[p.93]descended by the banks of the Wady into the plain, and at a short
distance from where the Wady enters it, arrived at Zaele [Arabic] in two
hours and three quarters from the Arab encampment where we had
breakfasted.
Zaele owes its origin to the copious spring which rises there, and which
renders it, in summer time, a much frequented watering place of the
Arabs. The ruined city which stands near the spring is half an hour in
circuit; it is built like all those of the mountain, but I observed that
the stone doors were particularly low, scarcely permitting one even to
creep in. A cupola once stood over the spring, and its basin was paved.
I found the following inscription upon a stone lying there:
[Greek].
And another above the spring, upon a terrace adjoining the ruins of a
church:
[Greek].
The spring of Zaele flows to the S.E. and loses itself in the plain.
[p.94]One hour and a half to the eastward of Zaele stands Tel Shaaf
[Arabic], with a ruined city. E. four hours, Melleh [Arabic], a ruined
city in the plain; and upon a Tel near it, Deir el Nuzrany. The plain,
for two hours from Zaele, is called El Haoui. Towards the E. and S.E. of
Zaele are the following ruined places: Boussan [Arabic], at the foot of
the mountain; Khadera [Arabic]; Aans [Arabic], Om Ezzeneine [Arabic];
Kherbet Bousrek [Arabic]; Habake [Arabic].
The great desert extends to the N.E.E., and S.E. of Zaele; to the
distance of three days journey eastward, there is still a good arable
soil, intersected by numerous Tels, and covered with the ruins of so
many cities and villages, that, as I was informed, in whatever direction
it is crossed, the traveller is sure to pass, in every day, five or six
of these ruined places. They are all built of the same black rock of
which the Djebel consists. The name of the desert changes in every
district; and the whole is sometimes called Telloul, from its Tels or
hillocks. Springs are no where met with in it, but water is easily found
on digging to the depth of three or four feet. At the point where this
desert terminates, begins the sandy desert called El Hammad [Arabic],
which extends on one side to the banks of the Euphrates, and on the
other to the N. of Wady Serethan, as far as the Djof.
I wished to proceed to Melleh, but my Druse companions were not to be
prevailed upon, through fear of the Arabs Sheraka, a tribe of the Arabs
Djelaes, who were said to be in that neighbourhood. We herefore
recrossed the mountain from Zaele, and passed its south-eastern corner,
on which there are no trees, but many spots of excellent pasture. In two
hours from Zaele we came to a spring called Ras el Beder [Arabic], i.e.
the Moon's Head, whose waters flow down into the plain as far as Boszra.
From the spring we redescended, and reached Zahouet el Khudher [Arabic],
a ruined city, standing in a Wady, at a short distance from the