The Seybarany Runs Here In A Deep Bed Of
The Haouran Black Stone.
In six hours and a quarter we passed the river,
over a solid bridge.
At six hours and
KANNEYTRA
[p.313] three quarters is the village Sasa [Arabic], at the foot of an
insulated hill; it is well built, and contains a large Khan, with a good
mosque. The former was full of travellers. We slept here till midnight,
and then joined a small caravan destined for Akka.
June 20th.--Our road lay over a rocky plain, called Nakker Sasa
[Arabic], slightly ascending. In one hour we passed a bridge over the
river Meghannye [Arabic]. At the end of three hours we issued from the
rocks, and entered into a forest of low straggling oak-trees, called
Heish Shakkara [Arabic]. Three hours and a half, we passed to the right
of an insulated hill, called Tel Djobba. The whole country is
uncultivated. In four hours we saw, at about half an hour to our right,
the ruined Khan of Kereymbe [Arabic]; the road still ascending. Near
Kereymbe begins the mountain called Heish el Kanneytra, a lower ridge of
Djebel el Sheikh, (the Mount Hermon of the Scriptures), from which it
branches out southwards. At five hours Tel Hara [Arabic] was about one
hour and a half to the S. of the road, which from Sasa followed the
direction of S.W. and sometimes that of S.W. by W. At seven hours is the
village of Kanneytra [Arabic]; from Kereymbe to this place is an open
country, with a fertile soil, and several springs.
Kanneytra is now in ruins, having been deserted by its inhabitants since
the period of the passage of the Visier’s troops into Egypt. It is
enclosed by a strong wall, which contains within its circuit a good
Khan, a fine mosque with several short columns of gray granite, and a
copious spring; there are other springs also near it. On the north side
of the village are the remains of a small ancient city, perhaps Canatha;
these ruins consist of little more than the foundations of habitations.
The caravans coming from Akka generally halt for the night at Kanneytra.
We reposed here a few hours, and then continued our journey, over ground
RESERVOIRS
[p.314] which still continues to rise, until we reached the chain of
hills, which form the most conspicuous part of the mountain Heish. The
ground being here considerably elevated above the plain of Damascus and
the Djolan, these hills, when seen from afar, appear like mountains,
although, when viewed from their foot, they are of very moderate height.
They are insulated, and terminate, as I have already mentioned, at the
hill called Tel Faras, towards the plain of Djolan. The Bedouins who
pasture their cattle in these mountains retire in the hot season towards
the Djebel el Sheikh. The governor of the Heish el Kanneytra, who
receives his charge every year from the Pasha, used formerly to reside
at Kanneytra; but since that place has been deserted, he usually encamps
with the Turkmans of the Heish, and goes from one encampment to another,
to collect the Miri from these Arabs.
At the end of seven hours and a half we passed Tel Abou Nedy [Arabic],
with the tomb of the Sheikh Abou Nedy. At eight hours is a reservoir of
water, a few hundred paces to the S. of the road, which the Bedouins
call Birket el Ram [Arabic], and the peasants Birket Abou Ermeil
[Arabic]; it lies near the foot of Tel Abou Nedy, is about one hundred
and twenty paces in circumference, and is supplied by two springs which
are never dry; one of them is in the bottom of a deep well in the midst
of the Birket. Just by this reservoir are the ruins of an ancient town,
about a quarter of an hour in circuit, of which nothing remains but
large heaps of stones. Five minutes farther is another Birket, which is
filled by rain water only. The neighbourhood of these reservoirs is
covered with a forest of short oak trees. The rock of the mountain
consists of sand-stone, and the basalt of Haouran. Beyond the Birkets
the road begins to descend gently, and at nine hours and a half, just by
the road, on the left, is a large pond called Birket Nefah or Tefah
[Arabic] (I am uncertain which), about two hundred paces in
DJISSR BENI YAKOUB
[p.315] circumference: there are remains of a stone channel
communicating with the Birket. Some of my companions asserted that the
pond contained a spring, while others denied it; from which I inferred
that the water never dries up completely. I take this to be the Lake
Phiala, laid down in the maps of Syria, as there is no other lake or
pond in the neighbourhood. From hence towards Feik, upon the mountains
to the E. of the lake of Tiberias, is an open country intersected by
many Wadys. At ten hours we passed a large hill to the left, called Tel
el Khanzyr [Arabic], the boar’s hill. The ground was here covered with
the finest pasturage; the dry grass was as high as a horse, and so
thick, that we passed through it with difficulty. At ten hours and a
half are several springs by the side of the road, called Ayoun Essemmam
[Arabic]. Eleven hours and a quarter, are the ruins of a city called
Noworan [Arabic], with a copious spring near it. Some walls yet remain,
and large hewn stones are lying about. At thirteen hours is the bridge
over the Jordan, called Djissr Beni Yakoub [Arabic]; the road continues
in an easy slope till a quarter of an hour above the bridge, where it
becomes a steep descent. The river flows in a narrow bed, and with a
rapid stream; for the lake Houle, whose southern extremity is about
three quarters of an hour north of the bridge, is upon a level
considerably higher than that of the lake of Tiberias.
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