which skirt the Dead Sea; resembling in this respect the country further south. At 8.25 we saw Jebel Kurn Sürtübeh bearing N. N. E. Ten minutes later we descended Wady el-Ghŭrâbeh running east, and at 9.05 reached its mouth in el-Bŭkei'a. Our course was now E. N. E. along the side and across the head of this plain or valley. At 10 o'clock we entered from the plain the head of Wady Kuneitirah, narrow and winding, with the dry bed of a water-course, breaking down in half an hour into a deep channel on the left of the path. Its general direction was E. N. E. At 10.45 we reached its mouth, which is wider, in the plain one hour from the north point of the Dead Sea, which here bore E. by S. The bed of the water-course continues across the plain to the sea.

"After visiting the Dead Sea and the Jordan, we encamped near Jericho, on the northwest. Ibrahim Pasha on his retreat from Damascus, near the close of 1840, having been attacked by the Arabs in crossing the Jordan, sent a detachment of his army and razed Jericho to the ground. It is now an uninhabited ruin.

"Feb. 12th. Leaving our place of encampment at 8.40, we reached the mouth of Wady el-Kelt, from which Jericho bears E. and began to ascend the southern mountain on a S. W. course. We came to the top at 9 o'clock, having the deep valley at a little distance on our right, with a small stream of water in it; and on our left a deep branch of the Wady Dabûs el-Abed running S. and soon entering the main Wady of that name, which runs E. After fifteen minutes we crossed the head of this latter valley; and at 9.25 entered the small Wady el-Khân, and ascended it about W. reaching at 10.30 its head and the ruined Khâns, from which it takes its name, viz. Khân Hudhrûr, on a hill on the right with a trench cut around it in the rock; and Khân es-Sahil at the western base of the hill.2

"Descending on a S. W. course and crossing the heads of two small Wadys, we entered Wady Sidr at 11 o'clock (running S. E. from that point), and ascended it S. W. for ten minutes. Then, crossing an undulating tract, we entered at 11.30 the Wady el

This is the Pass Kuneitirah of the Bibl. Res. II. p. 269.

2 From Khân Hudhrûr the Wely on the Mount of Olives bore S.

75° W.-[This Khan was seen by us from et-Taiyibeh, bearing S. 15° E. Bibl. Res. II. p. 122, n. 1.--ED.

Hôdh; and ascending along its dry bed W. and S. W. we passed at 12.25 the fountain and ruined Khân of the same name. The Wady still ascends in the same direction, with the path above it on the right, till it terminates ten minutes before reaching Bethany; where we arrived at 12.45.”

V. EXCURSION TO HEBRON, CARMEL, AND SEBREH OR MASADA.

This excursion, made on horseback by Messrs. Wolcott and Tipping, is interesting and important. Besides fixing the sites of several ancient places by the way, the travellers were the first in modern times to visit Sebbeh, the ancient Masada, the celebrated fortress of Herod the Great, overhanging the Dead Sea; where occurred the horrid act of self-immolation, by which nearly a thousand persons perished voluntarily, rather than fall into the hands of their Roman conquerors.'

We saw the spot from 'Ain Jidy, and examined it carefully with our telescopes; and were able afterwards to identify it with Masada. But we were unable to visit it; and it is therefore matter of gratification that our remarks gave occasion for the successful excursion, the result of which I am here permitted to lay before the public. The communication is addressed by Mr. Wolcott to the Rev. E. Smith. I give it mainly in the author's own words; remarking simply, that the reader will be able, for the most part, to trace the route upon our map.

"MY DEAR SIR:

SEBBEH, Masada, March 14th, 1842.

"I have reached in my wanderings a point of some interest to yourself; and therefore date you a few lines from it. I am writing beneath the ample tent which was so long the home of Dr. Robinson and yourself; and while you may be pleased to learn that it has been again' pitched towards Sodom,' I regret that you are not with it, on an excursion which you would improve and enjoy so highly."

"I am in company with Mr. Tipping, an English amateursketcher, whom you have met, and who, you are aware, is visiting

1

Joseph. B. J. VII. 8. 2 sq. Bibl. Res. II. p. 240 sq.

Bibl. Res. ib. pp. 239, 240. 3 This tent, on our departure

from Beirût in 1838, was transmit-
ted to the Rev. Mr. Lanneau in Je-
rusalem, for the use of the mission.
-ED.

the country with a view to obtain illustrations for a new translation of Josephus. His object naturally drew him hither; and furnished me with a favourable opportunity of visiting a deeply interesting portion of Palestine. His sketches are strikingly faithful, and will be an invaluable acquisition to the forthcoming publication. It is an interesting fact, that they will equally illustrate the Biblical Researches, a work to which he freely acknowledges his obligations as a guide to the most important subjects for his pencil, and among others to the one which we have now reached.

"As we were to travel much of the way on an unexplored route, I felt desirous of contributing what I could to the important object of your journeyings, the illustration of Sacred Geography. I have accordingly made some observations in those places which you did not visit. I was able to borrow in Jerusalem a valuable compass; and having a perfect instrument, I have taken our bearings with the minutest care.

