East of the Jordan: a record of travel and observation in the countries of Moab, Gilead and Basham

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EAST OF THE JOKDAN

Preface

On the 20th of OctobeVj 1874, I was appointed the archceologist of the American Palestine Exploration 80- cietyy and sailed from New York on the 19^7^ of June, 1875, arriving at Beirut, our head-quarters in Syria, on Monday, the 9th day of August. During 1875-77 I made four different expeditions, of which the journal of hut two is given at length in the following pages. On Thursday, December 23, 1875, 1 was placed in charge of the exploration worTiy which I carried on until the summer of 1877, when I returned to America. I have since been retained by the Society to write reports and to assist Mr. Meyer in the preparation of our maps. During the two years that I was in the field, I labored under the immediate advice and direction of the Advisory Committee in Beirut. This committee is composed of gentlemen who are familiar with many parts of Syria and Palestine, and who, in every way, are deserving of the highest respect and honor, and my relations with them were always exceedingly pleasant.

Special mention should here be made of Professor Boswell D. Hitchcock, D. D., of Union Theological Seminary, New YorJc, who, as president of the Exploration Society, has labored indefatigably for its interests, and also of Mr. Rudolph Meyer, the Societfs faithful engineer, by whose

X P BE FACE.

sMlful hand its map has been prepared. I desire to acknowledge my obligation to J. Senry Thayer, Professor in the Theological Seminary^ Andover, Mass., and Timothy Otis Paine, Professor in the New Church Theological Seminary, Boston, Mass,, liJcewise to Charles L. Merriam and George W. Stearns, for valuable services rendered while carrying this work through the press. It may not be out of place for me to add, that of the large amount of archceological and other material in my possession connected with Palestine, it has been found possible to introduce only a limited portion in the present volume.

SELAH MERBILL, Andoveb, Mass, J May 2, 1881.

co:nte:n^ts

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Preparations ........ 1

II. Among the Cities of Bashan .... 10

V. Hauran Architecture 60

VI. Um el Jemal, the Mother of the Camel . 78

VII. Personal Experiences 88

Vin. Sick in the Desert 100

IX. On the Way to the Field 112

X. Around the Sea of Galilee . . . . 125

XI. El Hamma, an Ancient Watering-Place . .137

Xn. Gadara 145

XIII. Aphek, the Grave op a Syrian Army (I. Kings

XIV. The Jordan Valley 172

XVn. Lower Jordan Valley.— The Shittim Plain . 20*6

XrX. Mount Nebo ..... o . . 240

XX. On the Upper Zerka, or Jabbok , • . 253

XXL GiLEAD 273

XXn. The Decapolis 291 xii CONTENTS.

XXni. Return . 303

XXIV. On the Maech 313

XXV. Golan and Ashteroth Karnaim .... 320

XXVT. Pilgrim Caravans 333

XXVn. An Underground City 348

XXVm. The Watch-Tower of Gilead . . . . 359

XXIX. On the Lower Zerka., or Jabbok . . . 372

XXX. Exploration op the Jabbok . . . . 381

XXXI. A War-Cloud 404

XXXn. Condition of the Country . . . . 411

XXXTTT. A Surprise Party 419

XXXrV. Mahanaim and Pella 425

XXXV. Our Lord at Capernaum and in Perea . .448

XXXVI. Arab Life in the Desert 467

XXXTX. Conclusion . " . ' 516

Index 537

LIST OF ILLUSTBATIOlSrS.

Where not otherwise stated, the illustrations are from photographs taken by the American Palestine Exploration Society, or from original drawings.

PAGE

Amman on the Upper Jabbok. Looking up the Valley to

THE South-west Frontispiece

The Lava Bed in the Lejah . . From Wetzstein . 12

Tell Shaihan, in the Lejah . . From Burton and Brake 15

Temple at Musmieh o 17

Interior of Temple at Musmieh . From De Vogue . 18

Peripteral Temple at Kunawat 24

Plan of the Church at Edhr'a . From De Vogue . o 29

Cyclopean Structure in the Lejah, near Kirateh . 31

Temple at Suleim 32

Ancient Castle at Kunawat. Eoman Eound-Tower in the

Distance 36

Temple at Kunawat. Antique Head at the Right . . 38

Heads of Baal and Ast arte . From '^Unexplored Syria" 40

Colossal Head at Kunawat 41

Bullock's Head on an Altar of Basalt, from Kunawat . 42 Specimens OF Ornamental Work in the ^

Hauran Architecture. From Si'a ^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ • ^^

Specimens of Hauran Architecture. ^

From Si'A .... ^ From De Vogii^ . . 44

Temple at 'AtIl » . 47 xiv LIST OF ILLUSTBATIONS.

