Belâd esh-Shukif. For the first half hour the road led along the summit of the mountain ridge, over soft cretaceous rocks, and through thick groves of oak and other forest trees. One of the hills was covered with female camels, their young ones amongst them, a scene which I had never before met with in the country. They belonged to a tribe of Arabs encamped on the mountain north of Hûnîn. After a sharp descent of a few minutes, we crossed the boundary between Belâd Beshârah and Merj 'Ayun, leaving 'Adeiseb(?) on the west, and Âbil on the east, some hundred feet below, near the plain of the Merj. This is a considerable Christian village, and so celebrated for its wheat as to be called Abil el-Kamh. It probably marks the site of the Abel-Beth-Maachah mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, in connection with Ijon, the Scripture name to which the form 'Ayûn corresponds. Indeed, the Hebrew radicals of Ijon would be more correctly pronounced 'Ayûn; and the word Merj (meadow) has been prefixed to denote the nature of the place, viz. a well watered pasturage. The Merj is a small, but elevated and very beautiful plain, sub-circular or oval, and so well watered as to appear quite green even in September. Tiglath Pileser took Ijon and Abel; and these are coupled with Kedesh Naphtali and Hazor; which sufficiently marks their neighborhood.1 This Abil must not be confounded with another Âbil, or îbl el-Hawa, which we passed one night, as we went from Hasbeiya to Bâniâs. Leaving a large village of Druzes on our right, called Mutulleh, and descending gradually for forty-five minutes from Âbil, we came to Kufeir Kely. The water from this village flows off into the Lîtâny, and so falls into the Mediterranean; while that from the Merj runs into the Hûleh, and is finally lost in the Dead Sea. The two lie side by side, so nearly on a level, and so closely joined, that it is difficult to discover the line of demarkation. The plain of Kufeir Kely appears to join itself to the mountain of Kŭl'at el-Shŭkîf; nor will the traveller imagine that the Litâny flows between them, until he reaches the very precipice which overhangs it, and is almost within gun-shot of the castle itself; when he will be surprised to see the river far below him, rushing along its rocky channel, but so deep and distant, that its angry roar can scarcely reach his ear. By a very winding path we reached the bridge in one hour and a half from Kufeir Kely and three hours from Hûnîn; the direction being north a little west. This bridge is called Jisr el-Khŭrdela, has pointed arches, appears to be quite ancient, and was formerly defended by a tower on the west end; which is now nearly in ruins. The river Litâny is in itself a great curiosity. Rising near Ba'albek at 12 K. 15: 29.-See Note at the end of the Article.-E. R. 1846.] Region north of Hûnîn. 205 an elevation above the sea of about 4,000 feet, it creeps sluggishly through the Bukâ'a, until, after a thousand serpentine meanderings, and doublings upon its track, it reaches the S. W. extremity of the plain. There it immediately engages in a difficult and romantic contest with the everlasting pillars of Lebanon, for a free passage down to the Mediterranean. In the struggle, a deep crevice is effected through the solid strata of the mountain, down which the torrent launches its whole force with headlong fury. So narrow is the rent, that only here and there is there room along the stream for a foot path, and the high and perpendicular cliffs approach so near, and frown so darkly, in many places, that a bird will scarcely venture to fly between them. Near the Jisr Burghŭr, the branches of the trecs from either side meet and interlock, forming a verdant canopy which entirely screens the current below from the noonday sun. Every few hundred rods it appears to rush directly against a perpendicular cliff of great height, thrown across the channel as if on purpose to bar all further progress; but wheeling sharply to the right or left, it leaps furiously down its rocky road, until again brought up as suddenly by some other cliff, when it finds or forces a passage in quite another direction. Thus it struggles with opposing mountains for many miles in a course not far from south-west. Having passed Kŭl'at eshShûkîf, it turns due west, and in about five hours, falls into the sea, a few miles north of Tyre. This deep rent in the mountain range is without an example of its kind. There is a long rampart, drawn from the gulf of 'Akabah to Antioch, and not a drop of water from this vast Ghôr finds its way into the Mediterranean, except