[12] Sir David Dundas.
[13] A term always used wherever the source of a rivulet is.
[14] Abulfeda speaks of Carah in the following terms:—“Among the noted places is Carah. It is a large village between Damascus and Hems, and serves as a station for caravans. Most of the inhabitants are Christians.”
[15] Ali Bey says the mean breadth is fifty feet (vid. p. 209, vol. ii.)
[16] Abulfeda quotes Ebn Hokal, who says that “Hems is placed in a most fertile plain, and that it is more healthy than any part of the district of Damascus: he adds that neither serpents nor scorpions are found there.... Not quite a mile from the town runs the river Maklûb, or Oront, and upon its banks are orchards and vineyards.”
[17] “The lake Cades is from north to south almost the third part of a day’s journey: and its breadth is that of the mound, which was built, to the north, (as is reported) by Alexander, and which is 1287 cubits long, and 18 in thickness. Were this mound destroyed, the lake would cease to be. There are fish in the lake.”—(Abulfeda, p. 157.) Ebn Abd el Hak gives a breadth of four miles.
[18] Abulfeda says 965 yards, or more than half a mile long.
[19] Ali Bey, (p. 275) speaking of the neighbourhood of Damascus, says, “The labourers or villagers in general are in easy circumstances ... if, under these burthens, this class of people are rich, what would they be under a just and liberal government?”
[20] Of the dishes was one for which, whilst in Syria, I always retained a great liking. It is sour milk curdled, called leben, into which cucumber is cut, with grated mint leaves sprinkled on the surface.
[21] Mention is made of this lady in the Memoirs of Buonaparte, published by Las Cases, vol. 3, part v., p. 148.