London: Printed By W. Bulmer And W. Nicol, Cleveland-Row, St. James’S.

[FN#3] This northern part of the Djebel Haouran is called Es-Szaffa [Arabic].

On the eastern side of it is a pass called Bab es-Szaffa, where the mountain is entered by a deep clet in the perpendicular rock, about two yards broad. The passage is about one hundred yards long, it leads to a plain in the middle of the mountain, also called Szaffa, which has no other known entrance, and is two days in circuit. This pass and plain are famed among the Arabs, who often retire there, before the troops of the Pasha of Damascus. There is no water in the Szaffa, except the ponds formed by the winter-rains. The earth is fertile and is occasionally sown by he Arabs when they remain there a sufficient time.

End of Travels in Syria and the Holy Land by John Burckhardt

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