_Beyroot, Sept. 5th, 1836._
We left Damascus by the same road by which we had entered it, and
continued on the same way as far as Zebdane. Having already made
some remarks on the characteristic features of this district, I will
say no more about it.
From Zebdane, we kept up the valley, which ran a north-east
direction. It becomes narrow very soon after leaving that place, the
ridges from the mountains on both sides close in and often almost
meet, leaving but a small portion of level ground. Passing the
sources of the streams, the quantity of water diminishes fast. The
trees almost cease except at occasional spots, where care has been
taken to plant them. The ground for about an hour's travel is rough;
the plain then opens again to a considerable extent, and is more or
less cultivated. There are a few houses; but this part is but poorly
supplied with water, and without that the regions must be barren and
desolate.
We soon found ourselves passing over the highest part of the plain,
and beginning to descend. In short, we found that this little plain
was at the separating point of the head waters of the Bareda which
flows to Damascus, and those of the El-Kanne, which flows into the
Bokar through the Anti-Lebanon east of Zahle. We soon came to the
head branches of this last stream, which is formed of a set of most
noble springs, rising in the middle of the plain. There is quite
a cluster of them rising near each other, and throwing off enough
water to turn a mill; fine, pure, cool water. As is usual, it is
carried in channels through different parts of the plain. There is a
little cluster of trees, and the whole district over which the water
can be thrown is cultivated, and rich in verdure. A small village
stands just below, and we found some females at the spring engaged
in washing. For a small present they allowed us the use of their
fire to prepare our food; and again a good deal of interest was
excited to see the Franks eat.
The mountains continued very bare of trees, and shrubbery of every
kind. In the few places where water rose, there were a few trees,
all else was a barren, sunburnt surface. After passing the village,
which was poor in its appearance, the plain became more barren and
rough, and the cultivated district more and more narrow. At the
end of half an hour it terminated at a rough, narrow pass, nearly
due west, and directly through the Anti-Lebanon. We followed the
waters through this pass. The sides were steep and high, and the
rock thrown about in wild confusion. The dip of the rock was very
variable at different places. Along the stream were a few trees, and
we saw several large flocks of sheep and goats, under the care of
shepherds and their dogs.
After following the pass for an hour and a half, it bore to
the south-west; we left it, crossed a pretty high ridge to the
north-west, and entered the Bokar. On reaching the top, the plain
opened to view, and we had been led to expect that we should find
Baalbec at the point where we entered the plain. But no Baalbec was
to be seen. We found, to our no little discomfort, that we had about
two hours' ride northward, along a dry plain, under a burning sun,
before we could reach this far-famed ruin.
We passed several most extensive threshing-floors. Their threshing
instruments and mode of cleaning the grain, were the same as has
been already described. I might add, that in bringing their grain
to the floor, and in carrying away the straw, they use mules and
donkeys, and at times the camel. I saw, in no instance, the use
of a wheel-carriage. The only wheeled-carriages that I have seen
in Syria were those for cannon at Zahle, and ten or fifteen carts
which I saw at one time passing a street in Damascus. These carts
were of a coarse, strong kind, belonging to the Pasha, and were then
employed in carrying materials for the castle which he was repairing.
Our road lay over the ridges, at the foot of the mountains, along
the eastern side of the plain. The soil over which we passed was
thin. There was much rock on the surface, and in many places there
were wide-spread masses of a very coarse puddingstone, that appeared
to have once formed a huge bed of water-worn rock, bowlders, and
pebbles, and owing to some cementing matter which had come over
it, had become a solid rock. As we approached Baalbec this rock
discontinued, and gave place to a very thick stratum of massy
limestone of a peculiar kind, which is mainly used in the walls of
Baalbec.
Baalbec stands near the foot of the Anti-Lebanon, a little above the
general level of the plain. The ridges of the mountain lower down
gradually, and spreading out, form a general level, which merges
insensibly into that of the plain. It is on this elevated level that
the ruins stand; about a mile from them, on the side of a hill,
is the quarry that has furnished the stone for these stupendous
buildings. A little to the east arises the finest set of springs
that I have seen in Syria. They boil up over a considerable surface,
and send off a stream of water sufficient to set in operation
various kinds of machinery, if applied to that purpose.
