Of the Circassians who now occupy the place, we learned that only some six years before they had come hither. The Turk, finding it hard to control these brave, free-spirited people among their native mountains, has been carrying out gradually the policy of expatriation, adopted wholesale by ancient conquerors in these regions. Removed from the associations of childhood and the inspiring memories that haunt the scenes around them in their highland homes, required to work hard for the mere necessities of life, their rulers hope to make docile subjects out of these once turbulent clans. Colonies are scattered over all Syria and Palestine. One large village is occupied by them on the heights between Tiberias and Tabor. Old Kuneitera, in the Jaulân, is awakening to new life at their touch. In their agricultural enterprises they are protected by their reputation for absolute fearlessness, unwavering resolution in avenging an injury, and skill in the handling of their weapons. Roving Bedawy and robber peasant alike stand in wholesome dread of their keen blade and unerring bullet. They can thus reckon with certainty on reaping what they have sown, and enjoying the fruits of their labours. They scruple not, therefore, to put hard work into the soil. Gathering the stones from the surface, they form walls along the boundaries of their fields. Their implements, although antiquated, are yet an improvement on those employed by the ordinary fellahîn. The qualities that protect them from thief and robber also secure them in great measure against the unjust exactions of a corrupt Government, and guarantee them entire immunity from outrage at the hands of the soldiery, to which the miserable peasants have so often to submit.
Of the history of Jerash but little is known. Josephus places it in the Decapolis, and in his day it must have been a city of some importance. It was one of the chief cities in the Roman province of Arabia. In the days of Bozrah’s splendour, Jerash must also have been a wealthy commercial centre, Arabian and Egyptian caravans probably passing this way to the north. Baldwin II., in 1121, is said to have marched against Jerash, but already in the thirteenth century the city is described as deserted. Why, we cannot tell.
JERASH, STREET OF COLUMNS
To the west of Jordan there are very few ancient sites where remains of any consequence are to be seen. The few half-buried pillars of Herod’s colonnade at Samaria and the ruined synagogue at Tell Hûm are about the most important, outside the discoveries made in Jerusalem. The most famous sites are marked only by pottery-strewn heaps, or stretches of shapeless ruins. These are insignificant when compared with the massive walls and stately columns with artistic adornments that meet one everywhere on the east of Jordan. The west, more open to influences from without, has suffered heavily under the many changes it has experienced. Ancient structures were carried off bodily to form new buildings of a more temporary character. These soon perished, the old materials being thus scattered or buried under the debris and dirt. Several causes have contributed to the better preservation of the cities east of Jordan. The land has been much more secluded from foreign influence, and, since the days of the Mohammedan conquest, can hardly be said to have been in contact with the outside world at all. The inhabitants, being chiefly dwellers in tents, have had no occasion to employ ancient materials for the building of houses. The peasants who do occupy stone houses have usually found all the shelter they required in the durable structures of basalt, which are so numerous, ready to their hands. A company, moving to village or town, simply swung back the stone doors, opened the stone shutters, swept out the rooms, and took possession, finding thus much finer houses than they could have constructed for themselves. If they did require to build, the smaller stones of the ruins around served their purposes admirably, and the remains of the larger buildings, spared through centuries by storm and earthquake, secured immunity from attack.
Sûf, reputed Mizpah, the famous meeting-place of Jacob and Laban, where he fled with his wives, children, and possessions, lies only about an hour to the north-west of Jerash. On the occasion of a second visit to the district, I passed through this village. It stands on the south-west lip of the wady, which here is of considerable depth. The houses are of the common type, built of white limestone and mud. It is inhabited by Moslems. When I saw it, a large weather-worn, goats’-hair tent was pitched in the middle of the village, where the youth of Sûf assembled to learn verses of the Korʾân from the lips of the Khatîb—probably the only man in the village who knew how to read and write. The numerous dolmens in the vicinity point back to a very high antiquity.
On the same occasion I enjoyed the exquisite pleasure of seeing the beautiful ruins of Jerash under the mellow beams of the moon. It was a sight never to be forgotten. The kindly light, hiding all that was defective, seemed to reveal only what was fair, throwing its delicate splendours over tall column and massive wall, until the ancient city seemed to stand before us in all its ancient magnificence; and one could almost imagine, through the quiet night, the echoing footfall of the Roman guard along the pillared street.
JERASH, GENERAL VIEW
Our road lay through the triumphal arch and down Wady ed-Deir to the Jabbok. Just on the point of starting we were treated to another entertainment by our friend the cook. From this point southward he was quite familiar with the country, but he feigned first ignorance and then fear, in order to secure a convoy from Jerash. For sake of peace and pleasantness we had almost yielded to his importunity, but the man he brought forward was so exorbitant in his demands, doubtless instructed by the cook, that he received unceremonious dismissal. The road could not be hard to find in any case, so we set out, leaving the knight of the toasting-fork to follow at his leisure. Soon he thought better of it, and took his place again at the head of the procession. In the lower reaches of the valley we saw further evidence of Circassian industry, in the rich crops that waved by the wayside. A short distance east of our route lies a small village, which takes its name from the saint whose tomb stands there—Neby Hûd, renowned in ancient Arab story.