Byeways in Palestine | Page 9

spear at its entrance. Here took place the formality of returning his
visit to us yesterday; and here, after coffee and pipes, our presents were
produced and given. The travellers were collected in a very long black
tent, together with Deab, his son and friends. A screen at one end
divided us from the women's apartment, i.e., what would be the

Hhareem in houses of towns; behind this curtain the women were
peeping, chattering, and laughing; of course we might expect this to be
about the extraordinary-looking strangers. It has been conjectured that
such a separation of the tent is implied in Gen. xviii. 6 and 10, when
"Sarah heard it in the tent-door which was behind him;" but this has no
foundation in the plain narrative of Scripture, only in the Arabic
translation the words seem to imply that understanding.
The presentation of offerings was a grave and solemn affair. Each
donor produced his tribute with an apology for the insignificance of the
gift, which was then exhibited in silence by an attendant to the
populace of the tribe crowding outside.
The ceremony was concluded by shouts of welcome, and a huge meal
of pilaff (rice and mutton upon a great tray of tinned copper) and leban,
(curdled milk,) with more smoking. Here we took leave of the chief,
who sent on a detachment of his tribe to escort us for the rest of our
expedition.
Remounted, and proceeded N.E. by N.; hitherto we had come due north
from Heshbon. Passed a hill called Jehaarah, and in a short time
reached the source of the river of Ammon, rising out of the ground,
with a large pavement of masonry near it. A numerous flock of sheep
and goats were being watered at the spring, it being near the time of
As'r--i.e., mid-afternoon.
Here the antiquities of Amman commenced; and remains of
considerable buildings continually solicited our attention, as we passed
on for quarter of an hour more to our tents, which we found already
pitched and waiting for us among a crowd of ancient temples and baths
and porticoes,--in a forum between a line of eight large Corinthian
columns and the small river; in front too of a Roman theatre in good
condition. Some of the party, who were familiar with the ruins of Rome
and Athens, exclaimed aloud, "What would the modern Romans give to
have so much to show as this, within a similar space!"
This was Saturday afternoon; and we had already resolved to spend our
Sabbath in this wonderful and agreeable place, so remarkable in

Scripture history, and so seldom visited by Europeans.
I climbed up the seats of the theatre, and rested near the top, enjoying
the grand spectacle of luxurious architecture around; then descended,
and walked along its proscenium; but neither reciting passages of
Euripides nor of Terence, as some enthusiasts might indulge
themselves in doing, before an imagined audience of tetrarchs,
centurions, or legionaries, or other
"Romanos rerum dominos, gentemque togatam."
Close to this theatre was a covered and sumptuous building, which I
could not but suppose to be a naumachia, from its having rising rows of
seats around the central space, with a channel leading into this from the
river. As the shadows of evening lengthened, the heat of the day was
moderated, and I sauntered along the bank of the stream till I came to a
large headless statue of a female figure lying in the water. Some men
lifted it upon the green bank for me; but it was far too heavy to be
transported to Jerusalem for the Literary Society's Museum.
The swift-flowing rivulet abounded in fish, some of which the Arabs
killed for us, either by throwing stones or shooting them with bullets,
having no other means of getting at them; but the latter of these
methods was too costly to be often adopted. However, we had some
fish for dinner in "Rabbah, the city of waters." This stream is the
commencement of the Zerka, which we were to meet afterwards, after
its course hence N.E. and then N.W.
I feasted a dozen Arabs at my tent-door. Shaikh 'Abdul 'Azeez laughed
when I remarked that this place was better worth seeing than Heshbon,
and said, "This is a king's city. It was the city of King Ghedayus; and
Jerash, which is still more splendid, was built by Sheddad, of the
primitive race of the Beni 'Ad." Beyond this, of course, it was
impossible for him to imagine anything in matters of antiquity.
In my evening's Scripture reading, I was much struck with the opening
of the 65th Psalm: "Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion,"--which
passes over all the examples of human achievement elsewhere, in order

to celebrate the peculiar and undying honours of Jerusalem. So now the
Grecian