The ground on which the ruins stand is nearly a dead level; a large
district has been surrounded by walls, traces of them remain. The
space covered by the ruins of the temple, or set of temples, and
possibly theatre and other buildings, is about nine hundred feet
long, and six hundred broad. The area is not, however, a regular
parallelogram, there are off-sets at some of the towers--towers
having apparently been added when the place was fortified, and
converted into a fort. A foundation or platform of great thickness,
I should say not less than ten feet, seems to have been laid over
this large space, and upon this foundation the temples have been
reared.
The stones in this foundation and wall, as in the walls still
higher, are many of them of a most enormous size; at the west and
south-west corner especially, they are almost incredibly large.
Where all were so large, we did not think it worth while to measure
very many. In one row, and that one at some distance from the
ground, are three stones which we measured, and made them about
seventy feet long each, and about fifteen feet wide. The thickness
we could not certainly tell, but we inferred it to be about fourteen
feet. These stones are much of the same shape and appearance, they
are precisely like one which lies nearly cut out in the quarry,
which we were, from its position, enabled to measure accurately. It
was seventy feet six inches long, fourteen feet two inches thick,
and seventeen feet nine inches wide at one end, and thirteen feet
eight inches at the other. We were at once struck with its perfect
likeness to the three stones in the wall; all of them were wider
at one end than the other. I suppose that these four large stones,
the three in the wall and the one in the quarry, were originally
intended, either for obelisks, pillars, images, or some such
thing; that their being now in the wall, is owing to a subsequent
arrangement, when the place was converted into a fortress, and those
stupendous outside walls put up, which now fill us with wonder.
Under these three immense stones are seven others, which almost
equal those above them in width; their thickness also, judging from
what is seen at the corner of the building, does not much fall
short of a due proportion. In truth, they are upon a most gigantic
scale. This row extends along the south-west side nearly one hundred
yards, forming a most solid foundation, ten or twelve feet high,
which, however, on this side, is not built upon out to the edge,
the wall going up about twenty feet inward. The above-mentioned
are the largest stones I saw in these ruins; but many others are
enormous, and, as a general thing, they are very large. As a sample,
I measured one of a large row of stones at the south-east corner
of the most perfect building now standing, (it was a corner stone,
which enabled me to ascertain the thickness,) and found it to be
twenty-eight feet long, six feet six inches wide, and four feet
six inches thick. I was not at all certain that I might not, on
measuring, have found many still larger.
The most perfect temple, now standing, is on the south-east side
of the above wide foundation. It is one hundred and fifty-seven
feet long, seventy-eight wide, and the walls now may be sixty-six
feet high. We inferred its height from the length of one of the
fallen pillars, with a row of which it was, and still is in part,
surrounded. The pillar is forty-nine feet eight inches; the capital,
six feet two inches; the entablature and the pediment may be ten;
making--say sixty-six feet. These pillars formed a portico all round
it--a covered way; the pillars being connected with the temple by
enormously large stones resting one end on the pillars, and the
other on the walls. The lower faces of these stones were most richly
wrought with various devices. The pillars are six feet four inches
in diameter at the bottom, and five feet eight inches at the top;
most of them are in three pieces. The door of the temple is at the
east; the pillars there are fluted; the porch before the door was
wider than at the sides--a noble arch was sprung over it, and in
the centre, and on the lower face of what is called the keystone,
(a stone of most gigantic size,) was carved a majestic wide-spread
eagle. This stone has sunk out of its place, and threatens to fall
from the arch. A modern wall has been put up, about ten feet east of
the door, and at the end of the walls, no doubt for the purpose of
defence.
In the inside of the building, and half sunk in the walls, are
fluted pillars, and at the corners they are so cut as to appear
double, the piece being one. At about fifteen or twenty feet from
the west end, two noble fluted pillars have stood at some distance
from the sides, evidently making part of a separation of a more
sacred apartment. They are fallen, but enough remains to show
that the sanctum sanctorum stood there. There is no roof on this
building, and from the fact that there are no windows in it, and
other reasons, it may be doubted whether it ever had one: on this,
however, I hesitate to give an opinion.
