RAMAH of BENJAMIN, er-Râm —Descending the N.W. side of Tuleil el-Fûl, we observe at its base, near the road, some old foundations and heaps of ruins called Khirbat el-Kut’a, probably remains of Gibeah. A few min. farther the camel-road to Yâfa by el-Jîb and Wady Suleimân strikes off to the l.; and in 20 min. more is a ruined khan with arches and reservoirs, from which a path leads up the stony hill on the rt. to er-Râm. This.is a small poor village, with some fragments of columns and large bevelled stones built up in the modern houses and scattered among the dirty lanes. The situation is high, but the view eastward is not equal to that from Tuleil el-Fûl, This is Ramah of Benjamin, which lay between Gibeon and Beeroth (Josh. xviii. 25); and which we learn from the poor Levite’s sad story was not far distant from Gibeah. (Jud, xix. 13.) Eusebius places it 6 Rom. m. N. of Jerusalem. It was inhabited by the Jews after the captivity (Ezra ii. 26), and has probably continued ever since much as we see it now. It is about 10 min. off the road, and is scarcely worth a visit.

After skirting the hill of Ramah the road enters a shallow wady. On the southern slope of the low rocky ridge which constitutes its western bank are some ruins, a few hundred yards from the path. Two ancient reservoirs, several broken arches, and cairns of stones, and a few rock tombs, bear the name ’Atâra, and probably mark the site of Ataroth, also called Ataroth-adar, a frontier town of Benjamin and Ephraim. (Josh. Xvi. 2, 5; xviii. 13.) Jerome mentions two Ataroths in this region. Another ½ h. brings us to Bireh, the ancient Beeroth, for which see Rte. 10.

At Bîreh the road branches—one branch runs to Beitîn, the ancient BETHEL (for an account of which see Rte. 10), and then strikes northward across a rugged plateau for about 3 m., when it unites with the other branch, which proceeds nearly due N. from Bireh, past the village of Ain Yebrûd. There is a third branch, which makes a considerable détour to the westward, and reaches in 1 1/2 h. the village of Jifna, containing about 200 Inhab., all Christians; and encompassed by luxuriant vineyards and groves of figs and olives. There are here the ruins of an old (perhaps crusaders’) castle within the village, and the remains of a ch. dedicated to St. George without it. Jifna is the GOPHNA of Josephus, where Titus encamped a night on his march to Jerusalem. Through it lay the Roman road laid down in the Peutinger Tables ; and it can still be traced. In some places the pavement remains almost entire. A ride of some 20 min. up a beautiful glen brings one from Jifna to’ Ain Yebrûd..... Such as wish to visit Bethel will take the first branch ; but as we have already visited that sacred spot in Rte. 10, we shall now go by the more picturesque and direct route to ‘Ain Yebrûd.

Soon after leaving Bireh we descend gradually into a wady—at first shallow with gently sloping terraced sides, but soon becoming deeper and wilder, with high clitfs of gray rock frowning over the little torrent-bed. Every available spot is terraced ; and in spring verdant with narrow strips of wheat. After some time the road strikes up the rt. bank, and at about an hour from Bîreh turns, abruptly to the rt., round a bold projecting brow of the hill. A view of singular beauty here opens up before us. A wide glen coming down from the E. unites with that through which we have descended; and then sweeps away off to the N. W., winding gracefully among rugged hills. Olive-groves fill its bed and straggle here and there up the furrows in its sides; then follow the fig-orchards, so thinly planted, however, that their foliage does not cover the sharp rocks and large heaps of stones; to these succeed the vineyards, their rude terraces running up to the very summits of the hills. There is a look of richness and fertility in the whole scene that reminds us we have entered the territory of Ephraim, who was blessed with “the precious fruits brought forth by the sun .... and the precious things of the lasting hills.” (Deut.xxxiii. 14, 15.) ‘Ain Yebrûd is in front, crowning an isolated hill that rises in tiers of terraces from the wooded glens. The road to it across the intervening ravine was once good, and the zigzag cuttings in the rock show what time and labour were expended in making it so. But time has made it a sad wreck; and the mules and donkeys—the modern road-engineers of Syria — despising all windings, scramble straight down the cliffs. 1/4 h. brings us to the side of the little village; but as there is nothing to detain us, we descend the N. side of the hill. Here the vineyards, and fig-trees, and olives are still more luxuriant; and we get, a beautiful glance at ’Ain Sînia away down a picturesque glen on the l. Again we ascend, and about 20 min. from ’Ain Yebrûd join the Bethel road. The village of Yebrûd now comes in sight on the top of a wooded ridge a mile on the N.W. There is also a nameless ruin on a tell partly behind us on the l. As we advance we are struck with the remarkable character of the country. A rugged plateau extends a mile or more to the rt. and l.—huge bare crowns and jagged points of limestone rock everywhere shoot up above the ground, and between them are innumerable loose fragments of every size and shape, carefully collected and thrown into heaps. The cultivation is wonderful; and the capabilities of the soil still more so. The whole of this forbidding tract is now one vast fig-orchard. In summer, when the leaves are out, one cannot fully see the nature of the ground; but in winter and early spring the whole is bare—rocks, nothing but rocks, meet the eye in looking across it, with the gnarled stems and branches of the fig-trees springing up out of them, like a coral forest suddenly exposed to view. The trees grow out of rents and holes; and nowhere are the patches of cleared soil more than 2 or 3 yards in diameter.

