_ 147 _ lem pay tribute. At this point, there is a stone bridge across the river, and nearby there is a well, a great pilgrimage, into which it is said that Joseph’s brothers pushed him. It has plentiful water which the pilgrims use to drink and to wash themselves. The Moors call it Jacob’s Water. This area is all desert, and there is only one caravanserai where the pilgrims can take shelter. This is at the foot of a mountain called Safed, which was formerly Galilee. It lies at thirty-two degrees on the top of the mountain, on the slope down towards a valley. It has about a thousand Arab and native Jewish citizens, and many Portuguese. They are all very poor, for there is no trade or commerce in this area. Item: Another of the four rivers which rise in these mountains flows through the middle of the city of Damascus and comes to an end and disappears a day’s journey farther on in a lake to the east. Item: The third river flows to the west to the city of Baalbek, which lies at the foot of a mountain, three days’ journey from Damascus. It is peopled by Arabs and Turkmens; from there it falls into the Mediterranean; and in this direction, Damascus is extremely fertile. The fourth river, called El Asij (I was unable to discover the names of the others) flows about half a league from the city of Homs
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