207 
men, with the exception of the French priests and a few stray 
Syrians who penetrate into these mountains for the purposes of 
trade. It is one vast mass of mountains, range after range fol- 
lowing each other in endless succession, their general trend being 
that of the length of the island. The altitude of the highest 
peak visited was about 3,500 feet. The sides of the mountains 
are very steep, in some cases nearly perpendicular. The valleys 
are, in consequence, deep and narrow, and the roads, if they may 
be dignified by such a title, are circuitous in the extreme, zigzag- 
ing along the mountain sides and around the bases of hills, so 
So 
Fic, 26. Market at Pilate, a village in the mountains. 
that to attain .a given distance in a straight line generally re- 
quires covering a distance three times as great. e mountains 
are for the most part heavily timbered, and in many cases along 
the north coast run right down into the sea. 
Through many of the valleys, rivers and streams rush, con- 
stantly fed and augmented by many brooks which drain the steep 
