on the Saʻîdijjîn because they had not negotiated with us as with guests but had begged from us not only tobacco and coffee but also rice, flour, and other articles of food. As a result, we did not warm up any coffee while we were with them, and it was for this that the negro Mḥammad in particular had a great hankering.
Wishing to refresh ourselves a little and to make a sketch of the surrounding district, we remained at the spring of al-Ǧwejbe from 4.32 to five o’clock. South of the spring, on the slope of aš-Šera’, are situated the ruins of al-Ǧhejjer.[1]
To the north of al-Ǧhejjer, above the ruins of Delâṛa, there rises a huge mountain, al-Ḥadab, behind which the hills of Ḳrênt az-Zejjât run from south to north, with, to the west of them, the broken dome of al-Hawla which separates the deep šeʻîb of Abu Ṛarab from the mountains of Šebîb and Ammu Rwejsât. The large mountain of Mʻawwal al-ʻAzab, which is almost table-shaped, merges to the south with Rwejs ad-Dukkâne and aš-Šunnârijje. Between the two latter mountains a footpath leads through the al-ʻEḳejrbe pass to Wâdi Ṛarandel. To the west and south the šeʻîb of al-ʻEǧâne encircles ʻArḳûb al-Mšejṭi and joins with al-Mwêleḥ.
At 5.06 P. M. in a deep, rocky ravine on our left, we saw the spring of Abu Ḥsejje gushing out from under a steep wall of rock. The descent to this ravine was very troublesome. Two of the camels threw off their loads and ran away, and we had to carry the loads after them until we caught them. From the ravine we descended southwest of the spring and ruins of al-Ǧhejjer to the šeʻîb of al-Ǧmejl, through which we reached the broad valley of Abu Ṛarab, where we encamped at 6.55 at the foot of Rwejs ad-Dukkâne (temperature: 29.5° C). Taking the guide with me, I proceeded to the ruins of Ḥammad (or Ḥamad), situated about three kilometers to the north and forming the remains of a large village on the right-hand side of the above-mentioned valley. Among the ruined houses which now serve as a graveyard, there is a small shrine, al-Weli Ḥammad, to which the Saʻîdijjîn make pilgrimages. The guide said that there was a large stone with inscriptions near the shrine, which he wished me to see, but it turned out to be merely a large slab of rock covered with tribal
- ↑ Al-Jaʻḳûbi, Ta’rîḫ (Houtsma), Vol. 2, p. 385, writes that the Omayyads dwelt in al-Ǧuhajjer between al-Ḥumajma and Adruḥ in the administrative region of Damascus.—In the text it is incorrectly printed al-ḤHJR. Our al-Ǧhejjer is situated on the road from al-Ḥumajma to Aḏruḥ.
