Thanks for letting me know about YouTube, Scott, I'll look into it. The whole route was covered in video clips so I hope they haven't removed them all.

That's right about the dirty Arab village, which is now not so dirty and not so Arab but has been totally swamped by Karak Nuah. I followed an old British Army map which made life really simple as there was only one caravanserai route from Beirut to Baalbek. If you go to Google Earth and overlay with the 1861 Rumsey Historical Map you can see the route through Zahle from which they excursioned although it's fuzzy. The chapel/madrassah is at 33 50' 38.72" N / 35 54' 45.36" E.

By the way there was an earlier forum post about them spending the first night on top of Mount Lebanon. Mount Lebanon refers to a whole range running down the country and tops at 10,000 feet, so unlikely. If I remember the first night's stop is lost somewhere in new expensive suburbs. The video of Beirut explains and I'll try to sort it out on YouTube.

Happy footstepping!



On 8 May 2013, at 17:55, Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thank you, Ian.  One of the hazards of trying to rely on Google for the
> answers is they are often hidden under very specific criteria.  I found
> the site under Karak Nuh.  I had been chasing Karak. The video seems to
> have been removed from Youtube.  
> 
> David Fears' Day By Day includes this bit from Mark Twain’s Notebooks &
> Journals Volume 1:  "Passed up the Valley & camped on l. side under the
> dews of Hermon. –first passing through a dirty Arab village &
> visiting the tomb of Noah, of Deluge notoriety [MTNJ 1: 417]."
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2013-05-08 at 06:16 +0100, Ian Strathcarron wrote:
>> Scott
>> 
>> Noah's tomb - or as our man has it 'the tomb of the honored old =
>> navigator' is on the outskirts of a new town called Karaq.=20
>> 
>> The chapel has now become a Hezbollah madrassah, please see it on:
>> 
>> =
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DsQkjDZ6h6SU&list=3DUUKTFK9pSHIaikllWneaD2=
>> Xw&index=3D14
>> 
>> Ian Strathcarron
>> www.twaintraveler.com
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On 8 May 2013, at 02:39, Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>> There seems to be a problem with The Innocents Abroad. A day seems to =
>> be
>>> missing between chapter 41 and chapter 42. According to the Quaker =
>> City
>>> Itinerary [QCI], as well as all the other sources I've found, Sam and
>>> the pilgrims departed Beirut by horseback on September 11 at 3:00 pm.
>>> They didn't travel very far that first day, only 10 or 12 miles.
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> =93We 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=94
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> It's my guess that they camped on the top of Mt. Lebanon. The end of
>>> chapter 41 has Twain describing a sumptuous meal and a form of camping
>>> out he was unfamiliar with but accepting of. The beginning of chapter =
>> 42
>>> has him indulging in a sumptuous breakfast as the camp is packed up =
>> and
>>> ready to go by 6:30 am. He calls this place Jacksonville and gives =
>> it's
>>> location near Temnin-el-Foka. Looking at maps of the region
>>> Temnin-el-Foka is about 30 miles from Beirut, located near Zahlah. His
>>> description, however, is still that of Mt. Lebanon and it's view of =
>> the
>>> sea.
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> Ian Strathcarron has provided me with a spreadsheet of data points he
>>> used when writing his book Innocence and War. It notes that Twain's
>>> party stopped for lunch on September 12 at Mekseh, near the junction =
>> of
>>> the Lebanon Mountains and Jebel el Kuneyiseh, then later camped at a
>>> point between Mekseh and Baalbek. Zahlah is approximately one quarter =
>> of
>>> the way between Mekseh and Baalbek. The QCI notes that this camping =
>> spot
>>> is about two-thirds of the way between Beirut and Baalbek, also
>>> descriptive of Zahlah.
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> My guess is that Twain and the pilgrims enjoyed equally sumptuous
>>> breakfasts at both locations, Mt Lebanon and near Zahlah. At both
>>> locations they broke camp at 6:30 am.
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> There is another point in the journey that I'm interested in locating
>>> and that is the tomb of Noah, =93of Deluge notoriety=94. I'm guessing =
>> that
>>> landmark is found in Mekseh but I haven't seen anything to corroborate
>>> this.
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> All sources agree that on September 13 Twain and the pilgrims traveled
>>> to Baalbek and then camped at Sirghaya. They arrived in Damascus at
>>> sunset of September 14.

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