JEBEL KAFKAFKA. 27 



to stiffen the sides of the tent, had suddenly flapped in- 

 wards and fallen across my face, I was roundly abused by 

 my companions for so needlessly disturbing their slumbers. 



March ISth. — To our great delight the morning was 

 fine, for we dreaded a repetition of the weather from 

 which we had suffered on first landing at Bep'out. We 

 had wished to strike across as directly as possible from 

 Jerash to Bozrah, passing through Um-el-Jemal, where 

 there are extensive ruins, which were visited by Mr. Cyril 

 Graham. Our Beni-Hassan guide, hoAvever, seemed un- 

 acquainted with this road, and threw obstacles in the 

 way of its adoption, declaring it to be *' desert,' and 

 infested at the present moment by Beni-Sakhr. We 

 agreed, finally, to take a more northerly but somewhat 

 circuitous route, by Er-Remtheh and Derat. 



We were on the point of starting, when four horsemen 

 from Suf rode up ; the Sheikh was not amongst them. 

 The newcomers told Elias they were going to act as our 

 escort ; he, by our instructions, replied, that if they came 

 with us at all, they would come as far as Damascus, and 

 there be handed over to the tender mercies of the Pasha. 

 This prospect was too much for them, and they soon rode 

 off, to be seen no more. We had been careful to leave 

 the men of Suf to supj)ose that we should follow the route 

 taken by Mr. Tristram to the Lake of Tiberias ; and if the 

 Sheikh and his friends were prepared to do us any 

 mischief, they probably lay in wait on that road. We set 

 out in the opposite direction, our course being at first 

 nearly due east. From the slopes behind Jerash we had 

 a most beautiful view of its columns. We noticed the 

 ruins of a small temple situated a mile higher up the 

 valley, and j)assed several fine sarcophagi, lying over- 

 turned and empty amongst the trees. 



For some distance we rode through open glades, where. 



