The spot was marked by an unusual number of heaps of stones. Immediately afterwards, a path apparently much travelled, went off towards the left, leading to the pass el-Yemen. A branch of it was said to take a course still more to the left, so as to keep along up the Fikreh for some time, and then ascend the mountain further in the southwest, where it is lower and less difficult. This circuitous road is called el-Haudeh, and is usually taken with loaded animals; since it escapes the steep ascent. The roads which lead up all these passes, fall into each other again in the country above, as we shall see. Yet a track would seem to proceed directly from the ascent of the Haudeh to Gaza; and on this, so far as we could learn, perhaps in the next chain of mountains, is probably the pass called el-Ghârib, of which we several times heard.'

The road which immediately enters the hills from el-Weibeh, and which we had at first taken, seems to ascend more in the south to this higher tract, on which we now were. Lord Lindsay appears to have followed it with Sheikh Husein of the 'Alawin; and he relates, that at seven hours from el-Weibeh, a path went off on the left to Gaza, while he and his party kept on and ascended the pass es-Sufaâh. This Gaza road probably joined the Haudeh as above described. An hour north of the fork of the same roads, the party had on their left the isolated chalky hill or mountain of Madŭrah; under which, their guides said, God once crushed a village for its vices."

This mountain, so remarkable in its appearance, we too had seen upon our left at the distance of about an hour, ever since we came out upon this higher tract, rising alone like a lofty citadel on the eastern bank of Wady el-Fikreh. Sheikh Hussân related of it, that a city once stood there; but God was provoked at the inhabitants and slew them, and destroyed their city with stones from heaven. He could not say, however, whether there were now any ruins on or near it. This question, as I have since found, had been already determined by Seetzen thirty-one years before. Being at Hebron in March, 1807, he was told of this mountain, and of the city Madurah which once stood upon it, but was now by the vengeance of God buried beneath it; there were also said to be round about it many human bodies turned to stone. Thinking to find here something which

See Vol. I. p. 208.

'Lord Lindsay's Letters, etc. II. p. 46. -Schubert also mentions Madŭrah, and appears to have ascended by the pass esSufah; but by which route he travelled from el-Weibeh thither, I am not able to make out; Reise II. p. 441-443. Bertou followed our route, but ascended the pass

el-Yemen; Bull. de la Soc. de Géogr. Juin 1839, p. 321-323.

To this mountain Bertou gives the additional name of Kadessa, and supposes it to be the site of Kadesh, but without the slightest ground; Bulletin etc. 1. c. p. 822.

might illustrate the pillar of salt, Seetzen travelled hither with guides of the Haweitât from esh-Sherah'; descending, it would seem, by the pass el-Yemen. He examined the mountain carefully; but no trace of ruins was to be found; and instead of petrified human bodies, there was nothing but a small plain covered with round, conical, cylindrical, and lens-shaped stones, about the size of a man's head, composed of limestone mixed with sand. It was to make up for this disappointment, that his guide now told him of Wady Musa and the other ruined places of his own country. But although Mount Hor was here directly before the traveller, and in full sight; and he was likewise told of the Wely Neby Hârûn upon a high rocky summit; yet his eye appears nevertheless not to have rested distinctly upon that mountain.'

We came upon the Fikreh at five minutes past 6 o'clock; it is here a large shallow Wady with marks of much water, and evidently takes its rise at a long distance on the left. The mountain before us, we could now see, was composed of naked strata of limestone lying obliquely and very irregularly, sometimes indeed rising up in convex curves, as if forming the external covering of an arch. These strata are occasionally cut through by short but deep chasms. This ascent is obviously the continuation in this direction of the step or offset which we had formerly descended adjacent to the lower ez-Zuweirah; though it is here much higher and more difficult than there. We kept on directly towards the middle pass es-Sufâh, which affords also the shortest route. Near the foot of the mountain we came at 61 o'clock upon the ruins of a small fort or castle of hewn stones, with a few other foundations round about. It was obviously designed to guard the pass; like a similar one at ez-Zuweirah."

We reached the bottom of the pass at 6.40, and began immediately to ascend. The way leads up for a short time gradually along the edge of a precipitous ravine on the right; and then comes all at once upon the naked surface of the rock, the strata of which lie here at an oblique angle, as steep as a man can readily climb. The path, if so it can be called, continues for the rest of the ascent along this bare rock, in a very winding course. The camels made their way with difficulty, being at every moment liable to slip. The rock indeed is in general porous and rough; but yet in many spots smooth and dangerous

1 Seetzen in Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVII. the whole range, so far as we could learn, p. 183-138. Reisen III. 13 sq. does not bear either of these as a general name; as seems to be supposed by Schubert and Bertou.

