[p.158]to sleep, and walked up to the castle, which is distant six hours
and a half from Shennyn. It is built upon the top of an insulated hill,
which communicates on its western side only, with the chain of mountains
we had passed. Below the walls of the castle, on the east side, is the
town of Hossn, consisting of about one hundred and fifty houses. The
castle is one of the finest buildings of the middle age I ever saw. It
is evidently of European construction; the lions, which are carved over
the gate, were the armorial bearings of the Counts of Thoulouse, whose
name is often mentioned in the history of the crusades. It is surrounded
by a deep paved ditch, on the outside of which runs a wall flanked with
bastions and towers. The walls of the castle itself are very regularly
constructed, and are ornamented in many places with high gothic arches,
projecting several feet from the wall. The inner castle, which is
seventy paces in breadth, and one hundred and twenty in length, is
defended by bastions. A broad staircase, under a lofty arched passage,
leads up from the gate into the castle, and was accessible to horsemen.
In the interior we particularly admired a large saloon, of the best
Gothic architecture, with arches intersecting each on the roof. In the
middle of a court-yard we noticed a round pavement of stones elevated
about a foot and a half above the ground, and eighteen paces in
diameter; we could not account for its use; it is now called El Sofra,
or the table. There are many smaller apartments in the castle, and
several gothic chambers, most of which are in perfect preservation;
outside the castle an aqueduct is still standing, into which the rain
water from the neighbouring hills was conducted by various channels, and
conveyed by the aqueduct into the castle ditch, which must have served
as a reservoir for the use of the garrison, while it added at the same
time to the strength of the fortress. Figures of lions are seen in
various places on the outer wall, as well as Arabic inscriptions,