whom he dwells. It does so in every quarter of the
world; but the mainspring of that influence proceeds
from the idea that the Frank is master of untold
wealth, to be obtained, if not by terrorism, then by
flattery and servility, by an affectation of affectionate
esteem, which it is not in Arab nature to feel for a
stranger, and also by secret intrigue and petty
larceny. The Arab will betray his friend for gold
not less readily than the Frank. The Arab will cringe
to the rich and powerful, and will be cold or cruel
to the poor and helpless, not less than the civilized
dweller in Western cities. Exceptions may, I believe,
be found, and I have known Arabs who appeared
worthy of trust, and who might, perhaps, be believed,
when they spoke, to be telling the truth. But as
regards Arab character generally, it seems probable
that they may be divided into two great categories-
316
HETH AND MOAB.
those who have become sordidly avaricious and de-
graded by contact with civilization, who have ac-
quired some new ideas, such as those of cultivation,
of keeping cows and goats, nay, who have even, like
Goblân, sent children to school and trod the deck
of a gun-boat; and, on the other hand, the category
of the Arab in all his aboriginal savagery, stalking
the desert with nothing but his shirt and his long
tuft or pig-tail, a cautious, crafty, not to say
cowardly, barbarian, lurking for the stray stranger,
filching the camel of his friend, or joining the noble
contest of ten against one. Every man, every family,
every tribe of the Arabs, has its own character. Some
are rich, powerful, and hospitable, of high reputation
and great courage. Some are poor and evil, with
broken fortunes, flying the consequences of a deed
of violence, or joined to the gangs of miserable
thieves and outlaws who skulk in the valley in
summer, or shiver in mountain caves in winter, and
who are shot without mercy if their thieving expedi-
tion be clumsily managed. Human nature is, per-
haps, at the bottom, not much different in the desert
and in the city; but the Arab is without any such
incentives to improvement as spring from the religion
and civilization of the West, and the idea of the noble
dweller in the wilderness, superior in morality and
motive to the Western Frank, is an enthusiast's dream,
as mischievous as it is unfounded. There are those
THE BELKA ARABS.
317
who seem to believe the camel to be a superior
method of transport to the locomotive, the fleet
Arab runner preferable to the telegraph, the Bedawi
greater than the Briton; but to such there is only
one answer, if they wish to study the question fairly
and without motive-go to the desert and see for
yourselves.
Loving, warring, feasting, singing (but not whist-
ling to Eblis), marrying, and rejoicing over the first-
born; dying under the accursed cairn, or in the foray,
or mourned by many friends; hating, backbiting,
slandering, envying, quarrelling, cursing, lying, run-
ning away; cringing, bullying, flattering, turning
the cold shoulder; flirting with maidens, beating (or
stoning) wives; weeping over the dead; swearing
brotherhood (and forgetting the oath); proud among
his sons, scolded by his womankind; happy and
irritated, anxious or expectant; grasping, avaricious,
untrustworthy, even stupid, but also lavish and cour-
teous, intelligent and full of information; super-
stitious and sceptical, fearing God and conscience, or
without regard to either; rich and poor, good, bad,
and indifferent-I can recall the Arab under all such
circumstances and aspects, but I never was able to
discover that he therein differed from the rest of
mankind. I never found a wilderness where
peace and
goodwill reigned among the whole people, or a tribe
where all the moral virtues flourished unadulterated.
318
HETH AND MOAB.
6
The courage of the Bedawîn is one of their most
lauded virtues, but one which within the present
century has not been conspicuously vindicated. I
have seen more than once a tribe on a foray, and
have heard more than one tale of Bedawîn battles.
As a rule, the bulletin seems to be to the following
effect: We bravely attacked the enemy, which made
its appearance in a force of one to our ten. We took
several prisoners, and the enemy lost heavily, two
horses and several cows being slain.
At length
his remaining forces withdrew, and we found our
casualties to include one mare hurt in the leg by a
spear. We cut off the forefingers of our prisoners in
remembrance of those of our tribe whose beards and
hair had been burned off on a former occasion, and
letting them go, drove off the captured camels, and
endeavoured to conceal as far as possible the direction
of our victorious retreat.'
Such are the deeds which I have heard recounted,
and although men are sometimes slain in battle, and
Fahed en Nimr has legs which have been peppered with
small-shot, it must be remembered that to initiate a
blood feud is a most serious circumstance in tribe life,
and that the whole policy of the leaders will for
many years be directed to the healing of the breach
thus caused, and to the settlement of blood-money.
When a disagreement occurs between two tribes, they
will gather their spearmen, concentrate their encamp-
THE BELKA ARABS.
319
Such
ments, and square up, so to speak, towards each
other; but they generally contrive, before matters
come to an open breach, to find a third party willing
to mediate, and a compromise is established, to the
great relief of the bold warriors on either side.
an event as that of Satm's death, slain apparently in
hot blood in a quarrel concerning a cornfield, is one
of the greatest importance in the annals of the tribes
concerned. He was a Sheikh of a most important
tribe (the Beni Sakhr), and his death is still, I believe,
unavenged, and I found the 'Adwân unwilling to
speak on the subject, with exception of the stout
Goblân, whose hate of the Beni Sakhr-a tribe sworn
to take his life-caused him to gloat with satisfaction
over the death of a promising and popular chief. Yet,
in spite of this occurrence, one division of the clan of
which Satm was leader had allied itself to the elder
branch of the 'Adwân within a year of their Sheikh's
death or murder.
I have been attacked more than once by Arabs on
the war-path, in their usual proportion of ten to one.
On the first occasion I escaped because I was described
as being a consul; on another, the horsemen who
fell on my native follower rode away rapidly as
soon as they saw me turn back and gallop with one
companion towards them. On a third, a group of
horsemen who were threatening our servants disap-
peared on seeing a pigeon fall to my gun in the
320
HETH AND MOAB.
distance. On two or three other occasions, groups of
spearmen, who galloped up, brandishing lances and
curvetting their steeds, became at first quiet and
cautious and then friendly, on seeing that their evolu-
tions produced no visible effect on our conduct. It
was the same in Egypt. Gaudy chiefs caracoled in
sight of our pickets, but their followers disappeared
immediately when one man was hit; and on the
morning of the battle of Tell el Kebir, where were
the clouds of 5,000 Arab horsemen who were to
assist Arabi Pasha?
It is not, then, on account of his courage that the
Arab is dangerous, but rather on account of his
crafty strategy. It was at first a wonder to me that
our guides should be so much alarmed at the appear-
ance of a single Harâmi, or bandit, when both the
guide and the explorer were well armed and mounted;
but I learned by experience that the single man is
not alone, and that even a single boy may be the
fugleman of a whole gang of the worst class of out-
laws. The ability of the Bedawi in hiding in folds
of the ground, in approaching his victim as the
hunter does the stag, in springing suddenly in
numbers from behind rocks or gulleys, so that armed
men seem literally to rise from the earth; the am-
bush; the treacherous league with an enemy; the
rapidity with which news is conveyed over the desert
from hill to hill, by signals and runners-these are
THE BELKA ARABS.
321
the true dangers against which the traveller who
trusts himself to the honour of the Arab has con-
stantly to provide. Let it be seen that he has a
power behind him, whether political or military, and
he is safe in all districts where it is known. Let
him even but look over his shoulder as though to
observe his distance from unseen support, and he
will see the advancing robber checked at once, or
behold him suddenly swallowed up by the earth. The
eye attains to unusual quickness in the wilderness,
where a single head or even a broken bush shows a
danger, and where the guide appears to note every
imprint on the soil and every shadow in the distance.
Silence and solitude are all around at one instant,
and at the next moment a rude, inquisitive crowd
have encircled the traveller.
may
So long as we were able tacitly to countenance the
'Adwân supposition that we were forerunners of an
unseen power which had no need to fear the Turk,
we were safe but the great difficulty in our recent
visit lay in the fact that it became necessary to
swagger and to retreat at the same time. The Beni
Sakhr had betrayed us, the 'Adwân had deserted us,
and intrigues were certainly being woven against our
small and unprotected party; it was only the good
faith (or political fancies) of Goblân which prevented
such an 'accident' as Turkish Governors deplore with
satisfaction.
21
322
HETH AND MOAB.
The Arab of the Belka is a shrewd politician.
Party feeling runs high, and is divided between the
advantages of alliance (temporary, of course) with
the Turk, or of stubborn resistance to his will. The
patriotic party (if one may so term it) sees its cham-
pion in Goblân; the time-servers are the followers of
'Aly Diab. The Beni Sakhr are divided in the same
way; but Goblân, the rebel and outlaw, as he is re-
garded by the established Government, is far the
most popular man in Moab, in spite of his unamiable
characteristics.
The power of the 'Adwân lies in their alliance with
the Belka Arabs, the smaller tribes already enum-
erated. Without these their numbers are so few that
they would be eaten up by the Beni Sakhr or the
Anazeh, who dwell in more sterile districts. It was,
therefore, considered most ill-advised on the part of
'Aly Diâb to quarrel with the Ajermeh concerning
certain lands round Hesbân, well known to belong
from time immemorial to the older tribe, yet awarded
to 'Aly by the Turkish Governor. The dispute caused
a mighty gathering of tents at Hesbân, but it was
patched up by a mediator. The injustice will, how-
ever, probably recoil on the Diâb line in the shape
of diminished popularity and influence among their
allies, and will yet more widen the breach between
the two branches of the 'Adwân family.
During my stay at Hesbân I received visits from
THE BELKA ARABS.
323
many 'Adwân and Beni Sakhr chiefs, but none from
'Aly Diab. He sent orders that a sheep should be slain
in our honour, and he despatched his venerable father
to interview the Frank; but he was too wise to com-
promise himself by a personal visit to travellers not
recognised by the Turkish Government, and who
were escorted by Goblân. The aged Diâb (the
wolf'), a modern Zeeb, was a little old man of com-
manding appearance, whom Goblân treated with the
respect due to an elder relative. He has either
abdicated or been deposed in favour of his son 'Aly,
and has a broken leg, in consequence of the barbarity
of his captors, when, some years ago, with others, he
was trapped by the Governor of Nâblus into a visit
to that town. It was the desire of money and
Government rewards which led the chiefs of the elder
branch into the snare, against the advice of Goblân.
They paid dearly for a return to liberty, and their
mentor was shown to have been only too correct in
his distrust of the enemy, even when 'bearing gifts.'
The conversation on occasion of this visit was most
instructive. The old gentleman, who came in a
private, not in an official capacity, hobbled in aided
by his grey junior, and leaned on his crooked cane,
arrayed in a fine white and amber abba, with a warm
lambswool jacket beneath. It was not long after
the taking of Tunis by the French, and their war
with Beni Helal, or Sons of the Crescent,' as the
21-2
324
HETH AND MOAB.
'Adwân term the Arabs of North Africa, for whom
they have a great respect. The English, he re-
marked, had as yet taken nothing in the east. I
reminded him of Cyprus. 'No,' he answered; 'you
hold that as tributaries of the Sultan.' He then
asked if the French would take Tripoli also. I
replied that it belonged to the Sultan. 'So did
Tunis,' he dryly answered. I told him that the
English, having a country as fair as that of the
'Adwân, and being a righteous people, did not desire
to seize the lands of the Sultan or of any one else,
and this final announcement he received in silence,
with an air of courteous incredulity.
:
The interview was thus of considerable interest.
It is not surprising that the Maronites and the
Christians of Damascus and Jerusalem should be
keenly watching the political horizon-that they
should know Lord Beaconsfield and Mr. Gladstone
by name, and approve the policy of the latter,
because they consider it anti-Turkish; but it was
somewhat startling to find in the wilds of Moab an
old gentleman with a stiff leg, who had certainly not
been over Jordan for several years, yet who under-
stood the nature of our tenure of Cyprus, and dimly
foresaw the probability of such an event as the
occupation of Egypt.
Another question which greatly excited my interest
was that of the religion of the Transjordanic Arabs.
THE BELKA ARABS.
325
West of the river we had often found our guides
anxious to pray at all shady streams, rather than to
ride fast in the heat. We had seen them kiss the
headstones of their fathers' graves, and heard them
swear continually as the Lord liveth,' but it always
appeared that such religion had been acquired
through knowledge of cities and mosques, and that
the wilder the tribe, the less pious, or, at all events,
less orthodox, its members. This view was confirmed
by a sojourn among the 'Adwân, for in three months
I never once saw Goblân offer a prayer, nor did any
of our guides, with the exception of one who could
read and write (Sheikh Fellah, the brother of Goblân),
ever attempt to recite the fat-hah or go through the
ordinary routine of prostration.
But, on the other hand, we found that the more
ignorant of our guards were firmly convinced that the
dolmens were inhabited by ghouls-an idea at which
the sceptical and rationalistic Fahed mocked, saying
that educated people knew them to be watch-towers,
but that some persons had no understanding.' A
fine satire, be it remarked, on some civilized opinions;
for the dolmen, whether altar or tomb, was certainly
not a watch-tower, and was also probably connected
with old superstitious worship of demons.
C
The existence of fairy tales, which we found to be
a peculiarity of the Arabs as contrasted with the
western Fellahîn, has no direct connection with their
326
HETH AND MOAB.
religion; but one of the Ajermeh pointed out to us
the Hajr el Mena, or 'Stone of Desire,' which was a
wishing-stone, on which the hand should be placed
by those who have a desire to be fulfilled. This also
was pronounced by Goblân to be only an ignorant
fancy, yet it is probably as much a popular belief as
is that in the demon-slave of Solomon who lives in the
Valley of Callirhoe, and to whom sacrifices are offered.
On another occasion Goblân, stopping his horse at
two little piles of stone, dismounted and brushed
away the dust from a slab of rock, where he showed
me a natural erosion in the form of a footprint, with
a second, smaller and artifically cut, beside it. This
is called Mâta et Turkomanîyeh (The Place of
Pressing of the Turkoman Woman'), and tradition
says that a travelling prophetess from Mecca here
made the mark when alighting from her camel. It
is considered pious to clear away the dust, and the
relic is greatly venerated by the Arabs.
In
Trees in Moab are scarce, and this may account
for their being sacred. They are hung with rags, and
a sacred tomb-circle is often found beside them.
one at Rujm Bel'ath we may perhaps recognise an old
Baalath; another is called Sheikh Terki; and a third
S'aûr, or 'Flaming,' reminding us of the Tree of
Light of the Ghatafan Arabs sacred to Allat, and of
the older Assyrian thorn-tree, which was called 'The
Tree of the Great Light.'
THE BELKA ARABS.
327
Cairns or pillars (Meshâhed) are raised along the
roads in Moab wherever Neby Musa on the west, or
Neby Osh'a on the north, can be seen; and it even
seemed that in some cases they had a connection
with dolmen groups. But there is another cultus
among the Bedawîn equally important with the pre-
ceding-namely, the veneration shown for the graves
of their ancestors. 'Ancestor worship' is no doubt a
term liable to misapplication, and the oldest religious
ideas are connected with life rather than with the
dead. Man has probably never conceived his fore-
fathers to have been when alive materially different
from himself, though he may have been afraid of
their ghosts after death. But, on the other hand, no
student of Brahmin or Chinese creeds can fail to recog-
nise how ancient races have always venerated their
ancestors, and have conceived them to be ever present
and interested in the welfare of their descendants.
It is, in fact, only in the advanced civilization of the
West that men have begun to despise ancient birth,
and to consider that ancestors are a marketable com-
modity.
The Arab, then, surrounds the grave of a man of
noted sanctity with a circle of stones, and places on
one side (almost invariably on the west) a little
dolmen altar about 3 feet high, consisting of two
stones supporting a third laid flat on the top. When-
ever he visits the spot he kisses this stone and
328
HETH AND MOAB.
invokes the dead man's aid, placing his forehead on
the altar, and then depositing a gift-a stick, a bullet,
a copper coin, a berry, a piece of blue pottery, or
some other memorial of his visit. He faces east as
he does so, and mutters his prayer. This cultus
appears to be one of the most important rites gener-
ally observed by the Belka tribes.
It is true that the Bedawîn observe the fast of
Ramadan and the ensuing feast. The great day of
their year is that on which the Mecca pilgrims visit
Mount Arafat, and on this day (as we witnessed in
1881) even the man who has but two or three camels
will kill one as a feast for his family and a sacrifice
to his God. Then the tents of the chiefs are scenes
of unbounded hospitality, and then, for once in the
year, even the beggar tastes flesh. But this observ-
ance of the great feast by no means proves the Arabs
to be strict Moslems. Mecca with its pilgrimage, its
sacred stone, its naked pilgrims, was an institution
long before Muhammed was born. He purified the
Arab Paganism, but he was unable entirely to eradi-
cate ancient superstitions, in some of which he may
probably have been himself a believer. We did not,
it is true, find moon-worship or sun-worship, such as
has been thought to survive in these districts, among
the 'Adwân; but what we did find was the survival
of the original Paganism of the Jâhalin, or 'Ignorant,'
before Islam was preached
was preached-stone-worship, tree-
THE BELKA ARABS.
329
worship, the veneration of ancestors, of streams and
springs, like that which Herodotus or Porphyry de-
scribes, or which is the religion of Dravidians in
India. The Bedawîn, as we knew them, were a
prayerless people, without mosque, Imam, or even
Derwish, superstitiously afraid of the desert demons,
and adoring the graves of the dead and the relics of
former prophets. They possess also a mythology of
most interesting character, and their only approach
to Moslem custom is in those points where Islam is
founded on ancient Arab Paganism.
The Beni Sakhr and other tribes do, it is true,
annually escort the dwindling
dwindling procession of the
Syrian Haj from Damascus, but this is no indication
of pious belief in the duty of pilgrimage. The
Bedawîn are paid by the Turk, to prevent that inevit-
able pillage of the pilgrims which would result from
the denial of a time-honoured right to levy black-mail
as protectors of the Faithful.
C
6
In connection with this question the names of the
Arabs become important. They are not the ordinary
Moslem names of the peasantry, but such as express
the qualities most admired. Nimr, The Leopard;'
Fahed, The Lynx;' Dhib, "The Wolf;' 'Adu, The
Foe;' Shedîd, 'The Strong;' Kablan (better known
as Goblân), 'Satisfaction;' Fowâz, The Victorious,'
are common names. Mr. Drake once heard of a boy
who was named Mukt'a, or 'Ford,' because he was
6
330
HETH AND MOAB.
born when his mother was crossing a ford. The tribe
names are sometimes those of animals, as 'Anazeh
('He-Goats'), Sakr ('Falcons'), etc.; but this is not,
as a recent writer seems to have fancied, because any
ancient Totem-worship survives, but rather because,
as in early mythology, abstract qualities are denoted
by the names of animals popularly connected with
such qualities by reputation. No trace of the American
idea of the Totem seems ever as yet to have been
shown to exist among Aryan or Semitic peoples,
whose original religious ideas are of quite another
order.
The
The graves of the dead are variously ornamented
with sticks, stones, and hair. Of the sticks and the
hair of the Arabs a few words may therefore be
further added. Sticks are often placed beside the
grave of a chief, or hung upon his monument.
Sheikhs, while living, carry such sticks as emblems of
authority-rude sceptres, in fact-while the spears
and swords are borne by their followers, some of
whom may in war-time be seen clothed in chain-mail,
with the round steel cap of the Middle Ages; and
Crusading arms and armour are indeed yet to be
found, with two-handed Crusading swords, taken pro-
bably at Hattin in 1187 A.D., and still preserved by
Sakhr or Anazeh chiefs. As regards the sceptres, we
found two forms to be in use, the one a stick, about
two or three feet long, with a sort of crutch-head;

ARAB CIRCLE NEAR HESHBON.
To face p. 330.
THE BELKA ARABS.
331
the other almost exactly resembling the lituus-a
crozier or shepherd's crook. It is worthy of remark,
that both these forms are recognisable in the sceptres
of Osiris or Horus in Egypt. The crutch, the flail,
and the lituus are sometimes all held by one deity,
but never by a goddess, for the female sceptre ends
in the cup or lotus flower. The crook is also an
emblem of Siva and Khrishna in India, and of
Ormuzd in Persia. The crutch is found in the
hands of Anubis, Seb, Kneph, Ptah, and even of
Athor.
The sacrifice of hair as a token of grief is common
among the Arab women, who have often long and
beautiful locks. Thus at el Kuweijîyeh I found a
cemetery with two principal graves inside circles.
Beside these were laid sticks and small strips of red
and green cloth. Ploughs, coffee-mills, and similar
articles of property, were placed within the circles,
where no thief would ever dare to touch them. A
stick at the head, and another at the foot of the grave,
were connected by a string, and from this string de-
pended in one case forty-five pigtails (or plaits of
women's hair), and in the other case thirty-three.
Similar collections of hair offerings, much bleached
by exposure, were found in other instances, and it
appears either that the women vow their hair to some
departed worthy, or that the female relatives cut off
their locks on the death of the head of the family.
332
HETH AND MOAB.
As regards the wearing of hair in their lifetime, there
is some difference among the tribes. The girls have
a tangled mop of bleached elf-locks under a simple
kerchief. The married women have shining, black,
well-combed hair, plaited in tails or concealed under
the head-dress, or cut in a fringe over the forehead.
Some of the men wear their hair the natural length,
but the Arab is much less hairy naturally than the
Fellah. Some have a plait like a Jewish lovelock
(only the Jews never plait theirs) on either side of
the face, but many have the head shaven all but one
lock or tuft on the top, which is also worn by the boys.
This is a very ancient custom, for Herodotus mentions
this lock (the Moslem Shûsheh) among the Arabs
of his own day, and it is well-known how in Egypt
the young Horus wears the same tuft, and how in
India a religious ceremony of shaving the head in the
second or third year, leaving only the single tuft, is
mentioned in the Laws of Manu, as distinctive of the
'twice-born' castes. The sacrifice of hair by women
is also to be traced in Phoenicia in connection with
the worship of Ashtoreth, and it is considered by some
that Absolom polled his hair annually as a religious
duty, the weight in silver or gold being given to the
poor (2 Samuel xiv. 26). Lane also mentions that a
goat is sacrificed when an Arab child's hair is first
cut, and becomes the child's ransom or substitute.
On Carmel I have seen the hair of a Druze boy cut
THE BELKA ARABS.
333
and offered to Elijah in the grotto beneath the altar of
the Carmelite chapel in the Latin Monastery.
The Belka Arabs are physically a finer and hand-
somer race than any of the Fellahîn or degraded
Arabs west of Jordan. In Moab we actually saw
pretty women, a sight only to be noticed west of the
river at Nazareth and Bethlehem, or further north,
among the Maronites and the grey-eyed Druzes.
The men of the 'Adwân who accompanied us were
nearly all conspicuous for stature, strength, and fine
features. The girls at the springs did not hesitate
(when good-looking) to let their faces be seen, and
more than once we encountered a beauty with white
dazzling teeth, large dark eyes, graceful form, sweep-
ing dark-blue robes, and that peculiar gait which is
so much admired that dozens of Arab words have
been coined to express its variations. The majority of
the matrons are disfigured by the blue under-lip and
extensive tattooing, which they seem to consider orna-
mental; but an 'Adwân maiden, with tangled hair red
with henna, delicate aquiline features, eyes blackened
with kohl, finger-nails and palms dyed pink, and
one or two dots like a court lady's patch on the face,
is an extremely picturesque figure. The more beauti-
ful seem to enjoy privileges which will be recognised
as most unfair by their Western sisters. They are
much sought after in marriage, and fetch a handsome
dowry; they are petted and allowed to remain idle
334
HETH AND MOAB.
in the tent; they are not obliged to toil to the
spring with the donkey and the heavy goat-skin bag
of water; they lay their commands on the male sex,
and they appear occasionally to exhibit a capricious
temper, which is, of course, quite unknown to the
European beauty. Goblân, who was negotiating his
marriage with a princess from the eastern desert
while we were in Moab (a bridegroom of more than
seventy years of age, with grandsons of his own),
appeared to have a general and fatherly interest in
pretty faces, which contrasted with the usual grave
dignity of his manners among men.
