A Bazar Has Lately Been Built At Tabaria, In Which I Counted About A
Dozen Retail Shops.
The traffic of the inhabitants is principally with
the Bedouins of the Ghor, and of the district of Szaffad.
The
shopkeepers repair every Monday to the Khan at the foot of Mount Tabor,
where a market, called Souk el Khan (Arabic) is held, and where the
merchandize of the town is bartered chiefly for cattle. The far greater
part of the inhabitants of Tabaria cultivate the soil; they sow the
narrow plain to the west of the town, and the declivity of the western
mountain, which they irrigate artificially by means of several springs.
The heat of the climate would enable them to grow almost any tropical
plant, but the only produce of their fields are wheat, barley, Dhourra,
tobacco, melons, grapes, and a few vegetables. The melons are of the
finest quality, and are in great demand at Akka and Damascus, where that
fruit is nearly a month later in ripening. Knowing how fond the Syrians
in general are of the early fruits, I sent to my friends at Damascus a
mule load of these melons, which, according to eastern fashion, is a
very acceptable and polite present. About three hundred and fifty pounds
weight English of melons sell at Tabaria for about eight shillings. I
was informed that the shrub which produces the balm of Mecca succeeds
very well here, and that several people have it in their gardens.[Strabo
mentions the [Greek], as growing on the lake, p. 755.
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