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 LAND OF 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 Carleton Shay
 
 / 
 
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 THE 
 
 LAND OF MOAB: 
 
 TRAVELS AND DISCOVERIES 
 
 ON THE EAST SIDE 
 
 OF THE DEAD SEA AND THE JORDAN. 
 
 BY 
 
 H. B. TRISTRAM, M.A., LL.D., RR.S., 
 
 HON. CANON OF DURHAM. 
 
 WITH A CHAPTER ON THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA, 
 
 By JAS. FERGUSON, F.R.S. 
 
 WITH MAP, AND 
 ILLUSTRATIOIVS BY C. L. BUXTON AND R. C. JOHNSON. 
 
 
 WAT^':' -^f^' '^Ml 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 1873-
 
 DS 
 lor 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The circumstances under which the expedition, the 
 results of which are narrated in the following pages, 
 was undertaken, are sufficiently explained in the tirst 
 chapter. 
 
 , The object was a careful examination of the present 
 state of a country frequently referred to in the Old 
 Testament Scriptures, and intimately connected with 
 Jewish history, but which has not been traversed at 
 leisure by any explorer since the fall of the Roman 
 empire. 
 
 That the journey has produced some results which 
 may justify us for having disregarded the advice so 
 earnestly given by the Palestine Exploration Fund to 
 persons about to explore — Don't ! " To those who pro- 
 pose to raise any private expedition, we would say, 
 Wait !"* — it is hoped will be admitted on a perusal of 
 the narrative. 
 
 The recovery of several ancient sites; the careful 
 verification of Machferus, the scene of John the Baptist's 
 imprisonment and martyrdom ; the very interesting 
 discovery of Zoar, with the valuable illustration it af- 
 fords of the careful accuracy of the Scriptural narra- 
 tive in the minutest details; the finding of a palace of 
 Chosroes, with its sumptuous architecture, and the ray 
 of light it casts upon one of the most obscure periods 
 of later Roman history — these certainly were enough 
 to reward the most sanguine explorei". 
 
 Even apart from these principal discoveries, there 
 is scarcely a passage in Holy Writ, in which Moab is 
 mentioned, which was not in some degree illustrated 
 
 * " Our Work in Palestine," p. 328. 
 
 813962
 
 6 PREFACE. 
 
 during the journey; and the glowing prophecies of 
 Isaiah and Jeremiah, the allusions of Amos and Zeph- 
 aniah, the story of the wars of Sihon, of Jephthah, and 
 of Joab, must ever be read with deepened interest by 
 those who have noted their marvelous coincidences 
 with the state of the country as we now see it. 
 
 Arab society also is in a more primitive and sim- 
 ple state than where affected by intercourse with other 
 nationalities in the rest of Syria. The Beni Sakk'r are 
 true Midianites in all their habits : the minor tribes re- 
 produce, perhaps, the nearest parallel to the state of 
 Canaan at the time of the Israelitish conquest which 
 can be found existing at the present day. 
 
 I must take this opportunity of expressing my deep 
 sense of my obligations to the friends who have assisted 
 me in the work : — to Mr. Fergusson, for his solution of 
 the problem of the Persian palace, and for the valuable 
 contributions, both by pen and pencil, to its architect- 
 ural history, which enrich the volume ; to my friend 
 and fellow -traveler, Mr. Klein, for the sagacity and 
 forethought which insured the success of our journey ; 
 and to my zealous and indefatigable young brothers 
 of the tent, whose enthusiasm and happy tempers light- 
 ened every labor, and whose only rivalry was in pro- 
 moting the objects of our expedition. To Messrs. Bux- 
 ton and Johnson I owe all the illustrations of the vol- 
 ume, selected from the splendid series of one hundred 
 and eighty photographs which they secured and gen- 
 erously placed at my disposal. 
 
 One of our party is now beyond the reach of my 
 thanks — William Amherst Hayne, of saintly memory, 
 suddenly, within the last few days, removed, at what 
 seemed to be the dawn of a career of rare promise. 
 He lived in his Bible, and clung to its promises ; and 
 now in a foreign land his body rests, awaiting in Christ 
 a glorious resurrection. 
 
 Greatham Vicarage, February, 1873.
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 View of the Mountains of Moab from Jerusalem.— Previous Expedi- 
 ditions.— Messrs. Palmer and Tyrwhitt Drake.— British Associ- 
 ation.— Companions.— Mr. Klein.— Preliminary Negotiations.— 
 The Adwan.— Preparations at Jerusalem. — The Ta'amirah. — Arab 
 Chicanery. — Muleteer in Prison.— Start for the South.— Bethle- 
 hem.— Volunteer Escort of Ta'amirah.— Hebron.— Our first Biv- 
 ouac—Old Friends.— Sheik Hamzi, an Arab Attorney.— Fruitless 
 Negotiations.— Mosque and Bazars at Hebron.— A Jewish Interi- 
 or.— Abou da Houk and the Jehalin.— Diplomatic Difficukies.— 
 A Kerak Guide.— Signature of a Contract.— Payment of Deposit. 
 —Storm under Canvas.- Route from Hebron Page 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Route from Hebron to Engedi.—Yakin.— Forest of Ziph.— Kirbet 
 Zadoud.— Ka'abineh Camp.— Hospitality.— Arab Coffee.— Unex- 
 pected Flood in the Night.— Effect of sudden Rains.— Change of 
 Flora.— Wady el Gliar.— El Husasah, Hazziz.— CM of Ziz.—Hteep 
 Pass.— Descent to Engedi.— Rich Botany.— Rash ay ideh Arabs.— 
 A Bedouin Fantasia.— Ornithology of Engedi.— Camp under Seb- 
 beh (Masada) Wady Seyal.— Lifeless Desolation.— Wady Makhe- 
 ras.— Visit to the Fortress of Masada.— Ancient Jewish Syna- 
 gogue.— Contrast with the Synagogues of Galilee.— Acoustic Phe- 
 nomenon.— Remarkable Aurora.— Route to Jebel Usdum.— Ford 
 to the Lisan.— View of Mount Hor.— Curious Arab Custom.— 
 Oasis of Zuweirah. — Lateness of the Season 35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 An early Start.— Effect of the Sun on the Mountains. — Sudden Thun- 
 der-storm.— A Salt Cavern.— Marl Deposit on the Salt Mountain.
 
 8 CONTENTS. 
 
 — Its Origin. — Elevation of the New Red Sandstone. — Position of 
 the Salt Rock. — Crossing the Sebkha. — Alarm of Marauders. — 
 Frontier of Moab. — Sudden Apparition of Enemies. — A threatened 
 Skirmish. — Naked Warriors. — Our Guide stripped. — The Beni Ati- 
 yeh. — A Treaty made. — March through the Wood. — Difficulties 
 of Exploration. — A costly Guard. — Vegetation of the Safieh. — An- 
 cient Remains. — Kasr el Bushariyeh. — Old Mill. — Moslem Bury- 
 ing-ground. — Remains exposed. — Boundary of Moab. — Brook Ze- 
 red. — Suphah. — Variety in the Vegetation of the Safieh. — Horse- 
 men from Kerak. — Son of the ^NludjeUi. — Petty Thefts. — A Mule 
 on its Trial. — Return of the Jehalin Page 53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 From the Safieh to Kerak. — Wady Gra"hhi. — Ford of the Stinking 
 River. — Nemeirah. — The Waters of Nimrim : their real Position. 
 — Not identical with Nemeirah. — Poor Ruins. — The Brook of the 
 Willows. — Wady Asal. — The Shoulder of the Lisan. — Wady Dra'a. 
 — View of the Lisan. — Contrast of the Geology of the east and 
 west Sides of the Dead Sea. — A charming Glen. — Mezra'ah, Zoar. 
 — Disputed Identity with Dra'a. — A turbulent Guard. — Noctur- 
 nal Alarms. — Splendid Sunrise. — Attempted Robbery. — Successful 
 Extortion. — Ascent to Kerak. — Magnificent Gorge. — Geological 
 Studies. — Basaltic Streams. — El Kubboh. — Crusading Traditions. 
 — Raynald of Chatillon. — Panoramic View of the Dead Sea.— Bed- 
 ouin Camps and Shepherds. — Wady R'seir. — Wady of Kerak. — 
 Rugged Ascent. — Strange Access to a City. — Tunnel in the Rock. 
 — Arrival at Kerak 70 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Kerak. — A natural Fortress : its Height, Position, Form, Area, For- 
 tifications. — Accessible only by Tunnels. — The Castle of Bybars. 
 — The great Castle : its Shape, Moat, Cistern, Crypt, Chapel, Gate- 
 ways. — Occupation of Castle by Ibrahim Pasha. — Water Supply. 
 — Mosque. — Ancient Basilica. — Our Camp in the Castle of Bybars. 
 — Greek School-master. — A Friend in need. — Kerak Interior. — 
 Roman Pavement. — Ancient Bath. — Antiques and Coins. — Chris- 
 tian Quaiter. — Greek Church. — School and Bibles. — Threats of the
 
 CONTENTS, ^ 
 
 Cbiefs.-Ransom demanded. -Find ourselves Prisoners. -Messen- 
 ger to Jerusalem.-Every Man his own Thief-catchei-. -Value of 
 Pork -Daoud's Stratagem.-Midnight Interview. -Welcome Aid. 
 -Amval of the Beni 8akk'r, Sheik Zadam.-The Tables turned. 
 _A Sunday under Arrest. -Arabic Service. -Greek Chnstians.- 
 Demands on the Hakim.-View from the Castle WalL-Relations 
 of Kerak and the Beni Sakk'r. -Excursion under Guard.-Our 
 Letter discovered.— Renewed Threats ^age .. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Excursion to the south of Kerak.-Kureitun.-The twin To^vns.- 
 Kiriathaim.-1h^ Highlands of Moab.-Ruined Cities. -Azizah. 
 _ Wine-presses. - M'hheileh.- Jubah. - Roman Road. - Mah- 
 k'henah.-Cisterns.-Modeh.-Roman Mile-stones. -Mesh had^- 
 Madin.-Theniyeh.-Arabic Names.-Kerak, Kir-moah, or Kvr- 
 haresetL-OhsUnacj of the Mudjelli. -Visit to the Council.-Di- 
 plomacy about Ransom.-Arab Manoeuvres. -Off at last -Ire- 
 Lndo^s Storm.-Road to Rabba. -Rakim. -Roman Road^- Ar- 
 rival atRabba.-Campin a Tank. -Description of Rabba. -Roman 
 Temples.-Basaltic Stones.-The Kerak Men again.-Daouds In- 
 genuity for the Horse s Corn.-Robbery of the Letter-carrier. -Bad 
 jjews.— Mr. Klein recalled 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 From Rabba to the Arnon.-Visit from the Hamideh -Characters of 
 Zadam and Sahan.-Ibn Tarif.-Present ^^^^^ "^'^ ^l^'-'^^^ 
 Tarif's Attention. -Roman Way-side Temple.-Missdehh.-Ham- 
 eitat, the ancient Ham.-Kasr Rabba.-Beit el Kivrm- Large 
 Temple.-Ar and Areopolis.-A pillar Letter-box m the Wastes- 
 News from Jerusalem-Troops on the move fgr oar Rescue. -The 
 Mudjelli returns.-Restoration of Mr. Kleins Letter. -Shihan.- 
 Curious Inclosure of Basalt.-Sihon and the Amorites.-The View 
 from Jebel Shihan.-Muhatet el Haj.-Jahaz.-Descent to the Ar- 
 non -Basaltic Dike.-Ti-aces of Roman Road.-Ruined Forts.- 
 "The City in the midst of the River. "-Rugged Ascent. -A Mount- 
 ain Pass in the Darkness. -Dreary Camp on the Uplands. -Mr. 
 Klein's Departure.-Aroer.-Topography of the Arnon.-Ride to
 
 10 CONTENTS. 
 
 Dhiban.— Its Ruins.— The Moabite Stone.— Conjectures as to its 
 original Position.— Means of its Preservation.— An Oil-press.— 
 Identity of Dhiban with Dibon Page 130 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 From Dibon eastward.— Beni Sakk'r Flocks and Herds.— The Plain 
 of the Vineyards.— Rhibuyeh.— The Ruins of Um Rasas.— Its 
 Walls.— Abundance of Game.— Wild-cats.— Beni Sakk'r Camp.— 
 Considerate Neighbors.— Deep Tank.— The Raven's Home.— Um 
 Rasas, within the Walls and without.— Three ruined Churches.— 
 Apses still remaining.— Arches and Streets.— Amphitheatre.— Iso- 
 lated mortuary Tower.— Church in the Plain.— Quaint Tradition 
 and Legend.— Freedom of the Desert.— Intense Cold.— Animal Life 
 of the Plains.— M'Seitbeh.— Ancient Block-houses.— Wady Butm. 
 —Letters from the Brigade. — A long Sunday's Ride.— Crossing the 
 Themed.— Visit to Zadam's Tent.— Westward ho!— Rumors of 
 the Troops.— Ajermeh Camp.— Ride in the Dark.— A Turcoman 
 Guide.— The Camp.— Reception by the Pasha.— Depositions taken 
 down.— A bitter Night.— Beiram.— Grand Salute.— Speculations on 
 Kerak ^^^ 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Return from the Wady Na'ur to Um Rasas.— Royal Entertainment by 
 the Ajermeh.— Our Horses keep Beiram.— Coffee-drinking. —She- 
 rouan's many Calls.— Wandering Tramps.— A Beggar's Hospital- 
 ity. — Return to our Tents.— Reports of a buried Stone.— Zadam's 
 Account of the black, or basalt. Country eastward.— El Hhurreh. — 
 Stone Cities.— Eastward ho!— Mirage on the Plains.— Gazelle 
 Hunt.— The Hadj Road.— Khan Zebib.— Description of the ruined 
 Khan.— Traces of earlier Buildings.— Remains of a Doric Temple. 
 —Labyrinth of Cisterns.— Prehistoric Remains.— Cairns.— A vain 
 Pursuit after the Stone of Rasas 175 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Departure from Um Rasas.— Dhra'a.— The Themed.— R'mail.— A 
 riverside Camp.— Zafiiran.— A military Keep.— Supplies running 
 short.— Start for the North-east.— Kasr el Herri.— Surveying.—
 
 CONTENTS. 11 
 
 Roman Road.— Urn "Weleed.— Extent of Um Weleed.— Saracenic 
 Klian. — Roman City. — Streets. — Large Court, or Pretorium Gate- 
 ^vaj-. — Doric Temple. — Date of these Cities. — No Clues to the an- 
 cient Name. — Um el Kuseir. — Large Caverns. — Ziza. — Interesting 
 Remains.— Roman military Station. — Magnificent Tank.— Elabo- 
 rate System of Irrigation in olden Time. — Large vaulted Fort. — 
 Burial-place aloft.— Ibrahim Pasha's Garrison.— Other Forts de- 
 ' stroyed. — Remains of Cuphic Inscriptions. — Fine Christian Church. 
 — Variety of wild Animals and Birds. — Return of Convoy from Je- 
 rusalem.— Evening Bells. — A Fugitive.— Stripped by the Anizeh. 
 — The Ibex-hunter. — Honesty of our Men and of the Turkish Sol- 
 diers. — Sunday's Rest. — Mohammedan Criticism on Christian In- 
 consistency Rage 190 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Palace of Mashita.— Ride from Ziza.— Limestone Knolls rising 
 above the Plain. — Their geological Origin.— Gradual Formation of 
 the Table-land.— Hadj Road.— Palace suddenly in Sight.— First 
 Impressions.— Description of the Palace.— Outer Wall. — Bastions. 
 — Gorgeous Facade. — Octagonal Bastions. — Gate-way.— Delinea- 
 tions of Animals and Birds. — Inner Area. — Inhabited Portion. — Its 
 Plan. — Rich Gate-way. — Corinthian Capitals. — Arch overthrown 
 by Earthquake. — Long Inscriptions. — NabathiEan or Pelvic? — Pe- 
 culiar Bricks. — Large open Hall. — "Vaulted Roof — Inner Door- 
 way. — Peculiar Capitals.— Large inner domed Hall with alcoved 
 Recesses. — Inner Chambers. — Construction of the outer Wall. — 
 Hollow Bastion.— The Palace never finished. — The Builders inter- 
 rupted. — No local Tradition of its Origin. — Probably Chosroes II., 
 of Persia, its Builder, a.d. 614. — Campaign of Chosroes. — Con- 
 quest of Syria. — Capture of Jerusalem. — Sudden Reverse. —Advance 
 of Heraclius, a.d. 624. — The whole East reconquered by Rome, 
 A.D. 632. — Irruption of the Saracens. — Final Devastation of the 
 Country. — Its Disappearance from History. — Sassanian Origin of 
 the Palace confirmed by its Architecture.— Mr. Fergusson's Opin- 
 ion.— El Ah'la 210
 
 12 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Second Visit to Mashita. — Expedition to Kustul. — Imperial Eagle. — 
 Interesting Character of the Remains of Kustul. — Castellated Tem- 
 ple. — Corinthian Pilasters. — Nabathaean Inscriptions. — Larger Cas- 
 tle. — Vaulted Chambers and massive Bastions. — A Greek Altar ex- 
 humed. — Walls for collecting Water. — Kustul-Castellum. — Thenib. 
 — Rujum Hamam. — Views of the Belka. — Southward Migration of 
 the Beni Sakk'r. — Move Camp toward the West. — Azabarah. — 
 Jebel Jelul. — Magnificent Panorama. — Sufa. — Trained Falcons. — 
 Women Water-drawers. — Arrival at our Camp. — Visit from Fendi 
 y Faiz. — Entertainment of the great Sheik. — Photographing of 
 the Princes. — Escort of the Hadj. — Parting with the Sahan. — De- 
 lay at Habis. — Descent of the Wady Habis. — Junction with the 
 Zerka Ma'in. — Contrast between the Highlands of Moab and the 
 Mountains Page 231 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Change from the Highlands. — TheHamideh. — Lords of high and low 
 Degree. — Septs and political Divisions of the Hamideh. — Their 
 Habits and Character. — Ornithology of the Glens. — The Callirrhoe. 
 — An Evening's Fishing. — Geology of the Zerka Ma'in. — Basaltic 
 Streams. — Descent to the hot Springs. — The Baths of Herod. — 
 Hamideh Camp. — Nubian Slave. — A Sulphur Hot- bath. — De- 
 scriptions of Josephus and Pliny. — Ptolemy's Geography. — Sulphur 
 Ten-aces. — Rapid Deposits. — Basalt and Limestone. — Palm-groves. 
 — Temperature of the Springs. — Natural Formation of Tunnels. — 
 Primitive Vapor-bath. — Arab Traditions. — Legend of King Solo- 
 mon. — Sacrificial Rites. — Strange Plants. — The Shrub of Josephus. 
 — The Sulphur Plant. — Orobanches. — Butterflies and rare Birds. — 
 Ibex. — Sunday at Callirrhoe. — Amateur Physician. — Venison and 
 Butter. — Hamideh horned Cattle 245 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Visit to Machserus. — Delays at Starting. — Superstitions and Obsti- 
 nacy of Muleteers. — Wady Z'gara. — Deep Gorge. — Fine Land- 
 scape. — Ruins of Machierus. — The Town. — Roman Road. — For-
 
 CONTENTS. 13 
 
 tress. — Citadel— Dungeons.— The Baptist's Prison.— Pliny's Ac- 
 count. — History of Machmrus. — Josephus's Description. — The Mac- 
 cabees.— Herod the Great. — Fabled Plant.— Siege by L. Bassus. — 
 Identity of the Castle with the Baptist's Prison. — Hamideh Hospi- 
 tality. — Fresli Butter.— Grand Panorama. — Stone Circles. — Expe- 
 dition to Attarus. — Horses lost and found. — A wooded District. — 
 View. — Jebel Attarus. — Kureiyat. — Identity with Kiriathaim. — 
 Attarus and Ataroth Page 2(>7 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Visit to Zara, the ancient Zareth-shahar. — Volcanic Soil. — Rich Bot- 
 any. — Descent to Dead Sea. — Ancient Road. — Scouts ahead. — 
 False Alarm. — Beni Sakk'r and their Camels.^ Vegetation and 
 Springs of Zara.— Hebrew City. — Baths, hot and cold. — Birds. — 
 Along the Shore.— Rugged Path.— Mouth of the Callirrhoe.— Ro- 
 mantic Glen.— The Ibex-hunter. — A rough Scramble. — Water-fall. 
 — Home at last. — Sunday in the Gorge.— The Ibex and its Habits. 
 —Unsuccessful Hunt.— The Hakim.— Medical Cases.— Ornitholo- 
 gy of the Callirrhoe.— Oin- Postman robbed.— Topography of the 
 District 29 1 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Departure from Callirrhoe.— Night Alarm.— Horses stolen.— Pursuit. 
 — Camp Fires.— Wild Seclusion.— Ascent to the Highlands.— Pri- 
 meval Remains.— Dolmens.— Corn-fields.— Gazelle.— Ma'in, Baal- 
 jJ/eo«.— Balaam's Progress with Balak.— His Stations.— Medeba. 
 —Pigeons. — Alarm of Shepherds. — Farewell to the Hamideh. — A 
 Beni Sakk'r Farmer.— Tenure of Land.— History of Medeba.— Its 
 Citadel.— Isolated Columns. — Inscriptions.— Colonnaded Square. 
 —Churches.— Immense Reservoir.— Richness of the Soil. — Part 
 with old Friends.— Letter from the Adwan.— A Jericho Naturalist. 
 — Endless Villages 3X0 
 
 CHAPTER XVIL 
 
 The north-west Comer of Moab.— Its many Ravines.— Wheat Culti- 
 vation. — Belka Arabs.— Maslubeiyeh.— Splendid Panorama. — Dol- 
 mens. — Jedeid. — Nebbeh.— Its Identity with Nebo.— View of
 
 14 CONTENTS. 
 
 Moses. — Ancient Authorities. — Zi'ara. — Interesting Ruins. — Ba- 
 laam's Views. — Identity of Zi'ara and Zoar. — Position of the Cities 
 of the Plain. — Arguments for placing them north of the Dead Sea. 
 — Mr. Grove's Inference. — Ayun Moussa. — Springs of Moses. — Pic- 
 turesque Glen. — Cascades. — M"Shuggar. — Ajermeh. — Heshbon. — 
 Adwan Camp. — Elealeh. — Night Search for Camp. — Goblan's Wel- 
 come. — His Character. — Tragic Crime Page 331 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Wady Heshban. — Goblan's Affection. — Married beneath him. — 
 Botany of North-west Moab. — Ancient Tablets and Tombs. — 
 Changed Features of Scenery. — Circle of Dolmens. — Cairn. — De- 
 scent to the Ghor. — Ghawarineh Camp. — Old Acquaintances. — 
 Beth-haran. — Night-watch. — Excursion down the Coast. — Beth- 
 jeshimoth. — Camp of Israel. — Wady Jerifeh. — Ain Suwaineh. — 
 Vegetation of the Shore. — Wady Ghadeimeh. — Clear Atmosphere. 
 — Rich Coloring. — Wady Ghuweir. — Arab Battle-field. — Falcons. 
 — Our Path blocked. — Palm-groves. — A Halt. — Ornithologv\ — An 
 Arab Collector. — Gale of Wind. — The Tents carried off. — A sound 
 Sleeper. — Ride to the Jordan. — Ferry-boat. — Return to Civiliza- 
 tion. — Jericho. — Our old Camping-ground. — Bethany in Spring. — 
 Entiy into Jerusalem. — Our Wanderings ended 355 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 ON THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 
 
 By James Fergusson, F.R.S 378 
 
 Appendix A. — Aurora at Sebbeh. By R. C. Johnson 397 
 
 Appendix B. — Account of a curious Physical Phenomenon wit- 
 nessed at Ziza. By R. C. Johnson 398 
 
 Appendix C— On the Flora of Moab. By the late W. Amherst 
 Hayne, B. a., Trinity College, Cambridge 400
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 External Facade, Palace of Mashita Frontispiece. 
 
 No. Page 
 
 1. Sebbeh, AND Dead Sea 47 
 
 2. Arab Skirmish to face 58 
 
 3. Tunnel Entrance, Kerak 83 
 
 4. Castle Walls, Kerak 87 
 
 5. Our Camp, Kerak to face 89 
 
 6. Crusaders' Fort, Kerak 90 
 
 7. Kerak House-tops 95 
 
 8. Ancient Lamp found at Kerak 110 
 
 9. Ruins of Dhiban 148 
 
 10. Oil-press 151 
 
 11. Sketch of Um Rasas ..to face 158 
 
 12. Christian Tower, Um Rasas to face 160 
 
 13. Khan Zebib 18G 
 
 14. Sculptured Entablatures, Khan Zebib 188 
 
 15. Plan of Temple, Um Weleed 195 
 
 16. ZizA, from the Distance 198 
 
 17. Tank at Ziza 199 
 
 18. Pigeon-hole Stones, Ziza 203 
 
 19. CuPHic Inscriptions, Ziza 204 
 
 20. Interior of ruined Palace 213 
 
 21. Gate-way of Palace 214 
 
 22. Octagon Tower 215 
 
 23. Fallen Arch 216 
 
 24. Plan of Palace, Mashita to face 219 
 
 25. El Kustul .' 233 
 
 26. Panorama, Upper Zerka Ma'in to face 245 
 
 27. Rocks at Entrance of Zerka Ma'in 250 
 
 28. Plan of Mach^rus 274
 
 16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 No. Page 
 
 29. Terebinth-tree on Attards 286 
 
 30. The Zerka Ma'in 288 
 
 31. Zara 296 
 
 32. Mouth of the Callirrhoe 299 
 
 33. Dolmen a 314 
 
 34. Columns at Medeba 323 
 
 35. Temple at Medeba 325 
 
 36. Palm-trees by the Dead Sea to face 368 
 
 37. Inner Palace of Mashita, from within the outer 
 
 Gate-way to face 379 
 
 38. Elevation of West Wing Wall of external Facade 
 
 of Palace at Mashita to face 382 
 
 39. Elevation of one Compartment of Western Octagon 
 
 Tower at Mashita to face 384 
 
 40. Tak Kesea 385 
 
 41. Church at Tourmanin 392
 
 (V 
 
 Sow York, Hairier SBroUK
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 View of the Mountains of Moab from Jerusalem. — Previous Expedi- 
 ditions. — Messrs. Palmer and Tyrwhitt Drake. — British Associ- 
 ation. — Companions. — Mr. Klein.— Preliminary Negotiations. — 
 The Adwan. — Preparations at Jerusalem. — The Ta'amirah. — Arab 
 Chicanery. — Muleteer in Prison. — Start for the South. — Bethle- 
 hem. — Volunteer Escort of Ta'amirah. — Hebron. — Our first Biv- 
 ouac—Old Friends.— Sheik Hamzi, an Arab Attorney. — Fruitless 
 Negotiations. — Mosque and Bazars at Hebron. — A Jewish Interi- 
 or. — Abou da Houk and the Jehalin. — Diplomatic Difficulties. — 
 A Kerak Guide. — Signature of a Contract. — Payment of Deposit. 
 — Storm under Canvas. — Route from Hebron. 
 
 Who that has stood outside the walls of Jerusalem, 
 or on the Mount of Olives, has not gazed with wistful 
 interest on those blue hills rising with clear outline 
 be^^ond the thin haze which overhangs the deep hid- 
 den lake of salt, nor wondered what the land of Moab 
 might reveal? Those hills, which look so near, yet 
 are in reality so inaccessible, have whetted the curi- 
 osity of many a traveler. 
 
 When, fourteen years ago, the writer first visited 
 the Holy Land, he almost registered the vow that, 
 sometime or other, he would make the attempt to ex- 
 plore what then was practically a sealed region. On 
 
 2
 
 18 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 his second vfsit he was only partially successful. His 
 first attempt, by the southern route, was baffled by 
 the feuds of the Arab tribes, and a later effort from 
 the north enabled him only to touch the fringe of the 
 country, as far as Heshbon and Nebo. 
 
 At length the discovery of the famous Moabite 
 Stone drew more attention to the exploration of Moab 
 than the country had hitherto received. Dr. Porter 
 had only ventured to hint that research among its 
 bleak highlands and lawless tribes might reward the 
 adventurous explorer; but the almost accidental dis- 
 covery of the monolith was a pledge that the antiqui- 
 ties of Moab must certainly repay investigation. 
 
 Accordingly, after Professor Palmer and Mr. Tyr- 
 whitt Drake had, under the auspices of the Palestine 
 Exploration Fund, completed their daring and peril- 
 ous examination of the desert of the Tih, they con- 
 tinued their researches, in the spring and summer of 
 1870, into the Laud of Moab, from the nortliern bor- 
 der of Edom, or Petra. Their attention was chiefly 
 directed to the search after Phoenician inscriptions. 
 Owing partly to the lateness of the season and the 
 extreme heat of the weather, and partly to difficulties 
 among the tribes, they did not attempt to examine 
 the highlands south of the Arnon, the true country 
 of the ancient Moabites, and never included in the al- 
 lotment of Israel; but skirting the coast of the Dead 
 Sea till they passed the shoulder of the peninsula of 
 the Lisan, they then turned up the country under the 
 protection of tlie Hamideh, crossed the ravine of the
 
 PREVIOUS EXPEDITIONS. 19 
 
 Arno at the usual spot, and made a bold dash east- 
 ward, as far as Um Rasas. Then returning hastily, 
 they made their way to the low-lying fertile plain of 
 the Seisaban, at the north-east end of the Dead Sea, 
 where they crossed the Jordan and re-entered west- 
 ern Palestine. This journey was comparatively bar- 
 ren of results, though it added something to our topo- 
 graphical knowledge. Professor Palmer reported his 
 sojburn in Moab expensive and unsatisfactory. He 
 examined every known " written stone" in the coun- 
 try, and the conclusion at last forced itself upon him 
 that, above ground at least, there does not exist an- 
 other Moabitish stone. 
 
 Still it was felt that, apart from the question of in- 
 scriptions, a careful survey might probably add much 
 to our topographical knowledge, and at least decide 
 the position of many ancient sites marked at random 
 on the present maps. 
 
 The British Association, at its meeting in Edin- 
 burgh in 1871, renewed a former grant of £100, and 
 doubled it, appointing a committee "for the purpose 
 of undertaking a geographical exploration of the coun- 
 try of Moab." Stimulated by this grant, an expedi- 
 tion was organized in the autumn of 1871, which 
 sailed from England on the 10th January, 1872, via 
 Brindisi and Alexandria, and landed at Jaffa, Janu- 
 ary 22d. The party was ably re-enforced by Mr. 
 C. Louis Buxton, Trinity College, Cambridge, whose 
 camera illustrated the results of the expedition with 
 about eighty excellent photographs, and whose gun
 
 20 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 did good service ; Mr. E. C. Johnson, of Liverpool, ex- 
 perienced as astronomer, surveyor, and photographer, 
 to whose camera we are also indebted for upward 
 of one hundred admirable stereoscopic views, and to 
 whom I owe almost the whole of the map which ac- 
 companies this journal ; Mr. W. A. Hayne, Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, our indefatigable botanist, who 
 has supplied the chapter on the Botany of Moab; 
 and Mr. Mowbray Trotter, Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, to whose prowess we were indebted for many 
 a meal. At Jerusalem we were joined by our inval- 
 uable friend Mr. Klein. 
 
 Negotiations had been carried on, through the kind 
 assistance of the Rev. F. A. Klein, Church Missionary 
 Society's representative at Jerusalem, with the sheiks 
 of the transjordanic tribes, before our arrival, and 
 especially with Fendi y Faiz, the sheik of the Beni 
 Sakk'r; but his son. Sheik Zadam, on whose escort 
 the party relied for the north of Moab, did not arrive 
 during our detention of a few days at Jerusalem. 
 The Adwan, who claim the exclusive convoy of trav- 
 elers north of Heshbon, but whose inability to intro- 
 duce any one into the Highlands of Moab I had ex- 
 perienced in my former journey, having heard of our 
 plans, sent us a very polite letter expressing their 
 anxiety to see their old friend again, denouncing the 
 treachery of the Beni Sakk'r; and wound up with 
 the assurance that if they caught Zadam attempting 
 to cross the Jordan to meet us, his blood should flow 
 for the trespass. We were not a little amused after-
 
 ARAB NEGOTIATIONS. 21 
 
 ward to find that while indulging in those grandil- 
 oquent threats, Sheik Goblan was actually negotia- 
 ting a matrimonial alliance between his daughter and 
 the son of his rival, a scheme prompted, as we were 
 gravely assured, far more by personal admiration than 
 by the contingent prospect of political advantages. 
 
 We replied politely, by a special messenger to our 
 friends of the Adwan, that we intended to enter the 
 country not by the north, through their territory, but 
 from the south ; that our intention was merely to meet 
 the Beni Sakk'r near Kerak; and that we should 
 with pleasure call at the Adwan's encampments in 
 the spring. 
 
 But still, to go round by the south end of the Dead 
 Sea demanded an escort. Messengers were dispatched 
 to find the sheik, either of the Ta'amirah or the Je- 
 halin, the tribes who claim the suzerainty of the dis- 
 trict west of the Dead Sea, and waiting their arrival 
 various preparations had to be made. Through Mr. 
 Klein's aid, dragoman, servants, horses, and mules had 
 been provisionally engaged ; but these had to be seen 
 and tried, and many a trick was attempted, both with 
 regard to bipeds and quadrupeds. Groceries and pro- 
 visions of every kind had to be be laid in for two 
 months, since Moab itself is absolutely destitute of 
 supplies, even of corn, and only kid and game could 
 be counted on as procurable, on the spot. We were 
 not quite prepared to follow the advice of a would-be 
 explorer, whose experience had never gone beyond 
 his study or a railway station, and who suggested that
 
 22 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 we were needlessly encumbering ourselves, for that 
 sugar, coffee, and rice might be procured more easily 
 in the villages of Moab ! 
 
 At length, after a delay of three days, a delegate 
 from the Ta'amirah presented himself, and volunteered 
 a guard of his tribe round the south end of the Dead 
 Sea. The contract was drawn out and approved at 
 the consulate; but we waited in vain for the sheik 
 to put in his appearance and seal it, arid on the 29th 
 January we started for Hebron free from the annoy- 
 ance of an escort. In a safe country like that between 
 Jerusalem and the south end of the Dead Sea, any 
 company more troublesome than that of a backsheesh- 
 craving escort, such as those corrupted by intercourse 
 with Europeans, it is impossible to conceive. You 
 halt for a moment to examine some desolate heap, 
 and the ragged crowd surround you, jabbering and 
 producing pieces of pottery or smooth pebbles, and 
 demanding backsheesh as for some newly-discovered 
 treasure. You turn aside after a covey of wild par- 
 tridges' running up the hill, and your nimble guard 
 rushes wildly in front, yelling and shrieking, and puts 
 up the birds far out of shot. You are attracted by 
 some bright flower in a cranny, and before you can 
 dismount, your Arabs, ever alert at the wrong time, 
 have cropped the petals, and hand you the fragments 
 of the plant, amazed at your want of gratitude as you 
 despairingly throw down the worthless handful. 
 
 At the very moment of starting we narrowly es- 
 caped another vexatious delay. The animals of our
 
 AKAB CHICANKRY. 23 
 
 convoy belonged to various owners, who accompany 
 their property, and at the last moment our best i-iding 
 horses and their masters were missing. We soon dis- 
 covered that our chief muleteer had been suddenly 
 pounced upon by the soldiers, and taken to prison for 
 an alleged debt. The creditor had taken no steps to 
 enforce his claim until the last moment, when, astute- 
 ly guessing that we would not willingly be detained, 
 but would rather pay ourselves than incur further 
 loss of time, he had timed his arrest as cleverly as 
 though be had been a Whitby electioneerer. Off I 
 had to tramp to the consulate at the other end of Je- 
 rusalem, whence, fortified by a letter from the consul, 
 and the company of a cavass in full accoutrements, 
 I proceeded to the Cadi, showed that the debt was 
 disputed, and having signed a bond that I would not 
 pay the man his wages until the case was decided, 
 presented myself at the prison, the doors of which at 
 once opened and the man was set free. The matter 
 in litigation proved to be a case of horse warranty, as 
 perplexing to a Turkish Cadi as to an English jury, 
 and eventually nothing came of it. 
 
 Unlike the road to Jaffa, that to Bethlehem has 
 undergone no improvement of late years; nor has 
 the extension of suburb, so marked on the former 
 road, extended to the southward of Jerusalem. A 
 Bethlehem Christian Bedouin, who had attached him- 
 self to us as a sort of intermediator in various nego- 
 tiations, was our companion, and we cantered onward 
 to Bethlehem, only drawing rein for a short time to
 
 24 THE LAND OF ilOAB. 
 
 pause at Rachel's tomb. We could not pass Bethle- 
 hem without revisiting the grand old Church of the 
 Nativity, the shrine, the so-called manger, St. Jerome's 
 cell and shrine. Every thing we found in much bet- 
 ter repair than eight years ago, chiefly owing to lib- 
 eral Russian expenditure. The Church Missionary 
 Schools have been abandoned, and handed over to the 
 Berlin mission, which has a large establishment here. 
 
 After a hasty inspection of the sights, and running 
 the gauntlet of the sellers of beads and scallop shells, 
 and other backsheesh-hunters, more importunate in 
 Bethlehem than anywhere else, we pushed on south- 
 ward, and overtook our party at the Pools of Solo- 
 mon, where they had halted. These vast cisterns 
 were not nearly so full of water as when I had visited 
 them before, in the rainy season. The lower one was 
 all but empty, revealing the perfect cement on its 
 sides and bottom, and the staircase by which, when 
 the water was let out, the workmen could descend to 
 repair the plaster. Various inlets into the pool, to re- 
 ceive the drainage on either side, were shown, and the 
 cement was all as smooth and unchipped as on the 
 day when it was laid on. The second pool, as well as 
 the first, was still full of water, and a little flock of 
 teal was paddling unconcerned on its surface. 
 
 Just before descending the hill to the Pools, the 
 mounted chief of the Ta'amirah suddenly accosted us. 
 In vain we assured him that an escort was needless, 
 that we were well armed, and intended to find the 
 Jehalin south of Hebron.
 
 RIDE TO HEBRON. 26 
 
 Our determination to dispense with the services of 
 Falstaff's ragged regiment was in vain. No sooner 
 bad we started from the Pools than the wild fellows 
 were thrown out on all sides, and formed a skirmish- 
 ing front all the way to Hebron. Even when we 
 pushed at a canter across the little plains, the foot- 
 men, without an apparent effort, were always in ad- 
 vance, and effectually precluded the chance of a shot 
 at a partridge, or the sight of a gazelle. 
 
 Well as I knew the road, I think the pleasure of 
 revisiting these sacred scenes, imprinted on the mem- 
 ory, is more intense than that of the first sight as a 
 stranger. Bethshur, Halhul, Eamah of Judab, and 
 other desolate sites, sustained our interest as we rode 
 through them. At Mamre, by the ruins of Constan- 
 tine's massive Basilica, we made a detour to the right, 
 in order to show to the younger members of the par- 
 ty the great terebinth-tree, which now does duty for 
 Abraham's oak, long since perished. The hills look- 
 ed bare and bleak as a winter without rain could 
 make them, for the spring flowers had not yet begun 
 to show ; but the last two miles of our road led us 
 by narrow paths through vineyards with their vines 
 carefully trained, each fenced with a low stone wall 
 surrounding it ; and in many of them the watch-tow- 
 er often referred to in Scripture, at the upper end, a 
 heap of brush-wood on the top of it, the bedding of 
 the sentry during the grape season. Near the wick- 
 et-gates we might see the ass that was to carry the
 
 26 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 laborer home, tied up to a vine, " Binding his ass's 
 colt unto the choice vine." 
 
 We had passed our convoy of mules some miles 
 before, and it was dark before they arrived at the 
 camping-ground. Now the inexperienced critic who 
 remonstrates at the number of followers in an Eastern 
 journey might find the use of having twenty men to 
 picket, set up tents, and prepare for the night. It was 
 past eight o'clock before we sat down, under a love- 
 ly, moonlit sky, to dine. Picturesque and bright was 
 our first bivouac ; to the majority of the party, their 
 first night under canvas. We dwelt among the 
 tombs in the Moslem cemetery, on the slope rising to 
 the south of Hebron. The lights glimmered fitfully 
 among the houses of the city on the opposite slope, 
 and occasional bursts of rough music and firing of 
 guns told of a marriage being celebrated. 
 
 Our arrival had brought many new and old ac- 
 quaintances around us. One man constituted him- 
 self water-bearer to the camp ; another, running mes- 
 senger; while the governor politely sent a soldier to 
 offfer us a guard for the night. We thanked his ex- 
 cellency for his kind consideration, but assured his 
 envoy we were well able to provide for our own 
 safety — a reply which sent him back not a little crest- 
 fallen, since a guard meant, of course, a backsheesh 
 suited for the acceptance of a governor. The Ta'ami- 
 rah volunteers, determined not to lose sight of us, qui- 
 etly sat down for the night by our camp-fire, with 
 their matchlocks across their knees, listening incredu-
 
 AN ARAB ATTORNEY. 27 
 
 lously to tlie assurance that we were not their broth- 
 ers, nor in their keeping. 
 
 Among our earliest visitors was Sheik Hamzi, the 
 Arab lawyer of Hebron, and who had been my com- 
 panion for many weeks on my former visit, un- 
 changed, save that his beard was more blanched ; op- 
 pressive in his attentions, and palpable, as of old, in 
 his intrigues. He did us good service, however, and 
 sent at once to the camp of the Jehalin, on the way 
 to Beersheba, to request the attendance of the sheik 
 Abou da Houk, the son and namesake of our formei- 
 guardian, now deceased, to come and make an ar- 
 rangement with us for an escort to Kerak. Various 
 other old companions in travel came to claim acquaint- 
 ance. One after another, either a great man or his 
 henchman, appeared at the tent door, and sat down, 
 dropping their slippers, and sometimes venturing be- 
 yond the threshold, in the hope of a cup of coffee or 
 a pipe. It was not easy to get rid of our friends, and 
 midnight was approaching, when we were compelled 
 to call in the aid of our servants to tell them, what we 
 could not, according to the rules of politeness, say for 
 ourselves, that we must be left alone for prayers, and 
 to retire to bed. At length we retired, with the mule- 
 bells tinkling incessantly, and the horses, asses, and 
 muleteers, inside their pickets, mingled in a confused 
 circle round our three tents. The night was cold 
 enough, with the thermometer at 35° Fahr. 
 
 The next morning dawned brightly, with Venus 
 peeping down thi'ough a crevice by the tent door, and
 
 28 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 before dayligbt all was astir, and a crowd surrounded 
 us. The day was given to diplomacy, and a wearj- 
 one it was. Scenes, strange and unwonted to western 
 eyes, fascinate everywhere the novice in Eastern trav- 
 el ; but the various events of this day far exceeded in 
 humor and quaintness the ordinary episodes of tent 
 life. Hamzi was early afoot, and in the door-way be- 
 fore we were dressed. Some new intrigue we were 
 quite sure to have from the clever Arab attorne}^ and 
 money - lender, who holds half the sheiks of Judea 
 under his thumb. He is very cautious, however, in 
 negotiating about Moab. He remembers how, for 
 once in his life, he was outwitted there, when accom- 
 panying Palmer and Drake: they had intrusted to 
 him all their cash ; and the old man had allowed 
 himself (for he is an arrant coward) to be bullied out 
 of every piastre of it by the Moabite Bedouin, and af- 
 terward had to refund. He came now to recommend 
 the Ta'amirah as joint guides with the Jehalin, which 
 meant double backsheesh from us, and a liberal per- 
 centage on both for himself; but, in spite of his op- 
 pressive politeness, I was stupid, and Mr. Klein im- 
 perturbable. 
 
 After breakfast we set out with a Moslem Hebron- 
 ite to visit the outside of Machpelah, and the other li- 
 ons of the place. There has certainly been a marvel- 
 ous improvement in the manners of Hebron since our 
 last visit. The visits of the Prince of Wales and of 
 Mr. Fergusson, and their admission within the very 
 sacred building itself without any heaven-sent calami-
 
 A JEWISH INTERIOR. 29 
 
 ty as the result of the profanation, have, perhaps, 
 checked fanaticism ; but at least they have found that 
 Europeans are profitable visitors. We were admitted 
 a few steps up the mosque stairs, and this without any 
 of the scowls and curses which met me on my for- 
 mer visit. We were afterward very civilly conducted 
 round the outer walls, made their circuit, and on the 
 high ground on the north side were allowed to get on 
 to the roof of a side chapel, and to peer through an 
 opening in the dome into the mosque below, where 
 we could only see one tomb, with a lamp suspended 
 over it. 
 
 Wandering afterward in the bazar, we invested in 
 some jars of native quince jam, and were accosted by 
 a Jew, who offered us wine for sale, and invited us to 
 his house, curiously concealed, up alleys and dark en- 
 tries. Eude, but scrupulously clean, was the menage. 
 The upper part of the large room, which formed the 
 dwelling, was raised five steps above the rest, and here 
 we were entertained. The host's fair wife, for the 
 family were Russian Jews, spread a clean white table- 
 cloth, and produced glasses and a bottle of wine. The 
 only more private part of the house was a portion 
 above the dais, partially partitioned off, where sat the 
 daughter, a pretty Jewess, at her needle -work, and 
 showing by her glances her interest and curiosity. 
 
 When we had completed our purchase of excellent 
 wine of Eshcol, and returned to our tents, another 
 diplomatic scene occurred. Abou da Houk and some 
 Jehalin had arrived ; but the Ta'amirah spearmen still
 
 30 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 sat impassive round our camp, in silent array, loath 
 to lose the charge of such golden travelers. Stern- 
 ly Mr. Klein told them they were not engaged ; still 
 they sat imperturbable and motionless. The sun was 
 shining brightly, and, without their knowledge, some 
 capital photographs of the groups were secured. 
 
 Later in the day we attempted a walk toward De- 
 bir and the "Upper and Nether Springs" (Judg. i,, 
 15), but after some hours were fain to hurry back on 
 the threatening appearance of the sky, the wind hav- 
 ing gone round to the west, and clouds rapidlj'- bank- 
 ing up. We had scarcely returned before we had to 
 encounter one of the least agreeable experiences of 
 tent life, in a storm of wind and rain such as southern 
 latitudes only know. Every thing was made snug 
 and taut as speedily as possible; trenches dug round 
 the tents, boxes piled one on another under canvas, 
 mules and horses, with corn-sacks and chaff, hastily 
 hurried off to the shelter of the khan ; but still the 
 motley crowd of Hebronites hung around us, wet to 
 the skin, but with curiosity not yet damped. 
 
 Intrigue meantime had been hard at work. We 
 had offered Abou da Houk 2500 piastres to take us 
 safe to Kerak. He felt inclined to accept it, but the 
 Hebron Bismarck, Hamzi, withdrew him, and got him 
 into conference with the Ta'amirah sheik. 
 
 He soon returns with Hamzi and the others, says it 
 must be £50 (6000 piastres); Mr. Klein throws back 
 his hands in horror; Daoud, our head man, vocifer- 
 ates his orders to the muleteers to pack up for Jerusa-
 
 DIPLOMATIC DIFFICULTIES. 31 
 
 lem. Hamzi turns affectionately to kiss me; I stern- 
 ly turn aside, and will not even look at bira, as I sit 
 on my bedding. Another sederunt of the groups 
 aside, under the lee of another tent, though it is now 
 pouring with rain. At length they come back and 
 announce to Mr. Klein "^a?/i6," "very well," without 
 the slightest movement of a muscle. He quietly raises 
 his head from his book, and asks for the seal of the 
 sheik, which is handed to him. 
 
 Daoud, meantime, has been playing his little game, 
 telling the Jehalin that if they get a high price, he, as 
 dragoman, must tax it for his share; but if they ac- 
 cept a smaller sum, he should let them oft", and look to 
 us for his percentage. But Abou da Houk has taken 
 fright at the threat that we should cross the Jordan 
 by the north route, and so save him all further trouble. 
 Knowing the fickleness of the Arab mind, Mr. Klein 
 had demanded his seal as a pledge till the contract 
 could be drawn up. The other chiefs of the Jehalin 
 also draw their rings from their fingers, in obedience 
 to his example. 
 
 At once a messenger is dispatched for a professional 
 scribe, and a sheet of paper duly stamped with the im- 
 perial monogram, on which the important deed is to 
 be drawn ; for even the Turks have learned the value 
 of stamp duties to the exchequer. The pair (Abou 
 and his uncle Selameh) retire, meanwhile, to take 
 counsel with Hamzi, and return to say they repent of 
 their bargain, and must have 1200 piastres additional. 
 But the crafty Hamzi has outwitted himself, and Mr.
 
 32 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Klein is large in indignation, and firmly refuses to 
 surrender the pledged seals. They grumble, but re- 
 main seated in the tent door-way. The scribe soon 
 arrives — an intelligent, pleasant-looking, well-dressed 
 Turk — drops his red shoes, and seats himself just in- 
 side the tent, with his inkhorn and reed-pen. We are 
 all inside, sitting on the carpets in a circle round the 
 walls, Mr. Klein alone on a camp-stool in front, while 
 the other high contracting parties sit unconcernedly 
 under their hoods outside. Daoud, standing behind 
 the scribe, keenly watches every word as he writes it 
 down on the paper spread on his knee. The Jehalin 
 outside look, under the rain, their wildest and their 
 dirtiest, and most uncomfortable ruffians to meet in 
 an unfriendly way. Hamzi, cunning and well-dressed 
 as ever, has by his side the disappointed Ta'amirah 
 sheik. Every word of the contract is discussed and 
 pertinaciously wrangled over, the young sheik alone 
 feeling it dignified to maintain silence. Hamzi perti- 
 naciously suggests amendments, which Mr. Klein as 
 determinedly resists. Finally, the document is finish- 
 ed ; but meantime the sun has set in a lurid glare, and 
 a tremendous thunder-storm bursts forth. It is by the 
 light of the incessant flashes that the last sentences 
 are written ; but the imperturbable Arabs move not. 
 And now for the sealing. Mr. Klein hands the rings 
 to Daoud, who carefully moistens them in the ink- 
 horn, and applies them to the paper. One of the 
 chiefs has forgotten his seal ; so Daoud takes the 
 man's forefinger, wets it in the inkhorn, and gravely
 
 AN ARAB CONTRACT. 33 
 
 presses it on the document. Then come the attesting 
 witnesses, and finally, during a terrific peal of thun- 
 der, the final solemn words are added, "God is the 
 best witness." Then come appeals for backsheesh, 
 food, and other customary encroachments on the strict 
 letter. We finally conclude a codicil that a sum of 
 250 piastres is to be paid by us to the sheik of the 
 Beni Atiyeh, a tribe of very bad repute, said to be on 
 a marauding expedition from the frontiers of Egypt, 
 in the south, in case we, unfortunately, fall in with 
 them in the Ghor es Safieh ; and it is understood we 
 start in the morning for Engedi. And now we think 
 we see our way clear to Moab. 
 
 After agreeing on the contract, some amusing pre- 
 cautions had to be taken. Half the money was to be 
 paid in advance; and before the solemn sealing the 
 napoleons were delivered by me to our dragoman, 
 counted out by him, then placed, one by one, by him 
 in the palm of Abou da Houk, while our representa- 
 tive held the said palm open, and then turned the 
 gold pieces on to the ground, in the centre of the cir- 
 cle, where they had to remain till all was completed. 
 
 The storm cleared before sunrise, and, after dis- 
 patching a crowd of medical consultees, we could 
 enjoy a bath, al fresco^ in the pools left by the last 
 night's rain. 
 
 Our road to Engedi was the next question. There 
 are two known routes, one the northerly, joining the 
 track from Bethlehem to Tekoa, Wolcott's route ; the 
 other, taken by Robinson and Smith, going south to 
 
 3
 
 34 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Kurmul (Carmel) and Maon, and thence turning due 
 east. Finding the district between these two a blank 
 on the maps, we determined to try to cut across this 
 wilderness. All declared there was no such road; 
 but we determined to make one; and our muleteers 
 and guides at length gave way.
 
 A ROUGH ROUTE. 35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Route from Hebron to Eiigedi.— Yakin.— Forest of Ziph.— Kirbet 
 Zadoud.— Ka'abineh Camp.— Hospitality.— Arab Coffee.— Unex- 
 pected Flood in the Night.— Effect of sudden Rains.— Change of 
 Flora.— Wady el Ghar.— El Husasah, Hazziz.—CViffoiZh.— Steep 
 Pass. — Descent to Engedi. — Rich Botany.— Rashayideh Arabs.— 
 A Bedouin Fantasia.— Ornithology of Engedi.— Camp under Seb- 
 beh (Masada) Wady Seyal.— Lifeless Desolation.— Wady Makhe- 
 j-as.— Visit to the Fortress of Masada. — Ancient Jewish Syna- 
 gogue. — Contrast with the Synagogues of Galilee. — Acoustic Phe- 
 nomenon. — Remarkable Aurora. — Route to Jebel Usdum. — Ford 
 to the Lisan. — View of Mount Hor. — Curious Arab Custom. — 
 Oasis of Zuweirah. — Lateness of the Season. 
 
 At length we quit Hebron, and turn our backs on 
 the outskirts of civilization. We found our new route 
 perfectly practicable, though very rough, and without 
 much to interest. The first part of it lay across the 
 wilderness of Ziph. The ground was very hilly, with 
 narrow valleys of rich loam, which were all rudely 
 cultivated for wheat, without fences. These open 
 fields are the property partly of the Hebronites, but 
 chiefly of the Ta'amirah, who, with a ready market 
 at Jerusalem, have begun to find agriculture profita- 
 ble, and are condescending to till the soil. We left 
 Kurmul on our right, near enough to reconnoitre its 
 fine old castle through our glasses. On the left we 
 saw, here and there in the distance, a few straggling 
 trees, lonely witnesses of the forest that once existed
 
 36 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 there, and continued as late as the time of the cru- 
 sades. Here and there a covey of rock-partridges ran 
 up the rugged sides of the hills ; and twice we espied 
 gazelle browsing on the young wheat in the valleys. 
 The sportsmen were at once in pursuit ; but we were 
 not destined to have venison for supper that night. 
 
 After leaving the remains of Yakhi, none of the 
 places, or rather sites and desolate heaps, which we 
 passed are marked in any of the maps, and only one 
 wady, Wady el Ghdr. We proceeded nearly due east, 
 sighting Beni Nahtr on our left, to the north, where 
 were a few scattered trees, and visiting the castle call- 
 ed Kirhet Yakin^ a curious ruin, with a cistern, and a 
 well long since dry. Within was a sort of square in- 
 ner chamber, over the door-way of which was let in 
 an old quoin, on which was cut an Arabic inscription. 
 
 On this spot we found ourselves exactly on the 
 water-shed of the Mediterranean and Dead seas; and 
 now ended all cultivation in the bottoms of the wadys, 
 and the traces of the olden terraces which had hith- 
 erto uninterruptedly furrowed their sides. We had 
 entered the true wilderness. How far the forest of 
 Ziph extended it is not easy to say ; but there are 
 traces of it in an occasional tree; and there seems no 
 reason, from the nature of the soil, why the woods 
 may not have stretched nearly to the barren sandy 
 marl which overlies the limestone for a few miles 
 west of the Dead Sea. 
 
 We passed but few ruins — Um Halassah, nothing 
 more than a small village, and Kirbet Zadoud. Up
 
 ARAB HOSPITALITY. 37 
 
 and down the bare, rocky bills we passed, till, just be- 
 fore sunset, in a little grassy hollow, we came, much 
 to our surprise, on an encampment of Ka'abineh 
 Arabs, the tribe whose home is between the south 
 end of the Dead Sea and Petra, and with whom I re- 
 called a not very agreeable rencontre, when, in my 
 former visit, we had to capture several of them as 
 they attempted to plunder our camp. Now all their 
 flocks and herds were with them, and they were, 
 of course, pacifically disposed. Here, therefore, we at 
 once determined to camp, on the slope a few hun- 
 dred yards above them. As hospitality demanded, 
 we rode down straight to the Ka'abineh camp. The 
 sheik was away, but a head man promptly invited us 
 into his tent. We dismounted, left our arms piled 
 outside, and stooped, or rather almost crept, under 
 the black camel's-hair roof 
 
 The description of our entertainment may serve for 
 that of many a subsequent one during our expedition. 
 Picture a parallelogram of canvas quite black, and 
 with a roof only three or four feet above the ground, 
 one side turned lengthways against the wind, the oth- 
 er opening into a sort of square surrounded b}^ similar 
 abodes, a fire of broomsticks in the centre, with the 
 smoke and ashes blowing into every one's face; all 
 our party squatted on their hams, or sitting on their 
 heels with spurs on, and their costumes diversified by 
 those of their Arab hosts; the tent full to overflow- 
 ing. An ancient in the centre holds a little flat pan 
 with coffee berries over the flame, and stirs them with
 
 38 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 a Stick, then with great care pounds the roasted cof- 
 fee in a mortar, turns it with his hand into a little 
 tin pot of boiling water; then letting it simmer for a 
 minute or two, turns it over into a second, and lets 
 that simmer in turn, and when it threatens to boil 
 over, pours the beverage into three handleless, saucer- 
 less blue china cups, which form the company store 
 of the household. He carefully inquires from an 
 Arabic-speaking howadji which is the sheik of the 
 party, sips his cup to show that its contents are not 
 of a baneful nature, and then courteously hands it 
 and its fellows to the chief guests; the rank and file 
 being supplied in their turn as the cups become emp- 
 ty. Dusk is falling on us, and the little fire sends up 
 light as well as warmth from its grateful embers, as 
 we sit on, and gather, through our dragoman, some 
 stories of the adventures and wanderings of our hosts 
 from Petra, their original home. 
 
 As we left the Ka'abineh camp, a return visit was 
 invited and promptly promised, with the hint that a 
 little raw coffee would be an acceptable present. A 
 more truly pastoral scene can scarcely be imagined 
 than the trooping home of the sheep, goats, and a few 
 camels from the hills at night-fall. Our camps were 
 snugly ensconced in a sort of basin, toward which the 
 hills gently sloped on all sides. From every side the 
 flocks appeared, almost simultaneously, led by the 
 shepherd, often a little boy; the goats and sheep, 
 generally in parallel lines, gamboling after him as he 
 sang an Arab stave, and the proud bell-wethers keep-
 
 EFFECT OF SUDDEN RAINS. 39 
 
 ing close to his heels, making music from their tink- 
 ling necks. 
 
 The rain, which had considerately kept oflf all day, 
 made up for its complaisance at night. With a sim- 
 plicity not very creditable to experienced camp-men, 
 we had neglected the trenching of our tents. The 
 whole slope on which we had pitched became a shal- 
 low stream, and we awoke before day-break to find a 
 river flowing through the camp, over and under our 
 water-proofs indiscriminately. 
 
 Camp-moving in the rain is a dreary business; but 
 it had to be done ; and the party had a stock of good- 
 humor and readiness to enjoy every thing, from coffee 
 and stale brown bread, in the open, for breakfast, to 
 the minor amusements of horse-catching and vain ef- 
 forts with wet guns. 
 
 It rained for the greater part of the day, lifting 
 occasionally, but never sufficiently to show the sky. 
 At least we had the fortune to see what can have 
 fallen to the lot of but few European travelers — the 
 bare rugged hill-sides and the deep ravines of the 
 wilderness of Judah covered with torrents, and roll- 
 ing down tiny cascades from every rock, while each 
 valley was a pool of water. The tremendous force 
 of sudden rain on a thirsty, stony soil was well ex- 
 emplified ; and the rapidity with which the loosened 
 stones and large fragments of rock, split by the com- 
 bined action of sun and water, were hurried down 
 the tiny glens scooped out many a channel, and gath- 
 ered ever-increasino- masses of debris in the course of
 
 40 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 the torrents. So easily disintegrated is the soft lime- 
 stone of these wadys, that the rain of a few hours, 
 probably the first heavy down-pour since last winter, 
 did more to deepen and widen the channels than the 
 storms of several years could effect on a Northum- 
 brian hill-side. No geologist could watch the efiect 
 of this storm without being convinced that, in calcu- 
 lating the progress of denudation, other factors than 
 that of time must be taken into account, and that 
 denudation may proceed most rapidly where rains 
 are most uncertain. 
 
 The gradual change of the flora is worthy of notice. 
 From the moment of our crossing this water-shed the 
 vegetable mold, which more or less scantily covers 
 the country on the Mediterranean side, disappears — 
 perhaps because this soil is due to the primeval forest, 
 while the forest did not extend eastward of the crest. 
 This I merely throw out as a conjecture ; but though 
 vegetation instantly becomes more sparse, it only 
 gradually changes its character, until, by the time we 
 have reached the crest of the cliffs overhanging En- 
 gedi, there is scarce a plant identical with those of 
 the neighborhood of Hebron ; and though the alti- 
 tude has not diminished more than 1000 feet, the 
 flora is strictly of the desert type, such as is found 
 south of Beersheba, and in the Ti'h. 
 
 During our ride we crossed and followed for a short 
 time the wadys Aboul Hayad and Mudabab-flakk'r, 
 neither of which are laid down in the maps, and both 
 of them insignificant ravines ; then the Wady el Ghar.
 
 CLIFF OF ZIZ. 41 
 
 which is very deep and rugged, certainly the most 
 important in the drainage of the district. 
 
 Finally we crossed the Wady Dal'al, not marked 
 in the maps, a feeder of the Wady Sudeir from the 
 south-west, and soon reached the top of the pass 
 down to Engedi, riding across a piece of table-land 
 called El Husasah — i. e., Haz-ziz — the cliff of Ziz 
 (2 Chron. xx., 16). Our ride must have been across 
 the wilderness of Jeruel {id), of which name we 
 caught no trace in the Bedouin nomenclature ; and 
 some one of those desolate heaps, now nameless, 
 which we passed before reaching it must have been 
 ^'the watch-tower in the wilderness" (2 Chron. xx., 24) 
 from which the invasion of the hordes of marauders 
 from the south was signaled. 
 
 This pass and cliff of Ziz seems to have been, even 
 from the days of Chedorlaomer and Abraham, the 
 one ascent by which invaders from the south and 
 east, after doubling the south end of the Dead Sea, 
 entered the hill country of Judea. Up to Engedi 
 they could march without interruption, by the shores 
 of the sea below ; and though there are several open- 
 ings south of Engedi by which troops could easily 
 make the ascent into the upper country, yet any of 
 them would necessitate a long march across a rough 
 and almost waterless wilderness. Practically, then, 
 Ziz was the key of the pass. To the north of it 
 the shore line is impracticable even for footmen, and 
 there are no paths by which beasts could be led up. 
 Hence the old importance of Hazazon-tamar, or En-
 
 42 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 gedi, which is still the route by which the trade be- 
 tween Jerusalem and Kerak is carried on, and by 
 which the former city obtains its supplies of salt. 
 
 The clouds lifted just as we reached the crest, and 
 we looked down on the grand panorama of the sea, 
 and the line of the Moab mountains beyond ; while 
 the steam rose up from the oasis of Engedi at our 
 feet, literally smoking from the unwonted moisture. 
 At the risk of being accused of suffering from "Holy 
 Land on the brain," by those who can only measure 
 grandeur by bigness, and who can see nothing to 
 enjoy in Hermon or Lebanon because they are only 
 10,000 feet high and do not reach the Alps or the 
 Himalayas, I must confess that few landscapes have 
 impressed me more than the sudden unfolding of the 
 Dead Sea basin and its eastern wall from the top of 
 this pass. 
 
 The path is a mere zigzag, chiefly artificial, cut out 
 of the side of the precipices, but occasionally aided by 
 nature. We dismounted, and led our horses careful- 
 ly down the rugged and winding staircase, those who 
 were in front inwardly uneasy lest any of those be- 
 hind, or rather above us, should dislodge a stone and 
 hurl us to the bottom. The descent, by our barome- 
 ter, was about 1800 feet. 
 
 The pass is just at the inner edge of the semicir- 
 cular wall of cliff which, spanning a chord, of about 
 three miles from the Wady Sudeir to Wady Areyeh, 
 embraces a horseshoe plain that gently slopes to the 
 shore. Three hundred or four hundred feet from the,
 
 KASHAYIDEH ARABS. 43 
 
 bottom is a break in tbe cliff; it becomes a rugged 
 slope ; and at the base of a rock the copious, warm, 
 fresh spring of Ain Jidy (Engedi) — i. e., " the fountain 
 of the kid " — bursts forth amidst an oasis of tropical 
 vegetation. Here that quaint asclepiad, the osher, 
 the jujube, the beautiful parasite Lonicera indica, and 
 a host of strange semi-tropical plants, send our bota- 
 nist into an ecstasy of delight. There were still three 
 hours of daylight, which were usefully spent by the 
 botanists and naturalists gun in hand. 
 
 The Rashayideh, the tribe who claim and who cul- 
 tivate the oasis, were encamped not far off, and busily 
 occupied in weeding their young wheat. They have 
 not many visitors, and I was very soon recognized and 
 greeted by several of them as an old friend. The 
 Eashayideh are a very small and weak, and therefore, 
 prudently, an un warlike tribe, contriving to keep on 
 good terms with both Jehalin and Ta'amirah, and oc- 
 casionally rather heavily laid under tribute by both. 
 Like the Ghawarhineh, they are partly agricultural, 
 though not substituting the hut for the tent, and are 
 of a decidedly different type of countenance from the 
 Jehalin, whom they far surpass in good looks, and, as 
 I found on my previous visit, in quick-witted intelli- 
 gence. They willingly lent a hand to gather forage 
 for our horses ; and after we had bestowed on them 
 and on our Jehalin guard a supper of rice, they re- 
 warded us with a capital " fantasia," or Arab dance 
 and recitative, round our camp fire, which they con- 
 tinued till far into nicjht.
 
 •M THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 The entertainment was on this wise: A string of 
 eight Bedouin of the two tribes appeared before the 
 door of the " great," or dining tent, under the eaves 
 of which the howadji were accommodated with camp- 
 stools. Kanged in a line, one acted as master of the 
 ceremonies (for band there was none), and led off in a 
 monotonous chant, taken up by others one by one, 
 and then joined in by all in chorus, their bodies bend- 
 ing to the ground, hands clapping, and feet moving 
 half a step forward in regular time, till within a few 
 inches of the noses of the spectators, when, with grin- 
 ning rows of ivory gleaming out of the dark night, 
 they yelled and retreated. A Chinese lantern of cloth 
 supplied the place of gas; a railway reading-lamp did 
 duty for foot-lights. The interlude consisted of gut- 
 tural roars or growls, such as may be heard any day 
 in the Zoological Gardens shortly before the feeding- 
 time of the carnivora. The various acts sung the 
 praises of the illustrious guests and their mountaineer- 
 ing feats, the botanist, as " the Father of Cabbage,'" 
 being duly honored with special mention. The grand 
 finale of each scene was a thrilling whoop, described 
 by a huntsman present as a grand "view-holloa," but 
 voted by all to be inimitable. The firing of match- 
 locks and illuminations of magnesium wire were prom- 
 inent features in the piece, thus successfully put on 
 the — we can not say boards, but the sand and stones 
 which took their place, at Engedi, for the first time, 
 on February 2, 1872. 
 
 The greater part of the next day was spent in re-
 
 DESOLATE MASADA. 45 
 
 visiting the most interesting sites of desolate Engedi, 
 especially the tine caves up the Wady Sudeir, with 
 their stalagmites and luxuriant tresses of maiden-hair 
 fern. The access is not easy, and involved so much 
 scrambling that it was not surprising that some trav- 
 elers who have been here since my first visit had fail- 
 ed in discovering the caves. Many small birds were 
 making the oasis their winter-quarters, and I was for- 
 tunate enough to obtain a pair of a new or unde- 
 scribed species of warbler, something like the Sardin- 
 ian warbler of South Europe, and which has been 
 named Sylvia Tnelanoiliorax^ Black - throated warbler 
 ("Ibis," 1872, p. 296). 
 
 In the afternoon we bid farewell to the Rashayideh, 
 the successors of the Kenites of Engedi, and followed 
 our mules along the shore, intending to camp and 
 spend our Sunday under Sebbeh, the celebrated an- 
 cient fortress of Masada. With the exception of one 
 or two sulphur hot springs close to the edge of the 
 lake, the ride is the most uninteresting possible, utter- 
 ly devoid of life, and with the cliffs and mountains 
 rising upward of 2000 feet sheer, glaring red in the 
 sunlight, and the soft marl deposit at their base of a 
 monotonous, dazzling whiteness. This part of the 
 shore more truly reaches the popular notion of the 
 desolation of the Dead Sea than any other. 
 
 We found our tents pitched not very far from the 
 shore, by the side of the bed, if bed it may be called, 
 of the Wady Seyal, or "Acacia Valley," and at least 
 two miles from the base of the hills, which could only
 
 46 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 be reached through a labyrinth of soft marl, scooped, 
 torn, and furrowed by winter torrents into every fan- 
 tastic shape in which wild fancy could have molded 
 matter ; ruins, and crumbling castles, flat-topped mam- 
 elons, square forts, cairns, pinnacles, and tide-washed 
 rocks, all made of this crumbling white and ver}'- salt 
 deposit, so soft that it was very difficult anywhere to 
 climb them. Yet not a plant nor a bird could be seen, 
 save here and there in the low bed of the wady a tuft 
 of some salt-loving plant and a gnarled acacia. A sol- 
 itary desert hare, with body not larger than a rabbit, 
 and ears one-third longer than our hare's, was occa- 
 sionally started, and was speedily lost in the labyrinth. 
 
 We soon felt the change of temperature implied in 
 being 1300 feet below the level of the sea. The night 
 was sultry, and more so was the day, happily the day 
 of rest. After morning service in our tent, I had the 
 pleasure of revisiting Sebbeh, and recalling once more 
 on the spot the tragic history of Masada. The for- 
 tress will well repay many a visit ; and I was especial- 
 ly interested in refreshing my memory while enjoy 
 ing the sanguine hope of soon seeing the sister castle 
 of Machserus, yet more closely bound up with both 
 Jewish and inspired history. We did not attempt 
 the eastern face, but felt that the quiet zigzag round 
 to the western shoulder by the Roman causeway was 
 more within a Sabbath-day's journey. 
 
 I am not about to describe afresh what I have al- 
 ready described, and what others who followed me (one 
 of whom left for us his pocket-handkerchief, marked
 
 sebbeh; 
 
 47 
 
 C. M.) have still more accurately depicted. We cor- 
 rected our barometric observations of the height of the 
 fortress, which is 1250 instead of 1500 feet, as I had er- 
 roneously calculated it. The great cistern at the south 
 end we found, in spite of the late rains, to be empty, 
 doubtless from the stoppage of the conduits, which 
 
 NO. 1. 
 
 SEBBEU. DEAD SEA FKOM OUR CAMP. 
 
 can still be seen. Near the top we noticed two open-' 
 ings in the cliff, hewn through the native rock at the 
 south face, and which a pair of lanner falcons and sev- 
 eral pairs of owls had found most convenient as afford- 
 ing secure access to their nests in the roof, while the 
 hyenas had been using the broken steps down which 
 we scrambled.
 
 48 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 The comparatively perfect building in the centre 
 of the inclosure, and which I, in common with oth- 
 ers, for want of a better term, have spoken of as the 
 chapel,* seems, most probably, to have been the syna- 
 gogue of the fortress. As there is no trace of any 
 Christian occupation, historical or architectural, and 
 as the building seems undoubtedly contemporary with 
 the rest of the constructions, we may fairly adopt this 
 conjecture, especially as, on close examination of the 
 contiguous chamber to the north, there are traces of 
 its having been fitted as a bath, doubtless for the cere- 
 monial ablutions, while the other chamber would be 
 for the use of students of the holy books. If this be 
 so, this is certainly the most ancient synagogue pre- 
 served to our days, and the only one prior to the cap- 
 ture of Jerusalem by Titus. All those so admirably 
 illustrated in the papers of the Palestine Exploration 
 Fund by Captain C.W.Wilson, R.E.jf in Galilee, were 
 presumably erected after the return of the Jews in the 
 time of Hadrian, with, let us hope, the exception of 
 that at Tel Hum. If this building were a synagogue, 
 it differs from those in Galilee in being placed east 
 and west, instead of north and south (although that at 
 Irbid is almost a rectangle), and in the absence of col- 
 umns. Both these variations may be simply caused 
 by the difference of conditions between a fortress 
 chapel, constructed for the wants of a garrison in a 
 
 * " Land of Israel," 2(1 edit., p. 313. 
 
 + "Palestine Exploration Fund Statement," 18G0, p. 37.
 
 ACOUSTIC PHENOMENON. 49 
 
 confined space, and a house of worship in an open vil- 
 lage or town. 
 
 While on the fortress, we descried a party of Arabs 
 descending the gorge of Nemriyeh toward our camp, 
 and our guides, keener-sighted without, than we with, 
 our field-glasses, pronounced them to be the company 
 of our old friend Hamzi of Hebron, on their way to 
 re-enforce our escort ; and on our return we found our 
 old tormentor and protector overflowing as usual with 
 poetical civilities. 
 
 The acoustic properties of these clear regions have 
 often been spoken of We had here a wonderful 
 instance. Hayne had remained behind for an hour, 
 when we started for the ascent of Masada, When at 
 the top, we saw him, on his way to join us, at the foot 
 of the next cliff, about 500 yards from the base of the 
 rock of Masada, and 1250 feet below us ; yet at this 
 immense distance of over 600 yards we not only car- 
 ried on a conversation with him, but, as he proved, 
 on joining us, he could hear several of our remarks 
 to each other. We found abundance of water in the 
 gullies, west of Sebbeh, On our way back, I noticed 
 a pair of the beautiful and rare wheat-ear Saxicola 
 monacha, which I never found elsewhere, except on 
 the salt mountain of Jebel Usdum, but which is also 
 found on the dreary steppes of Nubia and Abyssinia, 
 
 We sat up rather late after evening service, at- 
 tracted by a magnificent aurora borealis, a sight un- 
 wonted in these latitudes, I never remember, even 
 in the north of England, to have seen one so brilliant, 
 
 4
 
 50 THE LAND OF 3I0AB. 
 
 and so persistent in its coloring. It was all orange- 
 red, with grand streaks intensifying the rays occasion- 
 ally, but no green or pale rays.* The Arabs, to our 
 great surprise, seemed very little attracted, and cer- 
 tainly not, as we might have expected, alarmed by it. 
 On our questioning them, they said they had seen it 
 sometimes before, and that the last time was when the 
 French and Germans were going to fight. We asked 
 them if they thought it was a portent. They said 
 they did not know, but they believed it had to do 
 with the north country, and not with themselves. 
 We were interested some weeks afterward to find, by 
 the European papers, that we, down by the Dead Sea, 
 had not been alone in our admiration of the extraor- 
 dinary northern lights of 4th February, 1872, but that 
 they had attracted great attention not only in Europe 
 but even in Egypt, far up the Nile. From Sebbel 
 the route to Jebel Usdum is along the shore.f 
 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
 f I was able to correct, or at least to alter, the orthogi-aphy of one or 
 two names. There are seven wadys from Sebbeh to the south-west 
 angle of the sea, and none of these bear names which can be referred 
 to an earlier time than the Arabic language. They are Wady Safsaf, 
 " the willow valley," erroneously marked " Hafhaf ;" Eubt el Jamus, 
 "the binding of the heifer;" Senin, "broom;" Um el Bedun, "the 
 mother of the Ibex ;" Ilatrura, Umbaghek, " the mother of the cow," 
 and Mejd. These names sufficiently show that no tradition of olden 
 time has shaped the nomenclature. I was amused at an instance of 
 the way in which names may become interpolated. One of our party, 
 eager to collect infonnation, asked old Selameh the name of the head- 
 land on our right. At the same moment a pair of sand-grouse were 
 flushed. " K'tar k'tar," exclaimed our guide, looking on game as far
 
 VIEW OF MOUNT HOR, 51 
 
 When just opposite the opening of Wady Hatrura, 
 Selameh pointed out to me the exact spot where he, 
 when a youth, had forded across to the Lisan. From 
 his age, this may have been sixty or seventy years 
 ago. There must have been considerable changes 
 since then in the currents of the Dead Sea, for Lynch's 
 soundings show a maximum of three fathoms, or eight- 
 een feet. No one, according to Arab testimony, has 
 attempted this feat for many years; yet Selameh 
 avows he did it on his camel, which would make the 
 maximum depth eight feet. 
 
 Just at the crest of the headland " Mersed," which 
 we crossed, and where there is no wady whatever, we 
 observed a curious Arab custom. It is just at the 
 point where Van de Yelde's and my own maps show 
 that the cliffs come quite close to the sea, leaving no 
 beach whatever, and where we have to mount the 
 shoulder of the headland. On reaching the crest of 
 the shoulder, the distant mountains of Edom come in 
 view; and among these, very distinctly, Jebel Haroun, 
 " Mount Aaron," the Mount Hor of the Scripture, and 
 a sacred spot of the Moslems. Every rock and boul- 
 der of the rugged steep by the track was piled with 
 small stones. No devout Bedouin will pass that way 
 without adding to the pile ; for every traveler, when 
 he first catches sight of the holy mountain, must, ac- 
 cording to custom, place there his "stone of witness.'' 
 
 We had another instance of the tenacity of old 
 
 beyond names in importance, and down went Wady el Kattar in the 
 note-book. Nor was this enough, for a second time in the same 
 journal did Wady el Kitter, evoked under like circumstances, appear.
 
 52 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Scriptural customs in the way in whicb, as of old, 
 names are given. One of our Jehalin guard was call- 
 ed Ehideir — ^. e., "watering -place." On Mr. Klein 
 asking him how he came to have so strange a name, 
 he told us he was born as his mother was going with 
 her pitcher to the watering-place, and first saw the 
 light at the " Ehideir." 
 
