lage of Burka, bearing W. N. W. across the valley, high up on the hill-side, a quarter of an hour distant. The high point of Neby Samwîl had also been for some time in sight, and now bore W. S. W. The village of Kudeirah lay N. 18° W. and Deir Diwân N. 10° E. At 12h 50' the valley had become more shallow; and tombs and quarries appeared again in its bottom on the left, near the low point of a hill between the valley and a more western branch. On this low hill, as we were afterwards told, there are traces of an ancient site, which we explored more fully at a later period. We reached Deir Diwân at 1h 05', in an hour and five minutes from Mukhmâs. This is a large and tolerably wealthy place, compared with all the others we had seen to-day. It lies in an uneven rocky basin, at the head of the valley we had followed up; and its position is high, although shut in by hills. This is shown by the rapid ascent of the small Wady from the South; while on the North the place is skirted by another very deep and rugged valley running towards the East. The declivities around were now covered with grain, olive and fig-trees, all growing among the rocks as before; and every thing appeared thrifty. The place is said to produce large quantities of figs; and we had hoped to have obtained here some of the dried fruit; but their stock of it was exhausted. As we rode into the town, we were welcomed by a company of twenty or thirty men, who conducted us to the flat roof of a house, and treated us with great civility. They had never before seen a Frank among them. lage, they said, was anciently situated on the low hill towards the South, where there are ruins; and on the present site was then a convent. But I apprehend 1) See under May 14th. Their vil that this was nothing more than a mode of accounting for the name Deir (convent). There are no marks of antiquity about the present village. About an hour from Deir Diwân towards the Northwest, lies Beitîn, the ancient Bethel, not in sight; and it follows from the scriptural account and from the nature of the country, that the city of Ai, destroyed by Joshua, must have been somewhere in the vicinity of the spot on which we now were.' The name however has utterly perished; we inquired diligently after it throughout the whole region, but without finding the slightest trace. The city might have been situated perhaps upon the site with ruins S. of Deir Diwân; or upon a rocky Tell (hill) bearing from the village N. 46° W. and overlooking the deep northern valley. Another place of ruins, el-'Alya, was also pointed out, bearing N. 50° E. at some distance across the same valley. But our researches today respecting Ai where so unsatisfactory, that we renewed them at a later period; though with not much better success.2 From this place Taiyibeh, our next stage, bore N. 23 E. situated on very high ground. The village of Kudeireh bore S. 50° W. er-Rám S. 40° W. Jeba' S. 12° W. and Rummôn on its lofty rock E. N. E.IN. Having remained for half an hour at Deir Diwân, we set off again at 1h 35' for Taiyibeh; although our guide was very desirous of proceeding directly to Beitîn. His reason probably was the much shorter distance of the latter place. After five minutes we began to descend the very rugged wall of the valley on the North, the steepest and longest descent we had yet made. The valley here cannot well be less than two hundred and fifty or three hundred feet in depth. We dismounted 1) Josh. c. vii, viii. 2) See under May 14th. as usual, the path being very difficult for the horses, even without a load. Before us, towards the right, was Rummôn, on a naked conical point of the ridge, rising steeply on the N. side of the valley; the houses being apparently built in terraces around the hill from the top downwards. It took us thirty minutes to reach the bottom of the valley. This seemed to have here more than one name. Some called it el-Mutyâh; while another spoke of it as Wady el-'Asas. It is the great drain of the adjacent tract; and passes down to the plain of the Jordan, issuing from the mountains at some distance N. of Jericho under the name of Wady Nawâ'imeh, where we afterwards encountered it again. We now entered a narrow branch-valley which comes into Wady el-Mutyâh from the N. nearly at right angles. It is called Wady el-'Ain, from a spring of water which descends into it further up, from the western hill. The region is very rocky; and we advanced by a rugged and often dangerous path. During the whole day we saw very little grass; the chief herbage everywhere was the furzy plant Bellân; and in this valley I was struck with the frequent appearance of the common