ON THE SURVEY OF EASTERN PALESTINE. 273 



Ron, to whom it is only due to say that they did everything in their 

 power lor the comfort and safety of the members of the expedition. A 

 rendezvous of the whole part}', including conductor, dragoman, and Arabs 

 of the Towara tribe, took place at Cairo on the 7th of November, 1883, 

 and on Monday, the 11th of the same month, the party started for their 

 desert journey from Moses' Wells (Ayun Musa), near Suez. 



' The route taken lay along the plain bordering the Gulf of Suez to 

 Warly Gharandel, and thence by the Wadies Hamr, Suwig, and Nasb, 

 Bark, Lebwey, Berrah, and Es Sheikh, to the base of Mount Sinai (Jebel 

 Musa). Thence, after a few days, in a north-easterly direction by the 

 Wadies Zelegah, Biyar, El Ain, Et Tihyah, and Has en Nakb to Akabah. 



' Here the Arabs of the Towara tribe who had conveyed the party thus 

 far were dismissed ; and arrangements were entered into with the Sheikhs 

 of the Alowins for a convoy along the Wady el Arabah to Petra, and the 

 shore of the Salt Sea (Bahr Lut). This having been effected, the party 

 left Akabah on the 3rd of December ; and after visiting Petra, Mount 

 Hor (Jebel Haroun), and several of the branching valleys on either side, 

 reached Es Safieh on the 17th of the same month, and camped by the 

 -village of the Ghawarnebs, where they remained ten days, including 

 Christmas Day. Horses and mules having at length arrived from 

 Jerusalem, accompanied by a small escort of Turkish cavalry, the party 

 crossed to the western shore of the Salt Sea, and after examining Khas- 

 ham (or Jebel) Usdum (the salt mountain), ascended by the Wady 

 Zaweirah towards the table-land of Southern Palestine, camping succes- 

 sively at Wady el Abd, Tel el Melh, Bir es Saba (Beersheba), Tel Abu 

 Hareireh, and reaching Gaza on the last day of the year. Here the party 

 would have been obliged to remain in quarantine for fifteen days but for 

 the friendly offices of Lord Dufferin, the British Ambassador at Constan- 

 tinople, who procured their release on the morning of the fifth day. They 

 then proceeded onw T ards by Jaffa to Jerusalem, whence excursions 

 were made to the Jordan Valley, and other places around, and by which 

 two complete traverses of Southern and Central Palestine were effected. 

 The whole distance traversed was about 700 miles, of which 500 miles 

 were on camel- back, the remainder on horseback. A final expedition 

 through Northern Palestine was then arranged for, but was brought to an 

 end by a heavy fall of snow, which covered the whole of the table-land of 

 Palestine to a depth of two feet and upwards. The party left Jaffa on 

 their return to England on Friday, January 25, Major Kitchener having 

 previously returned to Egypt. 



' Scientific Results. — Before proceeding to give an outline of the scientific 

 results of the expedition, the author desires to express his obligations to 

 the writings of previous explorers in the same field, especially to those of 

 Russeger, Fraas, Tristram, and of MM. Lartet and Vigues, of the expedi- 

 tion carried out by the Due de Luynes. 



' 1. A complete trian^ulation of the district lying between the moun- 

 tains of Sinai and the Wady el Arabah, including that of the Wady el 

 Arabah itself, bounded on the west by the table-land of the Tib, and on 

 the east by the mountains of Edom and Moab. An outline survey along 

 the line of route was also made, and has been laid dewn in MS. on a map 

 prepared by Mr. Armstrong on the same scale as the reduced Map of 

 Palestine, viz. § inch to one statute mile, or T1TS Vnyxr- 



' 2. Some important rectifications of the borders of the Salt Sea, and 

 of the Gulf of Akabah, were also made. 



1884. T 



