point; this is the present summit of Sinai, the Jebel Mûsa of the Arabs; which however is not visible from any part of the plain. West, or rather W. S. W. of the valley El-Leja, is the still higher ridge and summit of Mount St. Catharine.

The plain above mentioned is in all probability the spot, where the congregation of Israel were assembled to receive the law; and the mountain impending over it, the present Horeb, was the scene of the awful phenomena in which the law was given. As to the present summit of Sinai, there is little reason to suppose that it had any connection with the giving of the law; and still less the higher peaks of St. Catharine. I know not when I have felt a thrill of stronger emotion, than when in first crossing the plain, the dark precipices of Horeb rising in solemn grandeur before us, I became aware of the entire adaptedness of the scene to the purposes for which it was chosen by the great Hebrew legislator.

We were kindly received at the convent, after being hoisted to its narrow entrance; and remained there five days, visiting in the interval the summits of Sinai, Horeb, and St. Catharine. As my companion could speak modern Greek with some fluency, we found peculiar favor in the eyes of the good old Superior; to whom the Arabic was almost an unknown tongue. He carried his civility so far, as to accompany us to the top of Sinai and Horeb; but the next day his fervor quailed before the more arduous task of ascending Mount St. Catharine; and he preferred waiting our return at the convent El-Erbayin, where we had lodged.

We left the convent March 29th, on our way to Akabah. We had made our contract at Cairo for camels from that place to Akabah; but we now had in part different men. Our conductor now was Tuweileb, the faithful guide of Rüppell, Linant, and other recent travellers. Our route was again the same as that of Burckhardt in 1816, the usual one to Akabah; descending to the coast of the Eastern Gulf at the fountain Nuweibia, and thence along the shore quite to Akabah. Near this coast, and bearing W. S. W. from the castle of Akabah, is the small island covered with ruins, formerly the citadel of Ailah. It is called by the Towara Arabs, Kureiyeh, which signifies a "town," whether inhabited or in ruins. Out of this Laborde has made Graia!

The great valley El-Araba, which we crossed in order to reach the castle, is here about five miles wide; and its general

course is N. N. E. It is sandy as far as the eye can reach; and there is in it no trace of the bed of any stream, not even of a wintry torrent. The little water which ever flows in it, appears to enter the gulf at the N. W. corner. The foundations and mounds of ancient Ailah (Elath), and the present castle of Akabah, are on the eastern side, near the shore.

We were well received at the castle by the Aga or governor, to whom we had official letters. It had been our intention to go from here directly to Wady Mûsa, along the great valley El-Araba, under the guidance of Hussein, Shekh of the tribe of Alawîn, who have this territory in possession. But learning that he was encamped at some days' distance, and that we could not hope to set off with him under six or seven days, we changed our plan, and determined to keep our good Towara guides and take the road across the great Western desert in the direction of Gaza and Hebron. We were the more induced to do this, because we everywhere heard a bad character of the said Shekh Hussein; and because too this was a route as yet untrodden by modern travellers.

II. FROM AKABAH TO JERUSALEM.

We left Akabah late in the afternoon of April 5th, and recrossing the plain of Wady Araba, began to ascend the western mountains by the great Hadj route. We soon encamped for the night; and from this point we had seven long days' journey to Hebron. The ascent afterward is steep and difficult. The way is almost literally strewed with the bones of camels, and skirted by the graves of pilgrims; all testifying to the difficulty of the pass. On arriving at the top of the pass, we soon came out upon the great plateau of the Western desert; and found ourselves higher than the mountain peaks which we had seen from below, and through which we had just ascended. Not far from the top of the pass we left the Hadj route; and turning off in a direction about N: N. W. we launched forth again into "the great and terrible wilderness."

For the first two days, the general character of this desert was similar to that between Cairo and Suez,-a vast unbounded plain, a hard gravelly soil, irregular ridges of limestone hills in various directions, the mirage, and especially the Wadys or water-courses. All our Arabs gave to this part of the desert the name Et-Tih, the desert of wandering. The Wadys are

here frequent; at first they all ran N. W. into the main watercourse of this part of the desert, Wady Jerâfeh; which, having its head far to the South, runs in a N. E. course to join the valley El Araba nearly opposite to Wady Mûsa. We crossed Wady Jerâfeh about the middle of the second day; and were struck with the traces of the large volume of water which apparently flows through it in the winter season. On the morning of the third day we reached the water-summit (Wasserscheide) of the desert; after which all the Wadys run in a westerly direction into the great water-course which drains the more western part of the desert, and flows down to the sea near El Arish.

Almost from the time we entered upon this vast plain, we had before us, as a landmark, a high conical mountain, apparently isolated, along the western base of which we were to pass. It bears the name Araif en-Nâkah; and a lower ridge extends from it eastward. For nearly three days this mountain of the desert was before us. As we approached it on the third day, the country became rolling and uneven, and the hills more frequent. After passing the mountain, our course turned more towards the N. Ñ. E. and the character of the desert was changed. On our right, to the northward of Jebel Araif, was a mountainous district, composed of irregular limestone ridges, running in various directions, and occupying the whole region quite to Wady Araba, as we had afterwards an opportunity of learning. This mountainous district is penetrated by none of the roads which lead from the vicinity of the Red Sea to Gaza or Jerusalem; but these roads all fall into the one we were travelling before reaching Jebel Araif, or not far from that mountain. All these circumstances go to show, that our route could be no other than the ancient Roman road, from Ailah to Hebron and Jerusalem; which also, like the present, could not well have been anything more than a caravan route for beasts of burden.

