At Souk Mared Is An Ancient Tower Of Remarkable Structure.
Its height, I
was told, is greater than the Minaret near my lodgings at Damascus,
which I should compute at about forty-five feet.
Its basis is square, it
rises in steps and ends in a point; I had already heard at Aleppo from
some travelling Turks, that there were in the desert, towards Deraye,
pyramids like those of Cairo; by which they probably meant the Souk
Mared. The door of the tower is about ten feet high and eight broad; but
it is half filled up. The Kasr gate of Salamia,[FN#2] which is of wood
with iron bars, has been transported here by the Arabs to serve as a
gate for the tower. [p.664] The inside is not paved. There are three
floors, and staircases leading from one to the other. There are very
small windows in the sides of the tower, which seem rather to have been
destined for loop holes for musquetty. The walls of the tower are built
of large square white stones, and are in good preservation. The two
floors one over the other are not vaulted. On the top of the tower a
watchman constantly resides, to give notice of the arrival of strangers.
To the E. and somewhat to the S. from Djof, three hours, begins the
plain called Eddhahi or Taous [Arabic], a sandy desert full of small
hills or Tels, from which it derives the name of [Arabic]. Although
there is no water in the plain, a tree is very abundant which the Arabs
call Ghada [Arabic], about eight feet high; the people of Djof burn it
as fire wood. Near the trees grows in spring a kind of grass, which in
summer soon dries up, it is called Nassy [Arabic], and resembles wheat.
Wild cows [Arabic] are found here. My man told me that they resemble in
every particular the domestic cow. The Arabs Sherarat kill them, eat
them, and make of the leather targets, which are much esteemed [Arabic].
Of their horns the people of Djof make knife handles. Wild dogs, Derboun
[Arabic], of a black colour, are likewise met with here; the Arabs kill
and eat them. It is principally in the Dhahy that ostriches breed, and
great quantities of them are killed there. This desert is moreover
inhabited by a large lizard called Dhab [Arabic], of one foot and a half
in length with a tail of half a foot, exactly resembling in shape the
common lizard, but larger. The Arabs eat them in defiance of the laws of
their prophet; the scaly skin serves them instead of a goat skin to
preserve their butter in. These Arabs likewise eat all the eagles
[Arabic] and crows which they can kill. The plain of Eddhahi continues
for three days camel’s march (with a caravan it would take six days),
without any water, extending as far as the chain of mountains called
Djebel Shammor [Arabic] which runs in an easterly direction five or six
days journey.
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