The other ruin, related to this one as well by name as by the style of its workmanship—but in many respects more interesting, having been evidently once a place of Christian worship—stands on a narrow and detached neck of rock in the Shʿabet Um el Kharáb, and, from its whole plan, appears to have been originally and principally a church about forty-three feet square, sufficiently large for a small congregation, and with more art and comfort than one can easily suppose a Christian community in these quarters ever to have possessed. Hence greater interest attaches to this building than it would otherwise deserve. It closes with a plain apsis, in which there are two openings or doorways leading into an open room stretching behind it and the side-naves, and is divided into three naves, the middle one of which is eight paces, and the lateral ones six and a half wide. The naves are divided from one another by columns with differently ornamented capitals supporting arches, all in the so-called round style of architecture. I made purposely a sketch of two different capitals, in order to show their designs; and I think they are very characteristic. But it is curious to observe that the walls also appear to have been originally painted on stucco, though at present but a small piece of it remains near the corner; hence I conclude that the date of the painting was later than that of the erection of the church.
The front of the building has suffered in some degree from the depredations of the Arabs, who are said to have carried away a great many sculptures from this place—as much, indeed, a man from Mizda would have made me believe, as fifty-five camel-loads. However exaggerated this statement may be, it is evident that the whole layer over the entrance was originally covered with ornamental slabs, while now only two remain to the left of the doorway; and these, though in the same style of sculpture as the capitals, would rather seem to have been taken from another edifice. There are many debatable points involved in the consideration of this building. The first fact clearly shown is the existence of a Christian community or a monastery in these remote valleys, as late as the twelfth century at least, under the protection of a powerful chief; and this is not at all improbable, as we know that Mohammed expressly ordered that zealous priests and monks should be spared, and as we find so many monasteries in several other Mohammedan countries. That it was not merely a church, but a monastery, seems plainly indicated by the division into apartments or cells, which is still clearly to be seen in the upper story. Attached to the north side of the church was a wing containing several simple apartments, as the ground-plan shows; and on the south corner of the narrow ridge is a small separate tower with two compartments. Near this ruin there is another, which I did not visit, called Ksaer Labayed mtʿa Derayer, while a third, called Ksaer el Haemer, has been destroyed.
CHAPTER V.
SCULPTURES AND ROMAN REMAINS IN THE DESERT—GHARÍYA.
We lost the best part of the morning, our men not being able to find their camels, which had roamed over the whole wady. Our road was almost the same as that by which I had returned the previous day; and we encamped in the Wady Sófejín, on a spot free from bushes. From this place, accompanied by the Zintáni, I visited, the next morning, the castle or convent in Shʿabet Um el kharáb, which I have described, and thence struck across the stony plateau in order to overtake our caravan. It was a desolate level, rarely adorned with humble herb or flower; and we hastened our steps to reach our companions. Here I heard, from the Zintáni, that his father came every year about this season, with his flocks, to the valleys east of our road, and that he would certainly be there this year also. He invited me to go thither with him, and to indulge in milk to the extent of my wishes; as for myself, I declined, but allowed him to go, on condition that he would return to us as soon as possible.
Even after we had overtaken the caravan, the country continued in general very bare; but we passed some valleys affording a good deal of herbage or adorned with some fine batúm-trees. About five o’clock P.M. we encamped in Wady Talha, not far from a Roman castle or tower on a hill to our left. On visiting the ruin, I found it built of rough stones without cement, being about twenty feet square in the interior, with rounded corners, and with only one narrow gate, towards the east. But this was not the only remnant of antiquity in the neighbourhood, for in front of us, on the plateau, there appeared something like a tower of greater elevation; and proceeding early the next morning, when our people had only begun to load, to examine it, I found it to be a Roman sepulchre, originally consisting apparently of three stories; but of these only the base and the first story remain, while the stones belonging to the upper one are now scattered on the ground, and show that it was ornamented with small Corinthian columns at the corners. Even in the most desolate spot, everything left by the Romans has a peculiar finish. The first story, being all that at present remains, measures 5 ft. 4 in. on the east and west, and 5 ft. 9 in. on the north and south sides. Not far from this sepulchre are the ruins of another one, of which, however, nothing but the base remains, if, indeed, it was ever completed. By the time my drawing was finished, the caravan had come up.
I then passed several detached cones, the steep precipitous sides of which, formed by the breaking away of the strata, looked like so many castles, and traversing Wady Marsíd, reached the camels. They marched to-day at a very good rate, the quickest we had as yet observed in ordinary travelling—namely, half a mile in twelve minutes, making a little less than two and a half miles an hour; but we afterwards found that this had now become our usual rate, whereas before reaching Mizda we had scarcely ever exceeded two miles an hour. The load of the camels, of course, had been heavier in the beginning; but this can hardly be the only reason of the difference. The greater dreariness of the country, and the impulse of our camel-drivers and their beasts to get to their homes, must be taken into account. I must here observe that Overweg and I measured our rate repeatedly, with a chain provided by Government, although it was a very fatiguing labour, and injurious to our dignity in the eyes of our people. Gradually the day grew very uncomfortable, a hot west wind driving the sand into our faces, and totally obscuring the sky. Keeping along the Wady Téroth, sometimes more than a mile wide, we had on our left a broad mount, rising first with a gradual ascent, but in its upper part forming a steep and lofty wall called el Khaddamíyeh. Here, too, according to the information of my faithful Arab, there is said to be a Roman sepulchre. Having passed a small defile, and crossed another valley, we had other Roman ruins on our right, a castle as it seemed, and near it something like a sepulchre; but the sand-storm hardly allowed us to look, still less to go in that direction.
At three o’clock in the afternoon we turned off to the west into Wady Tagíje, and encamped near the bed of a torrent eight feet deep, which amply testifies that, at times, a considerable stream is formed here, a fact confirmed by the fresh and luxuriant herbage springing up in many parts of the valley among thick bushes and brushwood. Nor was it quite desolate even now; for the flocks of the Welád Bu-Séf were seen, and their tents were said to be not far off. The upper part of the valley is called el Khúrub.
This hot day proved a dies ater to my Arab, who had gone to visit his family. Having brought his old father with him, together with a goat, as a present, and a skin of milk, he unluckily arrived too late in the morning at our last night’s encampment. He then sent his father back with the goat, and began to follow us in the hope of soon overtaking the caravan; but he was obliged to march the whole intensely hot day without water, and he could not drink the milk in the skin, which became quite hot, so that he suffered greatly, and arrived in a very exhausted state.