(121
JOURNAL
OF  A
TOUR  FROM  ALEPPO  TO  DAMASCUS,
THROUGH  THE  VALLEY  OF  THE  ORONTES  AND  MOUNT  LIBANUS,
IN  FEBRUARY  AND  MARCH,  1812.
February  14th.—1  LErr  Aleppo  at  mid-day  ;  and  in  half  an  hour
came  to  the  miserable  village  Sheikh  Anszary  (),  where  I
took  leave  of  my  worthy  friends  Messieurs  Barker  and  Van
Masseyk,  the  English  and  Dutch  Consuls,  two  men  who  do
honour  to  their  respective  countries.  I  passed  the  two  large  cisterns ¬
  called  Djob  Mehawad  (),  and  Djob  Emballat
(),  and  reached,  at  the  end  of  two  hours  and  a  half,  the
Khan  called  Touman  (),  near  a  village  of  the  same  name,
situated  on  the  Koeyk,  or  river  of  Aleppo.  The  Khan  is  in  a  bad
state  ;  Pashas  no  longer  think  of  repairing  public  edifices.
February  15th.—After  a  march  of  ten  hours  and  a  half,  I  arrived
at  Sermein,  having  had  some  difficulty  in  crossing  the  muddy
plain.  The  neighbourhood  of  Sermein  is  remarkable  for  great
numbers  of  cisterns  and  wells  hewn  in  the  rock  :  in  the  town  every
house  has  a  similar  cistern  ;  those  in  the  plain  serve  to  water  the
peasants’  cattle  in  the  summer,  for  there  are  no  springs  in  these
parts.  On  the  S.  E.  side  of  Sermein  is  a  large  subterraneous
vault,  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  divided  into  several  apartments,  and