At a narrow pass, called Daiket ’Arâr, was the shell of an old building, now roofless. Near this, and by the wayside, as we advanced, were considerable remains of foundations of houses. There must have been a town of note at that place, it is the ’Aroer of 1 Sam. xxx. 28. Our course now suddenly trended towards the east, instead of southwards.
In less than another hour we came to Kubbet el Baul, merely the foundation of a small weli. Selâmeh told us that this had belonged to a tribe called Bali, (or Baul in the plural.) I have no doubt that this is the site of Balah of Joshua xix. 3; and that from it the Arabs, settling near it afterwards, derived their appellation.
We soon afterwards, 3 p.m., passed Curnub, a ruined place on the right, and descended the slope of Muzaikah.
In another hour and a half, namely, at half-past four, we halted for the night, after a journey of ten hours. It was on a smooth, pebbly plain, dotted with shrubs, having lines of chalky hills to the south-west, for which our people had no other name than Jebel el Ghurb, or the “western mountain.” The whole scene was that of a mere desert; no creatures were to be seen or heard but ourselves. No Turkish authorities ever intrude into
this purely Arab wilderness; still less was the landscape spoiled by the smoke of European factories. No speck of cloud had we seen the whole day through.
Not far from this must have transpired the incidents recorded of Hagar and Ishmael,—incidents that might have occurred yesterday, or last week; for a few thousand years count but little in so primitive a region.
Our ragged fellows ran about singing, in search of thorns or long roots, or even the straggling plants of bitter colocynth, as fuel for our cooking-fire.
Stars arose, but such stars! not like the spangles of the English poet’s conception, those “patines of bright gold,” though that idea is beautiful; but one could see that they were round orbs that flashed streams of diamond light from out their bigness.
So luxurious a bed as that spread upon the desert sand, amid such pure air for breathing, is scarcely to be obtained but in exactly similar circumstances; and we were undisturbed by cries of any wild beasts, although jackals and hyenas are common at night in the more cultivated parts of Palestine.
April 4.—Thermometer, Fahrenheit, 53¾° at sunrise. We had our breakfast, and were off again by sunrise. It is said that