The Inner Life of Syria, Palestine, and the Holy Land

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE ROAD FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. The road spans the plain of Boyrout, called Es Sahl, crosses the Lebanon range between the districts El Metn and El Jurd, touches that called Ez Zahleh, traverses the Buka'a or plain of Ccele-Syria. Thence it runs through the Anti-Lebanon, and the plainlet of...
More Description

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE ROAD FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. The road spans the plain of Boyrout, called Es Sahl, crosses the Lebanon range between the districts El Metn and El Jurd, touches that called Ez Zahleh, traverses the Buka'a or plain of Ccele-Syria. Thence it runs through the Anti-Lebanon, and the plainlet of Jedeideh, and after the bit of desert, Es Sahara, it dives into the ravines of the Salahiyyeh mountains. The latter are here known as the Jebel Kaysun: through them you pass by a mountain defile into the plain of Damascus, which is divided into the Merj and El Ghutah. The drive was charming, and lasted two days, as I had not a change of horses every hour, like the diligence. Firstly, we drove over the plain of Beyrout, behind the town; its ornamentation consists of young pine forests in the sand, which extend for several miles. The roadside is lined with cactus hedges, and rude cafts, which are filled on Sundays and holidays by all classes; they go to smoke their narghilehs, to sip coffee or raki; and to watch the passers-by, either mounted or in carriage. The fashionable drive begins at the town, and ends at the foot of the Lebanon?an hour's distance, and it is wonderful to know how many have never wandered away much further from Beyrout. This French road is the only macadam in the country, and a splendid specimen it is, as smooth as a billiard table, crossing mountain, valley, and plain over a total distance of seventy-two miles. A diligence starts from each of the two termini at 4 a.m., both meet at the halfway house, Shtora, about 11.30, when travellers have half-an-hour to feed, and each reaches its destination at 5 and 6 p.m. Thus the drive is fourteen hours up, and thirteen hours down. There is a small night diligence in summer for the Turkish mails, with six pl...