DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0043
22
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
ferment and to obstruct the administration of justice. The Turks were determined to break up
this European compromise and place an Osmanli pasha over the whole of Lebanon. The
result was a bloody war, the frightful horrors of Deir el Kamr, Hasbeiya, Rasheiya (see pages
371 and 376, vol. i.) and Damascus (see page 415, vol. i.), which forced the intervention of
Europe, and resulted in the new Nizam or Reglement of Lebanon, which guarantees a
Christian pasha for the whole mountain under the joint protectorate of the six European
Powers. Under the pasha are several kaimakams, generally chosen from the most numerous
sect in the locality. Rustem Pasha is noted for his uncompromising hatred of bribery, his
even-handed justice, his efforts for civilising the people, and for road and bridge building in
Southern and Central Lebanon. He promises like improvements in this well-nigh roadless
district of Northern Lebanon.
Before ascending eastward to the Cedar amphitheatre, let us cross over the dazzling white
chalk cliffs of Ras esh Shuk'ah to the valley of Nahr el Jozeh and visit the rock fortress of
El Museilihah (see sketch map, page 12). The Tripoli coast-road to Beirut crosses over this
lofty promontory, called by the Greeks Theou Prosopon (Cape of the Divine Countenance),
and down its southern precipitous face on a slippery road, which follows the deep ravines worn
by the rains, and which change their course with every winter's storm. At the foot of this
dangerous descent and on the right bank of the Walnut river, " Nahr el Jozeh," stands on an
isolated mass of cretaceous limestone the ancient " KuTat el Museilihah" (see page 11). The
name signifies " The Place of Weapons," and there is probably no pass in Syria, unless it be
Wady el Kuril, on the Damascus road, where more robberies have been committed. The
castle is one of the most picturesque in the East, rising abruptly on its isolated rock, seemingly
a part of the rock itself, surrounded by wide-spreading trees and murmuring waters, and
overhung by lofty and precipitous chalk cliffs.
We now cross the Kura Plain eastward to the fine village of Kesba, plunge into the
ravine of the Kadisha, and begin the ascent to Ehden. This village is perched on a lofty spur
of the Jird, nearly five thousand feet above the sea, and commanding one of the sublimest
landscape views in Lebanon. The magnificent fountain at Mar Sarkis sends a deep, broad, and
crystal stream of almost ice-cold water through and around the village, producing a luxuriant
growth of walnut, fir, mulberry, pine, and oak, with summer vegetables in abundance ; wheat,
maize, and the potato being largely cultivated.
Ehden, or Eden, as it has been called, is the paradise of the Maronite priests, where, as in
Bsherreh, Hasrun, and Kesrawan, they hold undisputed sway; but, under the impartial rule of
the present pasha, their former theocratic and despotic civil rule over the people has been
reduced to a mere religious authority.
Our present limits will not allow more than a passing allusion to the history of the
Maronite sect, now the dominant one in Lebanon. Their name is derived from Mar Marun, a
hermit who lived in the Buka'a, near Neb'a el 'Asy, in the fifth century. His followers were
condemned by the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 681, as holding the monothelite heresy, and,
being driven from the cities and towns of Syria, they took refuge in the fastnesses of Lebanon.
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
ferment and to obstruct the administration of justice. The Turks were determined to break up
this European compromise and place an Osmanli pasha over the whole of Lebanon. The
result was a bloody war, the frightful horrors of Deir el Kamr, Hasbeiya, Rasheiya (see pages
371 and 376, vol. i.) and Damascus (see page 415, vol. i.), which forced the intervention of
Europe, and resulted in the new Nizam or Reglement of Lebanon, which guarantees a
Christian pasha for the whole mountain under the joint protectorate of the six European
Powers. Under the pasha are several kaimakams, generally chosen from the most numerous
sect in the locality. Rustem Pasha is noted for his uncompromising hatred of bribery, his
even-handed justice, his efforts for civilising the people, and for road and bridge building in
Southern and Central Lebanon. He promises like improvements in this well-nigh roadless
district of Northern Lebanon.
Before ascending eastward to the Cedar amphitheatre, let us cross over the dazzling white
chalk cliffs of Ras esh Shuk'ah to the valley of Nahr el Jozeh and visit the rock fortress of
El Museilihah (see sketch map, page 12). The Tripoli coast-road to Beirut crosses over this
lofty promontory, called by the Greeks Theou Prosopon (Cape of the Divine Countenance),
and down its southern precipitous face on a slippery road, which follows the deep ravines worn
by the rains, and which change their course with every winter's storm. At the foot of this
dangerous descent and on the right bank of the Walnut river, " Nahr el Jozeh," stands on an
isolated mass of cretaceous limestone the ancient " KuTat el Museilihah" (see page 11). The
name signifies " The Place of Weapons," and there is probably no pass in Syria, unless it be
Wady el Kuril, on the Damascus road, where more robberies have been committed. The
castle is one of the most picturesque in the East, rising abruptly on its isolated rock, seemingly
a part of the rock itself, surrounded by wide-spreading trees and murmuring waters, and
overhung by lofty and precipitous chalk cliffs.
We now cross the Kura Plain eastward to the fine village of Kesba, plunge into the
ravine of the Kadisha, and begin the ascent to Ehden. This village is perched on a lofty spur
of the Jird, nearly five thousand feet above the sea, and commanding one of the sublimest
landscape views in Lebanon. The magnificent fountain at Mar Sarkis sends a deep, broad, and
crystal stream of almost ice-cold water through and around the village, producing a luxuriant
growth of walnut, fir, mulberry, pine, and oak, with summer vegetables in abundance ; wheat,
maize, and the potato being largely cultivated.
Ehden, or Eden, as it has been called, is the paradise of the Maronite priests, where, as in
Bsherreh, Hasrun, and Kesrawan, they hold undisputed sway; but, under the impartial rule of
the present pasha, their former theocratic and despotic civil rule over the people has been
reduced to a mere religious authority.
Our present limits will not allow more than a passing allusion to the history of the
Maronite sect, now the dominant one in Lebanon. Their name is derived from Mar Marun, a
hermit who lived in the Buka'a, near Neb'a el 'Asy, in the fifth century. His followers were
condemned by the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 681, as holding the monothelite heresy, and,
being driven from the cities and towns of Syria, they took refuge in the fastnesses of Lebanon.