Note 164 — Chapter XI · CAMPAIGN IN SYRIA.—BATTLE OF WACUSA ON THE YERMUK. A.H. XIII. A.D. 634.

They emerged at Suwâ near Tadmor, and forthwith fell upon the Beni Bahra, a Christian tribe, a portion of which was engaged in the defence of Dûma the year before. Here again we have the bacchanalian death-song of Horcûs mentioned before. We must receive the account of Khâlid’s circuit even after the passage of the desert, with some reserve. He is said to have plundered Cariatein and Huwarein on the way from Tadmor; to have made terms with the Beni Codhâa at Cussum; then to have passed over the ‘Mount of the Eagle’ (so called from his halting on it with the Prophet’s black flag), within sight of Damascus; to have plundered Marj Râhat, and a convent in the Ghûta or plain of Damascus, killing the men and taking the females prisoners; and so on to Bostra, which, after some opposition, came to terms. If this be all true, he may have at Bostra formed a junction with the body of his column left behind at Corâcar. But it is all very vague, and with a dash of the marvellous.

Ibn Ishâc gives a somewhat different account. He mixes up former victories (e.g. the capture of the forty Christian youths, of Aly’s slave-girl, &c.) with this campaign; and he makes the storming of Bostra to follow the junction with Abu Obeida. I find no authority whatever for the romance of the taking of Bostra as given by Ockley and followed by Gibbon.