Chapter 10

From Oerman we proceeded one hour and a quarter, to the town and castle called Szalkhat [Arabic]: the intermediate country is full of ruined walls. The soil of the desert, as well here

SZALKHAT.

[p.100]as between Zahouet and Oerman, is black; and, notwithstanding the abundant rains, the ground was intersected in every direction by large fissures caused by the summer heat. The castle of Szalkhat is situated upon a hill at the southern foot of the Szfeikh. The town, which occupies the south and west foot of the castle hill, is now uninhabited; but fifteen years since a few Druse and Christian families were established here, as well as at Oerman: the latter retired to Khabeb, where I afterwards saw them, and where they are still called Szalkhalie. The town contains upwards of eight hundred houses, but presents nothing worthy of observation except a large mosque, with a handsome Madene or Minaret; the mosque was built in the year 620 of the Hedjra, or A.D. 1224, as appears from an inscription upon it; the Minaret is only two hundred years old. But even the mosque seems to have been nothing more than a repaired temple or church, as there are several well wrought niches in its outer walls: and the interior is vaulted, with arches supported by low pillars similar to those which have been before described. Several stones are lying about, with Greek inscriptions; but all so much defaced as to be no longer legible. Within the mosque lies a large stone with a fleur-de-lis cut upon it. In the court-yards of the houses of the town are a great number of fig and pomegranate trees; the former were covered with ripe fruit, and as we had tasted nothing this day but dry flour, we made a hearty dinner of the figs. There is no spring either in the castle or town of Szalkhat, but every house has a deep cistern lined with stone; there is also a large Birket.

The castle stands upon the very summit of the hill, and forms a complete circle; it is a very commanding position, and of the first importance as a defence of the Haouran against the Arabs. It is surrounded by a deep ditch, which separates the top of the hill

[p.101]from the part immediately below it. I walked round the outside of the ditch in twelve minutes. The upper hill, except in places where the rock is firm, is paved with large flat stones, similar to those of the castle of Aleppo: a number of these stones, as well as parts of the wall, have fallen down, and in many places have filled up the ditch to half its depth. I estimated the height of the paved upper hill to be sixty yards. A high arched bridge leads over the ditch into the castle. The wall of the castle is of moderate thickness, flanked all round by towers and turrets pierced with numerous loop holes, and is constructed of small square stones, like some of the eastern walls of Damascus. Most of the interior apartments of the castle are in complete ruins; in several of them are deep wells. On entering I observed over the gate a well sculptured eagle with expanded wings; hard by, on the left of the entrance, are two capitals of columns, placed one upon the other, each adorned with four busts in relief projecting from a cluster of palm leaves. The heads of the busts are wanting; the sculpture is indifferent. A covered way leads from the inside of the gateway into the interior; of this I took a very cursory view, as the day was near closing, and my companions pressed me very much to depart, that we might reach a village three hours distant; there being no water here for my horse, I the more readily complied with their wishes. Over the entrance of a tower in the interior I read these two lines:

[Arabic].

"In the name of God, the merciful and the munificent. During the reign of the equitable king Saad-eddin Abou-takmar, the Emir--- ordered the building of this castle;" which makes it probable that it was erected for the defence

ABD MAAZ.

[p.102]of the country against the Crusaders. In one of the apartments I found, just appearing above the earth, the upper part of a door built of calcareous stone, a material which I have not met with in any part of the Haouran: over it is the following inscription, in well engraved characters:

[Greek].

Upon the architrave of the door, on both sides of the inscription, are masques in bas-relief.

In an apartment where I saw several small entrances to sepulchres, and where there are several columns lying about, is this:

[Greek].

And, on a stone in the wall of the same apartment:

[Greek].

The hill upon which the castle stands consists of alternate layers of the common black tufwacke of the country, and of a very porous deep red, and often rose-cloured, pumice-stone: in some caverns formed in the latter, salt-petre collects in great quantities. I met with the same substance at Shohba.

S.W. of Szalkhat one hour and a half, stands the high Tel Abd Maaz, with a ruined city of the same name; there still remain large plantations of vines and figs, the fruit of which is

KEREYE.