Yet domestic life is not without its drawbacks,
even in the desert. I was on one occasion invited
to the tent of a minor chief, who was my guide and
most humble servant. He concocted for my benefit,
and that of several guests from neighbouring tents,
a brew of very thin coffee with an immense quantity
of sugar, a sort of syrup which had hardly any taste
save of sugar; and, having a small piece of the sugar
loaf left, he gave it to me on our parting, as the only
present he was able to offer. We sat in this tent
for more than an hour, admiring the masterly in-
activity' of the Arabs, who can apparently sit silent
and quite unemployed for whole days, and who thus
appear to await with endless patience the time when
civilized races shall have worn themselves out by their
struggle for existence, and the Arab survivor shall
6
THE BELKA ARABS.
335
be left master of the field. This inactivity is, how-
ever, delusive, for let it be thought that the guest
is dozing in the evening, and he may perhaps see
these grave, listless men creeping like cats, or hop-
ping nimbly round his person like birds, feeling his
pockets with a delicate touch, or endeavouring to
abstract his saddle-bags from beneath his head. The
Arab is, indeed, a continual actor. His haughty
frowning air, his gravity and laziness, his courage
and courtesy, are all assumed as a mask, hiding a
soul which is often mean, grasping, cowardly and
treacherous. His appearance in the eyes of the
European is nothing better than a sham, and it is
only his brother Arab who knows how to estimate it
at its proper value.
As I sat reflecting on these matters, a noise as of
women quarrelling arose on the covered side of the
tent. My host assumed an injured air, and went to
pacify the contending parties. His brother, sitting
by him, manifested on his countenance a disgust and
irritation such as I have rarely seen an Arab betray.
The Sheikh returned, the quarrelling continued, and
I endeavoured to console him by the reflection that
women always quarrelled in all countries in the same
way; but at length the brother's patience was worn
out, and he arose with a large stone in his hand, and
looked over the partition dividing the harîm from the
open part of the tent in which we sat. Without a
336
HETH AND MOAB.
word he hurled the stone into the unseen, and a
sound of wailing took the place of the angry chatter
which preceded this assertion of the rights of a guest
to enjoy peace and quiet during his visit.
The head-wife had already appeared with the first
cup of coffee, and it may have been on a question
of a second chance of peeping at the strange Franjis
that the dispute arose. Soon after a spoilt baby of
eighteen months appeared, in a dirty shirt and a
gorgeous green jacket. It was affectionately kissed
by all the men present, and then carried off, with
a lump of sugar, by two handsome boys of nine or
ten, each with his sling of hair in his hand, with
which the young Bedawi is able to perform wonders.
The Arab women enjoy far more freedom and con-
sideration than do the wives and daughters of the
peasantry. They salute the traveller with the
Moslem formula 'Peace be upon you, O my brother,'
and they rarely hide their faces at all, though some
will hold a sleeve or head-veil between their teeth.
Goblân would sometimes send his compliments to the
mother as well as to the father of any group of children
we met. The women ride camels to the spring when
the men are employed, and spin the dark wool as
they go with an ordinary spindle, but without a distaff,
the hank being passed over the hand. They wear
bracelets, a signet-ring, and even in some cases a
jewel in the nose.
THE BELKA ARABS.
337
The Arabs are not totally devoid of astronomical
knowledge, as was found by Lieutenant Mantell in the
course of conversations with his guides. The Milky-
way they call 'Derb et Tibn,' 'the Tract of the Chaff;'
and the Morning Star and Pleiades (Tereiyeh) they
also pointed out. N'ash, or the Great Bear, and
el Mizûn, 'the Balance,' or Orion, seem also to be
known; and Aldeboran is called Nejm el Gharârah,
'the Deceitful Star," because it is sometimes mistaken
for the Morning Star. It is of course well known
that our astronomical nomenclature is mainly Arabic,
but this belongs to the civilization of Baghdad in
the ninth century. The early Arabs of Yemen used
to worship certain fixed stars in addition to a few
of the planets, including Keis, or Sirius, Tay, or
Canope, and Tasm, or Aldeboran. The rising and
setting of these and others was then supposed (as in
Assyria) to be connected with the rain.
It is not proposed here to repeat what has been
written of the Bedawîn in 'Tent Work in Palestine,'
but something may be said of the riches and pos-
sessions of the Belka Arabs, which far surpass those
of the small western tribes. The 'Adwân, who own
land tilled for them by the Ghawârneh and other
inferior tribes, possess also sheep, goats, and cows in
numbers, but the Beni Sakhr and 'Anazeh, living in
less well-watered districts, have only camels, and in
autumn are often obliged to send these more than
22
338
HETH AND MOAB.
a day's journey into the 'Adwân lands to drink.
Sometimes the camels will remain a day at the
spring, and return on the third to camp, when
they are obliged almost immediately to travel back
again to the water. The number of these camels
appeared to be countless, and they were driven like
goats or sheep in herds, without either bridle or
saddle. To see perhaps five hundred camels in a
company, followed by other flocks of equal numbers,
descending to the springs, was an interesting sight.
The grave elders stalked along with the sulky dignity
which their owners seem to copy; the little colts,
and sometimes the younger of the full grown, exe-
cuted the most extraordinary gambols with sprawling
legs, which seemed jointless and wooden. The man
or boy in charge rode in front, guiding his beast with
a switch, and shouting 'Ya-ho, ya-ho' all day long.
The chorus of grunts and grumbles from the flocks of
these beasts at the water was ceaseless by day. We
once saw a negro woman driving a young dromedary
without any bridle. She dropped her spindle, and
was obliged to stop. As the beast knelt she jumped
off, and ran back like lightning, but before she could
get back the dromedary, with many grunts, was on
its legs again, and she had only time to seize it by
the neck. Here she hung, her toes touching the
ground, her wool in her teeth, and was thus carried
for some hundred yards, until, by striking with her
THE BELKA ARABS.
339
!
switch on the dromedary's neck, she stopped it,
obliged it to kneel, and mounting with great dex-
terity, cantered off in triumph.
The Arabs only leave two of the mother-camel's
udders for the colt to suck, tying up the others with
slips of wood. The colt is weaned at eight months
of age, and the rest of the milk is drunk by the tribe.
This is the only use ever made, apparently, of the
camel, save in moving camp, or when one is killed
for the feast. There are many thousand camels be-
longing to each tribe, and, like sheep or goats, they
are in fact a clumsy substitute for money, which is
almost unknown in these districts. The Bedawi
carries about his capital in the shape of camels, but
his wealth is mainly useful for the influence and con-
sideration which it gains him, rather than on account
of intrinsic value. The ordinary price of a baggage-
camel varies from £12 to £20, and a Hajîn, or blood
animal for riding, from £30 to £200. Calculated on
this proportion, the money value of the herds we saw
in Moab was very considerable.
We were much disappointed with the horses of the
'Adwân, and I only saw two or three colts of pure
blood. The Belka tribes seem to have hardly any
horses, but it is possible that the Ruala or the
'Anazeh may still possess fine mares. As a rule,
however, the breeding of horses among the Arabs
seems to have declined, and donkeys are extensively
22-2
340
HETH AND MOAB.
used-a sure indication of decay in warlike cha-
racter.
The original Beni Sakhr
spoon' for roasting coffee
The camels and other property are marked or
branded on the neck and flank with the Wusm, or
'sign' of the tribe. We collected a great many of
these signs, and found that each had a distinctive
name. The original 'Adwân mark is a vertical stroke;
but the younger, or Nimr branch, bear two; and the
'Abbâd, a yet younger offshoot, have three, thus
approaching the system of heraldic differences. This
mark is called the Mut-luk.
mark is the Mihmasah, or
-a circle with a vertical stroke below. The Fâiz
family bear this, with two short strokes on the right
extending horizontally from the vertical stroke; and
this variation is called Tuweikeh (the 'little bracelet').
The Kurshân have a circle with a dot; and one family
of this subdivision of the Beni Sakhr has also two
strokes by the circle. The Khadîr have a mark not
unlike the Cheth in square Hebrew, called el Bâb
('the door'). They are a subdivision of the Beni
Sakhr. The Jibbûr, another division of the Beni
Sakhr, use a cross, and also the 'Raven's Foot,' a
rounded trident like the Indian Trisul caste-mark.
All these marks are simple enough, but it should be
noted that the Mihmasah is exactly like the Him-
yaritic Yod; the Mut-luk is the Himyar numeral one,
and the subdivisions of each tribe are marked by
THE BELKA ARABS.
341
numerals which are vertical strokes; the 'Raven's
Foot' is the Samech of the same alphabet. The
door is the Himyarite Beth, the bracelet is the Tza,
the cross is the Tau. The Lam, the 'Ain, the Jim,
the Tzadi of this same alphabet are also used by
other Belka tribes. The traveller is liable to make
the mistake, into which at least three careful observers
are known to have fallen, of diligently copying what
he supposes to be a Himyaritic inscription, but which
is really a collection of various tribe-marks scrawled
either by shepherds when idle, or deliberately placed
on stones in buildings and elsewhere where treasure
is believed to lie hid, which is thus claimed by the
tribe in whose territory the spot may be included.
This identification of the tribe-marks agrees with
the history of Arab immigration from Yemen, and it
is interesting to find tribes totally illiterate still pre-
serving unconsciously their ancient alphabet. The
Azdites, who migrated northwards about 120 A.D.,
were descendants of Kahlan, brother of Himyar.
The Beni Ghassan (Zenobia's Arabs), in Syria, were
migrants also from northern Arabia. The discovery
of Himyaritic inscriptions at Madeba shows the early
presence of similar tribes in the Belka; and there are
ruins named after the Himyarites, and Himyaritic
legends and words to be found in Moab even to the
present day.
The Arabs are subject, as are the Fellahîn, to the
342
HETH AND MOAB.
depredations of thieves, even when no foray from a
distance need be feared. We found that the valleys
near the Dead Sea swarmed with these bandits, out-
laws of every tribe, who are obliged to migrate to
the mountains in winter, when the camps are in the
valley. Sometimes they are found dead of hunger
in the snow, and on one occasion two of them were
seen by our party enjoying a feast off a fox which
they had shot. Goblân used nightly to perambulate
the great Hadânieh circle at Wâdy Jideid, within
which we were encamped, addressing in stern tones
imaginary or unseen robbers with these words:
'Come out, you cowards! May Allah destroy you!
There are no goats or cows here, but only men and
bullets.' He erected a pillar of stones six feet high
as a dummy guard or 'bogey' at night, and, generally
speaking, he and his men seemed to live in great
fear of these thieves.
This apprehension was not by any means ground-
less, for during the moonless nights we were constantly
attacked by thieves, who endeavoured to steal our
animals. More than once we pursued them and fired
small shot at them; but our immunity from loss was
due chiefly to the vigilance of our dogs, and to the
defensive arrangements of the camp. The straying
donkeys of one careless muleteer were snapped up
before we had been a week in the country.
Near the Jordan valley Goblân showed us a cairn
|
343
THE BELKA ARABS.
erected over the body of a thief, who was shot at
night, near the camp, some quarter of a mile or
more below, and found in the morning lying dead.
Such cairns are common in Moab, as well as the
larger ones which cover the dead slain in some foray
on the spot. Women also seem to be buried in a
common grave, by laying them together on the
ground and heaping stones over them. Corpses, bones
and fragments of clothing could often be seen beneath
the cairn, so that in some cases at least it was clear
that no excavation had been attempted.
Goblân also showed us a sort of depression in the
ground which he said was used in the punishment
of thieves who had stolen corn. They were laid
in it and sacks of barley placed over them.
It was
not clear whether they were induced thus to confess
where the corn was hidden, or whether the punish-
ment was merely a revenge. On asking, however,
how long they were kept, the answer was, 'Some-
times we leave them there.'
The old custom of the ordeal is also still in use
among the Arabs. The man who swears innocence
of any accusation is made to drink boiling water with
flour in it. If this does not appear to hurt him
he is judged to have sworn truly, and the natural
deduction appears therefore to be that the Bedawî's
inside must be constructed of iron or his forehead of
brass.
344
HETH AND MOAB.
The Arab cannot afford generally to expend shot
in hunting, although he makes his own gunpowder,
as we discovered by finding the little mills in the
rocks. The sling is much used, and partridges are
knocked down with sticks. I once saw an Arab
hunting with a shield, composed of a white skin,
painted with circles and spots, so as to resemble a
stone heap, and stretched on two cross sticks in
X shape. It folded up like an umbrella, and was
five feet high. From behind this he shot, but missed
his aim. The hunting of gazelles with the sluki, or
greyhound, and with the falcon, which flies at the head,
and, settling between the horns, flaps its wings in
the victim's face, thus impeding its flight till the dog
drags it down, is also said to be still practised.
The Arabs on a raid generally take a woman with
them as cook. The old practice of placing one of the
beauties of the tribe in a kind of palanquin made of
ostrich feathers, on a gaily caparisoned camel, and
putting her in front of the party, is said still to
survive among the Ruala and the 'Anazeh. One of
the black slaves of the 'Adwân was considered a great
hero, in the last generation, because he succeeded
single-handed in cutting off a camel with his Utfa,
or ostrich-feather palanquin, and brought the captured
beauty to his master's camp. The slaves still are
found in numbers among the
valour is not what it was of old.
'Adwân, but their
THE BELKA ARABS.
345
(
The palanquin called Mahmal, which conveys to
Mecca the so-called 'Holy Carpet,' or new covering
for the Kaaba, is akin to the Utfa, or hoop.' It
appears to be an institution older than Islam, and
answers probably to the arks of Egyptians and
Dravidians. A camel with a Mahmal not only accom-
panies the Haj from Damascus and Cairo, but also
forms part of the procession on such occasions as a
circumcision of the richer Moslems. In Egypt it is
traditionally connected with the somewhat mythical
princess called Moon of the Age.'
:
And now, at length, we must bid farewell to the
Arabs of the Belka; not, let us hope, with the feel-
ings which the 'Adwân aroused in my mind when
it was discovered that, after protestations of the most
lofty sentiments of courtesy and gentlemanly feeling,
one great chief had placed our pewter tea-pot in his
saddle-bag. The Arab is an unimprovable savage,
with all the craft, the cruelty, the deceit and the
cowardice which are usual among savages, and with
all the affectation of courage, nobility, and honesty
which is equally common to the wilder races. When
civilization is at a low ebb, and government is weak,
the Bedawi chief flourishes and spreads terror; before
a strong settled population he retreats to the howling
wilderness, which he does not love, or sinks to the
level of a poor cultivator or despised 'cousin of the
gypsies.' Yet it must not be forgotten that he has
346
HETH AND MOAB.
The
his rights also. The fields in the Jordan valley have
distinct owners and are rudely tilled. The 'Adwân
are acknowledged by the Turk to be proprietors of
the lands in which they dwell, and the colonist must
buy them out if he wishes for their country. The
'Adwân are on a down-hill path, and, with the death
of Goblân and his generation, their future seems to
be that they will either become tillers of their own
lands or else sink to the ignoble position of tourist
guides, abused and perhaps ill-paid by the Dragoman,
who as yet hardly ventures over Jordan.
'Anazeh and Beni Sakhr are wilder, and more capable
of living in the desert; they must either fall back
as the settled population spreads from Salt and the
Ajlûn villages, and confine themselves to the eastern
hills, or they must be ground between the Pasha on
the west and other fiercer 'Anazeh clans on the east,
and, like the 'Adwân, finally disappear. Much as
one may regret all that is romantic and picturesque
in decaying Bedawîn life, it is the fate of wild races
so to yield to the more energetic and civilized; and
the material for a future conquering and progressive
race is not to be discovered among the Semitic
nomads of Syria or Arabia.
CHAPTER XI.
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
SEATED on the edge of the cliff of Minyeh, beside
the seven circles with altar-stones, we looked down
on the brown and utterly arid plateau which runs to
the top of the eastern cliffs, beyond which the Dead
Sea lies calm and shining.
In this plateau is the black basalt outbreak called
Hammet Minyeh; and not far below us, on the slope,
is the spring-well of Minyeh, with its stunted thorn.
It was here that Abu Wundi, the hale and cheerful
old Sheikh of the Awazim Arabs, began to tell us the
first fairy-tales we had heard beyond Jordan. The
black natural fortress, he said, was once the city of
'Antar, the black hero whose woes and dolorous love-
songs are said to fill forty-five volumes of Arab
poetry. To the spot on which we sat came once the
wandering 'Aly, 'the Lion of God,' son of Abu Taleb,
and husband of the Prophet's daughter Fatimah, one
of the first converts to Islam, whose claims to the
348
HETH AND MOAB.
Khalifate originated the great schism of Shi'ah and
Sunnee. He has become in Persia, and even in
Syria, a mythical hero whose name is often substi-
tuted for that of Moses, Joshua, or Samson in per-
verted versions of Old Testament histories. 'Aly,
riding his horse Maimûn, reached Minyeh in a state
of exhaustion, and prayed to Allah that he might
die. He was, however, commanded to strike the
earth with his spear, when at once the fountain of
Minyeh welled up, and 'Aly drank and was refreshed.
Minyeh signifies 'desire' or 'wish,' and the wishing-
well was here so named, according to the Arabs,
because it arose at the desire of 'Aly.
6
Further instructed by Allah, 'Aly descended to the
Hammet Minyeh and cried out for 'Antar (the
Spearer'),* when suddenly fifteen hundred black men
rose up, each saying, 'I am 'Antar! We are all 'Antars!'
'Aly, again divinely instructed, asked for the 'Antar
whose father was Shadid ('the Strong One'), and his
mother Zebîbeh, or the Sea Foam,' and this host he
at length found, and was invited to enter his house.
Here he perceived a woman hanging to the beam of
the roof, to which she was tied by her long eye-
lashes, and, being astonished at such cruelty, he
demanded who she was. 'She is my mother,' said
'Antar, and I hung her up because she hates and
curses strangers.' 'Aly begged that she might be
6
* Perhaps connected with the Egyptian Nutar.
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
349
A
taken down, which was no sooner done than she
began to revile the guest at whose asking she had
been released. 'Hang her up again !' said 'Aly; and
this was also done, after which 'Aly and Maimûn
were alike courteously treated, and he remained the
guest of 'Antar for three days, according to the law
of the Prophet.
'It was after this,' said Abu Wundi, 'that he went
forth and took the City of Copper'—a legend we had
already heard at Jericho. Here (as I have previously
related) stood the copper or brazen city of the in-
fidels, where now the single enormous tamarisk marks
the site of Gilgal. Round the brazen walls (as the
Abu Nuseir Arabs told us in 1873) 'Aly rode on
Maimûn seven times, and, blowing upon them with
his breath, they at once disappeared, and the faithful
pursued the infidel westwards to Koruntil.
The sun
was about to set behind the cliff of that mountain,
when 'Aly cried to it, 'Return, O blessed one !' and
the sun stood still until the infidels were slain.
This tale differs from others about to be mentioned
in one respect, that it presents affinities to three Old
Testament episodes namely, the Rock of Rephidim,
the fall of Jericho, and the miracle of Gibeon; while
many others of its features are clearly akin to the
Persian mythology. It cannot well be supposed that
the tradition preserved is indigenous, because the
Arabs, to whom alone such tales are peculiar (none
350
HETH AND MOAB.
of the same class being known to the Fellahîn), are a
people who emigrated in post-Christian times from
the Hejaz and from Yemen into Syria. There is,
however, a very simple explanation possible of the
existence of Bible stories among the Bedawîn, and
one which appears to be supported by the fact that
a mediæval monkish legend is certainly preserved
among the Abu Nuseir. The high mountain' of the
Temptation was shown in the twelfth century at the
curious peak called 'Osh el Ghurâb, or 'Raven's Nest,'
north of Jericho, although its summit is 300 feet
below the level of the Mediterranean; and this place
is still called 'The Ascent of Jesus' by the Bedawîn.
East of Jordan, also, we must not forget that a
Christian colony founded by the Crusaders still sur-
vives at Kerak; and it was, no doubt, from the
priests or monks of this fortress that the Arabs first
learned the history of Moses and Joshua, which they
have gradually confused with legends of 'Aly and
'Antar, although retaining some indistinct remem-
brance of the localities which led to their belief in a
city of brass or of copper, which they place at the
true site of Israel's camp, and not far from the
Jericho whose walls are related to have fallen before
the blast of Hebrew trumpets.
Leaving, then, aside the Biblical aspect of the
legend, we may consider the purely mythical ele-
ments of this and other tales. A little further north
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
351
is the spring of Wâdy Jideid, on the south side of
Mount Nebo. Beside it lies the lintel-stone of a little
chapel, which was once perched on the cliff, and on
the lintel is a well-cut Byzantine cross. There is a
rock not far off with a rude Arab inscription scrawled
upon it, recording apparently the names of various
persons.
Tradition says that a beautiful maiden
called Ghareisah ('the Little Palm'), used here to meet
a youth named Zeid, or Increase,' who belonged to
a tribe unfriendly to her own. They were a Bedawîn
Romeo and Juliet, and their fate was equally sad.
She consented to flee with her lover, whom she con-
cealed in a box (apparently placed on a camel); but
her relations became suspicious in consequence of
certain movements in the box, which she failed to
conceal, and, discovering her lover, they became
furious, and caused both to be slain. Ghareisah, say
the Arabs (who cannot read), scrawled the inscription
on the rock before she died to tell her kinsfolk of the
murder; and as she fell her hand rested on the lintel,
and its impress remained as the cross now visible.
Down in the Jordan valley, south of Kefrein, stands
the extraordinary stone which is called the 'dish of
Abu Zeid.' It is 10 feet in diameter and 3 feet high,
with a hole through the middle 2 feet in diameter. It
lies flat like a great cheese beside a thorn tree, and
is much too large to have been a millstone. The
Arabs say that Abu Zeid, another of their famous
352
HETH AND MOAB.
black heroes, here slaughtered a camel, and made of
the entire animal a huge pilau on this stone, while
the melted butter ran down from the cone of rice into
the central perforation. It was thus that he feasted
the local Arabs before his departure, for it is a rule
that the stranger, when quitting a territory in which
he has received hospitality, should thus feast his hosts
before leaving.
From Abu Wundi also we gathered a story, re-
minding one of a fable of Æsop, and connected topo-
graphically with a site near Tell M'aîn on the Moab
plateau. Here dwelt a chief with two wives, Hâna
the elder, and Bâna the younger.
