246 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR CHARLES WILSON, K.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., 
Edom and were in want of water (2 Kings ii, 8,9). This 
seems to indicate that they marched by the desert road, 
and the battle was fought on the border of Moab, probably 
in the Wady el-Hesi. 
I think that the incident of the blood, or red-coloured 
water, that the Moabites saw may possibly have been due to 
a cloud-burst i in the hills at the head of the valley, which 
was not visible to the Israelites. The flood-water probably 
came down with a rush during the night, as it often does 
in those regions, and a stormy sunrise, after the rain, would 
give the red tinge 2 the water which the Moabites saw in 
the early morning.* All the expeditions by the Crusaders 
were made by the roads south of the Dead Sea and had as 
their objective the line of communication that linked Egypt 
and Arabia to Damascus and Northern Syria. The tich 
caravans which passed along this road were frequently 
raided by the freebooters of Shobek and Kerak. Renaud de 
Chatillon, who was a very remarkable man, at one time 
fitted owt an expedition to attack Mecca. Following the 
example of the Kings of Judah and Israel, he built ‘large 
calleys at the head of the Gulf of Akabah and sent them 
down the Red Sea with orders to prey upon the Arab boats, 
and if they could effect a landing, to try to take Mecca. 
The expedition failed, principally, I think, because Renaud 
was not with it, and not a man returned to tell the tale. 
The climatic changes on the plateau, due to the desert on 
the east, and the deep depression of the Dead Sea on the 
west, are interesting. In the vicinity of the latter, the ai, 
which has been superheated in the great rift during the day, 
rushes up through the ravines with a loud roar and much 
violence at sunset and for some hours afterwards. At Tufileh 
our tent was in danger of being blown down, but after a 
few hours the wind suddenly dropped and it became quite 
calm. I was told that this strong rush of heated air 
occurred every evening and that sometimes it was of almost 
cyclonic violence. 
In winter there is usually heavy snow on the higher 
portions of the plateau, and even throughout the spring and 
well into the summer it is often very cold. The cold wind 
is the east wind that blows off the desert, which cools down 
very rapidly after sunset. A curious feature about this east 
* An interesting description of a sudden freshet in the valley of the 
Arnon is given by. M. Lucien Gautier, Autour de la Mer Morte, 1901. 
