_THE SURVEY OF MOAB._
The survey of Western Palestine was happily complete in 1877, and the
map was out in the following year; but the Memoirs were still not half
published when, in 1881, I was again given command of a party instructed
to carry the work east of Jordan. The adventures of the fifteen months
which followed were far more exciting than any encountered west of the
river. Even in 1877, when it was thought that some trouble might arise,
the condition of affairs was really favourable, as the Turkish
Government was very cordial, and all the dangerous characters were
drafted out of the country to the war, leaving only peaceful elders,
women, and boys. But in 1881-82 there was great excitement preceding the
Alexandria massacres and the expectation of a Moslem Messiah in the year
1300 of the Hegira. In addition to this, our relations with Turkey had
altered. The new Sultan refused to prolong our firman or to allow any
exploration. The British Government served me with a notice that any
expedition I might undertake was at my own risk, and that they would not
be responsible for the consequences. We had, therefore, no support on
which to rely, and were yet expected to work in the wildest districts,
against the will of the Government of the country, and in a time of
religious and popular excitement, finally culminating in massacre.
Arriving at Beirût in March 1881, before the assistants and the stores
had left England, I determined to fill out the time by a journey through
Northern Syria, in company with Lieutenant Mantell, R.E. The object of
the excursion, which, by hard riding, was carried through in eighteen
days, was to search for the lost city of Kadesh on Orontes. On our way
through Baalbek we made the discovery of a Greek inscription painted in
red in a chamber behind the north apse of the church built by Theodosius
in the great enclosure. It appears to me to be as old as the time of the
building of this church, and had not, I believe, been previously
noticed.
Our farthest point was the ancient and picturesque town of Homs, whence
we returned by the valley of the Eleutherus to Tripoli, and down the
Phœnician coast. The full account of this journey I have already
given (“Heth and Moab,” chaps. i. and ii.). The impression left on my
mind was that few parts of the East would now better repay scientific
exploration than Northern Syria. Excavations at Carchemish are urgently
needed. Rock-tablets and large ruins exist in the Northern Lebanon, as
yet very imperfectly explored. Round Homs there are great mounds
awaiting the spade, which probably contain Hittite and other remains of
the highest interest. Even the remains existing above-ground are as yet
little known, though De Vogüé has done much for the Byzantine ruins of
this region.
Kadesh on Orontes was the Hittite capital attacked by Rameses II., and
an Egyptian picture represents it as a walled town surrounded by the
river. Its discovery, which rewarded our labour, gave an instance of the
necessity of keeping the mind open in archæological research, and of
avoiding preconceived theory. South of Homs is a great lake, which, in
the fourteenth century, was known as the Lake of Kadesh. A mound in this
lake was thought likely to be the site of the city. We found, however,
that the lake was artificial, being formed by a Roman dam across the
river. This agrees with the statement of a Rabbinical writer, who says
that the lake was made by Diocletian as a reservoir for the supply of
Homs, the ancient Emesa; and an aqueduct still leads from the dam to
this city. The lake, then, did not exist in the days of Rameses II.
Camping for the night a few miles south of this lake, I, as usual,
inquired for the names of towns, ruins, &c., in the district, and to my
surprise the name _Kades_ was among them. We therefore altered our plan,
and turned aside to explore the place pointed out under this name. We
found it to be the site of an important town on the Orontes, about five
miles south of the lake, and it was afterwards discovered that previous
travellers had recovered the name, though it had escaped the map-makers.
Standing on the great mound, and observing how the Orontes washes it on
the east, while a tributary stream flows on the west and joins the river
immediately to the north, no doubt remained possible that the name
survived at a site exactly fulfilling the requirements of the Egyptian
account. Excavations at the recovered Hittite capital might lead to very
important discoveries, if thoroughly carried out.
I was much interested also to find a considerable Turkoman population in
these plains; for the border between Turkic and Arab populations is
generally placed much farther north. This mingling of Turanian and
Semitic peoples round the old Hittite capital represents, in our own
times, just the same racial condition which we gather to have existed in
the time of Rameses II.
It has come to be generally recognised that the Kheta or Hittites were a
Mongolic people, speaking what is called an “agglutinative” language,
which was, I believe, akin to the Turkic dialects.[46] They were thus
related to that ancient race of Chaldea and Media which, through the
labours of Sir Henry Rawlinson and of Dr. Oppert, and their disciples of
the second generation, has been so wonderfully demonstrated to have
produced the existing population of Central Asia and of the Turkish
hordes which spread over Asia Minor. The hieroglyphics found at Hamath,
a day’s journey north of Emesa, are the same characters now known in
many parts of Asia Minor, and of which examples occur even in Nineveh
and at Babylon.
Our troubles were all before us. The Wâli of Syria caused us to be
privately told that he must forbid any exploration under the old firman.
The Druzes were in rebellion, and the Hauran, which I had intended first
to enter, was surrounded by a cordon which we could not pass. Moving
southwards, I found the Belka governor, who lives at Nâblus, equally
firm. The word had been sent all over Syria. Moreover, the great Arab
tribes of the Belka were at war, and the Adwân had just killed a chief
of the Beni Sakhr. I soon found that we were watched by spies, and,
moreover, that the Turkish power east of Jordan had been so much
strengthened since the time when Sir Charles Warren visited Moab, that
it was very hard to find an Arab chief independent of the Turks with
whom to treat. I felt that the lives and safety of my party rested on my
decision, and that while subscribers at home were eager for results, the
question of putting my followers in peril rested on my shoulders.
There was another consideration which also weighed with me. Imprudent
action and an open breach with the Government of the country might not
only endanger our safety and entirely stop our work, but it might also
close the doors for many years on Palestine explorers.
