From Baalbec to Karjat[=e]n, which 1s Kirjathim, is a distance of half a day; no Jews live there except one dyer.  Thence it is a day’s journey to Emesa, which is a city of the Zemarites, where about twenty Jews dwell[107].  Thence it is a day’s journey to Hamah, which is Hamath.  It lies on the river Jabbok at the foot of Mount Lebanon[108].

[p.50]

Some time ago there was a great earthquake in the city, and 25,000 souls perished in one day, and of about 200 Jews but seventy escaped.  At their head are R. Eli Hacohen, and the Sheik Abu Galib and Mukhtar.  Thence it is half a day to Sheizar, which is Hazor[109], and from there it is three parasangs to Dimin (Latmin).

[p.51]

Thence it is two days to Haleb (Aleppo) or Aram Zoba, which is the royal city of Nur-ed-din.  In the midst of the city is his palace surrounded by a very high wall.  This is a very large place.  There is no well there nor any stream, but the inhabitants drink rainwater, each one possessing a cistern in his house[110].  The city has 5,000 Jewish inhabitants, at their head being R. Moses el Constantini and R. Seth.  Thence it is two days to Balis[111], which is Pethor on the river Euphrates, and unto this day there stands the turret of Balaam, which he built to tell the hours of the day.  About ten Jews live here.  Thence it is half a day to Kalat Jabar, which is Selah of the wilderness, that was left unto the Arabs at the time the Togarmim took their land and caused them to fly into the wilderness.  About 2,000 Jews dwell there, at their head being R. Zedekiah, R. Chiya, and R. Solomon.

Thence it is one day’s journey to Rakka[112], or Salchah, which is on the confines of the land of Shinar, and which divides the land of the Togarmim from that kingdom.  In it there are 700 Jews, at their head being R. Zakkai and R. Nedib, who is blind, and R. Joseph.  There is a synagogue here, erected by Ezra when he went forth from Babylon to Jerusalem.  At two days’ distance lies ancient Harr[=a]n, where twenty Jews live[113].  Here is another synagogue erected by Ezra, and in this place stood the house of Terah and Abraham his son.  The ground is not covered by any building, and the Mohammedans honour the site and come thither to pray.

Thence it is a journey of two days to Ras-el-Ain[114], whence proceeds the river El Khabur—­the Habor of old—­which flows through the land of Media, and falls into the river Gozan[115].  Here there are 200 Jews[116].  Thence it is two days to Geziret Ibn Omar, which is surrounded by the river Hiddekel (Tigris), at the foot of the mountains of Ararat.

[p.52]

It is a distance of four miles to the place where Noah’s Ark rested, but Omar ben al Khataab took the ark from the two mountains and made it into a mosque for the Mohammedans[117].  Near the ark is the Synagogue of Ezra to this day, and on the ninth of Ab the Jews come thither from the city to pray.  In the city of Geziret Omar are 4,000 Jews, at their head being R. Mubchar, R. Joseph and R. Chiya.