Where was this altar of Ed, so conspicuous from afar? If we stand in the Jordan Valley near Jericho, and look northwards, we cannot fail to see, at a distance of 20 miles, a conical peak called _Kurn Surtabeh_, standing out like a bastion at the eastern end of a chain of blue hills. This peak is 1500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, and 2500 feet above the Jordan, near to it. From the top of it one may see the Dead Sea to the south, the Sea of Galilee to the north, the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim in the centre. According to the Jewish Talmud this mountain was a beacon station, where the fires were lighted, in connection with fires on the Mount of Olives, to signify the advent of the new moon. Conder, some years ago, pointed out that this mountain would be in the path which the two and a half tribes should naturally take in going from Shiloh to their home in Gilead, the fords of the Jordan being a little way north of it. On the top of this almost inaccessible peak he found some huge masonry work of ancient character, which he was inclined at the time to regard as remnants of the altar. And when the identification seemed to be thus nearly complete, it appeared to be confirmed by the discovery that the north side of the mountain, the only accessible side is called “the Ascent of Ed.” But the identification was disputed. It was pointed out that Josephus says the altar was on the east side of Jordan, and that the Scripture narrative makes the tribes to cross the river at “the passage of the Children of Israel,” which is supposed to describe the Jericho ford and not the ford at Damieh. For these reasons Conder now regards his idea as “only a conjecture.”