DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0048
PHCENICIA AND LEBANON.
27
the valley below are everywhere cultivated and verdant in the summer, with mulberry, walnut,
and other fruit-trees, and with fields of wheat and barley.
After a half-hour's ride southward along the base of the giant cliff overhanging the
valley, we reach the natural bridge of El Akura, over the mouth of a cave (see page 13). It
is formed by a fallen rock which once evidently constituted the roof of the cavern's mouth, and
has now settled down, covering the channel of the Neb'a Ruweis, which issues from the cave.
Leaving our horses on the bridge, under the overhanging cliff, we took our staves to steady
our steps over the mud-slimed stones in the bottom of the cave, and, lighting our wax candles,
slid clown the declivity into the mouth of the cavern. The roof is from ten to twenty feet in
height, and we walked or groped along for four hundred feet, when the cavern suddenly divided
into two branches, the one on the right muddy and rough, and that on the left clean, overarched
with wax-like stalactites, and floored with stalagmitic mounds, between which, on a pebbly bed,
runs a stream of water so crystal clear, that I stepped into a pool a foot deep, supposing it to be
dry. We traced this bright gallery for about four hundred feet, when it terminated suddenly
in a lofty arched room, whose perpendicular wall stopped our progress. But some twenty
feet up the side of this wall is the mouth of another vast cavern, which could not be reached
without ladders, and we were obliged to retreat.
From El Akura (see page 15) to the fountain of Afka (see page 16) is a ride of an hour
and a half along a tableland overhanging a valley covered with wheat-fields and scattered trees,
until, turning to the south-east, we come to the Maronite village of El Mnetira, which faces
southwards towards the fountain, to which we descend over a steep rocky road. This historic
fountain of Afka (Apheca) issues from the cave, and from the limestone strata below it, which
descend in stair-like gradations to the road, and below it to the deep gorge of the river Adonis
(Nahr Ibrahim) (see page 17). The great cliff wall rises abruptly above the fountain from
one thousand to fifteen hundred feet, and the water bursts forth from the recess formed by the
sudden turning of the cliffs from a north and south to a westerly direction, and dashes down
into a rock basin fifty feet below. We cross this basin on a' bridge, which leads us to a ruined
temple one hundred feet in length by fifty in width ; this is without doubt the ancient temple of
Venus, which was destroyed by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. A fountain
still issues through the vaulted passage under the ruins, and there were probably artificial outlets
for the water at various points under the temple. This is the principal source of the river
Adonis of the ancients, and latterly known as the Nahr Ibrahim. Here was the scene of the
ancient mythological fable of Venus and Adonis, and of the weeping for Adonis annually
by the maidens of Phoenicia. The Lebanon maidens chanted, " I mourn Adonis ; the fair
Adonis is dead : dead is the fair Adonis, whom the gods lament." Adonis was Aclon, the
Baal god, the sun—the same in meaning with Tammuz, the present Arabic name of the
month July, which was the month of the feast of Adonis. The scarlet anemone of Lebanon
was thought to be stained with his blood.
Leaving the Temple and Fountain of Afka (see page 16), we ascend gradually towards
27
the valley below are everywhere cultivated and verdant in the summer, with mulberry, walnut,
and other fruit-trees, and with fields of wheat and barley.
After a half-hour's ride southward along the base of the giant cliff overhanging the
valley, we reach the natural bridge of El Akura, over the mouth of a cave (see page 13). It
is formed by a fallen rock which once evidently constituted the roof of the cavern's mouth, and
has now settled down, covering the channel of the Neb'a Ruweis, which issues from the cave.
Leaving our horses on the bridge, under the overhanging cliff, we took our staves to steady
our steps over the mud-slimed stones in the bottom of the cave, and, lighting our wax candles,
slid clown the declivity into the mouth of the cavern. The roof is from ten to twenty feet in
height, and we walked or groped along for four hundred feet, when the cavern suddenly divided
into two branches, the one on the right muddy and rough, and that on the left clean, overarched
with wax-like stalactites, and floored with stalagmitic mounds, between which, on a pebbly bed,
runs a stream of water so crystal clear, that I stepped into a pool a foot deep, supposing it to be
dry. We traced this bright gallery for about four hundred feet, when it terminated suddenly
in a lofty arched room, whose perpendicular wall stopped our progress. But some twenty
feet up the side of this wall is the mouth of another vast cavern, which could not be reached
without ladders, and we were obliged to retreat.
From El Akura (see page 15) to the fountain of Afka (see page 16) is a ride of an hour
and a half along a tableland overhanging a valley covered with wheat-fields and scattered trees,
until, turning to the south-east, we come to the Maronite village of El Mnetira, which faces
southwards towards the fountain, to which we descend over a steep rocky road. This historic
fountain of Afka (Apheca) issues from the cave, and from the limestone strata below it, which
descend in stair-like gradations to the road, and below it to the deep gorge of the river Adonis
(Nahr Ibrahim) (see page 17). The great cliff wall rises abruptly above the fountain from
one thousand to fifteen hundred feet, and the water bursts forth from the recess formed by the
sudden turning of the cliffs from a north and south to a westerly direction, and dashes down
into a rock basin fifty feet below. We cross this basin on a' bridge, which leads us to a ruined
temple one hundred feet in length by fifty in width ; this is without doubt the ancient temple of
Venus, which was destroyed by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. A fountain
still issues through the vaulted passage under the ruins, and there were probably artificial outlets
for the water at various points under the temple. This is the principal source of the river
Adonis of the ancients, and latterly known as the Nahr Ibrahim. Here was the scene of the
ancient mythological fable of Venus and Adonis, and of the weeping for Adonis annually
by the maidens of Phoenicia. The Lebanon maidens chanted, " I mourn Adonis ; the fair
Adonis is dead : dead is the fair Adonis, whom the gods lament." Adonis was Aclon, the
Baal god, the sun—the same in meaning with Tammuz, the present Arabic name of the
month July, which was the month of the feast of Adonis. The scarlet anemone of Lebanon
was thought to be stained with his blood.
Leaving the Temple and Fountain of Afka (see page 16), we ascend gradually towards