The younger
pulled out all the grey hairs from her lord's beard to
make him look young; the aged wife pulled out all
the black hairs to increase the venerable appearance
of the Sheikh; and thus at length between them he
had no beard left at all-a disgrace which is much
felt by a man of dignity among Arabs. Hence arose
the proverb, which appears to be known in the
Lebanon and elsewhere, as well as beyond Jordan,
That is, 'between
It answers to our
'Bein Hâna wa Bâna
Râh Lahâna.'*
6
Hâna and Bâna our beard went.'
falling between two stools,' or to
* It seems not impossible that Hâna may be the Zendic Hana,
'an old man,' and Bâna, made to rhyme with it, be derived from
Ben, a son. In this case the wives are personifications of and
youth.
age
.
་
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
353
the 'redding strake,' which he who stands between
two contending parties must expect. We must not
here diverge to speak of Syrian proverbs, for they are
innumerable. Many have been published by Captain
Burton, and others have been kindly collected for my
information by residents, but they have little connec-
tion with the present subject.
A legend attaches to the great ruined Palace of
Hyrcanus at 'Arâk el Emîr, and is preserved in the
name applied to that palace, Kasr el Abd, the black
slave's house;' and in the Mutull el Hisân, or 'place
of the appearance of the Horse,' which is a hill east
of the palace. The Emîr, from whom the site in
question is named 'Arâk el Emîr, or 'Prince's cliff,'
had a beautiful daughter whom he left in charge of
the black slave when he himself departed on a pil-
grimage. The princess was loved by the slave, and
during her father's absence, consented to marry him
if he would first (like Aladdin) build her a beautiful
palace. The black one at once began to erect the
great building, with stones of enormous size, whose
ruins still bear witness to his superhuman strength;
but before he had finished it, the horse appeared,'
the angry Emîr was seen coming over the hill from
the east on his steed; the black slave slew himself in
despair, and his body was burned with fire by the
Emîr, and afterwards buried beneath a stone. What
became of the princess history says not.
23
354
HETH AND MOAB.
પ
North-east of this site, on the plateau above, is a
low rounded hill with a single bush, which is called
Dhahr el Hamâr, or the donkey's back.' Twice I
heard the same legend related concerning it, once by
Goblân en Nimr and once by his brother, Sheikh
Fellah. It was so-called, they said, because, when
father Noah was sailing by in his ark, this hill, alone
of all in the world (or, at all events, within the dis-
trict), was visible above the waters, like the back of
an animal. 'See the donkey's back,' cried the
patriarch, and the name has adhered to the spot ever
since. Thus Noah's flood is as well known to the
Arab of Moab as to the western peasant of the
Sharon or Hittite plains.
A yet more elaborate legend is that of the history
of Zîr, one of the greatest of the black heroes of
Arabia. His name is known in Moab, in Galilee, in
Philistia; and it appears that his history (though not
related by Lane) must be among those which the
public story-tellers of Egypt read to the Moslems,
for it is said that a printed copy has been brought
from Egypt to Lebanon, where it amuses the Maron-
ite youth and children of the mountain.
The name Zîr is from the root Zor, 'to visit,' or
'go round'; it is connected with Mazâr, a shrine,
and with Ziâra, a pilgrimage or visit to a sacred
place. Zîr, then, was the great pilgrim, the peram-
bulator who goes round, or revisits sacred spots.
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
355
Traditionally he was one of the sons of the Beni
Helâl, or Children of the Crescent,' the most famous
of Arab traditionary tribes. His brothers are said
to have been called Kuleib, 'the little dog,' and
Jerro, the whelp,' and from the first of these
descended the great tribe of the Beni Kuleib, of
mythical renown, of whom a remnant still appears
to exist south-east of the Sea of Galilee. Near
Nimrîn, in the Jordan valley, are a row of pits large
enough to hold a horseman, and said to have been
used as places of ambush by Zir and his men,
whence they pounced on the foe. There are similar
pits (probably remains of an old system of irrigation)
near Phasaelis, west of the river; and these are
called Habej ez Zir, 'the tryst of Zîr,' showing that
the same legend attaches to them.
<
Near Nazareth is the open place called Meidân ez
Zîr, 'Zir's Racecourse'; and further west, at M'alûl,
is (or rather was) a fine masonry tomb of Ionic style,
used as a Greek chapel, but called Kasr ez Zîr, or
the tower of Zir'; further west, again, are acacias,
said to have grown from his tent-pegs, a legend which
applies also to certain thorn trees in the Valley of
Elah, near Philistia. Zîr is believed to have mi-
grated from Palestine to Egypt, and thence to
Tripoli, but many of his men were slain by the Emîr
of Gaza.
Zîr, then, was perhaps a real chief of the days of
23-2
356
HETH AND MOAB,
the Moslem conquest under Omar; but the favourite
legend of his life is full of wonders. In his youth he
was an enormous feeder, and drank more than ten
other men, both of wine and water. He was re-
proached by his relations with sloth and cowardice,
because, when his brother was slain, he remained a
whole night without doing anything, after which he
arose and avenged him. Later, however, he was
seized by his foes and cut into small pieces, which
were placed in a box, and the box thrown into the
sea. The waves carried the coffer to Beyrout, which
was then ruled by King Hakmûn ('the wise '), who
was a Jew. The fishermen in the bay fished up the
box in their nets, and, supposing it to hold a
treasure, began to quarrel over it. They were, there-
fore, brought before King Hakmûn, and when the
chest was open Zir was found inside, whole, but
covered with scars. He was revived, and became a
groom in the king's stable, where he was again
regarded as a poor foolish creature, just as before his
murder.
Meantime a war broke out, and Hakmûn marshalled
his forces, leaving only women and boys at home.
Zîr was, of course, not considered capable of fighting;
but the King's daughter saw him seated on a wall
with a pole in his hand, dashing his bare heels against
the stone till they bled, and brandishing his pole
like a lance. This having happened thrice, the
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
357
Princess told the King of the strange behaviour of
his groom, who was at once brought in and asked
the meaning of his folly. He replied that he wanted
to go and fight with the rest, and was trying to
imagine himself on horseback in a battle. The King,
pleased by such eagerness for war, took Zîr at once to
the stable, and bade him choose a horse; but it was
then discovered that no beast was able to bear the
extraordinary weight of the champion, save one heroic
horse, a foal by the immortal sea horse of an Arab mare.
On the next day the battle was again arrayed, and
Zîr rode off with the King. A great defeat of the
enemy followed, and Zir was seen killing right and
left; but when the evening came, the chiefs were
boasting of how many they had each slain, and the
groom stood silent, as though ashamed. They mocked
him, and asked where his prisoners were; and at
length he bade them follow him to a huge stone,
which he recommended them to raise. This all the
united strength of the warriors was unable to accom-
plish, and at length Zir, unaided, like the young
Theseus, rolled away the stone, and beneath it were
found fifteen hundred bridles and fifteen hundred
tongues of men whom Zir had slain, and whose steeds
he had captured. After this his power was at once
recognised, and he became a mighty prince, and
married the Princess, and lived happy ever after.
Such, then, are a few of the legends which are
358
HETH AND MOAB.
known to the Arabs beyond Jordan, and to other
Syrians. Such stories are not found among the
Fellahîn west of the river, who only know the tales
repeated to them by Europeans or by educated
natives. The young study of comparative mythology
teaches us to set store by such traditions, which,
when genuine, serve to assist the antiquary in tracing
the history of a race. Arab folk-lore has, however,
as yet received less attention than Aryan mythology,
partly because it is unknown, and partly because it
is less ancient or important. The myths of Islam
form a fascinating study which yet awaits its full
development.
The story of Zir seems without doubt to be a solar
myth. The great hunger and thirst, the humility
and small repute of the hero in his youth, remind
us of the insatiable hunger and thirst of Indra, which
is the preparation for his great contest with the
dragon, and of the small repute of 'Boots,' the younger
brother of Western folk-lore. Zîr slain by his enemies,
Zîr the wanderer, Zîr in the coffer on the sea, recalls
Osiris and Perseus and Dionysus, the sun-gods of
Egypt and Phoenicia, who are rocked on the deep as
infants, or cut to pieces by the dark winter, and
apparently slain. Zir who delays to avenge his
brother is akin to the Persian hero Khai Khosru, who
in like manner bewails his lost brother Firûd all
night for the sun's victories are only won by day.
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
359
Zîr the groom reminds us of countless heroes in ad-
versity as shepherds, grooms, scullions, swineherds,
but finally raised to honour. The bridle of the horse
is most important in all myths which relate a hero's
conquests; and the heroic horse of Agnis, the Pegasus-
twin of Bellerophon, is an inseparable companion of
the sun-warrior in Persia and elsewhere. It is impos-
sible to doubt that the basis of the Zir legend is a
regular myth, and that the 'wandering hero' is the
sun.
The same origin may be attributed to several of
the stories above related. Thus the prince on the
horse, who burns the black slave when he rises above
the hill on the east, is clearly once more the sun
on the sun-horse. The black slave is the night-
demon; the princess delivered from him is probably
the blushing dawn. When, again, we find 'Aly on
his heroic horse, riding west from the black city of
'Antar the transfixer,' we recognise in the mythical
Imâm the same great horseman who is so famous in
Persia. The city whose walls fall before his breath
is a cloud-city like those which Indra destroys, and
the sun which he stays in heaven reminds us that
Hushedar has power to stop the swift horses of
Mithra, who refuse to be stayed at the command of
the evil spirit.
6
There are other legends which have no apparent
solar meaning. The magic well, the living box, the
#
360
HETH AND MOAB.
donkey's back seen in the Flood, are more obscure
stories, which may have a different derivation; and
Hâna and Bâna seem to belong to the somewhat
cynical wisdom of old observers, not of the heavens,
but of human weakness and folly. A very curious
circumstance may, however, be noted concerning the
heroes, for Zir was black, Abu Zeid was black, and
'Antar, the warrior and poet, was also black. Moses
even was black according to Arab tradition.
Khrishna, the sun-god or Apollo of the Puranas, was
also black, though shining. The sun is often black in
Asiatic myths, but whether because the legends are de-
rived from the old dark Cushite race, or because the
adventures are those of the sun by night, when (in
Persia) his dark face was supposed to be turned towards
the earth, does not seem to have been discovered.
In India
A great many of the familiar Arab stories related
by Lane, or to be found among the "Thousand Nights
and a Night,' are generally recognised as of mythical
origin. Such is the story of Sinbad, which can be
traced far back in India, and even to the Sixth
Dynasty in Egypt. Such is the wondrous Palace of
Aladdin, the magic flying horse, and many other
tales. In Lane's wonderful account of Moslem
manners in Egypt, several mythical tales are given in
full, although he does not offer any suggestion as to
their origin.
Thus Abu Zeid (the father of increase') is related
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
361
to have been born black, though his parents were of
pure lineage-Rizk, or 'food,' and Khadra, 'the green
one,' being his father and mother, a Prince and a
Princess of the Beni Helâl. He was disowned and
cast out, but became a hero in his mother's country,
and returns to fight his father, whom he defeats, but
is not allowed to slay; and his name is changed to
Barakât, or blessings,' in the days of his prosperity.
Then again, among the Beni Kelâb in the Hejâz, we
find el Hâris, a chief whose name recalls the old
Hebrew term for the rising sun, and also the Hârit, or
'yellow' sun of India. His wife dreams, like Althea,
that she becomes the mother of a flame, and is sent
away by her husband, and slain by a black slave.
Her helpless infant is found, miraculously fed and
guarded by the swarm of locusts, who hover over
him in a black cloud. He is thence named Jundubah,
'the locust man,' and he grows to be a great hero-a
horseman who attacks the witch princess esh Shamta,
or 'the Grizzle,' and who wanders over the earth, and
finally marries a moon-faced maiden.
Similar stories have a greater antiquity in Persia,
and the Arab tales approach so closely to those of
the Shah Name, dating from 1,000 A.D., and to the
earlier notices of the Bundahish and the Yashts,
that our attention may for a moment be turned to
the Sassanian mythology.
In Persia we have the famous Feridun, or Thræ-
362
HETH AND MOAB.
tona, the Vedic Trita, or 'third' brother; and his
descendants are all famous heroes. Among them
Sal, the son of Sam, is nourished on the boundary
mountain, Alborz, by the mythic Simurgh, an eagle
which suckles its young like a bat. He is aided by
the more celebrated Rustem to fight the Turanian
infidels, and Rustem has a heroic horse which slays
a lion when it attacks his sleeping master. Rustem
conquers also a dragon woman, and kills a demon at
sunset in a cave, bringing back to earth and to light
the blind King Kawus. The son of Rustem is
Sohrab, who destroys the white palace of an evil
princess, and who wounds his father Rustem, and
is finally slain by him, although the pain of each
wound is felt by the other who deals the stroke;
that is to say that Rustem and his son, like Osiris and
Horus, or Abu Zeid and Rizk, are but one and the same.
2
In Khai Khosru, again, we find a hero who is
exposed, like Cyrus, on a mountain, and who can
cross water without any boat. His brother Firûd is
slain in a burning castle in the evening, is bewailed
at night, but avenged at sunrise on the following
morning.
These affinities between the Arab and the Persian
tales are not accidental; a few of the latter have
been mentioned to show the kind of relationship, but
the history of the diffusion of these myths has long
since been traced by Max Müller; and, though the
ARAB FOLK-LORE.
363
variants here given may, perhaps, be interesting, the
subject is one already well understood.
In the days of the Khalif el Mansûr (754-775 A.D.),
Abdallah ibn el Mokaffa, the Persian, translated into
Arabic, from Pehlevi, certain tales which were known
to be at least two hundred years old, and attributed
to a certain Barzuych of the time of Khosru Nu-
shirvan, the contemporary of Justinian. The Arab
collection was known as Kalila wa Dimnah; the
Pehlevi original was derived from certain stories
collected by Barzuych, who was commissioned by
the Persian monarch to travel to India, whence he
brought back stories for his master's amusement.
These tales are recognised as belonging to some
ancient Indian collection, of which the Pankatantra
is a survival; and there is thus an historic connection
through Persia between the Arab fairy tales and the
myths of the Aryans in India. A Syriac version of
the Kalila wa Dimnah has also been discovered at
Mardin; and in the same way the tales of Lokmân,
the Arab Æsop, whom the Koran commentators
identify with Balaam, have a common origin with
the Greek fables in the earlier Indian parables, such,
for instance, as the Buddhist Jataka, or 'birth
stories.'
This historic genealogy of Arab stories, derived
from a Persian and Aryan source, appears to account
in a satisfactory manner for the circumstance already
364
HETH AND MOAB.
mentioned, that such tales are not found among the
Moslem peasantry of Western Palestine. The in-
fluence of Sassanian civilization on the hordes led by
Omar and early Moslem Khalifs was very remarkable.
The science, the literature, the architecture, even in
great measure the religion, and also most of the
mythology of the Arabs, were based on the Iranian
civilization, which is traced back to the days of
Cyrus. Ibn el Harith pronounced the tale of Rustem
to be better than the Suras of his enemy Muhammed.
There was little that was original in the creed of
Islam, nor did the wondrous culture of Baghdad
originate from an Arab source. The student who com-
pares the Koran with the Zendavesta, will find that
all Moslem eschatology, and many of the noblest
Moslem ideas, existed much earlier in Persia. The
schism of the Shi'ah and the Sunnee is that between
the Moslem under Iranian influence on the east, and
under Semitic influence on the west; and Islam is
nowhere found in Asia as a really original system
of faith. Persian influence has never affected the
older population of Canaanite stock still found west
of Jordan; and therefore it is that the stupid super-
stitions of the Fellahîn of Palestine are replaced on
the east by the more fanciful and poetic legends of
the Bedawîn of Moab.
CHAPTER XII.
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
THE able administrator who for the last twenty-two
years has impartially executed the laws framed im-
mediately after the massacres of 1860 for the protected
province of the Lebanon, has only quite recently been
dismissed from an office which he had every right to
regard as intended to be held during life; and Rustem
Pasha leaves (for no very evident reason) the govern-
ment of a country which has grown rich and pros-
perous under his care. The condition of the rest of
Palestine and Syria is, on the other hand, miserable;
and those who have known the country for the last
ten years are able to judge how much it has declined
from even the very modest degree of prosperity which
it formerly enjoyed. It is true that at Beyrout and
round Jerusalem many new houses have been built,
while the American mission has spread not only through
Lebanon, but into the districts immediately adjoining.
* Reprinted by permission from the Fortnightly Review.
366
HETH AND MOAB.
It is true that the Jewish population of Jerusalem
has increased enormously, and that the Jews of
Hebron and Safed have also augmented their numbers.
and attained to greater influence; but these signs of
progress, together with the spread of German colonists
from Jaffa and Haifa to other towns, are not as en-
couraging as would at first be supposed.
The peasantry, who are the backbone of the popu-
lation, have diminished most sadly in numbers and
in wealth. Ten years ago the village Sheikh gener-
ally rode a fair horse, and was not ill dressed; now
the tourist may travel for a whole day without meet-
ing one of the native horsemen he used once to
encounter; and those who have had to buy horses
know how few remain in the country, and how the
strong half-bred Arabs are now mostly in the hands
of the contractors who provide for the annual tourist
army conducted by Mr. Cook or some other enter-
prising organizer of travel. The Syrian dragoman,
gorgeous in purple robes, as handsome a rascal as
one could wish to meet, a capitalist working on his
own account, is a thing of the past. He has disap-
peared before Western competitive prices, and is
superseded by the humbler and less picturesque,
though more honest, retainer of the British firm of
Cook.
In village life the same process may be observed.
The people are fewer; the villages even are less
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
367
numerous. Many which I found prosperous in 1872
are now either deserted or half ruinous, and we never
heard of a new settlement of Moslem or even Christian
natives. The cruel war with Russia half ruined
Palestine. The flower of the male population was
carried off to the Balkans, and the young Sheikh of
Gibeon (a place of perhaps five hundred souls) told
me in 1881 that out of twenty men taken from that
one village, he was the only one who had returned
alive. Riding through the land, I was more than
once offered a village with its lands for sale, the
peasants being no longer able to pay the taxes or
meet the demands of usurers, Jewish, Greek, or
Armenian, into whose clutches they were falling,
after paying 60 to 70 per cent. for many years for
money borrowed to pay the Government.
The consequences of this misery are, either that
the population of a hamlet gradually dies out, the
men being unable to marry, while illicit connections
before marriage are very rare among the Moslems;
or else the elders of the village, with the consent of
the rest of the men, sell themselves and their lands
into the hands of some capitalist, or of the usurer
who has lent most money to the community.
The evil does not, however, stop here. A capitalist
willing to spend money on the rich soil of the Sharon
plains might no doubt reap a good interest by em-
ploying the native labour, and he might considerably
368
HETH AND MOAB.
better the physical and moral condition of his serfs
by judicious liberality in bad seasons. The peasantry
are neither lazy nor stupid, and when contented and
happy they will do a good day's work and serve their
master cheerfully. But they find it hard to forget
the means whereby generally their new master has
obtained possession of the land, and they certainly
cherish the dim hope of one day regaining the ancient
fee-simple, which they have generally held since the
Moslem conquest in the twelfth century, or possibly
for many centuries before. The plains of Jaffa have
now been bought up by capitalists, some of whom are
Jews, some Greek Christians, some Maronites from
Lebanon; but there is nothing more difficult in the
lands ruled by the Porte than to establish a title
to landed property. Theoretically, anyone who con-
forms to Turkish law has now the right to acquire
property by purchase; practically, a flaw is soon
found by one official after the other, and each official
either increases his own income at the purchaser's
expense, or else involves the more scrupulous land-
owner, who refuses to pay an unending and ruinous
baksheesh, in legal expenses which are almost equally
ruinous, and which in turn entail other demands on
the part of those who have the sale of the precious
commodity of justice.
Yet, although the peasant and the capitalist are
thus in equally grievous plight, it must not be sup-
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
369
posed that the Turkish Government is any the better
off. Taxes are paid, it is true, two or three times
over by peasant and landlord; but the tax-collector
refuses to disburse. There are cases in which an
official defaulter has been tried and condemned, yet
again reinstated in his office without paying what he
owed the Government, partly on account of a judi-
cious distribution of bribes, and partly because his
superiors knew that a new man might be more
rapacious, because poorer, than the old offender.
Another circumstance which has aggravated the
misery of the country is the not unnatural suspicion
which has arisen in the Sultan's mind regarding the
designs of France, England, and Russia on his Syrian
province. There can be no doubt that intrigue is rife
throughout the country. The military attaché of the
French Embassy at Constantinople who visited the
Hauran in 1881, but who was so successfully escorted
by the Turks as to be unable to enter into any relation
with the Druzes or Moslems, was probably but one out
of many officials actively employed in intrigues di-
rected against the Sultan. The recent rebellion of the
Druzes was thought to be fomented by foreigners.
The Maronites have been more than once encouraged
by the promise of French assistance to gather and to
protest against Turkish regulations. It is said that
many thousands sterling have been spent by the
French Republican Government to assist the schools
24
370
HETH AND MOAB.
in Lebanon, and even in Moab, which have been
inaugurated by missionaries of that very Church
which has been so persecuted at home in France, yet
which is found so useful a political engine abroad;
and in all cases where schools have been so assisted,
it is said to have been stipulated that French alone
among foreign languages was to be taught, and that
the learning of English should be discouraged.
Nor has Russia been less active in the Holy Land.
Without counting certain surveys which are said to
have been secretly executed in Northern Syria, there
is abundant evidence of the pious interest which the
Czar and his orthodox subjects are taking in the Holy
Places of Jerusalem and Galilee. Almost the only
new buildings in Nazareth are Russian chapels, and
churches have sprung up-at Fuleh and Nain, at the
newly discovered site of the meeting of Christ with
Mary near Bethany, at the home of John the Baptist
at Ain Karem, and elsewhere-for which money has
been found by the Russian head of the orthodox
Church, or by the Roman Catholic cabinet at Paris.
When, in 1881, the Grand Dukes came piously to
pray for the soul of the late Czarina at the Holy
Sepulchre, it was thought necessary to parade five
hundred Russian sailors marching in column through
the Jerusalem streets; and in 1882 we saw a pro-
cession of a thousand French pilgrims in white cloaks,
with banners and crosses, slowly pacing, with melo-
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
371
dious hymns, down the narrow lane of David Street
to the Crusading gateway of the Sepulchre Cathedral.
Every year the number of Russian pilgrims, assisted
by the Russian Government, increases. They have
been seen in armies of a thousand or more, mounted
on donkeys, and escorted by the Russian consular
staff through the country. It is well known that at
Bethlehem a Roman Catholic congregation has lately
been induced, by a subsidy, to become converted to
the Greek Church, and that the property of this con-
gregation will be confiscated if they relapse to their
former faith. The Jesuit missionaries in Madeba of
Moab have, on the other hand, converted and taken
away half the Greek population of Kerak; and this
has led to a visit from the Greek Patriarch to this
long-forgotten Christian colony. To say nothing of
visits of many royal personages of all nations, or of
the attachés and consuls who have of late found Syria
so interesting a country for private tours, the activity
of the Greek and Latin Churches, and the money
openly spent in Syria by French and Russian agents,
are sufficient indications of political activity.
And what, it may be asked, is the attitude of
Islam in face of this activity? To answer the question
we must first consider what is meant by a Moslem.