[p.103]collected by the Arabs in autumn. Near Abd Maaz is another ruin called Deffen. S. one hour is Tel Mashkouk [Arabic], towards which are the ruins Tehhoule [Arabic], Kfer ezzeit [Arabic], and Khererribe [Arabic].

We left Szalkhat towards sunset, on a rainy evening, in order to reach Kereye, a village three good hours distant. In one hour we passed the ruined village Meneidhere [Arabic], with a copious spring near it. Our route lay through a stony plain, and the night now becoming very dark, with incessant rain, my guides lost their way, and we continued for three hours uncertain whether we should not be obliged to take up our night's quarters in the open plain. At length, however, we came to the bed of a Wady called Hameka, which we ascended for a short distance, and in half an hour after crossing it reached Kereye, about ten at night; here we found a comfortable Fellah's house, and a copious dish of Bourgul.

November 23d.--Kereye is a city containing about five hundred houses, of which four only were at this time inhabited. It has several ancient towers, and public buildings; of the latter the principal has a portico consisting of a triple row of six columns in each, supporting a flat roof; seven steps, extending the whole breadth of the portico, lead from the first row up to the third; the capitals of the columns are of the annexed form; their base is like the capital inverted. Behind the colonnade is a Birket surrounded with a strong wall. Upon a stone lying upon the upper step, in the midst of which is an excavation, is this inscription:

[Greek].

HOUSHHOUSH.

[p.104]To the S. and E. of Kereye are the ruins called Ai-in [Arabic], Barade [Arabic], Nimri [Arabic], Bakke [Arabic], Hout [Arabic], Souhab [Arabic], Rumman [Arabic], Szemad [Arabic], and Rafka [Arabic]. Kelab Haouran bears from Kereye N.&.E. Kereye is three hours distance from Boszra [Arabic], the principal town in the Haouran, remarkable for the antiquity of its castle, and the ancient ruins and inscriptions to be found there. I wished very much to visit it, and might have done so in perfect safety, and without expense; but I knew that there was a garrison of between three and four hundred Moggrebyns in the town; a class of men which, from the circumstance of their passing from one service to another, I was particularly desirous of avoiding. It was very probable that I might afterwards meet with some of the individuals of this garrison in Egypt, where they would not have failed to recognize my person, in consequence of the remarkable circumstance of my visit to Boszra; but as I did not think proper to state these reasons to my guides, who of course expected me to examine the greatest curiosity in the Haouran, I told them that I had had a dream, which made it advisable for me not to visit this place. They greatly applauded my prudent determination, accustomed as they had been to look upon me as a person who had a secret to insure his safety, when travelling about in such dangerous places. We therefore left Kereye in the morning, and proceeding N.E. reached in three quarters of an hour Houshhoush [Arabic], after having crossed the Wady Djaar [Arabic], which descends from the mountain. Houshhoush is a heap of ruins, upon a Tel in the plain, and is famed over all the Haouran for the immense treasures said to be buried there. Whenever I was asked by the Fellahs where I had been, they never failed to enquire particularly whether I had seen Houshhoush. The small ancient village contains nothing remarkable except a church, supported by a single arch which rests on pillars much higher than those generally seen in this country. At the

SHMERRIN.

[p.105]foot of the hill are several wells. We found here a great number of mushrooms; we had met with some at Szalkhat; my guides taught me to eat them raw, with a morsel of bread. The quantity of Kattas here was beyond description; the whole plain seemed sometimes to rise; and far off in the air they were seen like large moving clouds.

