210 
A OKUSADE IN TEE EAST. 
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, skirting the plain; the vast ex¬ 
tent of the view on all sides ; the genial sky and bracing at¬ 
mosphere ; the long lines of mules, with their packs, winding 
over the distant hill-sides ; the trails diverging in all direc¬ 
tions ; the parched and stern character of the scenery, were not 
unlike an autumn view in the Valley of San Jose or San Juan, 
and still more like the Valley of Salinas. But here the re¬ 
semblance ceases. There is nothing in Syria to remind one of 
the indomitable energy, the life, vigor, and spirit of progress 
so strikingly apparent in California. Whatever the plain of 
Bukaa may have been in the days of the splendor of Helio¬ 
polis, it is now a barren waste, dotted over with ruined villages, 
and of a most melancholy aspect. Portions of it are still cul¬ 
tivated in a rude manner ; and we were told it was susceptible 
of being made to produce good wheat. It is almost entirely 
destitute of wood and water, and the villages stand out na¬ 
kedly in the full blaze of an eastern sun. Far in the distance 
we saw a single column, a tall solitary object on the broad 
waste, standing like some lonely sentinel to remind the trav¬ 
eler that this land was not always thus desolate. There is 
a tradition among the Arabs that this column was carried 
thither after the destruction of Baalbek, on the shoulders of a 
woman, who placed it where it 
now stands to commemorate 
the death of her lover, who 
was slain on the spot. Her 
back must have been strong, 
as well as her love, for on a 
nearer inspection we found the 
column to be nearly if not quite 
as high as Pompey’s Pillar. 
Though of ancient material, so 
far as we could judge, the 
blocks of stone had evidently 
been put together in their pres¬ 
ent position at a more recent 
date. It stands on an immense 
pedestal, loosely built, and many of the stones appear to have 
