[Illustration:
Day & Haghe, Lith^{rs} to the Queen
PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR IN HIS BEDOUIN DRESS.
London, Henry Colburn, G^t Marlborough S^t, 1846]
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE;
FORMING THE COMPLETION
OF
HER MEMOIRS.
NARRATED BY
HER PHYSICIAN.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. III.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1846.
Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert,
51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.
CONTENTS
OF
THE THIRD VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
Preparations for a journey to Bâlbec--Precautions
against the plague--Departure from Meshmûshy--Heavy
attire--The author loses his road--Cheerless night--Drûze
hospitality--Barûk--Bur Elias--Village of Malaka--Cottages
in the Bkâ--Hard dumplings--Grumbling servants--Misery
of villages in the territory of Bâlbec--Mode of
encampment--Arrival at Bâlbec 1
CHAPTER II.
Residence at Bâlbec--Visit to the governor, the Emir
Jahjáh--Wretchedness of Bâlbec--Bath Scene--Encampment
of Lady Hester at Ras el Ayn--Sepulchral caverns--Greek
bishop of Bâlbec--Catholic priest--Climate--Departure
from Bâlbec--Any Ayty--Hurricane--Bsharry--Mineral
springs--Dress of women--Village of Ehden, conjectured
by some to be the site of Paradise--Resort of native
Christians --Arrival of Selim, son of Mâlem Musa Koblan,
of Hamah--The Cedars of Lebanon--Maronite monastery of
Mar Antaniûs--Lady Hester enters it in spite of the
monks--Arrival at Tripoli 15
CHAPTER III.
Residence at Tripoli--The governor Mustafa Aga--Lady
Hester’s visit to him--Extraordinary civilities paid
by her to Selim--Town and port of Tripoli--Greek
bishop--Library--Paintings in the church--Unwholesome
climate--The author’s journey to the convent of Dayr
Hamýra--Illness of Mûly Ismael’s Khasnadár--Miraculous
cures performed at the convent--The Khasnadár’s wife--The
monks--Castle of El Hussn--Extensive view--Arrival of Selim
at the monastery--His character--Return of the author to
Tripoli--Lady Hester’s plan of an association of literary
men and artists--Departure for Mar Elias 41
CHAPTER IV.
Journey from Tripoli to Abra--Monastery of
Dayr Natûr--Grave of Mr. Cotter--Ruins of
Enfeh--Batrûn--Renegado priest--Remarks on
apostates--Gebayl, the ancient Byblus--Mulberry
plantations--Castle--Public-houses--Nahr Ibrahim,
the river Adonis--Taberjeh--Ejectment of cottagers
in rain and cold--Nahr el Kelb, the ancient river
Lycus--Inscriptions--Shuifád--Visit of Lady Hester to
the Syt Habùs--Capugi Bashi sent to Lady Hester--Mbârak,
the groom--His dexterity--Nebby Yunez, the tomb of
Jonah--Arrival at Mar Elias--Precautions adopted against
the Capugi Bashi 64
CHAPTER V.
Probability of the existence of Hidden Treasures in the
East--Manuscript pretending to reveal such Treasures,
brought to Lady Hester--She obtains firmáns from the Porte
authorizing her to make researches--She sends to Hamah for
Mâlem Musa--Her letter to the Pasha of Acre--Her plans
for raising money--Journey of the Author to Damascus--His
Visit to Ahmed Bey--Ambergris--Damascus sabres--Horse
Bazar--Horse Dealing and Horse Stealing--M. Beaudin’s night
journey to Tyre--His horse stolen--Detection and punishment
of the thieves--Return of the Author to Mar Elias--His
dangerous situation in a snow-storm--Interior of a Drûze
Cottage 86
CHAPTER VI.
Journey of Lady Hester from Mar Elias to
Ascalon--Bussa--Acre--She prevails on Mr. Catafago
to accompany her to Ascalon--Illness of Ali
Pasha--Professional visits of the Author--Abdallah Bey, the
Pasha’s son--Extraordinary honours paid to Lady Hester--Her
departure from Acre--Tremendous storm--M. Loustaunau; his
prophecies--His history--Don Tomaso Coschich arrives with
despatches from Sir Sydney Smith to Lady Hester--Substance
of them--Presents sent to the care of Lady Hester by
Sir Sydney--His character in the East--Cæsarea--Um
Khaled--Village of Menzel--Jaffa--Mohammed Aga,
the governor ordered to accompany Lady Hester--His
character--Arrival at Ascalon 116
CHAPTER VII.
