In saying this, however, by the second line they refer to the crusading period; and by the last line they denote the bad government of the Turks, under which the wild Bedaween are encroaching upon civilisation, and devastating the recompense of honest industry from the fertile soil.
We—starting upon our last day’s journey together—passed over wide fields of wheat-stubble. On coming near the village of Samma, the old shaikh came out to welcome us, and inquire if his place is written in the books of the Europeans. On examining our maps, one of our party found it in his; and the rest promised the friendly old man that his village should be written down.
Proceeding through a green and rocky glen, between high hills, with a running stream, the weather was exceedingly hot. Here our party divided,—ourselves advancing towards Umm Kais; while the baggage and servants turned to the left, so as to cross the Jordan by the bridge El Mejâma’a for Tiberias. The principal intention of this was for the property to avoid the chance of falling into the hands of the Beni Sukh’r. Shaikh Yusuf now showed the relief from his mind by beginning to
sing. This was all very well for him, who had nothing to lose; because, as it was said long ago—
“Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator.”
After wandering round and around, we descended into Wadi Zahari, “the flowering valley,” where, by the water-side, were reeds and oleanders forty or fifty feet high; and near them we observed a pear-tree and a fig-tree, all alone and deserted, the remains of former cultivation. This and other previous instances attest the risk that attends rural labour in that district, being in the immediate vicinity of the Bedaween, and the utter mockery of nominal Turkish rule. Here we filled our leathern water-bottles, (called zumzumîa in the Desert, and máttara by towns-people,) and climbed up a stony hill, the heat of the day increasing. No path among the rocks, and all of us angry at Shaikh Yusuf for saving himself the few piastres by conducting us among such difficulties.
Then, after some time we perceived ourselves to be near Umm Kais, by the sarcophagi, the sepulchres, and ruts of chariot-wheels upon the rocks. We rushed up to a large tree for refreshing shelter, and near it found numerous sepulchres, highly ornamented, and some of them with the stone doors remaining on the hinges, which we swung about to test the reality of their remaining so perfect, (figs. 1, 2, 3.)
Among these was the one remarked by Lord
Lindsay in his Travels, bearing a Hebrew name inscribed in Greek letters, but which he has not
