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 for this reason, probably, that Jerome thus calls the whole nation Horites; adopting however a different signification of the word, "the free," in order (by a Rabbinic conceit) to make out a Hebrew etymology for the later name Eleutheropolis. Yet it is also 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 Dubbân, and which are so particularly numerous around Beit Jibrin 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. We needed candles only in exploring those on, the south side of the Tell near Beit Jibrîn; and even these may not improbably have once received light by openings now filled up. -I do not wish to be considered as here advancing an hypothesis; but merely as bringing forward a suggestion, which may deserve consideration.3

May 23d continued. The village of Idhna lies just east of the water-shed at the head of the valley we had ascended. Just beyond it, another larger valley, Wady el-Feranj, comes from the southeast and running by the place towards the northwest ultimately passes down to Beit Jibrîn, forming with others the broad valley which there comes in on the north side. The present Idhna is a small village, divided into two parts by a short Wady or gully running into Wady el-Feranj. Each part has its separate Sheikh with his Kusr or tower; and the inhabitants are divided into two parties, according as they live north or 'Gen. 14, 6. Deut. 2, 12. 22. Gen. las habet; et propter nimios calores solis, 36, 20, 21. quia meridiana provincia est, subterraneis tuguriis utitur."

Comm. in Obad. vs. 5. 6, "Omnis australis regio Idumæorum de Eleutheropoli usque ad Petram et Ailam (hæc est possessio Esau) in specubus habitatiuncu

See the account of these various caverns, not less than five different clusters in all, pp. 23, 29, 51-53.

south of the water-course. In all civil broils, the Sheikhs with their followers usually take different sides.

We had alighted at the Kusr of the Sheikh on the north side, a rude square building of stone, two stories high. He was an old man, who welcomed us kindly, and went with us to the top of the hill which overhangs the village on the north, to point out and name the places in sight. According to him, the village once stood upon this hill. It is now cultivated, and covered with young orchards of fig trees; the ground having been cleared of stones by laying them up in walls. In this way all traces of ancient foundations have been destroyed; but I picked up on the top a handful of marble tesseræ, once belonging to ancient Mosaic work.1

Idhna lies near the foot of the mountains, where the steep ascent of the higher ridge soon begins. Here a village called etTaiyibeh came in sight, situated on the high ridge above; and the direction of Nüsib or Beit Nüsib at the foot, was also pointed out, though the place itself was not visible. Beit Üla lay beyond, also out of sight. These with Nuba and Khârâs form a cluster of villages at the foot of the mountain near Terkûmieh; through which last passes the more travelled road from Beit Jibrin to Hebron.2

While taking our observations on the hill, we were exceedingly incommoded by a strong southwest wind, which was blowing with some violence, although we had felt it comparatively little in the valleys. Before going with us, it seems, the hospitable old Sheikh had without our knowledge given orders to prepare a breakfast for us; and on our return, the women announced that the bread was baked, and the meal would be ready in a few minutes. Although anxious to get on, we yet waited for some time, rather than disappoint his well meant though ill timed hospitality; but as we saw no end to the delay, we at length mounted and moved off. The Sheikh now came running with his bosom full of bread, which he distributed among our muleteers; assuring us that the semen (melted butter) and leben (soured milk) were already poured upon the bread in a bowl for the breakfast; and beseeching us to wait and partake of it. We thought it better to proceed; much to the dissatisfaction of the muleteers, who complained long afterwards, that we had

I am not aware that Idhna (Jedna) can be brought into connection with any scriptural name. Reland indeed, forgetting his usual sagacity, finds in it the Ithnan of Josh. 15, 23. But this latter place lay quite at the southern extremity of Ju. dah, towards Edom; comp. vs. 21. Reland Palæst. p. 862.

2 We took here at Idhna the following

bearings of places, all but one (the last) lying east of the meridian line: Um Burj N. 3° E. Jemrûrah N. 8° E. Ribba N. 10° E. Deir el-Hawa N. 23° E. Khârâs N. 56° E. Nûba N. 60° E. Beit Nusib nearly N. 62° E. Jedûr N. 62° E. Beit Ummar N. 67° E. Bŭkkâr N. 70° E. Kusbur N. 73° E. Sŭfa N. 87° E. Taiyibeh S. 80° E. Dawâimeh S. 70° W.

taken them away from a savoury breakfast.-We had thus far found it so much against the custom to offer money in return for our entertainment, that we had given it up; and from Gaza to Hebron we did not pay a para, nothing being expected. We were doubtless thought the better of, for not making the attempt.

Leaving Idhna at 9 o'clock, we followed up Wady el-Feranj on a course E. S. E. into the mountains, which here began immediately to rise on our left. The Wady soon became a deep and narrow glen. At 10.10 we reached a fork of the valley, where on a projection of the right hand mountain stands a ruined tower. A path leads along up the right hand Wady towards the village of Dura, and another up the left hand branch to Taiyibeh; while our road began immediately to climb the mountain between the two valleys. The ascent was long and steep, but rendered easier by many zigzags. At 10.50 a village (probably Dura) appeared S. 10° W. on a distant part of the mountain. We reached the top at 11 o'clock, just by a cistern of rain water excavated in the rock. Here our course back bore W. N. W. and Taiyibeh, now about upon the same level, N. by E.

We came out here upon a somewhat narrow ridge of high table land, between the two valleys above mentioned, which here run nearly parallel to each other towards the northwest and into both of which we could look down almost perpendicularly to a great depth. This plateau we found after a short distance to be well tilled; its surface being occupied by fields of grain, olive groves and vineyards. The bottoms of the two deep valleys on each side were also in high cultivation.

