The Income Derived From This Fishery
By The Governor Of Kalaat El Medyk Amounts To About One Hundred And
Twenty Purses, Or Three Thousand Pounds Sterling.
Besides the black
fish, carp are also taken with nets, and carried to Hamah and Homs,
where the Turks are very fond of them.
The depth of the lake is about
ten feet; its breadth is quite irregular, being seldom more than half an
hour; its length is about one hour and a half.
One hour from Ayn el Taka, and the lake El Taka, we arrived at
KALAAT EL MEDYK.
[p.138]the foot of the hill upon which stands Kalaat el Medyk [Arabic],
or the castle of Medyk. It probably occupies the site of Apamea: for
there can be little doubt that travellers have been wrong in placing
that city at Hamah, the ancient Epiphania, or at some ruins situated at
four hours distance from Hamah. Notwithstanding our desire to enter the
castle, we could not venture to do so. The governor, Milly Ismayl, a man
eighty-five years of age, and whose name has been well known in Syria
for the last twenty years, was last year, when governor of Hamah,
ordered by the Pasha of Damascus to march with his corps of Dehlys
towards Ladakie, to join the Tripoli army, then fighting against the
Anzeyrys, who inhabit the mountains between Ladakie and Antioch; in
passing by Kalaat el Medyk, on his way to Djissr Shogher, he found the
castle without a garrison, and took possession of it, thereby declaring
himself a rebel.
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