general character, the Plain of the Hauran resembles those of Belkah to the south-east of Assalt, and Esdraelon in Galilee, in having gentle elevations, the same level being nowhere of long continuation, though still not so much above or below each other as to destroy its general character of an irregular and undulating plain, in which there is nothing that deserves to be called a hill on its whole surface. The eminences that here and there break its continuity are mostly small veins of rock projecting above the surface, and these appear to have been selected in all cases for the sites of towns, for the sake of securing a commanding position, a freer air, a dryer soil, and convenient access to the materials of building, which, indeed, were thus close at hand. Of towns on eminences like these we saw at least thirty, in different points of bearing, on our way from El-Hhussen to El-Gherbee, and particularly to the eastward of the latter.

When our fire was lighted, the want of wood was supplied by using the dried dung of animals, which, with a small portion of charcoal, was the only kind of fuel procurable here. At sunset the camels of our host entered the room in which we were seated, and ranged themselves along, to the number of eight on each side, at the stone troughs before described. The height of the door of entrance, which was about seven feet, had struck me at first as something unusual, since, in most of the towns to the westward, the height of the door is rather below than above the human stature, and passengers are generally obliged to stoop before they can enter it. Here, however, the motive for increasing the height became evident, as in its present state it just admitted the entrance of the camels, and was no doubt originally constructed for that purpose, so as to admit them under shelter at night, and secure them from the incursions of the neighbouring Arabs. This flat country must always have been a country of camels, from the earliest ages: and these rooms for their reception might have been of very high antiquity, for the nature of the materials of which they were built (there being no wood whatever, and nothing else

of a perishable nature used in their construction) made them in a manner indestructible.

During our journey through the hills, we had seen only horses, mules, and asses, used as beasts of burden; but since we had entered the Plain of the Hauran, we had met only camels, and these to the number of several hundreds in the course of one day. If this were really the land of Uz, and the town in which we now halted the place of Job's residence, as tradition maintained, there could be no portion of all Syria or Palestine, that I had yet seen, more suited to the production and maintenance of the 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she asses, which are enumerated as forming the substance of this greatest of all the men of the East. (Job, i. 3.) At the present day, there is no man, probably, with such herds and flocks for his portion; but these are still, as they were in the earliest times, the great wealth of the men of substance in the country; and it is as common now as it appears to have been when the history of Job was written, to describe a man of consideration in these plains by the number of his flocks and herds rather than by any other less tangible indication of wealth.

At the period of our stay here we learnt that the late drought with which the plains had been afflicted, had nearly caused a famine in particular parts of the country, and this was one in which it was severely felt. Corn, for instance, in this plain, which in seasons of abundance formed the granary for the whole of Syria, and was, consequently, cheaper than elsewhere, was now selling at three piastres, or more than half a crown sterling per gallon, a price that was almost without precedent or example. From the entire absence of rain, all the pasture for cattle had also dried up, and the usual supplies of milk and butter were, therefore, equally deficient. Under this pressure of want and distress, innumerable families had migrated into the eastern hills among the Druses, and into the mountains near the Jordan, in both of which districts rain and snow had occasionally fallen; while in the great Plain of the

Hauran, which separates these ranges of hills, there had been a continued drought for four months past, without the means of watering by irrigation; and, consequently, the soil, though naturally fruitful, was by this calamity rendered, for the present at least, quite unproductive.

In the parties we had met on the road, and among all the inhabitants of the towns, I had noticed an appearance of freshness and health, with much greater cleanliness than is common to Arabs in general. In the towns at which we now halted the same thing was observable: the women and children were quite ruddy in their complexions, the men were well dressed and clean; and as the ancient town had been originally paved with large blocks of black stone, with a raised causeway on each side for foot passengers, both the streets and the interior of the houses were remarkably free from dirt. It was distressing, however, to hear from all classes the universal cry of want, and to witness, as we did, extensive tracts of corn land, where wheat had been already sown, and the blade appearing above the surface, prematurely withered away while yet green, from want of moisture. The conversation of the evening was wholly engrossed by this painful and distressing topic, and in gloomy apprehensions of the miseries which must result from a continuation of the present weather; though some indulged a hope that a seasonable supply of grain might be brought by caravans from Egypt, as of old, or that the latter rains would admit of a second crop, before a famine should be confirmed.

MONDAY, March 12.

Our

After partaking of an early breakfast of bread and oil, the only food which the rigid rules of the Greek Lent would admit, and which were as rigidly observed by the four Christians here as if there had been a much larger community, we departed from Gherbee about an hour after sunrise. course from hence lay nearly east, and proceeding in that direction for about an hour the road turned to the north for a quarter of a mile to the town of Elmey. At this place were many vestiges of ancient buildings, among which I noticed some stones sculptured with a cable moulding, and two curious pillars with square shafts and rude capitals; their outlines perfect, but no ornament of any kind apparent, either on their summit or at their base: they were

of a small size, not more than a foot in diameter, and both had fallen on the ground. From the walls of one of the buildings I remarked also a flight of stone steps projecting from its front, without any other support than that derived from the insertion of their inner ends in the wall, as in the flight of steps seen in the south end of the Temple of Isis, at Tentyra, in Egypt. The windows, instead of being circular, as we had seen them at Dahhil, were in diagonal squares, cut partly out of the upper and partly out of the lower stone, in nearly the same manner as the circular ones before described.

Having drank at this place, we pursued our way, continuing again along the high road to the eastward, and in less than an hour after quitting Elmey we arrived at the town of Suwarrow. We had been informed by some peasants, with whom we had exchanged salutations just as we entered this place, that there were forty horsemen of the tribe of Beni Hassan, from the eastern hills, stationed in the road only an hour beyond the town, and that they intercepted all travellers who passed that way. It was thought prudent, therefore, to halt at Suwarrow, and learn the real state of the case before we proceeded further, when we accordingly turned in, and, enquiring for the house of the sheikh, alighted there about ten o'clock.

All the inhabitants of this place were Mohammedans, and bore the character of being bigoted and intolerant in an unusual degree: great caution was, therefore, necessary to be observed in our intercourse with them, to avoid insult, and, perhaps, aggression. Abu Farah, the eldest of my guides, was so well known throughout every part of the country, that it was vain for him to attempt disguise, for he was almost certain of meeting some old acquaintance in every assembly. But it was not so with Mallim Georgis, who had less extensive connections in these parts: accordingly, Abu Farah maintained his own character as a Greek Christian, but represented Georgis as an Arab Moslem, from the west, under the name of Abu Shumr, and myself as a Turk, from Roum, under the