Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/158

122 Several circular enclosures were found inside the ramparts, and about the centre of the whole structure was a hollow reservoir. The position commands an extensive view of The Ghôr, and all the approaches to the valley. Some of the circular enclosures had evidently been covered in, but their form seemed to forbid the supposition that they were tombs. Various conjectures as to the nature and use of this series of structures were hazarded by the members of our party, but no two were identical. It was a case of tot homines quot sententiæ. For myself, I came to the conclusion that this spot had been the camping ground of an army;—but of what nation or period we had no clue. A plan of the hill has been made by Major Kitchener, and drawn for me by Mr. Armstrong (Fig. 16).

On descending from the ruins for the last time down the mountain side, we were treated to a display of the gorgeous colouring characteristic of the eastern side of The Ghôr, when lit up by the slanting rays of the western sun. The evening had been cloudy, and some rain had fallen. Suddenly the sun burst forth through a gap in the clouds, and lighted up the cliffs along the northern side of the valley with tints of surpassing richness and brilliancy. The red colours of the sandstone cliffs, and the yellow tints of the sandy terraces below, brightly illumined where the rays descended directly upon them, gradually faded into the deep purple tints of the higher altitudes and recesses of the mountains; and high above, the mountain tops were shrouded in heavy cloud, in which was set "the many-coloured bow of heaven." We might have lingered long to watch this wondrous display of natural colouration; but the sun was nearing the horizon, and it was not a region in which it was desirable to be caught under darkness. We regarded the scene as a parting salutation from Moab to its visitors.

The days following (Friday and Saturday) had new surprises, and new disappointments, in store for us. We had sent off a third messenger (as has been seen above) to Jerusalem, with positive orders for Mr. Cook's agent to send horses and mules forthwith, to convey us away from our prison-house amongst the Arabs, and we awaited the result with some hope that the messenger would reach his destination on Saturday evening, 22nd December, and that by Tuesday the animals would arrive at our camp. In the afternoon of Friday, a Bedawin arrived, bringing a letter from a party of excursionists, consisting of the American Consul, Mr. Merrill, and a nephew of General Gordon, who had been on a visit to his uncle at Jaffa, and was making a tour of a few days, accompanied by an escort.