Chapter XXXI (8)

Leaving Gibyle, we came in one hour to a fair, large river, with a stone bridge over it, of only one arch, but that exceeding wide and lofty. To this river the Turks give the name of Ibrahim Pasha; but it is doubtless the ancient river Adonis, so famous for the idolatrous rites performed here in lamentation of Adonis. Upon the bank of this stream we took up our quarters for the following night, having come this day about six hours. We had a very tempestuous night both of wind and rain, almost without cessation, and with so great violence that our servants were hardly able to keep up our tents over us. But, however, this accident, which gave us so much trouble in the night, made us amends with a curiosity which it yielded us an opportunity of beholding the next morning.

_March 17._—For by this means we had the fortune to see what may be supposed to be the occasion of that opinion which Lucian relates concerning the river, viz., that this stream, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody colour, which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy in the river for the death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains out of which this stream rises. Something like this we saw actually come to pass; for the water was stained to a surprising redness, and, as we observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea, a great way, into a reddish hue, occasioned, doubtless, by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Adonis's blood.

In an hour and a quarter from this river we passed over the foot of the mountain Climax, where, having gone through a very rugged and uneven pass, we came into a large bay called Junia. At the first entrance into the bay is an old stone bridge, which appoints the limits between the two pashalicks of Tripoli and Sidon. At the bottom of the bay are exceeding high and steep mountains, between which and the sea the road lies. These are the mountains of Castravan, chiefly inhabited by Maronites, famous for a growth of excellent wine. The Maronite bishop of Aleppo has here his residence in a convent, of which he is the guardian. We saw many other small convents on the top of these mountains, one of which, called Oozier, was, as we were here told, in the hands of ten or twelve Latin friars. Towards the further side of the bay we came to a square tower, or castle, of which kind there are many all along upon the coast for several days' journey from this place. They are said to have been built by the empress Helena, for the protection of the country from pirates. At this tower is to be paid a fourth[539] caphar. It is received by Maronites, a pack of rogues more exacting and insolent in their office than the very Turks themselves. A little beyond this place we came to a road cut through the rocks, which brought us out of the bay, having been one hour and a quarter in compassing it. In an hour more, spent upon a very rugged way, close by the sea, we came to the river Lycus, called also, sometimes, Canis, and by the Turks, at this day, Nahr Kelp. It derives its name from an idol in the form of a dog or wolf, which was worshipped, and is said to have pronounced oracles, at this place. The image is pretended to be shown to strangers at this day, lying in the sea with its heels upward. I mean the body of it; for its oracular head is reported to have been broken off and carried to Venice, where (if fame be true) it may be seen at this day.

I know not by what mistake several modern geographers confound this river with Adonis, making them to be one and the same, whereas the contrary is apparent, both from experimental observation and from the authority of ancient geographers.

This river issues into the sea from between two mountains excessively steep and high, and so rocky that they seem to consist each of one entire stone. For crossing the river you go up between these mountains about a bow-shot from the sea, where you have a good bridge of four arches, near the foot of which is a piece of white marble inlaid in the side of a rock, with an Arab inscription on it, intimating its founder to have been the emir Faccardine (of whom I shall have occasion to speak more when I come to Beirout). Being passed the river, you immediately begin to ascend the mountain, or rather great rock, on the other side. To accommodate the passage you have a path of above two yards' breadth cut along its side, at a great height above the water, being the work of the emperor Antoninus; for the promontory allowing no passage between it and the sea, at bottom, that emperor undertook, with incredible labour, to open this way above, the memory of which good work is perpetuated by an inscription engraved on a table planed in the side of the natural rock, not far from the entrance into the way, as follows:—

IMP: CAES: M: AURELIUS
ANTONINUS, PIUS, FELIX, AUGUSTUS
PARTH: MAX: BRIT: GERM: MAXIMUS
PONTIFEX MAXIMUS
MONTIBUS IMMINENTIBUS
LYCO FLUMINI CAESIS VIAM DILATAVIT
PER--(_purposely erased_)--
ANTONINIANAM SUAM

A little higher up in the way are inscribed these words:—

INVICTE IMP: ANTONINE P: FELIX AUG:
MULTIS ANNIS IMPERA!

In passing this way, we observed, in the sides of the rock above us, several tables of figures carved, which seemed to promise something of antiquity. To be satisfied of which, some of us clambered up to the place, and found there some signs as if the old way had gone in that region, before Antoninus cut the other more convenient passage a little lower. In several places thereabouts we saw strange antique figures of men carved in the natural rock, in mezzo relievo, and in bigness equal to the life. Close by each figure was a large table planed in the side of the rock, and bordered round with mouldings. Both the effigies and the tables appeared to have been anciently inscribed all over, but the characters are now so defaced, that nothing but the footsteps of them were visible. There was only one of the figures that had both its lineaments and its inscriptions entire.

