I Had With Me An Old Passport From Soleiman
Pasha, Who, Though No Longer Governor Of Damascus, Had Been Charged Pro
Tempore With The Government Till The Arrival Of The New Pasha, Who Was
Expected From Constantinople.
Soleiman had retired to his former
government at Acre, but his Mutsellim at Damascus very kindly granted me
strong letters of recommendation to all the authorities of the country,
which were of great use to me in the course of my journey.
I left Om Ezzeitoun late in the evening, to proceed toward the mountain
of Haouran. Our road lay on the N. side of Tel Shiehhan,
BEREIT.
[p.221]close to which runs the Ledja; and the Wady Lowa descends the
mountain on the west side of it. We proceeded in the direction of
Soueida, and in an hour and a quarter from the village stopped, after
sunset, at an encampment of the Djebel Haouran Arabs. My companion, and
a guide whom I had engaged at Om Ezzeitoun, persuaded me to appear
before the Arabs as a soldier belonging to the government, in order to
get a good supper, of which we were in great want, that of the preceding
night, at the saltpetre works, having consisted of only a handful of dry
biscuit. We were served with a dish of rice boiled in sour milk, and
were much amused by the sports and songs of the young girls of the
tribe, which they continued in the moonlight till near midnight. One of
the young men had just returned to the encampment, who had been taken
prisoner by the Aeneze during a nightly predatory expedition.
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