407
BESZEYRA.
a  Wady.  Two  hours  and  three  quarters,  the  village  Beszeyra
().  Our  road  lay  S.  W.  along  the  western  declivity  of  the
mountains,  having  the  Ghor  continually  in  view.  The  Wadys  which
descend  the  mountains  of  Djebal  south  of  Tafyle  do  not  reach
the  lowest  part  of  the  plain  in  the  summer,  but  are  lost  in  the  gravelly
soil  of  the  valley.  Beszeyra  is  a  village  of  about  fifty  houses.  It
stands  upon  an  elevation,  on  the  summit  of  which  a  small  castle
has  been  built,  where  the  peasants  place  their  provisions  in  times  of
hostile  invasion.  It  is  a  square  building  of  stone,  with  strong  walls.
The  villages  of  Beszeyra,  Szolfehe,  and  Dhana  are  inhabited  by
descendants  of  the  Beni  Hamyde,  a  part  of  whom  have  thus  become
Fellahein,  or  cultivators,  while  the  greater  number  still  remain  in
a  nomadic  state.  Those  of  Beszeyra  lived  formerly  at  Omteda,  now
a  ruined  village  three  or  four  hours  to  the  north  of  it.  At  that  time
the  Arabs  Howeytat  were  at  war  with  the  Djowabere,  whose  Sheikh
was  an  ally  of  the  Hamyde.  The  Howeytat  defeated  the  Djowabere,
and  took  Tafyle,  where  they  constructed  a  castle,  and  established  a
Sheikh  of  their  own  election  ;  they  also  built,  at  the  same  time,  the
tower  of  Beszeyra.  The  Hamyde  of  Omteda  then  emigrated  to  this
place,  which  appears  to  have  been,  in  ancient  times,  a  considerable
city,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  ruins  which  surround  the  village.
It  was  probably  the  ancient  Psora,  a  bishopric  of  Palæstina  tertia.
The  women  of  Beszeyra  were  the  first  whom  I  saw  wearing  the
Berkoa  (),  or  Egyptian  veil,  over  their  faces.
The  Sheikh  of  Kerek  had  come  thus  far,  in  order  to  settle  a  dispute ¬
  concerning  a  colt  which  one  of  the  Hamyde  of  Beszeyra  demanded ¬
  of  him.  We  found  here  a  small  encampment  of  Howeytat
Arabs,  to  one  of  whom  the  Sheikh  recommended  me:  he  professed
to  know  the  man  well,  and  assured  me  that  he  was  a  proper  guide.
We  settled  the  price  of  his  hire  to  Cairo,  at  eighty  piastres  ;  and  he
was  to  provide  me  with  a  camel  for  myself  and  baggage.  This  was
*  See  Reland.  Palæst.  vol.  i.  p.  218.