DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4569#0042
34 A JOURNEY THROUGH
and make a good red wine. We bought a few manufcripts of their prieft, and
proceeded after dinner through the fame fort of country, in a direction half a
point more to the fouth, to a Turkifh village called Howareen (where we lay)
three hours from Sudud.
Howareen has the fame appearance of poverty as Sudud. But we found a
few ruins there, which ihew it to have been formerly a more confiderable place.
A fquare tower, with projecting battlements for defence, looks like a work of
three or four hundred years; and two ruined churches may be of the fame age,
though part of the materials, aukwardly employed in thofe buildings, are much
older. In their walls are fome corinthian capitals, and feveral large attick bafes
of white marble. Thofe and fome other fcattered fragments of antiquity, which
we faw here, have belonged to works of more expence than tafte. We remark-
ed a village near this entirely abandoned by its inhabitants, which happens often
in thofe countries, where the lands have no acquired value from cultivation, and
are often deferted, to avoid oppreffion.
Wefet out from Howareen the iath, and in three hours arrived at Carietein,
keeping the fame direction. This village differs from the former, only by be-
ing a little larger. It has alfo fome broken pieces of marble, which belonged to
■antient buildings, as fome (hafts of columns, a few corinthian capitals, a dorick
bale, and two imperfect Greek infcriptions. It was thought proper we fhould
ftay here this day, as well to collect the reft of our elcort, which the Aga had
ordered to attend us, as to prepare our people and cattle for the fatigue of the
remaining part of our journey, which, though we could not perform it in lefs time
than twenty four hours, could not be divided into ftages, as there is no water
in that part of the defart.
We left Carietein, the 13th, about ten o'clock, which was much too late:
but as our body became more numerous, it was lefs governable. This bad ma-
nagement expofed us to the heat of two days, before our cattle could get either
water or reft; and though fo early in the feafon, yet the reflection of the fun
from the fand was very powerful, and we had not the relief of either breeze or
ihade during the whole journey.
Our caravan was now encreafed to about two hundred perfons, and about the
fame number of beafts for carriage, conlifting of an odd mixture of horfes,
camels, mules and affes. Our guide told us, this part of our journey was
moft dangerous, and defired we might fubmit our felves entirely to his direction,
which was, that the fervants fhould keep with the baggage immediately behind
our Arab guard j from which one, two, or more of their body were frequently
difpatched, for difcovery, to what ever eminences they could fee, where they
remained untill we came up. Thofe horfemen always rode off from the ca-
ravan at full fpeed, in the Tartar and Huffar manner. We doubted whether all
this precaution was owing to their being really apprehenfive of danger, or whe-
ther they only affected to make us think highly of their ufe and vigilance. Our
courfe from Carietein to Palmyra, was a little to the eaft of the north, through
a flat fandy plain (without either tree or water the whole way) about ten miles
broad, and bounded to our right and left by a ridge of barren hills, which feem-
ed to join about two miles before we arrived at Palmyra.
The
and make a good red wine. We bought a few manufcripts of their prieft, and
proceeded after dinner through the fame fort of country, in a direction half a
point more to the fouth, to a Turkifh village called Howareen (where we lay)
three hours from Sudud.
Howareen has the fame appearance of poverty as Sudud. But we found a
few ruins there, which ihew it to have been formerly a more confiderable place.
A fquare tower, with projecting battlements for defence, looks like a work of
three or four hundred years; and two ruined churches may be of the fame age,
though part of the materials, aukwardly employed in thofe buildings, are much
older. In their walls are fome corinthian capitals, and feveral large attick bafes
of white marble. Thofe and fome other fcattered fragments of antiquity, which
we faw here, have belonged to works of more expence than tafte. We remark-
ed a village near this entirely abandoned by its inhabitants, which happens often
in thofe countries, where the lands have no acquired value from cultivation, and
are often deferted, to avoid oppreffion.
Wefet out from Howareen the iath, and in three hours arrived at Carietein,
keeping the fame direction. This village differs from the former, only by be-
ing a little larger. It has alfo fome broken pieces of marble, which belonged to
■antient buildings, as fome (hafts of columns, a few corinthian capitals, a dorick
bale, and two imperfect Greek infcriptions. It was thought proper we fhould
ftay here this day, as well to collect the reft of our elcort, which the Aga had
ordered to attend us, as to prepare our people and cattle for the fatigue of the
remaining part of our journey, which, though we could not perform it in lefs time
than twenty four hours, could not be divided into ftages, as there is no water
in that part of the defart.
We left Carietein, the 13th, about ten o'clock, which was much too late:
but as our body became more numerous, it was lefs governable. This bad ma-
nagement expofed us to the heat of two days, before our cattle could get either
water or reft; and though fo early in the feafon, yet the reflection of the fun
from the fand was very powerful, and we had not the relief of either breeze or
ihade during the whole journey.
Our caravan was now encreafed to about two hundred perfons, and about the
fame number of beafts for carriage, conlifting of an odd mixture of horfes,
camels, mules and affes. Our guide told us, this part of our journey was
moft dangerous, and defired we might fubmit our felves entirely to his direction,
which was, that the fervants fhould keep with the baggage immediately behind
our Arab guard j from which one, two, or more of their body were frequently
difpatched, for difcovery, to what ever eminences they could fee, where they
remained untill we came up. Thofe horfemen always rode off from the ca-
ravan at full fpeed, in the Tartar and Huffar manner. We doubted whether all
this precaution was owing to their being really apprehenfive of danger, or whe-
ther they only affected to make us think highly of their ufe and vigilance. Our
courfe from Carietein to Palmyra, was a little to the eaft of the north, through
a flat fandy plain (without either tree or water the whole way) about ten miles
broad, and bounded to our right and left by a ridge of barren hills, which feem-
ed to join about two miles before we arrived at Palmyra.
The