In The Middle Of The City
Is A Square Mound Of Earth, Upon Which The Castle Formerly Stood; The
Materials, As Well As The Stones With Which It Is Probable That The Hill
Was Faced, Have Been Carried Away And Used In The Erection Of Modern
Buildings.
There are four bridges over the Orontes
In the town. The river supplies the upper town with water by means of
buckets fixed to high wheels (Naoura) [Arabic], which empty themselves
into stone canals, supported by lofty arches on a level with the upper
parts of the town. There are about a dozen of the wheels; the largest of
them, called Naoura el Mohammedye, is at least seventy feet in diameter.
The town, for the greater part, is well built, although the walls of the
dwellings, a few palaces excepted, are of mud; but their interior makes
amends for the roughness of their external appearance. The Mutsellim
resides in a seraglio, on the banks of the river. I enquired in vain for
a piece of marble, with figures in relief, which La Roque saw; but in
the corner of a house in the Bazar is a stone with a number
[p.147]of small figures and signs, which appears to be a kind of
hieroglyphical writing, though it does not resemble that of Egypt. I
counted thirteen mosques in the town, the largest of which has a very
ancient Minaret.
The principal trade of Hamah is with the Arabs, who buy here their tent
furniture and clothes.
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