[p.350] was divided, but he was finally driven out by the united efforts
of both parties.
The castle is well built, has a few old guns, and is surrounded by a
wide ditch. In the midst of the town is a fine spring, to which there is
a secret subterraneous passage from the castle, still made use of in
times of siege. In a narrow valley about ten minutes walk from the town,
is another spring called Ain Djedour (Arabic), the waters of both serve
to irrigate the gardens and orchards which lie along the valley.
Opposite to Ain Djedour is a spacious sepulchral cave cut in the rock,
which the people affirm to have been a church. In the town, an old
mosque is the only object that presents itself to the antiquary. The
Christians have a small church, dedicated to the Virgin, where divine
service is performed by two priests, who each receive annually from
their community about £4. They are not very rigid observers either of
their prayers or fasts; and although it was now the time of Lent with
the Greeks, I daily saw the most respectable Christians eating flesh and
butter.
The greater part of the population of Szalt is agricultural, a few are
weavers, and there are about twenty shops, which sell on commission for
the merchants of Nazareth, Damascus, Nablous, and Jerusalem, and furnish
the Bedouins with articles of dress and furniture. The prices are at
least fifty per cent. higher than at Damascus. The culture consists of
wheat and barley, the superfluous produce of which is sold to the
Bedouins; vast quantities of grapes are also grown, which are dried and
sold at Jerusalem. The arable fields are at least eight miles distant
from Szalt, in the low grounds of the neighbouring mountains, where they
take advantage of the winter torrents. In the time of harvest the
Szaltese transport their families thither, where they live for several
months under tents, like true Bedouins. The principal encampment