BERAK.
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of the black stone of the Ledja, about twenty-five or thirty feet
high, of the Ionic order, and with a high pedestal. I had been told
that there were some inscriptions upon it, but I did not find any.
The column is half an hour distant from Merdjan, to the eastward
of south. Round the column are fragments of three or four others,
which appear to have formed a small temple. The remains of a
subterraneous aqueduct, extending from the village towards the
spot where the column stands, are yet visible. In one hour from
thence we passed a ruined village called Beidhan (), with a
saltpetre manufactory. Two hours from Merdjan is Berak (),
bearing from it S. E. b. E. Our road lay over a low plain between
the Djebel Kessoue and the Ledja, in which the Bedouins of the
latter were pasturing their cattle. Berak is a ruined town, situated
on the N. E. corner of the Ledja ; there is no large building of any
consequence here ; but there are many private habitations. Here
are two saltpetre manufactories, in which the saltpetre is procured
by boiling the earth dug up among the ruins of the town ; saline
earth is also dug up in the neighbouring plain ; in finding the
productive spots, they are guided by the appearance of the
ground in the morning before sunrise, and wherever it then appears -
most wet with dew the soil beneath is found impregnated
with salt. The two manufactures produce about three Kantars,
or fifteen or sixteen quintals per month of saltpetre, which is sold
at about fifteen shillings per quintal. The boilers of these manufactories ¬
are heated by brush-wood brought from the desert, as
there is little wood in the Ledja, about Berak. The whole of
the Loehf, or limits of the Ledja, is productive of saltpetre, which
is sold at Damascus and Acre ; I saw it sold near the lake of
Tiberias for double the price which it costs in the Loehf. In the
interior of a house among the ruins of Berak, I saw the following
inscription :
