DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36287#0028
6
TOPOGRAPHY OF NORTHERN CENTRAL SYRIA.
rows of houses is taken up by high narrow sidewalks substantially built, and the re-
maining space would not suffice for any two- or four-wheeled wagon. The streets
themselves are sometimes two feet below the level of the sidewalks. The whole width,
street and sidewalk together, is often not more than eight or nine feet. There are some
thoroughfares, however, which have on each side rows of booths or recesses in the
walls which serve as shops. These are what Antioch offers in the way of bazaars.
Looking down from a height, the houses seem to form one great unbroken structure,
so little space is there between the roofs of the buildings.
Our party and our encampment excited the curiosity of the natives, and they gave
disagreeable evidence of the fact by scrutinizing everybody and everything. They
came to stay as long as daylight lasted and brought their lunch along, like a picnic
party out for a day's amusement. Another and more agreeable visitor was the
or governor of Antioch, a man of benign appearance, but one who is
thought to have been a party to the supposed assassination of the Sultan Abdul
Aziz in 1876. He is considered in exile in Antioch. The conversation was carried
on through an interpreter and it turned upon the beauties of the region, the odd con-
struction of the streets of his city, and other more or less colorless topics. He
expressed regret at the shortness of our stay and then took his departure.
On October 24th the thermometer went to an unexpectedly low point, registering
48*4?° Fahrenheit at a quarter past five in the morning. During a part of our stay
in Antioch we had a steady drizzling rain, which interfered greatly with our work.
It did not take long, after we were once stirring in camp on the fourth morning of
our stay, to be ready for the start toward the east. The fifteen camp servants demon-
strated their skill by packing up in less than a half-hour the five tents and the numer-
ous articles that go to make up a camping outfit in the Orient. This involved put-
ting everything in bags or boxes and tying them securely on the heavy pack-saddles.
Each mule had to carry two large boxes or bundles of equal weight, balanced one on
one side and the other on the other.
We went across the near-by bridge over the Orontes, and rode through the slippery
paved streets, soon turning eastward and following a line parallel to the Orontes.
The river is broad, sluggish, and very muddy. At this point it flows southwest, but
after a while it changes its course to nearly due north and south. The natives call
the river "il-'Asi" or " the Rebellious," because it flows toward the north, or, accord-
ing to some, because it flows from the lands of Islam to the lands of the infidel
Greeks. The name 'Asl, however, is a corruption of the Greek Axios Potamos,
which was perhaps derived from the old Syrian name Atzoio, meaning the "Rapid."*
We crossed the river again at Djisr il-Hadid, the "Bridge of Iron," an old and sub-
stantial stone structure of several arches, built by the Romans and reconstructed
*Le Strange: Palestine under the Moslems, pp. 59 and 357.
TOPOGRAPHY OF NORTHERN CENTRAL SYRIA.
rows of houses is taken up by high narrow sidewalks substantially built, and the re-
maining space would not suffice for any two- or four-wheeled wagon. The streets
themselves are sometimes two feet below the level of the sidewalks. The whole width,
street and sidewalk together, is often not more than eight or nine feet. There are some
thoroughfares, however, which have on each side rows of booths or recesses in the
walls which serve as shops. These are what Antioch offers in the way of bazaars.
Looking down from a height, the houses seem to form one great unbroken structure,
so little space is there between the roofs of the buildings.
Our party and our encampment excited the curiosity of the natives, and they gave
disagreeable evidence of the fact by scrutinizing everybody and everything. They
came to stay as long as daylight lasted and brought their lunch along, like a picnic
party out for a day's amusement. Another and more agreeable visitor was the
or governor of Antioch, a man of benign appearance, but one who is
thought to have been a party to the supposed assassination of the Sultan Abdul
Aziz in 1876. He is considered in exile in Antioch. The conversation was carried
on through an interpreter and it turned upon the beauties of the region, the odd con-
struction of the streets of his city, and other more or less colorless topics. He
expressed regret at the shortness of our stay and then took his departure.
On October 24th the thermometer went to an unexpectedly low point, registering
48*4?° Fahrenheit at a quarter past five in the morning. During a part of our stay
in Antioch we had a steady drizzling rain, which interfered greatly with our work.
It did not take long, after we were once stirring in camp on the fourth morning of
our stay, to be ready for the start toward the east. The fifteen camp servants demon-
strated their skill by packing up in less than a half-hour the five tents and the numer-
ous articles that go to make up a camping outfit in the Orient. This involved put-
ting everything in bags or boxes and tying them securely on the heavy pack-saddles.
Each mule had to carry two large boxes or bundles of equal weight, balanced one on
one side and the other on the other.
We went across the near-by bridge over the Orontes, and rode through the slippery
paved streets, soon turning eastward and following a line parallel to the Orontes.
The river is broad, sluggish, and very muddy. At this point it flows southwest, but
after a while it changes its course to nearly due north and south. The natives call
the river "il-'Asi" or " the Rebellious," because it flows toward the north, or, accord-
ing to some, because it flows from the lands of Islam to the lands of the infidel
Greeks. The name 'Asl, however, is a corruption of the Greek Axios Potamos,
which was perhaps derived from the old Syrian name Atzoio, meaning the "Rapid."*
We crossed the river again at Djisr il-Hadid, the "Bridge of Iron," an old and sub-
stantial stone structure of several arches, built by the Romans and reconstructed
*Le Strange: Palestine under the Moslems, pp. 59 and 357.