what is carried down by this solitary stream. No other fountain, or river breaks over this western wall; but all are lost in the bitter waters of the Dead Sea, swallowed up by the sands of the desert, or fall into the gulf of 'Akabah. The fact is singular, and not to have been expected, considering the structure of the plains and mountains. And it is not improbable that the geology of the region, carefully studied, will point to a period when this, like every other stream which rises within this long valley, flowed south, and either swelled the dimensions of the Dead Sea, or was carried with all the rest, onward to the gulf of 'Akabah. There is reason to believe, that the valley of the Bukâ'a was, at some remote period of geological chronology, a large lake. This is not the place for the discussion of such a question, but the proofs appear sufficient. And the same convulsion which depressed so greatly the valley of the Dead Sea, may have rent open this new outlet for the waters of the Bukâ'a, by which the lake was entirely drained, and its waters carried into the Mediterranean, instead of the Dead Sea. The idea is a little exciting, but not improbable. Even now the river VOL. III. No. 9. 18 from Ba'albek seems as if it could be carried into the Hasbany without difficulty, and thus fill up the Hûleh and the lake Tiberias, augment the Jordan, and enlarge the Dead Sea. This hypothesis presents a beautiful chain of lakes and rivers stretching from Coelo-Syria to the Red Sea, and opening a magnificent channel of internal commerce and communication. But to return from this digression. Having crossed the Litany, and passed some old ruins a few rods from the bridge, we turned to the left, up an almost impracticable mountain path. The ascent was so precipitous that we were obliged to dismount, and after three quarters of an hour of hard climbing, we reached the castle, our horses being as much exhausted as ourselves. By keeping the regular road towards Nebâtiyeh for about half an hour, and then passing through the village Tumrah, you reach the castle without difficulty. Castle of esh-Shukif. This is an exceedingly strong fortress crowning the oval summit of a high mountain, and overhanging the Litàny. The course of the river here is nearly south, and the castle is on the west of it. The natural position renders it almost impregnable; access from the east being impossible; from the north nearly so; from the west very difficult; while on the south, the ridge is only a few rods wide which connects it with the adjacent mountain. The west and south, were defended by a wide and deep ditch cut in the live rock. The whole bottom of the ditch is a vast cistern covered with a strong vaulted roof. This cistern is even yet in good repair; and the farmers were driving their herds into it to drink, while we were there. The walls of the castle are very solid and lofty, towering sixty or eighty feet above the ditch. There was but one entrance, which is on the south east; reached by a bridge across the fosse, and overhanging the awful precipice of the Litány. A stone, dropped from this part of the castle will descend many hundred feet at a single bound; and unless accidentally checked will not pause in its headlong course, until it reaches the river some fifteen hundred feet below. There are but few castles in the world, perched upon such a giddy precipice. The length is about eight hundred feet, and the breadth three hundred. And when in good repair, and well garrisoned, I do not see how it could be subdued. It was built before the invention of cannon, and is not at all adapted for them. There are a few port holes; but these may not have been intended for fire arms, or they may have been cut through the walls at a later date. The area within the walls was nearly all covered with buildings, and numerous magazines have been excavated beneath them in the solid rock. I have no doubt but that some of the many dark passages, cut in the rock, lead down through the base of the castle into the great cistern at the bottom of the ditch. 1846.] Region north of Hunin. 