[p.132]The mode of construction in all the private habitations is similar to that which I noticed in the ancient towns of the Haouran, and which, in fact, is still in use in most of the Arab villages in Syria, with this difference, that the latter build with timber and mud instead of stone.
On the N. side of El Bara stands a castle, built in the Saracen or Crusade style, with a spring near it, called Bir Alloun [Arabic], the only one in the neighbourhood of the ancient town, and which apparently was insufficient to the inhabitants, as we found many cisterns cut very deep in the rock. Turning from the spring towards the present village, we passed the tomb of a Turkish saint, called Kubbet Ibn Imaum Abou Beker, where the son of Abou Beker is reported to have been killed: near it is a cave, with eight receptacles for the dead. I saw there some rocks of the same basaltic tufwacke which I met with in the Djebel el Hasz and in ome of the districts of Haouran.
The greater part of the villages of Djebel Rieha belong to the Dehly Bashi, at Rieha. Feteyry belongs to the district of Marra; its inhabitants have often been punished for their rebellious conduct, and their predatory incursions into the neighbouring districts; their spirit, however, is unbroken, and they still follow the same practices. The frontiers of the Pashaliks of Damascus and Aleppo run across the mountain of Rieha, which commences above Rieha, and extends to Kalaat el Medyk, varying in breadth from two to five hours: it is a low but very rocky chain, little fit for culture, except in the valleys; but it abounds in game, especially wild boars; and ounces have sometimes been killed in it.
We left the inhospitable Bara at mid-day, with two armed men, to escort us over the mountain into the valley of the Orontes. In half an hour we passed a ruined stone bridge across a narrow Wady; it rests upon piers, which are formed of immense blocks
EL GHAB.
[p.133]of stone piled upon one another. In one hour and twenty minutes we came to Kon Szafra, in a fertile valley on the top of the mountain, where a few families live in wretched huts amidst the ruins of an ancient town. N.W. about three quarters of an hour is the village of Mezraa. In an hour and forty minutes we reached the ruined town Djerada, and at the end of two hours and a half, Kefr Aweyt, a small village; Kefr, in the vulgar dialect, means ruins. Here the mountain is much less rocky, and more fit for culture. Our road lay S.W. b. S. The village of Feteyry, lies about one hour and a half south of Aweyt. After travelling three hours we came in sight of the Orontes, and then began to descend. The mountain on this side is rather steep, and its side is overgrown with herbs which afford an excellent pasturage. The plant asphodel (Siris [Arabic]) is very common; the inhabitants of Syria, by pulverising its dried roots, and mixing the powder with water, make a good glue, which is superior to that made with flour, as it is not attacked by worms. In the summer the inhabitants of the valley pasture their cattle in these mountains, as do likewise a few tribes of Arabs; among these are the Akeydat, of whom we passed a small encampment.
The part of Djebel Rieha which, beginning at Kon Szafra, extends to the valley of the Orontes, on the one side towards Kalaat el Medyk, on the other towards Djissr Shogher, bears the appellation of Djebel Shaehsabou [Arabic]. The continuation of the same mountain towards Rieha, besides its general name of Djebel Rieha, is likewise called Djebel Zaouy [Arabic]. In four hours and a quarter we reached the plain below, near an insulated hill, called Tel Aankye [Arabic], which seems to be artificial.
The valley bordered on the E. side by Djebel Shaehsabou, and on the W. side by the mountains of the Anzeyry, is called El Ghab [Arabic]. It extends almost due north from three hours S. of
HOWASH.
[p.134]Kalaat el Medyk to near Djissr Shogher: its breadth is about two hours, but becomes narrower towards the north; it is watered by the Aaszy [Arabic], or Orontes, which flows near the foot of the western mountain, where it forms numerous marshes. The inhabitants of El Ghab are a mongrel race of Arabs and Fellahs, and are called Arab el Ghab. They live in winter time in a few villages dispersed over the valley, of which they cultivate only the land adjacent to their villages; on the approach of hot weather they retire with their cattle to the eastern mountains, in search of pasture, and in order to escape the immense swarms of flies and gnats [Arabic], which infest the Ghab in that season. In the winter the Aaszy inundates a part of the low grounds through which it flows, and leaves many small lakes and ponds; the valley is watered also by numerous springs and by rivulets, which descend from the mountains, especially from those on the east. To the N. of Tel Aankye, on the E. side towards Djissr Shogher, which is eight hours distant from Aankye, are the springs Ayn Bet Lyakhom [Arabic], Ayn Keleydyn [Arabic], Shaouryt [Arabic], Kastal Hadj Assaf [Arabic], Djob Soleyman [Arabic], Djob el Nassouh [Arabic], Djob Tel el Tyn [Arabic].
Having passed to the left of Aankye, where is a small village, we continued our road up the valley due south; we passed near the spring Ayn el Aankye; in a quarter of an hour farther Ayn el Kherbe, and at the same distance farther south, the copious spring Ayn el Howash [Arabic], from whence we turned to the right into the plain, and at the end of four hours and three quarters from El Bara, reached the village Howash, where we alighted at the Sheikh's house.
February 21st—Howash is the principal village of the Ghab; it is situated on the borders of a small lake, formed by the rivulet of Ayn el Howash. The surrounding country was at this time for
[p.135]the greater part inundated, and the Arabs passed in small boats from one village to another; in summer the inundation subsides, but the lakes remain, and to the quantity of stagnant water thus formed is owing the pest of flies and gnats abovementioned. There are about one hundred and forty huts at Howash, the walls of which are built of mud; the roofs are composed of the reeds which grow on the banks of the Orontes; the huts in which these people live in the mountain during the summer are formed also of reeds, which are tied together in bundles, and thus transported to the mountain, where they are put up so as to form a line of huts, in which the families within are separated from each other only by a thin partition of reeds.
The Arabs of Howash cultivate Dhourra and wheat, and, like all the Arabs of the Ghab, rear large herds of buffaloes, which are of a small kind, and much less spirited than those I saw in the plains of Tarsous. It is a common saying and belief among the Turks, that all the animal kingdom was converted by their Prophet to the true faith, except the wild boar and buffalo, which remained unbelievers; it is on this account that both these animals are often called Christians. We are not surprised that the boar should be so denominated; but as the flesh of the buffalo, as well as its Leben or sour milk, is much esteemed by the Turks, it is difficult to account for the disgrace into which that animal has fallen among them; the only reason I could learn for it, is that the buffalo, like the hog, has a habit of rolling in the mud, and of plunging into the muddy ponds in the summer time, up to the very nose, which alone remains visible above the surface.
The territory of Djissr Shogher extends as far as Howash; from thence, southward, begins the district of Kalaat el Medyk. The Sheikh of Howash, called Mohammed el Omar, is noted in the adjoining districts for his hospitality; but within bthese few years he
AYN UKTOL.
[p.136]has been reduced from great wealth to poverty by the extortions of Topal Aly of Djissr Shogher, and of Milly Ismayl of Kalaat el Medyk; the troops which are continually passing from one place to another are consuming the last remains of his property. The night we slept at his house, there were at least fifty people at supper, of whom about thirty were poor Arabs of his village; the others were all strangers.