 Passing Wadj Nejd, we soon reached the turn to- 
 ward the east; and riding across the open scrubby 
 plain which forms the oasis of Zuweirah, reached the 
 north-west shoulder of Jebel Usdum, the "Salt Mount- 
 ain," where we were to camp, favored by some fine 
 acacia, or "seyal," trees. Grievous was the disap- 
 pointment of our botanist. I had promised him here 
 a rich harvest. On my former expedition we had 
 collected here, in the very same week of the year, 
 more than seventy species of plants in flower. The 
 gravel was then literally carpeted with color; now 
 scarcely a blade of green or a blossom could be seen. 
 The lateness, or the non-arrival, of the rains had made 
 all the difference between barrenness and fertility. 
 On strolling along the edge of the mountain, I was 
 struck by the change which the short period of eight 
 years had made in several well-remembered spots — 
 how sundry isolated fragments of salt, or " Lot's 
 wives," had been washed away, and other pinnacles 
 had been detached by the rains to take their places. 
 Turning round the northern corner of Jebel Usdum 
 by Eas Hish (the Sodom of De Saulcy, but merely 
 the remains of a small fort for the protection of the 
 salt workers), we enter on the "Vale of Salt."
 
 AN EARLY START. 53 
 
 CHAPTER TIL 
 
 An early Start. — Effect of the Sua on the Mountains. — Sudden Thun- 
 der-storm. — A Sah Cavern. — Marl Deposit on the Salt Mountain. 
 • — Its Origin. — Elevation of the New Red Sandstone. — Position of 
 the Salt Rock. — Crossing the Sebkha. — Alarm of Marauders. — 
 Frontier of Moab. — Sudden Apparition of Enemies. — A threatened 
 Skirmish. — Naked Warriors. — Our Guide stripped. — The Beni Ati- 
 yeh. — A Treaty made. — March through the Wood. — Difficulties 
 of Exploration. — A costly Giiard. — Vegetation of the Safieh. — An- 
 cient Remains. — Kasr el Bushariyeh. — Old Mill. — Moslem Bury- 
 ing-ground. — Remains exposed. — Boundary of Moab. — Brook Ze- 
 red. — Suphah. — Variety in the Vegetation of the Safieh.^ Horse- 
 men from Kerak. — Son of the MudjellL — Petty Thefts. — A Mulo 
 on its Trial. — Return of the Jehalin. 
 
 It was important to have an early start, in order 
 to get into the Safieh, or south-east oasis of the Dead 
 Sea, in good time ; and our people, who had not for- 
 gotten our chidings for many previous delays, deter- 
 mined to rouse us betimes, and, accordingly, served 
 coffee and began to loosen tent pegs at 8.30 a.m. We 
 would not risk a late start by sending them back 
 to bed, but took their practical joke as a matter of 
 course. Brightly burned our four watch-fires as we 
 sauntered about. Mr. Johnson took the opportunity 
 of a clear, starlit sky to make observations for lati- 
 tude and longitude. A little after four o'clock the 
 crescent moon rose over the mountains of Moab; and 
 the sun had scarcely cast the gloaming of approach-
 
 54 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ing dawn over the eastern peaks, when, before six 
 o'clock, we were off, and began to round the north 
 end of Jebel Usdum. 
 
 At 6.30 the sun rose, and its effect on the western 
 face of the Moab mountains in front, and on the sea 
 beneath them, was very wonderfuh A deep, green- 
 ish mist seemed to wrap the lower parts, gradually 
 melting into a dark red higher up, and the few fleecy 
 clouds were gilded. Soon a change came over all, 
 and the rolling peals and black masses in the south- 
 west warned us of a coming storm. We could not 
 hurry on. We were now in the most desolate and 
 dreary corner of that desolate shore, without one trace 
 of vegetable life, not even a stray salsola or salicornia, 
 to relieve the flat sand-beds. The sand and loam of 
 the shore was deep and heavy, our horses sunk at 
 each step above the fetlocks, and not until we were 
 wet through could we turn to the salt mountains on 
 our right and ride into a salt cavern, or rather tun- 
 nel. The bottom was dry and dusty. We dismount- 
 ed, and explored it with wax-matches, when sudden- 
 ly there was a sound of waters overhead, and in a 
 few minutes a stream of salt mud was rushing along 
 the cavern to the sea. 
 
 The storm was not of long continuance, and grand- 
 ly it rolled northward up the lake in a black mass, 
 leaving us in sunshine. I had time here to notice 
 and consider some points about the mountain and its 
 formation. Some fine perpendicular sections were 
 displayed from top to bottom, the salt having cleft
 
 MARL DEPOSIT. 55 
 
 perpendicularly. The whole ridge of pure rock-salt, 
 perhaps two hundred feet high, is covered by a layer 
 of chalky marl and natron about fifty or sixty feet 
 thick. I have often wondered how this was formed, 
 and used to imagine it had been uplifted on the top 
 of the salt, and that the position of the ridge was due 
 to local elevation. But it seems to me now, from 
 some facts I noticed during the sudden rain, that the 
 superincumbent mass is simply the earthy matter left 
 on the top by the action of water, which has, in the 
 course of ages, washed all the soluble salts into the 
 sea, leaving only this detritus, or sediment. The 
 process is actually going on, and may be seen on any 
 of the detached blocks which have been disintegrated 
 from the mass, and which, clear and transparent at 
 first, soon became covered, but only on their top, 
 with this earthy deposit. How many ages must 
 have been requisite to wash away by gentle rain ac- 
 tion salt enough to leave fifty feet of marly sediment 
 on the ridge! 
 
 I see no signs of any upheaval of the ridge. The 
 mass would rather appear to have been left, owing 
 to the superior hardness of the salt, when the tor- 
 rents from the south scooped out the whole southern 
 Sebkha, and swept all its soft loam and chalk into the 
 sea, while the torrents of the Mahawat and Zuweirah 
 performed the same ofl&ce less completely on its west- 
 ern side, the gravel and sand being there fifty feet 
 higher than the mnd on the eastern side. 
 
 This theory would leave the whole salt mass below
 
 56 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 the old level of the marl deposits, which fringe the 
 .base of the cliffs all down the western shore, and 
 also the shoulder of the Lisan on the eastern side. 
 Ao^ain, our observations in Moab showed us that the 
 new red sandstone can not be far beneath the surface 
 on the western side, because there has been a manifest 
 upheaval along the whole line, and the new red sand- 
 stone is uniformly displayed under the eocene lime- 
 stone, which overlies it to a depth of about two hun- 
 dred feet more than the whole height of the western 
 range. Assuming, then, the equal deposition of the 
 chalky limestone on either side, the rock-salt must 
 be lying on the new red, at a depth of more than two 
 hundred feet below the surface. Thus the salt de- 
 posit of the Jordan valley is similar in its nature and 
 geological position to the salt rocks of Cheshire and 
 the new red sandstone of England. 
 
 At 9 A.M., after three hours, we reached within a 
 mile the south end of the Salt Mountain, and finding 
 the bottom firmer, immediately turned due east to 
 cross the Sebkha, or desolate sand swamp. Heavy 
 work we found it after the rain, and for safety we 
 had to keep close to our mules, for this is "no man's 
 land." Great alarm was expressed by our guards on 
 detecting a party of men in the far distance, on the 
 plain south of Usdum. However, wonderful as are 
 their powers of vision, our field-glasses beat them for 
 once, and we were able to re-assure them by telling 
 them that of the seven one only had a gun, and that 
 they were driving two black cows, or donkeys. We
 
 ALARM OF MARAUDERS. 57 
 
 found afterward that they were a party of cattle lift- 
 ers, who had stolen two cows from the Safieh in the 
 night. 
 
 We crossed the shallow beds of the Kuseib, the 
 Jeib, the Ghurundel, and other lesser drains from the 
 Akabah, whose united contributions to the waters of 
 the lake are very small ; and before 11 o'clock we 
 reached the Wady Tufileh, a mere ditch with muddy 
 banks, without a particle of vegetation, with a strip 
 of narrow, greasy, sandy plain beyond ; and then, at 
 the distance of 200 to 250 yards, a line of thick, dense 
 canebrake, the commencement of the Safieh, the ex- 
 act boundary-line between ancient Edom, where we 
 were, and Moab. As we rode up to the deep mud- 
 dy bank, ready to ford, a tall, mounted Arab, with 
 a long spear, dashed from a narrow opening in the 
 reeds, and in an instant about 150 wild, armed Be- 
 douin deployed from the canebrake and spread them- 
 selves along the narrow plain on the other side, 
 gesticulating, and wildly brandishing their weapons. 
 They were a savage-looking lot, more like Maoris, or 
 Fiji islanders, than any Western race, as they yelled 
 and capered, evidently meaning mischief, and strip- 
 ped for the fight; for the Bedouin, unless mounted, 
 always go naked into battle. Some had guns, some 
 spears, a few huge swords, and many only most for- 
 midable clubs, or maces with a round, spiked head. 
 
 We were bewildered fot the moment, and I feared 
 the Safieh was destined to be for the second time a 
 turning-point for me. Suddenly our gallant old
 
 58 . THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 sheik, Selameh, dashed across the stream, to parley 
 with the single mounted horseman, a fine - looking, 
 wild fellow, clad in a sheep-skin coat with the woolly 
 side in, and painted yellow. Several shots were 
 fired, harmlessly, from the other side, but none in re- 
 turn from ours. As the old sheik mounted on the 
 opposite bank, his horse sunk in the mud, and rolled 
 over: in an instant he was dragged out by the ruf- 
 fians, his gun and all else taken from him, and he 
 was lost to our sight in the melee. 
 
 Some of the foe now waded across to where we 
 were standing in line by the edge, apparently aiming 
 at capturing some of the mules behind. One of our 
 Jehalin foot-guard, a fine young Bedouin, who was 
 my special companion, and had been also with me 
 on my former expedition, tried to push them back, 
 and was instantly felled senseless to the ground by 
 the butt end of a gun, which cut his cheek to the 
 bone. Another fellow came up, as if to dispatch him 
 with his club, but was held back by his own party. 
 Old Hamzi now came to the front on foot, assured us 
 that it was a tribal quarrel, and that we had nothing 
 to do with the fray, and, bare-legged, waded across in 
 great excitement, when he too was lost in the yelling 
 crowd. 
 
 Daoud, our dragoman, next spurred his horse across, 
 but fell ; and before he could recover his footing, his 
 outer clothing, belt, satchel, and money - bag were 
 stripped from him ; but he still held on tenaciously to 
 Hayne's gun, which he was carrjnng. In a moment

 
 THE BENI ATIYEH. 59 
 
 bis saddle-bags, which contained the luncheon of the 
 party, were emptied ; but he succeeded in recovering 
 his horse, and was the only mounted man of our side 
 across. Another Jehalin who ventured over was fell- 
 ed ; but Daoud, who throughout behaved with admira- 
 ble coolness, had evidently by this time got the chief- 
 tain's ear, and a long and vociferous discussion en- 
 sued, which we anxiously watched. To fight would 
 have been madness ; we had no cover, no possible re- 
 treat, and were overwhelmed by numbers ; so we kept 
 back our muleteers and guards, and patiently awaited 
 the event. 
 
 It turned out that the tribe were the dreaded Beni 
 Atiyeh, a new tribe from Arabia, who have only re- 
 cently taken to marauding in this part of the country, 
 and have the worst possible reputation. With them 
 were a few of the Ma'az from Orak, south of Kerak, 
 a tribe of similar habits, and also of the Ghawarhi- 
 neh, the proper inhabitants of the Safieh, and who by 
 themselves are by no means an unmanageable or dan- 
 gerous tribe, though, from their climate, more de- 
 graded than any of the highland clans to the east- 
 ward. These Beni Atiyeh had a blood feud with the 
 Ta'amirah, whom they supposed we had taken with 
 us, but none with the Jehalin. Well was it now for 
 us that we had steadily refused the advances of the 
 Ta'amirah at Hebron. 
 
 At length the yellow-coated horseman and Daoud 
 rode back together toward us. The sheik cried out, 
 " The Christians are my friends ! the Ta'amirah only
 
 60 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 are mj enemies !" Hamzi, lifting up his hands, swore 
 loudly that not a Ta'amirah was with us ; and the 
 horseman, galloping along the line of his savage fol- 
 lowers, ordered them back. Eeluctantly, and with 
 many a significant gesture, the naked horde, baulked 
 of their prey, fell back a little, and we crossed. Mean- 
 time an angry debate arose between our sheik, Sela- 
 meh, and theirs, doubtless as to the amount of back- 
 sheesh, which we left them to settle. "We now form- 
 ed in file, and slowly and cautiously proceeded, the 
 Beni Atiyeh sheik leading the van, those who cared 
 more for their personal safety than for the loss of the 
 baggage, or of any stray mules, accompanying him ; 
 while the rest of the party formed a rear-guard, and 
 kept a sharp look-out on the sumpter animals — no easy 
 task through three miles of tangled brush-wood and 
 thicket, with the wild and naked warriors swarming 
 on all sides, endeavoring to scare any stray mule to 
 the right or left, when two minutes would have suf- 
 ficed for the partition of the booty. 
 
 At length we reached a small open space near the 
 Ghawarhineh camp, where we were ordered to pitch. 
 Carefully we formed a cordon, to keep off the wonder- 
 ing and still rather irritated crowd. From the treach- 
 erous character of our hosts, we took care to keep an 
 armed guard, relieved at intervals during the night, 
 round our camp, grateful, indeed, for the Providence 
 which had preserved us so far in safety, and joining 
 with heartfelt gratitude in the 23d Psalm, as we lay 
 down for our first night within the boundaries of Moab.
 
 THE SAFIEH. 61 
 
 The next day was devoted to a careful examination 
 of the few traces of antiquity in the Safieh. This was 
 not easily accomplished, as our wild hosts would not 
 suffer us to move out alone, and demanded extrava- 
 gant backsheesh for a guard of honor of eight horse- 
 men, which they insisted were necessary for our safe- 
 ty. Time was more precious than money, and we 
 had to submit to this extra extortion. Mounting our 
 horses, we first of all turned south-east from our camp- 
 ing-ground toward the principal ruins of the Safieh. 
 Our leader was the sheik of Ghawarhineh, Dabbour, 
 who informed us he had acted in the same capacity 
 for Messrs. Palmer and Drake. The ground is no- 
 where completely cleared, but cultivated in patches, 
 hemmed in with dense and impenetrable clumps of 
 Zizyphus, and Seyal Acacia trees, with other thorny 
 shrubs, arranged in a natural, park-like fashion. Few 
 other trees were to be found in this part, and no palm- 
 tree of any kind. 
 
 We soon reached the Sell es Safieh, a tolerably- 
 sized stream, with a gravelly bed, here flowing in a 
 northerly direction, and receiving little affluents from 
 the east. On the other side of the stream the vegeta- 
 tion was different, and the soil not the rich marshy 
 loam which covers the plain from the stream to the 
 sea, but lighter and gravelly. The thickets were not 
 so close, and the osher-tree {Calotwiyis procera) was tJw 
 feature of the tangle. All along the course of the Sa- 
 fieh the stream is tapped by little conduits on its left 
 bank ; so that the whole Ghor can be turned into a
 
 62 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 watered meadow, as is practiced by the same tribe at 
 Jericho. The cultivators were only now beginning to 
 turn on the water for their little patches of corn, to- 
 bacco, and indigo. There seems a well-arranged sys- 
 tem by which the riparian proprietors exercise their 
 rights of " water-privilege " in rotation, each being 
 allowed to tap the Sell in turn, but only for so many 
 days. Three days' water is sufficient to clothe a bar- 
 ren stubble with a rich green hue. The little stream- 
 lets are led off carefully westward, from patch to patch, 
 until the supply is exhausted. We kept on the left 
 bank of the Sell till we reached the ruins. 
 
 The remains, though extensive, are very poor and 
 disappointing. On a slightly rising slope are strewn 
 a mass of loose stones, covering several acres, with a 
 few fragments of walls, many solid foundations, and 
 a few portions of round columns. The name given 
 to these ruins, Sheik 'Aisa, affords no clue whatever 
 to any ancient name. Unlike the ruins of western 
 Palestine, the city has been constructed of soft sand- 
 stone exclusively ; and this has been much weathered, 
 and reduced often to a state of complete disintegra- 
 tion. The sandstone is never found west of Jordan, 
 as nowhere, west of the great fissure, has the eocene 
 chalk been sufficiently elevated to show the underly- 
 ing formation. The fragments of columns were all 
 plain, none fluted; and we could find no inscriptions, 
 and only one sculptured stone, probably of Christian 
 origin, for the central ornament was a Greek cross. 
 There were no traces which could indicate the date of
 
 KASK EL BUSHARIYEH. 63 
 
 the buildings, and certainly there was not the slightest 
 vestige of any fortification, or even of a wall surround- 
 ing the straggling village. Fortification we could not 
 expect to find, as the position is one peculiarly de- 
 fenseless, and the very last which would have been 
 selected in the times of ancient warfare as a frontier 
 fortress. We have, probably, here merely the remains 
 of a Roman village in the more peaceful days of the 
 early empire. 
 
 A few hundred yards higher up are some far more 
 perfect ruins, called Kasr el Bushariyeh, of a much 
 later date, not earlier than the Crusading or earlier 
 Saracenic times. These had been pointed out to me 
 before as the Tawahin es Suhkar ("Sugar-mills"); 
 but Dabbour assured us that the true Sugar-mills 
 were north of the Lisan, in which his report agrees 
 with Burckhardt's information. There have evident- 
 ly been water-mills of some kind here, and there are 
 two stone-lined and covered channels by which the 
 water has been guided to turn undershot wheels. 
 These, with the sluices, are in perfect preservation. 
 There is a massive gate-way built of dressed stone 
 with pointed arches. But this original building has 
 been largely added to by mud-built walls; and it 
 seems as though the mills had been abandoned, and 
 the whole converted into a khan by the later addi- 
 tions of earthen walls. On the gate-way are many 
 tribe marks, carved like those on the fortress of Ma- 
 sada, which, from their comprising the signs of Mars 
 and Venus ( S and ? ), have been imagined to be astro- 
 
 5
 
 64 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 nomical symbols. Eound these ruins is the cemetery 
 of the neighboring tribe. The bodies are merely 
 placed in the bank of drifting sand, and so lightly 
 covered that we saw the bleached and withered forms 
 of two women, with their ordinary clothes on, lying 
 exposed on the surface. Our guards had sufficient 
 civilization to feel ashamed of this exposure, and to 
 make apologies for it, as accidental from the high 
 winds. 
 
 A little way above the Kasr is the third ruin, deci- 
 dedly Moslem in its origin, and called El Mushnekk'r, 
 or " the gallows ;" not that any gibbet is there, though 
 skulls dug out of the graves by the hyenas strew the 
 ground. There appears to have been a Mohammed- 
 an wely here ; but I could find no traces one could 
 fairly assign to a Christian chapel. 
 
 About half an hour farther south the Wady Feifeh 
 comes in ; and this was the limit of our southward 
 exploration. Beyond it is Wady Tufileh, which we 
 had crossed before entering the Safieh. The Wady 
 Feifeh, we were informed, receives the Wady el Ahsa, 
 in which are hot springs. The wady seems to change 
 its name more than once during its course, or, at least, 
 several branches to have different names. It is the 
 recognized boundary between the districts of Kerak 
 and Petra — i. e., between the ancient Moab and Edom 
 — and has, with every probability, been suggested as 
 the " brook (or wady) Zered " (Deut. ii., 14), or Zared 
 (Numb, xxi., 12), the limit of the proper term of the 
 Israelites' wanderings. Mr. Palmer, who explored
 
 THE SAFIEH. 65 
 
 the upper valleys of the south -cast of the Safieh 
 much farther than we were able to do, followed up 
 the Wady Siddiyeh for some distance, and traced the 
 fertilizing Seil Gerahi flowing into it. We were not 
 able to trace the junction, but were assured that the 
 Siddiyeh flowed into the Feifeh, which we had crossed 
 lower down. 
 
 We found that the belt of fertile, well-watered soil 
 extends much farther south than has usually been rec- 
 ognized. For about six miles south of the extremity 
 of the Dead Sea the fertile ghor stretches, sheltered 
 under the mountains, which feed it with sweet rivu- 
 lets, and parted off by a sharp line from the desolate 
 sand plain, without any blending belt of half desert 
 scrub, till it contracts to a point, beyond the entrance 
 of the Gharundel into the Sebkha. An exactly sim- 
 ilar extension may be .noted in the Seisaban, at the 
 north-east end of the Dead Sea. It has been suggest- 
 ed that the Safieh and this boundary are alluded to 
 in Numb, xxi., 14. where the authorized version reads, 
 " What he did in the Red Sea, and in the brooks of 
 Arnon ;" or, as " the Red Sea" is rendered in the mar- 
 gin, " Vabeh in Suphah" — i. e., the Sc4fieh. Whether 
 the Hebrew nsio is represented by the Arabic -xoU^, 
 I must leave to Orientalists to decide ; but there seems, 
 at first sight, a probability in the conjecture. 
 
 It was evident our guards were anxious to show 
 us all they could, as every ruin meant backsheesh ; 
 and it was equally certain that no other remains could 
 be traced in the south of the ghor. They spoke of
 
 66 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 many farther north, by the shore, which we afterward 
 saw, but shook their heads and waved their fingers 
 at the idea of finding any thing but wild boar south- 
 ward. 
 
 Having returned to camp, we next set out on foot 
 to examine a section of Safieh from east to west — i. e., 
 from the river to the Dead Sea. It was a barren ex- 
 pedition for the naturalist, sportsman, and botanist. 
 Instead of the teeming abundance of game and plants 
 found on my last visit, there was no vegetation ex- 
 cept the park-like wilderness of trees and shrubs, and 
 bare clearings, hard and dry,, covered with "dhurra," 
 or millet stubble. Game there was none, except a 
 few of the large Indian turtle-dove, for the pot {Tur- 
 tur risorius). We roamed about, attended by a half- 
 naked crowd of savages, who would have made short 
 work of the property of any one they had caught out 
 of sight of the rest of the party ; yet even thus we 
 were glad to escape from our tents, which all day 
 long were surrounded, and often entered, by gaping 
 crowds, perpetually raising wrangles, and stealing any 
 thing on which they could lay their hands. 
 
 We observed that the ghor consists of several dis- 
 tinct zones of vegetation. First, the gravelly slope 
 under the hills, of which the osher-tree was the char- 
 acteristic feature, and which produced but scanty un- 
 dergrowth. Next, the rich park-like land, the most 
 considerable portion of all, in which are the patches 
 of cultivation, yielding barley, wheat, millet, tobacco, 
 and especially indigo, the wealth of the district. The
 
 THE GOVEKNOR OF KERAK. 67 
 
 sugar-cane has long since disappeared. Then comes 
 a belt of scrub, affording only browsing for goats ; af- 
 ter it, a thin strip of large tufts of a very tall reedy 
 grass ; parallel to this, the next belt was a mass of 
 rushes ; and from this to the water's edge was an im- 
 penetrable canebrake, of considerable width, in a deep 
 swamp, completely barring all access to the shore, and 
 swarming with wild boar, the tracks of which were 
 seen in every direction, perfectly secure in their re- 
 treat. 
 
 On our return to camp we found a new excitement. 
 The son of the Mudjelli, or Governor of Kerak, had 
 come down with twenty horsemen, and was sitting 
 in our tent. It seemed he had been sent for, or had 
 come unasked, in consequence of hearing of yester- 
 day's affair, for local news travels with strange rapid- 
 ity in Arab lands, and had ridden down in one day. 
 The chieftain was, of course, profuse in his promises 
 — depicted in grave terms the danger of remaining 
 here, and the impossibility of going to Kerak without 
 a guard. He, of course, must escort us himself, and 
 has brought a guard for the purpose — a very great 
 nuisance, as we at once saw, precluding all hope of 
 leisurely examining the country, and making any 
 observations and sketching extremely difficult. But 
 there was no help for it, and we must part with our 
 good Jehalin men, and our oily old friend Hamzi, as 
 the Kerak people insist on their return. 
 
 Among other amusing attempts at extortion was 
 the following: One of our mules had kicked a boy
 
 68 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 who was tormenting it. The boy was not much the 
 worse, as we saw ; but in the evening some men came 
 up, very angrily demanding money, in fact a deodand, 
 for the boy's life, as they said he was dying. Mr. 
 Klein and I offered to go and see him ; but this was 
 refused ; in fact, the urchin was in the crowd at the 
 time. Mr. Klein reasoned with them. '"Who kick- 
 ed the lad?" "The mule." — ""Was any one riding 
 or leading the mule at the time?" "No."— "Then 
 it was the act of the mule alone?" " Yes." — "Well, 
 then, we have nothing to do with it ; and as the mule 
 belongs to Jerusalem, you can not punish him here, 
 but must send him to Jerusalem, and let the pasha 
 put him in prison till the lad recovers." This logic 
 at least amused and silenced them. Mr. Klein was 
 in all such cases an inimitable Arab diplomatist, thor- 
 oughly understanding the humors of the people, and 
 with the rare tact, patience, and self-possession that 
 only a long experience of the East can impart. 
 
 February 8th. — In the morning, though we made 
 an early start, it was not without an effort that we 
 were able to escape the extortion and almost forcible 
 plunder of the tribes. The only exceptions amidst 
 the general onslaught were our honest Jehalin guard, 
 from whom we had now to part, and who, satisfied 
 with their agreement, remained bj'' our side to keep 
 off intruders, to the very moment of our start, when 
 we bade them farewell, and handed to them our let- 
 ters for England. I have always found the Jehalin, 
 if not a very intelligent, at least an honest and faith-
 
 THE JEHALIN. 69 
 
 ful, tribe, and have never, during the weeks I have 
 spent among them, had a single article stolen by 
 them ; and with all his faults, there are many worse 
 friends, and less trusty in the time of need, than old 
 Hamzi, the Hebrew money-lender and Arab attorney.
 
 70 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 From the Safieh to Keiak. — Wady Gra'hhi. — Ford of the Stinking 
 River. — Nemeirah. — The Waters of Nimrim : their real Position, 
 — Not identical with Nemeirah. — Poor Ruins. — The Brook of the 
 Willows. — Wady Asal. — The Shoulder of the Lisan. — Wady Dra'a. 
 — View of the Lisan. — Contrast of the Geology of the east and 
 west Sides of the Dead Sea. — A charming Glen. — Mezra'ah, Zoar. 
 — Disputed Identity with Dra'a. — A turbulent Guard. — Noctur- 
 nal Alarms. — Splendid Sunrise. — Attempted Robbery. — Successful 
 Extortion. — Ascent to Kerak. — Magnificent Gorge. — Geological 
 Studies. — Basaltic Streams. — El Kubboh. — Crusading Traditions. 
 — Raynald of Chatillon. — Panoramic View of the Dead Sea. — Bed- 
 ouin Camps and Shepherds. — Wady R'seir. — Wady of Kerak.— 
 Rugged Ascent. — Strange Access to a City. — Tunnel in the Rock. 
 — Arrival at Kerak. 
 
 The first part of the route from the Safieh to Ke- 
 rak was not very interesting, dependent, as the dis- 
 trict is, upon the rains and the letting in of the waters 
 for its beauty. The scene was picturesque enough 
 as we threaded our way through the forest. A strong 
 escort of the Beni Atiyeh, with objects of their own, 
 had joined our Kerak guard to see us safely to the 
 hills ; and a score of mounted spearmen, with their 
 lances gleaming and quivering over the trees, led the 
 van. 
 
 The ghor, or cultivatable belt, about four miles 
 wide at our camp, rapidly contracts, and the strip, 
 between the mountains and the sea, soon narrows to
 
 FORD OF THE STINKING RIVER. 71 
 
 a width of two miles. Each of the different zones or 
 belts of vegetation disappears in turn. First, we lost 
 the rich park-like wood ; then the rushes ; then the 
 canebrake ; till, finally, there was only a barren salt- 
 marsh, without vegetation, to the sea ; and a gravel- 
 ly dry scrub, with a few acacia-trees here and there, 
 above it, to the foot of the mountains. 
 
 Near the north end of the Safieh we passed, an 
 hour after starting, the ruins of Um el Hashib, small 
 and insignificant, and which can never have been 
 more than a village, without any trace of a fort. In 
 twenty minutes more, soon after leaving the fertile 
 land, we crossed the seil,«or Wady Gra'hhi, beyond 
 which the plain is barren. Gra'hhi has been suggest- 
 ed as convertible with Korcha, which name occurs on 
 the Moabite Stone. 
 
 About half an hour farther on we forded a deep 
 muddy ditch, Nahr Murwhashah — i.e., "Stinking Riv- 
 er " — well so named, in the fetid mud of which many 
 of the mules stuck fast, as well as some of the horse- 
 men, who had to be carried across on men's backs. 
 Beyond the Stinking River begins a sebkha, or salt- 
 marsh, far more disagreeable than that at the south 
 end of the sea. The shore is fringed with drift-wood 
 incrusted with salt ; a thin incrustation of salt covers 
 the plain ; but here and there are shallow pools filled 
 with vegetable matter, and the black mud under the 
 salt-decaying crust smells horribly. 
 
 After the Seil Haneizir is the Wady N'meirah. 
 The mountains here more closely approach the sea,
 
 72 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 and the crest facing N'meirah is called Jebel Orak. 
 Very near the ruins, but a little above them, are the 
 remains of an old fort, which must have commanded 
 the road, named merely Kirbet es Sheik. The ruins 
 of N'meirah — i.e., "The Leopard" — are rugged and 
 stony, of several acres in extent, among a set of wide 
 torrent beds, riven by winter floods, and, till closely 
 examined, the site looks merely a slightly elevated 
 space. 
 
 It has usually been assumed that this N'meirah is 
 identical with the Biblical southern Nimrim, or Nim- 
 rim of Moab (" the waters of Nimrim "), Isa. xv., 6 ; 
 Jer. xlviii., 34; as the northern Beth Nimrah is with 
 Beit N'meir, on the Jordan. But though the wady 
 be the same, yet the expression "waters of Nimrim" 
 would seem to refer rather to the springs or sources 
 higher up, than to a spot in the dreary plain near the 
 sea. In corroboration of this, Mr. Klein ascertained 
 from an intelligent Kerak Christian, who was among 
 our guard, that high up in the mountains, near the 
 source of the Wady N'meirah, there are the ruins of 
 an old city like those of the other Moabite towns of 
 the highlands, bearing the very name of the " Springs 
 of N'meirah," and with many watered gardens still 
 cultivated. Not far from the course of the N'meirah, 
 also in the mountains, another wady was pointed out 
 to Mr. Klein, which throws light on another Scriptural 
 site not hitherto identified. 
 
 Immediately after the mention of Nimrim, we find 
 (Isa. XV., 7) " The brook of the willows," or, as it is in
 
 THE LISAN. 73 
 
 the margin, " The valley of the Arabians;" the He- 
 brew consonants for willows and Arabians being iden- 
 tical. But besides the Wady Safsaf, to the north of 
 Kerak, noted by Irby and Mangles, and also pointed 
 out to us when we were traveling northward, Mr. 
 Klein had pointed out to him another wady, a little 
 to the south of this, bearing the identical name of the 
 "Wady of the Willows." This being toward the 
 southern frontier, would meet all the requirements of 
 the problem. 
 
 In four and a half hours from the time of leaving 
 the Safieh we reached the Wady Asal, or "Honey 
 Elver," a pleasant and sweet stream, and now began 
 to ascend the shoulder of the peninsula of the Lisan. 
 We climbed for more than an hour up a water-riven 
 gorge, cut through a mass of marl and debris, the old 
 deposit of the lake. The scene was grand, though 
 sternly desolate and lifeless. Not a scrap of vegeta- 
 tion, not even a straggling salicornia, could be seen. 
 
 About the middle of the neck of the Lisan we 
 crossed the upper stream of the Wady Weideh, which 
 runs out on the south side of the peninsula, and in 
 which the date-palm grows abundantly. Eising still 
 higher, and turning nearly due east, after crossing the 
 Weideh, we came to the Wady Dra'a, in a very deep 
 ravine, which runs out into the north bay of the Li- 
 san. We pitched our camp close to the ruins of Dra'a, 
 from which the wady is named, on a platform over- 
 hanging the ravine, sloping back from which was a 
 wide plain with scanty herbage and many gnarled
 
 7-i THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 acacia-trees. Our ride had occupied little more than 
 eight hours, and our barometric readings showed that 
 we had risen 650 feet above the Dead Sea, though we 
 were still 650 feet below the sea level. 
 
 From the hill just behind our tents we had a splen- 
 did view over the whole peninsula of the Lisan, a 
 scene of utter desolation, one mass of water- worn cut- 
 tings through salt-marl, without a trace of vegetation, 
 while the nooks at the north-east and south-east an- 
 gles beneath it smiled with luxuriant green. Beyond 
 stretched the whole western edge of the Dead Sea for 
 nearly forty miles, but far inferior in grandeur to the 
 eastern side. Close above us towered the mountains 
 of Moab, red and white, relieved by streaks of green. 
 
 Geologically, the east side is very different from the 
 Judean hills. The whole range is here, excepting su- 
 perficially, new red sandstone, a formation which no- 
 where appears on the other side. There is also a 
 good deal of igneous superficial basalt; and in several 
 places porphyritic dikes are shown. The bare red 
 sandstone rocks are often worn into fantastic shapes; 
 and in one place, on a projecting platform, as we 
 ascended to Dra'a, the illusion of a ruined castle was 
 complete. Near the mouth of one wady, about two 
 hours north of the Safieh, I found large masses of 
 greenstone, and huge boulders of pudding-stone, with 
 granite pebbles embedded. The height to which the 
 salt-marl reaches on the shoulder of the Lisan is not 
 a little puzzling. Its elevation, as it leans against the 
 base of the Judean hills from Jericho down to the
 
 A CHARMING GLEN. 75 
 
 Akabah, never reaches more than four hundred feet. 
 On the east side it only appears at the Lisan, and on 
 its shoulder we find it piled to the height of nearly 
 five hundred feet. Yet there is no other indication 
 of the old level of the sea, during the period of its 
 deposition, having been at this height. I can only 
 conjecture that the upheaval of the eastern range 
 must have continued during this period, probably 
 while the basaltic eruptions, which occurred only on 
 the east side, were in force ; and that the marl here, 
 on the shoulder, away from the action of the water, 
 was raised, while it was all washed off from the sides 
 of the precipitous sandstone ranges. 
 
 Turning to the nearer foreground, nothing could 
 be more lovely than the glen beneath us, deep, and 
 densely wooded with poplar, date-palms, oleanders, 
 and semi-tropical herbage, overhanging a perennial 
 stream swarming with fish. Truly a living fountain 
 is a wondrous blessing in a dry and thirsty land. 
 There was evidence here of former high cultivation, 
 in carefully cemented channels of masonry running 
 from higher levels of the stream, and partly exca- 
 vated, partly built on the sides of the ravine, which 
 had, like little mill-races, conveyed the stream to the 
 higher grounds above the glen. 
 
 Another relic of a past civilization was pointed out 
 to us in the distance, where, at about two hours' jour- 
 ney to the north-west, we could make out with our 
 field-glasses Mezra'ah, or, at least, the black camp of 
 Ghawarineh, which our guides told us was on the
 
 76 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 very spot, and where are stated to be the old Tawahin 
 es Suhkar, or "Sugar-mills." But as Mr. Palmer 
 visited Mezra'ah (he having taken the lower track, 
 where we began to ascend to Dra'a), and does not men- 
 tion them, they may be merely a repetition of those 
 in the Safieh — ordinary water-mills. 
 
 The ruins of Dra'a itself are mean and almost ob- 
 literated, excepting some on a brow overhanging our 
 camp, and which seem to mark the position of the 
 keep, or citadel, for the protection of the town just 
 below it. Little more of the town is left than a fea- 
 tureless heap of weathered sandstone, the iartificial 
 position of which is only proved when, turning over 
 the exposed blocks, we find the dressed and squared 
 blocks beneath. There are also many irregular lines 
 of foundations leveled down to the surface of the 
 plain, and many fragments of bricks and pottery 
 strew the ground. 
 
 The chief interest attaching to this spot arises from 
 its supposed identification by some writers with the 
 Zoar of the Bible and ancient history. The mediaeval 
 writers, with one or two exceptions, place Zoar, as far 
 as we can gather by a comparison of their accounts, 
 on the road from the south end of the Dead Sea to 
 Kerak, and at some little distance from the lake, in a 
 spot abounding with palm-trees. It was an episcopal 
 see under the Archbishop of Petra, and its bishops 
 sat in the Council of Chalcedon (a.d. 451), and in the 
 Synod of Constantinople (a.d. 536). It was in the 
 province of Palestina Tertia, which included Kerak
 
 dra'a suggestive of zoar. 77 
 
 and Areopolis. No great violence is done to orthog- 
 raphy in imagining a change from the guttural He- 
 brew Zoar ("i?i:s) to the guttural Arabic Dra'a (*i^). 
 It is difficult to place the Zoar of these writers any- 
 where else than here. But the name exists elsewhere, 
 and we found on the plains eastward of Main another 
 ruined city, with the remains of churches and other 
 considerable buildings, also called Dra'a. This latter 
 may more probably be the bishopric of Eusebius. 
 
 Still, admitting the identity of this Dra'a with the 
 Christian and mediaeval Zoar, it seems impossible, on 
 any reasonable theory, also to identify it with the 
 Zoar of Scripture. There is no imaginable situation 
 in which we can place the cities of the plain, that will 
 meet the conditions of the problem, if this be Bela or 
 Zoar, as it would be too far distant from any of them. 
 But this need not cause much difficulty, as there are 
 very many instances, several of which have been al- 
 ready referred to, where the same name is applied to 
 sites and wadys on opposite sides of the sea, and gen- 
 erally to those nearly in the same parallel of latitude. 
 It would very well harmonize with ordinary usage 
 if there were another Zoar at or near Engedi, as has 
 been conjectured from Deut. xxxiv., 3, and other pas- 
 sages. 
 
 Archaeological speculations were sadly interrupted 
 by the disturbances raised by our savage guard, and 
 which were kept up incessantly through the night. 
 We had given them money to buy themselves a goat 
 for supper, from a camp of Arabs near us. The two
 
 78 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 brothers of the young mudjelli kept the money, and 
 there was a free fight over the matter at our tent 
 doors, with knives and pistols drawn. This was at 
 length appeased, and the chief, for security from his 
 friends, made our servants' tent his sleeping- place. 
 During the night our ruffian companions kept amus- 
 ing themselves by firing off guns, from time to time, 
 close to our ears. Meantime a lurking thief had cut 
 the pickets of the horses, and was quietly leading off 
 Hayne's steed, when he was detected and stopped by 
 a muleteer, fortunately more on the alert than the 
 Keraki. 
 
 With all this we had but little sleep, and before 
 sunrise we went down to the stream, and, under the 
 dense shade of the oleanders, had a delicious bathe. 
 I then climbed, before the sun had overtopped the 
 eastern mountains, to the brow of the platform above 
 our camp, among the heaps of old Zoar. The view 
 was magnificent in stern grandeur. The whole Lisan, 
 in its desolate expanse, was spread at our feet, and 
 the sun, whose rays had not yet touched us in the 
 shadow of the mountains, was gilding the tops of the 
 western ridge of the Dead Sea with a golden pink, 
 and with a rich gray blue the range of the mountains 
 of Judah behind them. As Mr. Palmer truly says, 
 " The coloring of the Dead Sea and its neighborhood, 
 when the atmosphere is clear, is simply magnificent." 
 We could trace the course of the Wady Kerak to the 
 north of us, where it rifts the shoulder of the Lisan 
 from east to west; and then turning sharply north-
 
 ASCENT TO KERAK. 79 
 
 ward, after it has been, as it appeared to us, joined 
 by the Wady Dra'a, it opens out into a wide plain of 
 acacia scrub with abundant pasturage. A perennial 
 stream runs through it, fringed with a border of date- 
 palms and oleanders, the source of life and wealth to 
 the district, now called the Mezra'ah. There was a 
 very large camp of Beni Atiyeh, and herds of goats, 
 close below us; and through our glasses we could 
 descry much more extensive camps in the Mezra'ah, 
 which was powdered over with scattered flocks and 
 herds. 
 
 And now began a scene. Seventy pounds was re- 
 quired for the expenses of the horsemen from Kerak, 
 which must be paid and distributed at once. The 
 spearmen and mounted gunners stood round us, and 
 the climax came when the young mudjelli rode up 
 threateningly to the head muleteer, and, drawing his 
 sword, forbade a mule to be loaded till his demand 
 had been met, intimating that, in case of further de- 
 lay, he should turn upon us the Beni Atiyeh from 
 the camp below. We were fairly in the trap ; there 
 was nothing for it but to yield; and at length, under 
 protest, and telling them they were highwaymen, we 
 were glad to reduce the sum to twenty-five napoleons 
 on account. 
 
 The ascent from Dra'a to Kerak occupied five and 
 a quarter hours', steady riding without a halt. At 
 Dra'a we were 650 feet below the sea level, and by 
 our barometer we measured the ascent thence to 
 Kerak to be 3720 feet, making that city 8070 feet 
 
 6
 
 80 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 above the Mediterranean. Everywhere the gorges 
 up which we climbed were deeply riven ; and the 
 prospects, wide and vast, with deep chasms and tow- 
 ering precipices, quite equaled Alpine scenery in their 
 effect under a bright sun, though very different in 
 character. The rich coloring of red, black, and white, 
 with green patches, was exquisite; and geological for- 
 mation almost effects here what snow and ice do for 
 Alpine scenery.* 
 
 On the way-side is a ruined fort, hitherto unnoticed, 
 and called El Kubboh. There is a pointed arch, and 
 the character of the architecture is Crusading, corrob- 
 oratino- the local tradition which makes it the strong- 
 
 * The ascent was also a good geological study. We had left the 
 post-tertiary marl below Dra'a ; and then for a little distance east- 
 ward the red sandstone is superficial, but is soon covered by the lime- 
 stone, the same as that of Western Palestine. The superincumbent 
 limestone was not conformable with the sandstone in its stratification. 
 Another point of importance is, that for seven or eight miles from the 
 shore eastward the strata dip to the west at an average angle of 60° ; 
 while farther east, so far as I could ascertain where the sections are 
 shown, I noticed that the strata are nearly, or quite, horizontal. I 
 was pleased to find my former theory of the synclinal dip of the Jor- 
 dan valley thus corroborated in the only part where I had not hither- 
 to had an opportunity of making observations, especially as the agen- 
 cies which formed the valley seem to have been in more active opera- 
 tion in this part of it than in any other. The limestone was in many 
 places strangely contorted, and this chiefly in the neighborhood of 
 the basaltic outbreaks which frequently disturb the stratification on 
 the east side, but of which no trace is found westward in the lowei" 
 Jordan. When we had risen 2000 feet, the average thickness of the 
 limestone seemed to be about 1500 feet ; and from this point its de- 
 nudation westward begins.
 
 RAYXALD OF CHATILLON. 81 
 
 hold of a Christian sheik of the olden time. The 
 position is admirable as a key of the pass, and well 
 suited for a robber chieftain, for this was the only 
 practicable route to Kerak by the south, the other 
 path from Usdum, up the Wady Tufileh, being too 
 rugged for baggage animals. 
 
 One could not but recall here the times of the 
 " Talisman," and the romantic story of the wild chief- 
 tain of the Crusading outposts, Raynald of Chatillon, 
 lord of Kerak. Doubtless some of his minions held 
 this post, and wielded their power with as few scru- 
 ples as did their lord, when, issuing from his keep of 
 Kerak, he sacked the Damascus caravan in time of 
 peace. 
 
 It was this act of lawless wrong which exasperated 
 Saladin to the wars of the last Crusade, after his vain 
 demands of redress from Raynald. Soon followed 
 the final and fatal battle of Hattin (5th July, 1187), 
 when the doom of the Crusades was sealed in sight, 
 of Gennesaret, and Raynald himself, with the King 
 of Jerusalem and the Grand Master of the Templars, 
 were among the captives. The perfidious chieftain 
 was slain in cold blood by the conqueror, who had 
 sworn to avenge his wrongs with his own hands; 
 and in three months Jerusalem opened its gates to 
 the Saracen. Still, with all his excesses, there is a 
 halo 'of romance about this daring Frank, who so 
 long held his outpost on the very frontier of Arabia, 
 unsupported by any base for supplies nearer than 
 Jerusalem. And this rugged pass, too, and the open
 
 82 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 desert of the Sebkha, were his only line of communi- 
 cation with the world behind him. 
 
 Shortly after Kubboh, we passed an outcrop of ba- 
 salt through the limestone, 2050 feet above the Dead 
 Sea, the sandstone being now far below us. Here 
 we paused. Jebel el Haditha, a bold peak, towered 
 to the south. We stood on the crest of a range of 
 terraces, with a panorama of the Dead Sea before us. 
 The whole Lisan, with Points Molyneux and Costi- 
 gan, plainly marked, lay between. Jebel Usdum, 
 Sebbeh, Engedi, and the brown ridge of Judean 
 mountains, Hebron, and the hills about Jerusalem, 
 were all in sight ; while, on the other side, we looked 
 down into the tremendous Wady of Kerak, some 1800 
 feet of nearly sheer precipice on the opposite side, the 
 lower 500 feet being red sandstone, with the upper 
 part white chalk and limestone, pleasantly relieved 
 by the beading of black lines of flint. To the south 
 was pointed out the " Wady of the Willows ;" and 
 among other names, that of Mochrath, one of the un- 
 identified names occurring on the Moabite Stone. 
 
 Hence our road was up the south side of the Wady 
 Kerak. We defiled in long line up a narrow pass 
 among rocks, with many green patches, where goats 
 seemed to be hanging to the mountain side, as they 
 browsed in single file. A dozen resolute men behind 
 these rocks might arrest the march of an army. The 
 valley gradually widened above ; and here and there; 
 among the green patches. Bedouin tents, looking like 
 black spots on the steep sides, could be detected.
 
 TUNNEL IN THE ROCK. 
 
 83 
 
 Many of these belong to the Kerak people, a large 
 portion of whom camp out with their herds during 
 the summer months. Here the bottom of the wady, 
 which was still very narrow, began to be cultivated 
 with olives, figs, pomegranates, and a few vineyards 
 and patches of corn. 
 
 TUNNEL ENTKANCE TO KEKAK. 
 
 We halted at a platform formed by the opening of 
 the Wady E'seir, and in which a pretty little spring 
 bubbles out among the grass. Close to this spot a 
 number of men suddenly appeared, yelling and shout- 
 ing on the rocks above us ; but though they proved 
 to be only shepherds, who wanted to know our busi- 
 ness and our destination, we saw how necessary an
 
 84 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 armed guard was in such a place, to secure the bag- 
 gage from plunder, as all whom we met carried fire- 
 locks. 
 
 Soon Kerak stood towering before us, with its line 
 of wall and splendid castles, the southern one being 
 of very great extent. We had now to descend into 
 the valley, in order to ascend the opposite cliff to 
 reach the city. It was almost an hour's climb from 
 the stream to the tunnel entrance of Kerak, and this 
 on a zigzag path along the side of a rugged slope, 
 strewn with boulders, and so steep that in places it 
 was scarcely possible to sit our horses. When near 
 the top of the cone, the path abruptly' turns into an 
 arched tunnel, up which we stumble in the darkness 
 for more than eighty yards, and then emerge into the 
 open space or market of Kerak.
 
 FORTRESS OF KERAK. 85 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Kerak. — A natural Fortress : its Height, Position, Form, Area, For- 
 tifications. — Accessible only by Tunnels. — The Castle of Bybai's. 
 — The great Castle : its Shape, Moat, Cistern, Crypt, Chapel, Gate- 
 ways. — Occupation of Castle by Ibrahim Pasha. — "Water Supply. 
 — Mosque. — Ancient Basilica. — Our Camp in the Castle of By bars. 
 — Greek School-master. — A Friend in need. — Kerak Interior. — 
 Roman Pavement. — Ancient Bath. — Antiques and Coins. — Chris- 
 tian Quarter. — Greek Church. — School and Bibles. — Threats of the 
 Chiefs. — Ransom demanded. — Find ourselves Prisoners. — Messen- 
 ger to Jerusalem. — Every Man his own Thief-catcher. — Value of 
 Pork. — Daoud's Stratagem. — Midnight Interview. — Welcome Aid. 
 — Arrival of the Beni Sakk'r, Sheik Zadam. — The Tables turned. 
 — A Sunday under Arrest. — Arabic Sei'vice. — Greek Christians. — 
 Demands on the Hakim. — View from the Castle Wall. — Relations 
 of Kerak and the Beni Sakk'r. — Excursion under Guard. — Our 
 Letter discovered. — Renewed Threats. 
 
 Before relating our adventures at Kerak, it may 
 be well to attempt some description of this remarka- 
 ble fortress, of which, until recently, the concise jour- 
 nal of Burckhardt, and the modest and singularly ac- 
 curate narrative of Irby and Mangles, were the only 
 easily accessible records, since both De Saulcy and 
 Lynch have dismissed Kerak very shortly. The po- 
 sition is so strong by nature that it would be seized 
 upon as a fortress from the very earliest times. A 
 lofty brow pushes forward to the west with a flatten- 
 ed space on its crest, a sort of head, behind which the 
 neck at the south-east contracts, and gives it the form
 
 86 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 of a peninsula, at the same time that the isthmus, if I 
 may so call it, rapidly slopes down before rising to 
 reunite to its shoulder the yet loftier hill to the east. 
 The platform of Kerak stands 3720 feet above the sea 
 level ; yet on all sides it is commanded, some of the 
 neighboring heights being over 4050 feet high (bar- 
 ometric). It is, however, severed everywhere, except- 
 ing at the neck, and also in a less degree at the north- 
 west angle, from the encircling range. Two deep 
 wadies, from 1000 to 1350 feet deep, with steeply 
 scarped or else rugged sides, flank it north and south, 
 the Wady Hammad to the south, and Wady Kerak 
 to the north, which unite about a mile to the west 
 of the city, and form the ravine which we ascended. 
 The escarpment of the third side of the triangle is 
 formed by the Wady Kobeisheh, which, starting from 
 the depression of what I have called the neck, rapid- 
 ly descends to the Wady Kerak. 
 
 The platform of the city, thus surrounded, is toler- 
 ably level, by art or nature, measuring from 800 to 
 1000 yards on each face of the triangle, the north-east 
 side being the longest. The v/hole place has former- 
 ly been surrounded by a strong wall, of which a con- 
 siderable portion remains everywhere. In no place 
 did I observe it to be entirely demolished, while in 
 some parts it is still perfect. The wall, with its 
 smoothly-sloped facing, fills up any irregularities in 
 the native rock, which is scarped a considerable way 
 down, especially at the angles, with a very well-exe- 
 cuted revetment, wherever requisite. This lower por-
 
 FORTKESS OF KERAK. 
 
 87 
 
 tion of the work appears to be older than the Crusad- 
 ing or Saracenic times; and the wide shallow bevel 
 suggests the Herodian, or a yet earlier epoch. The 
 upper part of the fortress is claimed by the Moham- 
 medans in several inscriptions, which are palpably of 
 later date than the structures themselves. 
 
 NO. 4. 
 
 KEKAK CASTLE WALLS, WEST SIDE. 
 
 There have been originally only two entrances to 
 Kerak— one to the north-west, the other on the far- 
 ther side, and both through tunnels in the side of the 
 cliff, emerging on the platform of the town. Of late
 
 88 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 years paths have been made over the ruinous walls 
 in two places ; but these can only be scrambled over 
 by foot passengers. They are both on the north-east 
 face. To an enemy Kerak is utterly inaccessible, ex- 
 cept by the winding paths at the western and north- 
 east sides. The road from the east, by which we 
 traveled, suddenly turns as we are under the north- 
 west castle, and is cut to a great depth immediately 
 under the angle, while the great castle wall, with loop- 
 holes and parapets, towers straight up its whole width, 
 leaving any one approaching by this great rock-hewn 
 ditch at the mercy of the garrison. 
 
 Having passed through this cutting, we turn sharp- 
 ly to the left, and creep along the rugged path, com- 
 pletely exposed to those above, and where horsemen 
 or footmen can only mount slowly in single file, till 
 we enter a tunnel, the gate-way of Kerak, apparently 
 partly natural, but with a well-built pointed arch over 
 its entrance, above which a stone, manifestly of a later 
 date, with an Arabic inscription, has been let into the 
 face of the rock. The inscription is only partially de- 
 faced, but has not, I believe, been yet translated. Mr. 
 Buxton obtained an admirable photograph of this tun- 
 nel entrance. The arch is certainly older than the 
 Saracenic occupation, and Mr. Fergusson has express- 
 ed his decided opinion that, though slightly pointed, 
 it is yet Eoman. 
 
 The tunnel continues winding, and steeply ascend- 
 ing, for eighty paces, when we suddenly emerge, and 
 find ourselves on the open platform of the town, very
 
 CASTLE OF BYBARS. 89 
 
 near the north-west castle. This tower, which is call- 
 ed the Castle of By bars, or of " El Melek," from an 
 Arabic inscription of great size let into its wall, as- 
 cribing the erection to " El Melek " (the king) Bybars, 
 is a massive wall forming three sides of a trapezium, 
 the long wall stretching ninety yards, and each of the 
 flanking or re-entering walls extending in an obtuse 
 angle from it for fifteen yards. At the inner extrem- 
 ity of these walls are still more lofty towers, in which 
 are staircases. The wall is twenty-seven feet thick in 
 its lower stories. The upper stories are studded with 
 long loop-holes, and an open ledge for the defenders 
 to communicate along the whole. The arched loop- 
 holes and chambers are now, for the most part, con- 
 verted into rude store-houses, built up with rough ma- 
 sonry ; and the ledges, some 100 feet high, are the fa- 
 vorite lounge of the boys and men of Kerak. Above 
 this the wall contracts; there are loop-holes again; 
 and a platform outside, without battlements, runs along 
 near the top, about seven feet wide. The stones for 
 this enormous construction have evidently been ob- 
 tained from the great rock - hewn fosse below, up 
 which we rode, and which has been a most conven- 
 ient and inexhaustible quarry, thus doubly increas- 
 ing the strength of the place. 
 
 The inscription running along the inner face, at- 
 tributing the building to Bybars, is flanked on either 
 side by two lions rampant, which seem part of the 
 original structure, which the inscription is not (for 
 the stones do not fit well, and one has been inserted
 
 90 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 by the ignorant workmen upside down). These lions, 
 apparently older than the Arabic letters, suggested 
 to us the idea that they are possibly part of the Cru- 
 saders' work, not removed by Saladin or Bybars. 
 
 NO. 6. 
 
 KERAK. crusaders' FORT. 
 
 The fort at the north-east is comparatively insig- 
 nificant, as the natural fortress was tliere inaccessible. 
 But far more important and extensive is the great 
 castle at the southern angle. This being the most 
 exposed point, owing to the shallowness of the Wady 
 Kobeisheh, has been the most carefully fortified. It 
 is cut off from the shoulder of the adjoining hill by
 
 MASSIVE CONSTRUCTION. 91 
 
 an immense scarped ditch, just as is the other castle; 
 but there is no passage this way, and a wall of native 
 rock has been left at each end, so as to form, in fact, 
 a gigantic cistern. Beside this, there is an immense 
 hewn ditch 100 feet wide. The outer wall of this 
 castle is constructed on the same principle as the 
 north-west tower, but of much greater thickness and 
 height, its outer length being eighty-seven yards. 
 
 But this is, as it were, only the flanking work of a 
 great fortress; for such this castle is, entirely inde- 
 pendent of the town, from which it is separated on 
 the north by a wide and deep ditch, now much filled 
 m with rubbish. It forms an irregular quadrilateral, 
 the northern side, toward the city, being nearly dou- 
 ble the length of the south wall, and its width across 
 being from 220 to 250 yards. The interior of this 
 block is one mass of vaults, arches, and galleries, all 
 of most massive construction, with apparently only 
 two open couit-yards. 
 
 The most interesting portion of the building, and 
 one which tells the history of its construction, is a 
 crypt chapel, with an eastern apse, ninety feet long. 
 It is reached by descending a circular staircase, which 
 lands us half-way down the side of the chapel; and 
 there is also a staircase leading to the roof, over which 
 have evidently been other buildings. There are four 
 very small narrow lancet windows high up ; and 
 lamps must certainly have been required for worship 
 here. Some fragments of columns are built sideways 
 in the wall, and also some remains of inscriptions.
 
 92 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 There are many patches of fresco still to be seen on 
 the walls, but all in a state of sad decay. None of 
 the figures can be traced entire. There was one head 
 of a saint, with a corona, left on the plaster. 
 
 Besides the chapel, there are long ranges of build- 
 ings like casemates, magazines, and barracks, story 
 above story, most solidly vaulted. These seem to 
 have been four or five stories, or perhaps more, in 
 height; but the upper parts are now much ruined. 
 The different gate-ways, with all their appliances of 
 defense on the side of the town, still remain, and it 
 was necessary to pass through three of these in order 
 to reach the central court. Under the great crypts 
 are numerous vaulted and cemented reservoirs, capa- 
 ble of containing an ample supply of water for a long 
 siege. Altogether, the great castle of Kerak is by far 
 the grandest monument of crusading energy now ex- 
 isting. It was built under King Fulco, by one of the 
 predecessors of Raynald of Chatillon, about a.d. 1131, 
 and strengthened under the auspices of Godfrey of 
 Boulogne; and in a.d. 1183 it baffled the assaults of 
 Sal ad in. 
 
 The castle has more than once proved its invulner- 
 ability against attacks from the town ; while, on the 
 other hand, its possessors have found its defenses turn- 
 ed to their own defeat. Thus Ibrahim Pasha, during 
 his conquest of Syria, in a.d. 1844, was never able to 
 take Kerak, whose proud boast is that it yet remains 
 a virgin city. Yet his troops occupied this castle for 
 months, and finally, compelled by starvation to evac-
 
 WATER SUPPLY, 93 
 
 uate it, were for the most part slaughtered on the oth- 
 er side of the Wady Kobeisheh. 
 
 Between the two great fortifications of Kerak there 
 is understood to be still an under-ground communica- 
 tion, and there are deep wells sunk in the castle. For 
 the supply of water for the civil inhabitants, not only 
 do deep wells and arched cisterns abound every- 
 where, but there is an enormous open reservoir very 
 near the Castle of Bybars, apparently, from its mass- 
 ive masonry, of Koman work, which, at the time of 
 our visit, was partly filled with water. There are 
 also some fine perennial springs in the sides of the 
 valleys close below, four of which ate near the town, 
 and most copious. Ain Sara is used, close to its 
 source, for turning water-mills. 
 
 Among the other antiquities of Kerak the most 
 interesting is a ruined mosque, which has evidently 
 been previously a basilica. The roof is gone, and the 
 building is now used as a Moslem cemetery ; but the 
 pillars and arches remain. The door- way is pointed, 
 or Saracenic, and the upper part of the arch is filled 
 in with masonry, which has once been covered with 
 Christian symbols. These have been chiseled out, 
 and an Arabic inscription inserted ; but the Moslems 
 have left two symbols — viz., the cup sculptured on 
 each side of their inscription — attesting the former use 
 of the place as a Christian church. 
 
 So soon as we emerged from the tunnel into Kerak, 
 we were directed by the chief to camp within the 
 Castle of Bybars. The locality was certainly, in it- 
 
 7
 
 94 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 self, a favorable one. The present inhabited part of 
 Kerak does not extend very near it, and we were at 
 least securely sheltered from the west, though scarce- 
 ly prepared for the pitiless north wind, which after- 
 ward swept in eddies round the open court. Soon 
 our tents were got up, while an eager crowd of men 
 and boys watched our proceedings from the ledges of 
 the fortress overhead, and looked curiously down as 
 we toiled away with our men at clearing the great 
 stones to drive in the pegs. The mules and horses 
 were picketed for security under the wall within the 
 line of tents. Our view toward the great castle at 
 the other end of the place was uninterrupted, as the 
 scattered town consists entirely of flat, mud-roofed 
 houses, so constructed as to appear all under-ground, 
 with no streets or lanes between them, and distributed 
 in such a way that it is sometimes difficult to know 
 whether we are walking on the ground or over a house. 
 We had scarcely arrived when a young man of 
 pleasing countenance, in a shabby Greek ecclesiastical 
 costume, came forward, and was affectionately greeted 
 by Daoud and Mr. Klein. He was the master of the 
 Greek Christian school, a native of Kerak, and had 
 been educated at the convent of the Holy Cross at 
 Jerusalem, where he was a frequent visitor of Mr. 
 Klein — very well disposed, a student of his Bible, and 
 well inclined to Protestantism. He was a j^outh of 
 thought and study, in which he stands here, indeed, 
 alone. He was accompanied by the priest, a dull, 
 heavy-looking man, much inferior to him in every
 
 A FRIENDLY OFFER. 
 
 95 
 
 way. He offered to lionize us, and advised our start- 
 ing at once. We, having reason to suspect coming 
 difficulties, felt no time was to be lost, left tent-pitch- 
 ing and unpacking to our people, and were off with- 
 out delay. We walked direct to the great castle, fol- 
 
 KEKAK HOUSE-TOPS. 
 
 lowed and jostled by scowling crowds, who repeated- 
 ly asked if we expected to be allowed to see the castle 
 without paying for it; but several native Christians 
 (of whom there are variously estimated to be from 
 800 to 1600 in Kerak) joined us, and we took no no- 
 tice of our persistent tormentors.
 
 96 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 After visiting and hastily noting down the fea- 
 tures of the castle, the school-master pointed out to us 
 the course of the connecting tunnel between the two 
 castles, driven through the rock on the south side, 
 just above the massive escarpment. We then crossed 
 to the Moslem quarter. He beckoned us to follow 
 him into a house. We descended a sort of sloping 
 rubbish-heap into a narrow alley. A Kerak house 
 is entered by a low door- way four feet high, generally 
 arched, of dry stones, but often with a massive lintel, 
 taken from some more ancient building. This door- 
 way opens into a small and filthy court-yard, with 
 numbers of projecting stones, on each of which a lit- 
 tle conical cake of cow-dung is placed to dry — the 
 only fuel of treeless Kerak. Underneath these runs 
 along one side a long trough formed of dried mud, 
 the manger for goats and donkeys. Another door, 
 four feet high, opens into the principal room, the liv- 
 ing room of the family. It has neither windows nor 
 chimney, and is roofed by a succession of dry stone 
 arches, with slabs or rafters laid across them. Exact- 
 ly in the centre is a large saucer-shaped scallop of 
 mud, the fire-place and oven, and the fumes from 
 which have no other exit than the door. I need not 
 say how blackened are the faces and every thing else 
 in this smoke-trap. Opening out of this room are 
 several dark cells, some of them evidently the crypts 
 of the more ancient city — the store-houses of the fam- 
 ily. Furniture there is none. All sit and sleep on 
 the floor.
 
 ROMAN REMAINS. 97 
 
 We soon found out why the school-master had 
 brought us into this house. The floor of the hovel 
 was a beautiful, tesselated pavement of marble, quite 
 perfect, with the marble bases of some old columns 
 still in their places at the edge of the pavement. Only 
 the centre of the pattern had been broken up, to make 
 way for the hearth. It was probably part of some 
 Roman baths, for in the next house were the remains 
 of the marble bath-room, which now formed the yard, 
 with the water-pipes still protruding from the walls. 
 
 We had several other proofs of Roman occupation 
 brought to us in the course of our stay. Mr. Klein 
 had presented to him by one of the Christians two 
 very fine and perfect Eoman lamps, which he kindlv 
 gave me; and I purchased several imperial coins of 
 gold and silver, besides a gold medal of Helena. The 
 gold coins were all sold to me for rather less than 
 their value as old gold. I also collected about fifty 
 much-worn brass coins, from Hadrian down to the By- 
 zantine Maurice, and two silver pennies of Baldwin, 
 king of Jerusalem. We also obtained a few cameos, 
 to which the finders did not attach much value, and 
 which were all chipped. 
 
 The present Christian quarter is to the north of the 
 town ; and there we visited the Greek church, a solid, 
 respectable building, with two aisles and an apse, and 
 massive square pillars like an old Norman church. 
 At the west end of the nave is a well in the floor, still 
 used. On the rood-screen were several very credit- 
 able Byzantine pictures of saints, with little lamps
 
 98 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 burning in front of theni, and smaller copies hung 
 below for the votaries to kiss. There is a neat in- 
 closure outside the church, and another at the west 
 end, where are the priest's rooms and the school, a 
 plain building with matting along one side of it — its 
 only furniture. The Church Missionary Society had 
 supplied some of the school-books, Psalters and Tes- 
 taments; and I noticed two well-used large Arabic 
 Bibles, with the Bible Society's stamp on their covers. 
 The school-master much desires an Arabic Bible with 
 marginal references, which is expensive ; and we glad- 
 ly promised to send him one on our return to Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 When we returned to camp, we found our troubles 
 begun — the people crowding round, no keeping the 
 head men out of our tents, an intrusion for which we 
 paid heavily in flea-bites all night — and the young 
 mudjelli assuming a threatening tone. Other travel- 
 ers had paid handsomely for going over the castle, and 
 what right had we to start off without waiting for him 
 and arranging terms? He must have a large sum for 
 our assurance in going over Ms place. He roundly 
 cursed the Greek priest and the Christians, and for- 
 bade them to come near us — an injunction he signal- 
 ly failed in carrying out, £600 is the lowest sum he 
 will take, and it is very moderate. He Saulcy, the 
 Due de Luynes, and M. Mauss, the only visitors they 
 have had, paid at a much higher rate. "But," we 
 reply, "we are not princes, and will not pay like 
 princes ; indeed, we can not." " Then," said he, " the
 
 WE ARE PRISONERS. 99 
 
 chief will shut his eyes with grief while evil men rob 
 your baggage and horses." Meantime our mules had 
 been, in our absence, removed to the public khan ; so 
 that, as far as they were concerned, we were at his 
 mercy. " Then," cried Mr. Klein, " we will go to the 
 pasha." "What can pashas do here? We are lords 
 here, and care less than nothing for pashas or sultans." 
 To his £600 he held firm. Even if we had had the 
 money, we felt that payment would be no security 
 against further demands; but we had it not. Event- 
 ually he announced that we were prisoners in our 
 tents, and an armed guard was set to prevent our go- 
 ing beyond the little space between our tents and the 
 wall. 
 
 But while the young mudjelli was playing his game 
 in our tent, another part of the drama was enacted in 
 the next. Mr. Klein had contrived to send a messen- 
 ger for the Greek school-master, who, with a trusty 
 native Christian, had stolen round the corner unper- 
 ceived, and entered the tent. The character of the 
 old father was discussed : " Oh, while his sons are rob- 
 bers, he too has a belly as large as a tent ; but then he 
 has understanding wide as the ocean ;" implying that 
 he was too prudent ever to resort to personal violence. 
 We were thankful to feel that, at least, these were a 
 different class from the lawless freebooters of the 
 Safieh, It was arranged that a secret messenger 
 should be found and dispatched at once to the English 
 consul at Jerusalem ; and a sign was agreed on — that 
 the man chosen should bring the priest's string of
 
 100 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 beads with him in the night. Long, and in under- 
 tones, did Mr. Klein and the Greeks talk, while Trot- 
 ter and Johnson patrolled to see that no eavesdroppers 
 were near, and the rest of our party kept our young 
 jailer in parley in the other large tent. I entered, 
 sat down, and, apparently intent on a map before me, 
 indited on a foolscap sheet the letter to the consul, 
 recounting our difficulty, and the tricks of the man 
 who was eying me, and little suspecting my employ- 
 ment. At length Klein came in, and we understood 
 the coast was clear. There was no further occasion 
 to detain our keeper; so we began to talk loudly at 
 him in English, on which he took his departure, tell- 
 ing us he should expect the money to be ready in 
 the morning. 
 
 Arab experiences were the topic of the evening, 
 when our tormentors had retired. Mr. Klein told a 
 good story illustrative of the practice of the country, 
 ''Every man his own thief- catcher." His horse, a 
 very valuable one, had been stolen from his stable at 
 Jerusalem, and not a trace of it could be found, nor 
 a shade of suspicion as to who was the thief Some 
 little time afterward he learned that his horse had 
 been seen among the Beni Hassan, in Gilead. Send- 
 ing across Jordan, he opened communications with 
 Goblan, the well-known sheik of the Adwan, and the 
 neighbor of the Beni Hassan, for its recoveiy, promis- 
 ing him a reward of £10. The Aciwan reconnoitred 
 the district secretly for some days, and at length dis- 
 covered the camp, where the thief (a man of Lifta, a
 
 daoud's stratagem. 101 
 
 village near Jerusalem) had taken refuge. He then 
 rode over with a party of armed horsemen, shortly 
 before night-full. They made out the tent before 
 which the horse was picketed, and, still unseen, con- 
 cealed themselves carefully for the night in the forest. 
 The sun had not risen when, in the gloaming, the 
 Adwan made a dash into the camp, and cut the pick- 
 ets. Four of them rushed into the tent, seized the 
 culprit, tied him across the horse, and galloped off 
 into the forest before the Beni Hassan knew what 
 was up. Arrived at their own camp, they stripped 
 the man naked, beat him severely, and left him a 
 whole day under a broiling sun, pegged to the 
 ground. Next day they let him crawl off, and soon 
 brought the horse to Jerusalem, where they received 
 their reward. 
 
 "Mountain never meets mountain, but man and 
 man may meet," was a favorite Arabic proverb of 
 Daoud's, meaning that it is best to part friends with 
 every body, with a view to future contingencies. 
 Hence Daoud's unwearied civility to the most irri- 
 tating schemers. He used it well in his courteous 
 Eastern phrase, when, yesterday, he took leave of the 
 sheik of the Beni Atiyeh, and, writing his name down 
 in his pocket-book, assured him he should remember 
 him, and recommend future travelers to his good 
 offices. 
 
 Daoud was generally up to the occasion. Mean- 
 ness is an especial vice of Kerak. Not only did the 
 young sheik not send us the kid which etiquette re-
 
 102 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 quired, when he was returned to his own land, after 
 his dinner with us yesterday ; but, after leaving our 
 tent to-night, he condescended to go to the kitchen 
 tent and demand a supper. Daoud baffled him by 
 saying, "Yes, the cook is just cutting up the pork," 
 — " Ugh ; but there is some rice." " Yes, and put- 
 ting the bits on the rice." This was not the first 
 time that Hayne's flitch of bacon had done us good 
 service; for before leaving Jerusalem, slices were cut 
 off and distributed in the several boxes of sugar, rice, 
 coffee, and the like, so as to defile their contents in 
 the eyes of good Moslem thieves. 
 
 While we were together at prayers late in the even- 
 ing, we heard the guard's challenge, but no reply. 
 It was pitch dark, for the moon had set; and soon 
 the rattle of beads was heard under the eaves at the 
 back of the tent. Mr. Klein slipped out; and when 
 our worship was concluded, and we had committed 
 ourselves to a covenant Father's care in a strange 
 land, we went to the other tent, where the two were 
 sitting in darkness. With a careful patrol round, a 
 candle was lighted, and I produced the letter, which 
 the Christian carefully concealed in the lining of his 
 garment, together with a sovereign, and, of course, 
 an extra piece for backsheesh ; with a promise of a 
 dollar extra for every day he should be away short 
 of ten days, the usual time for going and returning 
 from Jerusalem. He then started unperceived — not 
 even our Christian servants were in the secret — and 
 went out to sleep in the mountains for a few hours,
 
 AID AT HAND. 103 
 
 assuring us that by day-break he would be miles 
 away from Kerak ; and thus, after a day of rare 
 interest and excitement, the party retired to their 
 couches, or sheep-skins. 
 
 The first news of the next morning was from the 
 Greek school-master, who arrived early to say that 
 the messenger with the letter had got away in safety, 
 and was supposed to have gone to his family camp in 
 the hills; but, better still, that Zadam, son of Fendi y 
 Faiz, the great sheik of the Beni Sakk'r, was only 
 seven hours off. Mr. Klein at once dispatched a 
 secret messenger, begging his immediate presence. 
 Soon after arrived a servant of the head man, to say 
 that he did not wish us to be close prisoners, and 
 that, as long as we did not visit the city, we might 
 ride out under. proper guard, and see whatever part 
 of the country we wished. But Mr. Klein knew the 
 Arab character too well to allow this to pass. " No," 
 exclaimed he, in energetic tones in Arabic, in the 
 hearing of all the men that sat on the wall; "they 
 know they have committed a crime in confining us 
 here, and insulting us; they are afraid, and so they 
 send a message : let them come and fetch us out," 
 It reminded one of St, Paul's experience at Philippi 
 (Acts xvi., 37), 
 
 We remained, therefore, still under guard till noon, 
 when the old mudjelli arrived in person to pay us a 
 visit of state, preceded by a negro mounted herald 
 and a troop of spearmen, and surrounded by the mag- 
 nates of the place. But with them was Zadam, the
 
 104 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Beni Sakk'r sheik, with his young brother, a bright 
 youth of fourteen. At once he dismounted, and greet- 
 ed Mr. Klein as an old friend. It appeared he had 
 been unavoidably detained, but had acted on our let- 
 ter, and had arrived at Jerusalem only an hour after 
 we left for Hebron. But he had made amends for 
 his delay, and produced a contract, signed and sealed 
 by him in the presence of the English consul, by which 
 he had agreed to be our guard, and to take us through 
 all the country north of Kerak for forty days, for the 
 moderate sum of £60 sterling. He had calculated the 
 time we should be on the road, and had come, expect- 
 ing our arrival about this time. Thus all the future 
 of our expedition was made smooth, if only we could 
 manage the neighborhood of Kerak itself 
 
 The old mudjelli entered, and sat down next Zadam. 
 Now was our turn. We recapitulated, through Daoud, 
 the indignities to which we had been exposed ; how 
 his son had acted the brigand, and how at that very 
 moment we were prisoners. The son was meanwhile 
 sitting in the door- way, listening to the indictment. 
 Mr. Klein asserted his dignity with great solemnity. 
 Appealed to by the mudjelli, he would only speak to 
 him through an interpreter. The old man evidently 
 saw matters had been carried with too high a hand, 
 objurgated his son, offered us every apology. His land 
 was our land, his horses were our horses, his guards 
 were our guards. From this moment we were free. 
 His son was a fool. " Yes," broke in Mr. Klein with 
 an inimitable grimace, "in every country there are
 
 A SUNDAY UNDER ARREST. 105 
 
 low, mean robbers, as well as respectable and intelli- 
 gent gentlemen," This was too much for the son, 
 who hurriedly finished his coffee and slunk out of the 
 tent. Meantime the Beni Sakk'r, with his keen black 
 eye, aquiline nose, and handsome face, broke in, calm- 
 ly, but very strongly. He had come to meet his 
 friends in a friendly land, and did not expect to find 
 them under guard, and tJiat for money which had not 
 been earned. We observed that we had come pre- 
 pared to make a handsome present, but not after be- 
 ing robbed on the road. Our servants and muleteers 
 were standing, grinning with delight over the heads 
 of the sitting council ; and various Kerak Christians 
 evidently enjoyed the objurgation bestowed on their 
 dreaded ruler. 
 
 When pipes were finished, all withdrew ; and the 
 Sanhedrim of Kerak, as Daoud called them, formed 
 in a circle on the rising ground behind our tents, in 
 long and angry dispute. The young men came in for 
 hard language — more for their bungling, I suspect, 
 than for any thing else. " May Allah have mercy on 
 the father of your beard!" was one of the severe re- 
 proaches cast on the culprits. But, at any rate, we 
 were allowed to go out, and took the opportunity of 
 enjoying a ramble with some guides among the bar- 
 ren hills and deep wadys of the neighborhood, which 
 produced partridge, if no more important discovery. 
 
 The next day was Sunday, and not a very quiet 
 rest-day. We were still under surveillance, and our 
 mules at the khan. At day-break all sorts of visitors
 
 106 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 crowded the tents, and it v/as only through incessant 
 proclamations by our servants that it was our prayer- 
 day, and that we must be left alone, that we were able 
 to get any peace. The Beni Sakk'r Zadam showed 
 himself more of a gentleman than the others. The 
 old mudjelli kept sitting on in our tent, admiring ev- 
 ery article he saw, when Zadam came in, saluted us, 
 sat down a moment, and then got up, saying, " There 
 are too many here for your peace." At last we had 
 our tents tied up, and enjoyed our English service and 
 Holy Communion together (certainly the first English 
 celebration ever held here), and claimed the promise, 
 " Where two or three are gathered togethei'." 
 
 Mr. Klein was not with us, as he found an opportu- 
 nity of holding an Arabic service in a room in the 
 Christian quarter, and then was detained a long time, 
 visiting the people after it. He had thirty men and 
 six women to form his congregation, all belonging to 
 the Greek Church. They are. very ignorant, but from 
 Bible teaching are Protestants in heart, have some 
 knowledge of the truth, and thirst for more. The 
 school-master is fond of study, thoughtful, and his 
 great desire is to go to England to complete his edu- 
 cation. There were earnest requests for a catechist ; 
 and if the roads were safe, life and property secure, 
 and regular communications open with Salt, in Gilead, 
 where the Turkish government is now firmly estab- 
 lished, a native catechist might be sent at once, were 
 there funds for the purpose. Some of the people, 
 even now, prefer not to have their children baptized
 
 DEMANDS ON THE HAKIM. 107 
 
 in the Greek Church, but send them to Salt, when 
 there is a missionary on circuit there. 
 
 The great value, however, of Kerak as a mission 
 station would be the opportunity of free intercourse 
 with the Bedouin, which is most difficult on the west 
 side, where, on the complaint of the Moslem religious 
 authorities, the Christian school established among 
 the Ta'amirah has been broken up, and where the 
 Turks are afraid of the Bedouin becoming more trou- 
 blesome, if they become more enlightened. On the 
 east there would be at least no official jealousy to in- 
 terpose. 
 
 The afternoon was much occupied with temporal 
 works of mercy. Looked upon as a hakim, I had a 
 stream of visitors. I had some difficulty in screwing 
 my courage to use a history in a surgical case, and to 
 open an abscess in a youth's leg. Happily, there was 
 no artery in the way, and I saved my credit, and also 
 the young man's life, who was going on well three 
 days afterward. There were ladies' cases. Even the 
 old mudjelli came, and said his fifth and favorite wife 
 was very ill since a mishap ; but when I told him I 
 could not prescribe without seeing the patient, and 
 also parenthetically inquired how he came to have 
 five instead of four wives, he hastily turned the sub- 
 ject. 
 