History of Ascalon--Ruins--Encampments--Forced labour of
peasants--Excavations--Fragments of Columns--Discovery of
a mutilated statue--Apprehensions of Signor Damiani--Lady
Hester orders the statue to be destroyed--Excavations
abandoned--Lady Hester’s narrative of the motives and
results of the researches--Auditing accounts-- Mohammed
Aga a fatalist--Return to Jaffa--Derwish Mustafa Aga and
Lady Hester’s black female slave--Patients--Mohammed
Bey; his story--Return of Lady Hester’s servant
Ibrahim from England--Khurby, or the Ruins--Remains
near that spot--Return to Acre--Altercation with
muleteers--Excavations at Sayda--Reflexions on researches
for hidden treasures 152
CHAPTER VIII.
Visit of the Author to the Maronite convent in the village
of Joon--Abyssinian man and woman--Black horses--Lady
Hester fixes herself at Meshmûshy--Solitary wigwam--The
Author wishes to return to England--He sets out for
Egypt--Destruction of Tyre, not so complete as travellers
represent--A self-taught lithotomist and oculist--Seaweeds
used for dyeing--Embarkation for Egypt in a vessel laden
with wood--Impalement--Passengers on board--Cyprus--Revolt
in Gebel Nablûs--Frequency of insurrections there--Arrival
at Rosetta--Smoking during Ramazán--The Author is joined
by Burckhardt, or shaykh Ibrahim--Mutiny of troops at
Cairo--Departure by land for Alexandria--Lake Edko--Stay
in Alexandria--Coasting voyage to Damietta--Burckhardt not
considered as a Turk--Foreigners betrayed by their speech 188
CHAPTER IX.
M. Surûr, English agent at Damietta--Patients--Excursion to
Lake Menzaleh--Mataryah--Melikýn--Pounds for cattle--Ruins
of San--Broken pottery--Conjectures on its original
use--Tennys--Dybeh--Botarga fishery--Fowling--Running
deemed indecorous in a Turk--Menzaleh--Haunted
house--Disdain of pedestrian travellers--False
door--Departure for Syria--Vessel, cargo, and crew--Charms
to raise the wind--Arrival at Acre, Tyre, and Abra 223
CHAPTER X.
Disappearance of Colonel Boutin, a French
traveller--Efforts of Lady Hester Stanhope, for
investigating his fate--Mission of Abd el Rasák from
Mahannah to Lady Hester--Manners and character of the
Bedouins--Story of Mustafa Aga, Khasnadár of Mûly Ismael,
and his wife--Departure of Abd el Rasák and his companions 254
CHAPTER XI.
Quarrel between a Drûze and a Metouály--Buying of
medals--Imposition practised on Lady Hester--Punishment
of the offender--Illness and death of the Greek
patriarch--Funeral ceremonies--Election of a new
patriarch--Cottage in the gardens of Sayda--Long
drought--Flocks of birds--Hydrophobia--Excursion of the
Author to Garýfy--Shems ed Dyn and his father--Purchase
of wine--Decline of commerce in the Levant--Mâlem Dubány
and his daughters--Extortion of Eastern rulers--Arrival of
Miss Williams--Arrival of Mr. Bankes--He copies and removes
fresco paintings--Failure of his first attempt to reach
Palmyra--Visit of Mr. Buckingham--Locusts--Lady Hester
takes a voyage to Antioch 267
CHAPTER XII.
Journey of the Princess of Wales to Jerusalem--Burial
at Abra--Dismissal of Ibrahim--Padre Nicolo--M. Ruffin
appointed French consul at Sayda--Great drought--Festival
of St. Elias--Alarm of robbers--Visit of the Author to the
Shaykh Beshýr’s wife, and to Syt Frosýny Kerasâty--Further
alarms--Festival of Byrám--Cottages taken for Lady Hester
at the village of Rûm--Depilation--Flight of Mâlem
Dubány--Return of Lady Hester from Antioch--Result of
researches after the murderers of Col. Boutin--The Ansáry
refuse to give them up--Mustafa Aga Berber collects
troops to punish the Ansáry--Motives of Lady Hester’s
voyage to Antioch--Visit of M. Regnault, French consul at
Tripoli--M. Loustaunau and his predictions--History of
Michael Ayda--Return of Giorgio from England, with Mr.
N., as successor to the Author--Last visit of the latter
to Acre--The governor of Smyrna put to death--Hawáry
soldiers--Visit to the Emir Beshýr 310
CHAPTER XIII.
