ed it, and even of those thick-maned
lions known to Asia at the time; and then proceeding in its course,
crossed the ridge in the neighbourhood of the snow-peak called Shaua,
which is probably the Sannin of our times. While one of these roads,
running north along the lake of Yamuneh and through the gorge of Akura,
then proceeded along the Adonis* to Byblos, the other took a southern
direction, and followed the Nahr el-Kelb to the sea.

* This is the road pointed out by Renan as the easiest but
least known of those which cross the Lebanon; the remains of
an Assyrian inscription graven on the rocks near Ain el-
Asafir show that it was employed from a very early date, and
Renan thought that it was used by the armies which came from
the upper valley of the Orontes.

Towards the mouth of the latter a wall of rock opposes the progress of
the river, and leaves at length but a narrow and precipitous defile for
the passage of its waters: a pathway cut into the cliff at a very remote
date leads almost perpendicularly from the bottom of the precipice to
the summit of the promontory. Commerce followed these short and direct
routes, but invading hosts very rarely took advantage of them, although
they offered access into the very heart of Phoenicia. Invaders would
encounter here, in fact, a little known and broken country, lending
itself readily to surprises and ambuscades; and should they reach the
foot of the Lebanon range, they would find themselves entrapped in a
region of slippery defiles, with steep paths at intervals cut into the
rock, and almost inaccessible to chariots or horses, and so narrow in
places that a handful of resolute men could have held them for a long
time against whole battalions. The enemy preferred to make for the two
natural breaches at the respective extremities of the line of defence,
and for the two insular cities which flanked the approaches to
them--Tyre in the case of those coming from Egypt, Arvad and Simyra
for assailants from the Euphrates. The Arvadians, bellicose by nature,
would offer strong resistance to the invader, and not permit themselves
to be conquered without a brave struggle with the enemy, however
powerful he might be.* When the disproportion of the forces which they
could muster against the enemy convinced them of the folly of attempting
an open conflict, their island-home offered them a refuge where they
would be safe from any attacks.

* Thutmos