From
Thence I Took Two Arabs, Who Volunteered Their Services, To Guide Me
Over The Mountains Into The Eastern Plain.
We soon reached the
termination of the forest, and in half an hour passed the Merdj el
Kenttare [Arabic], a fine meadow (where the young grass had already made
its appearance), in the midst of the rocky mountain, which has no wood
here.
A rivulet called El Keine [Arabic], whose source is a little
higher up in the mountain, flows through the meadow. Three quarters of
an hour farther, and to the right of the road, upon a hill distant half
an hour, are the ruins of the village El Djefne; to the left, at the
same distance, is Tel Akrabe. We passed many excellent pasturing places,
where the Arabs of the mountain feed their cattle in the spring; but the
mountain is otherwise quite barren. Half an hour farther, descending the
mountain, we passed Wady Awairid [Arabic], whose torrent, in winter,
flows as far as Rohba, a district so called, where is a ruined city of
the same name, on the eastern limits of the Szaffa.[The Szaffa [Arabic]
is a stony district, much resembling the Ledja, with this difference,
that the rocks with which it is covered are considerably larger,
although the whole may be said to be even ground. It is two or three
days in circumference, and is the place of refuge of the Arabs who fly
from the Pasha's troops, or from their enemies in the desert. The Szaffa
has no springs; the rain water is collected in cisterns. The only
entrance is through a narrow pass, called Bab el Szaffa, a cleft,
between high perpendicular rocks, not more than two yards in breadth,
which one ever dared to enter as an enemy. If a tribe of Arabs intend to
remain a whole year in the Szaffa, they sow wheat and barley on the
spots fit for cultivation on its precincts. On its E. limits are the
ruined villages of Boreisie, Oedesie, and El Koneyse. On its western
side this district is called El Harra, a term applied by the Arabs to
all tracts which are covered with small stones, being derived from Harr,
i.e. heat (reflected from the ground.)] Our route lay to the north-east;
we
ZAELE.
[p.93]descended by the banks of the Wady into the plain, and at a short
distance from where the Wady enters it, arrived at Zaele [Arabic] in two
hours and three quarters from the Arab encampment where we had
breakfasted.
Zaele owes its origin to the copious spring which rises there, and which
renders it, in summer time, a much frequented watering place of the
Arabs. The ruined city which stands near the spring is half an hour in
circuit; it is built like all those of the mountain, but I observed that
the stone doors were particularly low, scarcely permitting one even to
creep in. A cupola once stood over the spring, and its basin was paved.
I found the following inscription upon a stone lying there:
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