I Found, By Experience, That Putting On A Grave Face, And
Talking Wisely Among Them Was Little Calculated To Further The
Traveller’S Views.
On the contrary, I aspired to the title of a merry
fellow; I joked with them whenever I could, and found that by a little
attention to their ways of thinking and reasoning, they are easily put
into good humour.
This kind of behaviour, however, is to be observed
only in places where one makes a stay of several days, or towards fellow
travellers: in passing rapidly through Arab encampments, it is better
for the traveller not to be too talkative in the tents where he alights,
but to put on a stern countenance.
We left Khanzyre late in the evening, that we might enjoy the coolness
of the night air. We ascended for a short time, and then began to
descend into the valley called Wady el Ahsa. It had now become dark, and
this was, without exception, the most dangerous route I ever travelled
in my life. The descent is steep, and there is no regular road over the
smooth rocks, where the foot slips at every step. We had missed our way,
and were obliged to alight from our horses, after many of us had
suffered severe falls. Our Sheikh was the only horseman who would not
alight from his mare, whose step, he declared, was as secure as his own.
After a march of two hours and a half, we halted upon a narrow plain, on
the declivity of the Wady, called El Derredje (Arabic), where we lighted
a fire, and remained till day-break.
August 7th.—In three quarters of an hour from Derredje, we reached the
bottom of the valley. The Wady el Ahsa (Arabic), which takes its rise
near the castle El Ahsa, or El Hassa, on the
EL KERR
[p.401] Syrian Hadj road, runs here in a deep and narrow bed of rocks,
the banks of which are overgrown with Defle. There was more water in the
rivulet than in any of those I had passed south of Zerka; the water was
quite tepid, caused by a hot spring, which empties itself into the Ahsa
from a side valley higher up the Wady. This forms the third hot spring
on the east of the Dead sea, one being in the Wady Zerka Mayn, and
another in the Wady Hammad. The valley of El Ahsa divides the district
of Kerek from that of Djebal (plur. of Djebel), the ancient Gebalene. In
the Ghor the river changes its name into that of Kerahy (Arabic), and is
likewise called Szafye (Arabic). This name is found in all the maps of
Arabia Petræa, but the course of the river is not from the south, as
there laid down; Djebal also, instead of being laid down at the S.E.
extremity of the lake, is improperly placed as beginning on the S.W. of
it. The rock of the Wady el Ahsa is chiefly sand-stone, which is seldom
met with to the N. of this valley; but it is very common in the southern
mountains.
We ascended the southern side of the valley, which is less steep and
rocky than the northern, and in an hour and a half reached a fine spring
called El Kaszrein (Arabic) surrounded by verdant ground and tall reeds.
The Bedouins of the tribe of Beni Naym, here cultivate some Dhourra
fields and there are some remains of ancient habitations. In two hours
and a quarter we arrived at the top of the mountain, when we entered
upon an extensive plain, and passed the ruins of an ancient city of
considerable extent called El Kerr (Arabic), perhaps the ancient Kara, a
bishopric belonging to the diocese of Rabba Moabitis;[See Reland.
Palæst. Vol. i. p. 226.] nothing remains but heaps of stones. The plain,
which we crossed in a S.W. by S. direction, consists of a fertile soil,
and contains the ruins of several villages. At the end of two hours and
three quarters we descended by a steep road, into a Wady, and in three
hours reached the village of
AYME
[p.402] Ayme (Arabic), situated upon a narrow plain at the foot of high
cliffs. In its neighbourhood are several springs, and wherever these are
met with, vegetation readily takes place, even among barren sandrocks.
Ayme is no longer in the district of Kerek, its Sheikh being now under
the command of the Sheikh of Djebal, whose residence is at Tafyle. One
half of the inhabitants live under tents, and every house has a tent
pitched upon its terrace, where the people pass the mornings and
evenings, and sleep. The climate of all these mountains, to the
southward of the Belka, is extremely agreeable; the air is pure, and
although the heat is very great in summer, and is still further
increased by the reflexion of the sun’s rays from the rocky sides of the
mountains, yet the temperature never becomes suffocating, owing to the
refreshing breeze which generally prevails. I have seen no part of Syria
in which there are so few invalids. The properties of the climate seem
to have been well known to the ancients, who gave this district the
appellation of Palæstina tertia, sive salutaris. The winter is very
cold; deep snow falls, and the frosts sometimes continue till the middle
of March. This severe weather is doubly felt by the inhabitants, as
their dress is little fitted to protect them from it. During my stay in
Gebalene, we had every morning a fog which did not disperse till mid-
day. I could perceive the vapours collecting in the Ghor below, which,
after sun-set, was completely enveloped in them. During the night they
ascend the sides of the mountains, and in general are not entirely
dissipated until near mid-day. From Khanzyre we had the Ghor all the way
on our right, about eight or ten hours distant; but, in a straight line,
not more than six hours.
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