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THE THIRD VOLUME.

Preparations for a journey to B?lbec--Precautions against the plague--Departure from Meshm?shy--Heavy attire--The author loses his road--Cheerless night--Dr?ze hospitality--Bar?k--Bur Elias--Village of Malaka--Cottages in the Bk?--Hard dumplings--Grumbling servants--Misery of villages in the territory of B?lbec--Mode of encampment--Arrival at B?lbec 1

Residence at B?lbec--Visit to the governor, the Emir Jahj?h--Wretchedness of B?lbec--Bath Scene--Encampment of Lady Hester at Ras el Ayn--Sepulchral caverns--Greek bishop of B?lbec--Catholic priest--Climate--Departure from B?lbec--Any Ayty--Hurricane--Bsharry--Mineral springs--Dress of women--Village of Ehden, conjectured by some to be the site of Paradise--Resort of native Christians --Arrival of Selim, son of M?lem Musa Koblan, of Hamah--The Cedars of Lebanon--Maronite monastery of Mar Antani?s--Lady Hester enters it in spite of the monks--Arrival at Tripoli 15

Residence at Tripoli--The governor Mustafa Aga--Lady Hester's visit to him--Extraordinary civilities paid by her to Selim--Town and port of Tripoli--Greek bishop--Library--Paintings in the church--Unwholesome climate--The author's journey to the convent of Dayr Ham?ra--Illness of M?ly Ismael's Khasnad?r--Miraculous cures performed at the convent--The Khasnad?r's wife--The monks--Castle of El Hussn--Extensive view--Arrival of Selim at the monastery--His character--Return of the author to Tripoli--Lady Hester's plan of an association of literary men and artists--Departure for Mar Elias 41

Journey from Tripoli to Abra--Monastery of Dayr Nat?r--Grave of Mr. Cotter--Ruins of Enfeh--Batr?n--Renegado priest--Remarks on apostates--Gebayl, the ancient Byblus--Mulberry plantations--Castle--Public-houses--Nahr Ibrahim, the river Adonis--Taberjeh--Ejectment of cottagers in rain and cold--Nahr el Kelb, the ancient river Lycus--Inscriptions--Shuif?d--Visit of Lady Hester to the Syt Hab?s--Capugi Bashi sent to Lady Hester--Mb?rak, the groom--His dexterity--Nebby Yunez, the tomb of Jonah--Arrival at Mar Elias--Precautions adopted against the Capugi Bashi 64

Probability of the existence of Hidden Treasures in the East--Manuscript pretending to reveal such Treasures, brought to Lady Hester--She obtains firm?ns from the Porte authorizing her to make researches--She sends to Hamah for M?lem Musa--Her letter to the Pasha of Acre--Her plans for raising money--Journey of the Author to Damascus--His Visit to Ahmed Bey--Ambergris--Damascus sabres--Horse Bazar--Horse Dealing and Horse Stealing--M. Beaudin's night journey to Tyre--His horse stolen--Detection and punishment of the thieves--Return of the Author to Mar Elias--His dangerous situation in a snow-storm--Interior of a Dr?ze Cottage 86

Journey of Lady Hester from Mar Elias to Ascalon--Bussa--Acre--She prevails on Mr. Catafago to accompany her to Ascalon--Illness of Ali Pasha--Professional visits of the Author--Abdallah Bey, the Pasha's son--Extraordinary honours paid to Lady Hester--Her departure from Acre--Tremendous storm--M. Loustaunau; his prophecies--His history--Don Tomaso Coschich arrives with despatches from Sir Sydney Smith to Lady Hester--Substance of them--Presents sent to the care of Lady Hester by Sir Sydney--His character in the East--Caesarea--Um Khaled--Village of Menzel--Jaffa--Mohammed Aga, the governor ordered to accompany Lady Hester--His character--Arrival at Ascalon 116

History of Ascalon--Ruins--Encampments--Forced labour of peasants--Excavations--Fragments of Columns--Discovery of a mutilated statue--Apprehensions of Signor Damiani--Lady Hester orders the statue to be destroyed--Excavations abandoned--Lady Hester's narrative of the motives and results of the researches--Auditing accounts-- Mohammed Aga a fatalist--Return to Jaffa--Derwish Mustafa Aga and Lady Hester's black female slave--Patients--Mohammed Bey; his story--Return of Lady Hester's servant Ibrahim from England--Khurby, or the Ruins--Remains near that spot--Return to Acre--Altercation with muleteers--Excavations at Sayda--Reflexions on researches for hidden treasures 152

