the desert plateau here, we were informed, the troops at Damascus hold manœuvres from time to time; but this information was unexciting.

The road became less interesting for a while, and a tiresome series of ascents and descents had to be gone through before we had made our way through the fastnesses of the AntiLebanon range and got our first view of the central plain. This great and fertile valley, called by the ancients Cole-Syria, or Hollow Syria, and now known by the almost equivalent Arab name of Bukeia, stretches away for more than fifty miles between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, and is watered by the river Litany, which flows down it to its southern extremity, some twenty miles northwest of Banyas, and thereafter, forcing its way through a narrow rocky gorge, flows into the sea a little to the north of Tyre. The Bukeia is one of the richest districts in Syria, and its smiling corn-fields and fresh green pasture were very pleasant in our eyes. On the further side of the plain we halted at Storah, where the road to Baalbek-which, unfortunately, we had no time to visit-breaks off, and where there was

I

then only a small and rather primitive inn, which called itself a hotel. Now, I believe, the hotel at Storah is one of the best in Palestine. From here the road began to wind up the bare eastern slope of Lebanon. The scenery here was rugged, and rather imposing at places, with fine views backwards on the plain, and the Anti-Lebanon and Hermon ranges beyond; but this was nothing to compare with the grand view of the sea, and the valleys beneath, and the great Lebanon chain stretching away to the north, which came before us when we had got to the further side of the ridge. Almost on the very top we passed a singular group of three or four eagles and a couple of vulturestruly loathsome creatures these last, with their ringed necks, bald heads, and cruel beaks-apparently deliberating as to what they should do, whether in the way of sport or other business we could not tell. We had hoped that eagles would have kept better company. The road all the way down remains interesting, but the view gradually narrows down to very little beyond the sea, and an unbroken view of the sea is never to me personally a source of intoxicating delight. The

entrance to the town of Beyrout cannot be called interesting, but this is not out of keeping with the character of the town itself.

The only point of view from which Beyrout could possibly be considered interesting is from the contrast it forms to the conservative system we had observed at Damascus. Beyrout is nothing if not progressive. All innovations that come from the westward are acceptable in its eyes; nor does it ever think twice about the advisability of leaving the ancient way when this has once been suggested. The result would hardly be gratifying to the most ardent apostle of progress. There are certainly streets of such an advanced character that in them carriages are not necessarily instruments of torture, but this is almost the only substantial advantage that I could observe. For the rest, Beyrout gives one the idea of a sort of parody of a French seaside resort, of which it reproduces all the least attractive attributes. The same may be said of many coast towns in the Levant. The country round is rather pretty, and the aspect of the town from the sea is pleasing enough, while the views of the Lebanon range

-spurs of which run down almost to the shore of St George's Bay, a little north of Beyroutare very fine indeed. The mosque is an old Crusaders' church, but Christians are very seldom allowed to visit it. Otherwise there is absolutely no interest attaching to the place, except that St George is said to have killed his dragon on the shores of the bay which bears his name. The contest between Perseus and his monster took place near Jaffa, so that there seems to have been good sport with dragons along this coast in bygone days. They are not, however, to be met with frequently now, and the sportsman of the present day must content himself with smaller game. There are wild boars in plenty in the lower valley of the Jordan, to kill which is an act of charity to the native proprietors,—and Mount Carmel simply swarms with porcupines.

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VIII.

THE BALANCE OF POWER IN PALESTINE.

It is impossible to visit Palestine without being struck by the unanimous feeling manifested by its many different sects and divisions of some approaching change, which is vaguely expected to relieve in a way as yet undefined the evils of that unfavoured land. The sentiment is no doubt strongest among the Christian sects, who detest each other with a hatred passing the hate of the Mohammedan, and who look forward to important results ensuing upon the great European contest which is expected to come off some time within the present generation, and must, in their opinion, have a great effect on the future of Palestine. Diplomatists in general are apt to make no very great account of this corner of the earth, though its value, even from the prosaic