in their hands, they said it was a fabri cation of the Jews, who are the pasha's ministers. Not argument only, but even artifice and falsehood were em

pice, only one at a time, and were afterwards prohibited to do so at all. There were some very strange looking people in this camp, some of the men having long hair of a tawny colour,ployed in our favour; our friend Abou plaited in small plaits, very much in Raschid asserting that we had with the Nubian manner, but without grease, us a person on the part of Soliman, and a handkerchief of a brown colour, pasha of Acre, (our servant was the instead of the usual gaudy stripes, con- person whom he pointed out as such,) fined, in lieu of the plein cord, by a and a letter from the governor of Yaffa; brown. flat band, worked in with which, although we might easily have patches of coloured woollen, and stand-procured it, we were not provided with. ing up above the head. Their sandals, which, however, are not peculiar to them, as we had observed them in many other instances, are simple, having a thong coming up on each side of the foot from the sole, and another between the tocs; a single tie fastens them on. The women had a singular way of plaiting the braided hair across the forehead, which had the air of a formal wig. The female children had the same leathern apons, ornamented with shells, &c., which are common in Nubia.

From the brak of day we had been apprised that he adverse party were fully prepared to stand to their word in opposing us; that they had removed several of their amps, and that a large party of them had abandoned their village of Wady Mousa to occupy a height which commanded it. We could see the tents which they had pitched there, as the distance from our advanced camp wasvery moderate: they had also moved their cattle with them. Messages, sometines of persuasion, but oftener of defiane, were continually passing. A smal detachment of the hostile party passed our tents, but refused to eat in then. They were suffered to go on umolested. In the afternoon a large leputation arrived, sufficient to fill thewhole tent. A conference immediately commenced. The deputies never peronally appealed to us; but carried on the conversation with Abou Raschid only. It was in vain that the authority of the sultan, or of the pashas, wasdwelt upon in our favour. They got id of the firmans, by insisting that the did not understand Turkish; and when a boyourdi of Sali, pasha of Damscus, was placed

The adverse party, in some of their conferences, insisted much on seeing something under the hand of the lastmentioned governor, whose recommen dation, we have reason to think, would have gone farther in this country than that of any other person. It was, however, in this instance only captiously asked for, on the presumption that we had it not to produce.

Abou Raschid urged repeatedly, that in the event of their not complying, we could use our influence with the several pashas to cut off their communication entirely, with Mahn, Gaza, and Egypt; and he insisted upon our taking down the names of the refractory chiefs, which were, Abou Zatoun (Father of the Olives), Sheikh of Wady Mousa, and commanding the Howetatt Arabs; Kali Phee, of the same place; Lehaddineh Hinde, and the adherents of Ebn Jarzee, although he, himself, was rather disposed to our side. Our champion advised us, in the presence of these people, to instigate Mahomed Ali to lay hands on some of them whenever they should come to trade at Cairo. These people said on their first coming, "that we were very lucky in the protection of the chief who accompanied us, for otherwise we should never have re turned." They pretended to believe that we had a design of poisoning the water.

In the evening there was a very violent thunder-storm; and as all that could be said or threatened seemed to have no effect upon our opponents, and as there was neither food For us, nor forage for the horses in the tents, we returned, and slept at the camp as on the preceding night. It was the full of the moon, a dismal cold

same

rain came on, which, for the space of two or three hours, penetrated the covering of our tent, and until a trench was dug along the inside of the back curtain, it flowed in upon us from the high ground; the goats and sheep were continually encroaching, and at last even a cow walked in.

mid-day, when the weather was somewhat clearer, we perceived a number of armed men, some mounted, coming up the valley from the north-eastward. The horsemen were Sheikhs Yousouf and Sahlem, with their own attendants, and some few others with lances. The infantry followed, with their matchlocks and muskets, to the amount of upwards of sixty. They drew up into something like a line near the camp, and approached it shouting, the women answering with their usual screams of exultation from the tents, lee, lee, lee,

stand exposed in the way, and such as had come out were ruddy warned back into their tents by the men. The Sheikhs of Kerek and Djebal were conducted, each by separate openings, into the camp, to the tens allotted to them. We found them dspirited and discomposed at what had happened, and at the consequences which were likely to ensue. They reminded us of their having dissuaded is from press

