er-ripe, or half decayed, are boiled to a pulp in large
pots, and afterwards spread to dry on long smooth boards, in the
form of cakes, about half an inch in thickness. These cakes, which
look like coarse brown leather, are afterwards folded up, and form,
together with the dried mish-mish, a staple article of commerce,
which is exported far and wide. In Constantinople, and even in
Servia, I saw cakes of this description which came from these parts.

The Turks are particularly fond of taking this dried pulp with them
on their journeys. They cut it into little pieces, which they
afterwards leave for several hours in a cup of water to dissolve; it
then forms a really aromatic and refreshing drink, which they
partake of with bread.

From Damascus to Balbeck is a ride of eighteen hours. Count Zichy
wished to be in Balbeck by the next day at noon; we therefore had
but a short night's rest.

The night was so mild and beautiful, that we did not want the tents
at all, but lay down on the bank of a streamlet, beneath the shade
of a large tree. For a long time sleep refused to visit us, for our
encampment was opposite to a coffee-house, where a great hubbub was
kept up until a very late hour. Small caravans were continually
arriving or departing, and so there was no chance of rest. At
length we dropped quietly asleep from very weariness, to be awakened
a few hours afterwards to start once more on our arduous journey.

July 6th.

We rode without halting for eight hours, sometimes through pleasant
valleys, at others over barren unvarying regions, upon and between
the heights of the Anti-Libanus. At the hour of noon we reached the
last hill, and

HELIOPOLIS OR BALBECK,

the "city of the sun," lay stretched before us.

We entered a valley shut in by the highest snow-covered peaks of
Lebanon and Anti-Libanus, more than six miles in breadth and
fourteen or sixteen miles long, belonging to Caelosyria. Many
travellers praise this vale as one of the most beautiful in all
Syria.

It certainly deserves the title of the 'most remarkable' valley, for
excepting at Thebes and Palmyra we may search in vain for the grand
antique ruins which are here met with; the title of the 'most
beautiful' does not, according to my idea, appertain to it. The
mountains around are desert and bare. The immeasurable plain is
sparingly cultivated, and still more thinly peopled. With the
exception of the town of Balbeck, which has arisen from