It was our unhappiness to have at this place a very violent storm of thunder and rain, which made our company too much in haste to make any longer stay here. By which misfortune I was prevented, to my great regret, from copying the inscription, and making such an exact scrutiny into this antiquity as it seemed very well to deserve. I hope some curious traveller or other will have better success in passing this way hereafter. The figures seemed to resemble mummies, and were perhaps the representation of some persons buried hereabout, whose sepulchres might probably also be discovered by the diligent observer.

The Antonine way extends about a quarter of an hour's travel. It is at present so broken and uneven, that to repair it would require no less labour than that wherewith it was at first made. After this pass you come upon a smooth sandy shore, which brings you in about one hour and a half to the river Beirout (for I could learn no other name it had). It is a large river, and has over it a stone bridge of six arches. On its other side is a plain field near the sea, which is said to be the stage on which St. George duelled and killed the dragon. In memory of this achievement there is a small chapel built upon the place, dedicated at first to that Christian hero, but now perverted to a mosque. From thence, in an hour, we arrived at Beirout, very wet by reason of the long and severe rain. However, we found here the shelter of a good khan by the sea-side, and there we took up our quarters. Our whole stage, this day, was about six hours and a half.

_March 18._—The day following we spent at Beirout, being credibly informed that the river Damer, which lay in our next stage, was so swollen by the late rains that it would be impassable. This place was anciently called Berytus, from which the idol Baal-Berith is supposed to have had its name; and afterwards, being greatly esteemed by Augustus, had many privileges conferred upon it, and together with them a new name, viz. Julia Felix. But at present it retains nothing of its ancient felicity, except the situation, and in that particular it is indeed very happy. It is seated on the sea-side, in a soil fertile and delightful, raised only so high above the salt water as to be secure from its overflowings, and all other noxious and unwholesome effects of that element. It has the benefit of good fresh springs flowing down to it from the adjacent hills, and dispensed all over the city, in convenient and not unhandsome fountains. But, besides these advantages of its situation, it has at present nothing else to boast of.

The emir Faccardine had his chief residence in this place. He was in the reign of sultan Morat, the fourth emir, or prince of the Druses, a people supposed to have descended from some dispersed remainder of those Christian armies that engaged in the crusades for the recovery of the Holy Land[540], who afterwards being totally routed, and despairing of a return to their native country again, betook themselves to the mountains hereabout, in which their descendants have continued ever since. Faccardine, being (as I said) prince of these people, was not contented to be penned up in the mountains, but by his power and artifice enlarged his dominions down into the sea-coast, as far from this place to Acre. At last the Grand Seignior, growing jealous of such a growing power, drove the wild beast back again to the mountains from whence he had broke loose; and there his posterity retain their principality to this day.

We went to view the palace of this prince, which stands on the north-east part of the city. At the entrance of it is a marble fountain, of greater beauty than is usually seen in Turkey. The palace within consists of several courts, all now run much to ruin, or rather perhaps never finished. The stables, yards for horses, dens for lions and other savage creatures, gardens, &c., are such as would not be unworthy of the quality of a prince in Christendom, were they wrought up to that perfection of which they are capable, and to which they seem to have been designed by their first contriver.

But the best sight that this palace affords, and the most worthy to be remembered, is the orange garden. It contains a large quadrangular plot of ground, divided into sixteen lesser squares, four in a row, with walks between them. The walks are shaded with orange-trees, of a large spreading size, and all of so fine a growth both for stem and head, that one cannot imagine any thing more perfect of this kind. They were, at the time when we were there, as it were gilded with fruit, hanging thicker upon them than ever I saw apples in England. Every one of these sixteen lesser squares in the garden was bordered with stone, and in the stonework were troughs very artificially contrived, for conveying the water all over the garden, there being little outlets cut at every tree, for the stream, as it passed by, to flow out and water it. Were this place under the cultivation of an English gardener, it is impossible any thing could be made more delightful. But these Hesperides were put to no better use, when we saw them, than to serve as a fold for sheep and goats, insomuch that in many places they were up to the knees in dirt. So little sense have the Turks of such refined delights as these, being a people generally of the grossest apprehension, and knowing few other pleasures but such sensualities as are equally common both to man and beast. On the east side of this garden were two terrace-walks, rising one above the other, each of them having an ascent to it of twelve steps. They had both several fine spreading orange-trees upon them, to make shades in proper places. And at the north end they led into booths, and summer-houses, and other apartments, very delightful; this place being designed by Faccardine for the chief seat of his pleasure.

It may perhaps be wondered how this emir should be able to contrive any thing so elegant and regular as this garden, seeing the Turkish gardens are usually nothing else but a confused miscellany of trees jumbled together, without either knots, walks, arbours, or any thing of art or design, so that they seem like thickets rather than gardens. But Faccardine had been in Italy, where he had seen things of another nature, and knew well how to copy them in his own country; for indeed it appears, by these remains of him, that he must needs have been a man much above the ordinary level of a Turkish genius.