After patient waiting, however, during several months, which were fully
employed in visiting places of interest only imperfectly described
before, fortune at length favoured us for a while. The quarrels of the
Arabs were settled, and I found at last a sturdy Arab chief of the old
school, regarded by the Turks as a rebel, but powerful and respected
over a large area east of Jordan, and willing to escort us. I was thus
able to carry out the wishes of those at home and to start the Eastern
Survey. It was not difficult, by leaving the greater part of my camp
standing west of Jerusalem, to give the Turkish spies the slip. A
regular treaty with Goblan, the aged Adwân chief, was signed. With
Lieutenant Mantell I crossed Jordan, and finding that no active steps
were taken by the Government, I sent for the rest of the expedition. For
two anxious months we laboured at very high pressure; and after
measuring our base-line and connecting our triangulation with that west
of the river, we worked over five hundred square miles in detail.
I had quite hoped that, though not recognised, we might be tolerated in
the country, and I believe we might have worked still longer--for I
doubt if the Turks at all knew where we were gone--but that there was an
adverse influence of some kind at work. Whether it was the jealousy of
the Beni Sakhr, or whether some political counter-current existed, I was
unable to find out. The Beni Sakhr had certainly seemed friendly. We had
already subsidised them, and they expected us soon to work in their
country, and to pay them handsomely for escort. No means that I could
think of was neglected to interest all who could help in our peaceful
and rapid progress. Yet suddenly the whole plan was spoilt by the
extraordinary action of the Beni Sakhr chiefs. I am not aware that they
are conspicuous for devotion to Turkish interests, though certainly they
hated Goblân, with whom they had a blood-feud and whose life they
sought. Whatever their reason, they went out of their way to draw
attention to our presence. The Haj, conducted by the famous Kurdish
Pasha, Muhammad Said of Damascus, was on its way through Moab to Mecca.
To this Pasha they pointed out that English captains were measuring the
land, and he only did his duty when he at once ordered us to be stopped,
and telegraphed to Damascus, whence the news was sent to the Sultan. The
governor of the Belka was reprimanded, and he in turn came down on the
governor of Es Salt. Yet even after this we were able to extend the work
over a considerable area, and only recrossed Jordan in time to escape
from the winter storms or from being cut off by the flooding of the
river. It was in the same year that Mr. Rassam’s researches in
Mesopotamia were stopped, and no important or extensive explorations
have since that date been possible in the Turkish dominions.
We could not blame the Turks for their action. They had every reason to
be jealous and suspicious at a time when the war in Egypt was brewing,
when Cyprus had been handed over and Tunis annexed, and when Russian
political emissaries were, I believe, actually exploring Northern Syria.
It was not likely that the Sultan or his advisers would discriminate
closely between antiquarian work and political intrigue, especially as
our explorations were not likely to put much money in the treasury. It
had been my wish to go to Constantinople, and to place the matter fully
before the Sultan, before attempting to begin the work; but when I was
instructed to go to the capital, after our irregular proceedings had
been peremptorily stopped, it was with a bad grace that I was forced to
ask for regular authorisation, which, though promised, has not yet been
granted.
In spite of all difficulties, a substantial bit of work was done--about
an eighth of the total proposed--and we came back from the desert with
our hands full of valuable results. I believe that but for the Beni
Sakhr, or their unknown instigators, we might, through Turkish
good-nature, have been allowed to work for some time longer. As it was,
I revisited Moab and Gilead next year, through the kindness of our
Royal Princes, and thus have seen nearly all the country east of Jordan
except Bashan, on which I have only looked from a distance. Finally, we
left Syria on a steamer crowded with refugees from the Alexandrian
massacres; and Lieutenant Mantell and I had hardly been six weeks in
England when we were ordered to Egypt on active service.
Since that date I have been in two campaigns, serving on the staff at
Tell-el-Kebir, and laying down the west border of the Transvaal in South
Africa; yet I can look back on no more anxious time than the weeks we
spent in surveying Moab. Surrounded with lawless Arabs: roused almost
every night, at times, by the attacks of thieves bent on stealing the
horses on which we so much reckoned; having nothing on which to trust
but the unproved loyalty of our old guide, Sheikh Goblan, whose life was
in constant danger from his blood-foes on the south, and his liberty
from the Turks, who had often tried to catch him, on the north; placed
in opposition to the Turkish Government and disowned by the British,--we
felt that a disaster might any day occur which might endanger the lives
of brave comrades who had ventured to follow, but who certainly were
alive to the perils of our position. I write these lines not to
exaggerate those dangers, for Goblan was trusty and our relations with
the Arabs were excellent, but to show how difficult it was to carry
through even that small portion of the great task which we completed,
and how utterly impossible it was to do any more.
The stoppage of the work was a great disappointment to us all; but I can
only feel thankful that no accident marred our success, and that the sum
banked in Syria to pay ransom in case of our being imprisoned, like Dr.
Tristram in Kerak, or kidnapped by the wild Anazeh to the east, who
could have brought many armed horsemen against our little band of
fifteen, was never called into use.
[Illustration: MOAB MOUNTAINS FROM THE PLAIN OF SHITTIM.]
Crossing the Jordan, and traversing the plain of Shittim, we ascended
the great sandstone spurs to camp by the Brook of Heshbon. Thence we
afterwards went south, camping in the wild ravine of Wâdy Jideid, inside
the curious Hadânieh circle, and again farther south, near the brink of
the gorge of Callirrhoe. A rapid countermarch, which put the Turks at
fault, took us thence northwards to Rabbath Ammon in Gilead.
The most remarkable feature of our work was the systematic examination
of the rude stone monuments, of which we catalogued some seven hundred
in all. They were known to exist east of Jordan, but it was not, I
think, expected that they would prove more numerous in this region than
anywhere else except in Tunis; and the contrast with their absence in
Western Palestine is very remarkable.[47]
Rude stone monuments are found in many parts of Asia, in Europe, and in
North Africa. They occur from Norway to Tunis, and from India to
Ireland, and they still present many curious problems to the
antiquarian. These questions have been complicated by the utilitarian
suggestions of writers, who ignore the folk-lore which is so closely
interwoven with the history of these remains. It appears, I think,
clear, first, that the rude stone monuments are of very high antiquity,
having probably been erected in most, if not in all cases, by the early
Turanians, who in Asia, North Africa, and Europe preceded the Aryans and
the Semites, and who are called by modern students Iberians even in our
own islands; and, secondly, that no study of these remains can be
considered complete which ignores the beliefs concerning them surviving
among the peasant populations of the regions where they occur.
Rude stone monuments are known in Arabia, and have been found near Lake
Van and in Persia, in the Crimea and east of the Black Sea. They occur
in Greece, in Cyprus, and in Phœnicia. There is, therefore, no reason
for surprise at their discovery in Galilee, in Bashan, Gilead, and Moab.
The only curious fact is their absence in Samaria and in Judea. There
are some peculiarities, such as the occurrence of orientated avenues,
of talyots or bilithons, of single stones outside circles, and of
ring-marks on rocks, familiar in our own land, but not as yet noted in
Syria. I confine my remarks, therefore, to the Syrian remains, including
_Menhirs_, or erect stones, whether single or in groups, circles or
alignments; _Dolmens_, or monuments with a flat stone table; _Stone
Circles_, _Disc Stones_, and _Cup-hollows_, all of which are exemplified
in Moab.
[Illustration: A DOLMEN WEST OF HESHBON.]
It is clear that a stone may be placed on end for more than one purpose,
though that purpose is generally monumental. Some enormous stones near
’Ammân, I believe, marked boundaries. Standing-stones have also been
used to record events, like the Moabite Stone or the modern gravestone.
Stones and stone pillars, or even cairns and heaps, have been used as
memorials of a visit to some shrine, and are still so used. Other erect
stones in Greece, in Chaldea, in Phœnicia, and in India are idols and
lingams, worshipped as containing a spirit. In every case the explorer
must consider the most probable reason for the erection of the stone. In
Greece such stones--afterwards sculptured as terminal figures--marked
boundaries, or were sacred emblems. Such boundary-stones occur also in
Babylonia, and sacred stones are also mentioned in Chaldean temples.
Jacob and Saul and other Hebrew heroes erected such memorials, and the
pagan Arabs bedaubed them with blood, and offered to them their babes
and daughters, and swore by them as sacred emblems.
In some cases burial at the foot of such a stone may possibly mark a
human sacrifice, as, for instance, at Place Farm, in Wiltshire, where a
skeleton was found by a _menhir_ in the centre of a circle; but no
sepulchral remains are found by or under the majority of these
monuments. In all countries where they occur they are remarkable for a
rounded or pointed top, which resembles that of later obelisks. In India
the lingam stones are worshipped, and peasants rub against them. In some
rural districts maidens lean against them, expecting to see a future
husband. Marriages were often celebrated by such stones. The Greystone,
by the Tweed, witnessed marriages, where bride and bridegroom joined
hands through a hole in the stone. Oaths were sworn at these stones in
France to a late date; and the oath of Woden was sworn by men who joined
hands through the stone. In Sardinia great stones with holes occur at
the tombs called Giants’ Graves, and also form the entrance to a circle
called _cuisses de femme_. I have never found such holed stones in
Syria, but a pair occur in Cyprus, which I think, from their size, not
likely to have belonged, as some suppose, to an oil-press.
These standing-stones were often anointed with oil, with blood, or with
milk. Libations of milk were poured through a stone in the Western
Isles. Alexander anointed with oil the pillar on the grave of Achilles,
as Jacob anointed the stone of Bethel, or as the Arabs smeared their
_ansâb_ with blood. The lingam stones in India are still anointed with
ghee, and stone circles are splashed with blood. In Aberdeenshire water
was believed to spring from a hollow in the top of a sacred stone; in
Brittany the _menhirs_ were believed to go to the river to drink. Such
monuments are also wishing-stones, such as Dhu esh Sher’a, a black stone
at Petra, or the Hajr el Mena (“stone of desire”), which we found in
Moab. To some prayers for rain have been offered. Breton _menhirs_, and
others in India and in Somersetshire, are said to represent
wedding-parties turned to stone; others in the Khassia Hills are adored
as ancestors by tribes which burn the dead. The stones of Allât, ’Azzi,
and Hobal at Taif--still shown--were once adored as deities by Arabs, as
were those of Asaf, and Naila, and Khalisah near Mecca.
Such instances out of many which have been collected show that the idea
of a “Holy Stone” is no theorist’s dream. Those who see in these
monuments only gravestones or boundary-marks have not fully studied the
facts of the case.
One curious feature of such stones I have not seen noticed. In Gilead I
found a fallen _menhir_ with a hollow artificially made in the side, as
though to put something into the stone. At Kit’s Cotty-house I found
similar holes in the side stones. At Stonehenge I found them in some
instances even larger. No doubt many other cases are known.[48] The
holes are not water-worn, but have been rubbed as though by fingers or
arms thrust constantly into the stone. They are not lewis holes, and
they were made after the stones were erected. Probably they were
enlarged, like the hole in the pillar at the Church of St. Sophia in
Constantinople, by countless visitors putting their fingers into the
same hole.
The great alignments of Brittany and of Dartmoor are well known, though
the reason for their erection is doubtful. In Moab I found one place
where such a collection of standing-stones exists. It is called El
Mareighât, “the smeared things,” and stands on the plateau north of the
great valley of Callirrhoe. There is a rude circle of _menhirs_ at the
site, with a trilithon or dolmen on one side. It surrounds a knoll on
which is a group of _menhirs_, the tallest being six feet high. To the
east is a large _menhir_, which has been hewn to a rounded head and
grooved horizontally, and between this and the circle is an alignment
consisting of several rows of shorter _menhirs_, running north and
south. The hills close by are covered with fine specimens of dolmens,
many of which I measured.
It is impossible to regard this monument as sepulchral. The stones
stand, like many in India and elsewhere, on the bare rock. The circle
resembles many found in other lands; and the wild tribes of Western
India still sacrifice a cock at such circles, smearing the stones with
its blood; while the Khonds adore the sun in similar circles, the
tallest _menhir_ being on the east. In Mecca, the Kaabah was once
surrounded by seven such stones, which also were smeared with blood. I
believe the Mareighât circle to be an ancient temple, and the dolmen
which faces the central group on the west to be probably an altar facing
the sun rising behind the stones, while the alignments appear to consist
of memorial stones erected by visitors to the shrine--just as the Moslem
pilgrim still erects his stone _mesh-hed_ or “memorial” in the
neighbourhood of any shrine.
