69
DOUBBA.
holes  which  have  been  made  in  them,  in  search  of  hidden  treasure.
Beneath  it  is  a  subterraneous  apartment,  in  which  is  a  double
row  of  receptacles  for  the  dead,  three  in  each  row,  one  above
the  other;  each  receptacle  is  two  feet  high,  and  five  feet  and  a
half  long.  The  door  is  so  low  as  hardly  to  allow  a  person  to
creep  in.
I  copied  the  following  from  a  stone  in  an  adjoining  wall  :
MAPTEINOC  KAI  KACCIOC  KAI  AMEPOC
TIOI  APABOT  TO  MNHME  ...
This  village  has  two  Birkets,  or  reservoirs  for  water,  which  are  filled ¬
  in  winter  time  by  a  branch  of  the  Wady  Kanouat;  they  were
completely  dried  up  this  summer,  a  circumstance  which  rarely
happens.  Near  both  the  Birkets  are  remains  of  strong  walls.
Upon  an  insulated  hill  three  quarters  of  an  hour  S.  E.  from
Rima,  is  Deir  el  Leben  (s),  i.  e.  Monastery  of  Milk;  Rima  is
on  the  limits  of  the  Ledja  ;  Deir  in  the  plain  between  it  and  the
mountain  Haouran.  The  Deir  consists  of  the  ruins  of  a  square  building ¬
  seventy  paces  long,  with  small  cells,  each  of  which  has  a  door;
it  contained  also  several  larger  apartments,  of  which  the  arches
only  remain.  The  roof  of  the  whole  building  has  fallen  in.  Over
the  door  of  one  of  the  cells  I  read  the  following  inscription:
AIOC  ANIKHTOT  HAIOT  OeOT  ATMOY
CKTICOH  To  IICPIKOACON*  THC  AVAHC
AIX  KACCIOT  SAAIXAOOT  KOE  PeIMeACt
KAI  HIATAOT  MAZIMINOT  KOMHIC  SAP
AOXON  IIICTON
Half  an  hour  E.  of  Deir  el  Leben  lies  a  ruined,  uninhabited  village ¬
  upon  a  Tel,  called  Doubba  (a,);  it  has  a  Birket  and  a
*  TegiGONCIOV.
*  Hence  it  appears  that  Rima  has  preserved  its  ancient  name.  Ed.