Excerpt from Travels in the East, Vol. 2: Including a Journey in the Holy Land It is from here, according to my idea, that we have the most splendid view Of Lebanon. We are at its feet, but yet sufficiently distant to be beyond reach of its shadow, and for the eye to canvas it in all its height, to plunge into the darkness of its gorges, to descry the foam of its torrents, and to freely glance among the lowest peaks which flank it, each bearing a Maronite convent, rising from out thickets of pines, cedars, or black cypresses. Sannin, the highest and most pyramidal peak of Lebanon, commands all the lower peaks, and forms, with its eternal snow, the majestic termination on which the violet, rose, and gold, are mingled in hue, of the mountainous horison which floats in the firmament, not like a solid body, but as a vapour, a transparent steam, through which we think the other side of the sky is to be distinguished - a ravishing phenomenon of the mountains of Asia, which I have seen in no other region, and which afi'ords me enjoyment every evening, without my being able to explain the cause. On the southern side, Lebanon gradually sinks to the projecting cape of Saide, formerly Sidon, in descendin peaks crowned here and there, where they rise above the others and the mass of the Lebanon chain, with snow, and following, like the battlements of a ruined town, now ascending, now falling, the line of the sea-coast, and dying away in the mist to the west, towards the mountains of Galilee, and the banks of the sea of Genesareth, otherwise the Lake of Tiberias. On the northern side we perceived a bay of the sea, spreading like a peaceful lake upon the plain, half concealed by the green terraces of the beautiful hill of St Deme trins, the most graceful hill in Syria. In this bay, whose junction with the sea is not perceptible, a few vessels are always lying at anchor, and gently heaving on the ripple, which lashes with its foam amongst the mastic-trees, laurel-roses, and nopals, on the shore. Over the river of Beirout, which runs through the plain, all redolent in life and verdure, a bridge, constructed by the Romans, and restored by fakar-el-din, throws its picturesque arches. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.