Departure of the Author for Europe--Arrival at Larnaka,
in Cyprus--Hospitality of M. Vondiziano, British
vice-consul--Tours in the island--Leucosia--The Greek
archbishop--City walls--Lepers--Cytherea--Monastery of
St. Chrysostom--Famagusta--Return to Larnaka--Carnival
amusements--Houses--Amour of Signor Baldo--Murder of Prince
George Morusi--History of Signor Brunoni--Cypriote women
not remarkable for beauty--Superstitious notions--The
Greek archbishop and his dragoman Giorgaki--Insurrection
of Turks--How quelled by Cara Pasha--Pusillanimity of
the consuls--Thunder-storm--Lenten diet--Malignant
fevers--Excursion in the interior--Idalia--Leucosia--M.
Brens--Robbery in the governor’s palace--Proceedings
against the suspected--Intolerance towards freemasons 359
CHAPTER XIV.
Departure from Cyprus, and voyage to Marseilles--Dirtiness
of the French ship and her crew--Fare on board--Cruel
treatment of a political prisoner--Angora
greyhound--Arrival at Pomegue, the quarantine anchorage of
Marseilles 416
ADDITIONAL NOTE 423
TRAVELS
OF
LADY HESTER STANHOPE.
CHAPTER I.
Preparations for a journey to Bâlbec--Precautions against the
plague--Departure from Meshmûshy--Heavy attire--The author
loses his road--Cheerless night--Drûze hospitality--Barûk--Bur
Elias--Village of Malaka--Cottages in the Bkâ--Hard
dumplings--Grumbling servants--Misery of villages in the
territory of Bâlbec--Mode of encampment--Arrival at Bâlbec.
A journey to Bâlbec had been projected for this autumn; but obstacles
of one kind or another had caused it to be delayed until the season was
very far advanced. At length, however, every preparation being made,
we set out on the 18th of October. During the whole of the year, the
plague had not entirely ceased at Damascus, and in several villages of
the Bkâ, a plain which we should have to traverse from one extremity
to the other. Lady Hester was strongly impressed with the dread of
exposure to its contagion[1] from the carelessness of some of the
people; to prevent which the strictest precautions were taken, and
the observance of these considerably diminished the pleasure which
such a tour would otherwise have afforded. We travelled with tents to
prevent the necessity of sleeping in villages; and no fire was ever
to be lighted unless where the country supplied fuel without having
recourse to the inhabitants for it, which was equivalent to a total
interdict; as, with the exception of a few orchards, there was not a
tree through the whole plain. To supersede the necessity of cooking or
buying provisions, a kind of minced meat dumplings was made, enough
for the consumption of a week. These, and bread-cakes baked for the
same purpose, were to be eaten indifferently by all. We carried with us
kitchen utensils, tents, beds, coffee, rice, _bûrgol_ or malted
wheat, soap, candles, oil, wine, vinegar, vermicelli, macaroni, cheese,
tea and sugar, syrups for sherbet, and fuel for Lady Hester, whose sex
and delicate health necessarily prevented her from submitting to the
privations to which men could willingly subject themselves. It was
necessary likewise to be provided with cords, nails, hammers, axes,
hoes, and some other things of this sort; so that we had wherewithal to
colonize as well as to travel. For if, as it was reported, the plague
still raged at Bâlbec, the impossibility of obtaining anything from the
town would expose us, if not thus furnished, to great inconveniences.
All this baggage loaded fifteen mules. The party consisted of Lady
Hester, the dragoman, myself, eight men-servants, four women and a
black female slave, making altogether fifteen; and we all rode on asses.
The extraordinary resolution of performing a long and difficult
journey on asses was not a mere fancy in Lady Hester: it arose from a
deep feeling of indignation at the neglected state in which she found
herself left by her friends and her relations, more especially by the
then Marquis of B*********; and she thought, by assuming the mode of
travelling common only to the poorest pilgrims who traverse Syria
on their way to Jerusalem, to direct the attention of the consuls
and merchants of the towns through which she passed to her deserted
condition, imagining, no doubt, that a report of it would reach
England, and call down animadversions on those from whom she had a
right to claim support and attention to her comforts.
Lady Hester descended the mountain, and I was preparing to accompany
her, when I was detained by a dispute among the muleteers, who declared
that the fifteen mules could not carry the baggage. Intending to compel
them to it, I desired my servant to lead my ass down the mountain,
saying I would follow; but, after some time, I found that another mule
was indeed required, and that there was not one to be had. Impatient
of the delay, I mounted a horse belonging to the owner of the house,
and rode to the monastery to get one. The monks refused to lend or
hire out their mules; and, seeing no alternative, I desired the luggage
thus left should be taken care of, and hastened on foot to overtake the
party; but more than an hour had elapsed, and they were far before me.
Descending into the plain on the north-east side, I continued along
the banks of the Ewely, passing the granite columns, of which mention
has already been made, over the bridge called Geser Behannýn. The road
continued for a small distance farther in the ravine, through which the
river runs north and south, when it turned to the right up an almost
precipitous mountain, which overhangs the river, and the indentations
and strata of which correspond exactly with those on the opposite side.
I here became much fatigued with walking and with the exertions I had
made during the morning, and I sat down to rest myself; for I had on
me a riding dress, with which, in Turkey, it is scarcely possible to
walk; as the breeches are very large. I had likewise a brace of pistols
in my girdle, the weight of which was annoying. Whilst sitting by the
road-side, some Drûzes, coming in an opposite direction, passed me, and
I questioned them whether the English lady had been seen by them, and
they pointed out the road by which she had gone. I then offered them an
unusual price if they would let me have one of their mules to convey me
to where she was; but they averred it to be impossible, on account of
their business, which took them another way.
Renewing my journey, and ascending in a zigzag direction, I reached
the head of a deep ravine, into which fell a cascade from the mountain
above: I then resumed a northerly course, and made as much haste as
my heavy attire would allow me. On the left, but low down and out of
hearing, was the river Ewely, and on my right very high mountains,
whilst my path was, although stony and rugged, along level ground. In
this way I walked till the sun was declining behind the mountains, when
I saw the lights of a village, but at some distance before me, which I
guessed to be Makhtàrah, the residence of the Shaykh Beshýr, as I knew
I had been tending towards it. The path soon became somewhat intricate,
in consequence of olive, fig, and mulberry-tree plantations, which were
numerous hereabout. It now grew dark, and I overtook a man driving an
ass, who, as far as I could discern, seemed somewhat afraid of me and
my pistols, whilst I felt equally so of him; I therefore turned out
of the path, apprehensive, if I asked the way, that he might guess my
situation, and find means to rob me; for, in the hurry of the moment, I
had not loaded my pistols, and my cartridges were with my servant.
The lights were still before me. I knew that the place of our
encampment would be marked by blazing _meshals_ (formed by fixing
an iron-hooped cylinder on a pole, and supplying it continually with
tarred canvas), and I thought that, at some distance on the left
and beyond the village, I observed this very blaze: I therefore left
Makhtàrah on my right, and inclined towards them. After I had walked
about half an hour, the blaze suddenly disappeared; by degrees,
the path, which, from the darkness of the night was now no longer
perceptible, became so uncertain, that I was almost fearful to advance,
when, on a sudden, I found myself on a descent and within hearing of
the sound of a torrent. Stepping with caution and difficulty, I came to
a bridge over a rushing water, which I judged to be the river Ewely. I
crossed it, but was no sooner over than I lost all traces of the path,
and found my farther advance opposed by a precipice.
Here my courage and my strength failed me. I judged it to be three
hours after sunset, and the darkness was not relieved in the abyss into
which I had descended by even the glimmering of a star. The jackalls
howled around me; and whoever has heard their night-cry, so like what
we may suppose would be the screams of a child whom robbers are in
the act of murdering, will not wonder if I disliked the necessity
of sleeping in this wild place. I was not sure that there were not
leopards near the spot where I was; and the jackalls alone, although
they seldom or never attack a man who is awake and moving, might yet
fall on me when asleep, and do me great injury before I could rise and
defend myself. However, all these reflections were of no avail against
extreme weariness. I lay down on the ground, fell asleep, and in the
morning, soon after daylight and not before, awoke refreshed and unhurt.
I looked round me, and perceived that I was in a deep ravine; and, as
I observed the path by which I had descended to the river, I blessed
Providence that had guided my steps; for it was dangerous even in open
day. About two hundred yards up the stream was a water-mill. I went to
it, and, knocking at the door, found an old Drûze who invited me in;
but my apprehensions of the plague caused me to refuse; and I asked
him where I was, told him how I had passed the night, and inquired if
he had seen a large caravan go by on the preceding day. The bridge, I
learned, was called Geser Gedayda.
