[p.356] Adouan and Rowalla. I had once engaged four armed men to
accompany me on foot to the place, but when we were just setting out,
after sunset, their wives came crying to my lodging, and upbraided their
husbands with madness in exposing their lives for a couple of piastres.
Being equally unsuccessful in several other attempts, and tired of the
exaggerations of my land-lord, who pretended that I should be in danger
of being stripped, and even killed, I at length became impatient, and
quitting Szalt in the evening of the 6th, I rode over to Feheis, where
the greater part of the Szaltese were encamped, for the labours of the
harvest, and where it was more likely that I should meet with a guide.
On my way I passed the deep Wady Ezrak (Arabic), where is a rivulet and
several mills.
El Feheis is a ruined city, with a spring near it; here are the remains
of an arched building, in which the Christians sometimes perform divine
service. Below Feheis, upon the top of a lower mountain, is the ruined
place called El Khandok (Arabic), which appears to have been a fort; it
is surrounded with a wall of large stones, and the remains of several
bastions are visible. From a point near Khandok, the Dead sea, which I
saw for the first time, bears S.W. b. W.
At Feheis I was so fortunate as to find a guide who five years ago had
served in the same capacity to Mousa, the name assumed by M. Seetzen. As
he was well acquainted with all the Bedouins, and on friendly terms with
them, he engaged to take me to Amman, in company with another horseman.
July 7th.We set off before sunrise. On leaving Feheis we crossed a
mountainous country, passed through a thick forest of oak trees, and in
three quarters of an hour reached the Ardh el Hemar, which is the name
of a district extending north and south for about two hours. Here are a
number of springs, which have rendered it a