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- The Dominican Fathers
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- Father Lagrange of the Ecole d'Etudes
Bibliques
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Account of the trips taken by the
Dominican Fathers of the French Ecole d'Etudes Bibliques (School
of Biblical Studies) in Jerusalem on their way to the Nabataean
sites of Petra or of Medain Saleh, or after WWI in Transjordan
generally.
Collected and translated by Dr Geraldine Chatelard,
Institut français du Proche-Orient, Amman
References:
RB = Revue Biblique (the scientific organ of the Ecole d'Etudes
Bibliques, still published today) Mission I and Mission II =
refer to two volumes of Mission archéologiques en Arabie
(Archaeological Missions in Arabia), undertaken in the spring
on 1907, 1909 and 1910. Republished in Cairo in 1997 by IFAO
(French Institute of Oriental Studies)
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- Spring 1907
[The Darb el-Hajj] is a very well-marked caravan road also offering,
from time to time, some reference points. They are the qalaah,
in the old days stores as much as strongholds, established more
or less regularly from stage to stage across the vast solitude.
In the days of the pilgrims, provisions were accumulated there
and water was prepared long in advance to supply people and camels.
There is generally a well with a water-lifting device in the
middle of the qalaah. Where the underground water table was insufficient,
immense reservoirs were dug into which the flow of a wadi was
directed on the days of winter rain. In many places, such as
Qalaat Zizeh, Qatraneh etc. these reservoirs that have long been
in bad condition have just been repaired and water points have
been put in nearby for the locomotive. In this way the new engineers
profit as much as possible from the work of their predecessors.
(Mission I, pp 32-33)
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- 1909
On Monday 15th of February 1909, at half past eleven at night,
we took the train from the station in Amman to Maan, where we
arrived the following day at five o'clock in the evening. It
was at the time of the Hajj, that is to say the big pilgrimage
to Mecca and Medina, when all the equipment was put to use for
the transportation of devout pilgrims. Several trains went by
each day, either going up or down. We travelled on the post train,
that is to say the train for regular passengers, which leaves
Damascus three times a week. At the back there is a first class
carriage for the officers and effendis, all the other cars are
open and already loaded with merchandise. We heave our baggage
and ourselves onto a goods wagon where five or six Tunisians
have already set up home in the midst of a load of planks. Our
mode of transport might lack some comfort, but, if not for the
terrible smoke and black rain that flooded our carriage near
the tender, we would not have too much too complain about. After
all, it is neither commonplace nor without interest to cross
the desert on the upper deck. (Mission II, pp3-4)
23 March 1907
Maan railway-station is one of the most important on the Hedjaz
railway. The director of works, Meissner Pasha, has established
his residence there, and depots for materials and coal, even
workshops for repairing the machines, have been built there.
Its importance will grow when the project to make a branch line
to Aqaba is implemented, which will connect Damascus directly
with the Red Sea and allow rapid communication with Yemen, without
passing through the Suez Canal. A dozen buildings of dressed
stone, covered by red tiles bearing the stamp of Marseille, stand
in the most absolute solitude near the little spring of Ain Kalbi.
That place, which until recently was frequented only by a few
nomads who briefly pitched their tents there, has become the
abode of working people, employees, labourers and soldiers. There
is even a hotel for the convenience of all these people and for
travellers going to Petra by rail. (Mission, I, p. 33)
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- Spring 1909
55 kilometres south of Maan, Qalaat el-Aqaba - that is not to
be confused with the place of the same name on the Red Sea -
enjoyed a certain fame because of its position. Regardless of
the administrative divisions, that have changed a lot, from the
point of view of the physical landscape, it was the last post
in the lands of esh-Sham [Syria]. There, the Syrian pilgrims
camped for the last time in their own country, and prepared themselves
to confront a desert longer and more terrible than the one they
had already crossed. Indeed, its entrance was not reassuring.
Having wandered some time in the hills with restricted views
on all sides, they would fall into the Batn el-Ghul, the 'belly
of the demon'. That is the name given to what is indeed a demonic
pass by which one descends to a lower level that marks the beginning
of the Hedjaz. The engineers had to build a railway through this
precipice. They managed by means of detours and cuttings, but
the slope is still considerable and we descend with alarming
speed which inspires legitimate fear. There have already been
some derailments. Luckily the train drivers learn little by little
and the passenger becomes absorbed by the beauty of the countryside.
We travel amidst variegated sandstones of all colours, but dominated
by yellow with black of a steely grey tint. The spectacle is
splendid and the wildness of the place adds to its charm. (Mission
II, pp51-42)
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- At last we arrive at the railway station of Wadi Retem without
problem. The soldiers at this post and others in the vicinity
of Batn el-Ghul spend their leisure time grinding up pieces of
different coloured sandstone and putting the multicoloured sand
into bottles, which they mix into thousands of bizarre designs
with the help of a piece of wire. These curiosities are then
sold to the engineers and passing officers, or sent to Damascus
where collectors are more numerous. (Mission II, p52)
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- Spring 1909
The railway-stations between Maan and Tabuk are usually small
houses for the work teams, with the entrance opening away from
the rails, and a gallery along the front. Almost wherever there
is water, wind powered pumps have been installed. A few of these
machines come from America, but the majority of them are of German
origin. (Misssion, II, p. 4-5)
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- Easter 1924
About ten of Emir Abdullah's soldiers occupy the station of el-Fedein,
whose official name is el-Mafraq (el-Fedein is the name given
by the bedouins to the ancient station of the Darb el-Hajj, where
next to the old [Aramaic] ruins are an Arab castle and a now
abandoned pool). Partially filled trenches on the hillocks beside
the station and the water supply, the windowless and roofless
buildings, the ruined reservoir and the skeletons of several
railway wagons lying near the tracks remind the traveller of
the Great War. There is still water in the birkeh [reservoir]
to which many herds of the Beni Hassan come to drink. (RB, 1925,
p113)
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- April 1928
El-Qatraneh comprises a railway-station, a few mud brick structures
with a stock of benzine, a pool and a relatively recent small
fort which Ibrahim Pasha had armed with three small canons. Its
status as the station for Kerak, situated 45 kilometres to the
west, gives it some importance, especially since a real road,
edged with drainage ditches and kilometre markers connects Kerak
with the railway. In the old days, guides estimated 7 hours 50
minutes walk between Qatraneh and Kerak; today the journey is
usually done in 1 hour 20 minutes. (RB, 1928, p598)
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