The Express.
London, England, 1858-09-14 00:00:00

rtz. VANDERBILTHIP EUROPEAN STEAM-
=IL
MAVIS NAILS
ITIAIIIIILS hes Peedherepere er
.berlitillblLT. Yowl Ilk hide tree sad 1,100
rt......the NOM .1011121. hide Yin% gad
• the 1011 Ott Camera TIS KM.
dVek ash ried UM tend she • 11l Ilk 0191■110
PIII,II. lees. art NO *II Wave *MILAN P
VOX sr CO
Ag he It VP V eig .
TVMk. ...... ...... ...... lerreentber II
A
V 1nt1it10...:.....u. .....,..., oftomt u
Tie Wee demen we seediren imerdepe empertieeete
Pelee 4 prep ere Vaembeelk int elm 1:13; eseeed dr.
4114 third elem. .. Per Adel, awe deer. sod Mhos tie. Om
ink Al . • weed *eh Sl•eadmed, third dam.
Per MIAs. p awl le Nome
DUX 1 u P red 5C1101.1.113. "M; FM. sad Oa., il,
*mei .• i rt..... Leo**. Itrteir, !..ILLREPIT e otiaTerim.
E...... kie.d...... was the tles Drell. Van, rri Xmas
WM ItILOLISAIAS. sett Cie. morel reside. Rene led
EBR',
1111
4 r
err hertme me,
troPlynfewrimad
la Mr TORS
ICC/
NV'

I started from Zahle for Bsalbec soon after sun-
rise, so as to hare some hours of daylight among the
ruins. We crossed the Berdsoun by a stone bridge
without any sort of parapets, and climbed up a steep
@treat, which at the same time did duty economically
as the tail of a mill-stream. Passing through the
suburb of Moallakah, at a short distance beyond it
we reached Kama, where I halted to visit the burial
place of Noah—Rabe en Nebi—the tomb of the
prophet. The tomb is attached to a half ruined
mosque of the sect of the Metawalis, and is a long
narrow chamber, the tomb touching the wall at either
end, and leaving a passage along the sides. A low
pet, 18 inches in elevation, is surmounted
by • ridge about two feet high of plaster apparently,
ea which at use end are laid shawls, flags, meow of
cotton, and other materials, in honour of the Father
of the Vine. But if this be really the resting-place
of the patriarch, his legs inns( have been as long as
his life, for the proportions of the tomb are those of
an individual of the decidedly " lanky" order. The
breath of the tomb outside the raised parapet is
about 5 feet, but its length is above a hundred, and
my respectable conductor ,cured me that
the knees reached to the extreme end of the
temb. I suggested that the patriarch mast have
bees rather long, but the worthy sheik reminded me
tint Noah lived nearly a thousand years, and pro-
bably grew all the time. Of course I had totting
to say to the contrary, for, as an Arab replied to
whom I ventured to hint a desire for some sort of
'villeins of the fact, Noah mint have been buried
illemilithere, ant therefore why not there 1 Besides
-Asia lest notorious all over Syria that it was at
Ea* lint Noah first planted the vine, and
hems been vineyards in that locality ever
.em,the vineyards myself, and in 'bun-
, mere by token that the vines, which are
stout vegetables, are laid upon the ground,
• cultivated in the lean gooseberry-busk
France and Germany. The size of the
their horizontal position are so unusual,
t hued a party of travellers at Damascus who
had paned that road a short time previously, and
who declared that no vines existed near Zonis; bat
there is a great trade in raisins at that town, and
considerable quantity of wine and liqueur (aria) is
made in the neighbourhood.
We now descended to the plain of the B'kaa,
along the western side of which oar track lay, by it
very good road at the foot of the chalky spun of the
Lebanon. The Blasi is a long narrow plain totems
the Anti-Letence on the seat and the Legatesr
the west, its breadth being about four henrs'lmatury,
while you may travel upon it longitudinally for these
days. It lies about 2,500 feet above the level of the
see, and is composed chiefly of alluvial soil, having
the appearance of the bed of some vast lake of ow
cient time.. It is of course extremely fertile, pre.
ictolVirislarge crops of corn, but mach of it, especially
Nutlike, was lying fallow, the Bedaween
having a fancy for saving the villagers the trouble
of reaping. Coesequently it is only in the vicinity
of the villages that cultivation is at all active—a
terrible waste of wealth, as a small bodysof cavalry
with a light mountain howitzer at Baalbec, and
another at the entrance of the Wady Harir in the
Anti-Lebanon, or at Hebb Elias on the Lebanon
side of the plain, would effectually keep the Beds-
ween in check. But this is t stretch of infernal
policy far beyond the notions of the Paellas of Da-
lin/CU or Saida, and probably there is more to be
got oat of the plunderers than the plendered. as mat-
ters now stand. The 'seaman be whew " walk'
the B'kaa appears to be at presort, is • Meseta-
sheik at Baalbec, who has a hundred or two of ar-
rant mom-troopers in his service, and who levies
black-mail on the whole country round, taking to
the mountain when the place has got too hot to bold
him, and the authorities are compelled by the
foreign consuls to notice his little ecoietricities.
