point, the land which was not ploughed, was covered with the herbs Za'ter and Bellân (or Netsh), which afford fine pasturage for sheep and goats; the latter preferring it even to grass. The tower of Semû'a was occasionally in sight.

We came to the ruins of Carmel at twenty-five minutes past six; and were about to pitch our tent by the reservoir in the deep head of the valley, when an Arab peasant came and warned us against it, saying there were wanderers (robbers) round about, and inviting us to go on to Ma'în to an encampment of peasants from Yutta. This we consented to do, more for the sake of seeing the place and the people, than from any apprehension of danger; for our escort was not of a kind which robbers would be likely to attack. Accordingly, after five minutes' delay, we went on, and reached the place at five minutes before seven o'clock. Here we encamped by a sheep-fold near a cavern. It was now dark and a strong chill wind was blowing from the West; so that we rejoiced in the protection of our tent, and enjoyed also the blazing fire of our Arabs beneath the shelter of a rock.

A band of peasants from Yutta were here, keeping their flocks and dwelling in caves amid the ruins of Ma'în. They gathered around us, astonished at our appearance among them; but their shyness seemed rather to proceed from timidity, than from any disposition to be uncivil. They answered our questions at first with suspicion, but with apparent honesty; and their distrust soon passed away.-The encampment was on the northern declivity of the conical hill of Ma'în, five minutes' walk below the summit. This hill rises gradually not less than some two hundred feet above the site of Carmel.

Thursday, May 10th. We repaired to the top of the hill, from which there is an extensive prospect toVOL. II.

25

wards the North and over the broad plain on the West. The sun rose in his strength, and poured a flood of golden light upon the plain and the hills beyond; so that every object was distinctly seen. The summit is crowned with ruins of no great extent; foundations of hewn stone; a square enclosure, the remains probably of a tower or small castle; and several cisterns. The view is fine, including on the East the region towards the Dead Sea; and extending on the N. to Beni Na'îm and Hebron, which was distinctly seen in its valley; and on the West to Dhoherîyeh and beyond. Towards the South the view was interrupted by the mountain ridge already mentioned, about half an hour distant, running off nearly W. S. W. We could not learn that it had any special name; it certainly is not called the mountain of Kurmul, or Mount Carmel; unless sometimes because of its vicinity to that place.'

From Ma'în we could distinguish quite a number of places; the bearings of which are given in the note below. Of these places several are of unquestionable antiquity. Ma'in is without doubt the Maon of Nabal. Semû'a we had formerly seen from Dhoherîyeh, and it probably corresponds to the ancient Eshtemoa.1 'Attîr suggests the Jattir of Scripture; while Sûsieh

1) Seetzen gives it this name; Zach's Monatl. Corresp. XVII. p. 134.

2) Bearings from Ma'in: Semu'a S. 86° W. 'Attir, further South. Sûsieh N. 88° W. 'Anâb with a small tower N. 86° W. Shuweikeh, a small ruin, N. 85° W. Dhoherîyeh on the hills N. 83° W. Mejd el-Ba'a, a ruin on a hill, N. 71° W. Yutta, a large village on a hill sloping east, N. 40° W. Hebron N. 4° W. Kurmul, the castle, one mile distant, N. 10° E. Beni Na'im N. 22° E.

3) 1 Sam. xxv. 2.

4) Josh. xxi. 14. xv. 50. The Hebrew name has the Hithpael

form, which might easily pass over into the Arabic name with the article, es-Semu'a. Compare the similar case of el-'Âl for the Hebrew Elealeh. We visited Semu'a in returning from Wady Musa, June 4th.-A city Shema is also mentioned in the south of Judah; too far south indeed to correspond to Semû'a; Josh. xv. 26.

5) Josh. xv. 48. There is here a difficulty in supposing a change of Yodh into 'Ain, of which there seems to be no other instance.Raumer confounds Jattir with Ether in the plain, Josh. xv. 24; see his Paläst. Edit. 2. p. 188.

is a tract of ruins in the middle of the plain, said to be large, with many columns, though there seemed to be no houses standing. 'Anâb is of course the ancient name Anab without change; and in Shuweikeh, the diminutive form of Shaukeh, we may recognise the Socoh of the mountains of Judah.2 In Yutta and Kurmul we have the Juttah and Carmel of antiquity. Most of these places we afterwards saw again, in returning by a more western route from Wady Mûsa.