In another garden we saw several pedestals for statues, from whence it may be inferred that this emir was no very zealous Mohammedan. At one corner of the same garden stood a tower of about sixty feet high, designed to have been carried to a much greater elevation for a watch-tower, and for that end built with an extraordinary strength, its walls being twelve feet thick. From this tower we had a view of the whole city. Amongst other prospects, it yielded us the sight of a large Christian church, said to have been at first consecrated to St. John the Evangelist; but, it being now usurped by the Turks for their chief mosque, we could not be permitted to see it, otherwise than at this distance. Another church there is in the town, which seems to be ancient; but, being a very mean fabric, it is suffered to remain still in the hands of the Greeks. We found it adorned with abundance of old pictures. Amongst the rest I saw one with this little inscription, Κούαρτος πρῶτος Αρχιεπίσκοπος Βηρούτου; and just by it was the figure of Nestorius, who commonly makes one amongst the saints painted in the Greek churches, though they do not now profess, nor, I believe, so much as know his heresy. But that which appeared most observable was a very odd figure of a saint, drawn at full length, with a large beard reaching down to his feet. The curate gave us to understand that this was St. Nicephorus; and, perceiving that his beard was the chief object of our admiration, he gratified us with the following relation concerning him; viz., That he was a person of the most eminent virtue in his time; but his great misfortune was, that the endowments of his mind were not set off with the outward ornament of a beard. Upon occasion of which defect he fell into a deep melancholy. The devil, taking advantage of this priest, promised to give him that boon which nature had denied, in case he would comply with his suggestion. The beardless saint, though he was very desirous of the reward proposed, yet he would not purchase it at that rate neither, but rejected the previous bribe with indignation, declaring resolutely that he had rather for ever despair of his wish than obtain it upon such terms; and, at the same time, taking in hand the downy tuft upon his chin, to witness the stability of his resolution (for he had, it seems, beard enough to swear by), behold! as a reward for his constancy, he found the hair immediately stretch with the pluck that he gave it. Whereupon, finding it in so good a humour, he followed the happy omen; and, as young heirs that have been niggardly bred, generally turn prodigals when they come to their estates, so he never desisted from pulling his beard till he had drawn it down to his feet. But enough both of the beard and the story. At the east end of Beirout are to be seen seven or eight beautiful pillars of granite, each ... feet long, and three in diameter. And over another gate, not far distant, we found on a piece of marble the following inscription: Τῆς τοῦ προσίοντος ἀνδρὸς ἐννοίας αἰεὶ σαφὴς ἔληγχος, ἡ πρόσοψις γείνεται δίδου προθυμῶς ὅ παρέχεις ἤ μὴ δίδου παρὰ γὰρ τὸ μειχρὸν γείνεται πτήρης χάρις. It was probably at first an altar inscription, relating to the offertory in the holy communion, for its sense seems to look that way, and it is well known that the comers to the blessed sacrament were called by the ancients by the peculiar name of οἳ προσίοντες, as Valesius proves out of St. Chrysostom[541].

On the south side the town wall is still entire, but built out of the ruins of the old city, as appears by pieces of pillars and marble which help to build it. On one piece of marble table we saw these remaining letters of a Latin inscription:—

.... VG. ETIA ....
.... XI CUM ....
.... VS PHOEBUS ....
_All the rest being purposely erased._

A little without this wall we saw many granite pillars and remnants of Mosaic floors, and in a heap of rubbish several pieces of polished marble, fragments of statues, and other poor relics of this city's ancient magnificence. On the sea-shore is an old ruined castle, and some remains of a small mole.

_March 19._—Leaving Beirout, we came in one-third of an hour to a large plain extending from the sea to the mountains. At the beginning of the plain is a grove of pine-trees of Faccardine's plantation. We guessed it to be more than half a mile across; and so pleasant and inviting was its shade, that it was not without some regret that we passed it by. Continuing in this plain, we saw at a distance, on our left hand, a small village called Suckfoat. It belongs to the Druses, who possess at this day a long tract of mountains, as far as from Castravan to Carmel. Their present prince is Achmet, grandson to Faccardine, an old man, and one who keeps up the custom of his ancestors of turning day into night, an hereditary practice in his family, proceeding from a traditional persuasion amongst them, that princes can never sleep securely but by day, when men's actions and designs are best observed by their guards, and, if need be, most easily prevented; but that in the night it concerns them to be always vigilant, lest the darkness, aided by their sleeping, should give traitors both opportunity and encouragement to assault their persons, and by a dagger or a pistol to make them continue their sleep longer than they intended when they lay down.

Two hours from Faccardine's grove brought us to the fifth caphar, and another little hour to the river Damer or Tamyras, the former being its modern, the latter its ancient name. It is a river apt to swell much upon sudden rains; in which case, precipitating itself from the mountains with great rapidity, it has been fatal to many passengers. Amongst the rest, one Monsieur Spon, nephew to Dr. Spon, coming from Jerusalem about four years ago, in company with some English gentlemen, in passing this stream, was hurried down by it, and perished in the sea, which lies about a furlong lower than the passage.