What has been said of erected stones or _menhirs_ equally applies to
what are called dolmens in France, or cromlechs in England, namely,
stone tables raised on other stones. Such monuments also may have been
erected for many purposes--as huts, as tombs, and as altars. Any hasty
generalisation will certainly fail to account for every case.
Unfortunately, the great authority of the late Mr. Fergusson, and his
wide acquaintance with such subjects, have led recent writers to neglect
many important facts not mentioned in his works, and to speak of dolmens
as ancient tombs with a degree of dogmatism which shows that their own
researches have not been very widely extended. After examining seven
hundred examples of these monuments in Moab and Gilead, I have come to
the conclusion that the sepulchral theory is often quite untenable,
though we cannot deny that such rude blocks were often piled up to form
huge cists or chambers hidden beneath mounds, and intended to hold
either the corpse or the ashes of the dead. Sepulchral
chambers--dolmens, if you will--under mounds are widely found; but a
trilithon on bare rock, not so covered, is clearly unfitted for a tomb,
especially when it is not large enough to cover even the body of a
child. Moreover, the stone table is sometimes supported by flat stones
on the rock; and observers who have found bones under dolmens have not
always proved that they are original interments. Nothing is more
indestructible than an earthen mound, and in many cases in Moab it was
certain that no mound had ever covered the stones. There was nothing but
hard rock to be found, and no cairn had ever existed to fulfil the
purpose of a mound.
Again, I say, we must turn to local superstitions in order fully to
understand the use of trilithons and dolmens. Wild as are the legends,
they preserve what was once the religion of the dolmen-building tribes.
In the Talmud we find mention of such a monument as connected with
idolatrous worship in the second century A.D., the trilithon being in
this case placed in front of a _menhir_.[49] In 1872 I found such a
monument on Gilboa, and another example has since been found in Bashan,
while a similar combination is also known in one instance in Sweden. At
the temple of Demeter in Arcadia, Pausanias mentions a trilithon called
the Petroma, by which the Greeks swore, and under which they kept a
certain sacred book, which was yearly read by a priest. At Larnaca, in
Cyprus, a dolmen is said to exist in a chapel, and in Spain one is found
in the crypt of a Church of St. Miguel in the Asturias, and another in a
hermitage.[50] The modern Arabs beyond Jordan use miniature dolmens,
generally on the west side of the circles round the graves of their
chiefs, as little tables on which to place offerings to the spirits of
the dead.
Dolmens are also connected with the old ceremony of “passing through,”
which is observed in India as well as in our own islands. St. Willibald,
in the eighth century, speaks of Christians squeezing between two
pillars in the church on Olivet; and as late as 1881 the Moslems in
Jerusalem squeezed between two pillars in the Aksa Mosque. Near Madras,
the Hindus used to crawl through the hole in a sacred rock. In Ripon
Cathedral, “threading the needle” was a similar rite. Children were also
passed through ash and oak trees, and through hoops, or dragged through
holes in the ground and under door-sills. At Craig Mady, in
Stirlingshire, the newly wedded used to crawl through a dolmen.[51] In
the Jordan Valley, near the Jabbok, and again in Bashan, dolmens exist
having a hole in the end-stone, and many are surrounded by a circle of
stones in both districts, as also were some Celtic dolmens. On the
dolmens in Ireland, called “beds of Diarmed and Grain,” youths and girls
used to deposit gifts of corn and of flowers. The Cyprus girls,
according to Cesnola, in like manner visit the _menhirs_ pierced with
holes, and place in them offerings of jewellery, lighting candles before
them,--which illustrates a previous remark as to these holes in the
stones. There is a curious monument in the Jordan Valley, with a stone
hollowed into a sort of arch a yard in diameter, through which it would
be easy to crawl. From such notes it is clear that dolmens are
intimately connected with ancient superstitious practices. The crawling
through was always believed either to cure sickness or to ensure good
fortune, and the dolmen has often been used as an altar.
After making measured drawings of about a hundred and fifty dolmens in
Moab, I was able to obtain some general results. In some cases the top
stone is raised only a foot from the ground, and in others the trilithon
is so small that it would not serve as anything but a table or seat.
Some examples on the hillsides consisted of a table stone resting on the
rock at one end, and on a single side stone at the other. In others the
table was supported by horizontal stones. In most cases it was slightly
tilted, and in very few were the stones even roughly hewn in shape. Not
only could we never find any trace of sepulture, or of a grave beneath,
but often the size precluded the idea that the dolmen could have been
either a hut or a tomb. In other cases a sort of box was formed which
could have held a body, but it was not covered by any mound. The
general purpose seemed clearly to be the production of a flat table-like
surface.
It may, however, appear strange that if these dolmens occur in such
numbers at one site, they should be regarded as altars;[52] but we must
not forget the story of Balaam and Balak. Visiting in succession three
mountain-tops, whence the enchanter was bid to curse Israel, he
addresses Balak in each case in the words, “Build me here seven altars.”
And on each of these mountains we found groups of dolmen still standing.
A curious circumstance in connection with dolmens is that they usually
occur near springs and streams. The groups in Moab were all so placed,
just as Kit’s Cotty-house stands near the Medway, or Stonehenge above
the Avon, or like the dolmen near a sacred spring in Finisterre.
_Menhirs_ also, as we have seen, are similarly connected with water and
with rain.
There is, perhaps, a simple reason for this circumstance. Stonehenge was
near a British village, and the rude tribes which built the dolmens no
doubt, like all early migrants, settled round the natural waters of the
country. But it is also not impossible that water was required in
connection with rites at the dolmen altars.