PAGE

Ancient Sculpture found at 'Ary. Possibly a Representation OF THE Deity Dusares, or Bacchus ... 49 Lions an'd Palm-Tree. From the Castle at Salchad . 51 Castle at Salchad. In the Mouth of an Extinct Crater 52 Cathedral at Bozrah .... From De Vogue . . 54 Mosque and Eeservoir at Bozrah . . To face page 55 AiiTEROOM Connected with the Theatre at Bozrah . 56 Remains of two Large Public Buildings, perhaps Temples, AT Bozrah 57

Windows from the Hauran . . From De Fogiie . 64

Windows and Doors from the Hauran From De Vogiie . . 65

Stone House in the Hauran . . From De Vogiie . 67

Windows from the Hauran . . From De Vogiie . . 69

Church and Houses at Um el Jemal ..... 82

Es Salt Tofacepage 90

Hyrcanus's Palace at ^Arak el EmIr 107

Assyrian Sculpture in the Rock. Near Tyre . . .118

Section OF Rock, SHOWING Assyrian Sculpture. Near Tyre 119

Syrian Horseshoe and Nails 135

Seats in the Bath at El Hamma 150

Twenty-three Varieties of Masons' Marks, from the Stones in the Romaic Bath at El Hamma, or Hot

Springs of Gadara . . . 151

Roman Road at Gadara 154

Door of a Tomb at Gadara 155

Candlestick (?) on a Lintel at FIk 162

Castle of Kaukab el Hauwa, as seen Across the Jordan

Valley from the Hills South of Gadara . . .174

Natural Bridge and Hot Spring North of Pella . . 183 Mill-Stone in a Quarry in Jebel ^Ajl^n . . . .190

Ancient Mill-Stone, Shittim Plain 231

Tombstone of a Bedawin Sheikh. From near Hasban . 240

'AYtyN MtsA, or Fountains^of Moses From Due de Luynes 242

Ruins on Jebel MtsA . . . From Due de Luynes 246

Plan op the M'Shita Ruin . . . From Dr. Tristram 256

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xv

PAGE

Gate at M'Shita 257

M'Shita. Interior View , .261

Tower at M'Shita 263

Plan of a Temple at Amman 264

Theatre at Gerash 272

Triumphal Arch AT Gerash . . From Due de Luynes . 281

Temple of the Sun at Gerash 283

Niche in the Eemains of an Elegant Edifice on the Long

Street at Gerash 285

Temple at Gerash. Near the South Gate . . . 288

Jar from Irbid 295

Plan of IVIahneh 355

Plan of Tell Deir 'Alla and Tul^l edh Dhahab, or Suc-

coth and Penuel 390

Large Theatre at Amman, and Small Theatre at the

Left 399

Ruin at Amman, Showing Holes in the Interior of the

Walls 401

EuiNED Bridge on the Jordan, near ^

the Mouth OF THE Jabbok . I ' To face page 423

Bedawin Skull, from Khurbet Sar, the Old Testament

Jazer 486

Inscribed Stones from Ancient Tombs at Sidon . 520, 521

Fragment of Ancient Lead Sarcophagus . , . .522

A Phcenician Idol, from BEiRtrT. Front View . . 523

Stone Projectile. From Banias 524

Figures on an Ancient Altar found at Jebail , . ,525

EAST OF THE JORDAN.

CHAPTER I. Preparations

Arrival in Beirut. City stricken with cholera. Difficulty in finding quarters. Places revisited. Rapid growth. Importance given to schools and education. Wide influence of the Mission press. Commercial prospects. American petroleum trade. Imports and exports. Sponge fisheries. Historical notices of Beirut. The Christian stronghold in Syria. Advisory Committee of the American Palestine Exploration Society. Camp pitched at 'Abeih. Kindness of the American residents. Party made up. Route marked out.

BEiRt^T, Syria, Monday, August 23, 1875.

