S56 M A U N D R E 
Upon the Urates hang Abundance of Toys, being 
the Offerings of many Votaries for the Succefs of their 
Prayers made at this Shrine, Under the fame Ciielfi 
in which the Incarnate Pifture was depofitedj they al- 
ways place a fmall Silver Bafon, to receive the holy 
Oil, which they pretend diftils from the enclofed Image, 
and does wonderful Cures in many Diffempers, efpeci- 
ally thofe affefting the Eyes. On the Eaft-fide of the 
Rock is an ancient Sepulchre hollow’d in the firm 
Stone, which is about eight Yards fquare, and contains 
twelve Ghefts for Corpfes. Ac the Entrance are fix 
Statues in three Niches, two in each j at the Pedeftals 
are fome Greek Words very dark. 
On the 3d, we went to fee the Street call’d Straight^ 
A5ls ix. II. in which is fliown the Houle of Judas, Vvhth 
whom Si. Paul lodg’d ■, and in the fame Houfe is an 
old Tomb fa id to be Ananias^s, much reverenc’d by 
the Purks, who keep a Lamp always burning over it. 
On the 4th ; In an Hour and half we came to a fmall 
Village call’d Sinie, juft by which, on the Top of a Hill, 
is an old Structure, luppos’d to be the Tomb of Abel, 
which is thirty Yards long, and thought to be but juft 
proportion’d to his Stature ; from whence the adjacent 
Country, in old Times, was call’d Abylene, 
28. On the 5th we pafs’d by the Fountain of Bar- 
rady, and came to a Village called Surgawch, from 
whence we arrived a fecond Time, in the Valley of Bo- 
cat ; and hence, going Northerly, we came in three 
Hours to Balbeck, which is fuppofed to be the ancient 
Heliopolis, or City of the Sun, and fo the Word im- 
ports j for Baal, though it comprehends all Idols of what- 
ever Sex, is very often appropriated to the Sun, which 
is the Sovereign Idol of this Country. The City has a 
pleafant Situation on the Eaft-fide of the Valley of ho- 
cats, of a fquare Figure, compafs’d with a good Wall, 
though its Houfe s are mean, as they are ulually in P ur~ 
kijh Villages. 
There is in it a noble Ruin, which was anciently a 
Heathen Temple, in which we obferved, firft, a round 
Pile of Building, all of Marble^ encircled with Columns 
of the Corinthian Order, very beautiful, which fupport 
a Cornifh that runs all round the Structure, of no or- 
dinary State and Beauty ; and what remains of it at 
prefent is in a very tottering Condition, but yet the 
Greeks ufe it for a Churchj which fhould excite them to 
a little more Fervour in their Prayers than they gene- 
rally ufe, for they are feemingly the moft indevout at 
their Divine Service, of any People in the Chriftian 
World. 
But befides this Temple, here is another Curiofity, 
which is fo ftrange, that a Man may be thought to 
ftrain the Privilege of Travellers in relating it, and 
that is a large Piece of the old Wall, which encom- 
pafs’d all the Stuftures in the City •, a Wall made of 
fuch prodigious great Stones, that the Natives here af- 
cribe the Building of it to the Devil. Three of the 
Stones we meafured, and found them to extend to fixty 
one Yards in Length, whereof one was tw^enty one, and 
the other two twenty Yards long *, thefe three Stones 
jay in one Row, End to End. Here was alfo a fingle 
Column of the Pufean Order about fourteen Yards high, 
and one Yard and half diameter, having a Channel cut 
from the Bottom to the Top. 
On the 6th we left Balbeck, and went a-crofs the 
Valley ; and as we pafs’d by the Walls of the City, we 
faw many Stones inferibed with Roman Letters, which 
fhow that the Walls are made of the Ruins of the old 
City. In two Hours we faw, near the Road, an oldjPillar 
nineteen Yards high, and five Foot in Diameter. In an 
Hour more we came to the other Side of the Valley, 
at the Foot of Anti-libanus ; and, afeending the Moun- 
tain, we faw an old Lake called Limone, and thence 
in an Hour more we arrived at the Snow. Here we 
lodged all Night on the Top of Libanus, which is free 
from Rocks, but very barren, and cover’d with a Sort 
of white Slates. 
