Nothing Is At
Present Standing; But There Are Immense Heaps Of Cut Stones, Columns,
&C. Dispersed Over The Plain.
A long street, running westward, of which
the ancient pavement still exists in most parts, seems to have been the
principal street of the town.
On both sides there are vast quantities of
shafts of columns. At a spot where a heap of large Corinthian pillars
lay, a temple appears to have stood. I here saw the base of a large
column of gray granite. The town terminates in a narrow point, where a
large solid building with many columns seems to have stood.
With the exception of the theatres, the buildings of the city were all
constructed of the calcareous stone which constitutes the rock of every
part of the country which I saw between Wady Zerka
SHERIAT EL MANDHOUR.
[p.273]and Wady Sheriat. In Djebel Adjeloun, Moerad, and Beni Obeid,
none of the basalt or black stone is met with; but in some parts of El
Kefarat, in our way from Hebras to Om Keis, I saw alternate layers of
calcareous and basaltic rock, with thin strata of flint. The habitations
of Om Keis are, for the greater part, caverns. There is no water but
what is collected in reservoirs during rains; these were quite dried up,
which was the occasion, perhaps, of the place having been abandoned, for
we found not a single inhabitant.
My guide being ignorant of the road to Feik, wished to return to Hebras;
and I was hesitating what to do, when we were met by some peasants of
Remtha, in the Haouran, who were in their way to the Ghor, to purchase
new barley, of which grain the harvest had already begun in the hot
climate of that valley. I joined their little caravan. We continued, for
about half an hour from Om Keis, upon the high plain, and then descended
the mountains, the western declivity of which is entirely basaltic. At
the end of two hours from Om Keis, we reached the banks of the Sheriat
el Mandhour, or Sheriat el Menadhere (Arabic] or Arabic) which we passed
at a ford. This river takes the additional name of the Arabs who live
upon its banks, to distinguish it from the Sheriat el Kebir (Great
Sheriat), by which the Jordan is known. The Sheriat el Menadhere is
formed by the united streams of the Nahr Rokad [Arabic], which flows
from near Ain Shakhab, through the eastern parts of Djolan; of the
Hereir, whose source is in the swampy ground near Tel Dilly, on the Hadj
route, between Shemskein and El Szannamein: of the Budje, which comes
from Mezareib, and after its junction with the Hereir, is called Aweired
[Arabic], and of the Wady Hamy Sakkar, besides several other smaller
Wadys. The name of Sheriat, is first applied to the united streams near
Szamme. From thence it flows in a deep bed of tufwacke; and its banks
are cultivated by the Arabs Menadhere (sing. Mandhour), who live under
VALLEY OF THE GHOR.
[p.274]tents, and remove from place to place, but without quitting the
banks of the river. They sow wheat and barley, and cultivate
pomegranates, lemons, grapes, and many kinds of fruit and vegetables,
which they sell in the villages of the Haouran and Djolan. Further to
the west the Wady becomes so narrow as to leave no space between the
edge of the stream, and the precipices on both sides. It issues from the
mountain not far from the south end of the lake of Tabaria, and about
one hour lower down is joined by the Wady el Arab; it then empties
itself into the Jordan, called Sheriat el Kebir, at two hours distant
from the lake; D'Anville is therefore wrong in making it flow into the
lake itself. The river is full of fish, and in the Wady its course is
very rapid. The shrub called by the Arabs Defle [Arabic], grows on its
banks; it has a red flower, and according to the Arabs is poisonous to
cattle. The breadth of the stream, where it issues from the mountains,
is about thirty-five paces, its depth (in the month of May) between four
and five feet.
We had now entered the valley of the Ghor [Arabic], which may be
compared to the valley of the Bekaa, between the Libanus and Anti-
Libanus, and the valley El Ghab of the Orontes. The mountains which
enclose it are not to be compared in magnitude with those of the Bekaa;
but the abundance of its waters renders its aspect more pleasing to the
eye, and may make its soil more productive. It is one of the lowest
levels in Syria; lower than the Haouran and Djolan, by nearly the whole
height of the eastern mountains; its temperature is hotter than I had
experienced in any other part of Syria: the rocky mountains
concentrating the heat, and preventing the air from being cooled by the
westerly winds in summer. In consequence of this higher degree of heat,
the productions of the Ghor ripen long before those of the Haouran. The
barley harvest, which does not begin in the upper plain till fifteen
days later
SZAMMAGH.
[p.275]we here found nearly finished. The Haouran, on the other hand,
was every where covered with the richest verdure of wild herbage, while
every plant in the Ghor was already dried up, and the whole country
appeared as if in the midst of summer. Volney has justly remarked that
there are few countries where the changes from one climate to another
are so sudden as in Syria; and I was never more convinced of it than in
this valley. To the north was the Djebel El Sheikh, covered with snow;
to the east the fertile plainsof Djolan clothed in the blossoms of
spring; while to the south, the withered vegetation of the Ghor seemed
the effect of a tropical sun. The breadth of the valley is about an hour
and a half, or two hours.
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