The Stones Are Thrown Into The Fires Made
Of Camel’S Dung, To Encrease The Heat.
Concerning the lake itself, I was informed that no visible increase of
its waters takes place in winter time, as the greater part of the
torrents which descend from the eastern mountains do not reach the lake,
but are lost in the sandy plain.
About three hours north of Szaffye is a
ford, by which the lake is crossed in three hours and a half. Some Arabs
assured me that there are spots in this ford where the water is quite
hot, and where the bottom is of red earth. It is probable that there are
hot springs in the bottom of the lake, which near the ford is nowhere
deeper than three or four feet; and generally only two feet. The water
is so strongly impregnated with salt, that the skin of the legs of those
who wade across it soon afterwards peels entirely off.
The mountains about Kerek are all calcareous, with flint; they abound
with petrified shells, and some of the rocks consist entirely of small
shells. Fine specimens of calcareous spath, called by the Arabs Hadjar
Ain el Shems (Arabic), the Sun’s eye, are found
[p.395] here. Ancient coins of copper, silver, and even of gold are
found in the fields near Kerek; in general they are bought by the
silversmiths, and immediately melted. I procured a few of copper upon
which was the Greek legend of [Greek].
The direction of Jerusalem from Kerek, as pointed out to me several
times, is N. by W. The direction of Katrane, a station of the pilgrim
caravan to Mekka, is E.S.E. distant about eight hours. That of Szaffye,
or the S. point of the Dead sea, is W. by S. distant about twelve hours.
The Dead sea is here called Bahret Lout, the Sea of Lot. August
4th.—After having remained nearly three weeks at Kerek, waiting from day
to day for the departure of the Sheikh, he at last set out, accompanied
by about forty horsemen. The inhabitants of Kerek muster about one
hundred horsemen, and have excellent horses; the Sheikh himself
possessed the finest horse I had seen in Syria; it was a gray Saklawy,
famous all over the desert.
We descended into the valley of Ain Frandjy, and ascended the mountain
on the other side, our road lying nearly S.S.W. In one hour and a half
from Kerek we reached the top of the mountain, from whence we had a fine
view of the southern extremity of the Dead sea, which presented the
appearance of a lake, with many islands or shoals covered with a white
saline crust. The water is very shallow for about three hours from its
south end. Where narrowest, it may be about six miles across. The
mountain which we had passed was a barren rock of flint and chalk. We
met with an encampment of Beni Hamyde, where we breakfasted. At the end
of two hours and a half we reached, on the descent of the mountain, Ain
Terayn (Arabic), a fine spring, with the ruins of a city near it. The
rivulet which takes its rise here joins that of Ketherabba, and descends
along a narrow valley into the Ghor, which it reaches near the ruined
place called Assal, from which it takes the name of Wady
KHANZYRE
[p.396] Assal. Near the rivulet are some olive plantations. At two hours
and three quarters is Ketherabba (Arabic), a village with about eighty
houses. Many of its inhabitants live under tents pitched in the square
open spaces left among the houses of the village. The gardens contain
great numbers of large fig trees. The mountains in the neighbourhood are
cultivated in some parts by the Beni Ammer. The village of Szaffye in
the Ghor bears from hence W.
August 5th.—We left Ketherabba early in the morning. Our road lay
through a wild and entirely barren rocky country, ascending and
descending several Wadys. In one hour and a quarter we came to Oerak
(Arabic), a village of the same size as the former, very picturesquely
situated; it is built at the foot of a high perpendicular cliff, down
which a rivulet rushes into the Wady below. Many immense fragments have
separated from the cliff, and fallen down; and amongst these rocks the
houses of the village are built. Its inhabitants cultivate, besides
wheat, barley, and dhourra, olives, figs, and tobacco, which they sell
to advantage. We rested here the greater part of the day, under a large
Kharnoub tree. Our Sheikh had no pressing business, but like all Arabs,
fond of idleness, and of living well at other people’s expense, he by no
means hastened his journey, but easily found a pretext for stopping;
wherever we alighted a couple of sheep or goats were immediately killed,
and the best fruits, together with plenty of tobacco, were presented to
us. Our company increased at every village, as all those Arabs who had
horses followed us, in order to partake of our good fare, so that our
party amounted at last to eighty men. At two hours and a quarter is a
fine spring; two hours and a half, the village Khanzyre (Arabic), which
is larger than Oerak and Ketherabba. Here we stopped a whole day, our
Sheikh having a house in the village, and a wife, whom he dared not
carry to Kerek, having another family there. In the evening he held a
court
[p.397] of justice, as he had done at Ketherabba, and decided a number
of disputes between the peasants; the greater part of these were
concerning money transactions between husbands and the families of their
wives; or related to the mixed property of the Arabs in mares, in
consequence of the Bedouin custom of selling only one-half, or one-third
of those animals.
August 6th.———Khanzyre is built on the declivity of one of the highest
mountains on the eastern side of the Dead sea; in its neighbourhood are
a number of springs whose united waters form a rivulet which irrigates
the fields belonging to the village, and an extensive tract of gardens.
The villages of this country are each governed by its own Sheikh, and
the peasants are little better than Bedouins; their manners, dress, and
mode of living are exactly the same.
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