ASCENT OF LIBANUS.

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secluded Druse villages surrounded by a few vineyards, and veiled by thin curling wreaths of white smoke.

We had ascended to a great height, and commanded an immense expanse of ocean and a wide sweep of mountainous coast, when the sun set in great splendour over the water. The air was perfectly calm and tranquil, and the broad expanse of sea blending itself with the blue sky far away in the distance, and the varied tints on the shore, presented a most lovely scene. At the same moment, the moon, in the opposite quarter, was seen rising behind the eastern mountains, and gradually blending her soft and mellow light with that of the departing day. The stillness in these mountain regions, the deep winding ravines and glens, the scanty Druse villages here and there perched on projecting eminences, or scattered in the depths below, the deep shade thrown by rugged rocks, and the picturesque long cavalcade, now disappearing in the shade and then again advancing into the increasing moonlight, were altogether most romantic. From time to time the occasional bark of a shepherd's dog or the tinkling of a sheep bell was heard high aloft among the rocks. We rode for two hours by moonlight, and then took

up our quarters for the night at a small khan, situated in a very elevated region.

Our cavalcade of nineteen horses, and a small caravan from Damascus with one hundred more, with the muleteers and travellers kindling their fires and cooking their suppers, and a few wild figures rolled up in rough capotes lying on the grass, or around the flickering flames of the fires, would have formed a fine subject for a painter. There was a small house in which some of us managed to find shelter, and the others, wrapped up in their cloaks, reposed on the flat terrace above.

Oct. 5th. When the first streak of morning light was seen stealing along between the bends of the mountains, we were awakened by the muleteers; but the sun had arisen ere our numerous cavalcade was in train for starting. We continued ascending the mountains, and at one time enjoyed a superb view of Beirout and the vast expanse of sea far below. We passed several Druse villages, surrounded by neat vineyards and well cultivated land; the men appeared a hardy and healthy race, and the women with the tantoura, or large horn of silver or copper gilt, projecting from their foreheads, had a strange look. This custom of wearing a horn is probably of Hebraic origin, from the frequent al

DRUSE WOMEN.-KHAN.

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lusion to horns in the scripture. "Lift not up your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck." Psalm lxxv. 5.-"Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thine horn iron," &c. Micah, iv. 13." These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head; but these are come to fray them to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it." Zechariah, i. 21.

At noon we halted for two hours at a khan, where we were joined by two Egyptian officers, whom some of our party unluckily invited to partake of a ham, for they quickly caused it to disappear. Travelling in this country with much baggage is very tiresome, and yet, to travel comfortably, a great deal is required. You have a restive mule which starts away at a gallop or begins to kick, and in the next moment your boxes and trunks are seen rolling down the mountain; sometimes a spirit of emulation arises between two mules, who begin to trot. You run after them to check the acceleration of their pace. This however has just the contrary effect; away they go, glasses, bottles, and crockery begin to shake and rattle, and are heard to perish in rude contact with each other; the perverse four-legged brute all the

while increases his pace, till at last the cords relax, and down comes the whole load with a tremendous crash. Just after one of these catastrophes, when we were surveying with vexation of spirit a heap of baggage lying in the road, with no muleteer present to replace it, one of the party observed a long dark coloured liquid trickling down the rocks, and to our horror we observed that it proceeded from a case of cognac brandy which was lying under the packages, all the bottles in which were smashed.

At two P. M. we began rapidly to descend the mountains, and saw the long flat plain inclosed between the parallel ranges of Lebanon and AntiLebanon, the antient Colesyria, extended like a map below. It appeared bare and arid, devoid of foliage, habitations, and water, and possessed a deserted melancholy appearance. We passed a few scanty villages surrounded by clumps of poplars, containing a population of a few families only, and at seven o'clock we arrived at a khan and a few wretched houses, watered by a small swift stream, called the Bahr Babouini, which flows from the range of Lebanon. Within a quarter of an hour's walk, on the mountain, was Zahle, one of the principal towns of the Emir Beshir. Zahle is said to contain between three and four thousand

inhabitants, but I should think half that number much nearer the mark; they are chiefly Maronite Christians, and have a bishop, several churches, and a monastery. It is a place of some trade, and various manufactured articles are sold there to the peasantry, who flock in from the mountains. The long blue cotton shirts or gowns, manufactured in the place, shoes, pipes, cloth, silk, &c., are exchanged for divers products of the country. We slept on some straw under sheds, in a large yard belonging to Ibrahim Pasha.

Oct. 6th. The weather is very lovely, but very hot in the middle of the day. The autumnal rains have not fallen as yet, and the parched dusty soil of the plain is split into innumerable fissures.

It was fresh and lovely as we left the village, and the clear limpid water, as it rolled between its green banks, presented a delightful contrast to the yellow dusty track we were about to follow. The environs of Zahle are watered by this river, and produce very fine radishes. We passed some low mud huts, filled with a squalid population of old men and miserable children, with their eyes disgustingly covered with flies.

Beyond the village of Kerak a Turk shouted to us, and asked us to come and see the Tomb of Noah, a sight not to be resisted; so we pushed our

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