first contains some inscriptions, with the ruins of a temple
and other remains; its circumference exceeds two miles, and
on the outside there is a square tower built of stone. The
second has some remains of a temple, and those of a large
castle with a Greek inscription over one of the doors it has
also a three-storied square watch-tower outside of the walls
south-westward. The third, Ezra, is the principal town of the
district, and has a most singular situation, being built in the
midst of a mass of volcanic rock. It contains two hundred
Turkish, some Druse, and a few Christian families, who live
principally in the ancient buildings ; their chief occupation
being to prepare millstones and weave cotton stuffs.
In addition to the private dwellings, which for the most
part are in good preservation, there are the remains of palaces
and other public buildings, some of which at a later period
have been used as churches. Ezra contains a great many inscriptions,
one of which shows that it occupies the site of
Edrata.
On the north-western side of El Ledja is the smaller, and
on the southern, the principal valley of the Loehf. The latter
is particularly fertile, being watered by the Nahr Kanouat,
which probably will prove to be the most remote, and the
principal branch of the Jarmuk.
Not far from the source of this stream stands the small
Corinthian Temple of Salem in ruins, with some other remains
scattered around. Onward, near the right bank, is the Druse
village of Nejran, which contains some ancient buildings with
stone doors ; and on the opposite side of the stream the foundations
of ancient Keratha, or Gerasa; still further on are the
Druse villages of Kerbert-Hariri and Busser. In the other
branch of the Loehf, are the villages of El MedjideJ, Tebuc,
Bossin, and Shaara. The last must at one time have been a
considerable place, but its inhabitants are how reduced to 100
Druse and Christian families. It contains some inscriptions,
the ruins of several large large buildings, and one of the square
watch-towers which are so common in this part of Syria.
NArAC€ldOY
AAYCOeC€AllY
Southward of the Loehf is Jebel Haouran, and westward
of the latter the more extensive country of Belad Haouran.
The former is a mountainous tract which extends from Tell-
maas southward for a distance of about 30 miles to Szaalkhat,
and again from Soneida eastward to the hills beyond Zaele,
a distance of about 18 miles, the highest ground being near
Kelb, or Keileib Haouran.1 It is traversed in different directions
by numerous rounded valleys separating rocky ridges,
whose northern and western slopes are thinly wooded, the rest
of their surface being bare. One of these is watered by the
Mo'iet Maaz, which flows eastward from Kelb Haouran and
then south-westward along the foot of the mountains, into the
plain near Bozra; but the principal water-courses flow westward.
Towards the north is Nahr Kanouat, which, as already
noticed, waters the Loehf, and nearly in the centre are the two
branches of the Nahr Nedam ; the northern of which flows
from Ain-el-Merdj by Soneida into the southern branch
coming from Kuffer. The trunk thus formed winds westward,
till near the extremity of the plain it is joined by a tributary
coming from the vicinity of Aaere; and these together*
form the principal branch of the Jarmuk, or Sheriat-
el-Mandhier. These mountains are almost entirely occupied
by branches of the Druses, and the plains westward by the
Bedawins. The former live in villages and towns chiefly containing
clay-built dwellings, constructed near or upon the
sites of ancient cities ; and although the buildings are humble,
they appear to be neat and cleanly.
The Bedawins vary in number from 80 to 200 families, or
more, who occupy ancient houses of the description already
given ; they rarely contain more than a single apartment, and
the number of these ruined towns show that this tract was at
one time thickly peopled.
On the flanks of this tract are the towns of Sueida and
Zaele; the latter is situated on the slope at the commence-
1 Probably Mount Alsadamus of Ptolemy, lib. V., chap xv .; and the introduction
by Col. Leake (p. xii.) to Burckhnrdt’s Travels in Syria.
‘ See page 401.