cending the high land, known by the name of Rasel-Abiad, or White Promontory, so called from the aspect which it presents to the sea. The road which passes over it is apparently the one used in the earliest times, for it is much worn, and there are marks of the wheels of carts, though none are in use at the present day. It lies along the edge of the cliff, and is cut through the calcareous rock of which the mountain is formed. Occasionally, on the side nearest the sea, huge masses have fallen away, and the passage has become narrowed in consequence. A low parapet wall of loose stones is all that intervenes between the traveller and a precipice of several hundred feet in depth, with a fathomless sea lying at its base. In one of those places I alighted, and ventured to look down: what an awful sight! and yet the sea at this moment is perfectly calm. In the winter months, when the Mediterranean, urged on by violent westerly winds, breaks its whole force on this coast, I am told that the waves rise up even to the point where we are now standing. Myriads of wild pigeons, having their nests in its recesses, are flying about in all directions, having been disturbed by the report of a

pistol I just discharged to try the effect of an echo, for which the place is remarkable. On turning round, the giddiness that was produced by looking over the cliff, was still further increased by seeing the mountain on the land side rise abruptly from my feet to a still greater height. Hadji Mouça came opportunely to my assistance, and led me away from the place. The pass is about a mile in length. The tradition of the natives ascribes the cutting of it to the same Scander, or Alexander the Great. From seeing it cut into steps, I was led to suppose that this was the ancient Scala of the Tyrians; but it appears that this appellation is to be restricted to the mountain boundary of Ptolemais (Acre).*

On reaching the northern side of the promontory, we entered upon the ancient Phoenicia, properly so called, and of which Sidon or Zidon was the capital; having, by the right of conquest, been united to the kingdom of Syria, it added its old name Phoenicia to that of Syria, and was hence called Syro-Phoenicia. The country known to the Greeks by the name of Phoenice was bounded on the west by the Medi

Sec Nakkora, page 258.

terranean sea, and on the east by the mountains of Judæa and Syria. Its northern frontier, according to Ptolemy, was limited by the course of the Eleutherus, now called the Nahr-el-Djebir, the Great River, whilst to the south it extended to Accho (Acre), or rather to the river Kishon, which lies to the south of it. The distance from Accho to the isle of Arad, near the mouth of the river Eleutherus, from north to south, may be reckoned, without including the sinuosities of the coast, at about one hundred and fifty English miles. The mean breadth of the Phoenician territory can hardly be estimated at more than thirty of these miles. Herodotus says that the Phoenicians were descended from the Erythræans (that is, from the Edomites), who were the first who attempted to pass the sea in ships. Thus, when the Erythræans, Edomites, or Phoenicians, for all these three names signify the same thing, took possession of Tsidon and Tyre, they became immediately distinguished by their skill in navigation, and by their success in commerce. While their neighbours were engaged in incessant hostilities with each other, the Phoenicians cultivated the arts in tranquillity; and the palm, the signal of victory

among other nations, appeared, painted on their ships and represented on their coins, as the image of plenty, and as the emblem of peace. In nothing did they resemble the slothful Syrians, or the rude Canaanites, or the yet more ferocious Philistines.

In an hour and a half, we came to what is called by the travellers of the middle ages, "Solomon's Cisterns," but known in the country only by the appellation Ras-el-Ayn-" Head of the Fountain." They consist of three reservoirs of rude masonry, coated with strong cement within, and elevated fifteen or twenty feet above the level of the surrounding country, which is a plain five or six miles in circumference. The larger basin, distant about half a quarter of a mile from the sea, is of an octangular shape, twenty-two yards in diameter. Upon the brink of it is a walk, eight feet wide, below which there is another walk twenty feet broad. The water, instead of being on a level with the surrounding country, rises up to the brink with force, bubbling as it would do under the action of fire, and such is the abundant supply, that after issuing from an outlet which has been broken on the western side, it forms a rivulet, turning three or four mills in its pas

The ancient outlet, now

sage towards the sea. stopped up, was on the east side, over an aqueduct which communicated with two smaller cisterns, distant from the larger one hundred and twenty paces. One of these is twelve, the other twenty yards square. After supplying these reservoirs, the water was conveyed by an aqueduct to the city of Tyre, which still is traceable in its whole extent. Crossing the plain in an oblique direction, it runs northward for about three miles, till it reaches a small eminence on which is the tomb of an Arab santon; here it turns westward, and proceeds over the isthmus into the city. In several places, rugged heaps of matter, resembling rocks, appear on its sides, and under its arches these are produced by the leakage of the water, which petrifies as it distils from above. As a work of this magnitude denotes a high state of prosperity, we may conclude, from the known history of Tyre, that it was undertaken at a very remote period, although not so far back as that which tradition ascribes to it. The circumstance of the waters rising above the level of the plain, makes it presumable that they have their source in the mountains situated about a league to the eastward.

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