25
AFKA.
Pasha of Damascus, on my way to the Emir Beshir. As Ispoke
with confidence, the Sheikh became alarmed, and sent us a few
loaves of bread, and some cheese ; on my return, I found my guide
in the midst of a large assembly of people, abusing them for their
meanness.
The property of the inhabitants of this village consists of cows
and other cattle, silkworms, and plantations of olive trees.
At Akoura Djebel Libnan terminates; and farther down towards ¬
Zahle and the Bekaa, the mountain is called Djebel Sannin ¬
) The Libanus is here more barren and wild than
further to the north. The rocks are all in perfectly horizontal
layers, some of which are thirty to forty yards in thickness, while
others are only a few yards.
October 5th.—We left the inhospitable Akoura before day light,
and reached, after one hour and three quarters, a village called
Afka, situated in the bottom of a valley, near a spring, whose waters -
join those of Wady Akoura, and flow down towards Jebail.
The name Afka is found in the ancient geography of Syria. At
Aphaca, according to Zosimus, was a temple of Venus, where the
handsomest girls of Syria sacrificed to the goddess : it was situated ¬
near a small lake, between Heliopolis and the sea coast."
The lake Liemoun is at three hours distance from Afka. I could
not hear of any remains of antiquity near Afka. All the inhabitants ¬
are Metaweli, under the government of Jebail. Near it,
towards Jebail, are the Metaweli villages of Mghaiere, Meneitere,
and Laese.
From Afka the road leads up a steep Wady. At half an hour
from it is the spring called Ain Bahr ; three quarters of an hour
beyond it is a high level country, still on the western side of the
summit of the mountain. This district is called Watty el Bordj
* Zosim. 1. i. c. 58.
