The Arabs had no name for the spot, and knew of no ruins in the vicinity; but we thought we had seen, not long before, a couple of small towers on the right of the road. We were excessively fatigued; having now been upon our camels since 11 o'clock of the preceding day, with only occasional stops of two or three hours. The camels too had eaten nothing for the last twenty-four hours, that is, since our stop of the evening before; yet they did not seem fatigued. Being now out of all danger, we rejoiced to encamp and give ourselves up to repose; and after the fatigues of the 'Arabah and the exciting scenes of Wady Mûsa, we looked forward with delight to a day of rest upon the morrow. While the tent was pitching, I threw myself upon my cloaks and fell.immediately into a deep sleep; from which it was hard to be awaked to remove into the tent, and partake of our evening meal. But we slept soundly through the whole night; and felt afterwards no further remains of the fatigue. Of the three passes, that of es-Sufâh is the most direct; but that of el-Yemen, though the way is longer, is more used, on account of the water at the top. We did not learn, that there is any great difference between them all, as to the length or difficulty of the ascent itself, which we estimated at about a thousand feet. The roads leading up the two adjacent passes, es-Sufâh and es-Sufey, as we have seen, are similar. The third road enters the gorge of Wady el-Yemen ; and following it up for a time, then climbs the wall of rock by a steep and difficult path. Seetzen describes this Wady as a frightfully wild, deep, and desert val 1) The whole elevation from Wady el-Fikreh to a point near our encampment, is given by Schubert's VOL. II. 75 measurements at 1434 Paris feet; Reise II. p. 448. ley, strewed with large rocks so thickly, that it is often difficult to find a way between them.1 The high region which we had now reached, is bounded, as we shall hereafter see, by another less elevated ridge in the N. W. and forms a second step or offset in the whole ascent to Palestine. It is indeed the continuation of the broad desert tract, which lies between the two passes of ez-Zuweirah, and runs up in this direction.2 As we had now taken leave of the 'Arabah and of the region of the Dead Sea, probably for ever, it may be proper to pause for a few moments, and bring together into one view what remains to be said upon these topics. I subjoin too, some remarks upon the Catastrophe of the Cities of the Plain, and on the Route of the Children of Israel in their approach to Palestine. WADY EL-'ARABAH. This great valley, lying here between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of 'Akabah, constitutes a very remarkable feature in the configuration of the whole region. With a partial interruption, or rather contraction, between the Lakes of el-Hûleh and Tiberias, it may be said to extend from Bâniâs, at the foot of Jebel esh-Sheikh, to the Red Sea. The northern half is watered by the Jordan, which during its course expands into the two fresh-water lakes just mentioned; and is at length lost in the bitter waters of the Dead Sea; this latter occupying the middle-point of the great val 1) Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVII. pp. 134, 135. So Bertou in Bull. de la Soc. de Géogr. Juin 1839, p. 323. 2) See this tract described, pp. 475, 477, above. ley nearly equidistant from its two extremities. From the Lake of Tiberias to the line of cliffs some three hours south of the Dead Sea, the valley or great chasm bears among the Arabs the name el-Ghôr; above and south of the offset of those cliffs, and so to 'Akabah, it is known only as Wady el-'Arabah. Its breadth at Jericho and at 'Ain Jidy has already been specified;1 where we had now crossed it, somewhat obliquely, from the pass of Nemela to 'Ain el-Weibeh, we had found the width to be not far from six hours with camels, or nearly the same as at Jericho; while at 'Akabah, as we have seen, it is contracted perhaps to less than half that distance.? 3 The remarkable depression of the Dead Sea in the middle of this long valley, nearly six hundred Paris feet below the Mediterranean according to Schubert, has already been adverted to. To judge from the general configuration, and from the course and current of the Jordan, it follows almost of necessity, that the Lake of Tiberias, and most probably also the Hûleh, must also be similarly depressed; although the measurements are as yet so indefinite and inconsistent, that the actual degree of this depression can hardly be conjectured.* On the South of the Dead Sea, the elevation of the water-shed, which according to our Arabs lies beyond the southern Wady Ghŭrundel, has not yet been de 1) See above pp. 289, 217. 