unwholesome vapours which, nevertheless, laid the seeds of subsequent illness.

I arose in the morning evidently unwell, and, in spite of the burning sun, which smote upon us as we crossed the plain, felt the chill and creeping sensation which heralds an attack of fever. Excited to the highest by the prospect before us, we pushed on eagerly for Baalbec, which at every mile assumed a more distinct appearance; and, as we approached, presented an aspect of astonishing grandeur. Over a huge wall, rising above the level of the plain, and composed of stones surpassing in dimensions anything we had yet seen, uprose the light and elegant forms of the ruined temples, surrounded by a wilderness of other constructions, of different ages and in different styles. Six lofty columns, of peculiar elegance, crowned with a gorgeous entablature, rose supreme amidst the general desolation, so beautiful, that from whatever point, and under whatever circumstances they are viewed-whether the sun shines full upon the delicate chiselling of their white marble shafts, or whether they range themselves in shadow, spirit-like, against the glow of the twilight sky, impress the beholder with a mingled feeling of admiration and melancholy. But it is not my object to portray these temples, already so often described. Suffice it to say, that, after spending the whole day in examining them, we hastened, as the sun went down, in quest of a brother traveller, to whom we had a letter of introduction, and who was encamped, as we understood, at a spot called Ras el Ain, about a mile distant from the temples, and at the head of the stream which here murmured along one side of the wall, among heaps of prostrate columns and broken masonry, that had fallen from the building above.

Following the course of this stream, we arrived, in about ten minutes, at its source, seemingly, a small oval pool, bordered with grass and sedge. A large tree bent over it, and the ruined arches of a Christian church stood round about its borders. At a short distance from these were pitched two large tents, which

had a most inviting look of snugness and comfort. Lights were seen within, horses were picketed on one side, and the evening watch-fire gleamed upon the faces of the Arab attendants. We dashed through the rippling stream, and, dismounting, were ushered into one of the tents, occupied by Mr. Catherwood, the gentleman to whom our letter was addressed. He received us with heartfelt cordiality; and thus, in that evening, under the roof of a Syrian tent, commenced an intimacy which has been renewed in many lands, and will, I trust, only terminate with life.

That night we passed in the encampment of our hospitable friends. After I arose on the morrow, the fever with which I had been struggling completely mastered me; and as the proximity of the water was deemed injurious, I shifted my quarters, by Mr. Catherwood's advice, to the dry and elevated plateau of the temple itself. Adjacent to its northern portal is a massive castle of Arabian architecture, long since abandoned to the owls and bats. On entering its deeply hollowed portal, a broken staircase, with fissures opening into the gloomy vaults beneath, ascended to a large chamber, with walls of immense solidity, perforated by slender lancet windows. The floor was, like the staircase, full of yawning holes, and covered with the dust of many centuries. This was partly swept away, and my matting and carpet were arranged on the stone floor, upon which I laid down, with that horrible shudder in the limbs that ushers in an attack of intermittent fever. To this shortly succeeded a heat altogether as violent, and the fit terminated by a copious perspiration, which left the frame in a state of extreme depression. With these violent attacks of ague, which succeeded each other continually, were complicated evident symptoms of cerebral disease; my mind began to wander, and the most gloomy imaginings chased each other through my perturbed fancy. Thus passed the first day and night in this gloomy abode.

my

My uneasiness was greatly aggravated by the cowardice of servant, who had, much against his inclination, been obliged to

abandon the encampment, and follow me alone into this solitary ruin. His mind was tortured with real and imaginary dangers; first, lest we should be robbed and murdered by some assassins, who might easily conceal themselves among the neighbouring vaults; and, secondly, lest we should be disturbed by the Efrits, or Genii, which, according to Eastern belief, invariably choose such sites as their congenial dwelling-place. Accordingly, no sooner did the morning dawn, than he repaired to the encampment, and made out so lamentable a story, that Mr. B——i, who accompanied Mr. Catherwood, resolved to leave his comfortable tent, and come down and pass the night with us at the castle. Scarcely had he returned with this consoling intelligence, than I heard an unwonted noise of many footsteps at the extremity of the passage, and my friends of the night before entered, accompanied by a young English medical man, who had come from Damascus, to accompany a wealthy Turkish invalid. Finding me seriously ill, he proceeded to shave my head, and administer other remedies, which probably checked what would otherwise have proved a fatal attack.

Thus passed several days, which seemed interminably long, in a state of great mental and bodily prostration, deepened by the horrible solitude of the place. When the last red rays of the setting sun shot upward through the slender window on the ceiling, and the bats rising from the vaults below began to flit through the chamber, I used to hear the cheering cry of my friend B -i echoing through the winding passage, and the tramp and bound of his footsteps, and the clang of his sabre against the wall, as he sprang hastily up the broken staircase. And never did a sick child thrill more at his mother's voice than I, at the hearty, "Well, how are you, old fellow?" which issued from his lips as he burst into the dreary apartment. Then the lamps were lighted, the pistols primed, Antonio planted on his mattrass across the entrance, and everything made snug in case of attack.

At last I got well enough to crawl out of the fortress, when taking my post in its shadow, I would pore for hours upon the magnificent temple which rose directly in front, watching the huge brown lizards emerging from its chinks and crannies to sun themselves upon the hot stones; or marking the sinuous track of some glittering snake, as it wound its stealthy way among rich fragments of chiselled entablatures scattered around. By degrees I got about, and after a full exploration of the place, at last once more mounted my horse, and one morning before daylight wended my way alone towards Damascus. I was the last tenant of the Temple. My American companion had already started for that city; my friends had struck their tents and gone elsewhere, and I was glad to turn my back upon the scene of so much suffering.

From the ascent of the Anti-Libanus I took my last view of Baalbec, and tracing its narrow valleys, approached at evening the village of Zebdané, where we were hospitably received by the patriarchal sheik. Next day we followed the windings of a stream, which from its source in the highest parts of the mountains flowed downward to the plain of Damascus. The heights overhanging it were bare and white, and glittering painfully in the deep blue sky; but the verdure below was refreshing and luxuriant. Soon after noon, when the sun was still near its zenith, and the white parched soil dazzled the eye and scorched the face with reflected heat, the road, leaving the course of the valley, struck up the side of a bare hill, the topmost peak of which was crowned with a small kiosk. As we ascended, we heard the tinkling of bells, and the leading files of a large caravan came toiling over the top of the pass in the opposite direction. Beyond, stretching away into the haze of distance, as far as the eye could reach, was the immense plain of Damascus, a perfect sea of verdure, in the centre of which, marked by a line of white minarets, winding for some two miles long, and relieving most brilliantly from the intense green,