218. . REPORx — 1873. 



portant place. There are terraces running down at regular intervals to the 

 bottom of the hill. 



At 9.20 wc reached the sister hill, on which the second pait of Kirjathaim 

 stood. Its ruins are almost exactly like those on the other liill. And as the 

 terraces here like those there descend all around, the rings of which they 

 consist, as a matter of course, becoming wider and wider as they 

 near the bottom, the last terraces of the two hills meet at the foot, and so 

 connect the two parts of the town. For this reason the place was called 

 Kirjathaim = " the duuhk-towned." In each part we saw a deep well, with 

 thoroughly cemented walls, capable of holding a very large quantity of water. 

 As the crow flies, Kirjathaim docs not seem more than ten minutes from 

 Kerak. 



At 9.30 ■we left Kirjathaim, and in less than ten minutes we reached a 

 place called lui-bach Xulet, and in about a quarter of an hour after (9.45) we 

 came to Kirbath Aziza. Here we found an old wine-jiress cut in the rock, 

 and on the other side of the rum we saw an enormous well. A very little 

 further on we came to Kirbath Nukad, and at 10.10 to Chorba Chaviya. We 

 then reached (at 10.40) a tremendous natural cavern, called Gava, and got to 

 Mochra at 10.53. This is a very extensive ruin, and has some remarkable 

 cisterns, caverns, and other remains of former glory rarely seen in other 

 places. The most interesting part of this place, however, is in its bearing on 

 the history or geography of Moab as recently disclosed on the Moabite Stone, 

 inasmuch as it supplies one of the two missing places mentioned on this 

 Triumphal Pillar. In lines 13 and 14 of the inscription, Mesha, king of 

 Moab, teUs us that after capturing Atarotli and slaying its inhabitants, " the 

 men of Gad who dwelled in it from time of yore," he repeopled the place 

 Avith "the men of Mochrath." The context plainly shoAvs that these men 

 must have been faithful subjects upon whom Ihe king could rely, and that 

 hence their dwelling-place was south of the Arnon ; but as far as our knoAV- 

 ledge goes, no such place has hitherto been identified. There can therefore 

 be hardly any doubt that this is the place. 



Within live minutes of the aboA^e ruin (10.57) we came to a place in ruins 

 called Gel-gul. After an hour and a quarter (12.7) we reached Mode, where 

 Ave saw a Eoman mile-stone. The inscription was so defaced that we could 

 not decipher in Avhich reign it Avas set up. At 1.25 Ave passed the Wady 

 Medin. On our Avay back we examined the ruin Chorbath Theniah, which 

 is close to Kerak. It is an extensive ruin, and it is rather remarkable that 

 so large a fortification and town should have been erected so near the for- 

 midable forts of Kerak. 



It was well that we had made use of our liberty thus to examine the 

 neighbouring countiy ; for on our return Ave found the old Sheikh Avith his 

 retinue of sons, cousins, nephews, brothers, and officials sitting in council 

 around and Avithin our tent. He heard that Ave Avere to leave Kerak soon ; and 

 as he wanted a pretext to plunder us, he told us lie had been infoi-med that we 

 had sent a messenger to Jerusalem to report his son's conduct. The fact is 

 that the Greek priest, Avho for some reason or other expected money from us, 

 and of course was disappointed, got to know that his catechist had secretly i^ro- 

 cured us a messenger, and reported to the Mugelly Sheikh that we had sent a 

 letter to Jerusalem. What harm this could have done to the old Sheikh was 

 a mystery, since he pretended to repudiate his son's robbery. The motive, 

 however, Avas apparent. In spite of all his cunning devices to conceal it, we 

 saw perfectly well that he wanted to extort money from us, and that he must 

 do it at once. This pretended deliverer of pui's therefore suddenly chaiiged 