OUR party, consisting of four Americans, has arrived on the Syrian coast at an unfortunate time, so far as undertaking any important work is concerned. The country is visited now by the dread disease of cholera, which has more terrors for the Oriental mind than the plague, famine or v/ar. Forty thousand people have fled from this city alone, and I have walked about these streets for two miles without seeing man, woman or child, an open door, or any sign of life except a few starving dogs — and these ought rather to be classed among the signs of misery and death. Still, the epidemic does not seem to be a very fatal one; for, if I am correctly informed by physicians here, the highest number of

B deaths a day is only thirteen. This, it must be remembered, however, is among the few people that have been obliged to stay at home, so that no one can tell what the condition of things might have been had all the inhabitants remained.

The ports about the Mediterranean are guai-ded now by a strict quarantine, and we were detained at Alexandria for twelve days before we could get a steamer to Beirut.

We left Liverpool on Monday, July 12, 1875, in the steamer Magdala, Captain Greig, staying a part of a day at Gibraltar and an entire day and two nights at Malta, and arrived at Alexandria on Monday, Jidy 26. We sailed thence on Saturday, August 7, and reached Beirut on Monday, August 9.

We found that the hotels were closed, and likewise the private houses and most of the stores and shops. Americans and other foreign residents were in the mountains, the irrepressible dragoman had for once ceased to annoy the new-comer, and it appeared for a time as though we should not be able to get a tent pitched or find a roof beneath which we could obtain shelter. Fortunately for us, our Consul, Hon. J. T. Edgar, was at his post, and through his influence one of the hotels was opened, where we spent the remainder of that day and the following night. Meantime Rev. George E. Post, M. D., one of the Advisory Committee of the Palestine Exploration Society, arrived from the mountains, and gave us our present quarters in the Syrian Protestant College. This commodious building is on a bluff one mile or more west of the city, and commands a fine view of the Mediterranean on one side and of the town and the Lebanon Mountains on the other. We enjoy here whatever fresh breezes the sea affords, and are probably as

PBEPABATIONS. 3

exempt from the cholera as we should be in one of the mountain villages.

Early in the year 1869, after an extended tour in Egypt and the Holy Land, I spent six or eight days in Beirut, and paid considerable attention to its history and places of interest. Some of these points I have revisited during the past two weeks, and, although the city has now so deserted an appearance, I see on every hand the signs of growth and of an increased degree of prosperity. The suburbs appear to be better cultivated than formerly, and in some sections of the town many fine houses have been built. The missions under the care of the different Protestant nationalities have a firmer hold on the attention of the people, and they have been aggressive on the side of popular education to a degree that would have been surprising even under far more favorable circumstances. The substantial edifice in which we have found a temporary home is but one of the evidences that the native population of Syria are heartily desirous of improvement, while the adjoining medical college is bringing about a great transformation in the minds of the people with regard to a noble science which has hitherto ranked, among them, only with the magic arts.

One of the most hopeful features connected with the work of education in Syria is the progress that has been made among the native women. It is a noticeable but interesting fact that many Moslem parents have so far overcome their prejudices as to send their girls to Christian schools. In the present condition of affairs, it is inevitable that the educational work among women should be for the most part elementary in character. But, besides excellent schools of that grade, there are others, like the American Young Ladies' Seminary (to mention but one), where higher advantages are afforded, and the increasing num-

b2 ber of trained young women who graduate every year from these advanced schools is an evidence that very many have got beyond the rudiments of learning and are anxious to become teachers, or to fit themselves for those positions of usefulness which only educated and intelligent women can fin with success.

Further, the influence of the Mission press here is already of incalculable extent, and it is increasing year by year. The buildings themselves are small j but in all the East civilization has not a stronger ally than this humble establishment on the sea-shore at the foot of Lebanon. Eight millions or ten millions of pages, printed in the Arabic language, are sent forth from this press every year, supplying the Arabic-speaking people of Western Asia and Egypt with a pure and Christian literature, and providing for them, by means of translations from European languages, the best educational and scientific works which their progress in knowledge demands. Ten centuries before Christ this place was the seat of a depraved idolatrous worship. Five centuries after Christ it had the finest law school in the Eoman empire; and nineteen centuries after Christ it has already become the strong centre of Christianity and education — the forces which, I believe, are destined to accomphsh the moral and political and, consequently, the physical redemption of this longoppressed but glorious land.

