Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. John Lewis Burckhardt
DJOUBETA.
[p.44]a small body of men was stripped at Koneitza during my stay at Banias.
As soon as I declared my wish to return to Damascus, I was advised by several people present to take a guard of armed men with me, but knowing that this was merely a pretext to extort money without at all ensuring my safety, I declined the proposal, and said I should wait for a Kaffle. It fortunately happened that the Sheikh of the village had business at Damascus, and we were glad of each other's company. We set out in the afternoon, accompanied by the Sheikh's servant. The direction of the route is E.b.S. up the mountain of the Heish, behind the castle of Banias. We passed several huts of Felahs, who live here the whole summer, and retire in winter to their villages. They make cheese for the Damascus market. At the end of an hour and a half we came to Ain el Hazouri, a spring, with the tomb of Sheikh Othman el Hazouri just over it; to the north of it one hour are the ruins of a city called Hazouri. The mountain here is overgrown with oaks, but contains good pasturage; I was told that in the Wady Kastebe, near the castle, there are oak trees more than sixty feet high. One hour more brought us to the village of Djoubeta, where we remained during the night at the house of some friends of the Sheikh of Banias. This village belongs to Hasbeya; it is inhabited by about fifty Turkish and ten Greek families; they subsist chiefly by the cultivation of olives, and by the rearing of cattle. I was well treated at the house where we alighted, and also at that of the Sheikh of the village, where I went to drink a cup of coffee. It being Ramadan, we passed the greater part of the night in conversation and smoking; the company grew merry, and knowing that I was curious about ruined places, began to enumerate all the villages and ruins in
MEDJEL.
[p.45]the neighbourhood, of which I subjoin the names.[The ruins of Dara, Bokatha, Bassisa, Alouba, Afkerdouva, Hauratha (this was described as being of great extent, with many walls and arches still remaining,) Enzouby, Hauarit, Kleile, Emteile, Mesherefe, Zar, Katloube in the Wady Asal, Kseire, Kafoua, Beit el Berek. The villages of Kfershouba, Maonyre in the district Kereimat, Ain el Kikan, Mezahlak, Merj el Rahel, Sheba, Zeneble, Zor or Afid, Merdj Zaa. In the Houle, Amerie, Nebi Djahutha, Sheheil.] The neighbouring mountains of the Heish abound in tigers ([Arabic] nimoura); their skins are much esteemed by the Arab Sheikhs as saddle cloths. There are also bears, wolves, and stags; the wild boar is met with in all the mountains which I visited in my tour.
October 16th.—The friends of the Sheikh of Banias having dissuaded him from proceeding, on account of the dangers of the road, his servant and myself set out early in the morning. In three quarters of an hour we reached the village of Medjel, inhabited by Druses, with four or five Christian families. The Druses who inhahit the country near Damascus are very punctual in observing the rites of the Mohammedan religion, and fast, or at least pretend to do so, during the Ramadan. In their own country, some profess Christianity, others Mohammedism. The chief, the Emir Beshir, keeps a Latin confessor in his house; yet all of them, when they visit Damascus, go to the mosque. Medjel is situated on a small plain high up in the mountain; half an hour further on is a spring; and at one hour and a quarter beyond, is a spacious plain. The mountain here is in most places capable of cultivation. In one hour more we reached the top. The oak tree is very frequent here as well as the bear's plum [Arabic] (Khoukh eddeb), the berries of which afford a very refreshing nourishment to the traveller. The rock is partly calcareous, and partly of a porous tufa, but softer than that which I saw in the Houle. At one hour and a quarter farther is the Beit el Djanne (the House of Paradise), in a narrow Wady, at a
REITIMA.
[p.46]spot where the valley widens a little. On its western side are several sepulchral caves hewn in the chalky rock. Another quarter of an hour brought us to the Ain Beit el Djanne, a copious spring, with a mill near it; and from thence, in half an hour, we reached the plain on the eastern side of the mountain. Our route now lay N.E. by E.; to the right was the open country adjoining the Haouran, to the left the chain of the Heish, at the foot of which we continued to travel for the remainder of the day. The villages on the eastern declivity of the Heish, between Beit el Djanne and Kferhauar are, Hyna, Um Esshara, Dourboul, Oerna, and Kalaat el Djendel.