Visit of the Author to the Maronite convent in the village of Joon--Abyssinian man and woman--Black horses--Lady Hester fixes herself at Meshm?shy--Solitary wigwam--The Author wishes to return to England--He sets out for Egypt--Destruction of Tyre, not so complete as travellers represent--A self-taught lithotomist and oculist--Seaweeds used for dyeing--Embarkation for Egypt in a vessel laden with wood--Impalement--Passengers on board--Cyprus--Revolt in Gebel Nabl?s--Frequency of insurrections there--Arrival at Rosetta--Smoking during Ramaz?n--The Author is joined by Burckhardt, or shaykh Ibrahim--Mutiny of troops at Cairo--Departure by land for Alexandria--Lake Edko--Stay in Alexandria--Coasting voyage to Damietta--Burckhardt not considered as a Turk--Foreigners betrayed by their speech 188

M. Sur?r, English agent at Damietta--Patients--Excursion to Lake Menzaleh--Mataryah--Melik?n--Pounds for cattle--Ruins of San--Broken pottery--Conjectures on its original use--Tennys--Dybeh--Botarga fishery--Fowling--Running deemed indecorous in a Turk--Menzaleh--Haunted house--Disdain of pedestrian travellers--False door--Departure for Syria--Vessel, cargo, and crew--Charms to raise the wind--Arrival at Acre, Tyre, and Abra 223

Disappearance of Colonel Boutin, a French traveller--Efforts of Lady Hester Stanhope, for investigating his fate--Mission of Abd el Ras?k from Mahannah to Lady Hester--Manners and character of the Bedouins--Story of Mustafa Aga, Khasnad?r of M?ly Ismael, and his wife--Departure of Abd el Ras?k and his companions 254

Quarrel between a Dr?ze and a Metou?ly--Buying of medals--Imposition practised on Lady Hester--Punishment of the offender--Illness and death of the Greek patriarch--Funeral ceremonies--Election of a new patriarch--Cottage in the gardens of Sayda--Long drought--Flocks of birds--Hydrophobia--Excursion of the Author to Gar?fy--Shems ed Dyn and his father--Purchase of wine--Decline of commerce in the Levant--M?lem Dub?ny and his daughters--Extortion of Eastern rulers--Arrival of Miss Williams--Arrival of Mr. Bankes--He copies and removes fresco paintings--Failure of his first attempt to reach Palmyra--Visit of Mr. Buckingham--Locusts--Lady Hester takes a voyage to Antioch 267

Journey of the Princess of Wales to Jerusalem--Burial at Abra--Dismissal of Ibrahim--Padre Nicolo--M. Ruffin appointed French consul at Sayda--Great drought--Festival of St. Elias--Alarm of robbers--Visit of the Author to the Shaykh Besh?r's wife, and to Syt Fros?ny Keras?ty--Further alarms--Festival of Byr?m--Cottages taken for Lady Hester at the village of R?m--Depilation--Flight of M?lem Dub?ny--Return of Lady Hester from Antioch--Result of researches after the murderers of Col. Boutin--The Ans?ry refuse to give them up--Mustafa Aga Berber collects troops to punish the Ans?ry--Motives of Lady Hester's voyage to Antioch--Visit of M. Regnault, French consul at Tripoli--M. Loustaunau and his predictions--History of Michael Ayda--Return of Giorgio from England, with Mr. N., as successor to the Author--Last visit of the latter to Acre--The governor of Smyrna put to death--Haw?ry soldiers--Visit to the Emir Besh?r 310

Departure of the Author for Europe--Arrival at Larnaka, in Cyprus--Hospitality of M. Vondiziano, British vice-consul--Tours in the island--Leucosia--The Greek archbishop--City walls--Lepers--Cytherea--Monastery of St. Chrysostom--Famagusta--Return to Larnaka--Carnival amusements--Houses--Amour of Signor Baldo--Murder of Prince George Morusi--History of Signor Brunoni--Cypriote women not remarkable for beauty--Superstitious notions--The Greek archbishop and his dragoman Giorgaki--Insurrection of Turks--How quelled by Cara Pasha--Pusillanimity of the consuls--Thunder-storm--Lenten diet--Malignant fevers--Excursion in the interior--Idalia--Leucosia--M. Brens--Robbery in the governor's palace--Proceedings against the suspected--Intolerance towards freemasons 359

Departure from Cyprus, and voyage to Marseilles--Dirtiness of the French ship and her crew--Fare on board--Cruel treatment of a political prisoner--Angora greyhound--Arrival at Pomegue, the quarantine anchorage of Marseilles 416

ADDITIONAL NOTE 423

TRAVELS

LADY HESTER STANHOPE.

