it by force from the Emir of Baalbec. On the southern side of the
village is a mosque, and adjoining to it a long building, on the eastern
side of which are the ruins of another mosque, with a Kubbe still
remaining. The long building contains, under a flat roof, the pretended
tomb of Noah [Arabic]; it consists of a tomb-stone above ten feet long,
three broad and two high, plastered all over; the direction of its
length is S.E. and N.W. The Turks visit the grave, and pretend that Noah
is really buried there. At half an hour from Kerak is the town of Zahle
[Arabic], built in an inlet of the mountain, on a steep ascent,
surrounded with Kerums (vineyards). The river Berdoun [Arabic] here
issues from a narrow valley into the plain and waters the gardens of
Zahle.

September 25th.--Took a walk through the town with Sheikh Hadj Farakh.
There are eight or nine hundred houses, which daily increase, by
fugitives from the oppressions of the Pashas of Damascus and of the
neighbouring petty tyrants. Twenty-five years ago there were only two
hundred houses at Zahle: it is now one of the principal towns in the
territory of the Emir Beshir. It has its markets, which are supplied
from Damascus and Beirout, and are visited by the neighbouring Fellahs,
and the Arabs El Naim, and El Harb, and El Faddel, part of whom pass the
winter months in the Bekaa, and exchange their butter against articles
of dress, and tents, and horse and camel furniture. The inhabitants, who
may amount to five thousand, are all Catholic Greeks, with the exception
only of four or five Turkish families. The Christians have a bishop,
five churches and a monastery, the Turks have no mosque. The town
belongs to the territory of the Druses, and is under the authority of
the Emir Beshir, but a part of it still belongs to the family of Aamara,
whose influence, formerly very