Travels in Syria and the Holy Land

by John Lewis Burckhardt

BESZEYRA

[p.407] a Wady. Two hours and three quarters, the village Beszeyra (Arabic). Our road lay S.W. along the western declivity of the mountains, having the Ghor continually in view. The Wadys which descend the mountains of Djebal south of Tafyle do not reach the lowest part of the plain in the summer, but are lost in the gravelly soil of the valley. Beszeyra is a village of about fifty houses. It stands upon an elevation, on the summit of which a small castle has been built, where the peasants place their provisions in times of hostile invasion. It is a square building of stone, with strong walls. The villages of Beszeyra, Szolfehe, and Dhana are inhabited by descendants of the Beni Hamyde, a part of whom have thus become Fellahein, or cultivators, while the greater number still remain in a nomadic state. Those of Beszeyra lived formerly at Omteda, now a ruined village three or four hours to the north of it. At that time the Arabs Howeytat were at war with the Djowabere, whose Sheikh was an ally of the Hamyde. The Howeytat defeated the Djowabere, and took Tafyle, where they constructed a castle, and established a Sheikh of their own election; they also built, at the same time, the tower of Beszeyra. The Hamyde of Omteda then emigrated to this place, which appears to have been, in ancient times, a considerable city, if we may judge from the ruins which surround the village. It was probably the ancient Psora, a bishopric of Palaestina tertia.[See Reland. Palæst. vol i. p. 218.] The women of Beszeyra were the first whom I saw wearing the Berkoa (Arabic), or Egyptian veil, over their faces.

The Sheikh of Kerek had come thus far, in order to settle a dispute concerning a colt which one of the Hamyde of Beszeyra demanded of him. We found here a small encampment of Howeytat Arabs, to one of whom the Sheikh recommended me: he professed to know the man well, and assured me that he was a proper guide. We settled the price of his hire to Cairo, at eighty piastres; and he was to provide me with a camel for myself and baggage. This was

AIN DJEDOLAT

[p.408] the last friendly service of Sheikh Youssef towards me, but I afterwards learnt, that he received for his interest in making the bargain, fifteen piastres from the Arab, who, instead of eighty, would have been content with forty piastres. After the Sheikh had departed on his return, my new guide told me that his camels were at another encampment, one days distance to the south, and that he had but one with him, which was necessary for the transport of his tent. This avowal was sufficient to make me understand the character of the man, but I still relied on the Sheikhs recommendation. In order to settle with the guide I sold my mare for four goats and for thirty-five piastres worth of corn, a part of which I delivered to him, and I had the remainder ground into flour, for our provision during the journey; he took the goats in payment of his services, and it was agreed that I should give him twenty piastres more on reaching Cairo. I had still about eighty piastres in gold, but kept them carefully concealed in case of some great emergency; for I knew that if I were to shew a single sequin, the Arabs would suppose that I possessed several hundreds, and would either have robbed me of them, or prevented me from proceeding on my journey by the most exorbitant demands.

August 13th.I remained two days at Beszeyra, and then set out with the family of my guide, consisting of his wife, two children, and a servant girl. We were on foot, and drove before us the loaded camel and a few sheep and goats. Our road ascended; at three quarters of an hour, we came to a spring in the mountain. The rock is here calcareous, with basalt. At two hours and a half was Ain Djedolat (Arabic), a spring of excellent water; here the mountain is overgrown with short Balout trees. At the end of two hours and three quarters, direction S. we reached the top of the mountain, which is covered with large blocks of basalt. Here a fine view opened upon us; to our right we had the deep valley of Wady Dhana, with the village of the

EL GHOEYR

[p.409] same name on its S. side; farther west, about four hours from Dhana, we saw the great valley of the Ghor, and towards the E. and S. extended the wide Arabian desert, which the Syrian pilgrims cross in their way to Medina. In three hours and a quarter, after a slight descent, we reached the plain, here consisting of arable ground covered with flints. We passed the ruins of an ancient town or large village, called El Dhahel (Arabic). The castle of Aaneiza (Arabic), with an insulated hillock near it, a station of the pilgrims, bore S.S.E. distant about five hours; the town of Maan, S. distant ten or twelve hours; and the castle El Shobak, S.S.W. East of Aaneiza runs a chain of hills called Teloul Djaafar (Arabic). Proceeding a little farther, we came to the high borders of a broad valley, called El Ghoeyr (Arabic), (diminutive of Arabic El Ghor) to the S. of Wady Dhana. Looking down into this valley, we saw at a distance a troop of horsemen encamped near a spring; they had espied us, and immediately mounted their horses in pursuit of us. Although several people had joined our little caravan on the road, there was only one armed man amongst us, except myself. The general opinion was that the horsemen belonged to the Beni Szakher, the enemies of the Howeytat, who often make inroads into this district; there was therefore no time to lose; we drove the cattle hastily back, about a quarter of an hour, and hid them, with the women and baggage, behind some rocks near the road, and we then took to our heels towards the village of Dhana (Arabic), which we reached in about three quarters of an hour, extremely exhausted, for it was about two oclock in the afternoon and the heat was excessive. In order to run more nimbly over the rocks, I took off my heavy Arab shoes, and thus I was the first to reach the village; but the sharp flints of the mountain wounded my feet so much, that after reposing a little I could hardly stand upon my legs. This was the first time I had ever felt fear during my travels

DHANA

[p.410] in the desert; for I knew that if I fell in with the Beni Szakher, without any body to protect me, they would certainly kill me, as they did all persons whom they supposed to belong to their inveterate enemy, the Pasha of Damascus, and my appearance was very much that of a Damascene. Our fears however were unfounded; the party that pursued us proved to be Howeytat, who were coming to pay a visit to the Sheikh at Tafyle; the consequence was that two of our companions, who had staid behind, because being inhabitants of Maan, and friends of the Beni Szakher, they conceived themselves secure, were stripped by the pursuers, whose tribe was at war with the people of Maan. Dhana, which I suppose to be the ancient Thoana, is prettily situated, on the declivity of Tor Dhana, the highest mountain of Djebal, and has fine gardens and very extensive tobacco plantations. The Howeytat have built a tower in the village. The inhabitants were now at war with those of Beszeyra, but both parties respect the lives of their enemies, and their hostile expeditions are directed against the cattle only. Having reposed at Dhana we returned in the evening to the spot where we had left the women and the baggage, and rested for the night at about a quarter of an hour beyond it.