203

IV. HERMON AND LEBANON.

THE remaining period of our stay in Syria was devoted to those two great parallel mountain ranges from which the 'whole physical structure of Syria takes its rise.

On leaving the Holy Land, the interest of the country changes its character. It belongs for the most part to secular geography and history. But this secondary interest is of so peculiar a kind and attaches itself so closely to the Land, of which these regions form the outposts, that a few words may be added to fill up the very imperfect account given of these parts in my former work.

Wady-et

We were enabled to explore the two singular valleys which intersect the lower regions of these great mountain chains. The first is the Wady-et-Teim. This is the valley which divides from each other the southern portions Tim. of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, as the Beka'a or Cole Syria divides their northern portions. It is formed by the Hasbany river, the river of Hasbeya, - which is, in strict geography though not in history, the highest branch and source of the Jordan. It has a sacredness of its own, though neither Biblical nor classical, as the chief seat of the Druzes, who, settling there in the eleventh century, under their founder Derazy, have since spread through the surrounding hills and valleys in every direction.

The range which forms the western boundary of the Wadyet-Teim is, in fact, the south-eastern spur of Lebanon; and from the highest ridge of this is obtained one of the best geographical views (if I may so express myself) that I ever The double lines of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon are full in sight; and the Jordan is visible in all its upper stages, through

saw.

1 See Sinai and Palestine, c. xii.

the whole length of the valley of its northern tributary the Hasbany; through the whole valley of the lake of Merom, down through the opening gap, to the waters still distinct, and seen for the last time, of the lake of Gennesareth. The 'Litâny (or Leontes) flows beneath. It parts asunder the two portions of Lebanon, which else would naturally be one; and which still cling so closely to each other, that the dividing river is almost lost in their narrow embrace. This is the peculiarity which has of late years given such a stimulus to the curiosity of travellers concerning it. From the moment that it leaves the broad plain of Cole Syria, in which it rises, it plunges into a long ravine, so deep and so precipitous that its course can with difficulty be traced from the overhanging brow of the rocky eminences which close it on either side. And it so completely cuts off communication from either side to the other that, but for a singular freak of nature, no intercourse could take place across its banks for a course of nearly thirty miles. This fortunate freak is the natural bridge (the Kûweh), which consists of a solid mass of earth or rock that has fallen over its course, and in that one single spot, at the foot of the rocks, allows of a transit from east to west of the 2stream. So it rushes through this dark and winding depth till, at the first wider opening which it meets, it suddenly turns westward under the huge precipice of the castle of Esh-Shukîf or Belfort; a castle, as its name implies, built by the Crusaders, but raised on the foundations or out of the remains of some older fortress, intended to guard the gorge, which once more closes in and conveys this most furious, but most secluded, of rivers into the Mediterranean sea not far from Tyre.

From this wild valley and mysterious river, the passage over Mount Hermon, or Anti-Lebanon, again brought us within the range of an antique sanctity, of which the traces remain everywhere, but of which the precise origin is veiled in obscurity. I have elsewhere3 shown that Mount Hermon is probably the

1 See Sinai and Palestine, c. xii.

2 The description of this bridge and of the Litâny generally, is admirably given by Dr. Robinson (Lat. Res. 422424), though with a touch of exaggeration very unusual in his sober pages. I cannot quote this work without again

bearing my humble testimony (with such slight exceptions as I have here and elsewhere ventured to notice) to his rare merits as an accurate, observant, and powerful describer of physical and historical geography.

3 Sinai and Palestine, c. xi.

true scene of the Transfiguration, the high mountain' above Cæsarea Philippi; and, if so, the only one of all the eminences mentioned in the New Testament, which is called the Holy 2 Mountain.' In the Old Testament, besides the names of Hermon, Senir, and Sion, it seems also to have borne that of Baal-Hermon, 'the sanctuary of Hermon.'

3

Of this sacredness the proofs are manifold. It is, as Dr. Robinson truly remarks, girded with ancient temples. They

6

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5

Temples of
Hermon.