From this strange plateau the road suddenly dives into the narrow bed of a winter torrent, which it follows down a romantic glen. After descending about a mile the glen turns at right angles to the W., being joined by 2 others, one from the E. and another from the N. Here is thus a Musullabeh as the Arabs call it, or “ cross-glens.” The scenery is most enchanting. The banks, steep, high, and rugged, are all terraced. Here and there a gray cliff forms the supporting wall, and, as if to add to the effect, it is pierced with rock-tombs. Olive-trees fill the lower part, and occasionally run up to the very summit; but figs are there more general. The high bank on the S.W. is crowned with the picturesque ruins of an old castle, whose crumbling walls still frown upon the traveller below, giving a hint of its original use. The Arabs call it Burj el-Berdawil; but, of course, know nothing of its history. Proceeding up the northern ravine, called Wady el-Jîb, we reach in ‘1/4 hr. (1 1/4 h. from “Ain Yebrûd) | little wayside spring with the startling but appropriate name ' Ain el-Haramîyeh, “The Robbers’ Fountain.” The water trickles down the side of a cliff, amid trails of ferns, into 2 or 3 little artificial basins hollowed out near the bottom. Below it is a carpet of green turf, an inviting camping-ground, with ‘the massive remains of a large cistern beside it, now converted into a cornfield. It is a strange, wild, lonely spot,—not a human habitation is in view, and as the evening closes not a human footfall breaks the dead silence ; yet everywhere around are the marks of industry—olives and fig-trees below, and terraces above, leading up the steep hill-sides, like stairs to the clouds that rest upon their summits. But the associations are not so pleasant as the scenery. The glen has a bad name and deserves it; and if the traveller should pitch his tent of an evening by the little fountain, as I have done, it will amuse him to see how the stray passengers hurry along with anxious glances to the rt. and l., before and behind, as the shadows begin to deepen. Scarcely a year passes but some new deed of blood is added to the chronicles of ‘Ain el-Haramîyeh.

From the fountain the road winds up the glen, which gradually widens as we advance; and the sides become lower and less precipitous. The cultivation still continues, and even improves; probably because the hills and glens are less rugged. In fact, the ride through this district in spring is most charming. The terraced hills are so quaint; the winding valleys so picturesque; the wild-flowers, anemones, poppies, convolvolus, and hollyhocks, so brilliant and so plentiful; the sombre foliage of the olive, and deep, deep green of the fig, and bright green of the young corn on the terraces, all give such exquisite hues to the landscape. Add to this the gray ruins perched on rocky hill-tops; and the peasants in their gay dresses—red, and green, and white; and the strings of mules, and donkeys, and camels, defiling along the narrow paths, their bells awaking the echoes; and the Arab with his tufted spear or brass-bound musket ; and the shepherd leading his goats along the 'mountain-side, or grouped with them ‘round a fountain; and the traveller from the far west—the oddest figure among them all—with his red face, and white hat, and jaded hack, and nondescript trappings.

In 25 min. we have a half-ruined village on the top of a hill to the l. A peasant called it Khurbet et-Tell; but it may possibly be the Jîbia which some travellers have described as lying in this region. If this be so, its situation and name would answer to the Geba of which Eusebius writes as on the side of the Roman road 5
Rom. m. N. of Gophna, In 25 min. more we emerge from the glen into a narrow green plain which runs away out eastward among low dark hills. In the midst of it, 1/4 m. off, is a little tell, on which stands the village of Turmûs ’Aya. Sinjil is on a ridge some 10 min. to our l. The straight road to Nâbulus crosses the ridge to the N. of this plain; but we turn to the rt. to visit the ruins of Seilûn,