We had the good fortune to find the river in a better temper, its waters being now assuaged since the late rains. However, the country fellows were ready here, according to their trade, to have assisted us in our passage over; in order to which, they had very officiously stripped themselves naked against our coming; and to the end that they might oblige us to make use of their help, for which they would be well paid, they brought us to a place where the water was deepest, pretending there was no other passage besides that, which cheat we saw them actually impose upon some other travellers, who came not long after us. But we had been advised of a place a little higher in the river, where the stream was broader and shallower, and there we easily passed without their assistance. Just by this place are the ruins of a stone bridge, of which one might guess by the firmness of its remains that it might have been still entire, had not these villains broke it down, in order to their making their advantages of passengers, either conducting them over for good pay, or else, if they have opportunity, drowning them for their spoils.

On the other side of the river, the mountains approach closer to the sea, leaving only a narrow rocky way between. From Damer, in two hours, we came to another river of no inconsiderable figure, but not once mentioned by any geographer that I know of. It is within one hour of Sidon. Its channel is deep, contains a good stream, and has a large stone bridge over it. Speaking of this river to the reverend father Stephano, Maronite patriarch at Canobine, he told me it was called Awle, and had its fountain near Berook, a village in Mount Libanus.

At this river we were met by several of the French merchants from Sidon, they having a factory there the most considerable of all theirs in the Levant. Being arrived at Sidon, we pitched our tents by a cistern without the city, but were ourselves conducted by the French gentlemen to the place of their habitation, which is a large khan close by the sea, where the consul and all the nation are quartered together. Before the front of this khan is an old mole running into the sea with a right angle; it was of no capacity at best, but now is rendered perfectly useless, having been purposely filled up with rubbish and earth by Faccardine, to prevent the Turkish galleys from making their unwelcome visits to this place. The mole being thus destroyed, all ships that take in their burden here are forced to ride at anchor under the shelter of a small ridge of rocks about a mile distant from the shore, on the north side of the city. Sidon is stocked well enough with inhabitants, but is very much shrunk from its ancient extent, and more from its splendour, as appears from a great many beautiful pillars that lie scattered up and down the gardens without the present walls. Whatever antiquities may at any time have been hereabout, they are now all perfectly obscured and buried by the Turkish buildings. Upon the south side of the city, on a hill, stands an old castle, said to have been the work of Louis IX. of France, surnamed the saint; and not far from the castle is an old unfinished palace of Faccardine's, serving, however, the pasha for his seraglio, neither of them worth mentioning, had the city afforded us any thing else more remarkable. Near about Sidon begin the precincts of the Holy Land, and of that part of it in particular which was allotted to Asher; the borders of which tribe extended from Carmel as far as Great Zidon, as appears from Josh. xix. 26, 28. But the people upon the sea-coast were never actually mastered by the Israelites, being left by the just judgment of God to be thorns in their sides, for a reason that may be seen in Judges, ii. 1-3, &c.

The person who is the French consul at Sidon has also the title of consul of Jerusalem, and is obliged by his master, the French king, to make a visit to the holy city every Easter, under pretence of preserving the sanctuary there from the violations, and the friars who have the custody of it from the exactions, of the Turks. But the friars think themselves much safer without this protection. We were desirous to join with Monsieur l'Empereur, the present consul, in this year's pilgrimage, and, accordingly, had sent him a letter from Aleppo on purpose to bespeak that favour, hoping by his protection to pass more securely from the abuses of the Arabs and Turks, who are nowhere so insolent as in Palestine and about Jerusalem. We had his promise to stay for us; but the remoras and disappointments we met with on the road had put us so backward in our journey, that, fearing to be too late at Jerusalem, he set out from Sidon the day before our arrival there, leaving us, however, some hopes, that if we made the best of our way we might come up with him at Acra, where he promised to expect our coming to the latest moment.

_March 20._—Being desirous, therefore, not to lose the convenience of his company, we set out early the next morning from Sidon, and, travelling in a very fruitful plain, came in half an hour to a place where we found a large pillar of granite lying across the high way, and sunk a good part under ground. Observing some letters upon it, we took the pains to dig away the earth, by which means we recovered this fragment of an inscription:—

IMPERATORES
CAESARES
L SEPTIMUS SE
VERUS PIUS PER
TINAX AUG: ARA
BICUS ADIABENICUS
PARTHICUS MAXI
MUS TRIBUNICIA
POTES: VI. IMP: XI. COS []
PRO . COS . P . P
ET M . AUREL: ANTONI
NUS AUG: FILIUS . EJUS
........ ET ..... ARIA
.... EN ... DIUM . RV
FVM .............
.... IC PR: PRAET
... PROVINC . SYRIAE
[ET PHAE] NIC RENOVAVERUNT
. [ ] .

Some gentlemen of our nation, in their journey to Jerusalem this last Easter, anno 1699, found another pillar, about midway between the one we saw and Sidon, of the same make and use, from which they took the aforesaid inscription more perfectly. As far as _filius ejus_ there is no variation, and after that it goes on thus:—

VIAS ET MILLIARIA
FR ... O . VENIDIVMRV
FVM . LEG . AUGG .
L ... PR . PRÆSIDEM
PROVINC . SYRIAEPHOE
NIC . RENOVAVERUNT
. I .

