from the coast of Syria in 1840, a corps of engineers, all picked men, was left behind, in order to make a military survey of the country throughout its whole extent. Three officers, Majors Robe, Scott, and Wilbraham, were constantly occupied in making surveys in all quarters; and in the southern part, Lieut. Symonds carried a series of triangles over the greater portion of Judea and the country around the plain of Esdraelon, including lines of altitudes from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea and Lake of Tiberias. Some of these gentlemen are members of the Royal Geographical Society of London; and when the English government shall have made the use it chooses of the results of their labours, it is understood that they will be given to the world. The intercourse subsisting between the English officers and the American missionaries was of the most friendly character; and the former often communicated to Mr. Smith so much of their observations as was compatible with their confidential duty to their own government. From one of them, Major Robe, he received a written communication respecting the country around Merj 'Ayûn and the sources of the Jordan, accompanied by a sketch-map; and another of them, Lieut. Symonds, gave him the exact result of his measurements to determine the depression of the Dead Sea. These documents are now in my hands. Besides these, Mr. Smith has also transmitted several letters directed to him from the Rev. Samuel Wolcott, one of the American missionaries, who spent the winter of 1841-2 at Jerusalem, and while there took the opportunity of carrying out several inquiries, which Mr. Smith and myself could only begin, and also made excursions to different parts of the country. The results of his investigations, as well as the communications of the English engineers, are of sufficient importance, as it seems to me, to be laid in detail before the public. The prospect in respect to future observations is at present gloomy. The corps of engineers was withdrawn near the close of the year 1841; and what is yet to be learned must be gathered up by individual enterprise and opportunity. To this the confusion and anarchy and insecurity which now prevail among the people, present a formidable obstacle. In February, 1842, Mr. Smith wrote as follows; and the state of things has not yet changed for the better: "Palestine is now in too disturbed a state to allow of much tra. velling; and I have no hope of its being much better while this [Turkish] government remains. It is a most wretched system of fanaticism, corruption, oppression and anarchy. I fear we must wait till another revolution, before doing much more towards biblical research in the country." Under date of May 7, 1842, Mr. Smith again writes: "Two parties have come by Mount Sinai and Wady Mûsa this year. The last, a very large party, were taken out of Sheikh Husein's hands, between Petra and Hebron, by the Tiyâhah and their allies; among whom were probably our friends, the Jehâlîn No injury was done to the travellers; indeed, I believe they were better satisfied with the robbers, than with their guides. The encounter took place just at the mouth of Wady el-Jeib. Afterwards they turned and went up Wady el-Fikreh to the fountain and palm trees." This appears to have been merely an act of retaliation on the part of the Tiyâhah and their allies, against Sheikh Husein of the 'Alawîn, who permits no other tribe to bring travellers within his limits, but has not scrupled himself often to conduct strangers through their territory to Hebron.' I. COUNTRY Around the Sources of the Jordan. It may be recollected, that we were prevented by an insurrection of the Druzes from prosecuting our intended journey by the Lake el-Hûleh and the sources of the Jordan to Damascus; and obtained a view of the lake and region round about only from el-Benît, a high point a short distance north of Safed. Our subsequent route from Safed to Tyre left also the country upon the Lîtâny, from the Bukâ'a to the vicinity of Tibnîn, still unexplored. It is just these districts, including the intervening tract of Merj 'Ayûn, which are covered by the accompanying sketch-map of Major Robe. The route of that officer from Beirût was by way of Deir el-Kamr, elMukhtara, Jezzîn and the Jisr Burghúz, or bridge over the Lîtâny, to Hasbeiya and Bâniâs; thence across the Merj el-Hûleh (Meadow of the Hûleh) to Kedes, the ancient Kedesh of Naphtali, on the western hills; and so to Safed. After visiting the range of mountains 1 See Bibl. Res. in Palest. II. p. 543. 2 Ibid. III. p. 339. between Safed and the plain of 'Akka, he examined the country along our route from Safed by Bint Jebeil to Tibnîn and the Jisr Kâkâîyeh; proceeded thence to the great castle esh-Shŭkîf; and, returning part of the way, followed the usual track by Nasâr and Bâblîyeh to Sidon. On his map the positions of the principal places are laid down according to their proper relative bearings with each other and with the magnetic north; but, in regard to the distances, he had no other criterion to judge by, than the time accurately noted. A portion of the same route, from Tibnîn by the Jisr Kâkâîyeh, was also travelled by the Rev. S. Wolcott, on his way from Safed to Sidon. See near the close of this article. Form of the Lake el-Hûleh. As we saw this lake from the high ground at el-Benît, the intervening tract of lower table land hid from our view its southwestern shores, and caused it to appear almost as a triangle; the northern part being far the broadest.' It turns out that this is nearly its true form; or rather, the map gives to it in some degree the shape of a pear; the projection, however, on