Chapter I: Foreword

THE number of books published regarding Palestine proves the exhaustless fascination of the subject. Most of them, however, deal with Western Palestine; and even of this, beyond the districts traversed by the annual stream of tourists, comparatively little is heard.

The lands beyond the Jordan are seldom visited. For the ordinary sight-seer the difficulties and dangers are considerable; but these almost entirely vanish before one who can speak the language and is able to mingle freely with the people.

This book is an attempt to lift a little way the veil which still so largely obscures that region, in spite of its great and splendid history; where picturesque and beautiful scenery, the crumbling memorials of grey antiquity, and the life of villager and nomad to-day, cast a mysterious spell upon the spirit.

While the information given in the following pages is woven round the narrative of a single journey, it is the outcome of frequent travel and familiar intercourse with the peoples both east and west of Jordan.

During a residence of over five years in Palestine the writer was privileged often, quite alone or with a single native attendant, to visit the peasantry and the _Beduw_, to share the shelter of mud hut and goat’s-hair tent, to enjoy their abounding hospitality and friendly converse in the _medāfy_, on the house-top, and around the camp-fire in the wilderness.

What is here related regarding these strange but deeply interesting peoples was either learned from their own lips or verified in converse with them.

The author offers his tribute of affection and gratitude to the memory of Dr. H. Clay Trumbull of Philadelphia, U.S.A., surely the most generous and friendly of editors, who first moved him to write on Oriental subjects.

For many of the photographs taken on the journey he is indebted to his companions in travel, Rev. J. Calder Macphail, D.D., Edinburgh, and Dr. Mackinnon of Damascus; for others, to Dr. Paterson of Hebron and to the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. He also gratefully acknowledges assistance received from the Rev. J. E. H. Thomson, D.D., and Oliphant Smeaton, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Edinburgh.

EDINBURGH, _December 1906_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

Damascus--Haurân Railway--Great Moslem pilgrimage--The plains of
Damascus--Great Hermon--_El-Kisweh_--Bridges in Palestine--
_Ghabâghib_--_Es-Sanamein_--Medical myth--A Land of Fear--
Grain-fields of _Haurân_--An oppressed peasantry--_Nowa_ 1

CHAPTER II

Arab courtesy--_Sheikh Saʿad_--Egyptian monuments--Traditions of
Job--_El-Merkez_--Religious conservatism--Holy places--_Sheikh
Meskîn_--A ride in the dark--_Zorʿa_--_El-Lejâʾ_ 16

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 30

CHAPTER IV

Hidden treasure--The Bedawy’s treasure-trove--The sheikh’s
farewell--A savage tract--_Jebel ed-Druze_--_Umm ez-Zeytûn_--
_Tell Shihân_--_Shuhba_--An ancient house--A stingy
entertainer--The ruins--Pharaoh’s “grain-heaps”--The house of
_Shehâb_ 48

CHAPTER V

Ride to _Kanawât_ (Kenath)--Impressive situation and remains--
Place-names in Palestine--Israelites and Arabs--Education--A
charming ride through mountain glades--_Suweida_ 63

CHAPTER VI

Healing the sick--A strange monument--Telegraph and post in
_Haurân_--Cruel kindness--The Ruins of _Suweida_--Turkish
methods of rule--_ʿIry_--_Sheyûkh ed-Druze_--Jephthah’s
burial--Enterprise of _Ismaʿîl el-ʿAtrash_ 74

CHAPTER VII

The Druzes--Their religion--Their character--Druze and Jew--
Recent history in _Haurân_--Druze and Bedawy--War 86

CHAPTER VIII

_Bozrah_--First Syrian mosque--The physician the reconciler--The
“House of the Jew”--The great mosque--Cufic inscription--
Boheira and Mohammed--The fortress--Bridal festivities--Feats
of horsemanship--History--Origen’s visit--Capture by Moslems 102

CHAPTER IX

Travellers’ troubles--A corner of the desert--The mirage--
Dangerous _wadies_--Lunch in the desert--A “blind” guide--The
clerk to the _sheyûkh_--A milestone--_Kalʿat Esdein_--Thirst--
The uplands of Gilead--Search for water--A _Bedawy_ camp--
Terrific thunderstorm 117

CHAPTER X

Morning on the mountains--Arab time--Tents and encampments--The
women and their work--Arab wealth--Scenes at the wells--Dogs--
Arabian hospitality--Desert pests--Strange code of honour--The
blood feud--Judgment of the elders--Arab and horse--The Arabs
and religion--The Oriental mind--Arab visit to Damascus 129

CHAPTER XI

Ride to _Jerash_--Magnificent ruins--Circassian colonists--
History--Preservation of buildings--East of Jordan--_Sûf_--
A moonlight scene--Down to the Jabbok 145

CHAPTER XII

“Time is money”--_Rumamain_--Priestly hospitality--Fair mountain
groves--Es-Salt--The springs--Relation to Arabs--Raisins--
Descent to the Jordan--Distant view of Jerusalem--View of the
river, the plains of Jordan, the Dead Sea, and the mountains
beyond--The bridge--The “publican’s” shed--The men from
_Kerâk_ 158