A paved
way leads up to the castle, which is at present inhabited by a few
hundred families of peasants. It appears from the style of construction
that the castle as it now stands, is of the time of the latter Califes;
the walls, towers, and turrets, which surround it on the N., W. and S.
sides, are evidently Saracen; but it should seem, from the many remains
of Grecian architecture found in the castle, that a Greek town formerly
stood here. Fragments of columns and elegant Corinthian and Doric
capitals lie dispersed about it: amongst them is a coffin of fine
marble, nine feet long, but I could find no remains of any ancient
building. On the east side the river runs at the foot of a deep
precipice. In the south wall a strong well built tower is still in
perfect preservation; near it is a deep well, and a subterraneous
passage, which, we were informed, leads down to the river side. We
searched in vain for Greek inscriptions; on the above mentioned tower is
a fine Arabic inscription, but too high to be copied by such short-
sighted people as we both happened to be. On the gate of the castle,
which leads through an arched passage into the interior, I copied the
following, in which many foreign words are mixed with the Arabic:
[Arabic].
Part of the declivity of the hill upon which the castle is built is
paved with flat stones, like the castle hills of Aleppo, El Hossn,
PLAIN OF HAMAH.
[p.145]and Szalkhat. In the plain to the S. and S.W. of the castle are
the remains of ancient buildings, which indicate the site of a town;
several fragments of columns, wrought stones, and a great deal of
rubbish, are lying about. We dug up an altar about four feet and a half
high, and one foot and an half square; on one of its four sides was this
inscription:
[Greek].
To the S.W. of the bridge is the tomb of a saint named Sheikh Mahmoud,
which is to the W. of a small village called Haourein [Arabic]. The rock
of the hills, in the neighbourhood of Seidjar, is calcareous, of
considerable hardness, and of a reddish yellow colour; on the S. side of
the castle the rock seems to have been cut perpendicularly down almost
as low as the river, either for the purpose of adding to the defence of
the fortress on this side, or to facilitate the drawing up of water from
the river.
We now crossed the low hills to the south of Seidjar, and entered the
plain of Hamah, which is very little cultivated here. We proceeded in a
south-easterly direction. In one hour and a half from Seidjar we passed
a number of wells cut close to each other in the rocky ground. At one
hour and three quarters is a small bridge over a torrent called El
Saroudj [Arabic], which empties itself into the Orontes. In two hours we
saw to our left, about half an hour distant, the village Hedjam, on the
right bank of the river; in two hours and three quarters, a small
village
HAMAH.
[p.146]called El Shyhy [Arabic], was to our right; at three hours, we
passed the village El Djadjye [Arabic], distant from the left of the
road a quarter of an hour; and near it the village El Kasa. The fertile
soil now begins to be well cultivated. In four hours we reached Hamah,
where we alighted, at the house of Selym Keblan, one of the Mutsellim's
secretaries, the most gentlemanly Levantine I had yet known.
Hamah is situated on both sides of the Orontes; a part of it is built on
the declivity of a hill, and a part in the plain; the quarters in the
plain are called Hadher [Arabic] and El Djissr; those higher up El
Aleyat [Arabic], and El Medine. Medine is the abode of the Christians.
The town is of considerable extent, and must contain at least thirty
thousand inhabitants, of whom the Greek families, according to the
Bishop's information, are about three hundred. In the middle of the city
is a square mound of earth, upon which the castle formerly stood; the
materials, as well as the stones with which it is probable that the hill
was faced, have been carried away and used in the erection of modern
buildings. There are four bridges over the Orontes
in the town. The river supplies the upper town with water by means of
buckets fixed to high wheels (Naoura) [Arabic], which empty themselves
into stone canals, supported by lofty arches on a level with the upper
parts of the town. There are about a dozen of the wheels; the largest of
them, called Naoura el Mohammedye, is at least seventy feet in diameter.
The town, for the greater part, is well built, although the walls of the
dwellings, a few palaces excepted, are of mud; but their interior makes
amends for the roughness of their external appearance. The Mutsellim
resides in a seraglio, on the banks of the river. I enquired in vain for
a piece of marble, with figures in relief, which La Roque saw; but in
the corner of a house in the Bazar is a stone with a number
[p.147]of small figures and signs, which appears to be a kind of
hieroglyphical writing, though it does not resemble that of Egypt. I
counted thirteen mosques in the town, the largest of which has a very
ancient Minaret.
The principal trade of Hamah is with the Arabs, who buy here their tent
furniture and clothes. The Abbas, or woollen mantles made here, are much
esteemed. Hamah forms a part of the province of Damascus, and is usually
the station of three or four hundred horsemen, kept here by the Pasha to
check the Arabs, who inundate the country in spring and summer.
