The Inhabitants Of Kerek Muster About One
Hundred Horsemen, And Have Excellent Horses; The Sheikh Himself
Possessed The Finest Horse I Had Seen In Syria; It Was A Gray Saklawy,
Famous All Over The Desert.
We descended into the valley of Ain Frandjy, and ascended the mountain
on the other side, our road lying
Nearly S.S.W. In one hour and a half
from Kerek we reached the top of the mountain, from whence we had a fine
view of the southern extremity of the Dead sea, which presented the
appearance of a lake, with many islands or shoals covered with a white
saline crust. The water is very shallow for about three hours from its
south end. Where narrowest, it may be about six miles across. The
mountain which we had passed was a barren rock of flint and chalk. We
met with an encampment of Beni Hamyde, where we breakfasted. At the end
of two hours and a half we reached, on the descent of the mountain, Ain
Terayn (Arabic), a fine spring, with the ruins of a city near it. The
rivulet which takes its rise here joins that of Ketherabba, and descends
along a narrow valley into the Ghor, which it reaches near the ruined
place called Assal, from which it takes the name of Wady
KHANZYRE
[p.396] Assal. Near the rivulet are some olive plantations. At two hours
and three quarters is Ketherabba (Arabic), a village with about eighty
houses. Many of its inhabitants live under tents pitched in the square
open spaces left among the houses of the village. The gardens contain
great numbers of large fig trees. The mountains in the neighbourhood are
cultivated in some parts by the Beni Ammer. The village of Szaffye in
the Ghor bears from hence W.
August 5th.—We left Ketherabba early in the morning. Our road lay
through a wild and entirely barren rocky country, ascending and
descending several Wadys. In one hour and a quarter we came to Oerak
(Arabic), a village of the same size as the former, very picturesquely
situated; it is built at the foot of a high perpendicular cliff, down
which a rivulet rushes into the Wady below. Many immense fragments have
separated from the cliff, and fallen down; and amongst these rocks the
houses of the village are built. Its inhabitants cultivate, besides
wheat, barley, and dhourra, olives, figs, and tobacco, which they sell
to advantage. We rested here the greater part of the day, under a large
Kharnoub tree. Our Sheikh had no pressing business, but like all Arabs,
fond of idleness, and of living well at other people’s expense, he by no
means hastened his journey, but easily found a pretext for stopping;
wherever we alighted a couple of sheep or goats were immediately killed,
and the best fruits, together with plenty of tobacco, were presented to
us. Our company increased at every village, as all those Arabs who had
horses followed us, in order to partake of our good fare, so that our
party amounted at last to eighty men.
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