[p.207] from Deir el Kammar to Damascus pass the mountain even in
winter; but to prevent the sharp hoofs of the mules from sinking deep
into the snow, the muleteers are accustomed in the difficult places to
spread carpets before them as they pass.
We reached the plain near a small village, inhabited only during the
seed time. From thence the village of Djob Djennein bore S. by E. and
the village of Andjar, in the upper part of the Bekaa, which I visited
in the year 1810, from Zahle, E.N.E. From the foot of the mountain we
were one hour in reaching the bridge over the Liettani, which has been
lately repaired by the Emir Beshir, who has also built a Khan near it,
for the accommodation of travellers. At twenty minutes from the bridge
lies the village Djob Djennein [Arabic], one of the principal villages
of the Bekaa; it is situated on the declivity of the Anti-Libanus, where
that mountain begins to form part of the Djebel Essheikh. The Anti-
Libanus here advances a little into the valley, which from thence takes
a more western course.
The Emir Beshir has seven or eight villages about Djob Djennein, which
together with the latter are his own property; but the whole Bekaa,
since Soleiman succeeded to the Pashalik of Damascus in 1810, is also
under his command. The villages to the north of Djob Djennein will be
found enumerated in another place;[See page 31.] those to the south of
it, and farther down in the valley, are Balloula [Arabic], El Medjdel
[Arabic], Hammara [Arabic], Sultan Yakoub, [Arabic] El Beiry [Arabic], El
Refeidh [Arabic], Kherbet Kanafat [Arabic], Ain Arab [Arabic], and Leila
[Arabic]. Having one of the Emir Beshir's men with me, I was treated
like a great man in the house of the Sheikh of Djob Djennein; this I may
be allowed to mention, as it is the only instance of my receiving such
honours during my travels in Syria.