88 GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCHES IN THE EAST. 



It was discovered by this traveler that the ruins of this memorable place 

 lie on a gentle declivity which descends to the wild ravine of Ayun Musa, 

 while on the south is a steep ascent to a rounded hill which projects boldly 

 from the plateau of Moab and commands an extensive view of Western 

 Palestine, and the name given by the Arabs to this hill is that of Jebel 

 Siaghah, "Mount Siaghah" — a corruption of the Hebrew Pisgah, there be- 

 ing no P in Arabic, but the other radical letters of the Hebrew word are 

 retained in Siaghah. Porter describes the summit of the hill as being a 

 little higher than the table-land which extends up to it, rich in soil, and 

 partially cultivated, a full view of Jeshimon, or Wilderness of Judea, being 

 obtained from it, and the whole topography corresponding exactl}^ with the 

 Biblical narrative in Numbers. From the ruins of Siaghah he also saw, 

 about due west, a round peak, connected with the northwest side of Jebel 

 Siaghah by a low, narrow neck of land. On ascending the peak — some 

 twenty minutes' travel from Siaghah, or a distance of about a mile — there 

 were found the ruins of an old town covering the summit and sides of the 

 hill, including, on the top, the remains of a Eoman castle, with a large 

 arched tank in the centre, now nearly filled with stones and broken columns, 

 while outside the castle are ruins of a still older date. The name of both 

 peak and town is Neba or JSTebbeh, and the summit is about four hundred 

 feet lower than Jebel Siaghah, but commands a much fuller view of the 

 Jordan valley, the Dead Sea and the Plain of Jericho. 



The fact appears to be unquestionable, according to Porter, that this 

 Neba is the town JS'ebo mentioned by Eusebius as six miles from Heshbon, 

 toward Jericho, a position exactly corresponding with that of these ruins ; 

 it is evident, too, from the Scrijjture narrative, that, in the time of Moses, 

 ISTebo was a town which gave its name to a section of the mountain-ridge 

 beside it, and such is the case still. Porter states tht^t he paid special at- 

 tention to the view from Nebo, and compared it with that described in the 

 account of the death of Moses. In the foreground, he says, far below, lies 

 the whole plain of Jericho, with the valley of the Jordan on the northern 

 shore of the Dead Sea, where the Israelites encamped, then called the plains 

 of Moab ; on the north is seen the range of Gilead, as far as its culminat- 

 ing point at Jebel Osha, the ancient Mizpah of Gilead, but all north of that 

 peak, including Hermon, is shut out ; on the northwest are visible, through 

 the long vista of the Jordan valley, the heights of Naphtali and southern 

 part of Lebanon ; from thence to Hebron the whole outline of Western 

 Palestine is in view, but no part of the Mediterranean is seen. It required 

 but a half hour's ride from Neba, down a difficult zigzag path, to reach 

 Ayun Musa, "the fountains of Moses," which spring up under a great cliff 

 in the bottom of the wild glen to which they give their name ; from this 

 fountain the peaks of Siaghah and Neba are both in sight, and the interest- 

 ing fact presents itself that, even to this day, the names Moses, Pisgah and 

 Nebo still cling to this spot— indeed, it seems highly probable, from the 

 observations made by this sagacious traveler, as well as from other concur- 



