_Beyroot, Oct. 23d, 1836._
We left Nazareth by the same road that we entered it; but on
reaching the top of the ridge north of the town we took a north-west
direction into the plain which we had left, which is here broken
with hills, and can hardly be said to be continuous. Some of these
hills are very much covered with rocks. After a few miles we passed,
on the top of a hill on our left, the ruins of Sefora, which was
at one time a place of note. There is more natural growth on these
hills than on those more to the east. This district is stony; but
appears to have had more labour bestowed on it than most of those
that are better adapted for cultivation. The plain of Zebulun, a
little farther on, is separated from the great plain by some hills,
which are, however, not very high. It is a most lovely and fertile
district. On one side of it were many olive-trees, and a part of
it was cultivated with cotton. The cotton appeared to have had but
little labour bestowed on it, and promised a corresponding small
return, notwithstanding the fertility of the plain. Between this
place and the plain on the coast, and lying between Acre and the
hills, we crossed a considerable distance that was hilly; the hills
were not very high, but spread pretty generally over the face of
the country. Most of them have more or less rocks on the surface,
but, as a general thing, they are not so rocky as the country about
Jerusalem. From this low hilly district we entered the plain which
lies east of Acre, and spreads along the coast. This is a noble
plain of considerable extent, and is generally exceedingly fertile.
On entering this plain we saw Acre, nearly before us, on the shore
of the sea. A little to the right of the city, and out near the
middle of the plain, were some good-looking buildings with gardens
about them, and others partly finished. I have seldom seen a finer
set of orange and lemon trees. There is an aqueduct that brings
water from the hill, across the plains, to Acre. This water is used
for watering the gardens, which, we were given to understand, belong
to Ibrahim Pasha. At some distance to our left, we had the north
end of Mount Carmel in view, with the Latin monastery on the top
of it. Between us and that point was a fine spread of plain, which
might be called either the plain of Acre or the plain of Esdralon.
This plain, as I have before stated, crosses the whole district
from the lake of Tiberias and the Jordan to the Mediterranean. It
comes to the coast directly at the north end of Carmel, and there
the plain is a wide and noble one. The plain of Esdralon, on the
eastern side, is higher, except at the south-east corner near
Gilboa. It lies toward Safet, a high, rolling table land, most of
which is exceedingly rich. The Lebanon, or rather the Anti-Lebanon,
(for I think the Lebanon may be considered as terminating north of
the river Leantes, which comes out of the Bokar near Soor,) lowers
down at the high points near Safet, and spreads its still lowering
ridges towards the middle and western part of the plain, between the
lake Tiberias and the Mediterranean. There are various hills, rather
separated from each other, on the plain, which may be considered as
belonging to it,--the Tabor, the mount south of it, and the hills
near Nazareth; but the terminating ridges are more continuous, north
and north-west of Nazareth, and run down south, so as to narrow the
western side of the plain of Esdralon. I doubt not, indeed, that the
mountains which rise south of the plain, and cover the whole middle
district, from north of Sebaste to south of Hebron, forming the hill
country of Israel and Judah, may with propriety be considered as the
southern continuance of the great Lebanon chain. It is there lowered
down much, and is more spread out, and more like an elevated table
land, with many low hills covering its general surface.
It would have been highly satisfactory to me could I have proceeded
to the north of Safet, far enough at least to see the southern end
of the plain of the Bokar, and ascertain how the mountains, Lebanon
and Anti-Lebanon, dispose of themselves and their branches at that
place, and in their further progress south. I am inclined to think,
that our usual maps are not very accurate in their delineations of
this northern district.
Acre stands on a sandy point which projects out in the
Mediterranean. It is strongly fortified, having a most stupendous
wall, and a deep ditch. It is a place of great strength, and is
under the keeping of a considerable body of the Pasha's troops.
