In Summer They Remain In The Valleys On The
Side Of The Ghor, In The Winter A Part Of Them Descend Into The Ghor
Itself, While The Others Encamp Upon The Upper Plain Of The Belka.
July 14th.—We left the encampment of Abd el Mohsen early in the morning,
and at one hour from it, descending along a winding valley, we reached
the banks of the rivulet Zerka Mayn (Arabic), which is not to be
confounded with the northern Zerka.
Its source is not far from hence; it
flows in a deep and barren valley through a wood of Defle trees, which
form a canopy over the rivulet impenetrable to the meridian sun. The red
flowers of these trees reflected in the river gave it the appearance of
a bed of roses, and presented a singular contrast with the whitish gray
rocks which border the wood on either side. All these mountains are
calcareous, mixed with some flint. The water of the Zerka Mayn is almost
warm, and has a disagreeable taste, occasioned probably by the quantity
of Defle flowers that fall into it. Having crossed the river we ascended
the steep side of the mountain Houma (Arabic),
WADY WALE
[p.370] at the top of which we saw the summit of Djebel Attarous
(Arabic), about half an hour distant to our right; this is the highest
point in the neighbourhood, and seems to be the Mount Nebo of the
Scripture. On its summit is a heap of stones overshaded by a very large
wild pistachio tree.
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