This River Had, When I Saw
It, More Than Triple The Volume Of Water Of The Liettani; But Though It
Joins The Latter In The Bekaa, Near Djissr Temnin, The United Stream
Retains The Name Liettani.
There are remains of ancient well-built walls
round all the springs which constitute the source of the Andjar; one of
the springs, in particular,
[P.9]which forms a small but very deep basin, has been lined to the
bottom with large stones, and the wall round it has been constructed
with large square stones, which have no traces of ever having been
cemented together. In the wall of a mill, which has been built very near
these springs, I saw a sculptured architrave. These remains appear to be
much more ancient than those of Andjar, and are perhaps coeval with the
buildings at Baalbec. I was told, by the people of the mill, that the
water of the larger spring, in summer time, stops at certain periods and
resumes its issue from under the rock, eight or ten times in a day.
Further up in the mountain, above the spring, is a large cavern where
the people sometimes collect saltpetre; but it is more abundant in a
cavern still higher in the mountain.
Following the road northward on the chain of the Anti-Libanus, half an
hour from these springs, I met with another copious spring; and a little
higher, a third; one hour further, is a fourth, which I did not visit.
Near the two former are traces of ancient walls.
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