tablet, hewn high up in the rock, exhibiting a pedestal in relief, with two slender pyramids or obelisks upon it. There is no inscription; except a Greek scrawl in red paint, now illegible, apparently the work of some casual visitor in by-gone times. The tablet may not improbably have been intended as a sepulchral

monument.1

4

We emerged from the Sik at 112 o'clock into a new region, called Sutûh Beida, "White Plains," a broad uneven open tract or valley running south by west, having on the right the naked sandstone ridge through which we had passed, and on the left, a high sloping mountain ridge without precipices, sprinkled with herbage to the top. On this declivity are traces of tillage and also olive trees, around the little village of Dibdiba, not far up the side; we were opposite to it at 12 o'clock. More towards the south, isolated groups of sandstone rocks and cliffs are scattered in the open tract; and beyond them is Wady Mûsa. The waters of the northern part of the plain flow off through the Sîk behind us; while those further south find their way to Wady Mûsa, which there crosses the tract from east to west. The soil of the plain seemed poor; and there was only a scanty tillage. A few people were reaping and gleaning a miserable crop of wheat sown among the shrubs; the stalks were hardly a foot high, few and far between. Near by was a threshing-floor; but the crop seemed hardly to merit so much trouble. A few Bedawîn were also pasturing their flocks. We halted at 12.10 and purchased a sheep; offering for it forty piastres, which at first was refused, but afterwards taken. We wished to provide a good supper for our Arabs this evening in Wady Mûsa; in order to part with our Haweitât on good terms on the morrow.

The poor people whom we here found, were at the least possible remove from savage life. In one party, consisting mostly of females, there was a man entirely naked, except a rag around his loins; and most of the children had only a like covering for their nakedness. This man was armed with a gun and knife, and looked fierce and savage. In this quarter we saw two or three small tombs in the sandstone rocks.

From this spot we sent off our servants and luggage direct to Wady Musa; their course was south by west, crossing obliquely several narrow Wadys which run into Wady Mûsa at points further west; and then following down another, to enter near the eastern quarter. We in the mean time took a route more to the left, in order to approach from the east through the magnificent Sik or chasm. Setting off at 12 o'clock, our course was about south, along the base of the mountain on our left, and so

1 This tablet is mentioned by Lord Lindsay, who passed by this route after leaving Wady Mûsa.

around its southwestern end; thus passing above or across the heads of several Wadys running southwest to Wady Músa. At 2 o'clock we saw the ruined structure in Wady Mûsa, bearing southwest about three quarters of an hour distant; while at the same time the village of Eljy bore S. S. E. distant rather more than an hour. The body of the regular mountain on our left, appeared to be limestone; a formation still higher and further back than the sandstone; though the base in this part, and the Wadys on our right, were of the latter. This appears to be the mountain, on which Irby and Mangles and their companions encamped for several days, before they could enter Wady Mûsa; from it they could see that place in the south, and the village of Dibdiba below them towards the west.2

1

We were now higher than Wady Musa, and were indeed traversing the top of the broad sandstone ridge, which extends from below this end of the mountain of Dibdiba southwards, forming the eastern barrier through which the ravine of the Sik leads to the former place. We soon had upon our right a similar narrow chasm, sunk deep in the rocky surface over which we were passing, and not more than twenty or thirty feet in breadth; this I suppose to be the ravine marked on the plan of Wady Musa, as entering at the northeast corner. At 2.20 we came opposite a ruined fortress on the other side of this chasm, situated just on the brink, and looking down into the depths below. It is of considerable extent, with pointed arches and imperfect masonry, apparently of Saracenic construction. From our position near it, Mount Hor bore S. 72° W. and Eljy S. 35° E. The particular object of this castle we could not perceive; as it seems to guard no approach to Wady Musa, nor to any other place of importance. Perhaps it was an outpost of the former fortress of Shôbek towards the south. I am not aware that it has yet been noticed by travellers.3

Eljy was now before us, and appeared like a good sized village on the western declivity of another long limestone mountain; it lies on a point or promontory between two Wadys which unite at the foot. According to Burckhardt, it "contains between two and three hundred houses, and is enclosed by a stone wall with three regular gates; a few large hewn stones dispersed over the present town, indicate the existence of an ancient city on the spot. The slopes around are terraced and

1 Burckhardt says that "the rocks above Eljy are calcareous, and the sandstone does not begin until the point where the first tombs are excavated" in the valley further west. Travels in Syria, p. 432. 2 Travels pp. 386, 388. [118.]