By which we may observe the exactness of the Romans in measuring out their roads, and marking down upon every pillar the number of miles, as I. II. III., &c.

A little beyond this pillar, we passed in sight of Ko-ri-e, a large village on the side of the mountains, and in two hours and a half more came to Sarphan, supposed to be the ancient Sarephath, or Sarepta, so famous for the residence and miracles of the prophet Elijah. The place shown us for this city consisted of only a few houses on the tops of the mountains, within about half a mile of the sea; but it is more probable the principal part of the city stood below, in the space between the hills and the sea, there being ruins still to be seen in that place of considerable extent. From thence, in three hours, we arrived at Casimeer, a river large and deep, running down to the sea through a plain, in which it creeps along with various meanders and turnings. It had once a good stone bridge laid over it of four arches; but of that nothing remains at present except the supporters, between which there are laid beams and boards to supply the room of the arches, and to make a passage over; but so careless and loose is the fabric, that it looks like a trap rather than a bridge. We had one horse dropped through, notwithstanding our utmost care to prevent such misfortunes; but it was our good luck to recover him again safe on shore.

This river is assigned by our modern geographers for the old Eleutherus, but how erroneously has been before mentioned. Strabo mentions a certain river falling into the sea near Tyre, on this side[542], which can be no other than this, but he omits to acquaint us with its name. Within a bow-shot of the river Casimeer is a khan of the same name, from which, keeping near the sea-side, you arrive in an hour at Tyre.

This city, standing in the sea upon a peninsula, promises at a distance something very magnificent; but, when you come to it, you find no similitude of that glory for which it was so renowned in ancient times, and which the prophet Ezekiel describes[543]. On the north side it has an old Turkish ungarrisoned castle, besides which you see nothing here but a mere Babel of broken walls, pillars, vaults, &c., there being not so much as one entire house left. Its present inhabitants are only a few poor wretches, harbouring themselves in the vaults, and subsisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine Providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled his word concerning Tyre, viz. that it should be as the top of a rock, a place for fishers to dry their nets on[544].

In the midst of the ruins there stands up one pile, higher than the rest, which is the east end of a great church, probably of the cathedral of Tyre; and why not the very same that was erected by its bishop Paulinus, and honoured with that famous consecration sermon of Eusebius, recorded by himself[545], this having been an archiepiscopal see in the Christian times?

I cannot, in this place, omit an observation made by most of our company in this journey, viz. that in all the ruins of churches which we saw, though their other parts were totally demolished, yet the east end we always found standing and tolerably entire. Whether the Christians, when overrun by infidels, redeemed their altars from ruin with money; or whether even the barbarians, when they demolished the other parts of the churches, might voluntarily spare these out of an awe and veneration; or whether they have stood thus long by virtue of some peculiar firmness in the nature of their fabric; or whether some occult providence has preserved them as so many standing monuments of Christianity in these unbelieving regions, and presages of its future restoration, I will not determine. This only I will say, that we found it, in fact, so as I described in all the ruined churches that came in our way, being perhaps not fewer than one hundred; nor do I remember ever to have seen one instance of the contrary. This might justly seem a trifling observation were it founded upon a few examples only; but it being a thing so often, and indeed universally, observed by us, throughout our whole journey, I thought it must needs proceed from something more than blind chance, and might very well deserve this animadversion.

But to return from this digression, there being an old staircase in this ruin last mentioned, I got up to the top of it, from whence I had an entire prospect of the island, part of Tyre, of the isthmus, and of the adjacent shore. I thought I could, from this elevation, discern the isthmus to be a soil of a different nature from the other two, it lying lower than either, and being covered all over with sand which the sea casts upon it as the tokens of its natural right to a passage there, from which it was, by Alexander the Great, injuriously excluded. The island of Tyre, in its natural state, seems to have been of a circular figure, containing not more than forty acres of ground. It discovers still the foundations of a wall, which anciently encompassed it round at the utmost margin of the land. It makes, with the isthmus, two large bays, one on its north side and the other on its south. These bays are in part defended from the ocean, each by a long ridge, resembling a mole, stretching directly out, on both sides, from the head of the island; but these ridges, whether they were walls or rocks, whether the work of art or nature, I was too far distant to discern.

Coming out of these ruins, we saw the foundation of a very strong wall, running across the neck of land, and serving as a barrier to secure the city on this side. From this place we were one-third of an hour in passing the sandy isthmus, before we came to the ground which we apprehended to be the natural shore. From hence, passing over part of a very fertile plain, which extends itself to a vast compass before Tyre, we arrived, in three quarters of an hour, at Ras-el-ayn. Our whole stage, from Sidon hither, was about eight hours.

