Three Hours And A Half, An Old Mosque Upon The Mountain Above
The Road, With A Village Called El Djamaa ([Arabic] The Mosque).
Near to
it, and where the mountains runs out in a point towards the north, is a
hill called Tel Arka, which appears by its regularly flattened conical
form and smooth sides to be artificial.
I was told that on its top are
some ruins of habitations, and walls. Upon an elevation on its E. and S.
sides, which commands a beautiful view over the plain, the sea, and the
Anzeyry mountains, are large and extensive heaps of rubbish, traces of
ancient dwellings, blocks of hewn stone, remains of walls, and fragments
of granite columns; of the latter I counted eight, six of which were of
gray, and the other two of fine red granite. Here then must have stood
the ancient town of Arca, where Alexander Severus was born: the hill was
probably the citadel, or a temple may have stood on its top. On the west
side of the hill runs the deep valley Wady Akka, with a torrent of the
same name, which we passed, over a bridge near a mill. From thence the
direction of our road continued W.S.W. From an elevated spot, at four
TRIPOLI.
[p.163]hours and a half, Sheikh Ayash bore N.E. b. N. In five hours we
reached the sea-shore; the sea here forms a bay extending from the point
of Tartous as far as Tripoli. We now turned round the mountains on our
left, along the sea-beach, and passed several tents of Turkmans. Five
hours and a half, at a short distance to the left, is an ancient tower
on the slope of the mountain, called Abou Hannein [Arabic]. Five hours
and three quarters is Khan el Bered, with a bridge over the Nahr el
Bered, or cold river. At six hours and a half is the village Menny, to
the left, at the foot of the mountain, the road lying through a low
plain half an hour in breadth, between the mountain called Torboul and
the sea; that part only which is nearest to the mountain is cultivated.
In nine hours we arrived at Tripoli, and alighted at the house of the
English agent Mr. Catziflis.
This city, which is called Tarabolos by the Arabs, and Tripoli by the
Greeks and Italians, is built on the declivity of the lowest hills of
the Libanus, and is divided by the Nahr Kadisha [Kadisha, in the Syrian
language, means the holy [Arabic], the proper name of the river is Nahr
Abou Ali.] into two parts, of which the southern is the most
considerable. On the N. side of the river, upon the summit of the hill,
stands the tomb of Sheikh Abou Naszer, and opposite to it, on the S.
side, the castle, built in the time of the crusades; this castle has
often been in a ruined state, but it has lately been put into complete
repair by Berber Aga. Many parts of Tripoli bear marks of the ages of
the crusades; amongst these are several high arcades of gothic
architecture, under which the streets run. In general the town is well
built, and is much embellished by the gardens, which are not only
attached to the houses in the town, but cover likewise the whole
triangular plain lying between it and the sea. Tripoli stands in
[p.164]one of the most favoured spots in all Syria; as the maritime
plain and neighbouring mountains place every variety of climate within a
short distance of the inhabitants. The Wady Kadisha, higher up than
Tripoli, is one of the most picturesque valleys I ever saw. At half an
hour from the town is an aqueduct across the Wady, built upon arches;
the natives call it Kontaret el Brins [Arabic], a corruption, perhaps,
of Prince. It conveys the water used for drinking, into the town, by
means of a canal along the left bank of the Kadisha. A few yards above
the aqueduct is a bridge across the stream.
I estimate the inhabitants of Tripoli at about fifteen thousand; of
these one-third are Greek Christians, over whom a bishop presides. I was
told that the Greeks are authorized, by the Firmahns of the Porte, to
prevent any schismatic Greek from entering the town. This may not be the
fact;--it is however certain, that whenever a schismatic is discovered
here, he is immediately thrown into prison, put in irons, and otherwise
very ill-treated. Such a statement can be credited by those only who are
acquainted with the fanatism of the eastern Christians. There is no
public building in the town deserving of notice. The Serai was destroyed
during the rebellion of Berber. The Khan of the soap manufacturers is a
large well built edifice, with a water basin in the middle of it.
Ten minutes above the town, in the Wady Kadisha, is a convent of
Derwishes, most picturesquely situated above the river, but at present
uninhabited. At half an hour's walk below the town, at the extreme angle
of the triangular plain, is El Myna, or the port of Tripoli, which is
itself a small town; the interjacent plain was formerly covered with
marshes, which greatly injured the air; but the greater part of them
have been drained, and converted into gardens. The remains of a wall may
still be traced [p.165]across the triangular plain; from which it
appears that the western point was the site of the ancient city;
wherever the ground is dug in that direction the foundations of houses
and walls are found; indeed it is with stones thus procured that the
houses in the Myna are built.
From the Myna northward to the mouth of the Kadisha runs a chain of six
towers, at about ten minutes walk from each other, evidently intended
for the defence of the harbour; around the towers, on the shore, and in
the sea, lie a great number of columns of gray granile; there are at
least eighty of them, of about a foot and a quarter in diameter, lying
in the sea; many others have been built into the walls of the towers as
ornaments.
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