"We applied for an escort to Sheikh Hamdan, the political head of the Ta'âmirah Arabs, who sent us his brother and your friend the Khatib with four men. We started about noon on the 7th inst. on horseback, and encamped the first night at the Pools of Solomon; examining on our way the remains of an ancient aqueduct lying in the fork of the roads to Jerusalem, near the Tomb of Rachel. The channel for the water was cut in the stones; and it was carried up the ascent. Over it a massive wall was built, the stones of which are ancient and bevelled. It is older than the present aqueduct, which is laid with earthen pipes, and carried around the hill. We did not trace its termination; but supposed that the two connected the same points; the modern structure here deviating from the course of the ancient. We examined, at the Pools, the Sealed Fountain,' so called; and observed that its principal stones corresponded with those of this ancient aqueduct. In the evening the Khatib came to our tent; and seemed not a little interested by my telling him that his name was in the book before me, and translating to him a passage or two. He has a distinct recollection of your party, and has frequently inquired after you.'

The following bearings were taken from the hill-side a quarter of a mile from the Pools, which bore S. 714 E. viz. Frank Mountain S.

63° E. Convent of St. George, near, N. 194° E. Convent in Bethlehem, N. 76° E.

Bereikut. "We went the next day (March 8th) to Urtâs; and proceeding thence on a S. W. course through several small Wadys, and passing Kusr el-Benât, reached in three quarters of an hour the summit of a ridge commanding a wide prospect, with a ruined village at the opposite base, five minutes distant, to which we descended. Its name is Mersî'a. The foundation walls are standing, covering an area of two or three acres; and we noticed among them a millstone and a few cisterns. It is on a gentle eminence, with a plain or broad valley of the same name before it on the east, running from north to south, and seems to have been compactly built.

"Our course now became S. S. W. and passing Kŭl'at el-Fahmeh, we reached in twenty minutes a broad open valley running north. I asked the Khatib its name, and he replied, Wady Bereikût.' Is not this 'the valley of Berachah unto this day?" The suggestion of the identity of the names in the Researches had attracted us this way; but we were ignorant of the names of the vallies in the vicinity, and had not inquired for them. The identity was rendered more striking by the Sheikh's immediately adding, that it bore this name only opposite the village, and was called by a different one below where it turns S. E. viz. Wady Khanzîreh. The ruined town lies on its western side, on a small eminence, with a higher one on the south; and covers three or four acres. We counted ten cisterns, some of them very large, on which it seems to have depended for its water. It resembled the ruin we had just passed; but was larger. Near its southern extremity three or four of the foundation layers remained of a building, the form of which denoted that it was not probably a private dwelling. The stones were bevelled, and of a larger size than appears to have been usual in the country towns. But the chief attraction to me was the pleasant valley, memorable as the scene of triumph and praise."

Kûfin. "Proceeding from Bereikût W. S. W. and descending into the bed of the large Wady north of Kûfìn, in fifteen minutes we fell into the usual road from Bethlehem to Hebron.

12 Chron. xx. 26. * Vol. II. p. 189.

From Bereikût, Beit Fejjâr bore S. 1840 E. Beit Ummar S. 644° W.

Kûfin is the identical place described in the Researches as Abu Fid.' The two names are on the map, as of separate places. But the name Abu Fid is not in your Lists, and is an intruder; neither of our Sheikhs had ever heard of it.2

name.

Ràmet el-Khulil. "It was a leading object with my companion to examine on the way the remarkable foundations in Râmet elKhulil. But the Khatib, to our surprise, had never heard the We consequently left our road too soon, and approached the spot from the east; which I did not afterwards regret, as it led us to notice the ruins of the village, which surrounds the structure, before reaching it. The structure itself was, of course, a complete puzzle to us; and the weather being unfavourable, we decided to visit the spot again. We observed a wall on the east end precisely like the two described; it can be traced for several feet, and is then concealed by rubbish, as is the whole of the north side. The depth of the well, in the southwest angle, we ascertained to be twenty feet; that of the water being five feet.

"We found the direction of the large walls to differ somewhat from your statement. Judging from the eye, we thought they faced the cardinal points as nearly as possible, (that is W. and S., instead of N. W. and S. W. as in the Researches,) and applying the compass, we found that the variation from due E. and N. lines was in each case less than 5°. I do not forget, that you made only a hurried examination while your animals were proceeding." The Khatib, on reaching the place, said that he was acquainted with it; but knew it only as er-Râm. [Mr. Whiting visited the spot at a later period, and his guides called it er-Râmeh.] 5

"We repaired to the spot again the next day, and remarked, on approaching it from Hebron by the main road to Bethlehem, that the extent of the ruins is even more evident from this quarter than from the other; but the immense walls in the foreground here natu

1 Vol. I. p. 320.

2 Hence the name and village Kûfin, as it now stands on the map, is to be struck out; and the name Kûfin is to be inserted instead of Abu Fid.-ED.

Described in Bibl. Res. I. pp.

317, 318.

This is true; and it is also true

that we made no observation by the compass.-ED.

5 Our guide from Dhoherîyeh added el-Khulil (Hebron) to this latter name, making Râmet elKhulil, probably in order to distinguish it from some other er-Râmeh, perhaps the Râmet el-'Amleh which occurs farther on.-ED.