Springs are no where met with in it, but water is easily found
on digging to the depth of three or four feet. At the point where this
desert terminates, begins the sandy desert called El Hammad [Arabic],
which extends on one side to the banks of the Euphrates, and on the
other to the N. of Wady Serethan, as far as the Djof.
I wished to proceed to Melleh, but my Druse companions were not to be
prevailed upon, through fear of the Arabs Sheraka, a tribe of the Arabs
Djelaes, who were said to be in that neighbourhood. We herefore
recrossed the mountain from Zaele, and passed its south-eastern corner,
on which there are no trees, but many spots of excellent pasture. In two
hours from Zaele we came to a spring called Ras el Beder [Arabic], i.e.
the Moon's Head, whose waters flow down into the plain as far as Boszra.
From the spring we redescended, and reached Zahouet el Khudher [Arabic],
a ruined city, standing in a Wady, at a short distance from the
ZAHOUET EL KHUDHER.
[p.95]plain. One hour from these ruins a rivulet called Moiet Maaz
[Arabic] passes through the valley, whose source is to the N.W. up in
the mountain, one hour distant, near a ruined place called Maaz.
