and are crossed by another bridge, having one high arch in the centre, and two smaller ones, which have been walled up; along the outer edge of this bridge, the wall of the city was continued; and on the hill, near the arch, the ruins of one of the gates of the city are distinguishable; there are some prostrate columns of the Corinthian order. The acropolis is a high circular hill, on the top of which are the traces of the ancient walls of the fortress.* Dr. Richardson noticed masses of ejected lava scattered round the village; and the mountains, he says, have the appearance of extinct volcanoes.

Pursuing the route to Tiberias, up the delightful plain of the Jordan, the traveller has on his left Mount Gilboa; which comes close to Bisan, and bounds the plain on the west. The natives still call it Djebel Gilbo. It is a lengthened ridge, rising up in peaks, about 800 feet above the level of the road, and probably 1000 feet above the level of the Jordan. On the east, the plain is bounded by a high mountain range, which forms part of Mount Gilead, so that the view on both sides is extremely interesting; and at the time of Dr. Richardson's journey (May), rich crops of barley, apparently over-ripe, added to the beauty of the landscape. After riding for nearly three hours, the route led them to the banks of the Jordan, where it is crossed by a large stone bridge, consisting of one large and two smaller arches. Here a large khan has been built for the accommodation of travellers who take the road to Damascus through the Decapolis and Mount Gilead. The river at this point is of a considerable depth, and between thirty and forty feet wide; the channel very stony, and the waters of a

Irby and Mangles, pp. 302, 303.

"white sulphureous colour," but free from any unpleasant smell or taste. Near Bisan, its width is one hundred and forty feet, and the current is much more rapid. Beyond the bridge, the plain of the Jordan narrows into a valley, and the river remains in sight till the traveller arrives at the shores of the Lake of Tiberias: a distance of about eight hours, or twenty-four miles from Bisan.*

Tiberias, still called by the natives Tabaria, or Tabbareeah, was anciently one of the principal towns of Galilee. It was built by Herod the Tetrarch, and named by him in honour of Tiberius the Roman emperor, with whom he was a great favourite.+ Very considerable privileges were granted to those who chose to settle there, in order to overcome the prejudice arising from the city's having been built on a site full of ancient sepulchres; from which circumstance we may infer the existence of a former city

1 * The river Jordan, on issuing from the Sea of Galilee, flows for about three hours near the western hills: it then turns towards the eastern, on which side it continues its course for several hours, till, at Korn-el-Hemar, it returns to the western side. Burckhardt gives the following list of the torrents or rivulets which descend from the mountains on either side, leaving in summer numerous pools of stagnant water. From the western mountains, beginning at the southern extremity of the Lake of Tiberias, Wady Fedjaz, Ain-el-Szammera, Wady Djaloud, Wadyel-Byre, and Wady-el-Oeshe; all to the north of Bisan. Below it, Wady-el-Maleh, Wady Medjedda (with a ruined town so called), Wady-el-Beydhan (coming from the neighbourhood of Nablous), and Wady-el-Farah. From the eastern mountains, Sheriat-el-Mandhour, Wady-el-Arab, Wady-el-Koszeir, Wady-elTaybe, and Wady-el-Seklab (near the village Erbayn); all to the north of the ford near Bisan. Beyond it, Wady Mous, Wady Yabes, Wady Amata, and Wady Zerka, which divide the district of Moerad from El Belka.

Joseph. Autiq. lib. xviii, cap. 3; De Bell. lib. ii. cap. 8.

