Pella--situated just opposite _Beisan_, on the other side of the Ghor--is the city to which the Christian believers fled when Titus advanced to besiege Jerusalem. Epiphanius says that “they removed because they had been forewarned by Christ himself of the approaching siege.” Seventy years later (A.D. 135) when Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem as a Roman city, and changed its name to Ælia, the Christians again left it and sought refuge in this elegant city of Pella in the Jordan valley. Dr Merrill is inclined to think that Christ himself had been in Pella (for we know that he visited Perea), and met with such favour and success as to make the city a fitting asylum for his followers. Herr Schumacher, after describing a rock-cut chamber of rectangular shape, having a ceiling cut in the shape of a cross vault, with two pillars on the southern and northern walls, says, “It may be accepted as beyond doubt that we have here a cave, once inhabited by those Christian anchorites, who, in the beginning of the Christian era and during the Jewish wars, found a refuge at Pella. The flooring consisting of earth and remains of charcoal, as well as the plan of the whole, has no sepulchral character, but rather that of a habitation; the passages being used to secure air and afford a way of escape in case of persecution, for these small caves, if their door entrance was carefully shut, were hardly visible from below, and the passage still less. The entire northern slope is honeycombed with such caves.” The wonder is that Pella should ever have been forsaken, it is so favoured in position. Even after the long summer drought, the springs gushing out among the broken columns and ruins of former splendour are abundant enough to make fertile all the neighbouring land, which, situated on the upper level of the Ghor, and 250 feet below the sea, enjoys, perhaps, the finest climate, from an agricultural point of view, that can be found in Syria. The capital of Perea was Gadara, a city mentioned in the Gospel narrative of the demoniac who had his dwelling among the tombs. The population of _Umm Keis_ may be about two hundred souls, and the people cultivate tobacco, vegetables, and grain. Below the ground occupied by the present village, many caves and ancient burial places have been discovered. The ruins include a Roman theatre and what may be the remains of a castle.