There was some shipping there, but not much. The city is much
crowded together; and to be comfortable ought to be spread over
twice or thrice as much ground--the streets narrow and filthy--the
bazaars poor, and badly supplied with goods. There is a large open
square within the city, which appeared appropriated for the use of
troops and cavalry. A new bazaar was pointed out, which was said to
have been put up by the present pasha. It was, compared with the
others, pretty good; but needed that comparison to make it pass
muster. Acre is interesting from its location on the coast--has a
fine back country, and, under a proper government, might become a
place of some importance. A great effort was made by the French,
under Buonaparte, to take this place. He attempted several times
to carry it by assault, and it was mainly owing to the efforts of
Sir Sidney Smith that he failed. The name of Smith is still held in
great respect by the natives of this region. They say of him, that
"his word was like the word of God--it never fell to the ground,"
that is, he always did what he said he would do. So true is it,
that while people tell falsehoods themselves--and the people of
this country have no little propensity that way--they still have a
regard for those who are known to adhere strictly to the truth. This
place was long held by the Crusaders, and was one of the last places
in Palestine that was wrested from them; and there may be, and no
doubt are, ruins in the town and vicinity that may be referred to
the period of their power. I had not time, however, to make much
research respecting them. The pasha has some public works going
on here. We saw a good deal of timber in an open square, but did
not learn the use it was intended for--probably for the building
of a vessel, from its size and appearance. We lodged in the Latin
convent, which is a place of some size, and would contain many
persons, though much out of repair. We found only two or three
monks, and a lay brother, who appeared to act as steward, servant,
factotum, &c.
From Acre we went along the coast, towards Soor, the ancient Tyre,
which lies about twenty-five miles to the north. The first part
of our route was over the noble plain by which Acre is bounded on
the west. It is, as to its general character, good; and ought, and
would, if properly cultivated, richly supply Acre with bread-stuff
and many other necessary articles. Much of it, however, lies in
a neglected state. In several places there are small districts,
that are more improved--a few garden spots that are beautiful, and
several elevations near Acre that have buildings or ruins on them,
and were, probably, in the days of warfare, places of much more
importance than they now are. About three hours' travel brought
us to the termination of this beautiful plain, and we began to
ascend a high promontory called Capo Blanco, or White Cliff, from
the whiteness of the rock of which it is composed. This is made
up of the softest limestone I have ever seen, interspersed with
nodules of flint. It was well for our nerves that a barrier had
been left between us and the precipice, for sometimes there was a
perpendicular descent from the road above, to the sea below, which
was dashing and foaming at its base. From this point, or ridge of
hills, we entered the plain of Soor. This plain is narrow at first,
but gradually spreads out, and presently has a wide extent, with
a gentle rising of its eastern side into hills, with mountains
towering beyond. The soil is rich and productive. There are some
villages, on the hills, but none of any size. We passed several
places near the shore where there had evidently once been villages;
in one or two of these there were remains of walls and other relics
of former habitations. As we approached Soor, the mountains and
hills fell back, making a kind of amphitheatre; rising more or less,
as it approached the mountains; but forming a rich and valuable back
country to this former mistress of the sea. Night came on before we
could reach Soor, and a small part of the district nearest the town,
was, of course, not subjected to that close inspection which, under
other circumstances, it would have received. We passed a fine flow
of water, on which there appeared to be mills or other buildings;
but it was too dark to allow us a clear view of what they were.
There are, it is said, several remains of ruins on the south of the
town, which the darkness prevented our seeing. As we approached the
town, there was a much wider border of sand along the coast.
Soor stands on the point of a projection that runs out, it may be,
a half or three quarters of a mile into the sea. Its outer part
is broader and less covered with sand than the neck of land that
joins it to the main land. About half way from the main land to the
extreme point, a wall crosses the isthmus, and through a single gate
in that wall, you enter the village which stands on the extreme
point. The site of old Tyre was, as we learn from history, on the
main land. When hard pressed, the inhabitants, availing themselves
of their shipping, moved their more valuable articles to this point,
which was then an island, and there built a town, and escaped the
capture which threatened them. This first capture of Tyre, and the
escape of the people with their riches to the island, is referred
to in Ezek. xxix. 18; where the army of Nebuchadnezzar is said "to
have served a hard service, and yet to have got no wages"--failed
to obtain the wealth of the captured city. The new city was also
taken in after-times by Alexander the Great; and his army had a hard
service. Being on an island, and having command of the sea through
their vessels, they braved the power of the Grecian king for a time.
But he resorted to a stratagem which was successful. He constructed
a wide causeway from the main land to the island, and thus made a
way for his soldiers, who soon took the city. For centuries past,
as all travellers during that period assure us, it has been almost
completely desolate. The old site on the main land is so now--not
one house, and scarcely a vestige remains to mark the spot. It is
scraped as a rock, and probably was thus treated by Alexander, to
get materials for the stupendous causeway he made. The city, on
what was once an island, was also almost wholly forsaken, as many
travellers assure us, and thus the prophecy has had its fulfilment.
