[p.21]on every side into the Kadisha, whose source is two hours distant
from Bshirrai, in the direction of the mountain from whence I came.
Bshirrai belongs to the district of Tripoli, but is at present, with the
whole of the mountains, in the hands of the Emir Beshir, or chief of the
Druses. The inhabitants of the village rear the silk-worm, have
excellent plantations of tobacco, and a few manufactories of cotton
stuffs used by the mountaineers as shawls for girdles. Forty years ago
the village was in the hands of the Metaweli, who were driven out by the
Maronites.
In the morning I went to Kanobin; after walking for two hours and a half
over the upper plain, I descended the precipitous side of a collateral
branch of the valley Kadisha, and continued my way to the convent, which
I reached in two hours and a half. It is built on a steep precipice on
the right of the valley, at half an hour's walk from the river, and
appears as if suspended in the air, being supported by a high wall,
built against the side of the mountain. There is a spring close to it.
The church, which is excavated in the rock, and dedicated to the Virgin,
is decorated with the portraits of a great number of patriarchs. During
the winter, the peasants suspend their silk-worms in bags, to the
portrait of some favourite saint, and implore his influence for a
plenteous harvest of silk; from this custom the convent derives a
considerable income.
Kanobin is the seat of the patriarch of the Maronites, who is at the
head of twelve Maronite bishops, and here in former times he generally
passed the summer months, retiring in the winter to Mar Hanna; but the
vexations and insults which the patriarchs were exposed to from the
Metaweli, in their excursions to and from Baalbec, induced them for many
years to abandon this residence. The present patriarch is the first who
for a long time has resided in