[p.275]we here found nearly finished. The Haouran, on the other hand,
was every where covered with the richest verdure of wild herbage, while
every plant in the Ghor was already dried up, and the whole country
appeared as if in the midst of summer. Volney has justly remarked that
there are few countries where the changes from one climate to another
are so sudden as in Syria; and I was never more convinced of it than in
this valley. To the north was the Djebel El Sheikh, covered with snow;
to the east the fertile plainsof Djolan clothed in the blossoms of
spring; while to the south, the withered vegetation of the Ghor seemed
the effect of a tropical sun. The breadth of the valley is about an hour
and a half, or two hours.
From the ford over the Sheriat we proceeded across the plain in a N.W.
direction; it was covered with low shrubs and a tree bearing a fruit
like a small apple, very agreeable to the taste; Zaarour [Arabic] is the
name given to it by the inhabitants of Mount Libanus; those of Damascus
call it Zaaboub [Arabic]; and the Arabs have also another name for it,
which I forget. In an hour and upwards, from the ford, we reached the
village Szammagh [Arabic], situated on the most southern extremity of
the lake of Tabaria; it contains thirty or forty poor mud houses, and a
few built with black stone. The Jordan issues out of the lake about a
quarter of an hour to the westward of the village, where the lake ends
in a straight line, extending for about forty minutes in a direction
nearly east and west. From hence the highest point of Djebel el Sheikh
bears N.N.W.; the town of Szaffad N. by E. Between the lake and the
first bridge over the Jordan, called Djissr el Medjami, at about two
hours and a half from hence, are two fordable passages across the river.
Excepting about one hundred Fedhans around Szammagh, no part of the
valley is cultivated in this neighbourhood. Somewhat