189
NAHR EL KELB.
happy part of the population of Kesrouan ; they are under no
anxiety for their own support ; they are looked upon by the people -
as superior beings, and their repose is interrupted only by
the intrigues of the convents, and by the mutual hostilities of the
bishops.
The principal villages in Kesrouan, beginning from the north,
are Ghadsir (e), Djedeide (), Aar Amoun (le), Shenanayr ¬
(), Sahel Alma (ale ), Haret Szakher(),
Ghozta (a), Deir Aoun (s), Ghadir (), Zouk Mikayl (,
3), Zouk el Kherab
), Djouni (), Zouk Meszbah(
,and Kornet el Khamra 3).
March 18th.—I left my amiable host, the Abate Gandolfi, and proceeded ¬
on my road to Deir el Kammar, the residence of the Emir
Beshir. One hour from Antoura is Deir Lowyz(). Between
it and the village ZoukMikayl lies the village Zouk Meszbah, with
Deir Mar Elias. South of Deir Lowyz half an hour is the village
Zouk el Kharab; half an hour E. of the latter, Deir Tanneis (
b), and about the same distance S. E. the village Kornet el Khamra. ¬
From Deir Lowyz I again descended into the plain on the sea
shore. The narrow plain which I mentioned as beginning at Djissr
Maammiltein, continues only as far as Djouni, where the country
rises, and continues hilly, across the southern promontory of the
bay of Kesrouan, on the farther side of which the narrow plain
again begins, and continues as far as the banks of the Nahr el Kelb.
Treached this river in half an hour from Antoura, at the point of its
junction with the sea, about ten minutes above which it is crossed
by a fine stone bridge. From the bridge the road continues along
the foot of the steep rocks, except where they overhang the sea,
and there it has been cut through the rock for about a mile. This
was a work, however, of no great labour, and hardly deserved the
