and working in sockets in the lintel and threshold, like all the modern gates and doors in Syria. It is on this account extremely difficult to displace the door, and I have since seen hundreds of them in their places even when other parts of the building were mere masses of ruin. The first apartment we entered in this house was 20 feet long, 12 wide, by about 10 high. From it

a low door opened into another behind it of the same dimensions and character, and from this a larger door admitted to a third, to which there was a descent by a flight of stone stairs; it was a spacious hall, equal in breadth to the other two, and some 25 feet long by 20 high. A fine semicircular arch spanned it in the centre lengthwise, supporting the stone roof. The door was so large that camels could go in and out with ease.

Such is a specimen of the houses of Burâk, the name of the ruined town in which we now rested, and such, too, is a fair specimen of all the houses throughout nearly the whole of the Haurân. Many of them are still found uninjured, but very many are mere heaps of ruins. Some of them are large, with spacious courts in the interior, into which the chambers open; others again are small and

plain; but all are massive and extremely simple in their plan; thus denoting high antiquity.

Owing to the darkness of the night I was unable to ascertain, from personal observation, either the extent of this town or the general character of its buildings; but the men now sitting around us in this strange apartment were well acquainted with it, and they said that the houses were all of one kind, and that no public buildings of any extent or beauty existed. It is situated in the north-east corner of the Lejah, and is completely encompassed by broken masses of naked rock, the paths among which are tortuous and almost impracticable for horses. I inquired of Mûsa and several others about the Wady Liwa, and whether a stream now flowed through it. They all said that the wady is close to Burâk, running along the border of the rocks on the east side of it; and that no stream ever flows in it, except when the snow is melting in the mountains or heavy rain actually falling, and then it falls into the lake Hîjâneh. An intelligent Druze, whom I afterwards met in the Haurân, and who knew its whole course, confirmed this intelligence; and on examining this section of the country afterwards from the northern brow of the Jebel Haurân, with a telescope, I was able to trace the line of the wady. The distance of Burâk from the southern end of the lake Hîjâneh is about six miles, and the intervening plain is perfectly level, with a rich soil, but now wholly uncultivated.

Burckhardt visited this place in April 1812, having crossed the plain by way of Deir 'Aly and Merjâny. His account corresponds with that given above. He copied two Greek inscriptions among the ruins; they are not,

, of any historical importance, being simple meof the time at which certain men, whose names ded, completed monuments erected to some friend nan. One of them has the following date: Erous u I. "In the year 8, and (month) Peritius 10."

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the era of the Seleucidae that is here used, as probable from the fact that the name of the month scription is Macedonian, then this inscription is antiquity, the date corresponding to B.C. 304.2 walls and floor of the chamber were so damp that ed the effects of sleeping in it, and determined the time in conversation. The loquacious Arabs in upon us eager to hear some exciting tale, and ready to add his own story to the common stock. s the principal speaker, and he recited some wild of Arab life and warfare, the scene of which was he plain we had just traversed. This spot, it e great tribe of the Sab'a, with whom the people aurân are constantly at war, carefully and reguch every autumn, when the villagers are engaged ying their grain to the market of Damascus, never a favourable opportunity offers, they sweep plain on their swift horses, plunder the stragthe caravan itself, and are off to the desert again ur can arrive. Fierce battles sometimes take n attacks are rashly made. One stirring incident, Mûsa himself bore an active part, I shall here a specimen of the tales that amused us during part of the night, and also as an illustration of

About two years ago a large caravan, composed of the Druzes of Shuka and Hît, with the Christians of Hiyât, left Damascus early in the morning and took the road by Nejha and the plain. A number of the Christians, with a few Druzes, deeming the road safe, and being lightly laden, proceeded in front of the main body. There were about thirty men and more than a hundred camels, but only some six or seven of the company were supplied with firelocks. They had passed Tell abu Shejar in safety, and were skirting the western base of the low hills in the plain, near the fountain, when Mûsa, who rode in front, saw a horseman suddenly disappear behind a rising ground half a mile eastward. He at once called a halt, and a Druze volunteered to go to the summit of an adjoining tell, and ascertain whether any marauding party was in sight. He soon returned and reported that the way was clear. Some now wished to remain here and await the arrival of the main body, but a majority laughed at the proposal, and they continued their march. Half an hour passed, and the most prudent and cautious were beginning to abate in their watchfulness, but just then a cloud of dust, far to the eastward, marked the approach of the dreaded enemy. On it rolled across the plain toward the terrified caravan. To form the camels into an irregular closely-packed circle was the work of a few minutes; the leaders, to which the others were fastened by strong cords, being dragged toward the centre. The little band of men took up their stations in different parts of this fortification. A large body of Arab horsemen, numbering about seventy spears, now approached, shouting their war-cry. The few Druzes of the caravan, levelling their

guns, gave back a stern defiance, and the marauders hesitated for a few minutes. As those in front drew up, a portly figure, distinguished from the rest by his scarlet cloak, burst from the midst of the cavalcade, and, calling on his men to follow, dashed onward. A young Druze fired the first shot, but without effect; then another followed with surer aim, and the mare of the Arab chief, with a tremendous bound, rolled over dead upon the plain. Her active rider jumped to his feet, and still led his men to action. Shot after shot was deliberately sent among them by the Druzes and Christians as the Bedawîn vainly attempted to reach them with their long spears. On every side were efforts made to penetrate the dense mass of camels, but the sullen animals merely growled and stamped when pricked with the lances; being strongly bound together, they were forced to keep their places. Half an hour had already passed, and four of the Bedawîn lay upon the plain dead or dying. Their chief, mounted again on the mare of one of his fallen comrades, after galloping round the living rampart, suddenly wheeled his horse, and, approaching, severed the halter of one of the camels by a stroke of his scimitar, and then seizing it spurred away, dragging the animal after him, while another and another followed, urged on by the spears and shouts of his followers. Camel after camel thus left its place, and the little band within saw their living barricade fast moving away, and leaving them exposed to their infuriated enemies. Nerved by a sense of his extreme danger, Mûsa sprang forward, and, drawing his sword, cut the halter of one of the camels and succeeded in dragging it back. But quick as thought a Bedawy was upon him with his lance. Mûsa escaped