THE CASTLE OF HARAN.

315

uncemented, though well put together, and solid through their whole thickness. They are defended by towers some round, and some square. Within the south gate are steps to lead up; showing, when built, that the Tel was much as it is now, though other buildings elsewhere show foundation floors on a very much lower level. Within the gate are stone divans.

The castle stands within the walls, but other portions of the Tel are much higher ;—in fact, it is but little above the level of the plain, and much ruined. Its upper portions have disappeared, and its own ruins half bury what remains. The vaulted chambers within are fine and lofty, the roofs of bricks, small and well put together: these -spite of becoming black with fleas and scratching-I explored; and my research was rewarded by finding two pillars built into the wall, of great beauty. Small, but well proportioned, of an extremely black close-grained marble, the capital lotus leaves clustered round the stone. There

were several other fluted shafts, but I saw no capitals.

The villagers have dug into the place for bricks, as if it was a mine; every flat portion of the ruin

316

REPOSE AT A WELL.

also has a hut on it, and below the spot on which it rests another man digs for bricks—thus undermining his neighbour. At one corner of the castle is a circular mosque, isolated in a circle of the main building a mosque, I say,-for so it was called, but it resembled rather a tomb, being much the same as that of Absalom in the Valley of Jehosaphat. This I was not permitted to

enter.

As the evening came on, we sat and watched a well, which we had fixed upon as that by which the servant of Abraham stopped: "And he made his camels kneel down without the city, by a well of water, at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water." The well was to the S. W., without the town: this was the direction he would have come from; and, of all the wells, this alone was sweet and good.

Then Eliezer prayed that God would give him good speed. As we sat, camels came and knelt by the well; and then the veiled girls came out in long file, each with her pitcher, on her shoulders; as in Holy Writ it says, "Rebekah came with her pitcher on her shoulder." And they one by one let down their pitchers; the bearded men knelt

WOMEN DRAWING WATER.

317

to indulge in the draught they asked for. At such a well could any ask in vain? The Bible says, "she hasted and let down her pitcher upon her hand." With each family is a rope this is attached to the handles of the pitchers, and the drawer, generally, as now, a woman or maiden, -lets down the pitcher, the rope held by her hand, or resting on her hand. And here we sat

and saw this very scene.

We might pursue the simile further the ornaments, the dress, even the veil; for we hear, when Rebekah knew that the man who sat in the field was Isaac, she took a veil and covered herself. This shows she had done so before, or she would not have had one ready, or even at all. The objection Eliezer made, was one that would arise this day among all Easterns, and perhaps among them only: "Peradventure, the woman will not be willing to follow me into this land."

The well, like many others, had a square stone at the top with a circular hole to draw water, and near stood (this is usual, also) numerous stone troughs, some higher, some lower, for the different descriptions of animals to drink out of; and we read," She hasted and emptied her pitcher into

318 UNCHANGING MANNERS OF ARAB WOMEN.

the trough." The pitcher itself, as may be seen from the Nineveh and Egyptian excavations, was of exactly the shape used still. Little did those laughing girls,-Rebekahs, Rachels, and Sarahs,perhaps, think of the reason we watched their every motion so closely, and of the deep interest we took in every step of what seemed to them a mere daily duty, but to us was a wondrous record of the past.

On the morrow we left Haran with the dawn.

HARAN THE SITE OF NAHOR.

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CHAPTER XX.

Haran the Site of Nahor-Site of the Defeat of Crassus-Haran in the twelfth century-The right-hand man of an Arab Chief-His dress described-A fight in an Arab village-The Sheik Dahhal and his Son-Gradual declension and probable extinction of Arab tribes— The Agedach tribe-History of the Sheik Dahhal-The young Sheik and his Mare-Arab Saddles and mode of Riding-Arab Horses An Introduction to the Sheik Dahhal-His mannersHis character-An Arab prisoner-His treatment-Bargaining for a Conveyance across the Desert.

NONE seem to doubt that the present site of Haran is the actual site of the City of Nahor, the place inhabited by Abraham; whence Eliezer took Rebekah, where Jacob served for Leah and Rachel. The Theodosian tables place Haran twenty-six miles from Edessa-probably a correct distance. In the earlier mentions of it in the Scriptures, it is called Haran, (Genesis xxix. 40.) and others later (Acts vii. 2.), Charran. It is also styled Charra, Carra, and Carres, by the Romans. It was anciently famed for being the seat of the Sabians, who worshipped the hosts of heaven. This part of Mesopotamia was also called