[p.249]higher up oaks become more frequent, and the forest thickens;
near the top, which we reached in five hours and a quarter from Remtha,
are some remains of the foundations of ancient buildings. The Djebel
Kafkafa [Arabic], as this summit is called, commands a beautiful view
over the plain of Djerash and the neighbouring mountains of Zerka and
Belka. The ruins of Djerash, which were distinctly seen, and the highest
points of Djebel Belka behind them, bore S.S.W.; the highest points of
Djebel Zerka S. The district of Zoueit terminates at Djebel Kafkafa; and
the country called El Moerad [Arabic], lying S.W. and W. commences: to
the S. the Zoueit runs parallel with the Moerad as far as Wady Zerka.
On gaining Djebel Kafkafa, our guide discovered that he had gone astray,
for it was not our intention, on setting out, to make directly for
Djerash, but to rest for the night in the village of Souf, and from
thence to visit the ruins on the following morning. We therefore turned
more to the westward on quitting the Djebel, and fell in with the road,
which continued through a thick wood, till we saw Souf, an hour and a
half distant before us, bearing W.S.W. At the end of seven hours and a
quarter from Remtha, we reached the spring of Souf, and allayed our
thirst, for we had been without water the whole day; there being very
few springs in the Djebel Zoueit; though it abounds in luxuriant
pasture, and is full of hares and partridges. In seven hours and a half
we reached the village of Souf [Arabic], where I alighted, at the house
of the Sheikh El Dendel, an honest and hospitable man.
Souf is situated on the declivity of the mountain, on the western side
of a Wady called El Deir, the stream of which, called also El Kerouan
[Arabic], is supplied from three copious springs that issue from under a
rock near the village, at a short distance from each
[p.250]other. They bear the names of Ain el Faouar [Arabic], Ain el
Meghaseb [Arabic], and Ain el Keykabe [Arabic], and with their united
waters the narrow plain of Djerash is irrigated. Souf is a village with
about forty families, whose principal riches are some olive plantations
on the sides of Wady Deir: it is the chief village in the country called
Moerad [Arabic], in which the following are also situated: Ettekitte
[Arabic], one hour distant from Djerash, and abandoned last year; Bourma
[Arabic]; Hamtha [Arabic]; Djezaze [Arabic]; and Debein [Arabic]. It is
customary in these mountains for every house to manufacture gunpowder as
well for its own consumption, as for sale to the neighbouring Arabs. In
every house which I entered I saw a large mortar, which was continually
in motion, even when a fire was kindled in the midst of the room: the
powder is formed of one part of sulphur, five and a half parts of
saltpetre, and one part of the charcoal of the poplar tree [Arabic]; it
is not very good, but serves very well the purposes of this people.
I passed a most unpleasant night here. It is the custom, for the sake of
saving lamp-oil, to light every evening a large fire, for the supply of
which, there is plenty of dry wood in the neighbouring mountain. The
room where I lodged was thus soon filled with smoke, which had no other
issue than a small door, and even this was shut to keep out the cattle.
The peasants seemed to delight in the heat thus occasioned; they took
off all their clothes except the Abba, and sat smoaking and laughing
till midnight; I wished to imitate them, but did not dare to strip, for
fear of shewing the leathern girdle containing my money, which I wore
under my clothes. Towards the morning the fire went out, and the company
was asleep: I then opened the door to let the smoke out, and slept a few
hours under the influence of the morning breeze.
[p.251]There is an ancient ruined square building at Souf, with several
broken columns. From one of them I copied the following inscription,
written in very small characters:
[Greek].
Upon a pillar near it is a fine inscription, but now quite illegible.
At the spring of Ayn Keykebe, which is covered by a small arched
building, I copied some characters from a broken stone lying in the
water; the following were the ending of the inscription:
[Greek].
Near the sources are numerous caverns, in which the poor families of
Souf reside.
May 2d.--Being impatient to reach Djerash, I left Souf early in the
morning, taking with me a guide, who was afterwards to have conducted me
towards Szalt, in the Djebel Belka. Our road lay along the mountain on
the west side of Wady Deir. On the E. side of the wady, half an hour
from Souf, is the ruined place called Kherbet Mekbela [Arabic]. Three
quarters of an hour from Souf, in our road, and just over the ruined
city of Djerash, are the ruins called Kherbet el Deir, with a Turkish
chapel named Mezar Abou Beker. Our road lay S.S.E. In one hour we
passed, n the declivity of the mountain, descending towards Djerash, a
place which I supposed to have been the burying place of