W. of Houshhoush half an hour, in the plain, are Tel Zakak and Deir Aboud; the latter is a building sixty feet square, of which the walls only are standing; they are built with small stones, and have a single low door. From this place W.S.W. three quarters of an hour is Tahoun el Abiad [Arabic] i.e. the White Mill, the ruins of a mill on the banks of the Wady Ras el Beder, which I noticed in speaking of Zahouet el Khuder. S.W. from Tahoun, three quarters of an hour, is the ruined village Kourd [Arabic], and W. from it one hour, the village Tellafe [Arabic]. Our way from Deir Aboud lay W.S.W.; at one hour and a half from it is the considerable ruined village Keires [Arabic], on the Wady Zedi, the largest of all the Wadys which descend from the mountain into the plain. The soil of this uncultivated district is of a red colour, and appears to be very fertile. From hence I proceeded towards Boszra, which I observed at the distance of half an hour, from the high ground above Keires. The castle of Boszra bore W.S.W. that of Szalkhat E.S.S., and the Kelab Haouran N.E.; I was near enough to distinguish the castle, and the mosque which is called by the Mohammedans El Mebrek, from the lying down of the Caliph Othman's camel.

Turning from hence, in a N.W. direction, we came to the ruined village Shmerrin [Arabic], about three quarters of an hour from Keires. Over a door in the village I read:

[xxxxx].

Near the village stands an insulated tower, with an Arabic inscription,

AAERE.

[p.106]but so high that I could not copy it; above it in large characters is [Greek] [of Felix. Ed]. The Wady Zedi passes close to this village, where a bridge of three arches is built over it; I was told that in winter the waters often rise over the bridge. Farther to the west this Wady joins that of Ghazale.

From Shmerrin we travelled to the northward; about an hour and a half to our left was the village Kharaba. We were now upon the Hadj route formerly pursued by the pilgrims from Damascus through the Ledja to Soueida and Boszra. The road is still marked by stones scattered over it, the remains, probably, of its pavement.

Thee quarters of an hour from Shmerrin, close to the right of the road, stands Deir Esszebeir [Arabic], a ruined village with a building like a monastery. At sunset we reached Aaere, two hours and a quarter from Shmerrin.

November 24th and 25th.--I remained at Aaere these two days, during which the Sheikh continued his friendly behaviour towards me. It was my wish to make an excursion towards the western parts of the plain of the Haouran, in order to visit Draa, and the ruins of Om Edjemal and Om Ezzeroub, distant one day's journey from Draa, which, judging from all the information I had received, seemed to be well worth seeing. I offered to any person, or company of men, who would undertake to guide me to the spot, thirty piastres, a large sum in these parts, but nobody was to be found. The fact was that the road from Aaere to Draa, as well as that from thence to Om Edjemal, was infested by a party of Arabs Serdie, the brother of whose chief had recently been killed by the Pasha's troops; and besides these, it was known that numerous parties of Arabs Sheraka made incursions in the same direction I

THAALE.

[p.107]was therefore obliged to give up my project, but with the intention of executing it at a future period.

November 28th.--I left Aaere in the company of a Druse; at parting the Sheikh made me promise that I would again visit his village. The direction of our route was to the N.W. In an hour and a quarter, over a plain, in most parts cultivated, we reached El Kenneker [Arabic], a solid building upon a hill, with a few habitations round it; all the villages in this part are inhabited; we saw the traces of the Wahabi in a burnt field. E. from hence one hour is Deir Ettereife [Arabic]. N.E. half an hour, the village Hadid [Arabic]; half an hour farther passed Ousserha [Arabic], a village with a copious spring. One hour and a half E. we saw Walgha [Arabic]. Just before we reached Ousserha we passed the Wady El Thaleth, which I have mentioned between Soueida and Zahouet. Continuing on the side of the Wady for three quarters of an hour, we came to Thaale [Arabic], where there is a Birket: here we stopped to breakfast. It is inhabited by Mohammedans only.

In a building now used as a mosque, within which are four arches, and three short pillars in the vestibule, I copied the two following inscriptions placed opposite each other.

[Greek][A.D. 683, the twenty-third year of the Emperor Heraclius.].

On a long wall of a building entirely in ruins:

[Greek].

From Thaale one hour S.W. is Tel Sheikh Houssein, with the village Deir Ibn Kheleif; to the W. of which is El Kerak. We

NAHITA.

[p.108]proceeded from Thaale in a W. direction, half an hour, to Daara [Arabic], a village with a Birket. On the wall of the mosque I read as follows:

[Greek].

