The Rivulet By Which We Descended Is Called Wady Dhobbye [Arabic].

We had no sooner entered the plain than it began to snow again, and it continued to rain and snow for several days.

Small caravans

DJOB DJENNEIN.

[p.207] from Deir el Kammar to Damascus pass the mountain even in winter; but to prevent the sharp hoofs of the mules from sinking deep into the snow, the muleteers are accustomed in the difficult places to spread carpets before them as they pass.

We reached the plain near a small village, inhabited only during the seed time. From thence the village of Djob Djennein bore S. by E. and the village of Andjar, in the upper part of the Bekaa, which I visited in the year 1810, from Zahle, E.N.E. From the foot of the mountain we were one hour in reaching the bridge over the Liettani, which has been lately repaired by the Emir Beshir, who has also built a Khan near it, for the accommodation of travellers. At twenty minutes from the bridge lies the village Djob Djennein [Arabic], one of the principal villages of the Bekaa; it is situated on the declivity of the Anti-Libanus, where that mountain begins to form part of the Djebel Essheikh. The Anti- Libanus here advances a little into the valley, which from thence takes a more western course.

The Emir Beshir has seven or eight villages about Djob Djennein, which together with the latter are his own property; but the whole Bekaa, since Soleiman succeeded to the Pashalik of Damascus in 1810, is also under his command. The villages to the north of Djob Djennein will be found enumerated in another place;[See page 31.] those to the south of it, and farther down in the valley, are Balloula [Arabic], El Medjdel [Arabic], Hammara [Arabic], Sultan Yakoub, [Arabic] El Beiry [Arabic], El Refeidh [Arabic], Kherbet Kanafat [Arabic], Ain Arab [Arabic], and Leila [Arabic]. Having one of the Emir Beshir's men with me, I was treated like a great man in the house of the Sheikh of Djob Djennein; this I may be allowed to mention, as it is the only instance of my receiving such honours during my travels in Syria.

KHAN DOUMAS.

[p.208] March 22nd.--Caravans reckon two days journey between Djob Djennein and Damascus; but as I was tolerably well mounted, and my guide was on a good mare of the Emir Beshir's, I resolved on reaching it in one day; we therefore pursued our route at a brisk walk and sometimes at a trot. We crossed the plain obliquely, having the projection of the Anti-Libanus, which ends at Djob Djennein, on our right. At thirty-five minutes from Djob Djennein, to the right, is the village Kamel el Louz [Arabic], where are many ancient caves in the rocky mountain which rises behind it. In three quarters of an hour we reached the foot of the Anti- Libanus. On the summit of the mountain on our left, I observed a singular rock called Shekeik el Donia [Arabic], or Hadjar el Konttara [Arabic]; my guide told me that the time would certainly arrive when some Frank nation would invade this country, and that on reaching this rock they would be completely routed.

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