Note 10 — Chapter II

I have since read in some author that this column was of the Corinthian order, fifty-seven feet high and five feet in diameter, having a tablet for an inscription, now erased. I cannot recollect whether it was before or after we arrived at the column, that there stood a village (called Yyd or Nyd) not far out of the road, which we were desirous of entering: but the inhabitants hailed us from the roofs of the houses, and with muskets in their hands threatened to shoot any one who should approach them; for they were determined, they said, to let nobody, coming from Bâlbec, where the plague was, have intercourse with them.