English.[The Gharara Of Damascus Is Eighty Muds, At Three And A Half Rotola Per Mud, Or Twenty Pounds.] The Taxes Paid By The Village Amounted To A Thousand Piastres, Or Fifty Pounds Sterling, Besides The Tribute Extorted By The Bedouins.

The vicinity of the village is watered by several springs.

I was obliged to remain at Merdjan the next day, because my mare fell ill, and was unable to proceed. As I did not like to return to Damascus, I bought a mare of the Sheikh of the village, a Christian of Mount Libanus, who knew me, and who took a bill upon Damascus in payment. This mare I afterwards bartered for a Bedouin horse.

April 23d.--I left Merdjan to examine the eastern limits of the Ledja. We passed the Aamoud Eszoubh [Arabic], or Column of the Morning, an insulated pillar standing in the plain; it is formed

BERAK.

[p.214]of the black stone of the Ledja, about twenty-five or thirty feet high, of the Ionic order, and with a high pedestal. I had been told that there were some inscriptions upon it, but I did not find any. The column is half an hour distant from Merdjan, to the eastward of south. Round the column are fragments of three or four others, which appear to have formed a small temple. The remains of a subterraneous aqueduct, extending from the village towards the spot where the column stands, are yet visible. In one hour from thence we passed a ruined village called Beidhan [Arabic], with a saltpetre manufactory.

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