Lewis Gaston Leary - Syria, the land of Lebanon

SYRIA
THE LAND
OF
LEBANON

By LEWIS GASTON LEARY

• The Real Palestine of To-Day
• Andorra, The Hidden Republic
• The Christmas City
• Syria, The Land of Lebanon

Evening in the harbor of Beirut

SYRIA
THE LAND OF
LEBANON

BY
LEWIS GASTON LEARY, Ph.D.
FORMERLY INSTRUCTOR IN THE AMERICAN
COLLEGE, BEIRUT, SYRIA

Author of The Real Palestine of To-day,
Andorra, the Hidden Republic, etc.

NEW YORK
McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY
1913

Copyright, 1913, by
McBride, Nast & Co.

Second Printing
January, 1914

Published, November, 1913

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
TO HIM WHO FIRST TURNED MY THOUGHTS
TOWARD SYRIA
MY FORMER PRECEPTOR AND ALWAYS
LOYAL FRIEND
GEORGE L. ROBINSON

Although Syria possesses a rare natural beautyand boasts a wealth of historic and religious interest,its fame has been so overshadowed by that of theneighboring Land of Israel that most travelers arecontent to take the easy railway journey to Baalbekand Damascus, and know nothing of the wild mountainvalleys and snow-capped summits of Lebanon orthe many ancient shrines of a country whose historyreaches far back of the classic days of Greece.

It is therefore with great pleasure that I accedeto the request of the publishers of my Real Palestineof To-day and supplement the earlier work bythe present companion-volume on Syria; so that,though the books may be read independently, thetwo together may give a complete view of the landsof the Bible.

The chapter on Palmyra is from the pen of ProfessorHarvey Porter, Ph.D., of the Syrian ProtestantCollege; and for many of the hitherto unpublishedphotographs I am indebted to other membersof the faculty of that institution. Grateful acknowledgmentis also made to The World To-day,The New Era, The Sunday School Times, The Newark(N. J.) News, and especially to Travel andScribners Magazine, for permission to include materialwhich originally appeared in these publications.

In the writing of Arabic words, my aim has beensmooth reading, rather than a systematic transliterationof the numerous sounds which are not found inEnglish. As an aid to pronunciation, it should benoted that the stress always falls upon a syllablebearing a circumflex accent.

It will be seen that this book is written from amore intimate and personal viewpoint than the volumeon Palestine. I could not write otherwise of thecountry which was for years my own home and whereto-day I have many cherished friends among bothSyrians and Franks. In fact, I must write veryslowly; for every now and then I lay down my penand, with a homesick lump in my throat, dream overagain the happy days in that land of wondrousbeauty which I still love with all my heart.

Lewis Gaston Leary

Pelham Manor, N. Y., October 15, 1913.

Far off on the eastern horizon the thin haze ofan October dawn gently blended into densermasses of silvery white, which rose like dreammountains above the edge of the placid azure sea.The soft, ethereal shapes did not change their outlines,however, as clouds do; and, as the steamerdrew nearer to them, the rounded forms graduallytook on an appearance of bulk and solidity. Thesewere no mere piles of morning mist, but the massiveshoulders of the ancient, famous, glorious rangewhose strange silvery tint when viewed from afarcaused it long, long ago to be called LebanontheWhite Mountain.

As we approached the shore, the sun rose into asky of brighter blue than ever domed Italian seas,and great waves of color swept downward over theround white mountainsides. I have traveled sincein many lands; I know the beauty of Amalfis cliffs,the rich tints of the southern coast of Spain, themystic alpenglow on the snow-clad peaks of Switzerlandand the delicate opalescence of the Isles ofGreece; but I have never seenI never expect toseeanother glory of earth which can comparewith the wondrous coloring of the mountains ofLebanon.