Pursuing the same general course and gradually ascending, we reached Teffûh at 114 o'clock; an old village on a higher and broader part of the same ridge. It contains a good number of inhabitants, and lies in the midst of olive groves and vineyards, with marks of industry and thrift on every side. Indeed many of the former terraces along the hill sides are still in use; and the land looks somewhat as it may have done in ancient times. Several portions of walls, apparently those of an old fortress, are visible among the houses; and seem to attest the antiquity of the place. The large stones of which they are built, are soft; and the edges being worn away by the weather, the chinks are everywhere filled in with thin pieces of stone, which give to the whole a more modern aspect than really belongs to it. The name Teffüh marks this as the site of the ancient Beth Tappuah of the mountains of Judah, not far from Hebron.' From here

'Josh. 15, 53. Another Tappuah lay in the plain of Judah, apparently in the vicinity of Zanoah, Jarmuth, Socoh, etc.

Josh. 15, 34. Which of these was the place conquered by Joshua, it is difficult to say; Josh. 12, 17, comp. 10, 36.-Eu

Neby Nûh, the Wely near Dûra, bore S. 41° W. Taiyibeh N. 17° W.

After a stop of three quarters of an hour, we set off again at 12 o'clock, still ascending gradually along the ridge on a course E.AS. The direction of the deep valleys on each side is here more from east to west, and for a time, our way led along the steep declivity overhanging that upon the south, among slippery rocks, which rendered the path difficult and dangerous. The bottom of the valley, far below us, was highly cultivated and full of vineyards. The Sirocco wind which we had felt all day, now increased to a violent tempest, bringing up the dust and sand from the desert, and filling the air so as to obscure the sun. The whole atmosphere became of a deep dun or yellowish hue, such as we had seen before in the desert near Ruhaibeh.' As we approached the height of land, a few drops of rain fell, and left upon our clothes spots of mud, as if we had been spattered from a puddle. The guide said immediately, this would blast the grain; he thought the mud had a saltish taste, which we could not perceive; nor did we afterwards hear of any damage to the crops.

At 1.10 we reached the top of the whole ascent, the height of land and water-shed, between the valleys behind us and the branches of that in which Hebron lies. The town itself here came in sight down a valley, S. 65° E. fifty minutes distant. Descending gradually for ten minutes, we came to the head of the fine open valley north of the town. Here in a field on our left, was a very large and beautiful oak tree, (Quercus ilex, Arabic Sindian,) which passes among the Muhammedans for the tree of Abraham, where his tent was pitched. Towards the city followed fine vineyards and fields of grain, occupying most of the valley, all now in high verdure. At 2 o'clock we reached Hebron, and selected a spot for our tent on the grassy slope west of the town, not far above the lower pool, and near the straggling cemetery which covers a part of the open ground. We found great difficulty in pitching the tent, as the Sirocco had now become almost a tornado; the ropes were several times broken, and had at last to be doubled on the windward side. The air became dark, almost like night, from the sand and dust. After a short time, however, the tempest abated; and we had at evening a fine cool wind from the northwest. The actual heat was not unusually great; the thermometer rose only to 86° F.

We here dismissed our trusty muleteers and our guide; with all of whom we had been well satisfied, and indeed much

sebius and Jerome seem to refer the names Tappuah and Beth Tappuah to one and the same village, and to place it more to

wards Egypt; Onomast. arts. Bethaphu, Thaffu.

See Vol. I. pp. 195, 196.

pleased. We too were able to satisfy all their expectations; and they returned with light hearts the same evening to their homes near Jerusalem.

As we were pitching the tent, Elias of Damascus (Elyâs eshShâmy), the only Christian resident in Hebron, sent to invite us into the town, and to take up our quarters at his house. We however declined; and he then came himself to repeat and urge the invitation. This he did, not knowing who we were, but supposing us to be some "Milords" or other; probably from the rather showy appearance of our tent. We again declined, and positively; for we knew that we should be far more masters of our time and actions in our own tent, than in the house of another person; to say nothing of the inconvenience and vermin to which we should have been thus exposed. The refusal was softened on our part, by accepting a dinner, which he soon after sent us.-Elias had two years before removed hither from Damascus, and occupied the post of secretary or banker (or perhaps both) to the governor of Hebron. It was his ambition to become the agent of a Frank consul; and his applications in this behalf, both to English and American visitors at Hebron, were unceasing and somewhat burdensome. In the mean time, he was fond of appearing as the host and protector of Frank travellers, expecting thus to gain a sort of consideration in the eyes of his Muslim neighbours. This indeed had been the secret of his ready and somewhat officious hospitality towards ourselves.

Before leaving Jerusalem, we had made arrangements, as we supposed, to have men and camels from the Jehâlin ready for us at Hebron, so as to be able to set off immediately for Wady Mûsa. We had accordingly expected to find them waiting our arrival; but by some mishap, connected probably with the shutting up of Jerusalem, our orders had never been transmitted to Hebron; and we were therefore compelled, to our great disappointment, to lose the whole of the two following days in waiting for camels. Our chagrin was still further aggravated by the mismanagement of Elias, by which we were led to expect the arrival of the camels at every hour; and were thus prevented from making excursions to various places in the vicinity of the

town.

Thursday, May 24th. The general appearance of Hebron, and the impression it made upon us as we formerly passed through it, on our way to Jerusalem, have already been described." It is situated in a deep narrow valley, which having its head in

1

See Mr. Stephens' description of the visit and similar application of Elias to himself; Incidents of Travel, II. p. 166.—

Elias however was not a Copt, as there represented.

2 Vol. I. pp. 213, 214.