Page:History of Art in Phœnicia and Its Dependencies Vol 1.djvu/26

 6 HISTORY ov ART IN PIUKNK IA AND ITS DKPKXDKXCIES. en-Nakourah) I made use of them, and never, even in the East, have I journeyed by a worse route, or by one on which the traveller is more at the mercy of his beast, whose sureness of foot is tried at every step. The Romans were the first to make communication easier and more certain. At the entrance to the gorge of the Nahr-el-Kelb, near Heyrout, the road they cut through the rock in order to avoid the abrupt ascents of the old pass, is still in use. The levels of this Roman road are much easier ; it doubles the cape instead of scaling its heights. It was by the old path that Assyrian and Egyptian armies found their way along the coast (see Figs. 2 and 3). 1 It was long enough, however, before the Romans appeared that the tribes whose doings we have now to study settled in the country. If they wished to penetrate into the mountains they h;id to wait till summer, and then make their way along the beds of the dried-up torrents ; if they wanted to turn them and follow the coast, they could do so in many places by a narrow strip of sand, but elsewhere the waves beat against the actual knees of the hills. At these latter points there was no road at all, or at most a giddy path along the face of the cliff, better fitted for goats than men. A pedestrian accustomed to its difficulties could make use of it with safety, but no one would dream of riding over or even of attempting to lead a string of pack horses along such a track. While the solid earth presented difficulties that must long have seemed insurmountable, the sea w r as open to all. It was upon the sea that the little plains on the coast had their outlook. In these the same configuration was repeated again and again. Here and there the mountains retire a certain distance from the sea and leave room for a few leagues of flat ground where houses could rise among fields and vineyards, or for slopes on which the vine and olive could flourish. These were sites prepared by nature for future cities, but before the latter could come into existence, easy circulation had to be provided for men and goods between one canton and another. Nothing could be more simple ; the sea was at hand ready to carry anything that would float. As soon as the elements of navigation wefe mastered, no farther embarrassment in 1 We borrow this plan and view from an interesting article contributed by Mr. W. S. BOSCAWEN to the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Arclueology (The Monu- ments and Inscriptions on the Rocks at Nahr-el-Kdb, vol. vii. pp. 331-352).