The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-06-18
MiGc&llN &.
YAe Gin..t Cities Of RashGn.

We do not know of any book of Eastern
travel, (says the Reviewer Of the N. Y.
hadependenD except Stephens Arabia Pc
tr@a," and Wafburton's Crescent and
Gross" which compares in interest with this
record of Mr.. Porter's visit to the giant
cities Of Bashan. It is like a tale of the
arabian Nights" its atmosphere fingers
in the imagination, and will not be driven
out. We were awe struck, in childhood,
when we first discovered that our nursery
tales of giants were corroborated by the
Book Of Genesis, and that there really had
been man, for whom the Bible veuched,
whose bedstead measured nine cubits (near-
ly IA feet in length. Almost the same awe
thrills us again as we read these descrip.
tions of the walled cities in which those
giants lived, and of the graves in which
they were buried.
Eastern Palestine has been almost I'M
known. Not more than half dozen ira
vellers have ever made the attempt to 90
into its strong Businesses, among its wild
Bedouins. Even Porter, with a strong
Druse escort, was several times in great
danger; once the whole party fled for life
at midnight from Edrei in the Leah. The
Lejah is the old Argob of the Bible, and
it is still safe refuge for criminals, as it
was when it gave shelter to the murderer of
Absalom Here the Druses have little or
no power, and they absolutely refused to
be responsible for Mr.. Porter's safety if he
attempted to pass through it. But in the
rest ofBashan the Druse power is respected,
and the widest Bedouin dares not modest
q traveller who is escorted by Druses
One of the most graphic descriptions
which Mr.. Porter gives is of the halt of
their party in deserted city, on the first
night after they set out from Damascus:
A DESERTED CITY.
"lt was with no little pleasure that l
heard the order given for the caravan to
rest till the moon rose. rs there any spot,
] asked of an Arab at my side, where we
could get shelter from the rain?' There
is a house ready for you.' "A house! Is
there a house here p Hundreds of them.
This is the town of Burak' We were con-
Quoted up rugged, winding path, which
seemed, so far as we could make out in the
dark, and by the motion of our horses, to
be something like ruinous staircase. At
length the dark outline high walls began
to appear against the sky, and presently
we entered a paved street. Here we were
told to dismount, and give our horses to the
servants. An Arab struck light, and in
viting us to follow, passed through a low,
gloomy door into a spacious chamber.
The house seemed to have undergone
little change from the time its old master
left it; and yet the thick nitrous crust on
the floor showed that it had been deserted
for long ages. The walls were perfect,
nearly five feet thick, built of huge blocks
of hewn stones, without lime or cement of
any kind. The roof was formed of large
slabs OF the same black basalt, lying as reg
ularly and jointed as closely as if the work
men had only just completed them. They
measured twelve feet in length, eighteen
inches in breadth, and six inches in thick.
ness. The ends rested on a plain stone
cornice, projecting about foot from each
side-wall. The chamber was twenty feet
long, twelve wide, and ten high. The out
er door was slab of stone four and halt
feet high, four wide, and eight inches thick.
1t hung upon pivots, formed of projecting
parts of the slab working in sockets in the
Intel and threshold. AT one end of the
room was small window, with stone
shutter. An inner door, also of stones, but
OF finer workmanship, and not quite so
heavy rs the other, admitted to chamber
Of the same size and appearance. From
it much larger door communicated
with third chamber, to which there was
descent by flight of stone steps. This
was a spacious hall, equal in width to the
two rooms, and about twenty-five feet long
by twenty high. A semi-circular arch was
thrown across it, supporting the stone roof;
and gate, so large that camels could pass
in and out, opened on the street. The gate
was of stone, and in its place; but some
rubbish had accumulated on its threshold,
and it appeard to have been open for ages.
Here our horses were comfortably installed
Such were the internal arrangements of the
strange old mansion. An inscription on
the Intel of the doorway bore the date Of
906 GU
ARAB HOSPITALITY.
The hospitality of the Druses is to-day
what the hospitality of Abraham used to