Another very interesting observation was the occurrence of
cup-hollows--artificial pittings, in some cases connected by well-marked
artificial ducts or channels--in the table stones of the dolmens. These
cup-hollows were, in some cases, quite as well formed as any that I have
seen in England. I found one very unmistakable example on the Holy Rock
on Mount Gerizim, where, it is said, by the Samaritans, to mark the site
of the laver in the court of the Tabernacle.
I am not aware that any accepted theory has been formed about these
hollows;[53] but they are often found on high tops and on or near
dolmens. We must not forget that wild tribes of Asia and of Europe have
always attached great virtue to the healing power of dew, especially the
dews of spring-time. Perhaps dew may have been collected in these
hollows and used for superstitious rites.
Two other classes of rude stone structures in Moab have still to be
mentioned. The first of these is the class of great circles with walls
made by heaps of stones piled up like cairns. These I have never found
elsewhere, though they recall the earthen mounds which form circles in
England, sometimes surrounding menhirs or dolmens, and sometimes I
believe used as meeting-places or courts of justice. A splendid specimen
occurs on a spur at Hadânieh above a great spring on the slopes near
Mount Nebo. Inside this circle, as a precaution against thieves, I set
up my whole camp and stabled my horses. Hadânieh means “sepulture,” and
a small circle outside the great structure here surrounds the grave of
an Arab chief. The great circle is 250 feet across, the walls are thirty
to forty feet thick and some five feet high, and a smaller wall inside
divides the area unequally. There is an enormous cairn on the hill above
about three-quarters of a mile away on the east.
Another circle of equal size was found by Lieutenant Mantell on the
south slope of Mount Nebo, and east of ’Ammân two more about sixty feet
in diameter. Yet another occurs at Kom Yajuz, measuring 200 feet across,
and we visited two others of nearly the same size. To one of these the
name El Mahder applies, which is radically the same word as Hazor, “the
enclosure.” There is nothing to show the age or object of these works,
which must have entailed considerable labour, as they are so much larger
than the circles of stones which the Arabs now build up round the graves
of their chiefs.
The last class of monuments consists of great disc stones, which
resemble mill-stones, but are much too large to be used for such a
purpose. One of these, in the Jordan Valley, lies flat, like a mighty
cheese, by a thorn tree, and measures eleven feet across. It is called
“the dish of Abu Zeid,” an Arab legendary hero, who is said to have
heaped it with rice and with a whole camel as a feast to his allies. It
weighs probably some twenty tons. Another example stands on end in a
ruined village, and is 9½ feet in diameter. A third, on a prominent
hill, surrounded by dolmens, also stands up like a wheel, and is six
feet across, without any hole in the centre.
The origin of these monuments is also very uncertain, but we must not
forget that one of the towns of Moab mentioned on the Moabite Stone and
in the Bible was called Beth Diblathaim, which means “the house of the
two discs” (or “cakes”). Mill-stones are common enough in Syrian ruins,
as are the pillars of olive-presses, but no explorer who is familiar
with these is likely to confound them with the great _menhirs_ and disc
stones which have been here described.
Such were the monuments which we discovered and described east of
Jordan, and I have only to add a few words on the important questions of
their age and distribution.
As regards age, these monuments--_dolmens_ and _menhirs_--were erected
apparently by a people who had little mechanical power. Very rarely are
the stones shaped, however roughly, and the dolmens are hardly ever on
hill-tops, but on slopes where they might be easily formed by dragging
the stones down-hill, and sliding the cap-stones on to their supports.
Probably the people that erected them was unable to sculpture or to
write. In other countries such monuments are of high antiquity, and
there is no reason why they should not be very ancient in Syria.
As regards distribution, these monuments are absent in Judea and
Samaria. There is one example on Gilboa, and five or six in Upper
Galilee, one of which is called “the stone of blood.” I have seen near
Jeba, north of Jerusalem, what might be a fallen dolmen, and have found
what might be cup-hollows, but more probably these were mortars scooped
in the rock in which gleanings of the fields were crushed. East of
Jordan there are such hollows, used for making gunpowder, not connected
with dolmens. The surveyors, who found so many dolmens in Moab, found
none at all south of Galilee. In Moab, Gilead, and Bashan they are more
numerous than anywhere else in Western Asia, as at present known.
In a previous chapter I have noticed that pottery statuettes, found in
abundance in Phœnicia, are almost unknown in Palestine proper, and
have suggested the reason. The same reason holds good, perhaps, as
regards the rude stone monuments. They may very probably have once
existed, and may have been purposely destroyed. Israel was commanded to
“smash” the _menhirs_ of the Canaanites, to “upset” their altars, and to
destroy their images. These commands Josiah, the zealous king of Judah,
is recorded to have carried into practice. May not this, I would ask, be
the true reason for their disappearance? The Greeks and the Romans would
not have so acted, and dolmens still stand close to the Roman city of
’Ammân. The Arabs, who left them east of Jordan, and who regard them as
“ghouls’ houses,” would not have destroyed them west of the river.
Josiah and Hezekiah did not penetrate beyond Jordan. At Dan many of
these monuments seem to have been purposely overthrown. It seems to me
therefore probable that the absence of such monuments, like the absence
of sculptures and of pottery images, is best explained by supposing
their destruction in the time of the reforming kings of Judah. It seems
to me also that the existing monuments, though not impossibly erected by
Nabatheans or other pagan Arabs, are very probably the surviving work of
Canaanite tribes, as are very certainly the hieroglyphic inscriptions of
Northern Syria. The age so claimed for these remains is not equal to
that of some of the monuments of Egypt and of Chaldea, which represent a
more advanced civilisation, and the presence of dolmens on the slopes
of Nebo cannot but recall the altars which Balak, king of Moab, is said
to have erected on that mountain.[54]
The ruins of the cities of Heshbon and Medeba are those of Roman towns
with later Byzantine additions. At Medeba there was a fine church, of
which only foundations remain. Here the Jesuit Fathers claimed to have
discovered four ancient Nabathean inscriptions, which I afterwards
copied in Jerusalem; but I regret to say that learned opinion regards
these as forgeries. Such texts should be found in Moab, and Sir Charles
Warren obtained a copy of one said to exist farther south. At present,
however, the Moabite Stone is the only important inscription from this
region. It was found accidentally by a missionary, just as the Siloam
text was discovered by a Jewish boy. Even of this monument the
genuineness has been questioned by a learned writer, but his reasons
seem to be insufficient. He says that the letters are much sharper than
the water-worn surface of the stone, and hence argues that they were
carved by the forger on an old cippus. My experience in respect to a
very large number of ancient texts which I have copied is that the
letters are generally better preserved than the surface. They get filled
with mud, and are thus guarded against the weather, which wears the
surface in which they are cut.
