Termine, Tellade, Hoesre, Tellekberoun, Bab,
Dana, And Some Others.
The Fellahs or inhabitants of these villages live
in half ruined houses, which indicate the opulence of their ancient
possessors.
The soil of the plain is a fine red mould, almost without a
stone. In March, when I visited the Ryhanlu, it was sown with wheat, but
it produces in another season the finest cotton. The whole plain is the
property of Abbas Effendi of Aleppo, the heir of Tshelebi Effendi, who
was in his time the first grandee of Aleppo[.] Having crossed the plain
of Khalaka, and the rocky calcareous hills which border it on the
western side, a very tedious passage for camels, the first Turkman tents
are met with at about six hours and a half or seven hours distance from
Aleppo. The Turkmans, who prfer living on the hills, erect their tents
on the declivities, and cultivate the valleys below them. These hills
extend in a N.W. direction, above forty miles, the mountain of St. Simon
[Arabic], is in the midst of them. Their average breadth, including the
numerous valleys which intersect them, may be estimated at fifteen or
twenty miles. They lose themselves in the plain of Antioch, which is
bounded on the opposite side by the chain of high mountains, extending
along the southern coast of the gulf of Scanderoun. The river Afrin
[Arabic] waters this plain; its course from the neighbourhood of Killis
to where it empties itself into the lake of Antioch, is fifteen or
twenty hours in length.
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