[p.343] we began to descend, and reached the bottom of the valley El
Ghor in seven hours and three quarters from our departure from Nazareth.
We now turned more southward, and followed the valley as far as Bysan,
distant eight hours and a quarter from Nazareth.
The two merchants and myself had left the caravan at Meraszrasz, and
proceeded to Bysan, there to repose till the camels came up: but the
drivers missed the road, and we continued almost the whole day in search
of them. Bysan (Bethsan, Scythopolis) is situated upon rising ground, on
the west side of the Ghor, where the chain of mountains bordering the
valley declins considerably in height, and presents merely elevated
ground, quite open towards the west. At one hour distant, to the south,
the mountains begin again. The ancient town was watered by a river, now
called Moiet Bysan (Arabic), or the water of Bysan, which flows in
different branches towards the plain. The ruins of Scythopolis are of
considerable extent, and the town, built along the banks of the rivulet
and in the valleys formed by its several branches, must have been nearly
three miles in circuit. The only remains are large heaps of black hewn
stones, many foundations of houses, and the fragments of a few columns.
I saw only a single shaft of a column standing. In one of the valleys is
a large mound of earth, which appeared to me to be artificial; it was
the site perhaps of a castle for the defence of the town. On the left
bank of the stream is a large Khan, where the caravans repose which take
the shortest road from Jerusalem to Damascus.
The present village of Bysan contains seventy or eighty houses; its
inhabitants are in a miserable condition, from being exposed to the
depredations of the Bedouins of the Ghor, to whom they also pay a heavy
tribute. After waiting here some time for the arrival of the caravan, we
rode across the valley, till we reached the