251
SOUF.
There  is  an  ancient  ruined  square  building  at  Souf,  with  several
broken  columns.  From  one  of  them  I  copied  the  following  inscription, ¬
  written  in  very  small  characters  :
ATAHH  TTXII
AZEAIIATIUI.  PEHN  .  EID  ..  PuII
KAI  HAILII  AMEPAELE  AH-MHITPIET ¬
  .  ..  KAI  AAN..ul-AUE ¬
  AHMHITPIDT  ATEAET.
-HEPEE  TEN  BIDAUN  ANE
EHIKEN  KATETX..
Upon  a  pillar  near  it  is  a  fine  inscription,  but  now  quite  illegible.
At  the  spring  of  Ayn  Keykebe,  which  is  covered  by  a  small
arched  building,  I  copied  some  characters  from  a  broken  stone
lying  in  the  water  ;  the  following  were  the  ending  of  the  inscription
AINTDIAP
ANETTEPEIALX
TETEI  TMUY
Near  the  sources  are  numerous  caverns,  in  which  the  poor  families ¬
  of  Souf  reside.
May  2d.—  Being  impatient  to  reach  Djerash,  I  left  Souf  early  in
the  morning,  taking  with  me  a  guide,  who  was  afterwards  to  have
conducted  me  towards  Szalt,  in  the  Djebel  Belka.  Our  road  lay
along  the  mountain  on  the  west  side  of  Wady  Deir.  On  the  E.
side  of  the  Wady,  half  an  hour  from  Souf,  is  the  ruined  place
called  Kherbet  Mekbela  (d.x.  à,2).  Three  quarters  of  an  hour
from  Souf,  in  our  road,  and  just  over  the  ruined  city  of  Djerash,
are  the  ruins  called  Kherbet  el  Deir,  with  a  Turkish  chapel  named
Mezar  Abou  Beker.  Our  road  lay  S.  S.  E.  In  one  hour  we  passed, -
  on  the  declivity  of  the  mountain,  descending  towards  Djerash,
a  place  which  I  supposed  to  have  been  the  burying  place  of