There is, however, a new village growing up on its site. It has
much increased within a few years. There may be between one and two
hundred houses, the quarter part of them very miserable things, but
a few tolerably good for this region. The pasha has established some
factories here, and the place is evidently reviving. Three or four
of the European powers have consuls residing here, and the Americans
have a consular agent. The old harbour, which once contained the
first trading ships in the world, lies on the north side of the
town, and was once surrounded by a strong wall, some small fragments
of which still remain. The harbour is much filled up, so that only
vessels of small burden can come within it. It does not, indeed,
appear to have much trade of any kind. The water at the extreme
point of the island is very shallow--a considerable space barely
covered with water. There are some ruins on a part of this, and some
fallen pillars--whether it was once covered with houses, I am unable
to say. To the south, the water is deeper, but still so shallow as
to oblige vessels to lie off at a considerable distance from the
shore. The neck which joins the island to the main land is little
else than a bed of sand. The part next the village, and without the
wall I have mentioned, is full of old walls, mounds, cellars, and
all the indications of having once been covered with houses. There
are, indeed, one or two huge old buildings still standing on it.
The part of this neck adjoining the main land is so low as to have
considerable pools of water in it. We passed a number as we coasted
along the edge of the sand from the south, on approaching the
village. There is all the appearance that the water once came out to
the steep bank at the edge; but the passage between the island and
the main land being stopped, the sand, both to the north and south,
has been thrown up so as to form a wide, flat beach, extending out
near the island as far as what was formerly the east side of the
island. The whole space here shows great changes.
The most remarkable and interesting relic of antiquity which I saw
at Soor, was the remains of the church of Origen. It stands at the
south side of the village, and makes part of the wall at that place.
Much the larger part of it is fallen and removed. The remaining
fragments show that it has been of very great size. There are a few
small huts on the ground on which that part of the church that has
been removed stood. There is some richly-wrought stone in the walls
and about the stairs that run up at one part of the building. The
stone is the soft spongy limestone which abounds on this coast,
and I may add, through most of Palestine. It is a stone that works
easily, but wastes away under the action of water, and is especially
liable to be saturated with water, and to form damp walls. No part
of the ruins of this old and celebrated church more interested
me, than the stupendous granite pillars which were once connected
with it, but now lie on the ground, and some of them almost buried
in it, and by the ruins which covered this quarter. These pillars
were of the fine Egyptian granite, of great length and thickness.
They formed masses of stone of a most enormous weight. We seldom
saw pillars of a larger size. There must have been some regard
for Christianity at Tyre when its citizens erected this splendid
edifice. But oh! what changes have passed over these lands since
those days, when Origen ministered here, and raised his voice to the
thousands which this church was capable of holding. A deep darkness
now rests on all these regions--the Moslem rules, but his pride is
humbled--his strength broken--and he appears conscious that the
day of his glory is past, and not likely again to return! The few
Christians that are now found in these regions have lost the spirit
of Christianity. It is with them a body without a soul--a form, and
a greatly altered form, without the spirit and power which makes it
a transforming principle among mankind. But the darkness is passing
away--rays of light are breaking upon these regions--and we doubt
not the day is not far remote when the religion of Christ will, in
its enlightening and transforming power, revisit these regions, and
make them revive and flourish like the garden of the Lord.
From Soor we made our next stage to Saida, the ancient Sidon, which
is so often mentioned in connection with Tyre--"Tyre and Sidon." It
is a day's travel distant. We found the northern part of the plain
of Soor not much different from the southern, which we have already
described. In many places along this coast, there are old mounds
of rubbish, or piles of stones, that bespeak former buildings. On
the whole, ancient Tyre had a fertile district adjoining it, and
was, no doubt, more or less the seaport for the lower part of the
great valley of the Bokar, through the passage on the borders of
the river Leantes, which flows out of that valley and passes into
the sea a little north of Soor. The district of mountains that
border the plain must also have contributed its share to the market
of this port; for in these countries and among these nations, the
mountain districts are often better cultivated than the plain, and
are occupied by a more enterprising and efficient people. About
midway from Soor to Saida, a ridge of hills comes into the shore,
much like the one between Acre and Soor. The plain is superseded by
a rough and hilly district. It is, for a short distance, exceedingly
rough and rocky, and for a still greater space, the level along the
shore is narrow and much covered with sand. Gradually the plain
opens, and spreads out to a considerable extent, and becomes one
of the finest plains, when taken in connection with the low ridges
of hills that bound it, and from the rising ground towards the
mountains, that I have seen on the coast. The several ridges of low
hills that lie between the level space along the shore and the high
mountain range, are finely covered with a soft, rich soil; and have
scattered over them more trees than we usually see on this part of
the coast. The plain about Soor was rather barren of trees--this was
one of its greatest defects--that of Saida is much better furnished.
