the oleander and plane-tree, the wild olive and almond, and many flowering-shrubs of great variety and elegance. The stream is about thirty feet broad, deeper than the Jordan, and nearly as rapid, rushing downwards over a rocky channel. On the northern side begins the kingdom of Bashan, celebrated for its oaks, its cattle, and the bodily strength of its inhabitants. The opposite plate exhibits a view of the Jabbok, and of the bold Alpine range which fenced the territory of one of the most formidable enemies of Israel; verifying in its fullest extent the description of Moses, who "The border of the children of Ammon was strong." The curious reader will find in the Travels of Mr. Buckingham some ingenious reasoning employed by him to fix the locality of Bozor, Ramoth, Jabesh, and other towns situated in Gilead, and which were rendered important by the various events recorded in the sacred volume. says, About six miles from Djerash towards the north stands the village of Souf, on the brow of a lofty hill, and flanked by a deep ravine. It retains several marks of having been the site of some more ancient and considerable town, presenting large blocks of stone with mouldings and sculpture wrought into the modern buildings. In the neighbourhood are seen the walls of an edifice apparently Roman, as also the ruins of two small towers which may with equal certainty be traced to the age of Saracenic domination. Souf can boast of nearly five hundred inhabitants, all rigid Mohammedans, and remarkable for a surly and suspicious character. Leaving this rather inhospitable village, the traveller who wishes to visit the remains of Gamala proceeds in a northwesterly direction, descending into a fine valley, and again rising on a gentle ascent, the whole being profusely and beautifully wooded with evergreen oaks below, and pines upon the ridge of the hill above. "Mr. Bankes, who had seen the whole of England, the greater part of Italy and France, and almost every province of Spain and Portugal, frequently remarked, that in all his travels he had met with nothing equal to it, excepting only in some parts of the latter country,-Entre Minho and Douro,-to which alone he could compare it."+ * Num. xxi. 24. Deut. ii. 37. ↑ Buckingham, vol. ii. p. 244. Several hamlets and some obscure indications of ancient buildings meet the eye in course of the journey to Om Keis. Before reaching this town, the road emerges into a hilly district, bleak, rocky, and ill-cultivated. The view is as monotonous as that from Jerusalem, forming a striking contrast to the rich, verdant, and beautiful scenery which distinguishes Bashan and Gilead. Gamala, for under that name the ruins of the Roman station are most familiarly known, must have covered a site nearly square; its greatest length, from east to west, being seventeen hundred short paces, and its breadth about onefourth less. A considerable portion of it seems to have stood on the summit of a hill, well fortified all round; the traces of towers and other works of defence being still visible even on its steepest parts. The portals of the eastern gate remain, from whence a noble street appears to have run through the whole length of the city, lined by a handsome colonnade of Ionic and Corinthian pillars. The pavement is formed of square blocks of black volcanic stone, and is still so perfect, that the ruts of wheel-carriages are to be seen in it, of different breadths and about an inch in depth, as at the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum.* The first edifice which presents itself on entering the eastern gate is a theatre, the scene and front of which are entirely destroyed, but the benches are preserved. Still farther on are appearances of an Ionic temple, the colonnade of the street being continued; and about half-way along is a range of Corinthian pillars on pedestals, marking the position of some grand edifice. Not a column, indeed, continues erect, but the plan can be distinctly traced. This supposed temple must have been a hundred paces in depth from north to south; and its façade, which fronted the street and came in a line with the grand colonnade already mentioned, cannot have been less than a hundred and eighty feet in breadth. The chief peculiarity of this structure, however, consists in its having been built on a range of fine arches, so that its foundations were higher than the general level of the town; and hence, as the pedestals of the columns were elevated considerably above the street, it must have presented a very striking object. * Travels in Palestine, p. 259 There are the remains of numerous other edifices, theatres, and temples, but they are all too indistinct to enable even a professional eye to pronounce with confidence on their plan and particular purpose. The prevalent orders of architecture are Ionic and Corinthian, though some few capitals decidedly Doric are discovered among the ruins. The stone generally used throughout the city is that of the neighbouring mountains, a species of gray rock approaching to a carbonate of lime; but the shafts of some of the pillars are formed of a black substance, supposed to have a volcanic origin, and most commonly preferred for the internal decorations of funereal vaults and sarcophagi.* As the ruins here described are not immediately on the position usually assigned to Gamala on the maps, and as Dr. Seetzen, the only person besides Mr. Buckingham who has published any account of them, thinks that they are those of Gadara, the latter enters into a lengthened discussion in support of his own views, calling in the authority of several ancient writers to establish his position. The reader will find that much of the ambiguity which prevails on this point arises from the fact of there being in different parts of Canaan several towns of the same name. For example, there was unquestionably a place called Gadara on the eastern shore of the Lake of Tiberias; while, from the testimony of Josephus, it is equally certain that the same appellation was given to the capital of Perea. In the New Testament, the country of the Gadarenes is described as being on the other side of the sea, over-against Galilee,a notice which removes all doubt from the opinion of those who maintain the existence of a town or village, named Gadara, situated to the northward of the site generally claimed for Gamala, and nearer the body of the lake. Mr. Buckingham tells us, that the account given in the gospel of the habitation of the demoniac, out of whom the legion of devils was cast, struck him very forcibly while wandering among savage mountains and surrounded by tombs, still used as houses by individuals and even by whole families. A finer occasion for expressing the pas sions of madness in all their violence, contrasted with the serene virtue and benevolence of Him who went about con * Buckingham, vol. ii. p. 261. |