File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎54v] (117/834)

— 496 —
where Bedouins of the region come for their requirements.
The merchants in general come originally from Damascus, or
Hebron. Among them a certain number of speculators lend
money to the Arabs on their yearly crops and thus obtain
control of important stocks of cereals on very cheap terms. In
1912 all the barley of the country had been cornered by
merchants from Hebron.
There is no water in the town and the people have been
compelled to dig cisterns and huge reservoirs. But on the other
hand, at the foot of the hill in the valley on the west especially,
springs are very plentiful. One of the most important of these
and the one nearest to the Citadel is called Ain el-Franji (the
spring of the Franks) and it gives its name to the first part of
the big Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Kerak which descends to the Dead Sea. All along
this ravine winds a small path, which there had been a question
of converting into a carriage road leading to the sea at Ghor
Mezraa. Goods and people would make use of this highway,
taking afterwards a steamer up to the north of the Dead Sea,
whence one can easily reach Jerusalem by carriage. This
highway is expected to become the most direct and rapid route
between Kerak and Jerusalem. For some time a motor boat and
a large sailing boat have plied between Ghor Mezraa and the plain
of Jericho ; this is a private enterprise. At present there are
four or five vessels worked by steam or petrol, belonging to
the Government _ and used for the transport of grain. The
plateau of Moab is in reality very rich in wheat and barley, and
this plateau, with Belka, supplies the greater part of the
requirements of Jerusalem and its surroundings.
Besides the town of Kerak there is no other inhabited
centre of any importance in this region but simply a few villages
more or less insignificant with 250 or 300 inhabitants apiece. Let
us mention, to the south-south-west of Kerak, Kathrabeh, Irak and
Khanzireh. Moteh, on the road to Tafileh, is rather a collection
ot stores than a village. Abandoned during a part of the year
the locality is full of animation when winnowing-time for the
gram comes in. Numerous installations are put up for that
purpose all round, and it is there chiefly that, before the
construction of the radway line to Medina, the Arab tribes from
the north of the Heyaz came for their supplies. During the
months of August and September big caravans flocked in and
Moteh took the appearance of a vast grain market. Moteh is
dt BvL ? f° 1T ^ t i he i Pla ^ ° £ the fir8t hunter between
first defeated 16 ^ 1 ro P het ’ s bands, which were at
Moteh 6 About three-quarters of an hour to the south of
Moteh one finds Jafar a sanctuary devoted to the Moslem
heroes of the battle of Moteh One akn Q ^ i !
to the sanctuary. “ I *° See& a £ew houses close
A colony o£ Turcomans had settled down at Leiun on the
road from Kerak to Katraneh ; but this place being 3 unhealthy