70
SHOHBA.
spring. To the N. E. of it is the inhabited Druse village Bereike
(a»). We advanced half an hour E., to the village Mourdouk
(op), on the declivity of the Djebel Haouran ; it has a spring,
from whence the Druses of Rima and Bereike obtain their daily
supply of water. From the spring we proceeded to the eastward -
on the side of the mountain. At our feet extended the Ledja
from between N. E b. N. where it terminates, near Tel Beidhan,
to N. W. by N. its furthest western point, on the Haouran side.
Between the mountain and the Ledja is an intermediate plain of
about one hour in breadth, and for the greater part uncultivated.
Before us lay three insulated hills, called Tel Shiehhan, Tel Esszoub, -
which is the highest, and Tel Shohba; they are distant
from each other half an hour, the second in the middle. One hour
and a half to the S. E. of Tel Shohba is one of the projecting summits ¬
of the mountain called Tel Abou Tomeir.
From Mourdouk our road lay for an hour and a half over stony
ground, to Shohba (), the seat of the principal Druse Sheikhs,
and containing also some Turkish and Christian families. It lies
near the foot of Tel Shohba, between the latter and the mountain;
it was formerly one of the chief cities in these districts, as is attested ¬
by its remaining town walls, and the loftiness of its public
edifices. The walls may be traced all round the city, and are
perfect in many places ; there are eight gates, with a paved causeway ¬
leading from each into the town. Each gate is formed of
two arches, with a post in the centre. The eastern gate seems to
have been the principal one, and the street into which it opens
leads in a straight line through the town ; like the other streets
facing the gates, it is paved with oblong flat stones, laid obliquely
across it with great regularity. Following this street through a heap
of ruined habitations on each side of it, where are many fragments
of columns, I came to a place where four massy cubical structures
