We met some of the ’Abbâd Kattaleen Arabs, but we were safe under the escort of the Saltîyeh instead of the ’Adwân. These ’Abbâd are the people who assaulted and plundered some seamen of H.M.S. “Spartan” in 1847, on the Jordan; for which offence they have never yet been chastised, notwithstanding the urgent applications made to the Turkish Pashas of Jerusalem, Bayroot, and Damascus. We did not arrive at the encampment till long after dark, and there was no moonlight.
The site is on a plain encircled by hills, with plenty of water intersecting the ground; the small streams are bordered by reeds and long grass. A khan, now in ruin, is situated in the midst—a locality certainly deserving its name, Beka’ el Bashà, and is said to have been a favourite camping-station for the Pashas of Damascus in former times.
Much to our vexation, the Arabs and the muleteers had pitched our tents in a slovenly manner among the winding water-courses, so that we had wet reeds, thistles, and long grass, beetles and grasshoppers inside the tents, which again were wetted outside with heavy dew. They had done this in order to keep the cattle immediately close to us, and therefore as free from forayers as possible during the night. Such was the reason assigned, and we were all too hungry and tired to argue the matter further.
My people complained to me of the insolence of
the Saltîyeh guides that were with us; so I sent for the two shaikhs and scolded them. They persisted in it that they did not deserve the rebuke, that the complaints ought to be laid against a certain farrier who had come over from Jerusalem, etc., etc. My servant ended the affair by shouting at them, “Take my last word with you and feed upon it—‘God send you a strong government.’” This at least they deserved, for they are often in arms against the Turkish government: and although so prosperous in trade and agriculture, are many years in arrear with their taxes.
Tuesday, 15th.—Early in the morning there were Saltîyeh people reaping harvest near us, chiefly in the Christian fields; for here the case is not as in Palestine, where Christians generally sow and reap in partnership with Moslems, for their own safety; but the Moslems have their fields, and the Christians have theirs apart, which shows that their influence is more considerable here; indeed, the Christians carry arms, and go out to war against the Bedaween, quite like the Moslems.
Before we left, the day was becoming exceedingly hot, and we had six hours’ march before us to Jerash.
The hills abound with springs of water. We passed one called Umm el ’Egher, another called Safoot, also Abu Mus-hhaf, and Tâbakra, and ’Ain Umm ed Dumaneer, with a ruin named Khirbet Saleekhi.
The ’Adwân Arabs were now again our guides, the Saltîyeh having returned home; but for some distance the guides were few and without firearms, only armed with spears, and the common peasant sword called khanjar; perhaps this was by compact with the Saltîyeh, as in about an hour’s time we were joined by a reinforcement with a few matchlock guns. On we went through corn-fields, which are sown in joint partnership with the Arabs and the Moslems of the town; then doubled round a long and high hill with a ruin on it, called Jela’ad. This I have since suspected to be Ramoth-Gilead. We descended a hill called Tallooz; forward again between hills and rocks, and neglected evergreen woods, upon narrow paths. A numerous caravan we were, with a hundred animals of burden, bright costumes, and cheerful conversation, till we reached a large terebinth-tree under a hill called Shebail; the site is called Thuggeret el Moghâfer, signifying a “look-out station” between two tribes. There we rested a while, till the above-mentioned reinforcement joined us. From this spot we could just discern Jerash, on the summit of a huge hill before us.
We now had one long and continued descent to the river Zerka. Passed through a defile, on issuing from which we observed a little stream with oleander, in pink blossom, thirty feet high, and in great abundance. Halted again at a pretty spring, called Rumân, where the water was upon nearly a dead level, and therefore scarcely moving; then