Mon 4. [4 June 1900] Left our camp soon after 7 and sent it straight on
to 'Ain Anata. I photographed in the Temple. Soon after 9 we started
off with Yusef and rode to the quarries and to the Kubbet Duris and so
to the great single column and into the hills. No water on this side. A
mirage at the S end of the valley. Got to Bleddar at 1.15 and lunched
there in a Maronite monastery, of very old origin, Crusader they said.
Up an interminable valley full of ballut, za'rur, saris, fash and terebinth
and out onto a plateau from whence we looked down on the blue lake
of Yamouneh. A great spring Ain el Arbu'in flows into it but it and the
lake dry up in summer. Under the spring is a little promontory with
some willows on it and ruins - said Yusef a burj of Constantine the
Greek. White water weed and camels. So up the long valley parallel
to the ridge and at 6 reached Ain Ata. Very tired and seedy. Coldish.