DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0039
CASTLE OF BELFOET.
25
very fine indeed, and the two sister fortresses of Banias
and Hunin are easily distinguished. We sat here a
long time, sketching, and thinking over its old history,
with visions of the pious Louis, and Philip Augustus,
and our own brave Coeur-de-Lion, and listening to the
utter silence of the lonely spot, when, from the ruined
keep of the Castle, a huge eagle, disturbed by the un-
wonted voices, uprose on
" proud and ample pinion ....
Sailing with supreme dominion
Through the azure deep of air,"
and flew majestically over to the opposite heights.
A quarter of an hour further, the river, which flows
due south from the valley of the Bukaa, turns at a
sharp angle to the west, and the chasm, scarcely three
feet wide at the bottom, bends round, presenting a
lovely and splendid picture. The sides are richly covered
with wood of many kinds, and, as far as we could see
down by leaning over the edge of the cliff, bright with
flowers. This is one of the finest spots in all Syria, and
it is indeed of very singular beauty.
We walked down to Arnoun, and then descended a
very rough path, full of lovely views, to a delightful old
bridge, at the very foot of the Castle cliff, called Jisr
Khurdeli, of high, pointed arches, half hidden in trees
and oleanders. We had a steep ascent on the other
side, ere we reached our tents, placed on the top of the
ridge of hills between the Litaany and Hermon, near
a village called Khurbeh. The great mountain was
densely shrouded in clouds, and for the last hour or
two had appeared awfully grand and black: but the sun
set just as we reached the tents, and the whole scene
was in a moment transformed as if by magic. The
thick clouds changed to sheets of rose-colour and gold,
25
very fine indeed, and the two sister fortresses of Banias
and Hunin are easily distinguished. We sat here a
long time, sketching, and thinking over its old history,
with visions of the pious Louis, and Philip Augustus,
and our own brave Coeur-de-Lion, and listening to the
utter silence of the lonely spot, when, from the ruined
keep of the Castle, a huge eagle, disturbed by the un-
wonted voices, uprose on
" proud and ample pinion ....
Sailing with supreme dominion
Through the azure deep of air,"
and flew majestically over to the opposite heights.
A quarter of an hour further, the river, which flows
due south from the valley of the Bukaa, turns at a
sharp angle to the west, and the chasm, scarcely three
feet wide at the bottom, bends round, presenting a
lovely and splendid picture. The sides are richly covered
with wood of many kinds, and, as far as we could see
down by leaning over the edge of the cliff, bright with
flowers. This is one of the finest spots in all Syria, and
it is indeed of very singular beauty.
We walked down to Arnoun, and then descended a
very rough path, full of lovely views, to a delightful old
bridge, at the very foot of the Castle cliff, called Jisr
Khurdeli, of high, pointed arches, half hidden in trees
and oleanders. We had a steep ascent on the other
side, ere we reached our tents, placed on the top of the
ridge of hills between the Litaany and Hermon, near
a village called Khurbeh. The great mountain was
densely shrouded in clouds, and for the last hour or
two had appeared awfully grand and black: but the sun
set just as we reached the tents, and the whole scene
was in a moment transformed as if by magic. The
thick clouds changed to sheets of rose-colour and gold,