MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 45 



eastern side the range of the Anti-Libanus, and on 

 the western the Libanus, or Lebanon, as high as the 

 summits. The whole of the rock is calcareous, 

 and towards the top the surface is so splintered by 

 the action of the atmosphere as to have the appear- 

 ance of layers of slates. Of the famous cedars, so 

 renowned in the days of Solomon, some specimens 

 still exist, especially at the foot of the steep declivi- 

 ties of the higher division of the mountain. " They 

 stand (says Burckhardt) on uneven ground, and 

 form a small wood. Of the oldest and best-lookino- 



o 



trees I counted eleven or twelve, twenty-five very 

 large ones, about fifty of middling size, and more 

 than three hundred smaller and young ones. The 

 oldest are distinguished by having the foliage and 

 small branches at the top only, and four, five, or 

 seven trunks springing from one base." Some of 

 these trunks are covered with the names of travel- 

 lers and persons who have visited them, having 

 dates marked of the seventeenth century. 



Proceeding down the valley to the Druse terri- 

 tory of Ilasbeya, a village at the foot of Jibel el 

 Sheikh, or Mount Hesma, famous for its wells of 

 bitumen judaicum^ and for the cinnabar found near 

 it, Burckhardt reached Banias, or Panias, which is 

 classic ground, being the ancient Cassaraea Philippi, 

 and the Dan of the Jews ; the neighbouring lake 

 Houle is the Lacus Samachonitis. The most re- 

 markable vestiges consist of an old castle, probably 

 erected in the time of the crusades, — some remains 

 of the temple of Augustus, built by Herod, — and 