One hour to the W. of the village is Rakham. Travelling from Daara N.W. we reached in one hour and a quarter the village Melihat Ali, to the S. of which, half an hour, stands Melihat el Ghazale. In one hour and a quarter from Melihat Ali we reached Nahita [Arabic], where we slept. On the S. side of the village, near a well, now filled up, stands a small square tower, built with large stones; there is a long inscription over its entrance, but illegible.

November 27th.--In a ruined arched building I copied the following:

[Greek].

and over a door as follows:

[Greek].

This village has a large Birket, and contains a ruined tower, with vaulted buildings adjoining.

We proceeded one hour to Melihat el Hariri, so named from

KHABEB.

[p.109]its Sheikh being generally of the family of Hariri; the proper name of the village is Melihat el Atash. I there copied the following, over a door:

[Greek].

From thence, in one hour and a quarter, I reached Ezra, and alighted at the house of the priest. I again endeavoured to visit Draa, but no body would undertake to act as my guide except a peasant, in whose company I did not think that I should be sufficiently secure; for it had been a constant rule with me, during this tour, not to expose myself to any hazard, well knowing that this was not the place, where duty and honour obliged me to do so; on the contrary, I felt that I should not be justified in risking my life, in this quarter, destined as I am to other, and it is hoped, more important pursuits.

November 28th.--I left Ezra this morning with the priest, to visit some villages in the northern Loehf, and if possible to enter the Ledja. We rode one hour to Keratha, close to which is a spring. From Keratha, in an hour and a quarter, we came to Mehadje, whence I saw Tel Shiehhan bearing E.S.E. To the east of the road from Ezra to Mehadje on the Ledja are the ruins of Sour and Aazim. From Mehadje we entered the Ledja, and continued in it, at half an hour's distance from the cultivated plain, in the direction N.E., till we reached Khabeb [Arabic] at the end of two hours. Between Tebne and Khabeb lies the village Bossir. From Khabeb the Kelab Haouran bears S.S.E. This is a considerable village, inhabited for the greater part by Catholic Christians, who, as I have mentioned above, emigrated from Szalkhat. The Sheikh is a Druse. I met here a poor Arab, a native of the country three days journey from Mekka; he told me that the

DHAMI.

[p.110]Wahabi had killed four of his brothers; that he fled from home, and established himself at Dael, a village in the Haouran, which was ransacked last summer by the same enemies, when he lost the whole of his property. This man corroborated what I have repeatedly been told, that a single person may travel over the Wahabi dominions with perfect safety.

November 29th.--I here took two Druses to conduct me into the interior of the Ledja. The Arabs who inhabit that district pay some deference to the Druses, but none whatever to the Turks or Christians of the neighbouring villages. In one hour we passed the two ruined cities Zebair [Arabic] and Zebir [Arabic], close to each other. At the end of two hours and a quarter, our road lying in the direction of the Kelab Haouran, we came to the ruined village Djedel [Arabic]. Thus far the Ledja is a level country with a stony soil covered with heaps of rocks, amongst which are a number of small patches of meadow, which afford excellent pasture for the cattle of the Arabs who inhabit these parts. From Djedel the ground becomes uneven, the pasturing places less frequent, the rocks higher, and the road more difficult. I had intended to proceed to Aahere, where there is a fine spring; but evening coming on we stopped near Dhami [Arabic], three hours and three quarters from Khabeb, and two hours distant from Aahere. It appears strange that a city should have been built by any people in a spot where there is neither water nor arable ground, and nothing but a little grass amidst the stones. Dhami may contain three hundred houses, most of which are still in good preservation. There is a large building whose gate is ornamented with sculptured vine leaves and grapes, like those at Kanouat.

Every house appears to have had its cistern; there are many also in the immediate vicinity of the town: they are formed by excavations in the rock, the surface of which is supported by props

DEIR DHAMI.

[p.111]of loose stones. Some of them are arched and have narrow canals to conduct the water into them from the higher grounds. S.E. of Dhami half an hour is Deir Dhami [Arabic], another ruined place, smaller than the former, and situated in a most dreary part of the Ledja, near which we found, after a good deal of search, an encampment of Arabs Medledj, where we passed the night.

