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KALAAT HAMAM.
an hour to the west of Medjdel, on the cliff which borders the Wady
Hamam. In the calcareous mountain are many natural caverns,
which have been united together by passages cut in the rock, and enlarged, ¬
in order to render them more commodious for habitation;
walls have also been built across the natural openings, so that no
person could enter them except through the narrow communicating
passages; and wherever the nature of the almost perpendicular cliff
permitted it, small bastions were built, to defend the entrance of the
castle, which has been thus rendered almost impregnable. The
perpendicular cliff forms its protection above, and the access from
below is by a narrow path, so steep as not to allow of a horse
mounting it. In the midst of the caverns several deep cisterns have
been hewn. The whole might afford refuge to about six hundred
men ; but the walls are now much damaged. The place was probably ¬
the work of some powerful robber, about the time of the
Crusades; a few vaults of communication, with pointed arches,
denote Gothic architecture. Below in the valley runs a small rivulet, ¬
which empties itself into the Wady Lymoun. Here the peasants ¬
of Medjdel cultivate some gardens.
In returning from the Kalaat Hamam I was several times reprimanded ¬
by my guide, for not taking proper care of the lighted
tobacco that fell from my pipe. The whole of the mountain is
thickly covered with dry grass, which readily takes fire, and the
slightest breath of air instantly spreads the conflagration far over
the country, to the great risk of the peasant’s harvest. The Arabs
who inhabit the valley of the Jordan invariably put to death any
person who is known to have been even the innocent cause of
firing the grass, and they have made it a public law among themselves, ¬
that even in the height of intestine warfare, no one shall
attempt to set his enemy’s harvest on fire. One evening, while at
Tabaria, I saw a large fire on the opposite side of the lake, which