We passed several streams of water and some small villages, on
the low hills to our right. The mulberry-tree, which we had but
seldom seen to the south, here made its appearance. We passed some
considerable districts covered with them. This shows the limits of
the silk-making district. The culture of the mulberry, and raising
the silkworm, is a main business all through these mountains about
Beyroot; how far north it may extend, I am not able to say; but we
had ample proof in our tour that it is not much, if at all attended
to in the land of Palestine, properly so called.
Back of Saida, among the low hills that border the foot of the
Lebanon range, Lady Hester Stanhope has her residence. She was
engaged to be married to Sir John Moore, who fell near Corunna,
in the Peninsular war, in the contest which the English had with
the French. That Lady Hester Stanhope felt the affliction most
deeply, may well be supposed; other matters tending to alienate
her affections from England, she came to the East, and has for
many years made her home in the mountains near Saida. She has
gained the affections of the native population, and has had great
influence over them formerly; her power is now on the wane. She is
occasionally visited by foreigners, but does not see all who would
call on her, as some of them have made statements about her that
gave her displeasure.
Saida, like most of the towns on this coast, stands on a sandy point
that projects out a short distance into the sea. It is surrounded
with gardens, and has more fruit trees about it, and a greater
extent of groves, than any of the towns on the coast south of this,
that I have visited. The plain about it appears peculiarly adapted
to fruits. The town is walled, and has a garrison of soldiers. The
houses are old, as you may suppose; the streets narrow, crooked,
and dark, from the fact that many of them are, in many places,
arched over; so much so, that you are nearly one half of your time
passing under arches, which shut out all the light but that which
comes in from the end of these narrow, crooked streets. I have often
mentioned narrow, crooked streets, and once more repeat it, with
the addition of _dark_. The bazaars and markets are much as those
at Soor and Acre, poor, and badly supplied. On the whole, while the
outside of the town had a most lovely appearance, the inside was
the reverse. The harbour appeared mean, and not such as would give
any recommendation to the place. The distance from Saida to Beyroot
is between twenty and twenty-five miles. For some miles north of
Saida, the road is much covered with sand, and the whole district,
until near Beyroot, resembles that already described, some parts
rocky, and others good, and well adapted to tillage. A few small
villages are scattered along the coast. As we approached Beyroot, we
took a road through the olive-grove, and not by the sands. This gave
me a more perfect knowledge of the extent of the plain, south-east
of Beyroot, and of the large orchards that lie in that quarter,
covering miles, and bordering the lower part of the hills. The plain
is more fertile, and more thickly settled, than I had at first
supposed.
We found our friends at Beyroot well,--the mission families had
returned from their summer residence on the mountains, and were
engaged in carrying on their various operations in and about
Beyroot. At first view it appears a rather untoward circumstance
that they have to resort to the mountains during a part of each
summer. It must, no doubt, in some degree interrupt the thread of
their operations; but the climate makes it necessary, especially
until they are well acclimated. The evil, however, is not so great
as might be expected. The mountains are full of villages; indeed,
the mountains of Lebanon are the most populous districts in these
countries. The missionaries take their station in some of these
villages, and when their number will admit they occupy two or more.
There they usually open schools, mix with the people, distribute
the Scriptures and other books, talk and preach, as the nature of
the case will admit. Thus village after village becomes personally
acquainted with the missionaries, and persons are brought within
the hearing of the truth who might never be reached by the sound of
the gospel were the missionaries always to remain in Beyroot. Thus
what in one respect may seem an evil and a drawback to their work,
in another is beneficial, and contributes to the furtherance of the
gospel.
I have much reason to bless God for his kind care over me during
the tour I have now finished, and hope that I shall be led by it
more and more to realise that it is only His hand that keepeth me,
and maketh me to go out and come in in safety.