Part 15

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.

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.

In two hours and a half from Sermein we reached the town of Edlip [Arabic], the approach to which is very picturesque; it lies round the foot of a hill, which divides it into two parts; there is a smaller hill on the N. side: the town is surrounded by olive plantations, and the whole landscape put my companion, an English traveller, in mind of Athens and its vicinity. Here again are many wells cut in the rocky soil round the town. This place is called Little Edlip [Arabic]. Of Great Edlip [Arabic], the name only remains: it stood at half an hour's distance from the present town, which is of modern date, or about the middle of the seventeenth century. I reckoned the number of its houses at about one thousand. The inhabitants are for the most part Turks; there are only eighty Greek Christian families, and three of Armenian Greeks. They have a church, and three priests, and are under the immediate jurisdiction of the Greek Patriarch of Damascus.

The principal trade of Edlip is in soap; there are some manufactories of cotton stuffs, and a few dyeing-houses. The Bazars are well built, some of them of stone. In the town are several Khans, two of which are destined for the reception of strangers;

Edlip is held by the family of Kuperly Zaade of Constantinople; but a part of its revenue is a Wakf to the Harameyn, that is to say, it contributes to defray the expenses of the two holy cities Mekka and Medina. The town pays annually to the above family, twenty purses for themselves, and fifteen for the holy cities; the latter sum was formerly sent to Mekka every year with the pilgrim caravan; but it is now paid into the hands of the Kuperlys. The town of Djissr Shogher [Arabic], distant six hours from Edlip, on the road to Ladikia, belongs to the same family, and is likewise a Wakf attached to the holy cities; it pays fifteen purses to the Kuperlys, and seven to the Harameyn. The revenue arising from thirteen or fourteen villages in the neighbourhood of Djissr Shogher has been assigned to the support of several hospitals which the Kuperlys have built in that town, where a number of poor people are fed daily gratis. Neither Edlip nor Shogher pays any land-tax or Miri, in consequence of their being attached to Mekka; but there is a custom-house at Edlip, where duties are levied on all kinds of provisions, as rice, coffee, oil, raisins, tobacco, &c.

The government of Edlip is in the hands of a Mutsellim, named by the Porte; the real power had been for many years in the rich family of Ayash [Arabic], till the present chief of that family, Mahmoud Ibn Ayash, a man famous for his hospitality and upright character, had the misfortune to lose all his influence. In 1810 his house became involved in a deadly quarrel with that of Djahya, in consequence of a game of Jerid, which took a serious turn, and in which much blood was shed. Djahya left Edlip, and went to Rieha and Djissr Shogher, where he succeeded in engaging in his interest Seyd Aga and Topal Aly, the rebel chiefs of those towns, who only wanted a pretext to fall upon Edlip; they accordingly stirred up the inhabitants against Mahmoud, who was obliged to fly to Aleppo, and having sent the Mutsellim, Moury Aga, back to Constantinople, they put Abou Shah, the brother-in-law of Topal Aly, in his place, and brought Djahya back to Edlip. After some months the two rebels came to a compromise with Mahmoud, who returned to Edlip, and Djahya, in turn, fled to Aleppo; Mahmoud's power, however, was now at an end: the two chiefs are at present masters of the town, and share its spoils; but its wealth has much decreased since these events took place. In eighteen months it has paid upwards of six hundred purses; and on the day before our arrival a new contribution of two hundred had spread despair among the inhabitants. A Kadhi is sent here early from Constantinople. Sermein bears from hence S.E. by E. There are no dependent villages in the territory of Edlip.

February 17th.--We left Edlip after mid-day. Our road lay through a wood of olive trees, in a fertile uneven plain of red argillaceous soil. In one hour we reached Sheikh Hassan, the tomb of

RIEHA.

About two hours to the S.E. of Rieha lies the village of Marszaf [Arabic], and S. of the latter about one hour, the ruined town Benin. We ascended the mountain from Rieha, turned round its eastern corner, and in one hour from Rieha, reached the village of Kefr Lata [Arabic]. We were hospitably received at the house of the Sheikh of Kefr Lata, although his women only were at home. A wondering story-teller amused us in the evening with chanting the Bedouin history of the Beni Helal. Kefr Lata belongs to Ibn Szeyaf, one of the first families of Aleppo.

