only arms were an old crooked yembeah, or dagger, and a common musket, with a few ball cartridges and a leathern bottle of priming powder. My letter of credit, being on Aleppo, had not yet been made use of for the defraying my expences; but as the wants of my intended route across the Desert were likely to be supplied without either frequent or large demands for money, I had still enough with me to meet all probable charges that might occur before I reached my journey's end. The horse on which I rode, with all its furniture, was my own; of clothes, I considered that I should require little or none; and a scanty supply of provisions was all that could be needed: so that, under all the circumstances of the case, I felt myself as well prepared for the journey as the occasion demanded, or as prudence would permit. It was right, however, in undertaking a route of such uncertainty and risk, that I should calculate on the possibility of a failure at least; and to provide against this, I entrusted all that I was obliged to leave behind me at Nazareth, in the form of baggage, to the care of Mr. Bankes, who undertook to have it conveyed to Damascus; to which city, if I should be unable to penetrate across the desert beyond Karak, it was my intention to return by the shortest route, which would be through the Hauran, and from thence proceed as circumstances might direct: this, however, for the reason before mentioned, I refrained from communicating to others, as the knowledge of my intentions might impede their accomplishment, while it could answer no beneficial purpose, either to myself or others.

When I retired to repose, it was not without many reflections and apprehensions, suggested by the unknown state of the road on which I was about to enter, with a conjectural estimate of obstacles, which, as they could not be clearly foreseen, could not be fitly provided against. My determination, however, was fixed; and having already well weighed and considered the subject in all its bearings, it would have been weakness to suffer any considerations of apprehended danger to shake my resolution.

Wednesday, February 21.—My guide, Georgis, who was a petty trader in every description of goods, had determined to make this journey to Assalt a source of profit to himself, by taking a small supply of portable articles with him; and, with a view to buy them at a cheaper rate (as I afterwards learnt), had suffered the Assalt party of traders to set out without us, that he might remain behind to take advantage of the dull morning's market, and get his articles at a less price than could have been done while they were here ; hoping, at the same time, by quickening his speed, to overtake them at their halting place for the night. The first intelligence that reached me in the morning was, that the party returning to Assalt had set out soon after sun-set on the preceding evening, I sent off immediately for my guide, who, keeping himself purposely out of the way till the end of his detention should be fully answered, was no where to be found. About ten o'clock, however, he made his appearance at the convent, out of breath from hurry, and hardly able to tell his excuses, so many were they, and so little breath had he to utter them. When he became more composed, he expressed his belief that we should not be able to overtake our intended companions, an apprehension that was but too well founded, as they had already gained upon us by a long night and the better part of a day. It was an ominous commencement of a journey, but there was no remedy. It only called for an exercise of greater patience, and created a necessity for greater perseverance, both virtues of which we stood eminently in need, and which it was doubly incumbent on me to exercise on this occasion.

It was a little after ten o'clock when we mounted our horses at the convent-gate, and receiving the benedictions of the friars, we quitted Nazareth and proceeded on our way.

Our course was directed to the south-east, over the hills which environ the valley of Nazareth, or the hollow of the mountain in which that town is seated; and descending over these hills on the

outer face, we came out at the foot of Mount Tabor, rising from the plain below. *

At noon we passed over a portion of the great plain of Esdraelon, having Daborah on our left, and Nain and Endor on our right; the two last being seated on the slope of Hermon, at a distance of about three miles from our path. The plain was in a great measure waste, and the aspect of the scenery forbidding; but this was counterbalanced by the agreeable associations necessarily created by the sight of so many places celebrated in holy writ as could be seen from this spot.

At half-past one we passed a ruined building, of very rude construction, resembling an old fort. The name given to it by the people of the country is Dabboh; but I could learn no further particulars regarding its history or former condition.

