The house of Barekat, in whom this authority has for many
years resided, had lately been quarrelling about it among themselves;
the chief, Youssef el Barekat, had been besieged for several months in
the castle; he was now gone to the Aga of Tabaria, to engage him in his
interests; and his family were left in the castle with strict orders not
to let any unknown persons enter it, and to keep the gate secured. I had
letters of recommendation to Youssef from the Mutsellim of Damascus;
when I arrived at the castle-gate, all the inhabitants
OBEID.
[p.267]assembled upon the wall, to enquire who I was, and what I wanted.
I explained to them the nature of my visit, and shewed them the
Mutsellim's letter, upon which they opened the iron gate, but continued
to entertain great suspicions of me until a man who could read having
been sent for, my letter was read aloud; all the family then vied in
civilities towards me, especially when I told them that I intended to
proceed to Tabaria.
Kalaat Er-Rabbad is very strong, and, as appears from several Arabic
inscriptions, was built by Sultan Szelah-eddyn [Arabic]; its date is,
therefore, that of the Crusades, and the same as that of many castles in
other parts of Syria, which owe their origin to the vigilance, and
prudence of that monarch; I saw nothing particularly worth notice in it;
its thick walls, arched passages, and small bastions, are common to all
the castles of the middle ages. It has several wells; but on the
outside, it is distinguished by the deep and broad ditch which surrounds
it, and which has been excavated at immense labour in the rock itself
upon which the castle stands. Rabbad is two hours distant from the Ghor,
or valley of the river Jordan, over which, as well as the neighbouring
mountains, it commands a fine prospect. It is now inhabited by about
forty persons, of the great family of El Barekat.
I returned from Kalaat Rabbad to Adjeloun, where I rejoined my
companions, and after mid-day set out for El Hossn, the principal
village in the district of Beni Obeid. Our road lay up the mountain, in
the narrow Wady Teis. At half an hour from Adjeloun we passed the spring
called Ain Teis [Arabic]. At two hours the district of Djebel Adjeloun
terminates, and that of Obeid begins. The country is for the greater
part woody, and here the inhabitants collect considerable quantities of
galls. Our road lay N.E.; the summits of the mountain bear the name El
Meseidjed [Arabic]. At three hours and a half is a Birket of rain-water,
from whence the
EL HOSSN.
[p.268]road descends over barren hills towards El Hossn, distant five
hours and a quarter from Adjeloun.
El Hossn is the principal village of the district called Beni Obeid; it
stands on the declivity of the mountain, and is inhabited by upwards of
one hundred families, of which about twenty-five are Greek Christians,
under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Jerusalem. I saw nothing
remarkable here but a number of wells cut out of the rock. I happened to
alight at the same house where M. Seetzen had been detained for eleven
days, by bad weather; his hospitable old landlord, Abdullah el Ghanem,
made many enquiries after him.
May 4th.--I found very bad company at El Hossn. It is usual for the
Pasha of Damascus to send annually one of the principal officers of his
government to visit the southern provinces of the Pashalik, to exact the
arrears of the Miri, and to levy new extortions. The Aga of Tabaria, who
was invested this year with the office, had just arrived in the village
with a suite of one hundred and fifty horsemen, whom he had quartered
upon the peasants; my landlord had seven men and fifteen horses for his
share, and although he killed a sheep, and boiled about twenty pounds of
rice, for supper, yet the two officers of the party in his house were
continually asking for more, spoiled all his furniture, and, in fact,
acted worse than an enemy would have done. It is to avoid vexations of
this kind that the peasants abandon the villages most exposed to such
visits.
We left Hossn late in the morning and proceeded to Erbad [Arabic], one
hour and a quarter N.N.E. from the former. Our road lay over the plain.
Erbad is the chief place in the district of that name, likewise called
the district of Beni Djohma [Arabic], or of Bottein [Arabic], from the
Sheikh's being of the family of Bottein. The names of Beni Obeid, and
Beni Djohma, are probably derived
HEBRAS.
[p.269]from Arab tribes which anciently settled here; but nobody could
tell me the origin of these appellations. The inhabitants do not pretend
to be descendants of those tribes, but say that these were their
dwelling places from time immemorial.
The castle of Erbad stands upon a low hill, at the foot of which lies
the village. The calcareous rock which extends through Zoueit, Moerad,
Adjeloun, and Beni Obeid, begins here to give way to the black Haouran
stone, with which all the houses of Erbad are built, as well as the
miserable modern walls of the castle. A large ancient well built
reservoir is the only curiosity of this place; around it lay several
handsome sarcophagi, of the same kind of rock, with some sculptured bas-
reliefs upon them. Part of the suite of the Aga of Tabaria, consisting
of Moggrebyns, was quartered at Erbad. From hence I wished to visit the
ruins of Beit el Ras [Arabic], which are upon a hill at about one hour
and a half distant.
