We Therefore Left Kereye In The Morning, And
Proceeding N.E. Reached In Three Quarters Of An Hour Houshhoush
[Arabic], After Having Crossed The Wady Djaar [Arabic], Which Descends
From The Mountain.
Houshhoush is a heap of ruins, upon a Tel in the
plain, and is famed over all the Haouran for the immense treasures said
to be buried there.
Whenever I was asked by the Fellahs where I had
been, they never failed to enquire particularly whether I had seen
Houshhoush. The small ancient village contains nothing remarkable except
a church, supported by a single arch which rests on pillars much higher
than those generally seen in this country. At the
SHMERRIN.
[p.105]foot of the hill are several wells. We found here a great number
of mushrooms; we had met with some at Szalkhat; my guides taught me to
eat them raw, with a morsel of bread. The quantity of Kattas here was
beyond description; the whole plain seemed sometimes to rise; and far
off in the air they were seen like large moving clouds.
W. of Houshhoush half an hour, in the plain, are Tel Zakak and Deir
Aboud; the latter is a building sixty feet square, of which the walls
only are standing; they are built with small stones, and have a single
low door. From this place W.S.W. three quarters of an hour is Tahoun el
Abiad [Arabic] i.e. the White Mill, the ruins of a mill on the banks of
the Wady Ras el Beder, which I noticed in speaking of Zahouet el Khuder.
S.W. from Tahoun, three quarters of an hour, is the ruined village Kourd
[Arabic], and W. from it one hour, the village Tellafe [Arabic]. Our way
from Deir Aboud lay W.S.W.; at one hour and a half from it is the
considerable ruined village Keires [Arabic], on the Wady Zedi, the
largest of all the Wadys which descend from the mountain into the plain.
The soil of this uncultivated district is of a red colour, and appears
to be very fertile.
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