SZAMMAGH.
275
we here found nearly finished. The Haouran, on the other hand,
was every where covered with the richest verdure of wild herbage,
while every plant in the Ghor was already dried'up, and the whole
country appeared as if in the midst of summer. Volney has justly
remarked that there are few countries where the changes from one
climate to another are so sudden as in Syria; and I was never
more convinced of it than in this valley. To the north was the
Djebel El Sheikh, covered with snow ; to the east the fertile plains
of Djolan clothed in the blossoms of spring; while to the south,
the withered vegetation of the Ghor seemed the effect of a tropical
sun. The breadth of the valley is about an hour and a half, or
two hours.
From the ford over the Sheriat we proceeded across the plain in
a N. W. direction ; it was covered with low shrubs and a tree
bearing a fruit like a small apple, very agreeable to the taste;
Zaarour (;) is the name given to it by the inhabitants of Mount
Libanus ; those of Damascus call it Zaaboub (); and the
Arabs have also another name for it, which I forget. In an hour
and upwards, from the ford, we reached the village Szammagh
(ze), situated on the most southern extremity of the lake
of Tabaria ; it contains thirty or forty poor mud houses, and a
few built with black stone. The Jordan issues out of the lake about
a quarter of an hour to the westward of the village, where the lake
ends in a straight line, extending for about forty minutes in a direction ¬
nearly east and west. From hence the highest point of Djebel -
el Sheikh bears N. N. W.; the town of Szaffad N. by E.
Between the lake and the first bridge over the Jordan, called Djissr
el Medjami, at about two hours and a half from hence, are two
fordable passages across the river.
Excepting about one hundred Fedhans around Szammagh, no
part of the valley is cultivated in this neighbourhood. Somewhat
