After wandering round and around, we descended into _Wadi Zahari_, "the flowering valley," where, by the water-side, were reeds and oleanders forty or fifty feet high; and near them we observed a pear-tree and a fig-tree, all alone and deserted, the remains of former cultivation. This and other previous instances attest the risk that attends rural labour in that district, being in the immediate vicinity of the Bedaween, and the utter mockery of nominal Turkish rule. Here we filled our leathern water-bottles, (called _zumzumia_ in the Desert, and _mattara_ by towns-people,) and climbed up a stony hill, the heat of the day increasing. No path among the rocks, and all of us angry at Shaikh Yusuf for saving himself the few piastres by conducting us among such difficulties. Then, after some time we perceived ourselves to be near Umm Kais, by the sarcophagi, the sepulchres, and ruts of chariot-wheels upon the rocks. We rushed up to a large tree for refreshing shelter, and near it found numerous sepulchres, highly ornamented, and some of them with the stone doors remaining on the hinges, which we swung about to test the reality of their remaining so perfect, (figs. 1, 2, 3.) Among these was the one remarked by Lord Lindsay in his Travels, bearing a Hebrew name inscribed in Greek letters, but which he has not [Picture: Fig. 1] given quite correctly. It should be _Gaanuiph_ instead of _Gaaniph_. This sepulchre is cut in black [Picture: Fig. 2] basaltic rock, and has some broken sarcophagi remaining inside. On a round fragment of a column, near this side, is the inscription given below, (fig. 4.) The upper part is the farewell of surviving relatives [Picture: Fig. 3] to the daughter of SEMLACHUS. The lower part, for whomsoever intended,--"_and thou also farewell_,"--carries with it a touch of nature that still affects the heart, after the lapse of many centuries. [Picture: Fig. 4] The mausoleums and sepulchres at the opposite end of the city were even more numerous, many having Greek inscriptions upon them. But the theatre is the most remarkable of all the objects of antiquity,--so perfect, with its rows of seats complete, surrounded by numerous public edifices and lines of columns; and then commanding from those seats a large view of the beautiful Lake of Tiberias, and of the grand mountains which enclose it, as a frame to the picture. Here I stayed behind the rest of the party for a considerable time, charmed with the spectacle of nature, and revolving over the incidents of Herodian history, so vividly portrayed by Josephus. Then rejoined my friends, by galloping along a Roman road, paved with blocks of dark basalt. But before leaving this place, I must express my surprise at any person that has been there imagining for a moment that it can be the Gadara of Scripture.