Souf. This village contains about 40 clay-built houses, and.
is the principal place in the picturesque district called Moerad
at the western side of Wadi El Deir, In the neighbourhood
there is an ancient square building, on which are some inscriptions;
and close to the village are several caverns ; here, also,
three copious springs issue from beneath a rock, and, soon
uniting, they have the name of the Keruan; at one hour s
distance south-eastward the stream flows through Jerash.
The walls of ancient Gerasa form an irregular parallelogram
along both sides of this stream; but the most interesting
portions of the remains extend from north-east to south-west,
along the right bank. At the latter extremity there is a fine
triumphal arch, a naumachia, a theatre, and a small temple.
in front of this last is a spacious semicircular colonnade, from
which the remains of a street maybe traced, in a north-easterly
direction, to the extremity.of the town; the columns are of
different sizes on each side, and display two orders of architecture.
This street is crossed at right angles by one almost
in the centre, and by two others nearly equidistant from it.
The first of the three is a little way northward of the centre,
and it runs from a bridge over the stream towards some high
ground north-westward, on which are the remains, of a very
fine Corinthian temple, with a double row of columns in front,
and a single row along the three other sides. The second,
which is parallel to the former, has in the centre an open
rotunda, with four entrances, a theatre at the north-western,
and an arched building, probably a palace, at the south-eastern
extremity; and the third has in the centre four large cubical
masses of stone, like those in the middle of the great portico
at Palmyra; it has also a ruined building, with the remains
of a small transverse street at the north-western and a fine
bridge at the south-eastern extremity. Not far from the
latter there is an extensive arched building, possibly a palace;
which is the principal ruin on the left bank of the river. The
higher parts of the ground on each side are occupied with the
remains of private dwellings; and, beyond these, on the northwestern
side, there is an extensive necropolis, displaying a
number of finely-executed sarcophagi. The coup-d’asil presented
by the remainder of the ruins from the high ground at
the eastern side of the town, from whence the irregularities of
the architecture are not conspicuous, may, as a whole, be
considered amongst the most striking in the world.
Bald-Belka1 (country of Balak), Jebel El Belka, or Persea
Proper, extends northward from the river Mojeb, or Arnon,
to the Zerka, or Zabok ; and, again, from the Dead Sea and
the valley of the Jordan, eastward to the Arabian desert ; and
it probably represents the Land of Jazer.2
This tract is mountainous, particularly towards its western
side ; and from hence the chain already described as forming
one side of the valley of the Jordan, sends its branches eastward
: to these succeed undulating ground, the hills gradually
decreasing in height till they are lost in the level of the plain
and desert at the eastern side of the territory.
Having the affluents of the Arnon to the south, those of
the Zerka on the north, and in the centre the streams falling
into Wàdi Shàib, Wàdi Seir, and Wadi Hasban, this tract
may be considered as well watered, except towards its eastern
limits, where cisterns become the principal resource of the
inhabitants. This part of the country consists of level pasture
tracts, which are almost exclusively occupied by the Bedawins.
Towards the centre are prettily rounded hills, with villages at
intervals ; and from thence, almost to the Jordan, are low
mountains, bearing forests of oak, olive, and arbutus, with
abundance of flowers, and constituting a pleasing landscape.
The' modern towns of this district are few, and the ruins
less interesting than in other parts of Syria. Near its southern
limits is the town of Arair (Aroer),3 situated above the Arnon :
two miles northward is Dhibon (Dibon) $ and north-westward,
near the borders of the Dead Sea, at the springs of
Hammam, Beth-horon. On the eastern side are Kal’-at-
Belka, or, according to the Bedawins, Kal’-at-Remeydan, on
the pilgrims’ route ; and, a little southward, Om-el-Rassass.
This place, which is supposed to occupy the site of ancient
1 Dr. Zunz on the Geography of Palestine, p. 411.
* Numbers, chap. XXXII., v. 1. 3 Deut., chap. II., v. 36.
4 Burckhardt’s Travels, p. 372.