sage of our gardens, interspersed with the fragrant Za'ter. At 2 25' we came upon the fountain which gives name to the Wady; a pretty spring issuing from the rocky wall upon our left. The valley extends quite up to Taiyibeh, having its head in a basin on the N. W. of the hill, on which that place is situated. Instead of following the direct road up the valley, which would have brought us to the village in one hour from the fountain, or at 3h 25', the guide at about half way mistook the path, and led us up a side Wady on the right, to the high open country lying between Rummôn and Taiyibeh. Discovering the mistake, we now struck across the fields towards the North without a path, passing over a high hill which afforded a wide prospect, and at length reached Taiyibeh; losing about twenty minutes by this detour. The village of Taiyibeh crowns a conical hill, on the highest ridge or tract of land which we had yet crossed. On the very summit of the hill are the ruins of a tower, once similar apparently to those we had seen in almost all the villages. From these ruins the houses extend down the sides of the hill, chiefly towards the S. E. On the W. and N. are fertile basins of some breadth, forming the beginning of Wadys; and these are full of gardens of olive and fig-trees. Many olive-trees are also scattered upon the hills around. From the site of the old tower there is a splendid view over the whole eastern slope, the vale of the Jordan or el-Ghôr, the Dead Sea and the eastern mountains comprising the districts of the Belka and of Jebel 'Ajlûn. In the latter, towards the E. N. E. a break was seen, where the valley of the Zurka comes down; and just North of it, the ravine of 'Ajlûn with the Saracenic castle, Kŭl'at er-Rŭbŭd, perched on a lofty rock high up in the mountains, and bearing N. 55° E. Further S. the site of Nimrîn was pointed out. On the east of the sea the mountains seemed to come down in precipices close to the water; so that apparently no road could pass. Оссаsional ravines were visible in the naked rocks. Towards the S. the view took in the Frank Mountain (el-Fureidîs) beyond Bethlehem. Neither Jerusalem nor the Mount of Olives was visible. Near at hand 1) Burckhardt visited and describes this castle; Travels in Syria, etc. pp. 266, 267. Compare Irby and Mangles' Travels, p. 306. From the inscriptions, it appears to have been built under Saladin; and so Abulfeda, Tab. Syr. ed. VOL. II. 16 Köhler, pp. 13, 92. The same dis- 2) See further under May 13th. was Rummôn, now below us. The landscape exhibited little of verdure or beauty; yet its stern and desert features were strongly impressive.1 Close by Taiyibeh, S. E.E. on the top of a lower hill sixty or eighty rods distant, are the ruins of a small church of St. George; of which the walls are still partially standing. The inhabitants of Taiyibeh are all native Christians of the Greek rite. Their priests had visited the missionaries in Jerusalem, and we now found here friends, who seemed exceedingly glad to welcome us to their village. As we wished, if possible, to proceed further to-day, Mr. Smith and myself repaired immediately to the ruined tower, taking with us one or two of the inhabitants to point out and name to us the various objects in view. On returning, we found our companions sitting with the priests and others before the Medâfeh, sipping coffee out of small cups in the oriental style. The Mukârys had concluded to stop here for the night, and without asking leave had unloaded the horses; so that we were in a measure compelled to remain. A place was now selected and the tent pitched; and we obtained a supply of mats, lights, and eatables from the village. We took this course both because we preferred our tent to the small and uncomfortable 1) Here we took among others, the following bearings: Rummôn S. 5° W. Frank Mountain S. 17° W. er-Râm S. 36° W. Neby Samwil S. 50° W. el-'Alya S. 60° W. Khân Hudhrûr, a ruined Khân on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho, S. 15° E. Dead Sea, northwest bay, S. 35° E. N. end of the sea S. 44° E. Wady Zurka, mouth, N. 60° E. Kŭl'at er-Rubud N. 55° E. Deir Jerîr, a small Muslim village near Taiyibeh, N. 5° E. 2) The Medâfeh is a sort of public house, set apart for the reception of travellers. Each village has one or more. In those parts of the country not yet corrupted by the frequency of foreign travellers, the stranger is hospitably entertained by the inhabitants, without the expectation of a reward. Of this we found several instances; see at Beit Nettîf under May 17th. See also Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, etc. pp. 295, 351, 384. |