CHAP. XXIX. DEPARTURE FROM ARAB'S HUT.. - JOURNEY OVER MOUNT LEBANON. DANGER IN PASSING THROUGH THE SNOW.DESCENDING TO THE VALE OF AVEN. MISERABLE KHAN. DAMASCUS. JOURNEY THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS. IMPRESSIONS ON THE FIRST VIEW OF IT. ARRIVAL. FIRMAN TREATED CONTEMPTUOUSLY AT THE GATE. REMARKS. PROOF OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PATENT LETTER FROM ROME. ATIONS. FRANCISCAN CONVENT. OBSERV AFTER passing a sleepless night on the ground in the wretched hovel of our muleteer, from being attacked with vermin, I mounted my mule at six o'clock the following morning. In descending the valley, the scenery is woody and romantic, there was an air of life and industry visible and cheering to the spirits, which can only be appreciated by those who have travelled in a solitary manner among the gloomy mountains. Cascades were pouring forth their waters; the cheerful rivulet forcing its serpentine course; the mill in active motion; the miller at work; one husbandman was sitting under his own figtree, and another cultivating his vineyard, and I own that I have rarely experienced a more delightful effect from charming scenery than I observed in this neighbourhood. I passed the house of the Governor in a contiguous village called Muchtara, beautifully situated on an eminence; a substantial building fantastically painted; the windows of the lower apartments had bars of iron, and in all probability it was a prison, as was the case in the edifice occupied by the Pacha at Acre. On travelling afterwards through some vineyards and olive-fields, I arrived at the foot of Mount Lebanon, which stands so eminently proud, from its stupendous magnitude. Aware of the fatigue to be encountered in scaling it, I halted, and sat down on a bank, with a keen appetite, to partake of refreshment. Although this consisted merely of boiled eggs, bread, and raw onions, washed down with the water of a limpid brook, which was gliding along, yet the repast was delicious, after a long ride, and having been broiled under the powerful heat of the sun. I ascended the mountain, great part of which was capped with clouds; and, after much toil in walking and riding alternately, stopping short, and panting for breath, was rejoiced on reaching the top, where I found a climate very different to that which had been left behind, the ground being covered with snow, and the cold rigorously intense. I proceeded along the summit for some time, without coming in contact with a human being, or even perceiving a single bird of the air. An awful dead silence reigned throughout this lonely and most desolate region; and as no spot can be conceived more favourable for waylaying and committing robbery and assassination, a traveller never treads it without entertaining considerable apprehensions for his personal safety. In some parts the snow lay so very deep, that it was with the utmost difficulty we could forward the animals. At one time in particular the mule conveying the baggage stuck so fast, that I concluded all had been lost, and that I should have also perished, with my servant and muleteer, as we found ourselves considerably under the snow. In short, had the journey been attempted a month earlier, it would have been totally impracticable to have forced a passage across the top of this mount. This mountain has received the appellation of Lebanon, from the word Leban, signifying white *, and, in all probability, from the snow which remains on its heights during the whole year. It has been peculiarly marked in Scripture, as affording many glowing images and beautiful metaphors to the sacred writers. We find that, considered as * I often had occasion to hear, for the word Milk, the Arabs use that of Leban. a peculiarly striking object of grandeur and altitude, it formed an object of the supplications, offered by Moses, to the throne of grace, that he might be allowed by God to behold it. * It was also a barrier to the Land of Promise, and considered as insurmountable, since Sennacherib, in all his pride and confidence, expresses the facility with which he had encountered greater obstacles, and proclaims the inutility of any resistance on the part of Hezekiah; it was referred to as a solitude which afforded haunts for beasts of prey ‡, the dangers of which have been remarked by the wise man, in his address to the church. The variety of streams, and the fragrance which is diffused by odoriferous plants about this mountain, also furnish proper figures to the inspired writer. To one of these in its tender growth, the high priest at the altar is compared, from his elevation and dignity of character¶ and to these the eulogium on the graces of the church has also a reference. ** The cedars of it also have, in all ages, been celebrated as objects of grandeur, and touched upon as images in antient prophecy. Moreover, the prosperity of the righteous is compared to these ++, which are further employed, to denounce the judgments of God on men of proud and high minds ‡‡ ; and the numbers and growth of these trees form a sublime declaration to one of the prophets. §§ The conversion of the Gentiles, from idolatry to the worship of the true God, is expressed in terms highly beautiful ||||; as also the prosperity of the kingdom of Christ. ¶¶ It may be further added, that the cedars of this mountain, uniting so many qualities for building, afforded ample materials, and were sent by king Hiram ***, to Solomon, who put › many persons in a state of requisition to cut down and convey them to Joppa, from whence they were transmitted 3 Hab. ii. 17. Ecclesiasticus 1. 