GEOGRAPHICAL irXPLORATION OP MOAB. 223 



of miles under the greatest privations to do homage in the birthrphice of the 

 Saviour, on the various spots where the greatest of his miracles were per- 

 formed, -where he suffered, died, and was buried, were determined to have 

 the scenes. Hence the different sections of the Church, inspired by pious 

 devotion, and aided by the cupidity of the natives, have not only been able 

 to discover the place of every event, but to secure for themselves severally a 

 different spot where the same event was enacted. 



The ease, however, is different in Moab. Here no events connected with 

 the life of Christ have taken place. Here no pilgrims have come in search 

 of sites. Very few even of explorers have traversed the country. Hence 

 the natives, who can neither read nor write, and who are dependent for 

 information upon hearsay, have never heard from outsiders what places are 

 wanted, and therefore do not know them, and cannot supply them. 



GeograpMcal Exploration of Moah. By Rev. H. B. Tristram, F.B.S. 



The expedition for the exploration of the countiy of Moab, so liberally 

 aided by the grant of the British Association, set out from Jerusalem on the 

 30th of January. Our party was reinforced by Mr. E. C. Johnson, who proved 

 himself invaluable both as a surveyor and a photographer ; Mr. Buxton, not 

 less efficient as a photographer and observer ; Mr. Hayne, who devoted him- 

 self with great success to the botany of the country ; Mr. Mowbray Trotter, 

 to whose gun we were indebted for many a meal ; and the llev. F. A. Klein, 

 of Jerusalem, the discoverer of the Moabite Stone, whose thorough knowledge 

 of Arabic and of the people and the country rendered him an invaluable 

 member of the party, till suddenly recalled home by a melancholy domestic 

 affliction. 



"VVe determined to enter the country from the south, as being the most 

 difficult and least known route, our course being by Hebron, Engedi, Masada, 

 or Sebbeh, Jebel Usdum, and thence across the Stbkha, or barren sand-flat, 

 which extends for several miles to the south of the Dead Sea. This we ac- 

 complished with a guard of the Jehalin tribe of Arabs. At the edge of the 

 Sebkha we were on the frontier-line of ancient Moab and Edom ; and here 

 we met with some little difficulty from a robber tribe, the Beni Atiyeh, with 

 whom, however, after a faint show of hostilities and a few random shots, we 

 were able to make terms. Wo found the Ghor es Safieh, which we were able 

 to examine at leisure, very much more extensive southward and eastward 

 than it is marked in the maps. It is, in fact, a fertile belt scarcely raised 

 above the level of the Dead Sea, IG miles from north to south, and fed by 

 the numerous perennial streams and springs which gush from the lofty sand- 

 stone range that forms the buttress of the Hants Plateau of Moab. On the 

 heights above the southern extremity are the villages of Tufileh and Feifeh, 

 on the banks of streams, which we were not aljle to visit. Our exploration 

 of the Safieh was carried out under considerable difficulty, as the natives were 

 lawless, and we could only move with an escort of horsemen. However, we 

 were able to ascertain, in our rides with our guards and in several rambles 

 on foot, that there are no remains of importance in the oasis itself. The 

 principal ruins arc of some 'extent, indicating a well-built village, with 

 several fragments of columns and Roman work, called Kasr el Bushireh ; and 

 a little higher up is a tolerably perfect water-mill, and a Saracenic gateway 

 of rather mde construction, belonging apparently to a ruined Khan ; it ia 



