Prayers to the Khudher, or
St. George, to whom a church in the bottom of the valley is dedicated.
The Turks also pay great veneration to this Saint, so much so that a few
goats-hair mats, worth five or six piastres, which are left on the floor
of the sanctuary of the church, are safe from the robbers. My Druse
guides carried them to a house in the town, to sleep upon; but returned
them carefully on the following morning. The Arabs give the name of Abd
Maaz to St. George. The church has a ruined cupola. On the outer door is
this inscription:
[Greek].
On an arch in the vestibule
[xxxxx].
ARD AASZAF.
[p.96] Within the church:
[Greek].
Upon elevated ground on the W. side of the Wady stands the small ruined
town of Zahouet, with a castle on the summit of the hill. I could find
no legible inscriptions there.
We had reached Zahouet after sunset; and the dread of Arabs, who very
frequently visit this place, made us seek for a night's shelter in the
upper part of the town, where we found a comfortable room, and lighted a
still more comfortable fire. We had tasted nothing since our breakfast;
and my guides, in the full confidence of meeting with plenty of Kattas
and partridges on our road, had laid in a very small provision of bread
on setting out, but had brought a sack of flour mixed with salt, after
the Arab fashion. Unluckily, we had killed only two partridges during
the day, and seen no Kattas; we therefore had but a scanty supper.
Towards midnight we were alarmed by the sound of persons breaking up
wood to make a fire, and we kept upon our guard till near sun-rise, when
we proceeded, and saw upon the wet ground the traces of men and dogs,
who had passed the night in the church, probably as much in fear of
strangers as we were ourselves.
November 22d.--I took a view of the town, after which we descended into
the plain, called here Ard Aaszaf [Arabic], from a Tel named Aazaf, at
half an hour from the Khudher. The abundant rains had already covered
the plain with rich verdure. Our way lay S. At the end of an hour and a
quarter we saw to our left, one mile distant from the road, a ruined
castle upon a Tel called Keres [Arabic]; close to our road was a low
Birket. To the
AYOUN.
[p.97]right, three or four miles off, upon another Tel, stands the
ruined castle El Koueires [Arabic]. From Keres to Ayoun [Arabic], two
hours distant from Zahouet el Khudher, the ground is covered with walls,
which probably once enclosed orchards and well cultivated fields.