' are found in all situations; crowning hills and moun'tain tops, or secluded in valleys and deep gorges. The 'founders and worshippers have disappeared for un'known ages; whether they were Phoenicians or Græco-Syrians we cannot tell; they have left behind no trace but these their 'works, and no record how or why these works were erected.' That on its summit, of which some ruins are still to be traced, was noticed by Jerome. To this, on its heights or in its close neighbourhood, may be added no less than eighteen. Seven are to be seen on its more southern uplands, Rukleh, Kul'at Bostra, Hibbâryieh, Neby Sufa, Deir-el-Ashayr, Burkush. That of Neby Sufa 'stands facing the east, directly over against Hermon, in his most imposing aspect.' That of Hibbâryieh 'fronts directly on the great chasm of Wady Shiba, looking up the mighty gorge, as if to catch the first beams of the morning sun rising over Hermon.' That of Rukleh, which is further east, fronts westward' also 'towards the Mount of Hermon,' and is distinguished by a finely-carved human countenance, as if intended for Baal or 9 Astarte. That of Deir-elAshayr 10 fronts eastward, and is remarkable as consisting of a double edifice, one below the other; as on a larger scale at Baalbec.

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11

Eleven more can be traced in the passes of the Anti-Lebanon westward of Damascus. One, indeed two, stand over the source of Ain Fijeh, as if to consecrate that most abundant of all the

1 Matt. xvii. 1.

2 2 Peter i. 18.

3 Judges iii. 3. 'Mount Baal Hermon.' See Mr. Grove on this word in the Dic

tionary of the Bible.

4 Rob. Lat. Res. 432.

5 Ibid. iii. 418.

Porter in Rob. Lat. Res. 432.

7 Rob. Lat. Res. iii. 426.

8 Ibid. 417.

9 Ibid. 436.

10 Ibid. 437.

Of this there is a representation in Mr. Bedford's Photographs; probably the only one ever taken of the ruins.

Syrian springs, the supposed source of the Barada. Large traces of another, also in connection with the river, are to be seen at Kefr Zeit. Another, of which the many columnar fragments give its name to the village where they are found, "Kefr-el-Awamîd,' the village of the columns,' is near Abila, and must have faced towards the sacred hill, now crowned by the alleged tomb of Abel; the tomb itself, as it would seem, planted on a more ancient sanctuary. Two or three cluster on the slopes of the hill below Bludân. By one of these stands a clump of aged ilexes, perhaps, with the exception of that of Hazuri, near Banias, the best likeness in Syria of the ancient groves of Astarte. On a rude altar among the trees, by an immemorial usage which has given to the spot the name of 2 Um-es-Shukakîf, the mother of fragments,' the neighbouring villagers are in the habit of breaking earthen jars. The hill of Nebi Yunas (the Prophet Jonah), above Bludân, is, in like manner, full of similar remains. At its foot, in the plain of Suraya, are two evidently consecrated to the spring which gushes out from its rocks (Ain Fowar). Half way up is a third; on its summit are two, one of more antique appearance than the other; both commanding a magnificent view of Hermon and the surrounding valleys.3

Baalbec.

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3

Two or three other temples exist not far off: Medjil, further south, and Ain Ata, further north, in the plain of the Beka'a, or Cole Syria. But Baalbec stands supreme, and may well close the series which has been given of the sanctuaries of Anti-Lebanon. Its identification with any Biblical site must remain extremely uncertain. It may possibly be Baalath, the frontier city of Solomon, or Baal-Hamon, the pleasure garden of the Canticles, or Baal-Hermon, the 'sanctuary of Baal in Hermon,' or Baal Gad1 ('the gathering of Baal'), ‘under Hermon.' Against each of these suppositions there are objec

1 Robinson, Lat. Res. 478.

2 Porter's Five Years in Damascus, i. 281.

3 To this array of heathen sanctuaries must be added the legends of later Jewish or Mussulman tradition which are given in Sinai and Palestine, c. xii.

4 Baalath (1 Kings ix. 28), Baal

Hamon, Cant. viii. 11. Baal-hermon, 1 Chron. v. 23; Judges iii. 3. Baal Gad, Joshua xi. 17. Several of these names may in fact be synonymous for the same place. Baalath is advocated by Mr. Hogg (The Names of Baalbec, p. 2—4). Baal Gad by Ritter (ii. 230).