Lady Hester descended the mountain, and I was preparing to accompany her, when I was detained by a dispute among the muleteers, who declared that the fifteen mules could not carry the baggage. Intending to compel them to it, I desired my servant to lead my ass down the mountain, saying I would follow; but, after some time, I found that another mule was indeed required, and that there was not one to be had. Impatient of the delay, I mounted a horse belonging to the owner of the house, and rode to the monastery to get one. The monks refused to lend or hire out their mules; and, seeing no alternative, I desired the luggage thus left should be taken care of, and hastened on foot to overtake the party; but more than an hour had elapsed, and they were far before me. Descending into the plain on the north-east side, I continued along the banks of the Ewely, passing the granite columns, of which mention has already been made, over the bridge called Geser Behann?n. The road continued for a small distance farther in the ravine, through which the river runs north and south, when it turned to the right up an almost precipitous mountain, which overhangs the river, and the indentations and strata of which correspond exactly with those on the opposite side. I here became much fatigued with walking and with the exertions I had made during the morning, and I sat down to rest myself; for I had on me a riding dress, with which, in Turkey, it is scarcely possible to walk; as the breeches are very large. I had likewise a brace of pistols in my girdle, the weight of which was annoying. Whilst sitting by the road-side, some Dr?zes, coming in an opposite direction, passed me, and I questioned them whether the English lady had been seen by them, and they pointed out the road by which she had gone. I then offered them an unusual price if they would let me have one of their mules to convey me to where she was; but they averred it to be impossible, on account of their business, which took them another way.

Renewing my journey, and ascending in a zigzag direction, I reached the head of a deep ravine, into which fell a cascade from the mountain above: I then resumed a northerly course, and made as much haste as my heavy attire would allow me. On the left, but low down and out of hearing, was the river Ewely, and on my right very high mountains, whilst my path was, although stony and rugged, along level ground. In this way I walked till the sun was declining behind the mountains, when I saw the lights of a village, but at some distance before me, which I guessed to be Makht?rah, the residence of the Shaykh Besh?r, as I knew I had been tending towards it. The path soon became somewhat intricate, in consequence of olive, fig, and mulberry-tree plantations, which were numerous hereabout. It now grew dark, and I overtook a man driving an ass, who, as far as I could discern, seemed somewhat afraid of me and my pistols, whilst I felt equally so of him; I therefore turned out of the path, apprehensive, if I asked the way, that he might guess my situation, and find means to rob me; for, in the hurry of the moment, I had not loaded my pistols, and my cartridges were with my servant.

Here my courage and my strength failed me. I judged it to be three hours after sunset, and the darkness was not relieved in the abyss into which I had descended by even the glimmering of a star. The jackalls howled around me; and whoever has heard their night-cry, so like what we may suppose would be the screams of a child whom robbers are in the act of murdering, will not wonder if I disliked the necessity of sleeping in this wild place. I was not sure that there were not leopards near the spot where I was; and the jackalls alone, although they seldom or never attack a man who is awake and moving, might yet fall on me when asleep, and do me great injury before I could rise and defend myself. However, all these reflections were of no avail against extreme weariness. I lay down on the ground, fell asleep, and in the morning, soon after daylight and not before, awoke refreshed and unhurt.

I looked round me, and perceived that I was in a deep ravine; and, as I observed the path by which I had descended to the river, I blessed Providence that had guided my steps; for it was dangerous even in open day. About two hundred yards up the stream was a water-mill. I went to it, and, knocking at the door, found an old Dr?ze who invited me in; but my apprehensions of the plague caused me to refuse; and I asked him where I was, told him how I had passed the night, and inquired if he had seen a large caravan go by on the preceding day. The bridge, I learned, was called Geser Gedayda.

Having satisfied myself on these points, he directed me up the mountain to a village, where, on my arrival, I met another Dr?ze, who was just driving his oxen to plough. I asked him for something to eat, and he immediately turned back, and led me to his own door. His wife was yet in bed. He roused her, and said he had brought a foreigner for a visitor, desiring her to set out the table. But, on expressing my apprehensions of the plague, and on refusing to cross the threshold, she put out her homely fare on a straw tray. It consisted of cheese soaked in oil, a bunch of hung grapes, and some bad bread-cakes. I had now fasted for twenty-two hours, and was not disposed to quarrel about trifles; so she placed it on a stone, and on her retiring I advanced, and ate with my fingers. My looks, dress, &c., were all examined by the woman and a neighbour; but they both scrupulously kept their faces covered.

Having satisfied my hunger, the man desired his son and daughter, children of six or seven years old, to show me on my way; but when I produced all the money I happened to have about me, which was seven paras , and offered it in payment for my breakfast, his civility relaxed, and he suffered me to set off alone. In the village of Gedaydy, for so this was called, the inhabitants are Dr?zes.

As soon as I was out of the village, I came on a country barren and stony; hardly was there a tree to be seen. An hour's walk brought me to a Dr?ze village, called Ayn-wy-Zayn. Here, as there was no plague, I hired an ass and guide to carry me onward. Soon after we entered among very extensive vineyards, which continued as far as Bar?k, where it will be recollected we halted for a night two years before.

Lady Hester had pitched the tents on the very same spot where she had encamped at that time. She had been, during the night, apprehensive that some accident had happened to detain me, and my absence had been productive likewise of still worse consequences. For as, in the necessity there was that our provisions should last us until we reached B?lbec, the keys could not be entrusted to the servants, I had them in my pocket. Upon the arrival, therefore, of the party to the resting-place, which they did not reach until eleven at night, no provisions could be had; and after so long a day's journey , the mule-drivers and servants broke open the provision hampers, and unnecessary waste ensued, and caused us to be afterwards reduced to great straits.

My pedestrian exertion brought on an intolerable erysipelatous heat and itching in both my feet, which nothing could appease but sitting with my naked feet in the stream, just where it issued quite cold from the rock,--a dangerous mode of cure, only to be justified by the necessity I was under of pursuing our journey on the morrow. We passed the whole of the 19th at this spot, while Pierre went back to recover the luggage which had been left at Meshm?shy.

On the 20th, we ascended the last ridge of Lebanon, and, when at the summit, enjoyed that fine prospect which has been described in a former place. We descended into the Bk?, and passed the hamlet of A?ney, a few miserable cottages, whither the husband-men of Bar?k go in the summer to plough and sow, and, having finished these operations, quit them for their homes until harvest time.

One mile farther we planted our tents. Here we remained two nights, waiting for the return of M. Beaudin; but, not being come back on the 22d of October, in the morning, the tents were struck. We took a northerly direction, along the plain close to the foot of Mount Lebanon, and passed some small villages part on our left in the mountain, and part on our right in the plain.

After a march of about three leagues we came to Bur Elias, a small village with a castle of modern construction overhanging it. It was watered by a rivulet, which ran with a smart stream through it. This stream was made to irrigate several well cultivated gardens and orchards, which so much embellished the spot, that, until our arrival at B?lbec, we saw no place to compare with it. There were also the remains of an old mosque, with other evidences that the village was once more populous than at present. In a rock on the south-west side are several ancient caverns, which served as tombs, with sarcophagi hewn in the stone; and, at one part, on the face of a small precipice, chiselled smooth for the purpose, was a square portion of ten or fifteen feet, cut deep enough to admit of a layer of stucco or marble with which it seemed to have been coated, having in its centre, towards the bottom, three recesses, which had probably been filled up with votive tablets, or basso-relievos, there not being depth enough for statues.

Leaving Bur Elias, we came next to Malaka, a large village of two hundred houses, where terminates what is called the district of Bk?, and begins the B?lbec territory, which is, however, but a continuation of the same plain. This village, although so large, is but of two years' date, and was transferred from about three hundred yards off to its present situation, by the emir of the Dr?zes, who, having taken, by force of arms, from the Emir Jahj?h, the governor of B?lbec, the village of Khurby, which was just beyond the line of demarcation of his domain, destroyed it, and made the inhabitants build Malaka.

The houses in the Bk? were not of stone, as on the mountain, but of mud bricks dried in the sun. They were low, and had the appearance of much misery on the outside, although, as we were told, very comfortable within. This we had no opportunity of ascertaining, as the plague reigned about us, and it was by no means prudent to approach, much less to enter, any habitations. The dress of the people was different from that of the mountaineers. No horns were now to be seen on the heads of the women, who likewise wore red aprons, which were universally seen towards the Desert, but never near the sea-coast. The Palma Christi was cultivated very generally for the sake of the oil, which is used for lamps. As harvest was now over, we could not see what were the particular productions of the plain; it seemed, however, highly fertile, being of that fine snuff-coloured mould which, at Hamah and elsewhere, had been pointed out to us as most useful to the husbandman for agricultural purposes.

