position of places spoken of by them, that great accuracy cannot be expected to be attained at this period. The resemblance of names, the correspondence of local features, and the existence of ruins on any particular spot, may be therefore considered as of as much weight in determining questions of this nature, as the estimate of distances, which, from being given in figures, are always liable to corruption. But when all these circumstances nearly agree, the evidence may be received as the most conclusive now within our reach.

We continued our way from between the ruins of Deer-el Ramza and Jejaz, still towards the north-east, admiring, as before, the beauty of the country on all sides. The prospects around us made us credit all that has been said of the ancient populousness of this district; and while we felt the difficulty, in many instances, of identifying ancient positions with the perfect correspondence of all the requisite data, we conceived it highly probable that one place might be sometimes taken for another, in a kingdom of so confined an extent, yet so thickly spread over with populous towns and villages, and in which are said to have existed threescore cities. *

'At sunset we reached the camp of the Bedouins, whom we had joined on our way, and were received there with their accustomed hospitality. It was carried so far in the present instance, as even to occasion a contention among the Arabs themselves, as to which of them should furnish the necessary corn for our horses. A lamb was killed for us, and all the members of the camp assembled around our evening party in the Sheikh's tent, to entertain us, and to assure us of our welcome among them. Our conversation was sufficiently varied; but though our destination for Damascus was spoken of, our intention to halt at Jerash was studiously concealed, and at midnight we lay down to sleep.

"The son of Geber, in Ramoth Gilead: to him pertained the towns of Jair, the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities, with walls and brazen bars." 1 Kings, iv. 13.

JANUARY 31st. We quitted our station at an early hour, and, after leaving the camp, passed again through a rich and beautiful country.. It was about an hour after our first setting out that we came to another torrent, in a deep ravine, the stream of which was called Nahr-el-Zebeen. The ford at which we crossed it was scarcely more than ten yards wide, and here the banks were covered with rushes, planes, and oleanders. It appeared to us to be only a more northern portion of Zerkah or the Jabbok, which we had already

passed over once; but this the Arabs contradicted, though they said that, like Zerkah, it mingled its waters with those of the Jordan, and ran together with them into the Dead Sea.

In ascending from the valley of this stream, and going up its steep northern bank, we were shown what appeared to us to be a tower, with a wall and portions of ruined edifices near. This place was called Zebeen, and gave its name to the torrent below. It was said to have been an old Christian settlement; but, as we were not permitted to turn aside to see it, we could not determine with accuracy either its age or character.

We were here interrupted and thrown into a momentary alarm, by the pursuit of two horsemen, who came galloping over the brow of the hill behind us, commanding us with a loud voice, and in an authoritative tone, to halt and give an account of ourselves. Though we considered ourselves to be in a strange and almost an enemy's country, we were not, however, in a condition to yield to the menaces of so small a force. We therefore replied to their challenge in a tone equally haughty with their own, and refused to satisfy them either from whence we had come or whither we were going; so that they soon desisted from their pursuit and left us..

In continuing our way to the north-east, we still went through a beautifully fertile country; and, after passing three or four ruined buildings of considerable size on the road, we came about ten o'clock into a charming valley, from whence we obtained the first sight of the ruins of Jerash..

We approached the remains of this city on the southern side, and saw, at first, a triumphal gateway, nearly entire. • The architecture of this was not of the most chaste kind, though the masonry was good. It bore a striking resemblance to the work seen in the ruined city of Antinoë, in Upper Egypt, on the eastern bank of the Nile. On each side of the large central arch of this

No. 1. in the General Plan.