Here we entered on a sandy beach, and quickening our pace, we reached the gate of Tripoly, or Tarabolus, a few minutes after sunset. Directing our course to the house of Mr. Katchefflis, a Greek merchant who performs the duties of British consul there, we met a welcome reception, and were comfortably accommodated.

STAY AT TRIPOLY, AND JOURNEY FROM THENCE ACROSS THE
MOUNTAINS OF LEBANON TO BALBECK.

TUESDAY, April 23.-I had been charged by Lady Hester Stanhope, on my departure from Seyda, with the delivery of a pair of English pistols to Mustapha Baba, the governor here, which I had promised to present with my own hands, and accompany by the necessary explanations. Information was accordingly sent to him of my arrival, and my wish to pay him a visit when it might be convenient; and the answer returned was, that his affairs were to-day so pressing that he could wish my visit to be postponed until to-morrow. The day was therefore devoted to an examination of the town and its environs. The town of Tarabolus is situated at the foot of Lebanon, and from it extends out a flat triangular piece of land to the N.W. for the distance of nearly two miles; but on each side of this triangle, in the north-eastern and south-western bay, the sea reaches to within the distance of

less than a mile from the houses. The town is not regularly walled, though it has several gates of entrance; but on a hill which overlooks it on the S.E. is a large castle, of Saracen construction, which serves for the residence of the military. The whole of the buildings occupy a space of about two miles in circuit; and as the houses are generally crowded together, Tarabolus may be esteemed as inferior in size and population only to Aleppo, Damascus, and Jerusalem. The houses and magazines are inferior to those of Bairoot, and the bazārs to those of Accha, or Acre, though the streets are generally paved, and the markets and shops well furnished. There are in the town eleven mosques, chiefly having domes and minarets, and the largest of these is a very fine old building of the Saracenic order, with a court and fountain, and a number of old Arabic inscriptions. There are four Christian churches; two Greek, one Maronite, and one Latin in the convent of the Capuchins. The proportion of the population may be therefore judged from this; the Mohammedans being the most numerous, the Greek Christians next, and lastly the Catholics.

We noted only a few Osmanlies; but we saw here more persons wearing green turbans, as descendants of Mohammed, than even in Damascus itself, where they are particularly numerous.

The environs of Tarabolus are chiefly laid out in gardens, in which the orange and lemon trees abound. A fine stream, called Nahr-el-Meloueea, comes from the S.E., and flowing at the foot of the hill behind the castle, passes by the dwellings on the northeastern edge of the town, and discharges itself into the sea. Behind the castle in the valley is a coffee-house, visited as a place of recreation, to enjoy the sound of the water, the verdure, and the shade, and several other smaller ones are seated on its banks nearer the town.

There is a place called Bedoowé, also about two miles to the N.E. of the town, where is the tomb of a saint of that name, with a mosque raised thereon. raised thereon. Attached to this Attached to this mosque is a circular basin of beautifully clear

water, in which are kept a number of

fishes that are not suffered to be caught or eaten, out of respect to the memory of him who is buried near. We saw, I should conceive, not less than 2000 fishes within the circumference of less than 100 paces; some of them large enough to weigh five or six pounds, flat-headed, covered with fine scales, of a silver grey colour, and in excellent condition. There is a coffee-shed near this, at which we halted to refresh.

The cemeteries of Tarabolus are the most extensive I had ever seen for a town of its size, the population not exceeding 10,000, and the graves being, I should think, almost as numerous as in Damascus. This seems to confirm all that is said of the insalubrity of its air in summer; though the inhabitants happily believe that no place in Syria is more beautiful, or more healthy, than theirs, which they call Sham-el-Sogheere, Damascus the Little, or, as we should say, a miniature of the capital. The tombs are much more handsome than at Damascus, and more in the true Turkish style of Constantinople and Smyrna, all daily furnished with myrtle, freshly watered, and visited and strewed with flowers by surviving female relatives and friends.

After a busy day, we passed the evening with the family of Mr. Katchefflis, who had a young wife and four beautiful children; heard all his own history, and a hundred interesting anecdotes of celebrated travellers whom he had known, from Wortley Montagu onwards to later individuals journeying this way, as well as of affairs in the country, he having been thirty-five years consul here.

Wednesday, April 24.—We received word this morning, that the Aga would be prepared for our visit about three o'clock, or el-Assr, so that, having the forenoon at leisure, we set out after breakfast to go down to the Meena, or port, taking the following bearings of objects from our terrace before we left the house :

The road to the Meena led us first over a small sandy hill, on which are sheds and booths of entertainment; and afterwards on a grassy plain all the rest of the way. The port itself being on the N. E. of the point of land, is well sheltered from the prevailing winds of the coast, which are from S. to W., and is sufficiently capacious to contain a great number of vessels. There were about 15 sail, large and small, now lying there. The water is said to be of convenient depth, and the anchoring ground clear and good. The port is altogether formed by the extremity of the point itself, and a few small rocks scattered near it, and not by the two islands off it, which are much too distant to afford any shelter to vessels riding near the shore of the continent.

There is a little town at the port, containing from 2 to 3,000 inhabitants, an excellent khan, several large magazines, a boat-yard, and shops of all kinds, chiefly kept by Syrian Greeks.

To the S. and S. E. are many vestiges of the former settlements here, in destroyed buildings, granite columns, &c. scattered on the beach of the sea. From a point on which were many of these, and which formed the outermost extremity of the tongue of land, I noted the following bearings: