and encamped near the Dead Sea. This distance is equal to about fifteen hours with camels; and if reckoned northwards from Wady Musa along the ancient road, extends to nearly opposite the south end of the sea. After all, this is doubtless also 3 2 a mere estimate, and is if any thing too small; but at any rate, it could never apply to Kerak.-More exactly is the position of Petra laid down in the Peutinger Tables. The distance is there marked from Ailah along the ancient road to Petra, by the stations Ad Dianam, Præsidium, Hauara, and Zadagatta, at ninety-nine Roman miles in all, equivalent to about seventyeight and two thirds geographical miles. The actual direct distance between 'Akabah and Wady Mûsa, on a straight line, is about sixty-four geographical miles; and when we take into account the windings of the way and the steepness of the mountains, the comparison is here sufficiently exact." On this route too, the name and site of Zadagatta (Zodocatha) still exist at Usdakah, about six hours south of Wady Musa. Further, the same Tables, although somewhat confused on the north of Petra, yet give the distance between it and Rabbah as at least over seventy-two Roman miles; which corresponds well with Wady Mûsa. 6 5 Lastly, Josephus, and also Eusebius and Jerome, testify expressly, that Mount Hor, where Aaron died, was in the vicinity of Petra. And to this day the mountain which both tradition and the circumstances of the case mark as the same, still rears its lonely head above the vale of Wady Mûsa. These considerations appear to me to demonstrate the identity of Petra with Wady Mûsa; and also to show as conclu 1 Diod. Sic. 19. 98, #λýσιov tîjs 'Arpaλτίτιδος λίμνης. 2 The Avάpa of Ptolemy, and the Havana of the Notitia Dignitatum. Ptol. 5. 17. Reland Pal. pp. 463, 230. * The following is the specification of the Tables: From Haila, xvi ad Dianam. XXI Præsidio. XXIII Hauara. xx Zadagatta. XVIII Petris. Summa XCIX.- -The station 'ad Dianam' is common to both the routes from Ailah, to Jerusalem and to Petra. It must therefore have lain in the great valley ; and the distance of 16 Roman miles from 'Akabah would bring it about opposite the Wady and fountain el-Hendis. It is marked as a small temple of Diana. This point must have been considerably north of the mouth of Wady el-Ithm. The Roman road to Petra appears therefore to have ascended the mountain north of that Wady; and the station Præsidium is probably to be sought in those mountains. It would consequently seem, that 1 el-Humeiyimeh did not lie upon the great Roman road, of which Laborde found traces further north upon the mountain. 4 The geographical position of Petra is fixed on the accompanying map at 30° 25' N. Lat. and 35° 38′ 9′′ E. Long. from Greenwich. This latitude is the mean between that resulting from our routes and Laborde's. Moore and Beke give it at 30° 19', which appears to be even less correct than their observations at Jerusalem and Hebron; see above, p. 74, n. 2. Vol. I. p. 259, n. 1. The longitude is that found by a comparison of our routes with those of Laborde. See Kiepert's Memoir in the former edition of this work, III. App. p. 37. 5 See above, p. 168. 6 Josephus Ant. 4. 4. 7. Euseb. et Hieron. Onomasticon: "Or, mons in quo mortuus est Aaron juxta civitatem Petram.' sively, that it could not have been situated at Kerak, where the crusaders placed it.1 But how or when the name of Petra was dropped, or in what age that of Wady Musa was adopted, we have no means of ascertaining. The crusaders found the latter in current use, and speak here only of the "Vallis Moysi."2 They also speak of a building on the neighbouring mountain, consecrated to Aaron; but they appear to have discovered nowhere any trace of a Christian population.3 Then came other centuries of oblivion; and the name of Wady Musa was not again heard of, until the reports of Seetzen in A. D. 1807. During his excursion from Hebron to the hill Madurah, his Arab guide of the Haweitât described the place, exclaiming: “Ah, how I weep, when I behold the ruins of Wady Musa!" The subsequent visits of Burckhardt, Irby and Mangles, Laborde, and others, have put the world in possession of most of the details; yet I apprehend that the historical and antiquarian interest of the place is by no means exhausted. The scholar who should go thither learned in the lore of Grecian and Egyptian arts and architecture, would be able, I doubt not, still to reap a rich harvest of new facts, illustrative of the taste, the antiquities, and the general history of this remarkable people. Saturday, June 2d. As morning dawned, we