3 Unless perhaps it be the Beit el-Karm

mentioned by Irby and Mangles, as seen from their camp above Dibdiba; but in what direction they do not say. Travels p. 425. [130.]

4 The same traveller saw here also some large pieces of saline marble." Travels pp. 420, 421.-Irby and Mangles

cultivated. In the northern Wady, about twenty minutes above the village, is a copious spring issuing from under the rock. This is 'Ain Mûsa. The brook which runs from it, receives further down a rivulet from the southern Wady and also some other springs; and flowing down the valley westward, forms the stream of Wady Mûsa.-From 'Ain Musa, according to Burckhardt, a broad valley winds upwards in a southern direction for two hours and a quarter; at the extremity of which, on high ground, are the ruins of an ancient city, now called Butâhy.'

2

4

We came to the valley with the brook at 22 o'clock, at some distance below Eljy, and just at the point where it becomes narrower by entering among sandstone rocks, connected with the broad ridge which we had just traversed. Above this point the Wady is wide and fertile, and was now covered with grain. Just before descending into it, we had in a group of low whitish rocks, on our right, the first important tomb in this quarter, mentioned also by Irby and Mangles. It consists of a square court cut in the rock, with its eastern front built up in masonry on the inner wall of the rock is a façade and a door leading to a chamber with niches, behind which is a smaller room. On each side of the court are low porticos with Doric columns. In a small group of rocks near by, I noticed steps leading to the top; and mounting them, I found a tomb sunk in the rock, with parently no entrance except from above.

ap

Descending into the valley, we followed it westwards along the fine little brook, skirted with an abundance of oleanders now in full blossom. The valley becomes shut in by sandstone cliffs, at first forty or fifty feet high, leaving between them a space of about fifty yards for the breadth of the ravine. Here is the commencement of this wonderful necropolis. The tombs begin immediately on the right; on the left there are none for some distance further down. After passing the façades of several sepulchres, which anywhere else would be objects of great curiosity, my attention was arrested by three tombs on the right, which at once transported me back to the valley of Jehoshaphat. They are isolated masses of rock, about fifteen or twenty feet square, which have been cut away from the adjacent cliffs of reddish sandstone, leaving a passage of several feet between. In one of them, at the bottom, is a small sepulchral chamber with a low door. Another is ornamented with columns too much defaced to distinguish the order; but has apparently no entrance unless from above, like the tomb above de

estimate the houses at "not more than forty or fifty;" p. 404. [124.] Burckhardt seems to me to be nearer the truth; though we did not enter the village.

1 Travels pp. 420, 433, 434.

[124.]

2

Irby and Mangles' Travels, p. 405.

scribed. These monuments differ from those of Absalom and Zechariah chiefly in the upper part or roof, which is here flat; and in the fact, that the sides are drawn in slightly from the perpendicular, in the Egyptian style, so that the top is somewhat narrower than the base. These three tombs are mentioned only by Burckhardt; who also speaks of two others somewhat similar, on the road leading from Wady Mûsa to Mount Hor.1

A little further down upon the left, in the face of the cliffs, is a tomb with a front of six Ionic columns. Directly over this is another sepulchre, the front of which, above the door, bears as an ornament four slender pyramids sculptured in the same. rock, producing a singular effect. This appears to be the only instance of the kind among all this vast variety of tombs. The tablet we had seen in the Sîk of Nemela bears a resemblance to it; and pyramids, we are told, surmounted in like manner the sepulchres of Helena at Jerusalem, and of the Maccabees at Modin. Here then appears to be another link, connecting the later sepulchral architecture of Palestine with that of the adjacent Arabia Petræa.

