including the great work of M. Lartet, the geologist attached to the expedition of the Duc de Luynes, and had even gone so far as to deliver a public lecture on the physical history of the Jordan Valley and the Salt Sea in the theatre of the Royal Dublin Society.[1] Little did I think, when delivering that lecture, that I should have an opportunity in a few months' time of testing the correctness of my views by actual observation on the spot! Such, however, was the case; and within a few weeks I was busily engaged in my preparations for departure for the East.
It was of first importance to choose suitable companions. The Committee kindly allowed me to select an assistant; and I gladly accepted the offer of my son, Dr. E. Gordon Hull, to accompany me in that capacity, and, also, as honorary medical officer to the party. Major Kitchener, R.E., then in Egypt, was nominated by the Committee to undertake the topographical survey of the Wâdy el Arabah, and region to the north as far as the shores of the Salt Sea, so as to join up the triangulation with that of the Ordnance Survey of Palestine[2] and Mr. Armstrong, formerly Sergeant-Major R.E., who had taken part in nearly the whole of the previous survey, was appointed his assistant. It is scarcely necessary for me to say with what pleasure I received the tidings of the appointment of Major Kitchener as my colleague. I was aware of his great experience in the work of the Palestine Survey, of his knowledge of the character and customs of the Arab tribes amongst whom we were to travel, and of his ability to converse in their language. All this inspired an amount of confidence of ultimate success I should not otherwise have felt, and the result proved that my confidence was well founded. In matters connected with our dealing with the Arabs I readily deferred to his judgment, which I always found to be judicious, while he often acted as spokesman in our negociations with the Sheikhs.
It was, also, a matter of much importance to the safety of the party, towards the attainment of our objects, that great prudence should be exercised in dealing with the Bedawins;—at least we supposed so. The unhappy murder of Professor Palmer, Lieut. Gill, and their companions,
- ↑ An abstract of this lecture appeared in Nature, March, 1883.
- ↑ The Palestine Survey Map, published on a scale of ⅜ of an inch to one statute mile, includes the western shore of the Dead Sea as far as Sebbeh; from this point the southern boundary runs along Wâdy Sciyal, Wâdy el Milh, Wâdy es Seba, and the Wâdy Ghuzzeh, to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, south of Gaza.