The peasantry, who form the majority of the supposed
Sunnee Moslems, are in reality little better than
Pagans. As in Egypt, the Fellahah women still
1
24-2
372
HETH AND MOAB.
secretly visit the temple of Athor for the performance
of ancient rites, and still worship the old gods of
Egypt, scarcely veiled under the modern names of
Derwish saints, such as Seiyid el Bedawi; so in
Palestine (as I have elsewhere endeavoured to show
in detail) it is the local worship of the old Canaanite
divinities which survives in the veneration of Mukâms
named after Moslem heroes. There are but few of
the country towns in which the minaret of a mosque
is to be seen; there are few of the Fellahîn who can
even recite the Fat-hah, or first chapter of the Koran.
Religion in Syria, as in some other countries, is a
matter of class, and the peasant knows nothing of the
questions which occupy the Moslem doctor. I have
heard the Sultan-the head of the faith-openly
cursed by Moslem peasants without a dissentient
voice; and the fanatical spirit, which Arabi Pasha
vainly strove to arouse in the breast of the Egyptian
Fellahîn, is equally unnatural to the Syrian plough-
men. The Christian and the Moslem live peacefully
together in the East, until the paid foreign agent
comes to stir up their passions and to excite their
cupidity. The Damascus massacre of 1860 would be
found, were its history studied, to be no less of political
origin than the Bulgarian atrocities. The traveller who
loses his way at nightfall in Syria will (as has been
proved more than once) probably meet with courteous
hospitality from the inhabitants of a Moslem village.
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
373
It has been so since the days of Omar or of Saladin,
and so it will be while a Moslem peasantry remain ;
but who shall say how soon the Fellahîn will become
an extinct race if the present misery continues?
When we turn to the larger cities, where many
mosques remain with families in charge who trace
back to the days of Saladin, and who claim to have
been established by Omar, we encounter, it is true,
another class, among whom fanaticism has a real
existence. That the Sultan's Pan-Islamite propa-
ganda had been assiduously fomented among them
just before the Egyptian war can hardly be doubted.
Those who had known this class well for many years.
were then of opinion, from the greater reserve of
their manners, that they had something on their
minds. The excitement and talk at Gaza and else-
where, at the time when a wide rumour prevailed,
according to which Arabi Pasha had taken the heads
of the English commanders to Cairo, and had driven
the British army into the sea, showed the interest
felt by the class of the Ulemma, the Sokhtas, and the
Moslem gentry in the expected triumph of Islam and
in the coming of the Mohdy. This excitement has
fortunately been repressed, and it does not appear to
have affected the peasantry. The upper class in
Egypt held the same views, and looked forward to the
same future, but they failed to excite any true re-
ligious fervour among the peasants who filled the
374
HETH AND MOAB.
trembling ranks at Tell el Kebir. They might look
with disfavour on Frank interference, but they have
no real power to resist it. Pan-Islamism is but a
dream, the futility of which was evidenced in Egypt,
when Indian Moslem soldiers, Egyptian peasants, and
the Sheikhs of el Azhar were alike without religious
sympathy. To expect the Sunnee to combine with
the Shi'ah, or even the Turkish Hanifeh, the African
Maleki, the Indian Shafi, the Arab Wahhebi, to com-
bine heartily in the cause of the faith, is as fruitless
as to suppose that the Latin Frenchman and the
Russian Greek will combine, for a common Christian
cause, with the Armenian and the Maronite, or with
the Protestant sects of Great Britain.
(
The cry of the people is the same throughout
Syria, whatever be their sect or stock. Give us
British rule, French rule, nay even a Russian, or a
Greek, or a Jew to govern us, but save us from the
Sultan and the Turk! And yet they little know the
troubles which such a revolution must bring upon
them, and little estimate the danger of Syria becom-
ing a battlefield of European nations, when, whoever
gains the day, the peasantry are equally certain to
be the immediate sufferers.
That the Sultan will give up Syria to any
nationality without a severe struggle is not to be
supposed. One of his chief claims to the office of
Khalif lies in the practical guardianship of the Holy
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
375
Places. Of these, the distant Mosque' (el Aksa),
to which the Prophet came flying on his cherub,
'the lightning,' and where he prayed before ascending
to heaven, is second only to the sacred Kaaba itself.
The very pith of the question is to be recognised in
the fact, that the glorious dome of 'Abd el Melek, at
Jerusalem, enshrines the sacred rock which is the
foundation stone of the world.
Turkish power in Syria has certainly not decreased
in the last fifteen years. The officials of the Porte
(mostly of the fierce Kurdish race to which Saladin
belonged) have shown a vigilance and activity greater
than that of the older times of inert obstruction. A
barrack has been built in the middle of the turbulent
district of the Hauran, and another under Hermon,
to check the Druzes. The Governor at es Sâlt has
firmly established himself in Gilead, in a town which,
fifteen years ago, was practically independent. By
intrigue and force he has broken the power of the
'Adwân and Sakhûr, and levies taxes on the Bedawîn
as far south as Kerak.
On the west side of the river, the traveller who
sees the shepherd or the pedlar leave his flock or his
donkey and fly to the hill, on the approach of the
irregular policemen or Bashi Bazouk, knows well what
species of tyranny must be exercised by these unpaid
emissaries of the Government.
The policy of the Turk has been directed to the
376
HETH AND MOAB.
breaking up of all the native power of Syria. The
ancient families have been ruined or degraded; the
ich mosques have been robbed; the various factions
have been pitted against one another; and quietness
and peace reign in the land because a sturdy race,
who within the present century were practically
their own masters, have been cowed and ruined so
that there is no longer any spirit left in them. The
country is certainly more secure, and the tourist is
safer than of old, but diminished population and
decreasing cultivation are not indications of a good
administration. The whole population of Syria
(including some fifteen thousand square miles) is
estimated to be considerably less than that of
London, and so far as the Arab race is concerned, it
appears to be decreasing rather than otherwise.
But, it may be asked, why do not these oppressed
subjects of a foreign power help themselves to
liberty? There are, it is true, perhaps only a dozen
real Turks in the country, for the Pashas even are
Kurds, Armenians, or Europeans. Yet to expect a
national rebellion is to argue a great want of ac-
quaintance with Oriental character. The power of
combination for a common object is unknown in
Eastern communities. Arabi's army might-so some
of his officers said-have deserted en masse if any one
of them had been able to trust another with his real
wishes. To the peasant, the village faction appears
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
377
more important than any national league, and the
Turk knows well how to rule by dividing. Southern
Palestine, within the memory of living men, was
divided into two fierce factions-the Keis, who seem
to have been mainly the original peasantry on the
west, and the Yemini, allied with the Eastern Arabs,
who were pushing northwards from Yemen. The
battles fought between these factions are yet related
by the village elders, and much courage and daring
was then exhibited by the peasantry.
In Jerusalem itself, three of these factions still
divide the Moslem population. The Hoseini, in the
middle of the town, are the most powerful; the
Khaldi occupy the east quarter; the despised Jauni
abide among the Jews on the south. A Hoseini
mother would rather see her daughter die unwedded
than suffer her to take a Jauni husband. The same
survival of faction I have traced in many other towns
of Palestine, and the division of these Moslem parties,
even in the petty villages, is almost as great as that
which separates the Moslem from the Arab Christian,
Latin, Greek, or Maronite. It is by fostering such
ancient enmities, and by playing the Druze against
the Maronite, the Arab against his elder brother, the
Greek against the Latin, that the Turk retains his
power over the numerous sects which are found in
Syria. It was the same spirit of disunion which in
older days gave birth to fifty Gnostic sects in the
:
378
HETH AND MOAB.
Holy Land, and which created the twelve Christian
creeds which are now to be found side by side in
Jerusalem.
The same spirit of disunion exists also among the
Bedawîn, and, indeed, manifested itself among the
early conquerors of Islam as soon as their prophet
was dead. Recent events in Egypt and Sinai have
not shown us the noble Arab,' in whom we have
been told we are to place our trust, in a very favour-
able light; and the student of history, whether in
Omar's time or in the days of Napoleon, will find
that the Bedawîn have never fulfilled the expectations
of their admirers, and have rarely evinced any great
nobility of character. As allies no nation could be
more unsatisfactory. They skulked over the Kas-
sassin battlefield to rob and mutilate the dead; they
took money to murder Englishmen who trusted to
their reputation for good faith; and they stole a few
cows from the British camp. They never took a side
heartily for or against Arabi, and they deserted him
at his need. Truly, the noble Arab is not found
either in Moab, in Sinai, or in Egypt; and we may
well question if he exists in Arabia, for those who
know the Syrian Arabs well say that the Nejed and
Yemen tribes differ only in being fiercer and more
warlike; while, as regards the Sakhûr and the 'Anazeh
and other large clans who are more remote from
European influence than the Belka Bedawîn, it has
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
379
been my experience that they only differ in being
greater savages, more ignorant, crafty, and unreliable
than those who know better the power of the West.
Truly, one is tempted to regard the noble Arab (as the
Red Indian has already been described) as an extinct
race which never existed.'
The increasing number of the Jews in Syria is
another element of some importance in the question.
It is more than doubtful whether their presence adds
to the prosperity of the country. At Jerusalem they
now number fifteen thousand out of a population of
perhaps thirty thousand. Before the Crimean War
there were only a few Hebrew families in the city,
but now their cottages extend for more than a mile
along the Jaffa road, while their building clubs have
erected a quadrangle of houses (called 'The Hundred
Gates') on the north-west, and another group of
cottages on the north, near Jeremiah's Grotto. The
Jews are almost all abjectly poor, and the majority
are of the Polish and Russian Ashkenazim; the nobler
Sephardim having a distinct quarter on the south-
east side of Jerusalem, not far from the Haram. The
Ashkenazim are a degraded people, of very poor physi-
cal type, and of most repulsively unclean habits. They
are, perhaps, the most superstitious race in the country,
and are led entirely by the Rabbinical autocracy.
The Jews have established pickets round Jerusalem,
and buy up a large proportion of the market produce
380
HETH AND MOAB.
from the peasantry before they come in sight of the
town; for the poor Fellahah woman, who has to
trudge back so many miles to her home, with her
baby slung on her back, is only too glad to part with
her vegetables, eggs, skinny fowls, or firewood of
olive-roots-the last vestiges of the once fair olive-
yard of the hamlet, for even a very low price. The
cost of living, on the other hand, within the walls has
risen most considerably; and a Jewish paper currency
has been established, which the issuers refuse to
redeem except at a very large discount, and which,
though periodically suppressed by the Turks, is found
so lucrative a method of trading without capital, that
it appears again and again in the market, and is even
forced on the tourist.
Such are the benefits which the Ashkenazim are
conferring on Judea, and it need hardly be said
that the better class of Jews in Palestine look with
disfavour and alarm at the sudden increase of the
pauper element of the
consisting of the more
countrymen.
population, especially as
degraded of their own
Colonies, we hear, are established at Gaza and
Jaffa, and in Northern Syria, but we may well doubt
whether a people who have never thriven as agri-
culturists can add to the prosperity of a ruined land
where they can find no trade to develop.
From such a picture of Syria as it is a sketch
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
381
C
which is certainly not too darkly coloured-we may
turn to the Lebanon province as governed by Rustem
Pasha. The Mountain' embraces a rugged lime-
stone chain, with deep gorges and stony slopes, a
total area of some two thousand square miles. It
possesses hardly any visible advantages over the rest
of Syria, unless the cooler climate of the high range
be considered to add vigour to the population. The
soil is certainly not more fruitful than that of the
plains beyond, nor is the mountain better watered
than Gilead or Carmel; yet in Lebanon we find a
population as thick as the land will support, and
already obliged to push out on all sides, to Cyprus,
Palestine, or Damascus, by the rise in the value of
land within the bounds of the favoured province.
Here the traveller passes through fields and villages
with every sign of prosperity, through fine vineyards
above and mulberry-gardens which feed a large silk
trade below. He meets plump rosy girls, fine well-
made youths, with smiling faces so strangely different
from the gaunt, sad Fellahîn of Palestine or Egypt.
He finds the country guarded by a smart, well-drilled
police, who contrast remarkably with the Sultan's
poor soldiers, in their patched coats and shoes (or
even slippers) without soles. The aspect of the people
and the land suggests liberty, content, prosperity, yet
the taxes are only a shilling a head, and the heights!
of Lebanon are of grey rock capped with snow.
382
HETH AND MOAB.
All this is due to one cause, namely, to an upright
Government. All this change (for even in the last
ten years a great advance is visible) is the result of
the system worked out by Lord Dufferin, and ap-
proved by England and France; and not less to the
honest, firm, and impartial execution, in their original
spirit, of the laws laid down for The Mountain.
after the massacres of 1860. All this it is now
apparently intended to destroy; and, without any
cause assigned, Rustem Pasha, the able and impartial
Governor, who has held the post ever since its estab-
lishment, is to be disgraced and superseded at the
command of France.
Those who know Syria will not have far to seek
for the reason. Twenty years ago an Englishman
could hardly travel in Lebanon without being in-
sulted. The Maronites looked on France as their
protector, and on the Englishman as a friend of the
Druze. But times have changed since then: French
influence has declined, the English have become near
neighbours in Cyprus, and England has made a bold
stand in the Eastern Question. The Egyptian cam-
paign has no doubt materially added to our prestige
in Syria. English is now perhaps better known
among the Maronites than French, and the develop-
ment of Mr. Cook's tours has been by no means the
But at the
least important circumstance in the case.
same time the difficulties of government in Lebanon,
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
383
though changed, are not lessened. The Druzes have
almost entirely evacuated the mountain, retiring to
Hermon, their original sacred centre, and developing
in great numbers in the Jebel ed Druz and the
Hauran. The hate of Druze and Maronite may not
be extinguished, but they are less likely to come into
collision. The Moslem and the Druze round Damas-
cus now stand in somewhat the old relation of Druze
and Maronite, and thus, with the emigration of the
old dominant people, so feared by the more timid
followers of Mâr Mârûn, the power of these heretical
subjects of the Pope, and of the clergy whose influence
over them is unlimited, has increased so much that
they now aspire to dominate all other sects in Lebanon,
whether Moslem, Latin, or Greek, and to take, in fact,
the whole administrative power into their hands.
་
This Maronite ambition Rustem Pasha has steadily
opposed he has dealt equal justice to all men in his
province, and has set an example of righteous rule,
which is equally disliked by all the intriguing parties
of the country. For this he is now apparently
deserted to the tender mercies of one Power, which
appears to be dissatisfied by his two honest discharge
of his duty. Whatever be the ultimate design of
France on Syria, she evidently sees in the deposition
of Rustem Pasha an immediate means of regaining,
among the powerful Maronites, the prestige of which
the acquisition of Cyprus and the occupation of
384
HETH AND MOAB.
Egypt have deprived her, even more completely than
the disasters of the Franco-German war. As Rustem
Pasha is dispossessed because the Maronites so will
it, and because France makes a bid for influence
amongst them, the result will be regarded as the
triumph of French diplomacy in Lebanon, and will
lead to a material access of French prestige in all
parts of Syria.
Since the French diplomatic representative has
triumphed over Rustem Pasha, we have heard of
other efforts to create disturbance in Syria, which,
though promptly suppressed by the Waly of Damas-
cus, yet serve to show the tendency of those intrigues
which, for the last three years, have become so rife
in the country. It is on this later occasion not the
rough Maronite of Kasrawân, with his barbarous
dialect, scarcely intelligible to the Southern Arabs,
who has been stirred up against the lawful Governor
of Lebanon, but the fanatical Metâwileh Moslem of
the hills of Phoenicia who has been induced to believe
in a Muhammadan Government in France which is to
free him from the Sunnee Turk. This little incident,
mentioned in a telegram in the Standard, gives a
good illustration of one of the most important fea-
tures of the Syrian Question, as yet but little under-
stood in England: for few Englishmen who have not
devoted special attention to the question can be
supposed to know the religious differences which
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
385
separate the Metâwileh from the other Moslems of
the country, nor is it possible without special study
to appreciate the influence of those innumerable
antagonisms which exist especially in Syria, not only
between various Moslem sects and different Christian
churches, but also, and even more intensely, between
the various schismatic bodies themselves of either
Moslem or Christian belief, who hate each other yet
more cordially than they detest the adherents of the
opposite faith.
We have already alluded to the various schools of
the Sunnee Moslems in Turkey, Syria, Egypt, and
India; but in addition to these we find in Syria
various Moslem heresies which are divided yet more
sharply from Sunnee orthodoxy. These include the
Druzes, the Metâwileh, the Anseirîyeh, and the
Ism'aîleh. The Christians of Syria, on the other hand,
are divided into no less than twelve sects, including
the Greek Orthodox, the Russian Church, the Greek
Catholics, the Maronites, the Armenians, the Ar-
menian Catholics, the Syrians, the Copts, the Latins,
the Lutherans, the English Protestants, the Temple
Society. Of these the two first, with the Maronites,
Armenians, and Latins, are the most ambitious and
powerful; and the smaller Oriental sects are interest-
ing rather from an historical and antiquarian point
of view than from the standpoint of practical politics.
The Melchites are the descendants of Zenobia's Arabs
*
25
386
HETH AND MOAB.
converted to Ebionite Christianity in the Hauran in
the early centuries of the Christian Era. The poor
Syrians (or Jacobites) and the Copts from Egypt are
powerless among the dominant factions, and con-
spicuous for their meek and humble appearance. The
Protestants have but little political influence, and
keep aloof from the unprincipled intrigues of Latins
and Greeks. The German Temple Society, though
gradually increasing in prosperity, seems destined
entirely to lose its distinctive religious character as
well as its exclusive organization.
The four Moslem heresies of Syria are founded on
the Shi'ah beliefs, and the division which separates
these sects from each other is almost as deep as that
which distinguishes their tenets from those of the
Sunnee Moslems. The oldest of the four is the
Ism'aîleh sect, who are the most degraded and
poverty stricken of all the inhabitants of Syria.
They are a miserable remnant of the Mediæval
Assassins or 'Hemp-smokers' (Hashîshîn), and derive
their doctrines from that early Shi'ah sect who
believed that Ism'ail, the sixth Imâm, was a divine
incarnation, and destined to reappear at the end of
the world. The old Homa ritual still survives
among these heretics, together with a veneration
of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, which is most
probably of Persian derivation. In numbers and
energy they are, however, too contemptible to be
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
387
turned to any great political account, and it will
scarcely be necessary for modern diplomatists to pro-
fess any faith in the return of Ismâîl to earth.
The Nuseireh or Anseirîyeh are a very similar sect,
though their numbers are greater and their character
for fierce courage more formidable. They are the
immediate neighbours of the Maronites on the north,
and extend thence to the ridge of Mount Casius
above Antioch. The Druzes state that they are
schismatics from Druze orthodoxy, but historically
they appear to have originated before the establish-
ment of the Druze Hamzeh in Hermon. Some have
identified them with the Manichæan Gnostics, but
the points of resemblance are more probably due to
the Persian origin of many of the tenets of Manes.
The same syncretism which is so remarkable among
the Druzes is, however, also observable among the
northern sect of the Anseirîyeh, and they themselves
connect their mystic eucharist with the Christian rite,
as well as with the 'veiling of the Lord in light that
is in the eye of the Sun.' They believe equally in
the divinity of Imâm Aly, and, like the Isma'îleh and
the Druzes, they are allowed publicly to abjure their
real creed in words in order to avoid persecution,
so long as they do not infringe by act its more im-
portant prohibitions. It is to this sect that Lord
Beaconsfield alludes in Tancred,' and rightly attri-
butes to them the preservation of many pagan beliefs.
25-2
388
HETH AND MOAB.
And now that a line has been drawn by Europe
between Druze and Maronite, it is perhaps among
the Anseirîyeh that the political agitator has the best
opportunity of fomenting that ill-feeling which leads
to convenient massacres, always attributed to a
fanaticism which remains dormant in the East till
roused by the intriguing nations of the West.
The Druze is the best known and most powerful
of the four Moslem heresies, on account of the war-
like character of the race, their magnificent physique,
and their political intrigues. In Syria they are re-
garded as English protégés, on account of our action
in their behalf in 1860; but the sceptical character
of the race and their selfish faithlessness render them
very doubtful allies in cases where interest conflicts
with loyal friendship. There are two things which
seem not generally known concerning the Druzes,
namely, first their emigration from Lebanon to the
Hauran-a change resulting from the establishment
of the Lebanon Government; and secondly, the fact
that their religious tenets are no longer the mys-
terious secret they once were, since the French dug
up their sacred books on Hermon, and since De Sacy
and others have made a special study of that con-
fused and syncretic system of belief, which embraces
Christian teaching together with Moslem orthodoxy,
and Buddhist ideas with the Mazdeism of Persia.
The Druze, indeed, differs from the Ism'aileh mainly
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
389
in one tenet, the former holding that the insane
Fatemite Khalif Hakem was a divinity incarnate,
while the latter attributes the same honours to the
earlier Imâm Ism'ail. The details of Druze faith have
but little interest save for the student of the religions
of Western Asia, but it is important to keep in view the
scepticism which in all these Oriental sects is the result
of the highest initiation; because the idea which some
writers have suggested, that the Akkâls of this people
may possess secrets of mystic value which it would
be most interesting for the European to penetrate, is
directly contrary to all that we know of the early
history of Islam and of the gradual growth of
scepticism in Asia.
From a political point of view the Druzes are more
formidable perhaps than any non-Christian sect in
Syria. They are believed to have allied themselves
(or to have been brought into relations through the
agency of Europeans) with the Bedawîn of the Nejed
and Shammar, and with the wild tribes of the Anazeh.
Their attempted rebellion in 1881 was in all proba-
bility fomented from without, though we may hope
that the suspicions of the Turkish Government were
wrongly directed when they accused the British nation
of abetting the malcontents.
The Metâwileh are less known than the Druzes,
and far less powerful. They are estimated to number
80,000 souls, though this is perhaps an exaggeration.
390
HETH AND MOAB.
The Druzes of Hermon and the Hauran are said to be
able to gather 10,000 horsemen, making a population
of at least ten times that amount. The Metâwileh
are found mainly in Upper Galilee, their capital at the
beginning of the century being at Tibnîn (the crusad-
ing fortress of Toron), while at the same period they
raised modern Tyre from its ruins and spread along the
coast to Sidon. They are also numerous in the Anti-
Lebanon as far as Homs, where they are mingled with
Melchite Christians, whom (were it expedient) they
might easily be persuaded to massacre.
The Metâwileh are almost pure Shi'ah, represent-
ing Persian Muhammedism among the Sunnees and
Christians of the Levant. Their future prophet is the
'twelfth Imâm,' and their eschatology is almost
purely Mazdean. They adore the martyred Hasan and
Hosein, and believe in the divinity of Aly. They
carry with them the sacred Persian soil, as did the
Shah when he visited England. They also wear a
peculiar curl which is remarkably similar to the love-
lock of the Jewish Pharisee. It is among these
fanatical and ignorant mountaineers, who equally
hate the Christian and the Sunnee Moslem, and who
refuse to eat from one dish, or drink from one cup,
with any but their own co-religionists, that the
agents of France are said to have penetrated of late,
and to have induced them apparently to believe in a
great non-Christian Western race, which is to secure
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
391
their triumph over every other sect; the ends of
diplomacy being in this case furthered by the state-
ment of a real truth-that the Government of France
cannot be considered Christian.
