[p.10]Shaeme, Haoush el Rafka, Tel Hezin, and arrived, after seven
hours, at Baalbec.[The following are the names of villages in Belad
Baalbec, between Baalbec and Zahle. On the Libanus, or on the declivity
near its foot; Kerak, Fursul, Nieha, Nebi Eily, Temnin foka (the upper
Temnin) Bidneil, Smustar, Hadad Tareie, Nebi Ershaedi, Kefferdein Saide,
Budei, Deir Akhmar, Deir Eliaout, Sulife, Btedai. In the plain; Abla,
Temnin tahte (the lower Temnin) Ksarnabe, Beit Shaeme, Gferdebesh,
Haoush el Rafka, Haoush el Nebi, Haoush Esseneid, Telhezin (with a
copious spring), Medjdeloun, Haoush Barada, Haoush Tel Safie, Tel
Wardin, Sergin, Ain, Ouseie, Haoush Mesreie, Bahami, Duris, Yead. On the
Anti-Libanus, or near its foot; Briteil, Tallie, Taibe, Khoreibe, El
Aoueine, Nebi Shit, Marrabun, Mouze, Kanne, Deir el Ghazal, Reia,
Hushmush. All these villages are inhabited by Turks or Metawelis; Abla
and Fursul are the only Christian villages. I subjoin the villages in
the plain to the N. of Baalbec, belonging to the territory of Baalbec.
On the Libanus; Nebba, Essafire, Harbate. On the Plain; Tunin, Shaet,
Ras el Haded, Leboue, El Kaa. Anti-Libanus, and at its foot: Nahle, El
Ain, Nebi Oteman, Fiki, Erzel, Mukra, El Ras.]
The territory of Baalbec extends, as I have before mentioned, down to
the Bekaa. On the eastern side it comprises the mountain of the Anti-
Libanus, or Djebel Essharki, up to its top; and on the western side, the
Libanus likewise, as far as its summits. In the plain it reaches as far
as El Kaa, twelve hours from Baalbec and fourteen hours from Homs, where
the Anti-Libanus terminates, and where the valley between the two
mountains widens considerably, because the Anti-Libanus there takes a
more eastern direction. This district is abundantly watered by rivulets;
almost every village has its spring, all of which descend into the
valley, where most of them lose themselves, or join the Liettani, whose
source is between Zahle and Baalbec, about two hours from the latter
place, near a hill called Tel Hushben. The earth is extremely fertile,
but is still less cultivated than in the Bekaa. Even so late as twelve
years ago, the plain, and a part of the mountain, to the distance of a
league and a half round the town, were covered with grape plantations;
the oppressions of the governors,
[p.11]and their satellites have now entirely destroyed them; and the
inhabitants of Baalbec, instead of eating their own grapes, which were
renowned for their superior flavour, are obliged to import them from
Fursul and Zahle. The government of Baalbec has been for many years in
the hands of the family of Harfush, the head family of the Metaweli of
Syria.[The Metaweli are of the sect of Ali, like the Persians; they have
more than 200 houses at Damascus, but they conform there to the rites of
the orthodox Mohammedans.] In later times, two brothers, Djahdjah and
Sultan, have disputed with each other the possession of the government;
more than fifteen individuals of their own family have perished in these
contests, and they have dispossessed each other by turns, according to
the degree of friendship or enmity which the Pashas of Damascus bore to
the one or the other. During the reign of Youssef Pasha, Sultan was
Emir; as soon as Soleiman was in possession of Damascus, Sultan was
obliged to fly, and in August, 1810, his brother Djahdjah returned to
his seat, which he had already once occupied. He pays a certain annual
sum to the Pasha, and extorts double its amount from the peasant. The
Emir Beshir has, since the reign of Soleiman Pasha, likewise acquired a
certain influence over Baalbec, and is now entitled to the yearly sum of
fifteen purses from this district. The Emir Djahdjah resides at Baalbec,
and keeps there about 200 Metaweli horsemen, whom he equips and feeds
out of his own purse. He is well remembered by several Europeans,
especially English travellers, for his rapacity, and inhospitable
behaviour.
The first object which strikes the traveller arriving from the Bekaa, is
a temple [This temple is not seen in approaching Baalbec from Damascus.]
in the plain, about half an hour's walk from the town, which has
received from the natives the appellation of Kubbet Duris. Volney has
not described this temple. It is an
[p.12]octagon building supported by eight beautiful granite columns,
which are all standing. They are of an order resembling the Doric; the
capitals project very little over the shaft, which has no base. Over
every two pillars lies one large stone, forming the architrave, over
which the cornice is still visible, very little adorned with sculpture.
The roof has fallen in. On the N.W. side, between two of the columns, is
an insulated niche, of calcareous stone, projecting somewhat beyond the
circumference of the octagon, and rising to about two feet below the
roof. The granite of the columns is particularly beautiful, the
feldspath and quartz being mixed with the hornblende in large masses.
The red feldspath predominates. One of the columns is distinguished from
the rest by its green quartz. We could not find any traces of
inscriptions.
September 29th.--I took lodgings in a small room belonging to the
catholic priest, who superintends a parish of twenty-five Christian
families. This being near the great temple, I hastened to it in the
morning, before any body was apprised of my arrival.
The work of Wood, who accompanied Dawkins to Baalbec in 1751, and the
subsequent account of the place given by Volney, who visited Baalbec in
1784, render it unnecessary for me to enter into any description of
these ruins. I shall only observe that Volney is incorrect in describing
the rock of which the buildings are constructed as granite; it is of the
primitive calcareous kind, but harder than the stone of Tedmor. There
are, however, many remains of granite columns in different parts of the
building.