It is fo high, that it proves a Confervatory of Abun- 
dance of Snow ; which thawing in the Summer, fup- 
plies with Water the Rivers and the Fountains in the 
Valleys below j and in the Snow we faw the Print of the 
L l’j 'Travels Book III, 
Feet of Wild Beafts, the foie Proprietors of thefe imner 
Parts of the Mountain. - ^ 
On the 7th we went almoft four Hours upon Snow 
which being frozen, bore us and our Horfes, and then 
descending about an Hour, we came to a Fountain and 
a milder Region. From hence we defign’d for Camhine 
but our Guide being at a Lofs, we fleer’d to Tripoli 
where we were nobly treated. ™ 
2^. On the 8th, Mr. Conful HaJUngs carried us to fee 
the Caftle of Tripoly, which is ficuate on a Hill that 
commands the City ', buc> being now unprovided with 
Arms, it ferves rather for a Prifon than a Garrifon 
There was in it a poor Chriftian called Sheck Eunice, a 
Maronite, one that had formerly renounced his Faith 
and turn’d Mahometan % but in his declining Age re- 
traded his Apoftacy, and died to attone it *, for he 
was impaled by Order of the Bafha two Days after we 
had Mi A^ripoly ; which Kind of Punilhment is certainly 
one of the greateft Barbarities that can be offer’d to hu- 
man Nature. 
The Execution is done after this Manner ; They take 
a Poll about the Bignefs of a Man’s Leg, eight or nine 
Foot long, which they make fharp at one End, and 
force the Criminal to carry to the Place of Execution • 
and there they thruft in the Stake at his Fundament* 
and then taking him by the Legs, draw on his Body 
upon it till the Point of the Stake appears at his Shoul- 
ders and then they ered the Stake, and fatten it in a 
Hole dug in the Ground. The Criminal fitting in this 
Pofture, does fometimes drink, fmoke, and talk, for 
twenty-four Hours •, but generally, after he has remain’d 
an Hour in this Pofture, one of the By-ftanders is per- 
mitted to give him a gracious Stab to the Heart, which 
puts an End to his inexpreffible Mifery. 
On the 9th, having crofs’d the Plain of Tripoly, we 
came to the Foot of Libanus ; and thence afeending, in 
four Hours we pafs’d by a Village call’d Eden, and in 
two Hours and a Half more we came to the Cedars 
which grow amongft the Snow, near the highefi Part of 
Lihanon, where we found fome very old, and of a pro- 
digious Bulk, of which Sort I counted fixteen, and 
others younger, of a fmaller Size. I meafured one of 
the largeft, ajid found it twelve Yards fix Inches in 
Girt, and thircy-feven Yards in the Spread of its 
Boughs. It was ftill found, and about five Yards from 
the Ground, was divided into five Limbs, and each of 
which was equal to a great Tree. 
After we had ftaid about half an Flour in this Place, 
the Clouds began to thicken and fly upon the Ground, 
which fo obfeured the Road, that with much ado we 
found the Way that goes down to Canohine ; which is 
a Convent of iht Maronites, and the Seat of a Patriarch, 
and is pleafantly fituated near a Rupture in Libanus, 
cloath’d with Greens, and refrefli’d with Fountains. It 
is feared on the Norch-fide of this Chafm, about the 
Midway in the Mountain, and was founded by Theodo- 
fius the Great, at the Mouth of a great Cave, having a 
few Rooms fronting outward that have the Light of the 
Sun, the reft being all under Ground. The Valley of 
Canobine was anciently much reforted to for Religious 
Retirement, as appears from the many Hermitages, 
Cells, an^-Monafteries here to be feen. 
On theiioth, I took my Leave of the Patriarch, and 
return’d to Tripoly, through a Path cut in the Side of 
the aforefaid Rupture. On the nth, we took our 
Leaves of our worthy Friends at Tripoly, and travelling 
the fame Way we catfie, we arrived in eight Days at the 
Honey-Kane, and found many of our Aleppine Friends 
there. All that occurr’d to us new in thefe Days Tra- 
vel, was a particular Way ufed by the Country-people 
in gathering Corn, which they pluck up by Handfuls 
from the Roots, that they may loofe none of their 
Straw, which is generally very fhort, and neceffary for 
the Suftenance of their Cattle, no Hay being made 
here. This is their Pradice in all Places of the Eaft 
I have feen, and feems to give Light to that Expref- 
fion of the Pfalmijt, Pfal. cxxix. 6. which withereth afore 
it be plucked up ; and though there is Mention in the 
next Verfe of a Mower ; yet being fuch as fills not his 
Hand, this rather confirms the former Senfe. 
30. We 