We must now turn briefly to review the more
powerful Christian sects who live amidst the various
Moslem factions just noticed. The majority of
Christians who are of Greek or Syrian birth belong
to the Greek Church under the patriarchs of Jeru-
salem and Antioch. They bear, it must be confessed,
a very evil reputation in the land, and the exhibition
of fanatical fury which annually disgraces the Jeru-
salem Cathedral at Easter is due mainly to the action
of the native Greek Christians, and is little charge-
able against Russians or Armenians, and still less
against the peaceful Melchites, Syrians, and Copts.
The ignorance and degradation of the Greek clergy
are only too well known to residents in Syria; and
the spirit of unprincipled ambition and selfish rapacity
which too often disgraced the councils of the Church
in the fourth and fifth centuries has certainly not
become extinct in the Eastern Church. It is far safer
to trust to the honesty of a Moslem, of a Maronite, or
even of a Druze, than to that of a Greek Christian
when employed in money affairs. The advantage
taken by even great dignitaries of the Greek Church
of the simple faith of pilgrims is one of the scandals
of the Holy City; and many yet graver accusations
392
HETH AND MOAB.
:
have been brought by impartial observers against the
Greek clergy as a class.
The Russian Church in Palestine exists almost
entirely for the sake of pilgrims from the dominions
of the Czar. The stately cathedral outside Jerusalem,
and the great hospice and hospital beside it, have
been built with money granted by the Imperial
Government. The number of Russian pilgrims of both
sexes, and often of great age, increases apparently
every year; and pilgrimage is encouraged by the
granting of a passage, at an almost nominal fare, from
the Russian ports to Jaffa, the steamboat companies
receiving, it is said, a handsome subsidy from the
Russian Treasury. This zeal for the faith is equally
shown by whole crews of Russian gunboats, and by
the Royal Grand Dukes, as well as by the poorest
Mujik; by the Maréchal de Noblesse who scourges
himself in the Sepulchre church by night, and reads
Voltaire and Renan by day, not less than by the bald
and hairless member of one of the most frightful and
well known of Russian sects, who in the nineteenth
century follow the venerable example of the famous
Origen. Such zeal has of course no connection with
politics; and we should be able to measure its value
if we found that it was equally fostered by Govern-
ment, after a compact had been arranged which might
give to France in Syria an equivalent for Russian
extension of influence in Armenia and Asia Minor.
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
393
The Latins in Syria are recruited mainly by con-
versions from the Greek Church. The priests of the
Latin Church-often men of great ability and con-
siderable education, are Italian or French by birth as
a rule, and sometimes pass but a few years in Pales-
tine. There is often danger of the relapse of whole
congregations to the older faith, and to the teaching
of the native Syrian priests, who are always Greek ;
but on the whole the Latins are gaining considerably
in influence and prosperity, especially of late, and
since the duty of protecting the faithful has become
so clearly evident to a nation which boasts the name
of eldest son of the Church.'
C
Of the Maronites some notice has been taken
in a former chapter. In common with Greek and
Armenian Catholics they present the curious spectacle
of a sect preserving the peculiar dogmas of the
Eastern Church, yet acknowledging as a spiritual head
the Pontiff of the Western rite. The Armenians alone
remain to demand a passing notice.
The Armenian Church springs from the ancient
Docetic heresy, and from the doctrines of Eutyches,
condemned by the Second Council of Ephesus in
449 A.D. They believe (as do the Buddhists of their
master) that our Lord was born from the right side
of the Blessed Virgin, and that His body was not of
the substance of His mother, but divine, incorruptible,
and miraculous. They are thus equally obnoxious to
394
HETH AND MOAB.
the Monophysite Jacobites (or Syrians), the Monothe-
lite Maronites, the Ebionite Melchites, and to the
three great sects which call themselves orthodox.
The Armenians have the reputation of being the
cleverest people in the East. Ten Greeks,' says the
proverb, to cheat a Jew, ten Jews to cheat an
Armenian.' They are in Syria found as a sect only
at Jerusalem, but are there perhaps the richest and
most influential of all the Christian communities. As
diplomatists, as accountants, as money-lenders, and
financial agents, the Armenians are more successful
than any other race; and the power which they have
thus obtained, together with their reputation for
selfishness and usury, very closely resembles the in-
fluence and character of the Oriental Jews.
Such, very briefly described, are the various
struggling factions which divide the little land of
Syria, a country whose area does not exceed 15,000
square miles at most, and whose population has been
roughly estimated as only half that of London. From
such a review, however imperfect (and it is impossible
to enter into detail in the space at our command),
it will be evident how difficult and dangerous is the
task of dealing with so many contending interests,
and with populations so nearly balanced and so easily
incited to mutual outrage and bloodshed. The policy
of almost any one of the larger parties may for a
time turn the scale in favour of its own special in-
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
395
terests; yet the domination of any Christian sect
over the large majority of the populace, who profess
the Sunnee form of the Moslem faith, would be an
unjust tyranny of one among many minorities. To
hope that all Christian sects would combine for
common action against the Turk is as vain as it is,
on the other hand, to suppose that the Sultan can
rally the Arab, the Fellah, the Druze, the Anseirîyeh,
and Metâwileh in common defence against the power
of the West, and against the intrigue and bribery
which is so cynically patent throughout his Syrian
provinces.
The fate of Syria is bound up with much larger
questions of high politics in the East. The religious
claims of the Sultan, the restless Russian advance
on the Mediterranean, the ambition of France, are
the great factors in the future of the country. British
interests will no doubt render it impossible for us to
look on calmly at any struggle for the possession of
a country bordering Egypt and the Canal, which is
now the nucleus of our anxieties. The history of
Syria shows that the land must fall to either the
Northern or the Southern Power, to the modern
Seleucus or Ptolemy, according as the one (the Turk)
or the other (in Egypt) is the stronger; unless, as in
Crusading days, an invasion from the West should
for a time, and only for a time, destroy the balance
of contending forces in Asia itself and in Africa.
396
HETH AND MOAB.
France might hold Syria for a century or more; but
the laws of climate would probably again, as in the
Middle Ages, finally enable the fierce native races,
Kurdish or Turkish, to regain ascendancy over the
peaceful peasantry of Arab race.
But let us for a moment suppose that political
circumstances rendered it expedient that a strong
protected State should be built up in Syria. It is
perhaps an entirely hypothetical case, and certainly
there is no immediate indication of any interest in
the fate of Palestine being felt among English poli-
ticians.
In the first place, the native population is unfit
for any such institutions as we now possess at home,
and has indeed no desire to govern itself, asking
only to be saved from a lawless military tyranny.
In the second place, no government can meet the
wishes of the Syrians which entirely consists of
foreign elements. The Turkish, or Kurdish, or Cir-
cassian Pasha must be removed, and the unimprov-
able class of officials, bred in bribery and indelibly
stained with corrupt custom, must be dismissed from
the land. There are not wanting men who are
honoured and respected by the people, though re-
duced to poverty and impotence by the Turks. Such
is the pious and respected Bek of the Tokân family
at Nâblus, such are the Sheikhs of the Beni Jerrâr,
of the Jeiyusi, the Lehhâm, and other old families,
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
397
the survivors in Galilee of the proud race of Dhahr
el Amr, and many others. Their children are, it is
true, sinking gradually to the condition of mere
Fellâhin; but among these families, which once led
the Syrians in their struggle against Turkish power,
a few at least may be found who are comparatively
well educated, honest, and respected. They might,
it is true, soon deteriorate in character if they gained
power under a corrupt system; but the only hope of
improving the native race in Syria (and not less also
in Egypt) lies in giving to the Arab the responsibility
of power, and in banishing the official class of the
Turks. They must long be nursed by superiors of
character and influence, appointed by Western Powers;
their institutions must be modelled, not on Western
custom, but on the just law of the Koran; their
system must resemble rather that of the Crusaders-
a semi-feudal condition of subjection, tempered (as in
the medieval native courts) by the admission of
natives to councils over which a European presides;
but the Arab is neither so unintelligent nor so devoid
of ideas of right as to make it a hopeless task to
undertake his education.
It is, in fact, an extension of the system which
has proved so successful in Lebanon which is required
for the future prosperity of Syria, with such modifi-
cations as are rendered necessary by two circum-
stances in which the rest of Syria differs from
398
HETH AND MOAB.
Lebanon. The first of these is, that the Moslem
population largely predominates over the Christian
in Palestine, but is in a minority in Lebanon; the
second is, that the Moslem peasantry are less edu-
cated, and have been more degraded by oppression,
than the Druze or the Maronite ever became. They
are therefore less able at first to govern themselves
than are the inhabitants of the mountain.
If such a scheme could be realized; if a Moslem
Governor could be appointed with full powers by the
Sultan, subject to the approval of at least two out of
three guaranteeing European Powers; if the Turk
were unable to compete with the Arab under unfair
advantages for Government employ; if the Porte
were forbidden to raise a single penny of tax without
consent of the guaranteeing Powers; if, above all,
an honest man could be found to execute the mandate
of the Powers as impartially as Rustem Pasha has
done, but, unlike him, with the conviction that his
efforts would be appreciated, and that he would be
supported rather than left a prey to his enemies; then
indeed we might have some hope of prosperity in
Syria, and some solid foundation on which honest
capitalists might build, in developing the agricultural
and commercial resources of a land which is richer
than it appears to be. It is not colonization, whether
Jewish, German, or English, nor annexation by
France, nor invasion by Russia, which can make the
THE FUTURE OF SYRIA.
399
land fertile and the people happy. It is a just
government on the simplest principles of Moslem
rule, under the watchful eye of civilizing Powers.
The Jews threaten to pauperize Syria; the Turk has
already ruined it; the French nation spread a web of
intrigue over the whole land; the Germans are in-
tolerant and unpopular; the Russian would bring in
his train all the horrors of war, which are most appre-
ciated by those who have seen what war really is
to the poor of a country, and after that he would
establish a system of rule which cannot be considered
more civilized or honest than that of the Turks. It
is England, if any nation, which should fulfil the
really wise policy of building up a strong native
State between the Canal and the northern danger;
and it is difficult to see on what good grounds other
Powers could object to co-operation in the same good
work.
That such a scheme will ever be realized it is,
perhaps, vain to hope; meantime we see all that is
good about to be endangered or sacrificed in the
Lebanon; we see the forerunners of Russian armies
mapping Armenia, penetrating even into Anatolia
and Syria; we see the Turk desperately tightening
his hold on a spiritual no less than a temporal pos-
session. The name of Syria has been kept out of the
Eastern Question of which Syrian politics form a part,
but if a Syrian Question is precipitated into the arena.
400
HETH AND MOAB.
of 'practical politics' by French action, it will be
found to be one of the most knotty and dangerous
yet dealt with by Europe. Meanwhile a helpless
Moslem peasantry, and a rich Maronite community
who know not what is for their good, are eager to
plunge their country into the horrors of war; and the
Turk, however roughly and to their detriment, acts
as the policeman among the rival creeds and sects,
which, so soon as his hand is withdrawn, will wrangle
for the spoil. If Turkey be indeed doomed (as we
have heard for forty years), Europe ought now to be
ready to appoint her successor in Syria.

APPENDICES.
No. I.
SCRIPTURE GAZETTEER OF EASTERN PALESTINE.
THE following will, it is hoped, be found to be a complete list of
the places mentioned in the Bible in Bashan, Gilead and Moab.
The author would, however, be obliged if the reader can point
out any errors or omissions. The more important sites are men-
tioned in the text of the volume, and the authors of several of
the more recent identifications are therein noticed by name.
Out of about ninety-six names, forty-nine were known before
the recent commencement of the Survey beyond Jordan. To
these I have now added thirty proposed identifications, leaving
seventeen sites still to be identified. It is satisfactory that
(supposing the new suggestions to stand criticism) we now know
a proportion of eight-tenths of the ancient Biblical sites of this
country, and of these we owe two-fifths to the recent explorations,
including several of importance, such as Peor, Bamoth Baal,
Mizpeh, Penuel, etc.; while of the unknown sites, Cherith and
Mahanaim (placed by some at Mâneh) are the most important,
if Astaroth Karnaim be at Tell 'Asherah. The remaining four-
teen are obscure places of no importance.
26
402
HETH AND MOAB.
SCRIPTURE TOPOGRAPHY BEYOND JORDAN.*
1. Abarim (Mountains), Deut. xxxii. 49.-The chain east of
the Dead Sea, including Nebo.
2. Abel Shittim, Num. xxxiii. 49.-The plains of Kefrein as
far as Nimrîm on north, and the Dead Sea on south (see p. 148).
3. Alema, 1 Macc. v. 26.-'Alma, south of Edrei (Merrill).
4. Almon Diblathaim = Beth Diblathaim (see p. 262).
5. Aphek, 1 Kings xx. 26.-Now Fîk, east of the Sea of
Galilee.
6. Ar of Moab, Isaiah xv. 1 = Rabbath Moab. Rabba north of
Kerak.
7. Argob.-Apparently the present Lejja or Trachonitis. The
Targum of Jonathan reads Terakina.
8. Arnon (River).-Now Wâdy Môjib.
9. Aroer, Deut. ii. 36.-'Ar'air, on north bank of Mojib.
10. Aroer, Josh. xiii. 25.
11. Ashdoth Pisgah, Deut. iii. 17.-Now 'Ayûn Musa (see p. 128).
12. Ashtaroth Karnaim.-Doubtful; perhaps Tell 'Asherah.
13. Ataroth, Num. xxxii. 3, 35.-Jebel 'Attarûs.
14. Baal Meon, Num. xxxii. 38.-Tell M'ain (see p. 139).
15. Baal Peor.-Probably the same as Beth Peor.
16. Bajith, Isaiah xv. 2.-Unknown.
17. Bamoth Baal, Joshua xiii. 17.-El Maslûbîyeh (see p. 141).
18. Beer, Num. xxi. 16.-Near Dibon.
19. Bela
=
Zoar.
20. Beon, Num. xxxii. 3 = Baal Meon.
21. Beth Diblathaim, Jer. xlviii. 22.-Probably = Almon Dibla-
thaim (Num. xxxiii. 46), south of Nebo. It means 'house of the
two discs.' Possibly the name Deleiyât may be a corruption of
Diblah, as the situation seems appropriate, south of Tell M'aîn.
22. Beth Gamul, Jer. xlviii. 23.-Probably Jemâil, east of
Dibon.
23. Beth Haran, Num. xxxii. 36.-Tell Râmeh.
24. Beth Jeshimoth, Num. xxxiii. 49.-Suweimeh.
25. Beth Nimrah, Joshua xiii. 27.—Tell Nimrín.
*See Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible.'
APPENDIX I.
403
26. Beth Peor, Deut. iii. 29.-Minyeh (see p. 141).
27. Betonim, Joshua xiii. 26.-Possibly the Butein district.
28. Bezer, Joshua xx. 8.-Possibly Abu Ser, west of Dibon.
29. Bosor, 1 Macc. v. 26.—Busr, south of Edrei (Merrill).
30. Bozrah, Isaiah lxiii. 1.—Probably Bozrah, south of the
Haurân. Bosora, 1 Macc. v. 26.
31. Bozrah, Jer. xlviii. 24.-Probably the same as Bezer.
32. Camon, Judges x. 5.
33. Casphor or Casphon, 1 Macc. v. 26.
34. Cherith (Brook), 1 Kings xvii. 3.
35. Dametha or Dathema, 1 Macc. v. 9.-Probably Dâmeh, in
the Lejja.
36. Dibon, Num. xxxii. 3.-Dhibân.
37. Dibon Gad, Num. xxxiii. 46.-The same as the last.
38. Dimon (Waters), Isaiah xv. 9.-Possibly Medeineh, near
the stream of Wâdy Themed. Possibly Dibon.
39. Edrei, Num. xxii. 33.-Edr'a, in Bashan.
40. Elealah, Num. xxxii. 3.-El 'Al.
41. En Eglaim, Ezek. xlvii. 10.
42. Ephraim (Wood), 2 Sam. xviii. 6.-Near es Sâlt (see p. 180).
43. Ephron, 1 Macc. v. 46.
44. Gadara, Mark v. 1.-Umm Keis.
45. Galeed, Gen. xxxi. 47.-See Mizpeh.
46. Golan, Joshua xxi. 27.-In Gaulonitis, the modern Jaulân.
47. Havoth Jair, Num. xxxii. 41.
48. Heshbon, Num. xxxii. 3.-Tell Hesbân.
49. Holon, Jer. xlviii. 21.-Perhaps 'Aleiyân, north-east of
Dibon.
50. Horonaim, Isaiah xv. 5; Jer. xlviii. 3.-Possibly Wâdy
Ghûeir (with ancient road). The Hebrew and Arabic have the
same meaning, with a slight change of guttural.
51. Tim or Ije Abarim, Num. xxi. 11; xxxiii. 44.—' The ruins
of the regions beyond,' near south end of Dead Sea.
52. Jabbok (River), Deut. iii. 16.-Now Zerka Shebîb.
53. Jabesh Gilead, 1 Sam. xi. 1.-In Wâdy el Yâbis.
54. Jahaz, Num. xxi. 23.-Probably Rujm el Makhsiyeh,
north-east of Heshbon.
55. Jazer, Joshua xiii. 25.-Beit Zer'ah.
26-2
404
HETH AND MOAB.
56. Jegar Sahadutha, Gen. xxxi. 47.-See Mizpeh.
57. Jogbehah, Judges xxxii. 35.-Jubeihah.
58. Judah upon Jordan, Joshua xix. 34. Probably should
read Horah of Jordan el Ghôr.
=
59. Kedemoth, Joshua xiii. 18.
60. Kerioth, Jer. xlviii. 24-Kiriathaim.
61. Kir (Heres, or Haraseth, or Haresh, or of Moab).-The
Targum reads 'Kerak.'
62. Kiriathaim, Jer. xlviii. 1.-Kureiyât, north of Dibon.
63. Kirjathaim, Num. xxxii. 37.-The same as the last.
64. Luhith (Ascent), Isaiah xv. 5.-Tal'at el Heith (see p. 140).
65. Madmen, Jer. xlviii. 2.-Probably Medeineh, north-east of
Dibon.
66. Mahanaim, Gen. xxxii. 2 (see pp. 177–180).
67. Medeba, Num. xxi. 30.-Mâdeba.
68. Mephaath, Joshua xiii. 18.
69. Minnith, Judges xi. 33.-Possibly Minyeh.
70. Misgab, Jer. xlviii. 2.-'The high place.'
71. (1) Mispeh of Moab, 1 Sam. xxii. 3. Perhaps = Shophan.
72. (2) Mispeh, Gen. xxxi. 49.-Probably Sûf (see p. 175).
73. Nahaliel, Num. xxi. 19.-The Zerka M'aîn (see pp. 141, 144).
74. Nebo (Mount).-Jebel Neba (see p. 129).
75. Nimrah and Nimrim, Num. xxxii. 3.-Tell Nimrîn.
76. Nophah, Num, xxi. 30.
77. Peniel or Penuel, Gen. xxxii. 30; Judges viii. 9.-Possibly
Jebel Osh'a (see pp. 177-9).
78. Peor (Mount), Num. xxxii. 28.-Minyeh (see p. 142).
79. Pisgah, Deut. xxxiv. 1=Nebo.
80. Rabbath Ammon, Deut. iii. 11.-'Ammân.
81. Ramath Mizpeh, Joshua xiii. 26.-Possibly-Mizpeh (2), or
possibly Remtheh, west of Bozrah.
82. Ramoth Gilead, Deut. iv. 43.-Probably Reimûn (see
p. 175).
83. Raphon, 1 Macc. v. 37.-Rafeh, three miles west of Edrei
(Merrill).
84. Salchah, Deut. iii. 10.-Salkhâd.
85. Shaveh Kiriathaim, Gen. xiv. 5.-Possibly the valley at
Kiriathaim of Moab, which see.
APPENDIX I.
405
86. Shibmah or Sibmah, Num. xxxii. 38; Joshua xiii. 19.—
Probably Sûmieh.
87. Shittim, Num. xxvi. = Abel Shittim.
88. Shophan, Num. xxxii. 35.-Sûfa, east of Baal Meon.
89. Succoth, Gen. xxxiii. 17.—Probably Tell Deir 'Alla (see p. 177).
90. Tob (Land), Judges xi. 3.-Taiyibeh.
91. Tophel, Deut. i. 1.—Tufîleh.
92. Trachonitis, Luke iii. 1.—The Lejja district.
93. Zaphon, Joshua xiii. 27.-'Amâteh, south-east of Sea of
Galilee.
94. Zareth Shahar, Joshua xiii. 19.-Zâra, on shore of Dead
Sea.
95. Zered (Brook), Deut. ii. 14.-Probably Wâdy Siddiyeh.
96. Zoar, Gen. xiv. 2.-Tell Shaghûr (see p. 150).
97. Zophim (Field), Num. xxiii. 14.-Tal'at es Sufa (see p. 130).
406
HETH AND MOAB.
No. II.
ON THE MOSLEM RELIGION.
THE study of the faith of Islam becomes constantly more im-
portant and interesting to the Englishman as our relations with
the Moslem world become more intimate, not only in India, but
in Cyprus, Syria, and Egypt. It may, therefore, not be unin-
teresting to enlarge somewhat on the suggestions offered in
Chapter IX. respecting the very mixed character of Muham-
medan beliefs and the syncretism of Islam. In all countries, no
doubt, is traceable in peasant superstition the survival of a
Paganism which the existing creed of the nation condemns; but
in the doctrines even of the Korân, and yet more in the tradi-
tions of the Moslem world, an extraordinary survival of early
Asiatic Pagan ideas may be recognised as intimately bound up
with the faith of even the most pious and best educated Moslems.
We may consider then, first, vulgar superstitions of the lower
class; secondly, traditions of the faith; thirdly, tenets and tales
found in the Korân itself.
The peasant superstitions of Syria have been sketched in the
body of the present work. It would no doubt be possible to
trace in Egypt superstitions founded on the old faith of the land
of Khemi, but as yet few of these have been collected. The
Fellahah women are known still to visit the famous Temple of
Athor at Denderah; and the Moslem belief that an angel brings a
drop of water from Paradise every year, which causes the Nile to
rise, is founded no doubt on the old Egyptian idea of the 'tear
of Isis,' which had the same result. It is traceable to the old
mythology, which thus symbolized the fact that the Nile is fed
by the waters of heaven falling on the Abyssinian hills. The
APPENDIX II.
407
famous Seiyid el Bedawi and other Derwish saints will no doubt
be found to present points of comparison with old Egyptian
divinities, and the question would be one very interesting to
investigate.
In India, in the same way, the Shaf'aî sects have been much
influenced by Parsee, Hindu, and Buddhist ideas. The belief in
astrology, in magic, and in charms, which is so universal among
the Moslems of India, is opposed to the spirit, if not to the
wording, of the Korân. Buddee ed Din, the wandering celibate,
who is so revered near Cawnpore, though believed to have come
from Syria is clearly connected with Buddha; and the name of
Buddha figures with those of Moslem heroes on the magic
diagrams and charms of the faithful in Hindustan. The use of
cow-dung ashes by the Moslems of India seems also clearly de-
rived from the Hindus or the Parsees, and the digging of holes
filled with food resembles a Persian practice; while the entry of
the Murid, or 'candidate,' into the 'path' of the Derwish orders
seems a mere imitation of the entry into the 'path' of Buddha,
or of earlier Indian ascetics. The saints, the customs-nay, many
of the beliefs—of the Indian Moslems are entirely different from
those of the Arab and African sects; and although Sunnees by
profession, the Indian faithful are often nearer to the Shi'ah in
belief and practice than to the Sunnees of Western Asia.
