In The Bekka Is A Ruined Place
Called Ain El Basha (Arabic), With A Spring.
From Szafout we returned by Ardh el Hemar to Feheis, which we reached in
four hours and a half from Szafout.
Near the springs of Hemar we found a
cow that had gone astray from some Bedouin encampment; my guides
immediately declared her to be a fair prize, and drove her off before
them to Feheis, where she was killed, to prevent the owner from claiming
her, and the encampment feasted upon the flesh for two days. N.E. from
Szafout, distant about two hours, is a ruined city, with several
edifices still standing, called Yadjoush (Arabic). N. of Amman, two
hours, is a ruined building called El Nowakys (Arabic), on the interior
wall of which are some busts in relief, according to the report of one
who had seen them, but whose veracity was rather doubtful.
On my return to Szalt I was obliged to remain there several days longer,
for want of a guide; for the road to Kerek is a complete desert, and
much exposed to the inroads of the Arabs. At last I found a man who
engaged to serve me, but his demands were so exorbitant, that I was
several days in bargaining with him. Mousa, (M. Seetzen), he said, had
paid his guide twenty-five piastres for the trip from hence to Kerek,
and he would not, therefore, go the same road for less than twenty-
three; this was an enormous sum for a journey of two days, in a country
where an Arab will toil for a fortnight without obtaining so great a
sum. My principal
MEKABBELY
[p.363] objection to paying so much was, that it would become known at
Kerek, which, besides other difficulties it might bring me into, would
have obliged me to pay all my future guides in the same proportion. My
landlord, however, removed this objection by making the guide take a
solemn oath that he would never confess to having received more than six
piastres for his trouble. There was no other proper guide to be got, and
I began to be tired of Szalt, for I saw that my landlord was very
earnest in his endeavours to get me away; I resolved therefore to trust
to my good fortune, and to set out with no other company than that of an
armed horseman. In the evening I returned to Feheis, from whence we
departed early the next morning.
July 13th.—We passed Ardh el Hemar, in the neighbourhood of which are
the ruined places El Ryhha (Arabic), Shakour (Arabic), Meghanny
(Arabic), and Mekabbely (Arabic); and at a short distance farther on in
the wood, we met two men quite naked. Whenever the Bedouins meet any
other Arabs in the desert, of inferior force, and who are unknown to
them, they level their lances, and stop their horses within about ten
yards of the strangers, to enquire whether they are friends or not. My
guide had seen the two men at a great distance among the trees; be
called to me to get my gun ready, and we galloped towards them; but they
no sooner saw us than they stopped, and cried out, “We are under your
protection!” They then told us that they were peasants of a village near
Rieha or Jericho; that they had been carried away from their own fields
by a party of Beni Szakher, with whom their village happened to be at
war, as far as Yadjoush, where the latter had encampments; that after
being required to pay the price of blood of one of the tribe slain by
the inhabitants of their village, they had been beaten, and stripped
naked; but that at last they had found means to escape. Their bruises
and sores bore testimony
MERDJ EKKE
[p.364] to the truth of their story; instances of such acts of violence
frequently occur in the desert. In one hour and three quarters we came
to the ruins of Kherbet Tabouk (Arabic), which seems to have been a
place of some importance. Many wild fig-trees grow here. The direction
of our road was S. b. E. Here the woody country terminates, and we found
ourselves again upon the high plain called El Ahma, which has fertile
ground, but no trees. At two hours and a quarter is a ruined Birket, or
reservoir of rain water, called Om Aamoud (Arabic), from some fragments
of columns, which are found here. In two hours and a half we passed, on
our right, the Wady Szyr (Arabic), which has its source near the road,
und falls below into the Jordan. Above the source, on the declivity of
the valley, are the ruins called Szyr. We continued to travel along a
well trodden road for the greater part of the day. At three hours were
the ruins of Szar, to our left. At three hours and a half, and about
half an hour west of the road, are the ruins of Fokhara, on the side of
the Wady Eshta (Arabic), which empties itself into the Jordan. Here are
a number of wild fig-trees. The whole of the country to the right of the
road is intersected with deep Wadys and precipices, and is overgrown in
many parts with fine woods. We had at intervals a view of the Ghor
below. To the left of the road is the great plain, with many insulated
hillocks. In three hours and a half we passed a hill called Dhaheret el
Hemar (Arabic), or the Ass’s Back. At three hours and three quarters, to
the right, are the ruins of Meraszas (Arabic), with a heap of stones
called Redjem Abd Reshyd (Arabic), where, according to Bedouin
tradition, a wonderful battle took place between a slave of an Arab
called Reshyd, and a whole party of his master’s enemies. Here
terminates the district El Ahma. To the left are the ruins called Merdj
Ekke (Arabic). The soil in this vicinity is chalky.
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