bordered by old trees of acacia, called Sunt, (in that
district called Hharaz.) These are of a brilliant green in summer, but
as there are no such trees elsewhere nearer than Egypt, or the Wadi
'Arabah, (for they require water,) the people relate a traditional
account of their origin, and say that once upon a time the country was
invaded by a king of Egypt, named Abu Zaid, bringing a prodigious army;
but on the occurrence of a sudden alarm, they decamped in such haste that
their tent-pegs were left in the ground, which, being made of Sunt wood,
struck roots at the next rainy season, and sprung up as we see them. Can
this be a confused tradition of the rout of the Philistines to Shaaraim
on the fall of Goliath?

The vale or plain (for in Hebrew the word _Emek_ is often applied to the
latter also when lying between ranges of hills--sometimes even when they
are of considerable breadth, as at Rephaim and elsewhere) is about three
hours or twelve miles long, and spacious enough to allow of military
occupation and action; hostile armies might of course also occupy the
opposite hills. From the direction of Hebron other valleys fall into
this wide plain. On another occasion I entered it by that called _Wadi
'Arab_ or _Shaikh_, descending from _'Ain Dirweh_ and _Bezur_ or _Bait
Soor_. Wadi 'Arab is commanded at its mouth by _Kharas_ on the north and
_Nuba_ on the south. Near to the latter are the ruins of _'Elah_, which
I have no doubt gave name to the valley, and not any remarkable
terebinth-tree, as is generally guessed by commentators on the Bible,
unless, indeed, some remarkable terebinth-tree at first gave name to the
village. Neither Robinson nor Porter appears to have seen or heard of
this site of 'Elah, neither do they mention the route by the Wadi 'Arab,
which lies to the north of Wadi Soor, which they do mention.

Southwards, but further inland, lies _Keelah_, which I suppose to be the
Keilah of 1 Sam. xxiii. I, the scene of a remarkable incident in David's
early career, before retiring to Ziph. The name is registered four
hundred years before that in Josh. xv. 44, among the cities of Judah.

This, then, being the valley of 'Elah near to Shocoh, must have been the
scene of David and Goliath's encounter. How could the Latin monks of the
middle ages, and modern Roman Catholic travellers to Jerusalem, ever
believe that it took place at Kaloneh near that city? The perversion can
only be attributed to their ignor