Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/264

216 in barley, wheat, beans, &c. Owing to vai-ious causes we were obliged to stay in the Ghôr es Safieh until the 27th December.

The south end of the Dead Sea is formed of extensive mud flats of a very slimy character. The recent rains had doubtless contributed to the soft state of the mud, but the natives told me it was never hard. It was almost impossible to reach the edge of the water of the Dead Sea through the mud. A line of driftwood had been thrown up a considerable distance inland, forming a shore line almost half-a-mile south of the water's edge.

I found it was quite impossible to measure a base line through this slime, and the dense vegetation of the ghôr left no open space available. After several attempts I was obliged to relinquish the idea; this I regretted very much, as I found the portion of the Dead Sea to the south of the Lisan had been very inaccurately delineated on previous maps, and the Lisan itself had to be moved considerably, as will be seen on the plans.

I took several observations into the trigonometrical station on our old survey of Palestine, and was able to connect my triangulation up the Wâdy 'Arabah from 'Akabah in this way with very satisfactory results. The diagram of triangulation and plans will show the observations that were taken, and how the connection was established principally through the observations subsequently taken from a cairn on Eas Zuweirah.

Overlooking the ghôr on the eastern side, just above the ruins of some modern mills at Kusr Sh. Ali, Mr. H. C. Hart, in his botanical rambles, found some very interesting ancient remains at a place called Khurbet Lebrush. These remains consisted of a large number of nawâmîs, some of which were in a wonderfully perfect state of preservation. These nawâmîs are dotted about thickly over the site without any plan, and the openings in them having no especial direction; a few loose stone walls near some of them have the appearance of having been thrown up recently round tents. Enclosing the greater number of these nawâmîs is an ancient wall following the contour of the hill for a quarter of a mile; only the foundations remain, but they were of massive undressed masonry, of apparently remote antiquity. Inside the wall there are the ruins of an oblong building of similar masonry, very probably an ancient temple; unfortunately the remains are so ruined that it is impossible without considerable labour to thoroughly explore or measure this monument: only one corner could be determined, the remainder being covered by heaps of massive stone blocks.

There are several other heaps of ruins and large cairns of stones inside the enclosure, but these are all detached and do not appear to be the remains