The plain of Coelo-Syria is generally of the breadth that I have mentioned, and is about 100 miles in length, being bounded in the whole extent by the parallel ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. It has a rich soil, and might be made extremely productive; but only a small portion of it is at present under cultivation. Our meal was eaten by the side of a brook, beneath some fig trees; and when it had been succeeded by a short season of repose, we finished our descent, and entered on the monotonous and fiery plain. All day we dragged ourselves across, scorched by a fierce sun, and parched with thirst, and finding little relief in the sight of the snowy peaks on either side. We came about two o’clock to a khan, and soon after to the river, which we crossed on a bridge, though at this season it can be forded. Here we met a long string of camels from Damascus, and soon after we witnessed a natural phenomenon, of which we afterwards saw several instances on the great Assyrian plain,--columns of sand raised high in the air, and passing along the ground, in their shape bearing a great resemblance to that of a water-spout, and doubtless produced by a similar cause. Our course was not straight across the plain, but inclining to the southward. About five o’clock we reached a village near the foot of Anti-Lebanon, and while we stopped for water, our muleteers began very deliberately to unload the animals, concluding to stop there for the night. They were astonished when told that the day’s journey was not yet finished, and then remonstrated, and then got angry, but to no purpose; and I believe they thought us a very singular and uncivilized set of beings. I do not know that any traveller has ever yet spoken of the difference between foreign countries and our own with respect to energy and rapidity of movement. With us, “time” literally “is money;” and as we have abundant opportunities of making the most of it, we get a sharpness of look, and a quickness of motion, which is seen no where else, and has at length become a characteristic of the nation.