_Sunday, March 21._—Ras-el-ayn is a place where are the cisterns called Solomon's, supposed, according to the common tradition hereabouts, to have been made by that great king, as a part of his recompense to king Hiram for the supplies of materials sent by him toward the building of the temple. They are doubtless very ancient, but yet of a much later date than what this tradition ascribes to them. That they could not be built till since Alexander's time may be conjectured from this, amongst other arguments: because the aqueduct, which conveys the water from hence to Tyre, is carried over the neck of land by which Alexander, in his famous siege of this place, joined the city to the continent; and, as the cisterns cannot well be imagined to be more ancient than the aqueduct, so one may be sure the aqueduct cannot be older than the ground it stands upon. Of these cisterns there are three entire at this day, one about a furlong and a half distant from the sea, the other two a little farther up.

The former is of an octagonal figure, twenty-two yards in diameter. It is elevated above the ground, nine yards on the south side and six on the north; and, within, is said to be of an unfathomable deepness; but ten yards of line confuted that opinion. Its wall is of no better a material than gravel and small pebbles; but consolidated with so strong and tenacious a cement, that it seems to be all one entire vessel of rock. Upon the brink of it you have a walk round, eight feet broad, from which, descending by one step on the south side, and by two on the north, you have another walk twenty-one feet broad. All this structure, though so broad at top, is yet made hollow, so that the water comes in underneath the walks, insomuch that I could not, with a long rod, reach the extremity of the cavity. The whole vessel contains a vast body of excellent water, and is so well supplied from its fountain that, though there issues from it a stream like a brook, driving four mills between this place and the sea, yet it is always brim full. On the east side of this cistern was the ancient outlet of the water, by an aqueduct raised about six yards from the ground, and containing a channel one yard wide; but this is now stopped up and dry, the Turks having broke an outlet on the other side, deriving thence a stream for grinding their corn.

The aqueduct (now dry) is carried eastward about one hundred and twenty paces, and then approaches the two other cisterns, of which one is twelve, the other twenty yards square. These have each a little channel, by which they anciently rendered their waters into the aqueduct; and so the united streams of all the three cisterns were carried together to Tyre. You may trace out the aqueduct all along by the remaining fragments of it. It goes about one hour northward; and then, turning to the west at a small mount, where anciently stood a fort, but now a mosque, it proceeds over the isthmus into the city. As we passed by the aqueduct we observed in several places, on its sides and under its arches, rugged heaps of matter resembling rocks. These were produced by the leakage of the water, which petrified as it distilled from above, and, by the continual adherence of new matter, were grown to a large bulk. That which was most remarkable in them was the frame and configuration of their parts. They were composed of innumerable tubes of stone, of different sizes, cleaving to one another like icicles. Each tube had a small cavity in its centre, from which its parts were projected, in form of rays, to the circumference, after the manner of the stones vulgarly called thunder-stones.

The fountain of these waters is as unknown as the contriver of them. It is certain, from their rising so high, they must be brought from some part of the mountains, which are about a league distant; and it is as certain that the work was well done at first, seeing it performs its office so well at so great a distance of time.

Leaving this pleasant quarter we came, in an hour and a half, to the white promontory, so called from the aspect it yields toward the sea. Over this you pass by a way about two yards broad, cut along its side, from which the prospect down is very dreadful, by reason of the extreme depth and steepness of the mountain, and the raging of the waves at bottom. This way is about one-third of an hour over, and is said to have been the work of Alexander the Great. About one-third of an hour farther you pass by a heap of rubbish, close by the sea-side, being the ruins of the castle Scandalium, taking its name from its founder, the same Alexander, whom the Turks call Scander. The ruin is one hundred and twenty paces square, having a dry ditch encompassing it; and from under it, on the side next the sea, there issues a fountain of very fair water. In an hour from hence you come to the sixth caphar, called Nachera; and in another hour to the plain of Acra, over a very deep and rugged mountain, supposed to be part of Mount Saron. All the way from the white promontory to this plain is exceeding rocky; but here the pleasantness of the road makes you amends for the former labour.

The plain of Acra (Acre) extends itself, in length, from Mount Saron as far as Carmel, which is at least six good hours; and in breadth, between the sea and the mountains, it is in most places two hours over. It enjoys good streams of water at convenient distances, and every thing else that might render it both pleasant and fruitful; but this delicious plain is now almost desolate, being suffered, for want of culture, to run up to rank weeds, which were, at the time when we passed it, as high as our horses' backs.

Having travelled about one hour in the plain of Acra, we passed by an old town called Zib, situate on an ascent close by the sea-side. This may probably be the old Achzib[546], called afterwards Ecdippa; for St. Jerome places Achzib nine miles distant from Ptolemais toward Tyre, to which account we found the situation of Zib exactly agreeing. This is one of the places out of which the Ashurites could not expel the Canaanitish natives. Two hours farther we came to a fountain of very good water, called by the French merchants, at Acra, the fountain of the blessed Virgin. In one hour more we arrived at Acra. Our whole stage, from Ras-el-ayn hither, was about eight hours and a half.