From this mountainous district many broad Wadys flow down towards the West; and between them are elevated ridges of table land, which the road crosses. We made frequent and minute inquiry after the names of places or stations, which are known to have existed anciently on this Roman road. Of the more southern ones, Rasa and Gypsaria, we could find no trace. Early on the fourth day we crossed a broad Wady called ElLussân, marking perhaps the site of ancient Lysa; but we could discover no trace of ruins. In the forenoon of the fifth

day, we diverged a little to the left, to visit ruins which had been described to us under the names Aujeh and Abdeh; and which are doubtless the remains of the ancient Eboda. They consist of the walls of a large Greek church, and an extensive fortress, both situated upon a long hill or ridge overlooking a broad plain covered with shrubs and tufts of herbs. Connected with the fortress are cisterns and deep wells, walled up with uncommonly good masonry. On the S. side of the hill and below, are the ruins of houses; surrounded by traces of extensive ancient cultivation.

We were now crossing a more sandy portion of the desert; and in the afternoon of that day, we had our first specimen of the Simûm, or South wind of the desert. It came over us with violence like the glow of an oven, and filled the air with fine particles of dust and sand so as to obscure the sun, and render it difficult to see objects only a few rods distant. This continued for about four hours. We encamped in the Wady Ruheibeh, where we had never heard of ruins. But on ascending the hill on our left, we discovered the remains of a city not much less than two miles in circuit. The houses had been mostly built of hewn stone; there were several public buildings and many cisterns. But the whole is now thrown together in unutterable confusion; and it would seem as if the city had been suddenly overthrown by some tremendous earthquake. What ancient city this can have been, I have not yet been able to learn. The Arabic name suggests the Rehoboth of Scripture, the name of one of Isaac's wells (Gen. 26: 22); but the other circumstances do not correspond.

The Wady Ruheibeh opens out towards the North into a fine plain, covered with grass and herbs and bushes; in crossing which our ears were regaled with the carols of the lark and the song of the nightingale, all indicating our approach to a more fertile region. Towards noon of the sixth day, we reached Khulasah, the sight of ancient Elusa. It was a city of at least two miles in circuit. The foundations of buildings are everywhere to be traced; and several large unshapen piles of stones seem to mark the site of public edifices. Fragments of columns are occasionally seen; but no cisterns. A public well, which is still in use, seems to have supplied the city.

After crossing another elevated plateau, the character of the surface was again changed. We came upon an open rolling country; all around were swelling hills, covered in ordinary

seasons with grass and rich pasturage, though now arid and parched with drought. We now came to Wady Seba; and on the north side of its water-course we had the gratification of discovering (April 12th) the site of ancient Beersheba, the celebrated border city of Palestine, still bearing in Arabic the name of Bir Seba. Near the water-course are two circular wells of excellent water, more than forty feet deep. They are both surrounded with drinking-troughs of stone for the use of camels and flocks; such as doubtless were used of old for the flocks which then fed on the adjacent hills.-Ascending the low hills north of the wells, we found them strewed with the ruins of former habitations, the foundations of which are distinctly to be traced. These ruins extend over a space half a mile long by a quarter of a mile broad. Here then is the place, where Abraham and Isaac and Jacob often lived! Here Samuel made his sons judges; and from here Elijah wandered out into the southern desert, and sat down under the Rethem, or shrub of broom, just as our Arabs sat down under it every day and every night! Over these swelling hills the flocks of the patriarch roved by thousands ;—we now found only a few camels, asses, and goats.

At

From Bir Seba to Hebron we travelled 12 hours; here equivalent to about thirty miles. The general course was N. E. by E. After an hour and a half we came out upon a wide open plain, covered with grass, but now parched with drought. Fields of wheat and barley were seen all around; and before us were hills, the beginning of the mountains of Judah. Dhoheriyeh, the first Syrian village, our good Towara left us; and we parted from them not without the kindest feelings and deep regret. For thirty days they had now been our companions and guides, and not the slightest difficulty had occurred between us. The hills and pastures around Dhoheriyeh were covered with mingled flocks of sheep and goats, and herds of neat cattle, horses, asses, and camels, in the true patriarchal style of ancient days..

We took other camels and proceeded to Hebron. Here the "pool" over which David hung up the assassins of Ishbosheth, still remains, and fixes the site of the ancient city. The cave of Macphelah cannot well have been within the city; and therefore the present mosque cannot cover its site. We could not but notice the fertility of the surrounding vallies, full of fields of grain and of vineyards yielding the largest and finest clusters of all Palestine; and likewise the rich pasturage of the hills,