[p.119]From Missema our way lay N.N.W. over the desert plain, towards
Djebel Kessoue. This route is much frequented in the summer time by the
Aeneze, who pass this way to and from the Haouran. The plain is
intersected in every direction by paths formed by camels, called Daroub
el aarb [Arabic]. At the end of two hours we saw to the left, in the
mountains, the ruined village Om el Kezour; and one hour eastward from
thence, in the plain, an insulated pillar called Amoud Esszoubh
[Arabic], i.e. the Column of the Morning, on which, as I was afterwards
told, are several inscriptions. Our road now turned N. and we reached,
after sunset, in three hours and a quarter from Missema, the ruined
village Merdjan, where we found some men who had come to sow a few acres
of ground, and partook of a frugal supper with them.
December 3d.--The small village of Merdjan is picturesquely situated on
a gentle declivity near the foot of the mountain, and is surrounded by
orchards, and poplar trees, which have escaped the rapacious hands of
the Arabs: hard by flows a rivulet, which irrigates the adjacent
grounds. We left Merdjan early in the morning. Twenty minutes north is
Ain Toby [Arabic], or the spring of the gazelle, consisting of several
wells, round one of which are the remains of a well built wall. At one
hour and a half is Soghba [Arabic], a few houses surrounded by a wall;
three quarters of an hour from thence is Deir Ali [Arabic], a village at
the western foot of Djebel Mane; before we came to the village we
crossed the Moiet Deir Ali, a rivulet whose source is in the
neighbourhood. Half an hour from Deir Ali is Meshdie [Arabic], a small
village, in the valley between Djebel Mane and Djebel Khiara, which is
about three hours in breadth. The ground is here for the greater part
cultivated. Our route was N.N.W. from Deir Ali, from whence, in two
hours, we reached El Kessoue, and towards sunset we entered Damascus.
[p.121]