Having satisfied myself on these points, he directed me up the mountain
to a village, where, on my arrival, I met another Drûze, who was just
driving his oxen to plough. I asked him for something to eat, and he
immediately turned back, and led me to his own door. His wife was
yet in bed. He roused her, and said he had brought a foreigner for
a visitor, desiring her to set out the table. But, on expressing my
apprehensions of the plague, and on refusing to cross the threshold,
she put out her homely fare on a straw tray.[2] It consisted of cheese
soaked in oil, a bunch of hung grapes, and some bad bread-cakes. I had
now fasted for twenty-two hours, and was not disposed to quarrel about
trifles; so she placed it on a stone, and on her retiring I advanced,
and ate with my fingers. My looks, dress, &c., were all examined by
the woman and a neighbour; but they both scrupulously kept their faces
covered.
Having satisfied my hunger, the man desired his son and daughter,
children of six or seven years old, to show me on my way; but when I
produced all the money I happened to have about me, which was seven
paras (about twopence), and offered it in payment for my breakfast, his
civility relaxed, and he suffered me to set off alone. In the village
of Gedaydy, for so this was called, the inhabitants are Drûzes.
As soon as I was out of the village, I came on a country barren and
stony; hardly was there a tree to be seen. An hour’s walk brought me to
a Drûze village, called Ayn-wy-Zayn. Here, as there was no plague, I
hired an ass and guide to carry me onward. Soon after we entered among
very extensive vineyards, which continued as far as Barûk, where it
will be recollected we halted for a night two years before.
Lady Hester had pitched the tents on the very same spot where she had
encamped at that time. She had been, during the night, apprehensive
that some accident had happened to detain me, and my absence had
been productive likewise of still worse consequences. For as, in
the necessity there was that our provisions should last us until we
reached Bâlbec, the keys could not be entrusted to the servants, I
had them in my pocket. Upon the arrival, therefore, of the party to
the resting-place, which they did not reach until eleven at night,
no provisions could be had; and after so long a day’s journey (the
dragoman, who had turned off the road to go to Makhtárah to bear
Lady Hester’s compliments to the Shaykh Beshýr, not being present),
the mule-drivers and servants broke open the provision hampers, and
unnecessary waste ensued, and caused us to be afterwards reduced to
great straits.
My pedestrian exertion brought on an intolerable erysipelatous heat and
itching in both my feet, which nothing could appease but sitting with
my naked feet in the stream, just where it issued quite cold from the
rock,--a dangerous mode of cure, only to be justified by the necessity
I was under of pursuing our journey on the morrow. We passed the whole
of the 19th at this spot, while Pierre went back to recover the luggage
which had been left at Meshmûshy.
On the 20th, we ascended the last ridge of Lebanon, and, when at the
summit, enjoyed that fine prospect which has been described in a former
place. We descended into the Bkâ, and passed the hamlet of Aâney, a few
miserable cottages, whither the husband-men of Barûk go in the summer
to plough and sow, and, having finished these operations, quit them for
their homes until harvest time.
One mile farther we planted our tents. Here we remained two nights,
waiting for the return of M. Beaudin; but, not being come back on
the 22d of October, in the morning, the tents were struck. We took
a northerly direction, along the plain close to the foot of Mount
Lebanon, and passed some small villages part on our left in the
mountain, and part on our right in the plain.
After a march of about three leagues we came to Bur Elias, a small
village with a castle of modern construction overhanging it. It was
watered by a rivulet, which ran with a smart stream through it. This
stream was made to irrigate several well cultivated gardens and
orchards, which so much embellished the spot, that, until our arrival
at Bâlbec, we saw no place to compare with it. There were also the
remains of an old mosque, with other evidences that the village was
once more populous than at present. In a rock on the south-west side
are several ancient caverns, which served as tombs, with sarcophagi
hewn in the stone; and, at one part, on the face of a small precipice,
chiselled smooth for the purpose, was a square portion of ten or
fifteen feet, cut deep enough to admit of a layer of stucco or marble
with which it seemed to have been coated, having in its centre, towards
the bottom, three recesses, which had probably been filled up with
votive tablets, or basso-relievos, there not being depth enough for
statues.
Leaving Bur Elias, we came next to Malaka, a large village of two
hundred houses, where terminates what is called the district of Bkâ,[3]
and begins the Bâlbec territory, which is, however, but a continuation
of the same plain. This village, although so large, is but of two
years’ date, and was transferred from about three hundred yards off to
its present situation, by the emir of the Drûzes, who, having taken,
by force of arms, from the Emir Jahjáh, the governor of Bâlbec, the
village of Khurby, which was just beyond the line of demarcation of his
domain, destroyed it, and made the inhabitants build Malaka.
