48 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 



then used as a place of refuge by the Arabs who 

 fled from the Pasha's troops, or from their pursuers 

 in the desert. It had no water except the rain 

 collected in the cisterns. There was only one en- 

 trance into it through a narrow pass, a cleft between 

 high perpendicular rocks, not more than two yards 

 in breadth, which none ever dared to enter as an 

 enemy. When a tribe intend to remain in it a 

 whole year, they sow as much wheat and barley as 

 will serve them for that time on the spots within its 

 precincts fit for cultivation. 



The Ledja, which is from two to three days' 

 journey in length by one in breadth, is also inhabited 

 by small tribes of pastoral Arabs. It is a strange 

 wilderness, whose stony soil is covered with heaps 

 of rocks, amidst which are numerous small patches 

 of meadow that afford excellent pasture for the cattle. 

 There are no springs to be met with ; but in winter, 

 water collects in the wadis and hirJcets^ or cisterns, 

 where it is sometimes kept the whole summer. In 

 the interior parts the rocks are in many places cleft 

 asunder, so that the whole ridge appears shivered 

 and in the act of falling down. The layers are 

 generally horizontal, from six to eight feet or more 

 in thickness, occasionally covering the hills and in- 

 clining to their curve, as appears from their fissures, 

 which often traverse the rock from top to bottom. 

 Having satisfied his curiosity, and made several 

 important observations, both as to the geography 

 and the inhabitants of that region, Burckhardt 

 returned to Damascus, and thence by Homs and 



