42 MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 



who contents himself with the ordinary revenue, 

 and who lets justice preside in his councils, will 

 undoubtedly incur his sovereign's displeasure, not 

 because he is just, but because his justice prevents 

 him from plundering, and transmitting a portion of 

 the acquired plunder to the Divan to save his ex- 

 istence ; he has nothing left but silently to resign his 

 unhappy subjects to the rod of a succeeding despot, 

 or to declare himself a rebel and contend with his 

 rival, until the Porte, convinced of the difficulty of 

 deposing him, patiently w\aits for a more favourable 

 opportunity of effecting her purpose. Her principles 

 are applicable to all persons in office, from the Pasha 

 down to the Sheikh of the smallest village ; and it 

 is to them that the rapid decay of Turkey is to be 

 ascribed. It requires but one year's reign of a man 

 like Djezzar to destroy the benefits of the four 

 years' government of a Yussef. The rapidity, how- 

 ever, with which ease and wealth are seen to reflow 

 mto the re-opened channels of industry, proves that 

 Syria, on the downfall of the Turkish empire, would 

 soon regain its former lustre." 



The unsettled state of the government having 

 obliged our traveller to prolong his stay at Damas- 

 cus for more than six weeks, he resolved again to 

 visit Baalbec and the Libanus, taking his departure 

 about the middle of September, with a small caravan 

 destined for Tripoli. His route lay through Zahle, 

 a small town on the western side of the valley 

 Bekaa, near which is a ruined mosque, believed by 

 the Turks to contain the tomb of Noah. Bekaa is 



