[Greek].

Among the ruins in the N.W. part of the town is an insulated mosque, and another stands near the

Above mentioned Deir Boheiry; in its court-yard is a stone covered with a long and beautiful Cufic inscription, which is well worth transporting to Europe; the characters being very small it would have required a whole day to copy it; it begins as follows:

[Arabic].

Not far from the great mosque is another triumphal arch, of smaller dimensions than the former, but remarkable for the thickness of its walls: it forms the entrance to an arched passage, through which one of the principal streets passed: two Doric columns are standing before it.

In the eastern quarter of the town is a large Birket or reservoir, almost perfect, one hundred and ninety paces in length, one hundred and fifty three in breadth, and enclosed by a wall seven feet in thickness, built of large square stones; its depth maybe about twenty feet. A staircase leads down to the water, as the basin is never completely filled. This reservoir is a work of the Saracens; made for watering the pilgrim caravan to Mekka, which as late as the seventeenth century passed by Boszra. A branch of the Wady Zeid [See p. 105.]empties itself in winter into the Birket. On the south side it is flanked by a row of houses, by some public edifices, and a

[p.233]mosque; and on the west side by an ancient cemetery; the other sides are open.

Upon a broken stone, in the middle of the town, is the following inscription, in characters similar to those which I met with at Hebron, Kanouat, and Aaere.

[xxxxx].

I now quitted the precincts of the town, and just beyond the walls, on the S. side came to a large castle of Saracen origin, probably of the time of the Crusades: it is one of the best built castles in Syria, and is surrounded by a deep ditch. Its walls are very thick, and in the interior are alleys, dark vaults, subterraneous passages, &c. of the most solid construction. What distinguishes it from other Syrian castles, is that on the top of it there is a gallery of short pillars, on three sides, and on the fourth side are several niches in the wall, without any decorations; many of the pillars are still standing. The castle was garrisoned, at the time of my visit, by six Moggrebyns only. There is a well in the interior. I copied the following from a small altar-shaped stone lying on the ground within the castle:

[Greek]. [Legionis tertiae Cyrenaicae. Ed.]

The castle of Boszra is a most important post to protect the harvests of the Haouran against the hungry Bedouins; but it is much neglected by the Pashas of Damascus, and this year the

[p.234]crops of the inhabitants of Boszra have been almost entirely consumed by the horses of the Aeneze, who were encamped on the E. side of the Djebel Haouran.

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