The south-east row of pillars belonging to this temple range with
the wall that rose from the deep wide moat, by which the whole
mass of buildings was surrounded. Opposite this temple, on the
north-west side of the foundation, are the remains of a still larger
temple, or building of some kind. But a small part of it remains;
along the north-west wall is a row of pillars, or rather parts of
pillars, the spaces between which have been filled up with large
stones, forming thus a solid wall. Opposite this, and nearly half
way to the temple, on the other side of the foundation, stands a
row of pillars, now reduced to seven or eight, the remainder having
fallen. They are about the size of those described--possibly they
are larger. The foundation on which they stand must be eight or ten
feet higher than that of the temple above described. These pillars
have the capitals on, and are connected by their richly-carved and
magnificent masses of entablature. How they have survived those
convulsions which have prostrated their companions, I know not. The
ruins which lie about, the broken rows of pillars and walls, show
that this edifice has been of great extent. Its sides, I am inclined
to think, have not been solid walls, but composed of these rows of
columns, and most probably the whole building has been open to the
heavens.
There is near the temple I have first described, and but a few yards
from its north-east end, a large building with very high and strong
walls. It projects out a good deal into the ditch, and has some
loop-holes. It is, as the arabesque work about the door shows, an
Arabic or Mohammedan building. It is badly lighted; it was used as a
granary or magazine for the troops stationed here, and we were thus
prevented from examining it.
Around the outside of the whole of the above wide foundation, and
on the outer edge of it, a wall of most enormous stones is run up
to a very great height; much of it, it is true, is fallen, but it
was originally from forty to fifty feet high. At the corners were
towers, and in various places loop-holes; at the east end a most
stupendous archway ran far in, having its floor nearly on a level
with the ground without. Possibly there were two of them originally,
but one was partly closed, leaving a small entrance. Such great
changes have been made on these ruins, by the fitting them up for a
fort, that it is not easy to know what their original plan and uses
were. The whole is surrounded by a deep wide ditch, which could be
filled with water; it is now much filled up with rubbish.
A wall has originally extended from the south-east, and possibly
also from the north-east, across the narrow plain which lies between
the ruins and the hill to the east. This wall, much of which
remains, has been of great strength. On the side of the hill is a
very large pediment, and about it lie many pieces of a stupendous
column which once stood upon it. No mortar or cement was used in the
construction of these works. The rock has been cut so smooth, and
fitted so exactly, that it is impossible to insert the blade of a
penknife between them.
I had heard that there were large columns of Egyptian granite among
these ruins. I saw some fragments of small columns of that kind, but
the large columns were all of the rock which abounds in the quarry
near. There is, in an old mosque not far from these ruins, a number
of columns of Egyptian granite, but none of them of a very large
kind. Still they were large enough to start the inquiry how they
could have been brought from Egypt to this place--how could masses
of rock, three feet in diameter and ten or fifteen feet long, be
brought over Mount Lebanon, which is so steep and high that it is a
great labour for man unloaded to pass? That it is the true Egyptian
granite, all who know that rock will at once admit--no such rock is
found in Syria.
Within the wall, and among the rubbish, is a small village. The
houses are indifferent, and the population must be small. The
Christians live in one quarter, and the Mohammedans in another.
Rather to our surprise, on reaching Baalbec, we saw to the east of
the ruins a number of tents, and other appearances of an encampment.
We learned in due time that there was stationed here a body of four
or five hundred Egyptian troopers, and that they had made this
their head-quarters for several years past. They lodged in tents
separated a little from each other, so as to give room for fastening
their horses. The tents were pitched in rows and the horses arranged
with some regularity. All had a very pretty appearance.
I was interested in the contrivance for feeding their horses.
Wood is not to be had here; and it would be labour for a Turk
to make a trough for his horse out of stone. They have found a
softer material. They take earth, and making it into mortar, form
a pile of about three feet in diameter, and nearly the same in
height--the sides are then raised, leaving a place within like a
mortar, in which the horse's food is placed. There are rows of these
horse-troughs, as they may be called, all through the encampment,
and the horses regularly fastened to them. As we walked round the
ruins one morning to get an entire view, we passed near a tent,
before which, under the shade of a tree, sat several Turkish
officers. From their dress, and some badges of honour which one or
two of them had on their breasts, we took them for persons of some
distinction. They kindly called us to come to the tent. They had
two very good chairs, which they made us occupy, seating themselves
_à-la-turque_. They entered freely into conversation, and made us
take a cup of coffee, after which we pursued our walk.
We had intended to take up our quarters among the ruins, but finding
so many soldiers near, we did not deem it prudent. We therefore
applied to the Latin convent, but on pretence of being full they
did not admit us. An offer was made us of a room in a house near
the convent, but on examination it was so close, dark, and filthy,
that we preferred taking up our lodgings on the top of the house.