See p. 104, above.-The Arabs in speaking of this mountain, would be very likely to give to the different parts of it the names of Jebel es-Sŭfäh, Jebel el-Yemen, etc, from the various passes. But

for animals. In such places a path has been hewn in the rock in former days; the slant of the rock being sometimes levelled, and sometimes overcome by steps cut in it. The vestiges of this road are more frequent near the top. The appearance is that of a very ancient pass. The whole mountain side presents itself as a vast inclined plane of rock; in which, at intervals, narrow tracts of the strata run up at a steep angle, and break out towards the upper part in low projections; while in other places, they seem to have been thrown up in fantastic shapes by some convulsion of nature.

We clambered up the pass on foot, taking a direct course over the surface of the rock, while the camels ascended more slowly by the winding route. A parallel and still more direct path for footmen, was taken by several of our Arabs; entering the chasm, on our right from below, and then climbing up by a long narrow point or ledge of the rock, which extends far down into it. Further to the right, beyond the chasm, the pass of the Sufey winds up over the rock in a similar manner.

The name of this pass, es-Sufâh (a rock), is in form identical with the Hebrew Zephath, called also Hormah; which we know was the point where the Israelites attempted to ascend the mountain, so as to enter Palestine from Kadesh, but were driven back.' A city stood there in ancient times, one of the "uttermost cities of Judah towards the coast of Edom southwards," which was afterwards assigned to the tribe of Simeon. There is therefore every reason to suppose, that in the name of esSufâh, we have a reminiscence of the ancient pass which must have existed here, and bore the name of the adjacent city Zephath. Of the name Hormah we could find no vestige.

We reached the top of the steep ascent at 74 o'clock; when the light of day was nearly gone, and the landscape behind us was dim. Below us, we could overlook the broad tract or step which we had just crossed, drained in its whole length by the Fikreh; beyond were the lower hills, the 'Arabah, and the mountains of Edom. In the northeast the Dead Sea was of course visible. We continued to ascend more gradually, through an exceedingly rocky and desert region. We wished much to encamp somewhere near the brow of the pass, in order to obtain a fuller view by daylight; but there was here neither wood for a fire, nor pasture for the camels. We were therefore compelled to proceed, lighted only by the moon in her first quarter. This we much regretted; for the region which we now traversed, seemed one of the wildest and most broken we had yet seen. After a little while, pursuing the same general course, about N. 'Judg. 1, 17. Num. 14, 45. 21, 3. Josh, 12, 14. 15, 30. 19, 4.

Deut. 1, 44.

N. W. over a more level tract, we could distinguish deep ravines on each side of us, with precipitous mountains beyond, seemingly rent to their base. The road for some distance lay along a narrow causeway of rock, between two such ravines, hardly wide enough for a dozen men to walk abreast, with a deep precipice on each side. From this we at length found a descent towards the right into a broader Wady, and following it up, encamped near it at 9 o'clock, in a small plain surrounded by hills. Here were many Tulh trees and shrubs. 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 Musa, 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-Sufah 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 valley, strewed with large rocks so thickly, that it is often difficult to find a way between them."

The high region which we had now reached, is bounded, as we shall hereafter see, by another less elevated ridge in the northwest, and forms a second step or offset in the whole ascent to Palestine. It is indeed the continuation of the broad desert

The whole elevation from Wady elFikreh to a point near our encampment, is given by Schubert's measurements at 1434 Paris feet; Reise II. p. 448.

Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVII. pp. 134, 185. So Bertou in Bull, de la Soc. de Géogr. Juin 1839, p. 323.

tract, which lies between the two passes of ez-Zuweirah, and runs up in this direction.'

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 el-Hüleh and Tiberias, it may be said to extend from Bâniâs, at the foot of Jebel eshSheikh, 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 valley 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; 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."

The remarkable depression of the Dead Sea in the middle of this long valley, of more than thirteen hundred feet below the Mediterranean, 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 Huleh, 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 regarded as determined."

See this tract described, pp. 103, 104, above. 'See above, Vol. I. pp. 559 sq. 509 sq.

See Vol. I. p. 162.
See Vol. I. p. 513.

See Note XXX, end of Vol. I.