'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎285r] (574/738)

PHYSICAL SURVEY OF HAURAN
563
The passes, fissures, and caverns in this black and desolate
region are so inaccessible that the Bedouin robbers by which
El-Leja has been infested for centuries, continue to find
secure refuge from the law ; in this only do they have common
cause with their Druse neighbours who have settled there in
considerable numbers. There are also several Christian
villages on the borders, the most important being Khabb
with a population of 1,200. At only a few points are the
rocky borders penetrable and, there, the tracks are hewn out
of the rock. The secrets of internal communication are
carefully guarded by the inhabitants. Tracks over and
around deep fissures or through narrow passes and confused
masses of fallen or upheaved rocks, can only be followed in
daylight with the help of local guides whose knowledge is
confined to particular localities. Numerous ruins of ancient
cities and villages are dotted about, many of which are
still in wonderfully good preservation and only a few
are partially occupied. In character they resemble the
other ancient ruins of Hauran, see p. 557. The borders of
El-Leja have a soil strongly impregnated with saline from
which saltpetre is extracted. The millstones quarried in
El-Leja chiefly at Khabb and ‘Ezra are noted throughout
Syria. A Roman road running N. and S. through the heart
of El-Leja is known to have existed.
Jebel ed-Druz or Ardh el-Bathanlyeh, sometimes named J.
Haurdn. It is a prominent and lofty mountain group, mostly
volcanic, rising from the plain to the south-east of El-Leja,
and disposed in several ridges interspersed with many isolated
higher hills some of which are extinct craters. The summit
of the main ridge is a plateau on which rise the highest peaks.
Seen from the west, the loftiest peaks of the ridge are Tell
Abu-Tumeis, alt. 5,090 ft., and Tell Abu-Quleib, alt. 5,780 ft.,
which rise from the northern and southern ends respectively.
The ridge maintains an almost uniform altitude between these
two peaks and the northern and southern slopes of the
mountain fall from their outer bases ; south of Quleib a lower
ridge projects southward. To the E. there is another series of
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