207 This castle is mentioned in the twelfth century under the name of Belfort or Beaufort. It has been often besieged, and during the crusades it experienced every variety of fortune and misfortune. When it was reduced to its present condition I have no means of ascertaining. It is far less dilapidated than the other castles we have visited; and might readily be repaired and made a very formidable fortress. I think it probable that there was a castle here from very remote times. It entirely commands the only passage over the Lîtâny, which the Sidonians could have had into the Merj and Ard el-Hûleh, both of which certainly belonged to them. The latter was even called the great plain of Sidon.1 Here, too, the great road to Damascus must have passed, as it does still. That there was in the palmy days of the Phenician commerce a fortress commanding this important pass and the bridge over the Lîtâny, can scarcely be doubted. That this would be the site selected, is, to say the least, not unlikely; and is rendered probable by the nature of the works found here at present. The large excavations in the live rock, the deep ditch, and the heavy bevelled stones, out of which so much of the castle is constructed, are all marks of antiquity. It may therefore have been only rebuilt by the Saracens at or about the time of the early crusades, out of materials found on the spot. From the castle to Nebâtiyeh is one hour and a half; and from this to Sidon five and a half hours of rapid riding. We reached Sidon about an hour after dark. The distance from this city to Kŭlat esh-Shŭkîf is about twenty-five miles, and to Hunin at least ten miles further. The road from Sidon to Damascus by Jisr el-Khŭrdela is never blocked up by snow and is better than any other with which I am acquainted. The highest part of the pass to the Jisr cannot be more than fifteen hundred feet, and the ascent beyond is very gradual. Caravans find it much easier and safer in winter than the rugged and higher pass of Lebanon on the road from Beirût. And if government should ever wish to make a carriage road to Damascus, it would no doubt commence it, not at Beirut, but at Sidon. NOTES ON THE PRECEDIng Article. By Prof. E. Robinson. THE public are greatly indebted to the author of the preceding Article for his very distinct and graphic account of the topography of Baniâs and the vicinity. It is the first good account that we possess, that of 1 1 Joseph. Antiq. V. 3. 1. Burckhardt being very confused and imperfect; which, indeed, is doubtless to be accounted for by the fact, that his visit to Bàniâs occurred during his very first journey as an oriental traveller, and was made under quite unfavorable circumstances, both as to weather and opportunities for personal investigation.1 In respect to some of the conclusions of the preceding Article, there would seem to be room for some further consideration, either by way of fuller illustration, or perhaps occasionally of modification. The Jordan. It is certainly a remarkable circumstance, that the great Jewish historian, in speaking of the Jordan and its sources, has apparently made no allusion to the Hasbany, the largest and by far the longest of all the streams which enter the marshes of the Hûleh. Yet so definite and explicit is the language of Josephus in respect to the fountains of that famous river, that I am unable to arrive at any other conclusion, than that he purposely, and no doubt in accordance with popular usage, limits the name of Jordan to the two streams above described as flowing from Bâniâs and Tell el-Kâdy. The following are the passages in Josephus, which refer to the Jordan in general: Antiq. V. 1. 22. The Naphthalites are said to take possession of Upper Galilee as far as to Mount Lebanon and the sources of the Jordan, which break forth from the mountain, etc., αἳ [πηγαὶ] τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους ἔχουσιν. Antiq. XV. 10. 3. This is the passage quoted above, p. 189, describing the temple erected by Herod in honor of Augustus at Panium, that is, at the cavern beneath the impending mountain; under which cavern rise the fountains of the river Jordan: ὑπὸ δὲ τὸ σπήλαιον ἀνατέλλουσιν αἱ πηγαὶ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ποταμοῦ. Bell. Jud. I. 21. 3. Here the historian is speaking also of Herod's temple at the same place, Panium, which he describes in the same manner. At the roots of the cavern outside, rise fountains; and here, as some think, is the beginning of the Jordan : τοῦ δὲ ἄντρου κατὰ τὰς ἔξωδεν ῥίζας ἀνατέλλουσιν αἱ πηγαί· καὶ γένεσις μὲν ὡς ἔνιοι δοκοῦσιν ἔνθεν Ιορδάνου. But Josephus refers the reader, for a more accurate view, to the passage next following. The language here quoted might perhaps be supposed to imply, that the appearance of the fountain at the mouth of the cavern in Josephus' day, did not much differ from its present state as above described. B. J. III. 10. 7. This is the celebrated passage, which, while affirming that the source of the Jordan seems to be Panium, (δοκεῖ μὲν Ἰορδάνου πηγὴ 1 Burckh. Travels in Syria, etc. 4to. p. 36-43. |