Request a high resolution copy

Diary entry by Gertrude Bell

Reference code
GB/2/9/2/20
Creator
Bell, Gertrude Margaret Lowthian
Creation Date
Extent and medium
1 entry, paper
Language
English
Location
Syria ยป Um Rwaq
Coordinates

32.78581, 36.7846436

Mon 20. [20 February 1905] Up before dawn and went out into the
frozen village to watch the sun rise. Thank Heaven fine weather. The
servants were asleep with the animals under the dark vaults of the
khan. Breakfasted on shirak dibs and kirk[?] - the last is decidedly
not good. Did a little doctoring, especially to eyes. The muleteers
were an endless time loading. Fa'is came with me to show me the
way. We rode by Saneh and in an hour got completely out of the
snow. Before Saneh is the deep Wady Busan with a mill in it. Saneh
looks a flourishing place. Then to Shibbikeh which is a most curious
place all caves. I saw a broken column and in Saneh a good
architrave over a door with grapes and a vase. Then to Sheikly - we
lunched in the valley below it. So to Ramel which lies on the edge of
a very deep valley. Views of the black Haron plain most wonderful.
Volcanos [sic] on the horizon to n and s like islands in a sea.
Occasional yellowish patches of the beida. We cd see the Diner[?]
hills and all the hills to the back of the Palmyra [Tadmur] valley.
Round the base of el Ajlat which stands high up on a hill and so to
Umm Ruweik on the very edge of the Druze hills. I see all the plain
from my tent. Fa'is's brother Ghishghash is sheikh here. He has a
very nice son called Ahmed with whom I went to the mak'ad and
drank tea. Dined with them also. The Sheikh told me of several other
ruins in the Haron, near Tell el Mesma (not true I find) and at [space
left blank]. In the Hamad [Hamad, Al] there is nothing but grass and
Arabs in the spring - not a building till Baghdad.

IIIF Manifest
https://pageturners.ncl.ac.uk/adapter/api/iiif/https%3A%2F%2Fcdm21051.contentdm.oclc.org%2Fiiif%2Finfo%2Fp21051coll46%2F1409%2Fmanifest.json?showOnlyPages=64-65