Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/151

 the plain through densely wooded valleys. "Limes, cactus, aloes, and mimosa form on all sides a delightful forest, and the mountains above the lakes are clad almost to the summit with timber. Such a scene we never expected to witness in Arabia; it reminded us more of the rich valleys leading up to the tableland of Abyssinia... Sweet-scented white jessamine hung in garlands from the trees, and the air was fragrant with the odor of many flowers... It is probable that a knowledge of such valleys as these gained for Arabia its ancient reputation for floral wealth." And following up the stream leading to the ancient harbor, which falls over a remarkable limestone cliff, Bent found a broad grassy plain used for grazing, and in the midst of a wooded lake, the center of the local faith of the Gara tribe; "they affirm that jinnies live in the water, and that whoever wets his feet here is sure to have fever.... Every November a fair is held here, to which all the Beduins of the Gara tribe come and make merry. The fair of Dirbat is considered by them the great festival of the year. A round rock was shown to us on which the chief magician sits to exorcise the jinni of the lake, and around him the people dance."

A short way up the mountain-side just back of Hafa, the modern town, is "a great cave hung with stalactites, below which are the ruins of an ancien ttown, in the center of which is a natural hole 100 feet deep and about 50 in diameter; around this hole are the remains of walls, and the columns of a large entrance gate." This, the natives told Bent, was the "well of the Adites," no doubt an ancient oracle, mentioned as such by Ptolemy, Ibn Batuta and others.

Near Hafa are the ruins of the ancient capital, "by the sea, around an acropolis some 100 feet in height, encircled by a moat still full of water; and in the center, still connected with the sea, but almost silted up, is a tiny harbor. The ground is covered with the remains of ancient temples, the architecture of which at once connects them with that of the columns at Adulis, Coloe and Axum—after seeing which no doubt can be entertained that the same people built them all."

In Hafa the Bents found "a bazaar with frankincense in piles ready for shipment, just as depicted in the Deir el Bahri temple," while a large tract of country was still "covered with frankincense trees, with their bright green leaves like ash trees, their small green flowers, and their insignificant fruit." (See later, p.218.)

This plain, with its ancient capital, Saphar, was the center of the ancient Cushite empire (or Adite, from Ad, grandson of Ham) which included most of Southern Arabia and much of East Africa; having a