rose from our couch of sand in the middle of the 'Arabah; and at 42 o'clock were again upon our way towards the fountain el-Weibeh. Looking back, we could see the Wady through which we had descended from the pass of Nemela, bearing S. 55° E. and marking the course we had travelled during the darkness. We were now more than half way across the 'Arabah; and continued to travel on nearly W. N. W. through a rolling gravelly desert, with rounded naked hills of considerable elevation. Our guides had usually in the 'Arabah kept one man ahead as a scout; and now, as we approached el-Weibeh, they took double precautions against any enemy; since this and other fountains in the valley, are the usual rendezvous of wandering parties. 1 For the question whether there was probably more than one Petra, see in Note XXXVII, at the end of the Volume. 2 See above, pp. 163, 165. " Guibert speaks of this building as a church; 7. 36. p. 555. Another writer calls it an "Oratorium;" Gesta Dei Gesta Dei p. 581. Fulcher incorrectly makes it a monastery dedicated to St. Aaron; c. 23, p. 405. VOL. II.-15* Not improbably there may have been here originally a Christian chapel, as on Jebel Mûsa and Mount St. Catherine; but there is no historical trace of any monastery on the mountain. See Note XXXVI, end of the volume. * Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVII. p. 136. See above, p. 165. We came out, at half past 6 o'clock, upon the high but not steep bank of Wady el-Jeib; which here sweeps round quite to the foot of the ascent on the west side of el-'Arabah. We descended into it from the gravelly hills, one hundred feet or more. It is here three quarters of an hour in breadth, and everywhere sprinkled with herbs and shrubs. Just on its western side, where the land slopes up very gradually into a tract of low limestone hills, lies 'Ain el-Weibeh, one of the most important watering places in all the great valley. There are here indeed three fountains, issuing from the chalky rock of which the slope is composed. Below them, on the border of the Jeib, is a jungle of coarse grass and canes, with a few palm trees, presenting at a distance the appearance of fine verdure, but proving near at hand to be marshy and full of bogs. This slope continues towards the south, where it becomes wider, and is also sprinkled with herbs; being watered in winter by a Wady called elGhamr, with a small spring of bad water, an hour and a half or two hours south of el-Weibeh. As we approached this latter fountain, we could see the verdure around 'Ain eil-Ghamr.' As our scouts had reported that there were no visitors at elWeibeh, we proceeded directly thither; and reaching it at 7.20, The three halted more than two hours for breakfast and rest. fountains are some rods apart, running out in small streams from the foot of a low rise of ground, at the edge of the hills. The water is not abundant; and in the two northernmost sources, has a sickly hue, like most desert fountains, with a taste of sulphuretted hydrogen. The temperature of the water was 75° F. that of the air being about the same. But the southernmost source consists of three small rills of limpid and good water, flowing out at the bottom of a small excavation in the rock. The soft chalky stone has crumbled away, forming a semicircular ledge about six feet high around the spring, and now a few feet distant from it. The intermediate space is at present occupied by earth; but the rock apparently once extended out, so that the water actually issued from its base.-We could find here no trace of the remains of former dwellings. 'Ain el-Weibeh is situated just on the exterior of a great bend of Wady el-Jeib, which here comes down from the S. by W. and sweeps round almost towards the E. N. E. In it, at some distance below el-Weibeh, we could see the verdure around another place of water, called el-Hufeiry; the water is found by digging holes in the ground, is scanty, and fails in summer. From this point, (at el-Weibeh,) Mount Hor is seen to fine advantage, towering in lone majesty, and prominent above all 1 See Burckhardt p. 446. the peaks which immediately skirt the 'Arabah; but itself lower than the high ridges further east. Indeed, as here seen, this peak, and the rocky groups around Wady Mûsa and next the 'Arabah, appear to belong to a chain further west and lower than the high main chain of esh-Sherah. The latter, beginning from Wady Ghuweir, and consisting of round summits and ridges without precipices, runs on continuously as far south as the eye can reach. The lower masses of porphyry, are all along marked by a dark and almost black appearance. 