northward, and it [p.xvi] was in this part of their wandering that they
suffered from the serpents, of which our traveller observed the traces
of great numbers on the opposite shore of the AElanitic gulf. The
Israelites then issued into the great elevated plains which are
traversed by the Egyptian and Syrian pilgrims, on the way to Mekka,
after they have passed the two Akabas. Having entered these plains,
Moses received the divine command, "You have compassed this mountain
long enough, turn you northward."--"Ye are to pass through the coast
of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir, and they
shall be afraid of you." [Deuter, c.ii.] The same people who had
successfully repelled the approach of the Israelites from the strong
western frontier, was alarmed now that they had come round upon the weak
side of the country. But Israel was ordered "not to meddle" with the
children of Esau, but "to pass through their coast" and to "buy meat and
water from them for money," in the same manner as the caravan of Mekka
is now supplied by the people of the same mountains, who meet the
pilgrims on the Hadj route. After traversing the wilderness on the
eastern side of Moab, the Israelites at length entered that country,
crossing the brook Zered in the thirty-eighth year, from their first
arrival at Kadesh Barnea, "when all the generation of the men of war
were wasted out from among the host."[Deuter, c.ii.] After passing
through the centre of Moab, they crossed the Arnon, entered Ammon, and
were at length permitted to begin the overthrow of the possessors of the
promised land, by the destruction of Sihon the Amorite, who dwelt at
Heshbon.[Numbers, c.xxi. Deuter, c.ii.] The preservation of the latter
name, and of those of Diban, Medaba, Aroer, Amman, together with the
other geographical facts derived from the journey of Burckhardt through
the countries beyond the Dead Sea, furnishes a most satisfactory
illustration of the sacred historians.