In The Castle Is A Deep Well, And Many
Of The Private Houses Also Have Wells, But Their Water Is Brackish;
Others Have Cisterns, Which Save The Inhabitants The Trouble Of Fetching
Their Water From The Wady Below.
There are no antiquities in the town,
excepting a few fragments of granite columns.
A good mosque, built by
Melek el Dhaher, is now in ruins. The Christians have a church,
dedicated to St. George, or El Khuder, which has been
[p.381] lately repaired. On the declivity of the Wady to the south of
the town are some ancient sepulchral caves, of coarse workmanship, cut
in the chalky rock.
Kerek is inhabited by about four hundred Turkish, and one hundred and
fifty Christian families; the former can furnish upwards of eight
hundred firelocks, the latter about two hundred and fifty. The Turks are
composed of settlers from all parts of southern Syria, but principally
from the mountains about Hebron and Nablous. The Christians are, for the
greater part, descendants of refugees from Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and
Beit Djade. They are free from all exactions, and enjoy the same rights
with the Turks. Thirty or forty years ago Kerek was in the hands of the
Bedouin tribe called Beni Ammer, who were accustomed to encamp around
the town and to torment the inhabitants with their extortions. It may be
remarked generally of the Bedouins, that wherever they are the masters
of the cultivators, the latter are soon reduced to beggary, by their
unceasing demands.
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