Byeways in Palestine | Page 7

in several groups among pavements and
columns of temples, (the most perfect of which are in the Acropolis,)
sepulchres, cisterns, and quarries, picking up fragments of pottery, with
some pattern work (not highly ornamental, however) upon them, and
tesserae or the cubes of tesselated pavement, such as may be found all
over Palestine. The Bedaween call them muzzateem or muzzameet
indifferently. There were some good Corinthian capitals, fragments of
cornices, and portions of semicircular arches, and pieces of walls that
had been repaired at different periods. I entered one rock-hewn
sepulchre which contained seven small chambers; six of these had been
evidently broken into by main force, the seventh was still closed. This
was S.W. of the Acropolis.
All the works or ornamentations above ground were of Greek or
Roman construction, but we found no inscriptions or coins. Heshbon
must have been at all periods a strong place for defence, but with an
unduly large proportion of ornamentation to the small size of the city
according to modern ideas. Before leaving this site, far inferior to
'Amman, as we found afterwards, I got the Arabs around me upon a

rising ground, and, with a compass in hand, wrote down from their
dictation the names of sites visible to their sharp eyesight:--
To To S.S.W. Umm Sheggar. S.E.S. Kustul. " Neba (Nebo?). S.E.
Umm el 'Aamed. " Main. " Khan em Meshettah. S. Medeba. " Jawah.
S.E.S. Ekfairat " Kuriet es Sook. (Kephiroth?). " Jelool. E. Samek. "
Umm er Rumaneh. E.E.N. Ela'al. " Zubairah. N. Es-Salt. " Manjah.
(The town not visible.)
These must have been the places that "stood under the shadow of
Heshbon," (Jer. xlviii. 45.) One of them at least appears in Joshua xiii.
17, etc., among "the cities that are in the plain of Heshbon." {17}
In half an hour we came to Ela'al, (Elealeh,) (Isa. xv. 4 and xvi. 9, and
Jer. xlviii. 34.) Large stones were lying about, and one column standing
upright, but without a capital. Fine corn-plains in every direction
around. Our tents pitched at Na'oor were visible to the E.N.E. through
an opening between two hills. Cool cloudy day; all of us enjoying the
ride through wheat-fields, and over large unoccupied plains--my old
friend 'Abdu'l 'Azeez still adhering to me as his willing auditor.
On coming up to his camp at Na'oor, we found that Shaikh Deab had
already arrived.
And now I may pause in the narrative to describe the status of (1.)
ourselves; (2.) the Arabs.
(1.) Although apparently forming one company of English travellers,
we were really a combination of several small sets, of two or three
persons each--every set having its own cook, muleteer, and dragoman;
but all the sets on terms of pleasant intercourse, and smoking or taking
tea with each other.
We calculated that our horses and mules amounted to above a hundred
in number.
(2.) The whole territory from Kerak to Jerash is that of our 'Adwan
tribe, but divided into three sections--the middle portion being that of

the supreme chief Deab, the northern third that of 'Abdu'l 'Azeez, and
the southern that of a third named Altchai in the south towards Kerak;
but they all combine when necessary for a general object.
The 'Adwan sow corn by the labour of their purchased slaves. Gublan
at Cuferain, Deab and his son 'Ali at Nimrin, and a portion of the tribe
called "the children of Eyoob" cultivate in the same manner a tract near
the Dead Sea called the Mezraa'. These latter attach themselves
sometimes to the Deab section, called the Dar 'Ali, and sometimes to
the Gublan section, called the Dar Nim'r.
Their district is but a comparatively narrow strip at present, as they are
pressed upon by the Beni Sukh'r on the east, who are again pressed
upon by the 'Anezeh farther eastward; these last are allies of our people.
The Ghor or Jordan plain is open ground for all Arabs; and a few low
fellows called Abbad Kattaleen, hold a slip of ground downwards
between Es-Salt and the Jordan. Es-Salt is a populous and thriving
town, the only one in all that country. Kerak, to the south, may be as
large, and contain more remnants of mediaeval strength, but its affairs
are not so prosperous.
This station of Na'oor {19} is upon a long, low, green plain, lying
between two lines of high ground; and on a map, it would be nearly
central between the northern and southern extremities of the 'Adwan
country, or Belka. {20}
Strange and wild was the scene of the Bedawi encampment--the black
tents of goats' hair, the dark and ragged population sauntering about,
the flocks and the horses, the ragged or naked children; and then the
women in their blue, only article of dress, long-sleeved, their
uncombed hair, and