[Illustration: VIEW OF DEAD SEA FROM MOUNT NEBO.]
There is one famous spot in Moab which requires special notice, namely,
Mount Nebo, whence Moses is recorded to have gazed on the Promised Land.
The celebrated “Pisgah view” has often been described, but some writers
seem to have given accounts not based on notes taken on the spot. The
value of all geographical descriptions depends on their being written
with the scene before the eyes of the writer, for memory plays strange
tricks, and in the present case accuracy is of the greatest importance.
I not only made detailed notes sitting on the ruined cairn on Nebo, but
I also drew an outline of the panorama which is preserved in my
note-book. The most important fact is that the Mediterranean Sea is not
in sight; and as the heights of Nebo and of the chief tops of the
western watershed are now certainly known within four or five feet, it
is possible to say with certainty that the Great Sea is invisible from
Nebo, because it is hidden throughout by the western watershed of Judea
and Samaria.[55] We had the advantage of being familiar with every
hill-top in sight, and, moreover, saw the view in clear weather.
Mount Nebo is a site fixed beyond dispute. It retains the name Neba,
which applies to the highest knoll on a long spur running out west from
the plateau between Heshbon and Medeba. As already noted, there are
traces of a ring of dolmens round the knoll, and it is curious that none
of these particular examples are mentioned in any previous account of
the site, as far as I can find. Lower down on the ridge is the ruin
Siaghah, preserving the name Seath, which stands instead of Nebo in the
Targum of Onkelos. To the north are the “Springs of Moses,” of which we
have perhaps an early account in the sixth century. Antoninus the
pilgrim says that certain hot springs called “Baths of Moses,” where
lepers were cleansed, existed east of Jordan.[56] The plateau close to
the Nebo knoll is called “Field of Zophim” in the Bible, and the name, I
think, still survives close by in the Tal’at es Sufa, or “Ascent of
Zoph,” on the north side of the spur. The view from the knoll or from
the ruin of Siaghah is much the same. It cannot compare with the
panorama from Hermon, and there are indeed several places east of Jordan
which command a finer view; but Nebo is the nearest mountain to Shittim
in the Jordan Valley, from which an extensive view is visible.
On the east the eye is met at a distance of only two miles by the edge
of the Moab plateau, which shelves away eastward; and on the south a
long ridge closes the scene at a distance of about five miles. On the
north-east the hillocks on which Heshbon and Elealah were built stand
above the plateau, and Jebel Osh’a in Gilead appears behind, shutting
out the Sea of Galilee and Hermon. It is on the west that the scene is
most extensive, including all the Judean watershed, all Samaria and
Lower Galilee, to Tabor and Belvoir. Carmel is hidden behind Jebel
Hazkin, which is close to the Jordan Valley, and 700 feet higher than
Carmel.
On the south-west is Yukin, the city of the Kenites, perched high above
the Jeshimon or desert of Judah, and in front of the great precipices of
that desert lies the Dead Sea, of which the northern half only is seen.
Herodium, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem are all in sight, and beneath are the
traditional tomb of Moses--in the desert of Judah--the precipice of
Quarantania, and below this the dark groves round ancient Jericho.
North of Jerusalem is seen Nebi Samwil with the mosque over the
Crusading tomb of Samuel, and Baal Hazor with its oak clump, and Gerizim
with Ebal to the right, and the deep cleft of the Vale of Shechem
between them. Under these is the white cone of the Sartaba towering over
the Jordan Valley, and at our feet the thorn groves of the plain of
Shittim east of the river. To the north-west appear Hazkin and Tabor, as
already noticed; and the chain of Gilboa with the dim outline of
Galilean hills marks the farthest extent of the view. Seen in autumn,
the whole was singularly bare and colourless, for the green hues of
spring were absent, and the dusty valley of Jordan, with the white marl
banks near the river, contrasted with the black snake-like jungles
marking the course of the stream and of the various tributaries, such as
the waters of Nimrim.
The view thus described appears to be in accordance with the Old
Testament account (Deut. xxxiv. 1-3), and the eastern geography of the
Pentateuch is as easy generally to trace on the ground as is the
topography of the Book of Joshua west of the river. Naphtali, Gilead,
Ephraim and Manasseh, Judah, and the Negeb, or “dry land” south of
Hebron, are all in sight, with the plains of Jericho “unto Zoar.” The
only difficulty lies in the mention of Dan and of the western sea, which
are not in sight from this ridge.
The south limit of the Adwân country and of the Survey was formed by the
magnificent gorge now called Zerka Main, the Callirrhoe of Josephus,
where are the hot baths in which the miserable Herod was bathed during
his last sickness. This valley seems to be noticed in the Pentateuch
under the name Nahaliel, “Valley of God,” as one of the camping-places
of Israel. The top of the cliffs is here 2500 feet above the Dead Sea,
and the hot springs in the valley are 1600 feet above the same level.
The cliffs, 900 feet high, are precipitous for the most part, but a
winding descent leads down on the north. The scenery is magnificent. A
black basalt bastion and brown limestone walls of rock face northwards,
and on the north side are precipices of yellow, red, pink, and purple
sandstone, with gleaming chalk above and the rich green of palm groves
beneath. The hot streams flowing from the northern slopes are crusted
along their course with yellow and orange sulphur deposits, and the
hottest spring--about 140° Fahr.--has formed a breccia terrace near the
remains of the Roman baths, a hundred feet above the bed of the
torrent, which flows with cold water from springs higher up the valley.
