Although the chambers and passages were ventilated, the question arises, why any people should choose to live in such gloomy seclusion instead of in the light of day? Mr Schumacher’s conjecture is that they did ordinarily live in the daylight, and that these subterranean places were hollowed out in order to receive the population in time of danger. They were thus prepared to stand a siege, as long as their magazines were filled with food, their stables with cattle, and their cisterns with water. If, however, the enemy had found out how to cut off their supply of air, by covering up the air-holes, the besieged would have been compelled to surrender or perish. Another circumstance also might have proved disastrous--if armies of wasps found their way into the underground city the inhabitants would be driven out. Some writers think that this occurrence is actually spoken of in Exodus xxiii. 28--“And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before thee;” and Deut. vii. 20--“Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves, perish from before thee”--_they that are left, and hide themselves_! Herr Schumacher and Mr Laurence Oliphant find many names and traditions which lead them to regard the country of Western Hauran as probably the land of Uz. “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job” (Job i.). The old village of _Sheikh Sa’ad_ is a spot which from the most ancient times has been held sacred to the memory of Job (_Neby Ayyub_). We find there the ruins of the Monastery of Job (_Deir Ayyub_), much venerated by the ancient people of the Hauran. At the south-eastern extremity of the long low hill upon which the village is built, and elevated about 40 feet above the surrounding plain, is the “Rock of Job,” which stands now in a mosque. Here, so says the legend, Job sat when he was leprous, and received his friends. The rock is a monolith of basalt, 7 feet high and about 4 feet broad, and on its surface are some illegible letters. There may be no truth in the legend; but it serves to show how closely the name of Job is associated with this region. About half a day’s journey due east from Bethshan is a place called _Mahneh_, which several writers, on account of the similarity of name, have been inclined to identify with Mahanaim, where Jacob met the two companies of angels, and where David sojourned during Absalom’s rebellion. A mound exists here, and Dr Tristram picked up some pieces of old pottery, scattered about, so that it might be worth while to excavate: but we must look elsewhere for Mahanaim.