This city cannot be compared with Alexandria as respects circumstances favorable for material growth. At the same time Beirut enjoys unusual advantages in its climate, beautiful situation and scenery, in the fertility of its soil, and its abundant supply of water. Unlike any city of Egypt, this has a range of mountains so near as to furnish a retreat for the inhabitants during the long Syrian summer. When people here are exhausted

PBEPABATIONS. 5

with the tropical heat they can, in three or four hours on horseback, reach the higher parts of Lebanon, where the water is cool and the air fresh and bracing. Jebel Sunnin, which is in sight from this college, and is one of the highest peaks of the range, preserves, in its deep ravines and gorges, snow and ice during the entire year, and from this source the inhabitants of Beirut are supplied with these luxuries at a very reasonable cost.

Although not equal to Alexandria, Beirut is the most important commercial port on the Syrian coast, and among the facts of special interest which I have learned is, that most of the vessels which bear the United States flag, arriving here, come with cargoes of petroleum. Foreigners shorten this word into "petrole," while the natives call the article "gas." It began to be imported directly about 1867, and during that year 50,000 gallons arrived at Beirut. But the trade has so increased that last year nearly 1,000,000 gallons arrived in American ships alone. This oil is not all consumed in Beirut, but is distributed over the whole of Syria. Small native craft take it to other ports along the coast, and it is carried inland to Damascus and the other towns throughout the central and northern portions of the country, and finds its way even to the cities and villages along the Euphrates.

Among the other articles of import here I may specify, without going too deeply into details, hardware, crockery and glass ware, furniture, sewing-machines, boots, shoes, and leather, wines and spirits, drugs and medicines, rice, coffee, sugar and flour, stationery, fancy goods, wooUen and silk goods, cotton goods and prints, matches, cigars, marble, and lumber, including boards, planks, and heavy beams. The want of native timber is a great drawback to the prosperity of this country, and that which is imported is, of course, very expensive. The fancy goods come chiefly from Austria and Germany j hardware, boots, and shoes, from England and France. Within a few years past, Russia has sent considerable flour to Syria. In cotton goods and prints, the last of which must be of the most gaudy and flaming colors to please the Oriental taste, Manchester has taken the lead of all other cities in supplying this market 5 but the business being known to be profitable was soon overdone, and there is now a depression. Great quantities of rice are brought to this country, for the natives are very fond of it. Sugar comes principally from Egypt and France. But few cigars are imported, for the natives do not use them, partly because they are too expensive, and partly because they are too strong, and contain more tobacco than a Syrian or an Arab wishes to smoke at once. Furthermore, foreigners soon give up the practice of smoking cigars, and adopt instead the cigarette, which, together with the nargtleh for leisure hours, takes the place of the pipes and cigars of the Westei'n world.

Considerable produce of various kinds is also shipped yearly from this port, and among the articles are dried apricots, raisins and nuts, wine and olive oil, wheat, barley, sesame and beans, madder root and other substances that are used for dyeing materials, rags, skins, wool, bitumen, sponges, raw cotton, silk, and tobacco. Formerly a great many horses, cattle, and sheep were shipped from Syria to Egypt and elsewhere, and from this source the country derived a very important income. But for some reason strict orders have been issued from Constantinople prohibiting the export of cattle and horses, and this business has nearly ceased. The bitumen comes from the mines at Hasbeiya, near the most northern source of the Jordan. It is found in a very pure state, is worth about one hundred and thirty doUars a ton, and

PREPARATIONS. 7

is used principally by the Continental varnish makers. A large part of the silk is shipped to France; the value of that sent in 1872 amounting to £500,000. Since the Suez Canal was opened, the silk industry of Syria has been almost ruined. The raw article can be produced much cheaper in the far East, where also the crop is more certain, and the present means of rapid transit enable the growers and shippers there to supply quickly the European market, so that the producers here find it impossible to hold their own with such odds against them, and many have in consequence been driven to poverty and real distress.

One of the important industries of Syria is the sponge fisheries, of which the average value of the yearly production is from $100,000 to $125,000. In 1872, nearly $60,000 worth were shipped from Beirut alone. At present not a great deal of cotton is produced, and the Government has made tobacco a contraband article, so that the production of this staple has weU-nigh ceased. In ancient Hebrew times, cotton was raised and manufactured in Syria, and in the Middle Ages the cotton fabrics of this country were widely celebrated; but its production has fallen almost to nothing in recent years, chiefly owing to the fact that the Government neither aids nor encourages any industry that can possibly be made a source of wealth to the impoverished and wretched inhabitants.