May 21.-A thick fog prevailed, so that the opposite side of our camp was not visible. We heard very noisy councils in the adjoining tents, and it was soon after announced to us, that "war was positively determined on," as the only alternative of our not being perlee, &c., for they were not saffered to mitted to see what we had desired, and to drink of the water. Messengers were dispatched to the camps, under Abou Raschid's influence, and to Shobek, to apprise them of the circumstance, and to request immediate reinforcements. The presence of Sheikh Yousouf and Sahlem was also required. A poor woman, in the other half of our tent, was looking over the partition with her child in her arms, shedding tears occasionally, and throwing in arguing the matter any furtler at the camp ments of dissuasion. It was in vain that we agreed to give up Wady Mousa altogether, and declared that we had no desire to taste of the water. The antiquities, which are distant from the village, being the only object of our curiosity; but our chief stood always to his point, and declared that we should not only see the place, but even bathe in the waters; and, that if fair means could not compass this, he had sworn to accomplish it by force.

where we had last parted; and in their conferences with Abou Raschid, gave him such advice as might be expected from persons of ther years. Old Yousouf, particularly like Nestor in the Iliad, dwelt muchupon what had passed in his youth, and upon the wars in which he had engaged and had found reason, when to late, to repent of. He spoke with a geat deal of grave action; but his comsels had more effect upon the rest of his audience, than on the spirite young Arab to whom they were adressed, who continued stanch in his determination of

The messages which arrived in the course of the morning from the opposite party, were only a renewal of protestations and oaths against our enter-waging war, and could not be induced ing their territory; and they even threw out menaces of cutting off our return from the place where we then were. Thus situated, we could not but compare our case to that of the Israelites under Moses, when Edom refused to give them a passage through her country.* The circumstance must likewise have occurred nearly in the same place, as the tomb of Aaron on Mount Hort was now before us. About

Numbers, xx. 14--22.
† ibid. 28.

even to shift his gound so far as to confine his demand in our favour to the sight of the antquities only; strenuously persisting hat, as we had put ourselves under lis protection, we should go whereve he was pleased to carry us.

A deputation rrived from the enemy, and the oldsheikhs tried every argument that experience could suggest to induce then to permit us to go forward. They were denounced as rebels in the cas of non-compliance,

result of Hindi's declaration was ex-gave it a very picturesque appearance. pected with impatience, and almost By following the brow of the mountain, every one seemed to think that it must we gained a sight also of the theatre have great weight with the enemy. cut out of the rock, and of several of We, however, heard that their party the tombs. Though they were at a had also had an accession of two considerable distance, we could make neighbouring tribes of Arabs who had them out pretty well with the help of declared against us. To-day old You- a spy-glass. This sight was a great souf was unusually eloquent in our encouragement to us, as it appeared favour, giving out that we were believ- possible to reach the spot without ers in Mahommed, and that our only passing at all near the enemy's quarmotive in wishing to advance was to ters; and we began to concert among pay our devotions at Aaron's tomb; ourselves some means of getting there thus giving a very plausible turn to the secretly in the night, should all other motive of our journey. When asked if expedients fail. we were of the true faith, he always replied "they are English." He recapitulated the list of the documents with which we were furnished; roundly asserting that we had recommendations from Yaffa and Egypt, though he knew that we had them not, and he attached much importance to the presence of our soldier and Tartar from Constantinople. He mentioned all the places we had visited in the country, particularly Palmyra and Szalt; adding that this was the first time we had been stopped. True to the character of an old chieftain, he dwelt again on the events of wars that had happened in his early days. His object was to carry matters by fair means, if possible, and to restrain the impetuosity of Abou Raschid, whom he warned of the usual effects of hasty measures, and, for the first time, alluded to an old grudge which the people of Wady Mousa bore towards him, on account of the fate of three or four of their fellow townsmen whom he had beheaded at Kerek. The tone, however, of old Yousouf was considerably changed, and he seemed not altogether so adverse to hostilities as he had hitherto been. He said, "I, too, could bring out the men of Kerck;" and he spoke of their numbers and courage, but he did not pledge himself to bring them out.