 We climbed to the top of the castle overhead, and 
 on the top of the wall outside sat down and read. 
 We looked at Jerusalem fifty miles off, as the crow 
 flies, across the lake, but plainly visible through our
 
 108 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 glasses. The Eussian buildings, the Mount of Olives, 
 and, farther south, Bethlehem, were easily recognized. 
 The view at sunset was splendid — a wonderful glow 
 of red, yellow, and green, over the range of Judea, 
 and the old moon just in the arms of the new. 
 
 Again came the mudjelli, handling and asking for 
 inkstands, paper, opera-glasses, pistols, or whatever 
 he could lay his fingers on, and sorely trying our pa- 
 tience. After his third or fourth departure, Zadam 
 came in, and suggested an early start. We explained 
 that we wished to explore the southern district be- 
 fore turning north, and suggested that he should go, 
 and return for us in a few days. With a quiet smile 
 and inimitable pantomime, he told us that if he did 
 leave us, the mudjelli would "filch, filch, filch," put- 
 ting out his long, slender fingers toward each of us, 
 and then drawing them quietly together and gather- 
 ing them in. It was plain that it was only the awe 
 of Zadam's presence that gave us our present quasi- 
 liberty. Zadam also hinted that he did not like to 
 stay much longer in the quarters of his vassal, on 
 whom, of course, he and his retinue had to sponge. 
 
 Mr. Klein, who had been diligently collecting typo- 
 graphical information, and had catalogued about sixty 
 names of places round, and chiefly to the south of 
 Kerak, found very few names that promised to be of 
 scriptural or historical interest. He thought that one 
 long day's ride might suffice to work a radius south 
 of Kerak to the extent of fifteen or twenty miles; so 
 we agreed to go in two days, and persuaded Zadam
 
 CUKIOUS BELATIONS. 109 
 
 and his brother to be our guests for the rest of our 
 stay here. Trotter's little spare tent was sent up for 
 them, rough bedding found, and their horses picketed 
 with ours. 
 
 The relations of the mudjelli and the Beni Sakk'r 
 are curious. The former is a Turkish-appointed gov- 
 ernor, ranks as a colonel in the Turkish army, and 
 draws pay as such from the imperial treasury, being, 
 of course, answerable for the taxes due from the dis- 
 trict. The latter is also under Turkish dominion, but 
 only as a vassal owing feudal allegiance, and may be 
 called on to bring so many hundred horsemen into 
 the field when required. Practically, the Beni Sakk'r 
 are an independent tribe ; yet Kerak pays to them a 
 regular tribute annually, to protect them^selves and 
 their flocks from pillage, very much as the towns of 
 South Judah used to send " presents " to David dur- 
 ing his wanderings. The tribute paid is in kind- 
 barley, wool, etc. It is felt prudent but humiliating 
 by the Keraki, who recall the time when they were 
 held above the proudest of the Bedouin. 
 
 In the evening Zadam and his brother dined with 
 us. They endured the trying ordeal of a European 
 dinner with truly Oriental patience ; and Zadam 
 showed much shrewdness in his quiet imitation of 
 every thing he saw us do, and much skill in the hand- 
 ling of those, to him, novel weapons, a knife and fork. 
 He admitted, however, that he had seen them before, 
 as he had visited Alexandria and Cairo when taking 
 some Arab horses as a present to the Yiceroy of
 
 no 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Egypt, and had traveled in a railway train. He one 
 day asked Mr. Klein whether he thought the Queen 
 of England would give him a present, if he took her a 
 fine Arab horse as a gift. 
 
 One day we took advantage of a lull in the storm ; 
 and finding that we might ride out with our guards 
 where we would, Mr. Klein planned an admirable 
 
 NO. 8. 
 
 ANCIENT LAMP, FOUND AT KERAK. 
 
 route with me to several of the southern cities of 
 Moab, the topographical results of which will be given 
 further on. The rest of the party did good work, 
 Buxton, Hayne, and Johnson, toiling all day at meas- 
 uring, sketching and photographing, among the castles 
 and ruins of Kerak, which, for once, they were per-
 
 FUTILE THREATS. Ill 
 
 mitted to do, with no greater annoyance than an un- 
 mannerly crowd about them. 
 
 After nine hours' absence we returned, to find there 
 was to be no more peace for us. The fact of our hav- 
 ing sent a letter to Jerusalem had eked out, and in a 
 storm of rage the mudjelli and his band hurried to our 
 camp. His brother going into the tent and finding 
 Mr. Klein alone, told him plainly, with Arabic eu- 
 phemism, he would have him assassinated whenever 
 a favorable opportunity should occur. Klein begged 
 to refer him to those who had written the letter. I 
 was next taxed, and replied that, as we had no money 
 here, we were obliged to send to Jerusalem to tell our 
 wants. Did he suppose we would carry £600 about 
 with us? It was vain; the curses were only louder. 
 I was obliged in turn to try a little browbeating, and 
 through Daoud told him, with angry and scornful 
 gestures, that if a hair of Mr. Klein's head were touch- 
 ed, he should pay for it to the Pasha of Nablous. As 
 for the Greeks, to whose quarter, we learned, he had 
 been, to curse the Greek school-master, and to vow 
 vengeance on every Christian who had been near us, 
 so soon as we should be gone, Daoud took care to tell 
 him in the ears of his people that he shook like a sheep 
 before the Moscov (Russians), and that he dared not 
 hurt one child under the wing of the patriarch. (The 
 Greek patriarch makes him a yearly present for his 
 protection of his people.) Soon there was a pause, as 
 the mudjelli ceased cursing, and stooped down to say 
 his prayers. Scarcely calmed by his devotions, he told
 
 112 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 US he wanted no strangers in his country who could 
 not pay like gentlemen. We told him we should 
 leave to-morrow. He turned round to the crowd and 
 announced that he should only permit us to leave by 
 the way we came, and that he should turn us back 
 into the Safieh. This was too much for Sahan, Za- 
 dam's boy-brother, who leaped up, snapped his fin- 
 gers in the face of the old bully, and laughed at the 
 notion of making his brother's friends go back to Sa- 
 fieh. Zadam also hinted, delicately, that any injury 
 to us might lead to the Kerak cattle straying into 
 Beni Sakk'r pastures. 
 
 At last they departed, leaving a guard over our 
 tents, lest we should escape in the night.
 
 TAKING LEAVE OF KERAK. 113 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Excursion to the south of Kerak.— Kureitun.— The twin Towns.— 
 Kiriathaivi.-The Highhmds of Moab.— Kuined Cities.-Azizah. 
 — Wine-presses. — M'hheileh.— Jubah. — Roman Road. — Mah- 
 k'henah. —Cisterns. — Modeh. — Koman Mile-stones. — Mesh'had. — 
 Madin.-Theniyeh.— Arabic Names.— Kerak, Kir-moab, or Kir- 
 hareseth.—Ohstm^cj of the MudjeUi.— Visit to the Council.— Di- 
 plomacy about Ransom.— Arab Manoeuvres.— Off at last.— Tre- 
 mendous Storm.-Road to Rabba.—Rakim.— Roman Road.— Ar- 
 rival atRabba.— Campin a Tank. —Description of Rabba.— Roman 
 Temples.— Basaltic Stones.— The Kerak Men again.— Daoud's In- 
 genuity for the Horse's Corn.— Robbery of the Letter-carrier. —Bad 
 News.— Mr. Klein recalled. 
 
 Before taking our final leave of Kerak, it may be 
 well to give shortly the results of our surveying ex- 
 pedition among the ruins to the southward. We left 
 by the north-east side of the city, riding through the 
 Christian quarter, and, scrambling over a gap in the 
 broken wall, led our horses down a zigzag path, into 
 the ravine of the Wady Kerak. At this point the 
 depth of the gorge rapidly diminishes, as, making a 
 partial circuit of the city, we come out, after twenty 
 minutes, under the great castle, cross first a brow, and 
 then the Wady Tziatin, where the soldiers of Ibrahim 
 Pasha were slaughtered in attempting to cut their 
 way from the castle. Here Ibrahim Pasha planted 
 his mortars and bombarded the place. 
 
 The wady of Kerak soon begins to widen from a
 
 114 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ravine to a more open valley. Ancient terraces are 
 everywhere to be traced, and here and there little 
 green, saucer-like, level halting-places, with soft, rich 
 herbage, where the Keraki were making their sum- 
 mer camp, while their goats depastured the rugged 
 hill-sides. In forty -five minutes after starting we 
 reached the crest of the opposite hill, and could over- 
 look Kerak, with the gorge down to the Dead Sea, 
 up which we had ridden a week before, and a part 
 of the sea itself, while the mountains of Judea formed 
 the background. Even without a glass we could dis- 
 tinctly make out Jerusalem. The spot had a few 
 ruins and wells, and is called Jelamet es Subbha. 
 
 It was only twenty minutes' ride from this place 
 to the first of the twin towns of Kureitun, perhaps a 
 Kiriathaim of Scripture, but not the Kiriathaim of 
 Reuben. Here are the remains of two towns close 
 together, with a gentle hollow of not more than half 
 a mile from crest to crest between them, bearing 
 the same name, and thus illustrating the significance 
 of the dual termination in the Hebrew Kiriathaim. 
 One description might suffice for all these Moabite 
 ruins. The town seems to have been a system of 
 concentric circles built round a central fort; and out- 
 side the buildings the rings continue as terrace walls, 
 the gardens of the old city. The terraces are contin- 
 uous between the twin hillocks, and intersect each 
 other at the foot. There are several wells, now half- 
 choked and dry, in each, and the ground is full of 
 small caverns, especially under the buildings, care-
 
 THE HIGHLANDS OF MOAB. ' 115 
 
 fully cemented, wbich have been the reservoirs of 
 each house. We find here no arches standing, but 
 the remains of many, in the buttresses from the vaults, 
 showing that stone had been exclusively used in the 
 domestic constructions. 
 
 We had now got on to the plateau, or highlands, 
 of Moab, on the crest of what looks, from the other 
 side, to be a range of mountains, but which is in re- 
 ality the edge of a high table-land about 4000 feet 
 above the Dead Sea valley, and which gently rises to 
 the eastward for about twenty-five miles, where a bar- 
 ren limestone range of no great height forms another 
 water-shed, and is the conventional frontier of Arabia. 
 The ravines to the westward, which, as we ascended 
 from the Dead Sea, have been so conspicuous a fea- 
 ture, become now, in their earlier course, mere gentle 
 valleys, with rounded rolling hills, none of them so 
 steep as those of Central Judea. Whenever the lime- 
 stone is elevated above the rich vegetable soil, it is 
 honey-combed with caves, all once utilized as water- 
 cisterns. The wells are countless, and not confined 
 to the old cities only, showing that the Israelites must 
 have had no little labor to stop them all with stones 
 (2 Kings iii., 25). The soil of the plains is a rich, 
 friable loam, covered with small stones, which shield 
 the tender roots from the sun, and which is capable 
 of producing any thing. Every knoll is covered with 
 shapeless ruins, while not a tree is to be seen through 
 the whole country, except here and there a terebinth, 
 always among the ddbris of some ancient site. The
 
 116 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ruins consist merely of heaps of squared stones, with 
 here and there the traces of an arch (while north of 
 the Arnon the remaining arches are countless), and 
 walls of squared and well-fitting stones, which, ap- 
 parently, were erected without mortar. 
 
 From Kureitun we turned S.S.W., and in ten min- 
 utes were on the mound of ruins called Kirbet Azizah. 
 The remains are extensive, and with very many wells, 
 Amonsr other traces of older and better times, I came 
 upon a wine-press hewn in the rock — two troughs 
 hewn out of the native rock, with a perforated par- 
 tition left between them. The grapes were thrown 
 into the upper trough, and there trodden by the feet 
 of the wine-pressers, the juice draining through the 
 holes into the lower receptacle. The presses are ex- 
 actly similar to those so numerous in Western Pales- 
 tine. For ages, however, the threat against Moab has 
 been fulfilled : " Gladness is taken away, and joy out 
 of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall 
 be no singing, neither shall there be shouting : the 
 treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I 
 have made their vintage shouting to cease" (Isa. 
 xvi., 10). 
 
 To the left of Azizah runs the Wady M'hheileh, 
 in which there is a remarkable large, open reservoir, 
 formed out of a natural cavity. Fifteen minutes 
 brought us from Azizah to Kirbet Nekad, with ruins 
 like the former, on a knoll ; and in eighteen minutes 
 more we reached Hhoweiyeh, a much more extensive 
 place, with many wells. The old walls covered a
 
 ROMAN ROAD. 117 
 
 considerable space of ground ; but there are no arch- 
 es left standing. The herbage here was luxuriant, 
 and close to the ruins was a camp of herdmen and 
 their families, dependents on Kerak. 
 
 Twenty-two minutes' quick riding across a level 
 plain brought us to Jubah, which must have been a 
 small place, but the masonry very solid. There is 
 here another capacious natural cistern, enlarged by 
 art. Here we came upon the old Roman road, very 
 distinctly marked by the lines of two parallel walls 
 close together, unbroken as far as the eye could 
 reach, and running over the plain due south. We 
 cantered along the side of the old military way, in a 
 wide, shallow valley of very rich earth. 
 
 Fourteen minutes was enough to bring us to Mah- 
 k'henah, the Mahanna of Irby and Mangles's Journal. 
 The remains are in a better state of preservation than 
 any of those we had yet visited in the course of our 
 ride. The plan of many of the buildings, and espe- 
 cially of an old Byzantine church, can be distinctly 
 traced. It stands on a slightly elevated mamelon, 
 covering several acres. Not only are there the usual 
 number of old wells, as though there had been one 
 for every house, according to the command given by 
 Mesha in the Moabite Stone, " Make for yourselves, 
 every man, a cistern in his house," but there are 
 many caves which have been used as dwellings, and 
 several crypt- houses quite perfect. Large dressed 
 stones were lying about in all directions. The only 
 present inhabitants were Greek partridges; but though
 
 118 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 we found no Bedouin here, both the caves and arches 
 had lately been inhabited by men and flocks. In 
 many of the caves was the raised platform, or "mas- 
 taba," for sleeping on, formed of earth, at the farther 
 end; and several fragments of sheep-skin coverlets 
 and garments, as well as fodder, were strewn about. 
 We could not see Kerak from Mahk'henah, but the 
 road close to it could be distinguished with the glass. 
 It has been suggested that Mahk'henah is the Arabic 
 equivalent for " Mochrath," mentioned on the Moab- 
 ite Stone as the place from which Mesha repeopled 
 Ataroth after he had exterminated its former Israel- 
 itish inhabitants. 
 
 Five minutes west of this was a small ruin, appar- 
 ently of a fort and a village, which we visited, called 
 Jeljul (Djellgood of Irby and Mangles, or Djeldjoun 
 of Burckhardt). From Mahk'henah we crossed, in 
 a S.S.W. direction, a splendid rich plain, full of the 
 traces of ancient inclosures and vineyards, now a 
 waste like the rest of Moab. After a smart ride of 
 thirty-five minutes, we reached Modeh (Monthe of 
 Burckhardt, Harnata or Mote of Irby and Mangles). 
 Here, on two contiguous knolls, have been two sister 
 towns exactly like Kureitun. They were united at 
 the bottom of the hills, and, apparently, were inclosed 
 by a common wall. We were again on the traces of 
 the Roman road, and came across two mile-stones, one 
 broken, the other still in situ. Among the ruins were 
 three terebinth -trees, the solitary representatives of 
 timber we met with in our whole ride; nor is there 
 a vestige of scrub on the hills anywhere.
 
 PEACTICAL BENEVOLENCE. 119 
 
 Modeh was our south-western limit in this excur- 
 sion. From it we turned and set out due north-east 
 toward the ruins of Mesh'had (Machad of Irby). 
 Near it is Abou Taleb's tomb, a tall, crumbling mass 
 of masonry, supported on arches. Riding northward 
 another half hour, we came on a narrow wady, into 
 which we descended by a rugged path, and found 
 ourselves at the deep well called Beer Madin, from 
 the city on the top of the hill beyond. The well is 
 a natural cave, many feet down, and fed, apparent- 
 ly, by some subterranean spring. We descended by 
 steps hewn in the rock, and found the water pure, 
 cold, and delicious. We afterward scrambled down 
 two similar wells in the same wady. A few half- 
 broken troughs, some of them formed of old sar- 
 cophagi, were by the mouths of the wells, and con- 
 tained water for our horses, kindly left there for the 
 next traveler by some considerate, unselfish water- 
 drawer. This was a piece of practical benevolence 
 we could thoroughly appreciate, for we had ourselves 
 nothing to draw with. 
 
 After resting here a few minutes, we were again 
 in the saddle, and a steep climb of fifteen minutes 
 brought us to the ruins of Madin, on the crest of a 
 hill — not, like the other cities, on a gentle knoll in a 
 plain. We seemed now to have left the level plateau, 
 which extended far east and south, while to the west 
 we begin here to re-enter the rugged defiles of which 
 Kerak is the key. The ruins are rather extensive, 
 and more perfect than any others we examined in
 
 120 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 this ride — squared stones of considerable size, and 
 many old house - walls, still standing, apparently, at 
 their, original height, built of dressed stones, without 
 any trace of mortar. Several sarcophagi were lying 
 about; one had been used as the lintel for an old 
 door-way; and there were sculptured fragments of 
 the Koman period, and broken oil-presses. Jebel 
 Shihan stood out clearly, bounding the northern 
 horizon. 
 
 From Madin to Theniyeh, the last ruin we visited, 
 was an hour's ride, and another hour brought us back 
 to Kerak.* 
 
 No chain of evidence, happily, can be less open to 
 cavil than that which identifies Kerak with Kir-moab 
 (Isa. XV., 1), or Kir-haresh, or Hareseth (Isa. xvi., 7, 
 11), Kir-heres (Jer. xlviii., 31), or Kir-haraseth (2 
 Kings iii., 25). It was the castle, " Kir," as distin- 
 
 * We had also noticed, during the day, Mouriyeh (Meraa of Burck- 
 hardt), Hamad, Suhl, and Nachal (Netchill of Irby). From the Ke- 
 rak people we obtained, through Mr. Klein, the names of many other 
 sites known to them, some of which seem to be the Arabic representa- 
 tions of Hebrew names. Among them are Dimnah (qucere : the Di- 
 mon of Isaiah ?), though, for want of a known site, Dimon has been 
 commonly held, by an ingenious but far-fetched interpretation, to be a 
 synonym of Dibon, Lubeirah, Sumrah, Yaroud, Beter, Hadadah, Ea- 
 kun, Z'erar, Hhomoud, Azour, and others. These were given us with 
 very definite directions. Other places of which we obtained the names 
 without precise identification were Dadras, Um Hayh, El Ainah, Fulk- 
 hah, Dubbak, 'Izzar, Bedthan, Keriyeh, El Fityan, En Sheynesh. 
 Misnar, 'Am'rah el Bourdan, Sahdouneh, N'assit, Gh'marein, Hhro- 
 fillat, Hadjfeh, Alayan, Tzemakiyeh, Oneim, and Ed D'lalhyeh. These 
 all remain for some future explorer to identify.
 
 VISIT TO THE SENATE. 121 
 
 guished from the metropolis, "Ar," of the count ry- 
 1 e Rabbath-moab, the modern Rabba. The largur.. 
 translates all these names "Kerakah," identical wuh 
 the modern name * The Crusaders mistook it for 
 Petra,and gave to its bishop that title, which the 
 Greek Church has still retained; but the name in the 
 vernacular has continued unchanged. No wonder, 
 as we look down from the neighboring heights upoii 
 It that the combined armies of Israel, Judah, and 
 Edom could not take it, and that "in Kir-haraseth 
 left they the stones thereof; howbeitthe slingers went 
 about it, and smote it" (2 Kings iii., 25), but to little 
 
 ^"ThTpopulation of Kerak is said to be 8000, of 
 whom 1600 are Christian. There could not have 
 been any thing like that population at the time of 
 our visit; but then the greater part of the people 
 and their families were camping in the country, with 
 
 their flocks and herds. 
 
 Our patience was now exhausted. Four days un- 
 der surveillance was enough, and, duly escorted, a 
 deputation consisting of Daoud and myself paid an 
 early visit, next day, to the mudjelli. In the centre 
 of the town we stepped down into a court-yard and 
 thence into the large cavernous chamber which term- 
 ed the council-chamber of the city. The whole as- 
 sembly, perhaps thirty in number, were sitting in sol- 
 
 *As Kerak-moab it is mentioned by Ptolemy, Steph. Byz., and 
 other writers.
 
 122 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 emn conclave with their pipes, round the great saucer- 
 shaped hearth, about one yard and a half wide, con- 
 taining smoking embers, for it was very cold. No 
 one rose to salute me, nor did the mudjelli even lift 
 his eyes as I stood. Determined to take the bull 
 by the horns, at Daoud's whisper I stepped forward, 
 pushed one of the sitting elders aside, and strode in 
 front of the chief in my boots and spurs. Still no 
 one moved till I made room for myself at the upper 
 end of the circle, and took my seat in the place of 
 honor, by the mudjelli, on the ground. On this a 
 box was brought from behind, and a cushion spread 
 on it for me. Daoud stood by me, and through him 
 I spoke many civil words ; said I had come to return 
 the state visit paid us seven days ago, as we were go- 
 ing to leave this morning, and wished to part friends, 
 and to thank him for the security to our 2^ersons we 
 had enjoyed under his government. Not a word in 
 reply. Another civil speech, and still no sign. At 
 length some of the elders broke silence, and advised 
 their chief to part with the Christians as friends, and 
 to let them go in peace. A long conference ensued 
 among them in undertones. At the proper moment 
 Daoud broke in, embraced the mudjelli on his knees, 
 and whispered long in his ear. Still no word. At 
 length, seeing that no coffee was coming, I rose, and 
 said I hoped he would come soon to our tents to say 
 farewell, and that we should wait for him there. He 
 then actually half rose and bowed, and gave me a 
 salaam. When we got back to camp, Daoud prog-
 
 DEPARTURE FROM KERAK. 123 
 
 Tiosticated success, as the old man had whispered to 
 him, "Do not let the howadji give me money in the 
 sight of my people." 
 
 The gi'eat man shortly appeared on horseback, with 
 a long retinue, and, dismounting, entered our tent 
 with some of his chief followers. He and I had a pri- 
 vate interview in the second tent; and as he emerged, 
 at once the word was passed to strike tents and load 
 the mules. Never were orders more promptly obey- 
 ed. In an hour and a quarter all was packed. 
 
 The morning's lowering sky now turned to a hur- 
 ricane; and before the mules were quite ready, rain 
 followed the wind— such rain as I have seldom seen. 
 We started a little in advance of our baggage, intend- 
 ing to leave by the eastern exit; but the storm of 
 rain and hail became so fierce that our terrified horses 
 refused to move, and wheeled round, unable to face 
 the blast. Under the lee of the Greek church we 
 had to sit on our trembling steeds, soaked to the skin. 
 The elements might have combined with the people 
 to detain us. When the violence of the squall abated, 
 we rode back to the castle. To our relief, the site of 
 our camp was desolate. The muleteers, for once in 
 earnest to be off, had taken shelter in the tunnel, 
 whence they were now winding down the steep by 
 which we had entered. Under a succession of drench- 
 ing showers we passed the mules, and a ride of four 
 and a half hours through very heavy country brought 
 us to our camp at Eabba, with no further inconven- 
 ience, beyond our soaking, than the ordinary difficul-
 
 124 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ties of mules objecting to ford little swollen torrents, 
 or dislodging their burdens from their backs at the 
 most inconvenient turnings. 
 
 On the way we passed the ruins of Suweiniyeh, 
 Duweineh, Kakim, and Mekhersit. The difierent as- 
 pect of the country to the south of Kerak and of this 
 northern plain suggests a reason why the cities are so 
 much more crowded in the former. The most espe- 
 cial feature of that district is the number of " tells," 
 little hillocks, or mamelons of rocks, rising like an ir- 
 regular eruption over the plain. The northern plain 
 is without these excrescences. Their great value in 
 the eyes of the former inhabitants would seem to have 
 been the facility for utilizing or excavating an unlim- 
 ited number of tanks. In a land where the popula- 
 tion must have been chiefly dependent on the rains 
 for their supply, they preferred to settle in spots where 
 their facilities for water-storage were unlimited. 
 
 We soon came on the old Roman road running due 
 north and south, with its pavement still there, though 
 broken up, and often the flag-stones set on edge by 
 time and weather, with the two parallel lines of walls 
 flanking it. This ruined street we followed without 
 incident until, under the drenching rain, we were glad 
 to reach our arranged quarters for the night, at Eab- 
 ba, the old Ar, or Rabbath-moab, and the Areopolis 
 of the Greek and Roman writers, so named from the 
 resemblance in sound between Ar and "Apijc, or Mars. 
 Jerome distinctly identifies them. Since Rabba is so 
 close to the northern frontier of transarnonic Moab,
 
 DETENTION AT KABBA. 125 
 
 and as there is no trace of any city of importance be- 
 tween it and the river, it is easy to understand how, 
 in Kumbers xxi., 15, Ar is spoken of as if it were the 
 northern border. 
 
 The place selected for camp sounds a questionable 
 one, under a deluge of rain : the bottom of an im- 
 mense tank, or reservoir, some sixty yards by fifty in 
 extent ; and though largely choked up with the litter 
 and manure of the animals which have been folded 
 here for ages, perhaps to the depth of twenty feet, it 
 was still, in some places, thirty feet below the upper 
 surface. In the sides, rather high up, were large open 
 caves, where our guards and muleteers comfortably 
 ensconced themselves and a few of the horses. Our 
 tents were pitched on the porous mass of goats' dung, 
 which rapidly absorbed the water, and gave us a tol- 
 erably dry surface. Though not sheltered from the 
 rain, we were safe from the wind, and our tents were 
 not rocked by the storm. We were at peace at last, 
 though bitterly cold, and my sheep-skin bed had been 
 rolled by a mule in a torrent, and was a mere damp 
 sponge. To sleep in a mackintosh, and damp bedding 
 over it, is a severe trial, with the thermometer close to 
 the freezing-point. 
 
 Rain compelled us to remain another day in the cis- 
 tern. There was, however, enough to explore in the ru- 
 ins of Rabba, though the weather forbade photograph- 
 ing. The place seems to have been square, with the Ro- 
 man road almost intersecting it from north to south; 
 and the course of the main street may be traced. 
 
 9
 
 126 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Unlike the ruins we have previously visited, Eab- 
 ba bears all the marks of a city of the late Eoman pe- 
 riod, with abundant traces of an earlier epoch. The 
 Roman town seems to have been about three-quarters 
 of a mile each way. There are several huge grass- 
 grown mounds, evidently the tombs of some impor- 
 tant buildings, which might well repay excavation. 
 One temple has two Corinthian columns standing, and 
 portions of several others, with two arches. There 
 are also two other large open tanks, but all else is 
 only a mass of walls, broken-down fragments of 
 carved work, and Corinthian capitals ; broken sar- 
 cophagi here and there, blocks of basalt, vaults and 
 arched cellars of all sizes, some being still used by 
 the Arabs as folds, sleeping-places, and store-houses, 
 and in some of which were myriads of rock-doves. 
 These vaults are countless. The Romans have evi- 
 dently used in their construction many carved stones 
 from yet earlier edifices. The material of the city is 
 limestone. But we found many blocks of basalt, 
 which must have been brought from Shihan, several 
 miles off, built into the walls and arches, some of them 
 finely faced, and others carved, telling of a still more 
 ancient Moabite city. Among the blocks of basalt 
 thus used were fragments of architraves and entabla- 
 tures. Several of the sarcophagi were of basalt also, 
 but without sculpture. At the eastern end of the 
 city are the remains of a large square building, which 
 seems, by some bases left in situ, to have had a colon- 
 nade round a central court, probably the prsetorium.
 
 ROBBERY OF THE LETTER-CARRIER. 127 
 
 We were not yet rid of our Kerak tormentors, 
 though out of their power. They found our coffee 
 and tobacco good ; and their camp was too near ours 
 for our comfort. The mudjelli and his horde kept 
 hovering about all day, sponging upon us for break- 
 fast and every other meal, and filching the barley of 
 our muleteers for their own horses. However, in this 
 matter, the muleteers are not scrupulous about steal- 
 ing from each other's nose-bags, for mules can tell no 
 tales. There is, however, a mode of detecting it. 
 Mr. Klein, who rode his own mare, asked Daoud this 
 morning if he was quite sure she always got her al- 
 lowance. " Oh yes," he replied, " the muleteers often 
 steal from one another, and rob their friends' horses ; 
 but I can always find out if your mare has been cheat- 
 
 e(j/' '« How?" " I always put some pebbles in with 
 
 the barley, seven or eight, and count exactly how 
 many I put in. The mare never eats the pebbles ; 
 and if any one steals barley, he is sure to take two or 
 three pebbles with it. If I find the pebbles short in 
 the morning, I make hard words, and they can not 
 tell how I know ; and so they let alone cheating her." 
 We had another instance of Kerak villainy to-day. 
 In the afternoon a poor fellow came in, not only half- 
 perished with cold, hunger, and wet, but with his gar- 
 ments in rags, and his limbs bruised and beaten. Mr. 
 Klein recognized him at once as a Bethlehem acquaint- 
 ance. He told, trembling and quaking, how he had 
 been sent from Jerusalem by Mrs. Klein, with letters 
 for her husband, by way of Jericho and Heshbon.
 
 128 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 He had left Jerusalem before our messenger could 
 have arrived, and therefore knew nothing of our 
 plight at Kerak. 
 
 It seems that an hour and a half north of Rabba, 
 the son of the mudjelli and others were lying in wait 
 for our messenger. He inquired innocently where we 
 were, confessed to having letters for us, and, on his 
 refusal to give them up, was severely beaten, and the 
 packet taken from him by force. The man happened 
 to know the chief by sight. The scoundrels had actu- 
 ally had their breakfast at our tents just before, and 
 thus used our camp as a station to prevent our send- 
 ing or getting news. Their violence was an utter 
 mystery to the poor Bethlehemite, who could not un- 
 derstand their object, and only by chance found out 
 where we were. He could tell no more than that he 
 knew he was the bearer of bad news, that Mr. Klein's 
 eldest boy was very ill, and he believed the letter was 
 to ask him to return. 
 
 But where is the letter? The mudjelli is actually 
 in our camp, but treats the matter with indifference, 
 and says in a couple of days his son may turn up. 
 Mr. Klein feels there is no time to be lost, and, con- 
 sulting with Zadam, determines that we shall all cross 
 the Arnon together to-morrow, and camp on the north- 
 ern brow. We shall then be in the Beni Sakk'r land, 
 and in perfect safety, and Mr. Klein will push on alone 
 with a servant of Zadam's, who will be quite sufficient 
 guard where he is known, and the Beni Sakk'r all- 
 powerful.
 
 MR. KLEIN'S RETURN. 129 
 
 To us the loss of Mr. Klein was very grievous ; and 
 most grateful must every one of the party ever feel 
 for his kind, energetic, and invaluable aid. To his 
 tact, patience, and skill in dealing with tha natives we 
 owed altogether our passage without loss through the 
 Safieh, and our survey of Kerak for a comparatively 
 trifling black-mail ; while the whole of the more im- 
 portant part of the expedition — that north of the Ar- 
 non, so successfully carried out, was due to the thor- 
 ough trust and friendship which Zadam had for him. 
 Mr. Klein's perfect knowledge of the Arabic vernacu- 
 lar was of the greatest value in ascertaining the names 
 of places while he was with us, and has enabled us to 
 add so many names to the map of Southern Moab. 
 Another of our party took advantage of Mr. Klein's 
 escort to return home.
 
 130 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 CHAPTER YIL 
 
 From Rabba to the Anion. — Visit from the Hamideh. — Characters of 
 Zadam and Sahan. — Ibn Tarif. — Present from Mr. Drake. — Ibn 
 Taiif's Attention. — Roman Way-side Temple. — Missdehh. — Ham- 
 eitat, the ancient Ham. — Kasr Rabba. — Beit el Kurm. — Large 
 Temple. — Ar and Areopolis. — A pillar Letter-box in the Waste. — 
 News from Jerusalem. — Troops on the move for our Rescue. — The 
 Mudjelli returns. — Restoration of Mr. Klein's Letter. — Shihan. — 
 Curious Inclosure of Basalt. — Sihon and the Amorites. — The View 
 from Jebel Shihan. — Muhatet el Haj. — Jahaz. — Descent to the Ar- 
 non. — Basaltic Dike. — Traces of Roman Road. — Ruined Forts. — 
 "The City in the midst of the River." — Rugged Ascent. — A Mount- 
 ain Pass in the Darkness. — Dreary Camp on the Uplands. — Mr. 
 Klein's Departure. — Aroer. — Topography of the Anion. — Ride to 
 Dhiban,— Its Ruins. — The Moabite Stone. — Conjectures as to its 
 original Position. — Means of its Preservation. — An Oil-press. — 
 Identity of Dhiban with Dibon. 
 
 The journey from Rabba to the north bank of the 
 Arnon is some eight hours, by Arab computation. 
 Just before starting, a Beni Hamideh sheik, Ibn Tarif, 
 appeared. He began by presenting testimonials from 
 Palmer as his introduction ; and his eye brightened 
 when I told him that Drake, as well as Palmer, was a 
 friend of mine, and that I was the bearer of a ring as 
 a present from his old visitor. Mr. Drake's ring and 
 a sovereign were amply sufficient to appease his ap- 
 petite. But, in spite of the greed of the Arab charac- 
 ter, I believe that an attested friend of these gentle-
 
 VISIT FROM THE HAMIDEH. 131 
 
 men, even without a backsheesh, would not fare badly 
 at the hands of Ibn Tarif. 
 
 Unfortunately, as he told us, his power of serving 
 them was not equal to his will. I am quite sure that, 
 if he could, he would have made any number of Moab- 
 ite stones to oblige them, for he remarked, with a sol- 
 emn sigh, that it was not every written stone that 
 would please them. 
 
 He volunteered to escort us, and to take us around 
 before reaching the Arnon, as he knew the whole 
 country — a suggestion which met with Zadam's 
 prompt approval, for he himself and his men knew 
 but little of the names of the sites in this immediate 
 neighborhood, out of their own territory. We ar- 
 ranged that Ibn Tarif should accompany us on a short 
 detour to the top of Jebel Shihan, and that we should 
 meet the mules and the rest of the part}' at the brow 
 of the Arnon ravine. 
 
 We rode out of the city of Rabba on the west side, 
 and, turning to the right, in a few minutes struck 
 the Roman road, which bisects the city from south to 
 north, and stretches across the plain straight as an ar- 
 row. We followed its course by its side the greater 
 part of the day. The space between the two parallel 
 walls, five yards, is generally filled in by the fallen 
 stones of the walls ; but in many places the pavement 
 remains exposed, though, for the most part, its stones 
 have become displaced by the action of time and 
 weather. Along this stretch of road I found three 
 Roman raile-stones prostrate, one of them with the in- 
 scription exposed, but defaced.
 
 132 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 A mile from Eabba, a tolerably perfect little Ro- 
 man temple abuts on the road on the left. The bases 
 of the columns of the portico remain in situ, and the 
 shafts lie broken and prostrate by them. The ady- 
 tum at the west end is only partially ruined, and the 
 lower cornices are still remaining. 
 
 Half an hour farther, on the east side of the road, 
 are the stony heaps of another ruined tower, not 
 marked in any of the maps, called Missdehh. It 
 bears the stamp of great antiquity, and is without 
 any traces of remains of Greek or Eoman architec- 
 ture. A few minutes later, on the same side of the 
 Roman road, are ruins of similar character, but of 
 much greater extent, called, by Ibn Tarif, Hameitat. 
 They are the same as those called, by Palmer, Ham- 
 mat, or Animah, and are laid down in all the maps as 
 the remains of the ancient Ham mentioned in Gen. 
 xiv., 5, as the place where Chedorlaomer defeated the 
 Zuzim, Schwartz is the proposer of this identifica- 
 tion, which, although the place does not occur in af- 
 ter-history, is justified by several ingenious arguments. 
 The Zuzim appear to be the same as the Zamzum- 
 mim, whose seat was in the region afterward occupied 
 by Ammon, not far from this, and separated only by 
 a wide plain country, without any natural obstacles. 
 Again, the Samaritan version has Lasha — i e., Cal- 
 lirrhoe, in Moab — a little to the north; and lastly, 
 the Targums read Hernia, still more closely identical 
 with the modern names given to Mr. Palmer and our- 
 selves.
 
 MASSIVE RUINS. 138 
 
 Immediately after Hameitat, perhaps three and a 
 half or four miles from Rabba, are very extensive 
 later ruins, with a fine temple partly standing, the 
 west walls and the portion toward the west forming a 
 conspicuous object and landmark from afar. It is the 
 one feature on the plain north of Rabba, just as one 
 solitary terebinth-tree to the westward of the road is 
 the single feature between Kerak and Rabba. We had 
 seen it long before reaching Rabba, two days since. It 
 was called by some of our guides Kasr Rabba — i e., 
 "the Castle of Rabba;" by others, Beit el Kurm, "the 
 House of the Vineyards ;" both which names have been 
 given to former travelers. The latter is evidently de- 
 rived from the traces of vineyards in the long naked 
 lines of stones to the east. 
 
 Kasr Rabba has been a magnificent and massive 
 temple, and there are very faint traces of any other 
 buildings about it. It has apparently stood alone, 
 with perhaps a few chambers for attendants near it — 
 the temple of "Ap»)c (Mars), with which god the Syri- 
 ans confused the name of "Ar." The whole enceinte 
 within the block of great squared stones, some of 
 them six feet by three, is strewn with immense frag- 
 ments of columns, none of them fluted, and with Co- 
 rinthian capitals and friezes. From the cracks in the 
 standing walls, it would seem to have been shattered 
 by an earthquake, rather than overthrown by man. 
 We measured about a dozen portions of columns ; all 
 are of the same diameter, four feet eight inches, as if 
 the shafts had not tapered at all. There had been a
 
 134 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 few, but very few, blocks of granite employed in the 
 building. Alas ! as at Eabba, the clouds and ele- 
 ments combined against the photographers, and all 
 their plates failed. 
 
 It has been suggested by Irby that this Beit Kurm 
 is the temple of Atargatis Carnion, or Carnaim (1 
 Mace, v., 43 ; 2 Mace, xii., 21). This, however, is un- 
 doubtedly the same as Ashteroth Karnaim of Gen. 
 xiv., 5, where Chedorlaoraer smote the Eephaim. Je- 
 rome says this place was above Sodom ; and again, 
 that the name was applied in his day to two villages 
 between Adara and Abila. The identification must 
 remain, so far, a mere conjecture. 
 
 The top of the west wall is easily climbed, and 
 forms a capital look-out post over the wide plain. 
 We descried something in the distance, and the sports- 
 men unslung their guns for an eagle, but, on approach- 
 ing, found that. the object was a man's head peering 
 above the highest angle of the temple. He recog- 
 nized us at once, and came down from his perch. It 
 was our messenger returning from Jerusalem with 
 the consul's letter. Fortunate it was that he had 
 concealed himself, for from this very place had issued 
 yesterday the Kerak men who had robbed and beaten 
 the bearer of Mr. Klein's letter, who was now with us, 
 glad of Mr. Klein's protection on his return. Hap- 
 pily, they were now off the scent, and had outwitted 
 themselves by their violence to Mr. Klein's casual 
 messenger. 
 
 Mr. Moore's letter was most satisfactory. The tele-
 
 DEPARTUEE FROM KASR RABBA. 135 
 
 graph had been used to Nablous, Damascus, and Bei- 
 rut; the pasha had been seen at Jerusalem, and aid 
 was by this time on the way, in the shape of troops, 
 for our release. Our zealous consul had, indeed, taken 
 prompt measures. He advised us not to pay the ran- 
 som, but to wait a few days, as the soldiers would be 
 immediately dispatched from Es Salt. Fortunately, 
 they will find their services unnecessary. Having 
 given the messenger a good backsheesh, and charged 
 him to keep the matter secret, we left Kasr Rabba at 
 10 A.M. 
 
 Our mules and some of the party now took the 
 straight course by the Roman road to the descent of 
 the Arnon, passing the ruins of Er Eiha, "Jericho" 
 (another instance of binomenclature, a duplicate name 
 occurring on the east side), which we could see about 
 two miles ahead, while we struck off to the right to 
 ascend Jebel Shihan, the highest point of the plateau. 
 
 Our Ahimaaz must have had a very near run ; for 
 half a mile farther on we saw a distant camp of black 
 tents; and the mudjelli and some horsemen sallied 
 from them, and galloped toward us. They coolly told 
 us they had Mr. Klein's letter, and would surrender 
 it for a pound. We inquired if they had the face to 
 ask to be paid for robbing and beating our messenger. 
 After some parley, the letter was handed over with- 
 out payment. The scoundrels had by this time cal- 
 culated that the reply could not have been got so 
 soon from Jerusalem, and that probably their booty 
 was worthless; for they were very anxious to find
 
 136 ' THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 out from Baoud if we had heard from the consul. 
 Poor Mr. Klein's worst fears were confirmed. There 
 was a note from the physician to say that his son was 
 stricken with diphtheria, and that there was, humanly 
 speaking, no hope for him. 
 
 Forty-five minutes after leaving Kasr Rabba we 
 crossed the gentle depression which marks the begin- 
 ning of Wady Ghurreh. We had passed the ruins 
 of Mejdelein — i. e., " the two Migdols," or towers — 
 close to us, on our left. The country was all a level 
 rolling plain, very heavy after the rain, plowed and 
 sown in patches here and there, the rest sprinkled 
 with herbaceous plants, and tufts of grass and stones, 
 much as a neglected fallow might be at home, for the 
 Arabs take one crop and then leave the spot fallow 
 for three or four years, while they scratch up the next 
 patch. Sand-grouse, dotterel, and plover, golden and 
 Asiatic, were in plenty, but rose wildly out of shot; 
 and I saw some of the graceful black-winged stilt, al- 
 lured by the shallow pools left here and there by the 
 rains. 
 
 From the slope of the Wady Ghurreh, we struck 
 on another Roman or earlier road, or rather a branch 
 of the road before named, leading straight up to the 
 top of Shihan. For exactly half an hour, led by Ibn 
 Tarif, we cantered, till, by a very gentle and easy 
 slope, we reached the summit. 
 
 For some way before reaching the foot of the hill, 
 and all up its southern slopes, but not its northern, 
 is a wide extent of very singular remains — countless
 
 PRIMEVAL INCLOSURES. " 137 
 
 small inclosures, which may have been fields, gardens, 
 or yards, all formed of blocks of basalt, not squared, 
 and no limestone, which is the native rock, employed. 
 They reminded me of some of the so-called Cyclopean 
 remains in the Hauran, or Bashan ; and the basalt 
 blocks have evidently been selected with great care. 
 They cover many acres ; and the city of Sihon must 
 have been, with these suburbs, of great extent. The 
 old road up the hill, by which we followed, has also 
 had its two walls of basalt, carefully fitted, and parts 
 of them still standing, in a few places. The walls are 
 like those of the other roads, five yards apart. 
 
 The use of the basalt, unless it has been taken from 
 the adjoining inclosures, would seem to intimate an 
 earlier date than the military occupation of Kome. 
 The inclosures, at least, must be of earlier date, and, 
 if not pre-historic, at least pre-Roman. The mind is 
 carried back to that antique warrior whose memory 
 is preserved in the name of the hill, Sihon, king of 
 the Amorites, the first who vainly dashed himself 
 against the divinely-protected hosts of Israel ; and as 
 we read the tradition handed down by Josephus, of 
 the Amorites endeavoring to escape for shelter to 
 their walls, and then the mass of them struggling, in 
 their thirst, to get down to the Arnon for water, and 
 slaughtered in their confusion, we are led to fancy 
 that perhaps this hill marks the battle-field — that it 
 was behind that labyrinth of black stone-walls the 
 Amorites sought to shelter themselves, and the plain 
 between this hill and the brow of Arnon's bank is
 
 138 * THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 that across which they strove to escape, in their head- 
 long rush to the river. 
 
 On the top of the hill has evidently been the keep 
 or fortress of the town, which is spread round the 
 central ruin. It has been built chiefly of limestone, 
 with blocks of basalt occasionally, the debris of more 
 ancient buildings. There are the remains of a Eo- 
 man temple, some broken shafts and Ionic capitals, 
 and several very large domed cisterns, or matamoros, 
 which have been carefully cemented. Two of these 
 have evidently been in great part natural caves 
 utilized and enlarged. There were also several deep 
 wells, all now dry and half- choked. The place is 
 now used as a cemetery by the Hamideh ; and some 
 of the more recent burials were marked by tresses of 
 plaited hair, votive offerings hung on sticks stretched 
 lengthways on the grass; while others had ragged 
 shirts, fragments of clothing, and shepherds' staves 
 as offerings. 
 
 The view from Shihan was almost a panorama. 
 We could see two stretches of the Dead Sea, north 
 and south of Engedi, separated by an intervening 
 ridge, which breaks the line of the mountains of Ju- 
 dah. The Mount of Olives and Bethlehem could be 
 seen with the field-glass. Beyond Kerak stretched 
 the range toward Petra and Mount Hor; to the east 
 was the vast plain undulating to the Belka; while to 
 the north the main features were two great clefts, oi- 
 gorges. The nearer gorge, apparently just below us, 
 afforded a magnificent peep — a sheer and winding
 
 SHIHAN. 139 
 
 cleft in the level plateau, extending to the sea on one 
 side, and to the horizon on the other. This was the 
 reach of the Wady Mojib, the ancient Arno. Be- 
 yond was the broken valley of the Callirrhoe, now 
 the Zerka Main. 
 
 After taking angles, and exploring the ruins, we 
 descended in a north-eastern direction by another an- 
 cient road, riding at a smart pace, and in twenty-five 
 minutes passed through the ruins of Bal'hua, perhaps 
 the poorest and most featureless we have seen, and all 
 leveled with the soil. After this, seventy minutes 
 more of slow and heavy riding through wet and un- 
 sound ground, rendered more treacherous than usual 
 by the washing in of the burrows of the mole-rat 
 {Spalax typhlus) — which does duty, at least in the 
 making of runs and mole-hills, for the common mole, 
 but excavates much larger tunnels — we reached 
 Kirbet es Sum'hra, a mere castle, apparently of Sara- 
 cenic origin, near Muhatet el Haj, the remains of a 
 city of yet older date than the castle, and identified 
 by many with the " Jahaz,"or "Jahazah,"of Scrip- 
 ture, the scene of the battle between Israel and Sihon. 
 
 This identification would harmonize very well with 
 the name of Shihan, given to the hill, and with Jose- 
 phus's tradition of the details. But there is a diffi- 
 culty which seems to be insurmountable — viz., that 
 Jahaz was in the allotment of Eeuben (Josh, xiii., 18), 
 and was one of the Levitical cities (1 Chron. vi., 78). 
 Now few boundary-lines are more clearly laid down 
 than that of the Arnon, dividino; Eeuben from Moab.
 
 140 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 We can scarcely, therefore, suppose that a city on 
 the south plateau was ever held by Israel. Eusebius 
 puts it between Medeba and Dibon, a more probable 
 location. All we can gather from Isaiah and Jere- 
 miah is, that it was in the " Mishor," or highland 
 plain. 
 
 Before arriving at Sum'hra, we came up with our 
 convoy in sorry plight. Heavy ground, wet bottoms 
 of mire and water, with little treacherous bogs, had 
 brought down mule after mule, and a mile an hour 
 was a good pace over what, in ordinary weather, 
 would have been good galloping ground. Sometimes 
 three together would be lying helpless and immov- 
 able, with their burdens in the mud. Here we bid 
 farewell to our Hamideh guide, Ibn Tarif. 
 
 The ravine of the Arnon does not show till we are 
 close upon it. In this treeless land a fair-sized tere- 
 binth, just at the edge where the path begins to de- 
 scend, was a conspicuous guide-post; and certainly 
 without it a stranger might search long for the track. 
 The rolling slopes come close to the precipitous de- 
 scent, the plain being perfectly level on either side, 
 breaking away abruptly in limestone precipices to a 
 great depth. No idea of the rift can be formed till 
 the very edge is reached. As far as we could cal- 
 culate by observation, the width is about three miles 
 from crest to crest ; the depth by our barometers 2150 
 feet from the south side, which runs for some distance 
 nearly 200 feet higher than the northern edge. This 
 may possibly be accounted for by the fact that on the
 
 TRACES OF A ROMAN ROAD, 141 
 
 south edge is a bold basaltic dike or stream over- 
 lying the limestone, while the north is destitute of 
 basalt. 
 
 The boulders have rolled down the slopes in wild, 
 fantastic confusion, and add much to the effect and 
 grandeur of the southern bank. We were much 
 struck by the contrast between the two sides; and 
 this impression was confirmed when, next day, we 
 viewed the southern from the northern edge. The 
 protrusion of the basaltic dike has been subsequent 
 to the formation of the wady, and the continued de- 
 tachment of its fragments has made the slope less 
 precipitous, giving a variety to the coloring and the 
 vegetation, wanting on the other side. The northern 
 bank, on the contrary, looked an almost unbroken 
 precipice of marly limestone, faintly tinged with the 
 green hue of a very sparse vegetation, and occasion- 
 ally protruding cliffs and needles, shining pink in the 
 sunbeams. No search could detect at this distance 
 any path, or apparent possibility of a path, up the 
 rugged terrace in front. 
 
 Though, indeed, not very difficult, except among 
 the basaltic boulders, the path was not easily made 
 out on the south side, even when upon it. Once it 
 has been a chariot road; and as we descended the 
 zigzag, we frequently met with its traces; and the 
 piers of the Roman (?) bridge at the bottom still stand 
 in the stream. An almond-tree was in full blossom 
 near the top ; tufts of asphodel and gorgeous scarlet 
 anemones pushing out among the stones told of a dif- 
 10
 
 142 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ferent climate from that we had left, where scarce a 
 symptom of spring could as yet be seen. 
 
 Free, now, from every annoyance, in the land of 
 friends, careless whether we met Beni Sakk'r oi- 
 Hamideh, both alike being safe allies, we enjoyed the 
 freedom of our scramble down this wild pass. No- 
 where was the path any thing like the cliff of Ziz. 
 Only at the upper part, where the track descends 
 among a torrent of basaltic boulders, was it prudent 
 to dismount from our goat-like horses. Pigeons and 
 partridges abounded, and the younger members of 
 the party left their horses, or were left by them, to 
 find their own way, and went on foot throughout. 
 One of them was landed aloft with each foot on a 
 boulder, as his horse pushed between them, and, pass- 
 ing from beneath him, scrambled whinnying after the 
 leaders in front, taking his own short cut to the bot- 
 tom, and leaving his rider astride. 
 
 Steep as the descent looks, yet, when in it, it proves 
 to be rather a rugged water-worn ravine than a pre- 
 cipitous cliff. A faint shade of budding green tints 
 the slopes, and in a few days will evidently clothe the 
 •whole brown surface. Three-quarters of an hour 
 down, we passed an old fort in ruins, with broken 
 columns strewn about. A little above this was a 
 broken Roman mile - stone, and two others lower 
 down. Twenty minutes after this fort, we passed an- 
 other of larger size, with fragments of shafts, bases in 
 situ, and many old foundations, some of them crossing 
 the old Roman way, which here was very distinct.
 
 "CITY IN THE MIDST OF THE KIVER." 143 
 
 In Other places, what seemed to be the foundations 
 of buildings must have been walls of masonry built 
 across the path, to prevent the torrents from washing 
 away its material. 
 
 In the steeper parts of the pass many piles of stones 
 were heaped on the boulders, said, by Burckhardt, to 
 be provided as missiles for travelers in case of attack, 
 but more probably only placed there to guide him on 
 his way, as we have noticed elsewhere. The arch of 
 the bridge, which Irby describes, has now disappear- 
 ed, and only the base is left. 
 
 The mules were behind us ; and after a bathe, and 
 a draught of the Arnon, we paused to enjoy the rich 
 tropical vegetation and genial warmth of this great 
 depth. Water never fails; the pools were full of 
 fish; the dark green oleanders were budding for 
 bloom. Above the Roman bridge are some faint re- 
 mains of early buildings ; perhaps " the city that is in 
 the midst of the river" (Josh, xiii., 16). At least, it 
 is scarcely possible that such exuberant vegetation, 
 with perennial moisture, should have remained un- 
 appropriated in the time of Israel's greatness ; and 
 whether the place so vaguely spoken of were above 
 or below the fords, "cities" or villages there were 
 sure to be in the midst of the " river," or wady. 
 
 The ascent we calculated at 1900 feet, 250 feet low- 
 er than the other side. While daylight lasted it was 
 a lovely ride, with the views changing at every turn, 
 and the path comparatively easy. Partridges really 
 swarmed ; the lovely little Hey's partridge, with its
 
 144 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 delicate plumage {Ammoperdix heyi), on the lower and 
 warmer part of the pass, and higher up the fine Greek 
 partridge {Caccabis suxatilis), giving out his cheery 
 "chuckor-chuckor " from the top of every rock and 
 boulder. An abundant supply for supper was easily 
 secured. 
 
 Nearer the top, the path, though free from the ba- 
 salt boulders which encumber the south side, was per- 
 ilous enough in the dusk. We could not make way 
 as we had calculated. Dismounting, and leaving our 
 horses to find the path, while we held on to their tails, 
 we debouched on the bleak plain, a few hundred yards 
 west of Ara'ar, the desolate heap which marks the 
 Biblical Aroer. Bitter and cold swept the wind ; 
 shelter there was none ; but here we must camp. 
 The mules were an hour behind, and must get over 
 the precipices as best they might, by the aid of a 
 young moon, which had, happily, just risen. No wa- 
 ter, no wood. No fear of our horses straying now ; 
 they are too tired. "We left them to themselves. 
 Out with our knives, we cut such little brush-wood 
 as we could, scraps of Poterium^ none of it more than 
 three inches high, groping for it in the dark with our 
 feet. Sheik Zadam, who was with us, soon kindled 
 a fire on the waste, and quick as thought, plucked, 
 split up, and broiled a freshly-shot partridge. 
 
 Then, going to the brow, we fired occasional sig- 
 nal-guns, and one by one the mules appeared. First 
 came our cook with a lamb, which he had bought in 
 the morning, across his saddle-bow. He threw it
 
 MR. KLEIN'S DEPARTURE. 145 
 
 down ; the active young boy, Sahan, seizing it, killed 
 it, skinned it, and, in a few minutes, offered us, with 
 his fingers, delicious broiled liver and heart. In two 
 hours more the last donkey arrived, and not a canteen 
 was missing. 
 
 February 16. — At 6.80 A.M., cold and tired, we 
 turned out to see our excellent friend and counselor 
 off on his sorrowful journey. The sheik sent, as 
 o-uide and guard with Mr. Klein and his companion, 
 only a single slave, with his spear, as their route lay 
 through his own country ; and gave them, under his 
 seal, a letter commendatory to the tribes of the Jor- 
 dan. 
 
 We turned in again for a short nap, for there was 
 no further occasion for forced marches; and after- 
 ward, before striking camp, I went a little to the east- 
 ward, to examine the ruins of Ara'ar (Aroer), just 
 overhanging the brow, and to take a good survey of 
 the country. The ruins of Ara'ar are featureless, and 
 I could find no traces of Eoman temples, though sev- 
 eral arches are still standing, and there are the usual 
 number of wells and cisterns.* 
 
 While we stood on the edge, looking down into 
 that noble rift, the great birds of prey were sallying 
 
 * The Wady Mojib, or Arnon, takes its name only a mile or two 
 above this, being formed by the junction of three wadys with running 
 streams. All these ravines seemed of nearly equal depth : the north- 
 ern one, Sheik Zadam, called Wady Seideh, the name given in all the 
 maps to the central one, which he named Mkharrhas ; and the south- 
 ern small one Bal'hua.
 
 14:6 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 forth to forage. The griflfons circled and soared from 
 their eyries, lower down, till lost to sight in the sky ; 
 the buzzards lazily flapped their heavy wings as they 
 crossed and recrossed ; but, grandest ornithological 
 sight of all, a pair of lammergeyers {Gypaetus barha- 
 ius), the largest on the wing of our raptorial birds, 
 kept sailing up and down, backward and forward, 
 quartering the valley, and keeping always close to 
 the brow, the sinuosities of which they followed with- 
 out a perceptible movement of their wings ; only their 
 long tails gently steering them in and out, as each 
 time they'passed us, easily within gunshot, on a level 
 with our eyes. They were perfectly fearless, as though 
 they knew the sportsmen had only No. 7 in their bar- 
 rels; and in the morning sunlight their brown tails 
 and wings gleamed with a rich copper hue, and their 
 ruddy breasts shone brightly golden. 
 
 Reluctantly we turned from the brow of the Ar- 
 non, resolved to follow down its course at some future 
 day ; an intention which want of time prevented our 
 carrying out. Turning due north from our camp, 
 across a bleak and dreary plain, we reached Dhiban, 
 the ancient Dibon, in exactly half an hour. We had 
 abundant leisure, as the baggage had been sent on 
 with a guide directly across the plain to Um Rasas, 
 our next camp; and our road was across a hard plain, 
 without a gully or a wady the whole way. 
 
 Dhiban is quite as dreary and featureless a ruin as 
 any other of the Moabite desolate heaps. With its wa- 
 terless plain, the prophecy is fulfilled — " Thou daugh-
 
 RUINS OF DIBOX. l^iT 
 
 ter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, 
 and sit 'in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come 
 upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds" 
 (Jer. xlviii., 18). Singularly appropriate, too, is the 
 denunciation on Aroer, in the next verse, when we 
 stand on its site just by the edge of- the arterial high- 
 way of Moab, and look down on the pass of which 
 this place commands so complete a view—" inhab- 
 itant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy ; ask him 
 that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is 
 
 done?" 
 
 Like Kiriathaim, and so many other Moabite towns, 
 Dibon is a twin city, upon two adjacent knolls, the 
 ruins covering not only the tops, but the sides, to their 
 base, and surrounded by one common wall. Close 
 under both knolls, on the west, runs a little wady, in 
 which, after the late rains, we found a puddle of wa- 
 ter here and there; and beyond the wady the even 
 plain ceases, and the country becomes rocky and un- 
 dulating. All the hills are limestone, and there is no 
 trace of any basalt but what has been carried here by 
 man. Still there are many basaltic blocks, dressed, 
 and often with marks of lime on them, evidently used 
 in masonry; and we found a few traces of carvings 
 on other stones. The place is full of caverns, cisterns, 
 vaulted under-ground store-houses, and rude semicir- 
 cular arches, like the rest. 
 
 The basalt would seem to have been the fovorite 
 material of the earlier Cyclopean builders, as in Ba- 
 shan, and then to have been used up by the construct-
 
 148 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ors of the later town, which can not be much earlier 
 than Eoman, at least in the portions above ground. 
 
 We went to see the spot where the famous Moabite 
 Stone, or monolith of King Mesha, was found. It is 
 quite within the old citj walls, and near what, we pre- 
 sume, was the gate-way, close to where the road has 
 
 NO. 9. RUINS OF DHIBAN, WHERE THE MOABITE STONE WAS FOUND. 
 
 crossed it. Very near this spot it was afterward bu- 
 ried, when the dispute about its proprietorship arose 
 among the Hamideh ; and it was then, as is too well 
 known, broken by one party of the rival claimants. 
 From all we heard from Mr. Klein, its first discover- 
 er, and, alas, the only European who has ever seen it
 
 CONJECTURES RESPECTING THE STONE. 149 
 
 entire; and from what Zadam pointed out to us of 
 its position, it seems to me highly improbable that the 
 stone has been for 2500 years exposed to the light ot 
 day still less that it could have been ongmally set 
 up in the spot where Mr. Klein saw it lying, with the 
 inscription uppermost. 
 
 I do not presume to guess where "Korcha was, 
 nor where the stone was erected by Kmg Mesha; 
 but seeing that all the basalt blocks must have been 
 brouo-ht here from some distance, and that there are 
 many others at Dhiban many times the size and 
 weight of this tablet (for though it has been called 
 "this hu-e block of basalt," it only measured three 
 and a half feet by two feet), it seems most reasonable 
 to conjecture that it had been removed from its orig- 
 inal position, and used up as building material by the 
 Romans, or some of their predecessors, who were ig- 
 norant of, or indifferent to, its import; and that, after 
 lyino- embedded and secure for ages, it has, through 
 the progress of dilapidation, or by earthquake, been 
 thrown down, or fallen from its place, and the care- 
 fully-preserved inscriptions been again exposed to 
 
 day.* 
 
 * From the appearance of the ruins near, and from the replies of 
 the Arabs to my inquiries, I can not but beheve that the exposure of 
 the celebrated monolith dates only from the earthquake of 1st Janu- 
 ary 1837. This earthquake was the most destructive of any on rec- 
 ord in Syria, and caused a fearful sacrifice of human life at Safed, m 
 Galilee, where several thousand persons were buried under the rums 
 As far as we can trace it, the axis of the disturbance must have passed 
 very near Dibon. Many of the Arabs remember a terrific earthquake
 
 150 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 We must bear in mind that the original Moabites 
 disappear from history after the sweep of Nebuchad- 
 nezzar's conquests. With them probably disappear- 
 ed the knowledge of the Phoenician character, for we 
 tind abundance of Nabathasan inscriptions of a date 
 apparently older than the Eoman conquests, but 
 scarce any unquestioned Phoenician. It would be 
 strangely out of keeping with Oriental habits and 
 ways, if the new-comers had had any reverence for 
 the lapidary records of their predecessors ; still more 
 so if, unable to decipher these records, they had re- 
 spected them. 
 
 On the top of one of the knolls there is still a block 
 of masonry, apparently the keep, or castle. Here we 
 photographed, and took careful observations with sex- 
 tant and compass, to fix our position. Two known 
 points from Dhiban were Jebel Attarus and Jebel 
 Shihan. 
 
 Trotter meantime, in hunting about the ruins, dis- 
 tinguished himself by discovering a new Moabite 
 stone. It was a block of basalt two feet five inches 
 high, hollowed and perforated inside to the shape of 
 an hour-glass, and with a massive boss protruding 
 on either side. Its use was not at first divined ; but, 
 not far off, he afterward found, in the bed of the 
 wady, the stone which had fitted into the upper cup, 
 
 which occurred when they were children, and which overthrew many 
 columns and arches in the old cities. Considering the comparative 
 freshness of the inscription on the Moabite Stone, it may probably 
 have been exposed for not more than the last thirty-five years.
 
 IDENTITY OF DIBON AND DHIBAN. 151 
 
 and which proved it to have been an oil -crushing- 
 press. The upper stone was also of 
 basalt. Happily there was no in- 
 scription on it about which to be 
 inconveniently dogmatic; so it was 
 satisfactorily agreed that it might 
 have been the altar on which Mesha 
 offered up his son on the walls of ^^-i^- oi^-pkess. 
 his capital. The smaller fragment was laboriously 
 carried half a mile up the hill, to be preserved as a 
 trophy, when it was found that the camera-bearing 
 donkey had gone on ; and the stone is left for more 
 enterprising explorers. 
 
 The identification of Dibon and Dhiban can not be 
 questioned. The place was known to Eusebius and 
 Jerome under the name Dabon, or Dibon, and is 
 spoken of by them as kw/xt) TramueyWrig wapa tov 'Ap- 
 vwvav. That Jerome meant on the north side of the 
 Arnon is clear, for he adds that it was in that country 
 originally Moabite, then taken by Sihon, and wrested 
 from him by Israel. The fact of its being three miles 
 retired from the brow of the valley, when we note 
 that there are no intervening features, is not sufficient 
 to raise a difficulty from the expression, " by the side 
 of the Arnon." The name was first recorded in mod- 
 ern times by Seetzen, the pioneer of Moabite explora- 
 tion. From some passages in Scripture, where Dibon 
 is mentioned (Isa. xv., 2; Jer. xlviii., 18) — "Come 
 down," etc. — it would seem to have been a "high 
 place;" yet Burckhardt observes that "it is situated
 
 162 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 « 
 
 in a low ground of the Koura." But, looked upon 
 from the east, it is on high ground, though low from 
 the western ridge ; and being placed on two hills, the 
 first that rise from the east, the cry " Come down " 
 would be exceedingly applicable. A similar discrep- 
 ancy occurs in the description of Medeba, said, by a 
 very careful and accurate observer, who did not visit 
 it, but saw it from the west, to be in a hollow, whereas 
 it is really on a hill.
 
 FROM DIBON EASTWARD. 153 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Fiom Dibon eastward.— Beni Sakk'r Flocks and Herds.— The Plain 
 of the Vineyards.— Khibuyeh.— The Ruins of Urn Rasas.— Its 
 Walls.— Abundance of Game.— Wild-cats.— Beni Sakk'r Camp.— 
 Considerate Neighbors.— Deep Tank.— The Raven's Home.— Urn 
 Rasas, within the Walls and without.— Three ruined Churches.— 
 Apses still remaining. — Arches and Streets. — Amphitheatre. — Iso- 
 lated mortuary Tower.— Church in the Plain.— Quaint Tradition 
 and Legend.— Freedom of the Desert. — Intense Cold. — Animal Life 
 of the Plains. — M'Seitbeh.— Ancient Block-houses. — Wady Butm. 
 —Letters from the Brigade.— A long Sunday's Ride.— Crossing the 
 Themed.— Visit to Zadam's Tent.— Westward ho!— Rumors of 
 the Troops.— Ajermeh Camp.— Ride in the Dark. — A Turcoman 
 Guide.— The Camp.— Reception by the Pasha.— Depositions taken 
 Jown.— A bitter Night.— Beiram.— Grand Salute.— Speculations on 
 Kerak. 
 
 From Dibon we set our face toward the wilderness, 
 looking eastward on the " Mishor," or "plain coun- 
 try " of Moab (Jer, xlviii., 21). Without mules to 
 look after; without fear of molestation or demands 
 for black-mail; with a bright sun and a fresh breeze, 
 a cool day with floating clouds; with the party in 
 high spirits and perfect harmony ; with the sense of 
 entering upon a piece of new country — nothing could 
 be more enjoyable than the ride across the grass coun- 
 try parallel with one of the feeders of the Arnon, the 
 Seil Lejum. 
 
 The country differs from that south of the river in
 
 154 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 the absence of occasional cultivation. East of Di- 
 bon no plow disturbs the soil, and consequently the 
 ground is firmer, and there is a nearer approach to 
 turf in the character of the herbage. The whole of 
 it, far as the eye could reach or glass sweep, was dot- 
 ted with flocks and herds of sheep and goats, each 
 small flock with their attendant shepherd, often a 
 child, but the tents ("Beit char" — i. e., homestead) 
 invisible, until, in some little depression of a very few 
 feet, we would suddenly ride close upon a group of 
 low black specks of camels' hair, the homes of the 
 Beni Sakk'r. The tribe was now all distributed over 
 this district, while the early spring grass was shoot- 
 ing, which in the summer is here completely burned 
 up. Here one can well understand the reproach of 
 Deborah, " Why abodest thou among the sheep-folds, 
 to hear the bleatings of the flocks?" No wonder, 
 with such a country, that the sheep-masters elected to 
 remain on this side of Jordan. 
 
 In twenty minutes after leaving Dhiban, we found 
 ourselves riding up a shallow depression, scarcely to 
 be called a valley, with traces of terraces and walls, 
 now grass-grown ridges, running across it every few 
 hundred yards up the hill -sides. Upon inquiring 
 what these meant, we could get no explanation, but 
 were told the valley was called "Kurm Dhiban" — i. e.. 
 the Vineyards of Dibon. The depression was about 
 three miles long. The name has been preserved by 
 men who probably never saw a vine in their lives, 
 and who had no idea of the rneanincj of the old
 
 FROM DIBON EASTWARD. 155 
 
 "dikes," as they might bo called — an instance of the 
 persistency of Semitic nomenclature. But more, it 
 was an interesting illustration of a trivial expression 
 in the book of Judges. When Jephthah, in his war 
 against the Ammonites, defeated them on this plain, 
 we read (Judg. xi., 33), '"He smote them from Aroer, 
 even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, 
 and unto the plain of the vineyards^ with a very great 
 slaughter." Here, then, exactly in the route which 
 it was most likely a defeated army of Ammonites 
 from the east would take, the struggle having been at 
 Aroer, the name remains, though in another language, 
 identical in signification. Where Minnith was we 
 know not. It has been suggested that it may be 
 MenjaJi^ a site said to be seven miles east of Heshban, 
 but of which name or place we could find no trace 
 on the spot assigned to it, or elsewhere. But at least 
 there are traces here which attest the appropriateness 
 of the name, " Plain of the Vineyards." 
 
 An hour east of Dibon is Eujum Selim, a shape- 
 less mass of ruins, on a small knoll. To the north 
 of us, one mile and a quarter distant, were the ruins 
 of Rhibuyeh ; and two very distant ruins were also 
 pointed out to us, Kasr el Alakhi and Kasr Azizi. 
 We made a detour to Rhibuyeh, which seems to 
 have been little more than a large block-house, round 
 which a few huts may have clustered. 
 
 Far ahead we could see our bourne, marked by a 
 tall, square tower on the plain, with a long mass of 
 ruin crowning a ridge a little to the south of it. This
 
 156 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 was Um Easas, a large, solidly-built, square city, far 
 more perfect than any thing we have before seen. 
 The walls of the old city are still entire and intact 
 for a part of their height, and had an imposing ap- 
 pearance as we neared them from the west. 
 
 In order to reach our camp, we had to wind round 
 the walls ; and as we sharply turned a corner, Zadam 
 cleverly shot a very large wild-cat {Felis caligata), an 
 animal I had once seen, but never procured, in Pales- 
 tine. We afterward obtained another specimen. 
 
 Snugly sheltered on a slope, under the eastern wall 
 of the city, we found our camp, tents already pitched, 
 and the union-jack flying. A few yards behind us, 
 close to the walls, were a row of half a dozen tents of 
 Beni Sakk'r shepherds, and very convenient neigh- 
 bors, ready to supply guards by night and guides 
 by day ; while their flocks supplied us with milk and 
 lamb, whenever needed, for the moderate price of 
 about a dollar a lamb. Unlike our guardians at 
 Kerak, these people were too well bred ever to in- 
 trude, or even sit about our tents. Never during our 
 sojourn with them had we once to complain of the 
 slightest breach of good manners. Strange as must 
 have been our ways and doings to them, our privacy 
 was strictly respected. They were always ready to 
 do any little friendly ofiice; and if rewarded by a 
 cup of coffee, sat as long as politeness required, and 
 then rose and withdrew ; and yet many of them had 
 never before spoken with a European. 
 
 A few yards below us was a large open reservoir,
 
 UM RASAS. 157 
 
 about thirty yards by eighteen inside, and very deep. 
 A flight of steps in one corner enabled the water-car- 
 riers to descend about thirty feet, to the surface of the 
 water, which still remains to some little depth inside. 
 Happily, the staircase was too steep to allow the ani- 
 mals to go down and wallow in our only supply of 
 drinking-water, as they did elsewhere. The mason- 
 ry of this tank was Eoman, or earlier, and it has, ap- 
 parently, been originally domed, the voussoirs of the 
 arches lying now at the bottom of the cistern. 
 
 We found two other great cisterns, outside the 
 town, of at least equal size. One of them still con- 
 tains water, and has the vaulted roof yet entire. 
 There is the opening in the centre, now used not so 
 much by man as by pigeons (the common blue rock- 
 dove), kestrels, ravens, jackdaws, and owls, who resort 
 thither to quench their thirst, and the pigeons and 
 owls, also, to roost. Our arrival was an annoyance 
 to the ravens, for they evidently preferred the open 
 tank in front of our tents ; but finding some of the 
 party continually about, and the muleteers on the 
 steps with their skins, the old ravens would put in 
 a vigorous protest, croak indignantly and ominously 
 for a few moments at the farther end of the tank, and 
 then shuffle off to the other reservoir. 
 
 As we made Um Kasas our head-quarters for a 
 week, and divided ourselves into two or three parties 
 each day, the place and neighborhood were pretty 
 well ransacked. Um Easas itself can be better un- 
 derstood by a sketch than by description. The walls 
 
 11
 
 158 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 have evidently been repaired at some later date by 
 ruder hands than the original builders, and after the 
 same method which has been employed in construct- 
 ing a Saracenic khan in the neighborhood (Zebib). 
 Probably, in the earlier days of the Caliphate, soon 
 after its destruction, it has been hastily repaired as 
 a Saracen fort for the protection of the pilgrim road 
 from Damascus to Mecca. Now all within these walls 
 is utterly desolate. It is difficult to clamber^ among 
 the mass of ruins, not grass-grown, but as if the ma- 
 son's stones had, as soon as dressed, been turned pro- 
 miscuously out of a wheelbarrow over acres of land. 
 The plan is square. There has been no vacant or 
 open place, square or court, anywhere within the 
 walls, as far as we could judge. But the number of 
 small semicircular arches which are standing every- 
 where, and which have formed both the roofs of 
 houses and the arcades of streets, is really countless. 
 They remain intact both above and below the rub- 
 bish. It was often easy to see the old street among 
 the debris below, as we stepped from arch to arch of 
 these long parallel arcades. To any one who remem- 
 bers, for instance, the street architecture of Jerusalem 
 from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre toward the 
 Damascus Gate, the solution of these arches is easy. 
 
 To traverse and quarter these ruins is a good day's 
 ^ork— one uninterrupted mass, yet with no great or 
 special features, except three churches ; one near the 
 north-east angle, another at the south-east angle, and 
 the third near the centre of the east part of the town.
 
 RUINS OF UM RASAS. 159 
 
 Two other churches, or what seem to have been 
 churches, are to be found in the south-west quarter; 
 but they are now completely ruined. In all of the 
 three first named the apse remains, except the roof 
 Two have, also, the apses of the side aisles still stand- 
 ing. In the central apse of one the Greek crosses on 
 the bosses of the bead-line along the architrave still 
 remain very distinct, alternating with sculptured knots 
 or figures. Close to the central church we found a 
 large slab with a Greek cro.ss of some size deeply 
 engraved on its face. On several of the lintels still 
 standing were carved crosses and other sculptures, 
 which we photographed. 
 
 Standing over the ruins, it was easy to trace the 
 shape of the churches, and even the marks of the ele- 
 vations at the east end. In one of them there are 
 the old pillars of the side aisles still lying, and the 
 enceinte of the walls and of a porch ; so that little 
 more than the roof is needed in the way of restora- 
 tion. It was strange, indeed, to come across these 
 silent witnesses of a great population, and that a 
 Christian one, in this lonely wilderness, where only 
 wild Ishmaelites pasture, and where we were but the 
 second party of European visitors since the Crusades. 
 
 Man has given place to partridge, of which the 
 numbers had not perceptibly diminished by the end 
 of a week, though they had supplied our large party 
 with two plentiful meals daily. This fine bird {Gac- 
 cahis saxatilis) would never be found on these plains 
 but for the ruins. Strictly a rock bird, and found all
 
 160 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 over the steep hill-sides and cliffs of Syria everywhere 
 — on the plains, wet or dry, it is never found. We 
 never put it up on these rolling downs, though food 
 abounds ; but there is not a ruined heap in the coun- 
 try where they are not plentiful, and almost packed. 
 In the ruins also, besides the wild-cat, Trotter trap- 
 ped the root-eating mole, or Spalax, and a pair of a 
 beautifully-marked Gerbille, with a fine, squirrel-like 
 tail {? Melio melanunis), which we had not previously 
 met with. The jackal and the fox were, both of them, 
 at home here, in labyrinths which must be to them a 
 perfect paradise. 
 
 Outside the walls all is grass-grown ; but the sub- 
 urbs have been extensive, and may be traced for some 
 distance. We could not identify any temples, but 
 soon found that our own camp was evidently under 
 the lee of an old amphitheatre, now entirely covered 
 with turf, and probably only an earthen erection at 
 first. Close by were the mounds of the circus, within 
 which was our camp. 
 
 By far the most interesting ruin of Um Rasas, and, 
 indeed, second to few in the country, was " the Tower 
 of the Christian Lady," the landmark we had seen 
 from afar. It stands about one mile and a quarter 
 north of Um Rasas, beyond a number of old cisterns. 
 Its purpose seems marked, not only by the Christian 
 symbols sculptured in many places upon its face and 
 the niches, but by the ruins of a church close by, of 
 which the apse remains. The traditions that cling to 
 it would point to its being a mortuary tower. Though
 
 
 NO. 13. 
 
 CHRISTIAN TOWER, UM RASAS.
 
 LEGEND OF THE TOWER. 161 
 
 square, its position reminded me very much of that 
 of the round towers of Ireland, close to the churches. 
 The inside of the tower is completely choked up with 
 fallen masonry, as though there had been a staircase 
 and other work inside, which has been shattered down 
 by an earthquake, of which there are also traces in 
 the crack outside. There is some very neat sculpture 
 and ornament about the eaves of the tower, and on a 
 plinth lower down. 
 
 There are various legends connected with this tow- 
 er, one of which has been related by Mr. Palmer; 
 but as it was told us pretty much to the same effect 
 by Zadam, I may venture to repeat it. It is, that the 
 Christian sheik of the neighborhood had been warned 
 that his son would be devoured by a wild beast on 
 the night of his marriage. Accordingly, when he 
 was betrothed to the fairest maiden of the country, 
 the father built this tower for his son's security, and 
 to it he and his bride retired for the wedding-nis-ht. 
 In the morning the son had been devoured, and the 
 bride, who, being in reality a ghoul, had assumed the 
 form of a wild beast, flew away from the top of the 
 tower. 
 