Acra had anciently the name of Accho, and is another of the places out of which the children of Israel could not drive the primitive inhabitants[547]. Being in after times enlarged by Ptolemy the First, it was called by him, from his own name, Ptolemais; but now, since it has been in the possession of the Turks, it has, according to the example of many other cities in Turkey, cast off its Greek[548], and recovered some semblance of its old Hebrew name again, being called Acca, or Acra.

This city was for a long time the theatre of contention between the Christians and infidels, till at last, after having divers times changed its masters, it was, by a long siege, finally taken by the Turks, and ruined by them in such a manner as if they had thought they could never take a full revenge upon it for the blood it had cost them, or sufficiently prevent such slaughters for the future. As to its situation, it enjoys all possible advantages both of sea and land. On its north and east sides it is compassed with a spacious and fertile plain; on the west it is washed by the Mediterranean Sea; and on the south by a large bay, extending from the city as far as Mount Carmel.

But notwithstanding all these advantages, it has never been able to recover itself since its last fatal overthrow; for, besides a large khan, in which the French factors have taken up their quarters, and a mosque, and a few poor cottages, you see nothing here but a vast and spacious ruin. It is such a ruin, however, as sufficiently demonstrates the strength of the place in former times. It appears to have been encompassed, on the land side, by a double wall, defended with towers at small distances; and without the walls are ditches, ramparts, and a kind of bastions faced with hewn stone. In the fields without these works we saw, scattered up and down upon the ground, several large balls of stone, of at least thirteen or fourteen inches diameter, which were part of the ammunition used in battering the city, guns being then unknown. Within the walls there still appear several ruins, which seem to distinguish themselves from the general heaps by some marks of a greater strength and magnificence, as, first, those of the cathedral church, dedicated to St. Andrew, which stands not far from the sea-side, more high and conspicuous than the other ruins; secondly, the church of St. John, the tutelar saint of this city; thirdly, the convent of the Knights Hospitallers, a place whose remaining walls sufficiently testify its ancient strength; and, not far from the convent, the palace of the grand master of that order, the magnificence of which may be guessed from a large staircase and part of a church, still remaining in it; fourthly, some remains of a large church formerly belonging to a nunnery, of which they tell this memorable story. The Turks, having pressed this city with a long and furious siege, at last entered it by storm, May 19, 1291; in which great extremity the abbess of the nunnery, fearing lest she, and those under her care, might be forced to submit to such bestialities as are usual in cases of that deplorable nature, used this cruel but generous means for securing both herself and them. She summoned all her flock together, and exhorted them to cut and mangle their faces as the only way to preserve their virgin purity; and, to show how much she was in earnest, she immediately began, before them all, to make herself an example of her own counsel. The nuns were so animated by this heroical resolution and pattern of the abbess, that they began instantly to follow her example, cutting off their noses, and disfiguring their faces with such terrible gashes as might excite horror, rather than lustful desires, in the beholders, the consequence of which was, that the soldiers, breaking into the nunnery, and seeing, instead of those beautiful ladies they expected, such tragical spectacles, took a revenge for their disappointed lusts by putting them all to the sword, thus restoring them, as in charity we may suppose, to a new and inviolable beauty. But, to go on, many other ruins here are of churches, palaces, monasteries, forts, &c., extending for more than half a mile in length, in all which you may discern marks of so much strength as if every building in the city had been contrived for war and defence[549].

But that which pleased us most at Acra was to find the French consul, Monsieur l'Empereur, there, who had been so generous as to make a halt of two days, in expectation of our arrival. But he had stayed to the utmost extent of his time, and therefore resolved to set forward again the next morning. Our greatest difficulty was to determine which road to take; whether that upon the coast by Cæsarea and Joppa, or that by Nazareth; or a middle way between both the other, over the plain of Esdraelon.

The cause of this uncertainty was the embroilments and factions that were then amongst the Arabs, which made us desirous to keep as far as possible out of the way. It is the policy of the Turks always to sow divisions amongst these wild people, by setting up several heads over their tribes, often deposing the old and placing new ones in their stead, by which art they create contrary interests and parties amongst them, preventing them from ever uniting under any one prince; which, if they should have the sense to do (being so numerous and almost the sole inhabitants thereabouts), they might shake off the Turkish yoke, and make themselves supreme lords of the country.

But, however useful these discords may be to the Turks in this respect, yet a stranger is sure to suffer by them, being made a prey to each party according as he happens to come in their way; avoiding which abuses, we resolved to take the middle way, as the most secure at this time.

_March 22._—According to which purpose we set out early the next morning from Acra, having with us a band of Turkish soldiers for our securer convoy. Our road lay, for about half an hour, along by the side of the Bay of Acra; and then, arriving at the bottom of the bay, we turned southward. Here we passed a small river which we took to be Belus, famous for its sand, which is said to be an excellent material for making glass, as also to have ministered the first occasion and hint of that invention.

