The Giant Cities of Bashan [pp. 421-427]

THE GIANT CITIES OF BASHN42.
that flows from the wounds. Heaven and
earth have new meaning to those who have
thus first met their God. The blood must
flow till in every vein its place is supplied by
the divine ichor. Above the surging, saddening storms of time shall expand the rhythmic,
radiant rainbows of eternity.
THE GIANT CITIES OF BASHAN.
HE ancient kingdom of Bashan with its
confines-the portion of the Transjordanic
district to which we here propose to direct
attention-lies immediately south of Damascus,
and east of the Sea of Galilee and Upper Jordan. From the base of Hermon a great plain,
bounded on the west by the hills of Gilead, and
on the east by the volcanic range known as the
Jebel ed Druze, or the Jebel Hauran, stretches
away toward the south, into the wilds of Arabia.
The traveler anxious to explore this region will
probably make Damascus his starting-point.
Riding out of that city by the Haj road, so
called from the yearly passage along it of one
of the great caravans of pilgrims to Mecca, he
crosses, at Kesw\veh, the Nahr-el-Awaj, and soon
after fairly enters on the plains of the Hauran.
+The landscape before the eyes is very different
from any that may have already been seen in
Lebanon or Western Palestine. The wide, undulating expanse of foreground will rather recall
to mind the Roman Campagna; the distant hlamlet, a black spot on some isolated mound, answers to the solitary farm; and in height and
outline the Jebel Hauran closely resembles the
Alban hills. The crown of snow that lies
glittering on the far-off head of Hermon, or the
white-walled wely, which shines like a sail at
sea, on the summit of some humbler hill, are
welcomed as elements of life in a landscape the
pervading, tone of which is one of intense melanchloly.
But before long the aspect of the country
undergoes a change which will be a surprise to
those who have read only of the "utter desolation" of Bashan. As they see, for miles before
them, the plain waving with the shadows that
pass over the growing wheat, most travelers
will rejoice to recognize the fact that, however
severely the Hauran has suffered from the results of Turkish misrule, the exactions of sordid pashas, or the irruptions of Arab hordes, it
has never altogether lost a claim to its ancient
title of "The Granary of Damascus." The
large tracts of corn-land which, at the present
day, alternate with expanses of natural turf, are
kept in cultivation by the plows of the Druses
of the mountains, or the Christian and Mohammedan villagers living along the Haj road.
No more beautiful contrast of color can be
imagined than that seen in early Spring, between
the rich red and brown hues of the freshly
plowed loam and the vivid green which covers
the uncultivated portion of the plain. The
peculiar fascination exercised on the mind by
the scenery of the Hauran is, indeed, due rather
to this brilliancy of coloring,, heightened by an
atmosphere of surpassing purity, than to any
picturesqueness of form in the undulations of
the earth's surface.
Th)e tract bordering on the Haj road is, however, the least remarkable in the country, and
few will resist the temptation to diverge into
the more broken districts lying further to the
east. A long day's ride from Damascus brings
the traveler to the border of a great lava outflow, known successively as Argob, Trachonitis, and the Lejahl. The best idea of this region
is perhaps formed by imagining a huge uneven
glacier suddenly transformed from ice into volcanic rock. The paths connecting the black
fortress-like villages wind with a circuitous
course between and over mounds and banks
of crag. Here and there grow a few stunted
trees, and in some parts even patches of cornland are found. The aspect of the tract as a
whole is, however, singularly savage and forbidding. Its inhabitants are at the present dlay
a rascally tribe of Sulut Arabs, fear of whom
has until lately rendered the interior of the
Lejah almost unknown ground to travelers.
South of this stony wilderness rises the Jebel
Hauran, from the volcanic cones of which a
great portion of the lava flood which first
formed the Lejah undoubtedly flowed. The
sides of the northern summits surrounding
Shuhba are bare and arid, but the center of lhe
range and the slopes of its most prominent
peak, E1 Kleib, are clothed in woods which,
if they do not vie with the forests of Gilcad, at
least afford a refreshing sight to eyes wearied
with the treelessness of the greater portion of
Syrian scenery.
Along the border and in the interior of the
Lejahl, and on the slopes of Jebel Hauran, are
scattered the remains of numerous towns and
villages. Buzrah, the Roman Bostra, once the
capital of the province of Arabia, possesses,
among other relics of its former greatness, a
Christian cathedral, built at the beginning of
the sixth century, and a theater inclosed in a
fortress, which has long served as a puzzle for
antiquaries. In the most important of the
other towns, such as Kunawat, Shuhba, and
Mismiyeh, Roman streets, aqueducts, walls,
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