Travels in Syria and the Holy Land

by John Lewis Burckhardt

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.

We left Howash early in the morning, and rode along the eastern mountains, in this beautiful valley, which I can compare only to the valley of the Bekaa between the two Libani; the Ghab, however, has this great advantage over the Bekaa, that it is copiously watered by a large river and many rivulets, while the latter, in summer time, has little or no water. At half an hour from Howash we met with several fragments of shafts of columns, on the side of an ancient paved causeway. We followed this causeway for upwards of an hour, although in some places no remains of it were visible; at the distance of a quarter of an hour (at the rate of about three miles and a half an hour), from the first heap of fragments of columns, we met with a similar heap; then at an equal interval a third, and again a fourth; not more than four columns seemed to have stood together in any of these places. We conjectured that this had been a Roman road, and the columns its milliaria. The causeway was traced here and there farther to the south, but without any appearance of stations; it probably followed the whole length of the valley from Apamea to Djissr Shogher. One hour and a quarter from Howash is Ayn Houyeth [Arabic], a copious spring. The Roman road is here about sixteen feet in breadth. To the right, in the plain, is the village of Houyeth, and near it another village, called Ain Uktol [Arabic]. On our right was a perpendicular rock, upon which were patches of rich verdure. Two hours and a quarter is Ayn el Taka [Arabic], a large spring, issuing