MacNamara diary, 19 August 1916-29 May 1919 / John Patrick MacNamara - Page 198
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[Page 198]
Our second day in Damascus was also fine & during the afternoon we went up onto the Hills at rear of the town & overlooking it. It gave a fine view of the city which seems to be in a huge plain covered with trees.
Left next morning at 7.30 for Beirut where we arrived at 7.00 pm having traversed a distance of about 90 odd miles in the 12 hours. The first part of the journey after leaving Damas is through the Valley of the Barada, which is rather narrow & has the road, river Barada & Railway running through it.
The River flows alongside the line & runs very swiftly. The valley has been planted very thickly with cedar trees? which grow very straight & make fine logs. This is the valley in which some of the 4th L.H. Bde caught about 3,000 Turks & Germans & mowed them down from the sides of the hills with machine guns.
About 15 miles out we reached the source of the Barada River at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon Range. Everywhere throughout this valley was a profusion of water, coming down the rocks from springs, from waterfalls & running everywhere.
We crossed the Anti-Lebanon Range which are only about 2,500' high & then ran down to the valley of the