blotched faces, glotted and curly beards, and shaggy apparel -several of them wearing a sheepskin tied over their shoulders—were the very personifications of filth and laziness. The women, who were unveiled, were tolerably well-clothed, and had much more frankness and kindness about them than their lords and masters.

In the neighbourhood of the village there are many large patches, and masses of bare white rock, with the stratification very imperfectly shown, which, though in appearance indurated like compact limestone, is like most of the heights of Judah, Samaria, and Galilee, merely hardened chalk of the upper Jura formation. There are several cultivated fields which were sown with barley, and plenty of good pasturage of herbs, shrubs, and grasses for sheep, goats, and camels. On the crown of a small hill we found in the bed of a quarry, a number of thriving fig-trees. Care seemed to be taken of them, as the soil on which they were grown was

very clean.

When at Dhahariyah, we remembered that we were among the mountains of the south of Judah, referred to in that most remarkable chapter of Scripture geography, the fifteenth of Joshua, in which the boundaries of the tribes are precisely laid down, and its principal towns, as they existed about fifteen hundred years before Christ, are distinctly enumerated according to their districts; and stimulated by the great success of Dr. Robinson in our neighbourhood, we availed ourselves of the glimpses of sunshine which we had, and looked around us at the villages which were visible, and made inquiries about the ruins which might be in their neighbourhood. Our attention was particularly called to Semúả, lying some five or six miles to the east of our encampment. This place is thus noticed by Lord Lindsay :“Five miles from el-Melek, (Milh) we arrived at the village of Simoa or Simoo.

The hill above the village is

IDENTIFICATION OF SCRIPTURAL SITES.

353

crowned by a ruined castle, which shows imposingly from a distance, though poorly on a nearer inspection.

This place I take to be the ancient Shema enumerated in the Book of Numbers, (Joshua,) among the cities of the hill country of Judah."1 Dr. Robinson says, "it probably corresponds to the ancient ESHTEMOA ;"2 and I doubt not he is correct in this opinion; for Shema is mentioned as being situated in another district of country, that comprehending "the uttermost cities of the children of Judah, toward the coast of Edom southward."3 On the supposition that this attempt at identification is correct, let us see how matters stand in regard to that of the other towns associated with it in Scripture. "And in the mountains, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, and Dannah, and Kirjath-Sanna, which is Debir, and Anab, and Ashtemoh, and Anim, and Goshen, and Holon, and Giloh, eleven cities with their villages."4 Of these nine towns, the sites of five, I think, are still found a little to the east of the neighbourhood of Dhaharíyah. Dr. Robinson observed, at a little distance from his path, on his route to and from Petra, those of ANAB, retaining its ancient name to this day, (Anáb); Socон, (Shaweikah, the diminutive form); ESHTEмOH, (Semúȧ as above); and JATTIR, (Attír.)5 This is a fact of no small interest. Anab, Eshtemoh, and Jattir are among the villages, of which he says, that from the days of Jerome, until the present century, their names do not occur in history, or have been known as being still in existence. As far as I know, this statement is correct, except, perhaps, in regard to Jattir, which is referred to in a work of Hebrew geography, first brought to my no

tice by the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, and with the loan of which I was there favoured, the Khaphtor va-Ferach of Esthori ha-Parchi.1 The affinity of the Arabic with the Hebrew language, has preserved the names which might be expected to have been lost many ages ago, to the illustration of the Divine word, and the confirmation of our faith in its authenticity and genuineness. Drawing a line on the map, round the sites which have been thus identified, we include the village named "Ghuwein" by Dr. Robinson. This being the diminutive form of Ain, the Doctor takes it to be the town of AIN mentioned in Joshua xv. 32. Ain, as he was aware, however, is stated to have been, not in the district of the "mountains" where we here find it, but in the district "to-ward the coast of Edom southward." The Doctor proposes to get over the difficulty, by supposing that being near the south border of the mountain district, it may have been included in that still farther south. "Ain," he says, “being situated near the natural border, may have been reckoned to the south, although not strictly belonging to it."2 This is not altogether satisfactory. Ghawein, I take without any hesitation, both from its position and name, to be not the town of AIN, but of ANIM, mentioned in the mountain district, in the passage from Joshua quoted above. Anim (D) is merely a contraction for D AINIM, "fountains," and in Arabic it is as suitably represented by Ghawein as by Ain itself, as nothing is more common than to drop the plural and assume the singular in the permutation of proper names.3 This discovery of Anim, if my gracious reader will allow me to call it such, is the most agreeable result of our visit to Dhahariyah. The village of Dhaharíyah probably occupies the site of some of the other towns mentioned in Joshua, a change having occurred in its name.

1 See the reference in Dr. Zunz's Analysis of this work, in Asher's Benjamin of Tudela, vol. ii. p. 442. 2 Bib. Res. vol. ii. p. 625.

* Take, as examples, Dura for ADORAIM, which is still found west of Hebron, 'Anátá for ANATHOTH, Mahanah for MAHANAIM.

AT two o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th of March, we found ourselves apparently as far as ever from the attainment of our object, as to the procuring of camels at Dhaharíyah; and Mr. Smith and I resolved at all hazards to proceed to Hebron, distant five or six hours to the north-east, in order to obtain the means of transporting thither our luggage, which we were willing should remain, in the meantime, at Dhahariyah, under the care of Dhanjibháí and our other attendants. The endeavours of the Dhahariyah folks to detain us with fair promises of procuring the needful, were at first in vain. Enwrapped in our Turkish cloaks, and with staff in hand, we set forth on our journey. After clearing a

knoll near our encampment, we descended into a considerable Wádí through the common track. When we were ascending the height on the northern side of this Wádí, we observed two men running to us with all their speed; and conjecturing that they wished to force us to return, we got quickly out of their sight, and hid ourselves among the adjoining rocks. They passed on for some distance, but immediately returned in search of us, and detecting us, they assured us, that in a few minutes our whole cavalcade should make its appearance, as the requisite number of camels had been obtained. The information proved correct. We saw in the distance, about three o'clock, a procession of the animals, ten in number, with, I suppose, the whole men of the village advancing to overtake us. Our friends were soon with us, and after demanding and obtaining prepayment, they left the camels with us under the care of one of their number, Sheikh Ahmed, and two drivers only for the whole ķafilah. The camel allotted to me had no halter, and merely a bare wooden frame placed over the hump as a saddle. I had no right control of the animal, and it was most uncomfortable to me to sit upon it, pelted too, as I was, by the heavy rain. Mr. Smith, on seeing my miserable plight, wisely determined to walk the whole way to Hebron, a distance of about fourteen miles, a feat which he succeeded in accomplishing, notwithstanding the cumbersome apparel in which he was arrayed.

We were not in circumstances on this march to pay much attention to the country through which we were passing. Our path lay over a succession of swelling heights and small valleys, and not far from the general summit of the principal range of this part of the country of Judea. Some of the valleys to which we came had a good deal of cultivation in them. In Wádí ed-Dilbah, we observed a clear purling