February 18th.--Kefr Lata is situated upon the mountain of

KEFR LATA.

The apertures of the coffins are invariably even with the surface of the ground, and the lids only are seen from without, as if lying upon the surface.

Crossing to the N. side of the valley of Kefr Lata, I met with a long wall built with large blocks of stone; to the north of it is an oblong square, thirty-seven paces in length, and twenty-seven in breadth, cut out of the rock; in its walls are several niches. In the middle of it is a large coffin, with the remains of a wall which had enclosed it. To the E. of this is a similar square, but of smaller dimensions. I counted in this neighbourhood twenty coffins and four sepulchral caves, besides several open niches very neatly wrought in the side of the mountain, containing recesses for the dead.

Returning towards the village I passed the source of the rivulet which waters the valley. Over it stands an ancient building, which consists of a vaulted roof supported by four short columns, in a very bad heavy style; it is about thirieen feet in height. A

DJEBEL ERBAYN.

We left the village about mid-day, and crossed the mountain in a northerly direction, by the short foot way to Rieha; in half an hour we reached the point of the mountain directly over Rieha. It is this part of the Djebel Rieha which is properly called Djebel Erbayn. In the last century a summer residence was built here just above the town; but it is now abandoned, although a most beautiful spot, surrounded by fruit trees of all sorts, with a copious spring, and presenting a magnificent view over the plains of Aleppo and Edlip. A spring, which here issues from under the rock, collects in front of the building into a large basin, from whence it flows down to Rieha. I here took the following bearings; Edlip N. by E.; Sermein N.E.b.N.; Mount St. Simon N.N.E.; Khan Touman E.N.E.; Djebel el Ala N.; Djebel Akra W.N.W. About one hour N.E. of Rieha lies the village Haleya.

From Djebel Erbayn we continued our road in a S.S.W. direction, on the declivity of the mountain of Rieha. In half an hour

EL BARA.

Half an hour N.W. of Bara lies the village Belyoum. A high hill, contiguous to the Djebel Rieha, called Neby Ayoub [Arabic], bears N.W. from El Bara, distant about an hour and three

February 20th.--The mountain of Rieha, of which El Bara forms a part, is full of the ruins of cities, which flourished in the times of the lower empire;[The following are the names of other villages and ruined towns, situated upon the mountain of Rieha from the information of a man or El Bara: viz. Medjellye [Arabic], Betersa [Arabic], Baouza [Arabic], Has [Arabic], El Rebeya [Arabic], Serdjelle [Arabic], El Djerada [Arabic], Moarrat Houl [Arabic], Moarrat Menhas [Arabic], Beshelle [Arabic], Babouza [Arabic], El Deir [Arabic], El Roweyha [Arabic], with extensive ruins; Zer Szabber [Arabic], Zer Louza [Arabic], Moar Bellyt [Arabic], Moar Szaf [Arabic], Serdjeb Mantef [Arabic], Nahle [Arabic], El Rama [Arabic], Kefr Rouma [Arabic], Shennan [Arabic], Ferkya [Arabic], Belshou [Arabic], Ahsarein [Arabic], Moarrat Maater [Arabic], Djebale [Arabic], Kefrneba [Arabic], Beskala [Arabic], Moarrata [Arabic], Djousef [Arabic], El Fetteyry [Arabic], El Ahmeyry [Arabic], Erneba [Arabic], El Arous [Arabic], Kon Szafra [Arabic], El Mezra [Arabic], Aweyt [Arabic], Kefr Shelaye [Arabic], Szakhrein [Arabic], Benames [Arabic], Kefr Djennab [Arabic], Szankoul [Arabic].] those of El Bara are the most considerable of the whole, and as I had often heard the people of the country mention them, I thought it worth while to take this circuitous road to Hamah.

The ruins are about ten minutes walk to the west of the village. Directing our researches to that side we met with a sepulchral cave in the immediate vicinity of the town; a broad staircase leads down to the entrance of it, over which I copied this inscription: