eam of water, at a
distance of rather more than two hours from Jerusalem to the N.E.

The way to it is through 'Anata, already described, from which most of
the stones were quarried for the English church in the Holy City, and
then alongside the hill on which stands the ruins with the double name of
'Alman and 'Almeet, discovered by me as above-described.

Once, in the autumn season, a party of us went to Wadi Farah, and
arriving on its precipitous brink found the descent too difficult for the
horses; these, therefore, were left in charge of the servants, while we
skipped or slid from rock to rock, carrying the luncheon with us.

The copious stream was much choked near its source, which rises from the
ground, by a thick growth of reeds, oleanders in blossom, and gigantic
peppermint with strong smell. There were small fish in the stream, which
was flowing rapidly; wild pigeons were numerous, and a shepherd boy
playing his reed pipe, brought his flock to the water. Need it be said,
how refreshing all this was to us all after the long summer of Jerusalem.

There were remains of a bridge and considerable fragments of old
aqueducts, _i.e._, good-sized tubes of pottery encased in masonry, but
now so broken as to be quite useless; these lead from the spring-head
towards the Jordan at different levels, one above another. There was
also a cistern of masonry, with indications of water-machinery having
been at one time employed there; but all these evidences of population
and industry are abandoned to savages and the action of the elements.

Dr James Barclay of Virginia, author of "The City of the Great King,"
believes this site to be that of "AEnon, near to Salim," where John was
baptizing, "because there was much water there," (John iii. 23.)

There can scarcely be a doubt that it is the _Parah_, belonging to the
tribe of Benjamin, in Josh. xviii. 23, and that therefore it was a
settled and cultivated place before the children of Israel took
possession of the land.

The district around,--indeed, all eastwards of 'Anata,--is now
unappropriated; parts of it, however, are sown--not always the same
patches in successive years--by the people of the nearest villages in a
compulsory partnership with the petty Arabs of the Jordan plain. The
peasantry are forced to find the seed and the labour, and yet are often
defrauded of their share of the produce by the so-called partners
bringing up friends and auxiliaries from the plain,