283
NOWA.
are no villages excepting Djeibein to the south of the road by which
we had travelled, as far as the banks of the Sheriat. The inhabitants ¬
of the country are Bedouins, several of whose encampments
we passed. Tseil is one of the principal villages of Djolan, and
contains about eighty or one hundred families, who live in the ancient ¬
buildings of the ruined town ; there are three Birkets of rain
water belonging to it. The only building of any size is a ruined
mosque, which seems to have been a church. In coming from
Feik the soil of the plain is black, or gray ; at Tseil it begins to be
of the same red colour as the Haouran earth.
After dinner we continued our route. In half an hour from
Tseil we passed on our left Tel Djemoua (). The greater
part of the plain was covered with a fine crop of wheat and barley.
During the years 1810 and 1811, the crops were very bad all over
Syria ; the rains of last winter, however, having been very abundant, -
the peasants are every where consoled with the hopes of a
good harvest. It was expected that the Haouran and Djolan would
yield twenty-five times the quantity of the seed sown, which is
reckoned an excellent crop. Half an hour north of Tel Djemoua
lies Tel Djabye (), with a village. At one hour and three
quarters from Tseil is the village Nowa (), where we slept. This
is the principal village in the Djolan, and was formerly a town of
half an hour in circumference. Its situation corresponds with that
in D’Anville’s map of Neve. There are a number of ruined private
dwellings, and the remains of some public edifices. A temple, of
which one column with its entablature remains, has been converted
into a mosque. At the S. end of the village is a small square solid
building, probably a mausoleum ; it has no other opening than the
door. Beyond the precincts of the village, on the N. side, are the
ruins of a large square building, of which the sculptured entrance
only remains, with heaps of broken columns before it. The vil¬
