From Hence The Direction Of Our Route Was S.S.E.
Leaving Mount Tabor To The Left We Passed Along The Plain Of Esdrelon:
Meeting With Several Springs In Our Road; But The Country Is A Complete
Desert, Although The Soil Is Fertile.
At five hours and a half is the
village of Om el Taybe (Arabic), belonging to the district of Djebel
Nablous, or as it is also called Belad Harthe (Arabic).
The inhabitants
of Nablous are governed by their own chiefs, who are invested by the
Pasha. It is said that the villages belonging to the district can raise
an army of five thousand men. They are a restless people, continually in
dispute with each other, and frequently in insurrection against the
Pasha. Djezzar never succeeded in completely subduing them, and Junot,
with a corps of fifteen hundred French soldiers, was defeated by them.
The principal chief of Nablous at present is of the family of Shadely
(Arabic). In six hours and three quarters we passed the village of
Meraszrasz (Arabic), upon the summit of a chain of hills on the side of
Wady Oeshe (Arabic), which falls into the Jordan. At about half an hour
to the north of this Wady runs another, called Wady Byre (Arabic),
likewise falling into that river. Between these two valleys are situated
the villages of Denna (Arabic) and Kokab (Arabic). Beyond Meraszrasz
BYSAN
[p.343] we began to descend, and reached the bottom of the valley El
Ghor in seven hours and three quarters from our departure from Nazareth.
We now turned more southward, and followed the valley as far as Bysan,
distant eight hours and a quarter from Nazareth.
The two merchants and myself had left the caravan at Meraszrasz, and
proceeded to Bysan, there to repose till the camels came up: but the
drivers missed the road, and we continued almost the whole day in search
of them. Bysan (Bethsan, Scythopolis) is situated upon rising ground, on
the west side of the Ghor, where the chain of mountains bordering the
valley declins considerably in height, and presents merely elevated
ground, quite open towards the west. At one hour distant, to the south,
the mountains begin again. The ancient town was watered by a river, now
called Moiet Bysan (Arabic), or the water of Bysan, which flows in
different branches towards the plain. The ruins of Scythopolis are of
considerable extent, and the town, built along the banks of the rivulet
and in the valleys formed by its several branches, must have been nearly
three miles in circuit. The only remains are large heaps of black hewn
stones, many foundations of houses, and the fragments of a few columns.
I saw only a single shaft of a column standing. In one of the valleys is
a large mound of earth, which appeared to me to be artificial; it was
the site perhaps of a castle for the defence of the town. On the left
bank of the stream is a large Khan, where the caravans repose which take
the shortest road from Jerusalem to Damascus.
The present village of Bysan contains seventy or eighty houses; its
inhabitants are in a miserable condition, from being exposed to the
depredations of the Bedouins of the Ghor, to whom they also pay a heavy
tribute. After waiting here some time for the arrival of the caravan, we
rode across the valley, till we reached the
VALLEY OF THE JORDAN
[p.344] banks of the Jordan, about two hours distant from Bysan, which
bore N.N.W. from us. We here crossed the river at a ford, where our
companions arrived soon afterwards.
The valley of the Jordan, or El Ghor (Arabic), which may be said to
begin at the northern extremity of the lake of Tiberias, has near Bysan
a direction of N. by E. and S. by W. Its breadth is about two hours. The
great number of rivulets which descend from the mountains on both sides,
and form numerous pools of stagnant water, produce in many places a
pleasing verdure, and a luxuriant growth of wild herbage and grass; but
the greater part of the ground is a parched desert, of which a few spots
only are cultivated by the Bedouins. In the neighbourhood of Bysan the
soil is entirely of marle; there are very few trees; but wherever there
is water high reeds are found. The river Jordan, on issuing from the
lake of Tiberias, flows for about three hours near the western hills,
and then turns towards the eastern, on which side it continues its
course for several hours. The river flows in a valley of about a quarter
of an hour in breadth, which is considerably lower than the rest of the
plain of Ghor; this lower valley is covered with high trees and a
luxuriant verdure, which affords a striking contrast with the sandy
slopes that border it on both sides. The trees most frequently met with
on the banks of the Jordan are of the species called by the Arabs Gharab
(Arabic) and Kottab (Arabic) [The following are the names or the rivulets
which descend from the western mountains into the Ghor, to the north or
Bysan. Beginning at the southern extremity of the lake of Tiberias are
Wady Fedjaz (Arabic), Ain el Szammera (Arabic), Wady Djaloud (Arabic),
Wady el Byre (Arabic), and Wady el Oeshe (Arabic). To the south of Bysan
are Wady el Maleh (Arabic), Wady Medjedda (Arabic), with a ruined town
so called, Wady el Beydhan (Arabic), coming from the neighbourhood of
Nablous, and Wady el Farah (Arabic). On the east side of the Jordan,
beginning at the Sheriat el Mandhour, and continuing to the place where
we crossed the river, the following Wadys empty themselves into it: Wady
el Arab (Arabic), Wady el Koszeir (Arabic), Wady el Taybe (Arabic), Wady
el Seklab (Arabic), which last falls into the Jordan near the village
Erbayn, about one hour’s distance north of the place where we crossed.
This Wady forms the boundary between the districts; called El Koura and
El Wostye.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 116 of 232
Words from 117101 to 118117
of 236498