 Another legend is tq the effect that, before the 
 Christians were driven out by the faithful, they de- 
 posited enormous treasures in the top of this tower, 
 and left it in the care of a Jinn. This Jinn has pre- 
 vented its being overthrown by earthquakes, while 
 all around has fallen, and has filled up the staircase, 
 so that none can ascend. Our party, however, were
 
 162 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 openly accused of having dealings with the Evil One ; 
 and many of the Arabs declared that when Buxton 
 and Johnson went to photograph the tower they were 
 seen looking over the battlement, and had been lifted 
 up there by the sprite. The tale spread, and Zadam 
 himself, intelligent though he be, firmly believed it, 
 remarking that the Jinn might guard and prevent the 
 Bedouin from touching the treasure, yet that West- 
 erners, having greater minds, might overcome the 
 guardian spirit of the place, and get it out. 
 
 News travels fast in the desert. Late in the even- 
 ing a spearman reined up at our door, to tell his 
 sheik that he had heard that the Turkish troops had 
 started from Es Salt for Kerak, and were only about 
 three hours off; that they had orders to take out the 
 Europeans; that they were to find Zadam, and hand 
 them over to his keeping. So official action had been 
 prompt on this occasion. 
 
 The calm security and delicious sensation of free- 
 dom was very grateful to the new-found brothers of 
 Beni Sakk'r. They were evidently much exercised 
 in mind by the ways and manners of their new rel- 
 atives, who began the day by improvising a bath, 
 spreading a mackintosh sheet in a hole in front of 
 the tents, and sponging alfresco, while the hoar-frost 
 yet covered the ground. It loas cold ; the thermom- 
 eter was down to 27° in the night. All the morning 
 the Arabs sat on the grassy slope of the old amphi- 
 theatre, but at a respectful distance from our camp. 
 The photographers had enough to do at home all
 
 ANCIENT RUINS. 163 
 
 day. Arrears of journal and cat-skinning occupied 
 us till the afternoon, when Hayne and I had a splen- 
 did gallop across the downs for five or six miles due 
 east, to a ruined castle we had sighted, named by the 
 Arabs M'Seitbeh. 
 
 The characteristics of these great rolling plains im- 
 press themselves upon one as we ride over them day 
 after day — grass in the hollows, and a low gray-green 
 scrub on the slopes, chiefly a wormwood {Ariemisium\ 
 strongly scented when crushed. Stones and ruined 
 foundations of walls are scattered in the lower valleys 
 — sometimes the terraces, too, remaining ; but no more 
 of the vineyards that once abounded. Cisterns are 
 hewn in the rocks. Channels, dams, and sluices once 
 were there, but are not more than faintly outlined 
 now. Innumerable white snails with the thickest of 
 shells, and red caterpillars like those of the Emper- 
 or-moth, with myriads of larks — the skylark, crested 
 lark, short -toed, calandra, and others — in combined 
 flocks fattening themselves upon them. Here and 
 there a flock of rock-doves fluttering from a cistern ; 
 a covey of partridge from a ruin ; a pair of Egyptian 
 vultures battening on the offal from a recent camp ; 
 flocks, herds, and camels, a few horses and asses, with 
 attendant shepherds and shepherdesses ; and a little 
 cluster of black tents in some dell, with a dog or two 
 prowling and hoarsely barking at passers-by, while 
 a few children squat about the doors — these are the 
 only living features. "Behold, the days come, saith 
 the Lord, that I will send unto him wanderers, that
 
 164 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his ves- 
 sels, and break their bottles." "Joy and gladness is 
 taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of 
 Moab ; and I have caused wine to fail from the wine- 
 presses : none shall tread with shouting " (Jer. xlviii., 
 12, 83). As for the ruins themselves, their only in- 
 habitants are the wild-cat, the jackal, the fox, the mole, 
 and such like, to be trapped, but not seen. 
 
 The kirbet, or castle, of M'Seitbeh itself is a keep 
 raised on a solid platform of masonry, about twenty- 
 two yards square, on the top of a low hillock ; it form- 
 ed a block-house in the centre of an open square, sur- 
 rounded by a wall, and reached by steps which yet 
 remain. Of the outer walls only the old foundations 
 are left. Below there is a large open cistern, meas- 
 uring thirty yards by fourteen outside, and similar to 
 that at our camp at Um Easas, with plenty of water 
 in the bottom, thirty feet below the surface. There 
 have been many inclosures in the neighborhood, and 
 the old vineyards have extended far even beyond this. 
 JS'ot a bit of desert or barren land was visible in this 
 grand panorama; and the camels, sheep, and goats 
 marked the whole sweep of the glass with black 
 patches. 
 
 Evening was coming on as we galloped back over 
 the grassy plain, enjojnng intensely the sense of secu- 
 rity and peace ; countless herds of goats, sheep, and 
 camels betokened the wealth of the Beni Sakk'r ; and 
 little curls of blue smoke rising here and there re- 
 vealed where, unsuspected, behind many a knoll, and
 
 LETTER FKOM MR, SELAMI. 165 
 
 in many a dell or gentle slope, the women of the tents 
 of Kedar were preparing the coffee, or the evening 
 meal* 
 
 February 18. — We had calculated on a quiet Sun- 
 day, undisturbed by either business, alarms, or in- 
 trigues ; and when we turned out at sunrise, had no 
 idea of the ride before us. Before 7 A.M. a tall negro 
 appeared with a letter, and orders to wait for an an- 
 swer. The letter was addressed to me at Kerak, or 
 elsewhere, by Mr. Selami, of the English consulate, 
 dated from Salt two days previously, and with the 
 startling news that he was there with the Pasha of 
 Nablous, who had been sent by order of the Pasha of 
 Damascus, and that the troops, horse and foot, with 
 
 * Among other expeditions made from Um Rasas was one to the 
 Wady Butm, or "Terebintli Valley," in a direction W.N.W., first go- 
 ing two miles south to visit the conspicuous castle of Kirbet Jemail, 
 from which bearings were taken. Its remains are a few arches of the 
 same date as those of Um Rasas, and one well-marked cave, or "mat- 
 amoros," still used for storing grain, supported by a pillar in the cen- 
 tre. The old roads leading up to it are more clearly marked than at 
 Um Rasas. The neighboring slopes have been covered with vineyards, 
 and water rested in an open rock-pool. Hence north-west to Sfiiyet 
 Khazal— I. e., the Rock of the Gazelle (the Ghazaleh of Palmer) — 
 where the Wady Butm was first struck. There was water in pools, but 
 not running, in the wady. The ruined fort stands on a mound nearly 
 isolated by the winding of the valley. Next, about a mile and a half 
 west of Sfayet Khazal, is Kirbet el Butm, on a steep hill-side, almost 
 a cliff, in the same wady. Kasr Zafaran, which we afterward visited, 
 was well seen from hence. Next was Kirbet Rujum, on a tributary 
 valley bearing the same name. All were on the left, or southern, side 
 of the water-courses, whicli, running westward, finally drain into the 
 Arnon.
 
 166 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 two brass guns, were to march next morning for Ke- 
 rak, to set us free, Mr. Selami added that he had 
 brought £600 in cash for ransom, and was deter- 
 mined no force should be used till he had got us safe- 
 ly out, when the Turks might do what they pleased. 
 I shortly replied, telling him of our peaceable de- 
 parture, and our camp in the wide Belka, under the 
 spear of Zadara. Strange how news travels in the 
 wilderness, but the messenger had heard of our where- 
 abouts on his road, and had struck twenty miles east 
 at once. As soon as he had had food we dispatched 
 him with our reply. 
 
 The messenger had scarcely gone when we felt that 
 the efforts made for us required an immediate and 
 prompt acknowledgment; and that though it was 
 Sunday, and the ride might be very long, yet court- 
 esy demanded that we should at once in person wait 
 on the pasha and apprise him of our position, lest the 
 troops should have a needless and costly march on 
 our account. After breakfast the maps were studied, 
 and we calculated that, having left Salt on Saturday, 
 the soldiers ought not to be very far from Heshban on 
 Sunday night. We now felt the want of our coun- 
 selor Zadam, who had gone to keep Beiram. It was 
 decided that Trotter and I should go, with Daoud as 
 interpreter, to find the troops, our horses being the 
 best and freshest. 
 
 We took also with us a Beni Sakk'r horseman, 
 Sherouan, a ragged dervish, and, with strange incon- 
 sistency, a great warrior also, who boasts of having
 
 VISIT TO zadam's tent. 167 
 
 slain thirty men in fight with his own hands — an ec- 
 clesiastical warrior worthy of the Crusades. He is, 
 withal, a meek, quiet-looking man, who never talks, 
 and never pushes into the tents. But, more to the 
 purpose, he is the best local topographer, and sure of 
 bis own knowledge of all the plain country. 
 
 We had to prepare for being out three days, and 
 for sleeping in the open. All being nearly ready, we 
 let down the tent door, had a short morning service, 
 and at 10.30 were in the saddle. Young Sahan insist- 
 ed on joining us, as we should pass close by his broth- 
 er's camp. We took a course KKE., and crossed the 
 Wady Themed and the Wady Shobek exactly at their 
 junction. A little way down the Wady Themed was 
 a ruined castle called M'Deineh. One roUing down 
 after another, and we descended into the Wady el 
 Jiddreh, the banks of which were fringed with the 
 most luxuriant soft herbage, water in all the pools 
 of its bed, and old gnarled terebinths in thick succes- 
 sion, fringing it everywhere, sheltered under the up- 
 per banks. We now found ourselves among bolder 
 scenery than we had expected on the plateau of Moab 
 — cliffs of some height, with many open caves in them, 
 and several nests both of the griffon vulture and the 
 lanner falcon — and soon reached Zadam's tents, in the 
 Griffon, or N'ssour, valley. 
 
 The camp was a modest one, as the bulk of the 
 tribe are now far east; but a party of elders were 
 gathered with their young seigneur. Nothing could 
 exceed the dignity and stateliness of the young sheik
 
 168 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 in his own tent — "an awful don" T. pronounced him. 
 He came to meet us, even held the stirrup as I dis- 
 mounted, and conducted us to his open tent, where 
 already carpets and cushions had been spread for us ; 
 and such carpets ! — the richest Persian, quite new, 
 into which we sunk as we sat down. We explained 
 shortly our errand, and that we could not stay for 
 dinner. He assented reluctantly ; but young Sahan 
 rushing out, soon returned with a large bowl of cold 
 sheep's-head and rice, which we ate while coffee was 
 preparing. 
 
 Coffee over, we started again. On and on we rode, 
 with the range of Nebbeh and Heshban in front of 
 us, up and down the gentle acclivities, and always on 
 rich, though neglected, soil. Everywhere the traces 
 of past cultivation, sometimes patches of present. 
 The ground is just beginning to be carpeted with its 
 spring dress. In the slightest depression there is the 
 richest velvet green ; and the most stony slopes have 
 bulbs, cyclamen, and iris bursting forth, and young 
 grass, which promises to be meadow in a fortnight, 
 giving them a delicate hue. On ascending a brow 
 anywhere, countless flocks and herds dotted the land- 
 scape ; and camels in scattered order, browsing, and 
 hfting their tall necks, fringed the horizon. Yet not 
 a tent could be seen, save when, on a sudden, we hap- 
 pened to descend on a camp hidden in some slop- 
 ing wady, where herbage and water were near. The 
 shepherds are just now more scattered than at any 
 other time of the year, water is plentiful, and the ewes
 
 AJERMEH CAMP. 169 
 
 and she-goats, dropping their lambs and kids, require 
 close attention. Numbers of young camels, many 
 only a few days old, were stalking with their dams ; 
 and we actually saw a young camel, about three days 
 old, so far foiget the dignity of its kind as to skip 
 about and lead its growling and chiding mother a 
 race as she vainly attempted to keep it solemnly by 
 her side. It was the first time I ever detected a 
 symptom of playfulness in a camel. Clouds of dot- 
 terel got up every now and then ; and once a large 
 solitary wolf rose within shot, and walked quietly 
 away, seeing, no doubt, that we had no guns. We 
 put up vast packs of sand-grouse, which rose wild and 
 fast as pigeons. Wherever we rode, we could see 
 shepherds hurriedly stalking forth ahead, so as to in- 
 tersect our path, and, if possible, stop us and ask the 
 news. 
 
 Guided by reports gathered here and there, we 
 turned north to find the camp of the Ajermeh Arabs. 
 Old Sherouan, our guide, got into spirits now, and 
 several short gallops took us across a grassy plain, 
 toward the shoulder of a hill, where we could see 
 flocks and herds rapidly converging as the sun was 
 setting. Night had fallen on us ere we reached the 
 camp, a very large one ; and by the sheik's tent, 
 marked by the spear with its tuft of ostrich feathers, 
 we drew up, and inquired for the soldiers. Several 
 irregular horsemen came out, and we found our day 
 was not yet at an end ; their camp was in the Wady 
 Na'ur, three hours north of us, and these had only 
 
 12
 
 170 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 been sent in advance to collect provisions and camels 
 for transport. Our Beni Sakk'r declared he could go 
 no farther, for his horse was done up ; and the Turk- 
 ish officer obligingly lent us a wild mounted spear- 
 man, a Kurd, who could speak a very little Arabic, to 
 guide us to head-quarters. The moon was kindly in 
 the zenith, and without dismounting we passed on. 
 
 The compass showed N.N.W., and the pole-star 
 kept steadily just to the right of the horses' heads; 
 so we felt we could not be far out. From the plain 
 we soon rose among bare, rocky, Judean-looking hills, 
 and wearily plodded our way, three miles an hour, 
 till our guide exclaimed, "Ah ! there are the cypress- 
 trees; we are not far!" We soon wound down a 
 rather steep descent, and on a sward sipping down 
 to a little stream there gleamed in the moonlight the 
 long-sought camp. We felt ourselves really the he- 
 roes of an Abyssinian expedition on a small scale, as 
 we heard the cavalry bugles, and responded to the 
 sentry's challenge. There were thirty - three large 
 white tents, and a number of black Arab ones, stretch- 
 ed in regular order below us ; while many a watch- 
 iire cast a gleam of lurid light on the lines of picket- 
 ed horses. 
 
 We asked for the pasha, and were conducted past 
 a couple of brass howitzers to one of two tents over- 
 looking the camp. A very stout, elderly Turkish 
 gentleman sat on a pile of cushions at the farther end 
 of the tent, with his tray of dinner on the ground be- 
 fore him. He politely handed a cigarette from a sil-
 
 THE pasha's reception. 171 
 
 ver case, and, through Daoud, who stood deferentially 
 at the tent door, while we sat on the cushion by his 
 side, congratulated us on being out of our difficulties. 
 We insisted upon retiring till his excellency had 
 supped, and were ushered into the other tent, which 
 belonged to his staff— two colonels and two other 
 officers. 
 
 In a few minutes an orderly brought in a dinner- 
 tray ; and we, who had been fasting since the forenoon, 
 and had been ten hours in the saddle, were not sorry 
 to see it. The service was exactly the same as the 
 pasha's— a large dish of rice, some hot poached eggs, 
 sardines, a well-oiled salad, cheese, and native bread. 
 Coffee followed when we had done justice to the tray ; 
 and we were waiting our summons to the pasha, when 
 Mr. Selami, of the consulate, arrived. He had heard 
 that we were at Um Rasas, had gone that morning to 
 find us, and after four hours' ride was turned back 
 by some Arab shepherds, who told him they had seen 
 us riding in search of the soldiers. Our explanations 
 were brief: Mr. Selami's saddle-bags, heavy with ran- 
 som-money, had just been deposited in the tent, when 
 we were summoned to the presence to make our offi- 
 cial statement. 
 
 The secretaries sat on the ground with their ink- 
 horns. Between them and the pasha, on another car- 
 pet, sat Mr. Selami ; and on the other side the pasha, 
 opposite him, Trotter, and myself, utterly tired out. 
 An orderly in the door-way, and the two colonels 
 smoking their nargiles on the pasha's left, completed
 
 172 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 the group. A tedious process was the taking of dep- 
 ositions. Name, country, route to Jerusalem, dates, 
 objects of journey, and various other preliminaries, 
 had to be asked by the pasha in Turkish, translated 
 by Selami into French, replied to by me in the same, 
 then retranslated into Turkish, and in that language 
 written down by the scribes. Then came the historic 
 version of the Kerak difficulties, from the Safieh to 
 the robbery of Mr. Klein's letter. The tedious proc- 
 ess lasted till long past midnight, when the nodding 
 pair were dismissed with a courteous bow, and were 
 told the depositions would be ready to sign in the 
 morning. 
 
 To the other tent we retired, with Mr. Selami and 
 the secretaries, to share it with the colonels. The 
 tent sides were open for six inches up, the wind blew 
 keen, the thermometer was below the freezing-point, 
 and we had no coverlets. We turned our saddles up 
 for pillows, wrapped our heads in our water-proofs ; 
 but before day-break the cold was past endurance. 
 
 At dawn we turned out, not for washing or toilet, 
 with a thick rime on the grass, thankful that we had 
 taken the precaution of bringing camphor and laud- 
 anum in our pockets, which we mixed with the wel- 
 come hot coffee. To-day was Beiram, the New-year's- 
 day of the Moslems ; and we had just been summon- 
 ed to the pasha's tent, when the order was given to 
 fire a salute from the howitzers, which was at once 
 done, to the amazement of the crowd of Arabs. The 
 artillery-men seemed well drilled, and went creditably
 
 COURTESY SHOWN TO US. 173 
 
 through their exercise. Our depositions were now- 
 produced in fair copy, read over, translated to us, and 
 then signed and sealed by me in duplicate. The pa- 
 sha offered us two cavalry soldiers for the rest of our 
 sojourn in the country ; but we modestly declined, 
 feeling it for better to show all confidence in the Beni 
 Sakk'r than to seem to distrust either Zadam's power 
 or his good foith. Of course, after our declining this 
 offer, the government had no further responsibility ; 
 but we felt we were on safe ground through all the 
 Beni Sakk'r and Hamideh country ; and the result 
 proved that we were right. 
 
 The pasha then dictated letters to Zadam, thanking 
 him for his good management ; to Ibn Tarif, of the 
 Hamideh, commending us to his good offices ; and 
 also an open firman to all, to be used when occasion 
 might require. Nothing could exceed his courtesy 
 and consideration. He told us he should have to 
 wait at Na'ur for several da3^s, as he had sent at mid- 
 night to Nablous, to telegraph thence to Damascus for 
 instructions, and must await the reply. However, he 
 had countermanded, provisionally, the 500 men who 
 were to follow him from Nablous. The whole of this 
 advance-guard consisted of 170 infantry, 120 cavalry, 
 two field-pieces, and 150 mounted irregulars. 
 
 We were asked many questions about Kerak, 
 where the staff, at least, evidently wished to go; but 
 they told us they possessed no plans of the place, and 
 knew nothing of it. We explained the approaches 
 as best we could. Whether the troops should be sent
 
 174 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 on to Kerak, was no affair of ours ; but certainly it 
 was an excellent opportunityof teaching a lesson to 
 a quasi-independent chief who has been the oppressor 
 of the country for years, under the pretext of holding 
 it for the sultan, and who wrings out of the hapless 
 people a sum tenfold that which he pays into the im- 
 perial treasury. 
 
 Es Salt shows what may be done by securing a 
 settled government, even though it be a Turkish one. 
 When I visited Es Salt eight years ago, it was much 
 in the same state as Kerak is now, and life and 
 property were insecure in the whole of Gilead. The 
 difficulties to travelers were as great as in Southern 
 Moab, and extravagant black -mail was levied by all 
 the petty sheiks. Now that the Pasha of Damascus 
 has placed a garrison there, the fellahin are better off, 
 trade has quadrupled, and the country is as safe for 
 Europeans as Western Palestine. With a garrison at 
 Kerak,* and the Beni Sakk'r conciliated, as at pres- 
 ent, the imperial government could hold the coast of 
 the Dead Sea as easily as it holds the Lebanon. 
 
 * While these sheets are in the press (March, 1873), we learn tha'. 
 the Turks have thrown a garrison into Kerak.
 
 AJERMEH CAMP REACHED. 176 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Return from the Wady Na'ur to Um Rasas. — Royal Entertainment by 
 the Ajermeh. — Our Horses keep Beiram. — Cotiee-drinking. — She- 
 rouan's many Calls. — Wandering Tramps. — A Beggar's Hospital- 
 ity. — Return to our Tents. — Reports of a buried Stone. — Zadam's 
 Account of the black, or basalt, Country eastward. — El Ilhurreh. — 
 Stone Cities. — Eastward ho! — Mirage on the Plains. — Gazelle 
 Hunt. — The Hadj Road. — Khan Zebib. — Description of the ruined 
 Khan. — Traces of earlier Buildings. — Remains of a Doric Temple. 
 — Labyrinth of Cisterns. — Prehistoric Remains. — Cairns. — A vain 
 Pursuit after the Stone of Rasas. 
 
 We left the Turkish camp without a guide, and in 
 two hours passed some extensive ruins on a low hill 
 called by the shepherds Samak. From it an old Ro- 
 man road was distinctly marked, leading down the hill 
 and across the next wide upland. 
 
 In three hours and five minutes we reached the 
 Ajermeh camp. The soldiers were all gone. We 
 had met some men driving lambs across the plain for 
 the troops, and had the satisfaction of learning 'from 
 them, what Daoud was loath to believe, but what the 
 Ajermeh afterward confirmed, that the soldiers paid 
 for all they took, or at least gave receipts, to be al- 
 lowed from the next payment of tribute. We dis- 
 mounted at the camp, the largest we had yet seen, 
 and where two tents were marked, by the spear and 
 tuft of o.strich feathers, as the homes of the sheiks.
 
 176 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 We at once asked to buy barley for our horses, but 
 were told they had none, and must send miles for it. 
 Barley, we replied, we must have, if we waited three 
 hours for it ; and suiting the action to the word, we 
 dismounted. They then invited us into the great 
 tents, for they too were keeping Beiram, the New- 
 years festival of the Moslems. The tent was full, but 
 a clean carpet was spread for us at the upper end. 
 Daoud now produced the three nose-bags from under 
 his 'abb'eyeh, and, with a knowing look, handed them 
 to a by-stander, as much as to say, "No humbug; the 
 horses must keep Beiram too." The man took them, 
 and soon returned with barley enough for two days. 
 
 Meantime guests came crowding in, for the day is 
 spent in visiting neighboring camps and eating the 
 substitute for yule cake. Every one who came in, 
 except ourselves, was kissed from four to seven times 
 on the cheeks by each of the circle, who rose to greet 
 him. A huge wooden bowl was brought, with hot 
 boiled mutton, swimming in the Belka substitute for 
 Algerian couscousou — a sort of coarsely - ground 
 wheat-meal, boiled with milk and butter. We were 
 quite ready for breakfast, and plied our fingers very 
 well, the Arabs being actually civilized enough to 
 apologize for having no spoons or forks for the 
 Franghi. We caused great interest, and no alarm, to 
 a number of toddling youngsters of two years old and 
 upward, who examined our clothes with much curi- 
 osity, and were won by a supply of raisins, with 
 which Mr. Selami had filled our pockets at starting.
 
 COFFEE-DRINKING. 177 
 
 As soon as we had finished, the bowl was passed on 
 to other guests, and quickly cleared, when another 
 and another made its appearance. 
 
 Meantime Daoud, the hero of the hour, recounted 
 the Kerak affair to the eager listeners, who thought 
 we had got cheaply off from such a set for sixty gold- 
 pieces. My revolver was handed round, and, by their 
 careful handling, they showed that they were no stran- 
 gers to the weapon. As an instance of the way news 
 travels, we were informed that our muleteers, who had 
 started for Salt two days ago to buy barley, had long 
 since gone back to our camp, as they had bought a 
 supply at such and such a price, from the S'khoor 
 Arabs, on the way. 
 
 The coffee was an elaborate affair, and it was the 
 best coffee I ever tasted. The beans were produced 
 in the husk, beaten out, then winnowed with the hand, 
 roasted and pounded before the fire at which we were 
 warming our toes, and, for the first time for eighteen 
 hours, were enjoying sensation. This coffee is brought 
 overland from Mocha, and is perfumed and fragrant. 
 No less than three cups were supplied to each ; and 
 we needed no pressing. 
 
 As our horses had now fed, we left, grateful for the 
 hospitality so cordially afforded by those who would 
 certainly have robbed us, had we not been under the 
 Beni Sakk'r shield. These Ajermeh are a wealthy 
 tribe, and more given to agriculture than most of 
 the nomads. The long tracts of corn we had pass- 
 ed through, and also the wide extent of arable land
 
 178 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Stretching from hence to Heshban, is chiefly culti- 
 vated by them and their shives ; and they sell much 
 to the Southern 'Anizeh, with whom they have friend- 
 ly relations. 
 
 We pursued a south-east direction for the first 
 hour, across plains all under tillage for wheat and 
 barley, and at 2.30 P.M., after an hour and thirty-five 
 minutes, passed not far south of the extensive ruins 
 of Ziza. How our guide, old Sberouan, whom we 
 had picked up again at the Ajermeh camp, led us 
 across a featureless country for twenty-six miles, up 
 and down sloping dells, we could scarcely make out. 
 Still, by compass, he was always true, though the 
 day was cloudy, with a bitterly cold wind. To every 
 black tent espied from afar our guide made a detour; 
 and he and Daoud, while we jogged on, levied toll 
 everywhere — kid, camel's flesh, or a bowl of milk — 
 for every caller must be fed to-day. From all quar- 
 ters the shepherds came striding in advance, to inter- 
 cept us and ask the news. 
 
 On one piece of bleak plain, we came upon the 
 most tattered fragment of a tent I ever saw. It con- 
 cealed nothing, and revealed the most abject poverty, 
 even for Bedouin, Yet even here was a large heap 
 of brush-wood collected, and the skin of a freshly- 
 killed camel stretched on the ground, while the flesh 
 was being boiled on the embers. Our dervish rode up, 
 and had his chat and lump of boiled meat. The peo- 
 ple were not Beni Sakk'r, but a small family of wan- 
 dering beggars — man, wife, and three children — and
 
 KEEPING BEIRAM. 179 
 
 had no sheep nor goats — only half a dozen camels. 
 Yet one of these six had they killed for Beiram, 
 and every shepherd within hail must partake of their 
 hospitality for two days. I learned for the first time 
 that even among the Bedouin there is, besides the 
 gypsies, whom we several times met pursuing the 
 same arts of tinkering, fortune-telling, and conjuring, 
 as in England, a class of begging tramps, belonging 
 to no tribe, but wandering where they will, too poor 
 to be robbed, and living on the alms of the shepherd 
 tribes. 
 
 At length, just at sunset, we reached the Wady 
 Themed, and knew we were not far from camp. For 
 the first time to-day we had a gallop, and soon espied 
 by moonlight the tall tower of Um Easas, a mile and 
 a quarter from our tents, which we reached at 6.30 
 P.M. Beiram was being kept in due style at Um 
 Rasas, to the expenditure of our powder; and one of 
 our muleteers had a narrow escape, from the bursting 
 of his great horse-pistol, the blame of which was, of 
 course, laid on the English powder. 
 
 Zadam had just returned, bringing with him the 
 skin of a very fine cheetah, or hunting-leopard, which 
 one of his brothers had shot, as a present for me. 
 Supposing I would use it as a saddle-cloth, he had, 
 unfortunately, cut off the head and part of the tail. 
 It was the only beast of the kind we heard of being 
 killed while in the country; but we several times 
 came across traces of the leopard in the ravines low- 
 er down. The cheetah, on the contrary, seems to be
 
 180 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 confined to the open country, where it prej's on the 
 gazelle. 
 
 In the morning a mounted Arab, with a long spear, 
 a very fine-looking fellow, rode hotly down to camp, 
 and, dismounting, strode to our tent door, just within 
 which Zadam was seated. With fierce gesticulations, 
 he asked what business we had here, told us that his 
 tribe were the rightful owners, and that his gunners 
 would come down at night and shoot us all. Zadam 
 never moved a muscle, but quietly eyed him ; and 
 when he had spent his breath, told him to go to his 
 tent. He then explained to us that the man was the 
 sheik of a small subject tribe, whose domicile was in 
 this district, and probably wanted a little backsheesh, 
 which we were by no means to give, as it was not 
 our business. They had a long conference in the lit- 
 tle tent, and the man rode off. 
 
 It seemed that our visitor had heard of our search- 
 ing the ruins, though nothing had been said by us, 
 and Zadam had kept our counsels; and that his ob- 
 ject was to get a backsheesh for a "black written 
 stone" which one of his men had found here and 
 buried in the ground. I saw afterward, in Jerusalem, 
 a squeeze said to have been taken from this stone, 
 and which is in the possession of the Eev. D. Stuart 
 Dodge, of Beirut, who has kindly forwarded to me 
 a copy. Whether it be genuine or not I have no 
 means of judging. I can only aver that the evidence 
 is in favor of there having been a black written stone 
 at Um Rasas. The link that can indisputably prove
 
 CONJECTURES ON UM RASAS. 181 
 
 that the squeeze is a copy of the Urn Kasas stone 
 is the difficulty. Dr. Birch, of the British Museum, 
 than whom there can not be a better authority, as- 
 sured me that he has utterly failed to make any sense 
 of the inscription, and that some of the characters are 
 not such as he should have expected to find in a 
 monument of so early a character. 
 
 No inscription has yet been found which reveals 
 to us the ancient name of Um Kasas. The modern 
 Arabic name gives no clue, meaning simply "the 
 mother of lead," and is explained by the local tradi- 
 tion that lead (probably leaden pipes) had been found 
 in dio-o-ing here. But its remains prove that it must 
 have been an important town in the Koman province 
 of Arabia. The Peutinger Tables throw no light on 
 this subject, as they give nothing between Philadel- 
 phia— z. e., Rabbath Ammon— and Rabba, or Areopo- 
 lis_- sixty-two miles. Nor can I trace any clue in 
 the Itinerary of Antonine. But in the lists of the 
 stations of the Roman army given in the "Notitia," 
 we find, among many other names belonging to this 
 immediate district, such as Ziza, Areopolis, Bostra, 
 Castra Arnonensia, the sentence, "Ala prima Valen- 
 tiana Thamathcey We have no other record or trace 
 of the name. But may it not linger still in the Wady 
 Themed close by? Themed and Thamatha would 
 certainly be Latin and Arabic equivalents; and 
 though not on the Wady Themed, Um Rasas is cer- 
 tainly nearer to it than any other ruins of importance 
 which we visited. Professor Palmer has suggested
 
 , 182 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 to me that possibly the Mipwv of Eusebius, an archie- 
 piscopal see, may be identical with Kasas. See "Des- 
 ert of the Exodus," p. 418. 
 
 Zadam gave us some interesting accounts of the 
 country due east of this, which he has often traversed. 
 We are here about twelve miles west of the hadj 
 road. Beyond the ruins of Khan Zebib, which we 
 are about to visit, and which is close to the road, he 
 assures us there are no ruins whatever in the " white 
 country ;" that there are hills of no great height be- 
 yond it, and then ground like this plain for three 
 days; very little water, no rivers, but good pasture 
 in the rainy season, becoming scantier as we proceed 
 eastward. 
 
 After the three days' journey across the " white," 
 or limestone, country, is a region of black basalt, a 
 "land of black stones." This he describes as being 
 two very long days' journey across; and he thinks, 
 but is not sure, it is about three days' journey from 
 north to south. This volcanic region he calls El 
 Hhurreh. It is, he says, debatable land between the 
 Southern 'Anizeh and the Beni Sakk'r ; and the lat- 
 ter never cross it while the former are there. Be- 
 sides these two tribes, there are sundry small bands 
 of "very bad men,'' who live there always, and steal 
 camels whenever they can. They are outlawed by 
 both. The country itself he describes as being ex- 
 actly like the Hauran, which he knows very well, 
 and as full of ruined cities, built of black stone. He 
 described with good pantomime how he had often
 
 THE BLACK COUNTRY. 183 
 
 swung the stone doors, which are still hanging in 
 their sockets. Water can be found in various places, 
 in deep, narrow nullahs. 
 
 Beyond this black-stone country, eastward, are two 
 days more of white ground, hilly, but with good camel 
 pasture; and then begins a desert with nothing in it 
 but antelopes and wild cows (Bekk'r el wash) — i. e., 
 from his description of their horns, the oryx antelope 
 and the bubale. 
 
 Mr. Drake afterward informed me that he had 
 heard a similar description of this black country, un- 
 der the same name of El Hhurreh, when traveling 
 with Captain Burton, north-east of Damascus; and 
 there seems no reason to doubt the account. If it be 
 so, here is certainly a rich field for adventurous ex- 
 ploration by any one in search of new ground. We 
 asked Zadam if he could himself conduct travelers 
 over it. He said he could easily do so at the proper 
 time of year, but it would require preparation, and 
 he would be sorry, on account of the outlaws, to go 
 with a less force than seventy spearmen. These, he 
 said, would be enough to overawe any robbers in the 
 country. 
 
 February 21. — At sunrise the cry was "Eastward 
 ho!" to visit the hadj road, and explore the ruins of 
 Zebib, which we had seen from M'Seitbeh. For two 
 hours we rode up and down the rolling grass plains. 
 Save a fox-hunt, after a reynard who started under 
 our horses' feet, and showed himself as great an adept 
 at doubling as his English cousins, the ride so far had
 
 184 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 been without incident. The clouds now lifted, and 
 we saw the watery mist rolling on before us, to make 
 a vain effort to moisten the sandy wastes of Arabia. 
 
 Two prominent landmarks were here conspicuous 
 — Jebel Jiahl, about two miles from Khan Zebib, east 
 half south, and Jebel Suaga, bearing south-east, per- 
 haps ten miles distant. For nearly an hour we rode 
 up the course of the Wady Shobek, very shallow and 
 wide. It is the channel for the reception of the drain- 
 age of a level plain many miles in extent, surrounded 
 on three sides by ranges of inconsiderable elevation. 
 
 The scenery now changed. The sun shone on a 
 dead-level plain without a stone, with only here and 
 there a small tuft of artemisia, about four inches 
 high, and a little plant now and then appearing, 
 roused to life by the recent rains, for the plain had 
 evidently been but lately a wide lagoon. It runs 
 some four miles farther to the low rocky hills. A 
 strange mirage was before us, which lifted the distant 
 objects, and elevated every little tuft into a tree, and 
 the sparse blades of grass into a jungle; while the 
 horses, inspirited by the unwonted smoothness of the 
 expanse, galloped gayly on, and trees sunk to tufts, 
 and jungle melted into grass an inch or two high, as 
 we neared it. "We might look in vain for the expect- 
 ed temples and pillars — poorer and poorer did the 
 ruins appear as we approached them. 
 
 A herd of gazelle were sighted, some forty or fifty 
 in number, trotting quietly along. We spread our- 
 selves out. Trotter and Daoud, the only ones armed,
 
 KHAN ZEBIB. 185 
 
 dashed like wild Indians to the front, while we spur- 
 red on, on either side, to turn the herd, if need be. 
 "We nearly headed them as they trotted to the left, 
 and then the huntsmen galloped to the head of the 
 herd and fired, but too far and hurried. The gazelles 
 became alarmed now, and the speed of the horses was 
 no match for them. 
 
 But the incident had brought us far on our way, 
 and we were near the ruins. We had to rein in. 
 We might have been galloping across a deeply-ridged 
 fallow. For about a quarter of a mile in width, 
 every three or four yards was a deep wide rut, all 
 in parallel lines. We were crossing the hadj road. 
 Files of hundreds of camels, slowly following each 
 other in the weary tramp to Mecca, had, in course of 
 ao-es, worn the hard surface of the desert into these 
 deep furrows. 
 
 Just beyond this strange, weird -like road, strewn 
 with the bleached bones of camels all along its course, 
 where the hills begin to rise, we were at Khan Zebib. 
 The mirage had indeed been deceptive. A large 
 ruined khan, with arches and gate- ways, and a few 
 Greek remains beyond, on a series of mounds, were 
 all that struck us at first sight. 
 
 It may be observed that all the maps place the 
 hadj road at this point about eleven miles too far 
 west, each writer following his predecessor. This is 
 easily accounted for, as the Arabs speak of the road 
 as on the other side of Um Rasas. We were soon 
 able to take our sextant and compass observations 
 
 13
 
 186 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 for Khan Zebib, so as to fix its exact position, hav- 
 ing many known points— Shihan, Um Easas, etc. — in 
 view. 
 
 The khan itself is an interesting specimen of the 
 Saracenic architecture of earlier and better days, 
 
 NO. 13 
 
 KHAN ZEBIB 
 
 though now allowed, by the slovenly carelessness of 
 the Moslems, who never repair any thing, however 
 convenient or useful to them, to become a hopeless, 
 roofless ruin. Certainly, as Zadam observed, it is not 
 the business of the Bedouin to repair these places, as
 
 KHAN ZEBIB. 187 
 
 it is not they who would use them ; and the central 
 government, he shrewdly added, would have to send 
 more soldiers than workmen for the task. Such is 
 the progress of disintegration, material and political, 
 in these lands. 
 
 Zebib has evidently been built with the materials 
 of an earlier city, and Christian churches have sup- 
 plied their stones, to shelter the pilgrims to Moham- 
 med's shrine. It is a massive square inclosure, there 
 having been semicircular towers or buttresses on each 
 of the four sides, for strength and defense. The gate- 
 ways in the centre of the east and west walls open 
 into a large square, round which were arched cham- 
 bers, six on the north, five on the south, and four on 
 each of the other sides. The outside walls of the 
 khan have once been carefully cemented, but, except- 
 ing a few fragments, it is only on the north face that 
 the plaster remains. All the inner door-ways are 
 .entire, some of the lintels being sculptured stones 
 from Christian edifices, of which we secured several 
 good photographs. Many of the other stones used 
 up in the building were scratched with curious or- 
 namentation, such as I have not elsewhere seen, but 
 which may probably be late Byzantine work. 
 
 Beyond the khan eastward were several hillocks, 
 with the remains of Greek buildings of much earlier 
 date and much more careful masonry. Of one tem- 
 ple a massive angle is left, still partly standing. One 
 building puzzled us, though its plan was very evi- 
 dent, and it must have been a small temple. It was
 
 188 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 a square of eleven yards. There had been a door to 
 the east, and apparently another to the south (though 
 this may have been a niche), completely broken away. 
 The east and west walls had had finely dressed double 
 Doric pilasters ; and many columns and Doric capitals 
 were lying about, though where the pillars had stood 
 we could not make out. 
 
 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 ^s 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^^Q 
 
 yf' 
 
 
 Pliiir-n^f ' 
 
 'IIMli'''!'lli'" 
 
 
 SO. 14. 
 
 SCITLPTURED ENTABLATURES, ZEBIB. 
 
 There had been many finely-sculptured lintels; and 
 numbers of stones with very prett}^ lace-work of va- 
 rious patterns, apparently friezes or entablatures, 
 strewed the ground around. Wells were in abund- 
 ance, half-choked and now dry, and a number of nat- 
 ural caves, or perhaps old subterranean quarries util- 
 ized, into which we crept, and found some with arches 
 and carefully vaulted roofs, pillars, and walls, all alike
 
 PREHISTORIC REMAINS. 189 
 
 cemented, and making an irregular set of chambers 
 of considerable extent. From the plastering, they 
 must have beei^ intended for great water - cisterns ; 
 but now they are silted up to within a few feet of the 
 roof, and are used as folds and sleeping-places by the 
 wandering Bedouin. In such a cave David might 
 easily have escaped Saul's notice, as he entered, to 
 take rest. 
 
 Walking up the hill, a little farther east than what 
 I may call the Greek city, we came upon a number 
 of artificial mounds and circles of stones. Though 
 afterward, in the western mountain range of Moab, 
 we often noticed such remains, yet this was the first 
 time I had observed unquestionable evidence of the 
 cairns of the primeval inhabitants. We longed for 
 tools and time, to dig and open a cist, where, perhaps, 
 we might find ornaments and flint implements. But 
 we could only note these faint traces of aborigines 
 before the basalt-building inhabitants came in. 
 
 As we were returning, Trotter noticed a peculiar 
 stone construction in a wall; and we found that the 
 stones on the top of the wall had been formed into 
 a sort of rude sarcophagus for a body, but the jackals 
 had contrived to drag out all of it, except the skull, 
 between the interstices.
 
 190 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Departure from Um Rasas.— Dhra'a. — The Themed. — R'mail. — A 
 riverside Camp. — Zafaran. — A military Keep. — Supplies running 
 short. — Start for the North-east. — Kasr el Herri. — Sun'eying. — 
 Roman Road. — Um Weleed. — Extent of Um Weleed. — Saracenic 
 Khan. — Roman City, — Streets. — Large Court, or Pretorium Gate- 
 way. — Doric Temple. — Date of these Cities. — No Clues to the an- 
 cient Name. — Um el Kuseir. — Large Caverns. — Ziza. — Interesting 
 Remains. — Roman military Station. — Magnificent Tank.— Elabo- 
 rate System of Irrigation in olden Time. — Large vaulted Fort. — 
 Burial-place aloft. — Ibrahim Pasha's Garrison. — Other Forts de- 
 stroyed. — Remains of Cuphic Inscriptions. — Fine Christian Church. 
 — Variety of wild Animals and Birds. — Return of Convoy from Je- 
 rusalem. — Evening Bells. — A Fugitive.— Stripped by the Anizeh. 
 — The Ibex-hunter. — Honesty of our Men and of the Turkish Sol- 
 diers. — Sunday's Rest. — Mohammedan Criticism on Christian In- 
 consistency. 
 
 We had now pretty well explored the district of 
 Um Rasas, and moved our quarters on February 22d, 
 without any definite route fixed. Going north-west 
 by north, after an hour, we rode through the ruins 
 called Dhra'a, a Moabite city of the very oldest type, 
 merely ruined heaps and foundations, with no trace 
 of arches. It occupies the southern slope of a hill. 
 Can this be the Zoar spoken of by Eusebius? The 
 occurrence of the name here, so far inland, may cast 
 some light on the confusion in the references to the 
 situation of Zoar. But the discovery of Zi'ara (chap.
 
 SHORT SUPPLIES. 191 
 
 xvii.) seems to dispose of the claims of these Dhra'as 
 to be Biblical sites. 
 
 After a short day's ride, we came upon the ruins 
 of an old fortress on the Themed. K'mail stands 
 three hundred feet above the river. The plain below 
 was now covered with herbage dense and rank. Here 
 we descended ; and on the velvet turf, close to some 
 large pools in the bed of the stream, our tents were 
 pitched, and the animals turned loose, to graze at will 
 within the natural amphitheatre. Here we spent two 
 daySj'surveying and exploring the ruins within reach, 
 Zafaran and others. 
 
 Our supplies were now getting low, and our convoy 
 three days overdue from Jerusalem. In the lajder 
 things looked serious. No more rice ; cheese had 
 given out some days ; the brandy was getting low ; 
 the cakes of chocolate could be counted ; only two 
 more boxes of sardines, and one plate of figs. Worst 
 of all, the flour was at an end, and there was nothing 
 to cook with but a little green brush-wood, collected 
 with great pains from a distance. Plenty of lamb 
 and buttermilk, partridge and pigeon ad libitum, and 
 tea, coffee, and Liebig to stand a siege. But meat 
 and Liebig, without bread or vegetables, was trying 
 diet already ; and without fuel to boil the kettle, the 
 prospect was worse for the future. To add to the 
 dark look-out, we were at the last packet of candles. 
 
 Preparations were accordingly made, and at day- 
 break next morning a convoy of muleteers and five 
 mules, under the guard of a Beni Sakk'r spearman.
 
 192 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 were dispatched two days' journey, to Es Salt, to pur- 
 chase whatever the markets of Gilead niight afford, 
 and to return to a camp vaguely defined, somewhere 
 to the north - east of our present one, but of which 
 some wandering shepherd on the way would doubt- 
 less be able to give them information. The thermom- 
 eter in the night fell to 28° — max., 35°. 
 
 Next day Zadam advised us to move to Ziza, where 
 he promised we should find very fine ruins, never yet 
 visited by any European. It was only a six hours' 
 journey across the plains. 
 
 Leaving the tents still standing and the muleteers 
 dawdling, we set out due north with our sheik and 
 Daoud, who bore the camera and photographic stand 
 packed on his saddle. We w^ere now traversing a 
 water-shed, the whole district being the fruitful moth- 
 er of infant wadys, up and down which we rode trans- 
 versely, all of them running due east and west. 
 
 "We passed Zafaran again, but did not stop, and in 
 half an hour reached Kasr el Herri, on the summit of 
 a high knoll, commanding almost a panorama. On a 
 lower tell, connected with this hill by a sloping shoul- 
 der, are extensive shapeless ruins, much grass-grown, 
 called Kirbet el Herri, the old town, of which this 
 Kasr was the citadel. Kasr el Herri is simply a keep, 
 or strong square fortress, with a large space inclosed 
 round it, like the others already described; the inside 
 of the keep, like Zafaran, filled in with stones. Among 
 these was a hole, into which we scrambled, and found 
 it to be a h vena's lair, with a collection of bones, chief-
 
 UM WELEED, 193 
 
 ly camels', but also five or six human skulls, and 
 many thigh-bones, rifled from Arab graves. 
 
 The old Eoman road can be easily traced here, 
 marked by the evenness and regularity of the par- 
 tially turf-covered lines of stones. The pavement has 
 long since disappeared, and its stones have become 
 upturned, angular, and shapeless, like the rest. Fol- 
 lowing the line of this road, after a smart ride of 
 thirty-five minutes across a plain, we reached Urn 
 Weleed, " Mother of Children." 
 
 Urn Weleed is a most interesting as well as ex- 
 tensive ruin ; and though marked in the maps, I can 
 not find that it has been visited by any previous trav- 
 eler. It is on an old Eoman road, and its remains ap- 
 pear to belong to three distinct epochs. Like all the 
 towns of the " Mishor," or plain of Moab, it stands on 
 a " tell," or mamelon. Within the walls it is more 
 than half a mile from west to east; considerably less 
 from north to south. There are many caves, and 
 traces of scattered houses, outside the city wall, which 
 can everywhere be very clearly traced. 
 
 Beginning from the south-west, on which side we 
 approached it, there stands, isolated, below the com- 
 mencement of the ancient city, a Saracenic khan. It 
 is similar to that of Zebib, but much more perfect, 
 though smaller, and, like it, is built from the mate- 
 rials of more ancient edifices. It seems probable that, 
 along the course of the old Eoman road, there passed 
 here a branch line to the hadj road from Damascus 
 to Mecca, for the accommodation of pilgrims west
 
 194 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 of the Jordan, for whom this would be the easiest 
 route. 
 
 Above the khan are large grass-grown mounds, 
 covering old ruins, and now used as favorite Arab 
 burying-places, with the sheep-skin coat of the de- 
 ceased stretched over his grave. Among these 
 mounds an amphitheatre can be very distinctly 
 traced. 
 
 Passing eastward, wnthin the walls, the ruins be- 
 come distinct, and less covered with turf The streets 
 are plain, some of them still arcaded with a succession 
 of semicircular arches, perhaps of a late Roman date, 
 which are still standing ; with the large flat slabs of 
 stones laid for a roof from arch to arch, and now used 
 as houses and folds by the tribes that occasionally 
 camp here. Many portions of massive wall are of 
 Roman rustic-dressed stone. I found in one place 
 the inverted scallop shell of a niche built into a latei' 
 wall, and many cornice stones so employed. It would 
 seem from this as though the place had been inhab- 
 ited since the Roman times; and yet these walls, with 
 the architectural fragments, looked of an earlier and 
 better date than the khan. 
 
 Near the east end of the city we found a large open 
 space, well paved with large square slabs, still perfect 
 and clear, and surrounded by ruins and broken pil- 
 lars, with a few fragments of capitals ; as if it had 
 once been encircled by a colonnade. It was forty- 
 one paces by thirty-eight in extent inside, and may 
 have been the old ayopa, or forum. Immediately be-
 
 DORIC TEMPLE. 
 
 195 
 
 yond was the line of the east wall of the city, built of 
 Roman rustic-dressed stone, and the central gate-way 
 and street, still plainly to be traced. 
 
 Just beyond the gate is a Doric temple, twelve 
 yards north to south by ten yards east to west. The 
 door of the temple faced east, and in the centre of the 
 
 w 
 
 NO. 15. 
 
 PLAN OF TEMPLE, UM WELEED. 
 
 a. Door. 
 
 6. Niche. 
 
 c. Door or niche ; remains too broken to decide. 
 
 rf, d. Four pilasters, formed of one column, and not twin ones, as at Zeblb. 
 
 e. Bases of columns in situ. 
 
 f. No bases left, but Doric capitals of four pillars lying on the ground, be- 
 sides those of pilasters, of which three are there. 
 
 g. Sloping debris, evidently the ascent to the door. 
 
 south wall is a small semicircular niche, or apse, foi- 
 the image. Inside the door-way the bases of two col- 
 umns remain in situ; and four plain Doric capitals, 
 and portions of shafts, are lying about. This temple 
 is exactly similar in all its arrangements to the old 
 Doric temple near Khan Zebib. Are these the re- 
 mains of an ancient Chemosh, or Baal-worship? We
 
 196 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 found afterward several similar temples in various 
 stages of ruin, all of them outside a city, always at its 
 east end, and with the door to the east, and always 
 Doric, whenever the architecture could be determined. 
 
 What is the date of these cities, all so like each 
 other ? They are unquestionably far older than the 
 early Saracenic, as we may see by the ruined khans ; 
 centuries less weathered, and less hoary in hue. Must 
 they not be at least Maccabsean, as the Roman would 
 be far nearer the Saracenic? It is worthy of note 
 that we searched here in vain for any traces of a 
 Christian church, or Christian traces of any kind. 
 
 The most uniform and remarkable feature about 
 all these towns is the vast number of wells, all now 
 dry; and of huge cisterns, or under -ground store- 
 houses, some for water, and others with a bell-shaped 
 neck and small mouth, for storing corn. Nowhere 
 are they more noticeable than here. Not only the 
 place, but its environs, are honey-combed with them. 
 Some are still used by the Bedouin occasionally for 
 secreting corn ; and to others, which must have been 
 old quarries, utilized and cemented for reservoirs, they 
 have broken side entrances, to give access to their 
 flocks for shelter. 
 
 The name of Um Weleed, like Um Rasas, is anoth- 
 er of the vernacular Arabic appellations, which gives 
 no clue to its history or old designation ; yet, to judge 
 from its remains, it must have been among the largest 
 and most important, perhaps sixth or seventh, of the 
 towns of the Belka. Not a trace of an inscription did
 
 UM EL KUSEIR. 197 
 
 we see ; nor, carefully as written stones are looked 
 after by the Arabs, did we hear a whisper of one, 
 either black or white. All we could do further here 
 was to take the bearings for our map. 
 
 From Um Weleed, along the Eoman road, to Um 
 el Kuseir, was only twenty-five minutes' quiet riding 
 over an easy plain. There is no ruined bridge, as 
 marked in all the maps, between these two places, nor 
 is there any wady for a bridge to span ; but there is 
 in one place a piece of old wall, which has been con- 
 structed to collect and direct the water coming down 
 the sloping valley in flood times; and this the Arabs 
 called, to us, the " jisr," or bridge. 
 
 Um el Kuseir is one of the most conspicuous land- 
 marks of the district, situated on a high tell. A strong 
 massive tower, of which much more remains than of 
 its neighbor, stands boldly out. Below, as usual, is 
 the town, not so large as Um Weleed, and much more 
 ruined. 
 
 Our new camp was at Ziza. Here at last we have 
 lighted upon a spot about which there can be no con- 
 troversy as to its ancient name, unchanged in a single 
 letter. It must, in the later empire, have been one 
 of the most important places of Eoman Arabia. Its 
 name occurs in the " Notitia," immediately before 
 that of Areopolis, as one of the chief military stations 
 of the province. " Equites Dalmatici Illyriciani Ziza^ 
 
 We found our camp charmingly situated on a low 
 flat plain, below a ruin-covered ridge, by the side of 
 an inmiense tank of solid masonry, measuring 140
 
 198 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 yards by 110 yards. The bottom was still filled with 
 water, and from the surface of the water to the edge 
 of the tank was seventeen feet six inches. Just be- 
 hind our tents were the steps leading down to the 
 water, wide and easy, so that horses could easily go 
 
 NO. lb. 
 
 ZlZi, FKUM THE DlbfANCE 
 
 up and down. The masonry was simply magnifi- 
 cent. The courses were about two feet each, and 
 many of the single stones six feet in length. The 
 construction is still quite perfect, excepting a stone 
 here and there in the rim, which is recessed back, so 
 as to leave an inside pathway all round. But the
 
 ANCIENT TANK. 
 
 199 
 
 most interesting portion of all is the very ingenious 
 contrivance by which the tank has been supplied 
 with water. It is sunk at the angle of a shallow, 
 wide valley, just below the rising ground on which 
 the town stood. At its north-east angle, above the 
 top of the tank, are very perfect sluice-gates of mass- 
 
 '^ 
 
 NO. 17. 
 
 TANK AT ZIZA. 
 
 ive masonry. In a line with the sluice-gates, and 
 also at right angles with them, are great walls, with 
 a solid earthen embankment behind them. The wall 
 at right angles extends some way, and then the em- 
 bankment is carried on in the same line, continuously, 
 across the plain, so as to dam back the water, which,
 
 200 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 during the occasional floods, would come down the 
 valley, if the very shallow and wide depression may, 
 by courtesy, be so termed. Higher up, in the mid- 
 dle of the embankment, are another set of sluice- 
 gates, for letting off the waste water after the tank 
 was full. 
 
 The whole system, and the artificial sluices, Buxton 
 remarked, were precisely similar in plan to what he 
 had observed in the ancient works for irrigation both 
 in India and Ceylon. But this tank has suffered the 
 fate of the stupendous works of Ceylon, of which it is 
 the pigmy representative. In the course of ages of 
 neglect, the rich loamy soil has been carried down 
 with the rains, and has filled up the wide valley for 
 several feet, choking up the access to the lower sluices, 
 and the water has burst its way through into its old 
 channel by the side of the upper sluice. In the high- 
 er parts of the valley there are massive stone breast- 
 works, backed by earthen embankments, to turn the 
 water from other depressions into this central one. 
 
 Such works as this easily explain to us the enor- 
 mous population of which the ruined cities give evi- 
 dence. Everywhere is some artificial means of re- 
 taining the occasional supplies of rain-water. So 
 long as these precious structures remained in order, 
 cultivation was continuous, and famines unknown. 
 But their efficient maintenance was dependent on 
 the supremacy of a domestic government sufficiently 
 strono- to enforce systematic industry for the common 
 o-ood, on the part of these scattered populations, and
 
 RUINS OF ZIZA. 201 
 
 to secure to all of them the peaceable fruit of their 
 labors. This authority was annihilated by the Islam- 
 ite invasion. 
 
 The Moslems did not wantonly destroy the means 
 for artificial irrigation ; but if they did not, as seems 
 too probable, at once exterminate the indigenous pop- 
 ulation, they at least paralyzed all organizations for 
 the common good ; robbed the people of every secu- 
 rity for the peaceable enjoyment of their industry, 
 until a succession of wars had reduced them all to the 
 position of nomads ; and left the miserable remnant 
 of a dense and thriving nation entirely dependent on 
 the neighboring countries for their supply of corn 
 — a dependence which must continue till these bor- 
 der lands, under a settled central government, are se- 
 cure from the inroads of the predatory bands of the 
 East. 
 
 But to return to the ruins of Ziza. The tank does 
 not appear to have been ever directly protected by 
 defensive works. It was the offspring of an era of 
 general security, when the safety implied by imperial 
 rule seemed a sufficient return for works of public 
 utility — when the plain was swept only by the defen- 
 sive troops of the Dalmatian cavalry, who could wa- 
 ter at all times at the reservoir. 
 
 The line of circumvallation is half a mile distant; 
 but in the intervening space are two conspicuous 
 buildings, the only ones which catch the eye at a dis- 
 tance, and which stand in bold relief against the ho- 
 rizon, being on the crest of a ridge, elevated consider- 
 
 14
 
 202 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ably above the depression in which the tank has been 
 excavated. 
 
 The first and largest of these buildings, apparently 
 of Saracenic origin, consists of a solidly built fort, 
 twenty-three yards by nineteen, with a parallelogram 
 attached, sixteen yards by seven. Both were built, 
 as it would appear, about the same period, and with 
 materials taken from older edifices, many of the stones 
 being sculptured ; some of them, by the Greek crosses 
 chiseled on them, being apparently taken from Byzan- 
 tine churches. One stone in the front wall bears in 
 relief a sculpture of two chariots with horses. The 
 roof of the lower story in each building is still per- 
 fect, a fine arched vault, but with no aperture for 
 light, except from the door. Here, during the period 
 of our stay, our muleteers, with our forty beasts, were 
 all comfortably housed. 
 
 The attached parallelogram contains another per- 
 fect vaulted chamber, opening only from the great 
 chamber, and the staircase leading to the upper sto- 
 ry, which is entire, with the exception of the roof 
 Semicircular arches still span it in two places, and 
 it has many loop-holes and narrow arched windows. 
 There are also several side chambers entire, and the 
 whole has been fitted for engines of war. This up- 
 per floor is now utilized as an Arab cemetery, per- 
 haps as a place of security from the hyenas. In one 
 corner there had been a recent burial, with a sprink- 
 ling of earth, and great stones heaped over the body. 
 The clothes of the deceased were laid by his grave.
 
 EGYPTIAN INVASION. 203 
 
 Another staircase led to the roof, and we could walk 
 all round the building on the broad massive wall. 
 This castle, we are told, was occupied, during the war 
 of ^rehemet Ali, bj a garrison of Egyptians, left here 
 by Ibrahim Pasha, who did much damage to the ruins 
 of Ziza, and wantonly destroyed a very perfect build- 
 
 ZIZA. PIGEON-HOLE STONES. 
 
 ing in the town, and several perfect Christian church- 
 es. ^ Zadam assured us that, before the Egyptian in- 
 vasion, the large buildings inside the town had their 
 roofs entire, and were often used as places of shelter. 
 The other castle, to the east of this, is apparently 
 of the Roman age, and has been reduced to a ruinous
 
 204 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 State by the troops of Ibrahim Pasha. The external 
 walls alone remain, with a conspicuous inner niche, 
 alcoved in the south face. It looks like an old tem- 
 ple utilized, first as a fort, and then as a mosque. In 
 it is a beautifully carved lintel, of very rich late By- 
 zantine, or perhnps Persian work; and other sculp- 
 
 NO. 19. 
 
 zizA. crniic in.sckiption 
 
 tured stones are built in, as well as some fragments of 
 Cuphic inscriptions. 
 
 Eastward from the two castles, on a higher ridge, 
 extend the ruins of Koman Ziza. They are in char- 
 acter a repetition of those of Um \Veleed, but more
 
 FINE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 205 
 
 extensive. Near the western end is a fine Saracenic 
 building, quite perfect up to Ibrahim Pasha's time. 
 The gate-way still remains, with its richly carved 
 fagade. There are several semicircular niches in the 
 walls, and fragments of Cuphic inscriptions appear in 
 many places on the courses. Several carved crosses, 
 capitals, pieces of frieze; an olive-mill, made of hard 
 basalt, with the solid cone of lava, which fitted into 
 the cup for crushing the berries; and pieces of sar- 
 cophagi strew the ground. The oil-press was, in ev- 
 ery respect, like the one we found at Dhiban. 
 
 But by far the most interesting ruin is one of the 
 Christian churches, placed, like all the others we have 
 noticed, in the east quarter of the city. There is a 
 large apse left entire, and on the south side another 
 shorter aisle, the apse being about three yards short 
 of the other. There are indications of another aisle 
 to the north, but, from the way in which the ruins are 
 heaped, this could not be certainly ascertained. A 
 colonnade has separated the centre from the aisle, and 
 stones, sculptured with crosses, and a column, are ly- 
 ino- among the loose stones of the old arches in the 
 interior. We wer<i able to get a good photograph of 
 the south wall of this church.* 
 
 Next day a fugitive arrived to claim the protection 
 of his sheik. He had been stripped by the Anizeh, 
 who had left him with no other garment than a cam- 
 
 * For the description of a curious atmosplieric j)lieiionienon noticed 
 at Ziza, see Appendix B.
 
 206 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 el's sack, with a hole for his head and slits for his 
 arms. The Anizeh had carried off sixty camels, and 
 other stock besides, in this raid. These are to be 
 distinguished from the well-known Northern Anizeh, 
 who roam between Damascus and Palmyra. Though 
 of the same clan, they have distinct sheiks, and sel- 
 dom combine, for war or foray, with their Northern 
 cousins. Their territory extends far to the east and 
 south-east of the Belka, and is very poor and water- 
 less, though of immense extent. The Beni Sakk'r 
 seem to have a chronic feud with them. 
 
 Zadam was not much perturbed by the news. At 
 least, he had still the advantage over his foes, for in 
 their last raid the Beni Sakk'r had carried off two 
 hundred Anizeh camels. So the question of repi^isals 
 would probably be deferred till the great tribal con- 
 ference at the end of the lambing season, next month. 
 Zadam, however, went off for two or three days, to 
 consult his father and brothers how best to maintain 
 the dignity of the tribe, leaving Sahan and the victim 
 of the Anizeh foray to be our guides in excursions. 
 The latter we found to be quite a character. He was 
 a celebrated ibex-hunter, and on that account was re- 
 tained for the rest of our time in the country. His 
 pantomimic description of the incidents of hunting the 
 " Bedoon " (ibex) was marvelous. With his wild, 
 rolling eyes, and a sword-blade to represent his gun, 
 he went through the whole scene of detecting, follow- 
 ing, stalking the ibex, till at length, sprawling on his 
 stomach, his eyes flashed fire as he aimed the fatal
 
 HONESTY OF THE PEOPLE. 207 
 
 shot. The acting was perfect, and not least his si- 
 lencing an imaginary loquacious brother-hunter. 
 
 We had a satisfactory test of the honesty of our 
 people, and especially of our Christian servant, Ha- 
 beeb, in the state of our supplies from Jerusalem. 
 They arrived, after a four days' journey, without a 
 package opened. The only levy on our stores had 
 been four bottles of raki by the Turkish officers, 
 whom our convoy had met still encamped in the 
 Wady Na'ur, waiting for orders from Damascus. 
 They had merely asked for some spirits, in return for 
 the hospitality they had shown us. As Habeeb apol- 
 ogetically remarked, " They asked till my face was 
 ashamed, and I gave." It speaks, indeed, well for the 
 discipline and good behavior of Turkish troops (in- 
 cluding, be it remembered, two squadrons of Bashi- 
 Bazouks) that a party of unarmed muleteers, without 
 a European with them, should have passed the night 
 alone by their camp, not only without the slightest 
 attempt at pilfering, but without being even asked to 
 surrender any portion of their stores to those who, 
 in their distant march, suddenly undertaken, must, 
 indeed, have been ill supplied with the little comforts 
 so temptingly brought within their reach. We were 
 only grieved that our honest men had not more gen- 
 erously ventured to offer a share of their masters' pro- 
 visions to those who were in the field solely on our 
 account. 
 
 Nothing in the convoy was so welcome as the sack 
 of brown bread. The cravinpr for lio;ht wheaten
 
 208 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 bread can only be understood by those who, like us, 
 have had a daily diet of Arab flat barley dampers for 
 three weeks. 
 
 We were struck by the sagacity which all the wild 
 animals showed in the matter of fire-arms, little fa- 
 miliar as they can be with them here. As it was 
 Sunday, we strolled or sat down among the ruins, 
 without our fowling-pieces, and were, consequcntl}^ 
 objects of indifference. A fine fox sat and looked at 
 us a dozen times among the stone - heaps, and just 
 walked away as we approached, keeping almost with- 
 in gun-shot all the afternoon. He is smaller than the 
 English fox, with a grayish back, black breast, and 
 very large bushy tail. This is probably the Canis 
 r«n>^f/?«sof Riippell, though it seemed to resemble in 
 its coloration Canis melanogaster of the Italian penin- 
 sula. We frequently saw the same species in many 
 different ruins. The Sakk'r falcon sat calmly on his 
 favorite perch, and allowed us carefully to reconnoitre 
 him on Sunday, while the eagle-owls, sand -grouse, 
 and partridge showed a similar contempt for unarm- 
 ed Europeans. 
 
 Much as our refusal to supply powder and shot 
 on Sunday disconcerted our young sheik, Sahan, we 
 found the greatest advantage in enforcing Sunday ob- 
 servance on all our cavalcade ; not merely in the 
 value of the regular physical rest for the horses, but 
 in the moral influence over the Mohammedans, who 
 always understand and respect the consistent observ- 
 ance of Christian ordinances. Rigid in their venera-
 
 CHKISTIAN INCONSISTENCY. 209 
 
 tion for their own religious institutions, tbey despise 
 those who neglect theirs; and little do many En- 
 glishmen know the contemptuous criticisms to which 
 they are subjected by their attendants for their 
 thoughtless requirement of unnecessary service on 
 tlie day the Moslems know very well we hold to be 
 " hallowed."
 
 210 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Palace of Mashiia. — Ride from Ziza.— Limestone Knolls rising 
 above the Plain. — Their geological Origin. — Gradual Formation of 
 the Table-land. — Hadj Road. — Palace suddenly in Sight. — First 
 Impressions. — Description of the Palace. — Outer Wall. — Bastions. 
 — Gorgeous Fa9ade. — Octagonal Bastions. — Gate-way. ^Delinea- 
 tions of Animals and Birds. — Inner Area. — Inhabited Portion. — Its 
 Plan. — Rich Gate-way. — Corinthian Capitals. — Arch overthrown 
 by Earthquake. — Long Inscriptions. — Nabathsean or Pelvic? — Pe- . 
 culiar Bricks. — Large open Hall. — Vaulted Roof. — Inner Door- 
 way. — Peculiar Capitals. — Large inner domed Hall with alcoved 
 Recesses. — Inner Chambers. — Construction of the outer Wall. — 
 Hollow Bastion. — The Palace never finished. — The Builders inter- 
 rupted. — No local Tradition of its Origin. — Probably Chosroes II., 
 of Persia, its Builder, a.d. 614. — Campaign of Chosroes. — Con- 
 quest of Syria. — Capture of Jerusalem. — Sudden reverse. — Advance 
 of Heraclius, a.d. 624. — The whole East reconquered by Rome. 
 A.D. 632. — IiTuption of the Saracens. — Final Devastation of the 
 CountiT. — Its Disappearance from History. — Sassanian Origin of 
 tlie Palace confirmed by its Architecture. — ]\Ir. Fergusson's Opin- 
 ion. — El Ah'la. 
 
 Not many ruins could be descried from Ziza east- 
 ward ; for the low limestone range, which bounds 
 the eastern limits of the plains of Moab, rises about 
 twelve miles off. To the north the traces of former 
 population were numerous. One pile, apparently a 
 khan, we could distinctly make out with our glasses. 
 Zadani had told us that it stood beyond the great 
 hadj road, and was, he believed, a ruined khan, built
 
 RIDE FROM ZIZA. 211 
 
 by Saladin (to whom every thing great, and not clear- 
 ly Christian or Roman, is here referred), but that it 
 contained nothing particular, and was just like Khan 
 Zebib, or any other isolated ruin we had seen. It 
 was known to the Arabs merely by the name of 
 "Um Shita," or rather "Mashita" — the former signi- 
 fying "mother of rain or winter;" the latter, which 
 is doubtless the true rendering, being simply " winter- 
 quarters " (Uiiuo). 
 
 Though assured that we should not be repaid for 
 our labor, we had no intention of leaving any ruin 
 unvisited ; and fortunate were we that we trusted not 
 to Arab notions of archaeology. An early start on 
 the morning of February 26 brought us, in an hour 
 and a quarter, after a smart canter and occasional 
 gallop over the grassy plain, to the front of the ruin, 
 just after crossing the hadj road, which, with its 
 countless furrowed tracks, presents exactly the same 
 characteristics as at Khan Zebib, farther south. 
 
 The ride was diversified by the starting of two 
 herds of gazelle, and of the desert fox {Cams nilo- 
 tiais), and afforded a good opportunity of noticing the 
 mode of deposition of the rich soil of the uplands of 
 Moab. The peculiar phenomenon of the many knolls 
 of limestone rock rising out of the soft, level plain of 
 red earth may be easily explained, when we watch 
 the action of the sudden showers on the furrowed 
 sides of the eastern range, and the sweep of sediment 
 which comes down with the floods, and deposits a 
 fine top-dressing on the plains.
 
 212 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Originally the whole of the highlands must have 
 been simply a wide terrace, about thirty-five miles 
 in breadth, rugged and uneven, between this eastern 
 range and the crest of the western mountains of 
 Moab. Water action has, in course of ages, carried 
 down the debris, and deposited it in the inequalities 
 of the surface, until it has at length left only the 
 innumerable knolls and ridges on which all the old 
 cities stand. Had the country been without these 
 excrescences of rock, affording unlimited facilities for 
 cistern excavation, and for the storing of water sup- 
 plies, it is utterly impossible that it could ever have 
 sustained, as it has done, a vast resident and agricul- 
 tural population. With them, there is nothing requi- 
 site beyond a settled government and the reparation 
 of the old cisterns and conduits to enable a popula- 
 tion as dense as of old to resume the occupation of 
 these alluvial plains. 
 
 Suddenly drawing rein in front of Mashita, after 
 a headlong dash at a herd of gazelle across the hadj 
 road, we were astonished at the unexpected magnifi- 
 cence of the ruins, unknown to history, and unnamed 
 in the maps. It has evidently been a palace of some 
 ancient prince. There is no trace of any town or 
 buildings round it. The only remains outside the 
 walls are those of a deep well near the south-west 
 corner. It must have stood out on the waste in soli- 
 tary grandeur, a marvelous example of the sumptu- 
 ousness and selfishness of ancient princes. 
 
 We were at first perfectly bewildered by the ya-
 
 A PALACE IN THE WASTE. 
 
 218 
 
 riety and magnificence of the architectural decora- 
 tions. The richness of the arabesque carvings, and 
 their perfect preservation, is not equaled even by 
 those of the Alhambra, though in somewhat the same 
 style. The whole consists of a large square quadran- 
 gle, facing due north and south, 170 yards in extent 
 
 NO. 20. 
 
 INTERIOR OF RUINED l'.\LACE. 
 
 on each face, with round bastions at each angle, and 
 five others, semicircular, between them, on the east, 
 north, and west faces, all, like the wall, built of fine- 
 ly-dressed hard stone. 
 
 But it is on the south face that the resources of
 
 214 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Eastern art have been most lavishly expended. There 
 are here six bastions, besides the corner ones ; for the 
 fretted front, which extends for fifty-two yards in the 
 centre of the face, has a bold octagonal bastion on ei- 
 ther side of the gate- way. This gate-way is the only 
 entrance to the palace; and on either side is the most 
 
 NO. 21 
 
 l> VIL W \\ <>1 1 \] \i L 
 
 splendid fa9ade imaginable, of which our photographs 
 alone can convey a correct idea. The wall is eight- 
 een feet high, and covered with the most elaborate 
 and beautiful carving, nearly intact, and hardly in- 
 jured either by time or man. 
 
 On the flat wall itself runs a large pattern, like a
 
 ANIMALS AND BIRDS. 
 
 215 
 
 continued W, with a large rose boss in each aiigle. 
 These stand out boldly from the plane of the wall. 
 Every inch of their surface, and all the interstices, are 
 carved with fretted work representing animals, fruit; 
 and foliage, in endless variety. The birds and beasts 
 are fully represented, and not, as in Arab sculpture, 
 melting into fruit or flowers, but correctly drawn. 
 
 ()( TA(;()N TOWER. 
 
 There are upward of fifty animals, in all sorts of atti- 
 tudes, but generally drinking together on opposite 
 sides of the same vase — lions, winged lions, buffaloes, 
 gazelle, panthers, lynx, men ; in one case a man with 
 a basket of fruit, in another a man's head with a dog 
 below ; peacocks, partridges, parrots, and other birds.
 
 216 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 More than fifty figures stand in line, with vases, on 
 the west side of the gate- way. All are inclosed in 
 cornices and moldings of conventional patterns, and 
 the interstices filled in with very beautiful adaptations 
 of leaves. 
 
 The side east of the gate-way is without animal fig- 
 
 No. 33. 
 
 FALLEN ARCH. 
 
 ures, excepting two on the panel next the gate. The 
 fa9ade is even more delicately sculptured than the 
 other side, but with fruits and flowers only, festoons 
 of vine-leaves and grapes predominating. 
 
 On entering the gate-way, the square inside seems
 
 GATE-WAY AND ARCHES. 217 
 
 to have been divided into three parallelograms, the 
 side ones forty-six, and the centre sixty-six yards in 
 width. The two side parallelograms extend along 
 the whole length of the inclosure. The centre one 
 has been divided into three sections. The first sec- 
 tion is covered with the foundations of numerous 
 chambers, well arranged on either side, seventeen or 
 eighteen in number, but none of the walls rising much 
 above the ground. They have probably been intend- 
 ed as guard-rooms for the soldiers. The next section 
 has contained no buildings, but has had a large fount- 
 ain on the west side ; and there are uncertain traces 
 of another to correspond, on the opposite side. 
 
 The northern and innermost block of the central 
 parallelogram is entirely occupied by the residence 
 itself. The entrance presents a fii§ade divided into 
 three equal parts, the centre composed of a wide cen- 
 tral gate-way and two side doors. These have con- 
 sisted of three archways supported by massive col- 
 umns of white, hard stone, almost marble, surmount- 
 ed by debased Corinthian capitals. The voussoirs of 
 the arches have all fallen to the ground, but in per- 
 fect order, evidently overthrown by an earthquake, 
 which has shivered the columns, as shown in the pho- 
 tograph. These arches have been semicircular, very 
 richly fluted, and not unlike our own late Norman 
 work. The rest of this fa9ade, above the three low- 
 er courses, is all of brick, excepting the pillars and 
 pilasters, which, as well as the foundation, are of 
 stone. 
 
 15
 
 218 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 These courses are finely squared and dressed, and 
 covered with long lines of inscriptions in a character 
 quite undecipherable by us, but still very distinct and 
 unmutilated, excepting that, in many places, it has 
 been disfigured by innumerable tribe-marks cut over 
 and between the lines of the original inscription. 
 These later carvings, however, are all very easily dis- 
 tinguishable from the original record, and so appear 
 in a photograph, from the much lighter color of the 
 incisions. Unfortunately, all our photographs of the 
 inscriptions, excepting one fragment, have failed, from 
 an accident before they were developed, and the si- 
 lent story is left for some future explorer to decipher. 
 The characters seemed to me to differ from the ordi- 
 nary Nabatheean, and, so far as memory can be trust- 
 ed, appear like several specimens of the Pelvic char- 
 acter, kindly shown me by Mr, Fergusson. 
 
 The bricks, of which, above these three courses, the 
 whole of the residential portion of the palace is con- 
 structed, differ from any we met with before or since ; 
 nor have I ever found bricks of a like shape and pat- 
 tern elsewhere, though Mr. Tyrwhitt Drake tells me 
 that, when in company with Captain Burton, he found 
 similar tiles employed in a ruined palace north-east 
 of Damascus. These tiles are square and flat, of the 
 shape of Eoman tiles, but much thinner and larger, 
 about three inches thick and perhaps eighteen inches 
 square. The three courses of stone continue, covered 
 with inscriptions, all round the building ; but within, 
 the whole superstructure is of brick, excepting the
 
 NO. 34. 
 
 50 100 
 
 200 
 
 PLAN OF PALACE, mISHITA. 
 
 300
 
 CHAMBERS OF THE PALACE. 219 
 
 pilasters and cornices, with the large stones in the 
 angles, from which the vaulting of the roof springs. 
 
 The triple front gate-way leads into a large hall— 
 which, I think, has never been roofed. On either 
 side are chambers, with lofty vaulted brick roofs still 
 remaining, though decayed in places. The access to 
 these chambers is not from the hall itself, but by a 
 circuitous route, through door-ways at the farther ex- 
 tremity of the hall, right and left, which opens by 
 arched door-ways into various other chambers, from 
 which there is access to these. 
 
 In front of the hall is a wide door-way, with very 
 massive pilasters of finely-dressed stone. The capi- 
 tals of these are very elaborately carved, as shown in 
 the photograph, and certainly of no Greek order of 
 architecture, but revealing rather Persian or Egyp- 
 tian ornamentation. There has been no arch above 
 them, for they simply form the door -way into the 
 grand chamber of the palace, which has had a massive 
 domed roof of brick-work. 
 
 The chamber is about fifty feet square in its ex- 
 treme length and breadth ; but its farther end and 
 two sides form three alcoved apsidal recesses, the an- 
 gles being filled in with solid brick-work, the princi- 
 pal support of the great crypt-like roofs which spring 
 from them. On the right and left of the farther ap- 
 sidal recess are arched door-ways opening into cham- 
 bers behind. One of these has no other exit ; the 
 others open into a still farther chamber, directly at 
 the back of the great chamber.
 
 220 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 The dome being broken through in many places, 
 enabled us to see very clearly the method of con- 
 struction. The spring of the vaulting of all the 
 rooms is from a row of bricks, slightly projecting, and 
 forming a sort of plinth, the projection being contin- 
 ued in the vaulting. In the arches of the door-ways 
 this projection gives them the appearance of Saracen- 
 ic or horseshoe arches, though very nearly semicir- 
 cular. The first row on the face of the arch consists 
 of the square bricks which prevail in other parts ; the 
 next, of the thin rectangular tiles before described, set 
 lengthways ; then a row of the same thin tiles set 
 endways; after which comes the ordinary walling. 
 The two rows of bricks placed faceways have been 
 cemented ; but there are only faint traces of fine plas- 
 tering elsewhere. The mortar is very strong, and, 
 between the bricks of the arches, forms conspicuous 
 broad white bands. 
 
 With the exception of the three chambers behind 
 the central large room, all the other chambers, eleven 
 of them on either side, have but a single access into 
 the farther angle of the great hall. Thus, from any 
 of the inner chambers, it was necessary, as shown on 
 the plan, to pass through three others before reaching 
 the open court-yard. 
 
