[p.401] Syrian Hadj road, runs here in a deep and narrow bed of rocks,
the banks of which are overgrown with Defle. There was more water in the
rivulet than in any of those I had passed south of Zerka; the water was
quite tepid, caused by a hot spring, which empties itself into the Ahsa
from a side valley higher up the Wady. This forms the third hot spring
on the east of the Dead sea, one being in the Wady Zerka Mayn, and
another in the Wady Hammad. The valley of El Ahsa divides the district
of Kerek from that of Djebal (plur. of Djebel), the ancient Gebalene. In
the Ghor the river changes its name into that of Kerahy (Arabic), and is
likewise called Szafye (Arabic). This name is found in all the maps of
Arabia Petræa, but the course of the river is not from the south, as
there laid down; Djebal also, instead of being laid down at the S.E.
extremity of the lake, is improperly placed as beginning on the S.W. of
it. The rock of the Wady el Ahsa is chiefly sand-stone, which is seldom
met with to the N. of this valley; but it is very common in the southern
mountains.
We ascended the southern side of the valley, which is less steep and
rocky than the northern, and in an hour and a half reached a fine spring
called El Kaszrein (Arabic) surrounded by verdant ground and tall reeds.
The Bedouins of the tribe of Beni Naym, here cultivate some Dhourra
fields and there are some remains of ancient habitations. In two hours
and a quarter we arrived at the top of the mountain, when we entered
upon an extensive plain, and passed the ruins of an ancient city of
considerable extent called El Kerr (Arabic), perhaps the ancient Kara, a
bishopric belonging to the diocese of Rabba Moabitis;[See Reland.
Palæst. Vol. i. p. 226.] nothing remains but heaps of stones. The plain,
which we crossed in a S.W. by S. direction, consists of a fertile soil,
and contains the ruins of several villages. At the end of two hours and
three quarters we descended by a steep road, into a Wady, and in three
hours reached the village of