Wady with brackish water, el-Ghŭdyân, opening into el-'Arabah from the western mountain some distance North of 'Akabah.'

Elath, called by the Greeks and Romans Ailah and Ælana, appears to have supplanted by degrees its less fortunate neighbour; perhaps after having been rebuilt by Azariah (Uzziah) about 800 B. C. Some fifty years later it was taken from the Jews by Rezin king of Syria, and never came again into their possession.2 The notices of this city found in Greek and Roman writers, are fully collected in the great works of Cellarius and Reland.3 In the days of Jerome it was still a place of trade to India; and a Roman legion was stationed here. Theodoret a little later remarks, that it had formerly been a great emporium, and that ships in his time sailed from thence to India. Ailah became early the seat of a Christian church; and the names of four bishops of Ailah are found in various councils from A. D. 320 to A. D. 536.5 In the sixth century also, Procopius speaks of its being inhabited by Jews under the Roman dominion. A few Notitia of ecclesiastical and other writers, which mention Ailah, refer also to this period.' But when in A. D. 630, Muhammed had carried his victorious arms northward as far as to Tebûk, it was the signal for the Christian communities of Arabia Petraea to submit voluntarily to the conqueror, and obtain peace by the payment

1) However different the names el-Ghudyân and Ezion may be in appearance, yet the letters in Arabic and Hebrew all correspond. The name 'Asyûn mentioned by Makrizi, (as quoted by Burckhardt, p. 511,) seems merely to refer to the ancient city, of which he had heard or read.-Schubert suggests that the little island Kureiyeh may have been the site of Ezion-geber; but this, as we have seen, is merely

a small rock in the sea, 300 yards long. Reise, etc. II. p. 379.

2) 2 Kings xiv. 22. xvi. 6.

3) Cellarius Notit. Orb. II. p. 582, seq. Reland Palaestina, p. 554, seq. 4) Hieron. Onomast. art. Ailath. Theodoret Quaest. in Jer. xlix.

5) Le Quien Oriens Christ. III. p. 759. Reland Pal. p. 556.

6) Procop. de Bell. Pers. I. 19. 7) See these collected in Reland's Palaest. pp. 215-230.

of tribute. Among these was John, the Christian ruler of Ailah, who became bound to pay an annual tribute of three hundred gold pieces.'

From this time onward, Ailah became lost under the shroud of Muhammedan darkness; from which it has fully emerged only during the present century. It is simply mentioned by the supposed Ibn Haukal perhaps in the eleventh century; and after the middle of the twelfth, Edrîsi describes it as a small town frequented by the Arabs, who were now its masters, and forming an important point in the route between Cairo and Medîneh.2 In A. D. 1116 King Baldwin I. of Jerusalem with two hundred followers made an excursion to the Red Sea; took possession of Ailah which he found deserted; and was restrained from advancing to Sinai only by the entreaties of the monks.3 It was again wrested from the hands of the Christians by Saladin in A. D. 1167, and never again fully recovered by them; although the reckless Rainald of Chatillon in A. D. 1182 seized upon the town for a time, and laid siege unsuccessfully to the fortress in the sea. In Abulfeda's day, and before A. D. 1300, it was already deserted; for this writer expressly says of Ailah: "In our day it is a fortress, to which a governor is sent from Egypt. It had a small castle in the sea; but this is now abandoned, and the governor removed to the fortress on the shore." Such as Ailah was in the days of Abulfeda, is 'Akabah now. Mounds

1) Abulfedae Annales Muslemici, ed Adler, 1789. Tom. I. p. 171. Ritter Gesch. des Petr. Arab. in Abhandl der Berl. Acad. 1826, Hist. phil. Cl. p. 219.

2) Ouseley's Ebn Haukal, pp. 37, 41. Edrisi, ed. Jaubert, Tom. I. pp. 328, 332.

3) Fulcher. Carnot. 43. Gesta Dei, p. 611. Will. Tyr. XI. 29. Comp. Wilken Gesch. der Kreuzz.

II. p. 403. See also p. 187 above.-The historians of the crusades call the place Helim, and mistook it for the Elim of Scripture.

4) Wilken Gesch. der Kreuzz. III. ii. pp. 139, 222.