 Turning now to the outer wall of the whole inclos- 
 ure, we found the circumference perfect all round, 
 varying from five to twenty feet in height. It is very 
 carefully built of beautifully squared stones, each of 
 the same size, and placed alternately lengthways and
 
 THE BUILDING UNFINISHED. 221 
 
 across, so as to bind the whole in one solid mass. The 
 inside and outside faces are dressed with equal exact- 
 ness. In the inclosing wall are cut, at irregular in- 
 tervals, numerous small apertures sloping very sharp- 
 ly downward. They are not defensive loop-holes, for 
 they come out very near the ground, and do not ex- 
 pand as they descend, neither can any view be ob- 
 tained through them, nor archery used. Though no 
 traces of buildings can be observed in this part of the 
 enceinte, yet where these apertures are made are also 
 large stones projecting from the wall, apparently for 
 the purpose of supporting a flooring which has never 
 been laid down. 
 
 One thing struck us much — the very small amount 
 of debris strewn about. Except where the brick- 
 work has become dilapidated, or the walls have been 
 overthrown (evidently, as shown by the cracks, the 
 effects of earthquake), the appearance of the stones is 
 rather that of unused material than of crumbling ruin. 
 The stone is so hard, that it is very little weathered ; 
 and from the absence of ruin, it seems impossible that 
 the bastions can have been much higher than twenty 
 feet. They are all of them solid, with one singular 
 exception. This was the bastion at the north-west 
 angle of the brick palace, which is hollow, with an ac- 
 cess from the outer square, and has a curious little 
 hollow excrescence attached, as if for a look-out into 
 the country behind. 
 
 The state of the external sculptured fa9ade proves 
 that it was never finished. As may be seen in the
 
 222 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 photographs, several of the stones have their sculp- 
 tures incomplete. The masonry has been put into its 
 place and then carved in situ. In the portion east- 
 ward several of the rose bosses are finished, and stand 
 out above the walling, which has never been carried 
 so high. We searched carefully, but in vain, for any 
 sculptured fragments among the debris, and could 
 only come to the conclusion that the builders had 
 been suddenly interrupted, and had left unfinished the 
 decorative part of their plan. 
 
 Of tradition the Arabs have absolutely none, though 
 they have on many other ruins — for instance, on the 
 tower of Um Easas, The name Mashita conveys no 
 idea, except that it is often used as " winter-quarters" 
 for the flocks and herds. Of this there was abundant 
 evidence in traces left by the heaped ordure of sheep 
 and goats in all the vaulted chambers. We may fair- 
 ly presume that, whoever were the builders, they had 
 left no permanent impression behind them among the 
 tales and traditions which linger so tenaciously among 
 the Arab tribes, and go back to the Jewish and Eo- 
 man periods. 
 
 The palace is no relic of Saladin or the Caliphs, 
 else it would be recognized as such by the Bedouin, 
 who are eager enough to ascribe every thing they can 
 to their early heroes. Besides, the existence of the 
 human and animal figures proves its ante-Moslem ori- 
 gin. But there is no trace of Christian work; and in 
 the Eoman times we can not conceive of so sumptu- 
 ous and truly Oriental a palace being erected in a
 
 INVASION OF CHOSROES. 223 
 
 lonely -wilderness, away from cities, and from any 
 military road. The character, also, of the work, and 
 the sculpture, point to a late date. Many of the de- 
 tails are decidedly Byzantine in type ; and in the ex- 
 uberant decoration we have the model of that em- 
 ployed in the Saracenic palaces, as in the Alhambra. 
 We found no other ruin in the whole country which 
 bore the slightest resemblance to Mashita, either in 
 situation, design, or execution. 
 
 The whole question continued to be an insoluble 
 mystery to us while we remained in the country; and 
 it was only on our return that Mr. Fergusson prompt- 
 ly and kindly solved the problem for us, and gave the 
 key to it, referring it to the Sassanian dynasty of Per- 
 sian kings, and to the history of Chosroes II., and fix- 
 ing the date to be a.d. 614. 
 
 The story of the conquests and the defeat of Chos- 
 roes, the greatest prince of the Sassanian dynasty, is, 
 perhaps, a nearer parallel to the conquests and over- 
 throw of the great Napoleon than any other event in 
 history,* 
 
 Under the miserable reign of the Emperor Phocas, 
 of infamous memory, Chosroes, with the Persian ar- 
 mies, overran, a.d. 611, the whole of Northern Syria 
 and Asia Minor. He then advanced to Damascus, 
 and, after reposing his troops in that paradise for a 
 season, invaded and reduced Galilee, and the region 
 beyond Jordan, which offered him a stout resistance, 
 
 * Gibbon, chap. xlvi.
 
 224 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 and delayed for a time the siege of Jerusalem, which 
 was finally taken by assault a.d. 614. "The sep- 
 ulchre of Christ and the stately churches of Helena 
 and Constantine were consumed, or at least damaged, 
 by the flames; the devout offerings of three hundred 
 years were rifled in one sacrilegious day ; the patri- 
 arch Zachariah and the true Cross were transported 
 into Persia; and the massacre of 90,000 Christians is 
 imputed to the Jews and Arabs, who swelled the dis- 
 order of the Persian march." 
 
 Egypt itself, the only province " which had been 
 exempt since the time of Diocletian from foreign and 
 domestic war, was again subdued by the successors of 
 Gyrus. Pelusium, the key of that impervious coun- 
 try, was surprised by the cavalry of the Persians." 
 
 His western trophy was erected, not on the walls 
 of "Carthage, but in the neighborhood of Tripoli; 
 the Greek colonies of Cyrene were finally extirpated ; 
 and the conqueror, treading in the footsteps of Alex- 
 ander, returned in triumph through the sand of the 
 Libyan desert." "From the long-disputed banks of 
 the Tigris and Euphrates the reign of the grandson 
 of Nurshivan was suddenly extended to the Helles- 
 pont and the Nile, the ancient limits of the Persian 
 monarchy." 
 
 We read that, " conscious of this fear and hatred, 
 the Persian conqueror governed his new subjects with 
 an iron sceptre ; and, as if he suspected the stability 
 of his dominion, he exhausted their wealth by exor- 
 bitant tributes and licentious rapine ; despoiled or de-
 
 ADVANCE OF HERACLIUS. 225 
 
 molislied the temples of the East; and transported to 
 his hereditary realms the gold, the silver, the precious 
 marbles, the arts and the artists, of the Asiatic cities," 
 "He enjoyed with ostentation the fruits of victory, 
 and frequently retired from the hardships of war to 
 the luxury of the palace." The details of his more 
 than Oriental pageantry, carefully collected by Gib- 
 bon from contemporary writers, almost pass belief; 
 960 elephants, 20,000 camels, 6000 horses, as many 
 guards, and 3000 concubines, to say nothing of the 
 gathered piles of precious metals, give some idea of 
 his lavish magnificence. 
 
 It was during this transient period of splendor that 
 the then obscure prophet of Arabia wrote a letter 
 to the great king, inviting him to acknowledge Am, 
 Mohammed, as the prophet of God. Chosroes scorn- 
 fully tore the letter, little forecasting how soon the 
 Arabian would be master of the East. But this was 
 not to be in his time. Yet he only held together his 
 vast empire for fourteen years. 
 
 In A.D. 623 the emperor Heraclius, with incredible 
 daring, commenced the reconquest of the East ; and 
 never, in her grandest days of power, did the eagle 
 of Eome swoop more magnificently than in its dying 
 throes, when in the space of three years Heraclius 
 penetrated to the very heart of Persia, compelled 
 Chosroes to return from a distant expedition, to re- 
 call his troops from Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, 
 captured Ispahan and Salban, and in them the flower 
 of the Persian nobility and youth.
 
 226 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 In vain Chosroes attempted to strike a retaliatory 
 blow at Constantinople. Baffled there, he returned 
 to meet the triumphant Heraclius in his third expe- 
 dition, at Mosul, over the ruins of Nineveh, where on 
 the 1st December, a.d. 627, the Eomans were com- 
 pletely victorious, and Chosroes died miserably, a de- 
 posed fugitive, in a dungeon, by the hand, or the com- 
 mand, of his own son. Two years afterward Heracli- 
 us visited Jerusalem, and celebrated his triumph ; and 
 all seemed fair and secure in the Eastern empire, with 
 every rival not only defeated, but utterly crushed, on 
 its frontiers. 
 
 It was but a short-lived respite. In a.d. 632 the 
 hordes of Saracen horsemen under the command of 
 Abou Obeidah and Caled poured into the Roman 
 province of Arabia, which embraced Idumea, Moab, 
 and all the country east of Jordan. They speedily 
 overran it, slaughtered its inhabitants, and captured 
 the fortress of Bozrah, the stronghold of the country, 
 five days' march north of the Arnon. Up to the 
 time of their arrival at that stronghold, we are told, 
 they met with no resistance; and, indeed, it is evi- 
 dent that none of the towns of the plains of Moab 
 could, from their position, have sustained for more 
 than a day the onslaught of these warriors. 
 
 From that hour the whole of this region disappears 
 altogether from the page of history. Retired from the 
 route of armies, it has been without fortress, town, or 
 inhabitants, to invite a conqueror ; inaccessible to or- 
 dinary troops from the west, it has remained without
 
 BUILDERS THE REAL DESTROYERS. 227 
 
 the record of one single event on its soil, and its east- 
 ern plains untrodden by European foot till yesterday. 
 
 Too proud to cultivate — happily, too careless to 
 destroy — the incurious Bedouin has roamed over its 
 rich pasture-lands, never tempted to loosen a stone, 
 for he needs no building materials, and content if the 
 old cisterns and arches afford a shelter in winter for 
 his flocks. 
 
 In every land it has been the builders, rather than 
 the conquerors, who have obliterated the remains of 
 antiquity. The abbeys of England have been the 
 quarries for manor-houses; the Coliseum has sup- 
 plied the materials for Eoman palaces ; the stones of 
 many a Syrian temple have found their place, first, in 
 a Christian church, and finally in a Moslem mosque. 
 But the Bedouin needs no mosque ; and thus, since 
 the first fury of the victors spent itself, time has been 
 aided by earthquakes alone, and not by man, in the 
 decay of the cities of Roman Arabia. Thus Mashita 
 has remained intact. 
 
 The resume of the history of Chosroes seems to 
 solve every difficulty about the deserted palace, even 
 apart from the architectural features which point to 
 its chronology. Chosroes held this country for only 
 fourteen years at the utmost. Such a mere passing 
 wave of desolating conquest would not be likely to 
 leave any clear or distinct traditions to linger through 
 many generations. The building is certainly neither 
 Jewish, Greek, Roman, nor Saracen, either in its plan 
 or its details. It can only, therefore, be either Per-
 
 228 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 sian or Arabian. We know there was a dynasty of 
 Christian kings in Arabia after the time of Constan- 
 tine; but we have no reason to believe that their 
 power extended into this unquestioned Koman prov- 
 ince ; and even had it done so, it is difficult to con- 
 ceive why an indigenous dynasty should ever have 
 selected such a situation for a palace. Mr. Fergusson 
 has pointed out that there are details in the work- 
 manship which can scarcely be older than the time 
 of Justinian ; and at that period the Arabian kings 
 certainly held no sway so near the Jordan. 
 
 But Chosroes is celebrated for the sumptuous pal- 
 aces which he caused to be erected wherever he went; 
 and this palace is constructed very much on the same 
 ground-plan as his other edifices, although the details 
 of the workmanship are very different. 
 
 He is recorded, after wintering in Damascus, to 
 have invaded Egypt, and that with vast swarms of 
 cavalry. This place would lie in his natural road 
 from Damascus to the Kile, one quite as easy for 
 horsemen as the more westerly route. We are told 
 that he carried away many thousands of Greek and 
 Syrian captives, whom he employed on his works. 
 Some of these he may have employed to erect here a 
 hunting-box, for his sojourn when he passed this way ; 
 for we know that he was passionately attached to the 
 chase. As we have seen, the palace has been sudden- 
 ly abandoned, before it could be completed. This is 
 at once accounted for, if Chosroes be its builder, by 
 the advance of Heraclius, when he was compelled to
 
 MR. FERGUSSON's OPINION. 229 
 
 recall his troops from Egypt and Syria, and, of neces- 
 sity, to abandon his works. The Romans held the 
 country but ten years longer, and a solitary building 
 in this remote corner had little chance at that time to 
 be mentioned by any contemporary writer. The Sar- 
 acens had no object to secure in either destroying or 
 utilizing a defenseless, solitary, half-finished pile. 
 
 Mr. Fergusson has pointed out several architectural 
 details which convince him that there is internal evi- 
 dence of the palace being the work of Chosroes. He 
 writes: "The capitals of the outer portals of the brick 
 palace are more like those of the golden gate-way at 
 Jerusalem than others I know, and, if they were alone, 
 might be as old — viz., Constantine's time. But the 
 inner ones could not possibly be carved before Jus- 
 tinian's time : and they are even more certainly inte- 
 gral. It is not quite impossible that the outer ones 
 may have been brought from some of Constantine's 
 buildings at Jerusalem, which Chosroes is said to have 
 destroyed. But this theory is by no means necessary 
 for the date. The Corinthian capital, with very slight 
 change, lasted down to the tenth century." 
 
 A Persian architect employing Byzantine workmen 
 might be expected to produce just such a work as 
 this. Many of the details of the sculptured fa9ade 
 much resemble fragments of late Byzantine work at 
 Constantinople; and it was from this that the Sara- 
 cenic style of decoration was developed. 
 
 Mashita, as well as Ziza, seems to have been point- 
 ed out from a great distance to Captain Warren ("Ex-
 
 230 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 pedition East of Jordan, Palestine Exploration Fund," 
 vol. i., p. 293), and we could see several known points 
 from its walls — viz., Ziza, Jebel Shihan, Jebel Sa- 
 raik (whence Captain Warren saw it), Herri, and Jelul. 
 The only ruin to the eastward was a large fort or 
 town about ten miles off, N.N.E. (bearing 220°), in 
 the hills, looking very like Um Rasas, at the foot of 
 an opening in the mountain range, and called by the 
 Arabs Kirbet el Ah'la, We were assured there were 
 no other ruins to be found anywhere to the eastward; 
 and certainly the bare, verdureless hills held out no 
 promise of discovery, though we have ever since re- 
 gretted that we did not push on to El Ah'la.
 
 A SECOND DAY AT MASHITA. 231 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Second Visit to Mashita.— Expedition to Kustul.— Imperial Eagle.— 
 Interesting Character of the Remains of Kustul.— Castellated Tem- 
 ple. —Corinthian Pilasters. —Nabathffian Inscriptions.— Larger Cas- 
 tle. — Vaulted Chambers and massive Bastions. — A Greek Altar ex- 
 humed. —Walls for collecting Water.— Kustul-Castellum.—Thenib. 
 — Rujum Hamam.— Views of the Belka.— Southward Migration of 
 the Beni Sakk'r. — Move Camp toward the West. — Azabarah.— 
 Jebel Jelul.— Magnificent Panorama.— Sufa.— Trained Falcons.— 
 Women Water-drawers. —Arrival at our camp.— Visit from Fendi 
 y Faiz. — Entertainment of the great Sheik.— Photographing of 
 the Princes.— Escort of the Hadj.— Parting with the Sahan.— De- 
 lay at Habis.— Descent of the Wady Habis.— Junction with the 
 Zerka Ma'in.— Contrast between the Highlands of Moab and the 
 Mountains. 
 
 February 27.— So unexpected and interesting had 
 been the discovery of Mashita, that a second day was 
 not grudged for its more accurate exploration and 
 photographing, especially as Buxton found that, in 
 the excitement occasioned by its elaborate carvings, 
 he had taken two sets of photographs on the same 
 plates, and, after toiling at developing till midnight, 
 had only one good negative to show. 
 
 But time was precious, and accordingly, attended 
 by our old lance-bearing dervish, Sherouan, I set out 
 alone to examine the rest of the ruins to the north 
 of us, where three deserted cities could be made out; 
 and so to finish our map of this part of the Belka as 
 
 16
 
 232 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 soon as possible, while the rest of the party revisit- 
 ed the Persian palace. 
 
 We all began to feel the effects of the climate, and 
 that our camp was not in a spot conducive to health. 
 The thermometer at 24° Fahr. at night, a lump of 
 solid ice in our basins in the morning, and then the 
 scorching heat of the day drawing up the moisture, 
 made the neighborhood of the tank, convenient as it 
 was, rather a fever-trap ; and premonitory symptoms 
 warned us to move. 
 
 Forty-five minutes' rather quick riding due north, 
 across a grassy plain, with scarcely an undulation, 
 brought us to the first ruins, called Kustul, Game 
 was abundant on the way ; and it was curious to see 
 flocks of mallard and pintail feeding among the stunt- 
 ed scrub, in most unlikely ground for duck, who, how- 
 ever, seem able to accommodate themselves to cir- 
 cumstances. A fine imperial eagle sat quietly on the 
 carcass of a kid till I was within ten yards of him, 
 showing his white shoulders in fine contrast with 
 his dark plumage. But I had only small shot; and 
 though successful against the sand-grouse which, plov- 
 er-like, kept skimming past in flocks large and small, 
 I was tantalized by fox, wolf, and wild-cat— all in 
 turn offering an easy opportunity for a rightly pro- 
 vided collector. This fox of the plains seems to be 
 the same as the Egyptian. In the evening I found 
 that Trotter, riding in another direction, had shot 
 on the plain a duck which proved to be a hybrid 
 between mallard and pintail, the fac- simile of the
 
 A CASTELLATED TEMPLE. 
 
 233 
 
 SO - called bimaculated duck of " Yarrell's British 
 Birds." 
 
 Arrived at KustuI, I found it a ruin of quite dif- 
 ferent character from any we had previously visited. 
 There is the ordinary mass of ruins, caves, walls, and 
 arches innumerable, extending over the west side of 
 
 NO. 25 
 
 EL KU&TUL. 
 
 the hill ; but those on the eastern side are evidently 
 later accretions on a much earlier and more careful- 
 ly built castle ; or rather on two castles, of which the 
 northernmost and smaller is far the most perfect. It 
 measures thirty yards by twenty, and has a large
 
 234 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 semicircular bastion at the north-west corner, sur- 
 mounted by a balustrade of fluted Corinthian squared 
 pilasters, and an inner staircase leading up to it, still 
 remaining. Inside its south wall is a semicircular 
 niche ; and two capitals of pure white marble are ly- 
 ing in the court-yard. This area is partially filled in 
 with crypts of coarser and evidently later masonry. 
 
 The building would seem to have been originally 
 a fortified temple', and an outwork of the main castle. 
 This stands on the crest of the hill, immediately to 
 the south of the other, and is eighty -four yards square. 
 All round it have been semicircular bastions of solid 
 masonry, six yards in diameter, and a space of four- 
 teen yards between each. The building has been of 
 two stories at least ; but only the lower story now re- 
 mains, with the foundations, and a few arches of the 
 rooms of the upper one. The chambers have run 
 round the inside wall of this castle, having an open 
 area in the centre, in which two columns are still 
 standing. The crypt roof of the lower chamber re- 
 mains, and many of the courses have Nabathsean in- 
 scriptions, marred, as usual, by tribe marks. 
 
 On the ground-floor have been three sets of large 
 principal chambers, on the south-west and north sides, 
 each having a smaller room opening into it on either 
 side, through low door-ways with flat lintel heads. 
 The chambers of the upper story had semicircular 
 arched door-ways of very solid, well-constructed ma- 
 sonry. The size of the lower side-chambers is eight 
 yards by six ; and of the nine main crypts, eighteen
 
 GREEK ALTAR EXHUMED. 235 
 
 yards each by six yards, all opening into the central 
 area. The entrance was in the east face ; and the old 
 castle seems, at the date of the Christian empire, to 
 have been entirely built in by houses, which abut on 
 it with arches and half-arches, like those of Um Rasas, 
 on every side. 
 
 To the north-west of the castle is a large portion 
 of the ancient city, with the usual arches, but also 
 with some singular remains of Greek architecture — 
 one probably a tomb, with elaborately carved lintels 
 of Corinthian character. Below this, again, is a large 
 square tank, in which there was still water. 
 
 The Beni Sakk'r shepherds, who surrounded me 
 with much curiosity as I took the angles from the top 
 of the castle, assured me that they knew of a curious 
 inscribed stone which they had buried, but which they 
 would show me. I accordingly accompanied them 
 down a grassy slope to the south, where they exhumed 
 their carved stone, which proved to be a Greek altar, 
 of pure white marble, without inscription, and the 
 greater part of the hollowed surface at the top broken 
 off to make pestles for their coffee-mortars. In its 
 mutilated state it was twenty-six inches high, and 
 fourteen in diameter, with only part of the saucer- 
 shaped depression left in the upper part. 
 
 A few minutes' ride down the east side of the hill 
 brought me to a massive wall in the plain, built to 
 dam up the water in the gentle depression, which is 
 the head of a wady running westward. The wall is 
 about six hundred yards in length across the valley,
 
 236 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 and eighteen feet thick. Of course it has been neg- 
 lected, and the floods have broken through at the 
 north end of the wall, and worked their way into 
 their old channel, though water runs only after the 
 occasional rains. There is not, however, any grand 
 tank of masonry visible, as at Ziza ; but the deposit 
 of soft soil has here been so great that possibly the 
 most important parts of the old works are now buried. 
 
 The buildings of Kustul were as great a problem 
 to us as those of Mashita. From the attachment of 
 the later arches and dwellings of the Byzantine epoch 
 to their walls, we must place them prior to the later 
 empire. Then the many fragments of fine white mar- 
 ble, certainly not indigenous, and which must have 
 been brought, at great cost, from beyond sea, belong- 
 ed to these earlier castles, which are probably either 
 Herodian or the work of some of the Syrian success- 
 ors of Alexander. Their shape and architecture are 
 of a character perfectly distinct from any we else- 
 where met with. The name, again, of " Kustul " — 
 not an Arabic word — seems to be a corruption of the 
 Latin "castellum," very naturally applied, as the castle 
 par excellence^ to a castle so markedly different from 
 the square block-houses with which the country is 
 studded. But I can find no clue to the history of the 
 place in either Eusebius, the " Itineraries," or the 
 "Notitia." 
 
 After taking observations to fix the site, I rode on 
 due north, and an hour's quick ride brought us to 
 Thenib. The buildings of Thenib cover the whole
 
 THE BELKA. 237 
 
 area of an isolated hill, and are much more dilapi- 
 dated and ruder than those we had recently been 
 visiting. 
 
 Due north from Thenib two miles, I found another 
 ruined heap on a hill, very like the shapeless mass 
 at Kemail, merely an old block-house, to which the 
 Arabs give the name of " Eujum Hamam," " the ru- 
 ins of the pigeons," and well so named. I was now 
 on the edge of the plain, as the hills to the north here 
 begin to rise, forming the conventional boundary be- 
 tween Moab and Ammon, or between the Belka and 
 the Ad wan country. No further ruins were report- 
 ed by Sherouan in this direction, nor could any be 
 seen among the bills north and east; so I turned 
 my horse's head due south to return to our camp at 
 Ziza. 
 
 From Thenib and from Kustul I had the finest 
 views of the Belka, as this country is officially called,* 
 which we had yet enjoyed. But not only was the 
 prospect wide and clear; we had also the opportu- 
 nity of seeing an Arab migration. The law of " cor- 
 
 * The name Belka is applied, in official Turkish documents, to the 
 whole plain of Moab. But in common parlance the slopes of the Bel- 
 ka mean only the cultivated land running down eastward from a line 
 drawn betvA'een Heshban and Medeba, and inhabited by the Belka 
 tribe of Arabs. Yet the Turks are right in giving to the Pasha of 
 Nablous the title of "Pasha of the Belka." for all these plains were 
 for many generations the heritage of the Belka ti'ibe, who about 170 
 years ago were driven westward by the irruption of the Beni Sakk'r 
 from the east, and compelled to exchange their nomadic for their 
 l)resent semi-agricultural life.
 
 238 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 vee," as the Frencli terra it, renders all beasts of bur- 
 den liable to be impressed for the service of an army 
 on the march. 
 
 The small brigade which had been sent for our res- 
 cue still remained waiting in the Wady Na'ur, and, 
 having already exhausted the camels and the patience 
 of the Adwan and the Belka tribes, had sent on an 
 intimation to the Beni Sakk'r that they should re- 
 quire their aid for the transport of troops and bag- 
 gage. The news spread instantly through the tribe, 
 and, without concert, each shepherd at once discovered 
 that the pastures were exhausted, and that he must 
 without delay move southward and eastward. The 
 tribe had been distributed over the whole breadth of 
 the northern plain, in little camps of two or three 
 families each, during the season of lambs and kids. 
 At once there was a general migration southward. 
 Very wonderful was the sight. The whole plain, far 
 as the glass could reach, was covered, not dotted, with 
 herds of camels, goats, sheep, asses, in line and file, 
 spreading over the face of the land. The herds of 
 Abraham, or the flocks of Jacob coming from Paran, 
 could not have equaled these innumerable hordes. 
 On one hill-slope eighty-three camels were counted 
 without turning the head. 
 
 There was not a cloud on the sky, and to the far- 
 thest horizon the moving lines of camels stood out in 
 white dots. We rode past at least seven camps as 
 we returned, each camp containing, on an average, 
 twelve families, and each family averaging twenty
 
 GRIFFON VULTURES. 239 
 
 camels and four hundred sheep and goats. The 
 women were mounted on camels or asses, the men 
 ahead, and the boys bringing up the rear-guard of 
 lambs and kids. Besides those we passed, there were 
 thousands more, moving on the plain on all sides. At 
 one place we saw over one hundred griffon vultures 
 congregated over the carcass of a camel which had 
 just dropped on its march. We charged them in the 
 gallop, and actually rode among them before they had 
 time to rise ; but I had no ammunition. So com- 
 pletely were we upon them, that I struck two with 
 my fowling-piece in the stride. Heavily stretching 
 forward, they commenced by an ungainly run, and at 
 last got their wings, most of them behind us, after we 
 had ridden through them. When they did rise, they 
 actually darkened the air, as they passed in a mass 
 close over our heads. 
 
 We had the first sign of spring to-day in the return 
 of the hoopoe, while a swallow took refuge in our 
 tents ; yet the thermometer was again down to 24° 
 Fahr. My companions had completed a good day's 
 work at Mashita; Hayne had measurements for an 
 exact plan of the palace ; the photographs were suc- 
 cessful, excepting those of the inscriptions; and Trot- 
 ter's gun had done good service, both to ornithology 
 and the kitchen. 
 
 We revisited Kustul to photograph, surrounded by 
 a crowd of curious but most inoffensive visitors, for 
 there was still a large camp close by. No worse 
 harm did they do us than emptying our skins and
 
 240 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 leaving us waterless at luncheon, on a day as hot as 
 the night had been cold. 
 
 From Kustul we turned W.S.W., and in a quarter 
 of an hour reached the ruins of Azabarah. The name 
 suggests some connection with Asabaia, given in the 
 " Notitia," in this part of the country, as the station 
 of the first cohort of Thracians. Possibly the name 
 yet lingers in the local tongue, and this may have 
 been the older city, while the garrison was stationed 
 in the Castellum, a mile off, round which the new 
 town gradually gathered. 
 
 At Jebel Jelul we caught up with the retiring mi- 
 grants from the north-western pastures, Jelul is a 
 remarkable hill, completely isolated, rising three hun- 
 dred feet above the plain, and one of the very few 
 places where I have seen a really uninterrupted pano- 
 rama. It does not seem to have been visited by any 
 traveler, though it is marked in the maps two miles 
 east of Heshban ; but it is in reality very far south of 
 it. It was curious to observe on all sides of us, ex- 
 cept the east, a double rim of hills, the outer just ris- 
 ing sufficiently above the inner to enable us to distin- 
 guish with our glasses the most important points. Er 
 Ram rose above Rasas, Shihan beyond Attarus, and 
 Jebel Jilad (Mount Gilead) beyond Heshban. 
 
 After an hour and twenty minutes' farther ride, we 
 reached Sufa, having passed several camps on our 
 way. Almost every depression had beneath its shel- 
 ter a camp of Beni Sakk'r pitched, halting on their 
 way southward. At one of these we found that the
 
 TRAINED FALCONS. 241 
 
 owner was an old sportsman, and had two fine Saker 
 falcons, well trained and docile. They were last 
 year's birds, and had not yet quite completed their 
 hunting education. We had merely halted for a 
 draught of water ; but the interest shown in his fa- 
 vorites soon opened the heart of the old man, proud 
 of his pets, the ensign and crest of his tribe. Each 
 sat on its movable perch on either side of the tent 
 door. 
 
 The Saker {Falco sacer) is much prized here, and is 
 well known as distinct from the peregrine and the 
 lanner, which latter our falconer assured us was a 
 very sluggish falcon, and worthless for gazelle. He 
 was not to be tempted to sell his birds at any price, 
 and treated the offer of £10 apiece with scorn. These 
 birds — obtained, we were told, from the east, and not 
 from the mountains of the Dead Sea— were the only 
 trained falcons we met with. 
 
 After taking our bearings, half an hour's easy ride 
 down a gently undulating descent brought us to our 
 tents, already pitched, and the English ensign flying 
 by a dirty pond, but with lovely pasturage, starred 
 with a blaze of scarlet anemone, in the Wady Habis, 
 an affluent of the Callirrhoe. 
 
 We had heard in the morning of a great honor be- 
 ing about to be paid us— a visit from Fendi y Faiz, 
 Zadam's father, and the great sheik of the Beni Sakk'r, 
 whose camp was only two hours' ride from the Habis. 
 Daoud had gone on before, to see that proper care 
 ' was taken for his reception, and with orders to kill
 
 242 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 two sheep we bad bought on the way, and to get the 
 Mocha coffee ready. A visit from a king is not an 
 every-day occurrence, and it required all our stock of 
 dignity, coffee, and tobacco to receive Fendi and his 
 three sons all at once. 
 
 On our arrival, we found the old prince there be- 
 fore us, his presence intimated by the number of tall 
 spears stuck in the ground, gleaming by our tents; 
 while a splendid camel, with gorgeous trappings, tow- 
 ered above all the other beasts, and, camel-like, growl- 
 ed his dissatisfaction with all around. 
 
 In front of the tents the best carpet and cushions 
 had been spread, and there sat the gray-bearded chief- 
 tain, in all the dignity of Oriental sovereignty, with a 
 large retinue of followers respectfully squatted in a 
 circle round him. He rose and greeted us in Euro- 
 pean mode, by shaking hands ; and then we all en- 
 tered the tent, which had been fitted up in proper di- 
 van fashion for our visitors. 
 
 He was a man of about sixty-five, with iron-gray 
 beard, strongly marked features, fine and prominent 
 nose, large liquid black eyes, and rather surly expres- 
 sion of countenance; dressed, apparently, in all his 
 wardrobe at once, and perspiring copiously under the 
 oppressive weight of clothing; armed with scimiter 
 and pistol, the sheath, stock, and barrel of which were 
 covered with silver work. Coffee and pipes, which 
 had passed before we came, were repeated, and a 
 heavy conversation of ponderous compliments passed 
 through the dragoman filter. Fendi exhibited great
 
 DEPARTURE OF THE HADJ GUARD. 243 
 
 courtesy, and was with difficulty persuaded to stay 
 for dinner, delicately remarking that we could be 
 only guests in his country. 
 
 Peacefully as the sun went down on this grand 
 fathering, at the close of one of the finest and most 
 cloudless of days, it was no sooner dark than we heard 
 not only of departures, but of war. Fendi y Faiz was 
 off to conduct the hadj for sixteen days toward Mecca, 
 he havincT the guardianship of the pilgrims from the 
 Hauran till six days south of Kerak, for which pur- 
 pose he musters seven hundred camel-men. At the 
 same time Zatum was starting for the east, to revenge 
 the robbery of their camels by a raid on the 'Anizeh, 
 and had summoned all the horsemen of his tribe. Sa- 
 ban was to go with him, to win his youthful spurs at 
 the age of thirteen. 
 
 During the night every one of our Arabs left us to 
 see the departure of the hadj guard and of the raiding 
 party; not even Zadam remained; and our only in- 
 ternational representative was the dervish Sherouan. 
 Even our pantomimic friend, the ibex- hunter, was 
 seized with the war-frenzy, and disappeared with the 
 rest. Accordingly, we spent the morning of Februa- 
 ry 29 in riding over some neighboring ruins, Betan el 
 Bareil, Kirbet el Waleh, and Delailat, a little farther 
 to the east. Before 11 a.m. Zadam returned with pro- 
 fuse apologies. Passing the ruins of Habis in half an 
 hour more, we had left the plains of the Belka, and 
 entered the gorge of the Habis, now out of the Bern 
 Sakk'r, and in the Beni Hamideh country.
 
 244 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 The ride was a most interesting one down the 
 gradually deepening valley, and afforded a splendid 
 illustration of the contrast between the hill country 
 and the pastoral uplands of Moab, into which Eeuben, 
 with his numerous flocks and herds, soon withdrew 
 among the sheep-cots, to hear the bleatings of the 
 flocks; wholly indifferent, from his nomad and pas- 
 toral habits, to the retention of the mountain fast- 
 nesses and the rough agricultural lands, which the 
 Moabites, builders and husbandmen by taste and po- 
 sition, gradually recovered. An opposite rule to that 
 which obtains elsewhere holds good in this country 
 as to the scenery of the water-courses. The valleys 
 all begin in flat plains, as mere depressions, and 
 increase in wildness and grandeur as they approach 
 the wall of the Moab mountains; and then, instead 
 of rolling sluggishly to the end of their course, the 
 streamlets burst through the range, in a series of rap- 
 ids and cascades, to the very edge of the sea.
 
 THE HAMIDEH. 245 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Change from the Highlands. ^ — The Hamideh. — Lords of high and low 
 Degree. — Septs and political Divisions of the Hamideh. — Their 
 Habits and Character. — Ornithology of the Glens. — The Callirrhoe. 
 — An Evening's Fishing. — Geology of the Zerka Ma'in. — Basaltic 
 Streams. — Descent to the hot Springs.— The Baths of Herod. — 
 Hamideh Camp. — Nubian Slave. — A Sulphur Hot-bath. — De- 
 scriptions of Josephus and Pliny. — Ptolemy's Geography. — Sulphur 
 Terraces. — Rapid Deposits. — Basalt and Limestone. — Palm-groves. 
 — Temperature of the Springs. — Natural Formation of Tunnels. — 
 Primitive Vapor-bath. — Arab Traditions. — Legend of King Solo- 
 mon. — Sacrificial Rites. — Strange Plants. — The Shrub of Josephus. 
 — The Sulphur Plant. — Orobanches. — Butterflies and rare Birds. — 
 Ibex. — Sunday at Callirrhoe. — Amateur Physician. — Venison and 
 Butter. — Hamideh horned Cattle. 
 
 The transition from the highlands to the mountains 
 is very sudden. Climate and vegetation at once are 
 changed. At first, at the bottoms of the valleys are 
 many patches of flat ground, covered with the richest 
 herbage. In one of these opens we found a camp of 
 Hamideh, into whose district we had now entered. 
 The first sign of our proximity was a large herd of 
 she-asses and their colts, animals not in favor with 
 the more warlike Beni Sakk'r. The camp consisted 
 of fourteen families. 
 
 Here Zadam halted, and had a long conversation 
 with their sheik. The manner of both — the non- 
 chalance of the one, the cringing deference of the 
 17
 
 246 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Other — was an amusing illustration of the great man 
 talking with the small one. Zadam, by his contract, 
 was bound to conduct us through the whole of the 
 Beni Hamideh territory, and did not wish to have 
 the expense of their sheik accompanying us. But 
 the poor man, who certainly had few opportunities 
 of backsheesh, urged upon him, " Why should you 
 prevent my going with the Franghi and getting a 
 little present, when you get a large one?" Our sheik 
 consented at last, observing to the inferior magnate 
 that at least there was plenty to eat at our camp, and 
 telling us that the Hamideh came at his own choice, 
 and could not demand a gift. 
 
 Our new follower devoted himself henceforward 
 most assiduously to me, as a profitable milch cow, do- 
 ing the civil most oppressively, and kissing my hand 
 on every possible occasion. Honest and inoffensive 
 we found the Hamideh, one and all, but cringing and 
 mean — in fact, with all the characteristics of those 
 who have been accustomed to be treated as an infe- 
 rior race. 
 
 So far from being independent, as is generally sup- 
 posed, and has been stated by some writers, there is 
 not a single sept of the Beni Hamideh (or Hamaidi, 
 as some of them prefer to call themselves) which is 
 not the vassal of some greater tribe. All those north 
 of the Arnon are the " teba'a " (feudal subjects) of the 
 Beni Sakk'r, while those south of it have the worse 
 misfortune of having two masters, being for the most 
 part vassals of Kerak, and at the same time compelled
 
 POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 247 
 
 to purchase the good-will of their neighbors, the Beiii 
 Sakk'r, to whose marauding parties they would oth- 
 erwise be continually exposed. This position has 
 given them a servile tone and bearing, which is all 
 the more noticeable in contrast with the haught}' 
 bearing of the lordly Beni Sakk'r. 
 
 Again, there is no unity in the politics of the 
 Hamideh. A number of petty sheiks, each leading a 
 few families, and loath to acknowledge any superior 
 in their own tribe, are enabled, by the configuration 
 of the country, to hold their several valleys in toler- 
 able security. It is no easy matter to lift cattle across 
 from one wady to another when once they have en- 
 tered the mountain descents. But it is very easy for 
 the lords of the highlands to sally down any ravine 
 they please, and overrun the valleys. 
 
 This position of the Hamideh partlj^ explains the 
 difficulties of most explorers of Moab. They have 
 invariably gone to the wrong tribe, and, learning that 
 the Hamideh possess the sites of the principal ruins, 
 have intrusted themselves to the first petty sheik of 
 the tribe to whom they could get access. These chief- 
 tains were each powerless beyond their own domains; 
 and endless squabbles over paltry backsheesh, and 
 final disappointment, have been the result. Had our 
 predecessors been as fortunate as ourselves, and got 
 under the protection of the suzerains of the whole 
 country, they would have had free conduct over the 
 lands of the vassal tribes, and we should not have 
 been the first to explore a large part of the country.
 
 248 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 We had read that the Hamideh are only semi-nom- 
 ad, and inhabit huts or houses as well as tents. So 
 far as we could ascertain, they live only under can- 
 vas throughout the year, although they do cultivate 
 patches of ground. 
 
 In type tliey show no difference from the other 
 Bedouins; there is no trace of the Syrian fellah, nor 
 does there seem any reason, beyond the bare fact that 
 they inhabit the same region, for supposing them to 
 be the descendants of the ancient Moabites. Their 
 own tradition is that they were driven from the up- 
 lands by the Belka Arabs, who in turn have been 
 squeezed out by the Beni Sakk'r. 
 
 As we proceeded, the cliffs afforded many attrac- 
 tions to artist and naturalist. A spotted eagle {Aqui- 
 la ncevia) was sitting on her nest, beautifully in sight, 
 but ingeniously placed out of reach. For the first 
 time we heard the cuckoo's note resounding in all 
 the glens that run down to the main gorge. The Al- 
 pine swift {Gypselus melba) delighted ns by dashing 
 with lightning speed overhead, up and down the glen, 
 quite safe from the assaults of fowling-piece. The 
 botanical breast was gladdened by many a plant not 
 seen before, as we descended into the warmer regions. 
 The beautiful wild tulip {Tulipa Gesneriana) was the 
 most attractive of the spring novelties, gleaming in 
 brightest dress from the crannies of the rocks. 
 
 The little river of the Callirrhoe is here, indeed, 
 "fair-flowing," completely buried in oleanders, under 
 which, with difficulty, we pushed our horses, over the
 
 AN evening's fishing. 249 
 
 recent tracks of wild boar. Emerging on the other 
 side, we rose a few feet into a little plain, knee-deep 
 in herbage, buried in an amphitheatre of hills, a love- 
 ly tenting spot. By common consent this was the 
 queen of camps, far beyond any we had yet enjoyed. 
 We had descended 1400 feet to-day. The air was 
 balmy, yet not sultry, for we were still high. A pool 
 was soon found, completely covered by oleanders, 
 where we had a delicious bath, the water being deep 
 enough for a header from the rocks, and a good swim 
 afterward. 
 
 A deep basin in the I'ock yielded seventeen fish to 
 two lines in half an hour. Trotter had quickly ex- 
 temporized rod and line, and, with a few worms, drew 
 out the unsophisticated fish as fast as he could bait 
 his hook. Equally astonished were he and the fish. 
 The fish were of the same species as those of the Jab- 
 bok and the Jordan, one of the Cyprinidce {Scaphiodc/n 
 capoeia, Guld.), a chub-like fish ; and a delicious break- 
 fast they afforded us. They were only second to trout, 
 and the best river-fish, next to the Salmomdce, I ever 
 tasted. The Arabs have a prejudice against fish, and, 
 though not holding them unclean, never think of ei- 
 ther catching or cooking them. Great was Zadam's 
 amazement at the device of hook and line, by which, 
 as he said, " the fishes catch themselves." 
 
 March came in, the next morning, like a cloudless 
 June day, with a fresh breeze, thermometer 65°, and 
 the minimum 46° in the night — a change after 24°. 
 We had nearly six hours to the Baths of Callirrhoe,
 
 250 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 heavy walking (for we determined to do it on foot), 
 but magnificent scenery. Three hours brought us to 
 "the beginning of a basaltic torrent, where we were not 
 sorry that our horses overtook us. At first sight the 
 valley would seem to end here in a broad and rather 
 arid bottom ; but really a narrow and rapidly deepen- 
 
 NO. 37. 
 
 KOCKS AT ENTRANCE OF ZERKA MA'IN. 
 
 ing cleft descends from nearly half the height of the 
 mountains on either side. Columns of pentagonal ba- 
 salt, deep black, and, farther on, a wild gorge with the 
 superincumbent limestone strata laid bare in perpen- 
 dicular cliffs, render the track steep and circuitous.
 
 BASALTIC STREAMS. 251 
 
 In parts of the valley the water disappears, dried up 
 by the sun, or sinking into its shingly bed, the ole- 
 anders and the water always keeping company, and 
 preserving each other. 
 
 The irruption of basalt is marked and sudden, and 
 seems exclusively confined to the gorge, which it 
 would appear to have filled in, nearly to the sea, in 
 places to the depth of 1000 feet; while the water has 
 afterward worked its way through the softer adjacent 
 limestone to its old depth. Not only has the upper 
 limestone been always cut through, but also the red 
 sandstone, which is continually showing at one side 
 or other of the gully, where the basalt is thin. 
 
 The gorge soon became too narrow to be passable, 
 the huge boulders and deep chasms forbidding even 
 wild goats to essay its perpendicular height, and we 
 turned up, not to the higher plateau, but to a lower 
 terrace, about 1300 feet above the stream, which ex- 
 tends a mile or half a mile on each side, and then is 
 walled in by steeply-sloping mountain sides. Again 
 we descended, by the most impossible of horse-paths; 
 again we mounted, after once more crossing the ole- 
 ander-shaded stream, and followed for a little distance 
 the brow of what is named the lower plateau. 
 
 Two piles of stones and a crooked old stick, set in 
 one of them, form the landmark for the descent from 
 the plateau to the Jiistorical hot springs of Callirrhoe. 
 Shortly before reaching this point, the waters of the 
 Dead Sea and the whole range of the Judean hills 
 had come well into sight. Before, we had only had
 
 252 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 an occasional glimpse down the vista of the valley. 
 Wild and broken, the views on this pass increase in 
 beauty and attractiveness on acquaintance. Black 
 basalt on the southern, white and yellow limestone, 
 over red sandstone, on the northern side — each forma- 
 tion broken and furrowed in a different way — scarped 
 rocks, and nullahs, like the canons of western Ameri- 
 ca, green with waving date-palms and reeds far down 
 the southern exposure, and a winding line of cane- 
 break among rocks 1000 feet below, with one special- 
 ly magnificent basaltic precipice, barring the valley 
 on its way westward to the Dead Sea — such are the 
 chief features from the top. 
 
 As we descended, right upon the famous baths of 
 Herod, we looked down on a scene of strange enchant- 
 ment. The iron-red rock facing us was gnarled, and 
 contorted into fantastic shapes. The tall palms shaded 
 an exuberant undergrowth of semi-tropical foliage. 
 The stream itself is completely hidden by canebrakes 
 and oleanders, but we could see the bright cascades 
 leaping down the rocks from the hot sulphur springs; 
 and the cloud of vapor rising in long lines told the 
 temperature of the heated waters. The whitish fringe 
 by the edge of each torrent indicated the sulphur 
 with which it is charged. "Last night's camp was 
 perfection; this is Paradise!" exclaimed an enthusi- 
 ast, as we looked down on a little plateau in the dell, 
 and saw the mules beginning to congregate, where 
 the tents were to be erected for a few days' sojourn. 
 
 Before reaching the descent, allured by the birds,
 
 NUBIAN SLAVE. 253 
 
 which had drawn me aside in their pursuit, I had left 
 my horse and the party, and afterward, wearied and 
 thirsty, was right glad to espy some Hamideh tents, 
 where I found two or three of our people loitering 
 with the light animals, and enjoying an Arab gossip. 
 A carpet was at once spread and a bowl of soured 
 milk brought me — a most delicious draught on a 
 broiling day. I reclined against a sack, and soon 
 found I had been ushered into the women's compart- 
 ment, and was an object of great curiosity. All the 
 little ones, from two years old and upward, came to 
 kiss me on both cheeks, in natural expectation of 
 backsheesh. 
 
 Among them was a woolly-haired, nearly black 
 boy, of about three years, with good and beautifully 
 regular features. I asked with some surprise if he 
 were an Arab. "Oh yes; his mother is here; she 
 is a Nubian slave, and my husband bought her from 
 Egypt." The mother was at once called from her 
 work and introduced to me; and though black, she 
 was really handsome, and the only good-looking 
 member of the party. The elderly dame, who did 
 the honors of the tent, stroked her affectionately on 
 the face, and appealed to me as to her comeliness. 
 
 This was the first time I had had a chance of see- 
 ing Bedouin women at leisure, and in their own 
 home; and though the Hamideh have not the best 
 of reputations, we always, during our stay, found them 
 hospitable and unsuspicious. They treated us as sim- 
 ple guests, and never made any difficulties or demands
 
 254 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 beyond the very legitimate one on the tobacco-pouch, 
 which the ladies appreciated as much as their lords. 
 Though my Nubian acquaintance here was a slave 
 girl, she and her children (for she had a six-months- 
 old babe at her breast) seemed to be on terms of per- 
 fect equality with the rest of the family. 
 
 When we had reached the bottom of the pass — no 
 easy task, the upper part nearly as steep as the cliff 
 of Ziz, and strewn with basaltic boulders, the lower 
 portion of our descent down the sloping sides of lime- 
 stone detritus steep as a high-pitched Gothic roof — 
 we next had to force our way through a tangle of 
 trees and canes, and over the rough boulders left by 
 winter torrents. Then we had to scramble over thin 
 sulphur deposits, across hot streams, through sharp 
 and dense canebreaks, or to stumble over rocks, knee- 
 deep in water as hot as could be endured. 
 
 At length we descend from a little table of sulphur 
 deposit, by a few rugged crags, to a small grassy flat, 
 strewn with black boulders, on the north bank of the 
 river, which dashes a few feet below us. It is fringed 
 with a dense line of waving reeds and tamarisk plumes; 
 while to the west, only three yards from our first tent, 
 the largest of the hot springs skips down, in one tiny 
 cascade after another, with a cloud of steam overhang- 
 ing it, and its temperature 130° Fahr., to join the riv- 
 er, ten yards below us. At the junction was a large 
 flat stone, which we constituted our bath-room. On 
 it we could undress, sponge, and take a dip (at least 
 with our feet, if too hot for the body to bear), and
 
 MEDICINAL BATHS. 255 
 
 then turn to the other side of the stone, and in a deep 
 pool have a cold, or at least cool, bath. Surely this 
 is the height of luxury — a Turkish and medicinal 
 bath combined au naturel! 
 
 From our camp we could see down the ravine to 
 its opening, down the far-stretching gorge, where the 
 hills of Judah form a background, the Frank Mount- 
 ain, the chief feature, framed in a rich moulding, on 
 the one side of' basalt columns, and on the other of 
 bright red sandstone. 
 
 This marvelous place is historically famous as the 
 resort of Herod the Great, w^ho sought it in his last 
 illness, to find relief from its medicinal baths. It is 
 especially interesting as having been visited by only 
 three or four parties of Europeans in modern times. 
 Irby and Mangles in 1818, the Due de Luynes in 
 1864, and Dr. Chaplin, of Jerusalem, with Mr. Klein, 
 were the only travelers who seem to have actually 
 visited the springs. Burckhardt passed to the east- 
 ward, De Saulcy did not get so far, and Lynch only 
 ascended a mile from the shore. It is, however, de- 
 scribed both by Pliny and Josephus, but very shortly. 
 The latter (" Antiq." xvii., 6) merely says that Herod 
 "went beyond the River Jordan, and bathed himself 
 in the warm baths that were at Callirrhoe, which, be- 
 sides their other general virtues, were also fit to drink. 
 And this water runs into the lake called Asphalitis."* 
 
 * YloTUfidv TE nepdaag 'lopdavr/v, dep/io'ig toIq Kara KaTiTiipdr/v avrbv 
 wapediSov, dnep avv ry £f navf apery /cat ndrifid eanv. 'E^eim 6e to 
 v6up TovTO eJf 2.t/iv7iv ryv aa^alro^dpov Tieyofievrp;.
 
 256 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 On the statement of the potabihty of the water, it 
 may be observed that, though impregnated with sul- 
 phur, we found some of the warm springs not at all 
 nauseous, and drank of them freely, while we were 
 there, without inconvenience. The water only slight- 
 ly flavored our tea. 
 
 Pliny's account is as brief, but not so accurate. 
 Placing Machgerus on the south, instead of the east, 
 side of the Dead Sea, he says, " On tue same side is 
 the hot spring of Callirrhoe, with medicinal virtues, 
 proclaiming in its very name the fame of its waters." 
 —Pliinj, v., 17.* 
 
 This is almost the only reference of Pliny to the 
 country east of the Dead Sea. In a subsequent para- 
 graph, in his account of the Essenes, he incidentally 
 shows that the contrast in fertility between the east 
 and west sides of the lake was noticeable in his time; 
 for he< speaks of the Jewish anchorets on the west 
 side as avoiding the unwholesome shore, but living in 
 society among the palm-trees, which do not approach 
 the shore on the west side, though they grow to the 
 water's edge on the east. 
 
 Ptolemy's description of this region is extremely 
 vague; and though he mentions Callirrhoe as on the 
 east of Jordan, he inserts Jazer between it and Ma- 
 chgerus, and separates these altogether from the prov- 
 ince of Arabia, in which he places the neighboring 
 
 * Eodem latere est calidus fons medicse salubritatis, Callirrhoe, 
 aquarum gloriam ipso nomine prseferens.
 
 THE CALLIRRHOE. 
 
 257 
 
 towns of Ziza andZoar; while Masada is transferred 
 from Judea to Arabia Petrsea. Kerak, however, he 
 gives in its proper location, under the form ofCharac- 
 moab (Xajoaic/uwa/3). 
 
 To describe Callirrhoe itself is almost as difficult as 
 to photograph it. The latter we found impossible, so 
 far as to obtain a general view of the gorge; for from 
 no place could a complete view of the whole be got 
 into the camera. Buried in a deep cleft of the mag- 
 nificent ravine, the Callirrhoe gives no signs of its 
 neighborhood to the traveler on the heights, or on 
 the lower plateau, which we called the Terrace. It is 
 only on approaching the northern edge of this that 
 one sees the chasm, with its sides sometimes rugged 
 and sloping, a mass of basaltic boulders ; or when we 
 look farther down the course of the stream, built in 
 by a wall of columnar basalt, like Stafta or lona, but 
 1200 feet sheer. 
 
 Looking to the northern side, the general appear- 
 ance of the flice differs much from the southern. Less 
 steep, but more impracticable, and 200 feet higher, 
 the white limestone is unbroken by basaltic streams, 
 and barely tinted with vegetation till near the bottom 
 of the ravine, where the red sandstone appears. From 
 this point it is thickly scarped by deep and precipi- 
 tous nullahs running down to the stream, each of 
 them a mass of canebrakes hollowed by the runs 
 of wild boar, and tall palm-trees waving over them. 
 From the foot of each issues a hot spring; or else a 
 little purling rivulet of smoking-hot sulphurous wa-
 
 258 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ter winds its way down, and then, near the bottom, 
 becomes a series of tiny cascades. 
 
 Great black cliffs of sulphurous deposit fringe the 
 north bank, some of them fifty feet high, and some 
 even 150, formed by the incrustation from the min- 
 eral springs, which is still rapidly increasing. Even 
 these black and volcanic-looking tables are covered 
 with strange and unwonted plants, some of them men- 
 tioned in detail by Joseph us, and referred to subse- 
 quently in this chapter. 
 
 For Roman ruins, or any traces of the residence of 
 Herod during his sojourn here, we searched in vain; 
 nor are any coins left on the surface, as there were 
 in the time of Irby and Mangles. No wonder ; for 
 so rapidly formed is the sulphurous deposit, that any 
 thing the Romans built must now be many feet be- 
 low the surface. The river and the hot torrents sim- 
 ply keep their channels open, burying themselves 
 deeper every year. 
 
 It is to be observed that, while all the basalt is on 
 the south, all the springs issue from the north, and 
 that they all emerge just at the junction of the red 
 sandstone and the limestone. The stratification does 
 not appear to have been much disturbed; but higher 
 up in the ravine the line of the basalt, resting per- 
 fectly horizontally on the limestone, is finely shown. 
 There the wady seems to have been filled in with 
 a mass of conglomerate, of which a pudding-stone, 
 formed principally of well - rounded basaltic blocks, 
 a yard square, is the chief ingredient. Through this
 
 HOT SPRINGS. 259 
 
 filling in the torrent has gradually again worn its 
 way, leaving the huge boulders, which render passage 
 almost impossible. 
 
 The nullahs, studded with palms, are undoubtedly 
 the features of the valley ; and every one of them 
 supplies a hot spring, which sometimes emerges at 
 the top, and comes dashing down; and at others, bub- 
 bles up with tremendous force at the foot, just where 
 the conglomerate begins. 
 
 In a reach of three miles there are ten principal 
 springs. The first, which is not very hot, and only 
 slightly sulphurous, consists of five distinct little 
 springs, which issue from the ground under the rocks, 
 on a little plateau at the base of the caiion. The sec- 
 ond, third, and fourth are similar springs, issuing from 
 the foot of palm nullahs, or canons, above where our 
 camp was placed, each hotter and more strongly im- 
 pregnated than the last. 
 
 The fifth, that already mentioned, which passed 
 close by our tents, is the largest of all, temperature 
 130° Fahr., and rises at the very top of its ravine, 
 half a mile up, at the foot of a cliff', in a mass of 
 brush-wood overhung by palms. Before it reaches 
 the open below, it receives two considerable tribu- 
 taries, bubbling out of the earth and rising several 
 inches in the air. Here it has formed one sulphur 
 terrace after another. At the base of one of them 
 is a curious phenomenon — a group of palm -stems 
 completely petrified into a sort of white, powdery 
 chalk, which crumbles at the touch. The steam of
 
 260 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 this cascade can be seen at the distance of a mile or 
 two. 
 
 The sixth spring starts only at the foot of its 
 nullah. The seventh and eighth springs, the most 
 remarkable, and perhaps the most characteristic of all, 
 start very near together, half a mile lower down than 
 our camp, very high up, but still at the base of their 
 little ravine. Hence there has once 'descended a slop- 
 ing platform of sandstone, which has now been raised 
 to a large flat terrace of sulphur crust and black de- 
 posit, burying, I suspect, the old Roman baths. 
 
 The two springs bubble forth at the foot of a cliff 
 with amazing force, each forming at once a basin a 
 few feet in diameter, from which they flow down but 
 a few yards, when they suddenly disappear under the 
 black incrustation, which looks much like a cinder- 
 heap consolidated, and which is by far the largest and 
 most elevated shelf of sulphur deposit in the whole 
 valley. Under a thin crust one can hear the gur- 
 gling waters working their way pretty close to the 
 surface, till they reach the edge of the cliff, where 
 they form cascades, or, as the Arabs would say, " wa- 
 ter-hills" {jehel moia), into the main stream. 
 
 The springs evidently have buried themselves in 
 tunnels of their own construction ; and elsewhere we 
 could see the process actually going on. The mineral 
 matter is rapidly deposited on each side of the chan- 
 nel ; and gradually the spray, which is incessantly 
 leaving its insoluble sediment on the edge of the 
 crust, forms a dome ; the key-.stone of the arch being,
 
 ARAB INGENUITY. 261 
 
 of course, the last step in this natural tunnel-building 
 process. 
 
 Over these hidden channels the Arabs had in three 
 places very ingeniously constructed their primitive 
 medicinal baths. A basin had been hollowed out 
 large enough for a man to sit in, and at the bottom a 
 hole perforated down to the stream, about six inches 
 in diameter, through which the sulphurous steam 
 rushed up. The patient strips, squats in the basin, 
 throws his burnoose over the bath, and is steamed as 
 long as he can endure the heat. Our Arabs contrived 
 a still hotter bath, immediately over the first exit of 
 the springs, by an ingenious construction of branches 
 laid across a pile of stones on each side, over which 
 they placed brush-wood crosswise, and then, stripping, 
 placed their cloaks over their heads, and enjoyed a 
 parboiling. Some of our party essayed the experi- 
 ment with their clothes on, with the uncomfortable 
 result of a hot ducking, which they were not inclined 
 to repeat. 
 
 The ninth spring is also very large, but, starting 
 higher up in the ravine, is much cooler before its wa- 
 ters are accessible. The tenth and last spring is the 
 hottest of all, its w^aters 143° Fahr., and that some 
 way after it has emerged. Though its cascades are 
 not so fine, it adds, perhaps, the largest and most sul- 
 phurous volume of water of any of the series. Be- 
 low these springs the water of the Callirrhoe becomes 
 very gradually cooler, until at its mouth, seven miles 
 down, it registers 70° Fahr. 
 
 18
 
 1262 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 The Arabs have many strange superstitions and 
 traditions about these springs. We had the greatest 
 difiiculty in keeping our men in good humor during 
 our eight days' camp here, in spite of the abundance 
 of forage, food, and water, and, still more, the oppor- 
 tunity it gave them of indulging in that sweetest of 
 Arab luxuries, the " dolce far niente," because of a 
 proverb, " Take thy bath at the Zerka Ma'in, thank 
 Allah, and be gone." They have a firm belief that 
 the evil spirits let out the water from the lower re- 
 gions because of its healing properties, lest it should 
 assuage the pains of tlie condemned ; but, at the same 
 time, that they are too near for any one to escape in- 
 jury who exposes himself after night-fall to their in- 
 line nee. 
 
 Another tradition is that the springs were opened 
 by a servant of King Solomon, who had discovered 
 these sources of healing to be very near the crust of 
 the earth, and who therefore dispatched this man to 
 tap them, selecting him because of his deafness, lest 
 he should be deterred by the threats of the Evil One. 
 
 In connection with this superstition, we saw the 
 only instance of the practice of sacrifice I ever met 
 with among the Bedouin. On Sunday our muleteers 
 begged for a lamb for dinner, which we gave them. 
 This they carried up to the source of the bath springs, 
 and then chanted long invocations to the deaf servant 
 of King Solomon, who had made these fountains, to 
 hear them, and to preserve to the waters their healing 
 virtues. They then performed a number of strange
 
 BOTANY OF THE CALLIRRHOE. 263 
 
 incantations, stretched the lamb on its back, cut its 
 throat over the spring, kindled a fire, and roasted it 
 whole. As soon as it was cooked, they ate the in- 
 wards, and then the rest of the flesh on the spot, 
 quoting verses of the Koran, and singing deprecatory 
 verses against the powers of evil, during the whole of 
 their feast. When they had finished, the bones of the 
 sacrifice were carefully collected, and, with the ashes 
 of the fire, were calcined by fresh fuel, and finally 
 were all cast into the spring, to avert, as they told us, 
 the ill consequences of the Evil Eye, which had been 
 upon us for our presumptuous camping in the home 
 of the spirits. 
 
 The botanical peculiarities of Callirrhoe must strike 
 even the most unobservant visitor. One plant, an 
 asclepiad {Doemia cordata), which we called "Jose- 
 phus," from the historian's grotesque description of 
 its appearance and properties, we think we have re- 
 discovered. It grows but sparingly, only on the " mo- 
 raines" of the chief sulphur spring, and just below its 
 " glacier." A twining shrub, it supports itself upon 
 itself, the young branches clinging to the dead stems 
 of the previous year. The flower is small, of a dull 
 purple, with a perfectly white centre ; the fruit large, 
 in pairs, and of a most extraordinary shape, something 
 like the pines of an Indian shawl pattern, and exud- 
 ing an astringent, milky juice when broken. Its seeds 
 are in a long string, each winged with a fine cottony 
 down, like the "osher." 
 
 Another plant of very limited area, which we only
 
 264: THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 observed on the sulphur and the basalt rocks near 
 it, we named the sulphur plant. It is a crucifer, not 
 unlike a wall-flower in form and growth, with its root 
 orange, its stem and bark sulphur color, its leaves and 
 fruit-pods a brick-dust orange, and its flowers a paler 
 orange. Every portion of it reeked with the odor of 
 sulphur, and altogether it had a most jaundiced look. 
 
 Splendid orobanches, of two species in particular, 
 one pinkish purple, the other bright yellow, thrive on 
 the roots of the Atriplex halimus, sometimes in large 
 tufts, each flower-stalk more than three feet high, and 
 covered with blossom from the ground upward. An 
 exquisite rose-colored geranium abounds among the 
 stones. Where the soil is a little richer than usual, 
 it is a mass of the night-scented stock ; and the inter- 
 stices of the rock are gay with scarlet ranunculus and 
 masses of sorrel and cyclamen. 
 
 Butterflies of gorgeous hue and great size, papi- 
 liones, and danaides; charaxes, thais, and parnassia, 
 hover over the shrubs. All the birds — which had 
 been the novelties and prizes of my first expedition 
 to the shores of the Dead Sea— the short-tailed whist- 
 ling raven {Corvus affinis), the bulbul, the bush bab- 
 bler, the Moabite sparrow, and many a rare warbler, 
 inhabit the thickets or scan the cliffs above them; 
 while on the green spots between impassible preci- 
 pices both abov^ and below us, we can see the ibex 
 feeding, and tossing back their huge horns till they 
 seem to strike their tails as they bound from rock to 
 rock.
 
 THE HAMIDEH ARABS. 265 
 
 In spite of the interruption of the sacrifice to Solo- 
 mon's servant, against which we vainly remonstrated 
 with our Arabs, by pleading the laws of Mohammed, 
 which forbade it as idolatry, we rarely enjoyed so 
 quiet a rest-day as our Sunday at the Callirrhoe. In 
 the quiet seclusion of that deep glen, after a week of 
 such hard and absorbing work, there was a delicious 
 absence of all that could distract from the holier and 
 higher thoughts of the day ; while the incident of the 
 martyrdom of John the Baptist, in the second lesson, 
 could nowhere have been read more appropriately 
 than almost under the shadow of its scene. Not 
 less in exact harmony with the place and events was 
 Keble's hymn for the day. 
 
 High as is the reputation of Solomon's Springs 
 among the Bedouin for their healing virtues, the pres- 
 ence of a " hakim," even though an infidel dog, seem- 
 ed more attractive to the sufferers in the neighbor- 
 hood ; for many were the visitors from Hamideh 
 camps who found their way down in the afternoon 
 to seek medicine for themselves or their friends — 
 some of them not empty-handed. We had, in pass- 
 ing camps on the heights, been invited to prescribe in 
 various cases, comprising blindness, club-foot, congen- 
 ital lameness, and stiff" joint of twenty years' standing. 
 It was difficult to persuade these mountaineers that 
 any thing was beyond the skill of a European, Our 
 excuses were always put down to ill-will, for they 
 look upon medicine as a sort of magic. Some cases 
 we could relieve, and one grateful wife this afternoon
 
 266 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 brought with her a kid-skin full of fresh butter (" but- 
 ter of kine"), the first we had seen during our jour- 
 ney, and which she offered for a very modest price. 
 
 Another Beni Hamideh brought in an ibex he had 
 shot, and which proved excellent venison. So we did 
 not fare ill for our Sunday dinner. The luxury of 
 fresh butter we owed to our being now in the terri- 
 tory of the Hamideh, the only tribe we met with east 
 of Jordan who keep horned cattle in any numbers. 
 The Beni Sakk'r have none, for they are wholly un- 
 fitted to endure the long migrations of that tribe, 
 though the highlands seem as well adapted for cattle 
 as for sheep. The people of Kerak have only a few, 
 and those at a distance from the city. 
 
 But the Hamideh, in these rocky defiles possessing 
 fresh pasturage shaded from the summer sun, and also 
 open table-lands among the hills for winter feeding, 
 find their cattle the most profitable stock next to 
 goats. Camels they have none, and horses very few, 
 but have considerable herds of asses. The cattle are 
 very small, rough as a Scotch kylo, horned, and scarce- 
 ly larger than the little Brittany race. I do not re- 
 member that we ever saw any other color than black. 
 Among- the Belka Arabs is a different breed of cat- 
 tie, 'much larger, and very varied in color. 
 
 Unlike the sheep, the cattle do not, as yet, find their 
 way across Jordan to the markets of Jerusalem ov 
 Nablous. Beef is a costly luxury, for the bullocks 
 are as valuable for the plow as the heifers are for 
 milch kine.
 
 EXPLOKING A CASTLE. 267 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 V'isit to Machienis. — Delays at Starting. — Superstitions and Obsti- 
 nacy of Muleteers. — Wady Z'gara. — Deep Gorge. — Fine Land- 
 scape. — Ruins of Macliijerus. — The Town. — Roman Road. — For- 
 tress. — Citadel. — Dungeons. — The Baptist's Prison. — Pliny's Ac- 
 count. — History of Machterus. — Josephus's Description. — The Mac- 
 cabees. — Herod the Great. — Fabled Plant. — Siege by L. Bassus. — 
 Identity of the Castle with the Baptist's Prison. — Hamideh Hospi- 
 tality. — Fresh Butter. — Grand Panorama. — Stone Circles. — Expe- 
 dition to Attarus. — Horses lost and found. — A wooded District. — 
 View. — Jebel Attarus. — Kureiyat. — Identity with Kiriathaim. — 
 Attarus and Ataroth. 
 
 Our first care, after settling camp at the hot springs 
 of Callirrhoe, was to ascertain the site of Machaerus, 
 and pay a visit to that spot, which has been vaguely 
 mentioned by two or three travelers (who have fol- 
 lowed the account of Josephus) as being on the south 
 side of the Callirrhoe, near the hot springs, but which 
 has not been visited by any one. 
 
 To explore the castle where John the Baptist was 
 imprisoned and beheaded, and which became so fa- 
 mous by its desperate resistance in the Jewish war 
 against Titus and the Romans, had been a long-cher- 
 ished day - dream, at length to be accomplished. It 
 is strange that, in spite of its historical interest, we 
 should have been the first Western travelers since the 
 Roman times who have ever explored it; for the 
 place, though lying out of the track from north to
 
 268 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 south, is well known to all the neighboring tribes; 
 and its name is unchanged — M'khaur, the exact Ara- 
 bic transliteration of the Greek Ma\aipovg of Jo- 
 seph us. 
 
 We were disappointed of an early start, for Daoud, 
 a servant, and a donkey boy who had been with us 
 on an expedition the day before, and had charge of 
 the camera, had lost their way on the top of the pass,, 
 and, belated in the darkness, had slept at a Beni Ham- 
 ideh camp. Daoud had the housekeeping keys with 
 him, and the prospects of breakfast were poor; but 
 the ingenious Trotter soon extemporized some tackle 
 and secured a good dish of fish in the pools above 
 the entrance of the hot water, while we enjoyed our 
 vapor baths au naturel. 
 
 Meantime the muleteers, seeing indications of a 
 prolonged sojourn, threatened a mutiny, and prognos- 
 ticated every kind of evil from man and demon. 
 Pestilence, robbery, and nocturnal visits from the 
 servant of Solomon, so rudely disturbed in his haunts, 
 were the least of the evils inevitable on our stay. 
 Muleteers are certainly typical Bourbons. They 
 learn nothing, and they forget nothing. Abundant 
 as is the herbage of the glen, the horses and mules 
 were daily driven a weary climb up to the heights, 
 lest the sprites should bewitch them ; and, delicious 
 as is the water in the stream and pools above the hot 
 springs, teeming with fish, no animal was allowed to 
 drink it, because it was warm, and the convoy were 
 daily watered at some dirty rain-pools above the pass.
 
 WADY z'gara. 269 
 
 Our men were only reduced to submission in the mat- 
 ter of stajnng here by a reference to their contract, 
 and the assurance that, if they threw obstacles in our 
 way, they would but prolong our sojourn. 
 
 At length we started, with a Beni Hamideh sheik for 
 our only guide, and a muleteer with the photograph- 
 ic apparatus. We turned upon the south side, and 
 reached the lower plateau, or terrace, in an hour ex- 
 actly. The chinks and crannies of the rocks abound- 
 ed in new and interesting plants, among which the 
 crane's-bill was conspicuous. Just before we started, 
 an intelligent Beni Sakk'r brought in a geranium 
 which even he recognized as rare and curious, and 
 which he had not before seen. It was an exquisite 
 plant, with rich crimson petals, and the centre of the 
 calyx a deep purple. The singular sulphur-loving 
 crucifer was plentiful, and our botanist was bewilder- 
 ed and overpowered by the wild profusion of floral 
 novelties. 
 
 Arrived at the terrace, we found it a wide, stony 
 ledge, quite flat, and well covered with herbage, ex- 
 tending back about a mile and a half, and 875 feet 
 above the river's bed at the point where we climbed. 
 The northern side of the cleft opposite to us descends 
 without any such break, from the centre of the mount- 
 ains to the bottom. Eiding due south, we scrambled 
 up the outer ridge of the inclosing range; and in an 
 hour more we were on the water-shed of the pass, 
 looking down into the next wady, a stupendous ra- 
 vine, very short, and beginning most abruptly from a
 
 270 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 scarped cleft in the Moab range, which suddenly be- 
 comes a sheer precipice, slightly overhanging, 800 feet 
 high, and which must in rainy weather be a magnifi- 
 cent water-fall. It is named Wady Z'gara. 
 
 The gorge seems to go down to the Dead Sea, 
 which could not be more than four or five miles dis- 
 tant in a straight line, by a series of steps, 3800 feet ; 
 and at the mouth of the wady we could see the little 
 green plain and the heap of stones which mai'k the 
 site of Zareth-shahar, or Zara, the only town of Reu- 
 ben on the shore. 
 
 The western shore of the lake was spread before us 
 from the northern almost to the southern end, and the 
 rugged and barren-looking plateau of Judea seemed 
 to lie far below us. Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and the 
 hills of Hebron, the dark oasis of Engedi, all stood 
 out clearly before us. To the north there stretched 
 the plain of Jordan, shining bare, sulphurous, and 
 desolate, with a silver thread issuing from the desert 
 waste into the sea. One dark-green patch alone re- 
 lieved its death-like pallor — the green oasis of Jeri- 
 cho. Mount Gilead stood out to the north, but the 
 haze prevented our enjoying a further view, and we 
 watched a thunder-storm bursting over Jerusalem. 
 
 Descending to the south, we rode round the head 
 of Wady Z'gara, on the brink of the rocky ledge, 
 where the wady suddenly becomes an abyss ; and as 
 our horses walked or ambled on the fringe of rock, 
 not more than three feet wide, at the edge of the 
 crescent-shaped fall, overhanging it instead of retir-
 
 RUINS OF m'khaur. 271 
 
 ing, it needed a steady head to look down, with scarce 
 a foot-breadth between the horse's steps and the edge. 
 
 Mounting the next ridge, which runs westward 
 from the backbone range of Moab, we soon came on 
 an old Roman road, which had formed a paved way 
 from the Callirrhoe to the Herodian fortress, but 
 which is now merely a rugged line of upturned 
 squared stones. 
 
 Following by its side, we passed a bold, prominent 
 cone, with flattened top, and an immense heap of 
 stones, the remains of some old city on the ridge at 
 its shoulder, and soon after reached the ruins of 
 M'khaur — the town, not the fortress. They covered 
 perhaps a larger area than any site we had yet visit- 
 ed ; but though we rode through and through, we 
 could not find a single relic worth photographing. 
 
 The ruins occupy a group of undulating hillocks, 
 and cover, in solid mass, more than a square mile of 
 ground. The place can never have been strategically 
 defensible, and must have depended for its security 
 on the castle above. Round the ruins, on all sides, 
 are gentle slopes, rising into the surrounding and 
 higher hills. 
 
 These slopes are all cultivated for corn (rather a 
 novel sight to us) by the Hamideh, whose neighbor- 
 hood was also indicated by the equally unusual oc- 
 currence of a small herd of horned cattle feedino-. 
 Among these rugged mountains we are out of the 
 land of camels, and are in the hill country of cows 
 and asses.
 
 272 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 One ruin, M'khcaur, possessed, in common with the 
 more eastern Moabite cities, a small temple toward 
 the sunrising, on exactly the same plan, and of the 
 same size, as those already described at Zebib and Um 
 Weleed. It is plain, therefore, that, up to a period 
 not far removed from its final destruction, fanatic 
 as may have been its Jewish population, there must 
 have been a large proportion, either Greek or Syrian, 
 who enjoyed full liberty to practice the rites of the 
 sun-god worship. 
 
 Having looked down the wells of M'khaur, in one 
 of which we found water, while perhaps over a hun- 
 dred into which we peered were dry and choked up 
 with stones, we turned to the north-west, where, sepa- 
 rated from us by a narrow and deep valley, not quite 
 a mile across, stood the ancient fortress, on the top of 
 a conical hill. The line of access was clearly marked 
 by an old Roman road, the line of which we followed, 
 which wound, by a somewhat circuitous course, to the 
 southward. 
 
 Arrived at the southern shoulder of the cone, we 
 skirted its base, at the same level as the town we had 
 left. Below us, in a deep valley covered with rich 
 herbage, was a Bedouin camp, from which several 
 armed men joined us. Riding round the hill, we 
 climbed a lower ridge on the west side, whence the 
 summit is easily accessible, and dismounted. 
 
 The citadel was placed on the summit of the cone, 
 which is the apex of a long flat ridge running for 
 more than a mile from west to east. The whole of
 
 DUNGEONS OF MACH^RUS. 273 
 
 this ridge appears to have been one extensive for- 
 tress, the key of which was the keep on the top of 
 the cone, an isolated and almost impregnable work, 
 but very small, being circular, and exactly one hun- 
 dred yards in diameter. The wall of circumvallation 
 can be clearly traced, its foundations all standing out 
 for a yard or two above the surface ; but the interior 
 remains are few. One well of great depth, a very 
 large and deep oblong cemented cistern, with the 
 vaulting of the roof still remaining, and — most inter- 
 esting of all — two dungeons, one of them deep, and 
 its sides scarcely broken in, were the only remains 
 clearly to be defined. That these were dungeons, 
 and not cisterns, is evidcHt fror» there being no traces 
 of cement, which never perishes from the walls of an- 
 cient reservoirs, and from the small holes still visible 
 in the masonry, where staples of wood and iron had 
 once been fixed. One of these must surely have been 
 the prison-house of John the Baptist. 
 
 Descending on the western side 150 yards, by a 
 very steep slope, we reach the oblong flat plateau 
 which formed the fortified city, at the east end of 
 which, just under the keep, is the wonderful pile of 
 stones, the carefully - collected material of the once 
 formidable fortress. 
 
 There is a weird-like desolation about it, though 
 not the savage nakedness of Sebbeh (Masada) ; for 
 vegetation is abundant, and the hills are all covered 
 with herbage. Yet that heap stands out most spec- 
 trally, 3800 feet above the Dead Sea. Behind us rose
 
 274 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 several higher, but rounded and featureless, summits ; 
 and Jebel Attarus was hid by intervening hills. The 
 view in front, of the west side of the Dead Sea and 
 
 %*n3W'f'i'>l>^''**«9>f§0. 
 
 NO. 28. PLAN OF MACH^RUS, AND THE RAVINES ROUND IT. 
 
 A, Square Fort, b, Citadel, c— d, Western Valley of Josephus. 
 
 the hill country of Judea, with Jerusalem and Nebi 
 Samwil, was simply grand, the details similar to those 
 of the view from the ridge we had crossed in the 
 morning. 
 
 Walking along the ridges to the west, we found, at 
 the distance of a mile, the foundations of two square 
 towers, which had evidently been the outworks of 
 Herod's citadel. Our examination was interrupted 
 by a heavy thunder-storm, from which, however, we 
 found a convenient refuge in a cave on the east side
 
 HISTORY OF MACH^KUS. 275 
 
 of the cone, large enough to shelter uU our party and 
 our horses. 
 
 The history of Machaerus is interwoven with that 
 of the last struggle of the Jews against Kome, and 
 its site is accurately described by Josephus. Pliny 
 also mentions it, but with less accuracy, placing it, 
 correctly enough, to the west of the Arabian nomads, 
 but to the south, instead of the east, of the Dead Sea. 
 lie also calls it the second fortress of the Jews, next 
 after Jerusalem (Pliny, v., 16). But that his state- 
 ment of its position, south of the lake, is an inadvert- 
 ence, is evident from the subsequent paragraph, in 
 which he states that it is on the same side as the 
 springs of Callirrhoe. Machaerus is also mentioned 
 by Strabo (lib. xvi.) among the fortresses on the east 
 side, not far from Jericho. 
 
 But it is from Josephus that we derive the fullest 
 account of this fortress and its eventful history. It 
 was one of the many places east of Jordan fortified by 
 the Asmonean dynasty, at the period when the Jews, 
 under the Maccabees, had recovered more absolute 
 power over these outlying regions than their nation 
 liad ever exercised since the disruption of the king- 
 dom after the death of Solomon — the period to which 
 we may most reasonably assign the building of those 
 crowded cities whose ruins stud the plains and hills 
 of Moab. 
 
