Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/23

 NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION THROUGH ARABIA PETRÆA, THE VALLEY OF THE ARABAH, AND WESTERN PALESTINE.

CHAPTER I.

“OUTWARD BOUND.”

work of the Palestine Survey, which had been partly completed in Moab by Captain Conder, R.E., having been interrupted through the opposition of the Turkish Government, the Executive Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund determined to undertake a geological reconnaissance of Western Palestine and the Jordan Valley, in accordance with the programme of work to be done under the auspices of this admirable Society. The Topographical Survey of Western Palestine had now been completed and published, so that the time seemed ripe for investigating the physical phenomena of Western Palestine, the Valley of the Jordan, and of the deep depression in which lies the Salt Sea. An offer to undertake this exploration having been made to me by Colonel Sir Charles W. Wilson, on the part of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, I consulted with some friends regarding the nature of the countries to be traversed, climate, and other matters; and having received sufficiently encouraging replies, I gladly accepted the offer, and began preparations for carrying it out:—the Lords of the Committee of Council having been so good as to grant me three months' special leave of absence from my official duties in Ireland.

I had long taken a deep interest in the physical history of Palestine. I had read nearly everything that had been written on the subject,