SEKEYLEBYE.
140
an hour from Kalaat el Medyk, is a broad ditch, about fifteen feet
deep, and forty in breadth, which may be traced for an hour and
a half, towards the Orontes ; near it is the village El Khandak (or
the Ditch.) This ditch is not paved, and may formerly have served
for the irrigation of the plain.
After proceeding for two hours from the castle, our two guides
refused to go any farther, insisting that it would be impossible to
continue longer in the valley ; to say the truth, it was in many parts
covered with water, or deep mud, for the rains had been incessant
during several months, and the road we had already come, from the
castle, was with difficulty passable ; we were therefore obliged to
yield, and turning to our left a little way up the hill, rested at
the village of Sekeylebye (), situated on one of the low
hills, near a rivulet called Wady Sekeylebye. I may here observe
that the springs coming from the eastern mountains of the Ghab
never dry up, and scarcely even diminish during the height of summer. ¬
From a point over the village, which belongs to Hamah, I took
the following bearings: Tel Zeyn Abdein, near Hamah, S. E. Djebel ¬
Erbayn, between Hamah and Homs, S. S. E. The gap which
separates the Anti-Libanus from the northern chain, to the W. of
Homs and Hamah, S. by E. The highest point of Djebel Szoleyb,
to the W. of Hamah and Homs, S. Tel Aasheyrne, in the plain,
S. by W., Djebel Maszyad S. W. The eastern termination of
Djebel Shaehsabou N. E. by E. To the S. and E. of Sekeylebye
open the great plains which extend to the desert. To the S. distant ¬
one hour, near the borders of the hills which enclose the valley ¬
of the Ghab on this side, lies the Anzeyry village of Sherrar
), a quarter of an hour from whence is an insulated hill called
Tel Amouryn. Two hours southward of Sekeylebye is Tel Aasheyrne, -
and half an hour farther, Tel el Shehryh. In the valley,
