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-Rubŭd, perched on a lofty rock high up in the mountains, and bearing N. 55° E1 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 Zŭrka, mouth, N. 60° E. Kŭl'at er-Rubŭd 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. dwellings of the inhabitants, infested as they are with vermin; and because too we hoped thus to have more the command of our own time. But in this latter particular we reckoned without our host. The inhabitants crowded about us with their Sheikh and three priests, until the tent was completely full, besides a multitude standing around the door. Mr. Lanneau distributed among them several books and tracts in the Arabic language; and they became quite clamorous for more. They were especially delighted with the psalters; and each of the priests obtained the promise of a Bible, for which they were to come or send to Jerusalem. The Sheikh we did not like; he was shy, though cringing in his manner; and almost from the first, as he accompanied us to the ruined church, began to inquire about his bakhshish. Afterwards in the tent, he declared himself an American; and to convince us of it, drank milk in a cup of tea before the priests, although it was on Friday and therefore unlawful. It was only by ordering the people away that we could get room to eat; and it was quite late before we could even think of sleep. At length, however, we made shift to arrange our couches within our somewhat narrow limits, and laid ourselves down. The captain or responsible guard of the village himself kept watch by our tent, accompanied by two or three others; and to beguile the night and keep themselves awake, they one after another repeated tales in a monotonous tone of voice. This served their own purpose; and had too the further effect of aiding to keep us awake; so that, what with the voices of the Arabs, the barking of dogs, the crawling of fleas, and the hum of muskitoes, we were none of us able to get much sleep all night.-Two or three nights before, robbers had entered the village and stolen several sheep. The desert towards the Dead Sea was said to be full of them. Taiyibeh contains seventy-five taxable inhabitants, showing a population of from three to four hundred souls. The only other villages north of Jerusalem within the province, containing Christians, were said to be Râm-Allah and Jifneh, which we afterwards visited; and the smaller ones of Bîr Zeit and 'Ain 'Arîk, each with twenty-five Christian men and the rest Muslims. The land of Taiyibeh is held by the peasants in freehold; except that in a certain sense the whole village belongs to the Haram esh-Sherif, to the Mutawelly of which it pays annually seventy-five Mids (measures) of barley and wheat. The Mid is equal to sixteen Sa'a, or twelve Ruba' of Egypt.' Besides this there are paid in taxes to the government: for each olive and fig-tree one Piastre; for each she-goat and ewe one Piastre; and for each ox seventy-five Piastres, which is intended rather as a tax upon the land ploughed, than upon the oxen. Each man also pays one hundred Piastres as Firdeh or capitation-tax; and being all Christians and free from the military conscription, each pays an additional tax of twenty-five Piastres, which is reckoned to the Kharaj or toleration-tax.2 The village was said to pay in all, not far from seventy-five purses annually, equivalent to 1875 Spanish dollars.-The Sheikh el-Beled, literally the "elder of the village," is here as elsewhere the chief man, and the medium of communication with the government. The remarkable position of Taiyibeh would not probably have been left unoccupied in ancient times; but I am unable to identify it with any earlier site, unless it be the Ophra of Benjamin. This city, according to Eusebius and Jerome, lay five Roman miles east of 1) The Egyptian Ruba' is the twenty-fourth part of an Ardeb 2) See above, p. 93. Note 2. Bethel; which accords well with the position of etTaiyibeh.' Saturday, May 5th. Taking with us a guide from Taiyibeh, we set off at 4h 50' for Beitîn, intending to visit on our way the ruins at el-'Alya. We followed down the narrow valley by the road of yesterday for forty minutes. Here we turned W. N. W. up another branch, and then passed up an ascent, reaching the top at 6 o'clock. From this point el-'Alya lay ten minutes towards the South. We found there only a few ruins of small houses on a high plateau, with a deep valley on the West and S. W., but no traces of antiquity. Not far off towards the East is a spring of water, called 'Ain el-'Alya, 'Upper Spring,' to distinguish it from that in the valley below, which we passed yesterday. The village probably derived its name from the fountain.2 Returning to the point where we had left our road, we now proceeded again at 6h 40' on the same general course towards Beitîn. We soon crossed a broad shallow Wady, running nearly South, apparently one of the heads of that passing down on the north side of Deir Diwân; and at 7h 10' reached the eastern branch of the great Nâbulus road on the higher land beyond. Hence Taiyibeh bore N. 76° E. and el-Bîreh S. 40° W. Descending gradually by this road S. W. we came to the site of Beitîn at 74 o'clock, just at the left of the path; making a distance of two hours from Taiyibeh. The ruins lie upon the point of a low hill, between the heads of two shallow Wadys, which unite below and run off S. S. E.S. into the deep and rugged val 1) Josh. xviii. 23. 1 Sam. xiii. 17. Euseb. et Hieron. Onomast. art. Aphra. 2) From 'Alya, Deir Diwân bore S. 5° W. Bir Zeit near Jifna N. 55° W. 'Atara beyond Tell Jifna N. 30° W. 'Ain Yebrûd on |