Byeways in Palestine. James Finn
interior of the walls was so profusely embellished with festoons of roses and vine-grapes—both sculptured in stone and wrought in stucco, and of very large size—that there was no room left for pictures or images. The roof of this building is almost all fallen in. I imagined this to have been a Christian church, of very remote antiquity, on account of the vine and the roses, which are peculiarly Christian symbols—alluding to the texts, “I am the true Vine,” and “I am the Rose of Sharon;” but the chambers in each corner are difficult to account for. The east and west ends have no doors.
Near this is a square mass of masonry, upon which are standing six columns, of magnificent dimensions, which no doubt originally supported a roof. Their capitals, of chaste and correct Corinthian style, with portions of ornamental entablature, are lying near. Perhaps belonging to this, but at some distance, lies a ponderous piece of architrave, on which, between lines of moulding, is an inscription in Greek—illegible except the three letters—ΝΩΘ. These letters were nine inches in length.
Nigh to this, again, was a square building of rabbeted stones, equal to almost the largest in the walls of Jerusalem.
All down the hill, descending to our camp, were fragments of columns and of decorated friezes of temples, that had evidently been rolled or had slidden down from their places.
Upon various walls of dilapidated edifices I observed the curious marks, slightly scratched, which almost resemble alphabetical characters, but are not; and which have, wherever met with and wherever noticed, which is but seldom, puzzled travellers, however learned, to decipher. I copied the following:—
And from the shaft of a column still erect, half way down the hill, I copied the following:—
I have since learned that they are the tokens of the Bedaween Arabs, by which one tribe is distinguished from another. In common parlance they are called the Ausam (plural of Wasam) of the several tribes. [33]
In a valley to the north of us, leading westwards from the main valley, we found a beautiful mausoleum tomb—a building, not an excavation in rock—containing six sarcophagi, or ornamented stone coffins, ranged upon ledges of masonry, along three sides of the chamber. These were very large, and all of the same pattern—the lids remaining upon some of them, but shifted aside. Beautiful sculptured embellishments were upon the inside walls and over the portal outside, but no inscriptions to indicate the period or persons to whom they belonged. Inside, however, were rudely scratched the modern Arab tribe-signs, showing that persons of such tribes had visited there; so that Europeans are not the only travellers who help to disfigure ancient monuments by scribbling. Along this western valley were several other such mausoleums. Thence we mounted on a different side to the summit of that hill from which I have here begun my description of edifices—upon a gentle sloping road, evidently of artificial cutting, quite feasible for ascent of chariots.
Near the square (possible) church before mentioned, (though I should say that our party were not all convinced of its being a church,) is a prodigiously large cistern, of good masonry. From the top of the strong walls of the building—while some Arab boys below me were reaching birds’ nests—I got from our guide the following list of sites in the neighbourhood. They were of course unable to discriminate between ancient and modern names; and I do not find one Bible name among them all:—
From north to west—
| Thuggeret el Baider. | Esh-Shemesâni. |
| Kassar Waijees. | Esh-Shwaifiyeh. |
| Es-Salt. | Umm Malfoof. |
From west to east—
| ’Abdoon. | Mesdar ’Aishah. |
| Umm es Swaiweeneh. | El Mergab. |
Towards the east—
| Merj Merka. | ’Ain Ghazâl. |
| Ursaifah (in a valley with a river). | |
| El Muntar el Kassar, between two artificial hills. |
The people informed me of a place, a little nearer than Kerak, called Rabbah. This latter may be a Rabbath-Moab.
I have no further notes to transcribe respecting the architectural remains; but they are so numerous and so important that a week would not suffice for their thorough investigation. All our party were highly gratified at having visited this Rabbath-Ammon—alias Philadelphia—alias, at present, ’Ammân. We were not, however, so fortunate as Lord Lindsay in finding a fulfilment of the prophecy (Ezek. xxv. 5) with respect to camels, either alive or dead. Probably, when he was there, it was soon after an Egyptian military expedition to Kerak. The prodigious number of dead camels that he saw there would seem to indicate that a great Arab battle had been fought at that place shortly before. It is only in this way that we could account for a cannonball (about a six-pounder) which one of the boys carried about, in following us, all the afternoon, wishing us to buy it of him as a curiosity.
On returning to the tents, I found an old Jerusalem acquaintance—a Moslem named ’Abderrahhman Bek el ’Asali—and with him several people from Es-Salt; among these a Christian named Abbâs.
From conversation with them I got some fresh information on Arab affairs. These people took the opportunity of glorifying their native town; related how they are frequently at war, and that successfully, with the ’Adwân; and when acting in concert with the Abbâd, or much more so when in alliance with the Beni Sukh’r, can always repel them; only it happens that sometimes the ’Adwân get help from the more distant ’Anezeh; and this is much more than enough to turn the balance again. But even now the ’Adwân cannot come near the town; neither can they quite forget that the Saltiyeh people, during a former war, killed both the father and grandfather of Dëâb, and sent the head of the former to the tribe in a dish, with a pilaff of rice.
All the strength of the ’Adwân now lies in Shaikh Dëâb, with his son ’Ali, (who came to welcome us near the Jordan,) and Gublân the nephew. Old ’Abdu’l ’Azeez is considered childish, and unfit to lead them.
For us travellers, however, the ’Adwân are sufficient. The territory is theirs over which we are passing, and they do all they can to please us; only, of course, like all Arab guides, they take every opportunity of insinuating themselves into being fed by us, which is a condition “not in the bond.”
Then came a visit of three men with good-natured countenances. These were Bedawi minstrels from Tadmor, (Palmyra,) who wander about from tribe to tribe, singing heroic poems to the accompaniment of their rebâbeh, (a very primitive sort of fiddle.) No warfare interferes with the immunity of their persons or property. They are never injured or insulted, but are always and everywhere welcome, and liberally rewarded. Of course it is for their interest to gratify the pride of their auditors by fervid appeals to their ancestral renown, or to individual prowess and generosity.
The Arabic of their chants is unintelligible to towns-people; it is the high classic language of Antar.
I had made acquaintance with these same men before at Tibneen Castle, near the Lebanon, during a season of Bairam. Being Sunday, we requested them to visit our tents in the morning. Our Arabs, however, and the dragomans kept them singing till a late hour round the fires lighted among the tents. It was a cheerful scene, in the clear starlight, and the lustrous planet Venus reflected in the running stream.
Monday,