 Alexander, the son of Hyrcanus I., the builder of 
 the remarkable castle of Arak el Emir, was its found- 
 er; and after his death his widow, Alexandra, hand-
 
 276 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ed it over to her son Aristobulus. Taken and de- 
 stroyed by G-abinius, it was restored immediately af- 
 terward. But it was Herod the Great, the builder of 
 Masada and Herodium, who rendered it the most for- 
 midable fortress of the eastern side. Perceiving at 
 once its importance, as the south-eastern outpost of 
 his kingdom, he lavished all the engineering resources 
 of the age on its fortifications, and laid up within its 
 walls an enormous supply of military material, and 
 provisions for the support of a besieged garrison. 
 
 Josephus describes its position at some length, and 
 certainly with some exaggeration. But the details 
 of his description are easily identified on the spot. 
 He states (" Jewish War," vii., 6) that the walled por- 
 tion of the place was situated on a very rocky hill, 
 elevated to a great height, thus clearly distinguishing 
 between the fortress on the ridge, just described, and 
 the wide open town which we had previously visited. 
 
 The historian next describes, but neither distinctly 
 nor accurately, the four valleys which form its de- 
 fense. That which cuts it to the west he states to 
 be sixty stadia in length, as far as the lake, agreeing 
 pretty accurately with our calculation of its distance 
 from the sea. This he considers the deepest of all the 
 valleys; but he represents three of them as so deep 
 that the eye can not reach their bottom, and that it 
 would be impossible to throw an embankment across 
 them. The latter statement is certainly true, and the 
 former is an ordinary Oriental hyperbole; and if, as I 
 conceive, Josephus speaks not from personal acquaint-
 
 STRANGE PLANT OF JOSEPHUS. 277 
 
 ance with the locality, but from the descriptions of 
 others, it is very possible that he has confused the 
 deep valley to the north with the ravine of the Wady 
 Z'gara just beyond it, which is far more abrupt, and 
 down the dizzy gorge of which it is not easy to gaze 
 steadily from its edge. 
 
 Strategically, the valleys north and south may have 
 been impassable; but they are not so precipitous as 
 might be understood from the description. The val- 
 ley to the eastward, a branch from the southern gorge, 
 is certainly not less than Josephus represents it — one 
 hundred cubits — and is very steep. 
 
 The wall of the citadel is stated to have been IGO 
 cubits in height, and to have embraced the royal pal- 
 ace. Of these, of course, there are no traces, except- 
 ing the foundations and the enormous pile of stones 
 mentioned above. 
 
 Still less can we identify the gigantic species of rue, 
 which Josephus describes as large as a fig-tree, with 
 its marvelous properties. Some light is, however, 
 thrown on the myth by the description in the next 
 paragraph of the root Baaras^ which is of a flame col- 
 or, growing in a place of the same name, evidently in 
 the Callirrhoe, which the historian speaks of as "the 
 valley that encompasses the place on the north side." 
 It is needless to repeat the grotesque account of the 
 properties of this plant, or the method of obtaining it. 
 We imagined we had discovered the plant which 
 gave origin to the fable, in the strange crucifer, grow- 
 ing by the baths on sulphur deposits, with root, leaves, 
 
 19
 
 278 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 bark, and blossom, all of the odor and color of sul- 
 phur. 
 
 The siege of Machaerus was made by L. Bassus on 
 the east, the only side where an intrenchment could 
 be attempted. The garrison at once abandoned the 
 lower city to its fate, and concentrated all their efforts 
 on the defense of the well-provisioned fortress. By 
 incessant sorties they interrupted and bafSed the Ro- 
 man works; and hence we find no remains, as at 
 Masada, of the great mound of the assailants. The 
 place at length capitulated, in order to save the life 
 of a young, noble, and popular leader, Eleazar, who 
 had been captured by the Romans in one of the sal- 
 lies; and thenceforward Machaerus never appears in 
 history. 
 
 But its all-absorbing interest to us is, of course, its 
 connection with the imprisonment and death of John 
 the Baptist. It is curious to note that Josephus re- 
 cords it as the fortress to which Herod relegated his 
 wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of the Arabians, 
 when she discovered and resented his guilty passion 
 for his sister-in-law Herodias; and that it was also 
 selected by him as the prison of the Baptist, perse- 
 cuted on her account. 
 
 There has been some difficulty raised as to the cor- 
 rectness of this statement, because Josephus immedi- 
 ately afterward (" Antiq.," xviii., v. 2) adds that Ma- 
 chaerus, at the time Herod sent away his wife, was 
 subject to Aretas. He had before stated that it was 
 on the frontier of the kingdoms of Aretas and Herod.
 
 HAMIDEH CAMP. 279 
 
 But as the queen immediately fled from it to her 
 father's residence at Petra, the probable explanation 
 would seem to be that Herod, during the time of his 
 connection with Aretas, had allowed him to occupy 
 it, though he soon afterward resumed it. We have 
 seen already that he had fortified it, and laid in great 
 stores of warlike materials: and he visited it in his 
 last illness. It is, therefore, in the highest degree im- 
 probable that he ever allowed it to pass completely 
 out of his hands; and the account of John's impris- 
 onment is too precise to .admit of the supposition of a 
 mistake on the part of Josephus, respecting an event 
 which must have attracted the deepest interest and 
 attention. We can not, therefore, relinquish the con- 
 viction that, standing on Machserus, we are on the 
 scene of one of the most thrilling and tragic events 
 in Gospel history. 
 
 As we came down from the citadel, the Hamideh 
 from the camp below, who had attached themselves 
 to us for the whole morning, and had most civilly 
 attended us, insisted on our going to the bottom of 
 the southern valley, to visit their camp. As it lay 
 not far out of our course, it was difficult to refuse 
 their hospitality. They were shepherds, certainly not 
 rich, but knew how to give welcome to strangers. 
 About a dozen tents were stretched in a row along 
 the bottom, where there was only level space enough 
 in front to tether the black cattle. These form the 
 chief wealth of the clan, and are brought down, like 
 the sheep, from the mountains every night. Horses
 
 280 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 thej had none. The men were all, with the excep- 
 tion of our hosts, absent with their herds; and as we 
 passed along, the women and troops of little children 
 at once disappeared. 
 
 We were ushered into the farthest and largest tent, 
 which had the women's apartments curtained off at 
 each wing, and was entirely destitute of furniture. 
 Carpets were promptly brought from within, and 
 spread in a circle, and a huge bowl of buttermilk at 
 once passed round. Most grateful was the beverage. 
 We expected nothing more, and motioned to depart; 
 but our hosts solemnly signaled to us to remain. In 
 vain we pointed to the sun, already turning to the 
 westward, and reckoned the hours we had to ride. 
 The old man, who seemed to be the chief, sitting next 
 Hayne, afifectionately embraced his neck, and gently 
 stroked his stomach, while his guest despondingly 
 mused over the plants he should miss if we had to 
 hurry back under the shades of evening. 
 
 Soon savory fumes were wafted over the black hair 
 partition which shut in the women's apartment. The 
 wife of our host made her appearance, actually sat 
 down in front of us, and talked wath our Hamideh 
 sheik, to whose tribe this camp belonged. She was 
 fair, and had remarkably fine and well-cut features, 
 with a refined cast of countenance, and must have 
 been beautiful when young. She was, apparently, 
 about forty years of age. We heard her recount the 
 ailments of an invalid who, as far as I could under- 
 stand, was suffering from liver complaint. Being told
 
 HAMIDEH HOSPITALITY. 281 
 
 I was a " hakeem," the sick man came out, and detail- 
 ed his symptoms. Being without an interpreter, I 
 was obliged to rely on my own Arabic lore, and de- 
 sired them to send the next day for such medicines 
 as I could supply. 
 
 At length the savory dishes appeared — first, a great 
 pile of smoking hot bread, or rather flat cakes, deli- 
 ciously baked, and the best we had tasted since w§ 
 left home; next, a great wooden bowl with several 
 pounds of fresh butter, clean, and just churned. 
 Fresh butter we had never found in our travels be- 
 fore the Zerka, and it was indeed a luxury. Taking 
 a flat loaf apiece, with each morsel we pinched up, 
 Arab fashion, a good lump of butter; and I do not 
 think we got through much less than half a pound 
 of the dainty per head. The presence of a herd of 
 black cattle — unwonted sight — on the slopes behind 
 explained the phenomenon of butter. A little to- 
 bacco and shot was all the compliment we could offer 
 in return ; but we were able to satisfy the hopes of 
 the children, who toddled round the circle for a kiss, 
 with a silver piece for each ; and we left in good odor 
 with our wild hosts. 
 
 We found an easier route by the head of the Wady 
 Z'gara, on our return, and accomplished the ride back 
 in two hours and a half On the top of the ridge, be- 
 tween M'khaur and Z'gara, we had a yet finer view 
 than in the morning. Here, for the first and only 
 time, I have looked on the Dead Sea in unbroken 
 length from south to north. Description is out of
 
 282 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 the question. Beneath was spread the Lisan — the 
 salt mountain and the opening of Wady Zuweirah 
 to the south ; to the north, the mouth of the Jordan, 
 with the dreary Ghor, the fertile Jericho, and the 
 cleft of the Kelt up to Jerusalem. Along the farther 
 shore were Sebbeh, Engedi, Feshkhah, and the range 
 of white cliffs, backed by the rugged hills of Judea 
 seamed with fissures. A grand thunder-storm clear- 
 ing, gave shadows and rain mists, and lent distance 
 and indefiniteness to the view. Far to the right was 
 Kurn Surtabeh, half-way to the lake of Galilee, and 
 Mount Gilead to the north. Still the haze veiled 
 Hermon. The foreground was one of surpassing 
 grandeur; peaks and unfathomable-looking ravines 
 — red, white, and black, as sandstone, limestone, or 
 basalt, predominated — seemed to tumble in wild con- 
 fusion, one on the top of another, till they plunged 
 into the blue waters of the sea; and still the little 
 green oasis of Zara showed, in the opening of the 
 chasm, in front of us. 
 
 We saw many rare and interesting birds to-day, 
 and many fine plants rewarded Hayne's enthusiasm. 
 The scarlet anemone carpeted the higher grounds, the 
 equally gorgeous ranunculus the lower dells. Sev- 
 eral pairs of Tristram's grakle, with their ringing, 
 bell-like whistle, showed themselves, but, when shot, 
 fell hopelessly into the abyss; and a large flock of 
 over a hundred of the rare wedge-tailed raven {Corvus 
 affinis) wheeled for half an hour over our heads as 
 we descended to the Callirrhoe.
 
 STONE CIRCLES. 283 
 
 In the course of this excursion we found, especially 
 on the plateau, several curious circles of stones, simi- 
 lar to those which have been described in the wilder- 
 ness of Sinai, and evidently the work of the prehis- 
 toric inhabitants of the country. They are not so 
 large as the stone circle near Bethel, known as the 
 stones of Beitin, and are composed entirely of basaltic 
 boulders. In this district we observed seven or eight 
 such circles, and repeatedly came upon them after- 
 ward; but here they were not associated with the 
 dolmens, so abundant to the north of the Callirrhoe. 
 The largest blocks were not above four feet in diam- 
 eter, and were neatly arranged in a circle of a hun- 
 dred yards or more in diameter. The small size of 
 the stones seems to show that the men who raised 
 them had no idea of quarrying blocks for this pur- 
 pose, but contented themselves with the material that 
 came easiest to hand. But the absence of dolmens 
 suggests that they may be the work of a tribe whose 
 mode of sepulture was different from that of their 
 neighbors, as here were many small tumuli, varjnng 
 in character from those which occur in the dolmen 
 district. 
 
 Another expedition from the hot springs was to 
 Attarus, the ancient Ataroth, situated about three or 
 four miles east of Macha3rus, and to Kureiyat, an 
 ancient Kiriathaim, Kirjathaim, or Kerioth (Numb. 
 xxxii., 37 ; Josh, xii., 19 ; Ezek. xxv., 9 ; Jer. xl viii., 24). 
 
 Three of our horses had been missing for three 
 days, supposed to be stolen ; and we had some hopes
 
 284 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 that, if they had only strayed, they might be recov- 
 ered on the line of country which leads by Attarus 
 to the highlands. Charged urgently by our mule- 
 teers to sweep the country for their lost beasts, we felt 
 ourselves like Saul traveling after his father's asses. 
 The owner of one of the horses wept like a child as 
 he implored us to find them. Poor fellow, his whole 
 fortune had been invested in his horse, and he owed 
 half the price in Jerusalem, where, returning horse- 
 less, he must go to prison for his debt; and out of 
 the three shillings a day he received from us, he 
 could do little to make up the money. 
 
 Our fame as hakims had spread by this time, and 
 no less than three parties did we meet on their way 
 to camp for medical aid. The first part of our road 
 was the same as that to Machaerus ; but when we had 
 mounted to the crest of the ridge, we left the hill of 
 M'khaur on our right, and wound round the next set 
 of hills by the side of an ancient roadway, of which 
 the engineering, well managed, as it skirted each 
 shoulder, though now worse than useless, could be 
 easily traced. The road was evidently in connection 
 with the one which led down from Machagrus and 
 Callirrhoe to Zara and the sea. We passed an old 
 site. El Hamman, and, winding among deep-cut val- 
 leys, we crossed a charming little stream in a minia- 
 ture ravine, Wady 'K'nif, an affluent of the Callirrhoe. 
 
 The little wadys, rocky and green, were full of 
 bushes, and on the slopes were patches of cultivation. 
 Wheat, barley, and tobacco were laid down, as we
 
 ATAKOTH. OK ATTAR US. 285 
 
 mounted 2500 feet above our camp, and 3500 feet 
 above the sea. Turning sharply to the south, a steep 
 ascent brought us to Kirbet Attarus. 
 
 Uiiwrought stones lying in heaps, ranges of broken 
 walls, lines of foundations scattered over a long ridge, 
 large caverns and circular cisterns — such is all that 
 remains of Ataroth. Out of the caves were, general- 
 ly, growing fig-trees or gnarled old terebinths. A 
 new feature in the district into which we had entered 
 were the number of isolated and venerable trees with 
 which it was dotted, chiefly terebinths, none of them 
 in woods or groves, but growing on hill-tops, sides, or 
 valleys, alike — everywhere singly, solitary sentinels, 
 hanging out signals of distress to their next neighbor. 
 
 The view from the ruined keep is wide and grand. 
 The day was superb, a fresh breeze and warm sun, a 
 delicious air, like one of the first days of summer in 
 England, the horizon perfectly clear; Bethlehem and 
 Jerusalem, Gerizim and Gilboa, visible with the glass, 
 across the sea ; Shihan peering over the plain on the 
 south ; while eastward many a little dot on the wide 
 plain betokened to us the position of the places among 
 which we had been roaming for the last month, as 
 Urn Easas and Ziza. But the castle hill of Machae- 
 rus, only three or four miles to the west, was shut out 
 by the intervening range, which left us no view of the 
 gorge of the Dead Sea, excepting the corner by the 
 plain of Jericho. 
 
 Though Ataroth has been on the top of a hill, yet 
 the summit is a wide flat platform. From this a gen-
 
 286 
 
 THE LAND OJ MOAB. 
 
 tie slope and rise leads us, by the side of an ancieut 
 Eoman road, through a park-like country, to Jebel 
 Attarus, the old citadel, distant an hour's walk. The 
 fortress is actually lower than the town, but, being an 
 isolated mamelon, is more easily defensible, and has 
 evidently been strongly fortified. The ride was in- 
 
 NO. 29. 
 
 TEBEBINTH-TREE ON ATTARUS. 
 
 teresting and refreshing, varied by patches of green 
 corn and trees ; and though the terebinths were still 
 bare and leafless, the almond -trees were already in 
 flower, clothed with a sheet of rosy white, to say 
 nothing of red-berried Oriental mistletoe on their
 
 VIEW FROM ATTARUS. 287 
 
 limbs, and gorgeous tulips in the crannies of the 
 rocks. 
 
 The view from Jebel Attarus is much more cir- 
 cumscribed than that from the town, and the ruins 
 have no special feature of interest. The place, is a 
 flat-topped cone, with the foundations of a wall which 
 has once inclosed the whole crest ; and an enormous 
 pile of stones in the centre, the debris of some very 
 large fort, forms a cairn some thirty feet high. By 
 the side of the heap grows a fine old terebinth. 
 
 Jebel Attarus long did duty for Pisgah, Burck- 
 hardt, passing three miles to the eastward, espied the 
 cairn and the tree, and conjectured them to be the re- 
 mains of the altar and grove of Baal. But no one 
 had mounted the hill. to find that the cairn is more 
 than three hundred yards in circumference, and that 
 the prospect is peculiarly circumscribed. It is also 
 far too much to the south and to the east. 
 
 No traces of building exist here, other than the fort 
 itself. There is, however, an admirable view of the 
 wadys eastward, which feed the two rivers of Moab. 
 We looked northward into the glen at the junction 
 of the Jiffar, the Habis, and the Ma'in, where the 
 three form the Callirrhoe, or Zerka Ma'in. South- 
 ward, we traced the Arnon cleft from Aroer to its 
 mouth ; and we could satisfiictorily ascertain that the 
 intervening country was featureless, with very few 
 ruins. 
 
 We have often found that the Arabs of Moab, like 
 Roderick Dhu's men, start from the hill-sides when
 
 288 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 least expected. Halt for a few minutes anywhere, 
 though there is no trace of human existence near, 
 very soon some Bedouins will spring up. Here, as 
 we sat down to lunch, up came the brother and moth- 
 er of Na'ur, the Hamideh sheik, our solitary guide, 
 who were watching their cattle, lest they should stray 
 
 NO. 30. 
 
 TUE ZEHKA MA'IN. 
 
 among the crops. Then came a stray Beni Sakk'r, 
 an old acquaintance, who had been grievously disap- 
 pointed to find we had left our previous halt, while 
 he, on hospitable thoughts intent, had hurried off to 
 milk his camels for our benefit. He had followed us 
 three miles, and firmly refused a backsheesh.
 
 KlUIATHAIM AND ATAROTH. 
 
 289 
 
 But the most satisfactory recognition was that of 
 our horses. The quick eye of the Hamideh soon es- 
 pied three horses quietly luxuriating in a green patch 
 of wheat on the other side of the hill. They had 
 wandered far, but certainly had good discrimination 
 to find the best pasture. Great was the joy of Daoud, 
 while the Hamideh kissed us all round in an ecstasy 
 of delio-ht. But three days of the sweets of liberty 
 had not yet wearied our steeds, and it was only 
 with much caution, when one of their number had 
 been entrapped, that they were wheedled into fol- 
 lowing our cavalcade, at a careful distance, back to 
 
 Kureiyat was the next place to be visited, about 
 three miles south-east of Attarus, and situated on sis- 
 ter hillocks, half a mile apart, both covered by the 
 ancient city. The ruins are extensive, but utterly 
 featureless; and between them and the Arnon are 
 very few remains of any extent. We can scarcely 
 doubt that this is either Kerioth or Kiriathaim. 
 Whichever it be, the twin hills explain the Hebrew 
 dual and plural terminations, and render superfluous 
 the ingenious conjectures which have been formed 
 on the presumption that the dual termination was 
 merely an attempt to Hebraize a foreign sound. A 
 southern Kureitun, near Kerak, also a twin town, has 
 already been described (p. 114). One of these sets of 
 ruins is, therefore, probably the Kerioth, the other the 
 Kiriathaim of Jer. xlviii., 23, 24. The Kureiyeh of 
 the Hauran, near Bozrah, seems f\ir too distant to
 
 290 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 have been grouped with the other Moabite towns 
 named along with Kiriathaim. 
 
 Eusebius mentions Kiriathaim as close to the Ba- 
 ris, and ten Eoman miles west of Medeba. As this 
 Baris is probably the same as the Baaras of Josephus, 
 it must be either the Zerka Ma'in or one of its afflu- 
 ents ; and the account of Eusebius is, therefore, not 
 very incorrect. Burckhardt has suggested the incon- 
 siderable ruins of Et Teim, near Medeba, as Kiria- 
 thaim ; but he did not visit them. We found them 
 insignificant, and I can see no ground for the conjec- 
 ture, nor any tenable argument for rejecting the claims 
 of Kureiyat to be the Scriptural site. 
 
 Equally clear seems the identification of Kirbet 
 Attarus and Jebel Attarus with the Scriptural Ata- 
 roth and Atroth (Numb, xxxii., 34, 35), or Atroth- 
 shophan. Here we find the same name repeated. On 
 the spot we find two places of the same name two 
 miles apart. The objection which has been raised 
 against the identification (B. D. in loco), that Ataroth 
 is said to have been taken and built by Gad, whose 
 southern frontier was Heshbon, falls to the ground, 
 when we observe (Numb, xxxii., 34) that precisely 
 the same objection would apply to Dibon and Aroer, 
 still farther south than Attarus, and about which 
 there is no question. The true solution seems to be 
 that Gad and Reuben were much intermingled, like 
 Judah and Simeon.
 
 VISIT TO ZAKA. 
 
 291 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Visit to Zara, the ancient Zareth-shahar.-Volcanic Soil.-Kich Bot- 
 any -Descent to Dead Sea.- Ancient Road.- Scouts ahead.- 
 False Alarm. -Beni Sakk'r and their Camels.- Vegetation and 
 Springs of Zara.-Hebrew City.-Baths, hot and cold.-Birds.- 
 Along the Shore.-Rugged Path.-Mouth of the Callirrhoe. -Ro- 
 mantic Glen.-The Ibex-hunter. -A rough Scramble. -Water-fall. 
 -Home at last. -Sunday in the Gorge. -The Ibex and its Habits. 
 -Unsuccessful Hunt. -The Hakim. -Medical Cases. -Ornitholo- 
 gy of the Callirrhoe.-Our Postman robbed. -Topography of the 
 District. 
 
 Having climbed the hills and traced the feeders 
 of the Callirrhoe to their mountain sources, our next 
 aim was to get down to the shore of the Dead Sea 
 by the unvisited Zara, the " Zareth-shahar in the 
 mount of the valley" of Joshua xiii., 19; and after- 
 ward to explore the coast about the mouth of the 
 
 Callirrhoe. 
 
 Warned by our guides that this could not be ac- 
 complished in one day, and that the roads were all 
 but impracticable, we started, prepared to sleep out, 
 with a compact supply of good food; water we were 
 sure to find. Vainly did our Arabs protest against 
 the idea of sleeping in the open, and conjured up 
 alarms of Beni Atiyeh and all sorts of " Titchmanns," 
 or murderous enemies, who were in the habit of 
 prowling in this no-man's land. We knew that, ac-
 
 292 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 companied by Zadam, we need not fear any thing 
 worse than an attempt at horse-stealing. 
 
 The sun had not risen when we were off; and on 
 making the platform on the top of the pass, we turn- 
 ed toward the south-west. The plain was every- 
 where covered with broken fragments of basalt, few 
 of tbem more than ten pounds weight. We had with 
 us Zadam and two muleteers with camera, etc., mount- 
 ed ; while two Beni Sakk'r and three Hamideh on 
 foot, with their long guns, completed the party. 
 
 At the end of the plateau we begin to ascend hills 
 covered with a mass of scoria and volcanic cinders, 
 many in large blocks, but with no solid basalt on the 
 top of the limestone. We now cross the head of two 
 gorges, which start from the same point, to join the 
 Callirrhoe, one on either side of the great basaltic 
 cliff which bars the valley to the south-west of our 
 camp. Soon nodules of hard basalt are mixed with 
 the lighter scoriaB. We pass the crest, and are treat- 
 ed with another series of landscapes of bewildering 
 grandeur; while at our feet every black boulder is 
 framed in the loveliest flowers — a setting, springing 
 one can hardly see whence, and living one can hard- 
 ly think how. ' Geranium, iris, ranunculus, red pop- 
 py, and composite plants of endless variety, especially 
 the geraniaceae, delight us all, and glut Hayne's col- 
 lecting cases. 
 
 We now leave the cinders and crude basalt, which 
 looks just like a mountain of slag left by some Titanic 
 blast-furnaces. The descent to the Dead Sea from
 
 DESCENT TO THE DEAD SEA. 293 
 
 hence is just over 2000 feet — easy at first, but when 
 we leave the limestone and come on the red sand- 
 stone, rugged and precipitous. The strata, as usual 
 at this distance (six miles) from the sea, begin to dip 
 at an angle of 45°. An old Roman or Jewish road 
 is clearly seen, winding in zigzag along the slopes, 
 and here and there carefully built up and paved, but 
 now, for that very reason, wholly useless and imprac- 
 ticable, being reduced to a rough ridge of stones. 
 Near the top of the ridge are the ruins of some old 
 fortress, composed entirely of basalt, and without a 
 name. Not far from it are several stone circles, yet 
 earlier remains, none of the material having been 
 shaped or dressed, and identical in character with the 
 primeval circles mentioned in the last chapter. 
 
 When we have descended about seven hundred 
 feet, our course, for path there is none, becomes very 
 difficult among the red sandstone cliffs, from the mass- 
 es of basaltic boulders which strew it everywhere, and 
 which are piled in wild confusion in the embayed flat 
 of land at the bottom. Scouts are here detached, as 
 the pasturage of Zara is rich and abundant, and no 
 one knows whether Beni Atiyeb, or other freebooters, 
 may not be making free with it. Every now and 
 then we see one of our ibex-hunters signaling to us 
 from some distant crest, after creeping to the brow, 
 and scanning carefully every nook for a possible foe. 
 
 At length the signal is made from far that there 
 are camels on the plain and Arabs on the hills. But 
 soon this disquieting problem is happily solved: they 
 
 20
 
 294 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 are a camp of the Beni Sakk'r — old acquaintances — 
 with whom we had traded for lambs at Um Easas. 
 They had come here with a herd of weakly and nurs- 
 ing camels, in order to feed them on the canebrake 
 tops, which, as Daoud explained to us, are " castor-oil 
 to camels' stomachs." 
 
 Not only was their presence here welcome as old 
 friends, but it was a guarantee that no other loafers 
 could be in the neighborhood, and that we might safe- 
 ly wander at will. Our guard were happy, and ready 
 to spend even two nights here ; for what Beni Atiyeh 
 would venture where a Beni Sakk'r had pitched ? On 
 our asking Zadam how his people had come here, so 
 far out of their own territory, he replied, with mani- 
 fest pride, " True, the land is not ours, but our people 
 are many, and who shall dare to prevent them from 
 going where they please? You will find them ev- 
 erywhere, if the land is good for them." One of the 
 many advantages this, as we had found, of belonging 
 to the strongest, where might is right. 
 
 At length, after three hours' ride, we reached the 
 Dead Sea shore at Zara, which is wrongly placed in 
 the maps, being really three miles south of the mouth 
 of the Callirrhoe, and in a wide, open belt of land be- 
 yond the opening of Wady Z'gara. The surrounding 
 mountain crescent is beautiful, both in form and color. 
 The sandstone, gilded by the sun, presents the most 
 gorgeous coloring, red predominating; but white, yel- 
 low, and brown patches and streaks abound. Groves 
 of tamarisk and acacia, and all the strange tropical
 
 RICH BOTANY OF ZARA. 296 
 
 shrubs of Engedi and the Safieh, the osher alone be- 
 ing absent, gradually give place to huge tufts of a 
 sort of Pampas-grass ten feet high, and then to im- 
 penetrable canebrakes, which reach to within a few 
 feet of the pebbly shore. The shore gently slopes, 
 and the chord of the embayed oasis is about two and 
 a half miles across. 
 
 The plain is full of springs of hot water, sometimes 
 sweet, but for the most part slightly sulphurous, and 
 which make the whole canebrake a swamp. Most of 
 these springs sink into the gravel as they approach 
 the sea ; but three of them continue their course 
 above ground, tumbling over little slabs of limestone 
 and sulphurous incrustation, and forming tiny cas- 
 cades along the edge of the shore. The belt of verd- 
 ure closes abruptly to the north, where the sandstone 
 cliffs form a bold promontory, standing out of the 
 water; but southward it continues, slightly narrowed 
 sometimes to a mile or less, as far as the headland 
 which closes in the view, just north of the mouth of 
 the Arnon. 
 
 There can be no greater contrast than that between 
 this coast-line and the western shore, or the Lisan. 
 There we have the desolate marl, broken only at En- 
 gedi, by a patch of scanty verdure. Here there is 
 not a trace of the marl, and springs and streams of 
 sweet water abound. Clearly, the post-tertiary marl 
 deposit could not hold against these steep cliffs, and 
 has long since been washed away ; for where the 
 rocks do not come sheer to the sea, they break away
 
 296 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 in avalanches of bouMers to the firm pebbly beach. 
 Though chiefly of many-colored sandstone, yet there 
 are many masses of basalt, and also great blocks of 
 pudding-stone formed of rounded boulders of basalt, 
 embedded in carbonate of lime. 
 
 Of Zara, the old Hebrew town of Zareth-shahar, 
 
 NO. 31. ZARA. 
 
 but little remains. A few broken basaltic columns 
 and pieces of wall, about two hundred yards back 
 from the shore, and a ruined fort rather nearer the 
 sea, about the middle of the coast-line of the plain, 
 are all that are left, beyond the identity of name.
 
 ZARA. 297 
 
 Of Koman, or later work, there is not a vestige. Yet 
 these poor relics have an interest of their own. We 
 are looking here on perhaps the only surviving relic 
 of the buildings of the semi-nomad tribe of Reuben, 
 prior to the Babylonish captivity. Of any subse- 
 quent permanent occupation of the site there is no 
 trace. 
 
 The oasis lay entirely out of the highway of the 
 Moabite plain : it leads nowhere, and it is very evi- 
 dent, from the scanty remains elsewhere, that the later 
 colonists never affected the sultry nooks down by the 
 sea, though a few shepherds may have pastured and 
 partially cultivated the fertile soil in winter and spring. 
 Enough is left to show the plan of the place, similar 
 to that of the most primitive villages of Western Pal- 
 estine, as they exist to-day. There has been a sort 
 of central tower or keep, on a little rising hillock, 
 round which the hovels of the village clustered in a 
 circle, surrounded, doubtless, by a wall, of which no 
 traces can be made out. The material must have 
 been chiefly basalt, roughly hammer-dressed, and with- 
 out any attempt at squaring or smoothing the surface. 
 Neither Lynch nor any other explorer appears to have 
 visited Zara. Just to the south is a very conspicuous 
 peak, called Abou Sheebeh. 
 
 The choice of baths at Zara was tempting. First, 
 there was the warm salt sea, in which, or rather on 
 which, to disport and perform aquatic gymnastics. 
 Then one had but to step out and free one's skin 
 from the brine by a mixture of douche and shower-
 
 298 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 bath under the ledge, over which a fresh stream tum- 
 bled to the lake; or, if a warm sulphur bath were 
 preferred, those who had sufficient endurance to bear 
 parboiling had but to go a little higher up, and sim- 
 mer in a bubbling pool of the temperature of 130° 
 Fahr. For myself, a sponge at that heat was quite 
 enough. 
 
 But the air was scarcely cooler than the springs — 
 95° in the shade, and what in the open I do not ven- 
 ture to guess. There was enough, in the amazing 
 richness, novelty, and beauty of the scene to the nat- 
 uralist, to compensate for any rise in the thermom- 
 eter. The familiar note of more than one English 
 warbler struck the ear, and the lesser white-throat, 
 chiff-chaff, and blackcap hopped from twig to twig, 
 enjoying perpetual summer; while large Nubian but- 
 terflies lazily flapped their wings among quaint shrubs 
 and bushes, covered with flower-spikes, yellow, pink, 
 or white, but almost all of them nearly destitute of 
 foliage. 
 
 Thoroughly exhausted at last, we enjoyed our din- 
 ner under the shadow of a rock. The freshly-killed 
 Iamb had been brought ; and though the salt had been 
 forgotten, we found the Dead Sea water an excellent 
 substitute, and its bitter improved the flavor of the 
 insipid viand, while water warm from the cascade was 
 more suited to our heated frames than cold water, 
 which exists not here. 
 
 From Zara we went, by the shore, to the mouth 
 of the Callirrhoe. Trotter alone had sufficient confi-
 
 RUGGED PATH. 
 
 299 
 
 dence in the prowess of his horse, or in the strength 
 of his own bones, to attempt it in the saddle. Our 
 animals followed, led by the muleteers. The distance 
 
 ^^ 32. MOUTH OF THE CALLIRRHOE. 
 
 was about three and a half miles, the track was a 
 scramble on and over large boulders, and on the
 
 300 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ledges and sides of cliffs overhanging the sea — some- 
 thing like the Corniche, only with much richer col- 
 oring. We soon crossed a lovely little gully running 
 down to the sea, and full of palm-trees, Vv^ith a stream 
 at the bottom. One of the most exquisite bits of form 
 and coloring was a bold headland of crumbling and 
 jagged red sandstone, pushing right forward into the 
 water, round which we scrambled. Two other gul- 
 lies had palm-trees, and rivulets of hot fresh-water 
 running down. 
 
 The charm of the coast-line was complete when we 
 reached a triangular spit of land running out into the 
 sea, about half a mile each way, densely clothed with 
 tamarisks and jungle. In a moment, at its southern 
 corner, we were in the bed of the Callirrhoe, at the 
 mouth of its gorge. So narrow is it, you are quite 
 unconscious of it till it is reached. Picture a wild ra- 
 vine, never more than one hundred yards wide, and 
 in some places only thirty, winding between two rug- 
 ged lines of brilliant red cliffs, six hundred feet high, 
 which stand perpendicular, but sometimes seem to 
 meet. The water, in a large and rapid lukewarm 
 stream, rushes to the sea, over and among boulders of 
 granite, sandstone, and conglomerate, under the dense 
 shade of tamarisk-trees, choked with canebrakes wav- 
 ing their tall feathery heads. An emerald fringe of 
 maiden-hair fern hanging from the rocks skirts the 
 line of the stream to the very mouth of the gorge. 
 When we had strolled up some six hundred yards, 
 the limestone first appeared far above us, on the top
 
 A ROUGH SCRAMBLE. 301 
 
 of the red sandstone, but only on the north side ; and 
 here we found the first pabn-trees now remaining in 
 the valley. 
 
 Intent on outdoing our predecessors, if any, and 
 hearing that it was possible to force our way back to 
 camp along the course of the river, we took some 
 views, and dispatched our horses, servants, and guards, 
 to find their way back over the hills southward. This 
 they did by a route they described to us afterward 
 as much worse than the descent to Engedi, and where 
 the animals, led the whole way, had many a fall. We 
 took with us only a Beni Hamideh ibex-hunter as our 
 guide, and started up the glen. 
 
 The deep shade of the gorge was delicious, after 
 the broiling we had had at Zara, and in our scramble 
 along the shore, with the sun beating upon us from 
 the south-west. And now began a series of adven- 
 tures, difficult enough at the time, but most enjoyable 
 in the retrospect. 
 
 Every turn presented a new view. Now leaping, 
 with guns slung on our shoulders, from rock to rock ; 
 now stumbling among boulders, up to the hips in the 
 warm water of the dashing stream ; now struggling 
 through tangled jungle; now climbing slopes of rot- 
 ten debris that looked impassable a few minutes be- 
 fore ; now crawling up a jagged rock on hands and 
 feet ; at length we reached a point, on a shelf at a 
 dizzy height above the stream, where we had just 
 room to stand. We halted for breath, and our ibex- 
 hunter proposed to lead us along a ledge skirting the
 
 302 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 face of a precipice, by a niche a foot wide, with hun- 
 dreds of feet below us as well as above. 
 
 Though Buxton and Trotter were ready for it, the 
 others, being neither ibex-hunters, nor Alpine-club 
 men, rebelled, and we compelled our guide to descend 
 again to the bed of the river. I was in the rear ; and 
 here Hayne had a narrow escape, when, in the descent, 
 I dislodged a boulder of some hundred-weight, which 
 dashed down the ravine with the reverberation of 
 thunder. He was just in its course, when he turned 
 round at the shouts of those above him, and, barely 
 in time, moved out of its' way. We reached the wa- 
 ter, and had now the advantage of our barefooted 
 hunter, who did not relish the sharp points of cane- 
 brakes and jagged rocks. On we waded, through the 
 treacherous depths of the warm stream, plunging 
 sometimes headlong, or pushing through dense jun- 
 gle, till we had rounded the next headland. 
 
 But now, what our Hamideh called a "jebel moia" 
 — i. d, "a mountain of water" — a water-fall, some one 
 hundred feet in height — compelled us to take to the 
 cliffs again. Perched, after a fatiguing and perilous 
 ascent, on a narrow ledge half-way up the cliffs, we 
 saw afar our long cavalcade of horsemen on the op- 
 posite side, looking on us, as we sat, from the dizzy 
 height, too far to signal, but evidently having spied 
 us, and supposing we had lost our way. A short 
 rest, and another tremendous climb was before us. 
 Alas! the folly of attempting such a feat as heavi- 
 ly weighted as an unfortunate British soldier on a
 
 EFFORTS TO REACH CAMP. 303 
 
 march, with gun, pistol-belt, compass-case, field-glass, 
 powder, two shot -belts, bowie-knife and cartridge- 
 case, flask, and other impedimenta^ on one's person. 
 Kindly did my companions relieve me of my super- 
 fluous weight, which they distributed among them, 
 while B. aided me with arm or coat-tails, as the lie 
 of the land permitted. Contemptuous pity showed it- 
 self in the smiles of our ibex-hunter as, at each fresh 
 point gained, I was glad to pause to recover wind and 
 head. 
 
 At length there was an end of this dizzy scram- 
 bling. We gained a curious, flat-topped ridge of 
 limestone, along which we walked. It was not more 
 than two feet wide at the top ; and we looked down, 
 on the one side into the Callirrhoe; on the other, 
 down the slopes of the next gorge, to the north. 
 This ridge stretched for a mile or two. Still there 
 was a long reach, and many a climb up and down 
 cliffs, before camp could be reached. At length, we 
 finally took to the water. Many a stumble and many 
 a tumble were the result. J. indulged himself and 
 his gun in two involuntary hot baths. 
 
 Our last difficulty was to weather a smooth, round- 
 ed clifif, overhanging a small lake of hot water. Now, 
 to have one's head-gear repeatedly abstracted by some 
 thorny creeper, and to be in danger of plunging head- 
 long into a lake of the temperature of 120° Fahr., as 
 you clutch convulsively at the excrescences of an 
 overhanging rock, which are provokingly rounded 
 and smooth, is somewhat trying at the end of a
 
 304 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 day of eleven hours under an Eastern sun, especially 
 when that sun has just gone below the horizon, and 
 vou remember that you are too near the equator to 
 have much twilight to aid you. 
 
 There is no moon, and our camp is divided from 
 us by a hot stream, shut in by walls of crumbling 
 sulphur, and embosomed in the thickest of cane- 
 brakes. Are we near? Our ibex-hunter, who him- 
 self has begun to show signs of fatigue, breaks out 
 into a rhapsody of Arab melody, deafening and ex- 
 cruciating to a musical ear, but welcome now, for the 
 "Alhamdu I'lllali !"—" Praise be to God!"— would 
 not have come forth in such stentorian tones unless 
 we had been near the tents. In another minute we 
 creep under a bamboo thicket, and emerge in front of 
 our homestead, steaming and sodden with hot water. 
 
 A bathe close by, and then gallons of soup, tea, 
 buttermilk, and bitters, cleared off incrustations with- 
 out and quenched thirst within ; and far into the night 
 we sat discussing the haps and the mishaps of the 
 most successful, original, and enjoyable day we had 
 ever had. 
 
 After such a week of expeditions, a Sunday's rest 
 in the depths of the Callirrhoe was welcome indeed ; 
 and the coincidence of the history of the martyrdom 
 of the Baptist occurring in the services of the day, 
 just after our visit to Machserus, as well as the ap- 
 propriateness of Keble's hymn, was not unobserved. 
 We enjoyed, too, the privilege of joining with those 
 at home in the Holy Communion office, though per-
 
 HABITS OF THE IBEX. 305 
 
 haps not after a strictly rubrical fashion. In the 
 afternoon many Hamideh visitors severely tested our 
 medical skill, one woman bringing with her the not 
 unacceptable fee of a kid-skin of fresh butter, while 
 •one of our Arabs brought into camp an ibex he had 
 shot. 
 
 For two days more we rested in this romantic and 
 delicious dell. There was work enough for all in 
 clearing off arrears, though one was rather tempted 
 to sit in the tent door and watch the little herds of 
 ibex through a field-glass, as they gamboled, uncon- 
 scious of our proximity, from point to point among 
 the basaltic columns opposite, on the heights above 
 us. One fellow I could see, as he leaped from needle 
 to needle, tossing back his enormous curved horns 
 till they seemed to strike behind his tail, and then, in 
 his bound, gathering all his four feet and lighting 
 with them all close together on a little point of rock 
 on the face of what seemed a smooth wall of cliff, fol- 
 lowed by the rest of the herd in single file. Once I 
 saw him make a drop, and break the force of the fall 
 by lighting on the front of his horns. The knees of 
 the ibex are singularly adapted for his mountaineer- 
 ing life. Even in the young kid there is a hard cal- 
 lous, without any hair, on the front of the knee; and 
 in the old animal this callous is hard as a camel's foot, 
 with sinews of prodigious strength attached to it. 
 
 But though the ibex were numerous enough, they 
 were not easily got within stalking distance, and the 
 tremendous depth of the ravines rendered it hopeless
 
 306 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 to attempt a second ambuscade when the herd had 
 been once alarmed. Indeed, our sportsmen only had 
 two shots, and those not successful, to reward them 
 for a heavy day's work. One of these, however, was 
 very close ; and had it not been for the awkwardness 
 of his position at the moment, Trotter might have 
 rivaled our Hamideh guide, and brought home two 
 horned trophies. The ibex venison we all pro- 
 nounced to be the best food we had tasted in the 
 country, and infinitely superior to the chevreuil of a 
 Swiss table-d'hote. 
 
 Those of us who did not attempt the feat of ibex- 
 hunting had enough to do at home — one with his 
 photography, and another with his botany. Hayne 
 found himself at his wit's end with a glut of plants, 
 new and strange, every press gorged, every sheet of 
 paper occupied, and every nook of the tent crammed 
 with " hasheesh " — i. e,, cabbage — as our Arabs con- 
 temptuously termed his treasures. 
 
 Medical cases still occupied much of my time. A 
 successful guess in treating one case had raised my 
 reputation, most inconveniently for myself; and my 
 declining to operate on the spot for dropsy was as- 
 cribed to malice; while only prejudice against the 
 true believers deterred me from setting right a stiff' 
 joint where a bullet had been lodging for twenty 
 years. Our pharmacopoeia was not extensive : the 
 most popular remedy was croton-oil — two drops a 
 dose; and invariably a perfect cure was reported. 
 Ophthalmy, the plague of the country, of course, we
 
 ORNITHOLOGY. 307 
 
 could satisfactorily treat, as we were well supplied 
 with caustic and sulphate of zinc. 
 
 Ornithology, had we had more leisure, would have 
 well repaid research in this sequestered glen. The 
 red-winged grakle {Aimjdrus tristrami) sent forth his 
 sonorous whistle, far out of shot, in the cliffs above, 
 but even here proved himself the wildest of birds. 
 The exquisitely -colored Moabite sparrow {Passer mo- 
 abiticus), peculiar to the Dead Sea basin, and discov- 
 ered by us in our former expedition, concealed itself 
 in the thick reeds, or ran up the stems, with a merry 
 chirrup, to pick the seed-tufts. The little sun-bird 
 (Cinnyris osece), with his plumage glancing with metal- 
 lic lustre, puffed out his orange tufts from his shoul- 
 ders, as he hopped among the tamarisk twigs; and 
 many of our English summer birds were enjoying 
 perpetual summer here. The square - tailed raven 
 {Corvus affinis) had a rookery in the basalt cliffs, and 
 a large flock passed over our tents morning and even- 
 ing. This is a most interesting bird to watch — full 
 of antics, and very jackdaw-like in some of its ways. 
 In their flight these ravens often gamboled like the 
 roller, dipping perpendicularly, and performing som- 
 ersaults in the air. They have three distinct notes — 
 an alarm-cry — "whew-ho" — a call-note, something 
 like the jackdaw's, and a whistling, musical caw of 
 satisfaction. 
 
 We had thoughts of moving camp, when an Arab, 
 whom we had sent a week before to Jerusalem, ar- 
 rived with our mails, bringing every one news from
 
 308 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 England, our latest being twenty-three days old. Our 
 postman bad had a narrow escape in coming up from 
 the Jordan Valley. The night before he reached us 
 he had been stopped by a band of robbers, eight in 
 number, belonging to Kerak. On finding he had no 
 money, they threatened to kill him, but contented 
 themselves with opening the packet of letters, and 
 ascertaining that they contained no coin ; and after 
 stripping him, and taking from him the store of to- 
 bacco he was bringing for our servants, finally let 
 him go. Probably he would have fared worse, had 
 he not told them he was a Beni Sakk'r, and that his 
 sheik was in the neighborhood, when prudence in- 
 duced them to give back the packet of letters. 
 
 The band consists of forty men, employed chiefly 
 in horse and. cattle lifting from the Hamideh. They 
 divide themselves into smaller bodies, but have a 
 common rendezvous in the mountains, known only 
 to themselves. The neighborhood of this marauding- 
 band warned us that it was time to move camp ; for 
 though Zadam threatened summary vengeance on 
 any whom he might catch, it was more than probable 
 that some of our horses and mules, which were allow- 
 ed to wander at will on the mountain side, might be 
 lifted during the night, in spite of the sharpest look- 
 out our men could maintain. 
 
 Before leaving this neighborhood we spent an even- 
 ing in catechising the local Hamideh who hung about 
 our camp on the topography of the district. It was 
 difficult to elicit the simplest facts, and most of them
 
 TOPOGRAPHY OF THE DISTRICT. 309 
 
 were utterly ignorant of the country a few miles be- 
 yond their own pasture-grounds. By dint of cross- 
 questioning we made out the names of most of the 
 hills and wadys on either side of us, and ascertained 
 that no ruins had escaped us.* Of one thing they 
 were firmly convinced — that our only object in visit- 
 ing the country was to seek buried treasure, and that 
 we had already been successful. It was in vain to 
 deny or ridicule the notion : they would only quietly 
 smile ; but nothing would disabuse them. 
 
 * The only ruins on the western edge of the plateau, between the 
 Callirrhoe and the Arnon, unvisited by us, seem to be Sug'hat and Ed 
 Deir, both of which we had made out through our glasses. The wady 
 to the south, between Machaerus and the Arnon, is known as Wady 
 Beni Hamideh. To the north we had .Jebel Azzenah, then Wady 
 'Anazeh, Jebel 'Anazeh, and Wady and Jebel Hajilah, apparently the 
 same word as the Hebrew "Hill Hachilah," on the western side. 
 (1 Sam. xxiii., 19.) 
 
 21
 
 810 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 CHAPTER XYL 
 
 Departure from Callirrhoe. — Night Alarm. — Horses stolen. — Pursuit. 
 — Camp Fires.— Wild Seclusion. — Ascent to the Highlands. — Pri- 
 meval Remains. — Dolmens. — Corn-fields. — Gazelle. — Ma'in, Baal- 
 Meon. — Balaam's Progress with Balak. — His Stations. — Medeba. 
 — Pigeons. — Alarm of Shepherds. — Farewell to the Hamideh. — A 
 Beni Sakk'r Farmer. — Tenure of Land. — History of Medeba. — Its 
 Citadel. — Isolated Columns. — Inscriptions. — Colonnaded Square. 
 — Churches. — Immense Reservoir. — Richness of the Soil. — Part 
 with old Friends. — Letter from the Adwan. — A Jericho Naturalist. 
 — Endless Villages. 
 
 At ]eTio;th we must leave the most charmins; of 
 camps, and bid farewell to the rightly-named Callir- 
 rhoe. Our people, full of Arab superstitions, bj no 
 means shared our reluctance. Our first night was to 
 be spent in the upper Zerka Ma'in, where we had 
 pitched on our way down. But, after sending up our 
 convoy by the most direct route, we employed the 
 day in further investigations southward. After a 
 long and interesting detour of ten hours, we reached 
 our old camping- ground, just after sunset, without 
 recognizing . it, and found our white tents already 
 mounted on a lovely slope overhung by fig-trees and 
 oleanders, which shade the stream, at the foot of Jebel 
 Humeh, 
 
 Dinner over, we had a little excitement. We were 
 discussing the plans of the morrow with Zadam, when
 
 CAMP FIRES. 311 
 
 the alarm of thieves was raised, and we were called 
 on to seize our guns. The robber band, of whom we 
 had heard from our postman, had found us out, and 
 had carried off a horse and a mule. They were qui- 
 etly sneaking up the hill with them, and a muleteer 
 in full pursuit, when one of them turned and aimed 
 a large stone at him. The companions of the thief 
 called on him not to fire, lest an alarm should be 
 raised. But Zadam and Daoud were already climb- 
 ing the hill, and a whole volley of small arms was in- 
 stantly fired oSl to warn the robbers of our strensrth. 
 They at once left their booty, and concealed them- 
 selves among the rocks, while a young Beni Sakk'r 
 brought the animals back in triumph, and performed 
 a sort of war-dance round the camp fire. Certainly, 
 after hearing the report of some twenty barrels in suc- 
 cession, they must have been bolder than ordinary 
 Arabs to make a second attempt. Yet soon after, 
 a horse's pickets were loosened, and another alarm 
 given, when a party of men could be seen in the star- 
 light, as they fled up the hills. 
 
 The camp scene was picturesque. The night was 
 now pitch dark ; several great camp fires were blaz- 
 ing, for fuel was plentiful, and the men in circles sat 
 or stood round them, the glare reflecting the gleam 
 of the guns, while the situation was discussed. The 
 jackals howled on one side; the signal-calls of the 
 robbers were detected, very near us, on the other. 
 Sheik Na'ar stood up, Arab fashion, by the fire, and 
 made sonorous proclamation, in terms which re-echoed
 
 312 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 round the inclosing hills (for our camp was complete- 
 ly shut in on all sides), that we were men of peace, 
 and at peace with all ; but that if any one disturbed 
 us, or touched a beast of ours, the sheik of the Beni 
 Sakk'r would shed his blood on the spot, and, after 
 this warning, it would be on his own head. Vigor- 
 ous and partially successful efforts were now made to 
 light up the hills, by kindling the brush-wood and 
 dead trees on the banks of the stream. While the 
 glare was rising, we retired to rest at midnight, lulled 
 to sleep by the calls of our guards echoing round the 
 hills, to keep themselves and their friends awake ; nor 
 had we, after this alarm, any fear of finding ourselves 
 minus a horse before morning. 
 
 Our camp in the valley of the Upper Zerka, though 
 not the most picturesque we had lighted on, was yet 
 a most perfect ideal of wild seclusion. A saucer- 
 shaped dell, into the depths of which the sun can not 
 peer till he has mounted high on the meridian — an 
 oleander-shaded stream running through its centre — 
 a perfect circle of rugged mountains all round, with- 
 out affording a glimpse of any possible entrance or 
 exit (for the stream enters at right angles at one end, 
 and escapes at right angles at the other, with over- 
 lapping hills to cover the passages) — and a lovely 
 slope of rich herbage, fringed by wild fig-trees— such 
 was our sequestered home for the night. We needed 
 no barometer to tell us we were getting into high 
 ground, for the thermometer fell to 39° ; and the cold, 
 with our late vigils, did not conduce to an early start.
 
 DOLMENS. 313 
 
 To the top of Jebel Zerka, as the northern ridge is 
 named, was only half an hour's ride, when we turned 
 and could look down into the basin, where our lag- 
 gard muleteers were still loitering over the embers of 
 the watch-fires. We followed without interruption 
 the track of an ancient road, which continues right 
 across the highlands, by Maon and Medeba, to Hesh- 
 bon. We were now once again on the plateau of 
 Moab, with rocky swellings instead of plains, and 
 with gentle-sloping valleys, the mothers and nurses 
 of the ravines which plow the bowels of the rocks 
 down to the Dead Sea. 
 
 Part of our route was by the side of the Wady 
 'Atabeiyeh, which runs down south to the Zerka, a 
 short and rapidly deepening valley. Here, on a rocky 
 upland bank, we came for the first time upon a dol- 
 men, consisting of four stones, rough and undressed : 
 ihree set on end, so as to form three sides of a square : 
 and the fourth, laid across them, forming the roof. 
 The stones were each about eight feet square. 
 
 From this place northward we continually met 
 with these dolmens, sometimes over twenty in a morn- 
 ing's ride, and all of exactly similar construction. 
 They were invariably placed on the rocky sides, nev- 
 er on the tops, of hills ; the three large blocks set on 
 edge, at right angles to each other, and supporting the 
 massive stone laid across them, which was from six 
 to ten feet square. They are favorite stations for the 
 Arab herdmen, whom we frequently saw stretched 
 at full length upon the top of them, watching their
 
 314 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 flocks. The dolmens appear to be confined to the 
 district between the Callirrhoe and Heshbon : in sim- 
 ilar districts to the south of that region, they never 
 occurred. I have, however, in former visits to Pales- 
 tine, seen many such in the bare parts of Gilead, be- 
 tween Jebel Osha and Gerash. 
 
 NO. 33. 
 
 SKETCH OF DOLMEX. 
 
 It is difficult to understand why they were erected 
 on these hill-sides. I never found one with a fourth 
 upright stone, and in many instances the edifice had 
 fallen ; but in such cases the heap always consisted 
 of four blocks, neither more nor less.
 
 PRIMEVAL REMAINS. 315 
 
 From the shallowness of the soil, there could have 
 been no sepulture here under-ground ; and there are 
 no traces of any cairns or other sepulchral erections 
 in the neighborhood. It is possible that the primeval 
 inhabitants erected these dolmens in many other situ- 
 ations, but that they have been removed by the sub- 
 sequent agricultural races, who left them undisturbed 
 only on these bare hill-sides, which can never have 
 been utilized in any degree for cultivation. 
 
 Still, it is worthy of notice that the three classes 
 of primeval monuments in Moab — the stone circles, 
 dolmens, and cairns— exist, each in great abundance, 
 in three different parts of the country, but never side 
 by side : the cairns exclusively in the east, on the 
 spurs of the Arabian range ; the stone circles south 
 of the Callirrhoe ; and the dolmens, north of that val- 
 ley.* This fact would seem to indicate three neigh- 
 boring tribes, co- existent in the prehistoric period, 
 each with distinct funeral or religious customs. Of 
 course, the modern Arab attributes all these dolmens 
 to the jinns. 
 
 Having reached the crest, we are now on easy rid- 
 ing ground— sometimes flat plain, covered with green 
 corn, or else the gentlest ascents and descents ; while, 
 all along, we follow the tracks of the old road, be it 
 Jewish or Roman, marked by its bold edging of 
 stones, and here smooth between the parallel lines, 
 
 * One cairn only, surrounded by a circle of dolmens, is found in the 
 north-west.
 
 316 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 undisturbed by the wooden plow ; so that we often 
 ride along the centre of the road itself. On all sides 
 are the long lines of foundations, which indicate the 
 boundary-walls of ancient fields or vineyards, perhaps 
 the patrimony of many a Reubenite. Men are plow- 
 ing in all directions with oxen, or sowing barley — 
 the wheat being already six inches high — and flocks 
 of pigeons afford us many a passing shot. 
 
 The territory of the Beni Sakk'r had begun on the 
 top of Jebel Zerka ; but they are no agriculturists, 
 and most of this wide corn plain is tilled for them 
 by slaves, or by their dependent vassals, the Abou 
 Endi. 
 
 A herd of gazelle was started among the corn. 
 Trotter and Buxton went after them on foot, while 
 Zadam and I, having no bullets for our guns, rode 
 hard round the base of the hill to the other side, with 
 the hope of turning them. It was a pretty sight to 
 see the graceful little antelopes trotting gently along 
 the edge of the ridge, just on the sky-line. Unfor- 
 tunately, the wind was against the hunters. On reach- 
 ing the shoulder, and turning sharply round, we found 
 ourselves within twenty yards of the herd, which look- 
 ed at us for a moment, and then, tossing up their 
 heads, bade us farewell, and scampered off in the 
 wrong direction. 
 
 The chase had brought us on to the hills of Ma'in 
 (Baal-meon), with its ruins of vast extent. These oc- 
 cupy the crests and slopes of four adjacent hills — one 
 having evidently been the central city, and connected
 
 BAAL-MEON. 
 
 317 
 
 with the next by a wide causeway. The remains are 
 of the ordinary type— foundations, fragments of wall, 
 lines of streets, old arches, many carved stone, caves, 
 wells, and cisterns innumerable. Some curious cav- 
 ernous dwellings, built up with arches and fragments 
 of old columns, are still occasionally used by the 
 Arabs as folds and sleeping-places. 
 
 Baal-meon had, in the time of the later prophets, 
 reverted to Moab, and must have been a city of im- 
 portance, since it is spoken of by Ezekiel (chap, xxv., 
 9) as " the glory of the country." It continued to 
 the Christian era, and is mentioned by Eusebius, under 
 the same name, as a very large village (kw/xtj fisyiaTti) 
 near the hot springs, and nine miles from Heshbon. 
 He adds that it was the birthplace of Elisha. It does 
 not appear to have been an episcopal see. 
 
 The view from the highest crest is very fine, but 
 too far recessed to show the depression of the Dead 
 Sea. There is a very clear exposure of the southern 
 wall of the Zerka Ma'in ravine; and northward, Je- 
 rusalem, Gerizim, Tabor, Hermon, and Mount Gilead 
 can all be descried, through the distant haze, by the 
 
 glass.* 
 
 * This was a remarkably good position for ascertaining the topo- 
 graphical details of the immediate neighborhood. "West of Wady Ha- 
 bis, a small deep wady, Wady el Bekker, runs down to the Callirrhoe. 
 From Ma'in, a spur of the plateau, forming a sort of ridge, runs due 
 west, called Masloubeiyeh, to tlie north of which the Wady Anazeh 
 descends. A Roman road runs along the ridge from Ma'in as far as 
 the edge of the plateau, where it divides, one branch turning south to
 
 318 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 I have drawn attention to this view, from its bear- 
 ing on the history given us, in Numb, xxii., of the 
 progress of Balaam with Balak. Balak met the 
 prophet at the banks of the Arnon, the frontier of 
 his kingdom (verse 36). 
 
 He then takes him to Kirjath-huzoth, " the City of 
 Streets" (verse 39), probably Kiriathaim (described 
 chap, xiv., p. 290), and its high place, the top of At- 
 tarus, with its commanding prospect. This is the first 
 conspicuous eminence north of the Arnon. 
 
 Then, proceeding northward, the next day he brings 
 him on to the high places of Baal (verse 41), or Ba- 
 moth-l^aal— probably Baal-meon— evidently, from its 
 name, sacred to Baal, and which was changed by the 
 Reubenites into Beth-meon (Numb, xxvii., 38). This 
 was the second position whence he had a command- 
 ing view of the future country of Israel. 
 
 Afterward they proceed to Pisgah, or Nebo (chap, 
 xxiii., 14) ; and finally to the top of Peor, facing 
 Jeshimon — i.e., the ridge north of Nebo and due west 
 of Heshbon — where there is a group of ruins, which, 
 
 the hot baths, and the other descending direct to the shore. We 
 found that Et Teim (the conjectural Kiriathaim of Burckhardt), in- 
 stead of being, as marked on the maps, between Heslibon and Ma in, 
 in the open plain, is really just south of Medeba. Several ruins un- 
 marked on the maps are visible from Ma'in northward, but west of 
 Medeba. Two miles north of Ma'in is Kirbet el K'feir, and about a 
 mile west of the latter is M'Shuggar. In a hollow between these, but 
 to the north, is a small ruined heap, Ilujum Abdallah ; while three 
 miles N.N.W. of Ma'in is Kujum Seyieh. None of these names sug- 
 gests connection with any historical ancient site.
 
 MEDEBA. 
 
 319 
 
 as well as Nebo, will be afterward described. Thus, 
 with every reasonable probability, we have the iden- 
 tification of the four sacrificial stations of Balak and 
 Balaam. 
 
 A ride of an hour and a half, all the way by the 
 line of the Roman road, brings us from Ma'in to 
 Medeba. Medeba, though it does not cover the 
 square miles of Ma'in, has been a city of great im- 
 portance. It is in much better preservation than the 
 former city; and its vast reservoir, some standmg 
 walls, and a few columns still erect, form conspicu- 
 ous features in the landscape from a distance. 
 
 To be again on the open plain, with its long stretch- 
 es of grass, gave a pleasurable sensation of freedom, 
 after our most enjoyable time in the rocky valleys. 
 Much of the country was under cultivation — the 
 Abou Endi on one side of us, the Beni Sakk'r on 
 the other; tents in every hollow, countless flocks and 
 camels. All bespoke security, and mutton and milk 
 in abundance. 
 
 We found our camp already pitched under the 
 shelter of the rising ground of the city, and looking 
 forth to the east, with an uninterrupted view of the 
 plain and its spring tenants. We at once strolled 
 forth, with the best archaeological intentions ; but, 
 finding birds in abundance, were seduced by less sci- 
 entific propensities, and returned at night with heavy 
 bags, and three days' dinners secured. Hearing a 
 somewhat rapid fusillade, really a most innocent 
 slaughter of pigeons, the shepherds in the neighbor-
 
 320 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 hood fled in fright, concentrated, reconnoitred our 
 party riding up the hills, and sent a herald to inquire 
 what the warlike demonstration might mean. 
 
 Being now out of the Hamideh territory, we here 
 finally parted with Sheik Na'ur and all his men. 
 Zadam, too, left us for a few days — a very practical 
 proof that we needed no guards here. The little 
 great man, the humble footman chief of a small 
 mountain tribe, was an amusing contrast to the proud 
 chieftain of the lordly Beni Sakk'r; but he was espe- 
 cially careful to impress upon us that he, too, was a 
 real sheik. There are lords of high degree and of 
 low degree here, as elsewhere. Zadam bows, Na'ur 
 kisses our hands, and is somewhat cringing. The 
 very moderate parting gift of five gold pieces, well 
 earned, was enough to evoke a torrent of gratitude, 
 and affectionate kisses to all the party round. 
 
 Our ibex- hunting friend, whom we nicknamed 
 Abou Bedoun (father of ibex), was at home here, and 
 one of the very few Beni Sakk'r of high degree who 
 turned his attention to agriculture, cultivating the 
 rich soil of the ancient bank and the neisrhborhood 
 of the old city by his slaves, and claiming, though a 
 nomad, distinct personal, and not tribal, possession of 
 the land. This exception to the ordinary Arab sys- 
 tem seems to be admitted without difficulty, where 
 the ground is unsuitable for pasturage, and prevails 
 still more generally among the Abou Endi, the Belka, 
 and other more stationary tribes. It is certainly a 
 tacit recognition of the fact that, however suitable
 
 ANCIENT CITY OF MOAB. 321 
 
 tribal or common enjoyment of the soil may be to a 
 pastoral people, it can not practically co-exist with 
 the simplest or rudest agriculture, but at once gives 
 place to individual proprietorship. 
 
 Abou Bedoun and his friends were very constant 
 evening visitors, as he had pitched his tent hard by, 
 to watch the getting in of his seed, and had an eye to 
 tobacco and other luxuries when the labors of the day 
 were over. But we had the advantage of his local 
 knowledge, and it would have been impossible to 
 find a better guide. 
 
 The remains of Medeba itself indicate a high state 
 of prosperity in the Roman period ; but its history 
 extends centuries further back. It must have been 
 among the most ancient of the cities of Moab, for it 
 is mentioned with Heshbon and Dibon in the antique 
 poem quoted in Numb, xxi., 30, before the conquest. 
 
 Allotted then to Reuben, we find it held for a short 
 time by the Ammonites during the reign of David; 
 for it was before the gates of Medeba, on the fine 
 plain to the east of it, that Joab gained his great 
 victory over them and the combined hordes they had 
 brought to support them, with their 82,000 chariots 
 from Mesopotamia, Syria- maachah, and Zobah — in 
 fact, from the whole region between the Jordan and 
 the Euphrates (1 Chron. xix). In the time of Isaiah 
 it had again reverted to Moab, along with the other 
 towns in this district. 
 
 After the return from captivity, it was alternately 
 in the possession of the Jews and of the Gentile
 
 322 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 tribes, and was the scene of several important events. 
 Here John Maccabseus was captured and slain, for 
 which his brothers Jonathan and Simon took a 
 bloody revenge (Joseph., " Antiq."xiii., 1). It after- 
 ward surrendered to Hyrcanus, at the end of a six 
 months' siege. It remained from that time in the 
 hands of the Jews. It retained its importance in 
 early Christian times, and was an episcopal see, as 
 mentioned by Eusebius. Its bishop appears several 
 times in the records of the Eastern councils. 
 
 Medeba is not, as it appeared to Palmer, looking at 
 it from the higher ground to the westward, in a hol- 
 low, but on the top of a " tell," round which the old 
 city extended a considerable way into the plain east- 
 ward, bounded on the south by the wady of the same 
 name. Taking the top of this "tell" as our centre, 
 where there has evidently been a sort of citadel, we 
 command a view of the whole extent of the ruins. 
 In few places are the lines of roads and streets more 
 clearly to be traced. A gentle declivity on the west 
 side is immediately succeeded by a rise, honey-comb- 
 ed by a labyrinth of caves, which have all been once 
 a depot for the supply of water, stored up for sum- 
 mer use. 
 
 Beyond the base of the hill the city proper does 
 not seem to have extended westward ; but the slope 
 has been a wide suburb of scattered buildings, with 
 several roads, still plainly marked by the parallel 
 double lines of stones, and half-way up has stood a 
 large temple. This has still two columns standing
 
 COLUMNS AT MEDEBA. 
 
 323 
 
 close together erect, conspicuous objects from far. 
 They are only eighteen feet high. It is rather per- 
 plexino- to find that the capitals must nave been 
 mounted on the columns at a later period, subsequent 
 to the destruction of the temple. Each of them is far 
 too small for the shaft on which it stands; while one 
 
 jjQ 34 COLUMNS AT MEDEBA. 
 
 is Ionic, and the other Corinthian. Across them has 
 been laid a large block of stone, which has, at least, 
 performed the useful office of keeping the pillars erect. 
 Passing round by the north flank of the hill, we see 
 extensive foundations outside of the city wall. We 
 found a Greek inscription of five lines on a tablet ;
 
 324 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 and although we could not satisfactorily decipher it, 
 yet it would not be impossible, with time and pa- 
 tience, to do so. We also found, on a very large 
 cornice-stone, a Latin inscription of some length ; but 
 this is hopelessly weathered and past deciphering. 
 On the southern slope of the hill, built into an an- 
 cient wall, was another plain stone, which has borne 
 an inscription, now all but obliterated, and which ap- 
 pears to have been in Phoenician characters. 
 
 The chief extension of the Eoman city has been 
 on the plain to the east of the hill. The wall of cir- 
 cumvallation can be clearly traced. The access to 
 Medeba, on this side, has been by a paved road lead- 
 ing to a finely-built massive gate-way with two side 
 portals. Several cornices of this gate-way remain in 
 situ, and the stones of its arch, and many cornice- 
 stones, are lying strewn around. Within the gate- 
 way, on the north side, has been a large square, with 
 a colonnade. Six paces outside the columns has been 
 a wall, probably the line of the principal street. The 
 bases of the columns are for the most part in their 
 places, and there is only a space of four feet between 
 each. The extent of the square is 280 paces from 
 north to south, by 240 paces east to west. Within 
 the inclosing colonnade we could find no traces of 
 building ; but outside the eastern wall are many 
 traces of isolated buildings on the plain ; several of 
 these have been small square temples of the ordinary 
 Moabite type, others perhaps forts, and others cer- 
 tainly tombs. Just beyond the eastern gate is a large
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 325 
 
 deep cistern, or reservoir, now half filled in ; and a 
 paved road stretches across the plain from the north- 
 east angle of the city. 
 
 The principal public buildings seem to have been 
 in the northern quarter of the city. One oblong 
 
 j[0. 35. TEMPLE AT MEDEBA. 
 
 building, the use of which we could not divine, was 
 fifty yards from east to west, by twenty - five from 
 north to south, and had door-ways in the centre of 
 the eastern and western faces. Beneath it were solid 
 vaulted cisterns of great depth, beautifully arched. 
 A round temple in this quarter seems to have been 
 
 22
 
 326 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 subsequently converted into a Christian church. It 
 has four pillars standing at the west end, and a large 
 pentagonal apse, apparently an addition of later work- 
 manship, at the east end. Near this is another vault- 
 ed cistern, fifteen yards by ten, containing still a small 
 supply of water, the drinking-place of the ravens and 
 pigeons. 
 
 From these buildings upward is a labyrinth of 
 streets, with the ordinary arched constructions, some 
 of them still temporarily inhabited by the Bedouin 
 shepherds. Among them has been a Christian church, 
 with its apse. Inside its walls many capitals of Co- 
 rinthian columns, which once supported the roof of 
 its aisle, are strewn, and some slabs with Greek cross- 
 es inscribed. Near it is another large square build- 
 in <t, and another Christian church. A defticed Greek 
 inscription lies among its ruins. BACIAE and 9E0T 
 were the only consecutive letters I could decipher. 
 Upon a lintel over an ancient door -way were the 
 sculptured emblems of the sun and moon. 
 
 The eastern extent of the city is over 1000 yards. 
 It is at the south-east angle, where the wady turns to 
 the eastward, that the most remarkable relic of old 
 Medeba is to be seen. A mass of masonry dams the 
 valley, forming the sustaining wall of an immense 
 reservoir, open, like that of Ziza. This structure, of 
 beautiful workmanship, far more carefully finished 
 than that at Ziza, is still perfect, though the space of 
 the reservoir, now used as a tobacco field, is many 
 feet deep in soil, washed into it by the torrents from
 
 ANCIENT RESERVOIR AND WALLS. 327 
 
 above. It is 120 yards square, built on the same 
 principle as Solomon's pools; and at each end is a 
 carefully-finished flight of steps. The eastern, or low- 
 er, wall is thirty feet thick at its base, diminishing, by 
 the regular contraction of its courses outside, to eight- 
 een feet at the top. Inside it is of smoothly-dressed 
 masonry, and buttressed : each buttress is nine feet 
 nine inches, with the intervening spaces of exactly 
 the same width. The present height of the walls 
 above the soil, inside, is only twenty feet. At the 
 north-east corner has been a massive tower and sort 
 of gate- way. From the south - east corner the wall 
 extends a long way across the valley and up the hill, 
 forming a massive dam, which turned the water back 
 to the reservoir. This wall has now been broken 
 down, close to the pool, by the winter torrents. The 
 other inclosing walls are plain, without pilasters or 
 buttresses, and fifteen feet thick, the top of the west- 
 ern being level with the soil outside, carried down 
 against it by the floods. 
 
 A very little energy and labor might easily again 
 utilize this noble work, and fertilize the neighborhood. 
 The soil of all Moab, and pre-eminently of this neigh- 
 borhood, is wonderfully rich — a fine, red sandy loam, 
 which year after year grows successive crops of wheat 
 without manure, and into which one can with ease 
 thrust a stick for at least two feet. The mole - rats 
 {Spalax typhlus) seem to be the only scientific agricul- 
 turists here, and they swarm. Were it not for their 
 top-dressing, the soil must soon be exhausted. Yet
 
 328 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 our friend Ayeed, the ibex-hunter, looked upon these 
 heaps with the same disgust with which an English 
 gamekeeper would eye the traces of what he calls 
 vermin. 
 
 Four days, including a quiet Sunday, was but a 
 short time to devote to the remains of Medeba and 
 its neighborhood ; but it was all we could spare, and 
 very hard did all the party work. Excavations we 
 were not able to attempt; but I have seen no place 
 in the country where they seem more likely to yield 
 good results. 
 
 We were now on the frontier of the Beni Sakk'r 
 land, and our companions of the last month began to 
 leave us one by one. Young Sahan came one morn- 
 ing, before the hoar-frost was off the ground (for the 
 nights here were sharp, and did not conduce to early 
 rising), to bid us farewell. Arab-like, he, though a 
 young prince, evidently expected a " tip " at parting, 
 and had no scruples about accepting one. He set off 
 at once for his father's camp, in good heart, to join in 
 the war with the Anizeh, his first introduction to mil- 
 itary life. He was a fine, noble-hearted, generous boy. 
 and open to impressions. Would that he had the op- 
 portunity of getting some better light and instruction ! 
 
 The same day, also, we lost the best of our Beni 
 Sakk'r guards, who went to join the fray — the horse- 
 man, Nim'r — i. e., "the leopard" — who had been 
 Trotter's companion in ibex-hunting, and had been a 
 watchful, quick, and keen guard and guide for a fort- 
 night. He had a soul above backsheesh, and knew
 
 LETTER OF WELCOME. 329 
 
 the country well. No intending explorer of Moab 
 could do better than secure, through Zadarn, the serv- 
 ices of Nim'r. The same evening Zadam, who had 
 left us alone for three days at Medeba, returned from 
 his family camp, bringing with him a present of four 
 Iambs — no slight addition to the larder, for we had 
 begun keenly to feel the force of the French proverb, 
 " Toujour s per dr IX J' 
 
 On the Sunday morning we received a letter of 
 welcome from my old friend Sheik Goblan, of the 
 Adwan, informing us that he had heard of our being 
 in the neighborhood, and that he was encamped near 
 Heshbon, where we were by all means to go and see 
 him, and dine with him. He added that he was sure 
 we could not leave the country without paying an- 
 other visit to Amman and Gerash (both, of course, 
 within his district, and involving backsheesh). We 
 were obliged to disappoint him of his anticipated 
 gains, but wrote, through Daoud, in reply, that we 
 should be at Heshbon in a few days, and that he must 
 come and dine with us on our arrival. 
 
 We were also surprised by a visit from some Jericho 
 Arabs, who had known me well eight years before, 
 and had heard of our whereabouts through the Ad- 
 wan. At once they came off to see me as old friends. 
 Among them was my former henchman, Jemeel, who 
 used to collect natural history specimens for me. Per- 
 haps his affection was somewhat stimulated by the 
 hope of a new commission, as he straightway applied 
 for ammunition. We at once equipped him with
 
 330 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 powder and shot, arsenical soup, and carbolic acid, 
 and bid him meet us in five days, by Jordan. Jemeel 
 certainly did not fail us, and his supply of specimens, 
 when we reached the Jordan plain, attested his in- 
 dustry and prowess, though— alas for my collections ! 
 — not his skill in taxidermy. 
 
 Our various rides in the immediate neighborhood 
 of Medeba yielded absolutely nothing worth record. 
 The ruined villages lie thick in every direction, seldom 
 more than half a mile apart, but all utterly featureless, 
 and most of them very small. The largest, Et Teim, 
 is the only one noticed by previous travelers by name. 
 It lies due south of Medeba. The others appear to 
 have been unwalled towns, the dependents either of 
 Meon or Medeba, and possessing neither churches nor 
 temples. The oil-press was usually the most con- 
 spicuous relic of the past ; but their frequency attests 
 a prodigious past population. 
 
 The towns farther to the west are of a somewhat 
 different character, and may be grouped rather with 
 Heshbon than with Medeba.
 
 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 331 
 
 CHAPTER XYIL 
 
 The north-west Corner of Moab.— Its many Ravines.— Wheat Culti- 
 vation.— Belka Arabs.— Maslubeiyeh.— Splendid Panorama. — Dol- 
 mens.— Jedeid.—Nebbeh.— Its Identity with Nebo.— View of 
 Moses. — Ancient Authorities. — Zi'ara. — Interesting Ruins. — Ba- 
 laam's Views.— Identity of Zi'ara and Zoar.— Position of the Cities 
 of the Plain.— Arguments for placing them north of the Dead Sea. 
 —Mr. Grove's Inference. — Ay un Moussa.— Springs of Moses.— 
 Picturesque Glen.— Cascades.— M'Shuggar.—Ajermeh and other 
 Tribes.— Heshbon. — Adwan Camp. — Elealeh. — Night Search for 
 Camp. — Goblan's Welcome. — His Character. — Tragic Crime. 
 
 The district lying to the west and north-west of 
 Medeba — z.e., that comprised by a parellogram rough- 
 ly drawn, with the line from Medeba to Heshbon for 
 its eastern limits, and a line drawn through the edges 
 of the brows overhanging the Dead Sea for its west- 
 ern — has many characteristics to distinguish it from 
 the other portions of Moab. Within the space of 
 these few miles the plateau is riven by five or six 
 deep wadys, which, commencing in very gentle de- 
 pressions, about the parallel of Heshbon, rapidly deep- 
 en ; while the plain, culminating, just where the wadys 
 begin to descend, in a ridge elevated some two hun- 
 dred or three hundred feet above it, thenceforward 
 becomes a series of parallel ranges, descending hy 
 graduated steps of about six hundred feet, with a 
 ruined city on each brow. Beneath the westernmost 
 brow there is a precipitous descent to another lower
 
 332 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Strip of grass-land, from half a mile to a mile in width ; 
 after which a rugged incline, covered with boulders, 
 leads to the plain by the sea-shore. 
 
 All the remains of former civilization are crowded 
 on the upper ridges, and we spent several days in ex- 
 amining these in detail. The wadys in order are, to 
 the south of Medeba, and commencing near Et Teim, 
 the Wady Hawara; oext, north of Medeba, Wady 
 Ed Deib, called, when it approaches the sea, Wady 
 Ghuweir ; north of this, Wady Jedeid, named, lower 
 down, Wady Ghedeimeh. Between these two latter 
 is a shorter and very steep gully, Wady Burrhoughat. 
 North of these, after crossing over Nebo and Zi'ara, 
 we come to the Wady Ayun Moussa — "Springs of 
 Moses " — or, as it is called in the lower plain, Wady 
 Jerifeh. Beyond these, again, are wadys Heshban 
 and Na'ur, the latter the largest of all, and opening 
 into the plain north of the Dead Sea, the plain of 
 Shittim or the Seisaban. 
 
