'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎411] (492/905)

CHAP. XVIII.]
TELLS NEAR ALEPPO.
411
the latter place is Rei'ha, which contains two soap manufac- Ediip and
tories, a good market, and 400 or 500 houses situated on the Reiha *
northern declivity of Jehel Erbyn, or the Mountain of the
Forty. 1 Six hours west-south-west of Edlip is the small town
of Jisr Shuger, which contains several hospitals where a num
ber of poor people are daily fed gratis, the revenue of 13 or
14 villages in the surrounding fertile country being assigned
for the support of these praiseworthy establishments. 2
Northward of Aleppo, and nearly in the centre of the Elevated tract
district, is the fine level tract which, with a width varying Aie^pTand
between 4 and 10 miles, and an elevation of about 1100 feet Ain " tib "
at the southern, and nearly 1300 feet at the northern ex
tremity, stretches almost uninterruptedly from the city to the
hills enclosing A'in-tab, being a direct distance of 54 miles.
The plain of Aleppo is everywhere thickly covered with
villages and hamlets, consisting of houses either of stone or
sun-dried bricks ; and wood being scarce, they are usually
covered with pointed clay-built cupolas, one or more on each
building. In the vicinity of each place there is generally one
of those conical mounds, from 30 feet to 170 feet high, which
have been aptly compared by Colonel Estcourt to giant mole
hills, and are among the most remarkable features of this part
of Asia. They appear to be the Komata of the ancients,
and are at present called Hinks by the Turkomans, and Tells Hinks, or
by the Arabs; but opinions are much divided on the ques
tion whether they are natural or artificial. Their seemingly
regular positions, overlooking towns and villages, give them
the appearance of mounds raised for the purpose of defence;
but more attentive consideration has led to the conclusion
that they are natural, although in many instances they par
take of both characters. Mr, Ainsworth observed that these
monticules sometimes contain boulders of basaltic and other
rocks, which must have been carried in a southern direction
from the hills lying to the northward, and deposited in the
plain, where they formed the kernel of a rock, around which
other materials were gradually piled up. But it is also pro-
1 Burckhardt's Syria, p. 125.
4 Ibid., p. 123.
3 G 2