5) Abulfedae Arabia, in Geogr. vet. Scriptores min. ed. Hudson, Oxon. 1712, Tom. III. 41. Schultens Index Geogr. in Vit. Saladini, art. Ailah.

p.

of rubbish alone mark the site of the town; while a fortress, as we have seen, occupied by a governor and a small garrison under the Pasha of Egypt, serves to keep the neighbouring tribes of the desert in awe, and to minister to the wants and protection of the annual Egyptian Haj. Shaw and Niebuhr only heard of 'Akabah; Seetzen and Burckhardt attempted in vain to reach it; and the first Frank who has visited it personally in modern times, was Rüppell in A. D. 1822.' For the last ten years, there has been no lack of European visitors.

The modern name 'Akabah, signifying a descent or steep declivity, is derived from the long and difficult descent of the Haj-route from the western mountain. This pass is called by Edrîsi 'Akabat Ailah? It is sometimes also termed el-'Akabah el-Musrîyeh, the Egyptian 'Akabah, in distinction from el-'Akabah eshShâmîyeh or the Syrian 'Akabah, a similar pass on the route of the Syrian Haj about a day's journey eastward from this end of the Red Sea.3

Ailah or 'Akabah has always been an important station upon the route of the Egyptian Haj; the great caravan of pilgrims which annually leaves Cairo for Mecca. Such indeed is the importance of this caravan both in a religious and political respect, that the rulers of Egypt from the earliest period have given it convoy and protection. For this purpose, a line of fortresses similar to that of 'Akabah has been established at intervals along the route; with wells of water, and supplies of provision for the pilgrims of the Haj. At these

1) Shaw's Travels, 4to, p. 321. Niebuhr's Beschr. von Arab. p. 400. Seetzen in Zach's Monatl. Corresp. XXVII. p. 65. Burckhardt's Travels, etc. p. 508. Rüppell's Reisen in Nubien, etc. p. 248.

2) Edrisi Geogr. Clim. III. § 5.

p. 1; or Tom. I. p. 332, ed. Jaubert. The assertion of Niebuhr, that 'Akabah is also called Häle by the Bedawîn, I must regard as doubtful; Beschr. von Arab. p. 400.

3) Burckhardt's Travels, etc.

p. 658.

castles the caravan regularly stops, usually for two days. The first fortress on the route is 'Ajrûd; the second Nükhl on the high desert North of Jebel et-Tih; the third 'Akabah; and a fourth at Muweilih or Mawâlih, on the coast of the Red Sea outside of the entrance of the Gulf of 'Akabah. From 'Akabah the route follows the eastern shore of the Gulf a long day's journey to Hakl. In this part the road leads around a promontory, where the space between the mountain and the sea is so narrow, that only one camel can pass at a time. It is considered very dangerous. Before reaching Hakl there is also a place with palm-trees called Daher el-Humr. At Hakl the route leaves the shore, and passing through the mountains that here skirt the Gulf, continues along the eastern side of them to Muweilih. Further than this, none of the Arabs we met with were acquainted with the road.

In the intervals between these fortresses, there are certain regular stations or halting-places, often without water, where the caravan stops for a shorter time for rest and refreshment. The various tribes of Bedawîn through whose territory the route passes, are held responsible for its safety between certain fixed points. They have the prescriptive right of furnishing a convoy or escort for the Haj during its march between those points; and most of them receive for this service a certain amount of toll from the caravan.'

1) A list of the fourteen stations of the Haj, as far as to Muweilih, as also the parts of the

route allotted for convoy to the different Arab tribes, is given in Note XX, at the end of the volume.

SECTION V.

FROM 'AKABAH TO JERUSALEM.

Thursday, April 5th, 1838. Afternoon. Having at last made all our arrangements, we left the castle of 'Akabah at a quarter past 1 o'clock P. M., and were as happy as any Bedawîn to be in the desert again. From 'Akabah two roads lead across the western desert towards Gaza or Hebron; one said to be difficult, passing along the 'Arabah for some distance, and as-. cending the western mountain further North; the other following the Haj-route to the top of the western ascent, and then striking off across the desert to the right. We took the latter as the easiest. Instead of one guide, we now found we had two; both of them 'Amrân dependants on the castle and born in its vicinity. They were instructed by the governor in our presence to conduct us in safety as far as to Wady elAbyad, near the fork of the roads to Gaza and Hebron. The eldest was called Sâlim; both were tolerably intelligent; but they were dark thievish looking fellows, not to be compared with our Tawarah.

Our course lay along the head of the Gulf on the Haj-road by which we had come yesterday. At 2h 40' we reached the foot of the western ascent, where the hills of conglomerate, which we had passed yesterday further South, sink down into a steep slope of gravel, extending far to the North. This we ascended about W. N. W. and at 3h 25' crossed the shallow Wady