THE GREEK BISHOP. 
237 
and the loss of the many works of art buried there, among 
which must have been some of the choicest of ancient times ; 
and while there is so much left to admire it is not improbable 
that, in the lapse of centuries, there may have been much 
destroyed equally worthy of admiration. But that Baalbek 
ever was a very extensive or very important city is not, I 
think, rendered probable by any evidence now existing. The 
foundations of the ancient walls, which can be clearly traced, 
embrace but a small area of ground, certainly not sufficient 
for a very large city; and its position, shut in among the 
mountains of Lebanon, two days distant from any seaport, 
and not on the usually traveled route from the interior cities 
of Asia Minor, indicates that it was not supported by com¬ 
merce. It is also probable that the Temple of the Sun and 
the Palace were the most important of all the public edifices; 
and that the streets were narrow and badly paved, without 
side walks, as in all the cities of the East, and the residences 
of ordinary construction; because even a small city could not 
be embraced in so limited a space with any thing like fine 
streets or large houses. If the implements of agriculture were 
not a good deal better than any that exist in Syria at the 
present day (and it is said they are about the same as were 
used in scriptural times), the plain of Bukaa must have been 
more indebted to Nature than to the cultivation of man for 
its reputed fertility. Probably there were more trees on it, 
and some gardens and vineyards for the supply of the town. 
The inhabitants must have lived on something, and it is not 
likely they had much else to eat except what they produced 
on this plain. But there is no evidence of a luxurious style 
of living. If ever there were carriages, they must have trav¬ 
eled in the air, with mules or horses at each end, as they do 
now; for there is nothing to show that there were roads fit 
for wheeled vehicles to run on. Sometimes a piece of an old 
Roman road is seen along the coast, and poor enough it must 
have been in its best days; but I could discover nothing of 
the kind about Baalbek. I think the inhabitants of the glo¬ 
rious City of the Sun rode on donkeys. At all events, donkeys 
must have been convenient in climbing through the streets, 
