Note 16 — Chapter II
Reading edition
Abulfeda quotes Ebn Hokal, who says that “Hems is placed in a most fertile plain, and that it is more healthy than any part of the district of Damascus: he adds that neither serpents nor scorpions are found there.... Not quite a mile from the town runs the river Maklûb, or Oront, and upon its banks are orchards and vineyards.”