 ■ The first ruin of importance west of Medeba is Ja- 
 zel, with a heap of stones marking a central fort, and 
 foundations of buildings grouped round it. Soon 
 afterward, proceeding in a north-west direction, we 
 come on a group of ruined villages, consisting of four 
 distinct places, but all bearing the same name, Kefeir. 
 Common as double towns are in Moab, this was the 
 first time we had met with a quadruple one. The 
 ruins are about half a mile apart, situated each on a 
 separate " tell," or gently swelling elevation of the 
 uplands.
 
 BELKA ARABS. 333 
 
 We had now altogether left the pastoral country, 
 and, instead of herds of camels, had before us an al- 
 most unbroken reach of corn land, the wheat well up, 
 thick and vigorous, and of the deepest green ; while 
 many yokes of dwarf oxen were dotted about, plow- 
 ing, under the guidance of negro slaves, for the barley 
 which they were only now beginning to sow. Our 
 guide, Ayeed, took care to point out to us the extent 
 of his farm, assuring us, at the same time, that no 
 Beni Sakk'r ever drove a plow himself, but left all 
 such menial toil to his slaves. When a man came 
 up to us, and most civilly requested us not to ride 
 over his wheat, this very commonplace incident made 
 us feel as if we had really returned to civilization.* 
 
 At Jazel we entered on the territory of the Belka 
 Arabs. This tribe was once the ruling race of the 
 whole country ; but, about 1-iO years ago, the Beni 
 Sakk'r pressed upon them from the south-east, gradu- 
 ally drove them completely out of their fair pastures, 
 and hemmed them up into this little corner. The 
 tradition of their former power still remains, and the 
 whole of the highlands of Northern Moab, as far as 
 M'Shita and Zebib, are known to this day in the 
 Turkish governmental vocabulary as the Belka. ' The 
 pasha of the east side of Jordan, whose head-quarters 
 are at Es Salt, is known only as the Pasha of the 
 Belka. 
 
 * From these hillocks we had a good view of many ruined sites to 
 the south and south-west, between the Wady Ed Deib and the Wady 
 Hawara, as M'Kheir, IM'Seyik, Gouajiyah, and others.
 
 334 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 The slopes of the Belka are by no means unbroken. 
 Out of the fine, light, red soil continually rise little 
 rocky rounded hills, with very gentle slopes, half 
 their surface the bare rocky shelf, all limestone, and 
 the rest covered with fine short herbage, completely 
 burned up in summer. The little knolls are studded 
 with dolmens, exactly like those described above. 
 
 Judging from the number both of plows and camps, 
 which were always large, the Belka population must 
 be, for a nomad one, very dense. Population and cul- 
 tivation have not encouraged animal life. Scarcely 
 a partridge was flushed. Kock-doves here and there ; 
 stone-curlews, jackdaws, and vultures, were the only 
 large birds we saw. Now and then a fox was start- 
 ed ; and once, as we were coming over a little brow, a 
 grim, solitary wolf leaped to his feet, and walked very 
 quietly away, looking at us over his shoulder. But 
 by the time the guns were unslung and charged with 
 ball, he took care to quicken his pace and desert us. 
 
 The whole of the ridge running westward between 
 wadys Ed Deib and Jedeid is named Muslubeiyeh ; 
 and this name is given indiscriminately to many ru- 
 ins on its various knolls, causing hopeless confusion 
 in their identification. Many short and steep wadys 
 run down either north or west. One of them, Bur- 
 roughat, starts from a heap of ruins of some size, bear- 
 ing the same name. All the ruins to which we rode 
 in this district, and they were not a few, were similar 
 to each other — utterly overthrown heaps, the barest 
 fragments of walls, no arches left, and generally a
 
 VIEW FKOM THE MOAB RANGE, 335 
 
 large heap of stones in the centre, where once the 
 central fort has stood. 
 
 The highest point toward the east has been crown- 
 ed by a fortification of greater importance than the 
 others, known by the name of the ridge, Muslubeiyeh. 
 The top is flat, with a precipitous descent from its 
 western edge. The ruins are very unlike those of 
 the Roman times. There has been a circular wall 
 round the town ; and outside it, at the eastern and ac- 
 cessible end, has stood a square fortress, of which only 
 a few courses remain above ground. This castle is 
 eighty -six yards square, and stands seventy - three 
 paces east of the circular wall. The total diameter 
 of the place is 289 yards. 
 
 The view from this place, especially that of the 
 lower part of the Jordan Valley, is very fine, and can 
 only be surpassed by those from Nebo and Mount 
 Gilead. To our left, on the south, we looked down 
 into the Wady Ed Deib, from its very source. Just 
 beyond it, and running parallel with it toward the 
 Dead Sea, was Wady Hamara. Beyond this again, 
 over the rugged southern wall of the Callirrhoe, peer- 
 ed the hills of Southern Moab ; and beyond their tops, 
 in the haze, was Mount Hor, or one of the mountains 
 of Petra. Several rounded brows intervened to the 
 north between us and Wady Jedeid, each crowned 
 by a ruin. Corn patches of deepest green crept ev- 
 erywhere, almost to the crests of the hills, up each 
 gentle depression in their sloping sides. 
 
 Below us, in front, and stretching some way to-
 
 336 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ward the Dead Sea, was a plateau covered with corn, 
 undulating, but not sloping, high above the sea, and 
 completely shutting out its edge from our view. 
 
 In front the hill country of Judah, from far south 
 of Hebron, stretched in unbroken line up to Gerizim 
 and Jezreel ; and other hills, perhaps Tabor and Her- 
 mon, could be faintly traced up the opening of the 
 Jordan Valley in the dim haze of the sunny mirage. 
 Farther to our right were the dark pine-clad mount- 
 ains of Gilead and Ajalon, with Es Salt (Ramoth- 
 gilead) on the side of the former, and Heshbon in 
 front of them. Just beyond the immediate fore- 
 ground at our feet was spread the lower end of the 
 Jordan Valley, bare, and of dazzling whiteness, as the 
 sun shone on the barren but glittering marl, relieved 
 only by the two green patches of Jericho opposite, 
 and the long green strip of the Seisaban, or the plains 
 of Shittim, close below the hills on which we stood. 
 Over these, in the far distance, we could just detect 
 the green plain of Shechem, and the opening to its 
 valley between Ebal and Gerizim. The whole coun- 
 try of Judea opposite looked naked and rugged, 
 plowed with a complete net-work, or labyrinth, of ir- 
 regular furrows, till, as the eye reached to Bethlehem, 
 or Jerusalem, they were lost in the distance. The 
 pale earthy brown of the western country was unre- 
 lieved by the slightest tinge of color. The higher 
 ridges behind us shut out all view of the plains of 
 Moab. 
 
 The camps of the present inhabitants dotted every
 
 ANCIENT FORT. 337 
 
 little valley, and the dolmens of their ancient pred- 
 ecessors every hill-side, as we looked northward up 
 the course of the Jedeid toward Nebbeh, or Nebo. 
 M'Heiyat, which we visited, nearly an hour due north 
 of Muslubeiyeh, is merely a large pile of shapeless 
 ruins, and a few foundations on the top of a hill. 
 Descending from this, we wound up the side of a gen- 
 tle rising valley, an affluent of the Jedeid, with pic- 
 turesque cliffs below us, sheltering occasional pools in 
 the little stream, which was now dry in parts of its 
 course. 
 
 Signs of population were on all sides — Arabs bath- 
 ing in some of the pools, blue-clad women washing 
 linen in others. Many were the dodges of the old 
 ibex-hunter to delude us by side-paths to the con- 
 stantly-recurring black tents, which promised him 
 the chance of a draught of "leben," or curdled milk; 
 but, with deaf ears and fixed faces, we set our horses' 
 heads toward one hill-top after another, regardless of 
 the assurances of our guide, in his most silvery tones, 
 "Leben tayib menhone" ("The milk is good here"). 
 
 At the head of the valley stands an ancient fort, 
 Kirbet Jedeid, which would call for no remark, being 
 exactly like all the others, a mere square block-house, 
 were it not that it was the only one we found in 
 which the walls are still tolerably perfect, and show 
 the closely-built buttresses which strengthened the 
 solid masonry. 
 
 From this castle, crossing the valley and mounting 
 on the other side, we reach the third parallel ridge
 
 338 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 north of Medeba— that of Zi'ara, the highest hill of 
 which is Nebbeh. The rains of Nebo are on a mam- 
 elon, slightly depressed and projected from the line 
 of the main ridge, which runs north and south from 
 Heshbon to Ma'in, and are about two miles west of its 
 crest. There is a very perfect ancient roadway from 
 the eastern plain to this place, and thence down to 
 the lower terrace. But the ruins themselves consist 
 of nothing more than foundations. 
 
 Anxious to verify exactly the view of Moses, we 
 paid three visits to Nebo; but we were not so for- 
 tunate as on my former visit, when, for the first time, 
 ISTebo was identified. On each occasion there was a 
 haze from the heat, which dimmed the distant fea- 
 tures and outlines, producing a sort of mirage, which 
 rendered it most difficult clearly to trace distant 
 objects. 
 
 Still, we had a clear distant view of Western Pales- 
 tine and the whole Judean range from far south of 
 Hebron up to Galilee. We could see the west side 
 of the Dead Sea from Engedi northward, Bethlehem, 
 Jerusalem, and Nebi-samwil (Mizpeh). Ebal and 
 Gerizim were very easily made out, and the opening 
 of the vale of Shechem. Carmel could be recognized, 
 but we never were able to make out the sea to the 
 north of it; and though it is certainly possible that it 
 might be seen from this elevation, I could not satisfy 
 myself that I saw more than the haze over the plain 
 of Esdraelon. The rest of the view was like that 
 from Muslubeiyah, only that a corner of the Hauran
 
 VIEW FROM NEBO. 839 
 
 Mountains (Bashan) could be caught in a depression 
 of the Gilead range. Hermon certainly could be 
 made out in a clear atmosphere, over the Jordan Val- 
 ley, the whole of which lay open as far as Kurn Sur- 
 tabeh ; but the haze rendered it very indistinct, if, 
 indeed, we saw it at all. 
 
 However, after testing repeatedly every view in the 
 neighborhood, I am perfectly satisfied that there is 
 none which equals in extent that from Nebo — i. e., 
 from the fiat ridge which rises slightly about half a 
 mile behind the ruined city, and which I take to be 
 the true " field of Zophim, the top of Pisgah." The 
 prospect described above from Muslubeiyeh is, per- 
 haps, richer in the detail of the foreground; but, not 
 being so completely projected forward, does not yield 
 the same distant glimpses northward. 
 
 From Nebo we looked down on our right, north- 
 ward, into the Wady Ayun Moussa — "Springs of 
 Moses" — which rises to the north-east of it, and runs 
 out into the Ghor Seisaban — "Plains of Shittim" — 
 opposite Beth Jeshimoth. In the lower part of its 
 course it is called Wady Jerifeh. It was dotted with 
 trees, bright green spots, and occasional patches of 
 cultivation, wherever it was more open than usual. 
 
 By this wady would be the natural ascent to Nebo 
 from the p)lains below ; and by it, doubtless, Moses 
 ascended with Joshua to the crest of the range. We 
 could trace the line of the path the whole wa}'- up. 
 Three other ravines, up which there are paths, lead 
 from the same plains to the heights — one by the
 
 340 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Wady Heshban,* to the north of Ayun Moussa ; and 
 the Wady Na'ur, north of this again, the largest of 
 all these valleys. The farthest up is the Wady 
 N'meirah. 
 
 But these are all too far north to have led to any 
 point which can afford such a panorama as that from 
 Nebo. Indeed, there can scarcely now remain a doubt 
 on the mind of any investigator as to the identity 
 of the site, and the exact harmony of the Scriptural 
 topography with the actual facts. Besides, although 
 Nebo had escaped modern research until 1864, the 
 name and place were well known to early Christian 
 writers ; and Eusebius expressly mentions that " it 
 lay on the other side Jordan, in the land of Moab, 
 and is shown to this day, six miles to the west of 
 Heshbon." {AuKwrai fig tri vvv airb a^ ai}fxdov 'Ea- 
 (iovg alg ^uaixag.) 
 
 The names of Nebo and Nebor (Naj3wc and NajSaw) 
 seem to be confused by Eusebius; but probably this 
 Nebo was the old city mentioned in Isaiah (xv., 2), 
 and which perished at the destruction of Moab, nor 
 was again rebuilt. Unlike the other towns, it shows 
 no trace of Eoman or later work. Zareth-shahar was 
 the only other site in this part of the country where 
 those great builders do not appear to have left their 
 mark. 
 
 The lateral range, which culminates in Nebo, ter- 
 
 * In " The Land of Israel " I erroneously stated that the Wady 
 Heshban runs into the Na'ur. I have since ascertained that it has an 
 independent exit into the Jordan.
 
 A MAGNIFICENT CISTEEN. 341 
 
 minates bluntly in a lower brow some distance to the 
 west of it. While standing on the hallowed site, we 
 detected in front of us a bold spur pushing forward, 
 at a rather low elevation, due west, and apparently 
 overhanging the head of the Dead Sea. Half an 
 hour's hard riding, without drawing rein, up and 
 down the shoulders of many a brow, brought us to 
 the summit of a bold headland, projecting westward, 
 between Wady Jedeid to the south, and Ayun Mous- 
 sa to the north. 
 
 The place is known to the Arabs as Zi'ara, and has 
 been one of considerable importance. The pile of 
 ruins is very large. The brow of the hill is flatten- 
 ed, apparently artificially, and its slopes are steeply 
 scarped, to the depth of about twenty feet, with traces 
 of a wall of circumvallation below. 
 
 In the hill itself, on the south side, about thirty feet 
 down, has been excavated a magnificent cistern, with 
 a finely vaulted roof, which is still quite perfect, with 
 the two square traps in the roof through which the 
 water was drawn up. We entered by the side, where 
 an entrance has been laboriously broken open for the 
 purpose of sheltering flocks ; for water has long since 
 ceased to accumulate in the cavern. We could trace 
 the method by which it was fed, through cemented 
 conduits, entering it near the top, and which brought 
 down the drainage of the higher slopes to the cistern. 
 
 The citadel of the place has stood at the east, or 
 projecting, end of the platform. Next adjoining it is 
 an old temple^ with the bases of four columns in situ, 
 23
 
 342 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 and about a dozen columns lying prostrate, but un- 
 broken, in a row in close order — overthrown more 
 probably by an earthquake than by man. There 
 have been side aisles, running north and south, by 
 the side of the columns; and from some indications at 
 the east end, which is heaped with rubbish, I think 
 the temple may have been utilized as a Christian Ba- 
 silican church. To the south of this temple are the 
 ruins of a Christian church, with its apse remaining; 
 and eastward, another fine deep tank, which has once 
 been vaulted, like that below, but the roof of which is 
 now broken in. 
 
 The near foreground was more interesting than 
 from Nebo, and the undulations, on all sides,' abound 
 in stone circles and dolmens. The view was indeed 
 superb, though the distant prospect was inferior to 
 that from Nebo. Still, it must be much the same as 
 that which greeted the eyes of Balaam from Baal- 
 peor; and again it vividly brought back the realiza- 
 tion of the glimpse granted to Moses: "This is the 
 land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and 
 unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed : I 
 have caused thee to see it with thine eyes" (Deut. 
 xxxiv., 4). 
 
 The ground fell in terraces, for 3000 feet, to the 
 Jordan Valley ; so that the plain of Shittim seemed 
 to be spread in its whole extent at our feet, like a 
 map — the lower course of the Jordan and its mouth, 
 together with its plain as far up as opposite She- 
 chem. The hill country of Judea and Samaria as
 
 THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN. 343 
 
 far as Carmel was visible, but we lost Tabor; and the 
 more distant peaks of Ilermon and Bashan were shut 
 out by Mount Gilead. 
 
 We had, however, a rare opportunity of cross-ques- 
 tioning our guide, and mapping all the nearer wadys, 
 which have been already named. The long Ayun 
 Moussa, to the north of us, was an interesting feature. 
 Dry now in its upper part, we could see where the 
 waters burst forth, with a life-giving gush, from under 
 the cliffs, and the series of tiny cascades by which it 
 bounds down the valley. 
 
 I have pointed out minutely the features of the 
 view from Zi'ara, because they have a very important 
 bearing on the identification of this ancient site, and 
 corroborate in the minutest particular what, I am 
 convinced, is one of the most important results of our 
 expedition — the identification of Zi'ara with the Zoar 
 of the book of Genesis. There is an identity, more 
 exact than often occurs in ancient and modern no- 
 menclature, between the Hebrew "i?ia: (Zo'ar), and the 
 Arabic s,Lc) (Zi'ara) ; and it is to be noted that the 
 Jerusalem Targum writes the name "i"'?s, still more 
 closely identified with the Arabic. 
 
 It seems evident, on a careful examination of the 
 Scriptural account of "the cities of the plain," that 
 they must have been situated in the "ciccar," or 
 "shor," of Jordan, at the north end of the Dead Sea. 
 It is unnecessary to recapitulate at length the argu- 
 ments for assigning this site. That they were sub- 
 merged we have no historical record whatever; and
 
 344 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 the whole tenor both of the history and of geological 
 evidence is directly opposed to such a hypothesis. 
 
 There are thus only two possible localities — the 
 lower end of the lake and the upper. Formerly the 
 southern site was assumed (as by Dr. Robinson) with- 
 out question, from the general tradition, which can 
 not be traced further back than the time of Josephus 
 and Jerome, who speak of a Zoar in that region. 
 This view was further supported by the name of 
 Jebel Usduni (? Sodom) at the south end, and by the 
 name of "Lot's Wife," given to the many pillars of 
 salt detached from time to time from the salt cliffs. 
 But Professor Palmer has found a "Bint Sheik Lot" 
 (Lot's wife) midway up the eastern side, which con- 
 siderably weakens the force of this coincidence of 
 name. 
 
 But for the northern site we have the argument 
 from the simple statement of the inspired writer, 
 who calls them " the cities of the plain," or circle, 
 "ciccar," of Jordan — an expression which can not 
 possibly apply to any other than the northern end of 
 the Dead Sea. Abraham and Lot were standing be- 
 tween Bethel and Hai, when "Lot lifted up his eyes, 
 and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well 
 watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sod- 
 om and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, 
 like the land of Egypt, as thou earnest unto Zoar. 
 Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan ; and Lot 
 journeyed east''^ (Gen. xiii., 10, 11). Now, from these 
 hills it is impossible to gain a glimpse of the south
 
 chedorlaomer's route. 345 
 
 end of the Dead Sea, shut off by distance and by lofty 
 intervening mountains; while the plain of Jericho, 
 and its far more extensive sister plain of Shittim, or 
 the Seisaban, on the east side of the river, are spread 
 almost at the beholder's feet. 
 
 Corroborative arguments may also be found in the 
 incident mentioned (Gen. xix., 28), that "Abraham 
 from Mam re looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 and toward all the land of the plain," after the de- 
 struction of the cities. Though the vale itself is not 
 visible from the hills above Hebron or Mamre, yet 
 the depression between the nearer hills and those of 
 Gilead can be perceived, and Abraham could at once 
 identify the locality whence the smoke arose. 
 
 Again, in the account of the raid of Chedorlaomer 
 (Gen. xiv.) we find that the invader, after he smote 
 the Horites in Mount Seir (or Edom), then attacked 
 the Amalekites and the Amorites, in Hazezon-tamar, 
 or Engedi. After this, he met the King of Sodom 
 and his confederates in the vale of Siddim, and re- 
 turned toward Damascus. The account of Chedor- 
 laomer's route is quite unintelligible if the cities were 
 south of the Dead Sea; but if they were to the north 
 of it, there is perfect topographical sequence in the 
 whole narrative. 
 
 The rediscovery of the site of Zoar in Zi'ara also 
 at once explains an expression which has been a most 
 perplexing crux to every Biblical geographer. In 
 the view granted to Moses from Mount Nebo (Deut. 
 xxxiv., 3) he beheld " the south, and the plain of the
 
 346 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 valley of Jericho, the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar.^^ 
 I had always been perplexed by this expression, 
 and was led at one time to suggest that Zoar might 
 have been on the west side, near the headland of 
 Feshkhah (Pisgah), some miles south of Jericho, and 
 visible from Nebo. 
 
 But, read by the light of this discovery, the solution 
 is simple enough. The narrative is describing the 
 panorama from north to south, and ends by the fea- 
 ture nearest the spectator — i e., the city in front of 
 him. Now we detected these ruins while standing 
 on Nebo. They are the nearest feature in the land- 
 scape directly in front, perched on a low brow, almost 
 in a line with Jericho, and the object on which the 
 eye would naturally rest in its survey, next after the 
 Jordan plain. 
 
 One expression now may be noticed, in confirma- 
 tion of the identification. Zoar, though on a hill, 
 must have had higher ground behind it; for we read 
 (Gen. xix., 30) that " Lot went up out of Zoar, and 
 dwelt in the mountain ... in a cave." Here we 
 have higher ground behind Zi'ara, and that, too, 
 pierced by many caves. Heshbon, also, only a few 
 miles distant, was the original seat of the Moabites 
 (Numb, xxi., 26). 
 
 It may be added that there is no reason, from the 
 details given us in Scripture, for assigning to the 
 cities of the plain a location on the west, rather than 
 the east, side of the river; and as the plain of Shittim 
 is much more extensive than that of Jericho, and the
 
 THE "SPRINGS OF MOSES." 347 
 
 Jordan possesses three fords, passable, except during 
 the season of the floods, in its lower reach, it is prob- 
 able that some, at least, of the four cities were on the 
 farther side. 
 
 On referring to Mr. Grove's article in Smith's "Dic- 
 tionary of the Bible," which I had not previously ex- 
 amined, I find that he has indicated, by a priori argu- 
 ments, this very district as the probable site of Zoar. 
 "It is highly probable," he remarks, "that the Zoar 
 of the Pentateuch was to the north of the Dead Sea, 
 not far from its northern end, in the general parallel 
 of Jericho. That it was on the east side of the valley 
 seems to be implied in the fact that the descendants 
 of Lot, the Moabites and Ammonites, are in posses- 
 sion of that country as their original seat when they 
 first appear in the sacred history. It seems to follow 
 that the "mountain" in which Lot and his daughters 
 dwelt when Moab and Ben-ammi were born, was the 
 mountain to which he was advised to flee by the an- 
 gel, and between which and Sodom stood Zoar. It is 
 also in favor of its position north of the Dead Sea, 
 that the earliest information as to the Moabites makes 
 their original seat in the plains of Heshbon, north-east 
 of the lake — not, as afterward, in the mountains on 
 the south-east, to which they were driven by the Am- 
 orites." — Bible Dictionary^ "Zoar." 
 
 From Zi'ara we turned northward to descend into 
 the valley of Ayun Moussa — " Springs of Moses " — 
 or, as it is called lower down, Wady Jerifeh. After 
 half an hour's brisk ride, we had to pull up on a ter-
 
 348 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 race and leave our horses, wbile we scrambled down 
 on foot to the springs below, the proper path down 
 being on the other side of the ravine. Our sudden 
 arrival put to flight, in a panic, a number of Arab 
 women who were filling goat-skins from the precious 
 fountain, and lading a score of asses, but who rushed 
 pell-mell up the opposite path as fast as, with screams 
 and sticks, thej could urge their animals. 
 
 To describe Ayun Moussa is not easy. One is 
 easily tempted to exaggerate ; for in this thirsty land 
 a perennial spring gives an air of fair enchantment 
 to the scene, from its startling contrast with the arid 
 bluffs around. These springs are supposed to derive 
 their name from the tradition of their having been 
 the resting-place of Moses on his way to Pisgah. 
 There are two fountains, or rather two groups of 
 springs, bursting from the foot of a tall line of cliffs. 
 The first group run for a short distance over a shelf 
 of rock, shaded by some fine old fig-trees, under 
 which we sat for our midday meal, which was fla- 
 vored with water-cress gathered on the spot. A few 
 yards farther on, several smaller springs issue from 
 fissures in the cliff, soon unite their streams on a 
 broad, wide shelf of rock, and then form a pretty cas- 
 cade, about twenty-five feet high, the effect of which 
 in winter, over the horseshoe-shaped ledge, must be 
 very fine. 
 
 The real beauty of the fall is best seen on descend- 
 ing, when the overhanging platform is found to be 
 the roof of a cave with a chord of sixty 3^ards, its
 
 CASCADES AND CAVES. 349 
 
 front partially built up with stalagmite below and 
 stalactite above, and water dropping in all directions. 
 But who can do justice to the beauty of its adornings? 
 The roof is one mass of pendent fronds of maiden- 
 hair fern ; the sides are tapestried with them ; the 
 floor is carpeted with them. Happy maiden-hair ! — 
 here, at least, safe from extermination at the hands 
 of collecting maniacs! 
 
 Fig-trees cast their massive shnde over the mouth 
 of the cave, and overhang the lower falls very little 
 farther down, and about fifty feet in height. Hence 
 the water hurries rapidly down the wady, dotted with 
 fine terebinths and patches of cultivation. Climbing 
 up again to the springs, we walk along a path under 
 the line of cliffs, till we come to a series of caves in 
 its face, which have been walled up with masonry, 
 leaving only low square - headed door -ways, origi- 
 nally tombs, but now occasionally used as folds by 
 goat-herds. 
 
 Near these, the second of the twin "Springs of 
 Moses" bursts from a deep horizontal tunnel in the 
 rock, about fifteen inches in diameter. The volume 
 of water is greater than that of the other spring ; and 
 both fountains and stream, clear as crystal, have ev- 
 ery stone and pebble of their gravelly bed covered 
 with the glossy black shells of AWitina and Melanop- 
 sis. This stream joins the other, after the cascades, 
 by a series of smaller leaps. "We could here look 
 down its course till it enters the Seisaban ; and had 
 a peep of a bit of the Jordan Valley, set in a frame of
 
 350 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 mountain and rock, with green hill-sides in all the 
 lower part. 
 
 A good path runs parallel to the water-course up 
 to the last tops of the ridge, before the Wady Hesh- 
 ban and its tributaries divide it from the heights to 
 the north. We soon get into the roots of innumera- 
 ble wadys, and rise to a series of crescent -shaped 
 knolls, the crest of the ridge, of which Nebo is the 
 southernmost. These all bear in common the name 
 of M'Shuggar, which, however, is more especially ap- 
 plied to the one on which are the ruins of an ancient 
 city of the same name. Each view was new, and we 
 rode unconcernedly at will, with or without our guide, 
 as he stopped to "liquor up" on "leben," at an Arab 
 camp, or took a lazy short cut over the shoulder of a 
 hill, or unwillingly followed our lead. 
 
 We were now on the border-land of several tribes, 
 some of them strangers to us, but all peaceably dis- 
 posed, though they knew nothing of the Franghi. 
 On one hill -side I had dismounted, when alone, to 
 secure a partridge ; my horse at the moment espied 
 a camp in the bottom, and galloped off to make some 
 equine acquaintance. Up and down I had to toil, 
 under the scorching sun, for an hour, till at length he 
 was caught among some tent ropes by an old woman, 
 who was in ecstasies over a very trifling backsheesh. 
 Her gratitude would not allow me to depart without 
 a draught of " leben." " She brought forth butter in 
 a lordly dish," and asked if I were a Turkish officer— 
 the only foreigners of whom she seemed to have any 
 notion.
 
 HESHBON. 351 
 
 In the valleys were the camps of the Belka tribe. 
 On M'Shuggar were a large party of Ajermeh, housed 
 for the nonce in the tombs and old ruined arches of 
 the city. Between this place and Heshbon was a 
 camp of over sixty great tents of Beni Sakk'r, while 
 lines of their tents fringed the whole way at intervals, 
 during an hour's ride, with their flocks and camels 
 spreading over the eastern plain. Close to Heshbon, 
 on the north, was an encampment of the Adwan, the 
 largest camp I ever saw — comprising, in fact, the whole 
 tribe, with the gaudy Marabout tents of some Damas- 
 cus merchants conspicuous in their midst. 
 
 Heshbon I had visited before, and it has been often 
 described. But there is little, of a place once fomed 
 in olden story, for the traveler to see. A large piece 
 of walling at the west end of the bold isolated hill on 
 which the old fortress stood, with a square block- 
 house, and a pointed archway adjoining — a temple 
 on the crest of the hill, with the pavement unbroken 
 and the bases of four columns still in situ — on the 
 east, in the plain, just at the base of the hill, a great 
 cistern, called by some the " fish-pools of Heshbon," 
 but more probably only the reservoir for the supply 
 of the city — these are all that remain. 
 
 On the east was the wide, grassy plain ; and here 
 we took our last regretful gaze at the haunts of the 
 past month, with Shihan, Ziza, Kustul, and many oth- 
 er points now so familiar ; while the desert hills be- 
 yond Zebib and Mashita fringed the far horizon. The 
 cleft of the Callirrhoe faintly shows; and beyond it
 
 352 THE LAND OF MOAB, 
 
 the table-land south of the Arnon, several feet higher 
 than that to the north of it, forms a background. 
 The Wady Heshban begins just to the west of the 
 ruins and the side of the hill ; and the opposite slopes 
 are honey-combed with caves and ancient sepulchres, 
 now the sleeping-places of living goats. 
 
 Leaving the photographers at work, Hayne and I 
 rode down to visit the Scriptural site of Elealeh, now 
 El 'Ahl, the road to which is well defined across the 
 plain. Descending the hill, we found ourselves at 
 once in the great Adwan camp. Tall spears, with 
 their tufts of black ostrich feathers, marked the quar- 
 ters of the chiefs, Diab and Goblan. Men and dogs 
 turned out to salute us — among the former many a 
 companion of my former expedition, especially Gob- 
 lan's son, who told us his father had ridden down the 
 valley to our camp, to welcome his old comrade. Get- 
 ting free from them, we spurred at a hard gallop to 
 Elealeh. We were out of Beni Sakk'r land now, and 
 were eyed suspiciously by the strangers we passed. 
 One armed horseman, on the top of the mound, gave 
 us but a cold salute ; and as he looked like backsheesh, 
 we sheered off. We glanced at the waif of a column 
 standing solitary among the stone-heaps of desolate 
 Elealeh, peeped over toward Wady Na'ur and the 
 north, and cantered back. 
 
 Where was our camp ? The sun was getting low, 
 and no time was to be lost. One horseman had re- 
 mained for us. Our faith in our guide's knowledge 
 was not great; but our halting-place had been ar-
 
 SHEIK GOBLAN. 353 
 
 ranged to be in the Heshbon Valley, and down the 
 rugged wady we could not well lose our way. It 
 waTa romantic little glen, the scenery very Scotch, 
 except for the endless herds of camels, brought here 
 for the foaling season, and each of which had her 
 grunting colt by her side. 
 
 "^ We rapidly descended, passing the castle of 'Al on 
 our right. The sun had set, but no water yet in the 
 bed of the wady, and our men would not have pitched 
 till they had found water. At length a frog's croak 
 and a jackass's bray, more welcome than usual, caught 
 our ear. The stream was running freely, with many 
 a little pool swarming with fish-the true "fish-pools 
 of Heshbon ;" and soon my old companion of eight 
 years ago. Sheik Goblan, of the Adwan, came forth, 
 with his face enveloped in the folds of a gray "kefi- 
 yeh,"to welcome me for "auld lang syne." 
 
 Goblan had brought two lambs as a present, and 
 Zadam three more; so we had a flock of seven teth- 
 ered to our tents. Of course, we entertained our vis- 
 itor and his train at supper. Zadam had gone with 
 his Beni Sakk'rs to enjoy the hospitality of Diab, and 
 the Adwan. It would have implied a distrust of 
 Arab chivalry, had he or his guard remained with us 
 the first night we were in Adwan territory, jealous 
 as the tribes are of each other. Till midnight Go- 
 blan sat, recalling old experiences, and lamenting these 
 degenerate, unwarlike days. He is no common char- 
 f^ct°er— a tall, spare man of over sixty. As he lifts 
 his kefiyeh to sip his soup, he discloses a long gray
 
 354 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 mustache, and a ghastly sabre slash on his cheek. 
 His left eye, bloodshot, still shows the mark of his old 
 wound. His eyes are covetous, but his hand is of 
 an almost velvet softness — tiger-like, perhaps, when 
 provoked. 
 
 Evil as is his repute, he has some conscience, and 
 is a faithful friend. I once had from him the story 
 of his first crime. When a very young man, riding 
 over the plain, he noticed a horseman before him on 
 a splendid iron-gray mare : the demon seized him — 
 he resolved he would have the mare ; and, watching 
 his opportunity, he speared the rider, and carried off" 
 the animal. The murdered man was a Beni Sakk'r, 
 though not of Zadam's sept. The man was recog- 
 nized, and the crime suspected. Years have passed, 
 and Goblan knows not the name nor the family of 
 his victim ; but he feels sure that some one has vow- 
 ed vengeance, and that he shall yet suffer retribution. 
 " I can not sleep," said he, " without seeing the gray 
 mare and her rider before me. But she was a splen- 
 did mare! Who would not have killed a stranger 
 for her?" Such is Arab morality — such is man, 
 fallen, but with many a noble trait, yet without the 
 Gospel !
 
 WADY HESHBAN. 
 
 355 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The Wady Heshban.— Goblan's Affection.— Married beneath him.— 
 Botany of North-west Moab. — Ancient Tablets and Tombs.— 
 Changed Featm-es of Scenery.— Circle of Dolmens.— Cairn.— De- 
 scent to the Ghor. — Ghawarineh Camp.— Old Acquaintances.— 
 Beth -haran.— Night-watch. — Excursion down the Coast. —Beth- 
 jeshimoth.— Camp of Israel. — Wady Jerifeh.— Ain Suwaineh.— 
 Vegetation of the Shore.— Wady Ghadeimeh.— Clear Atmosphere. 
 —Rich Coloring.— Wady Ghuweir. — Arab Battle-field. — Falcons. 
 —Our Path blocked.— Palm-groves.— A Halt.— Ornithology.— An 
 Arab Collector.— Gale of Wind.— The Tents carried off.— A sound 
 Sleeper.— Ride to the Jordan.— Ferry-boat.— Return to Civiliza- 
 tion.— Jericho.— Our old Camping-ground.— Bethany in Spring.— 
 Entry into Jerusalem.— Our Wanderings ended. 
 
 The Wady Heshban, in which we camped for our 
 last night in the highUmds of Moab, has many inter- 
 esting and peculiar features. It does not appear to 
 have been followed down its whole course by any 
 previous travelers, as the ordinary road to the Jordan 
 and Jerusalem descends to the north of it. But we 
 selected this route with the view of examining the 
 Seisaban, or plains of Shittim, and especially its south- 
 ern and unexplored portion. 
 
 The wady is full of ruins, old and modern, through 
 its whole course. Just opposite to our tents, on the 
 south side, was the Castle of Sumia, a dilapidated 
 though modern structure, but built by the side of, 
 and with materials from, some evidently more antique
 
 356 THE la:sd of moab. 
 
 remains. It has been a frontier Adwan fortress. 
 Under the chflf, close to the castle, a delicious and co- 
 pious spring bursts from the rock, and has formerly 
 been used to turn a corn-mill, now in ruins. 
 
 Zadam returned to us in the morning ; but it re- 
 quired some diplomacy to shake off Goblan and our 
 dozen attendant Adwan visitors. Unlike the Beni 
 Sakk'r, they were perpetually in and out of our tents, 
 assuring us that pure friendship had brought them, 
 and that nothing should separate us till we crossed 
 the Jordan. In vain we demurred to too stately a 
 retinue, till at length, as the old chief was assuring us 
 of his eternal friendship, I gave him a hearty hand- 
 shake, and during the operation a few gold -pieces 
 passed from my palm to his. The hint was taken 
 that this was a final backsheesh, and, after a little 
 formal hand - kissing, we parted the best of friends, 
 Goblan hoping that ere long I should bring my "sit- 
 ta" (lady) to see Amman and Gerash ; which I prom- 
 ised to accomplish so soon as my purse should be full 
 enough, 
 
 Zadam's manners, meantime, were above criticism — 
 unobtrusive to us; toward the petty chieftains and 
 dependents showing a nonchalant and dignified supe- 
 riority. Among the Arabs, as elsewhere, the husband 
 ennobles the wife — the wife descends to the rank of 
 her husband. Zadam had just concluded a matrimo- 
 nial engagement (his third) with a daughter of the 
 Adwan, reputed to be the belle of the country ; but 
 he scornfully repelled, this very day (as we afterward
 
 AN'CIENT TABLETS. 
 
 357 
 
 learned), the proposal of a son of Sheik Diab for his 
 own sister. "No; a Beni Sakk'r may raise an Ad- 
 wan, but a daughter of the Sakk'r stoops not below 
 her own tribe." 
 
 This north-west corner of Moab differs, both in ap- 
 pearance and flora, from the rest. At starting we had 
 to make rather a long ascent on the southern side of 
 the ravine. Marked was the cotitrast between the 
 rugged red sandstone cliffs, sharp .and precipitous, 
 dotted with eagles' and vultures' nests, which formed 
 the north wall of the wady ; and the more gentle ter- 
 raced slopes, covered with luxuriant verdure, un- 
 scorched by the sun, which bounded it on the south. 
 
 Common home weeds, English dead nettles, black 
 bryony, mingle with maiden -hair and palm-trees. 
 Gray rocks, thrown in massive boulders into the bed 
 of a bubbling stream, and pitched hither and thither 
 among grassy slopes, alternating with crags full of 
 eyries, recall the features of a Cumberland dale. The 
 little sparkling pools, alive with fish, these are surely 
 the "fish-pools of Heshbon," to which the loved one's 
 eyes are likened (Cant, vii., 4), rather than the stag- 
 nant tanks of rain-water, which are all that could 
 ever have existed close to the city. 
 
 Some of the enormous limestone boulders and 
 blocks, which have fallen from the cliffs and are strewn 
 in the wady, have had chambers, evidently sepulchral, 
 hollowed in them as they lay ; and many others have 
 had their faces carefully incised for tablets, of which 
 the inscription or sculpture is now completely effaced. 
 
 24
 
 358 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Several of these tablets are not inferior in size or ap- 
 parent antiquity to the famed Egyptian and Assyrian 
 tablets of the Dog Eiver, near Bey root. 
 
 The English character of the scene soon changes. 
 The ravine rapidly deepens, and widens to a succes- 
 sion of terraces, on many of which are perched heaps 
 of ruins. We strike away from it to the southward, 
 and, rounding the buttresses of the mountains, again 
 come in sight of Zi'ara and other high points already 
 visited. 
 
 The nomenclature of the Arabs for these ruins is 
 limited. All those on the ridge between Wady Je- 
 deid and Ayun Moussa, west of Nebbeh, are either 
 Zi'ara or Muslubiyeh ; while all on the range between 
 Ayun Moussa and Wady Heshban are indiscrimi- 
 nately M'Shuggar — the name of the ridge itself. In 
 fact, these minor ruins have no distinctive name, and 
 they can never have been more than most insignifi- 
 cant villages at best. The range running between 
 the Heshban and Wady Na'ur is called Jebel Zabood. 
 
 As we descend, we soon find ourselves again in a 
 •wide open gorge, dotted here and there by the cairns 
 of stones raised over the death-spot of some Bedouin 
 warrior. A Roman road has once wound down the 
 valley, and we passed two prostrate mile - stones. 
 Sandstone took the place of limestone, and bits of 
 purple, red, and violet hue varied the coloring. We 
 had scarcely been three hours in the saddle when we 
 descended on the edge of the Ghor Seisaban, and en- 
 tered on an open, undulating plateau.
 
 THE GHAWARINEII AGAIN'. 359 
 
 On the last rocky eminence which pushed forward 
 .into it, were the most perfect primeval remains we 
 had found in the country. Round the slightly-ele- 
 vated crest at the western end of the ridge was a per- 
 fect circle of dolmens, each composed of three upright 
 and one covering stone. Several of them had fallen, 
 but the stones were in their places, and it was clear 
 that they had been arranged in a circle round a great 
 cairn, or central pile of stones, which crowned the 
 " tell," and doubtless marked the burial-place of some 
 hero fomous in his day, but who lived before Aga- 
 memnon. 
 
 We debouched on the plain close to where the 
 stream of the Heshban issues. The vegetation had 
 been rapidly changing with the temperature, and now 
 both were truly tropical. Just at the edge of the sul- 
 try plain was a large Ghawarineh camp, and troops 
 of stark-naked boys playing at soldiers, with canes for 
 their horses and spears. Black cattle and blue-clad 
 women were roaming in all directions. 
 
 By the side of a cane-shaded stream, under a thorny 
 nubk-tree, we sat down to lunch, and soon found our- 
 selves surrounded by a gaping crowd. They were 
 the very same who had stared at us in the Safieh, but 
 at a less respectful distance. Meantime they had mi- 
 grated northward by the shore of the lake, to enjoy 
 the spring pastures of the Seisaban. The same pair 
 of tall, ill-favored sheiks appeared, to pay their re- 
 spects. How changed their maimers now! Instead 
 of hectoring, the caitiffs were cringing. But we did
 
 360 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 not forget their insults and injuries, and were cold 
 and distant as Zadani himself. 
 
 The mules were still far behind ; and having agreed 
 to camp at the edge of the wilderness, we dispersed 
 for our various pursuits. The tropical thickets, with 
 their rare birds, were tempting enough to an orni- 
 thologist. I strolled on alone toward a conspicuous 
 mound, or " tell," which might be artificial, very like 
 the great mounds of Jericho, and its top crowned 
 with an old Moslem wely, or tomb. Its name, Beit- 
 harran, identifies it unmistakably with the Beth-ha- 
 ran of Numbers xxxii., 36, one of the fenced cities 
 built bv the children of God, and mentioned immedi- 
 ately after Beth-nimrah, the modern Beit N'meir, also 
 in the Jordan plain, and only a few miles higher up. 
 On the mound, and along-side of it, were a few traces 
 of walls and foundations, all that remains of the 
 " fenced city." 
 
 It is to be observed that throughout the whole of 
 the lower Jordan Valley there is a remarkable absence 
 of Roman or other substantial remains. The oppress- 
 ive heat of the low-lying land probably discouraged 
 permanent occupation, and induced the cultivators to 
 reside on the higher grounds above — as to this day 
 they do, above the fever-stricken marshes of the Hu- 
 leh, north of the Sea of Galilee. 
 
 From Beit-harran I had at least three miles to walk 
 before reaching the open, at the edge of which our 
 tents were pitched. It was night-fall before I reached 
 them ; but my ramble gave me some idea of the ex-
 
 A NIGHTWATCII. 361 
 
 tent of the Seisaban, by far ihe most extensive and 
 luxuriant of any of the fertile lands bordering on the 
 Dead Sea. 
 
 This abundantly watered and tree-covered district, 
 often now knee-deep with green wheat, extends six 
 miles from east to west, and ten or twelve from north 
 to south. Looking at it from above, we can see how 
 vastly it exceeds the oasis of Jericho ; as well it may, 
 with the exuberant gush of water from the springs 
 at the base of the range of the Moab mountains. Its 
 extent and depth are by no means revealed by the 
 glimpses to be obtained from the hills above Jericho. 
 But, like the Safieh, its thickets only afford covert 
 for marauders ; and it is notoriously the prey of law- 
 less tribes, and the Alsatia of Arab criminals. Our 
 guard, accordingly, were on the alert in our new camp ; 
 and our chief went the rounds, inspecting carefully 
 the arms, to see that they were loaded, at least with 
 powder; for noise, as he observed, is the best thing 
 to scare a thief 
 
 To our disquiet, our muleteers acted on the maxim ; 
 and every one, if he happened to turn in his sleep, let 
 off a pistol to prove his wakefulness. We now felt 
 grateful indeed to Zadam, who had not insisted on 
 ball in addition to powder. He, however, was out 
 of the way. Having ascertained that the Beni Ati- 
 yeh, with whom he had a blood feud, were prowling 
 in the neighborhood, he had taken the precaution of 
 arranging his bed and retiring to his couch with lights 
 in his tent ; but so soon as they were extinguished
 
 362 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 he crept forth in the darkness, and, descending to the 
 banks of the stream, concealed himself in the densest 
 of canebrakes, wrapped in his a'bbe'yeh, where no 
 nocturnal prowlers could disturb his slumbers. 
 
 Determined to complete our survey of the coast- 
 line, by riding down to the shore as far as the mouth 
 of the Callirrhoe, we made an early start the next 
 morning. The fitful wind, which had gone down to- 
 ward sunrise, rose again, and blew a suffocating hur- 
 ricane in our faces, as we rode across the Ghor toward 
 the corner of the sea. 
 
 Three miles south-west of Beit-haran, where the 
 vegetation becomes more scant, and the tangle has 
 degenerated into mere scrub, a bare mound rises, ut- 
 terly destitute of vegetation, but with some canebrakes 
 below it, which project forward, a few green lines, 
 into the belt of waste which fringes the Jordan. 
 These brakes are fed by some brackish springs which 
 issue forth just behind the mound, and to which, if 
 artificial, it probably owes its origin. A few lines of 
 stones are all that remain of what has been once a 
 fortified town. The heap is said to be Beth-jeshi- 
 moth. We did not find any name for it among our 
 Arabs ; but it must be remembered that they were 
 out of their own territory, and we had no inhabitants 
 of the Ghor with us. To our companions all places 
 beyond their own domain were merely "Rujum" — 
 " a heap." 
 
 This knoll is evidently the Beth-jesimuth spoken 
 of by Schwarz, as still known at the north-eastern-
 
 AIN SUWAINEH. 363 
 
 most point of the Dead Sea; for it is the only spot 
 answering to his description. The Bibhcal allusions 
 to the place harmonize with the identification. It was 
 " in the plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho," and 
 was the southern limit of the camp of Israel before 
 they crossed the river, Abel-shittim being the north- 
 ern (Numb, xxxiii., 48, 49), and was allotted to the 
 tribe of Reuben. 
 
 From this point the plain as it approaches the Jor- 
 dan becomes barer and barei', though still the con- 
 trast between the east and west sides is most marked 
 — utter desolation on the west, scarcely any marl, 
 and only scantier vegetation, on the east. 
 
 Just beyond the mounds, we crossed a little water- 
 course, the Wady Jerifeh, which is simply the con- 
 tinuation of Wady Ayun Moussa. The water here 
 had sunk a few inches below the gravel, but the 
 herbage around could reach it, and was knee -deep. 
 Ten minutes afterward we crossed the bed of the 
 Wady Ghedeid. All these water - courses are, of 
 course, no longer valleys, but mere channels in the 
 plain, with the streams more or less permanent. 
 
 In half an hour more we reached Ain Suwaineh, 
 the resting-place of Palmer and Drake, with a heap 
 of shapeless ruins on a knoll just above it. There is 
 a little rock a few feet high hidden among tall canes, 
 and from its foot bursts forth, most unexpectedly, this 
 copious stream, running down almost in a line with 
 the head of the Dead Sea. The water is clear and 
 potable, though slightly brackish. All below it is
 
 36-i THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 thick with canes and tamarislvs, a few palms spring- 
 ing up among them. 
 
 Thence, in twenty minutes, through a marsh cover- 
 ed with rushes and the broad leaves of a sea-lavender 
 (Statice), not yet in flower, we reached a lovely run- 
 ning stream, with poplars and willows along its course, 
 and buried in their thickets, sunk among marly cliffs. 
 This is the only spot, except the Lisan, where this 
 formation, so general on the western side, remains on 
 the eastern. About the wady, the soil is cut up into 
 every fantastic shape, worked into mock forts and 
 mamelons, with buildings and bastions that might 
 have trained a Vauban. Very soon after leaving this 
 Wady Ghedeimeh (which is the continuation of the 
 Jedeid, the southern wady of Nebo), we crossed the 
 little Burrhoughat. 
 
 We were now out of the Seisaban, and under the 
 headlands along the shore of the Dead Sea; but still 
 the vegetation continued without interruption. Even 
 amidst masses of rocks and boulders there are shrubs, 
 and flowers springing up in every chink. A pretty 
 blue campanula was the characteristic new plant of 
 the first low headland we had to cross. Here alone, 
 during our day's expedition, we met with a numbei- 
 of small basaltic boulders, strewn over the surface — 
 all the rest was red sandstone. 
 
 Our track led us over broken ground for several 
 miles, ever and again bringing us to the little pebbly 
 bays between the low headlands. Sheltered from the 
 stifling sirocco gusts by the mountains, which gradu-
 
 PICTURESQUE GLEN. 365 
 
 ally narrow the low-lying "gbor," or plain, of the 
 sea-board, the day was intensely to be enjoyed. 
 
 A peerless sky, after the dull and leaden heat-haze 
 of the day before — the sea a biilliant blue, its surface 
 rippled by the breeze — the wilderness of Judea be- 
 yond, with light and shade brought out in sharp re- 
 lief, while the sun was still in its eastern quarter — the 
 foreground carpeted with flowers, sheets of delicate 
 coloring, now pale lilac from a statice, now as softly 
 red, from the sorrel in flower and fruit — such were 
 the chief features of the landscape. Deep green haw- 
 thorns among the rocks, and the fresh foliage of the 
 white poplars on the banks of the sea, relieved the 
 eye, after the monotonous coloring of most of the 
 trees and shrubs of the country — a dull olive hue, 
 without the charm of the silvery underleaf twinkling 
 in the breeze. 
 
 Scarcely an hour after crossing Burroughat we 
 reached the Ghuweir, the stream which flows from 
 "the ravine of the wolf," Wady Ed Deib, north of 
 Medeba. This would be the very spot in which to 
 camp, for any one bent on a minute exploration of 
 these wild recesses. The stream is sweet and copious, 
 shaded by fine poplars, willows, and the oleander, al- 
 ready in blossom ; while its thickets are full of north- 
 ern blackbirds and thrushes, enjoying here a second 
 summer. The stream, before reaching the sea, crosses 
 a little piece of open plain; but only a few hundred 
 yards farther back it issues from a narrow glen, with 
 cliffs scarcely inferior to those of the Callirrhoe. I
 
 366 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 explored it for an hour on our way back. Colonies 
 of kestrels were noisily debating far overhead; the 
 fine Alpine swifts had already returned, and dashed, 
 shrieking, from their inaccessible chinks; and a rook- 
 ery of square-tailed ravens were amusing themselves 
 by the futile pursuit of a lanner falcon. 
 
 Close to the mouth of the Ghuweir are a number 
 of small modern cairns, marking some Arab battle- 
 field, called Hawara, on a long, projecting shoulder; 
 and an insignificant ruined site below, some ancient 
 village, named Anazeh. Just south of these remains a 
 belt of yellow rock appeared, as if poured down from 
 the mountains above. No doubt it was a sulphur- 
 ous deposit, for the peculiar plants of the hot springs 
 suddenly re-appeared.* The asclepiad of Josephus 
 abounded, and the sulphur-plant was in profusion, 
 
 A little farther on we passed a magnificent cleft, 
 rather than a wady, for it does not reach far into the 
 mountains — Wady Sakk'r. The gully was clad with 
 fine palm-trees from top to bottom, and a pair of 
 Sakk'r falcons were swooping round and round our 
 heads as we approached too near their nest on the 
 cliffs. They had formed, however, too high an esti- 
 mate of our scaling powers, for the eyrie was absolute- 
 ly inaccessible. Johnson took the opportunity of pho- 
 tographing the ravine, while we passed on to recon- 
 noitre the nest of a second pair of flilcons, equally safe 
 from the most adventurous climber. 
 
 * See pp. 268, 269.
 
 A RUGGED PATH. 867 
 
 Proceeding southward, we were soon face to face 
 with a rugged headland which, at first sight, appear- 
 ed completely to bar all passage for man or horse. 
 Ayeed, our guide, declared the road to end here, and 
 advised us to sit down and eat, and content ourselves 
 with looking at the mouth of the Callirrhoe through 
 our glasses. As we remained unconvinced, he adroit- 
 ly led us into a maze of boulders really impractica- 
 ble for. horses, while an overhanging cliff shut out 
 the only view of the real track higher up. His dodge 
 failed, for we announced our intention of leaving the 
 horses and proceeding on foot. A scramble on rocks 
 in his red boots would by no means meet the taste 
 of a Beni Sakk'r, and consequently the path was soon 
 found, and he sulkily led the way. 
 
 There are traces of the old and well-engineered road 
 of ancient times. Its terrace remains along the mount- 
 ain side, broken and interrupted by land-slips and 
 avalanches of stones wherever it rounds a headland 
 or crosses a gorge. As it is, it is a rugged and peril- 
 ous path. Even the consummate horseman Zadam 
 dismounted. Up and down, along ledges, across 
 boulders, up steep and broken stairs, we led our agile 
 horses, with the thermometer 92° in the shade. 
 
 Wherever the spurs of the mountains reach the sea 
 palms begin to clothe the moister nooks, and finally 
 almost fringe the perpendicular cliffs. In one cleft 
 the waving palms covered all the sides of the slope, 
 from the very edge of the shore, where one tree all 
 but laved its fronds in the sea, up to the crest
 
 868 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 of the overhanging mountains, as far as we could 
 see. 
 
 At length, after four hours and a half steady travel- 
 ing, we are brought up at the entrance to a little palm- 
 tree glen by a face of crumbling conglomerate. We 
 were only two miles in a straight line from the mouth 
 of the Callirrhoe, While our guides and men began 
 deliberately to work a sloping niche up the side of the 
 cliff, and so cut a road for our horses, we clambered 
 up and reconnoitred. There was the spit at the Cal- 
 lirrhoe's mouth, half an hour's easy walk on a plain — 
 an open plain the latter part of the way — but a hope- 
 less mass of boulder and rock for the first half mile. 
 Daylight would not suffice to bring us back to camp, 
 and Zadam would not venture to sleep out in this 
 lawless region, where many a robber band might be 
 watching us, now unseen, from the heights above us. 
 
 We reluctantly yielded to force majeiir^ and sat 
 down to our dejetmer sans fourchette under the 
 "shadow of a great rock in a weary land," having 
 learned, not for the first time, the difference between 
 theorizing over a map and making progress on an 
 embayed and rocky shore. Our meal over, we turn- 
 ed northward again, but at our leisure: photogra- 
 pher, botanist, naturalist, each had abundance to at- 
 tract him, and we could not lose our way. 
 
 Leaving; mv horse to follow with the men, I started 
 on foot, ahead of the rest of the party, and scrambled 
 by a course rather higher up than the one we had fol- 
 lowed, or made, on our way down. It was well that
 
 HEAT OF THE SHORE, 369 
 
 water abounded on the route, for the sun had now 
 got to the south, and beat with fall force on our 
 backs. The wind had fallen; not so tlie temperature, 
 95° in the shade, and, I am sure, 150° in the sun. 
 The rocks refracted the heat. My gun-barrels were 
 so hot I could only just bear to touch them. The Jq- 
 dean hills had now all the shade, which threw the 
 hills and valleys into much bolder relief than when 
 we had looked at them under the full mornino; glare.' 
 
 The western hills showed deep purple in the shade. 
 The nearer coloring was gorgeous. The basalt wall 
 south of the Callirrhoe ravine stood out in fine con- 
 trast with the brilliant and even dazzling red of the 
 sandstone cliffs above and around me, and with the 
 white glare of the opposite coast. So clear was the 
 atmosphere, that I saw Tabor distinctly, and all the 
 mountains of Samaria northward, and the low ridge 
 of Usdum, forty miles away to the south, and even 
 the very trees at Engedi, twenty miles off, with the na- 
 ked eye. Oh that we had had such a clear day when 
 on Nebo ! The sea below was a strange leaden blue. 
 Such a mass of water so absolutely stagnant I never 
 saw before. In the morning it had been lashed by 
 the gale — now it at once suggested, as its appro- 
 priate description, " a sea of molten lead ;" while, 
 wherever the spray had struck the rocks a few hours 
 before, the rapid evaporation had left a glittering crust 
 of salt. 
 
 The afternoon was far advanced before my friends 
 overtook me, and now no time was to be lost. On
 
 370 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 we pushed, with many a canter and gallop, through 
 scrub and across the plain. Birds of all kinds, rare 
 and common, tantalized us as we rode, for we had no 
 time to shoot. The summer migrants were traveling 
 northward ; flocks of the great spotted cuckoo, scores 
 at a time, rose with their stealthy flight, waving their 
 long tails as though they could scarcely wield them ; 
 all our English songsters were mingled with bulbuls, 
 sun-birds, and the rare denizens of Jericho. Now 
 and then a desert hare, and every few steps a quail, 
 started beneath our feet ; while partridges, Greek and 
 Hey's, called defiantly from the tops of the boulders 
 as we passed, as though they knew themselves safe. 
 
 The sun had retired behind the hills of Jerusalem, 
 and we had barely light enough to descry the white 
 tops of our tents, and to steer our way toward them, 
 when, after eleven hours of an expedition amidst nat- 
 ural scenery the most varied and. interesting we had 
 enjoyed in our wanderings, we drew rein — not, how- 
 ever, for rest. On entering the tent, we found it turn- 
 ed into a miscellaneous museum. Jemeel, my old col- 
 lector, who had visited us at Medebn, true to his word, 
 had come to find us, and had spread, on carpets and 
 couches, the results of his week's hunting. Birds, 
 beasts, eggs, reptiles, beetles, and shells lay strewn in 
 profusion. Among them a large wild-cat, a coney, 
 grakles, hoopoes, spotted cuckoos, hares, hawks, des- 
 ert partridges by the dozen, a long Naja serpent; and 
 all hinted, by their perfume, that they must be either 
 stowed away or thrown away without delay. Jemeel
 
 THE TENT CARRIED OFF. 871 
 
 had, however, profited by his lessons, and had re- 
 moved the carcasses of the larger beasts. Still a heavy 
 night's work was before me, if any thing was to be 
 safely brought home. 
 
 Our last night in Moab was not to be without its 
 ludicrous adventure. The wind, which from sundown 
 had been blowing in sudden gusts of sultry sirocco, at 
 midnight rose to a gale and rocked our tents, though 
 sunk in an apparently snug depression by the side 
 of a stream. Pickets had been driven in, stay-ropes 
 thrown across them, and we flattered ourselves we 
 could defy the storm, which drove suffocating clouds 
 of fine hot sand that penetrated everywhere, and ir- 
 ritated the skin beyond endurance. 
 
 Journals were finished, and all had lain down and 
 left me alone, hard at work with carbolic acid and 
 arsenical soap, when, after a violent gust, Buxton ap- 
 peared in night costume to seek help. The other 
 tent was gone. Presaging the storm, the photogra- 
 phers had, for once, stowed away their plates and bot- 
 tles, which usually remained on the table till morn- 
 ing. They had not long retired to their mats when 
 the tent was lifted off them. 
 
 We turned out to find Johnson lying clothesless 
 and tentless, scarcely yet awakened, on the plain, 
 which was strewn with the debris of the wreck. 
 Straps, clothes, saddles, wraps, and all the lighter par- 
 aphernalia of camp furniture, were scattered in all 
 directions. The muleteers were roused, but not the 
 Arabs, who, stolid as ever, slept through it all. At 
 
 25
 
 372 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 leno-th the wreckage was collected and stored in our 
 tent, into which we all huddled again, but not for 
 rest, for the musquitoes slept not, and the flies would 
 not go to bed. 
 
 With the thermometer at 75° at day-break, we were 
 glad to turn out after our sleepless night, refreshed 
 only by a bath among the oleanders, in the little 
 stream. Instead of riding straight across to the lower 
 fords, which would have led us to Hajla (Beth-hogla), 
 and so by Gilgal to Jericho, with our laden mules 
 we preferred to ride a few miles north of our camp, 
 to the ferry-boat, which now takes the place of the 
 pristine fording and swimming. The plain along 
 which we rode was in marked contrast with the west- 
 ern Ghor. There was very little marl, and we never 
 lost a scrubby vegetation till the lower banks of the 
 river were reached. We then wound our way for a 
 mile or two, under tamarisks and poplars, by a charm- 
 ing path, till we arrived at the ferr}^, some miles south 
 of the spot where I had crossed, on my way to Gilead, 
 eight years before. 
 
 This ferry now transports the rapidly-increasing ex- 
 ports from Es Salt and the eastern side to Jerusalem 
 and Nablous. It is a large flat-bottomed boat, passed 
 by a rope from shore to shore — not more than sixty 
 yards across at this spot. Here we bid farewell to 
 Moab and the sultry plains of Shittim. Bathing and 
 filling water-bottles for christenings at home occupied 
 the time till the mules came up. 
 
 Landed in Palestine, the first sign of a return to
 
 RETURN TO CIVILIZATION. 373 
 
 civilization caught our eyes in the wattled hut of the 
 ferryman and a number of chickens running about— 
 a creature unknown east of Jordan. Invited to cof- 
 fee by the gentlemanly-looking Charon whose negro 
 slaves work the boat, we crept under a door-way four 
 feet high and sat under a roof. An arsenal of a dozen 
 firelocks intimated that the thickets of the Jordan are 
 still the haunts of outlaws and robbers who have fled 
 from justice. 
 
 From the fords we wound for some distance, by 
 the river-side, through a maze of trees with gorgeous 
 yellow orobanches springing up under their shade, 
 and the thickets re-echoing with the notes of the 
 bulbul and of the English nightingale. 
 
 From the thickets we ascend to the most desolate 
 and dreary of marl terraces, without a vestige of life, 
 animal or vegetable, till we reach the third terrace, or 
 plateau of the Jordan Valley. At first scrub covers 
 it, which gradually gives place to scattered nubk-trees 
 and a carpet of flowers. Then begin corn-patches and 
 little rills tapped from the springs. 
 
 We turn a corner, and soon come on Elisha's Fount- 
 ain. Signs that we are re-entering on civilization 
 now crowd on our reluctant sight. Small boys rush 
 forward from the corn-patches and the gardens, with 
 open palms, shrieking for backsheesh. Men have 
 mattocks instead of guns on their shoulders. Worst 
 of all, our lovely old camping-ground of eight years 
 ago is no more. The trees have been all stumped 
 up, or pollarded, and the whole is surrounded by an
 
 374 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 impenetrable line of horrid thorn-branches, and turned 
 into a cucumber-field. 
 
 At length, after following the course of the stream 
 for a little way down, though at a respectful distance, 
 we find an opening, and a small space untilled, close 
 to the water, with a good bathing-pool, and a dense 
 shade from trees covered with Indian Loranthus, af- 
 fording room for tents and pickets, A fellah comes 
 with a bill-hook, and offers to assist in clearing ground 
 for the camp. He informs us that there are a party 
 of Americans camped two miles lower down, and that 
 Cook's tourists, with twenty-one tents, pitched on the 
 open ground above only yesterday. 
 
 We have not seen a European since we started 
 from Jerusalem ; but the charm of savage life is no 
 more, and Moab has been left behind. We start at 
 once for my old haunts, climb the side of Mount Quar- 
 antania, up to the Hermits' Cave, find some Abyssin- 
 ian Christians keeping Lent there, and return for a 
 bathe in Elisha's Fountain, dinner, and our last night 
 on the ground under canvas. 
 
 The next morning was spent in bird-collecting in 
 the thickets, and in examining the sections cut in the 
 mounds of old Jericho by the Palestine Exploration 
 Fund, which still yielded some fragments of pottery. 
 It was near noon when we started for Jerusalem. 
 The rugged path, so familiar in past years, has given 
 place to a well-made road, walled in the most precip- 
 itous parts, with series of easy steps in the steepest 
 places. After a halt at the ruined khan, the tradi-
 
 BETHANY IN SPRING. 375 
 
 tional inn of the parable of the Good Samaritan, and 
 the traditional luncheon-place of all modern travelers, 
 the increase of cultivation in the open spaces in all 
 the shallow valleys since my last visit was most 
 marked. 
 
 Bethany is reached, now looking beautiful, buried 
 in fruit-trees — the olive, and especially the almond, 
 now in full blossom. One fig-tree, putting forth its 
 leaves, could even prematurely intimate that summer 
 was nigh. How changed the scenery since we last 
 walked out to Bethany, about two months ago ! Here 
 are the first houses we have seen since we left Kerak. 
 The climate, too, has changed since we left the Jordan 
 in the morning, the wind blowing strong and cold, 
 and the sun hidden behind a mist. 
 
 Gladly we took shelter under a rock until the 
 mules came up, and the cavalcade formed in proces- 
 sion to enter the city in state. The leading mules 
 were decked out with their trappings and their bells, 
 the foremost carrying the English ensign. This hon- 
 orable post was not decided before a fight between 
 the rival muleteers as to which had proved itself the 
 best mule. We had, at length, to interfere with threats 
 of force ; and great was the indignation of the devout 
 Moslems that the place of honor was won by a Chris- 
 tian mule from Lebanon. The howadji, with Daoud 
 and a pet lamb, Zadam's last gift to him, brought up 
 the rear. Zadam looked in an ecstasy of quiet tri- 
 umph as he rode over the slippery pavements of 
 Jerusalem, having fulfilled his promise that he would
 
 376 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 never leave us till he had ridden by our side up 
 Christian Street. 
 
 We had scarcely passed through St. Stephen's 
 Grate, when we were recognized by the soldiers who 
 had been sent to our rescue, and whom we had met 
 at the Na'ur. Their congratulations, and those of 
 many strangers, as our horses slid over the pave- 
 ment, till we reached the Mediterranean Hotel, re- 
 vealed the interest that had been excited by our de- 
 tention at Kerak. As we sat at dinner that evening, 
 in Hornstein's comfortable hostel, with Zadam for our 
 guest, his best Arab costume setting off his handsome 
 face and figure, while he complacently quaffed his 
 Champagne, which of us felt not some tinge of re- 
 gret that our wanderings in the land of Moab were 
 ended ? 
 
 One morning, a few days afterward, we parted 
 outside the Joppa Gate ; Buxton, Johnson, and the 
 writer, to return home — Hayne and Trotter to con- 
 tinue their tour through Syria. Once more the 
 whole party met under Lady Buxton's hospitable 
 roof at Cromer, last autumn. Little did any of them 
 think it was for the last time. 
 
 While these last sheets have been passing through 
 the press the sad intelligence has been brought that 
 William Amherst Hayne has been cut off by fever 
 at Catania, in Sicily. How much he contributed to 
 the success of the expedition these pages but scantily
 
 OUR WANDERINGS ENDED. 377 
 
 testify. But he will not soon be forgotten, either by 
 those who learned to love him then, or by that far 
 larger circle at home, who knew him as the accom- 
 plished scholar, the keen naturalist, but, most of all, 
 as the centre of Christian influence among his com- 
 peers in the University of Cambridge. With such 
 promise, with such powers, he seemed to be one 
 whom the Church of Christ, to the ministry of which, 
 in heart, his future life was already consecrated, could 
 ill spare. But One wiser than man has told us, 
 "When the fruit is brought forth, immediately He 
 putteth in the sickle."
 
 378 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 ON 
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OE MASHITA. 
 
 By JAMES FERGUSSON, F.R.S. 
 
 Dr. Tristram has explained so fully, in tbe body 
 of the work, the ground on which I ventured to 
 ascribe the building of the palace at Mashita to Chos- 
 roes, the Khosru Purviz of the Persians, that I have 
 very little to add, on that branch of the subject, to 
 what he has already said so well. The truth is, the 
 whole argument lies in a very narrow compass. There 
 are in this palace architectural features which, so far 
 as is now known, were first invented in the age of 
 Justinian. The full-bodied convex capitals of the in- 
 ner palace, as contradistinguished from the hollow, 
 concave, bell-shaped capitals of the Roman-Corinthian 
 order, are just such inventions as mark an epoch in 
 the art which admits of no question, though side by 
 side with them are reminiscences — in the language of 
 the day, " survivals " — of the older and more classical 
 forms. On the other hand, there seems to be an equal- 
 ly certain limit beyond which it can not be brought 
 down. In 632 the Arabs invaded Syria; and they 
 came as conquerors to destroy; and it was not till
 
 iililiililiill:i«|ltfffilll!|1!liillliit!!llll!lll|!'ll1VI'^^^^^
 
 PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 379 
 
 long afterward that they attempted to restore or build. 
 Their earliest woiks, so far as is now known, date from 
 the time of Abd-ul-Malek, a.d. 684-705. He built 
 the Mosque Al- Aksah at Jerusalem, and converted the 
 Church of St. John at Damascus into the principal 
 mosque of that city. Both these works are so essen- 
 tially rude and clumsy as to prove that even at that 
 age the Arab conquerors were still too inartistic to 
 attempt any thing so beautiful as the palace at Ma- 
 shita or the Dome of the Kock at Jerusalem. Our 
 researches for a date are thus limited to the century 
 that elapsed between the times of Justinian and Omar; 
 and within this period there seems no one to whom it 
 would be possible to ascribe the building of such a 
 palace as this except to this great hero of the Sassa- 
 nian race. 
 
 The one objection which it appears might be plau- 
 sibly urged against this view is, that nothing exactly 
 like it is found among the buildings of the Sassanians 
 in their own country. This, however, is not quite 
 correct. The long vaulted halls of the inner palace 
 are found in all their erections from Al Hadhr to the 
 Tak Kesra at Ctesiphon.* And the great sculptured 
 rock-cut arch at Takt-i-Bostan,t which is the most au- 
 thentic specimen of the architecture of Chosroes known 
 to us, is as classical as this, though differing in detail, 
 as might be expected from its object and its locality. 
 
 * " History of Architecture," ii., p. 423, et seqq. 
 t Ker Porter's " Travels in Persia," vol. ii., plates 61 to 04. Flan- 
 din and Coste, "Voyage en Perse," vol. i., plates 1 to 12.
 
 380 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 If any thing remained of his celebrated palace at Das- 
 tagerd, we might be able to speak with absolute cer- 
 tainty in this matter ; but even its site is a matter of 
 dispute ; and though it is probable that the spot may 
 be identified with the ruins at Eski Baghdad — visited 
 and described by Rich* — they are mere unornament- 
 ed brick walls, without any architectural or sculptured 
 ornament which would afford any means of compari- 
 son. The fact is, that all the palaces built on the 
 banks of the Euphrates or Tigris were in brick, and 
 depended for their ornament on carvings in wood or 
 metal, or, in ancient times, on sculptured slabs of ala- 
 baster. In Sassanian times these were replaced by 
 plaster; but all these having perished, there is noth- 
 ing left but the skeletons of the buildings to enable 
 us to judge of the living likeness of the two styles. 
 
 Even, however, if the means of comparison were 
 more abundant, we must bear in mind the exceptional 
 circumstances under which this palace was erected. 
 The best years of his youth were spent by Chosroes 
 at Hierapolis, as the guest of the Emperor Maurice, 
 where he ho doubt admired and imbued his mind 
 with the glories of the classical buildings of that and 
 other cities of Asia Minor. At the time it is sup- 
 posed he was erecting this palace, all Asia Minor, as 
 well as all Syria, obeyed his commands, and the best 
 artists of Antioch and Damascus, as well as those of 
 the great cities of Asia Minor, were available for his 
 purposes. 
 
 * Rich, "Eesidence in Koordistan," ii., 251, et seq.
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 381 
 
 So far, too, as either history or tradition throws 
 any light on these matters, Chosroes was the most 
 artistic and art-loving of all the kings of his dynasty. 
 As Sir John Malcolm says, "A thousand volumes 
 have been filled by his countrymen with the story of 
 this king and his love for the fair Shireen, and their 
 love for Ferhad the sculptor, or architect."* In so 
 far as Persian history is concerned, the latter was by 
 no means the least important person of the three. He 
 was the friend and adviser of his sovereign, and assist- 
 ed him in carrying out all the great works that ren- 
 dered his reign illustrious. It was to his art that the 
 palace at Dastagerd, so eloquently described by Gib- 
 bon, f owed its splendor; and we may, perhaps, as- 
 sume that it was by his advice, and partially under 
 his inspiration, that Mashita attained the prominence 
 which undoubtedly belongs to it.:}: 
 
 * "Histoiy of Persia," i., p. 158. 
 
 t "Decline and Fall," vol. v., chap, xlvi., p. 527. 
 
 t Among the MS. drawings bequeathed by the late C. Texier to the 
 Institute of British Architects there is one of a bass-relief at Schiraz, 
 representing the story of Chosroes and the fair Shireen from the time 
 he first saw her bathing, as David saw Bathsheba, the concluding scene 
 of which is curious. It represents the king slaying a lion, as kings of 
 Persia were wont to do from very remote times ; and beyond him Shi- 
 reen sits quietly on horseback, watching Ferhad sculpturing birds and 
 foliage on a rock, or great stone : in fact, just such a subject as we 
 find on the facade of this palace. It might be going too far to assert 
 that this palace was actually executed by or under the direct super- 
 intendence of Ferhad, but it certainly looks as if he inspired the de- 
 sign.
 
 382 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 EESTORATION". 
 
 It is not proposed, on the present occasion at least, 
 to attempt any restoration of the central palace, eeee, 
 itself (wood -cut No. 24). Its exterior probably al- 
 ways presented the same diapered brick- wall that is 
 now seen, and its only ornamental part was the great 
 triple portal, B B, that led into the hypsethral court. 
 That once was complete, and the whole of the vous- 
 soirs of the central arch at least, which was twenty- 
 two feet in width, lie in front, exactly as they fell, and 
 as they appear in wood-cut No. 21. The voussoirs, 
 also, of the side arches, which were apparently eleven 
 feet wide, are, probably, also on the ground, though 
 not shown in the photographs. So that the whole of 
 this fa9ade can easily be restored from the actual re- 
 mains, whenever any architect has the opportunity of 
 examining them with care. 
 
 The case is widely different with the elaborately 
 ornamented fagade, A A, that forms the entrance to 
 the whole, on the south side. It certainly never was 
 finished ; indeed, there is reason for believing that not 
 one single stone has fallen from its place; what we 
 see now is exactly what the last builder saw when 
 he fled on hearing of the disaster that deprived his 
 master of the dominion of the fairest half of the then 
 known world. The highest block at the left-hand 
 corner had been raised, but not placed in position, 
 and the carvings were left unfinished here and there, 
 and in some places merely outlined, when the great
 
 THE PERSIAN TEMPLE OF MASHITA. 383 
 
 catastrophe arrested the hand of the sculptor. We 
 are thus left entirely to our knowledge of the style 
 derived from other buildings to enable us to say what 
 was originally intended by the architect who de- 
 signed it. 
 
 This fagade, which is represented in a restored form 
 on the frontispiece of this work,* extends to 180 feet 
 east and west, between two of the plain semicircular 
 towers of the inclosure. Ample means exist for its 
 restoration to the height of twenty or twenty-two feet 
 from what was the original ground-line. Above that 
 we are dependent on our knowledge of other build- 
 ings of the same age and style. These, it must be 
 confessed, are neither so numerous nor so similar as 
 might be desired ; but they are sufficient for our pres- 
 ent purposes, and admit of the whole being restored 
 with a very fair amount of certainty. 
 
 The first thing that strikes any one, on looking at 
 the plan, is the unusual projection of the two octag- 
 
 * It is hardly necessary to explain that it is quite impossible to 
 make clear to those who are not already familiar with the styles that 
 preceded as well as with those which followed this building, all the 
 motives that guided me in making this restoration without at least 
 an amount of illustrations which is quite incompatible with an appen- 
 dix to a book of travels. The building, however, is in itself so beau- 
 tiful, and its position in the history of architecture so interesting, that 
 it well deserves a monograph ; and when more detailed measurements 
 are obtained, as well as more extensive illustrations of its sculpture, it 
 may be well worth while to attempt this. At present the reader must 
 be content to take a good deal on trust, unless he will take the trouble 
 of mastering the original authorities quoted hereafter. 
 
 26
 
 384 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 onal towers that flank the entrance. All the other 
 towers are only semicircles ; but these project more 
 than half their diameter, and they are also quite solid 
 up to the height to which they are built, which would 
 probably not have been the case with towers so pure- 
 ly ornamental without some sufficient motive. It 
 hardly, however, required even these two facts to sug- 
 gest that they must have been joined by a great arch. 
 So far as is known, no Sassanian building is without 
 this feature. It is as indispensable as a portico to a 
 Greek temple, or a tower or steeple to a mediaeval 
 Gothic church. All the Sassanian buildings we know 
 of have this feature, and it is almost equally charac- 
 teristic of the Christian buildings in Syria in the fifth 
 and sixth centuries.* One of the most remarkable — 
 it may be said, exaggerated — examples of this great 
 arch is found in the Tak Kesra, at Ctesiphon, built 
 by Noushirvan, the grandfather of Chosroes, to which 
 we shall frequently have occasion to refer in the 
 sequel. 
 
 In most of the Syrian churches a short pier or pi- 
 laster is detached from the flanking towers to carry 
 the great arch ; and that is an expedient which would 
 certainly be adopted in modern times ; but nothing 
 of the sort exists, or ever could have existed, here : 
 the consequence is, that the arch must have died away 
 against the towers, had it not been stilted, or contin- 
 ued, in some manner. One peculiarity, however, of 
 
 * See plates of De Vogue'"s work, " Syria Centrale," j)assitii.
 
 KO. '■}'.}. ELEVATION OF ONE COMI'AKTMENT OK WESTEKN OCTAGON TOWEU AT MASUITA.
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 
 
 385 
 
 all Sassanian arches is that they are all more than 
 semicircles. In the Tak Kesra, as will be observed, 
 the great arch is a semi-ellipse, which is certainly not 
 a pleasing form ; but it, or something very like it, 
 occurs in the palaces at Firouzabad and Serbistan.''^ 
 Luckily, however, there is a very beautiful Sassanian 
 arch, with singularly classical details, at Takt-i-Gero,f 
 
 KO. 40. 
 