I grew weary of the monotonous plain and the
fields of Colchicum, for a haze concealed the mare
distant parts of the mountains, so I rode on ahead
et my cavalcade, and soon reached a singular rain,
about half-an-hour's distance from Bealbee. It cos-
of of eight columns of beautiful Oriental granite,
en which is placed a rude architrave, forming an
esiere, en one irids of which is a large nose with a
asp niehe. It appears to be the ruined tomb of
mime wely, or saint. The pillars am clearly from
Baalbec, and are planted with their bases epwarde—
a favourite fashion of the Arabs and Task& I
reached Beelike about six hours after keying Zak,
and, as I rode straight up to the ruins, wee Mop-
pointed both in their size and beauty. I !tego
pected something much more vast and imposing. So
I turned my home's head to the bishop'. house, having
a letter of introduction to him, and felt that Bashes
was to be done in a very brief space of time. 'lts
bishop was not at home, but his seen 7gave me it
cup of coffee and a pipe, and I left my di genes to
announce my arrival when the bishop eammo and at
off on my tour of exploration. In the opus spate in
front of the ruins was a little camp. some live or sin
tents, chiefly English, so the local cicerone were hap-
pily pretty well occupied, and I could wander about
alone. Half an hoar among the ruins totally
changed my ideas respecting them ; and after
climbing to the top of one of the build-
ings, I fairly mat down to wonder and
admire, and instead of sketching, as I intended, made
a cigarette, so that I might filmy eyes deliberately
with the strange and striking scene around me. It
would be oarless and out of place to attempt a descrip-
tion of Baalbec ; but I was greatly impressed by the
vintner of the masses of atone which had been em-
ployed, not only by the Greek or Roman architects,
but by the Arabs, who had constructed the edifice
which is known as " The castle' at the south eastern
corner of the ruins, which is so massive as still to re-
main in tolerable preservation. I comprehended
now that my sheik might have related his story of
Noah in the morning in perfect good faith ; for the
temples and walls of Baalbec seem to have been the
work of giant.. In the western face of the outer wall,
which is of vast height and thickness, I measured, as
well as I could, the length of three stones, the
largest of which was 62 feet 9 inches, the shortest
60 feet. On the eastern side of the great temple
there is a wall, enclosing a comparatively small
area, the object of which it is not easy to guess. The
length of the wall is (slily 160 paces; it m composed
of 9 stories, 9 feet 6 inches wide, one of them being
31 feet 6 inches in length, and 12 feet 6 inches in
height. Bat the most astonishing part of the
ruins to me, more striking even than the vast
columns standing to the west of the smaller temple,
is the substructure beneath the great court. ibis
consists of a series of enamel arched corridors and
vaults, so solidly constructed that they are still
perfect, one of them being above 100 feet in length,
and on it I found hugs columns lying
half-buried among the rubbish. liow they gat
there is a prizzlia for they have not fallen through
the arched roof, which is quite perfect The masonry
of the greater part of the ruins is wonderfully
wrought. One of the (alumna of the smaller tempk
has been displaced by some convulsion, but the lower
part still rests upon its base, the upper end leaning
against the wall of the temple ; yet the joints of the
column have not given way. The lovely little
temple with its carved andlitrave, so well known by
numerous pablished views, is at some distance fres
the at aaifieme, but itscolomos are getting sadly
of out the perpendicular, and large gape are ap-
pearing betimes the stones, threatening rain. What
a treat to work at the temples of Baalbeo with
such a man as Layard ! There is much to be done
and much of its history still to be learned there, as
told by the buildings themselves; and I wonder some
enterprising men do not camp there for a while, and
dig, and measure, and photograph diligently. A
ularmartyeemilopuleslyaretithnee raise of
ten each, some of marble, others of gnmito, among
ltakmit°tlibeefr:widtthht:ewterocimrceples. There are three rows, of