The Summit Of
This Mountain, Which Bears West From Damascus, Is Probably The Highest
In Syria, For Snow Was Still Lying Upun It.
The mountain belongs to the
district of the Emir of the Druses, commanding at Rasheia, a Druse
village at one hour and a half from El Heimte.
We slept at El Heimte, in
the house of the Druse Sheikh, and the Khatib, or Turkish priest of the
village, gave us a plentiful supper. The Druses in this district affect
to adhere strictly to the religious precepts of the Turks. The greater
part of the inhabitants of El Heimte are Druses belonging to Rasheia.
Near it are the villages of Biri and Refit.
October 11th.--We set out at day-break, and at the end of an hour passed
on the left the Druse villages Deneibe and Mimis, and at two hours Sefa
on our right, also a Druse village. Our road lay over an uneven plain,
cultivated only in spots. After three hours and a half, we came to Ain
Efdjur, direction S.W. by W.; from thence in two hours and a half we
reached the Djissr-Moiet-Hasbeya, or bridge of the river of Hasbeya,
whose source is hard by; the road lying the whole way over rocky ground
little susceptible of culture. From the Djissr we turned up a steep Wady
E. b. S. and arrived, in about three quarters of an hour, at Hasbeya,
situated
[p.33] on the top of a mountain of no great height.
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