November 30th.--These Arabs being of a doubtful character, and rendered independent by the very difficult access of their rocky abode, we did not think it prudent to tell them that I had come to look at their country; they were told, therefore, that I was a manufacturer of gunpowder, in search of saltpetre, for at Dhami, and in most of the ruined villages in the Ledja, the earth which is dug up in the court- yards of the houses, as well as in the immediate vicinity of them, contains saltpetre, or as it is called in Arabic, Melh Baroud, i.e. gunpowder salt.

The Ledja, which is from two to three days journey in length, by one in breadth, is inhabited by several tribes of Arabs; viz. Selman [Arabic], Medledj [Arabic], Szolout [Arabic], Dhouhere [Arabic], and Siale [Arabic]; of these the Szolout may have about one hundred tents, the Medledj one hundred and twenty, and the others fifty or sixty. They breed a vast number of goats, which easily find pasturage amongst the rocks; a few of them also keep sheep and cows, and cultivate the soil in some parts of the Ledja, where they sow wheat and barley. They possess few horses; the Medledj have about twenty, and the Szolout and Dhouhere each a dozen. But I shall have occasion to speak of these Arabs again in describing the people of the country.

The tent in which we slept was remarkably large, although it could not easily be perceived amidst the labyrinth of rocks where it was pitched; yet our host was kept awake the whole night by

THE LEDJA.

[p.112]the fear of robbers, and the dogs barked incessantly. He told me next morning that the Szolout had lately been very successful in their nightly depredations upon the Medledj. Our host having no barley, gave my horse a part of some wheat which he had just brought from the plain, to bake into bread for his family.

December lst.--We departed at sunrise, the night having been so cold that none of us was able to sleep. We found our way with great difficulty out of the labyrinth of rocks which form the inner Ledja, and through which the Arabs alone have the clue. Some of the rocks are twenty feet high, and the country is full of hills and Wadys. In the outer Ledja trees are less frequent than here, where they grow in great numbers among the rocks; the most common are the oak, the Malloula, and the Bouttan; the latter is the bitter almond, from the fruit of which an oil is extracted used by the people of the country to anoint their temples and forehead as a cure for colds; its branches are in great demand for pipe tubes. There are no springs in any part of this stony district, but water collects, in winter time, in great quantities in the Wadys, and in the cisterns and Birkets which are every where met with; in some of these it is kept the whole summer; when they are dried up the Arabs approach the borders of the Ledja, called the Loehf, to water their cattle at the springs in that district. The camel is met with throughout the Ledja, and walks with a firm step over the rocky surface. In summer he feeds on the flowers or dry grass of the pasturing places. In the interior parts of the Ledja the rocks are in many places cleft asunder, so that the whole hill appears shivered and in the act of falling down: the layers are generally horizontal, from six to eight feet, or more, in thickness, sometimes covering the hills, and inclining to their curve, as appears from the fissures, which often traverse the rock from top to bottom. In

[p.113] many places are ruined walls; from whence it may be conjectured that a stratum of soil of sufficient depth for cultivation had in ancient times covered the rock.

We had lost our road, when we met with a travelling encampment of Medledj, who guided us into a more open place, where their companions were pitching their tents. We breakfasted with them, and I was present during an interesting conversation between one of my Druse companions and an Arab. The wife of the latter, it appeared, had been carried off by another Arab, who fearing the vengeance of the injured husband, had gone to the Druse Sheikh of Khabeb, and having secured his Dakhil [Arabic], or protection, returned to the woman in the Ledja. The Sheikh sent word to the husband, cautioning him against taking any violent measures against his enemy. The husband, whom we here met with, wished to persuade the Druses that the Dakhil of the Sheikh was unjust, and that the adulterer ought to be left to his punishment. The Druse not agreeing with him, he swore that nothing should prevent him from shedding the blood of the man who had bereft him of his own blood; but I was persuaded that he would not venture to carry his threat into effect; for should he kill his enemy, the Druses would not fail to be revenged upon the slayer or his family.