There we spread our carpets and spent two nights; we found it a
very pleasant place. It was cool and pleasant, and no dew fell worth
mentioning. The only inconvenience we experienced was, in dressing
we were exposed to the gaze of all those who felt a wish to see how
the Franks put on their clothes, shave their beards, and do those
other things that are usually done in one's chamber.
Our route from Baalbec was to the far-famed cedars. They grow on
the Lebanon, and on the side next the sea. Our road was directly
across the plain, as the cedars are nearly opposite Baalbec. It
took us about two hours and a half to cross the plain. This, at the
usual mode of counting, would make it nearly eight miles wide. We
found scarcely any water in the plain; there was indeed a small dry
channel, and not far from it a slight trace of water, which was led
along so as to water some districts; the quantity was small, and
must soon have been exhausted. The noble body of water which came
from the set of springs near Baalbec was separated near those ruins:
one part was carried to one side, and the remainder to the other;
a considerable district through which they flowed was rich with
verdure. A pretty line of trees marked for a mile or two the tract
of the plain through which the water passed, but at the end of a few
miles they appeared to be exhausted. As the trees and richness of
verdure ceased, the plain below assumed its dry and parched aspect.
In these sunny plains the exhaustion of water must be very great;
and I now the less marvel to find lakes which have no outlets, and
rivers which are lost in the sand. They become exhausted.
When we had nearly reached the foot of the Lebanon, we saw a large
solitary pillar standing in the plain. We saw no ruins near it.
We were told by a peasant that it was just like the pillars in
Baalbec, but what it was doing there alone he was unable to tell.
The ascent of Mount Lebanon was a most toilsome matter. We had to
cross over one of the highest points of the mountain. There is
another way which is more easy, but farther; we preferred crossing
the highest place, as we might not cross here again, and wished
to see the mountain in all its majesty. The first ridge which we
ascended had more natural growth on it than any district I have seen
in this country. It was pretty well covered with shrubs and low
trees--most of them oak. The tops of most of the large ones had been
cut off, I suppose for fuel. They appear to pursue a plan here, much
followed in some parts of France, Savoy, and Italy, of cutting off
the tops of the trees for fuel; and when the branches which shoot
out have grown to the thickness of a man's arm, they are again cut
off for the same purpose, and the same course still followed.
The rock on this ridge was wholly limestone. As we approached the
top of it, and near the foot of the main ridge, the rock was very
soft and much broken from the action of the air upon it. This
continued to be the character of the rock over most of the main
ridge. In some parts it was broken very fine and formed beds of
loose rock; in which our mules sunk as if it were a bed of sand.
A little up the side of the main ridge rose a beautiful spring of
clear water, which served to produce verdure over a small district
below. There were a few trees and shrubs scattered over the ridge
almost to its summit; but in these upper parts they were few and
small, and far between. I saw a few stunted cedars among them. As we
approached the top, we passed through several large banks of snow.
The face of the mountain was not generally covered with it, but it
lay in large masses or spots where, from some cause, the wind had
thrown much of it together. Streams of water flowed from them. When
on the top we had satisfactory evidence that we were on one of the
highest points of Lebanon. The ridge was narrow at this part of the
mountain; there was no snow on the very summit, nor was there much
on the north-west side--much less than on the south-east, and much
less on either than on the Sun-neen, when I was there five weeks
ago. The entire upper region was destitute of vegetation, not a
bush to be seen, and but a small sample even of the thistle, which
of all other plants appears the most tenacious of spreading itself
everywhere.
From this eminence we had a most extensive view to the west--the
long, irregular slope of the mountain to the sea--the narrow plain
along the coast--and the wide-spread Mediterranean, till where the
heavens appeared to come down and fence in the waters. But the
object which among the first was sought for, was the cedars--the
far-famed cedars of Lebanon! where could they be?
The Lebanon, at this place, makes on the side next the sea a
considerable bend, having the concave part next the sea. We stood
opposite the deep and wide hollow that comes up from Tripoli, and
down which flows a stream, the head springs of which rose far below
our feet. The mountain, both to our right and left, threw out high
and long ridges towards the sea. We had a steep descent before us
of, I should think, at least two thousand feet; on the sides of
which not a bush was to be seen. Then, there was a small level in
which several springs of water took their rise; and from the lower
side of this level another deep and rough hollow opened, with
stupendous precipices on its sides. Below this, and along the sides,
we saw trees and a considerable village. Near the middle of the
little plain, at the foot of the steep descent below us, we saw a
clump of trees, but they looked too few or too small for the cedars.