the northwestern part, being the largest. Sources of the Jordan. These are treated of in the Biblical Researches, according to the accounts of ancient writers and modern travellers. Two separate streams of considerable magnitude are there said to enter the lake el-Hûleh from the north, each of which is formed by the junction of two others. The easternmost of these two streams, with its two sources, one at Bâniâs, and the other at Tell el-Kâdy, is the Jordan of ancient and modern times. The westernmost stream, which is longer and larger, is represented as formed by the union of the river of Hâsbeiya, issuing from the Wady et-Teim, and another stream from Merj 'Ayûn.3 The statement thus ventured, that the two main streams enter the lake, or at least its marshes, separately, was not regarded as being fully ascertained; it was made on the strength of various circumstances; for there was then no better positive authority for it than Buckingham, who, at the same time speaks of another imaginary lake, which he professes to have seen, north of the Hûleh. It is highly gratifying, therefore, to find that the map of Maj. Robe fully sustains the position there taken. It exhibits the two main Ibid. pp. 347-354. * Ibid. p. 353. Bibl. Res. III. p. 339. streams as flowing separately, and parallel to each other, quite through the marshes into the lake itself. The stream from Merj 'Ayûn was inserted on our map in accordance with Seetzen's map and the testimony of Mr. Smith, who travelled through that district in May, 1835. Mr. S. speaks of it expressly as draining the district of Merj 'Ayûn. But the stream does not appear on the map of Maj. Robe, nor on that of Bertou. This, at first view, is singular; and the more so, because the district of Merj 'Ayûn was often described to me by my fellow-traveller, as a beautiful, fertile, and well-watered plain. But he and Seetzen were there early in the season, when the surplus waters flowed off to join the river of Hâsbeiya; while Maj. Robe and Bertou saw it only in August, when the heats of summer had dried up the waters, leaving probably only the gravelly bed of a winter brook. Instead of this, Maj. Robe's map has a small stream not mentioned by any traveller, lying half way between the branch from Tell elKâdy and the river of Hâsbeiya, and flowing into the latter. The two large fountains, 'Ain el-Mellâhah, and 'Ain Belât, on the western side of the basin of the Hûleh,' are given on the map; and also four smaller fountains and brooks farther north. Jebel esh-Sheikh, or Hermon. From the map it appears that this mountain has in fact two peaks or summits; and Mr. Wolcott also afterwards gives a bearing of the northern one from Bint Jebeil. As we saw this noble mountain only from the S. W. the two summits were then in a line; and the whole presented the appearance of one towering pyramid. The circumstance of the two summits explains to us why the Psalmist speaks of this mountain in the plural, the Hermons.3 Lake Phiala. An account of this lake, as ascertained by Irby and Mangles, is given in the Researches. Under date of June 7, 1842, Mr. Smith transmitted to me the following note from Mr. Tipping, an English artist, whose name will several times appear in the following pages, and who passed up from Bâniâs N. E. towards Damascus. After leaving Bâniâs, he says, "I took a little trouble about Phiala, and visited the only two Birkets in the 'Biblical Researches, III. App. p. 135. country. The one north of Jubbâta is very high, in the centre. of a small oblong plain, under Jebel esh-Sheikh, perfectly round, with muddy water, filled by the melting of the snow. It nearly dries up in summer, and is about 260 feet in diameter. This, it would be superfluous to observe, cannot be the Phiala of Josephus. The Phiala of that historian is pretty accurately placed on your map. It is about an hour and a half south of Mejdel; answers perfectly to the description of Irby and Mangles; and is known by the one name only, Birket er-Ram." This of course is the Birket er-Râm of which Seetzen heard, and which he too regarded as Phiala; but is not that seen by Burckhardt, which lies far southeast of Bâniâs.' Course of the Litany. The course of this river from the Jisr Burghŭz to the vicinity of Tibnîn, has not before been explored, and is marked as uncertain on our map, and on that of Berghaus. It was only known that the stream winds through a gorge among the mountains, often between precipices, which are sometimes of great height. Maj. Robe was able to overlook the whole of the portion thus unknown, and has represented it on his map. Only one bridge over the Lîtâny, the Jisr Burghüz, was known to us in the mountains; but the map exhibits three, viz. Jisr Burghúz, on the north of Merj 'Ayûn; Jisr el-Hardely (?) west by north of Merj 'Ayûn on the direct route from Bâniâs to Sidon; and Jisr Kâkâîyeh, north of Tibnîn. The district of Merj 'Ayûn itself, on the map, assumes an oval shape, the longest diameter being from N. to S. Position of the Castle esh-Shukîf. Here, unfortunately, both the map and the text of the Researches require an important correction. We saw this castle at a distance, on our route from Safed to Tyre, when near Haddâta, in the region of Tibnîn. It there bore N. 40° E., at the distance of several hours. This of course gave us no clew to its precise position, which had to be made out from other sources. Mr. Smith had mentioned, that he had formerly seen the castle, when crossing the Lîtâny by the Jisr Búrghuz; and I had then received the wrong impression, that it was situated near that bridge. Mr. Buckingham also, in passing from 2 Ibid. p. 376. Bibl. Res. III. p. 350, n. 2. |