"معاملات الجمعية الجغرافية في بومباي، من يناير ١٨٤٧ حتى مايو ١٨٤٩. تحرير السكرتير. المجلد VIII." [‎٣‎٥‎٣] (٤٩٦/٤٦٢)

the edge of the elevation. Near the southern peak of Olivet,—the
supposed mountain of corruption, or offence,—I found a small mound of
masonry, covered with earth, evidently of high antiquity, which may
possibly mark the site of one of Solomon’s high places to Moloch. Near
it lay a small but perfect pillar of fine-grained polished limestone eight
feet long—diameter of base one foot six inches, and of the top one foot
four inches : the filleted base and capital strikingly resembled those of
the pillars in the older synagogues of the Jews. It certainly was not of
any known order of Roman or Grecian architecture. The base and
capital were hewn out of the same block, and not separated from the
shafts: the height of the former was one foot three inches, and of the
latter one foot one inch.
Route from Anathoth to Hal —From Anathoth we descended a steep
rugged declivity to the bottom of a Wadi which our guide, an Arab of the
country, called Wadi-es-Sennam, f ^ ^ (j—the Yalley of Idols, but
which Dr. Robinson has written E§ Selam, and which runs north-easterly
into Wadi Far ah ; the descent occupied nine minutes. At the bottom is
the channel of a winter torrent, which follows the course of the Wadi to
the valley of the Jordan. It was then dry, and we pursued its rugged bed
for some distance, leaving on the right the Wadi Bir Ajal lU-
marked by a green verdant patch. The steep south side of the Wadi
seemed flagged with great smooth slabs of grey limestone, divided by
countless fissures. The inclined surface of these planes added to their
smoothness, renders the descent difficult to horses. W e turned up the
left or N. side of the Wadi, and after a slight ascent and descent, as
cended to Hizmeh, which stands on the summit of its left bank, apparent
ly in a lower position than Anathoth, from which it bears N. 20 E.,
distant fifty minutes, or about three miles by the road. The direct dis
tance I calculate at about one and a haif miles.
Hizmeh I take to be the Azmaveth of Benjanim, mDny,—the
kfaad of the Septuagint. It is first mentioned in scripture by Ezra
(ii. 23-24) in his enumeration of the principal persons who returned
from Babylon, in connexion with Anathoth. “ Tire men of Anat lot u
an hundred twenty and eight, the children of Azmaveth forty and two
Nehemiah, (vii. 27, 28,) in a similar enumeration, places these tv
towns together, and in describing (xii. 27, 28, 29) the "on of the
new wall of Jerusalem, he states that “ The sons of the sin
gathered themselves together, out of the plain country round about
Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophatln; also from the house ’