The Hickman courier., 1872-11-16
Noah.

Association at Brighton, there was
one bv the Rev. DIR. Tristram, T. IL
s containing an account OF the re-
s,,lts OF the expedition for the ex-
nloration of Moab, which owed It's
origin to the Committee OF the Geo
graphical Section.
The direct line of country between
Heshbon and Petra has been traV-
erred and described by some half
dozen travellers within century,
but east and west of this nothing
was known prior to DIR. Tristram
visit. Names hitherto scattered
broadcast over the map OF Moab, at
the suggestion of Arabs pointing
from n distance were identified and
kent others we're corrected or erased,
and some added. Making Umm
Rasas their headquarters, and work
ing from it as a centre, the dlmln,
ished party first struck virgin ground
on the 18th of February. The Phi
grim road from Damascus to Mecca
was encountered some twelve miles
further east than 1t was supposed 70
run. and was found to form strlK-
mo feature on the level and other
wise unbroken plain. For some III
ty wards in breadth parallel burrows
run in perfectly straight lines, the
result of the tramp, year after year,
of continuous files of camels and
men.
Ziza, mentioned In the Antonine
Itinerary as the station of squad
ron of cavalry, became another cen
tire for exploratiiHRnand from here
was made mcs.s5 r-ortant anu re-
magnificent palace, far more perfect
than anything of so early a date
hitherto discovered In Moab, were
found on the borders of the desert,
east-southeast of Heshbon, and
furnish new problem for antigua
ries at home A quadrangle of free
stone incloses a palace of brick; the
quadrangle measures lie yards on
every side, and is furnished with
semi-circuiar bastions. On either
side of the only entrance is a facade
of carved work, $50 feet in length
and II feet in height. Animals,
birds, flowers, fruit, and even men
are chiselled with great thorough
ness of work and delicacy of touch,
and the whole is in a marvellous
state of preservation. The Taulted
roofs of eight of the chambers of
the palace yet remain, and the plan
and details have led Mr.. Ferguson
to conjecture that the Persian con-
queror Chosroes was the founder.
Sir Henry Rawlinson questioned the
soundness of this opinion, on the
ground that military invader who
merely crossed this tract on his way
to Egypt would not have had sufi
cient hold upon the country to at.
tempt sucn work. Be this as II
may, the date of the building must
be somewhere about a. ID. 600. The
Arabic name, "Umm Shittah, gives
no clue to the history of the place.
To the west of the pilgrim road
already mentioned, the gorge of the
Kallirhoe, the site of the hot baths
where Herod the Great sought to OBJ
tain cure, was thoroughly explor-
ed. This gorge was not unknown
before, but Makaur, which, from its
modern name and from the resem-
blance of its position to the descrip-
tion given by Josephus, must also
certainly be Macherus, was reached
for the first time. Other travellers
have seen it from a distance, or,
more probably, have had the direc-
ton of its site pointed out to them,
and have then marked it enormously
on their maps; but DR.. Tristram Is
the first who IN modern times has
stood upon the spot where John the
Baptist suffered Imprisonment and
death. The names and details of
other ruined towns are far too nu-
merous to be given, as Mr.. Stanford
afterwards expressed it, DR.. Iris
trans report perfectly bristled"
with new facts, most of which could /
only be conveyed clearly by the aid /
of plans and illustrations. We NAV
mention, however, that remarkable 1
addition TO our knowledge of the /
Dead Sea was one of the fruits of
the expedition. Neither the Ameri- (
can explorers under Lynch nor the
French under the Due de Luynes, I
though both parties had boats, seem
to have observed the great dissimi-
larity between the Judan and the
Moabite shore of this salt lake of the
East. The western shore is we'll /
known to be a desert of glaring
mari, almost entirely destitute of
vegetation of any kind 1t now ap.
pears that the eastern shore, owing
to different geological formation
and comparatively abundant sup
ply of water, is not only covered 4
with small plants and studded by
deciduous trees, but has towards its
northern extremity palms growing
luxuriantly inthe clefts of the rocks
overhanging the sea itself, and climb
ing far up the mountains.