As they approached toward us on the high road, we turned off from it a few yards on our left, in order to watch their motions; and, as they drew nearer, they turned off also to meet us. Knowing their intentions to be hostile, we called a halt; and having our muskets cocked, threatened with instant death whoever among them should advance a step farther. They assailed us with every species of abuse, demanded to know who we were, and asked what business we had to be journeying through territories which they called exclusively their own, without paying tribute to them as the lords and masters of it. We replied that when they wanted tribute, they should send larger parties to collect it; and we bade them defiance. They advanced in a sudden rush to surround us ; I discharged my musket at random, and the sound was as that of a cannon, rolling and reverberating through the hollows of the hills near us, like the echoing of peals of thunder. The consternation which this occasioned was such, that the Arab horses started and reared, and the men on foot ran with precipitation in opposite directions. The scene was rather ludicrous than otherwise, and proved to us how contemptible were the enemies we had been taught to dread as irresistible, and how much their numbers should preponderate to make them at all formidable.

When we had dispersed these robbers by such a simple effort, we continued our way along the valley as before, having the Arabs to hang about our rear for half an hour, when they quitted us, probably in the hope of meeting with some more defenceless objects of plunder.

About one o'clock we came to the site of considerable ruins, where we saw foundations of buildings, outlines of streets, blocks of hewn stone, and other fragments, evidently marking the position of some considerable town. This place still bears the name of Amatha, and from its name, as well as situation near the banks of the Jordan, may with great reason be taken for the site of Amathus, to which in these particulars it so exactly corresponds. The extent of space covered by the ruins here, is much greater than

that which is seen of ancient Jericho; and on the hills above it, where another city of the name of Raajib is said to have stood, we could see from hence remains of aqueducts and other works of building; while my guide, who had himself been on the spot, described it as containing fallen columns and other marks of architectural grandeur, now in dilapidation and decay.

At this place we crossed a torrent of water descending from the hills, and running westward into the Jordan, under the name of Waadi Raajib, from its passing close by the ruins of that ancient

town.

At two o'clock we reached a place called Abu-el-Beady, where we determined to turn in and enquire the news of the road, as well as to obtain shelter and repose for an hour, as the rain had scarcely ceased for a moment since our first setting out; and we were wet, weary, and half famished with hunger.

Abu-el-Beady is a name given to a small village of huts, collected round a mosque, built over the tomb of some distinguished personage, who had given his name to the place. This Abu-elBeady was said, according to the traditions preserved of him here, to have been a powerful sultan of Yemen, who died on this spot on his way from Arabia Felix to Damascus ; but of whom no other particulars are known. The tomb and mosque appeared to be very ancient, and both were ornamented with a number of Arabic inscriptions in a square formed character. A large piece of green glass, weighing probably from three to four pounds, was placed in the wall near the door of entrance; and as it passed for. a real emerald, it was highly valued and even venerated by the people here. My guide, Georgis, who was a Greek Christian, preserved his decorum throughout, and was as unwilling to defile himself by entering a mosque as the keepers of it would be to suffer the mosque to be defiled by letting him enter it. As I had no such scruples, however, and was considered by the attendant to be a good Mussulman, I paid a small donation of forty paras to support the lamps kept constantly burning around the tomb;

when, throwing off my slippers at the threshold, and kissing the reputed emerald in the wall, I entered the mosque.

The interior of this building offered little to repay the curiosity of a visitor; its walls were plain, and from the ceiling hung numerous paltry lamps, ostrich eggs, shells, &c. The tomb of Abu-el-Beady is an elevated mass, rising from the floor, spread over with a covering of cloth, ornamented with Arabic inscriptions worked into it. The ceremony enjoined on the visitor is simply to circumambulate the tomb barefooted; to salute the ashes of the saint by kissing the cloth, and placing the forehead on the corners of it, exclaiming at each salutation" Ya, Allah! Ya, Abu-el-Beady!" Though tradition calls this departed being a king of Yemen, and states that he died here on his way to Damascus, the present guardians of his remains were ignorant of any further details of his history. The tomb has the appearance of considerable antiquity; and the Arabic inscriptions seen around it, were too intricately written for me to make out any date, or decypher more than the name of God, and of the saint who lies interred there.

