FEIK.
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eight springs are on both sides of the Wady, and have remains of
ancient buildings near them. I conceive that a naturalist would
find it well worth his time to examine the productions of this
Wady, hitherto almost unknown. In the month of April the Ham
met el Sheikh is visited by great numbers both of sick and healthy
people, from the neighbourhood of Nablous and Nazaret, who
prefer it to the bath of Tabaria; they usually remain about a
fortnight.
We returned from the Hamme by the same road we came ; on
reaching the plain of El Ghor we turned to our right up the moun
tain. We here met a wild boar of great size; these animals are very
numerous in the Ghor, and my companions told me that the Arabs
of the valley are unable to cultivate the common barley, called here
Shayr Araby (), on account of the eagerness with which
the wild swine feed upon it, they are therefore obliged to grow a
less esteemed sort, with six rows of grains, called Shayr Khe
shaby (), which the swine do not touch. At three quar
ters of an hour from the spot where we began to ascend, we came
to a spring called Ain el Khan, near a Khan called El Akabe,
where caravans sometimes alight; this being the great road from
the Djolan and the northern parts of the Haouran to the Ghor.
Akabe is a general term for a steep descent. In one hour we pas
sed a spring called Ain el Akabe, more copious than the former.
From thence we reached the summit of the mountain, one hour
and a quarter distant from its foot, where the plain commences ;
and in one hour and three quarters more, entered the village of
Feik, distant about four hours and a half from Szammagh, by the
road we travelled.
One hour to the E. of Szammagh, on the shore of the lake, lies
the village Kherbet Szammera ( à,2), with some ancient build
ings : it is the only inhabited village on the E. side of the lake, its