Turning from the unauthorized customs and beliefs of the
Moslem world to those which are sanctioned-not, indeed, by
the words of the Prophet, but by tradition generally received-
it is curious to note how many ideas are founded on Magian and
Chaldean stories. In illustration of this view we may glance at
the belief in the Mohdy, at the lamentation for Hosein, at the
Night Journey, at the Sirât Bridge, at hair-cutting and black heroes.
The idea of a future return to earth of el Mohdy, or the
Guide,' who was the twelfth Imâm, a descendant of Imâm 'Ali,
is common to the Shi'ah and the Sunnee sects, but is not counte-
nanced by anything in the Korân, although Muhammad seems
to have expected the future appearance of our Lord Jesus and of
'the Green One' (Elijah) with himself at the end of the world.
The Shi'ah make of 'Aly and his descendants to the twelfth a
series of incarnations of the Deity. The twelfth Imâm, el Mohdy,
408
HETH AND MOAB.
retired to a cave near Baghdad, whence he is to return to oppose
ed Dejal, the Moslem Anti-Christ, in a time of great trouble. The
'earth-beast' who supports the world will assist ed Dejal, who
will ride on his ass, accompanied by the Jews, from Irak to Syria,
and the final battle is to take place at Aleppo.
All these ideas are traceable to the Zendavesta, and were cer-
tainly incorporated in Magian literature four centuries before the
time of Muhammad. The future Prophet of Persia is to have two
forerunners, and will be opposed by the powers of evil. The
Geus Urva, or 'soul of the bull,' in Persian mythology, is exactly
the counterpart of the Moslem earth-beast, and a battle predicted
in the Yashts is the same as the Moslem triumph which fanatics
expected to witness at Tell el Kebîr.
The lamentations for Hosein are of an extravagance which
seems quite unaccountable. The Prophet's grandson was be-
headed at Kerbela by order of Yezid, grandson of Muhammad's
old Meccan enemy, Abu Sofiân, and his head was carried to
Kufa. But round this historic fact has grown up a wealth of
legend and myth which may easily be traced to early Pagan
sources. It is very curious that the head of Hosein is shown in
the Mosque of Damascus, where Christians believed the head of
John the Baptist to have been interred; but when we remember
how the Phoenician women mourned over the head of Adonis at
Byblos, and reflect on the Greek myth of Kephalos ('the head' of
the sun), we may perhaps be nearer the origin of the extravagant
lamentations and lacerations which annually celebrate the death
of Hosein, and which exactly reproduce the practices of the priests
of Osiris recorded by Herodotus. It is said that the detested
Shamer, who encouraged the executioner to slay Hosein, had
tusks like a boar; and he is thus connected with the boar which
slew Adonis. It is said also that Jaffur Ibn Tiâr, King of the
Jan, offered to assist Hosein; and he was a centaur, with a man's
head and horse's body. In him we recognise the Gandharva of
the Persian myths, sometimes the sun's enemy, sometimes a
golden-footed man-horse who assists the sun-hero, a relation of
Pegasus and of the hero-horse of Rustem. Thus the traditions
connected with Hosein seem to be clearly myths of the older
Asiatic religions, and the tale of Hâris and the sons of Muslim
APPENDIX II.
409
bears a wondrous family likeness to the English story of Hop-o'-
my-Thumb in the ogre's castle.
The Sirât bridge, which will stretch from Olivet to the Temple,
has long been recognised as identical with the old Persian 'Bridge
of the Gatherer;' but the legends of the night journey are quite
as clearly traceable to Persian or Indian mythology. In the
Korân there is a mere hint of a vision, or actual translation from
Mecca to Jerusalem, but tradition supplies the wondrous beast
el Borak, and states that Muhammad ascended to the seventh
heaven, beyond the boundary thorn tree," into the invisible
presence of God. This wondrous beast-a kind of cherub with a
shining face, a lion's body, peacock's wings and tail, and called
Borak, or 'lightning,' on account of its swiftness, is but another
of the centaur class, already mentioned in connection with Hosein.
The retreat of Muhammad to a cavern, his concealment with Abu
Bekr behind a spider's web (as in the story of Bruce), his ascent
to heaven, are legends which must be compared with those of
Zoroaster's retreat to the cave on Alborz, and of his ascension
thence to Ahuramazda. The wondrous Alborz, the boundary
mountain of the horizon, is also reproduced in the Moslem Mount
el Kaf, which surrounds the world, and stands on the great
emerald which gives colour to the sky.
The sacrifice of a goat for a child as a substitute, 'skin for
skin' (cf. Job ii. 4), is a Moslem custom, in which we trace a
reminiscence of human sacrifice, and until the time of Muhammad
all Arabs buried their daughters when born, as sacrifices to their
idols. The cutting of the child's hair, which is accompanied by
this sacrifice, is followed by offering to religious mendicants the
weight of the hair in silver, and this is a practice which is pro-
bably traceable in the Bible (2 Sam. xiv. 26), where Absolom is
said to have weighed his hair.
The black heroes of Arab folk-lore have been already men-
tioned (chap. xi. p. 360), and it is very curious in this connection to
notice that even Moses, according to Moslem tradition, was black.
Why great heroes should be credited with this hue, among a non-
Negro people, it is very difficult to understand.
Turning from Moslem tradition to the contents of the Korân
itself, we shall not find that we have escaped from the regions of
410
HETH AND MOAB.
myth and pagan superstition; and, indeed, it is impossible to
read the Suras without seeing how deeply imbued with super-
stitious ideas the Prophet of Islam must himself have been.
It is true that moderate writers have long ceased to regard
Muhammad as an impostor, and the tendency has indeed of late
been rather to over-estimate the character of the Moslem religion.
As a reformer among pagan and barbarous Arab tribes, the
courage and superiority of the eloquent but 'unlearned' Prophet
can hardly be over-estimated; but as an original and more
enlightened religious system, Islam, when compared to the three
faiths on which it is based, may easily be placed in too exalted a
position until its nature and derivation are fully examined. The
Moslem creed is indeed only original where it is negative; it
differs from Judaism and Christianity mainly in denying im-
portant dogmas, and its one new tenet is couched in what
Gibbon has called a necessary fiction compounded with an
eternal truth,' namely, the addition of the dogma that Mu-
hammad is the messenger of God, to the doctrine, even then so
ancient in Asia, which declares the unity of the Deity.
'
Before his quarrel with the Jews of Medina, Muhammad's
teaching as a Hanif, or disciple of Abraham, seems to have been
fundamentally indistinguishable from Judaism. The great offence
which he gave to the Jews by acknowledging 'Our Lord Jesus'
as a Prophet, led to the change of the Kibleh from Jerusalem to
Mecca, and to the charge which he formulated against the Jews
of calling Ezra a son of God. No doubt in the sense in which
every son of Abraham was considered a child of a Heavenly
Father, the Jews may have applied this title to their second law-
giver; but amid the most extravagant eulogisms of the Rabbis,
it is impossible to find a single attribution of a divine nature to
the Scribe who restored the Law.
Muhammad warns his followers in the Korân that the Jews
will be their most bitter foes, but in order to make a marked
division between his own teaching and that of the Rabbis, he
seems to have been forced to press a false charge against a purely
monotheistic religion.*
*
*For the benefit of those who believe in the possibility of contracting friend-
ship with Moslems, it should be noticed that Muhammad, though he considers
APPENDIX II.
411
In reading the Korân we soon become aware of the poverty of
its materials, and of the wearisome repetitions of its verbose
descriptions. The new faith, which added our Lord to the list of
Jewish Prophets, was inferior not merely to the Semitic religions
which preceded it, but even to the Persian and Buddhist creeds
which had already existed at least 1,200 years. The beautiful
imagery and endless fancy of the Magian hymns finds only a
feeble echo in the literalism of Muhammad's adaptations, and
when we consider the five cardinal points of Islam-faith, prayer,
fasting, alms, and pilgrimage-we miss a yet more noble command,
which Buddha made the very basis of his teaching-the duty of
love to fellow-men.
Islam is, indeed, the creed of a savage race, the highest con-
ception to which the wild Bedawîn mind can attain. Muhammad
found his fellow Arabs worshipping stones and adoring local
pairs of divinities, male and female, slaying their sons as a bloody
sacrifice to the menhir, burying their infant daughters alive:
living, like the wild tribes of Beluchistan, on fish or on reptiles,
without moral laws, without letters, their only delight in blood-
shed, and in the amatory strains of their wine-loving bards. It
was no small triumph to persuade barbarians, who were exactly
what the wilder Arab tribes still remain, to renounce their idols,
to save the lives of their children, to observe the more simple
rules of social morality, to express (if not to feel) a belief in one
spiritual God, and in a future life of happiness or woe.
That Muhammad countenanced the preservation of many super-
stitions is clearly shown in the Korân itself. He did not forbid
the visiting of Safa and Merwah-he himself perambulated the
Kaaba-and while removing Hobal and the 360 menhirs, he left
untouched the stone of Allât. It must also be remembered that
he inculcates the retaliation of the blood feud as a duty second
only to that of giving alms, and that he commands the faithful
in the Korân to punish thieves, even when they are women, by
striking off the hand. These last injunctions illustrate those con-
the Christians as less unfriendly to Islam than the Jews, yet forbids the faith-
ful in most positive manner to contract friendship with either Jew or Christian.
A pious Moslem cannot, without violating a direct command, enter into any
relation with a European beyond those which are unavoidable.
412
HETH AND MOAB.
nected with the superstitions which he countenanced, and seem
to show that it was not through any cynical intent to incorporate
in his system rites which he was powerless to put down that he
permitted such customs to be still observed, but rather because,
being himself not far removed above his fellows-a barbarian
who conceived murder and mutilation to be religious duties-he
was unable entirely to shake himself free from the beliefs in
which, as a son of the Koreish who guarded the Kaaba, he had
been brought up in the very centre of universal Arab adoration.
Muhammad gloried in the epithet of 'unread,' and perhaps in-
sisted upon his own ignorance in order to guard himself from the
suspicion, which his enemies carefully fomented, that he had read
and borrowed from the books of Jews, Christians, and Magians.
It is impossible to read the Korân without perceiving that its
legends are based on oral tradition and not on books. The Suras
were written, it is said, on palm-leaves and tablets, but when they
were first collected, after the Prophet's death, many were taken
down from 'the minds of men,' and who shall say what additions
were made to the Canon revised by Othman twenty years after
Muhammad had ceased to speak? Although Cufic was not un-
known in Medina, it was Othman or Zeid, and not Muhammad,
who wrote down the inspired songs, and the boast of the Prophet,
that he was, like most of his fellows, 'unread,' becomes the basis
of a just condemnation of Islam as a religion of the uncivilized.
It has been well said by a great writer, that the man destined
to sway the masses is he 'qui sait conter'—who can speak or
sing, and who can put in eloquent words the thoughts which lie
without expression in the hearts of his fellows. This is what
Muhammad did, and in his eloquence, his enthusiasm, and his
personal influence, lay the secret of his astonishing success, far
more than in any originality of teaching or ritual. The Jews had
settled in Arabia seven centuries before Islam was first preached.
The Magian songs and myths were known even as far as Yemen,
and were then at least twelve centuries old. The Beni Hârith,
Beni Hânifa, and Beni Tai, in Arabia, and the Beni Ghassan in
Syria, had embraced some form of Christianity four hundred
years previously. The Collyridian heresy, the Nestorian and
Jacobite monophysite doctrines, were known also in Arabia, both
APPENDIX II.
413
Muhammad was rot
in Yemen and in the kingdom of Hira.
the first to propose the idea of the hanîf, or 'puritan,' founded on
the so-called 'Religion of Abraham,' and, whatever be the truth
as to the influence of a single monk on his teaching, the stories
of the patriarchs, the apocryphal accounts of the Virgin and her
Son, were popularly known in Arabia before the poet of Islam
was born; and the syncretic system of which he became the most
famous teacher already existed, as it were, 'in the air,' when first
he sang his earliest and most beautiful Suras. Had Omar been
defeated in Syria, had the Sassanians repulsed the wild Arab
hordes in Persia, we should have heard no more of the Moslem
faith than of the earlier Hanff system from which it sprang.
6
The indebtedness of Muhammad to Rabbinical Judaism, and to
Oriental or Gnostic Christianity, is too well known to need any
lengthy mention in this note, but it is important to mark how
much there is in the Korân which can be found in the Zendavesta,
though absent from Jewish or Christian writings. Muhammad
once mentions the Magians, and speaks often of the Sabei, who
(if he refer to the baptizing' sect of Lower Mesopotamia) com-
bined Christianity with Persian or Buddhist dogmas. A rapid
glance will enable us to appreciate how much he depended on the
Persian system for his ideas of the future and of the remote past,
although such doctrines must have been obtained from oral
tradition, rather than from any acquaintance with Zend litera-
ture.
Muhammad in the Korân repeats again and again his version
of certain Old Testament episodes, mingled with stories of the
patriarchs which are found exactly reproduced in the Talmud,
and with other legends of purely Arab origin. Hûd and Sâleh
stand side by side with Abraham and Solomon; stories are told of
Moses of which the derivation has not yet been discovered, and
Jethro attains to an importance (as also does Ishmael) for which
it is difficult to account. The stories of the birth and infancy of
Christ, of the early history of Mary, and of the phantom Cruci-
fixion, betray acquaintance with legends of the Nestorians, the
Ebionites, and various Docetic sects, which are preserved in the
apocryphal Gospels of the fifth century, which, though condemned
by Popes and Councils, remained popular, and were firmly
414
HETH AND MOAB.
credited, even as late as the days of the English knight, Sir John
Maundeville, who cites these stories in the fourteenth century as
though equally credible with the accounts in the Canonical
Gospels.
In all these episodes the vagueness of the Korân version shows
that Muhammad was indebted to oral tradition, and not to
literature. He confuses the stories of Saul and Gideon, of Moses
and Jacob, of Pharaoh and Haman: he makes Israel to be mis-
led by a Samaritan in the wilderness, and he confounds the Virgin
Mary with Miriam, the sister of Moses. Such confusion is
natural, if we consider that he sang from memory, and did not
write from reading; and the modest claim which is put forward in
the Suras represents the Korân as a 'cry' made plain for ignorant
men among the Arabs, by an Illiterate Prophet of their own kin
an Arabic version of the 'mother of the Book,' the eternal and
divine volume in heaven, which in the creed of Zarathustra be-
comes so important as the Word of Ormuzd.
A few of the ideas borrowed in the Korân from early
Paganism, both Magian and Chaldean, may be enumerated as
showing one of the important bases on which the faith of Islam
rests.
The idea of a guardian angel belonging to every soul is Persian.
The balance in which the soul must be weighed is found repre-
sented in Egyptian paintings. The seven solid firmaments were
believed in by the Assyrians, and are enumerated in the Zend-
avesta and in the Talmud: the bitter food eaten in hell, where grows
the zakkum tree, reminds us equally of the language of Accadian
tablets, of Zend hymns, and of the Book of the Dead, where the
balsam tree of Neith is shown in Amentu. The thorn tree of the
boundary' in Muhammad's heaven is the Assyrian Samulti, the
tree of light, which becomes the Haoma tree of the Zendavesta.
The waters of Tasmîn, which flow from the Paradise of the
Korân, are the same 'waters from on high' which proceed,
according to the Yashts, from the springs of light.
'Alexander of the two horns' has a long legend devoted to him
in the Korân, and is invoked with offerings of pottery horses in
India. He appears as a sun-hero in Persia, with many national
heroes, and the Greek conquerer has thus become almost a divine
APPENDIX II.
415
person to the Moslem. The jinns who scale heaven in the Suras
are but the hosts of Ahriman, who assault the heavenly palace of
Ormuzd. The faithful are exhorted not to worship Satan, just as
the Zend hymns exhort the Medes not to worship Ahriman The
Ansûr, or 'helpers,' of Islam recall, in like manner, those who in
Persian hymns are exhorted to help the future life.'
Many curious remnants of yet older Paganism may also be
noted, for, although Muhammad condemned the Ansab, or
Menhirs, of the Arabs, together with games of chance and
divining by arrows, he yet long hesitated to renounce the three
great goddesses of Mecca-Allât, 'Azzi, and Menât: while Kif,
or the 'divider by lot,' seems to have been an old god of fate;
Khudr, or the 'green one,' is a personification of fertility; and
Dhu en Nun, or the 'fish man' is quite as likely to be Oannes or
Dagon as to be the Prophet Jonah. All these strange characters
hold, in the Korân, a rank hardly inferior to that of Hebrew heroes.
The story of the Deluge in the Sûras is peculiar. The waters
appear to have been boiling hot, and issued from the Tannûr, or
Oven,' which swallowed them again. The waters of hell are
also said to be boiling, and in the Talmud the same idea of a
deluge of hot water is found. The original Tannûr was the
Zemzem well at Mecca, made by Ishmael as a child when he
struck his heel on the sand (a legend also related of Job in the
Korân); but, as we have seen in the text, other Tannûr springs
occur in Syria, and the relation suggested by Professor Sayce
with the chasm at Bambyce is no doubt sound, while the sacred
cave-springs of Aphek and Banias, and other places, have also a
connection with the idea of the Tannûr.
Even Muhammedan writers admit that the Towûf or perambu-
lation of the Meccan Kaaba, had a symbolic meaning connected
with the worship of the stars. The running to and from between
Safa and Merwah is said to symbolize the distraction of Hagar,
but it is more probably derived from the old idea of the sun's
journey backwards and forwards between the mountain of the east
and that of the west. Throwing stones at Eblis, in the Valley of
Mena, is sanctioned by the words of the Korân, and attached to
a legend of Abraham; but, as has been noted in the text of this
volume, it has a much older origin in the Paganism of Syria.
416
HETH AND MOAB.
It would be tedious further to array the evidence of Persian
and pagan influence observable in the Korân, although many
other confirmations might be cited; but at a time when many
Englishmen seem tempted rather to over-estimate the purity of
Moslem teaching, and, as if fascinated by the gravity of Moslem
manners, to extol the followers of the Prophet at the expense of
the Christians of the West, it may not be without interest thus
to point out the true nature of the belief of the Prophet of Islam.
Muhammad was a poet who had gathered a scanty crop of
materials from sources almost inexhaustible: these ideas he
clothed in language which cannot compare for force and beauty
with that of the originals, and he repeated them with wearisome
iteration. His ideas were essentially narrow, and without
originality, as compared even with the teaching of Zoroaster and
Buddha; and, however great his triumph among Arabs, who were
mere savages in a boundless wilderness, the power of Islam has
been consolidated by men not of Arab race, and it is impossible for
the civilized European, unless led astray by enthusiasm or by
interest, seriously to maintain that the barbarous fatalism of
Islam is the religion of the future.
APPENDIX III.
417
No. III.
ON THE JORDAN VALLEY CANAL.
30th August, 1883.
A COMPANY has been formed, of which Capt. Molesworth is
chairman, to connect the Mediterranean with the Gulf of
Akabah by means of a canal letting in the water of the Medi-
terranean into the Jordan valley, and again opening out a
passage from the south end of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of
Akabah through the Arabah. This project is impracticable for
reasons which may be briefly enumerated, but in the first place it
should be noted that the idea is by no means a new one. In the
year 1855, Captain W. Allen, R.N., published a stout volume of
384 pages, entitled 'The Dead Sea a New Route to India.' In a
note on page 353, he says: 'I proposed in the winter of 1853-54
to go and survey the localities, if her Majesty's Government
would have granted me the assistance of an engineer officer; and
Captain Collinson, R.E., offered to accompany me.
My
Lords of the Treasury, however, though "appreciating my motives,
did not feel justified in acceding to my request." The project was
also revived by a Frenchman when the Suez Canal was about to
be made. It was again talked of in 1873, and appears, indeed,
to be destined to be revived every ten years by persons who are
ill-acquainted with practical engineering.
The objections to the project are these:
1st. It would cost some two hundred to four hundred millions
sterling to accomplish.
2nd. The power of evaporation in the Jordan valley is so
great, that it is doubtful if it could ever be filled as proposed.
3rd. The time required, even neglecting evaporation, would
exceed fifty years at least.
27
418
HETH AND MOAB.
These assertions, as also the assertion, which may very safely
be hazarded, that the Sultan's consent will never be given to
such a project, are very contrary to those made by the promoters,
who state:
1st. That the canal would cost at most eight millions sterling.
2nd. That the Jordan valley would be filled in about three
years, 'due allowance being made for evaporation.'
3rd. That the Sultan and the Porte are favourable to the
project. It appears, therefore, perhaps worth while to enter into
calculations on the subject.
The northern canal, from the mouth of the Kishon to the
watershed near Jezreel, would be 25 miles long. The proposed
section has been very variously stated, but in a letter to her
Majesty's Government the promoters mention 300 feet as the
width and 40 feet as the depth. It appears from a letter from
H. J. Martin, M.I.C.E., that they intend to make an elementary
channel 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep, and then trust to the
scour to enlarge the channel; the fall of 6 feet to the mile, which
is mentioned in this letter, giving an enormous velocity for the
water in the channel. No mention is made of the fact that the
formation to be cut through is the hard crystalline limestone,
together with a basaltic district north of Jezreel. No mention
is made of the levels, which are given on the Exploration Map of
Palestine, showing a height of 110 feet near Tell Thora, where
the Kishon leaves the plain of Esdraelon, and of about 200 feet
at the Jezreel watershed. These heights are reliable within
20 feet, at the outside; yet the promoters prefer to rely on an old
map which gives, according to their statement, a maximum height
of 108 feet. The cubic contents of this canal they state at
81,000,000 cubic yards. The real contents may easily be calcu-
lated to be 500,000,000 cubic yards. The expense of excavation
per cubic yard cannot be considered to be less than double that
of the Suez Canal, and indeed it would more probably be four
times the proportionate amount, on account of the hardness of the
material to be excavated. The depth would be on an average
four times as great as that of the Suez Canal, and the expense
per mile is thus at least sixteen times that of the Suez Canal
per mile.
APPENDIX III.
419
Supposing that only an elementary channel was excavated, it
would be found that the amount of water which could be let in
was entirely inadequate to the task proposed, on account of the
great power of evaporation. The surface of the Dead Sea differs
by 15 feet in summer and winter, the difference being due to
evaporation alone. The effect of evaporation varies in proportion
to the depth of the body of water, as compared with its surface.
In a small canal discharging on to a practically unlimited area of
1,500 square miles, the effect would be so enormously increased
that it would in all probability be quite impossible to overcome
the difficulty. The Dead Sea is 1,300 feet deep, and is confined
between walls of rock; yet even this body of water maintains its
level, the drainage of two watersheds of 100 miles by 20 miles
each being annually poured into the Lake without result.
The promoters are thus placed in a dilemma. A very large
channel is practically impossible, on account of expense, while a
small one, even if it cost no more than the Suez Canal, would still
be useless, on account of evaporation.
We have yet said nothing of the southern channel from the
Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah, but the difficulties presented by
this part of the scheme are yet more formidable. The promoters
appear to expect here to deal only with soft sand. Practically, it
is well known that the watershed near Petra, which must per-
force be cut through, consists of sandstone rock. The elevation of
this shed has been variously estimated at from 200 feet to 800 feet
above the Mediterranean. Captain Allen gives a maximum
height of 525 feet: the Duc de Luynes gives 781 feet. The
range of Mount Hor on the east consists partly of sandstone,
partly of hard igneous rocks, and the expense of excavation would
be at least equal per cube yard to that of the northern channel.
