[Legionis tertiae Cyrenaicae. Ed.]
The castle of Boszra is a most important post to protect the harvests of
the Haouran against the hungry Bedouins; but it is much neglected by the
Pashas of Damascus, and this year the
[p.234]crops of the inhabitants of Boszra have been almost entirely
consumed by the horses of the Aeneze, who were encamped on the E. side
of the Djebel Haouran.
From a broken stone in the modern wall of a court-yard near the castle I
copied the following letters:
[Greek].
In proceeding from the castle westwards, I arrived, in a quarter of an
hour, at the western gate of the town, where the long street terminates.
The gate is a fine arch, with niches on each side, in perfect
preservation: the people of Boszra call it Bab el Haoua [Arabic], or the
Wind gate, probably because the prevailing or summer breezes blow from
that point. A broad paved causeway, of which some traces yet remain, led
into the town; vestiges of the ancient pavement are also seen in many of
the streets, with a paved footway on each side; but the streets are all
narrow, just permitting a loaded camel to pass.
Near the Bab el Haoua are the springs above mentioned, called Ayoun el
Merdj; with some remains of walls near them. The late Youssef Pasha of
Damascus built here a small watch-tower, or barrack, for thirty men, to
keep the hostile Arabs at a distance from the water. The town walls are
almost perfect in this part, and the whole ground is covered with ruins,
although there is no appearance of any large public building. Upon an
altar near one of the springs was the following inscription:
ANTONIAE FORTVNATAE ANTONIVS. V . . CES CONIVGI PIISIMAE
[p.235] Near it is another altar, with a defaced inscription.
In going northward from the springs, I passed the rivulet Djeheir, whose
source is at a short distance, within the precincts of the town. It
issues from a stone basin, and was conducted anciently in a canal. Over
it seems to have stood a small temple, to judge by the remains of
several columns that are lying about. The source is full of small fish.
Youssef Pasha built a barrack here also; but it was destroyed by the
Wahabi who made an incursion into the Haouran in 1810, headed by their
chief Ibn Saoud, who encamped for two days near this spot, without being
able to take the castle, though garrisoned by only seven Moggrebyns. The
banks of the Djeheir are a favourite encampment of the Bedouins, and
especially of the Aeneze.
Beyond the town walls, and at some distance to the north of the Djeheir,
stands the famous mosque El Mebrak; and near it is the cemetery of the
town. Ibn Affan, who first collected the scattered leaves of the Koran
into a book, relates that when Othman, in coming from the Hedjaz,
approached the neighbourhood of Boszra with his army, he orderd his
people to build a mosque on the spot where the camel which bore the
Koran should lie down; such was the origin of the mosque El Mebrak.
[Mebrak [Arabic] means the spot where a camel couches down, or a
halting-place.] It is of no great size; its interior was embellished,
like that of the great mosque, with Cufic inscriptions, of which a few
specimens yet remain over the Mehrab, or niche towards which the face of
the Imam is turned in praying. The dome or Kubbe which covered its
summit has been recently destroyed by the Wahabi.
The above description comprises all the principal antiquities of Boszra.
A great number of pillars lie dispersed in all directions in the town;
but I observed no remains of granite. Its immediate
[p.236]invirons are also covered with ruins, principally on the W. and
N.W. sides, where the suburbs may have formerly stood.
Of the vineyards, for which Boszra was celebrated, even in the days of
Moses, and which are commemorated by the Greek medals of [Greek], not a
vestige remains. There is scarcely a tree in the neighbourhood of the
town, and the twelve or fifteen families who now inhabit it cultivate
nothing but wheat, barley, horse-beans, and a little Dhourra. A number
of fine rose trees grow wild among the ruins of the town, and were just
beginning to open their buds.
April 28th.--I was greatly annoyed during my stay at Boszra, by the
curiosity of the Aeneze, who were continually passing through the place.
It had been my wish to visit the ruined city of Om El Djemal [Arabic],
which is eight hours distant from Boszra, to the S.; but the demands of
the Arabs for conducting me thither were so exorbitant, exceeding even
the sum which I had thought necessary to bring with me from Damascus to
defray the expenses of my whole journey, that I was obliged to return to
Aaere towards mid-day, after having offered thirty piastres for a guide,
which no one would accept. None but Aeneze could have served me, and
with them there was no reasoning; they believed that I was going in
search of treasure, and that I should willingly give any sum to reach
the spot where it was hid.
April 29th.--I took leave of my worthy friend Shybely, who would not let
us depart alone, but engaged a Bedouin to accompany us towards the
western parts of the Haouran; this man was a Bedouin of Sayd, or Upper
Egypt, of the tribe of Khelafye, who inhabit to the west of Girge; he
had entered the service of the Mamelouks, and had been with one of them
to Mekka, from whence he returned to Damascus, where he entered into the
Pasha's cavalry; here he had the misfortune to kill one of his comrades,
which
EL HEREYEK.
![Travels In Syria And The Holy Land By John Lewis Burckhardt
- I copied the following from a small
altar-shaped stone lying on the ground within the castle:
[Greek]. [Legionis tertiae - Page 80](../images/travel.jpg)
