From Szafout we returned by Ardh el Hemar to Feheis, which we reached in four hours and a half from Szafout. Near the springs of Hemar we found a cow that had gone astray from some Bedouin encampment; my guides immediately declared her to be a fair prize, and drove her off before them to Feheis, where she was killed, to prevent the owner from claiming her, and the encampment feasted upon the flesh for two days. N.E. from Szafout, distant about two hours, is a ruined city, with several edifices still standing, called Yadjoush (Arabic). N. of Amman, two hours, is a ruined building called El Nowakys (Arabic), on the interior wall of which are some busts in relief, according to the report of one who had seen them, but whose veracity was rather doubtful. On my return to Szalt I was obliged to remain there several days longer, for want of a guide; for the road to Kerek is a complete desert, and much exposed to the inroads of the Arabs. At last I found a man who engaged to serve me, but his demands were so exorbitant, that I was several days in bargaining with him. Mousa, (M. Seetzen), he said, had paid his guide twenty-five piastres for the trip from hence to Kerek, and he would not, therefore, go the same road for less than twenty- three; this was an enormous sum for a journey of two days, in a country where an Arab will toil for a fortnight without obtaining so great a sum. My principal MEKABBELY [p.363] objection to paying so much was, that it would become known at Kerek, which, besides other difficulties it might bring me into, would have obliged me to pay all my future guides in the same proportion. My landlord, however, removed this objection by making the guide take a solemn oath that he would never confess to having received more than six piastres for his trouble. There was no other proper guide to be got, and I began to be tired of Szalt, for I saw that my landlord was very earnest in his endeavours to get me away; I resolved therefore to trust to my good fortune, and to set out with no other company than that of an armed horseman. In the evening I returned to Feheis, from whence we departed early the next morning.