We encamped near Khurby, which yet had some cottages among its ruined walls. Our water was drawn from a spring which, from its vicinity to an ancient sepulchre assigned by tradition to the patriarch Noah, is called Ayn N?ah. His body is said to occupy a length of forty cubits, and his feet, for want of room, to hang down in the well.

Our appearance here and elsewhere in the Bk? excited much curiosity. Without guards from the emir or pasha, demanding provisions nowhere, and boldly encamping in the open plain away from every habitation, we perhaps awed the very people who would have attacked others marching with more caution. For the Bk? is entirely open to the incursions of the Arabs, who overrun the tract of country between B?lbec and Hems, where no mountain interposes to obstruct them, although many maps falsely lay one down.

The c?by , which have been mentioned in setting out on this journey, were now become so dry and hard that the servants and muleteers refused to eat them. I felt that they were justified in their refusal; for I, who, for the sake of example, was obliged to enforce the order for their consumption by eating them myself, never suffered more from bad food than on this occasion: but no representations could make Lady Hester abate one tittle of her resolution. The maids cried, the men grumbled and rebelled, and the fatigue of keeping order among Christians, Dr?zes, and Mahometans, was more than I had hitherto experienced: yet no one fell ill. This day Pierre joined us here, and brought with him the luggage which had been left behind.

On the 23d we continued our route. The villages in the territory of B?lbec were much less numerous, and much more miserable, than those in the Bk?. Such as were on the side of the mountain were built higher up than they had been, as if the inhabitants feared to be exposed to depredations from the plain. No gardens or orchards were to be seen. After five hours' march we arrived at a Tel, where was a fine rivulet, which, running from the mountain, turned a mill wheel, and then flowed towards the river in the centre of the plain, the ancient Leontes or Litanus, called the B?lbec river by our muleteers, and which becomes the Casmia before it empties itself into the sea. Here we encamped, in a still more dangerous situation than hitherto.

I had established a fixed plan of encampment, with regular distances assigned for each tent, which was adhered to every night; but here the tents were brought closer than usual. I was not at ease in my bed, and, awaking M. Beaudin, the interpreter, he and myself patrolled the ground alternately through the night. The moon shone bright, and the scene wore a lonely appearance. Fortunately we had to deal with a woman whose composure of mind was never ruffled by real danger, and whose sleep was never broken by the apprehension of false.

The Letanus passed very near the Tel, from which circumstance it is evident that the slope of Anti-Lebanon extends across two-thirds of the plain. At this season of the year, and in this spot, a man might leap over the river. Higher up, one day's journey west of B?lbec, there is, according to Abulfeda, a pool or lake, reedy and stagnant, where this river takes its source, and the bed of the stream had many reeds in it where we saw it.

On the 24th we crossed it, and at noon reached B?lbec. The luxuriant scenery which the imagination readily lent to the city and ruins as seen at a distance, intermixed with the deep green foliage of trees, vanished on a nearer approach. The gardens near the ruins were no more than orchards, sown, in the intervals between the trees, with maize, turnips, and other vegetables: nor did the Temple of the Sun impress us with all its grandeur until close to it. The inequalities of the soil in a manner buried the ruins, and their magnificence, at the first glance, seemed, like that of Palmyra, to be less than, on a farther examination, it proved to be.

Residence at B?lbec--Visit to the governor, the Emir Jahj?h--Wretchedness of B?lbec--Bath Scene--Encampment of Lady Hester at Ras el Ayn--Sepulchral caverns--Greek bishop of B?lbec--Catholic priest--Climate--Departure from B?lbec--Ayn Ayty--Hurricane--Bsharry--Mineral springs--Dress of women--Village of Ehden, conjectured by some to be the site of Paradise--Resort of native Christians--Arrival of Selim, son of M?lem Musa Koblan, of Hamah--The Cedars of Lebanon--Maronite monastery of Mar Antani?s--Lady Hester enters it in spite of the monks--Arrival at Tripoli.

We encamped under the south-west angle of the temple, in an open field, through which ran the rivulet that traverses the town; but, considering that the water we thus drank was no better than the washings of the houses, and fearing also, from the concourse of women and children who were constantly surrounding our encampment, that the plague might be introduced among us, it was resolved to remove to a spot of ground near the spring where the rivulet takes its rise, called Ras el Ayn, the fountain head, about a mile from the town to the south-east. Here, in the ruins of an old mosque, her ladyship's tent was screened from the wind; for tempests were now expected; whilst the rest of the party encamped in the open fields.

