In Three Hours And A Half We Passed A Hill Called Dhaheret El
Hemar (Arabic), Or The Ass’S Back.
At three hours and three quarters, to
the right, are the ruins of Meraszas (Arabic), with a heap of
Stones
called Redjem Abd Reshyd (Arabic), where, according to Bedouin
tradition, a wonderful battle took place between a slave of an Arab
called Reshyd, and a whole party of his master’s enemies. Here
terminates the district El Ahma. To the left are the ruins called Merdj
Ekke (Arabic). The soil in this vicinity is chalky. Last year a battle
was fought here between the troops of the Pasha of Damascus,
EL AAL
[p.365] and the Beni Szakher, in which the former were routed. At four
hours and a half, and about three quarters of an hour to our right, we
saw the ruins of Naour (Arabic) on the side of a rivulet of that name,
which falls into the Jordan opposite Rieha, or Jericho, driving in its
course several mills, where the Bedouins of the Belka grind their corn.
On both sides of the road are many vestiges of ancient field-enclosures.
From Naour our road lay S. At five hours and three quarters are the
ruins of El Aal (Arabic), probably the Eleale of the Scriptures: it
stands upon the summit of a hill, and takes its name from its situation,
Aal meaning “the high.” It commands the whole plain; and the view from
the top of the hill is very extensive, comprehending the whole of the
southern Belka.
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