Among the historical notices of this city, connected chiefly with its commercial character, we find PUny (died A. D. 79) praising the sweetness of the Beirut grapes, and declaring that its native wine was, with that of Tripoli, Tyre, and Byblos, the best in Syria. Am mi anus MarceUinus (fourth century) describes Beirut, Tyre, and Sidon as the most important cities of Phoenicia. Procopius (died A. D. 565) speaks of its extensive silk trade and manufactories whence the whole Eoman empire was supplied with the most elegant and costly fabrics of this kind. In the time of Justinian its only rival in this trade was the city of Tyre. Agathios (sixth century) speaks of Beirut, at the period previous to the great earthquake in A, D. 529, as one of the most beautiful cities of the Phoenician coast, adorned with elegant palaces and presenting the appearance of a Roman city of wealth and splendor. Amid the luxury and the powerful heathen influence which prevailed here at that time, Christianity also had a foothold, and its teachers and churches existed side by side with Roman schools and Pagan temples. It was here that Constantine, in 325, issued his law prohibiting gladiatorial combats.

We have had a number of interviews with the Advisory Committee, composed, besides Dr. Post abeady mentioned, " of Rev. Wm. M. Thomson, D. D., Rev. Henry H. Jessup, D. D., and C. V. A. Van Dyck, M. D.,D. D., and, with their cooperation, our preparations are nearly complete. It is proposed by the committee that we go on "Wednesday, August 25, to 'Abeih, a village in the mountains, five hours south of Beirut, pitch our camp there, and see if everything is in order.

'Abeih, Syria, Wednesday^ September 1, 1875.

As every member of the party has been more or less indisposed, our departure for our field of labor has been delayed beyond our expectations. But all our forces are now on hand and in readiness, and we propose to start in the morning.

Since coming here I have spent parts of two days in planning with Dr. Thomson about our route. We have decided to camp to-morrow night at Kefr Nebrakh ; go thence to Jubb Jenin, and on our way take photographs

I

PREP ABA TIONS. 9

of the recently discovered grove of cedars above Baruk; on Saturday to go past and photograph the temple at Thelthatha, and spend Sunday at Rasheiya; to visit Rukhleh and some of the temples about the base of Mount Hermon; also the summit of Hermon, and go thence by way of Me j del esh Shems to Banias. Thence visit and photograph the castle, the grove of Hazuri, the lake Phiala, and go on by way of S'as'a to the north end of the Lejah. The country east of the Jordan which il is proposed to survey embraces 6000 square miles, being about the size of that contemplated in the English survey of Western Palestine. The region assigned to us is a vast table-land, averaging about 2500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, on which there is but a single group of hills, called the Hauran Mountains. It is said to be full of ruins which are of great historical interest.

Besides the four members of the exploring party. Prof. E. R. Lewis, M. D., of the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut, and Mr. Henry L. Van Dyck, are to accompany us 5 we have also Mr. T. R. Dumas, of Beirut, as our photographer. We have twenty-three baggage animals and nine horses, eight muleteers, six servants, — including two cooks and a table boy, — and two native assistants and interpreters from the college just mentioned.

The Americans whom we have met since coming here have received us most cordially and rendered us all the assistance in their power. To some of them I am personally indebted for many kind attentions. They all express themselves as deeply interested in the work which the American Society has undertaken, but seem to regret that we should be sent out to our field while the heat is so oppressive.

CHAPTER II. Among the Cities of Bashan

Route followed. S'as'a. Beautiful camping-ground. Extinct crater. The Lejah, the ancient ^'Argob." Vast bed of lava. Freaks of the cooling lava. Great caves, the lurking-places of robbers. Testimony of Strabo and Josephus. The Hauran Mountains, once a region full of active volcanoes. Strange appearance of the Lejah. Musmieh, the Phaena of the Greeks. Fine temple. Inscriptions. Palace of the Governor. Public hotel. Camp of the Sixteenth Legion. Our camping-place. Burak. An episcopal city. Old foundations. Aqueduct and water supply.

WE followed pretty nearly the plan of onr route, ■vvhicli, as I have mentioned, was arranged with Dr. Thomson, and reached the border of the Trachonitis on Wednesday, September 15, 1875. S'as'a appears to occupy the month of an extinct crater, and the khan belonging to the town is of great size. Our camp was on the bank of the Jennani, or rather between two branches of that stream, where was a patch of inviting greensward, an unusual sight in this parched land. A flock of fine-looking geese shared with us one end of this smaU island, but they did not disturb our slumbers.