The Arabs still bathe, or rather steam themselves, sitting over this
spring, to cure rheumatism, from which they often suffer. They have a
legend of a demon slave of Solomon who found the spring, and Dr.
Tristram mentions sacrifices at the spot, which--though I did not see
any such performed--would be in accordance with Arab custom in other
places in the deserts.
We found a great contrast between the Arabs and the Fellahin in the
matter of folk-lore. The Fellah legends are, as a rule, of very little
interest, and most of those which we collected are to be found in the
Korân. But all the desert Arabs with whom I am acquainted are only in
name Mohammedan, and are, strictly speaking, pagans; and they are very
fond of legendary tales, so that we collected more of these in two
months east of Jordan than we got in four years west of the river. I
have devoted a chapter in a previous work to the legends which we
collected in the Adwân country, including the story of Aly and the
wishing well of Minyeh, which sprang up under his spear; of Aly and the
city of Antar; of Aly and the City of Brass. The romantic tale of Zeid
and Ghareisah, an Arab Romeo and Juliet, is connected with a rude
inscription in Wâdy Jideid. The story of the “Dish of Abu Zeid” has
already been mentioned; and at the ruin of Tyrus, farther north, we have
the legend of the prince, his daughter, and the black slave. At a place
near El Marighât called Hana wa Bana is localised an Arab version of
Æsop’s fable of the man with an old and a young wife. This proverbial
story is, however, known all over Syria. Then again in the Jordan
Valley are shown the pits of the hero Zîr, legends concerning whom are
known to the Maronites, but taken from printed story-books, which, I
believe, come from Egypt. I would here only note that within a
comparatively small district we collected from the Arabs no less than
eight folk-lore tales in a few weeks, only one of which was previously
known, and that one gathered from the Abu Nuseir Arabs at Jericho. The
Arabs showed no reserve in relating these stories as soon as they saw
that we also enjoyed them; and none of them, as far as I know, belong to
the printed tales of Egyptian collections, except that of Zîr and
Hakmun. This wealth of folk-tales contrasts with the barrenness of
Fellah imagination; and though it is of course possible that something
of interest may be extracted from the Fellahin, they cannot be said to
be remarkable for their love of legendary tales. The Kalmuk Tartars,
even, are far more imaginative and poetic in their folk-lore than are
the peasants west of Jordan, and the Arabs, who produced so many poets,
even earlier than Muhammad, are intellectually a finer race than the
Fellahin.
As above observed, the Arabs of the desert are practically pagans. They
do not pray as Moslems should do, and they are as much addicted to the
worship of the dead as the Fellahin. The graves of famous chiefs and of
dervishes, or reputed Welys, are visited by the Arabs, who there offer
small objects, such as pieces of blue pottery, old coins, berries, and
pebbles, placed on the little dolmen table on the west side of the
surrounding circle. The wives cut off their hair, and the plaited
pig-tails are hung on a string on the husband’s tomb. An Arab passing by
a graveyard often kisses the tombstones. This seems to constitute their
chief religious observance. They, however, celebrate the yearly feast
while the Moslem pilgrims are at Mecca, slaying camels and eating the
flesh; but this feast was an Arab festival long before Islam, and, as
far as my experience goes, the true Arabs are ignorant of the Korân, and
have no fanatical feeling. I have never actually seen them worshipping
the sun or the moon, but they face the sunrise while visiting the tombs,
and their frequent legends of Aly agree with the fact that down to the
present century they belonged to the great faction of the Yemeni, as
opposed to the Keis faction, to which the greater part of the villagers
west of Jordan belonged. These factions represent the survival of a
political feud as old as the seventh century A.D. between the adherents
of Aly, including most of the Yemen Arabs, and the followers of the
Damascus Khalifs. The Arabs east of Jordan are thus connected with
Persia rather than with Palestine, and it was from Persia that all the
most imaginative elements in the religion of Islam came first. Persian
Muhammadism is the creed of Islam as influenced by the older creed of
the Zoroastrians. Syrian Muhammadism is the creed of Islam as influenced
by association with Christianity and Judaism.
The tribes among which we lived were very rich in camels. The droves
were really countless, and were herded like cattle, and neither saddled
nor fitted with halters. They were kept for milk and for breeding, not
for transport, and the camel so seen east of Jordan was a different
beast to his hard-worked brother in the villages. Property in this case
depended on branding, and the brands were the tribe-marks of the owner’s
tribe. I had thus an opportunity of studying at leisure the question of
tribe-marks, concerning which most extraordinary theories have been
broached, one writer regarding them as planetary signs, and another as
rough sketches of totems. Of that which (by an unlucky misnomer) is
called Totemism, I have never been able to find any traces in Syria,
though I have studied it among the Bechuanas of South Africa. The simple
fact as regards Arab tribe-marks is, that they are letters of the old
Arab alphabets of the Nejed and of Yemen. This I have been able clearly
to show in the case of every tribe-mark which we collected among the
Arabs.
In closing this chapter, I ought to record the services of our ally,
Sheikh Goblan en Nimr. His early adventures are well known, and he was
one of the most remarkable men whom I met in Syria. He belonged to the
junior branch, but to the elder generation, of the Adwân tribe, which is
divided under two ruling families. Aly Diab, the ruling chief of the
elder branch, is a friend of the Turks, but Goblan was a sturdy and
independent leader of the free or anti-Turkish party. So strong were his
feelings on this subject, that he could hardly hear the name of Turk
with any patience. This strong feeling made him perhaps the most popular
personage beyond Jordan, and wherever we went the tribesmen received him
with marks of reverence and affection. He had earned the reputation of
being greedy and grasping, and I have no doubt he regarded every
stranger as fair prey, from whom the uttermost farthing was to be
exacted. But in spite of this greed for money, which all Arabs alike
show in dealing with travellers, Goblan was not a miser. The gold I gave
him was scattered with royal munificence, and was gone as soon as he got
it. There was very much in his character which was admirable, and yet
more that was romantic. He was a man of honour, who having once sealed
a treaty, stuck to his word, and smoothed our path when many even of his
own sons and nephews were afraid to come near us. There is no doubt that
if, instead of science, our object had been intrigue, we might without
difficulty have raised a revolt in Moab, which Goblan would have headed
with great satisfaction. At one time I think he suspected us of some
such project, and was rather disappointed that we should submit to
Turkish authority.
