On our return we breakfasted at the house of our entertainer; after which, before we could take leave, it was deemed right that we should pay a visit to the Druse Sheik, Ahmed ibn Harouf. We were politely received there, and, after taking coffee and interchanging a few common place compliments, retired.

We quitted Nedjeraun at ten o'clock in the forenoon, and proceeding over a broken road for an hour to the westward, we came on some old ruins of a town once standing on a rocky eminence, but scarcely any single edifice now remaining perfect. Near to this is a spring and stream of water called Moya Karatta; and two miles to the south is the large town of Iddoor.

In half an hour after passing the ruins above mentioned, we came to Sahara, a small village, built on a raised mound, but now entirely without inhabitants; and in an hour from hence we passed the town of Bussr, leaving it at a little distance on our right.

Our course from Nedjeraun thus far had been about west; and from hence the rugged mass of rock, near which the town of Shuhubah is seated, on the mountains, bore east, apparently distant about thirty miles. The town of Bussr is peopled entirely by Mohammedans, and contains about 100 families. The Druses extend no farther west in the Hauran than Nedjeraun (though there are many farther to the westward, in the mountains of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon); and the Christians from thence westerly gradually diminish in numbers. Wherever a settlement contains a few of each of these sects, a balance of interests is preserved, and they live together in tolerable harmony; at least they do not molest each other: but where Mussulmans principally inhabit, neither Druses nor Christians are borne with as when they live by themselves; the Druses being the most tolerant, and the Mohammedans the most bigotted of the three. Bussr appears to have extensive ruins, but these are mostly of private dwellings, if we except an old building with two square towers, similar to one at Nedjeraun, which is now used for a mosque; the towers of this at Bussr have sharply-pointed domes built on them, and being

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whitewashed on the outside, so as to be seen from a great distance, resemble the towers usually applied as light-houses, with their lanterns at the summit. S.E. of Bussr, about a mile distant, is the ruined village of Dooery, on an elevated mound, now quite deserted.

From Bussr, our course went W.N.W., and the road improved as we proceeded. From Nedjeraun thus far it had been stony in the extreme, and only partial spots of it were capable of cultivation; but from hence westerly we had before us a wide expanse of light red soil, equal to the plains of Esdraelon, or Zabulon, in Palestine, and like them, now bearing an abundance of thistles, which are now admitted to indicate a fertile soil, though often considered as a symbol and characteristic of sterility. The absence of water began, however, to be visible; as every where the brown soil was parched and cracked, and not an acre of it had yet been ploughed for seed.

On the right of our road, running along east and west to the north of us, we had the southern edge of a rocky district, called Ledjah, which extends all the way from Bussr to Ezra westerly, and spreads itself for many leagues to the northward. All along its southern boundary are seen small towers, and stone walls of enclosures, both now in ruins. This district was once covered with vineyards, and the towers were no doubt used as watchhouses, in the same manner as they were anciently in the vineyards about Jerusalem. It is probable, also, that the stone walls seen on the hills at Salghud, at Gunnawat, and at Shuhubah, were to mark the precincts of vineyards, in the same manner as seen on this district.

In about two hours from Bussr, going all the way W.N.W. over a clear and rich soil, and gradually descending by a gentle slope towards a lower level, we approached the town of Ezra. This is built on the S. W. projecting tongue of the rocky district of Ledjah; and Nedjeraun is built on a similarly projecting tongue of the same district, at the S.E. angle: there being a slight concave

indentation, like a bay, curving to the northward between them. The road of entrance into Ezra, over this bed, from the eastward, was exactly like the road of outlet from Nedjeraun to the westward; and at each of these, from the sharp and rugged nature of the rocks, we thought it prudent to dismount and lead our horses over it even this, however, was required to be done with great care, to prevent the horse from falling. It would be difficult to assign any one reason for the choice of such apparently inconvenient positions for these towns, that would not be liable to some objection; but the probability is, that many more considerations than one united to recommend it. The want of wood for building rendered it necessary to use very large stones for some parts of the edifices, such as beams for the roofs and doors; and the convenience of saving the carriage of these heavy masses, by constructing the building as near the quarries as possible, is evident. This was, no doubt, a leading consideration; and security might have been another; as the unobstructed surface of the Plain would afford an easy approach to robbers and marauders, who would have the greatest difficulty, particularly if horsemen, in traversing this rocky bed, over which alone the town can be entered.

We alighted at the house of a Christian in Ezra, near the western edge of the town, and immediately opposite to one of the best preserved buildings, in the original style of the country, that I had yet seen. We were extremely well received, as our host was one of Abu Farah's relatives: almost all the Christians of the Hauran being from the provinces of Belkah and Adjeloon, from whence they have been driven out, as they say, at different periods, by the southern Arabs, who are constantly plundering those who settle near them. The eastern tribes of Bedouins, though all acknowledge them to be bad enough, are admitted, however, not to be so daring as the Beni Hassan, and the Beni Sakker, near the Dead Sea; besides which, their being here somewhat nearer to the seat of government at Damascus, gives them, in their opinion, greater

protection than can be enjoyed in more remote parts, where no fear of a superior power exists.

After taking a meal of Dourra bread, and a sweet paste made from grapes in the neighbourhood of Damascus, from which it is brought, as all the vineyards have long since declined here, we went out to see the town.

In the examination which I desired to make of the ruins at Ezra, during our short stay there, I was assisted by a person well acquainted with the town, who accompanied me in my ramble, merely to direct me through the streets, and point out such large buildings as the place contained. The first edifice to which I was taken by my guide was what at first seemed to be a very old work, from the style of its architecture, but which proved to be the southern front of a Greek church, now called Mar Elias. The principal face of this building was towards the west; but the place for the altar was no doubt on the east, where the end of the building was of a semi-circular form. The masonry of the southern face had its stones singularly inlaid and locked together, no cement