48 JA BER , THAPSACUS, RIVER BE L IK , ETC. [CHAP. I I I .
as it enters the principal stream. At 4 8 | miles below Kal’at
en Nejm, or 34 miles in a direct line S. 8° W., is the castle,
and near it the ruins of Balis, the Barbalissus of the Romans,
once the port of the ancient Beroe, and theP’thora of Balaam.1
Here the river seems finally to abandon the struggle it had
hitherto maintained to reach the shores of the Mediterranean,
from whence it is distant 123 miles, in the direction through
Aleppo to Suwe'idiyeh, and 118 miles through the same city
to Iskanderun ; the distance in a direct line, S. 70° W., being
101^ miles.
The course of the stream from Balis to the striking ruins
of Jaber castle, the Sela’ Midbarah of Benjamin of Tudela,2 is
29 miles, or 22J miles direct distance S. 68° E. From hence,
passing the ferry of Hammam (the ancient Thapsacus), the
windings give 42 miles, or 26 miles direct distance, N. 82° E.,
to Rakkah ; the river flowing through a fine pasture country,
having extensive Bedouin flocks feeding on its prairies, but
no permanent villages. A few miles below the deserted ruins
of the city and palace of the Khaliph A1 Mansur, the Belik,
or Belitz, pursuing a southerly course, enters the Euphrates.
This stream rises near Harran, at a spring called A1 Dhaha-
biyah, or Dabencea.3
Below Rakkah the hills are at a greater distance than
before from the river, which winds through the dense forest
of Amran, and through a flat country, which is generally
well wooded. After a tortuous course of 80 miles, or S. 69° E.,
44J miles direct from Rakkah, the great stream forces its
way in a most remarkable manner through the chain of bills
running along the western side of Palmyra, and from thence
towards Sinjar. At this spot, after flowing round a large
wooded island, the river makes an abrupt bend, nearly at a
right angle, pursuing its course in a smooth channel, 250
yards wide, and seven fathoms deep, “ between the beetle-
browed rocky precipices of Balbi.”4 These rise abruptly to
1 Pethor, Numbers xxii. 5.— See Benjamin of Tudela, by A. Asher, Vol. I.,
pp. 88, 89 ; London and Berlin, 1840. 3 Ibid., p. 89.
3 Golden.—Abti-l-fedd, Mr. Rassam’s translation.
4 Report on Steam Navigation to India, 1834.—Appendix, p. 14.
SBSS