Water Is Met With On The Road, Only In Winter, When Rainwater
Collects In The Low Grounds, And Ghadirs.
There are no hills or Wadys.
Small pipe heads, in the eastern fashion, and made of stone, are
frequently found in the plain.
The Arabs say that an ancient tribe
called Beni Tamour [Arabic] fabricated them. At the end of the number of
days above-mentioned, a high insulated hill is met with, which is
visible all round to the distance of two days journey. The Arabs call it
[p.668] Djebel Laha [Arabic]. It consists of sandy earth: there are no
springs near it. From the Djebel Laha run two Wadys towards the
Euphrates, the one called Wady Haouran [Arabic], begins on the hill’s
western side; the other Wady Tebbel [Arabic], on its northern side. They
run in a parallel direction, till they unite in the vicinity of the
Euphrates. To the N.W. of the Laha, at one day’s march, is another Wady,
called Souan [Arabic], which takes the same direction with the other
two, and joins them, near their termination. In the middle of the Wady
Tebbel is spring water. To the E. of Laha, about three days from it, is
a low ground called Kaar [Arabic] (the general name given to such
places), which is four or five days in circuit. It extends towards the
Euphrates. The descent into it is two hundred or two hundred and fifty
yards. There are two watering places in it, at a good day’s march from
each other; Rahh [Arabic], with a number of springs, and Molassa
[Arabic]. There is always some verdure in the Kaar, and when the Aeneze
pass that way, the whole tribe encamps there. From Molass it is one
day’s journey to Gebesse, a poor village in a N.E. direction, from
thence to Hit one. Hit, or Ith, is a well known station and village on
the banks of the Euphrates.
The Djebel Ruak and the Djebel Abiad (which comes from the west) are
united behind Tedmor with the Djebel Belaes [Arabic] which continues its
course in a northerly direction, (somewhat to the E.) for two days.
There is water in the Belaes but no villages. This mountain at the end
of two days changes its name to Djebel Bishr [Arabic], and terminates
after one day’s journey in the Zor [Arabic], which is the name of the
broad valley of the Euphrates, on its right bank, from Byr down to Aene
and Hit. There are sources in the Bishr, and ruins of villages. It
produces also a tree which is about eight feet high, and whose root has
so little hold, that the smallest effort will throw it down.
London: Printed by W. Bulmer and W. Nicol, Cleveland-row, St. James’s.
[FN#3] This northern part of the Djebel Haouran is called Es-Szaffa
[Arabic]. On the eastern side of it is a pass called Bab es-Szaffa,
where the mountain is entered by a deep clet in the perpendicular rock,
about two yards broad. The passage is about one hundred yards long, it
leads to a plain in the middle of the mountain, also called Szaffa,
which has no other known entrance, and is two days in circuit. This pass
and plain are famed among the Arabs, who often retire there, before the
troops of the Pasha of Damascus. There is no water in the Szaffa, except
the ponds formed by the winter-rains. The earth is fertile and is
occasionally sown by he Arabs when they remain there a sufficient time.
End of Travels in Syria and the Holy Land by John Burckhardt
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