This “goodly mountain,” which dying Moses longed to see, became to Hebrew poets the consummate symbol of all that was most strong and virile, most beautiful and enduring. The springs of Lebanon, the forests of Lebanon, the glory of Lebanon—of these they dreamed and, in ecstatic eulogy or lofty spiritual hope, of these they loved to sing. “Thou art a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon,” exclaims the hero of the Song of Songs. “The smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.” The bride, too, sings of her lover, “His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.”[1] In more solemn vein, the prophets who spoke of the coming Day of Jehovah drew imperishable imagery from these northern mountains. “The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.... The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it.”[2] Israel “shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.... They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.”[3] “The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together.”[4] Toward evening I strolled out to the end of the cape and looked for the first time upon what those of us who have called Beirut our home may be pardoned for believing to be the loveliest prospect in all this beautiful world. From this point can be viewed eighty miles of a coast which in the time of Abraham had already seen the rise and fall of many a proud civilization. To the south is the ancient city of Sidon, thirty miles away, and the rocky point of Sarepta and, in the dim distance, the bold headland of the “Ladder of Tyre.” To the north, beyond the gorges of the River of Death and the Dog River, is the River of Adonis, where the loves of heaven and earth were celebrated many centuries before there were Greeks in Greece. Still farther north, Jebail—ancient Byblos—disputes Damascus’ claim to be the oldest of cities; and thirty-five miles away the view of the coast is closed by the cape which the Greeks called _Theoprosopon_, the “Face of God.” The Syrians, however, have named this _Ras esh-Shukkah_ or the “Split-off Point,” and say that it was torn away from the mountain and thrown bodily into the sea during the great earthquake of July 9, 551, A. D. In this land of fearful cataclysms, the story is quite possible of belief. [Illustration: View along the coast north of Beirut] [Illustration: Looking up the western slopes of Lebanon]