 TAK KESRA (FROM FLANDIN AND COSTE). 
 
 which is stilted by being horseshoed — if the expres- 
 sion may be used— to the extent of one-tenth of its 
 diameter.:}: As it resembles in style this palace more 
 
 * For illustrations of these palaces, see my "History of Architect- 
 ure," vol. ii., wood-cuts 946 to 950. They are taken from Flandin 
 and Coste's "Voyage en Perse," which is the great and best authori- 
 ty on Sassanian art. 
 
 t Flandin and Coste, vol. iv., plates 214, 215. 
 
 t The arch over the great niche in the Pantheon at Rome is stilt-
 
 386 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 than any other, I have not hesitated to adopt that 
 form, which seems to meet the case exactly. But I 
 adopt it with more confidence, as, on showing my res- 
 toration to Mr. Hayne, he produced from his pocket- 
 book two drawings of an arch in the inner palace at 
 Mashita, on which, besides representing it, he noted, 
 on the spot, "Arches distinctly horseshoe." 
 
 There can be no great difficulty in restoring the 
 features inside the great arch. The jambs of the 
 door-way exist, and they absolutely demand a hori- 
 zontal lintel, and a lintel of that extent requires a 
 discharging arch. This feature, it may be added, is 
 nearly universal in the Syrian churches of the pre- 
 ceding centuries: all their door-ways within or be- 
 hind the great arches are square-headed, but, opening 
 into interiors, their discharging arches become win- 
 dows, or fan-lights. As this one, however, opens into 
 a court-yard, such a disposition is most improbable ; 
 and I have therefore placed in it an equestrian statue 
 of Chosroes, on his favorite black charger, Shub diz, 
 copied from that which adorns his rock-cut arch at 
 Takt-i-Bostan.* 
 
 Passing by the principal story for the present, the 
 first suggestion that presented itself to my mind for 
 the third was that it should be a repetition of the 
 
 ed, or horseshoed, to one-tenth of its diameter, in the same manner. 
 See "Hist, of Architecture," wood-cut 183; Taylor and Creasey's 
 "Rome," plate Iv. 
 
 * " Flandin and Coste," vol. i., plates 1 to 12. Ker Porter's " Trav- 
 els in Persia," ii., plates 61 to 64.
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 387 
 
 lowest, on half its scale. The arrangement of the 
 stories in the Tak Kesra (wood-cut No. 40), and oth- 
 er buildings of that age, seemed to justify this; but 
 when it was so drawn, the probability of this disposi- 
 tion rose to conviction in my mind from a circum- 
 stance I must try and explain. 
 
 In the island of Murano, near Venice, there is a 
 church, built apparently in the tenth century, but the 
 apse of which, externally, is unlike any thing else 
 I know in Latin Europe. It is surrounded by two 
 rows of triangular recesses in the brick- work, in some 
 of which are slabs of marble beautifully carved, and 
 with devices very easily distinguishable from the 
 clumsy carvings of Venetian builders of that age. 
 There are also slabs with trees, and foliage, and birds, 
 very like those at Mashita, and a string-course of that 
 sharp broccoli-like acanthus which distinguishes the 
 age of Justinian. The most interesting fact, however, 
 is, that there is one window on the right hand of the 
 spectator, round the top of which these triangles are 
 carried in the most exquisitely artistic fashion. All 
 these parts, with some of the capitals, had evidently 
 been brought by the Venetians from some ruined 
 Levantine building, as most of the pillars of St. 
 Mark's were brought from Alexandria ; but they had 
 not brought away enough to complete the design ; so 
 that their own clumsy attempts at imitation betray 
 the forgery to the most unpracticed eye. All this I 
 knew long ago, from personal observation as well as 
 from photographs and Buskin's exquisite drawings
 
 388 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 of this apse;* but, till I saw the photographs of 
 Mashita, I never could even guess whence the foreign 
 fragments were obtained. I have now no doubt that 
 it was from some Syrian church near the coast- — 
 probably Antioch, or thereabouts — which, being ruin- 
 ed by the Moslem, or an earthquake, was despoiled 
 of its ornaments to adorn this church. 
 
 The moment I tried to adapt this Murano arch to 
 that at Mashita, I found that, with a little contrivance, 
 it fitted so exactly that I now feel quite convinced 
 that this is something very like the mode in which it 
 was intended to be finished. This, too, becomes more 
 certain when we refer back to the Tak Kesra (wood- 
 cut No. 40), the last great Sassanian building which 
 preceded this palace. 
 
 If carefully examined, it becomes evident that, had 
 its architect been clever enough, and been building 
 in stone, he would have carried his third story round 
 his great arch, just as has been done here. Eadia- 
 ting shafts, however, in brick-work were a difficulty 
 he could not face ; so we have only the heads of the 
 arches spaced equidistantly with those on the flanks, 
 and starting from the same level, but only carried 
 round as a kind of foliation, f and losing all the 
 
 * " Stones of Venice," vol. ii., plates 3, 4, and 5. 
 
 t The wood-cut No. 40 is on too small a scale, and not sufficiently 
 con-ectly drawn to make this quite clear, but an examination of Flan- 
 din and Coste's plate 218, vol. iv., explains the architect's intention 
 beyond doubt. He evidently was trying, on a scale beyond his means, 
 a mode of decoration which had succeeded somewhere else with more 
 limited dimensions.
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 389 
 
 Strength and depth which the deeper archivolt would 
 have given. The triangular arrangement adopted at 
 Murano, and suggested here, seems to get perfectly 
 over this difficulty, while the want of some such ex- 
 pedient has ruined the effect of the arch at Ctesiphon. 
 
 Returning now to the principal story, two sugges- 
 tions presented themselves. The first was that I 
 have adopted, principally depending for my authority 
 on the Tak Kesra, which seems to justify it, but also 
 because, on the left-hand side, the building is divided 
 in plan into small apartments, which seem to demand 
 light, at least in the upper story. 
 
 The other suggestion was that of a great bass-relief. 
 These great sculptured pictures being the favorite 
 style of utterance of the Sassanians from first to last, 
 some forty or fifty of them still remain. A stronger 
 motive, however, than even this analogy was, that in 
 the arch at Takt-i-Bostan, the only really authentic 
 work of Chosroes, there are two great bassi-relievi, 
 probably the masterpieces of Ferhad. One of these 
 represents a great battue hunt after deer, the other 
 after hogs, and either would be singularly appropriate 
 to this hunting-box. Originally, the right-hand side 
 of the restoration was so drawn ; but the whole, when 
 covered only with incised ornament in low relief, 
 looked so flat that the idea was abandoned, though, 
 were I drawing the fn9ade again, I would feel inclined 
 to restore it. It may not be what we would consid- 
 er architecturally the best, but I fancy it is what the 
 founder of the palace intended.
 
 390 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 Having got so far, the remaining parts of the eleva- 
 tion presented no great difficulties. The upper part 
 of the left-hand side is taken from the battlements of 
 Lachish, as represented in the Nineveh Marbles in the 
 British Museum, or in Layard's plates,* and from 
 painted details at Khorsabad. Not that I suppose 
 these were standing in the seventh century ; but such 
 forms get petrified, and, with slight modifications, re- 
 appear again and again, after long periods of time. 
 On the right hand I have adopted a series of arches, 
 such as are found in every Turkish fountain, and in 
 most of their ornamental buildings, just below the 
 cornice. On the whole, I am inclined to think it the 
 one most likely to have been intended, if we adopt 
 the arches for the middle story. This thus becomes 
 a repetition, half scale, of the "piano nobile," in the 
 same manner as the third story was a repetition of the 
 triangular arrangement of the lowest. If, however, 
 we adopt the theory that the middle story was adorn- 
 ed by a bass-relief, then the left-hand design would be 
 most appropriate. 
 
 Over the great arch, on the right-hand side, a flying 
 figure is introduced, which is copied literally from the 
 Takt-i-Bostan, and may therefore have been intended 
 here, and in the bass-relief theory would almost cer- 
 tainly have been adopted. In the design as drawn 
 she seems somewhat out of place. The ornaments 
 under the great arch, it may be added, are all copied 
 
 * Second series of "Monuments of Nineveh," plate 21, et serj.
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 391 
 
 from Takt-i-Bostan, and so are the battlements that 
 crown the wing-walls, though these stepped battle- 
 ments are common enough elsewhere, both in Persia 
 and India. 
 
 It only remains now to saj a few words with re- 
 gard to the two pavilions, with the gallery between 
 them, which rise above the line of the principal cor- 
 nice. If we look, in the first instance, at the projec- 
 tion and strength of the towers, no one, I fancy, would 
 suggest that they ought to stop with the line of the 
 cornice. But this necessity for artistic harmony rises 
 to nearly a certainty when we come to examine their 
 base moldings. These are Corinthian — corrupt, of 
 course, but of certain well-defined proportions. They 
 are, as nearly as can be ascertained, four feet six inch- 
 es high ; and that is the proportion which a classical 
 architect would assign to a pillar or wall ninety feet 
 in height; and ninety feet, it may also be observed, 
 is exactly half the length of the ornamental fa9ade, 
 which is a very likely proportion in so carefully de- 
 signed a building. 
 
 But, besides these architectural exigencies, the real- 
 ly great argument is, that it is following out what we 
 find took place before the time when they were erect- 
 ed. In the great church, for instance, at Tourmanin, 
 erected in the sixth century, we have exactly this dis- 
 position. First, the great arch, with the square-head- 
 ed door and fan-light inside it; then the gallery be- 
 tween two towers carried up above the arch. In the 
 church all is designed with Doric simplicity and plain-
 
 392 
 
 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 ness; in the palace, with Corinthian exuberance and 
 richness; but the disposition of both fagades is the 
 same, and the tendency in all the fa§ades of these 
 Syrian churches and buildings is to something very 
 like this. Of course, the body of the church itself, as 
 
 NO. 41. CHURCH AT TOURMANIN (FKOM J)E VOGLE). 
 
 shown in wood-cut No. 41, must be disregarded — we 
 are speaking here of the portico, or fagade, and of that 
 only. 
 
 The little domes that crown the pavilions are bor- 
 rowed from the palace at Serbistan. I would have
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 393 
 
 liked to add some ornament on the summit, but have 
 no authority for it. 
 
 It is almost as much, however, from what followed 
 after as from what went before, that we derive a con- 
 viction that this restoration is not far from the truth, 
 for all the Persian and Indian mosques unmistaka- 
 bly took their forms from some such building as this. 
 The Egyptian and African mosques, as well as many 
 of those in Syria, took their forms from the Atria, and 
 other arrangements of Christian churches; but in the 
 East, where Christian architecture hardly existed in 
 these early ages, the path was different. It is, never- 
 theless, easy to trace back their design to some such 
 building as that at Mashita, which is, unfortunately, 
 however, the only example of its class now remaining 
 — so far, at least, as we at present know. 
 
 Almost all Persian mosques, and those especially 
 in Western India — in Gujerat and at Ahmedabad, for 
 instance^have a great central arched door-way, at 
 times merging into a semi-dome, covering a square- 
 headed door-way, but always flanked by two octagonal 
 towers, which in (Jourse of time have grown into tall 
 minarets. Between these towers the central part of the 
 fagade is always higher than the wings, and is frequent- 
 ly crowned by a gallery, or range, of detached pavil- 
 ions. The wing-walls, instead of being solid, as here, 
 are generally pierced by one or more openings, but so 
 managed as not to break the continuity of the lines 
 or the solid look of the flanking masses of masonry.
 
 394 THE LAND OF MOAB. 
 
 So essentially is this the case, that, taking the Jum- 
 ma Musjid* at Delhi as a starting-point, it is not dif- 
 ficult to trace the form back to the earliest mosques 
 we have in India. As they only extend backward, 
 however, to the beginning of the thirteenth century, 
 there is a wide gap to be got over before we reach 
 the age of the palace at Mashita, This can only be 
 bridged over by buildings in Persia and the countries 
 between that and India. That such buildings exist, 
 hardly admits of a doubt ; but the photographer has 
 not yet reached these regions, and no traveler has had 
 his attention specially directed to the early buildings 
 of the Mohammedan dynasties, which alone can supply 
 the missing link. But from such drawings as exist, 
 and such accounts as have been published, there can 
 be little doubt that the information to complete the 
 series will be forthcoming when looked for. When 
 they are found, they will enable us to explain a great 
 deal that has hitherto been a mystery with regard to 
 the origin of many of the forms of Indian architecture. 
 It is not, however, from its form only that this palace 
 at Mashita enables us to trace the connection between 
 the architectures of the West and "East. There is a 
 rich, elaborate style of decoration in India which we 
 can trace back to the tenth century ; but there we 
 lose the thread, to refind it, however, in this solitary 
 building. The "rosaces," for instance, between the 
 triangles at Mashita are almost identical with those 
 
 * Built by Shah Jehan, 1628 to 1658.
 
 THE PERSIAN PALACE OF MASHITA. 895 
 
 that adorn the fair marble temples at Mounts Girnar 
 or Abu ; and that peculiar conventional treatment of 
 vegetable forms which is the principal beauty of the 
 fagade at Mashita is reproduced — without the ani- 
 mals, of course — in almost all the mosques in Guje- 
 rat, especially at Ahmedabad.* 
 
 Had it not been that the principal buildings of the 
 Sassanians, or of the Caliphs, were erected on alluvial 
 plains of the Lower Euphrates or Tigris, all this would 
 have been plain to us long ago. As, from their local- 
 ity, however, these were almost invariably of brick, 
 and depended for their ornamentation on plaster, or 
 carvings in wood or metal, all which have perished, 
 it was not till a building erected and ornamented in 
 stone was discovered that the necessary link in the in- 
 quiry was supplied. Many more require to be traced 
 out before the whole story can be said to be complete. 
 But in the mean while this discovery of the palace 
 of Mashita is not only interesting from its own beauty 
 and elegance, but because it is the last, and the only 
 remaining, example known to us of the "Byzantino- 
 Sassanian style of architecture, and also because its 
 style was that which eventually blossomed into the 
 exquisitely elaborate forms of the Jaina and Saracenic 
 styles in India. 
 
 * See "Architecture of Ahmedabad," 100, photographic phites. 
 Murray, 1866.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 (See p. 50.) 
 
 AURORA AT SEBBEH. 
 
 By R. C. JOHNSON. 
 
 Thk extraordinary display of aurora borealis which was seen on 
 the evening of Sunday, the 4th of February, all over Europe, and in 
 parts of Asia and Africa, was observed by the party while camping 
 at Sebbeh. 
 
 It made us, for the moment, wish to be back again in our more 
 northern clime, where we knew that (fine as the display was with us) 
 it must be much more splendid. However, if we missed seeing it in 
 its more brilliant aspect, we were consoled by being able to witness a 
 phenomenon which rarely occurs in latitudes so far south as 30°. 
 
 It was first noticed at 7 p.m. (on going outside the tent for the pur- 
 pose of observing the Zodiacal light, which presents in these latitudes 
 a much more imposing spectacle than in latitude 53° N.); and we 
 watched it at intervals until midnight, when it had become much 
 fainter. It was at its brightest phase about nine o'clock, local time 
 (the longitude E. is 35° 28', or two hours and twenty-two minutes), 
 when a well-defined coronal arch was formed, which extended in Azi- 
 muth nearly 90° from N.W. to N.E., and in altitude about 28°, almost 
 reaching the pole-star. 
 
 The prevailing color was yellowish, with occasionally a purplish 
 tinge. The streamers shot up from the horizon and then faded away ; 
 but the display was totally devoid of those large colored sheets of lam- 
 bent light which were so conspicuous in higher latitudes. 
 
 We found the Arabs who were about the camp observing the au- 
 rora with but a slight degree of interest. They never looked at it for 
 more than a few minutes at a time, and informed us that it had very 
 seldom been seen by them, and that they did not know any thing 
 about it. 
 
 27
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 (See p. 205.) 
 
 ACCOUNT OF A CURIOUS PHYSICAL PHENOMENON 
 WITNESSED AT ZIZA, 
 
 By R. C. JOHNSON. 
 
 On the evening of the 24th of Febniaiy, about eight o'clock, when 
 leaving the tents with Dr. Tristram for duck-shooting, on the banks 
 of the large reservoir at Ziza, we both noticed that our path was en- 
 compassed b}- a semicircular halo of faint light, the origin of which 
 was for a few moments rather puzzUng. 
 
 At this time the moon was about nine hours past the full, and, shin- 
 ing with that lustre which is so well known to travelers upon a table- 
 land under Eastern skies, like a ball of molten silver, appeared to 
 stand out in strong relief against the intense deep blue of the celestial 
 vault. Upon attentively considering our position with regard to the 
 moon and the halo, we found that it was exactly that required for the 
 formation of a rainbow ; and we evidently saw a lunar rainbow on the 
 ground, or, to speak more correctly, a lunar dew-how. 
 
 Since returning to England, I have made some inquiries, but have 
 not yet found a description of this curious phenomenon ; nor have I 
 met with any one who has noticed it. This seems strange ; for it was 
 so conspicuous that we did not fail to perceive it immediately on going 
 out, on that and on two other nights. 
 
 I had many opportunities of admiring the wonderful clearness of 
 the air upon this table-land, as shown in the increased brilliancy of 
 the stars. They shone with so steady a light that twinkling was re- 
 duced to a minimum, and the different colors could be easily distin- 
 guished. 
 
 Four especially were very striking — Sirius, with its intense white 
 light ; and liigel, with perhaps just a perceptible tinge of blue, shin- 
 ing in splendid contrast with the orange of a Orionis and the ruddi-
 
 APPENDIX. 399 
 
 ness of Aldebaran. With a first-rate Cooke achromatic of only two 
 inches aperture, tlie detail visible in the nebula of Orion, and the 
 stellar clusters in Canis Major, made one long to be able to bring to 
 bear upon them, in such a situation, the exquisite defining and space- 
 penetrating powers of my nine-and-a-quarter-iuch Browning, with re- 
 flector.
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 ON THE FLORA OF MOAB. 
 By the late W. AMHEKST HATNE, B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
 The specimens on which the following sketch is founded were col- 
 lected in February and March, and have been allocated to their proper 
 orders and genera in the Herbarium at Oxford, kindly put at the dis- 
 posal of myself and the Rev. H. E. Fox, by Professor Lawson. 
 
 The district referred to as Moab must be understood to consist of a 
 parallelogram, in rough measurement, some fifty miles from north to 
 south, by thirty from east to west, bounded on the west by the Dead 
 Sea and the Jordan, on the east by the pilgrim road from Damascus 
 to Mecca, and extending from the oasis of the Safieh, on the south, to 
 the gorge which runs down from Elealeh and Heshbon to the Jordan 
 Valley, on the north, and including that portion of the plain of Shit- 
 tim which lies between the water-course and the Dead Sea, now known 
 as the Seisaban. Out of this parallelogram eliminate a block at the 
 south-east angle, and you have a good idea of the country worked, 
 which might be aptly delineated by a capital P. 
 
 Within this area three climates, if not three floras, are included : 
 we experienced winter, spring, and summer in three successive days : 
 one night, clad in every available vestment, we shivered between our 
 blankets, while the water froze into block-ice in the basins at our feet, 
 and the thermometer registered 24° Fahr. The next, we sat out 
 round a camp-fire and enjoyed the open air and the warmth at the 
 same time ; and the third, I wrote my journal with my coat off, with 
 the thermometer at 76° at midnight. For the sake of convenience, 
 therefore, I shall divide the country into three zones, corresponding 
 to these three seasons, and call them the frigid, temperate, and torrid. 
 The high level plateau, three thousand feet above the sea, supplies the 
 first field ; the deep ravines which cleave it include the other two. 
 The level of the Mediterranean may be taken as the division between 
 the second and third.
 
 APPENDIX. 401 
 
 What I have called the frigid zone yielded, during the months of 
 February and March, twenty plants in flower, the temperate eighty- 
 three, and the torrid one hundred and forty-seven — just reversing the 
 ratio of time, and giving one plant a day to the plateau and sixteen to 
 the shores of the sea and its gullies. 
 
 1. The great plateau of Moab is chiefly grass south of the Arnon 
 and west of Heshbon ; the turf is turned over once in some three or 
 four years by the plow ; the rest is virgin grazing land. There is fine 
 grass in the western section, but it grows gradually poorer and thinner 
 as you advance eastward, till it begins to give way to a low scrub of 
 Artemisia. This, not yet in flower in March, gave out aromatic scent 
 as it was bruised by our horses' feet ; and among it masses of whitened 
 snail-shells and armies of caterpillars betokened the past, and formed 
 the present food of myriads of larks. This wormwood, in turn, gives 
 way to patches of sandy soil and a white lichen, as the low range of 
 desert hills which bounds the plain is approached. 
 
 No trees, not even any shrubs or bushes, exist over the whole of 
 this great plateau, except the summit of Jebel Attarus. This, for 
 some miles, is studded with old trees, after the fashion of a scattered 
 park. There were almonds in blossom, and the larger ones seemed 
 terebinths, by guess ; but not even leaves were out when I was there. 
 
 To deal with this zone slightly more in detail. At Kerak and its 
 neighborhood there was absolutely nothing out ; my only observations 
 were Ceterach officinarum in the walls of the Western Castle, and 
 leafless figs and pomegranates in the valleys below it : olives and ole- 
 anders alone kept their gray and sombre foliage. Considering the 
 frosts at nights, it was rather marvelous than otherwise that there 
 should be any thing in flower beyond a few diminutive Geraniacea 
 and Crucifera;, and Asperugo procumhens, among the shelter of the 
 ruins of Khan Zebib, and other places. Yet a white PancratiuTu had 
 chosen the richest soil of the plains near Dibon, to drive its roots be- 
 yond the reach of any thing but a spade, and was stan-ing the ground 
 in February. Even near Ziza, where it was the coldest, Leontice 
 leontopetalum was preparing to pave the ground with gold, its spread- 
 ing yellow spikes and peony-like leaves bursting from among the grass 
 in masses. In the more sheltered hollows of the plain, farther west, 
 was already spread a scarlet carpet of anemones {A. coronaria) bor-
 
 402 APPENDIX. 
 
 dered and patterned with the brilliant blue of the lovely Veronica 
 syriaca. It was not, however, until the middle of March that the dull 
 orange spikes of Asphodehs luteus were in full flower among the ruins 
 of Ma'in, and Geranium tuberosum out on the plowed lands of Nebo. 
 • 2. Leaving the plateau, and descending to the valleys and slopes 
 tending toward the Dead Sea, we at once reached a rich spring flora- 
 Its chief feature was the immense variety of leguminous plants : out 
 of thirty-five species of this order, collected in the country, twenty-five 
 were in flower in this division. The upper valleys of the Arnon and 
 the Zerka Ma'in, the slopes and nooks of Attarus and Nebo, were the 
 chief fields of this temperate zone. On the southern side of the Ar- 
 non Valley the almond-tree was in full flower, and the white asphodel 
 (A. ramosus) bursting into bloom on the 15th of Februaiy, while a lit- 
 tle goldon Gagea studded the slopes. Clumps of oleander grew about 
 the stream, not yet showing signs of flower. I saw it in its glory a 
 month later, fringing the shores of Gennesareth. 
 
 On the northern and more sunny side of the Arnon the flowers 
 were much more numerous. Here we first met with four plants 
 which soon became very familiar friends— ^cAiwm violaceum, the pur- 
 ple Bugloss of our Channel Islands, which is one of the commonest 
 plants throughout the whole of Palestine ; and of which I afterward 
 saw, literally, miles covering the basaltic boulders of Galilee, on the 
 descent from Tabor to Tiberias; Astragalus Jmmosus, or a species 
 veiy nearly allied to it ; Salvia horminum, with a tuft of bright lilac 
 bracts crowning its spike ; and Lathyrus cicera, rather pinker and 
 much larger flowered than our L. nissolia. Numbers of little crucifers 
 and the diminutive CeratocephalusfaJcatus grew higher up. Among 
 the crucifers was Capsella bursa-pastoris, as a pendant to which 
 Draba vernn grew abundantly at Dibon. 
 
 So much for Arnon. A fortnight later we dropped down into the 
 valley of the Zerka Ma'in. Grateful to man and beast were the rich, 
 rank herbage and abundant water after the cold bare plains. Our old 
 friends of the Arnon Valley re-appeared— ^sfra^-a/ws hamosus, Echium 
 violaceum, and Lathyrus cicera ; others, that were equally conspicu- 
 ous, were a dwarf blue iris (7. sisyrinchium\ which covered the open 
 ground after twelve o'clock, and which appeared everywhere after- 
 ward, from Moab to Lebanon ; and the Retem-bush of Scripture {Re-
 
 APPENDIX. 403 
 
 tama retem), with its white flowers and purple calyx. Here and there 
 a gorgeous tulip (Tulipa gesneriana) was in flower, and two rock cis- 
 tuses {Helianthemum giittatum and H. cvgyptiucuvi). 
 
 Leguminoste, as I said before, were profusely represented ; three 
 species of Astragali, besides the one already referred to ; Hippocrepis 
 ciliata, with its bizarre pods, already formed ; Vicia lutea, two kinds 
 of Lotus, and several others. It was early for Labiates, which must 
 form a large proportion of the summer flora of this zone of Moab, as 
 they do that of the rest of Palestine. A few deliciously-scented ones 
 were in flower, a yellow ajuga {A. Chamcepitys ?), in the crannies of 
 the rocks ; Salvia comrnentata, and the superb Eremostachys laciniata, 
 with its large, deeply-cut leaves, giving out the most refined scent of 
 musk. A month after, I walked up to my ears through a bed of it in 
 the borders of the plain of Esdraelon. Another fortnight, and the 
 valley under Nebo, by the Wells of Moses, added a number of legumi- 
 nous plants and Rhagadiolus stellatus to my list of this zone ; and the 
 cave under the water-fall at the latter place furnished the finest maid- 
 en-hair (^Adiantum capillus-veneris) I ever gathered, except the three- 
 foot fronds of Engedi. 
 
 3. By far the most interesting of the three fields was, of course, the 
 Dead Sea basin. Seven years ago. Dr. Tristram worked the natural 
 history of the Holy Land during a period of nine months, and Mr. B. 
 T. Lowne accompanied him as botanist of his party. Passing along 
 the whole of the western shores of the Dead Sea, and round the south 
 end as far as the Ghor es Safieh, he had every opportunity of seeing 
 the flora of the basin on its western side. His collection, kindly put 
 at my disposal by Dr. Tristram, has materially aided me in naming 
 my own, and also in giving me data for a comparison between the 
 east and west shores of the sea. 
 
 This comparison leads me to the conclusion that there is no essen- 
 tial dift'erence between the flora of the two shores. Most of the more 
 conspicuous of Mr. Lowne's species, peculiar to the Dead Sea basin, 
 I gathered, or observed, on the eastern side. A considerable number 
 of his plants are wanting in my list ; but they are either not the most 
 typical, or their place is supplied by species allied in character and 
 geographical distribution. 
 
 One remarkable fact, however, became patent by our visit, and that
 
 •404 APPENDIX. 
 
 is the dependence of the different oases round tlie shores of the Dead 
 Sea upon the partial rain-falls of the winter. It so happened that we 
 were in theWady Zuweirah and the Ghor es Safieh, situated, respect- 
 ively, at the south-west and south-east corners of the sea, in exactly 
 the same week as Dr. Tristram and Mr. Lowne had been seven years 
 ago. That year every thing was in full flower ; this, hardly a plant 
 showed even signs of budding. Ruta tuherculata and a little Spergu- 
 laria were the only plants I gathered in flower at the Wady Zuweirah, 
 while Mr. Lowne collected eighty-two. Similarly, on the Ghor es 
 Safieh, Ricinus communis, Salvadora persica, Loranthus acacioe, and 
 Solarium sanctum made up the total of two days' observation. Corn 
 was but just springing. The canebrakes had not begun to shoot, and 
 the ground was hard and dry. The more settled Arabs of the dis- 
 tricts, who till the ground, complained of the lateness of the rains, and 
 so explained the phenomena, which had appeared the more curious to 
 us as at Engedi every thing was much farther advanced, and a very 
 short distance north of the Safieh we came across a spring vegetation 
 the following day. 
 
 Mr. Lowne remarks in his paper ("Journal Linn. Soc," vol. ix., p. 
 201, 1865) that the curious asclepiad, Calotropis procera, is not nearly 
 so abundant on the Ghor es Safieh as at Engedi. Had the force of 
 circumstances allowed him to cross the chief Seil, or torrent, which 
 divides the oasis into two nearly equal halves, he would have found 
 that the district to the north of it consists of a perfect miniature forest 
 of this odd tree, far exceeding any thing that Engedi can show. 
 
 Thus this oasis of the Safieh consists, first, of a park-like district, 
 with thorny trees, such as Zizyphus and Acacia seyal, growing among 
 the corn and grass ; second, of a scattered wood of Calotropis procera ; 
 third, of an open belt studded with rushes, running parallel with these 
 two parks on the sea-side ; and, lastly, of a dense jungle of canebrake, 
 which, growing in water, bars the passage to the edge of the sea, and 
 forms a secure retreat for the wild boar. 
 
 Leaving the park and working northward, flowers covered the 
 ground as we approached the open shore of the Dead Sea, near Bey 
 Nmeirah ; no less than nine species of crucifers were in flower, a 
 dwarf stock (Matthiola oxyceras) studded tlie ground, while the Rose 
 of Jericho (.4 nas^a^jca hierochuntica) was in flower and leaf; whereas
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 405 
 
 at the Wadi Zuweirah, two days before, nothing was to be seen of it 
 but the dry contracted bunches of last year. At the Wady Dra a we 
 left the tropics. 
 
 It was three weeks later when we descended to the remarkable 
 gorge, or hot springs, of Callirrhoe, the lower portion of the wady now 
 known as the Zerka Ma'in. The sides of the gorge were covered, on 
 the 1st of March, by the summer flowers of the more temperate zone 
 aboxe— Ranunculus syriacus, which had already succeeded to Anemone 
 coronaria, several Allice, and a large Fanicidum. Iris sisyrinchium 
 was stiU in flower, and much more luxuriant than up above. The 
 course of tlie hot river is marked by a jungle of canebrake and tama- 
 risks, with bushes of Atriphx halimus scattered just above. Tlie ole- 
 anders, which fringe the cold stream higher up, cease as soon as the 
 first hot spring comes in, as do also, if I mistake not, the willows and 
 the water-cress. There is a perfect paradise of flowers in the neigh- 
 borhood of the hot springs themselves, which, although some seven 
 miles east of the Dead Sea, is more neariy allied to the flora of the 
 Wady Zuweirah than any locality on the west coast, or, in feet, than 
 any other yet worked, except the shore just north and south of the 
 outftill of its waters. 
 
 A verv considerable proportion of the conspicuous Asiatic and Af- 
 rican plants found by Mr. Lowne in the Mahawat and Zuweirah flats, 
 occur either in the Callirrhoe gorge near the sulphur springs, or among 
 the embouchures of the similar springs at Zara, a mile or two south of 
 its mouth. For example, the curious asclepiad, Dtzmia cordata, with 
 its habit of throttling itself by climbing on the stiff but withering 
 branches of the previous year, was fairly abundant just on the sulphur 
 deposited by the springs. Cleoine trinervia flourished in the same 
 locality, growing almost in bushes, and giving out when bruised a 
 nauseous smell resembling the sulphur on which it grew. Bushes of 
 Zygophyllum album cling to the rocks. Fagonia sinaitira, and an- 
 other more shrubby and more spiny species, with large pink flowers, 
 were there. Trichodesma africana and a Forskaklea attached them- 
 selves to one's clothes by their viscous hairs, as one forced one's way 
 along-side the stream. Two heliotropes also occurred, one by the 
 baths, the other at Zara; and Statice pruinosa, as well as S. Thouini, 
 at one or both places. All these, or their congeners, were found by
 
 406 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mr. Lowne at the Wady Zuweirah. The composites, too, coiTespond, 
 as far as I have been able to identify them ; five of the more marked 
 Anvillea garcini, two Asterisci (pt/gmc^iis and another), Senecio De- 
 caisnei, and Pulicaria undulata, occur in both our lists. Mr. Lowne 
 got eleven species from Zuweirah ; I, twelve from Callirrhoe and Zara 
 together. Of these, five have been shown identical ; a few belong to 
 the temperate zone, and the remainder are difficult to determine. 
 This oi~der, it will be observed, was as largely represented in this lo- 
 cality in March as Cruciferie had been three weeks before at N'mei- 
 rah, and nearly as largely as Leguminosae was in the more temperate 
 regions. Out of twenty-six composites, twenty-one come from this 
 zone, and twelve from Zara and CallinJioe. Of less abundant orders, 
 we have j^rua javanica, Boerhaavia verticillata, Atriplex halimus, 
 and Rumex vesicarius, which belong, also, either to Zuweirah or En- 
 gedi ; and the same grasses, an Andropogon and two Aristidce, were 
 also found. The chief additions to Mr. Lowne's Wady Zuweirah list, 
 as regards plants inhabiting the eastern and southern deserts, are — 
 Reliant he.j/ium kahiricum, a shrubby rock-cistus ; Astragalus timidus, 
 with its bladder-like calyx ; Acanthodium spicatum, and the odd Pte- 
 ranthus echinatus, found by others already in the neighborhood of 
 Jericho; the lovely geranium (Erodium hirtiwi'), the distribution of 
 which is from the deserts of Algeria to those of Palmyria, and which, 
 with Trigonella pecten, was very abundant just above the baths. Two 
 Orobanches of most gorgeous hue I have been unable to identify; 
 they grow to the height of two or three feet, and even more, the one 
 a deep purple, the other a deep chrome-yellow, apparently parasitic on 
 Atriplex halimus ; they occurred both at Callirrhoe, on the shore, and 
 in the Seisaban. Roemeria orientalis grew on the basalt going down 
 to Zara. Of other additions, Freirea alsina-folia, a Callipeltis, and 
 an Epipactis, the latter, from within a yard or two of the water of the 
 Dead Sea, are instances of the commingling of the European with the 
 tropical flora, as also Notholoena lanuginosa on a detached basaltic 
 boulder at Zara. Ceterach officinarum, growing at Kerak, and Adian- 
 tum capillus-veneris, wherever it could find a moist place, whether in 
 the mouths of old store-wells among the ruined cities of the high level 
 plateau or at the very exit of Callirrhoe, make up the Moab ferns. 
 As for the trees in the neighborhood of the baths, the palm Pkcenix
 
 APPENDIX. 407 
 
 was by far the largest and most abiindiint, growing, however, only on 
 clumps, just about the sources of the hot streams. The Arabs, either 
 through ignorance or indifference, make no attempt to fructify them : 
 on the contrary, they ruin both their health and their appearance by 
 setting fire to the canebrakes among which they grow, for the sake of 
 burning the tangled thickets and providing a fresh supply of cane- 
 shoots, which are a favorite food for their camels at a certain time of 
 the year, when they are said to stand in need of purgatives. In 
 consequence of this, the stems of the palms are left blackened and 
 charred, and their lower branches dead and drooping. The ever- 
 accumulating deposit from the sulphur springs is another enemy to 
 the palm-tree ; some stumps remain, not petrified, but, if I may be 
 allowed the expression, " sulphurized,'' the formation of the wood still 
 quite visible, but soft, and gray, and crumbling, so that you can cut it 
 out with a pocket-knife, in blocks like cheese. The only other tree 
 beside the tamarisk, at the water-side, which hardly deserves the 
 name, was the curious and abnormal Moringa aptera, observed both 
 by Mr. Lowne and myself at Engedi. 
 
 It only remains for me now to say a few words about the plains of 
 Shittim and the north-east shores of the Dead Sea, between that and 
 the mouth of Callirrhoe. It was the middle of March by the time 
 we visited these districts, and the grasses were in much greater force 
 than before : a third of the twenty-three Gramina were collected in 
 the Seisaban. This oasis is of much greater extent than any of the 
 others which border on the Dead Sea ; the trees are much scattered : 
 but otherwise it resembles the Safieh and Jericho. I observed the 
 osher-tree again, but not in great profusion ; in which, however, it 
 may well be, as it was impossible to explore the whole district. At 
 the time we were there the place seemed already suffering from lack 
 of rain, and the ripe grasses had quite an autumnal look in March, 
 while the sirocco blowing dried every thing to tinder. 
 
 Riding from the Seisaban south toward the mouth of Callirrhoe, 
 the stony shores of the Dead Sea were covered with masses of color, 
 the winged bracts of Statice Thouini and the large membraneous pe- 
 tals of Rumex ve.sic.arius alternating in acres of lavender and pink. 
 By far the commonest plant next to these was a little dwarf campa- 
 nula (C. dichotoma), its deep blue bells dotted among the stones.
 
 408 APPENDIX. 
 
 The borders of the streams which come down from the mountains 
 every few miles were fringed with deciduous trees, whose bright light- 
 green foliage formed a refreshing contrast to the dull olive-green line 
 of the more usual shrubs of the country, such as A triplex halimtis, 
 Zizyphus, Lotus, Retama retem, and Moringa aptera. Large bushes 
 of a hawthorn (Cratcegus), not yet in flower, still more pleasant!}' re- 
 minded one of English verdure ; our old friends of Callirrhoe, Dcemia 
 cordata and Cleome trinervia, occurred again here not far from the 
 north-east shore of the sea, apparently only on a line of mordine de- 
 tached from some sulphurous vein in the mountains ; an asclepiadeous 
 shrub, which I have not been able to identify, was also found ; a 
 Cuscuta was parasitic on Rumex vesicarius, and oleanders (Nerium 
 oleander), reached down the streams nearly to the shore, while maid- 
 en-hair (Adiantum), flourished in a water-fall not more than twenty 
 yards from the sea. The most unexpected botanical feature in the 
 landscape, however, was the comparative abundance of the palm close 
 to the water's edge, the trees growing on the cliffs overhanging the 
 water, clinging in the clefts of rocks where a miniature gorge brings 
 down a trickling fall of water, and dotted right up the mountain side, 
 in some places, as far as one could see. 
 
 This feature is one of the most conspicuous in the present differ- 
 ence between the two sides of the sea. On the west not a trace of 
 the palm exists, save one little clump found by Dr. Tristram in a se- 
 questered nook of Mons Quarantania, the sole remnant of the trees 
 of Jericho, once the city of palms, and at Hazezon-tamar, or Engedi, 
 petrified in the rocks above the stream. On the east it still obtains 
 at the Wady Dra'a, Callirrhoe, all along the north-east shore, and up 
 the Wady Heshban. To draw out further the contrast between the 
 two shores may be worth a few words. Owing partly to a much 
 larger supply of water, partly to the almost entire absence of the marl 
 deposit, which is nearly always absolutely bare of vegetation where 
 it occurs, the whole of the east side is comparatively fertile, and 
 abounds not only in smaller plants, but has a fair allowance of trees 
 and larger shrubs ; nowhere is the eye pained by the frightful desola- 
 tion of the western shore, where a solitary tamarisk or salicornia looks 
 like a signal of distress hung out at a distance of a mile or two from 
 its next neighbors. Even the oases on the west, as Engedi and Zu-
 
 APPENDIX. 409 
 
 weirah, are sparse, barren, and sandy, compared with Zara and the 
 Safieh, to which they exactly correspond in point of position. This 
 well-watered and fertile condition, speaking comparatively, of the 
 eastern side, results in a much greater commingling of the flora of 
 more temperate regions with that of the desert, which needs such 
 special conditions of soil and climate as the Dead Sea affords, than 
 occurs on the western side. 
 
 The 250 plants found in Moab from the beginning of Febntary to 
 the middle of March belong to fifty-eight natural orders, of which by 
 far the best represented are Leguminosa; with thirty-five species, Co7n- 
 positce and Cruriferce, each twenty -six ; and Gramina, twenty-three. 
 After these follow Liliacecc, twelve ; Scrophulariacece, nine ; Caryo- 
 phyllacecE, GeraniacecB, LabiatoB, and Boraginece, eight apiece. Um- 
 bellifers were remarkably scarce, although I took particular pains to 
 remark them. I have only five in flower; and of these hardly any 
 are in fruit. Ranunculacece and Zygophyllece had also five represent- 
 atives ; but no other order had more than four — Cistinece, Orohan- 
 chece, EuphorhiacecB, and Cyperaceoe, having each that number. These 
 statistics bring me two results. I think we have sufficiency of data to 
 establish three : 
 
 1. The flora is remarkable for a small average number of species 
 distributed through a large number of orders — an average of four and 
 a half species to each of the fifty-eight orders. This fact was pre- 
 viously remarked by Mr. Lowne, and is not unnatural in a country 
 which forms the border-land of Europe, Asia, and Africa, the more 
 hardy and accommodating plants of each of these geographical di- 
 visions holding their own, while those more readily affected by varia- 
 tion of soil or climate disappear. 
 
 2. The east shore of the Dead Sea diff"ers widely from the west, in 
 its general character ; yet, notwithstanding the said differences, as to 
 soil and water, the flora of the two shores is identical in character, 
 and, as far as our experience yet goes, nearly coincident in detail. 
 
 3. The desert flora of the Dead Sea is not confined so exclusively 
 to its southern extremity as an examination of the western shore 
 alone might lead one to conclude ; its peculiarities extend nearly to 
 its northern limits ; and not only so, but also obtain, under similar 
 conditions, in one spot, six or seven miles removed from the sea, and
 
 410 APPENDIX. 
 
 one thousand feet above it. The hot baths of Callirrhoe, where the 
 heat locally generated by the outburst of five or ten springs of water 
 at 145° Fahr., and the chemical properties of the soil and water, tend, 
 within a limited area, to produce a result similar to that of the Dead 
 Sea itself. This result is not produced except in the immediate neigli- 
 borhood of the said springs, and does not extend the whole way down 
 the gorge to the sea.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abof da IIouk, 31. 
 
 Abou End!, 319. 
 
 Abotil Ilaijad, Wady, 40. 
 
 Aboul Obeidah,2-i6. 
 
 Abou Sheebeh, Jebel, 297. 
 
 Acoustic properties of the climate, 49. 
 
 Adwan, the, 20, 351. 
 
 Agriculture, Arab, 136, 320. 
 
 AhHa, Kirbet el, 230. 
 
 Ahsa,Wadyel,G4:. 
 
 Ain Jidy, 43. 
 
 Ajermeh Arabs, 1G9, 1T5, 17T, 351. 
 
 Alakhi-kcmr, 155. 
 
 Alexander, son of Hyrcanus, 2T5. 
 
 Ammouites, battle with Joab, 321. 
 
 Anazeh, 306. 
 
 'Anizeh, raid of, 206. 
 
 AroiMoab, 121, 124,133. 
 
 Ara'ar, Aroer, 144, 147. 
 : Arab sacrifice, 262. 
 
 Areopolis, 124. 
 
 Aretas, 278. 
 
 Areych, M'ady, 42. 
 
 Arnon, Pass of, 140. 
 
 Arrest at Kerala, 98. 
 
 Artillery, Turkish, 173. 
 
 Asabaia, 240. 
 
 Asal, Wady, 73. 
 
 Ashteroth Karnaim, 134. 
 
 'Atabeiyeh, Wady, 313. 
 
 Atargatis Carnioii, 134. 
 
 Ataroth, lis, 283. 
 
 Atiyeh-beni, 33. 
 
 , attack by, 58. 
 
 Atroth Shophan, 290. 
 
 yl«an(.v, 283, 318. 
 
 , Jebel, not Pisgah, 287. 
 
 , trees ou, 285. 
 
 , view from, 286. 
 
 Aurora borealis, remarkable, 49. 
 Ayun Momna, Wady, 332, 339, 347. 
 Azabarah, 240. 
 Azizah, Kirbet, 116. 
 
 Baal-meon, 316, 317. 
 Baaras, root, 277. 
 Balaam and Balak, 318. 
 BaVhua, 139, 145. 
 Baris, 290. 
 
 Basalt blocks, 126, 137. 
 Bassus, L.,278. 
 Baths, natural hot, 254. 
 
 , Arab hot, 261. 
 
 Beggars, Arab, 173. 
 
 Beiram, 172, 178. 
 
 Beit-harran, 360. 
 
 Beit el Kurm, 133. 
 
 Belka, the, 238, 333. 
 
 Beni Hamideh, 130, 245. 
 
 Beni Na'ur, 36. 
 
 Beni Sakk'r, 109, 351 ; character of, 150 ; 
 
 migrations, 238, 293 ; pride of, 293. 
 Betan el Bareil, 243. 
 Bethany, 375. 
 Beth-haran, 360. 
 Beth-jeshimuth, 362. 
 Bethlehem, 23. 
 Beth-meon, 318. 
 Birch, Dr., ISl. 
 Black country, 182. 
 Botany of Moab, 357 ; of Callirrhoe, 
 
 263. 
 Botany: 
 
 Artemisium, 163, 184. 
 
 A triplex halimus, 264. 
 
 Baaras, gigantic rue, 277. 
 
 Crucifer, 264. 
 
 Dcemia cordata, 263.
 
 412 
 
 IXDEX. 
 
 BoTANT, continued : 
 
 Geranium, 269. 
 
 Lonicera indica, 43. 
 
 Maideu-haif fern, 45. 
 
 Mistletoe, Oriental, ?86. 
 
 Orobanches, 2&1. 
 
 Poterium .Hpinosum, 144. 
 
 Statice, 364. 
 
 Tidipa gesneriana, 248. 
 Burials, primeval, 315. 
 Burckhardt, 85, 143. 
 Burrhotigkat, 332, 334. 
 Bushariyeh, Kasr el, 63. 
 Butm, Wadtj, 165. 
 Butterflies of Callirrhoe, 264. 
 
 of Zara, 298. 
 
 Buxton, 19, 88, 110, 371. 
 
 Caikns, ancient, 189, 315, 359. 
 
 Caled, 226. 
 
 Callirrhoe, 248, 257, 368 ; botany of, 
 263; butterflies, 264; geology, 252, 
 258 ; legends on, 262 ; mouth of, 300 ; 
 sacrifice at, 202 ; springs of, 256. 
 
 Camels, 170. 
 
 Camping in darkness, 144. 
 
 Carnaim, 134. 
 
 Castle of Kerak, 91. 
 
 Cat, wild, 156. 
 
 Cattle, only found in the Hamideh,266. 
 
 , breed of, 266. 
 
 Cemetery, Arab, 64. 
 
 Chapel, Crusading, 91. 
 
 Chaplin, Dr., 255. 
 
 Characmoab, 257. 
 
 Chedorlaomer's expedition, 134, 335. 
 
 Chosroes II., 224; history of, 223. 
 
 Churches, Christian, 159, 326, 342. 
 
 Circles of stones, primeval, 283, 359. 
 
 Coflfee-making, Arab, 38, 177. 
 
 Cold, intense, of the plains, 232. 
 
 Crusading remains at Kerak, 90. 
 
 Dal'al, Wadi/, 41. 
 
 Daoud, our dragoman, 58, 101, 127. 
 
 Dead Sea, view of, 82 ; appearance, 369. 
 
 Deib, Wady ed, 332, 305. 
 
 Delaiyat, 243. 
 
 Dhiban, 146. 
 
 Dhra'a, 190. 
 
 Dibon, 146 ; vineyards of, 154. 
 
 Dimnah, 120, n. 
 
 Dimon, 120, n. 
 
 Diplomacy, Arab, 31. 
 
 Dodge, Rev. D. S., 180. 
 
 Dolmens, 283, 314, 358. 
 
 Dra'a, Wady, 79. 
 
 Drake, Mr. Tyrwhitt, 18, 130, 183, 218. 
 
 Duweineh, 124. 
 
 Edom, ancient boundary of, 64. 
 
 El' AM, S52. 
 
 Elealeh, 352. 
 
 Engedi, 43. 
 
 Es Salt, 174. 
 
 Essenes, the, 256. 
 
 Eusebius, 77, 151, 290, 322, 340. 
 
 Fantasia, Arab, described, 44. 
 Feifeh, Wady, 64. 
 Fendi y Faiz, 241. 
 Fergusson, Mr., 88, 223, 378-395. 
 Fishing in Callirrhoe, 249. 
 Flora of Judean wilderness, 60. 
 Ford of the Dead Sea, 51. 
 Fox, sagacity of, 207. 
 Fulco, King, 92. 
 
 Gazelle, 316. 
 
 Geology of Moal), 74-SO, 252 ; of Cal- 
 lirrhoe, 252, 258 ; of Jebel Usduni, 
 55; of the highlands, 212. 
 
 Gerahi, Seil, 65. 
 
 Ghar, Wady el, 30, 40. 
 
 Ghawarineh tribe, 60, 359. 
 
 Ghfdeid, Wady, 363. 
 
 Ghedeimeh, Wady, 332, 304. 
 
 Gkor es S(i_nefi, 61, 07, 70. 
 
 Ghurrah, Wady, 136. 
 
 Ghurundel, Wady, 57, 65. 
 
 Ghuweir, Wady, 332. 
 
 Gol)lan, Sheik, 21, 329, 3.52, 353, 356. 
 
 Godfrey of Bonlogne, 92. 
 
 Gra'kki, 71. 
 
 Grove, Mr. G., 347. 
 
 Gypsies, 179. 
 
 Habis, WadT/, 241.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 413 
 
 Haditha, Jebel, 82. 
 
 Hadj road, 185, 212. 
 
 Hakim, expectations from, 265, 306. 
 
 Ham, Hameitat, Ham-mat, 132. 
 
 Hamad, 120, n. 
 
 Hamideli, the, 130 ; character of, 246, 
 308. 
 
 , Sheik, 245, 319; cattle of, 206 ; hos- 
 pitality, 2S0. 
 
 Hammml, Wady, 86. 
 
 Hamman, el, 284. 
 
 Hamzi, Sheik, 27, 49, 58. 
 
 Haiwizir, 71. 
 
 Haroun, Jebel, 51. 
 
 Hashib, Urn el, 71. 
 
 Hatrura, Wadi;, 51. 
 
 Hattin, battle of, 81. 
 
 Hawara, Wady, 332, 366. 
 
 Hayne, Mr. W. A., 20, 110, 239, 292, 376. 
 
 Hebrou, 28. 
 
 Hemta, 132. 
 
 Heraclius, 225. 
 
 Herod visits Callirrhoe, 255 ; fortifies 
 Machaerus, 276. 
 
 Herri, Kasr el, 192. 
 
 Heshban, Wady, 355. 
 
 Heshbou, 351 ; flsh-pools of, 353. 
 
 Hhoweiyeh, 116. 
 
 Hhurreh, el, 182. 
 
 Hish, ras, 52. 
 
 Hor, Mount, 51. 
 
 Horse-hunting, 100, 283, 289. 
 
 Hunieh, Jebel, 310. 
 
 Hxmasah, el, 41 . 
 
 Ibex, 264, 305. 
 Ibex-hunter, 206. 
 Ibn Tarif, 130, 140. 
 Ibrahim Pasha, 92, 113, 205. 
 Irby and Mangles, 85, 143, 255. 
 Irrigation, ancient, 200. 
 
 Jahaz, 139. 
 
 Jazel, 332. 
 
 Jedeid, Kirbet, 337 ; Wady, 332. 
 
 Jehalin, the, 67. 
 
 Jeib, Wady, 57. 
 
 Jelamet es Subhlia, 114. 
 
 Jeljul, 118. 
 
 Jelnl, Jebel, 240. 
 
 Jeraeel, 329, 370. 
 
 Jephthah, 155. 
 
 Jericho, 374. 
 
 Jerifeh, Wady, 332, 339, 363. 
 
 Jeruel, wilderness of, 41. 
 
 Jerome, 124, 134, 151. 
 
 Jerusalem, destroyed by Chosroe8,224. 
 
 Jiahl, Jebel,\U. 
 
 Jiddreh, Wadij, 167. 
 
 John Baptist, place of imprisonment 
 and martyrdom, 278. 
 
 Johnson, R.C., 20, 110. 
 
 Jordan, ford of, 372. 
 
 Josephus, 137 ; description of Callir- 
 rhoe, 255 ; history of Machaerus, 275, 
 276. 
 
 Ka'abineh, the, 37. 
 
 Kefeir, 332. 
 
 Kerak, ascent to, 79, 84 ; entrance of, 
 84,87; description of, 85, Sf 75. ; wells 
 of, 93 ; mosque of, 93 ; houses, 96 ; 
 Roman baths at, 97 ; Christians of, 
 95, 106 ; Christian church at, 97 ; our 
 arrest at, 99 ; Mudjelli of, 103 ; view 
 from, 107; relations to Beni Sakk'r, 
 109 ; identity with Kir-moab, 120 ; 
 visit to Sanhedrim of, 121. 
 
 Kerioth, 2S9. 
 
 Khazal, S/ayet, 165. 
 
 Kir-haraseth, 120. 
 
 Kirjath-huzoth, 318. 
 
 Kir-moab, 120. 
 
 Kiriathaim, 114, 289, 318. 
 
 Klein, Mr., 20, 68, 94, 97, 99, 100, 102, 
 103, 104,' 106, 108, 110, 111, 120, 127, 
 128, 129, 136, 145, 255. 
 
 'ITnif, Wady, 284. 
 
 Kobeisheh, Wady, 86. 
 
 Korcha, 71, 149. 
 
 Kubboh, el, 80. 
 
 Kureitun, 114. 
 
 Kureiyat, 289. 
 
 Kureiyeh, 289. 
 
 Kurvi Dhiban, 154. 
 
 Kurnml, 35. 
 
 Knseib, Wady, 57. 
 
 KitsM, 232. 
 
 28
 
 414 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lasha, 132. 
 
 Legend of the Christian lady, 160. 
 
 Lejtim, Seil, 153. 
 
 Letter-carrier robbed, 128, 308. 
 
 Lisan, features of, 73, 74; panorama of, 
 
 78. 
 Luynes, Due de, 255. 
 
 Maooab^ub, John, 322. 
 
 Maccabees, the, 275. 
 
 Machserus, ride to, 268 ; description of, 
 
 271. 
 Machpelah, cave of, 28. 
 Mddin, 119. 
 Mahk'heiiah, 117. 
 Ma'in, 316. 
 Mammals : 
 
 Cam's niloticus, 211. 
 Cheetah, 179. 
 Felis caligata, 156. 
 Gazelle, 215, 316. 
 Ibex, 264, 305. 
 Melio melanurus, 160. 
 Spalax typhlus, 139, 327. 
 Vulpes variegatus, 207. 
 Wolf, 334. 
 Marl, deposition of, 75. 
 Marriage, Arab, 356. 
 Mars, temple of, 133. 
 Masada, 46. 
 
 Mdshitd, discovery of, 212 ; sculpture 
 
 of, 214 ; history of, 222 ; chapter on, 
 
 by Mr. Fergusson, F.R.S., 378-395. 
 
 M'Deiiwh, 167. 
 
 Medeba, 319, 322, etc.; reservoir of, 
 
 326. 
 Mejd, Wady, 51. 
 Mejdelein, 136. 
 Mekhersit, 124. 
 Menjah, 155. 
 Mersed, 51. 
 Mesha, 117, 148, 149. 
 MesKhad, 119. 
 Mezra'ah, 75. 
 STHeiyat, 337. 
 Whheileh, Wady, 116. 
 Mile-stones, Roman, 118, 131, 142, 358. 
 Minnith, 155. 
 Mirage, 185. 
 
 Mishor, or plain of Moab, geology of, 
 140, 153, 163. 
 
 Missdehh, 132. 
 
 M'khaur, ill ; wells of, 272 ; citadel, 
 272 ; history of, 275. 
 
 Mkharrhas, Wady, 145, n. 
 
 Moab, towns of, 114. 
 
 Moabite Stone, 148. 
 
 Mochrath, 82, 118. 
 
 Modeh, 118. 
 
 Mole-rat, 139. 
 
 Moore, Mr. Noel, 134. 
 
 Mouriyeh, 120. 
 
 M'Seitbeh, 163, 164. 
 
 WShmjgar, 350, 358. 
 
 Mndjeili, the, of Kerak, 104, 122 ; ma- 
 noeuvres of, 123, 128. 
 
 Muhatet el Haj, 139. 
 
 Muleteers, artifices of, 22 ; prejudices 
 of, 268. 
 
 Murivhashah, Nahr, 71. 
 
 Muslubeiyeh, 334, 335 ; view from, 335. 
 
 Nachal, 120. 
 
 Naturalist, Arab, 339, 370. 
 yVur, Wady, 156, 332, 340. 
 Nebo, 318, 338 ; view from, 338 ; iden- 
 tity of ancient site, 340. 
 Nebuchadnezzar, 150. 
 Nejd, Wady, 52. 
 Nekad, 116. 
 
 Nemriyeh, gorge of, 49. 
 Nim'r, 328. 
 
 Nimrim, waters of, 72. 
 Night affray, 77. 
 N'rrieirah, Wady, 71, 72. 
 "Notitia," the, 181,197,240. 
 N'ssour, Wady, 167. 
 Nubian slave-girl, 253. 
 
 Orak, Jehel, 72. 
 Oil-press, 1.51. 
 Ornituology : 
 
 Ammoperdix heyi, 144. 
 
 Aquila nmvia, 248. 
 
 Bimaculated duck, 233. 
 
 Caccahis saxatilis, 144, 159. 
 
 Cort'MS affinis, 264, 282, 307, 360. 
 
 Cuckoo, spotted, 370.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 415 
 
 Oenitholooy, continued : 
 Ciipselus nielba, 24S, 366. 
 Dotlerell, 1G9. 
 Griffons feeding, 239. 
 Gypaetus barbatiis, 146. 
 Imperial eagle, 232. 
 Lanuer, 241. 
 Passer moabiticiis, 307. 
 Sakk'r fiilcon, 207, 241, 366. 
 Sand-grouse, 169. 
 Saxicola monacha, 49. 
 Sun-bird, 307. i 
 
 Sylvia vielanothorax, 45. 
 Tristram's grakle, 282, 307. 
 Turtur risorius, 66. 
 
 Palmek, Professor, 18, 19, 64, 130, 161, 
 
 181, 322, 344. 
 Pasha, reception by the, 170. 
 Peor, 318. 
 
 Peutinger tables, 181. 
 Phocas, Emperor, 223. 
 Pisgah, 287, 318, 339. 
 Plain of Moab, 154, 163. 
 Pliny, description of Callirrhoe, 256; 
 
 description of Machjerus, 275. 
 Population, decay of, 201. 
 Porter, Dr., 18. 
 Ptolemy, description of Callirrhoe, 
 
 256. 
 
 QuARANTANiA, Mount, 374. 
 
 Rabba, 121 ; ruins of, 125 ; temple 
 
 near, 132, 133. 
 Raid, Arab, 206. 
 
 Rain, effect of, in the wilderness, 39. 
 Rakim, 124. 
 Rashdyideh Arabs, 43. 
 R'mail, 191 . 
 
 Reservoir, ancient, 198, 326. 
 Reuben, tribe of, 244. 
 Raynald of Chatillon, story of, 81. 
 Rika, er, 135. 
 Robbers, alarm of, 311. 
 Roman mile-stones, 118, 131, 142, 358. 
 Roman roads, 124, 131, 136, 142, 193, 
 
 271, 284, 286, 293, 313, 315. 
 R'seir, Wadtj, S3. 
 
 Rtibt el Jannis, 51. 
 Ruins, how caused, 227. 
 Rujum Hamain, 237. 
 Rujum Selun, 155. 
 
 Sackifioe, Arab, 262. 
 Safieh, the, described, 61, 66, 70. 
 Siifsaf, Wady, 51, 73. 
 Sahan, 112, 207, 243, 328. 
 Salt cave, 54. 
 
 Mountain, geology of, 54. 
 
 Samak, 175. 
 
 Sandstone, formation of Moab, 62. 
 
 Sassanian kings, 223. 
 
 School-master, Greek, at Kerak, 94. 
 
 Sebbeh, 46. 
 
 Seetzen, 151. 
 
 Scideh, Wady, 146. 
 
 Seisaban, the, 345, 360. 
 
 Selameh, Sheik, 31, 51, 58. 
 
 Selami, Mr., 171. 
 
 Senin, Wady, 51. 
 
 Seyal, Wady, 45. 
 
 Sheik 'Aisa, ruins of, 62. 
 
 Shihati, Jebel, 135, 136 ; ruins of, 138. 
 
 Shittim, Plain of, 336. 
 
 Shobek, Wady, 167. 
 
 Siddiyeh, Wady, 65. 
 
 Sihon, battle-fleld of, 137. 
 
 Skirmish, Arab, 58. 
 
 Sodom, site of, 344. 
 
 Solomon, Pools of, 24. 
 
 Solomon's Servant, legend of, 262. 
 
 Stones, custom of piling, 51. 
 
 , written, search for, ISO. 
 
 Stone circles, 283, 293, 359. 
 Store-houses, under-ground, 196. 
 Strabo on Machserus, 275. 
 Siiaga, Jebel, 184. 
 Sudeir, Wady, 42, 45. 
 Sugar-mills, 76. 
 Suhl, 120. 
 
 Sulphur deposits, 259, 366. 
 Smn'hra, Kirbet es, 139. 
 Snmia., Castle of, 355. 
 Sunday observance, 207. 
 Sxiwaineh, Ain, 363. 
 Suweiniyeh, 124. 
 Synagogue, ancient, 48.
 
 416 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ta'amieah, 22, 24, 35. 
 
 Teim, et, 290, 330. 
 
 Temples, Doric, 18S, 195 ; Corinthian, 
 
 235. 
 Tents, Arab, descriptiorLof, 37. 
 Terebinth-tree, 133. 
 
 of Attarus, 287. 
 
 Thamathse, 181. 
 
 Thief-catching, 100. 
 
 Themed, Wady, 167, 179. 
 
 Thenib, 236. 
 
 Theniyeh, 120. 
 
 Trees on Attarus, 285. 
 
 Trotter, M., 20, 160, 168, 189, 232, 249. 
 
 Tufileh, Wady, 57, 64. 
 
 Turkish camp, 169. 
 
 Tziatin, 113. 
 
 Um Baghek, Wady, 51. 
 
 Um el Bedt'in, Wady, 51. 
 
 Um Halafisah, 36. 
 
 Um el Kuseir, 197. 
 
 Um Rasas, 156 ; its churches, 158 ; tow- 
 er of, 160. 
 
 Um Welced, 193 ; khan, forum, and 
 temple, 194, 195. 
 
 Usdum, Jebel, 52 ; geology of, 54, 55. 
 
 Vineyards, ancient, 155. 
 
 Waleh, Kirbet, el, 243. 
 Warren, Captain, 229. 
 Watch-towers of vineyards, 25. 
 Watering fields, system of, in Safleh,61. 
 Weideh, Wady, 73. 
 Wells, 115, 119. 
 
 Wilderness of Judah, 39. 
 Willows, brook of, 72, 82. 
 Wilson, Captain, R. E., 48. 
 Wind, gale of, 371. 
 Wine-press, ancient, 116. 
 Wolf, 834. 
 
 Yakiti, 36. 
 
 Zadam, 20; rescues us, 103; courtesy 
 of, 109, 243, 294, 356, 375, 376 ; at 
 home, 167 ; marriage of, 356. 
 
 Zadoud, Kirbet, 36. 
 
 Zafaran, 191, 192. 
 
 Zamzummim, 132. 
 
 Zara, 270, 291 ; descent to, 293 ; oasis 
 of, 295 ; to Callirrhoe from, 293. 
 
 Zared or Zered, brook, 64. 
 
 Zareth-shahar, 270, 291. 
 
 Zatum, 243. 
 
 Zebib, Khan, 185; caves and temples 
 at, 187, 188. 
 
 Zerka Ma'in, Wady, or Callirrhoe, 249, 
 262, 287 ; mouth of, 300 ; clamber up 
 the, 301. 
 
 Zfara, 338, 341 ; view from, 342 ; iden- 
 tity with Zoar, 343. 
 
 Ziph, wilderness of, 35, 36. 
 
 Ziz, cliflf and pass of, 41. 
 
 Ziza, 197 ; tank of, 198 ; sculpture at, 
 204. 
 
 Zoar, conjectured, 76; bishop of, 76; 
 identity with Zi'ara, 343. 
 
 Zophim, field of, 339. 
 
 Zuioeirah, Wady, 52. 
 
 Zuzim, 132. 
 
 THE END.
 
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 ANDERSSON'S OKAVANGO RIVER. The Okavango River: a Narrative 
 of Travel, Exploration, and Adventure. By Charles John Anderbbon. 
 With Steel Portrait of the Author, numerous Woodcuts, and a Map show- 
 ing the Regions explored by Andersson, Cummiug, Livingstone, and Du 
 Chaillu. Svo, Cloth, $3 25. 
 
 ANDERSSON'S LAKE NGAMI. Lake Ngami ; or, Explorations and Dis- 
 coveries during Four Years' Wanderings in the Wilds of Southwestern 
 Africa. By Ciiakt.es John Andersson. With numerous Illustrations, 
 representing Sporting Adventures, Subjects of Natural History, Devices 
 for Destroying Wild Animals, &c. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. 
 
 ATKINSON'S AMOOR REGIONS. Travels in the Regions of the Upper 
 and Lower Amoor, and the Russian Acquisitions on the Confines of India 
 and China. With Adventures among the Mountain Kirghis ; and the 
 Manjours, Manyargs, Toungous, Touzempts, Goldi, and Gelyaks ; the 
 Hunting and Pastoral Tribes. By Thomas Witi.am Atkinson, F.G.S., 
 F.R.G.S. With a Map and numerous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $3 50.
 
 Valuable and Interesting Works of Travel. 
 
 ATKINSON'S SIBERIA. Oriental and Western Siberia : a Narrative of 
 Seven Years' Explorations and Adventures in Siberia, Mongolia, the Kir- 
 ghis Steppes, Chinese Tartary, and Part of Central Asia. By Tuomas 
 WiTLAM Atkinson. With a Map and numerous Illustrations. 8vo, 
 Cloth, $3 50. 
 
 EARTH'S NORTH AND CENTRAL AFRICA. Travels and Discoveries 
 in North and Central Africa. Being a Journal of an Expedition under- 
 taken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1S49-1855. 
 By Henry Babtu, Ph.D., D.C.L. Illustrated. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $12 00- 
 
 BALDWIN'S AFRICAN HUNTING. African Hunting, from Natal to the 
 Zambesi, including Lake Ngami, the Kalahari Desert, &c., from 1852 to 
 ISGO By William Charles Baldwin, Esq., F.R.G.S. With Map, Fifty 
 Illustrations by Wolf and Zwecker, and a Portrait. 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 BURTON'S LAKE REGIONS OP CENTRAL AFRICA. The Lake Regions 
 of Central Africa. A Picture of Exploration. By RionARi> F. Bcrton, 
 Captam H M.'s Indian Army, Fellow and Gold Medalist of the Royal 
 Geographical Society. With Maps and Engravings on Wood. 8vo, Cloth, 
 $3 50. 
 
 BURTON'S CITY OF THE SAINTS. The City of the Saints ; and Across 
 the Rockv Mountains to California. By Captain Richard F. Burton, 
 Fellow aiid Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographical Societies of France 
 and England, H. M.'s Consul in West Africa. With Maps and numerous 
 Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. 
 
 BELLOWS'S TRAVELS. The Old World in its New Face : Impressions of 
 Europe in 186T, 180S. By Henry W. Bellows. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50, 
 
 CURTIS'S THE HOWADJI IN SYRIA. By Geobgb William Curtis. 
 
 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 CURTIS'S NILE NOTES OF A HOWADJI. By George William Curtis. 
 12mo, Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 CUMMING'S HUNTER'S LIFE IN AFRICA. Five Years of a Hunter's 
 Life in the far Interior of South Africa. With Notices of the Native 
 Tribes, and Anecdotes of the Chase of the Lion, Elephant, Hippopotamus, 
 Giraffe, Rhinoceros, &c. With Illustrations. By R. Gordon Gumming. 
 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 00. 
 
 DAVIS'S CARTHAGE. Carthage and her Remains: being an Account of 
 the Excavations and Researches on the Site of the Phcenician Metropolis 
 in Africa and other Adjacent Places. Conducted under the Auspices of 
 Her Majesty's Government. By Dr. N. Davis, F.R.G.S. Profusely Illus- 
 trated with Maps, Woodcuts, Chromo-Lithographs, &c. Svo, Cloth, $4 00. 
 
 DILKE'S GREATER BRITAIN. Greater Britain : a Record of Travel in 
 English-speaking Countries during 1866 and 1S6T. By Ciiaiu.es Went- 
 woBTu DiLKE. With Maps and Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $1 00. 
 
 DOOLITTLE'S CHINA. Social Life of the Chinese : with some Account of 
 their Religious, Governmental, Educational, and Business Customs and 
 Opinions. With special but not exclusive Reference to Fuhchau. By 
 Rev. Justus Doolittle, Fourteen Y'ears Member of the Fuhchau Mission 
 of the American Board. Illustrated with more than 150 characteristic 
 Engravings on Wood. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $5 00. 
 
 DU CHAILLU'S AFRICA. Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial 
 Africa; with Accounts of the Manners and Customs of the People, and 
 of the Chase of the Gorilla, the Crocodile, Leopard, Elephant, Hippopota- 
 mus, and other Animals. By Paul B. Du Chaillu, Corresponding Mem- 
 ber of the American Ethnological Society, of the Geographical and Sta- 
 tistical Society of New York, and of the Boston Society of Natural 
 History. With numerous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $5 00. 
 
 DU CHAILLU'S ASHANGO LAND. A Journey to Ashango Land, and 
 Further Penetration into Equatorial Africa. By Padi. B. Du Cuailld. 
 New Edition. Handsomely Illustrated. Svo, Cloth, $5 00.
 
 Valuable and Interesting Works of Travel. 3 
 
 ELLIS'S MADAGASCAR. Three Visits to Madagascar, during the Years 
 1S53, 1S54, 1856. luclndiug a Journey to the Capital, with Notices of the 
 Natural History of the Country, and of the Present Civilization of the 
 People. By the Rev. William Ellib, F.H.S. Illustrated by a Map and 
 Woodcuts from Photographs, »&c. 8vo, Cloth, $3 50. 
 
 HALL'S ARCTIC RESEARCHES. Arctic Researches and Life among the 
 Esquimaux : being the Narrative of an Expedition in Search of Sir John 
 Franklin, in the Years 1860, 1861, and 1862. By Chaules Francis Hali- 
 With Maps and 100 Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, Beveled, $5 00. 
 
 BOLTON'S NEW GRANADA. Twenty Months in the Andes. By I. F. 
 HoLTON. Illustrations and Maps. Svo, Cloth, $3 00. 
 
 KINGSLEY'S WEST INDIES. At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. 
 By Charles Kingsley, Author of "Alton Locke," "Yeast," &c., &c. Il- 
 lustrated. l'2mo. Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 LIVINGSTONE'S SOUTH AFRICA. Missionary Travels and Researches 
 in South Africa ; including a Sketch of Sixteen Years' Residence in the 
 Interior of Africa, and a Journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Loaudo 
 on the West Coast ; thence across the Continent, down the River Zambesi, 
 to the Eastern Ocean. By David Livingstone, LL.D., D.C.L. With Por- 
 trait, Maps by Arrowsmith, and numerous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, 
 $4 50. 
 
 LIVINGSTONE'S EXPEDITION TO THE ZAMBESL Narrative of an 
 Expedition to the Zambesi and its Tributaries ; and of the Discovery of 
 the Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa. 1858-1864. By David and Cuarles Liv- 
 ingstone. With Map and Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $5 00. 
 
 LAYARD'S NINEVEH. A Popular Account of the Discoveries at Nine- 
 veh. By Adsten Henry Layard. Abridged by him from his larger 
 Work. With numerous Wood Engravings. 12mo, Cloth, $1 75. 
 
 LAYARD'S FRESH DISCOVERIES AT NINEVEH. Fresh Discoveries at 
 Nineveh and Babylon; with Travels in Armenia, Kurdistan, and the 
 Desert. Being the Result of a Second Expedition undertaken for the 
 Trustees of the British Museum. By Austen Henry Layard, M.P. With 
 all the Maps and Engravings in the English Edition. Svo, Cloth, $4 00. 
 
 MACGREGOR'S rob ROY ON THE JORDAN. The Rob Roy on the Jor- 
 dan, Nile, Red Sea, and Genuesareth, &c. A Canoe Cruise in Palestine 
 and Egypt, and the Waters of Damascus. By J. Maogregor, M. A. With 
 Maps and Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 50. 
 
 NEVIUS'S CHINA. China and the Chinese: a General Description of the 
 Country and its Inhabitants ; its Civilization and Form of Government ; 
 iis Religious and Social Institutions ; its Intercourse with other Nations ; 
 and its Present Condition and Prospects. By the Rev. John L. Nevius, 
 Ten Years a Missionary in China. With a Map and Illustrations. 12iuo, 
 Cloth, $1 75. 
 
 OLIPH ANT'S CHINA AND JAPAN. Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mis- 
 sion to China and Japan, in the Years 1857, '58, '59. By Laurence Oli- 
 PHANT, Private Secretary to Lord Elgin. Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, 
 $3 50. 
 
 ORTON'S ANDES AND THE AMAZON. The Andes and the Amazon ; or. 
 Across the Continent of South America. By James Orton, M. A., Profes- 
 sor of Natural History in Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and Cor- 
 responding Member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 
 With a New Map of Equatorial America and numerous Illustrations. 
 Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 00. 
 
 PAGE'S LA PLATA. La Plata, the Argentine Confederation, and Paraguay. 
 Being a Narrative of the Exploration of the Tributaries of the River La 
 Plata and Adjacent Countries during the Years 185.S, '54, '55, and '56, un- 
 der the Orders of the United States Government. New Edition, contain- 
 ing Farther Explorations in La Plata during 1S59 and 1860. By Tuomas 
 J. Paok, U. S. N., Commander of the Expeditions. With Map and numer- 
 ous Engravings. Svo, Cloth, $5 00.
 
 4 Valuable and Interesting Works of Travel. 
 
 PRIME'S (S. I.) TRAVELS IN EUROPE AND THE EAST. Travels in Eu- 
 rope aud the East. A Year in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France, 
 Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Pales- 
 tine, and Egypt. By Rev. Samuel Ikkn^ub Pkime, D.D. Engravings. 
 2 vols., large 12mo, Cloth, $3 00. 
 
 REINDEER, DOGS, AND SNOW-SHOES. A Journal of Siberian Travel 
 and Explorations made in the Years 18G5-'67. By RiouAni) J. Bush, late 
 of the Russo-American Telegraph Expedition. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 
 Cloth, $3 00. 
 
 PRIME'S (W. C.) BOAT-LIFE IN EGYPT. Boat-Life in Egypt and Nubia. 
 By William C. Pki-me. Illustrations. 12mo, Cloth, $2 00. 
 
 PRIME'S (W. C.) TENT-LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND. By Willia.m C. 
 Pki.me. Illustrations. 12nio, Cloth, $2 00. 
 
 SQUIER'S NICARAGUA. Nicaragua: its People, Scenery, Monuments, Re- 
 sources, Condition, aud Proposed Canal. With One Hundred Maps and 
 Illustrations. By E. G. Squiee. 8vo, Cloth, $■! 00. 
 
 SQUIER'S WAIKNA. Waikua; or. Adventures on the Mosquito Shore. ByE. 
 G. SticiEB. With a Map aud upward of 60 Illustrations. I'imo, Cloth, $1 50. 
 
 SPEKE'S AFRICA. Journal of the Discovery of the Source of the Nile. By 
 Captain John Hanning Speke, Captain H. M.'s Indian Army, Fellow and 
 Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographical Society, Hon. Corresponding 
 Member and Gold Medalist of the French Geographical Society, &c. With 
 Maps aud Portraits aud numerous Illustrations, chiefly from Drawings 
 by Captain Grant. Svo, Cloth, %A 00. 
 
 STEPHENS'S TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA. Travels in Central 
 
 America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. By J. L. Stepuens. With a Map and 88 
 
 Engravings. 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $6 00. 
 STEPHENS'S TRAVELS IN YUCATAN. Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. 
 
 By J. L. Stephens. 120 Engravings, from Drawings by F. Catherwood. 
 
 2 vols., Svo, Cloth, $G 00. 
 STEPHENS'S TRAVELS IN EGYPT. Travels in Egypt, Arabia Petrsea, and 
 
 the Holy Laud. By J. L. Stepuens. Engraviugs. 2 vols.,12mo,Cloth, $3 00. 
 STEPHENS'S TRAVELS IN GREECE. Travels in Greece, Turkey, Russia 
 
 aud Poland. By J. L. Stephems. Engravings. 2 vols., I'imo, Cloth,$3 00. 
 
 THOMSON'S LAND AND BOOK. The Land and the Book ; or. Biblical 
 Illustrations drawn from the Manners and Customs, the Scenes and the 
 Scenery of the Holy Land. By W. M. Tho.mson, D.D., Twenty-five Years 
 a Missionary of the A.B.C.F.M. in Syria and Palestine. With Two elab- 
 orate Maps of Palestine, an accurate Plan of Jerusalem, aud Several Hun- 
 dred Enfiravinqs, representing the Scenery, Topography, aud Productions 
 of the Holy Land, and the Costumes, Manners, and Habits of the People. 
 Two large 12mo Volumes, Cloth, $5 00. 
 
 WALLACE'S MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. The Malay Archipelago : the Land 
 of the Orang-utan aud the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of Travel, 
 lS54-'6-2. With Studies of Man and Nature. By Alfbed Rcssel Wal- 
 lace. With Maps and numerous Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 50. 
 
 WELLS'S EXPLORATIONS IN HONDURAS. Explorations aud Adven- 
 tures in Honduras ; comprising Sketches of Travel in the Gold Regions 
 of Olancho, aud a Review of the History aud General Resources of Cen- 
 tral America. By William V. Wells. With Original Maps and numer- 
 ous Illustrations. Svo, Cloth, $3 50. 
 
 WHYMPER'S ALASKA. Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska, 
 formerly Russian America— now ceded to the United States— and in va- 
 rious other Parts of the North Pacific. By Fbedeeiok Whympeb. With 
 Map and Illustrations. Crown Svo, Cloth, $2 50. 
 
 WILKINSON'S ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. A Popular Account of the 
 Ancient Egyptians. Revised and abridged from his larger Work. By 
 Sir J. Gabdneb Wilkinson, D.C.L., F.R.S., &c. Illustrated with 500 
 Woodcuts. 2 vols., 12mo, Cloth, $3 50.
 
 SOUTHFRMli^®^fi*y °' California 
 LOS ANGELES, CA^IfSrN ^yogl^'sll^''' 
 
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 THE IJnVAnY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALlFOilNl 
 LOS ANGELES
 
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