At One Hour From The Mezareib, Following The River That Issues From The
Small Lake, Are Several Mills:
From thence, south-west, begins the
district called Ollad Erbed [Arabic].
Half an hour to the right, at some
distance from the road, is the village Tel el Shehab [Arabic]; forty
minutes, Wady Om El Dhan [Arabic], coming from the eastward, with a
bridge over it, built by Djezzar Pasha. In winter this generally proves
a very difficult passage to the Hadj, on account of the swampy ground,
and the peasants of the adjacent villages are, in consequence, obliged
to cover the road with a thick layer of straw. At one hour to the right
of the road is the village El Torra [Arabic], on the top of a low chain
of hills, forming a circle, through the centre of which lies the road.
Here, as in so many other parts of the Haouran, I saw the most luxuriant
wild herbage, through which my horse with difficulty made his way.
Artificial meadows can hardly be finer than these desert fields: and it
is this which renders the Haouran so favourite an abode of the Bedouins.
The peasants of Syria are ignorant of the advantages of feeding their
cattle with hay; they suffer the superfluous grass to wither away, and
in summer and winter feed them on cut straw. In one
REMTHA.
[p. 247]hour and a quarter we passed Wady Torra; our road lying S.S.E.
One hour and three quarters, we came to Wady Shelale [Arabic], a torrent
descending from the southern hills, and flowing in a deep bed, along
which the road continues for some time. In two hours and three quarters
quick walking, we came to Remtha [Arabic], a station of the Hadj; which
encamps near two Birkets or reservoirs formed in the bed of the Wady by
means of three high walls built across it. A large tribe of Aeneze were
watering their cattle as we passed. The surrounding country is hilly:
the village is built upon the summits of several hills, and contains
about one hundred families. In its neighbourhood are a number of wells
of fresh water. We met with a very indifferent reception at the Sheikh's
house, for the inhabitants of the villages on the Hadj route exceed all
others in fanatism: an old man was particularly severe in his
animadversions on Kafers treading the sacred earth which leads to the
Kaabe, and the youngsters echoed his insulting language. I found means,
however, to show the old man a penknife which I carried in my pocket,
and made him a present of it, before he could ask it of me; we then
became as great friends as we had been enemies, and his behaviour
induced a like change in the others towards me. A penknife worth two
shillings overcomes the fanatism of a peasant; increase the present and
it will have equal effect upon a townsman; make it a considerable sum,
and the Mufti himself will wave all religious scruples.
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