[p.371] are obliged to content themselves with encamping on spots where
the Beni Szakher and the Aeneze, with whom they always endeavour to live
at peace, do not choose to pasture their cattle. The only wealth of the
Sherarat consists in camels. Their tents are very miserable; both men
and women go almost naked, the former being only covered round the
waist, and the women wearing nothing but a loose shirt hanging in rags
about them. These Arabs are much leaner than the Aeneze, and of a
browner complexion. They have the reputation of being very sly and
enterprising thieves, a title by which they think themselves greatly
honoured.
In four hours and a half, after having ascended the mountain on the S.
side of the Wale, we reached a fine plain on its summit. All the country
to the southward of the Wale, as far as the Wady Modjeb, is comprised
under the appellation of El Koura, a term often applied in Syria to
plains: El Koura is the Plains of Moab of the Scripture; the soil is
very sandy, and not fertile. The Haouran black stone, or basalt, if it
may be so called, is again met with here. The river El Wale rises at
about three hours distance to the E. of the spot where we passed it,
near which it takes a winding course to the south until it approaches
the Modjeb, where it again turns westwards. The lower part of the river
changes its name into that of Seyl Heydan (Arabic), which empties itself
into the Modjeb at about two hours distant from the Dead sea, near the
ruined place called Dar el Ryashe (Arabic). The Wale seems to be the
same called Nahaliel in DAnvilles map, but this name is unknown to the
Arabs; its source is not so far northward as in the map. Between the
Wady Zerka Mayn and the Wale is another small rivulet called Wady el
Djebel (Arabic). At the end of six hours and a half we reached the banks
of the Wady Modjeb, the Arnon of the Scriptures, which divides the
[p.372] province of Belka from that of Kerek, as it formerly divided the
small kingdoms of the Moabites and the Amorites. When at about one
hours distance short of the Modjeb I was shewn to the N.E. of us, the
ruins of Diban (Arabic), the ancient Dibon, situated in a low ground of
the Koura.
On the spot where we reached the high banks of the Modjeb are the ruins
of a place called Akeb el Debs (Arabic). We followed, from thence, the
top of the precipice at the foot of which the river flows, in an eastern
direction, for a quarter of an hour, when we reached the ruins of Araayr
(Arabic), the Aroer of the Scriptures, standing on the edge of the
precipice; from hence a foot-path leads down to the river. In the Koura,
about one hour to the west of Araayr, are some hillocks called Keszour
el Besheir (Arabic). The view which the Modjeb presents is very
striking: from the bottom, where the river runs through a narrow stripe
of verdant level about forty yards across, the steep and barren banks
arise to a great height, covered with immense blocks of stone which have
rolled down from the upper strata, so that when viewed from above, the
valley looks like a deep chasm, formed by some tremendous convulsion of
the earth, into which there seems no possibility of descending to the
bottom; the distance from the edge of one precipice to that of the
opposite one, is about two miles in a straight line.
We descended the northern bank of the Wady by a foot-path which winds
among the masses of rock, dismounting on account of the steepness of the
road, as we had been obliged to do in the two former valleys which we
had passed in this days march; this is a very dangerous pass, as
robbers often waylay travellers here, concealing themselves behind the
rocks, until their prey is close to them. Upon many large blocks by the
side of the path I saw heaps of small stones, placed there as a sort of
weapon for the traveller,
[p.373] in case of need. No Arab passes without adding a few stones to
these heaps. There are three fords across the Modjeb, of which we took
that most frequented. I had never felt such suffocating heat as I
experienced in this valley, from the concentrated rays of the sun and
their reflection from the rocks. We were thirty-five minutes in reaching
the bottom. About twelve minutes above the river I saw on the road side
a heap of fragments of columns, which had been about eight feet in
height. A bridge has been thrown across the stream in this place, of one
high arch, and well built; but it is now no longer of any use, though
evidently of modern date. At a short distance from the bridge are the
ruins of a mill. The river, which flows in a rocky bed, was almost dried
up, having less water than the Zerka Mayn and Wale, but its bed bears
evident marks of its impetuosity during the rainy season, the shattered
fragments of large pieces of rock which had been broken from the banks
nearest the river, and carried along by the torrent, being deposited at
a considerable height above the present channel of the stream. A few
Defle and willow trees grow on its banks.
The principal source of the Modjeb is at a short distance to the N.E. of
Katrane, a station of the Syrian Hadj; there the river is called Seyl
Sayde [Seyl means rivulet in this country.] (Arabic), lower down it
changes its name to Efm el Kereim (Arabic), or, as it is also called,
Szefye (Arabic). At about one hour east of the bridge it receives the
waters of the Ledjoum, which flow from the N.E. in a deep bed; the
Ledjoum receives a rivulet caled Seyl el Mekhreys (Arabic), and then the
Baloua (Arabic), after which it takes the name of Enkheyle (Arabic).
Near the source of the Ledjoum is the ruined place called Tedoun
[p.374] (Arabic); and near the source of the Baloua is a small ruined
castle called Kalaat Baloua. The rivulet Salyhha (Arabic), coming from
the south, empties itself into the Modjeb below the bridge.
Near the confluence of the Ledjoum and the Modjeb there seemed to be a
fine verdant pasture ground, in the midst of which stands a hill with
some ruins upon it, and by the side of the river are several ruined
mills. In mounting the southern ascent from the Modjeb, we passed, upon
a narrow level at about five minutes from the bridge, the ruins of a
small castle, of which nothing but the foundations remains: it is called
Mehatet el Hadj (Arabic), from the supposition that the pilgrim route to
Mekka formerly passed here, and that this was a station of the Hadj.
Near the ruin is a Birket, which was filled by a canal from the Ledjoum,
the remains of which are still visible. This may, perhaps, be the site
of Areopolis. My guide told me that M. Seetzen had been partly stripped
at this place, by some Arabs. We did not meet with any living being in
crossing the Wady. Near the ruins is another heap of broken columns,
like those on the opposite bank of the river; I conjecture that the
columns were Roman milliaria, because a causeway begins here, and runs
all the way up the mountain, and from thence as far as Rabba; it is
about fifteen feet broad, and was well paved, though at present in a bad
state, owing to a torrent which rushes along it from the mountain in
winter time. At twenty-eight minutes from the Mehatet el Hadj are three
similar columns, entire, but lying on the ground. We were an hour and
three quarters in ascending from the bridge to the top; on this side the
road might easily be made passable for horses. In several places the
rock has been cut through to form the path. The lower part of the
mountains is calcareous; I found great numbers of small petrified
shells, and small pieces of mica are likewise met with. Towards