The Valley Of El Ahsa Divides The District
Of Kerek From That Of Djebal (Plur.
Of Djebel), the ancient Gebalene.
In
the Ghor the river changes its name into that of Kerahy (Arabic), and is
likewise called Szafye (Arabic). This name is found in all the maps of
Arabia Petræa, but the course of the river is not from the south, as
there laid down; Djebal also, instead of being laid down at the S.E.
extremity of the lake, is improperly placed as beginning on the S.W. of
it. The rock of the Wady el Ahsa is chiefly sand-stone, which is seldom
met with to the N. of this valley; but it is very common in the southern
mountains.
We ascended the southern side of the valley, which is less steep and
rocky than the northern, and in an hour and a half reached a fine spring
called El Kaszrein (Arabic) surrounded by verdant ground and tall reeds.
The Bedouins of the tribe of Beni Naym, here cultivate some Dhourra
fields and there are some remains of ancient habitations. In two hours
and a quarter we arrived at the top of the mountain, when we entered
upon an extensive plain, and passed the ruins of an ancient city of
considerable extent called El Kerr (Arabic), perhaps the ancient Kara, a
bishopric belonging to the diocese of Rabba Moabitis;[See Reland.
Palæst. Vol. i. p. 226.] nothing remains but heaps of stones. The plain,
which we crossed in a S.W. by S. direction, consists of a fertile soil,
and contains the ruins of several villages. At the end of two hours and
three quarters we descended by a steep road, into a Wady, and in three
hours reached the village of
AYME
[p.402] Ayme (Arabic), situated upon a narrow plain at the foot of high
cliffs. In its neighbourhood are several springs, and wherever these are
met with, vegetation readily takes place, even among barren sandrocks.
Ayme is no longer in the district of Kerek, its Sheikh being now under
the command of the Sheikh of Djebal, whose residence is at Tafyle. One
half of the inhabitants live under tents, and every house has a tent
pitched upon its terrace, where the people pass the mornings and
evenings, and sleep. The climate of all these mountains, to the
southward of the Belka, is extremely agreeable; the air is pure, and
although the heat is very great in summer, and is still further
increased by the reflexion of the sun’s rays from the rocky sides of the
mountains, yet the temperature never becomes suffocating, owing to the
refreshing breeze which generally prevails. I have seen no part of Syria
in which there are so few invalids. The properties of the climate seem
to have been well known to the ancients, who gave this district the
appellation of Palæstina tertia, sive salutaris. The winter is very
cold; deep snow falls, and the frosts sometimes continue till the middle
of March.
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