September 11, Wednesday

Sam, Dr. George Birch, William Church, Joshua Davis, William Denny, Julius Moulton, Dan Slote, and Jack Van Nostrand left Beirut, Lebanon on horseback at 3 PM . . Our caravan numbers 24 mules & horses, & 14 serving men—28 men all told.

At 6 o’clock P.M., we came to a halt here on the breezy summit of a shapely mountain overlooking the sea, and the handsome valley where dwelt some of those enterprising Phoenicians of ancient times we read so much about; all around us are what were once the dominions of Hiram, King of Tyre, who furnished timber from the cedars of these Lebanon hills to build portions of King Solomon’s Temple with.

Th location reached is possibly Dahr El Baydar, about 19 miles along the route that follows a branch of the Silk Road, and would be in agreement with the given description of the view.  There does not seem to exist any detailed information on the actual route taken by the pilgrims on their first day out.  Three hours, though, seems inadequate and does not allow for arrival at any site matching the description of "camping out" provided by Twain.  The route mapped here follows existing road patterns, as provided by Google Earth, and are in general agreement with the Palestine Map of 1861 in the David Rumsey collection.  The location of Bahr El Baydar is approximately half way between Beirut and Tamnine El Faouqa and is the highest point on the route.  Distance: 19.8 miles and Maximum elevation 5,053 feet.