Syria and the Holy Land : their scenery and their people : incidents of travel, &cfrom the best and most recent authorities . lopes of Lebanon, the plain, and the river of Beyroot, the airydomes of the pine woods breaking the red horizon of the sandy waste ; lastly,the sea everywhere embayed within its capes, and its gnarled and frettedrocks, with the white sails cleaving its surface in every direction ; such is theprospect continually before the eyesof the Maronite monks. Theymade us many presents of driedfruits and skins of wine, whichwere laid on the backs of asses, andwe left them to retur
Syria and the Holy Land : their scenery and their people : incidents of travel, &cfrom the best and most recent authorities . lopes of Lebanon, the plain, and the river of Beyroot, the airydomes of the pine woods breaking the red horizon of the sandy waste ; lastly,the sea everywhere embayed within its capes, and its gnarled and frettedrocks, with the white sails cleaving its surface in every direction ; such is theprospect continually before the eyesof the Maronite monks. Theymade us many presents of driedfruits and skins of wine, whichwere laid on the backs of asses, andwe left them to return to Beyrootby another road. Our descent was by a windingcourse of steep steps cut in thedetached blocks of yellow and fra-gile sand-stone, that covers all thelower regions of Lebanon. A fewshrubs and herbs find root in theinterstices of the rocks, and we metwith splendid flowers like our gar-den tulips, but a great deal started several gazelles anda few jackals, that make their lairs in the hollows of these rocks; and great numbers of partridges, quails, andwoodcocks took wing at the sound of our horses Gazelles. ENVIRONS OF BEYROOT. 41 When we reached the plain, we found ourselves once more amidst thecultivation of the vine, barley, and the palm; we advanced about midway-through this rich vegetation, and were soon at the foot of a broad conicalhill, covered with stone pines, with broad openings between, through whichwe descried at a distance herds of camels and flocks of goats. The hillconcealed from us the Nahr Beyroot, which we intended to cross at itssouthern part. After riding about a quarter of an hour under the loftyarcades of the beautiful spreading pines, we suddenly heard loud shouts, thenoisy tread of multitudes of men, women, and children, approaching us,the rattling of drums and the sounds of the pipe and fife. In an instantwe were surrounded by five or six hundred wild-looking beings, whom wetook for Arabs. Their chiefs, dressed in magnificent ga
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