[p.32] Djurd Essharki, into the Bekaa, is the village Nebi Israi, and to
the left, in the Anti-Libanus, is the Druse village of Souire. A little
farther on we passed Hamara, a village on the Anti-Libanus. At one hour
from Ain Essouire, is Sultan Yakoub, with the tomb of a saint, a place
of holy resort of the Turks. Below it lies the Ain Sultan Yakoub. Half
an hour farther is Nebae el Feludj, a spring. Our road lay S. by W. At
the end of three hours and a half from Ain Essouire, we reached the
village El Embeite, on the top of a hill, opposite to Djebel Essheikh.
The route to this place, from Medjdel, lay through a valley of the Anti-
Libanus, which, farther on, towards El Heimte, loses itself in the
mountains comprised under the name of Djebel Essheikh. The summit of
this mountain, which bears west from Damascus, is probably the highest
in Syria, for snow was still lying upun it. The mountain belongs to the
district of the Emir of the Druses, commanding at Rasheia, a Druse
village at one hour and a half from El Heimte. We slept at El Heimte, in
the house of the Druse Sheikh, and the Khatib, or Turkish priest of the
village, gave us a plentiful supper. The Druses in this district affect
to adhere strictly to the religious precepts of the Turks. The greater
part of the inhabitants of El Heimte are Druses belonging to Rasheia.
Near it are the villages of Biri and Refit.
October 11th.--We set out at day-break, and at the end of an hour passed
on the left the Druse villages Deneibe and Mimis, and at two hours Sefa
on our right, also a Druse village. Our road lay over an uneven plain,
cultivated only in spots. After three hours and a half, we came to Ain
Efdjur, direction S.W. by W.; from thence in two hours and a half we
reached the Djissr-Moiet-Hasbeya, or bridge of the river of Hasbeya,
whose source is hard by; the road lying the whole way over rocky ground
little susceptible of culture. From the Djissr we turned up a steep Wady
E. b. S. and arrived, in about three quarters of an hour, at Hasbeya,
situated
[p.33] on the top of a mountain of no great height. I had letters from
the Greek patriarch of Damascus to the Greek bishop of Hasbeya, in whose
house, four years ago, Dr. Seetzen spent a week, having been prevented
from proceeding by violent snow and rain. The bishop happened to be
absent on my arrival, and I therefore took up my lodging in the house of
a poor Greek priest, with whose behaviour towards me I had every reason
to be satisfied.
October 12th.--The village or town of Hasbeya may contain seven hundred
houses; half of which belong to Druse families; the other half are
inhabited by Christians, principally Greeks, though there are also
Catholics and Maronites here. There are only forty Turkish families, and
twenty Enzairie. The inhabitants make cotton cloth for shirts and gowns,
and have a few dyeing houses. The principal production of their fields
is olives. The chief of the village is an Emir of the Druses, who is
dependent both on the Pasha of Damascus and the Emir Beshir. He lives in
a well-built Serai, which in time of war might serve as a castle. The
following villages belong to the territory of Hasbeya: Ain Sharafe, El
Kefeir, Ain Annia, Shoueia, Ain Tinte, El Kankabe, El Heberie, Rasheyat
el Fukhar, Ferdis, Khereibe, El Merie, Shiba, Banias, Ain Fid, Zoura,
Ain Kamed Banias, Djoubeta, Fershouba, Kefaer Hamam, El Waeshdal, El
Zouye.
The neighbourhood of Hasbeya is interesting to the mineralogist. I was
told by the priest that a metal was found near it, of which nobody knew
the name, nor made any use. Having procured a labourer, I found after
digging in the Wady a few hundred paces to the E. of the village,
several small pieces of a metallic substance, which I took to be a
native amalgam of mercury. According to the description given me,
cinnabar is also found here, but we could discover no specimen of it
after half an hour's digging. The ground all around, and the spring near
the village, are