The name is in the plural, Aïn being the singular
form. The reason for this plural is easy to understand:
the site is a corner of Paradise, with springs throwing
up living water on all sides. In the verdure one finds
every shade of green that an artist might imagine,
and when the land is carpeted with wild flower one
is transported to another world. Ouïoun el-Samak
lies between the districts of Denniyeh and Akkar,
near the village of Saffaret el-Katih.
To reach this site, one must follow a narrow, somewhat
ill-made road, winding along a hillside, after which
one comes to this valley transformed since 1946 into
a lake of outstanding beauty, with cafés and
restaurants where one may sit in the cool shade of
the trees in surroundings of unrivalled charm.
From the mountainside there spring the waters of Nahr
el-Bared, the Cold River, which serve to generate
electric power. The water is dammed back in a reservoir
500 by 75 metres, and serves also to irrigate the
agricultural land which provides the main source of
income for the village through which one passes. In
places, muddy water flows over the road, small herds
of cows wonder here and there, and one may see children
on their way to or from the only school. A couple
of coaches a day bring the two or three hundred visitors
who arrive every week.
It should not be forgotten that by leaving the main
road just before the village of Minieh one may visit
the grotto inside the mosque of Ain Yeshua (Joshua
the prophet), and if one carries on beyond the lake
one reaches Goraya, where there is a wood of mythic
fame known as Abou Moussa, with enormous evergreen
oaks centuries old.
One may find also the venerable remains of a very
ancient monastery, more or less abandoned, which serves
as a cemetery for the Muslims of the village.
The river Bared is also called the river Moussa, a
name that reminds us of Moses in the Old Testament,
as Yeshua reminds us of Joshua.
William Matar
- Lake Ouyoun El Samak: >> View
Movie << (2005-06-01)
