[p.134]Kalaat el Medyk to near Djissr Shogher: its breadth is about two
hours, but becomes narrower towards the north; it is watered by the
Aaszy [Arabic], or Orontes, which flows near the foot of the western
mountain, where it forms numerous marshes. The inhabitants of El Ghab
are a mongrel race of Arabs and Fellahs, and are called Arab el Ghab.
They live in winter time in a few villages dispersed over the valley, of
which they cultivate only the land adjacent to their villages; on the
approach of hot weather they retire with their cattle to the eastern
mountains, in search of pasture, and in order to escape the immense
swarms of flies and gnats [Arabic], which infest the Ghab in that
season. In the winter the Aaszy inundates a part of the low grounds
through which it flows, and leaves many small lakes and ponds; the
valley is watered also by numerous springs and by rivulets, which
descend from the mountains, especially from those on the east. To the N.
of Tel Aankye, on the E. side towards Djissr Shogher, which is eight
hours distant from Aankye, are the springs Ayn Bet Lyakhom [Arabic], Ayn
Keleydyn [Arabic], Shaouryt [Arabic], Kastal Hadj Assaf [Arabic], Djob
Soleyman [Arabic], Djob el Nassouh [Arabic], Djob Tel el Tyn [Arabic].
Having passed to the left of Aankye, where is a small village, we
continued our road up the valley due south; we passed near the spring
Ayn el Aankye; in a quarter of an hour farther Ayn el Kherbe, and at the
same distance farther south, the copious spring Ayn el Howash [Arabic],
from whence we turned to the right into the plain, and at the end of
four hours and three quarters from El Bara, reached the village Howash,
where we alighted at the Sheikh's house.
February 21st--Howash is the principal village of the Ghab; it is
situated on the borders of a small lake, formed by the rivulet of Ayn el
Howash. The surrounding country was at this time for
[p.135]the greater part inundated, and the Arabs passed in small boats
from one village to another; in summer the inundation subsides, but the
lakes remain, and to the quantity of stagnant water thus formed is owing
the pest of flies and gnats abovementioned. There are about one hundred
and forty huts at Howash, the walls of which are built of mud; the roofs
are composed of the reeds which grow on the banks of the Orontes; the
huts in which these people live in the mountain during the summer are
formed also of reeds, which are tied together in bundles, and thus
transported to the mountain, where they are put up so as to form a line
of huts, in which the families within are separated from each other only
by a thin partition of reeds.
The Arabs of Howash cultivate Dhourra and wheat, and, like all the Arabs
of the Ghab, rear large herds of buffaloes, which are of a small kind,
and much less spirited than those I saw in the plains of Tarsous. It is
a common saying and belief among the Turks, that all the animal kingdom
was converted by their Prophet to the true faith, except the wild boar
and buffalo, which remained unbelievers; it is on this account that both
these animals are often called Christians. We are not surprised that the
boar should be so denominated; but as the flesh of the buffalo, as well
as its Leben or sour milk, is much esteemed by the Turks, it is
difficult to account for the disgrace into which that animal has fallen
among them; the only reason I could learn for it, is that the buffalo,
like the hog, has a habit of rolling in the mud, and of plunging into
the muddy ponds in the summer time, up to the very nose, which alone
remains visible above the surface.
The territory of Djissr Shogher extends as far as Howash; from thence,
southward, begins the district of Kalaat el Medyk. The Sheikh of Howash,
called Mohammed el Omar, is noted in the adjoining districts for his
hospitality; but within bthese few years he