[p.31] October 9th.--I was disappointed in my intention of proceeding,
and passed the day in calling at several shops in the town, and
conversing with the merchants and Arab traders.
October 10th.--I set out for Hasbeya, accompanied by the same guide with
whom I had made the mountain tour. We crossed the Bekaa nearly in the
direction of Andjar.[The following are the villages in the Bekaa, and at
the foot of the western mountain, which from Zahle southward takes the
name of Djebel Riehan; namely, Saad-Nayel [Arabic], Talabaya [Arabic],
Djetye [Arabic], Bouarish [Arabic], Mekse [Arabic], Kab Elias [Arabic],
Mezraat [Arabic], Bemherye [Arabic], Aamyk [Arabic], Deir Tenhadish
[Arabic], Keferya [Arabic], Khereyt Kena [Arabic], Beit Far [Arabic],
Ain Zebde [Arabic], Segbin [Arabic], Deire el Djouze [Arabic], Bab Mara
[Arabic], Aitenyt [Arabic], El Kergoue [Arabic], El Medjdel [Arabic],
Belhysz [Arabic], Lala [Arabic], Meshgara [Arabic], Sahhar Wyhbar
[Arabic], Shedite, Nebi Zaour, Baaloul [Arabic], Bedjat [Arabic], Djub
Djenin [Arabic], Tel Danoub [Arabic], El Khyare [Arabic], El Djezyre
[Arabic], El Estabbel [Arabic], El Merdj [Arabic], Tel el Akhdar
[Arabic], Taanayl [Arabic], Ber Elias [Arabic], Deir Zeinoun [Arabic].]
The generality of the inhabitants of the Bekaa are Turks; one fifth,
perhaps, are Catholic Christians. There are no Metaweli. The land is
somewhat better cultivated than that of Belad Baalbec, but still five-
sixths Of the soil is left in pasture for the Arabs. The Fellahs
(peasant cultivators) are ruined by the exorbitant demands of the
proprietors of the soil, who are, for the greater part, noble families
of Damascus, or of the Druse mountains. The usual produce of the harvest
is tenfold, and in fruitful years it is often twenty fold.
After two hours and three quarters brisk walking of our horses, we
passed Medjdel to our right, near which, on the road, lies a piece of a
large column of acalcareous and flinty breccia. Half an hour beyond
Medjdel, we reached a spring called Ain Essouire. Above it in the hills
which branch out of the Anti-Libanus, or