their return home. They displayed superior strength and agility in handling the lance, and great boldness in riding at full speed over rugged and rocky ground. In the exercise with the lance the rider endeavours to put the point of it upon the shoulder of his adversary, thus showing that his life is in his power. When the parties become heated, they often bear off upon their lances the turbans of their adversaries, and carry them about with insolent vociferation. Our Sheikh of Kerek, a man of sixty, far excelled all his people in these youthful exercises; indeed he seemed to be an accomplished Bedouin Sheikh; though he proved to be a treacherous friend to me. As I thought that I had settled matters with him to his entire satisfaction, I was not a little astonished, when he took me aside in the evening to announce to me, that unless he received twenty piastres more, he would not take charge of me any farther. Although I knew it was not in his power to hinder me from following him, and that he could not proceed to violence without entirely losing his reputation among the Arabs, for ill-treating his guest, yet I had acquired sufficient knowledge of the Sheikh's character to be persuaded that if I did not acquiesce in his demand, he would devise some means to get me into a situation which it would have perhaps cost me double the sum to escape from; I therefore began to bargain with him; and brought him down to fifteen piastres. I then endeavoured to bind him by the most solemn oath used by the Bedouins; laying his hand upon the head of his little boy, and on the fore feet of his mare, he swore that he would, for that sum conduct me himself, or cause me to be conducted, to the Arabs Howeytat, from whence I might hope to find a mode of proceeding in safety to Egypt. My precautions, however, were all in vain. Being satisfied that my cash was reduced to a few piastres, he began his plans for stripping me of every other part of my property which had excited his wishes. The day after his oath, when we were about to depart from Ayme, he addressed me in the presence of the whole company, saying that his saddle would fit my horse better than my own did, and that he would therefore change saddles with me. Mine was worth nearly forty piastres, his was not worth more than ten. I objected to the exchange, pretending that I was not accustomed to ride upon the low Bedouin saddle; he replied, by assuring me that I should soon find it much more agreeable than the town saddle; moreover, said he, you may depend upon it that the Sheikh of the Howeytat will take your saddle from

you, if you do not give it to me. I did not dare to put the Sheikh in mind of his oath, for had I betrayed to the company his having extorted from me so much, merely for the sake of his company, he would certainly have been severely reprimanded by the Bedouins present, and I should thus have exposed myself to the effects of his revenge. All the bye-standers at the same time pressed me to comply with his request: "Is he not your brother?" said they. "Are not the best morsels of his dish always for you? Does he not continually fill your pipe with his own tobacco? Fie upon your stinginess.' But they did not know that I had calculated upon paying part of the hire of a guide to Egypt with the value of the saddle, nor that I had already handsomely paid for my brotherhood. I at last reluctantly complied; but the Sheikh was not yet satisfied; the stirrups he had given me, although much inferior to those he had taken from me, were too good in his eyes, to form part of my equipment. In the evening his son came to me to propose an exchange of these stirrups against a pair of his own almost unfit for use, and which I knew would wound my ankles, as I did not wear boots; but it was in vain to resist. The pressing intreaties of all my companions in favour of the Sheikh's son lasted for two whole days; until tired at length with their importunity, I yielded, and, as I had expected, my feet were soon wounded.* I have entered into these details in order to shew what Arab cupidity is; an article of dress, or of equipment, which the poorest townsman would be ashamed to wear, is still a covetable object with the Bedouins; they set no bounds to their demands; delicacy is unknown amongst them, nor have they any word to express it; if indeed one persists in refusing, they never take the thing by force; but it is extremely difficult to resist their eternal supplications and compliments without yielding at last. With regard to my behaviour towards the Bedouins, I always endeavoured, by every possible means, to be upon good terms with my companions, whoever they were, and I seldom failed in my endeavours. I found, by experience, that putting on a grave face, and talking

* Mr Legh and his companions travelled under the guidance of this same Sheikh, and describe his character in not dissimilar terms; though of course he might be expected to wear a different exterior towards Englishmen travelling with authority, from what he had exhibited towards Burckhardt, apparently a poor Arab townsman.ED.

wisely among them, was little calculated to further the traveller's views. On the contrary, I aspired to the title of a merry fellow ; I joked with them whenever I could, and found that by a little attention to their ways of thinking and reasoning, they are easily put into good humour. This kind of behaviour, however, is to be observed only in places where one makes a stay of several days, or towards fellow travellers; in passing rapidly through Arab encampments, it is better for the traveller not to be too talkative in the tents where he alights, but to put on a stern

countenance.

We left Khanzyre late in the evening, that we might enjoy the coolness of the night air. We ascended for a short time, and then began to descend into the valley called Wady el Ahsa. It had now become dark, and this was, without exception, the most dangerous route I ever travelled in my life. The descent is steep, and there is no regular road over the smooth rocks, where the foot slips at every step. We had missed our way, and were obliged to alight from our horses, after many of us had suffered severe falls. Our Sheikh was the only horseman who would not alight from his mare, whose step, he declared, was as secure as his own. After a march of two hours and a half, we halted upon a narrow plain, on the declivity of the Wady, called El Derredje, where we lighted a fire, and remained till daybreak.

August 7th. In three quarters of an hour from Derredje, we reached the bottom of the valley. The Wady el Ahsa, which takes its rise near the castle El Ahsa, or El Hassa, on the Syrian Hadj road, runs here in a deep and narrow bed of rocks, the banks of which are overgrown with Defle.* There was more water in the rivulet than in any of those I had passed south of Zerka; the water was quite tepid, caused by a hot spring, which empties itself into the Ahsa from a side valley higher up the Wady. This forms the third hot spring on the east of the Dead sea, one being in the Wady Zerka Mayn, and another in the Wady Hammad. The valley El Ahsa divides the district of Kerek from that of Djebal, (Plur. of Djebel), the ancient Gebalene. In the Ghor the river changes its name into

The Defle or Defla is the Oleander or Rose-bay, Nerium Oleander of Linn.-ED.

See Hist. Introd. above p. 249, 271.

that of Kerahy, and is likewise called Szafye. This name is found in all the maps of Arabia Petræa, but the course of the river is not from the south, as there laid down; Djebal also, instead of being laid down at the S. E. extremity of the lake, is improperly placed as beginning on the S. W. of it. The rock of the Wady el Ahsa is chiefly sand-stone, which is seldom met with to the N. of this valley; but it is very common in the southern mountains.*

We ascended the southern side of the valley, which is less. steep and rocky than the northern, and in an hour and a half reached a fine spring called El Kaszrein, surrounded by verdant ground and tall reeds. The Bedouins of the tribe of Beni Naym here cultivate some dhourra fields, and there are some remains of ancient habitations. In two hours and a quarter we arrived at the top of the mountain, where we entered upon an extensive plain, and passed the ruins of an ancient city of considerable extent called El Kerr, perhaps the ancient Kara, a bishopric belonging to the diocese of Rabba Moabitis ;† nothing remains but heaps of stones. The plain, which we crossed in a S. W. by S. direction, consists of a fertile soil, and contains the ruins of several villages. At the end of two hours and three quarters, we descended by a steep road into a Wady, and in three hours reached the village of Ayme, situated upon a narrow plain at the foot of high cliffs. In its neighbourhood are several springs, and wherever these are met with, vegetation readily takes place, even among barren sand-rocks. Ayme is no longer in the district of Kerek, its Sheikh being now under the command of the Sheikh of Djebal, whose residence is at Tafyle. One half of the inhabitants live under tents, and every house has a tent pitched upon its terrace, where the people pass the mornings and evenings, and sleep. The climate of all these

"The valley and stream El Ahsa is doubtles the same which Legh, under date of May 19, improperly calls Ellasar, thinking perhaps of that scriptural name; while by another unpardonable error, he calls the same stream (May 13), where it falls into the Dead sea, Naher el Hossan, or Horse river. Seetzen names it Wady el Hössa. But the orthography of Burckhardt is alone correct. Abulf. Arabia ed. Gagn. p. 47. Rommel p. 91.-This stream is not improbably the brook of willows, Is. 15: 7, which was the southern border between Moab and Edom." GESEN. Notes to Burckh. p. 1066.-ED.

See Histor. Introd. above, p. 274.

mountains, to the southward of the Belka, is extremely agreeable; the air is pure, and although the heat is very great in summer, and is still further increased by the reflection of the sun's rays from the rocky sides of the mountains, yet the temperature never becomes suffocating, owing to the refreshing breeze which generally prevails. I have seen no part of Syria in which there are so few invalids. The properties of the climate seem to have been well known to the ancients, who gave this district the appellation of Palæstina Tertia, sive Salutaris.* The winter is very cold; deep snow falls, and the frosts sometimes continue till the middle of March. This severe weather is doubly felt by the inhabitants, as their dress is little fitted to protect them from it. During my stay in Gebalene, we had every morning a fog which did not disperse till mid-day. I could perceive the vapours collecting in the Ghor below, which, after sun-set, was completely enveloped in them. During the night they ascend the sides of the mountains, and in general are not entirely dissipated until near mid-day. From Khanzyre we had the Ghor all the way on our right, about eight or ten hours distant; but, in a straight line, not more than six hours.

August 8th.-At one hour and a quarter from Ayme, route S. by W. we reached Tafyle, built on the declivity of a mountain, at the foot of which is Wady Tafyle. This name bears some resemblance to that of Phanon or Phynon, which, according to Eusebius, was situated between Petra and Zoara.* Tafyle contains about six hundred houses; its Sheikh is the nominal chief of Djebal, but in reality the Arabs Howeytat govern the whole district, and their Sheikh has lately constructed a small castle at Tafyle at his own expense. Numerous springs and rivulets (ninety-nine according to the Arabs), the waters of which unite below and flow into the Ghor, render the vicinity of this town very agreeable. It is surrounded by large plantations of fruit trees; apples, apricots, figs, pomegranates, and olive and peach trees of a large species are cultivated in great numbers. The fruit is chiefly consumed by the inhabitants and their guests, or exchanged with the Bedouin women for butter; the figs are dried and pressed together in large lumps, and are thus exported to Ghaza, two long days journey from hence.

The inhabitants of Djebal are not so independent as the Kere

* See Histor. Introd. above, p. 268.

† Ibid. p. 274.