When we emerged from the labyrinth, the soldier’s noble horse took the lead. His feet once fairly in the road, he went swiftly forward, and without a moment’s hesitation conducted us triumphantly to our journey’s end. At times we were cheered by seeing a light swinging away in the darkness, which we felt sure our friends had hung out to guide us. Occasionally we lost sight of it behind intervening obstacles, and, when seen again, owing to the windings of our path, it appeared to be now on this side, now on that, and but for observing the position of the stars we might have been perplexed. What a blessing these glorious luminaries have been for ages to the desert wanderer! As one gazes upward into the clear Syrian sky, beholding them in all their splendour, he is forcibly reminded of Carlyle’s graphic sentences: “Canopus shining down over the desert, with its blue diamond brightness [that wild, blue, spirit-like brightness, far brighter than we ever witness here], would pierce into the heart of the wild Ishmaelitish man, whom it was guiding through the solitary waste there. To his wild heart with all feelings in it, with no speech for any feeling, it might seem a little eye, that Canopus, glancing out upon him from the great, deep eternity, revealing the inner splendour to him. Cannot we understand how these men worshipped Canopus,—became what we call Sabeans, worshipping the stars?” But the difficult threading of one’s path among basaltic rocks, with the howlings of wolf and jackal around, varied with the higher treble of the hyena, are not conditions favourable to such meditations. The district, moreover, has an evil reputation for quieter but more dangerous foes. It was with feelings of satisfaction that we found ourselves under the battlements of the old city of Zorʿa. Messengers came with lanterns to meet us, without which I know not how we should have avoided the pitfalls that surrounded the last part of our way. With no little thankfulness the whole company met again around the table in our tent, to recount and hear the adventures of the day.
WILD ISHMAELITISH MEN
Our friends had enjoyed a pleasant ride along the border of el-Lejâʾ; nor had their day been quite without adventure. In crossing a stream of some depth, one rider was treated to an involuntary bath—his horse suddenly plunging down and rolling over. Happily no harm was done. It is not easy in such circumstances to preserve dignity on the one part and gravity on the other. Our friends, however, were quite equal to the occasion, and what might have been an awkward incident was soon a subject of pleasant jest to all concerned. But the occurrence indicates a real danger, of which the traveller ought to be aware. Walking in the great heat, with constant perspiration, if the saddle is not a good fit and skilfully padded, the horse’s back is easily fretted and wounded. Then the animal naturally seeks relief when a chance comes, by rolling over and trying to remove the offending saddle. If the rider is in his seat, it may go hard with him. In passing through water there is a peculiar temptation to cool the injured spot by plunging down.
We awoke next morning to find ourselves fairly within the limits of el-Lejâʾ. This is a tract of country famous from of old as a refuge for fugitives from law or justice. And no better land could be desired for this purpose. El-Lejâʾ is equivalent to meljâʾ—the word most commonly employed—and means a retreat or refuge. A more savage and forbidding rocky wilderness it would be impossible to imagine. It probably answers to Trachonitis of Josephus and the New Testament. Some have sought in it also the “Argob” of the Old Testament; but this identification is extremely precarious. Argob can hardly be rendered “stony.” It seems rather to indicate rich arable soil, and the district is now generally located to the south-east. “Chebel Argob” is the invariable biblical phrase, and “Chebel” would here be peculiarly appropriate. The word signifies primarily “a cord,” then a measuring-line, then a district marked off as by a measuring-line, like a tribal portion, the boundaries being well known. This vast lava outbreak terminates abruptly all round in the fertile plains, almost suggesting the idea of a gigantic cord, drawn right round, marking it off distinctly from the surrounding country. It is admirably adapted for defence, and its capacities in this respect have been put to stern trial in many a hard-fought battle. The attacking force is completely exposed to the defenders’ fire, the latter being as entirely sheltered. Often has a handful of men held the place against numbers which, in other circumstances, it would have been supreme folly to oppose. Notably was this the case when the celebrated Ibrahîm Pasha, the Egyptian, led his hitherto unconquered veterans to the attack, and was ignominiously repulsed by an insignificant company of Druzes. Within these adamantine walls, until quite recently, the Government was impotent; nor can we say its power is yet great. The suspected criminal, be he innocent or guilty, if he can only outstrip his pursuers and cross that rugged coast, will find a surer retreat than the Cities of Refuge ever afforded in ancient days. Among the inhabitants he will receive an unquestioning welcome. There he may dwell secure until a messenger of peace comes to call him again to home and friends, or until the King of Terrors summons him away.
