Before leaving Moab it was Major Conder’s privilege to stand where Moses stood, and view the landscape on all sides. There can be no doubt about the identification of Mount Nebo. It was ascertained by Canon Tristram; it has been confirmed by Conder, who finds the field of Zophim close by; and Sir Charles Warren discovered the ruins of the ancient city of Nebo at its foot. Moreover, it retains the name _Neba_, and from the summit you obtain the celebrated “Pisgah view” (Deut. xxxiv. 1-3). Naphtali, Gilead, Ephraim, and Manasseh, Judah, and the Negeb, or “dry land” south of Hebron, are all in sight, with the plains of Jericho “unto Zoar.” But, according to Conder, the Mediterranean Sea is not visible from Nebo, being hidden throughout by the western watershed of Judea and Samaria. Dr Tristram says, in his “Land of Moab,” “Carmel could be recognised, but we never were able to make out the sea to the north of it; and though it is certainly possible that it might be seen from this elevation, I could not satisfy myself that I saw more than the haze over the plain of Esdraelon.” But even if the waters of the “great sea” in the Bay of Haifa could be seen distinctly from Mount Nebo, the fact would hardly be relevant, for Deut. xxxiv. points rather to the sea south of Joppa. It is sufficient, however, that from no other summit can you get so extensive a prospect as from Mount Nebo. Conder’s work was abruptly stopped. Even when the party went out in 1881 there was great excitement in the East. A Moslem Messiah was expected to appear in the year 1300 of the Hegira, and the war in Egypt was brewing. The British Government had served Conder with a notice that any expedition he might take out would be at his own risk, and they could not be responsible for the consequences. After fifteen months, during which the work was carried on at great risks, the Sultan heard that English captains were surveying the land, and sent orders for them to cease. In the same year Mr Rassam’s researches in Mesopotamia were stopped. Finally, Conder and his party left Syria on a steamer crowded with refugees from the Alexandria massacres. [_Authorities and Sources_:--“East of the Jordan.” By Selah Merrill. London: Bentley & Son, 1881. “Across the Jordan.” By Gottlieb Schumacher. Bentley & Son, 1886. “The Jaulan.” By G. Schumacher, Bentley, 1888. “Abila,” “Pella,” and “Northern Ajlun.” By G. Schumacher. London: Palestine Exploration Society, 1888, 1889. “Palestine.” By Major Conder. London: George Philip & Son, 1889. “Heth and Moab.” By Major Conder. Bentley & Son, 1883. “The Land of Moab.” By Rev. Canon Tristram. London: John Murray, 1873. “Unexplored Syria.” By Burton and Drake. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1872.] CHAPTER III. JERUSALEM.