The family residing here in charge of this sanctuary, were remarkable for having (with the single exception of the father only) negro features, a deep black colour, and crisped hair. My own opinion was, that this must have been occasioned by their being born of a negress mother, as such persons are sometimes found among the Arabs, in the relation of wives and concubines; but, while I could entertain no doubt from my own observation, that the present head of the family was a pure Arab of unmixed blood, I was also assured that both the males and females of the present and former generations were all pure Arabs by descent and marriage, and that a negress had never been known, either as a wife or a slave, in the history of the family. It is certainly a very marked peculiarity of the Arabs that inhabit this valley of the Jordan, that they have flatter features, darker skin, and coarser hair than any other tribes; a peculiarity rather attributable, I con

ceive, to the constant and intense heat of that deep region than to any other cause.

We remained here the whole of the day, and at night slept on the outside of the building, there being no accommodation within, from the females and cattle occupying every inch of the room. As our clothes were still wet, and we had no changes with us, we suffered much from exposure to the cold wind that blew, and passed altogether a most uncomfortable night.

Friday, Feb. 23.-We prepared to depart from Abu-el-Beady before day-light, without even the common enjoyment of a pipe and coffee, which few among the Arabs forego on such occasions. We started with the earliest dawn, and still pursued a course of S. S. E. along the foot of the eastern hills. We had not proceeded far before we met a party of robbers driving home the cattle and the camels that they had stolen during the night. There were others still further on, who called out to those to arrest us, so that we were once more obliged to assume an attitude of defence. As we were yet within reach of assistance, we returned to Abu-elBeady to see if we could procure from the neighbourhood a horseman or two to strengthen our party. Being under the walls of the venerated tomb, by the time the robbers passed it, they did not venture to molest us there, though they were loud and lavish in their abuse of us for daring to travel alone without seeking their protection and paying them for the same, consoling us with the assurance that unless we did so, we should be certain of being plundered before we reached Assalt.

We could procure no assistance or additional escort at Abu-elBeady, and were consequently in great doubt as to what course we should pursue. As we sat smoking and conferring together under the walls, a third party of Arabs passed by on foot, and these sent two of their number to us to examine and report. From these we learnt that the two first parties which had gone by were outlaws or outcasts of the tribe of Beni-Szakker, who occupy the

Desert to the east of the Dead Sea; and that those who now addressed us were of the tribe of Beni Abad, who were on friendly terms with the people of Assalt, and derived their chief supplies from the market of that town. Even these, however, had been on a plundering excursion, and had carried off some goats and kids from the camps through which we had passed on the preceding day. We succeeded, after some negotiation, in obtaining two of these Arabs to accompany us as guides, and as a security also against our being molested by any of their own tribe in our way, while we counted on their forming some addition to our strength in the event of our meeting with any of the Beni Szakker, who were likely to plunder us if we crossed their way. The pledge of fidelity was mutually exchanged between us by our eating and drinking together; and the sum agreed to be paid to each of the men that accompanied us was three piastres only. Their companions continued their way in charge of their plunder of the night, and we set out from Abu-el-Beady a second time, about nine o'clock, with our new companions, going now about southeast inclining easterly.

In the course of our way we noticed several artificial mounds, which had the appearance of ancient tumuli, and many hewn grottos in the rocky cliffs on our left; these were originally perhaps excavated tombs, and may have been subsequently used as retreats for anchorites, of whom these solitudes are known to have been once the favourite region.

In about an hour after quitting Abu-el-Beady, we turned up to the eastward to ascend the hills, passing at the same time by the remains of a double aqueduct, with many vestiges of former buildings strewed around, and a small square chamber in the cliff above. There was also a singularly formed passage through a rock here, resembling a natural arch, under which we passed; the name given to this was Makhrook.

About a league further on, going now in an easterly direction, we came to the stream of the Zerkah, which I had crossed before,