I saw there some
rocks of the same basaltic tufwacke which I met with in the Djebel el
Hasz and in ome of the districts of Haouran.
The greater part of the villages of Djebel Rieha belong to the Dehly
Bashi, at Rieha. Feteyry belongs to the district of Marra; its
inhabitants have often been punished for their rebellious conduct, and
their predatory incursions into the neighbouring districts; their
spirit, however, is unbroken, and they still follow the same practices.
The frontiers of the Pashaliks of Damascus and Aleppo run across the
mountain of Rieha, which commences above Rieha, and extends to Kalaat el
Medyk, varying in breadth from two to five hours: it is a low but very
rocky chain, little fit for culture, except in the valleys; but it
abounds in game, especially wild boars; and ounces have sometimes been
killed in it.
We left the inhospitable Bara at mid-day, with two armed men, to escort
us over the mountain into the valley of the Orontes. In half an hour we
passed a ruined stone bridge across a narrow Wady; it rests upon piers,
which are formed of immense blocks
EL GHAB.
[p.133]of stone piled upon one another. In one hour and twenty minutes
we came to Kon Szafra, in a fertile valley on the top of the mountain,
where a few families live in wretched huts amidst the ruins of an
ancient town.
