nel, through the upper plain and the offset of cliffs, to the level of the Ghôr below.1

We found here the peculiarity, that the eastern bank of this great Wady el-Jeib terminates nearly an hour further south; from which point the offset, or line of cliffs, then runs North of East to the eastern mountains at the mouth of Wady Ghŭrŭndel, leaving before us a wide open tract belonging to the Ghôr. The water-courses from the Wady come down across this tract, and pass on through a space without shrubs and trees to the marshy flats nearer the sea.

We now turned up along the western bank on a course S. S. W. and at 3 o'clock, were opposite the angle of the eastern bank; whence the line of cliffs runs nearly E. by N. to the foot of the mountains, about an hour distant. Here we entered the Wady itself, in this part not far from half a mile broad, shut in between perpendicular walls of the same chalky earth or marl, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high, which exclude all view of the country and of every object around. The banks indeed are so entirely perpendicular, that it would be next to impossible to ascend out of the valley on either side. The broad bed of the Wady is very level, and has to the eye but a slight ascent towards the South; yet it bears traces of an immense volume of water, rushing along with violence and covering the whole breadth of the valley. At its mouth and below, the bed is covered with Tamarisks (Turfa), and another shrub resembling the Retem, but larger, called el-Ghudhâh.2

1) From the point where we now stood, viz. the western angle of the cliffs at the entrance of Wady el-Jeib, we took the following bearings: 'Ain el-'Arûs about N. 30° W. Southwest end of Usdum N. 15° W. Southeastern angle of

Usdum at the corner of the sea, N. 15° E. Peak in the mountains of Moab N. 65° E. Wady et-Tufileh, mouth, N. 85° E. Mouth of Wady Ghurundel and Southeast corner of the Ghôr S. 40° E.

2) "Nomen arboris. Kam. Ap

These bushes soon become fewer, and gradually disappear.

We travelled on along this remarkable chasm; which was now heated both by the direct and reflected rays of the sun, to the temperature of 88° F. The direct rays were scorching; but we avoided them by keeping within the shadow of the high western bank. At 4 40' the course of the valley became South; and looking up it, we could distinguish the lone peak of Mount Hor in the distance, bearing also South. At 5 o'clock a branch Wady came in from the West, similar in its character to el-Jeib, though much smaller. The Arabs called it Wady Hasb; and said it had its head in the plain of the 'Arabah, at a place where there is a natural pool filled with sweet living water, surrounded by much verdure, and, as the Arabs said, with some traces of ruins. Beyond this point, we began to find stones and blocks of porphyry scattered along the water-course of the Jeib, brought down by the torrents from the mountains further south. Till now the cliffs on each side had been so high and unbroken, that we had seen nothing whatever of the features of the country round about; but here those on our left became occasionally lower, and we could perceive the eastern mountains, and in them the large Wady el-Ghuweir described by Burckhardt.' At 6 o'clock we halted, still in the shade of the high western bank. Here Mount Hor bore S. and the high peak we had before noted in the mountains of Moab, N. 54° E.

The heat in the Wady was so great, and the prospect of the country so very limited, that we concluded to travel during a part of the night; stopping now to dine and rest, and intending to set off again at mid

tissimi ad ignem et prunas ligni; in arenis praecipue provenit. Gol." Freytag Lex. Arab. III. p. 281, seq.

1) Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, etc. pp. 409, 410.

night. The evening was warm and still; we there fore did not pitch our tent, but spread our carpets on the sand, and lay down, not indeed at first to sleep, but to enjoy the scene and the associations which thronged upon our minds. It was truly one of the most romantic desert scenes we had yet met with; and I hardly remember another in all our wanderings, of which I retain a more lively impression. Here was the deep broad valley in the midst of the 'Arabah, unknown to all the civilized world, shut in by high and singular cliffs; overagainst us were the mountains of Edom; in the distance rose Mount Hor in its lone majesty, the spot where the aged prophet-brothers took of each other their last farewell; while above our heads was the deep azure of an oriental sky, studded with innumerable stars and brilliant constellations, on which we gazed with a higher interest from the bottom of this deep chasm. Near at hand were the flashing fires of our party; the Arabs themselves in their wild attire, all nine at supper around one bowl; our Egyptian servants looking on; one after another rising and gliding through the glow of the fires; the Sheikh approaching and saluting us; the serving of coffee; and beyond all this circle, the patient camels lying at their ease, and lazily chewing the cud.

