BSY_FB_04-25_a

25

Eastern Central Syria

From the Djebel Rîhā we moved Eastward, and,
crossing the great highway (the hadj route) between
Aleppo and the north and Damascus to the South, found
ourselves in the rolling country that lies between
the mountains and the desert. The first strip
of rolling hills is of limestone formation, a finer
and more perishable quality of limestone than
that of the mountains; this changes gradually into
basalt toward the East. There are
many villages in this first region to the east of
the road, and some smaller settlements in the
W. part of the basalt region, and there are well
cultivated tracts in both districts; but further east
there is less and less cultivation, fewer built dwellings
and more bedawin tents until the desert is reached,
and this itself is pastured by the Arabs during
a part of the year, but the whole region is full of
ruins which are naturally better preserved where there
are fewer villages. In the 1st region, few ruins
are preserved at all.