[p.375] the upper part of the mountain the ground is covered with large
blocks of the black Haouran stone,[It is from this black and heavy
stone, (which M. Seetzen calls basalt, but which I rather conceive to
belong to the species called tufwacke by the Germans), that the ancient
opinion of there having been mountains of iron on the east side of the
Jordan appears to have arisen. Even now the Arabs believe that these
stones consist chiefly of iron, and I was often asked if I did not know
how to extract it.] which I found to be more porous than any specimens
of it which I had seen further northward. On the summit of this steep
southern ascent are the ruins of a large square building, of which the
foundations only remain, covered with heaps of stone; they are directly
opposite Araayr, and the ruins above mentioned are also called Mehatet
el Hadj. I believe them to be of modern date.
We had now again reached a high plain. To our right, about three
quarters of an hour, was the Djebel Shyhhan, an insulated mountain, with
the ruined village of that name on its summit. To our left, on the E.
side of the Ledjoum, about two or three hours distant, is a chain of low
mountains, called El Ghoweythe (Arabic), running from N. to S. about
three or four hours. To the south of El Ghoweythe begins a chain of low
hills, called El Tarfouye (Arabic), which farther south takes the name
of Orokaraye (Arabic); it then turns westward, and terminates to the
south-west of Kerek. From the Mehatet el Hadj we followed the paved road
which leads in a straight line towards Rabba, in a S.W. direction; in
half an hour, we met some shepherds with a flock of sheep, who led us to
the tents of their people behind a hill near the side of the road. We
were much fatigued, but the kindness of our hosts soon made us forget
our laborious days march. We alighted under the tent of the Sheikh, who
was dying of a wound he had received a few days before from a thrust of
a lance; but such is the hospitality of these people, and their
attention to the comforts