In going northward from the springs, I passed the rivulet Djeheir, whose source is at a short distance, within the precincts of the town. It issues from a stone basin, and was conducted anciently in a canal. Over it seems to have stood a small temple, to judge by the remains of several columns that are lying about. The source is full of small fish. Youssef Pasha built a barrack here also; but it was destroyed by the Wahabi who made an incursion into the Haouran in 1810, headed by their chief Ibn Saoud, who encamped for two days near this spot, without being able to take the castle, though garrisoned by only seven Moggrebyns. The banks of the Djeheir are a favourite encampment of the Bedouins, and especially of the Aeneze.
Beyond the town walls, and at some distance to the north of the Djeheir, stands the famous mosque El Mebrak; and near it is the cemetery of the town. Ibn Affan, who first collected the scattered leaves of the Koran into a book, relates that when Othman, in coming from the Hedjaz, approached the neighbourhood of Boszra with his army, he orderd his people to build a mosque on the spot where the camel which bore the Koran should lie down; such was the origin of the mosque El Mebrak. [Mebrak [Arabic] means the spot where a camel couches down, or a halting-place.] It is of no great size; its interior was embellished, like that of the great mosque, with Cufic inscriptions, of which a few specimens yet remain over the Mehrab, or niche towards which the face of the Imam is turned in praying. The dome or Kubbe which covered its summit has been recently destroyed by the Wahabi.
The above description comprises all the principal antiquities of Boszra. A great number of pillars lie dispersed in all directions in the town; but I observed no remains of granite. Its immediate
[p.236]invirons are also covered with ruins, principally on the W. and N.W. sides, where the suburbs may have formerly stood.
Of the vineyards, for which Boszra was celebrated, even in the days of Moses, and which are commemorated by the Greek medals of [Greek], not a vestige remains. There is scarcely a tree in the neighbourhood of the town, and the twelve or fifteen families who now inhabit it cultivate nothing but wheat, barley, horse-beans, and a little Dhourra. A number of fine rose trees grow wild among the ruins of the town, and were just beginning to open their buds.
April 28th.—I was greatly annoyed during my stay at Boszra, by the curiosity of the Aeneze, who were continually passing through the place. It had been my wish to visit the ruined city of Om El Djemal [Arabic], which is eight hours distant from Boszra, to the S.; but the demands of the Arabs for conducting me thither were so exorbitant, exceeding even the sum which I had thought necessary to bring with me from Damascus to defray the expenses of my whole journey, that I was obliged to return to Aaere towards mid-day, after having offered thirty piastres for a guide, which no one would accept. None but Aeneze could have served me, and with them there was no reasoning; they believed that I was going in search of treasure, and that I should willingly give any sum to reach the spot where it was hid.
April 29th.—I took leave of my worthy friend Shybely, who would not let us depart alone, but engaged a Bedouin to accompany us towards the western parts of the Haouran; this man was a Bedouin of Sayd, or Upper Egypt, of the tribe of Khelafye, who inhabit to the west of Girge; he had entered the service of the Mamelouks, and had been with one of them to Mekka, from whence he returned to Damascus, where he entered into the Pasha's cavalry; here he had the misfortune to kill one of his comrades, which
EL HEREYEK.
[p.237]obliging him to fly, he repaired to the Aeneze, with whom he found security and protection.
Half an hour from Aaere we passed Wady Ghothe [Arabic], with the village of Ghothe to our left; route N.W.b.N. One hour and a half, the village Om Waled [Arabic], one hour and three quarters, the village El Esleha [Arabic], inhabited principally by Christians. Two hours and a quarter, passed Wady Soueida. Two hours and a half the village Thale [Arabic], to the west of which, one hour, is Tel Hossein, with the village Kheraba. At three hours and a quarter is the village El Daara [Arabic], with Wady Daara; here we dined at an encampment of Arabs of Djebel Haouran, who are in the habit of descending into the plain to pasture their cattle, as soon as the country is evacuated by the Aeneze. At four hours and three quarters is Melieha el Aattash [Arabic], in a direction N.W. from Daara; from thence our route lay W. by N. Not more than one-third of the plain was cultivated, though the peasants had sown more grain this year, than they had done for many years back. S. of Melieha half an hour lies the village Rakham [Arabic]. Five hours and a half the village El Herak [Arabic]. Five hours and three quarters, the village El Hereyek [Arabic]. In all these villages are several reservoirs of water, for the supply of the inhabitants during summer, and which are filled either by the winter torrents descending from the Djebel Haouran, or by rain water, which is conducted into them from every side by narrow channels: they are all of ancient date, and built entirely with the black Haouran stone; but I saw in none of the villages any edifice of magnitude. Near Hereyek we fell in with the encampment of the Damascus beggars, who make an excursion every spring to the Haouran, to collect alms from the peasants and Arabs; these contributions are principally in butter and wool,