[p.41]it coincides with the epoch of the crusades. There are five or six
granite columns built into the walls of the gateway.
I went to see the ruins of the ancient city of Bostra, of which the
people spoke much, adding that Mousa (the name assumed by Mr. Seetzen)
had offered thirty piastres to any one who would accompany him to the
place, but that nobody had ventured, through fear of the Arabs. I found
a good natured fellow, who for three piastres undertook to lead me to
the spot. Bostra must not be confounded with Boszra, in the Haouran;
both places are mentioned in the Books of Moses. The way to the ruins
lies for an hour and a half in the road by which I came from Rasheyat-
el-Fukhar, it then ascends for three quarters of an hour a steep
mountain to the right, on the top of which is the city; it is divided
into two parts, the largest being upon the very summit, the smaller at
ten minutes walk lower down, and resembling a suburb to the upper part.
Traces are still visible of a paved way that had connected the two
divisions. There is scarcely any thing in the ruins worth notice; they
consist of the foundations of private habitations, built of moderate
sized square stones. The lower city is about twelve minutes walk in
circumference; a part of the four walls of one building only remains
entire; in the midst of the ruins was a well, at this time dried up. The
circuit of the upper city may be about twenty minutes; in it are the
remains of several buildings. In the highest part is a heap of wrought
stones of larger dimensions than the rest, which seem to indicate that
some public building had once stood on the spot. There are several
fragments of columns of one foot and of one foot and a half in diameter.
In two different places a short column was standing in the centre of a
round paved area of about ten feet in diameter. There is likewise a deep
well, walled in, but now dry.
The country around these ruins is very capable of cultivation.