It Was Of No Avail To Tell Them To Follow Me
And See Whether I Searched For Money.
Their reply was, “of course you
will not dare to take it out before us, but we know that
If you are a
skilful magician you will order it to follow you through the air to
whatever place you please.” If the traveller takes the dimensions of a
building or a column, they are persuaded that it is a magical
proceeding. Even the most liberal minded Turks of Syria reason in the
same manner, and the more travellers they see, the stronger is their
conviction that their object is to search for treasures, “Maou delayl”
(Arabic), “he has indications of treasure with him,” is an expression I
have heard a hundred times.
On the rising ground to the left of the rivulet, just opposite to the
Kaszr Bent Faraoun, are the ruins of a temple, with one column yet
standing to which the Arabs have given the name of Zob Faraoun (Arabic),
i.e. hasta virilis Pharaonis; it is about thirty feet high and composed
of more than a dozen pieces. From thence we descended amidst the ruins
of private habitations, into a narrow lateral valley, on the other side
of which we began to ascend the mountain, upon which stands the tomb of
Aaron. There are remains of an ancient road cut in the rock, on both
sides of which are a few tombs. After ascending the bed of a torrent for
about half an hour, I saw on each side of the road a large excavated
cube, or rather truncated pyramid, with the entrance of a tomb in the
bottom of each.
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