I observed no Greek inscriptions; there were some few in Latin and in
Arabic; and I copied the following Cufic inscription on the side of a
stair-case, leading down into some subterranean
[p.13]chambers below the small temple, which the Emir has walled up to
prevent a search for hidden treasures. [Cufic inscription]
Having seen, a few months before, the ruins of Tedmor, a comparison
between these two renowned remains of antiquity naturally offered itself
to my mind. The entire view of the ruins of Palmyra, when seen at a
certain distance, is infinitely more striking than those of Baalbec, but
there is not any one spot in the ruins of Tedmor so imposing as the
interior view of the temple of Baalbec. The temple of the Sun at Tedmor
is upon a grander scale than that of Baalbec, but it is choked up with
Arab houses, which admit only of a view of the building in detail. The
archilecture of Baalbec is richer than that of Tedmor.
The walls of the ancient city may still be traced, and include a larger
space than the present town ever occupied, even in its most flourishing
state. Its circuit may be between three and four miles. On the E. and N.
sides the gates of the modern town, formed in the ancient wall, still
remain entire, especially the northern gate; it is a narrow arch, and
comparatively very small. I suppose it to be of Saracen origin.
[p.14] The women of Baalbec are esteemed the handsomest of the
neighbouring country, and many Damascenes marry Baalbec girls. The air
of Belad Baalbec and the Bekaa, however, is far from being healthy. The
chain of the Libanus interrupts the course of the westerly winds, which
are regular in Syria during the summer months; and the want of these
winds renders the climate extremely hot and oppressive.
September 30th.--I again visited the ruins this morning. The Emir had
been apprised of my arrival by his secretary, to whom I had a letter of
recommendation. He sent the secretary to ask whether I had any presents
for him; I answered in the negative, but delivered to him a letter,
which the Jew bankers of the Pasha of Damascus had given me for him;
these Jews being men of great influence. He contented himself with
replying that as I had no presents for him, it was not necessary that I
should pay him my respects; but he left me undisturbed in my pursuits,
which was all I wanted.
Near a well, on the S. side of the town, between the temple and the
mountain, I found upon a stone the following inscription;
C. CASSIVS ARRIANVS
MONVMENTVM SIBI
-OCO SVO VIVVS
FECIT
In the afternoon I made a tour in the invirons of Baalbec. At the foot
of the Anti-Libanus, a quarter of an hour's walk from the town, to the
south is a quarry, where the places are still visible from whence
several of the large stones in the south wall of the castle were
extracted; one large block is yet remaining, cut on three sides, ready
to be transported to the building, but it must be done by other hands
than those of the Metaweli. Two other blocks, cut in
[p.15]like manner, are standing upright at a little distance from each
other; and near them, in the rock, are two small excavated tombs, with
three niches in each, for the dead, in a style of workmanship similar to
what I saw to the north of Aleppo, in the Turkman mountains towards Deir
Samaan. In the hills, to the S.W. of the town, just behind this quarry,
are several tombs, excavated in the rock, like the former, but of larger
dimensions. In following the quarry towards the village of Duris,
numerous natural caverns are met with in the calcareous rocks; I entered
more than a dozen of them, but found no traces of art, except a few
seats or steps rudely cut out. These caverns serve at present as winter
habitations for the Arabs who pasture their cattle in this district. The
principal quarry was a full half hour to the southward of the town.
The mountains above Baalbec are quite uncultivated and barren, except at
the Ras el Ain, or sources of the river of Baalbec, where a few trees
only remain. This is a delightful place, and is famous amongst the
inhahitants of the adjoining districts for the salubrity of its air and
water. Near the Ain, are the ruins of a church and mosque.
The ruined town of Baalbec contains about seventy Metaweli families, and
twenty-five of Catholic Christians. Amidst its ruins are two handsome
mosques, and a fine bath. The Emir lives in a spacious building called
the Serai. The inhabitants fabricate white cotton cloth like that of
Zahle; they have some dyeing houses, and had, till within a few years,
some tanneries. The men are the artizans here, and not the women. The
property of the people consists chiefly of cows, of which every house
has ten or fifteen, besides goats and sheep. The goats are of a species
not common in other parts of Syria; they have very long ears, large
horns, and long hair, but not silky like that of the goats of Anatolia.
[p.16]The breed of Baalbec mules is much esteemed, and I have seen some
of them worth on the spot £30 to £35. sterling.
October 1st.--After having again visited the ruins, I engaged a man in
the forenoon, to shew me the way to the source of the rivulet called
Djoush [Arabic]. It is in a Wady in the Anti-Libanus, three quarters of
an hour distant from Baalbec. The rivulet was very small, owing to the
remarkable dryness of the season, and was lost in the Wady before it
reached the plain; at other times it flows down to Baalbec and joins the
river, which, after irrigating the gardens and fields round the town,
loses itself in the plain. A little higher in the mountain than the spot
where the water of the Djoush first issues from the spring, is a small
perpendicular hole, through which I descended, not without some danger,
about sixteen feet, into an aqueduct which conveys the water of the
Djoush underground for upwards of one hundred paces. This aqueduct is
six feet high and three feet and a half wide, vaulted above, and covered
with a thick coat of plaister; it is in perfect preservation; the water
in it was about ten inches deep. In following up this aqueduct I came to
a vaulted chamber about ten feet square, built with large hewn stones,
into which the water falls through another walled passage, but which I
did not enter, being afraid that the water falling on all sides might
extinguish the only candle that I had with me. Below this upper passage,
another dark one is visible through the water as it falls down. The
aqueduct continues beyond the hole through which I descended, as far as
the spot where the water issues from under the earth. Above ground, at a
small distance from the spring, and open towards it, is a vaulted room,
built in the rock, now half filled with stones and rubbish.