The Mountains Bear The Name Of El Zoble (Arabic); The Hadj
Route To Mekka Lies Along Their Western Side.
At seven hours and a
quarter is El Kefeyrat (Arabic), a ruined town of some extent.
In seven
hours and a half we came to the remains of a well paved ancient
causeway; my guide told me that this had been formerly the route of the
Hadj, and that the pavement was made by the Mohammedans; but it appeared
to me to be a Roman work. At the end of eight hours we reached Madeba,
built upon a round hill; this is the ancient Medaba, but there is no
river near it. It is at least half an hour in circumference; I observed
many remains of the walls of private houses, constructed with blocks of
silex; but not a single edifice is standing. There is a large Birket,
which, as there is no spring at Madeba might still be of use to the
Bedouins, were the surrounding ground cleared of the rubbish, to allow
the water to flow into it; but such an undertaking is far beyond the
views of the wandering Arab. On the west side of the town are the
foundations of a temple, built with large stones, and apparently of
great antiquity. The annexed is its form and dimensions. A part of its
eastern wall remains, constructed in the same style as the castle wall
at Amman. At the entrance of one of the courts stand two columns of the
Doric order, each of two pieces, without bases, and thicker in the
centre than at either extremity, a peculiarity of which this is the only
instance I have seen in Syria.
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