MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 67 



out, accompanied by that chief, with an escort of 

 about forty horsemen. The sheikh pretended he 

 had business in the mountains of Djebal (the ancient 

 Gebalene) ; but he soon proved a treacherous friend, 

 and left our traveller to shift for himself, after plun- 

 dering him of nearly all his money and property, 

 although he had sworn by the most solemn oath of 

 the Bedouins, laying his hand upon the head of his 

 little boy and the fore-feet of his mare, that he 

 would conduct him to a territory whence he might 

 proceed with safety to Egypt. Having satisfied 

 his own cupidity, he recommended his guest to the 

 care of a Bedouin as avaricious as himself, who 

 stript him of the remainder of his money, and then 

 abandoned him to the chances of the desert. In 

 this situation he encountered many difficulties, and 

 was obliged to walk from one encampment to ano- 

 ther, until he found a person who engaged to carry 

 him to Cairo. 



In company with his new guide, he continued 

 his route along the eastern border of Wadi Ghoeyr, 

 which divides the district of Gebalene from Djebal 

 Shera, the Mount Seir of Scripture, in the territory 

 of the Edomites. This chain of mountains is a 

 continuation of the eastern Syrian range, which 

 begins with the Anti-Libanus, joins Mount Her- 

 mon, forms the valley of the Ghoeyr, passes the 

 oorder of the Dead Sea, and stretches to the Gulf 

 of Akaba. The great valley of the Ghoeyr (or Jor- 

 dan) may be said to extend from the source of that 

 river to the Bed Sea. It widens about Jericho^ 



