Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-05-08

and it not long before we had on our table good
supper Of chicken rice preserves and coffee for in JUS
ce to our dragoman must omit to mention that he
fed us in excellent STYLE and gave many Injuries in
the way OF tables, bedseads chairs napkins and differ
courses Of plate that the poor mules quite laden
down. and we were obliged to protest against this eem
nate style Of living especially we soon found it to be
at the expense OF time an important obect with us at
this Contrasted with the sort Of travelling to
which had been accustomed in California il was rdicu-
lousy civilized and made feel much less independent
than when coursed through the plains Of the Oas and
San Jose with nothing but my mule and and
slept under the trees Coffee and chibouks finished the
evening The clouds had been threatening for some time
and before we were comfortably in bed they began to
pour down upon such torrent Of rain that we soon
found the tent but poor protection and the wind blew
in gusts sudden and violent that we momentarly ex-
pected to be covered in ruin Of AT last we
had TO make retreat to khan down the beach, where
were fortunate enough to get tolerable The
khans, houses for the accommodation of travellers
throughout Syria usually large stone buildings with
out furniture and filthy to extreme OF course Frank
travellers only resort to them when the weather does not
permit Of living in tents and many prefer suffering from
cold and rain to encounerng the vermn with which the
khans infested 1t is always best however when the
season is at all unfayorable TO sleep in houses for what
may be the inconvenience of living among mules
asses feas and smoking Turks they great as
those of sickness in foreign land where no assistance
be had Many traveller has laid his bones in Syria
in consequence of wet nights and sunshiny days. We
here took the precaution in all future cases. to have
the first layer Of feas swept out leaving the partially DOR
layer below and thus we commenced our first night
Of Syrian travel For hours lay musing the many
scenes had passed through during the last few years.
but the ul moaning Of the wind mingled with the
L - ~. a.
to sleep, and slept wen by their familiar music 1t
raned hard most Of the night. Towards morning the
wind had moderated yet several small vessels in the port
hove up their anchors and stood if they expected
worse weather This not cheering prospect for our
contemplated tour Wehad in starting from the khan the
first trial of patience to which, common with all who
travel in the East doomed be frequently SUBJ
jected-I the loss of time The Arabs Turks and
indeed all the oriental races snguary independent of
time; in fact with the exception of its estimating
distances they appear to have knowledge of its value
whatever. We to have started at six but il was
nine before We got rightly underway.
Our Arab muleteers were slow, and although Yusuf
swore himself completely out Of BREATH and the best
of my knowledge entirely exhausted the vocabulary of
strong expressions in Arabic they made no effort to hur
ry the matter in the least On the contrary rather
struck with the resigned in which they bore his
cool air with which they pulled their chbouks after the
slightest exertion On the beach, as we passed along
through the village of Juna, observed the wreck of
vesseone of the many driven ashore this coast every
winter In Beirut we told that not less than eight
ten lost in this way every winter the coast Of
Syria from Trpo to Damietta afording secure har-
Dor for shipping. The road beyond Juna to the next
point pass found rocky and precipitous much like
what we had passed. only still tiresome 1t should
be borne in mind that roads in Syria are not like the
roads accustomed to at home, which, bad they
compared with the roads through Italy, have yet
pretensions to the but here to dignity them
by such name is complete perversien Of the word.
The bride paths of Switzerland magnificent highways
compared with them, and in thus speaking Of them ]
merely adopt the ordinary language Of travellers have
nothing like them except in crossing the Ishmus Of
Panama; imagine that Isthmus extended indefinite
number of miles, and you have idea Of Syrian roads
Fortunately the horses of this country remarkable
for their Of foot and powers of endurance
Not far beyond Juna is the bed Of river called Ell
Mahmilton, over which is the arch Of old Roman
bridge conspicuous for its massive proportions and fine
architectural style Nothing remained Of the river but
its bed most of the streams throughout the country hav
ing been dried by the long and uninterrupted drought for
the last eight months In the winter this is
doubt swollen to something Like river by the mountain
torrents although in speaking of rivers here indeed
throughout Europe and the East is not to be supposed
that what we call rivers in America meant Every
little creek in the Old World is dgnfed by the Of
river, and every duck pond is called lake.
1t would be necessary 60 beyond thelims Of mere
letter to give account Of journey for the next three
days. We stopped at Jehe Batrom and Tripoli, long
enough to each town pretty thoroughly, and the
third day commenced our ascent of Mount Lebanon.
At Aheden claimed by authorities as the Garden
Of Eden obliged to take guide the path being
altogether obterated in Of the table grounds by
recent foods Of rain As approached the cedars we
went down into ravnc and after passed along the
ledge Of profound gorge extending to the depth Of
several hundred feet village, distant by Syrian mea
surement two hours from Aheden lies the left of the
gorge not far from which is celebrated gotto visited
by many Of the pilgrims place Of peculiar interest
Our time, however being limited pushed on, and in
another hour entered the celebrated grove Of cedara
patch of green in the bare and desert hollow of the
mountains 1t was cold and gloomy within the shadowy
enclosure and quite deserted Not living thing was to
be seen, and all silent death, occasional
plaintive note from some lonesome bird among the
branches Entering by ravne below, assembled some
distance among the younger growth Of trees till we reach
cd elevation few hundred yards higher up, upon
which stands rude stone chapel built by some OF the
Frank monks in the midst Of the ancient grove ana sun
used by Christian pilgrims their annual VISITS Of devo
ton There are twelve veteran and trees
pointed out the original cedars Of Lebanon ana tne
best authorities believe concur In admitting these 70
- ~. - ~ - = 10 Co.. nfxroo