any resemblance of names, or hear of any traditions to assist our decision on this point.

We recrossed the Hieromax before sunset, and returned to the camp, when I was again obliged to be lifted from my horse and borne to the tent, where our reception was as kind as we could have desired.

We were forcibly struck here with some features of difference between the Arabs of this tribe and those which we had lately passed through, and with some peculiarities in the accompaniments of their camp, that seemed to us deserving of notice. Among their animals was neither a horse, a camel, a sheep, nor a goat, all of which are seen in the smallest party of Bedouins; while there was a fine herd of bullocks, and about twenty young calves, neither of which we had yet seen in either of the tribes with whom we had sought shelter or refreshment on our way. Dogs were numerous here; but these are common to all classes, whether they live in tents or in villages.

The Arabs themselves were remarkable for a flatness of feature that approached to the African, though their colour was not so dark as that of our own guides, whose features were of a long and prominent cast. Among their women we saw several with positively crisped hair, and noticed a black slave-girl of about ten years of age. The boys, however were still more remarkable, as their faces were in some instances sufficiently Chinese to have deceived me, if they had been introduced to me as such : they had the olive complexion, the lengthened eye-brow, the sunken and half-closed eye, separated by a broad distance, and the nose almost flat between them; lips not remarkably full, but projecting upper teeth; and, in short, a cast of countenance altogether different from any thing we had before seen in the country.

We endeavoured to learn the name of this tribe, but could only find that it was called Beni Sheikh Mohammed, from the name of its chief; and that they continued always on the banks of the

Hieromax, or near the Hami, which is the name equally given to the river, and to the hot springs near it.*

The source of this river was described to us as being three days' journey off, in the direction of Bosra, and they called the place Shelall; but whether implying thereby a cataract or rapids, as that word does on the Nile, we could not clearly understand.

After an humble but excellent supper of bread and oil for our guides, and a bowl of curdled sour milk for ourselves, we lay down to repose. Our party was thrice disturbed, however, during the night by the barking of the dogs, the encroachment of the buffaloes on our tent, and by the young calves within it.

4th. I passed a very restless night from the agonizing pain which I suffered in my foot, now swoln to an enormous size about the ankle; and this so incapacitated me from proceeding on my intended route to Damascus alone, that it was decided by all our party as indispensable, that I should accompany it to Nazareth, for the benefit of some medical application in the convent, and for

repose.

We accordingly prepared to depart at sunrise, and I being lifted on my horse, we set out and continued at a slow pace on our journey. We now ascended the north-west angle of the hills on which Oom Kais stands, and continued over the brow of others to the westward, having from their summit the view of a fine valley ploughed for cultivation, on the south-west edge of the lake of Tiberias.

The sky was dark and cloudy, and the wind, though from the southward, colder than any we had yet felt in Palestine; so that we were glad to descend from the bare summits of these bleak hills, to enjoy a warmer air and shelter below.

Reaching their feet, we crossed the double stream of the Hieromax, and observed here, on looking back, that the dark masses of

• Hāmi,, signifies warm, particularly as applied to water, in the modern Arabic; and its connection might, no doubt, be traced with Hammam and Emmaus, two words of the same import in the Arabic and Hebrew tongues.

rock, over which it wound its course, resembled a stream of cooled lava, when contrasted with the lighter soil by which it was edged on both sides. The stones of its bed here were equally porous with those we had seen above; the ground also showed small patches of sulphur in many places, and we were of opinion that the hot springs we had visited yesterday, the lakes of Cæsarea and Tiberias, the stone already described, the sulphureous and infertile nature of the plain of Jericho in many parts, and the whole phenomena observed of the Dead Sea, were sufficient indications of a volcanic effect, perhaps on the whole range of the long valley from near the sources of the Jordan to beyond the point of its issue in the Great Asphaltic Lake.

We continued our way from hence across a fine plain of, at least, three miles in breadth, covered with a light red soil, and apparently highly fertile; and directing our course due west, we reached, in about three hours from the time of our setting out, the stream of the Jordan. It was here about one hundred and twenty feet broad, barely fordable by the horses, and having a current of about two knots per hour; resembling in all these particulars that portion of the Hieromax, which we had crossed yesterday to visit the hot springs and the Roman bath; the double arm of that stream forded this morning being much inferior.

