The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-02-19
TIE RUINS OF THE TEMPLES
COVER ACRES
BY FRANK q. CARPENTER.


am in the valley OF Lab non the
rhigh narrow plain which lies between
the two ranges of the Leba mon noun
fteins. The wcrd Lebanon means
white" and the Lebanon mountains
ssre the White mountains OF Syria the
higher peaks Of which are now COW
cred with snow. These mountains eX-
coast OF the Miditcrranean Sea They
begin a little below the border of Asia
Minor and lose themselves in the Holy
Land. In reading of them have al
ways considered them hills They are
higher than any mountains OF our coun-
Try east of the Mississippi. and the
average height Of the range nearest
the coast is q thousand feet greater
than that OF Mount Washington. Mount
Hermon is over 5000 feet high and Je-
bel Makmel measures 10000 feet The
valley Of Lebanon itself is twice as
high as the topmost peaks of the Blue
Ridge Of Virginia, and 1t slopes from
here 10 the north as far Aleppo and
TO the south beyond Dan, where rises
lhe Jordan.
The Ruins of Banlbck.
Il II is in this little valley. which is
less than 100 miles long and from five
to eight miles in width, walled by
these mighty mountains, that lie the
ruins Of Baalbek. the most wonderful
temples known through the ages
have spent hours in wandering through
them and their immensely and beauty
steadily grow. l despair OF being able
to describe them and can only hope
to give YOU bits Of the details l have
seen mos, of the worlds mighty ruins
In the past year have wandered
through the tombs of the Mings outside
Mukden, Manchuria; have stood upon
The Temple Of Heaven in Picking and
have climbed the great Chinese wall. ]
have gone through the Temples of Kar-
max atthe hundred gate city Of Thebes,
far up the Nile; have taken photo
graphs Of the Colossi of Memnon and
have measured the stones 81 the Pyra-
lnidS with two feet rule. Not long
RgoI visited the Temple of 3oro Boo
dor in the heart OF Java, TO des-
cribe It's three miles of Wonderful car
wings and last year | sent some time
in the forts of the Moguls at Delhi and
wrote Of the Tai Mahal and its wonders.
l have also seen Tinhgad, the excavated
city on the edge OF the Sahara, and
have lately gone through the C,olos-
scum at Rome and Inspected the equal.
y wonderful amphithcatre which lies al
FL Diem, in the heart Of the Tunisian
desert. All these are wonderful, bu,
Baalbek is their superior
The ruins here have been described
but only BY writers of the past. who
might as we'll have tried 10 picture
Pompsn before the ashes and washings
OF vesuvius were dug away These
ruins have never been so wonderful
as they are nov. For centuries the
most of them have been as much buried
as is Herculaneum, and it was only
when the Emperor Of Germany made
his tour through this part OF the world
that they began to be brought to the
light Of day. Kaiser Wclhelm is a
great archaeological. and when he
travels he leaves as many tracks as
does Theodore Roosevelt
have marched in his footsteps
through Palestine and have seen there
the churches and other monuments
which ne has erected. Before he came
10 SYRIA ne stopped at Constantnope
With the sultan Abdul Hamid who
gave him a permit TO go about as he
pleased AS the Kaiser thraveled he
battered the Mohamnedens the Chris
tlans and Jews He was alive 10 every
possibility. and he stamped Made IN
Germany' upon every city he VISITED.