1 We were much struck while at el-Weibeh, with the entire adaptedness of its position to the scriptural account of the proceedings of the Israelites, on their second arrival at Kadesh." There was at Kadesh a fountain, called also En-Mishpat; this was then either partially dried up, or exhausted by the multitude; so that "there was no water for the congregation." By a miracle, water was brought forth abundantly out of the rock. Moses now sent messengers to the king of Edom, informing him that they were "in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of his border;" and asking leave to pass through his country, so as to continue their course around Moab and approach Palestine from the east. This Edom refused; and the Israelites accordingly marched to Mount Hor, where Aaron died; and then along the 'Arabah to the Red Sea.* Here at el-Weibeh, all these scenes were before our eyes. Here was the fountain, even to this day the most frequented watering place in all the 'Arabah. On the northwest is the mountain, by which the Israelites had formerly assayed to ascend to the land of Palestine, and were driven back." Overagainst us lay the land of Edom; we were in its uttermost border; and the great Wady el-Ghuweir, affording a direct and easy passage through the mountains to the table land above, was directly before us; while further in the south, Mount Hor formed a prominent and striking object, at the distance of two good days journey for such a host. The small fountain et-Taiyibeh at the bottom of the pass er-Rubâ'y, may then have been, either the wells of Bene-Jaakan, or the Moseroth, of the Israelites." The stations of Gudgodah and Jotbath further south, we may perhaps find at the mouth of the Wady Ghurundel, and in the marshy tract with palm trees further towards 'Akabah, men tioned by Laborde and Schubert; where in winter at least we might look for "a land of rivers of waters."1 In view of all these circumstances, we were disposed to regard el-Weibeh as the probable site of the ancient Kadesh; and felt that we were here treading on ground consecrated by many sacred associations. Some other circumstances corroborative of the same view, I shall have occasion to adduce further on.2 Yet the surrounding desert has long since resumed its rights; and all traces of the city and of its very name, have disappeared. Indeed there is nothing which shows Kadesh to have ever been a place of any size, or of any importance, except in connection with the journeyings of the Israelites. As we were ascending the pass of Nemela, (May 30th,) we were overtaken by a single Arab, who had come the same day from 'Ain el-Weibeh. From him we learned, that during the preceding night, while we were travelling up Wady el-Jeib, a marauding party (Ghŭzu) had encamped at el-Weibeh, composed of four hundred men on dromedaries from the Tiyâhah, Terâbîn, Dhŭllâm and ’Azâzimeh, going against the Hawâzim and 'Anazeh of the Syrian desert. Had we not travelled during the night, we might very probably have fallen in with them. It is these marauding expeditions, which render the 'Arabah and the Ghôr dangerous for travellers. They pass and repass frequently between the hostile tribes of the Arabs on the east and west; and there is always some risk of encountering them. In the present instance, such an encounter would have brought us into no danger; as those tribes are all allies of the Jehâlîn, under whose protection we made this journey, : From 'Ain el-Weibeh a travelled path enters immediately among the limestone hills, and proceeding about N. N. W. doubtless ascends the mountain to the region above. Our Jehâlîn seemed not to be acquainted with this road, being accustomed from el-Weibeh to skirt the 'Arabah along the foot of the hills, as far north as to Wady el-Khurâr, and then ascend by the pass of es-Sufâh. But as the buffoon Muhammed, who had recently been here with Lord Prudhoe's party, professed to have taken this direct road, and to have found it shorter, the guides concluded to follow it now. We left the fountain at 92 o'clock, and at once entered among the hills, here low and consisting of chalky stone and conglomerate, without a particle of vegetation. At 10.20, we crossed a large Wady called el-Mirzaba, which gives name to a pass up the mountains on the left; and at 11 o'clock we came to another very large one called el-Muhelleh, from a 1 Deut. 10, 7; comp. Num. 33, 32. 33. See Laborde's Map and Voyage p. 53. [147.] Schubert's Reise II. p. 399. 2 See further on: Approach of the Israelites to Palestine. 3 3 See above, p. 125. |