JOURNAL
OF A
TOUR FROM ALEPPO TO DAMASCUS,
THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE ORONTES AND MOUNT LIBANUS,
IN FEBRUARY AND MARCH, 1812.
February 14th.—I LEFT Aleppo at mid-day; and in half an hour came to the miserable village Sheikh Anszary [Arabic], where I took leave of my Worthy friends Messieurs Barker and Van Masseyk, the English and Dutch Consuls, two men who do honour to their respective countries. I passed the two large cisterns called Djob Mehawad [Arabic], and Djob Emballat [Arabic], and reached, at the end of two hours and a half, the Khan called Touman [Arabic], near a village of the same name, situated on the Koeyk, or river of Aleppo. The Khan is in a bad state; Pashas no longer think of repairing public edifices.
February 15th—After a march of ten hours and a half, I arrived at Sermein, having had some difficulty in crossing the muddy plain. The neighbourhood of Sermein is remarkable for great numbers of cisterns and wells hewn in the rock: in the town every house has a similar cistern; those in the plain serve to water the peasants' cattle in the summer, for there are no springs in these parts. On the S.E. side of Sermein is a large subterraneous vault, cut in the solid rock, divided into several apartments, and
EDLIP.
[p.122]supported in various places by round pillars with coarsely wrought capitals; near this are several other excavations, all inhabited by the poor peasants. Sermein belongs to the family of Khodsy Effendy of Aleppo.
February 16th.—Half an hour to the left, near our road, is an insulated hill, with the tomb of a saint, called Kubbet Denneit [Arabic]; the plain is here well cultivated, but nothing is sown at present between Khan Touman and Sermein. To the right of the road, on a similar hill, stands Mezar Kubbet Menebya [Arabic]; and one hour to the right, also upon a Tel, Mezar Tar [Arabic]. Half an hour S.E. from Denneit is the village Gemanas.