The great feature of our journey to day, was the Wady el-Jeib. The mountain of salt, however remarkable and important, had in part been known before. But this deep Wady was wholly new to us and unknown to the world; the great water-course of all the valley or plain of the 'Arabah; a Wady within a Wady. Our Arabs of the Haweitât were acquainted

1) M. de Bertou speaks of this deep water-course only as Wady el-'Arabah; and seems not to have heard or understood the name elJeib. Yet all our Arabs (who also

had been his guides) gave it no other name than el-Jeib; and the same appears upon Laborde's map in the proper place, though with a wrong direction for the valley.

with it throughout its whole length; and assured us, that it has its commencement far south of Wady Mûsa; and that in the rainy season, the waters of the southern Wady Ghŭrundel flow off northwards through the Jeib to the Dead Sea. Further north, they said, it receives the great Wady el-Jerâfeh from the western desert.

The

Another remarkable feature of the region is the line of cliffs crossing the whole Ghôr, and constituting merely the ascent to the higher plain of the 'Arabah. From the S. W. corner of the Ghôr to the mouth of Wady el-Jeib we travelled two hours; and from thence to the S. E. corner is an hour or more further. cliffs thus form an irregular curve, sweeping across the Ghor in something like a segment of a circle, the chord of which would be about six or seven geographical miles in length, extending obliquely nearly from N. W. to S. E.-This remarkable line of cliffs, in the absence of any better suggestion, I am inclined to regard as the "Ascent of Akrabbim;" to which the southeastern border of Judah was to be drawn from the Dead Sea, "from the bay that looketh southward," and was thence to pass on to Zin and Kadesh-Barnea.1

Wednesday, May 30th. Ten minutes after midnight we were again upon our camels. The moon had set, and all was dark; the night-breeze cool and refreshing. All was still as the grave; nor did the noiseless tread of the camels in the sand, break in at all upon the silence. As we advanced, the banks of the Wady became gradually lower; and at 2 o'clock the country apparently opened around. I watched with interest the dawning of the morning star; at length about 3 o'clock it burst at once over the eastern mountains, radiant with brightness. We now seemed to be

1) Num. xxxiv. 3, 4. Josh. xv. 2, 3.

leaving the bed of Wady el-Jeib; and fearing to lose some important observation, we halted and waited for daybreak. Lying down upon the sand, we slept sweetly for an hour; and at 4 20 proceeded on our way.

The bed of the Jeib, where we thus left it, was still large; but the banks were of moderate height; the eastern indeed had nearly disappeared. The Wady here came down from the S. W. while our course was now nearly S.W. Mount Hor bore at first due South, and then gradually S.E. We were now upon the plain, or rather the rolling desert of the 'Arabah; the surface was in general loose gravel and stones, everywhere furrowed and torn with the beds of torrents. A more frightful desert it had hardly been our lot to behold. Now and then a lone shrub of the Ghudâh was almost the only trace of vegetation. Looking across the 'Arabah towards the West, the prospect was not more cheering, except the small spots of verdure around two fountains; one, el-Weibeh' at the foot of the western mountains; and the other, el-Hufeiry more in the plain further north. The mountains beyond presented a most uninviting and hideous aspect; precipices and naked conical peaks of chalky and gravelly formation, rising one above another without a sign of life or vegetation.

On our left, as we proceeded, a long low range of reddish rocks, called Humra Fedân, ran parallel to the eastern mountains in front of the Wady el-Ghuweir. These rocks are at some distance from the mountains, and a large tract of the plain lies behind them. We could look over them, and see the break formed by the Ghuweir. The waters of this Wady issuing upon the plain behind the Humra Fedân, do not run to the Jeib;

1) This fountain is on the direct road between Wady Mûsa and

Hebron. We visited it on our return, June 2d.