KHABEB.
109
its Sheikh being
generally of the family of Hariri ; the proper name
of the village is Melihat el Atash. I there copied the following,
over a door :
TIIeP COTHPIAC TOT EN
AOXOTATOT KOMITANOMO
AIX CIIOTAH
From thence, in one hour and a quarter, I reached Ezra, and
alighted at the house of the priest. I again endeavoured to visit
Draa, but no body would undertake to act as my guide except a
peasant, in whose company I did not think that I should be sufficiently ¬
secure ; for it had been a constant rule with me, during
this tour, not to expose myself to any hazard, well knowing that this
was not the place, where duty and honour obliged me to do so ;
on the contrary, I felt that I should not be justified in risking my
life, in this quarter, destined as I am to other, and it is hoped,
more important pursuits.
November 28th.—I left Ezra this morning with the priest, to
visit some villages in the northern Loehf, and if possible to enter
the Ledja. We rode one hour to Keratha, close to which is a
spring. From Keratha, in an hour and a quarter, we came to Mehadje, ¬
whence I saw Tel Shiehhan bearing E. S. E. To the east
of the road from Ezra to Mehadje on the Ledja are the ruins of
Sour and Aazim. From Mehadje we entered the Ledja, and continued ¬
in it, at half an hour's distance from the cultivated plain,
in the direction N. E., till we reached Khabeb (s), at the end
of two hours. Between Tebne and Khabeb lies the village Bossir.
From Khabeb the Kelab Haouran bears S. S. E. This is a considerable ¬
village, inhabited for the greater part by Catholic Christians, ¬
who, as I have mentioned above, emigrated from Szalkhat.
The Sheikh is a Druse. I met here a poor Arab, a native of the
country three days journey from Mekka; he told me that the