Before us lay the ruins of a great old-world city, with much to declare its ancient splendour. Zorʿa is held by many to be the city Edrei, in the neighbourhood of which Og, king of Bashan, and his people met their crushing defeat at the hands of Israel. While I am disposed to favour its more southern rival, Derʿat, the claims of this city cannot be lightly passed over. It has been a position of great strength, and, lying on the border of the huge natural fortifications of el-Lejâʾ, the country’s central citadel, it is not unnatural to suppose that this spot may have been chosen for the last desperate struggle with the victorious invaders. This city taken, foothold would be obtained within the great fortification itself—a basis for further operations against it. The defenders demoralised by this piece of singularly evil fortune, it fell a prey to the enemy, as it is safe to say it never has done since. The ruins of the city have often been described, in so far as they can now be seen; but much lies buried many yards deep under accumulations of debris. When the excavator shall have rescued ancient structures from their dark tombs, much may be learned regarding the city’s past, of which so little now is known.
The soldier who followed us the previous night would have gone with us in any other direction, but one foot farther into el-Lejâʾ he would not move. We were told that his uniform would act, on Arab and Druze alike, as a red rag acts on a bull. We had great difficulty in finding a guide. Between the Druzes of the interior and the Christians around there is naturally little affection; there is less love, if possible, between the former and their Moslem neighbours. Blood feud’s are common; and here the pursuit of the “avenger of blood” is no mere ruse, as it often is elsewhere, to extract money or goods from the tribe or village of the offender, but an earnest seeking for vengeance. Blood for blood is the law; and if the actual manslayer cannot be found, any one of his tribe or village may be taken. This explains the difficulty travellers often have in finding suitable guides. Men do not care to be seen far from their own homes and comrades. Our difficulty was finally overcome, partly by the promise of handsome payment, partly by the exercise of the sheikh’s authority on our behalf; and at last a sturdy Arab, shouldering his club, stalked away over the rocks before us, under bond to conduct us safely to the Druze village, Damet el-ʿAliâ.
CHAPTER III
A landscape of lava—Deserted cities—Caverns—Cultivation—A land of ruins—The guide’s terror—Damet el-ʿAliâ—The sheikh’s welcome—A state of siege—An ugly incident—Druze hospitality—Arab and Druze in el-Lejâʾ—St. Paul in Arabia—The well of the priest—Story of the priest.
From Zorʿa our course lay north-east by east, and we hoped on the way to pass more than one ruin which should tell of the ancient glory of el-Lejâʾ. What a wild solitude it is! Far on every hand stretched a veritable land of stone. The first hour or two of our march no living thing was seen. Even the little ground-lark, which hitherto we had seen everywhere, seemed now to have deserted us. Wherever we looked, before us or behind, lay wide fields of volcanic rock, black and repulsive, swirled and broken into the most fantastic shapes; with here and there a deep circular depression, through which in the dim past red destruction belched forth, now carefully walled round the lip to prevent wandering sheep or goat from falling in by night. The general impression conveyed was as if the dark waters of a great sea, lashed to fury by a storm, had been suddenly petrified; as if the fierce lineaments of the tempest, and all its horror, had been caught and preserved forever in imperishable rock by the hand of a mighty sculptor.