The day after our arrival I paid a visit to the governor, Emir Jahj?h, of the family of Harf?sh, whose exactions from travellers passing through this place have been recorded by more than one sufferer. He was a needy prince, who ruled, indeed, the district, but was surrounded by too many chieftains as powerful as himself ever to feel secure. For, on the one hand, the Pasha of Damascus, to whom he was tributary, was said to take annually from him sixty purses: on the other, the Emir of the Dr?zes, towards the west, was watching, upon every occasion, to make encroachments upon him; and the Emir of Derny, a neighbouring district of Mount Lebanon, was his enemy whenever it served his turn to be so. Jahj?h had been on one occasion displaced by his brother, the Emir Sultan, backed by the Pasha of Damascus: but he afterwards restored the usurped province to Jahj?h, and they were now living in amicable relations with each other.

I found the emir in a house with little appearance of splendour about it. The room in which he received me had no more than four whitewashed walls, with a mud floor covered with a common rush mat. What his har?m was I had no opportunity of judging: but the har?m of one of his relations, to which I went to see a maid servant who was ill of a tertian ague, was very much of a piece with this. His brother, Emir Sultan, to whom I next paid a visit, seemed somewhat better lodged: for his sofa was covered with yellow satin, with a cushion of the same stuff to lean on, but his guests were obliged to sit on the floor on a common mat. An earthenware jug to drink out of, a towel to wipe his face and hands, a pipe and tobacco-bag, a sword, a pair of pistols, and a gun--these formed the furniture of his, as they do that of the rooms of many other chieftains in the East.

I dined with Emir Sultan, a compliment from him which I did not expect, as the rules of the Metoualy religion prohibit eating and drinking from vessels defiled by Christians. Wanting to drink during the repast, I called for some water, which to the other guests was handed in a silver cup. To me it was given in an earthenware jug: and, when we had risen from table, this jug was broken by the servant close by the door of the room, that no one of the house might make use of it afterwards. I felt my choler rise at this unjust distinction made between man and man, but I pretended not to observe it. Why it was done in sight of us all I do not know, unless it were to remove the imputation which might lie at his door if it could be surmised that an impure drinking-cup still remained in his house.

Twice, when I was on a morning visit to Emir Sultan, the butcher came, weighed his meat at the door of the room, and minced it in the window-seat before him, in order, as I guessed, to avoid all suspicion of poison, the constant dread of eastern potentates, or else to fulfil to the letter some precept of his religion touching meats.

The plague was occasionally making its appearance in different families, so that I could visit no one without some degree of apprehension. Respecting the modern town, this is the information I collected. It contained now no more than from 120 to 150 families, about thirty of which were Catholics. The Mahometan inhabitants were Metoualys or Shyas. Nothing could present a more miserable appearance than the streets. Five sixths of the old town were now covered with rubbish. Wretchedness was depicted in the rags and looks of the inhabitants, and poverty in the palace of the emir. It is said that the emir himself, rendered desperate by the little quiet which the pasha of Damascus allowed him, had, of his own accord, destroyed whole streets, that his town might be no longer an object of covetousness to him. B?lbec is situated in 33? 50 N. I observed two mosques, Jam? el Malak and Baekret el Cadi. There were four gates to the town, which was divided into seven parishes. The district of B?lbec contained twenty-five villages.

South and by east of the temple, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, is an elevation which commands the town, and affords a beautiful view of the ruins and of the surrounding country. On the top of this eminence was a well, hewn out of the rock, of a square form, but now filled up with rubbish. The quarries, which supplied the stone for building the temple, are to the south-west of it. Viewed from this spot, the plain of the Bk? seems to run north-east and south-west. The last visible point of Anti-Lebanon, seen from hence, lies north-east and by north half east, and the snowy summit of Mount Lebanon bore north-north-west.

I forbear to give any description of the Temple of the Sun. It was in the same state in which Volney saw it in 1784. The immense stones which form the escarpment of the south-west corner, and which are always mentioned by travellers with so much wonder, somewhat disfigure the edifice; for their monstrous magnitude is so little in correspondence with the stones which form the upper part of the wall that they destroy all symmetry, and impress an idea of a building less in size than its component parts were intended for.

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