They resembled a small orchard of evergreens. We found, however,
on reaching the plain, that they were the cedars we sought. They
stand in irregular groups, spread over several little stony knolls,
and may possibly cover eight or ten acres of ground. They are not
what with us is called the cedar, but a variety of the pine. It is
a resinous tree bearing a cone. The wood is of a white pine-like
appearance. We spread our carpets, and spent the night under one of
the father-trees of this grove.
It is not easy to decide how many old trees there are; eight or
ten have a more venerable appearance than the remainder; still
others approach them so nearly in size and marks of age, that it is
difficult to say why one should be called old and the other young.
I once thought of counting the grove, but from the irregularity
of the ground, and the situation of the trees, this was no easy
matter--especially for a man who had crossed the Lebanon the same
day. I counted, however, a small section, and am disposed to think
that there may be from 300 to 500 trees that are more than a foot
in diameter--possibly 150 that may be above two feet--and about 50
or 60 that may be from three to four feet in diameter. A few we
measured; the largest was 39 feet in circumference--one 32--one
29--one 28, and one 23: these may serve as a sample. Most of the
large ones forked near the ground, and were rather assemblages of
trees from the same root than a single tree. Those of the third size
had some of them fine, straight bodies, and ran up to a considerable
height. We procured some specimens of the wood, and a sample of the
cones, and then bid adieu to this much-talked-of grove.
It is pretty certain that this grove did not furnish wood for
Solomon. It lies opposite Tripoli, which is two days north of
Beyroot, and Beyroot is north of Tyre and Sidon. It lies up far
from the sea, and has a piece of country between it and the sea, as
rough as can well be found anywhere. The grove does not appear to
be diminishing, but rather increasing. I saw no stumps of fallen
trees, and young ones are springing up. There is a kind of religious
reverence for these trees among the neighbouring villagers. They
have a singular appearance standing alone in the midst of a small
plain on which no other trees grow, with no other trees above them,
nor for a considerable space below. Another singular fact is, that
there is no water running among them. There is a stream on the
side of the plain, but it comes not near them. The ground appears
enriched with the leaves that fall from them, and looks precisely as
the soil usually does in a pine grove.
Leaving the cedars, we passed down the valley; a most rough and
steep descent. We passed a village well watered, surrounded with
mulberry, poplar, willow and fruit trees of various kinds. The state
of cultivation on both sides of the valley, for some distance down,
was much better than I have usually seen in these mountains. Several
villages were in sight.
I noticed that the females here had a new kind of horn. It was
only about six inches long, but much larger than those worn at
Beyroot and Bru-ma-nah. It was like the crown of a very small hat,
with the front part a little enlarged like the mouth of a bowl.
It is fastened on the top of the head, but a little back, and
has much ornament upon it. In our descent we passed a sandstone
formation; there were no pines upon it, as upon those formations
near Bru-ma-nah. Near the mouth of this hollow, the rock becomes
very irregular, and has the dip much more near the top. This is
especially the case with the secondary ridges and the irregular
hills which rise between the main ridge and the sea. There is a
plain of some extent between Tripoli, which stands on the sea-shore,
and the foot of the mountain, interspersed with vineyards, fields,
villages, and fine groves of olive. There is much rock on the
surface; their mode is to throw the rock out of the fields and
vineyards into the road, to the great annoyance of the traveller.
We passed a very high rock in the middle of the plain which had
a wide, high, flat face to the south--in that face I counted the
mouths of nearly thirty tombs. Most of them were from ten to twelve
feet high. There was a house on the top, said to be a convent.
We also passed an old city, which must once have been a place of
great strength. The walls are nearly perfect and very strong. There
are but few people in the city. It stands there almost alone.
Most of the houses within are gone, and cultivated spots occupy
their place. It is said to be the city of Gebal, Ez. xxvii. 9,
now called Jebail. The plain along the coast is rough--has a few
villages--several small rivers enter. On the banks of one, Nahr
El-Kelb, or Dog river, which has a good bridge over it, we saw some
figures cut on the face of the rock. They are very ancient, and it
is said that the Persian arrow-head may be seen. I did not stop to
examine them. They are too much defaced to be deciphered correctly.