'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.' [‎510] (599/905)

510
PLAIN OF THE HAOURAN.
[CHAP. XX.
Remains at Kanouat and Soneida, and some of the dwellings on each side
Shohba - are still standing. The principal remains outside consist of an
aqueduct, coming two miles W.S.AV. from the hills of Zimri^,
and within are two temples, a bath, a cistern, a fine theatre
almost entire, also two buildings called the Serai, one of
which is a square, with a court to the west, adjoining the
other structure, whose front has nearly the form of a half
hexagon. A curve or niche occupies the centre, from which
other buildings slant outwards on each side, so as nearly to
give it the form just mentioned; and the apartments appear
to have been in the rear. The inhabitants of Soneida grow
cotton, and manufacture from it the ordinary dress ; they also
weave woollen cloths mixed with gold thread.
Extent of the From the Ledja, &c., and the Lowa, which represent the
Haouran. tw0 p 0rt i 0ns 0 f ancient Trachonites, 1 the Belad Haouran,
or En-Nukrah, extends westward to the mountains skirting
the valley of the Jordan, and again southward along the latter
to Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Zerka. This tract answers to the Roman Auranitis,
with a portion of Batanea and of the Gaulanitis; and, being
the route of the Mekkah and Medina pilgrims, its importance
is considerable in the present day.
Features of the Towards its northern and western sides the plain is fre-
distnet. quently interrupted by hills, which, in approaching the centre,
become very numerous; and at the southern extremity the
countryagain becomes level. The plain of the Haouran is
arable throughout, and in general very fertile; like that of
Aleppo, it is dotted with Tells, near which either a ruined, or
a small inhabited village is almost invariably found. In cer
tain places at the western side of the tract, but more particu
larly towards the south, there are masses of basalt ; the
prevailing formation, however, is limestone without streams of
water, and almost entirely deprived of trees. Cultivation
appears occasionally near the villages, but the rest of the sur
face is covered with scanty herbage, barely sufficient for the
camels, sheep, and goats of the Arabs and Druses. According
to their own account, some of the last people have occupied
1 Ptolemy, lib. V., c. xv.; and Colonel Leake's Introduction (p. xi.) to
Burckhardt's Travels in Syria.