CHAPTER XXIII. 
THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. 
It was our good fortune to become acquainted during our 
brief sojourn in Beirut, with a young English gentleman, chief 
officer of an Oriental Steamer, who having a couple of months 
to spare, agreed to join us in our tour through Syria. His good- 
humor and intelligence rendered him an invaluable acquisition 
to our party. 
Leaving Beirut in the latter part of November, we passed, 
not far beyond the suburbs, the spot pointed out as the scene 
of the remarkable battle between St. George and the dragon, 
and soon after crossed the pass of Xerxes. The road lay along 
the sea beach, which extends to the rocky point, five or six 
miles from the town, called the Roman Pass. On the rocks 
to the right of the road are some Latin inscriptions carved in 
tablets, and in some places the remains of basso-relievos. 
Farther on a few miles we descended into the beautiful little 
valley of El Kelb, or Dog River, where stand the remains of a 
bridge built by the Romans. Silk is manufactured to some 
extent in this country, and our road frequently lay through 
flourishing plantations of mulberry. The ground is cultivated 
in a rude manner most of the way along the shores of Syria, 
and we passed through many small fields of sugar-cane, irri¬ 
gated by water from the mountain streams, which is conducted 
in narrow walled ditches through the fields. Covered as the 
whole face of the country is with stones, yet the tilled parts 
are apparently fertile and yield abundant crops. On the 
slopes of Mount Lebanon are many small villages, similar to 
those met with throughout Syria. The houses are but one 
story high, built of stone, with flat mud roofs, and at a dis- 
