Bânâas to the Castle of Subeibeh 1 0
Mejdel esh-Shems . 115
Beit Jenn .. 215
Kefr Hauwar .. .. 1 45
Artûz.. 6.00... 3.5
Darâya 1 30
Damascus .. 1 10
————
Total .. .. .. 12 0
The only recommendation I can give of this route is, that it is the shortest between the 2 points. The next route is much to be preferred, both because it affords a better view of the country, and because it takes us past some objects of interest.
The castle of Subeibeh is the first point, and it has already been described in connexion with Bâniâs. It might be worth the trouble to make an hour's détour from the castle to visit Birket er-Râm, the Lake Phiala of Josephus, long supposed to be the highest source of the river Jordan. Its name Phiala is derived from its bowl-like form. It is manifestly an old crater, and the shores and surrounding acclivities are covered with small black volcanic stones. The circumference of the water is about a mile. It is stagnant and slimy, in fact a perfect paradise for frogs and leeches. The lake is situated in the midst of a high plain, bounded on the S. and E. by low wooded hills: but stretching northward up nearly to the base of the main ridge of Hermon. Its distance from Kul'at es-Subeibeh is about 1 1/2 h. On leaving it we strike up the green plain called Merj Yafûry from a wely of the same name near its southern end. ¾ h. brings us to Mejdel, a village nestling at the foot of the southern offshoot of Hermon. Its Druze inhabitants are industrious and independent; but turbulent withal, and given to private warfare and open rebellion. We now cross a succession of high ridges, which strike off in a south-eastern direction from the central chain of Hermon. This chain is close on our L., rising in broken rocky precipices and acclivities 4000 ft. or more. The country is bleak and desolate—a fit home for the goat and the outlaw; and it is thickly populated. Traversing a green upland plain, called Merj Hather from a Druze village on its eastern border, we surmount another ridge, and then dive down from a dreary region of black basalt to a romantic glen of white limestone. In about 1/4 h. another ravine falls in from the N.W., containing a fine stream. At the point of junction stands Beit Jenn, “the House of Paradise.”’ It deserves the name as contrasted with the wild wilderness of rocks and mountains around ; for here are little grass-plats, and murmuring waters, shaded by the walnut and poplar. The houses of the village cling, like swallows’ nests, to the sides of the cliffs. Numerous rock-tombs are seen above and around them, bearing testimony to the antiquity of the site ; but I find no reference to it previous to the time of the crusades. The stream which flows down the glen takes-the name of the village. It rises about 2 m. westward at the base of Hermon; and forms one of the two main tributaries of Nahr el-’Awaj, the ancient river PHARPAR.
Our path leads down the glen from Beit Jenn, along the l. bank of the stream. In 1/24 h. we emerge on the great plain which stretches to Damascus on the l., and to the Jaulân on the rt. It is dotted with tells—some of them conical; others truncated ; others cup-shaped ; but all of volcanic origin. The mountain range on the south-eastern horizon is the Jebel Haurân; and that nearer us on the E. is called Mâni’a. Nahr el-Jennâny, along which we have ridden from Beit Jenn, winds across the plain in an easterly direction to a village we can just see on the side of a low tell, called S‘as'a, some 6 m. distant. A little to the E. of S'as’a it is joined by another stream called Sabirâny, to which we shall come presently ; and these two make up the Pharpar. Our path turns to the l., and sweeps along the base of the mountains—now passing over rocky spurs, and now across smooth green plains, till in 1 1/4 h. we reach
Kefr Hauwar, a large prosperous village surrounded by gardens, orchards, and fruitful fields; and inhabited partly by Druzes, and partly by Muslems. Tradition or fate has placed here one of the numerous tombs of Nimrod; but the spot is now unhonoured, if not altogether unknown. In the S.E. corner of the village is a fragment of some ancient structure—but whether temple, tomb, or palace, it is impossible to tell. So far as it can be made out, for it is partially covered with modern houses, it resembles the pedestal of a great monument. The walls on two sides are still about 10 ft. high, built of large blocks of limestone—De Saulcy calls it marble—and ornamented with deep broad mouldings. I have seen ruins somewhat resembling it in several villages round Damascus.
The second branch of, or tributary to, the river ‘Awaj, the ancient Pharpar, descends from the base of the central peak of Hermon, through a wild ravine; then issues from the mountains and sweeps across the undulating plain, passing a few hundred yards to the N. of Kefr Hauwar, and joins the Jennâny, as has been stated, near §’as'a. It is a rapid torrent, larger than the Jennâny; but it is in most places fordable. From its source at the base of Hermon to the plain this stream is called Nahr‘Arny, after a village situated near the highest fountain; but the lower section of it gets the name Sabirâny, from the hamlet of Beit Sâbir, which stands on its banks between Kefr Hauwar and S'as’a.
Two roads lead from Kefr Hauwar to Damascus. The first keeps to the l. near the base of the mountains, passing the village of Katana at 2 ½ hrs., and Mu’addamîyeh at 1 ¾ h. more. The second strikes into the plain to the rt. There is little difference in the length; and both are equally good. The latter has a little more variety than the former, and we shall therefore follow it.
After fording the river of ’Arny and ascending the N. bank, we suddenly find ourselves in a dreary desert —bare and blasted; covered with tufts of brown weeds, and grayish thorny shrubs, that give it the look of a Scotch moor. Over this we ride for 3 weary hours without seeing a living creature, except chance throws in our way a solitary shepherd, or a marauding party of Bedawîn. At length we begin to get glimpses of a sea of verdure, dotted with white villages like islands. Dim and dreary is the view at first ; dissolving at intervals into patches, whether of water or haze the eye cannot make out. We reach the border of this paradise. A canal like a rivulet crosses our path, carrying a noble contribution from the second “river of Damascus” towards the fertilization of the great plain. On our rt. is a bleak tell, crowned with a half-ruined village called Jûneh. Behind it runs the old caravan and Roman road from Egypt and southern Palestine to Damascus. And just at this point tradition has fixed the scene of Paul's conversion. (See Rte. 33.) On our rt. is the little hamlet of Artûz, whose gardens and fields form the outposts of the celebrated plain of Damascus. All behind is desert ; all in front is verdure and fertility. Immense expanses of waving corn; olive groves, orchards, and villages becoming closer and closer, and growing larger and larger, as we advance; until at length they close in one dense mass round the walls of the city. Canals, and ducts, are met with every few hundred yards, covering the whole plain like a network, and carrying life and luxuriance in their bosom. They are all the offspring of the Abana and Pharpar; and after our extended survey of the dry beds of the streams of Palestine, and the useless waters of the Jordan itself, we feel ready at every step to re-echo the words of Naaman—“ Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?” (2 Kings v. 12.) Passing now in succession the villages of Judeideh, Dareiya which almost deserves the name of town, and Kadam, we finally enter by Buwâbet Ullah, “The Gate of God,” into the oldest city in the world.