The average depth of the channel cannot be stated at less than
about 300 feet, and the length would be probably about 70
miles.
In addition to these great expenses we have to remember:
1st. That labour could not, as in the case of the Suez Canal, be
obtained cheap and by the system of the corvée.
2nd. That compensation must be paid, for Tiberias (3,000
souls), Beisân, and Riha, and for the fields cultivated throughout
27-2
420
HETH AND MOAB.
1
the valley, as well as for the pastures of which the Arab nomadic
tribes would be dispossessed. This compensation alone would
amount to several millions.
3rd. That a port must be made at either end of the canal, each
port being a work of very great expense.
4th. That a simple calculation shows that even if the water
were to pour in through both canals at the rate of 30 miles per
hour, which represents a totally unmanageable force, there would
still be no prospect of the Jordan valley being filled up to the
required depth in even the course of a century.
From such considerations it appears that the scheme is quite
visionary, and that the proposed loan of eight millions, and the
estimated capital of twenty millions, would be wholly inadequate
to the contemplated task.
The reader will be able to form some idea of the magnitude of
the work contemplated in the Arabah when it is represented that
the cutting would be as high as the top of Arthur's Seat above
the sea, or about double the height of St. Paul's; and that forty
times the mass of the Great Pyramid must be moved for a single
mile of such cutting; while the combined streams of Tigris and
Euphrates would fail to fill the valley in the course of a lifetime.
The money required would be about the amount of the national
expenditure for six years.
APPENDIX IV.
421
No. IV.
ON THE HAMATHITE INSCRIPTIONS.
IN the body of the present work only a slight reference has
been made to these hieroglyphics, and to their connection with
Egyptian emblems (pp. 26, 48); but since the first chapters were
written, my attention has been turned to the parallelism between
the Hamathite and the Egyptian symbols, with results which
may be worth consideration.
Concerning this parallelism, Professor Sayce says ('Transactions
of the Biblical Archæological Society,' vol. v., p. 26) that the
Hamathite 'does not seem to have any connection with the hiero-
glyphical system of Egypt,' and he pronounces the attempt of
Mr. D. I. Heath to connect the two to be a failure. In 1882,
however, I visited both the Constantinople and the Bulak
Museums, and was much struck with the general resemblance
in appearance between the letters of the Hamath stones pre-
served in the first, and the old wooden hieroglyphic text from
the tomb of Hosi (Old Empire) in the second. Many of the
emblems, such as the bull's head, antelope's head, bird, hand, etc.,
are common to both these inscriptions; and the resemblance is
more striking than in the case of the later Egyptian texts, because
the wooden texts of Hosi's tomb, and at Sakkarah, are in relief,
like the Hamathite texts, and not in intaglio. To Mr. D. I. Heath
is due the credit of being the first to point to this comparison, but
the system of his identifications he does not appear ever to have
explained, and his conclusions have not met with acceptation,
either as regards the language or the meaning of the Hamath
inscriptions, on which he at one time recognised the names of
Thothmes III. and Amenophis I.
422
HETH AND MOAB.
Professor Sayce has compared many of the Hamathite symbols
with the syllabary of Lycia and of Cyprus, and has pointed out
the existence of a possible bilingual in the silver boss with
a cuneiform inscription reading, 'Tarak Timmi, King of the
country of Erme.' He ascribes these inscriptions to the Hittites,
extending this term to embrace tribes in Asia Minor as far
north as Eyuk, east of the Halys. To Professor Sayce we owe
the recovery of the second Pseudo-Sesostris, near Ephesus, and of
Hamathite inscriptions on the corresponding statue, and on the
so-called Niobe or Cybele, near Smyrna. In his valuable papers
on the Hittites he has also pointed out that they were clearly
not a Semitic race, and he has collected and arranged all that is
historically or monumentally known concerning them.
Nevertheless, two points remain unproven, for want of the
necessary link in the argument. First, it remains to be shown
that the Hamathite and kindred texts are really of Hittite origin.
They are found, it is true, in the land of the Hittites, but until
they are read we are unable to state with certainty that they are
not Semitic or Egyptian. In the second place, it must be con-
sidered merely a provisional arrangement to give the name of
Hittite to all the sculptures and texts of northern Syria and
Asia Minor. The Hittites were one among many tribes of
Alarodians, Proto-Georgians, or Turanians, enumerated on the
monumental inscriptions of Thothmes and Rameses, and on
cuneiform tablets. Historically, the name Khatti or Kheta
seems to be confined, chiefly at least, to the inhabitants of
Northern Syria, between Carchemish on Euphrates and Kadesh
on Orontes. Concerning these tribes, it is curious to note that
the affixed titles, and the proper names of the Hittite kings,
seem to indicate a non-Semitic language, but that the Hittite
deities on the other hand, are Baal, Set, and Ashtoreth, all of
Semitic origin.
The sculpture and inscription found at Ibreez, not far from
Tarsus, on the south side of Asia Minor, is described by Rev.
E. J. Davis (‘Transactions of the Biblical Archæological Society,'
vol. iv., pp. 336-346). Many of the characters are identical with
those on the Hamath stones. The figures represented are those of a
Herculean sun-god in a short tunic, holding corn in the left hand
APPENDIX IV.
423
and grapes in the right, and worshipped by a king in long robes,
with a kind of cidaris head-dress, having a jewel in front. Pro-
fessor Sayce points to the curly-toed shoes of the deity as indicating
Hittite origin, but this argument would prove that the Franks in
Syria, in the thirteenth century, were also Hittites, because it is
known that they adopted the fashion of wearing the curly-toed
Turkish red shoe or slipper.
Professor Sayce himself remarks that the coins of Tarsus
(not far distant) represent a deity with corn and grapes in his
hand, as on the sculpture under consideration, and bearing the
name of Baal Tars, or Baal of Tarsus. This seems to point to a
Semitic origin as possible for the sculpture as well as for the coin,
and following out this clue, it struck me that the features of the
deity and of the king were Semitic, and, which is more important,
that the upper lips of both were shaved, the beard and
whiskers being left untrimmed. This, we know, was a fashion of
the Khar, or Phoenicians, as depicted on monuments of the nine-
teenth dynasty, and the arrangement of the Phoenician robes on
the paintings in question is very similar to that of the king's
robes at Ibreez.
The Hittites on the Abu Simbel sculptures appear beardless,
with long pigtails and moustachios. The difference, therefore,
between the Ibreez type, which accompanies the Hamathite
letters, and the representation of figures which we know to have
been intended to represent the Hittites, is as distinct as it could
well be.
These considerations induced me to examine the question of
the inscriptions more closely. The figures which accompany
them approach in many cases to the Babylonian, while the
symbols are very similar to the Egyptian. This combination
might suggest a Phoenician origin for the Hamathite texts,
and the Hittite origin must, it seems to me, be regarded as
doubtful, at all events for the present. There are about sixty
known Hamathite symbols, and for nearly all of these parallels
more or less close may possibly be found on Egyptian monu-
ments. Every letter of the Semitic alphabet may conjecturally
be traced, and, which is important, the Semitic guttural 'Ain seems
to be among them. Lenormant has pointed out that the Eye of
424
HETH AND MOAB.
¡
Osiris seems to have been used by Egyptians to express this Semitic
sound, and the name of the letter 'Ain, or 'eye,' points to the same
conclusion. On the Hamath stones a rude divided oval might
represent the Eye of Osiris, and, as Professor Sayce has himself
pointed out, seems to be connected with the letter 'Ain. Of the
Hamathite symbols, at least twenty-seven may prove alphabetical,
and this indicates a possible connection with the Egyptian
alphabet of twenty-five letters. Some of these signs are un-
common, such as the bull's head and the antelope's head, but
both these are found on the oldest inscriptions, such as that of
Hosi's tomb. Other symbols, such as the duck, the vase, the
arms, the crane, the semi-circle, the tank, which are rare in
Egyptian, are not found on the Hamathite texts. The Zain is a
rare Semitic letter, and is doubtfully recognisable on the Hamath
stones, as is the Caph, but on the other hand almost every symbol,
of the normal Egyptian alphabet seems to be reproduced on the
Hamathite.
Many of the symbols are evidently determinatives, and seem to
correspond to the hieroglyphic signs so used. Such is the figure with
its hand to its mouth, which in four cases stands at the commence-
ment of Hamathite inscriptions. In Egyptian it signifies to
say,' and thus the Hamath stones seem to begin as do the texts
of Darius at Behistán for instance-Says Darius the King.'
The hand with a stick is the determinative of verbs of force in
Egyptian, and is also found in Hamathite. The cross in a circle,
which is the sign for countries in Egyptian, is also found in
Hamathite, and there are several symbols, such as the scarab, and
perhaps the pshent or double crown, which occur in Hamathite
yet are very distinctly Egyptian.
These indications seem to me to point clearly to the importance
of an exhaustive comparison of Hamathite and hieroglyphic texts.
It is true that sixty symbols may represent only an imperfect
system as compared with the 400 symbols used in Egypt, but Dr.
Isaac Taylor has pointed out that the Egyptians simplified their
system as they went on; and the Karnak lists show us that
Thothmes III. used comparatively few signs in his attempt to
reproduce Semitic names of towns which he conquered in Pales-
tine. On the other hand, some of the Hamathite symbols do not
:
APPENDIX IV.
425
belong to the normal alphabet of Egypt, but are alphabetic signs
on the earliest Egyptian monuments.
A comparison with some of the results reached by Professor
Sayce seems to me to strengthen my position. Thus the yoke'
should be the Cheth according to the present theory, while Pro-
fessor Sayce compares this symbol with the Cypriote syllable Ko.
The Cypriotes, however, did not distinguish the K and the Cheth.
The 'crochet' seems to me to be the symbol which Professor
Sayce compares to the Cypriote Se, and in Egyptian it represents
S. But yet more important is the supposed bilingual of the silver
boss. The first Hittite sign on this boss seems to be the antelope's
head, the third is possibly the triangle. The first in Egyptian
would be T, the latter K. In this case we have two letters of the
name of Tarrak Timmi, as read in the cuneiform inscription on
this boss by Professor Sayce. If these comparisons be really sound,
the theory of the value of the Hamathite symbols now suggested
seems to be materially strengthened, and it appears, prima facie,
improbable that so many symbols should be exactly the same in
Egyptian and Hamathite, including such a suggestive deter-
minative as that which commences the Hamathite texts, without
there being any real connection.
There are two theories according to which the Hamathite texts
might be accounted for. In the first place De Rougé, supported,
and supplemented by Dr. Isaac Taylor, has shown us that the
Phoenician alphabet was derived from the Egyptian hieratic, and
thus originally from the hieroglyphic. But if the Phoenicians
thus developed the simplest Semitic alphabet from the Egyptian
somewhere about 1500 B.C., is it not possible that, at an earlier
period, they may have imitated the Egyptian hieroglyphic system,
and that the Hamathite texts thus represent the earliest Phoenician
inscriptions for the Khar were probably known in Egypt as early
as 2000 B.C. Such a suggestion seems also to agree with what has
been urged previously concerning the Semitic character of the
sculptures which accompany the inscriptions in Hamathite or
Hittite characters. In this case the inscriptions must be read as
if Semitic. They are arranged boustrophedon, or alternately from
right to left and from left to right, like the earliest Greek texts
derived from the Phoenicians. The true Semitic arrangement is
426
HETH AND MOAB.
in lines, all from right to left, but in Egypt the hieroglyphics are
variously arranged, and this boustrophedon arrangement may
indicate an early date for the Hamathite texts. It was first
pointed out by Dr. Ward in 1873. It may also perhaps indicate
a Phoenician origin.
The second theory which might prove correct is, that the
Hamathite texts are Egyptian. This can easily be determined
by Egyptologists. The Egyptians were an Asiatic Caucasian
race, and it might even turn out that the texts represent the
earliest efforts of some Asiatic tribe (like the Colchians or the
Taurians), who were of the same stock with the Egyptians,
according to Herodotus and the monuments. The small number
of the symbols, on the other hand, seems rather to point to later
date, and it might prove that native sculptors were employed by
Egyptian conquerers, and that their clumsy efforts to reproduce
Egyptian types account for the peculiarities of Hamathite, which
is rude and primitive indeed as compared with Egyptian sculpture.
Much of the difference is, however, clearly due to the circum-
stance that the Hamathite inscriptions are in relief, while the
majority of the Egyptian are intaglio.
Even supposing that the inscriptions cannot be read as either
Semitic or Egyptian, we need not even then despair of reading
them. Accadian is a well-known tongue to such savants as Mr.
Pinches, or Professor Sayce, or M. F. Lenormant. The affinities
to Finnish have been noted: and, preserving the Egyptian value
of the symbols, it might yet be possible to interpret the in-
scriptions as Turanian in language.
While printing this note I have received information that
Dr. Gollob read last year on the statue of Niobe the cartouche
of Rameses II. Professor Krall points out that the symbols on
this cartouche are badly executed, resembling Phoenician copies
of Egyptian objects.
These suggestions are offered to the learned with the greatest
diffidence, in the hope that they may be worth notice. It may,
however, prove that the true origin of Hamathite symbols exists
in the hieroglyphics whence the linear Babylonian cuneiform
was derived.
APPENDIX V.
427
No. V.
NOTE ON THE KHAR.
THIS term is applied on Egyptian monuments to the Phoenicians
as early as the time of the eighteenth dynasty (see Brugsch's 'Egypt
under the Pharaohs,' vol. i., pp. 221, 223, 224, 225). In the
Assyrian records Akharu is the Semitic name of Phoenicia (see
'Transactions of the Biblical Archæological Society,' vol. v., p. 43).
This at once explains the Egyptian term.
The word is the same
as the Hebrew and Arabic Akhar (behind'), which signifies
geographically the west, as Kedem (the front') signifies the east,
in consequence of the orientation of all ancient buildings with
reference to the rising sun (see Exodus iii. 1, and Judges xviii. 12,
where the real meaning is 'to the west'). Phoenicia to the
Assyrians was the land of the west, just as to the Greeks it was
the land of the rising sun. The term Hor-ha-Har (Num. xxxiv. 8)
refers, not to Mount Hor in Arabia, but to some place on the
north border of the Holy Land (see verse 7); for the Hor near
Petra could not be seen from the 'Great Sea,' or Mediterranean.
It stands at present written with a Heh instead of a Cheth, but
these letters are so closely similar that a hair's-breadth of differ-
ence with the pen would make the alteration. The Phoenicians
are not mentioned by that name (Feneku) in the Bible, but the
Mount of the Khar may preserve the old Semitic name first
given by tribes dwelling east of Lebanon.
1
428
HETH AND MOAB.
No. VI.
NOTE ON SOME EXPLORATIONS WEST OF JORDAN.
Ir may here be recorded that during the years 1881-2 several
interesting explorations were carried out west of Jordan.
The most important of these was the exploration of the Hebron
Haram by their Royal Highnesses Prince Albert Victor and
Prince George of Wales. They were attended by the Rev. J. N.
Dalton, C.M. G., Colonel Sir C. W. Wilson, K.C.M.G., C.B., R.E.,
and Captain Conder.
The discovery of an ancient tomb, which I have suggested may
be the real site of the sepulchre of our Lord, has also excited
some interest in England. This is fully treated in a paper in the
Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund for April,
1883. The identification of the site of Calvary at the 'House of
Stoning,' north of Jerusalem, had been already proposed in 'Tent
Work in Palestine.'
The inscription in the Siloam tunnel was found in 1880 and
copied by Professor Sayce early in 1881. The explorations in
the tunnel, in which I was assisted by Lieutenant Mantell, and
the copy which we sent home in 1881 together with a very
successful cast, will be found fully described in the Quarterly
Statements for 1881 and 1882.
A good many minor discoveries not noticed in the present
volume were also made west of Jordan in 1881-2, as will be found
in the Quarterly Statements of the Society.
APPENDIX VII.
429
No. VII.
ON THE SHAPIRA MS.
HAVING been given the opportunity of closely inspecting this MS. I
formed the opinion that it is a clever forgery. It is written on
leather, and the leather is limp and flexible. It cannot properly
be said to be embalmed, and the condition of the material
contrasts with that of the papyri found in Egypt in a remarkable
manner. It appears quite impossible that leather can have been
preserved so long in the damp atmosphere of a country with 20
inches of annual rainfall, and as an explorer I am well acquainted
with the damp mouldy smell of all the tombs and caves of the
country.
The Jews were using square Hebrew for Sacred writing as
early at least as the Christian Era, and as the present MS. is in
the character of the Moabite stone, it must be considered to be
supposed to be 2,500 years old at least. The earliest MSS. of
the Old Testament which we possess date from the seventh
century, A.D., and these are in a very decayed condition. The
oldest MS. at Nâblus is probably about the same age, and I was
much struck by the contrast between the Samaritan MS., so care-
fully preserved for many centuries in the synagogue, and the
leather slips supposed to be fifteen centuries older. The Samaritan
roll is chipped and torn, and the letters much faded. The
Moabite leather is limp and fairly consistent, and the letters are
darker and more distinct than in the Samaritan. Yet the
Moabite roll is supposed to have lain till quite lately in a tomb
in a gorge of the Arnon, east of the ruins of Aroer.
We have as yet no information as to the supposed finders of
the Shapira MS. During my stay in Moab I had many conver-
430
HETH AND MOAB.
sations as to inscriptions with the Bedawîn, who are busily
looking out for antiquities to sell. They never mentioned any
such find, but they showed me places where they said that
forgers coming from Jerusalem had buried pottery, afterwards
dug up and supposed to be ancient. It appears that some frag-
ments of pottery resembling that which was pronounced by many
learned authorities to be forged, in 1874, were offered with the
Shapira MS., and these were shown to me by M. Shapira.
The fact that the Commandments have points dividing the
words, while the rest of the text has not, appears also to be very
suspicious.
It is said that the MS. was found with a mummy like the
Egyptian mummies. Now, the Surveyors have proved that the
Moabite tombs resembled those of the Jews and Phoenicians,
which were not intended for mummies. The Semitic races did not
mummify their dead, as is shown not only by their sepulchres,
but also by their horror of touching the decaying corpse. Are
we, then, to suppose that an Egyptian buried in Moab caused a
copy of the Law of Moses to be buried with him?
We know that the Accadians used papyrus, and that the Baby-
lonians had books, but none of them have been preserved to our
own days. The Egyptian papyri are at least as old as 1400 B.C.,
and in a few cases much older; but these are preserved in the
dry Theban deserts, where no rain falls, and where even the
moisture of the Nile does not affect the climate.
The above practical reflections appeared sufficient to me to
condemn this supposed recension of Deuteronomy as a forgery.
APPENDIX VIII.
431
No. VIII.
ON VARIOUS POPULAR OPINIONS.
PROFESSOR DE MORGAN published the paradoxes against which he
had to strive in mathematics, Professor Max Müller has collected
the false analogies which bring discredit on philology; but to
collect the various unsound theories and delusions connected with
the study of Syrian archeology would require a library by itself.
Various ideas and schemes appear again and again, as though
never refuted previously, and some of our modern delusions are
at least as old as the fourth century. Israelitish origin, which
was a fashionable theory half a century ago, is again in vogue,
and the Jordan Valley Canal will be found fully discussed as
early as 1854 by Captain W. Allen, R. N., when the Government
of the day declined to find money for a preliminary survey of the
route. A book was once written to prove that the Jerusalem of
the Bible was the present Hebron. The existence of the cities of
the plain under the Dead Sea was firmly credited by Josephus,
as it still is by many persons in England, in spite of all that has
been written on the geology of the district.
The constant production of forgeries is another misleading
element. Thus, the supposed coinage of Barcochebas probably
owes its origin to clumsy forgery of old Jewish coins on half-
effaced Roman pieces: for the numismatic theories of De Saulcy
depend on a series of most improbable assumptions. The forgery
of Jewish coins continues actively to be pursued in Palestine, and
some of these productions are very cleverly executed. At Sidon
Phoenician antiquities are forged, and the Moabite pottery was
condemned by every authority in England as a forgery. The
ring of David in square Hebrew is a somewhat more clumsy
432
HETH AND MOAB.
attempt, which no doubt resulted from Colonel Warren's discovery
of a genuine Hebrew signet. Samson's leaden coffin, with his
name legibly written in square characters, was condemned by the
fact that lead was only used in Christian times in tombs, so far
as we can gather, as well as by the characters used. The new
MS. of Deuteronomy, though it has obtained greater fame, cannot
compare with some other forgeries for artistic merit. Monsters
made by combining the heads, bodies, wings, and tails of various
animals are offered for sale in Jerusalem which are more ingenious
than the embalmed manuscript;' and the travellers who will
gravely receive the dragoman's assurance that a buffalo is a cross
between a cow and a donkey (as I have heard asserted on several
occasions) would easily be induced to purchase such objects. A
great vendor of antiquities at Nâblus once told me how he forged
Samaritan rolls. The synagogue prayer-books, steeped in coffee
grounds, assume, he says, an age of about 3,000 years in the space
of three weeks.
The harm done by such unscrupulous deception is evident
when a respectable journal states that the Moabite stone and the
Siloam inscription stand on the same footing with the new MS. of
Deuteronomy. It must be remembered that both these monu-
ments were accidentally found by disinterested and respectable
persons. Both are above suspicion; and the text of the latter
was rendered almost illegible by a deposit of lime from the water
in the letters, which could only be produced by a great lapse of
time, and which was cautiously removed by a weak acid solution
before the squeezes and the plaster cast could be taken.

SKETCH MAP OF SYRIA.
SHEWING CAPT CONDER'S ROUTES 1881-2.
Aradas
Antaradus
0
10
20
Scale of Miles
30
40
50
Western Survey 1872-7..
El Hosn
REleuther
Orontes
EMESA
Homs
Sidd
TRIPOL
Arka
Eastern Survey 1881.
Author's Routes in Red Lines
Maria
Total 1050 Miles on Shore
Theouprosq
Batrin
Lake of Koteineh
KADESH ON ORONTES
Riblah
Kamuat el Hirmil
Ain el 'Asy
Ras Baalbek
Lebweh
BY BLOSO
RAdonis
Afka
Yamuneh
Junieh
B
BAALBEK
BEYROUTO Kareiyeh
Sarepta
SIDONIO
R.Litany
Zahleh
Zebdany
Rashaiya
A Hermon
9200 ft
BANIAS
ABILA
in Fij
13
ODAMASCUS
TYRED
Hibbariya

JAFEA
GAZA
SAFED
Chorazin
Carmel
Tiberias
Kersa
SIbreck
NAZARETH
LIMITS
OF
Tabor
Mahrakan
Legro
Jezreel
Jerin
Dothano Kubo
PROPOSED
Ramoth Gilead (Reimun)
SAMARIA
O GERASA
SHECHEM
Rajib
R.
завод
Lydda
Taiyobeh
BETHEL Rimmon
B Horon
Gibeon Jerich
Lorah ERUSALEM
SALT
Jogbehah
Tyrus
ORABBATH AMMON
Kelren
MNebo
Mar Saba
B.Lehem
Herodin
Tekoa
HEBRON
Callirhoe
O
OHESHBON
Machoerus
BAAL MEON
O DIBON
o Arcer
R.Arnon
• Kerak
OMADEBA
Beersheba
Vincent Brooks Day & Son lith
INDEX.