At two o'clock we reached the village of Tayeby, consisting of twenty or thirty houses only, and inhabited wholly by peasants or cultivators. There were in this village the remains of a large edifice, apparently of Roman construction; the blocks of mouldings, cornices, and friezes, that lay scattered about, were of a large size, some smoothly hewn and others sculptured; but no tradition had been preserved respecting the building to which these belonged. We halted here at the house of the Sheikh, and were served with coffee by his youngest daughter. During our conversation, the Sheikh could not contain his surprise at finding we we were going alone to Assalt through the dangerous valley of the Jordan, and among the thieves of Jericho. The heavy rain that fell detained us here for about half an hour, during which time the good old man said every thing he could think of to dissuade us from our purpose, and after exhausting all his arguments, appeared sorrowful, as well as disappointed, to find that all his friendly admonitions were in vain.

We quitted Tayeby at half-past two, and going still towards the south-east, passed, at about three o'clock, near to a ruined site of a * See the Vignette at the head of this Chapter.

town called Yubba. In this place were vestiges of walls and buildings apparently of an ancient date, but the peasants of the neighbourhood knew nothing of its history.

Soon after this we passed under a small village seated on the summit of a hill on the left of our road. It was called Ooom-elRussas, or "The Mother of Lead," but we could learn no assignable cause for this appellation. The village was full of inhabitants, and the rugged and stoney plain at the base of the hill on which it stood abounded with more cattle than there appeared pasture to feed on the spot. This place was under the government of the good and benevolent Hadjee Ahmet Jerar, of Sanhoor, of whom I had before occasion to speak*; and the blessing of whose paternal care seemed to extend over all the villages subject to his power.

We travelled on in a direction seldom varying from southeast, and going, on an average, about four miles an hour, when, at five o'clock, we came to a torrent called Waadi-el-Hhesh. On the left of this stream, at a short distance to the northward, stood Kafera and Jabool, two Mahommedan villages, which my guide assured me were once Christian towns of note, and were acknowledged by all to be very old. We saw, encamped on the banks of this torrent, several parties of Bedouin Arabs, who fed their flocks on the neighbouring hills, and brought them to water and to shelter near their tents at night. The source of the stream is at a short distance from hence, to the north-west, and it winds down in an easterly direction till it discharges itself into the Jordan.

At five o'clock we reached a narrow pass, between two approaching hills, and entered from thence into the valley of the Jordan. On the left of the pass were the ruins of a fortress which had once probably guarded the passage, and formed an important military post.

We continued our course about south-east across the plain, which was well cultivated on the west side of the Jordan, and looked beautifully verdant on the east; when, in about an hour after our first entering the valley, we came to the banks of the * See Travels in Palestine, 4to edition, p. 498.

river. We found here a number of Arab tents scattered along its edge, and from the dwellers in them we received the accustomed salutation of peace as we passed through the encampment. We had some difficulty, indeed, in resisting their entreaties to halt at their tents for the night; but as we were informed that the Sheikh of this tribe was encamped with another portion of his people on the east bank of the river, and were equally sure of a welcome reception there, we passed on, returning thanks to those whose solicitations we found it so difficult to refuse.

In fording the Jordan at this spot, which was at a distance of two hours, or about four miles to the southward of its outlet from the lake of Tiberias, we found it so deep near the banks of the stream as to throw our horses off their legs for a few minutes, and oblige them to swim; but they soon regained their footing as they approached the middle of the stream, and in the very centre we found it quite shallow. It still appeared rather as a brook or torrent, than a river, being no where more than one hundred feet wide, as far as we could observe it from hence; and the water, which was clear and sweet, winding slowly over a sandy and pebbly bed at about the rate of a mile and a half per hour.

After going up on the eastern bank of the river, and proceeding for a league onward, we came to the principal encampment of the Arab tribe whom we had first met with on the opposite bank of the Jordan. The name of the tribe we learnt to be Beni-Ameer-elGhazowee, and that of the place of their encampment, Zubbah, Their tents were very numerous, and larger than usual; and there were an abundance of fine horses, camels, and flocks, betokening great wealth among them in property of this description.

We alighted at the tent of the Sheikh or Chief, by whom we were well received, and invited to take shelter with him for the night. Immediately after our halting a meal was prepared for us, the principal dish of which was a young kid seethed in milk. Many of the Arabs encamped around us came to pay their visits to the strangers, and some few ate with us as they came, and then retired; but the