Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1848-09-30


attached to the Dead Sea expedition The contents Of the
letter have afforded much peasure-hayne as aid
fallen into hands by acciden-that think il will be read
oy al WIN equal gratcal9n and therefore take upon my
interest by all those interested in the succe of the
scions OF the navy
| Yours, &c. A SUBSCRIBER
HOTEL BELLEVUE, BEIRour, (SrR1A,)
JuLr S, lS4S.
Anxousy awaiting the arrival Of our good shin
the "Suppy I; and daily hourly do we strain our elances
the dark of the Mediterranean where heaven
and earth unite again. in hopes to catch glimpse Of her,
Not speck appears upon the horizon but subject to the
most rigid scrutiny and should sail loom larger than the
rest the spygasses put immediate requon ard many
conecures made about the unknown vessel until nearer
approach dpes all visions For our labors for the pre-
sent are over, The pilgrimage has been accomplished, and
tired Of rowing in foreign land deeply interesting though
be- turn with fond desire towards native Shore that
all our wanderings have but made US love the more.
Since wrote from Jaa have visited Acre, the point
from which started, Nazareth and the Of GaIee fol-
lowed up the Jordan its source and visited Damascus and
Balbek
was for ten days, in company with another gentleman of
the party upon little Independent expedition, for the pur-
pose Of examining the river Leontes which separates the
southern parts of the great chains of Lebanon and eba-
non My route led through of the most splendid
scenery in Syria. started from here, and my first days
journey was to Beddn, the palace Of the great prince of the
Lebanon, the Emir Beschr. Once great and powerful from
his throne in the mountains he ruled the country with an
iron hand But his very power the of his down.
aeIcitng the jealousy of the Sultan, money and intrigue
comprised his He is now prisoner in ConstantinopIe
f he yet ives and his palace is barracks Turkish SOL
ders visited almost every part Of it, and greatly sur
rsed at its size and admirable constructions and the manner
in which the Od Man of the Mountain" he has been not
napy called, surrounded himself with every luxury whilst
all else throughout the country rude in the extreme Many
Of the chambers beautifully omamented with arabesque
painting and sculpture, and fountains running in every
apartment There also splendid baths halls &C., and
an extensive terrace platforms where former tines they
displayed feats of hosemanshp exercised the deeIed But
times changed Bteddnthe glory of the house has de-
parted The next morning was awoke by the bugles of
the Turks and went my way musng the strange mu-
liability of human affairs. Who knows but the Emr may
day return his palace My second days march was
through the dominons of another Em well known cha
acter Syria, but who, Fortunate occupies the
seat Of his fathershe Emir of Muktarrah. We passed
through his town. but with intention of stopping. When,
however had arrived the house of the Er he came
out to meet with number Of his followers he was splen-
ddly dressed many Of his attendants, and wore an
abba, cloak of green silk richly embroidered with gold He
very pressing in his invitation that should dismount
and accept OF rereshmen saying that he great
friend Of the Americans and that they always
him when they passed that way. But too much
pressed for time and forced decline. This man. we
afterwards learned, had killed tco cousins and dr-
ven his elder brother from the house But he supported by
the English influence preserve the balance power on the
mountains.
One of the greatest objects of interest the eontes is an
old Crusaders castle, which, perched like eagles
pinnacle rock high above the rver be great
distance called the Castle Of Belfort by the Franks and
Kaat Shuk by the Arabs All around is wild and savage
in the extreme and the scenery magnificent though the place
is but little visited by travellers being much of tho gene
raj route The roads horrible aad any where else would
be deemed impossible but poorly mounted and had
hard days work reach the CASTLE We LEFT the horses
distance below, and assembled the hill foot The cas-
tie almost entirely in ruins, though have been
massive structure and most carefully built the fine cisterns
for water still attest Nothing less than earthquake could
so have oveithown it, We cmbered the top Of the
dement's where extensive and magnificent prospect
burst upon whilst 800 feet below the little river was
foamng and tumbng its rocky bed its coming faint
ly to And turned from the scene beyond to
the crumbing wall which STOOD how naturally arose the
thought "W ho built this castle " "What the history Of
the stern old barons who made this their stronghold ~ And
why evacuated " For one would think good sword
host, it led by the Great Saadn himself But all
lost in conjecture, and could only say, with the old
song
"The knights dust,
"Ther good swords are rust,
"1her souls in heaven we trust"
few days after was the top Of Mount Hemon, the
Jebe Els Shukh Of the Arabs in the region Of eternal
The road from Has Beya Damascus the mountains
to the south Of the principal peak, but desirable
determine the height Of sent baggage ahead and
dvergng from the road, made for the summit After toling
up for an hour and half at length reached IT, mme-
daey SET the hemometrcal barometer work, the water
boiled up finely, and thought should have good OBJ
sevaton but alas was too high for the instrument which,
having been intended for the Dead Sea- was graduated
low enough for the mountain was good deal disappont-
ed at the failure Of the experiment but measure
repaid by the magnificent view. We determined on descend
ing by short cut instead Of returning by the road we came
crossing the great bank Of upon the eastern side Of
the mountain commenced go down the mountsnside
in zgzsg MANNER leading horses by the bride. II soon
became evident that human being had preceded us
the mountain very steep and covered with small pebbles,
which at every step slipped from under feet At times The
horses would brace themselves back with their fore feet and
obstnatey refuse to go any further but by Juggling at the
nj and tho ofhe