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160

EZION-GEBER AND ELATH.

gion allows four wives, Tueileb has two. He is considered a man of property among his tribe, if indeed, a few camels, sheep and goats can entitle him to that appellation. I hesitate not to pronounce him honest and trustworthy to travellers who put themselves under his protection.

Situated at the head of the gulf, it might be supposed that Akabah would be a place of some business. Not so. Desolation marks all its borders, and were it not for the fortress, with a few miserable Arab huts around it, embosomed in a beautiful grove of date palms that skirts the shore for about a mile and a half, the place would be a barren waste. The last, with the placid green waters of the gulf, afford all the inviting scenery there is in the place. Alas! how has the visage of nature and art here changed! In very ancient times, there were situated in this very vicinity, two cities of special note in Scripture history, Ezion-geber and Elath. The former is mentioned first as a station of the Israelites, from which they returned to Kadesh, probably a second time. Both places are again mentioned after that people had left Mount Hor, as the point where they turned eastward from the Red Sea, in order to pass around on the eastern side of the land of Edom. "And when we passed by from our brethren, the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath and from Ezion-geber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab." DEUT. ii. 8. The Hebrew word translated plain, in the above passage, is " Arabah," the same as the present Arabic name of the great valley extending directly north from the Gulf of Akabah.* The two

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places were near together. "Ezion-Geber, which is beside Elath on the shore of the Red Sea."-1st KINGS, ix. 26.

Ezion-geber became famous as the port where Solomon, and after him Jehoshaphat, built fleets to carry on a commerce with Ophir. Josephus says it lay near Elana, and was afterwards called Berenice. But it is mentioned no more, and no certain trace of it seems now to remain.

Elath was an ancient city of the Edomites, which was taken possession of by David when he conquered Edom. Under David and Solomon, it appears to have been a place of great importance, as commanding the commerce carried on through this branch of the Red Sea. It remained in the hands of the Jews till the reign of Joram, when it was retaken by the Edomites. It was again taken by Azariah, but during the reign of Ahaz, "Rezin, king of Syria, recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews out of Elath," nor did they ever regain possession of it. In the days of Jerome it was still a place of trade to India, and a Roman legion was stationed there. Elath became early the seat of a Christian church, and the names of four of its bishops are found in various councils, from 320 to 526. But soon after Mohamet carried his victorious arms northward, Elath became lost under the shroud of Mohammedan darkness. In 1116, a party of crusaders, under Baldwin I. made an excursion to the Red Sea, took possession of Elath, and found it deserted. It was again wrested from the Christians by Saladin, in 1167. In Abulfeda's day, and before 1300, it was deserted. That author says, "In our day it is a fortress, in which a governor is

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VISIT TO THE FORTRESS.

sent from Egypt." Such as Elath was then, Akabah is now. Mounds of rubbish alone, about two miles north-west of the present fortress, mark the site of that ancient city. A fortress, occupied by a governor and a small garrison, "under the Pacha of Egypt, serves to keep the neighboring tribes of the Desert in awe, and minister to the wants and protection of the annual Egyptian Hadj caravan on its way to and from Mecca.* Where once fleets of shipping lay moored, now not a bark of any kind is seen. There is not even a fishing boat in the place.

At the invitation of the governor we visited the interior of the fortress. It is a quadrangle, enclosing, as near as I could judge, about one acre. The walls are stone, substantially built, and about thirty feet high, with a bastion and tower at each of the corners. All around the wall, on the inside, is a row of rooms with solid flat roofs, forming a platform around the interior of the castle. On each bastion there are some twelve pound carronades mounted. We found the fortress in bad regulation, and extremely filthy in every part. In a small room in the south-east bastion, the governor had us seated, and in a few minutes coffee was served us. From this he conducted us to other places, and at length to his own room, where coffee was again served us. This room was very coarse, the sides being unplastered stone wall, with one window, but no glass. The floor was nothing but the bare earth, and the covering overhead loose bamboo reeds. There was a divan on two sides, coarsely carpeted and very filthy. Finally, we found but little in either the governor or his apart

* Robinson.

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ment to court our stay. Excusing our brief visit, we returned to our tent. The governor always visited us as often as once a day to smoke and take coffee.

There are but few troops kept in the fortress, and these seem to have nothing to do but to waste powder in shooting at a mark. We, however, saw them make some excellent shots, which proved them to be expert marksmen. The Arabs that dwell in huts around the fortress, seem to have nothing to do, and how they live is to me a mystery. During our stay, we amused ourselves in reading such books as we had with us, bathing in the sea, and hunting pigeons. We killed a quantity of these birds, which afforded some addition to our stock of provisions. Eagles were numerous in the vicinity. We occasionally purchased some good fresh fish of Arab fishermen. The red mullet are plenty in the Gulf, and of excellent flavor. The weather was excessively warm; the flies were very annoying, and we had cause to be continually in fear of scorpions, which reptiles abound in the place. We were finally detained six days awaiting the arrival of Sheik Hassein.

CHAPTER XI.

Bedoin Arabs-Their General Appearance-Tents and Furniture-Dress -Their Women-Mode of Encamping-Food and Manner at MealsDiseases-Degradation of their Women-Singular Manner of Courtship Marriages-Divorces-Circumcision-Funerals-Customs of Salutation -Hospitality-Robbery-Mode of settling Quarrels-Avengers of Blood -Barbarous Customs in War-Amusements-Education-ReligionProphetic Fulfilment.

In stature, the Bedoin Arabs are spare but straight, always carrying themselves very erect. They are

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seldom tall, and generally would fall below the medium size; indeed, I never saw a fleshy person among them. Their complexion is about like that of the American Indian, but their faces are more thin, and their features not so heavy. Their eyes are uniformly black, and generally sunken in the head, with dark, heavy eye-brows. They have low foreheads, high cheek bones, noses of the Roman mould, thin lips, and very white teeth. Their hair is black and straight. Their countenances are sober, and they are seldom seen to smile. Their movements are generally quick, and they often show great dexterity.

In the domestic life of a Bedoin, there is but little to attract the admiration of strangers. The tent forms his cherished home, and when he removes he carries his frail dwelling with him. The covering of his tent is a coarse black fabric, made of goats' hair. The tent is generally about seven feet high, and greatly differing in size, according to the wealth of the owner, or the number of his family. It is always divided into two apartments, one for the men and the other for the women. The furniture of a Bedoin tent may be comprised very briefly. A small carpet is spread at the back part, directly behind which are arranged his camel-saddles, on which his visitors may sit or recline; his water bags, made of tanned goatskins, with the hair on, and nearly whole as taken off the animal; a few jars of rude pottery; a coffee-pot and coffee-cups; a coffee-pan and mortar; a few wooden dishes and wooden spoons. His weapons of defence, consisting of a short sabre, a brace of pistols, and a gun, with his entire camel-gear, also adorn his tent. When an Arab sits down, it is always on

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