In his youth Goblan received a serious sword-cut in the face from an
angry relative. The details of the story I have not heard, but it is
well known how ashamed he was of this wound, which he always hid with
his Kufeyeh shawl. He had also been guilty of murder, having run through
with his lance the owner of a fine grey mare in the desert. He was, I
believe, unaware that the man he slew was one of the Beni Sakhr chiefs,
but the consequence was a blood feud which threatened his life for many
years. Thus on the south and east he was in peril from the neighbouring
tribesmen, while on the north the Turks lay in wait.
Some years before our visit to the country, a governor of the Belka
summoned the Adwân chiefs to Nâblus, promising to make them Government
officials with salaries, recognised as his lieutenants in their own
country. Goblan counselled them not to go, and not to be tempted by such
promises. They went and Goblan stayed behind. Those who went were cast
into prison and fined, and Diab, the eldest, was so roughly handled that
his leg was broken. He came to see me as a lame old man, who had
abdicated in favour of his son, having lost all the reputation to which
Goblan, by his superior judgment of the case, attained. A Russian Grand
Duke at Jericho gave Goblan, rather later, a valuable ring, which this
same governor at Nâblus found means to make him give up. These were the
personal reasons for Goblan’s hate of the Turks, and it was on such
grounds that he was able and willing to help us in our exploration of
the forbidden ground. These lines can now be freely penned, for poor
Goblan is no more. His wild life--an untaught savage life, not without
its elements of greatness, of pathos, and of romance--has closed at a
ripe old age in a peaceful death. Neither by Turkish jailor nor by Arab
lance was his life ended; he died among his own people in the desert
home of his race.
The peculiar position of the man led me into more than one adventure.
Some of our trigonometrical stations were on the border of the Beni
Sakhr country, which I had promised not to enter without their escort.
The Beni Sakhr chiefs and Goblan had met in my tents, but there he was
safe as my guest. Had we been caught, however, in their land, by a
relation of the murdered man already mentioned, Goblan would have been
slain, and I should have been placed in the dilemma of either leaving
him to his fate, or else myself becoming a blood enemy to an Arab tribe.
On such occasions, while we took angles on a high hill, Goblan sat with
his eyes fixed on the distant camp of his foes, scanning the plateau, so
that he should not be taken unawares. On another occasion, riding
somewhat in advance of my party, I suddenly saw bearing down upon me a
group of horsemen with long spears. We met and saluted, and the first
question was, “Where is Goblan?” I never made out to what tribe these
cavaliers belonged, but Goblan had vanished as though swallowed by the
earth, and not till we were far away from this spot, near his own camp,
did he reappear.
Another day he and I went out alone to survey the borderland between the
two tribes. At one place, as I was taking angles, he came and pointed to
distant figures. “All horsemen,” he said; “make haste and finish your
work.” I noted my angles as fast as I could, when he again touched me.
“They are only camels,” he said; “you can go on as long as you like.”
However, as I got on my horse, he again pointed to the plain, where we
saw three horsemen about a mile away. There were no friendly camps near,
and so I gained experience of how an Arab acts in such a case. We rode
away quietly on the side of the hill, where we could not be seen, but
were able from time to time to look over the crest at the advancing
figures. Finally, we came to a sort of dell by a ruin, with banks all
round, and here we lay comfortably lurking, and saw the group following
the road to my camp. When they had gone some way, Goblan boldly emerged,
and we rode parallel with them in the open. The reason was soon
apparent. Though quite near, they were separated from us by one of those
great rents in the plateau which form narrow gorges many hundred feet
deep. Coming to the brink, he called across and they answered, but could
not reach us without riding round many miles; and besides this, we were
now close to a camp of Goblan’s people. “It is well we did not stay,”
said Goblan to me; “they are Satâm and his brothers.” These were the
Beni Sakhr chiefs who had been to my camp, and who sought his life. Like
David calling across the valley to Saul, Goblan stood thus within
hearing of his helpless foes, and quietly greeted them. Such is the
etiquette of Arab life. The blow may be struck when the time comes, but
to revile one another would be discourteous between foes.
Another incident showed me Arab life in a more pleasing colour. We had
ridden through Jordan, and were resting on the bank, when a poor Arab
with his wife on a donkey came down to the river. Addressing Goblan in
that simple way in which the meanest Arab addresses the greatest chief,
he said, “Goblan! take my wife over the river.” The old chief at once
complied, and ordered his son to take the woman on his horse behind him.
Rather sulkily his handsome son obeyed, and went back through the river
to the western bank. These men were the true sons of that great Arab
who, having conquered all Syria, rode into Jerusalem on his camel in the
simple garb of the desert.
The kindly greetings which Goblan bestowed on the men he met, on the
women and children at the springs, and on the poorest of his fellows,
showed perhaps that he had learned the secret of governing others, and
his strength lay in the simplicity and steadfast constancy of his
actions. They had but one opinion in Moab, that Goblan alone represented
the freedom of earlier days.
Tall, gaunt, with a dusky colour, one eye red and sightless, one cheek
furrowed with the sword, with a thick, straight, obstinate nose, and a
few silver locks, usually hidden, the old chief was yet at times, when
no one mentioned the Turks and the Beni Sakhr, of cheerful mien. He is
one of the few Orientals I ever met with a sense of humour, and often
laughed most heartily. He could neither write nor read, and he never
smoked tobacco.
Peace be to his ashes; and I hope the monument which covers them is at
least equal to that which is erected in Goblan’s own country to his
great rival, Fendi el Faiz, who died on his way to the Beni Sakhr
country.