The houses in the Bkâ were not of stone, as on the mountain, but of
mud bricks dried in the sun. They were low, and had the appearance of
much misery on the outside, although, as we were told, very comfortable
within. This we had no opportunity of ascertaining, as the plague
reigned about us, and it was by no means prudent to approach, much less
to enter, any habitations. The dress of the people was different from
that of the mountaineers. No horns were now to be seen on the heads
of the women, who likewise wore red aprons, which were universally
seen towards the Desert, but never near the sea-coast. The Palma
Christi was cultivated very generally for the sake of the oil, which
is used for lamps. As harvest was now over, we could not see what were
the particular productions of the plain; it seemed, however, highly
fertile, being of that fine snuff-coloured mould which, at Hamah and
elsewhere, had been pointed out to us as most useful to the husbandman
for agricultural purposes.
We encamped near Khurby, which yet had some cottages among its ruined
walls. Our water was drawn from a spring which, from its vicinity to
an ancient sepulchre assigned by tradition to the patriarch Noah, is
called Ayn Nûah. His body is said to occupy a length of forty cubits,
and his feet, for want of room, to hang down in the well.
Our appearance here and elsewhere in the Bkâ excited much curiosity.
Without guards from the emir or pasha, demanding provisions nowhere,
and boldly encamping in the open plain away from every habitation, we
perhaps awed the very people who would have attacked others marching
with more caution. For the Bkâ is entirely open to the incursions of
the Arabs, who overrun the tract of country between Bâlbec and Hems,
where no mountain interposes to obstruct them, although many maps
falsely lay one down.
The cûby (or dumplings), which have been mentioned in setting out on
this journey, were now become so dry and hard that the servants and
muleteers refused to eat them. I felt that they were justified in their
refusal; for I, who, for the sake of example, was obliged to enforce
the order for their consumption by eating them myself, never suffered
more from bad food than on this occasion: but no representations could
make Lady Hester abate one tittle of her resolution. The maids cried,
the men grumbled and rebelled, and the fatigue of keeping order among
Christians, Drûzes, and Mahometans, was more than I had hitherto
experienced: yet no one fell ill. This day Pierre joined us here, and
brought with him the luggage which had been left behind.
On the 23d we continued our route. The villages in the territory of
Bâlbec were much less numerous, and much more miserable, than those in
the Bkâ. Such as were on the side of the mountain were built higher
up than they had been, as if the inhabitants feared to be exposed to
depredations from the plain. No gardens or orchards were to be seen.
After five hours’ march we arrived at a Tel, where was a fine rivulet,
which, running from the mountain, turned a mill wheel, and then flowed
towards the river in the centre of the plain, the ancient Leontes or
Litanus, called the Bâlbec river by our muleteers, and which becomes
the Casmia before it empties itself into the sea. Here we encamped, in
a still more dangerous situation than hitherto.
I had established a fixed plan of encampment, with regular distances
assigned for each tent, which was adhered to every night; but here the
tents were brought closer than usual. I was not at ease in my bed, and,
awaking M. Beaudin, the interpreter, he and myself patrolled the ground
alternately through the night. The moon shone bright, and the scene
wore a lonely appearance. Fortunately we had to deal with a woman whose
composure of mind was never ruffled by real danger, and whose sleep
was never broken by the apprehension of false.
The Letanus passed very near the Tel, from which circumstance it is
evident that the slope of Anti-Lebanon extends across two-thirds of the
plain. At this season of the year, and in this spot, a man might leap
over the river. Higher up, one day’s journey west of Bâlbec, there is,
according to Abulfeda, (p. 155) a pool or lake, reedy and stagnant,
where this river takes its source, and the bed of the stream had many
reeds in it where we saw it.
On the 24th we crossed it, and at noon reached Bâlbec. The luxuriant
scenery which the imagination readily lent to the city and ruins as
seen at a distance, intermixed with the deep green foliage of trees,
vanished on a nearer approach. The gardens near the ruins were no more
than orchards, sown, in the intervals between the trees, with maize,
turnips, and other vegetables: nor did the Temple of the Sun impress
us with all its grandeur until close to it. The inequalities of the
soil in a manner buried the ruins, and their magnificence, at the first
glance, seemed, like that of Palmyra, to be less than, on a farther
examination, it proved to be.