in the vicinity: this is supposed to have been the ancient Cinneroth or Kinnereth. Here, during a visit paid to the city by Herod Agrippa, the kings of Comagene, of Emessa, of the Lesser Armenia, of Pontus, and of Chalcis, met to do him honour, and were magnificently entertained. After the downfall of Jerusalem, it continued to be, until the fifth century, the residence of Jewish rabbies and learned men; and was the seat of a patriarch, who acted as the supreme judge between persons of his own nation. The office was hereditary, and was supported with some lustre, under the Emperor Hadrian, in the person of Selim III.; but, in the year 429, it was suppressed, after subsisting 350 years, under nine or ten patriarchs. In the sixth century, according to Procopius, Justinian rebuilt the walls. In the seventh, A.D. 640, during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius, the city was taken by the Saracens under Caliph Omar.+ Yet, in the eighth, it is mentioned in an Itinerary cited by Reland, as still containing many churches and Jewish synagogues. Pococke, without citing his authority, says, that the Jewish rabbins lived here till the eleventh century, but that the Jews had left the place above eight hundred years. It seems doubtful, however, whether it has ever been wholly deserted by them. Tiberias was an ancient seat of Jewish literature. A university was founded here by the patriarch, after the fall of Jerusalem; and it is remarkable, that there is a college of Jews in Tabaria at the present time: it would be very interesting to ascertain the date of its establishment. Dr. Richardson found six rabbies engaged in studying Hebrew

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xix. cap. 7.

+ Basnage's History of the Jews, cited by Van Egmont, vol. ii. p. 30. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. p. 222.

folios. "They occupied two large rooms, which were surrounded with books, and said they spent their time entirely in studying the Scriptures and commentaries thereon. I regretted much," adds Dr. R., "that I had not been apprised of this institution at an earlier part of the day. Not having an interpreter with me, I could not turn my short interview to the same advantage that I should otherwise have done."

The modern town of Tabaria is situated close to the edge of the lake. It has tolerably high but illbuilt walls on three of its sides, flanked with circular towers; on the fourth, it is open to the water. Its figure is nearly quadrangular; * according to Pococke, it is about a quarter of a mile in length, and half that in breadth; in circumference, therefore, about three quarters of a mile. Like all Turkish citadels, it has an imposing appearance from without; and its fortifications and circular towers give it more the aspect of a Moorish city than most of the towns in Palestine. But it exhibits the utmost wretchedness within the walls, one-fourth of the space being wholly unoccupied, and the few houses or huts which it contains, are not built contiguously. The shiekh's house is described by Van Egmont as tolerably good, and indeed the only building that deserves the name; and even this owes its beauty to the ruins out of which it is built. Adjoining to it is a large handsome structure, which serves as a stable. Near the shiekh's house are the ruins of a very large castle, with some remains of towers, moats, and other works,

• Mr. Buckingham says, "in the form of an irregular crescent." "The southern wall approaches close to the beach; but the north-western angle of the northern wall, being seated on a rising ground, recedes some little distance from the water, and gives an irregular form to the enclosure."

which probably commanded the harbour.

One of

had recently "He had no

this work of

these works, facing the lake, has been turned into a mosque. On the rising ground to the northward of the ruin, stands the modern castle, which dates only a few years before the period of Pococke's visit. Hasselquist informs us, that it owes its erection to Sheikh Daker, a native of Tiberias, and at that time independent lord of the place, which he defended against the Pasha of Seide. more than six small iron cannon in defence; but he used another method, still more ancient than cannons, for defending forts. He ordered loose stones to be laid on the top of the wall, four feet high, which, in case of a siege, might be rolled down, and crush the besiegers." The marks of the siege were then to be seen on the walls. Pococke, who preceded Hasselquist about thirteen years, was at Tiberias when the fort was building, and they were strengthening the old walls with buttresses on the inside, the shiekh then having a dispute with the Pasha of Damascus. "They have often," he adds, "had disputes with the pashas of Damascus, who have come and planted their cannon against the city, and sometimes have beaten down part of the walls, but were never able to take it." The town has only two gates; one near the shiekh's house, facing the sea; the other, which was very large, is partly walled up, the city on that side being uninhabited. * The houses are described by Van Egmont as "

very mean

"There are two gates visible from without, one near the southern, and the other in the western wall; the latter, which is in one of the round towers, is the only one now open: there are appearances also of the town having been surrounded with a ditch, but this is now filled up with cultivable soil."BUCKINGHAM.