rker clouds than
before were around, but not immediately over us; and the atmosphere was
hot like the breath of a furnace, with now and then a momentary gush of
piercing cold coming between sharp peaks and round summits.

In little more than two hours from Jezzeen we were at _Cuf'r Hooneh_, a
pretty village surrounded by sycamore, walnut, poplar, and vineyards,
with numerous running streams of water, bordered by oleanders in rosy
blossom, very tall--girt in with romantic precipices, and rooks were
cawing overhead. A spring of water issuing from the ground, of which we
drank, was cold like ice.

After this the road improved, the rocks were more friable, and were often
streaked with pink and yellow colour; indicating, I suppose, the
existence of copper mineral, (see Deut. viii. 9,) "out of whose hills
thou mayest dig brass," _i.e._, copper.

All about this region fossil shells were numerous.

In half an hour we attained our greatest elevation, with a long line of
Mediterranean visible in the west. The Anti-Lebanon stretched before us
on the east, and among the hills to the south our guide declared he could
distinguish Safed. Here he left us, returning homewards.

Upon this eminence the air was reviving, and as the fervour of the sun
abated, our horses recovered energy. Thence we descended to a green
level space as void of inhabitants as the wild scenes that we had
traversed; and from that to a stage lower, over a very long fertile plain
running southwards, where we fell in with two or three of our fellow
human beings, and over this the wind blew very cold. Forwards into
another level, a glen of wild verdure, then through chalk fissures and
red slopes, till in a moment there burst upon our view a prospect beyond
all power of description in words; Mount Hermon, (Jebel esh Shaikh,) and
the intervening long plain, also the Litani river on our right, winding
between tremendous cliffs, and passing the castle of Shukeef towards the
sea.

That river passing the foot of our mountain, and over which we had
afterwards to cross, appeared like a narrow ribbon of pale green, so
silent was it to us, for no sound from that depth could reach up so high;
to this we had to descend by a precipitous path of zigzags roughly made
in the face of the hill.

Half way down I first distinguished the rushing sound of the water; a
flock of goats upon its margin resembled mere black spots, but the bells
among them became faintly audible.