Near the other pilaster is an inscription upon two broken stones, lying near each other; these stones appear to have been formerly joined, and to have formed part of the base of the pilaster, and the inscription seems to have been a copy of the former. Upon the one I read:
Near the temple I saw a bas-relief about ten inches square, representing a female bust, with hair in ringlets, falling upon the shoulders; it was lying on the ground; but it was not of such workmanship as to tempt me to take it with me. Upon the wall of one of the largest houses in the village was a long inscription; but too high for me to read.
N.E. of Aatyl, about one hour, up in the mountain, is a ruined tower called Berdj Mabroum [Arabic].
The tobacco of Aatyl is preferred to that of any other part of the Haouran. I here saw a public woman, a Kahirene, who seemed to be kept at the expense of the whole village; I was surprised at this, for manners in the Haouran are generally almost as pure as among the Bedouins: public women are not suffered, and adultery is punished by the death of the woman, while the man is ruined by the heavy penalties exacted by the government in expiation of his guilt. Last year a married Turkish woman at Mohadje, a village in the Loehf, was caught in the embraces of a young Christian; her three brothers hastened to the spot, dragged her to the market place, and there in the presence of the whole community, cut her in pieces with their swords, loading her at the same time with the most horrible imprecations. The lover was fined ten purses.
From Aatyl I pursued my way one hour and a quarter S.S.E. to Soueida, at a short distance from which are the remains of an ancient road. As I had examined the antiquities of this village in 1810, and did not wish to be seen here a second time, I passed on without stopping, in the direction of Aaere, which is two hours and a half distant in a south-westerly direction. In the plain, and at a quarter of an hour to the west of Soueida, is the ruined convent
[p.225] Deir Senan [Arabic]. There is only a small Kurdine village in the road between Soueida and Aaere.
April 26th.--I remained this day at Aaere, in the house of the Druse chief the Sheikh Shybely Ibn Hamdan, where I alighted. The Sheikh appeared to be greatly pleased at my reappearance. Since my former visit, I had cultivated his friendship by letters and presents, which I had sent to him from Aleppo, and by which he was so much gratified, that he would have loaded me with presents in return, had I not thought proper to decline every thing of that kind, contenting myself with some very strong letters of recommendation from him to the authorities in those places which I intended to visit. Shybely is the kindest and most generous Turk I have known in Syria: and his reputation for these qualities has become so general, that peasants from all parts of the Haouran settle in his village. The whole of the Christian community of Soueida, with the Greek priest at their head, had lately arrived, so that Aaere has now become one of the most populous villages in this district. The high estimation in which the Sheikh is held arises from his great hospitality, and the justice and mildness with which he treats the peasants, upwards of forty of whom he feeds daily, besides strangers, who are continually passing here in their way to the Bedouin encampments; the coffee pot is always boiling in the Menzoul or stranger's room. He may now, in fact, be called the Druse chief of the Haouran, though that title belongs in strictness to his father-in-law, Hossein Ibn Hamdan, the Sheikh of Soueida. In the mosque of Aaere, a low vaulted building, I copied the following inscription from a stone in the wall: