having along its sides, about ten feet above the level of the floor, a line of ornamental work like a sort of cornice. On one side, lower down, were two niches at some distance apart, which seemed once to have had images standing in them; but the stone was too much decayed to determine with certainty. These apartments are all lighted by openings from above. In one smaller room, not lighted, there was at one corner, what looked like a sarcophagus, hollowed out of the same rock; but it was too much broken away to enable us to speak positively. The entrance to the whole range of caverns is by a broad arched passage of some elevation; and we were surprised at the taste and skill displayed in the workmanship.

"The sheikh now took us across the same valley to other clusters of caverns in the northern hill; more extensive indeed than the former, occupying in part the bowels of the whole hill; but less important, and far less carefully wrought. These consist chiefly of bell-shaped domes, lighted from above, like those at Deir Dubbâ'n, though some are merely high arched chambers, excavated in the face of the rock, and open to the day. The rock is here softer, and very many of the domes are broken down. The sheikh related, that one chamber, before unknown, having recently fallen in, he, thinking there might be treasure in it, sent down a man to explore it; but he found only a human skeleton. In one of these caverns was a small fountain; and near by were two short inscriptions, in very old Cufic, which my companion copied. They seem however to have been the work of casual visitors, and afford no explanation of the age or object of the excavations. . . But the most remarkable spot of all remained yet to be visited. This was another series of immense excavations, on the southern end of the hill, on the south of the valley. Lighting several candles, we entered by a narrow and difficult passage from a pit overgrown with briers, and found ourselves in a dark labyrinth of galleries and apartments, all cut from the solid rock, and occupying the bowels of the hill. Here were some dome-shaped chambers, as before; others were extensive rooms, with roofs supported by columns of the same rock left in excavating; and all were connected with each other by passages, apparently without order or plan. Several other apartments were still more singular. These were also in the form of tall domes, twenty feet or more in diameter, and from twenty to thirty feet high. They were

entered by a door near the top, from which a stair-case, cut in the same rock, wound down around the wall to the bottom. We descended into several of these rooms; but found nothing at the bottom, and no appearance of any other door or passage. We could discover no trace of inscriptions; nor anything indeed which might afford the slightest clue for unravelling the mystery in which the history and object of these remarkable excavations are enveloped. Near by, were said to be other similar clusters, which our time did not permit us further to explore." -ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii. pp. 352–354, 395–398.

“It appears from history, that, during, or soon after, the Jewish exile, the Edomites spread themselves throughout the south of Judæa, which they continued to occupy, and which consequently is included under the name of Idumea, by Josephus and later writers... Jerome, also, in speaking of the Idumeans, calls them Horites, and makes them dwell within the borders of Eleutheropolis. Now we know that the original inhabitants of Idumea Proper were actually Horites, that is, Troglodytes, 'dwellers in caverns,' or under ground, who, although dispossessed by the Edomites, continued to live among the latter, and, apparently, became with them one people... It is possible that the Edomites were called Horites, in Palestine, in the original acceptation of the word; for Jerome also asserts, that Idumea, or the whole southern region from Eleutheropolis to Petra and Ailah, was full of habitations in caves, the inhabitants using subterranean dwellings on account of the great heat. Does not this language suggest the idea, that Jerome is here alluding in part to the singular excavations which we discovered near Deir Dubbâ'n, and which were so particularly numerous around Beit Jibrîn, or Eleutheropolis? May we perhaps suppose, that the Idumeans brought with them their habits of life, and preferred to excavate for themselves here, dwellings under ground, in the soft limestone rock? It did not, indeed, occur to us at the time, that possibly this had been the object of these caverns; but it might well have been the case, for they were all dry, and, in general, well lighted... I do not wish to be considered as here advancing an hypothesis, but merely as bringing forward a suggestion, which may deserve consideration.' ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. ii. pp. 424–425.

INDEX.

INDEX.