Near the place of our recrossing the Jordan, which appeared to be about two or three miles from the point of its outlet from the Tiberian Lake, we observed some old ruins on an elevated mound, which appeared to us like a castle or some post of military defence. Our guides called it Jissera-el-Shereeah *, and said that beneath it was once a bridge for crossing the river, some remains of which were still to be seen. We were extremely desirous of turning aside to examine this spot, which stood on the eastern bank; but

لا شريعة وجسر

literally, the bridge of the Shereeah. This last word, which signifies "any place where beasts drink," is the name by which the Jordan is mostly called by all the Arabs who encamp near it.

the Arabs were in such a state of constant alarm, that we could not prevail on them to halt for a moment.

After fording the Jordan, we began almost immediately to ascend another line of bare and stoney hills, leaving a village in ruins on our left, about half-way up it. On the summit, we found the cold excessive, and the whole atmosphere was now so darkened with the mist brought by the strong southern wind which blew, that we could barely trace the winding course of the river in the plain below. We could see nothing of its boundaries to the south, and could but just distinguish the place of the lake behind us, and a fine ploughed plain in a hollow on our right.

On descending over the western side of these hills, we had the Mount of Tabor immediately before us, and a waving ground, partly barren and partly cultivated, between us and its foot, extending perhaps from six to nine miles in length. In our way across this tract, we passed the village of Sereen, consisting of about thirty or forty dwellings, and near it saw half a dozen Bedouins' tents pitched. Further on, we passed a second village, somewhat larger, called Cafr Sabt, near which we were accosted by some suspicious characters on horseback, but passed on without further molestation.

At length we approached Mount Tabor, the eastern foot of which was highly cultivated, and its steep sides were richly clothed with woods, while on its summit some portions of the ruined buildings there were visible from below.

Leaving the mountain itself on our left, we passed through a narrow ravine, well clothed with oak and olive trees, and joined here a party of soldiers, going from Damascus to some place on the coast. From this valley, where several coveys of partridges were sprung, and where the wooded scenery was an agreeable relief to the barrenness of that which we had passed over in our morning ride, we entered on the great plain of Esdraelon.

Though the rains had fallen twice since my first passing it, not a blade of verdure was seen throughout its wide extent; and its

dull brown surface, here and there interspersed with rising ridges of grey rocks, and bounded on both sides with bare and stoney hills, seemed to us the very reverse of beautiful; so much had the magnificent scenery of the country east of the Jordan destroyed our relish for less grand and less picturesque views.

We continued along the northern edge of this plain of Esdraelon for about an hour, until we reached a small village, called by its inhabitants Belled-Eksall. It stood on one of those low ridges of rock which are seen here and there throughout the plain, and the sight of a large sarcophagus, on its highest part, induced us to turn aside for a moment to examine it more closely. We found ourselves amid sepulchres similar to those we had seen on the morning of yesterday, but more perfect. Besides the sarcophagus which had first attracted our notice, and which was of rude execution and unusually large in all its dimensions, we saw subterrannean vaults, descended to by circular openings, like the mouths of wells, and apparently capacious below, none of which we could stay to enter. The most marked feature of the place, however, was the many graves cut down into the rock, exactly in the way in which our modern graves are dug in the earth. These were covered with rude blocks of stone, sufficiently large to overlap the edge of the grave on all sides, and of a height or thickness equal to the depth of the grave itself, varying from two to four feet. There were in all, perhaps, twenty of these covered sepulchres still perfect; and, in one, whose closing-block had been so moved aside as to leave an opening through which the interior of the grave could be seen, a human skull remained perfect, possessing no visible peculiarity of form, but being apparently of the same size as those of the present

race.

These were unquestionably the works of a very early age, and might, perhaps, have been the sepulchres of those heroes who fell in the great battle between Barak and Sisera, which ended in the defeat of the latter, upon this celebrated plain, of which Mount