Here we began to decline from the sea-coast, upon which we had travelled so many days before, and to draw off more easterly, crossing obliquely over the plain, and in two good hours we arrived at its farthest side, where it is bounded by Mount Carmel. Here you find a narrow valley letting you out of the Plain of Acra into that of Esdraelon. Hereabouts is the end of the tribe of Asher, and the beginning of that of Zabulon; the borders of these two tribes being thus described in Joshua, xix. 26.

Passing through the narrow valley which makes a communication between the two plains, we arrived in two hours at that ancient river, the river Kishon; which cuts its way down the middle of the Plain of Esdraelon, and then, continuing its course close by the side of Mount Carmel, falls into the sea at a place called Caypha. In the condition we saw it, its waters were low and inconsiderable; but, in passing along the side of the plain, we discerned the tracks of many lesser torrents falling down into it from the mountains, which must needs make it swell exceedingly upon sudden rains, as doubtless it actually did at the destruction of Sisera's host[550]. In three hours and a half from Kishon we came to a small brook, near which was an old village and a good khan called Legune, not far from which we took up our quarters this night. From this place we had a large prospect of the Plain of Esdraelon, which is of a vast extent and very fertile, but uncultivated; only serving the Arabs for pasturage. At about six or seven hours' distance eastward stood within view Nazareth, and the two mounts, Tabor and Hermon. We were sufficiently instructed by experience, what the holy psalmist means by the dew of Hermon, our tents being as wet with it, as if it had rained all night. At about a mile's distance from us was encamped Chibly, emir of the Arabs, with his people and cattle; and below, upon the brook Kishon, lay encamped another clan of the Arabs, being the adverse party to Chibly. We had much the less satisfaction in this place, for being seated in the midst between two such bad neighbours. Our stage this day was in all eight hours; our course south-east by south, or thereabout.

_March 23._—Leaving this lodging, we arrived in one-third of an hour at the emir's tents, who came out in person to take his duties of us. We paid him two caphars[551], viz., one of Lagune, and another of Jeneen, and besides the caphars, whatever else he was pleased to demand. He eased us in a very courteous manner of some of our coats, which now (the heat both of the climate and season increasing upon us) began to grow not only superfluous, but burdensome.

Getting quit of Chibly we turned out of the plain of Esdraelon, and entered into the precincts of the half-tribe of Manasses. From hence our road lay for about four hours through narrow valleys, pleasantly wooded on both sides. After which, crossing another small fruitful plain, we came in half an hour to Caphar Arab, where we lodged. Our whole stage exceeded not five hours; our course being nearly as the day before.

_March 24._—Having paid our caphar, we set out very early the next morning; and leaving first Arab, and then Rama (two mountain villages), on the right hand, we arrived in one hour at a fair fountain called Selee, taking its name from an adjacent village. In one hour more we came to Sebasta. Here you leave the borders of the half-tribe of Manasses, and enter into those of the tribe of Ephraim.

Sebasta is the ancient Samaria, the imperial city of the ten tribes, after their revolt from the house of David. It lost its former name in the time of Herod the Great, who raised it from a ruined to a most magnificent state, and called it, in honour of Augustus Cæsar, Sebasta. It is situate upon a long mount of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running round about it. This great city is now wholly converted into gardens, and all the tokens that remain to testify that there has ever been such a place, are only, on the north side, a large square piazza encompassed with pillars[552]; and on the east some poor remains of a great church, said to have been built by the empress Helena, over the place where St. John the Baptist was both imprisoned and beheaded. In the body of the church you go down a staircase, into the very dungeon where that holy blood was shed. The Turks (of whom here are a few poor families) hold this prison in great veneration, and over it have erected a small mosque; but for a little piece of money they suffer you to go in and satisfy your curiosity at pleasure.

Leaving Sebasta, we passed in half an hour by Sherack, and in another half hour by Barseba, two villages on the right hand; and then entering into a narrow valley lying east and west, and watered with a fine rivulet, we arrived in one hour at Naplosa.

Naplosa is the ancient Sychem, or Sychar, as it is termed in the New Testament. It stands in a narrow valley between Mount Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north, being built at the foot of the former; for so the situation both of the city and mountains is laid down by Josephus[553]. "Gerizim," says he, "hangeth over Sychem;" and "Moses commanded to erect an altar toward the east, not far from Sychem, between Mount Gerizim on the right hand (that is to one looking eastward, on the south), and Hebal on the left[554]" (that is on the north); which so plainly assigns the position of these two mountains, that it may be wondered, how geographers should come to differ so much about it, or for what reason Adrichomius should place them both on the same side of the valley of Sychem. From Mount Gerizim it was that God commanded the blessings to be pronounced upon the children of Israel, and from Mount Ebal the curses[555]. Upon the former, the Samaritans, whose chief residence is here at Sychem, have a small temple or place of worship, to which they are still wont to repair at certain seasons, for performance of the rites of their religion. What these rites are, I could not certainly learn; but that their religion consists in the adoration of a calf, as the Jews give out, seems to have more of spite than of truth in it.