We
Rode One Hour To Keratha, Close To Which Is A Spring.
From Keratha, in
an hour and a quarter, we came to Mehadje, whence I saw Tel Shiehhan
bearing E.S.E. To the east of the road from Ezra to Mehadje on the Ledja
are the ruins of Sour and Aazim.
From Mehadje we entered the Ledja, and
continued in it, at half an hour's distance from the cultivated plain,
in the direction N.E., till we reached Khabeb [Arabic] at the end of two
hours. Between Tebne and Khabeb lies the village Bossir. From Khabeb the
Kelab Haouran bears S.S.E. This is a considerable village, inhabited for
the greater part by Catholic Christians, who, as I have mentioned above,
emigrated from Szalkhat. The Sheikh is a Druse. I met here a poor Arab,
a native of the country three days journey from Mekka; he told me that
the
DHAMI.
[p.110]Wahabi had killed four of his brothers; that he fled from home,
and established himself at Dael, a village in the Haouran, which was
ransacked last summer by the same enemies, when he lost the whole of his
property. This man corroborated what I have repeatedly been told, that a
single person may travel over the Wahabi dominions with perfect safety.
November 29th.--I here took two Druses to conduct me into the interior
of the Ledja. The Arabs who inhabit that district pay some deference to
the Druses, but none whatever to the Turks or Christians of the
neighbouring villages. In one hour we passed the two ruined cities
Zebair [Arabic] and Zebir [Arabic], close to each other. At the end of
two hours and a quarter, our road lying in the direction of the Kelab
Haouran, we came to the ruined village Djedel [Arabic]. Thus far the
Ledja is a level country with a stony soil covered with heaps of rocks,
amongst which are a number of small patches of meadow, which afford
excellent pasture for the cattle of the Arabs who inhabit these parts.
From Djedel the ground becomes uneven, the pasturing places less
frequent, the rocks higher, and the road more difficult. I had intended
to proceed to Aahere, where there is a fine spring; but evening coming
on we stopped near Dhami [Arabic], three hours and three quarters from
Khabeb, and two hours distant from Aahere. It appears strange that a
city should have been built by any people in a spot where there is
neither water nor arable ground, and nothing but a little grass amidst
the stones. Dhami may contain three hundred houses, most of which are
still in good preservation. There is a large building whose gate is
ornamented with sculptured vine leaves and grapes, like those at
Kanouat.
Every house appears to have had its cistern; there are many also in the
immediate vicinity of the town: they are formed by excavations in the
rock, the surface of which is supported by props
DEIR DHAMI.
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