After his return from this unfortunate journey, Burckhardt was delayed for a considerable time at Aleppo by incessant rains; but at length, on the 14th of February, he bade this city a final adieu, and hastened once more to Damascus. He was desirous, before quitting Syria, of performing another journey in the Haurān. This he completed, and having transmitted to England an account of his discoveries in this extraordinary region, he departed on the 18th of June for the Dead Sea. The reader will not, I imagine, be displeased to find the description of this journey given in the author’s own words: having reached Nazareth, “I met here,” says he, “a couple of petty merchants from Szalt, a castle in the mountains of Balka, which I had not been able to see during my late tour, and which lies on the road I had pointed out to myself for passing into the Egyptian deserts. I joined their caravan; after eight hours’ march, we descended into the valley of the Jordan, called El Gor, near Bysan; crossed the river, and continued along its verdant banks for about ten hours, until we reached the river Zerka, near the place where it empties itself into the Jordan. Turning then to our left, we ascended the eastern chain, formerly part of the district of Balka, and arrived at Szalt, two long days’ journey from Nazareth. The inhabitants of Szalt are entirely independent of the Turkish government; they cultivate the ground for a considerable distance round their habitations, and part of them live the whole year round in tents, to watch their harvests and to pasture their cattle. Many ruined places and mountains in the district of Balka preserve the names of the Old Testament, and elucidate the topography of the province that fell to the share of the tribes of Gad and Reuben. Szalt is at present the only inhabited place in the Balka, but numerous Arab tribes pasture there their camels and sheep. I visited from thence the ruins of Amān, or Philadelphia, five hours and a half distant from Szalt. They are situated in a valley on both sides of a rivulet, which empties itself into the Zerka. A large amphitheatre is the most remarkable of these ruins, which are much decayed, and in every respect inferior to those of Jerash. At four or five hours south-east of Amān are the ruins of Om Erresas and El Kotif, which I could not see, but which, according to report, are more considerable than those of Philadelphia. The want of communication between Szalt and the southern countries delayed my departure for upwards of a week; I found at last a guide, and we reached Kerek in two days and a half, after having passed the deep beds of the torrents El Wale and El Mojeb, which I suppose to be the Nahaliel and Arnon. The Mojeb divides the district of Balka from that of Kerek, as it formerly divided the Moabites from the Amorites. The ruins of Eleale, Hesebon, Meon, Medaba, Dibon, Arver, all situated on the north side of the Arnon, still subsist to illustrate the history of the Beni Israel.