B5d
FEHEIS.
Adouan and Rowalla. I had once engaged four armed men to
accompany me on foot to the place, but when we were just
setting out, after sunset, their wives came crying to my lodging,
and upbraided their husbands with madness in exposing their
lives for a couple of piastres. Being equally unsuccessful in
several other attempts, and tired of the exaggerations of my landlord, ¬
who pretended that I should be in danger of being stripped,
and even killed, I at length became impatient, and quitting Szalt
in the evening of the 6th, I rode over to Feheis, where the greater
part of the Szaltese were encamped, for the labours of the harvest,
and where it was more likely that I should meet with a guide.
On my way I passed the deep Wady Ezrak (), where is a
rivulet and several mills.
El Feheis is a ruined city, with a spring near it ; here are the
remains of an arched building, in which the Christians sometimes
perform divine service. Below Feheis, upon the top of a lower
mountain, is the ruined place called El Khandok (), which
appears to have been a fort ; it is surrounded with a wall of large
stones, and the remains of several bastions are visible. From
a point near Khandok, the Dead sea, which I saw for the first time,
bears S. W. b. W.
At Feheis I was so fortunate as to find a guide who five years
ago had served in the same capacity to Mousa, the name assumed
by M. Seetzen. As he was well acquainted with all the Bedouins, -
and on friendly terms with them, he engaged to take me to
Amman, in company with another horseman.
July 7th.—We set off before sunrise. On leaving Feheis we
crossed a mountainous country, passed through a thick forest of oak
trees, and in three quarters of an hour reached the Ardh el Hemar,
which is the name of a district extending north and south for about
two hours. Here are a number ofsprings, which have rendered it a
