To Bales, which is Pethor[209] on the Euphrates, two days. Even at this day you there still find remains of the tower of Balaam the son of Beor (may the name of the wicked rot!) which he built in accordance with the hours of the day. This place contains about ten Jews. Half a day hence we come to Kala Jiaber[210], which is Sela Midbarah. This city remained in the power of the Arabs even at the time when the Thogarmim (or Turks) took their country and dispersed them in the desert. It contains about two thousand Jews, of whom R. Zedekiah, R. Chia, and R. Solomon are the principal. One day brings us to Racca, which is Calneh of Scripture[211], on the confines of Mesopotamia, being the frontier town between that country and the empire of the Thogarmim (or Turks); it contains about seven hundred Jewish inhabitants, the principal of whom are R. Sakhai, R. Nadib, who is blind, and R. Joseph. One of the synagogues was built by Esra the scribe, when he returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. It is one day hence to the ancient place of Haran[212], which contains twenty Jewish inhabitants, who also possess a synagogue erected by Esra. Nobody is allowed to construct any building on the spot where the house of our father Abraham was situated; even the Mohammedans pay respect to the place, and resort thither to pray. Two days' journey from thence is ...[213] at the mouth of the El-Khabur, the Habor of Scripture. This river takes its course through Media, and loses itself in the Kizil Ozein. About two hundred Jews dwell near this place. Two days to Nisibin, a large city plentifully watered, and containing about one thousand Jews. Two days to Jezireh Ben Omar, an island in the Tigris, at the foot of Mount Ararat[214], and four miles distant from the spot where the ark of Noah rested; Omar Ben al-Khatab removed the ark from the summit of the two mountains and made a mosque of it. There still exists in the vicinity of the ark a synagogue of Esra the scribe, which is visited by the Jews of the city on the 9th of Ab[215]. The city of Jezireh Omar Ben al-Khatab contains about four thousand Jews, the principals of whom are R. Mubchar, R. Joseph, and R. Chiia.