Here then we found ourselves surrounded by the towns of the mountains of Judah; and could enumerate before us not less than nine places still bearing apparently their ancient names: "Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Juttah;" Jattir, Socoh, Anab, and Eshtemoa; "and Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron." feelings with which we looked abroad upon these ancient sites, most of which had hitherto remained unknown, were of themselves a sufficient reward for our whole journey.

The

Of Ziph I have already spoken. Eusebius and Jerome enumerate Anab, Eshtemoa, Jattir, and Juttah, as large villages in their age; though the specifications they give of their sites are very indefinite. Maon was then desolate; and the Socoh of the mountains is not mentioned by them. Carmel existed, as we shall see immediately. But from the days of Jerome, until the present century, not one of these names, except Carmel, occurs in history, or has been known as being still in existence. The crusaders seem not to have penetrated into this region, except in one or two military excursions around the south end of the Dead Sea. In March, 1807, Seetzen passed

1) Josh. xi. 21. xv. 50.

2) Josh. xv. 48. We afterwards found another Shuweikeh corresponding to the Socoh in the plain, Josh. xv. 35.

3) Josh. xv. 48-55.

4) Onomast. arts. Anab, Esthemo (Astemac?) Jether for Jattir, Jetham for Juttah, Maon, Socoh.

through this tract in the same direction; and although his letter makes mention only of the mountain south of Carmel, yet his map contains the names of Kurmul, Semû'a, Yutta and Shuweikeh.' In 1818, Irby and Mangles and their companions travelled by this route from Hebron to the south end of the Dead Sea; but none of them mention any of these names. The former indeed describe what seems to have been Kurmul; but they call it "Al-baid."2 Within the last few years, travellers on the direct route from Wady Mûsa to Hebron have passed through Semû'a; but seem to have heard nothing of these other ancient places.3

While we were taking our observations, many of the peasants gathered around us, and seemed gratified to hold our telescopes and render other little services ; although they wondered at our employment. The opinion was expressed among themselves, that we were each noting down his own estate in the lands around. Indeed, there seems to be a current impression, that ever since the country was in the hands of the Franks, their descendants still have deeds of all the land; and when travellers come here, their presumed object is to look up their estates. These poor people, however, seemed well-pleased at the idea of our coming to take possession; hoping in this way to be themselves freed from the oppression of Muslim misrule.

We now returned on foot down the hill towards Kurmul, leaving our animals to follow when loaded. Here are more extensive ruins than we yet had anywhere seen, unless perhaps at Bethel. On the way, about a quarter of a mile south of the castle, are the remains of a church standing quite alone. The whole

1) Seetzen in Zach's Monatl. Correspond. XVII. p. 133, seq. His map is found in the same work, Vol. XXII.

2) Travels, p. 348.

3) Stephens, Lord Lindsay, Schubert, etc.

length of the foundations is one hundred and fifty-six feet; the building having consisted apparently of two parts. The easternmost of these, the proper church, with columns, measures sixty-nine feet in length by forty-six feet broad; the western part, eighty-seven feet long by forty-eight feet broad; but the purpose to which the latter was applied we could not determine. On the south side is a square reservoir sunk in the rock.

The ruins of the town lie around the head and along the two sides of a valley of some width and depth; the head of which forms a semicircular amphitheatre shut in by rocks. From this the valley runs for some thirty or forty rods S. S. E. and then bends N. E. towards the Dead Sea. The bottom of the amphitheatre is a beautiful grass-plat, with an artificial reservoir in the middle, measuring one hundred and seventeen feet long by seventy-four feet broad. The spring from which it is supplied, is in the rocks on the N. W. where a chamber has been excavated. The water is brought out by an underground channel, first to a small basin near the rocks, and then five or six rods further to the reservoir. No water was now flowing down the

valley.

The main ruins are on the level ground west of the amphitheatre; and here stands the castle. They consist chiefly of the foundations and broken walls of dwellings and other edifices, scattered in every direction, and thrown together in mournful confusion and desolation. Most of the stones were only roughly hewn, or else have been worn away by time and exposure. In the western part are the remains of a smaller church, surrounded by those of very many houses. Here is also an open passage leading down into a narrow cavern apparently natural, which may have been used as a tomb or magazine, like the one