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of this wonderful temple-platform, traces of the doctrines of Zoroaster are found among the wild and sav-* age Metuwilies who dwell there.

We desired to return from Balbec by way of the celebrated cedars of Lebanon, but the snow in the mountains would not permit. We therefore changed our course, and descended the plain until we fell into the road by which we had passed from Beyrout to Damascus. The valley is about ninety miles in length from north to south, and ten in width. It is naturally very fertile and well watered, but, owing to the insecurity of property, is badly cultivated and very thinly inhabited. With security and good cultivation, it would again become one of the gardens of the world, adorned with cities, towns, and villages, as in ancient times. We spent one wretched night at a miserable khan in the fastness of Lebanon, and next day returned to Beyrout.

THE TWO LEBANONS.

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CHAPTER IX.

MOUNT LEBANON AND ITS INHABITANTS.

Range of Lebanon.-Of Ante-Lebanon.-Inaccessible Valleys.-General Character of the Inhabitants.-Dress.-The Tantour.--Independence of the Mountaineers.-Tenure of their Lands.-Sanctity of Lebanon.—Monasteries. The Nusairiyeh.-Their Dogmas and Rites.-The Assassins.— The Metuwilies.-Their Doctrines.-Christian Population.-The Maronites.-Their Fidelity to Rome.-The Patriarch.-Their Usages.

THE eastern coast of the Mediterranean presents to the voyager, as he approaches, the lofty and precipitous mountain chain of Lebanon, which extends from Antioch on the north to Tyre on the south. Behind it, and parallel with its southern portion, stretches the lofty and rugged range of Ante-Lebanon, crowned by the snowy Hermon. At the foot of the eastern declivity of Ante-Lebanon is the city of Damascus, and beyond it the Syrian Desert stretches away to the Euphrates. Between the two Lebanons lies the Valley of CœleSyria, averaging from twelve to fifteen miles in width. It opens into the Syrian Desert to the north-northeast, in the direction of the ancient Palmyra, but is closed up on the south-southwest by the spurs of the two mountains meeting. Through the wall thus formed. across the valley the Leontes passes by a deep chasm, and flows away to the sea near Tyre.

Thus the two Lebanons and the included valley are difficult of approach in any direction, except from the north by the course of the Orontes. Indeed, the upper valleys and dells included within the mountains are nearly inaccessible to any regular force. Hence from time immemorial this district has been a refuge for all

80

CHARACTER OF THE INHABITANTS.

fugitives, either from civil or religious persecution, and within its fastnesses their languages, manners, and opinions have remained almost unchanged. The great body of the inhabitants are descendants of the ancient Syrians, and are much alike in manners, social condition, and dress, all of which are of the simplest and most ancient forms. The men, though lightly made, are athletic, and the women of an agreeable, even handsome appearance. The dress of both conforms generally to the Oriental costume, with the exception of the tantour, which is the distinguishing badge of the mountain matron, particularly among the Maronites.

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It is a horn, or rather trumpet, of common or costly material, according to the wealth of the wearer, from eighteen to thirty inches in length, with the widemouthed end so fitted to the head, by means of a pad, that the wearer can give it any direction she chooses. It seems to be intended partly to support the veil, but

INDEPENDENCE OF THE MOUNTAINEERS.

81

chiefly as an ornament; and there is some reason to suppose that its elevation or depression indicated the condition or temper of the wearer. "And Hannah said, Mine horn is exalted in the Lord."—(1 Sam., ii., 1.) “I said to the wicked, Lift not up the horn."-(Psalm lxxv., 4.) And Job says, "I have defiled my horn in the dust."

The inhabitants of these mountain regions have maintained their independence amid all political changes, and have continued to be governed by their own native chiefs; and although they pay a tax to the Turkish government, they do not fight under Turkish colours.* That their mountain homes may be inaccessible to the invader, they have refused to make roads; and that they themselves may not be starved out, they have husbanded every foot of soil, enlarged the surface by successive terrace walls, and completed a system of irrigation by small canals winding round the declivities, carried through intervening ridges of the mountains by tunnels cut in the solid rocks, and across valleys by means of aqueducts, that no elevation or water may be lost. Their flocks of sheep and small crops of cotton furnish them with clothing, their mulberry-groves produce a profitable article for commerce, and their vineyards afford wine both for refreshment and trade. The land which they till is their own; and thus secure in their homes and in the fruits of their industry, this mountain is the most populous and prosperous portion of Syria. The population is estimated at 200,000.

But if the free and prosperous condition of this mountain, amid the general degradation and decay of Turkey, is a matter of interest to the statesman, its religious character is not less so to the philosopher and Christian. It

* The Druse flag is a red ground with a white hand, and the Maronite a red ground with a white cross.

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THE NUSAIRIYEH.-THE ASSASSINS.

is regarded as a holy mountain; and if ten thousand Christian monks dwelling in two hundred monasteries, and the representatives of all the religions of the ancient and modern world, may entitle it to sanctity, its claim is certainly well founded. In the northern portion dwell the Ansari, called by some travellers Nosairis and Nusairiyeh, whose doctrines and practices are a compound of the Pagan, Jewish, Mohammedan, and Christian religions. They are of Persian origin, and established themselves in the mountain several centuries

ago. From the East they transferred to Lebanon the doctrine of the transmigration of souls; and it is believed they yet worship the sun, and some say the dog.* The Oriental doctrine of successive incarnations of the Deity is found among them, and they appeal to Abraham, Moses, Mohammed, and Jesus as examples. Some Jewish and some Mohammedan rites are observed by them, and the men only, apart from the women, celebrate the sacrament of the Lord's Supper with wine and meat. They are regarded as the descendants of the ancient Assassins of the East, who are mentioned by the Crusaders; and so terrible was their hate, and so secret yet effective their vengeance, that European sovereigns paid them tribute privately as a security against assassination, or doubled their body-guard to the same end, as did Philip Augustus of France. They yield implicit obedience to their sheikh and elders, the first of whom is regarded as being always under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Their name became terrible in Europe first under the government of Hassan Ben Sabah, known in Western history as the Old Man of the Mountain. They are now reduced to a few

* They are said to have other objects of worship, and other rites which may not be named.

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