In order to confine my material within the compass of a single volume, I must omit for the most part my journal of oiir work and travels for two months from the date last mentioned, and select only such matters as appear to me to be of chief importance, and which I trust will prove of general interest.

There are many points about the Lejah from which one can overlook its entire surface. The views from the roof of the temple at Musmieh, and from the buildings at Khubab some distance to the south, are particularly fine. It would be difficult to mention a spot in civilized lands which could be compared to this ancient region in regard to its wild and savage aspect. When one reads of '^ Argob/' or the " region of Argob/' in Deut. iii., and elsewhere, the name and phrase have little significance ; but when one is actually on the ground, and, from the walls of the temple at Musmieh, looks south-east over the very district referred to, or, from some point in Jebel Hauran, looks north over this great sea of lava, one realizes that the Hebrew words are expressive to a degree that one had never before imagined.

The lava bed proper embraces about three hundred and fifty square miles, and its average height above the surrounding plain is perhaps twenty feet. The bed in its outline or edge is far from being regular, but sends out at a multitude of points black promontories of rock into the surrounding plain. Through this rugged shore there are a few openings into the interior, but for the most part it is impassable, and roads had to be excavated to the towns situated within it. Argob, or the Lejah itself, is a great plain, and one of the strangest on earth. The surface is black, and has the appearance of the sea when it is in motion beneath a dark, cloudy sky, and when the waves are of good size but without any white crests of foam. But this sea of lava is motionless, and its great waves are

EAST OF THE JOBDAJST, petrified. In the process of cooling, the lava cracked, and in some cases the layers of great basalt blocks look as if they had been prepared and placed where they are by

The Lava Bed in the Lejah. [From Wetzstein.]

artificial means. In other cases, the hillocks have spHt lengthwise, or sometimes into several portions, and thus seams have been opened, forming great fissures and chasms which cannot be crossed.

In some sections the lava bed has not been broken into such small hiUocks, but has more the appearance of what we call a rolling prairie. There are between the hillocks, and also in the rolling parts, many intervals of soil which is of surprising fertility.

Burckhardt says: "In the interior parts of the Lejah the rocks are in many places cleft asunder, so that the whole hill appears shivered and in the act of falling down. The layers are generally horizontal, from six to eight feet or more in thickness, sometimes covering the hills, and inclining to their curve, as appears from the fissures which often traverse the rock from top to bottom" (p. 112).

There are places where the lava was congealed while the current was still strong, for the eddies are distinctly marked, like a path that one might suppose to have been covered Mth coiled ropes. Besides the seams and fissures, there are also numerous caves, which have been occupied as dwellings. Bands of robbers lurk in them at the present day^ Outlaws from the settled portions of the country flee hither, and are comparatively safe. There is good evidence for believing that these caves were occupied in the remotest antiquity, and that they are the veritable abodes of Troglodytes. Speaking of the Trachonitis, Strabo says : " Towards the parts occupied by Arabians and Itureans are mountains of difiicult access, in which are caves extending to a great depth. One of these was capable of containing four thousand robbers" (book xvi., 2, 20). WiUiam of T}T:'e also reports that there was a cave sixteen miles from Tiberias which was three stories high. It had a lower, a middle, and an upper dining-room. It was fortified, and held a garrison of soldiers (chapter xxii.)- The old Jewish writers speak of a cave of Zedekiah, which was many miles in extent, though we are not certain that this was east of the Jordan (Lightfoot, x., pp. 179, 288). But the underground apartments at 'Arak el Emir are well known and remarkable, and the extensive caves at Dra'a will be spoken of elsewhere.

Josephus's account of these eaves, as being the dens of robbers, is also well worth quoting. He says: "These robbers had no cities of their own, but only some receptacles and dens in the earth, and there they and their cattle lived in common together. However, they had made contrivances to get pools of water, and laid up corn in granaries for themselves, and were able to make great resistance by issumg out on the sudden against any that attacked them; for the entrances of their caves were narrow, in which but one could come in at a time, and the places within incredibly large, and made very wide ; but the ground over their habitations was not very high, but rather on a plain, while the rocks are altogether hard and difficult to be entered upon, unless any one gets into the plain road by the guidance of another, for these roads are not straight, but have several revolutions^ (^^Antiquities," xv., 10, 1). Zenodorus, who had been appointed governor of this region, was in league with these outlaws, and to Herod the Great was assigned the task of subduing them.