In spring the Arabs of the Djebel Haouran and the
Ledja take advantage of the approach of the Aeneze, to plunder daily
among their enemies; they are better acquainted with the ground than the
latter, a part of whose horses and cattle are every spring carried off
by these daring mountaineers.
April 25th.--At half an hour from the encampment is the hill called Tel
Dobbe [Arabic], consisting of a heap of ruins, with a spring. To the
N.E. of it, a quarter of an hour, is the ruined village of Bereit, which
was inhabited in 1810, but is now abandoned. The Haouran peasants wander
from one village to another; in all of them they find commodious
habitations in the ancient houses; a camel transports their family and
baggage; and as they are not tied to any particular spot by private
landed property, or plantations, and find every where large tracts to
cultivate,
AATYL.
[p.222]they feel no repugnance at quitting the place of their birth. In
one hour we passed Seleim, which in 1810 was inhabited by a few poor
Druses, but is now abandoned. Here are the ruins of a temple, built with
much smaller stones than any I had observed in the construction of
buildings of a similar size in the Haouran. On the four outer corners
were Corinthian pilasters.
