Here the ascent becomes more steep. At one hour
from Afine, E.b.S. upon the summit of the lower mountain, stands Hebran
[Arabic]. Here is a spring and a ruined church, with the foundations
KUFFER.
[p.90]of another building near it. Withinside the gate is the following
inscription:
[Greek].
On the eastern outer wall:
[Greek].
In a ruined building, with arches, in the lower town;
[xxxxx].
Upon a stone over a door, in a private house:
[Greek].
The mountain upon which Hebran stands is stony, but has places fit for
pasturage. The plain to the S. is called Amman, in which is a spring.
That to the E. is called Zauarat, and that to the S.W. Merdj el Daulet;
all these plains are level grounds, with several hillocks, and are
surrounded by mountains.
There are a few families at Hebran.
Proceeding from Hebran towards the Kelb (dog), or, as the Arabs here
call it, Kelab Haouran, in one houre we came to Kuffer [Arabic], once a
considerable town. It is built in the usual style of this country,
entirely of stone; most of the houses are still entire; the doors are
uniformly of stone, and even the gates of the town, between nine and ten
feet high, are of a single piece of stone. On each side
[p.91]of the streets is a foot pavement two feet and a half broad, and
raised one foot above the level of the street itself, which is seldom
more than one yard in width. The town is three quarters of an hour in
circumference, and being built upon a declivity, a person may walk over
it upon the flat roofs of the houses; in the court-yards of the houses
are many mulberry trees. Amongst several arched edifices is one of
somewhat larger dimensions, with a steeple, resembling that at Ezra; in
the paved court-yard lies an urn of stone. In later times this building
had been a mosque, as is indicated by several Arabic inscriptions. In
the wall within the arched colonnade is a niche elegantly adorned with
sculptured oak-leaves.
We dined in the church, upon the Kattas [Arabic] which my guides had
killed. These birds, which resemble pigeons, are in immense numbers
here; but I found none of them in the eastern parts of the Djebel
Haouran.
To the N.E. of Kutfer is the copious spring already mentioned, called
Ain Mousa, the stream from which, we had passed at Ezzehhoue. There is a
small building over it, on which are these letters:
[Greek].
We arrived, after sunset, in one hour from Kuffer, at an encampment of
Arabs Rawafie, immediately at the foot of the Kelab; and there took up
our quarters for the night. The tent of our host was very neat, being
formed with alternate white and black Shoukes, or cloth made of goat's
hair. I here found the Meharem to the right of the man's apartment. We
were treated as usual with coffee and Feita. I had been rather feverish
during the whole day, and in the evening the symptoms increased, but,
cold as the night was, and more especially on the approach of morning
Wady Awairid.
[p.92]when the fire which is kept up till midnight gradually dies out, I
found myself completely recovered the next day. This encampment
consisted of ten or twelve tents, in the midst of the forest which
surrounds the Kelab.
November 21st.--The Kelab is a cone rising from the lower ridge of the
mountains; it is barren on the S. and E. sides, but covered on the N.
and W. with the trees common to these mountains. I was told that in
clear weather the sea is visible from its top, the ascent to which, from
the encampment, was said to be one hour. The morning was beautiful but
very cold, the whole mountain being covered with hoar frost. We set off
at sun-rise, and rode through the forest one hour, when we breakfasted
at an encampment of Arabs Shennebele, in the midst of the wood. From
thence I took two Arabs, who volunteered their services, to guide me
over the mountains into the eastern plain. We soon reached the
termination of the forest, and in half an hour passed the Merdj el
Kenttare [Arabic], a fine meadow (where the young grass had already made
its appearance), in the midst of the rocky mountain, which has no wood
here. A rivulet called El Keine [Arabic], whose source is a little
higher up in the mountain, flows through the meadow. Three quarters of
an hour farther, and to the right of the road, upon a hill distant half
an hour, are the ruins of the village El Djefne; to the left, at the
same distance, is Tel Akrabe. We passed many excellent pasturing places,
where the Arabs of the mountain feed their cattle in the spring; but the
mountain is otherwise quite barren. Half an hour farther, descending the
mountain, we passed Wady Awairid [Arabic], whose torrent, in winter,
flows as far as Rohba, a district so called, where is a ruined city of
the same name, on the eastern limits of the Szaffa.[The Szaffa [Arabic]
is a stony district, much resembling the Ledja, with this difference,
that the rocks with which it is covered are considerably larger,
although the whole may be said to be even ground. It is two or three
days in circumference, and is the place of refuge of the Arabs who fly
from the Pasha's troops, or from their enemies in the desert. The Szaffa
has no springs; the rain water is collected in cisterns. The only
entrance is through a narrow pass, called Bab el Szaffa, a cleft,
between high perpendicular rocks, not more than two yards in breadth,
which one ever dared to enter as an enemy.
