[p.70]spring. To the N.E. of it is the inhabited Druse village Bereike
[Arabic]. We advanced half an hour E. to the village Mourdouk [Arabic]
on the declivity of the Djebel Haouran; it has a spring, from whence the
Druses of Rima and Bereike obtain their daily supply of water. From the
spring we proceeded to the eastward on the side of the mountain. At our
feet extended the Ledja from between N.E.b.N. where it terminates, near
Tel Beidhan, to N.W. by N. its furthest western point, on the Haouran
side. Between the mountain and the Ledja is an intermediate plain of
about one hour in breadth, and for the greater part uncultivated. Before
us lay three insulated hills, called Tel Shiehhan, Tel Esszoub, which is
the highest, and Tel Shohba; they are distant from each other half an
hour, the second in the middle. One hour and a half to the S.E. of Tel
Shohba is one of the projecting summits of the mountain called Tel Abou
Tomeir.
From Mourdouk our road lay for an hour and a half over stony ground, to
Shohba [Arabic] the seat of the principal Druse Sheikhs, and containing
also some Turkish and Christian families. It lies near the foot of Tel
Shohba, between the latter and the mountain; it was formerly one of the
chief cities in these districts, as is attested by its remaining town
walls, and the loftiness of its public edifices. The walls may be traced
all round the city, and are perfect in many places; there are eight
gates, with a paved causeway leading from each into the town. Each gate
is formed of two arches, with a post in the centre. The eastern gate
seems to have been the principal one, and the street into which it opens
leads in a straight line through the town; like the other streets facing
the gates, it is paved with oblong flat stones, laid obliquely across it
with great regularity. Following this street through a heap of ruined
habitations on each side of it, where are many fragments of columns, I
came to a place where four massy cubical structures
[p.71]formed a sort of square, through which the street runs; they are
built with square stones, are twelve feet long by nine high, and, as
appears by one of them, which is partly broken down, are quite solid,
the centre being filled up with stones. Farther on to the right, upon a
terrace, stand five Corinthian columns, two feet and a quarter in
diameter, all quite entire. After passing these columns I came to the
principal building in this part of the town; it is in the form of a
crescent, fronting towards the east, without any exterior ornaments, but
with several niches in the front. I did not venture to enter it, as I
had a bad opinion of its present possessor, the chief of Shohba, who
some years ago compelled M. Seetzen to turn back from hence towards
Soueida. I remained unknown to the Druses during my stay at Shohba.
Before the above mentioned building is a deep and large reservoir, lined
with small stones. To the right of it stands another large edifice of a
square shape, built of massy stones, with a spacious gate; its interior
consists of a double range of vaults, one above the other, of which the
lower one is choaked up as high as the capitals of the columns which
support the arches. I found the following inscription upon an arch in
the upper story:
[Greek].
Beyond and to the left of this last mentioned building, in the same
street, is a vaulted passage with several niches on both sides of it,
and dark apartments, destined probably for the reception of the bodies
of the governors of the city. Farther on are the remaining walls of a
large building. Upon two stones, close to each other, and projecting
from the wall, I read the following inscriptions:
[p.72] On the first,
[Greek].
On the second,
[Greek].
To the west of the five Corinthian columns stands a small building,
which has been converted into a mosque; it contains two columns about
ten inches in diameter, and eight feet in height, of the same kind of
fine grained gray granite, of which I had seen several columns at Banias
in the Syrian mountains.
To the south of the crescent formed building, and its adjoining edifice,
stands the principal curiosity of Shohba, a theatre, in good
preservation. It is built on a sloping site, and the semicircle is
enclosed by a wall nearly ten feet in thickness, in which are nine
vaulted entrances into the interior. Between the wall and the seats runs
a double row of vaulted chambers one over the other. Of these the upper
chambers are boxes, opening towards the seats, and communicating behind
with a passage which separates them from the outer wall. The lower
chambers open into each other, those at the extremities of the semi-
circle excepted, which have openings towards the area of the theatre.
The entrance into the area is by three gates, one larger, with a smaller
on either side;
[p.73] on each side of the two latter are niches for statues. The
diameter of the area, near the entrance, is thirty paces; the circle
round the upper row of seats is sixty-four paces; there are ten rows of
seats. Outside the principal entrance is a wall, running parallel with
it, close to which are several small apartments.
To the S.E. of Shohba are the remains of an aqueduct, which conveyed
water into the town from a spring in the neighbouring mountain, now
filled up. About six arches are left, some of which are at least forty
feet in height. At the termination of this aqueduct, near the town, is a
spacious building divided into several apartments, of which that nearest
to the aqueduct is enclosed by a wall twelve feet thick, and about
twenty-five feet high; with a vaulted roof, which has fallen in. It has
two high vaulted entrances opposite to each other, with niches on each
side. In the walls are several channels from the roof to the floor, down
which the water from the aqueduct probably flowed. On one side of this
room is an entrance into a circular chamber fourteen feet in diameter;
and on the other is a similar apartment but of smaller dimensions, also
with channels in its walls; adjoining to this is a room without any
other opening than a very small door; its roof, which is still entire,
is formed of small stones cemented together with mortar; all the walls
are built of large square stones. The building seems evidently to have
been a bath.
On a stone built in the wall over the door of a private dwelling in the
town, I copied the following:
[Greek].
[p.74]