e
view extended southward, to the mountains closing the northern cove of the
Sea of Galilee. It was a grand, rich landscape--so rich that its
desolation seems forced and unnatural. High on the summit of a mountain to
the west, the ruins of a large Crusader fortress looked down upon us. The
soil, which slowly climbs upward through a long valley between Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon, is cut with deep ravines. The path is very difficult to
find; and while we were riding forward at random, looking in all
directions for our baggage mules, we started up a beautiful gazelle. At
last, about noon, hot, hungry, and thirsty, we reached a swift stream,
roaring at the bottom of a deep ravine, through a bed of gorgeous foliage.
The odor of the wild grape-blossoms, which came up to us, as we rode along
the edge, was overpowering in its sweetness. An old bridge of two arches
crossed the stream. There was a pile of rocks against the central pier,
and there we sat and took breakfast in the shade of the maples, while the
cold green waters foamed at our feet. By all the Naiads and Tritons, what
a joy there is in beholding a running stream! The rivers of Lebanon are
miracles to me, after my knowledge of the Desert. A company of Arabs,
seven in all, were gathered under the bridge; and, from a flute which one
of them blew, I judged they were taking a pastoral holiday. We kept our
pistols beside us; for we did not like their looks. Before leaving, they
told us that the country was full of robbers, and advised us to be on the
lookout. We rode more carefully, after this, and kept with our baggage on
reaching it, An hour after leaving the bridge, we came to a large
circular, or rather annular mound, overgrown with knee-deep grass and
clumps of oak-trees. A large stream, of a bright blue color, gushed down
the north side, and after half embracing the mound swept off across the
meadows to the Waters of Merom. There could be no doubt that this was Tell
el-Kadi, the site of Dan, the most northern town of ancient Israel. The
mound on which it was built is the crater of an extinct volcano. The
Hebrew word _Dan_ signifies "judge," and Tell el-Kadi, in Arabic, is "The
Hill of the Judge."

The Anti-Lebanon now rose near us, its northern and western slopes green
with trees and grass. The first range, perhaps 5,000 feet in height, shut
out the snowy head of Hermon; but still the view was sublime in its large
and harmonious outlines. Our road was through a country