They Are
Divided Into Different Sects, Of Which Nothing Is Known Except The
Names, Viz.
Kelbye, Shamsye, and Mokladjye.
Some are said to adore the
sun and the stars, and others the pudendum muliebre. The Mokledjye wear
in their girdle a small iron hook, which they use when making water; it
is also said that they prostrate themselves every morning before their
naked mothers, saying [Arabic], and it is asserted that they have a
promiscuous intercourse with their females in a dark apartment every
Friday night; but these are mere reports. It is a fact, however, that
they entertain the curious belief that the soul ought to quit the dying
person's body by the mouth. And they are extremely cautious against any
accident which they imagine may prevent it from taking that road. For
this reason, whenever the government of Ladakie or Tripoli condemns an
Anzeyry to death, his relations offer considerable sums, that he may be
empaled instead of hanged. I can vouch for the truth of this belief,
which proves at least that they have some idea of a future state. It
appears that
WADY ROWYD.
[p.157]there are Anzeyrys in Anatolia and at Constantinople. Some years
since a great man of this sect died in the mountain of Antioch, and the
water with which his corpse had been washed was carefully put into
bottles and sent to Constantinople and Asia Minor.
March lst.--The weather having cleared up a little, we set out early,
and in an hour and a half reached the top of the mountain, from whence
we enjoyed a beautiful view to the east over the whole plain, and to the
W. and S. towards Hossn and the Libanus. Hamah bore E.N.E. and Kalaat
Maszyad N. by E. The castle of Hossn bore S.S.W. This part of the
mountain is called Merdj el Dolb [Arabic] or Dhaheret Hadsour [Arabic].
On the top there is fine pasturage, with several springs. To the left,
half an hour, is the high point called Dhaheret Koszeir, where is a
ruined castle; this summit appears to be the highest point of the chain.
The summit, on the western declivity, is the copious spring called Near
Ayn Kydrih [Arabic]. In two hours we came to the village Hadsour, on the
western side of the mountain, with the Mezar Sheikh Naszer. The country
to the west of the summit belongs to the government of the district of
Hossn. We now descended into the romantic valley Rowyd [Arabic], full of
mulberry and other fruit trees, with a torrent rolling in the bottom of
it. At the end of two hours and three quarters is the village
Doueyrellin [Arabic], on the E. side of the Wady; on its W. side, in a
higher situation, stands the village El Keyme; and one hour farther, to
the S. of the latter, on the same side, is the village El Daghle
[Arabic]. We crossed the Wady at the foot of the mountain, and continued
along its right bank, on the slope of the mountain, through orchards and
fields, till we arrived at the foot of the mountain upon which Kalaat el
Hossn is built. Our horses being rather fatigued, we sent them on to
Deir Djordjos, (the convent of St. George), where we intended
LALAAT EL HOSSN.
[p.158]to sleep, and walked up to the castle, which is distant six hours
and a half from Shennyn. It is built upon the top of an insulated hill,
which communicates on its western side only, with the chain of mountains
we had passed. Below the walls of the castle, on the east side, is the
town of Hossn, consisting of about one hundred and fifty houses. The
castle is one of the finest buildings of the middle age I ever saw. It
is evidently of European construction; the lions, which are carved over
the gate, were the armorial bearings of the Counts of Thoulouse, whose
name is often mentioned in the history of the crusades. It is surrounded
by a deep paved ditch, on the outside of which runs a wall flanked with
bastions and towers. The walls of the castle itself are very regularly
constructed, and are ornamented in many places with high gothic arches,
projecting several feet from the wall. The inner castle, which is
seventy paces in breadth, and one hundred and twenty in length, is
defended by bastions. A broad staircase, under a lofty arched passage,
leads up from the gate into the castle, and was accessible to horsemen.
In the interior we particularly admired a large saloon, of the best
Gothic architecture, with arches intersecting each on the roof. In the
middle of a court-yard we noticed a round pavement of stones elevated
about a foot and a half above the ground, and eighteen paces in
diameter; we could not account for its use; it is now called El Sofra,
or the table. There are many smaller apartments in the castle, and
several gothic chambers, most of which are in perfect preservation;
outside the castle an aqueduct is still standing, into which the rain
water from the neighbouring hills was conducted by various channels, and
conveyed by the aqueduct into the castle ditch, which must have served
as a reservoir for the use of the garrison, while it added at the same
time to the strength of the fortress. Figures of lions are seen in
various places on the outer wall, as well as Arabic inscriptions,
MAR DJORDJOS.
[p.159]which were too high to be legible from below. In other places,
amidst half effaced inscriptions, the name of El Melek el Dhaher is
distinguished. I saw no Greek inscriptions, nor any remains of Grecian
architecture. The following is upon a stone at the entrance of one of
the peasants' huts, of which there are about fifty within the castle and
on the parapets:
[Latin].
There are roses sculptured over the entrance of several apartments.
If Syria should ever again become the theatre of European warfare, this
castle would be an important position; in its neighbourhood the Libanus
terminates and the mountains of northern Syria begin; it therefore
commands the communication from the eastern plains to the sea shore.
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