3

:

The valley contracts more and more, and the cliffs become higher, presenting on each side a street of tombs. The rocks are of red sandstone. After fifteen minutes (at 3 o'clock) we came to a spot where the ravine opens out into a small area, apparently wholly shut in by rocky walls about eighty feet high, except on the side by which we entered. Here an Arab boy was watching his flock of sheep. The brook bends a little to the right, and, approaching the opposite wall of rocks, disappears in a narrow cleft, hardly perceptible at first to the eye of a casual observer; being concealed in part by a projection of the cliffs. Here is the opening of the terrific chasm, which anciently formed the only avenue to the city on this side. This is the Sik of Wady Musa.

A few steps beyond the entrance, a noble arch is thrown across high up from one precipice to the other, with niches. sculptured in the rock beneath each end, ornamented with pilasters and probably intended for statues. It was constructed doubtless as an ornament over the entrance of this singular gallery; it may, or may not, have been an arch of triumph. Just below this spot we measured the width of the Sîk, twelve feet. This is the narrowest part; though it hardly becomes in any place more than three, or at the most four times this width. The rocks are all of reddish sandstone, perpendicular on both sides; and in some places they overhang the passage, so as almost to shut out the light of the sky. In other parts they have Also Vol. I. pp.

1

Pages 452, 429.

2 See above, pp. 126, 127.

3 See above, p. 6. 362, 363.

apparently been cut away by hand. Indeed, the whole vast mass of rock seems as if originally rent asunder by some great convulsion of nature, leaving behind this long, narrow, winding, magnificent chasm.

The height of the rocks at first is eighty or a hundred feet; the bottom has a rapid descent, and the sides become higher towards the west, varying from one hundred and fifty to two hundred, or perhaps two hundred and fifty feet. I doubt whether any part of these or the adjacent cliffs rises to the height of three hundred feet. We gave particular attention to this point, and repeated our observations the next day; because the elevation of the sides of the Sîk and of the surrounding cliffs, appears to have been greatly exaggerated in the reports of travellers.1 1

The limpid brook flowed at this time along the whole distance, watering a thicket of oleanders in full bloom, and so abundant as almost to block up the passage. Wild figs also and tamarisks grow out of the rocks here and there; and the vines of creeping plants hung in festoons along the walls. The great body of the water, especially in the rainy season, was perhaps anciently carried off by some different way; at other times it was distributed in aqueducts, the remains of which are still to be seen. A channel for the water, cut in the rock, runs upon the left near the level of the ground; and a conduit of earthen pipes four or five inches in diameter, let into the rock and cemented, is carried along high up on the right hand precipice. Both of these are now in ruins.

The bottom of the passage was anciently paved with squared stones, which still remain in various places. Along the sides are seen, here and there, niches, and also tablets hewn smooth in the rock, where once perhaps stood busts or statues, or the words of an inscription. The Sik winds much; running at first west, then southwest, then northwest, and so continuing to vary between southwest and northwest until near the end, where its course is again west. At some of these turns, similar chasms come in from the sides; showing that the whole mass of rock is rent to the bottom by like clefts in all directions. It is the same broad sandstone ridge, the top of which we had traversed in approaching Eljy.

The character of this wonderful spot, and the impression which it makes, are utterly indescribable; and I know of nothing which can present even a faint idea of them. I had visited

1 Mr Legh gives the height from 200 to 500 feet; May 26th. Irby and Mangles from 400 to 700 feet; p. 414. Mr Stephens from 500 to 1000 feet; Vol. II. p.

70.

Burckhardt alone seems to have kept his right mind, and estimates the rocks at the beginning of the Sik at about 80 feet in height; pp. 422, 423.