44
DJOUBETA.
a small body of men was stripped at Koneitza during my stay at
Banias.
As soon as I declared my wish to return to Damascus, I was
advised by several people present to take a guard of armed men
with me, but knowing that this was merely a pretext to extort
money without at all ensuring my safety, I declined the proposal, -
and said I should wait for a Kafflé. It fortunately happened ¬
that the Sheikh of the village had business at Damascus,
and we were glad of each other’s company. We set out in the
afternoon, accompanied by the Sheikh’s servant. The direction
of the route is E. b. S. up the mountain of the Heish, behind the
castle of Banias. We passed several huts of Felahs, who live here
the whole summer, and retire in winter to their villages. They
make cheese for the Damascus market. At the end of an hour
and a half we came to Ain el Hazouri, a spring, with the tomb of
Sheikh Othman el Hazouri just over it; to the north of it one
hour are the ruins of a city called Hazouri. The mountain here
is overgrown with oaks, but contains good pasturage ; I was told
that in the Wady Kastebe, near the castle, there are oak trees
more than sixty feet high. One hour more brought us to the village -
of Djoubeta, where we remained during the night at the
house of some friends of the Sheikh of Banias. This village belongs ¬
to Hasbeya ; it is inhabited by about fifty Turkish and ten
Greek families; they subsist chiefly by the cultivation of olives,
and by the rearing of cattle. I was well treated at the house
where we alighted, and also at that of the Sheikh of the village,
where I went to drink a cup of coffee. It being Ramadan, we
passed the greater part of the night in conversation and smoking
the company grew merry, and knowing that I was curious about
ruined places, began to enumerate all the villages and ruins in
