tion, "Osman, I would not believe it if that brother had sworn it. No," he continued, "the Europeans are too cunning to spend their money in looking at old stones. I know there is treasure in Wady Moussa; I have dug for it, and I mean to dig for it again;" and then again he asked Paul whether he had discovered any, and where; telling him that he would aid in removing it, without letting any of the rest of the tribe know any thing of the matter, VALLEY OF EL GHOR. 109 CHAPTER VI. Valley of El Ghor.-Prophecies against Edom.-The Sheik's Treachery.—An Explosion.-Personnel of the Arabs.—Amųsing Retrospect.-Money Troubles.-Aspect of the Valley.Death of a Camel.-The Desert Horses.-Native Salt. EARLY in the morning we continued our descent down the mountain. Every turn was presenting us with a new view of wild, barren, and desolate scenery; and yet frequently, in little spots watered by the mountain streams, we saw shrubs, and patches of green grass, and odoriferous bushes. At about nine o'clock we were again at the foot of the mountains of Seir, again moving along the great desert valley of El Ghor; and again I saw, in imagination, at the extreme end of the valley, that mysterious sea which I had first looked upon from the summit of Mount Hor. I had spoken to the sheik before, and again I tried to prevail upon him to follow the valley directly to its shores; but he told me, as before, that he had never travelled that road, and the Bedouins (whom he had last night declared to be total strangers) were deadly enemies of his tribe; in short, it was impossible to prevail upon him; and, as I found afterward, it would. have been physically impossible to proceed along the mountainous borders of the sea. We pursued the route which I had originally contemplated, through the land of Idumea. In regard to this part of my journey I wish to be particularly understood. Three different parties, at different times and under different circumstances, after an interval of twenty years from its discovery by Burckhardt, had entered the city of Petra, but not one of them had passed through the land of Idumea. The route of the two Englishmen and Italian before referred to was not precisely known; and, with the exception of these three, I was the first traveller who had ever attempted to pass through the doomed and blighted Edom. In very truth, the prophecy of Isaiah, "None shall pass through it for ever and ever," seemed in a state of literal fulfilment. And now, without considering that I was perhaps braving the malediction of Heaven, but stimulated by the interest of associations connected with the denounced region, and the excitement of travelling over a new and unbeaten track, I was again moving along the desert valley of El Ghor. In the present state of the world, it is an unusual thing to travel a road over which hundreds have not passed before. Europe, Asia, and even the sands of Africa, have been overrun and trodden down by the feet of travellers; but in the land of Idumea, the oldest country in the world, the aspect of every thing is new and strange, and the very sands you tread PROPHECIES AGAINST EDOM. 111 on have never been trodden by the feet of civilized human eings. The Bedouin roams over them like the Indian on our native prairies. The road along which the stranger journeys was far better known in the days of David and Solomon than it is now; and when he tires with the contemplation of barrenness and ruin, he may take the Bible in his hand, and read what Edom was, and how God, by the mouth of his prophets, cursed it; and see with his own eyes whether God's words be true. "Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord, no inan shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry, the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea."* And again. "Thus saith the Lord God: Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; therefore thus saith the Lord God, I will also stretch out mine hand upon * Jeremiah xlix. Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman." "Edom shall be a desolate wilderness."+ "For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, 1 will not turn away the punishment thereof." "Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty men, oh Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter."§ All that day the sheik was particularly disagreeable. He was constantly talking of the favourable circumstances under which I had seen Petra, the bad character of the Bedouins, his devotion to me, and the generosity of Mr. Laborde and Abdel Hag. Ever since we started, one of his standing subjects of conversation with Paul had been what he expected from me; and to-day he pressed him particularly, to learn how much money I had brought with me. In the evening he came to my * Ezekiel xxv. † Joel iii., 19 |