12. # Id. xxix. 4. ¶¶ Id. ii. 2. *** 1 Kings v. 10. 15. Id. vi. 36. Ezra vi. 3, 4. to Jerusalem, for the erection of his splendid temple. Almost every object about this distinguished place strongly points out in the words of inspiration," the glory of Lebanon." A traveller who has ascended this vast mountain, cannot fail to be struck with profound awe and astonishment at the works of the Almighty. * All the objects he has left behind, and considered at one moment as great, appear to diminish at every step he takes, and absolutely dwindle into nothing. He is surrounded by frightful excavations, torrents, and volumes of clouds rolling hurriedly down, piercing every cavern, and threatening to envelop the whole mountain in complete darkness. Terror possesses him at every step he takes in the ascent, when he passes along the edge of yawning gulphs, apprehensive of looking on the track he has left behind. He must repose an entire confidence, when sitting on his mule, in its sure and steady steps. Ultimately he rejoices at gaining the summit, when he finds all his labour recompensed, and he is riveted to the spot in silent wonder; he is prompted to exclaim in the sublime language of Scripture, "Thou art worthy to receive glory, honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." In this solitude, delighted with the contemplation of many interesting objects, conceiving he has arrived in a new world, beholding a horizon of prodigious extent, and entertaining an idea, from its vast altitude, that he can absolutely grasp, as it were, at command, the whole of this sublunary world, which he now supposes to lie under his feet, his soul cannot but be elevated to that Omnipotent Being, who sits upon the circle of the earth, in whose sight the inhabitants thereof appear as grasshoppers. Such a situation would lead him to think, that in proportion as he is raised above the habitations of men, all vulgar sentiments are left behind, and the soul, in approaching the ætherial regions, shakes off its earthly affections, and contracts something of invariable purity. At the same time, * Psalm cxxxix. 6. although the traveller may feel alarm at finding its summit covered with snow, which has been antiently alluded to as covering this mountain *, and apprehensive the prosecution of his route may be interrupted; yet he ought to be consoled by reflecting that this is done in infinite wisdom, even during the period of harvest. † The place in all probability is a depôt for it, till its dissolution takes place, under the influence of summer heat, when it affords supplies of water to the plains below, and fills those brooks which have been dried up by the power of the sun. ‡ By great exertions, and after using every proper caution, I most fortunately forced a passage through this body of snow to the other side of the summit, when the vast plain of Aven came into view, which is referred to by one of the prophets §, as signifying vanity, from the idolatrous worship of Baal, which took place in a city situated at the top of this valley, of which I shall have occasion to speak at another time more particularly. I descended from Mount Lebanon, and after travelling some time along the plain, crossed a river of considerable breadth and rapidity, by a bridge of thirteen arches, and arrived at a khan of the most deplorable description, crowded with dirty Arabs, when I threw myself on the ground, almost in a state of exhaustion, from the fatigue of this arduous day's journey. Early next morning, after paying for the ground-rent of this den, I set out, and on leaving the plain at some distance, travelled over a chain of mountains characterised by great gloom and wildness, and nearly the whole day, under a scorching sun, without perceiving a single object either to delight the eye, refresh the mind, or divert the attention. In the course of this journey I was led, indeed, to fear, that a city of so much beauty and extent as Damascus was represented to be, never could be situated in such a wild solitude, and therefore concluded that the muleteer had been altogether out in his reckoning, as to the proper route, in the direction of it. At one particu * Jer. xviii. 14. + Prov. xxv. 13, Psalm civ. 10-15. |