Abel Shittim, 148.
Abu Zeid, 351, 360.
Adonis, 77, 78, 79.
River, 76.
'Adwân Arabs, 306, 309, 322.
Afka, 2, 39, 77.
'Ain, 10.
'Ain el 'Asy, 7, 10, 11.
Hesbân, 125.
Alborz, 409.
Alexander, 300.
Alignments, 193, 202, 205.
Altars, Phoenician, 87.
Aly (Imâm), 347, 357.
Amairo (Amorites), 20.
Amanus (Mount), 9.
Ammân, 152-162.
Dolmens, 245-246.
Amûd el Benât, 6.
'Anazeh Arabs, 307.
Ancestor Worship, 327.
Anseiriyeh, 282, 387.
Antar, 348, 359.
April Fools, 286.
Aqueducts (mud), 15.
Arab Civilization, 161.
,, Paganism, 328.
'Arâk el Emîr, 164-172, 353.
Architecture, Arab, 160.
>>
Byzantine, 159.
Jewish, 169, 170.
Roman, 154.
Arjûn, 35.
Arka (Arkites), 62.
Arks, 35, 224.
Armenians, 393.
Armour, Arab, 330.
Asâf and Naila, 212.
Ascent of Jesus, 350.
Ashtoreth, 22, 64, 78.
Assassins, 281, 381.
Astronomy, Arab, 337.
'Ayûn Mûsa, 128.
Bamoth Baal, 141, 142.
Bath Rabbim, 125.
Batrûn, 75.
Bektashi Derwishes, 289.
Belka, 140.
Belkis, 127.
Beni Hasan Arabs, 307.
Sakhr Arabs, 306, 308.
Berothah, 9.
Beth Meon, 139.
Beth Peor, 141, 142.
Black Heroes, 360.
Bridge of Gathering, 278, 301.
Bronze Tablet from Palmyra, 82.
Bubale, 124.
Buddee ed Dîn, 407.
Byblos, 76.
Byzantine Architecture, 159.
Cadytis, 25.
Cain and Abel, 144, 299.
Cairns, 234-236, 257.
Callirhoe, 141, 144.
Camels, 338.
Caves Sacred, 287.
Character, Arab, 314, 317.
Christian Sects, 385.
Ciccar Plain, 180, 183, 184.
Circassians, 161, 162.
Circles, 213-216, 220, 227, 257.
Cities of the Plain, 149.
City of Copper, 349.
Cook, Mr., 361, 382.
Courage, Arab, 318-320.
28
434
HETH AND MOAB.
Courtesy, Arab, 312.
Crac des Chevaliers, 51, 55.
Crusading Castles, 51, 59.
Rule, 60.
Ctesiphon Palace, 158.
Cup Hollows, 228-230.
Dancing Derwishes, 65-72, 290.
Daphne, 169.
Dead Sea Geology, 122.
Debir, 180.
Deir Ghazaleh Dolmen, 243.
Derwishes, 65, 288, 406.
Diblathaim, 262.
Disc Stones, 256, 262.
Dish of Abu Zeid, 256.
Distribution of Dolmens, 194.
Dolmens, 221-267, 328.
Dome of the Rock, 159.
Donkey's Back, 354.
Dragon Fountain, 298.
Druzes, 280, 388.
Egyptian and Hamathite, 421-426.
Elagabalus, 43.
Elealah, 138.
Eleutherus River, 49, 62, 64.
Elijah, 277.
Emesa (Homs), 42.
Esau, 299.
Evil Eye, 285.
Fables, Arab, 352.
Factions, Moslem, 377.
Feasts of Arabs, 328.
Field of Zophim, 130.
Fikieh, 10.
Fires, 286.
Fish, Sacred, 64, 100, 291.
Flowers, 188.
Footprints, 294.
Forgeries, 429-432.
Frescoes, 74.
Gad, Border of, 151.
Gebal Giblites, 76, 77.
Gerasa, 185.
Ghareisah and Zeid, 351.
Gilgal, 220.
Goblân, 109-116.
Gomorrah, 149.
Grackle Bird, 124.
Hadanieh Circle, 250.
Hair Offerings, 331, 408.
Hajâret en Nasâra, 242.
Hajr ed Dumm, 242.
el Hubleh, 242.
""
""
el Mansûb, 253.
""
el Mena, 256, 326.
>>
Munkeia, 242.
Hamath, 7.
421.
Inscriptions, 23, 24, 26, 48,
Hameidi Arabs, 307.
Hammon, 87.
Hâna and Bâna, 352.
Hand of Might, 275.
Hanîf, 410, 413.
Har or Khar, 7, 10, 427.
Hazar Enan, 7, 8, 10.
Heshbon, 138.
Himyaritic Letters, 341.
History of the Survey, 4, 103-120.
Hittites, 16, 19, 22 26, 33, 34, 422,
423.
Homs (Emesa), 42-49.
Horses, Arab, 339, 366.
Hosein, 408.
el Hosn, 51.
Hot Springs, 146.
Human Sacrifice, 99, 152, 211, 212.
Hunting, 343.
Hyrcanus, 163, 164, 170.
Ibreez Sculptures, 422.
Identifications, 140.
Inscriptions, 44, 52, 171, 172, 421-
426, 432.
Ism'aileh, 281, 386.
Jabbok River, 185.
Jebel Osh'a, 181.
Jehoshaphat Valley, 278.
Jerâsh, 185.
Jewish Superstitions, 272-278.
Jews, 279.
Jibeil (Byblos), 76.
Job's Fountain, 296.
Jordan Valley Canal, 417.
Kabr 'Abdallah, 134.
Kadesh on Orontes, 18-34, 64.
el Kâf (Mountain), 409.
Kamû'at el Hirmil, 11-14.
Kareiyah, 1.
Kasr el 'Abd, 166-169, 353.
INDEX.
435
Kefr el Wâl, 244.
Kefrein, 148, 251.
Kenites, 144.
Kerâd Goblins, 296.
Khar, 7, 79, 427.
Kiosk at 'Ammân, 157-161.
el Khudr, 299.
Kodeshoth, 25.
Koran, 302-304:
Koteineh, Lake, 26, 27, 35-40, 49.
Kurmîyeh Dolmens, 246-248.
Kuseir, 17.
Lebanon Government, 381, 397.
Lebweh Leboa, 6, 7, 10.
Libben (bricks), 16.
Lilith, 275.
Litâny River, 10.
Living Stones, 198.
Luck Marks, 285, 286.
Lucky Days, 285.
Machærus, 145, 147.
Mahanaim, 177, 179, 180.
Mahmal, 344.
Nahaliel, 141,
Nahleh, 5.
144.
Nail Parings, 274.
Names, Arab, 329.
Nebo, Mount, 129-137, 249.
Neby Duhy, 301.
""
""
M'ashûk, 91, 300.
Mendeh, 13, 18, 28, 29.
'Othman, 10.
Osh'a, 182, 183.
Samat, 270.
Shît, 299.
New Moon, 275, 285.
Nimrod, 299, 302.
Noah's Ark, 35, 36, 298.
Tomb, 298.
North Border of Holy Land, 7.
Numbers of Arabs, 311.
Og's Bedstead, 155, 245.
Oiled Stones, 198, 209.
Oleander, 169.
Ordeals, Arab, 343.
Orontes River, 8, 10.
Malawîyeh Derwishes, 65-72, 290. Ostriches, 124.
el Mareîghât, 254, 255.
Marina, 73.
Marks on Dolmens, 226.
Mar Marûn, 10, 12.
Maronite Superstitions, 284.
Mashita Palace, 160.
Masons' Marks, 56.
Mâta et Turkomanîyeh, 326.
Medeba, 138.
Melcarth, 88-91, 96, 98, 300.
Menhirs, 193, 197-202, 253-255, 258.
Mensef Abu Zeid, 256.
Meshâhed, 206, 327.
Metâwileh, 384, 389.
Metzebah, 209.
Minyeh, 143, 347.
Dolmens, 252.
Mithræa, 288.
Mizpeh, 175.
Moab, 120-122.
Moabite Pottery, 431.
Stone, 432.
11
el Mohdy, 40, 303, 407.
Moslem Factions, 377.
Myths, 288, 302.
Mosque of Light, 43-47.
Mount Pilgrim, 63, 65.
Munker and Nakîr, 302.
Ovens, 17.
Palæ-Tyrus, 94.
Palm, Sacred, 300.
Passing through, 292.
Penuel, 177-179.
Périetié Collection, 81-83.
Philadelphia, 152.
Phoenicians, 79-102.
Pisgah, 129, 141.
Politics, Arab, 308, 323.
Pomegranate Offerings, 297.
Popular Opinions, 431.
Pseudo Traditions, 271.
Rabbath Ammon, 152.
Railways, 49.
Ramath Mizpeh, 175.
Ramoth Gilead, 174.
Raymond of St. Gilles, 63.
Red Heifer Bridge, 278.
Reimûn, 175, 187.
Religion, Arab, 324, 325.
Riblah, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16.
Ring Hill, 252.
Roebuck, 124.
Roman Architecture, 154.
436
HETH AND MOAB.
Rude Stone Monuments, 15, 149, | Tashlich, 274, 275.
155, 176, 190, 266.
Russian Pilgrims, 370, 392.
Rustem, 362, 364.
"}
Pasha, 365, 383.
Sabbatic River, 53.
Sacred Stones, 191-201, 209-212.
Sakîb, 187.
es Sâlt, 180.
Samaritan Legends, 279.
Samson, 270, 274.
Sannîn, Mount, 2, 6.
Sassanian Architecture, 158.
""
Myths, 361.
Secret Passage, 156.
Seisebân Plain, 148.
Sentinel Stones, 226.
Set, 22, 79, 101, 144, 299, 422.
Shabatuna, 20, 54.
Shapira MS., 429.
Shedim (demons), 279.
Shoes, Sacred, 295.
Sidd, 42.
Siloam Inscription, 428, 432
Sitt Eslamîyeh, 300.
Solomon's Servant, 147, 326.
Sodom, 149.
Springs, Sacred, 296.
Sticks, 330.
Stonehenge, 193.
Stylites, 6.
Sûf Mizpeh, 175, 243.
Sûk Sairi, 240.
Sûmia, 126, 249.
Sun Worship, 218, 327.
Swastica, 227.
Table of Christ, 243.
Tahtun Hodshi, 25.
Talmud, 274.
Tammuz, 77.
Tannûr, 32, 36, 298, 415.
Tear of Isis, 406.
Tell el Kady Dolmens, 240.
Shaghûr, 150.
Tells, 236.
Templars, 290.
Theouprosopon, 74.
Thieves, Arab, 341.
Thresholds, 294.
Tob, Land of, 176.
Tombs, Amman, 152-156.
""
""
>>
Arab, 313.
Phoenician, 92-93.
Prehistoric, 260.
Topes, 236.
Trade of Tyre, 95.
Trees, Sacred, 41, 326, 295.
Tribe Marks, 341.
Tripoli, 63.
Turkomans, 14, 16.
Typhon River, 8.
Tyre, 88-100.
Tyrus, 164.
Umm el 'Amûd, 86-87.
Utfa Palanquin, 344.
Valley of Figs, 98.
Wishing Stones, 256.
Wood of Ephraim, 180, 181.
Women, Arab, 333-337.
Zahleb, 3.
Zedad, 7.
Zeid, 351.
Zenobia's Garden, 127.
Zerka M'aîn, 144.
77
Shebîb, 185.
Zikr Ceremonies, 71.
Zîr, Legends of, 354-359.
Zoar, Site of, 150.
Zoology of Moab, 125.
THE END.
BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD AND LONDON.
By the Same Author.
TENT-WORK IN PALESTINE.
BENTLEY, 1878. 24s.
'Full of information for the historian and the archæologist, for the lovers of
natural beauty and the lovers of adventure.'—Edinburgh Review.
'A graphic account.'-Saturday Review.
'The greatest contribution to our knowledge of Palestine which has been
made since the volumes of Dr. Robinson.'-British Quarterly.
'It will always remain one of the most valuable contributions to the litera-
ture of Palestine.'-Pall Mall Gazette.
'Peculiarly happy and faithful.'—Athenæum.
JUDAS MACCABEUS.
MARCUS WARD, 1879. 2s. 6d.
'The book is a thoroughly good one, and should find many readers.'-
Athenæum.
'A worthy record of a worthy life.'—Examiner.
'This interesting monograph belongs to the useful series of volumes known
as the "New Plutarch."—Pall Mall Gazette.
Third Edition, now ready, in One Volume, post 8vo., pp. 458, with Thirteen
Maps, Plans, and Plates of Coins, price 7s. 6d., cloth.
A HANDBOOK TO THE BIBLE;
Being a Guide to the Study of the Holy Scriptures
DERIVED FROM
Ancient Monuments and Modern Exploration.
BY
F. R. CONDER, M.INST.C.E., AND CAPT. C. R. CONDER, R.E.
<
Longmans, 1879.
ATHENÆUM.
A third edition of CONDER'S "Handbook to the Bible" is in the press. It
is, perhaps, unprecedented in Biblical literature for the same work to have been
highly recommended by a Primate of the Church of England, a Roman Cardinal,
and a Jewish Chief Rabbi; such, however, has been the good fortune of this
Handbook.'
The following is printed by permission of His Grace the Primate.
BISHOPSTHORPE, YORK:
May 10, 1880.
MY DEAR SIR,-
I know your 'Handbook to the Bible' well, having procured it as
soon as I heard of it, and having read it twice with a good deal of attention.
It gives a great deal of information, and is no mere compilation, but an
original and an important work. I wish every candidate for holy orders
would use it, both before and after ordination.
I think I have never referred to it in vain, and I have certainly gone back
to its pages very often.
Lieut. CONder.
I am, yours truly,
PRESBYTERIAN REVIEW, New York.
W. EBOR.
'This volume furnishes us one of the most welcome and serviceable helps
to the study of the Bible. The compactness of the volume, the felicitous
arrangement of its materials, the broad, diligent, and judicious use which has
been made of its sources, the rare personal opportunities of at least one of its
editors, and the manifest competence of both, its attractive style, its numerous
tables and copious indexes, will make it a constant companion to those who
know when they have found a prize.’
BRITISH QUARTERLY.
This must not by any means be classed with the ordinary compilations
which from time to time appear under similar titles. It is, in a large degree,
founded upon original research, and, throughout, upon investigation of the
latest palæographical discoveries and monuments. The work is at once
popular and scholarly-suitable for both unlearned and learned. The former
will find all the information they need; the latter, references to authorities
which will enable further investigation.'
•
BRITISH AND FOREIGN EVANGELICAL REVIEW.
For ordinary use, and as bringing our knowledge up to date, the volume
published by the Messrs. CONDER leaves nothing to be desired.'
i
2
CONDER'S BIBLE HANDBOOK.
ACADEMY.
'The idea of this compact, yet comprehensive, little book is an excellent
one, and the volume is designed to supply a much-felt want.'
GUARDIAN.
'We can heartily commend a "Handbook to the Bible," by Messrs. F. R.
and C. R. CONDER. It is quite a multum in parvo, apparently furnishing
everything that a young student could expect in such a manual.'
BULLETIN CRITIQUE.
'Un livre de ce genre devrait exister en français. . . . Nous n'insisterons
pas sur la valeur d'un pareil ouvrage. Le nom de ses auteurs suffit pour le
recommander aux lecteurs français.'
The LITERARY WORLD.
•
"The "Handbook to the Bible is designed to afford students of Holy
Scripture, in the most compact form, the benefits resulting from the important
researches and discoveries of recent years. There are plates of coins, but
we attach far more importance to the new maps and plans, which contain the
results of the recent explorations conducted by various officers of the Royal
Engineers, who have been working in Palestine during the last fifteen years.
For clearness and beauty they leave nothing to be desired; and for the first
time there is brought within the reach of ministers, students, and Sunday-
school teachers, maps in which accurate survey takes the place of mere guess-
work. The gazetteer contains a digest of the Biblical discoveries made by
the various exploring parties, and by the most reliable travellers who pre-
ceded them, in a form available for immediate use. Of places mentioned in
the Old and New Testaments and the Apocrypha it contains the names of 840,
and the modern designation is added, where the site has been recovered with
reasonable certainty. The identifications depend upon either the survival of
the name in Aramaic or Arabic form to the present day at the site, or they
have been made in accordance with measured distances and those given by
the most trustworthy authorities. Not less than 140 of these sites recovered
have never appeared on previous maps. Where doubts still exist the authors
have not hesitated to avow ignorance; these places are marked as unknown.
But the most of them are in the Sinaitic Desert or on the east of the Jordan.
This description of the book will show what a valuable addition has been
made to the apparatus of the student for understanding and determining the
exact character of the surroundings and settings of Divine Revelation.
We
have nothing comparable with it for fulness of details. . . . The book deserves
the highest praise we can accord it for the thoroughness and painstaking care
of its authors. We cordially commend it to all Bible students as an indis-
pensable requisite, even if they can command larger and more expensive
volumes. It is an almost perfect "Handbook to the Bible."
ABERDEEN JOURNAL.
'For the use of ministers no less than all Bible readers and students who
desire a thorough and fresh knowledge on all subjects allied to the Sacred
Scriptures, no better handbook than this of Messrs. CONDER could be
devised.'
DUNDEE ADVERTISER.
'Such a handbook was emphatically needed, and is extremely valuable as a
book of reference. No book-buyer need be afraid to order it because he already
possesses a similar work. Messrs. CONDER'S will be found not so much to
supersede as to supplement and complete other Bible handbooks.'
CONDER'S BIBLE HANDBOOK.
يب
The BUILDER.
'This is a large book in a little space, and includes the results of much
reading and travel. It has been the main object of the writers, so far as
possible, to avoid every expression of opinion, whether their own or that of
any school of thinkers, and to supply, first, facts, and secondly, careful
references, by which the citation of these facts may be verified, and the in-
ferences from them traced by the reader himself to the legitimate result.
We can warmly recommend the book, and augur for it a long-continued
sale.'
The GLASGOW HERALD.
4
'Messrs. CONDER'S handbook deals with the Bible as an historical
record, and compares, verifies, and corrects the chronological, historical, and
geographical statements which it contains. The first two chapters give
evidence of a vast amount of painstaking research into the chronology and
historic synchronisms of the Bible, and, with the tables attached, must prove
of immense value to the student. These are followed by several interesting
chapters on the conditions of life among the Hebrews, on Palestine at
different stages in its history. To these succeed two copious treatises on
Jerusalem and the Temple, a list of the towns of Judah and Benjamin,
lists of animals and plants named in the Bible, and a topographical index or
gazetteer, which forms a novel and very valuable feature. The volume is
well illustrated with maps, plans, plates of coins, etc., and presents, in a neat
and handy form, a most desirable aid to the study of the greatest book in the
world.'
The NONCONFORMIST & INDEPENDENT.
'The name of the author is indissolubly connected with the important dis-
coveries which have amply rewarded the toil and research expended by the
staff of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the trigonometrical survey of the
Holy Land, the large engraved map of which is now in course of publication.
Their personal observation of the localities, and thorough acquaintance with
the work which has been carried on during the last fifteen years, suffice to
give assurance of the value to be attached to the description here given of the
physical character of the Holy Land; while the indications which are afforded
of the geographical boundaries of the subdivisions at various periods of its
history are set forth with all the clearness and precision of which the present
knowledge upon the subject admits.
This attractive volume, with its
maps, tables, and illustrations, will be found a most welcome addition to
Biblical literature.'
The ROCK.
'This valuable work should be heartily welcomed by Bible students and
readers generally, presenting, as it does, in a handy form, the results of the
important researches which have been carried on during the present century
with regard to Biblical illustration as furnished by Bible lands.
The opening
section is devoted to the chronology of the Bible, which is based on a careful
collation of the Hebrew and Greek texts, and on the study of various sources
of information. Historic synchronism, the metrology of the Bible, the Bible
almanac, the Hebrew ritual, the government of the Hebrews, taxes, tribute,
and offerings, art and science among the Israelites, the social life of the
Hebrews, physical description of the Holy Land at various periods of Scripture
history, and a Biblical gazetteer, are among the headings of the several
divisions, from which it will be seen that a wide range has been taken by the
Authors, whose special fitness for the task few are likely to question. Maps
and diagrams add much to the value of the work.'
4
C
CONDER'S BIBLE HANDBOOK.
The ENGLISH CHURCHMAN.
The sub-title of this volume is a most faithful and trustworthy indication
of its contents. The Authors call it a Guide to the Study of the Holy
Scriptures, derived from Ancient Monuments and Modern Explorations. Its
Maps, which are quite ideal of their kind, its plates of coins, with their ex-
cellent explanations and Scripture references, its chronology, synchronology,
metrology, Bible almanac, expositions of the ritual, government, art, science,
taxation, and social life amongst the Hebrews, contain a mass of detail, lucidly
explained and illustrated, not to be found in any other Bible handbook.
We wish we could transfer the whole preface to our columns.
All we can say
is, that it does not contain a promise which is not honestly and thoroughly
fulfilled in the valuable and interesting text.'
SATURDAY REVIEW.
•
•
'Results of great value to Biblical history and archæology have followed
upon the operations of the Palestine Exploration Fund, coupled with those of
the Society of Biblical Archæology. This handy little volume may be regarded
as in great measure an offshoot of the original enterprise. Here the latest
and most authentic results of the Survey are worked in, and a careful study
of Talmudical literature has been made to supplement the investigations of
archæologists and engineers upon the spot. The Bible student will find here
the clearest and fullest statement compatible with its limits of the evidence
upon which we may rely for the construction in idea of buildings and monu-
ments of deathless interest to Christian and Hebrew alike. At the end of
the book a useful list is given of the animals and plants of the Bible, with a
critical interpretation of the original names, based on the best authority, and
their scientific equivalents; followed by a topographical index or Biblical
gazetteer, a ready means of reference for the names of persons (840 in number)
mentioned in the Old and New Testaments and in the Apocrypha.'
The DAILY REVIEW, Edinburgh.
'A work of intrinsic value. The writers have been intimately connected
with the more recent explorations and discoveries in the Holy Land; and this
experience is here employed in presenting in a condensed form the main
outcome of the important researches carried on during the present century.
One of the most valuable chapters is on historic synchronisms. Important
data are given for the study of the metrology of the Bible, while the physical
The volume is
aspects of Palestine are ably and scientifically treated.
illustrated with several maps and plates, with indexes appended, and is
altogether of considerable interest and value to the Biblical student. In
these days of doubt and misgiving in regard to the Mosaic records, all who
would search out the truth for themselves will find a faithful auxiliary in this
handbook.'
The LEEDS MERCURY.
'We know of no book that gathers up into a small space, as this does, the
results of recent investigations; and the joint Authors seem to have executed
their task with great care and skill. Special value attaches to the sections on
the social life of the Hebrews and the geography of Palestine. as Lieutenant
CONDER was engaged in the Survey recently conducted. Ample indexes supply
the means of easy reference. We have great pleasure in commending the work
as well adapted to the purpose for which it has been compiled.'
The SCOTSMAN.
'The book contains a vast amount of useful and novel information, and will
he invaluable as a work of reference. Its utility in this respect is greatly
enhanced by a copious index, which makes it, in fact, a Bible dictionary of
modest but very serviceable dimensions.'

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