Before we departed from hence we remained to smoke a nargeel and take a cup of coffee with the soldiers, of whom there were, at present, only two stationed at the castle, some of their comrades, as they told us, having been called to Damascus. While taking

this refreshment, I observed on a stone now standing like a dividing post between two small doors, a long inscription in Arabic, which neither of our party was sufficiently versed in the language of the olden time to read, though in the characters still used by themselves in all their writings.

ON leaving the castle, we descended the hill on which it stands, and passed over the ruins of Errubbedth, which we found nearly covered with trees. In our way to the village of Adjeloon, we passed a large mass of rock, in which we observed an arched recess, and several niches and portions of the surface hewn out, but for what purpose was not very apparent. In half an hour after leaving the castle we entered the village of Adjeloon, the situation of which in the valley is extremely agreeable. It had, however, been once much more populous than at present, there being now but few inhabitants, and the greater number of the buildings in the place in ruins. Among others there was an old mosque, with a central court and pillars, lighted by circular windows from a

dome above, and containing several Arabic inscriptions, none of which, however, we had time to copy. In the court were a number of broken pillars that lay half buried in the earth; on one of which was a long Greek inscription of about twenty lines, now nearly obliterated; and Arabic inscriptions in great number. There was the same strange mixture of architecture as of languages, the Roman and Saracen being both united, as at the castle, triangular pediments marking the one, and pointed arches the other. Attached to this mosque, which might once have been a Christian place of worship also, was a slender but lofty tower of a square form, and about fifteen or twenty feet in breadth on each side. The tower could be ascended on the inside by a winding staircase of sixty-one steps, formed of coarse marble, above which was a small gallery, and above that again two octagonal stages, the whole being crowned by a small dome, with apertures for lighting the stairs from the bottom to the top. On the east of this tower, and on a little lower level, I observed a large well, now used for washing clothes, with the ruins of a large building once erected over it, and apparently of Roman architecture, with Saracen additions and repairs.

From the village of Adjeloon we ascended a steep hill to the E.N.E. over vine grounds, and in a quarter of an hour came to a place called Deer Mar Elias, or the convent of St. Elias, where there were the remains of some former building, probably a Greek monastery, as the name would import. No portion of the building was standing, but a number of hewn stones were scattered about in all directions, and broken pottery, of the red and ribbed kind before described, strewed all the way between the mosque of Adjeloon and this spot.

We remarked at this place that the stones of the original building had been carefully collected by some hand, and heaped up in a circular pile of seven or eight feet high, and about twenty feet in diameter, and on the top of this a smaller circle of about

four feet high. On a loose stone which lay broken among others, the following Greek letters were observed :

Η ΕΥΔΗ Χ
EPCNTP

the characters being deeply cut, about three inches in length, and standing at some distance from each other. One of my guides remembered to have seen another stone with Greek characters on it near this spot, but it was not now to be found. There are several large natural caverns in the neighbourhood of this place, and many smaller excavated tombs in the rocks, with small benches near them as if for seats, so that this spot was also likely to have been the site of some larger settlement.

We halted at the house of a Christian Arab at Adjeloon; and as our host, Yakoobe, had come with us from Cufr Injey thus far, the priest of the village called together all the Christians who were in the neighbourhood to meet us. It appeared that at Cufr Injey there were only four Christians among all its inhabitants, at Anjerah ten, at Ain-Jerrah fifteen, and at this place, Adjeloon, twenty. They have a small room here which is appropriated to worship, and on Sundays and feast days they have the occasional visits of the other villagers to add to their congregation. There are about 400 inhabitants in each of the three former villages, and 200 in this; which, however, must have been once the largest place of the whole, judging from the extent of the ruined dwellings around it, and particularly on its northern side.

We left Adjeloon about ten o'clock, and after ascending a narrow valley to the northward, inclining easterly, entered into a fine forest of Sinjān trees, where, after an hour's journeying, we passed over a spot covered with the vestiges of former buildings, walls, and streets, though now entirely overgrown with shrubs and trees. This spot is called by the people of the country, Belled-el-Yosh, or the country or place of Joshua, probably referring to that leader's bidding the sun to stand still upon Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, (Joshua x. 12.); this valley of " Adjeloon,” as it

is now pronounced, through which we had come, and on the skirts of which the ruins spoken of are placed, being undoubtedly the same with the valley of Ajalon named in the Scriptures.

Continuing in a northerly direction from the spot, we entered on a red soil with silicious stones, and rock of perforated lime; and in half an hour passed on our right, at the distance of half a mile, the ruined towns of Hhubbeen and Sakkara. The village of Soof, at which we halted in a former journey from Jerusalem to Jerash, was also on our right; and from the high level of the tract over which we now rode, we had a fine view of the plain of the Hauran, bounded by a range of snow-capped hills on the east, by the snowy mountains of the Druse on the north, and by the great Gebel-elTelj, or Mountain of Snow on the west; in which direction, or on our left, inclining to the south-west, the Sea of Tiberias and the valley of the Jordan extended far to the south. On the road over which we now rode, there was a considerable quantity of unmelted snow, so that the air was sharp and biting; but this track being considered dangerous, we were all on the alert, and rode the greater part of the way with our muskets cocked and ready in our hands.

In another half hour we passed the ruined village of Sampta, about a quarter of a mile on our right, and from thence began to descend over stony ground. Our course still continued to be northerly, inclining to the east a point or two occasionally, and going on in this direction we passed, in half an hour more, a large heap of stones in the road, which was said to mark the grave of a celebrated Bedouin chief, named Abd-el-Azeez, the Slave of the Mighty, on which every Arab of his tribe that passed, and many others following their example, threw a stone to do him honour, and keep the place of his entombment in remembrance.

In half an hour from this, passing still through a thickly wooded tract, we came to a large tomb, excavated out of the solid rock, and lying on the right-hand side of our path. In front of the tomb itself, and forming the approach to its entrance, was a quadrangular court or platform, cut down from the rock, descended