lasses, form a partnership for
convoy of travellers to the Jordan under arrangements made at the
consulate. Without them it would be impossible either to find the way to
Jericho and the river, or to pass along the deserted road, for there are
always out-lookers about the tops of the hills to give notice that you
are without an escort, and you would consequently still find that
travellers may "fall among thieves" between Jerusalem and Jericho;
besides that, on descending to the plain of Jericho you would certainly
become the prey of other Arabs of real tribes, ever passing about
there--including most probably the 'Adwan, to whose hospitality, however,
we were now about to commit ourselves. To all this must be added, that
no other Arabs dare undertake to convoy travellers upon that road; the
Taamra to the south have long felt their exclusion from it to be a great
grievance, as the gains derived from the employment of escorting
Europeans are very alluring.

We had with us a deputed commissioner from the 'Adwan, namely, Shaikh
Fendi, a brother of Shaikh 'Abdu'l 'Azeez. He was delighted with the
refreshment of eating a cucumber, when we rested by the wayside to eat
oranges--the delicious produce of Jaffa.

Passing the _Fountain of the Apostles_, (so called,) we jogged along a
plain road till we reached a booth for selling cups of coffee, at the
divergence of the road Nebi Moosa, (the reputed sepulchre of the prophet
Moses, according to the Mohammedans,) then up an ascent still named
_Tela'at ed Dum_, which is certainly the ancient {3} Adummim, (Joshua xv.
7)--probably so called from broad bands of _red_ among the strata of the
rocks. Here there are also curious wavy lines of brown flint, undulating
on a large scale among the limestone cliffs. This phenomenon is
principally to be seen near the ruined and deserted Khan, or eastern
lodging-place, situated at about half the distance of our journey. The
name is _Khatroon_.

As we proceeded, our escort, mostly on foot, went on singing merrily, and
occasionally bringing us tufts of scented wild plants found in crevices
by the roadside. Then we came to long remains of an ancient water
conduit, leading to ruins of a small convent. In a few minutes after the
latter, we found ourselves looking down a fearfully deep precipice of
rocks on our left hand, with a stream flowing at the bottom, apparently
very narrow indeed, and the sound of it scarcely audible. This is the
brook