In the course of this morning it had been discovered that one of the ruins which we were in quest of was in sight from our mountain. It proved to be that which we called the palace; it was discernible through a narrow strait formed by two craggy cliffs, which

While we were deliberating on this subject, we saw a great cavalcade entering our camp from the southward. There were many mounted Arabs with lances, and we observed that there were some amongst the horsemen who wore richer turbans, and of more gaudy colours, than is usual amongst Bedouins or peasants. As the procession advanced, several of Abou Raschid's Arabs went out, and led the horses of the chiefs by the bridles into the camp. The whole procession alighted at the tent of our chief, and kissed his turban; this was the signal of pacification. Peace was immediately proclaimed throughout the camp, and notice was given that the men bearing arms who had come from a distance, many of whom had joined us that very morning, were to return to their respective homes.

Our late opponents were now willing to consent to our setting out that afternoon, but by the general wish it was deferred until the next day. We heard music and singing in several of the tents. One of the chiefs of the party who had been adverse to us, came very shortly to pay us a visit; amongst other things, he said in his excuse that he had misconceived the object of our journey, having supposed us Frenchmen who came with a design of poisoning the water. They dissembled the real motive of their change of conduct, which there can be little doubt was fear, and imputed their concessions entirely to their respect for the sultan and the pashas. To make the matter more formal, there came with them a

In the evening we were visited by Abou Raschid, who was in high spirits; the weather had been considerably clearer, but it was still much colder than might have been expected at this season of the year. During the day we had explored the high land to the eastward of the camp, and found it covered, upon both its sides and on its

person who was in the employ of the in the hands of the Greek priest at Pasha of Damascus, with two attend-Kerek. ants, to read and examine our papers. It proved, however, that he was wholly unacquainted with the Turkish language, and in consequence confined himself entirely to the boyourdees of the two pashas, which he declared to be satisfactory and sufficient, although, in point of fact, they were altogether foreign to the question, being addressed to persons and places in quite a diffe-summit, with lines of dry wall, and rent part of the country. This man, solid masses of masonry. These walls in recompense for this favourable deci- appeared to have inclosed cultivated sion, attempted in the course of the grounds: the solid ruins seemed to be evening to lay claim to some remune-only the remains of towers for watchration, but Yousouf fought off his pretensions, by asserting, that for his own part he had not seen the colour of our gold, which was so far true, that the four hundred piastres were deposited

ing in harvest and vintage time. The whole neighbourhood of this spot bears similar traces of former industry, all which seem to indicate the vicinity of a great metropolis.

CHAPTER VIII.

Wady Mousa-Encampment of the Inhabitants-The Necropolis of Petra-Remarkable Tombs-Narrowness of the Valley-Description of the Architecture-Romantic PassRepresentation of an Altar-Scene of the Murder of thirty Pilgrims-Course of the Stream-Magnificent Temple-Singular appearance of the Rocks-Ancient Authors on Petra-Buildings in the Valley-Houses-Tombs-Visit to the Tomb of Aaron-View from the summit-Strange liberality of the Natives-Compelled to quit Petra-Parting with Abou Raschid-Locusts-Wady-el-Ahsa-Kerek-Mountains of the Franks-Start for the Dead Sea-The Ghorneys-The Oskar plant-The Dead Sea-Salt on its ShoresLumps of Nitre and Sulphur-Absence of living Creatures-Scene in Ismayel's TentOptical illusion-Wady Modjeb-Country of the Amorites-Mayn-Visit to the Ilot Springs-A Vapour Bath-Ebn Fayes-Ilis violent threat-The Pools of ITeshbonPalace of Hircanus-Parting from Yousouf-His character-Djerash-The Valley of the Jordan-Tiberias-Acre-Observations on the Character and Customs of the ArabsArrival at Constantinople.

THE morning of the 24th May was obstructed by huge masses of sandless unfavourable than those which stone that had rolled down from above, had preceded it. Soon after sun-rise that it was obvious a very small force we set out from the camp; we were would be capable of holding it against in all about fifty persons, including the a great superiority of numbers. Todeputation from Wady Mousa and the wards the lower extremity of this pass men of Damascus, who had passed the the path branched off into two roads; night in the tents of our chief. The it had previously been whispered to first part of our road was that by us by our chief, that, without seeming which we went to the advanced camp to take any notice, we should let the on the 20th; but before we reached men of Wady Mousa go their way, that spot we turned off in an E.S.E. while we should follow one of his men, direction, constantly descending. We who would go forward and guide us in then passed into a rocky and steep a different direction. When we reached defile, where the footing is extremely the point of separation, the others, not bad, and the passage so completely being apprised of this determination, commanded from the sides, and so said all they could to induce Abou