38 BASHAN, 



and its inhabitants. Our first day's journey was a short one, 

 for we did not mean to jDush beyond Hebran. As we rode 

 out of Bozrali, we passed several small reservoirs. On the 

 way, Elias told us an amusing story of native manners. 

 The head-man of the village had the previous night given 

 a feast to our muleteers. One of them, a Christian of the 

 Lebanon, ate with a fork. ' Mashalla ! ' exclaimed his Boz- 

 ran host, ' what a brute ; he has not yet learned to eat with 

 his fingers ! ' 



We rode across a plain strewn with volcanic boulders, 

 with patches of cultivation between them. Here, for the 

 first time, we saw the Druse women, with their extra- 

 ordinary horns and long white veils. The latter only 

 cover one-half the face, the division being made vertically, 

 so as to show one eye and cheek, instead of both eyes 

 and nothing else, in the Egyptian fashion. The Druse 

 style leaves room for a good deal of coquetry, and the girls 

 with any pretensions to good looks are at no pains to 

 conceal them ; but beauties are rare in the Hauran, 

 and the ugly women are, much to the traveller's relief, 

 uniformly bashful. 



After fording a clear Welsh-like stream, one of the 

 feeders of the Hieromax, we rode over a perfect wilder- 

 ness of stones into Kureiyeh. It was a marvel how 

 our animals kept their legs on such ground, but it takes 

 a great deal to puzzle a SjTian horse. 



Under its ancient name of Kerioth, Kureiyeh is one of 

 the places distinguished by having had a special judg- 

 ment pronounced on it by Jeremiah. We explored its 

 ruins on foot, and found an old tank, beside which is a 

 curious edifice, supported by stumpy columns. We saw 

 no stone doors equal to those at Ghusam, and the houses 

 were all more or less dilapidated. On the whole, though 

 we strove to repress our feelings, we were decidedly dis- 