At three hours and a half from the point where the Wady Beit el Djanne terminates in the plain is the village Kferhauar. Before we entered it I saw to the left of the road a tomb which attracted my attention by its size. I was told that it was the Kaber Nimroud (the tomb of Nimrod); it consists of a heap of stones about twenty feet in length, two feet high, and three feet broad, with a large stone at both extremities, similar to the tombs in Turkish cemeteries. This is probably the Kalat Nimroud laid down in maps, to the south of Damascus; at least I never heard of any Kalaat Nimroud in that direction.
To the right of our road, one hour and a half from Kferhauar, lay Sasa, and near it Ghaptata. Half an hour farther from Kferhauar we alighted at the village Beitima. On a slight eminence near Kferhauar stands a small tower, and there is another of the same size behind Beitima. The principal article of culture here is cotton: the crop was just ripe, and the inhabitants were occupied in collecting it. There are Druses at Kferhauar as well as at Beitima; at the latter village I passed an uncomfortable rainy night, in the court-yard of a Felah's house.
October 17th.—We continued to follow the Djebel Heish (which
DJOUN.
[p.47]however takes a more northern direction than the Damascus road for four hours, when we came to Katana, a considerable village, with good houses, and spacious gardens; the river, whose source is close to the village, empties itself into the Merj of Damascus.
Three hours from Katana, passing over the district called Ard el Lauan, we came to Kfersousa. Beyond Katana begins the Djebel el Djoushe, which continues as far as the Djebel Salehie, near Damascus, uniting, on its western side, the lower ridge of mountains of the Djebel Essheikh. Kfersousa lies just within the limits of the gardens of the Merdj of Damascus. In one hour beyond it I re-entered Damascus, greatly fatigued, having suffered great pain.
After returning to Damascus from my tour in the Haouran, I was desirous to see the ruins of Rahle and Bourkoush, in the Djebel Essheikh, which I had heard mentioned by several people of Rasheya during my stay at Shohba. On the 12th of December, I took a man with me, and rode to Katana, by a route different from that through the Ard el Lauan, by which I travelled from Katana to Damascus in October. It passes in a more southerly direction through the villages of Deir raye [Arabic], one hour beyond Bonabet Ullah; and another hour Djedeide; one hour and a quarter from Djedeide is Artous [Arabic], in which are many Druse families; in an hour from Artous we reached Katana. This is a very pleasant road, through well cultivated fields and groves. I here saw nurseries of apricot trees, which are transplanted into the gardens at Damascus. To the south of Artous three quarters of an hour, is the village of Kankab, situated upon a hill; below it is the village of Djoun, opposite to which,
RAHLE
[p.48]and near the village Sahnaya, lies the Megarat Mar Polous, or St. Paul's cavern, where the Apostle is related to have hidden himself from the pursuit of his enemies at Damascus. The monks of Terra Santa, who have a convent at Damascus, had formerly a chapel at Sahnaya, where one of their fraternity resided; but the Roman Catholic Christians of the village having become followers of the Greek church, the former abandoned their establishment. To the N.E. of Djedeide, and half an hour from it, is the village Maddharnie.
Katana is one of the chief villages in the neighbourhood of Damascus; it contains about one hundred and eighty Turkish families, and four or five of Christians. The Sheikh, to whom the village belongs, is of a very rich Damascus family, a descendant of a Santon, whose tomb is shewn in the mosque of the village. Adjoining to the tomb is a hole in the rocky ground, over which an apartment has been built for the reception of maniacs; they are put down into the hole, and a stone is placed over its mouth; here they remain for three or four days, after which, as the Turks pretend, they regain their senses. The Christians say that the Santon was a Patriarch of Damascus, who left his flock, and turned hermit, and that he gained great reputation amongst the Turks, because whenever he prostrated himself before the Deity, his sheep