He first had it taken to pieces, and then had the body slung between two camels; but the swinging motion, in consequence of the roughness of the roads, soon put the poor animals on beam ends; and they said, as plainly as camels could say, that they had no inclination for such work. He then put the vehicle together again, and employed sixty men to pull it up and lower it down the precipices, and at last got it safe home at Damascus, where now he may go an airing over a plain 500 miles in length. He offered the ladies of our party to carry them in it to Palmyra. A ride in an English coach to Palmyra! it would have been something new under the sun, and we should all have made that interesting journey, if our time would have permitted. But back again--we have not arrived at Damascus yet, nor even at the summit of Lebanon, and many a weary mile is before us. Up, up we went, sometimes almost perpendicularly, wondering, when we could catch a breathing spell, at the power and wonderful surefootedness of our animals. After a while the scenery around us became truly grand. It is a mountain with more poetry than any other that I have ever seen. Grander I have met with, and richer, and more beautiful; but I have seen none that contains so much of all of these combined. The reader is perhaps aware that it is inhabited by a race of people that from time immemorial have kept themselves free and unsubdued; they form an enigma and a wonder in this land of sloth and imbecility. Hardy, industrious, and healthful, they have spread over the mountain till it is teeming with inhabitants, and have been compelled, wherever, by terrace or otherwise, it can be cultivated, to erect their dwellings, and break up or make a soil. They retain also their peculiar institutions; and this is the only place in all Turkey where Christians are allowed for their churches the use of bells. The inhabitants of Mount Lebanon branch off into three religions: Mahomedans, Druses, and Maronite Christians. The last of these had their origin in the seventh century, and take their name from Maro, their first bishop, who, at this time, came from the banks of the Orontes and taught here the heretical doctrines of the Monothelites, which he had adopted. In the year 1182 they gave up these doctrines, and were united to the Romish church; at least they have ever since acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope, but as they never allow him to interfere with their doctrines or forms of worship, and have their own distinct class of ecclesiastical rulers, their subjection to the Roman Catholic jurisdiction is little better than nominal. They have a patriarch whom they elect themselves, and who takes uniformly the name of Peter; but his appointment, to be valid, must be confirmed by the Pope. Their number at present is about 120,000.