4) Thus Schubert makes the depression of the Lake of Tiberias to be 535 Par. feet, only 65 feet less than that of the Dead Sea; while the bridge, Jisr Benât Ya'kob, on the Jordan north of the former lake, he gives at 350 Par. feet above the Mediterranean,-a difference of 880 feet in a distance of two hours. Reise III. p. 231, 259. Bertou, who makes the depression of the Dead Sea to be 419.8 metres, or over 1300 feet, gives that of the Lake of Tiberias at 230.3 metres, or about 700 feet, and that of the Hûleh at 6 metres or over 18 feet; Bulletin de la Soc. de Géogr. Oct. 1839, pp. 161, 146, 145. These different results are utterly irreconcilable with each other; and, as it seems to me, equally so with the nature of the region. termined. Schubert gives the depression of the bed of Wady el-Jeib, an hour and a half south of el-Weibeh, at ninety-one Paris feet below the level of the Red Sea; and that of Wady el-Fikreh, near the pass es-Sŭfâh, at five feet below the same. These specifications seem to me to correspond tolerably with his report of the depression of the Dead Sea. But apart from all barometrical measurements, which as yet are so uncertain, the very conformation of this part of the great valley, thus presenting a much longer and greater descent towards the North than towards the South, seems of itself to indicate, that the Dead Sea must lie considerably lower than the Gulf of 'Akabah. The Ghôr, between the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, as we have seen, is in itself a desert; except so far as the Jordan and occasional fountains cover small portions of it with exuberant fertility.2 On the South of the Dead Sea, where instead of the Jordan we find only during the rainy season the torrents of el-Jeib, the surface of the 'Arabah is almost uninterruptedly a still more frightful desert. In the Ghôr indeed, around the southern end of the sea, the living streams from the Wadys Kerak, el-Kŭrâhy, and elTufîleh, impart fertility to the adjacent soil; while on the Southwest, and along the base of the transverse line of cliffs, the brackish fountains comprehended under the names el-Beida and el-'Arûs, nourish extensive tracts of marshy verdure.3 But in el-'Arabah, although the fountains are numerous for a desert, yet they are 1) Reise II. pp. 440, 443.—From 'Akabah to Wady Abu Kusheibeh leading up to Mount Hor, Schubert travelled along the east side of the 'Arabah, where the ground is higher than on the western side. Of course the measurements of 465, 954, and 2046 feet of elevation, do not mark the proper level of the 'Arabah; especially the latter one, which seems to have been taken in the eastern mountains. Ibid. pp. 401, 411, 440; comp. p. 439. seq. 2) See above pp. 268, 286, 290, 3) See generally above pp. 488-490; also pp. 493-496. less copious, and seem to exert a less vivifying power than those of the northern Ghôr. On the East, the stream which fertilizes Wady Ghuweir, in which the Fellâhîn of Dhâneh plough and sow, appears not to reach the great plain of the 'Arabah, at least not to any great extent. Then follow towards the South, 'Ain el-Buweirideh already described; the small fountain et-Taiyibeh near the foot of the pass leading up to Mount Hor; and the waters within the mouth of the southern Wady Ghŭrundel. On the western side, we find first the water of Hasb in the plain of the 'Arabah; then 'Ain el-Khŭrâr at the mouth of the Wady of the same name; 'Ain el-Mureidhah; el-Hufeiry; el-Weibeh; 'Ain el-Ghamr; and then beyond the Jerâfeh also el-Melîhy and el-Ghŭdhyân.2 The main road, by which Ma'ân and the adjacent country has communication with Hebron and Gaza, descends to the 'Arabah near Mount Hor, and crossing to el-Weibel ascends again to the South of Palestine by some one of the passes above described,-the Haudeh, el-Yemen, es-Sŭfâh, or es-Sufey. A route also from 'Akabah to Hebron and Gaza leads along the 'Arabah; one branch goes up through Wady el-Beyaneh to the western plain and so to Ruhaibeh; while another, apparently little travelled, remains in the 'Arabah, and falls into the Ma'ân road at el-Weibeh.3 1) For Wady el-Ghuweir, see p. 502 above; for 'Ain el-Buweirideh p. 503; for 'Ain et-Taiyibeh p. 529. For the springs near the mouth of Wady Ghŭrundel, see Burckhardt p. 441. Laborde Voy441. Laborde Voyage p. 53. (148.) 2) See above for the Hasb, pp. 499, 586; for el-Khurâr and 'Ain el-Mureidah, p. 586; for el-Hufeiry, p. 582; for el-Weibeh, p. 580584; for el-Ghamr p. 581; for elMelihy, p. 508. For el-Ghudhyan see Vol. I. pp. 251, 268. See also generally, Vol. I. p. 268; and Burckhardt p. 446. Schubert speaks of water found by digging holes in the bottom of the Jeib, an hour and a half south of el-Weibeh; where the water probably has some connexion with el-Ghamr. He also describes a fountain three or four hours north of el-Weibeh, in a valley which he calls Mirzaba; though the proper Wady of this name is only 35 minutes from elWeibeh. The distance coincides Iwell with that of 'Ain el-Mureidhah. Reise II. p. 440-443. 3) See above, Vol. I. p. 292. |