Our Bozrah guide was first in the saddle, and, starting out along the valley, he led the way towards Jerash; from this point, however, his office was a sinecure, the road being well marked. We followed the winding path through wooded vale and over wooded hill until we reached a height overlooking rich, cultivated flats, to which we descended by a rocky track, leaving for a time the woodland behind us. Here we found a road on which some labour had been expended, passing between fields partly surrounded by stone walls.
Going forward, we met a cart of antique shape, drawn by a team of oxen, guided by a sturdy Circassian, who was seated in front. The cart was long, narrow, and deep; the axles were wide, and the wheels low. It resembled those still to be seen in many country districts on the continent of Europe. The type may have been introduced into this country by the German colonists. These carts are the only wheeled vehicles used as yet by agriculturists in Palestine, of whom, next to the Germans, the Circassians are perhaps the most successful. We spoke to the driver, but received for reply only a bow, and sundry gestures by which he manifestly sought to make himself agreeable, from which it could also be inferred that he knew no Arabic. Our way led round the left shoulder of a little hill, and down a gentle incline, when, suddenly, almost the whole extent of the ruins on the southern bank of the stream came into view. Men and animals were gladdened by the cheerful sound of flowing water. Just where the road turns sharply to the right towards the ancient city gate, we struck an irrigation channel, full of clear, cool water. After a general scramble for the refreshing liquid, in which riders and horses seemed to mingle indiscriminately, spectacles, etc., being dropped into the stream and duly fished up again, we assumed a more dignified attitude, and prepared to enter the city. On the height to the right were several empty sarcophagi and burial caverns. We traversed the whole length of the city on the northern side of the valley, and pitched our tents under the cliffs just outside the boundary, beyond a copious fountain, over which remains of Greek buildings are still standing. It was yet early afternoon, and most of us were at once drawn forth to see the splendid ruins.
Jerash, or, as it was anciently called, Gerasa, stands in Wady ed-Deir, on either side of a perennial stream which flows into the Jabbok a few miles to the south, and one of the sources of which is the fountain above mentioned, at the north-west corner of the city. All the principal buildings of which anything noteworthy remains are on the southern bank of the brook. The ground rises quickly from the bed of the stream, some fifty to a hundred feet, and then slopes gradually backward. Upon this higher part, almost all the magnificence of the old city was gathered. From north-west to south-east runs the famous street, paved throughout, and lined on either side its whole length with fine columns, many of which are standing, capitals and architrave being in parts almost perfect still.
Of Jerash we may say generally, it is the best preserved of all the ruined cities east of Jordan. The ruins are weather-worn and beaten with the storms of centuries; earthquakes have shaken down many once splendid buildings, but there were no traces of the destroying hand of man. The Circassians have now supplied this lack. One fears that much of value and interest has already perished under their hammers, as they sought materials to build their houses. This points the urgent necessity to have the ruins thoroughly explored, and measures taken at once to secure what is worth preserving. Passing along the street from the north-west, we first saw a small theatre to the right, now sadly ruined. A little farther forward, on the same side, stands what must have been by far the finest building of all, as it still is the most imposing ruin. This is known as the Temple of the Sun. Situated on an elevated terrace, it is approached by a broad stairway, which leads to the portico. This consists of three rows of columns of magnificent proportions and artistic workmanship. Originally fourteen in number, the greater part are still in position. Of the principal building, the area is now blocked up with fallen stones. The temple stands in the middle of a court, once surrounded by a colonnade, and measures some eighty feet by seventy. The position commands a fine view of the city. In the near neighbourhood to the south and west are traces of columns, arches, etc., which may have belonged to smaller temples. There are also remains of a church. But all are so buried beneath their own ruins that it is impossible now to speak of them with certainty. On the other side of the road are remains of baths and of a basilica. The pillared street terminates in a circular area surrounded by columns, of which nearly all are standing; many still supporting pieces of the architrave.
JERASH, TEMPLE OF THE SUN
Beyond this, on rising ground, close to the ancient city wall, are the ruins of a large theatre and temple. The rows of stone seats in the former are well preserved. The slopes in front are literally heaped with great stones and pieces of colossal columns, while the amount of building underground seems almost equal to what is seen above. The acoustics of these theatres are perfect. Once, with some friends, I made trial of that at Gadara; the lowest articulate sounds were audible throughout the entire building. A little to the east of the temple, a road leads off directly to the south, passing under a triumphal arch, dating, probably, from the time of Trajan. To the west of the road, just inside the triumphal arch, lay the Naumachia (for mock sea-fights), without which these cities would seem to have been incomplete. Westward, outside the city wall, are great numbers of sarcophagi. This, apparently, was the chief ancient burying-ground. Nowhere, not even at Gadara where these are numerous, have I seen so many stony receptacles of the dead lying exposed. All have been opened long ago, many of the lids being broken, no doubt, in the feverish search for hidden treasure.
Turning back, we walked the whole length of the street, noting the remains of a tetrapylon near the southern end, and of another not far from the northern end, in each case traces of the ruined arches being distinguishable. The ancient gateway to the north is blocked up, but a passage is cut through the great mound of stones which once formed the wall; and along this a considerable volume of water, caught in the higher reaches of the valley and led captive hither, passes, to turn the picturesque old mill below. Above the city, on the southern bank of the stream, are numbers of sarcophagi, many of them adorned with sculptured wreaths, roses, and heads in relief. There are traces of what must have been a large and fine building, with broken columns and sculptured stones. Several mutilated Greek inscriptions are to be seen among the ruins. In the cliffs north-east of the stream, above the spot where our camp was pitched, are several large natural caverns, which do not seem to have been used for any other purpose than the sheltering of flocks. Beyond the city wall, to the north-east, however, are many sepulchral caves, some of those visited being hewn out of the living rock.
The northern bank of the stream is now occupied by a colony of Circassians, whose neatly-built and plastered houses, each with a walled court in front, contrast most favourably with those of any of the native peasants in Palestinian villages. The houses were built for the most part of ordinary materials, very few of the sculptured stones from the ancient city being employed. This may be accounted for by the fact that few public buildings of any importance stood on this side of the stream. Since then these settlers have gone farther afield, to the peril, as we have seen, of what lends Jerash its attractions for us. Entering the town from the north, we find the fountain arched over, from which the main supply of the colony is obtained; beautiful, clear, cool water it is. In the lower ground to the right are vestiges of a temple, around which the colonists have fine gardens. Turning up to the left, for a long distance the city wall is almost intact. Within the wall, to the south-east, are prostrate columns and sculptured stones, marking the site of a building of no little splendour, but whether palace or temple, it is impossible to say.
Outside the wall are scanty remains which may indicate the position of an ancient church. Judging by the magnificence of many of the sarcophagi found here, this may have been the burying-ground of the greater ones. Just below, by the wayside, at the entrance to the modern village, lies the Circassian graveyard. The graves are of the ordinary Moslem type—little mounds with a protuberance at each end, supposed resting-places for the angels. Here, however, the Circassians seem to expend but little care. The whole place was overgrown with rank grass, nettles, and thistles. The stream which divides ancient from modern Jerash is lined with oleanders, whose luxuriant growth in many places quite hides the rippling waters. Just where it passes beyond the boundary of the town it plunges in foamy streaks over a high cliff into a romantic ravine, whence issues the music of a water-mill.