SECT OF NUSAIRIEH. We rather love Ali; but whom do you follow? 227 We are Christians; we love Jesus Christ, and our religion is contained in the New Testament. Very well; we also love Jesus Christ and curse Mohammed. We and you are one. No, no, you are not Christians. CHAPTER XVI. to discover the secret Why not? We love Christ and Moses: your religion and ours are exactly the same; and, snatching up his medicine, he made off as fast as possible. The governor of Hamath sent a horseman to guide and protect us across the Attempts wild mountains between that city and Tripoli. Our guide compelled a man from a village of this people to accompany us, and, as he could not run away, I determined to pump him about his secret faith. I gave him my horse to lead, lighted a pipe for him to smoke, and, walking by his side, made myself as agreeable as possible. We soon became quite at our ease, and talked away, without reserve, on all sorts of subjects, I approaching the ticklish point in circles, like a moth does a lighted candle. At length I told him something about my religion, that of the Druses and the Hindus; with all which he seemed much interested. Finally, in a careless and indifferent manner, I put the question about his faith. I am a fellah, said he. I know you are a farmer; it was not your occupation, but your religion I asked after. Come, now, we are alone; nobody will hear us; do tell me something about your faith. I am a Christian. I tell you what I believe and how I worship; so will the Moslem, the Jew, the Hindû, and even the poor savage in the centre of Africa. Why will not you do the same? We are fellaheen, that is enough. What do we want of religion? I know you have a religion of your own, why should you keep it secret? Do you see that white tomb on the top of that hill? It is Skeikh Ibrahîm el Hakim. If any one has sore eyes, and visits that mazar, he will get well. We will talk about that good doctor by-and-by, if you please; but now I want an answer to my question. May God curse the father of that donkey! Never mind the donkey, he will go well enough; and you should not curse the poor beast; besides you mentioned the name of God; who is he? what do you believe about him? Is it not near noon? We have four hours yet to Husn from that ridge ahead of us. This is a specimen of a long trial, in which I was completely baffled by an ignorant fellah from the wild mountains of the Nusairîyeh. the sect. This remarkable people have no known forms of prayer, no times or places General of worship, and no acknowledged priesthood. At weddings and funerals they laxity of sometimes use Mohammedan prayers, but only when in the vicinity of Moslem towns. They practise polygamy, and marry very near relatives-the nearest of all, according to the reports of their neighbours. They themselves deny that a Nusairîyeh can marry his own mother. However this may be, the II. remnant of the PART marriage relation is very loose among them. I could not learn whether they believed in the immortality of the soul and a future state of rewards or not, but they hold to transmigration of souls somewhat as do the Druses. They seem to have derived some of their customs and reputed tenets from Persia. The truth probably is, that whatever of Mohammedanism has been incorporated with their original superstition was borrowed from the followers of Ali; and Perhaps a they are, to this extent, a heretical set of Moslems. But many things led me, when among them, to suspect that they were fragments of Syria's most ancient inhabitants descendants of those sons of Canaan who were in possession of Arka, Arvad, Zimra, and Sin, on the shore west of their mountains; and of Hamath, on the east, when Abraham "came from Ur of the Chaldees." Expelled by foreign nations from their primeval seats, they retired to the inaccessible mountains, where they now live. These are so situated that they were never penetrated by any great military roads or mercantile routes, and never will be. Perhaps many of their brethren, when driven from the south by Joshua, took refuge with them. I was struck with the prevalence, all over these mountains, of names of men, and mountains, and castles, and villages, which were identical with those once common in Palestine. original Canaanites. Park-like scenery. As Christian missions are now established among them, we may hope, ere long, to be better acquainted with the origin, history, manners, customs, and religion of this remarkable people. I have seen a few books which pretended to give an account of their faith; but the Nusairîyeh themselves would not acknowledge them. They are not to be trusted, and, besides, they throw very little light on the matter. They have countless sacred tombs called Mazars, to which they resort on various occasions; but their ceremonies there are always performed in secret. Should any of their number divulge their mysteries, he would be assassinated without remorse, mercy, or delay. This is certain; and this horrible fact may have given rise to the stories about the assassins, for it was on these mountains that those somewhat fabulous monsters are said to have resided. But enough of the Nusairîyeh for the present. 'Ainfit and Z'aora, on the mountain south of Banias, are the only other settlements of this people in this region. What noble oak glades spread over these hills before us! Indeed, this whole scenery is more park-like than any I have seen in Syria. Or will see. The peasants of Banias, however, are cutting away these magnificent trees, and in a few years this part of the grand platform of old Panium will be stripped quite naked. You will observe that we have been riding over the ruins of the ancient city for some time, and there is its modern representative, half buried beneath shapeless ruins, which are quite overgrown with bushes, briers, and creepers. We must wade through this rattling river, and find our way to that fine old terebinth, where our tents are waiting our arrival. I, at least, am quite ready for them, and for what our good cook will spread before us. Curiosity is an overmatch with me just now for fatigue, and even hunger. BANIAS-TEMPLE AND FOUNTAIN. 229 I must look upon the birth-place of the Jordan, and have a draught of its CHAPTER water before night closes upon us. That is soon done. Follow the path to that cliff, and you may have the whole fountain to yourself. Well, have you seen and tasted? XVI. But let us address ourselves Fountain Jordan. Is it not magnificent? The fountain, I mean. to dinner. The new-born river will sing to us. floats out on the evening air, and swells up the sides of the echoing hills! Our ride to-day has been perfectly delightful through and to scenes and sites of most romantic interest. There can be no doubt, I suppose, but that this is the source of the greater Jordan, mentioned by Josephus; and this mass of rubbish below the cave, through which the fountain pours its hundred streams, Temple of is the debris of the temple of Panium. Panium. Those Greek inscriptions on the face of the cliff confirm the fact. But we are now on ground much more sacred than mere classic association can render any place. Our blessed Lord has been here, has drunk of this same fountain, and looked upon this lovely scene. With his usual compassion, he taught the people, and healed their diseases. Eusebius says that the woman cured of Christian an issue of blood1 belonged to this city, and he thus writes on this subject: legends. 1 Luke viii. 43. PART II. Eusebius' Panias. "They say that her house is shown in the city, and the wonderful monumente The same author thus discourses about the cave and the fountain :-" At account of Cæsarea Philippi, which is called Panias by the Phoenicians, they say there are springs that are shown there at the foot of the mountain called Panias, from which the Jordan rises; and that on a certain festival day there was usually a victim thrown into these, and that this, by the power of the demon, in some wonderful manner, entirely disappeared. The thing was a famous wonder to all that were there to see it. Astyrius (a pious Roman of senatorial rank) happening to be once present at these rites, and seeing the multitude astonished at the affair, pitied their delusion. Then, raising his eyes to heaven, he implored the God over all through Christ to refute the seducing demon, and to restrain the delusion of the people. As soon as he prayed, it is said that the victim floated on the stream, and that thus this miracle vanished, no wonder ever more occurring in this place." The latter remark is probably true, whatever we may think of the rest of the story. These passages, however, are curious as showing what the traditions concerning this place were at the close of the third century, when Eusebius visited it. Josephus' Josephus thus describes this locality in Ant., b. xv. ch. x. v. 3; he calls it Panium: "This is a very fine cave in the mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth, and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of still water. Over it hangs a vast mountain, and under the cavern arise the springs of the River Jordan. Herod adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one, still further by the erection of this temple, which he dedicated to Cæsar." There is a close resemblance between these stories of this fountain and that of Josephus in his Wars of the Jews, book i. ch. xxi. v. 3:—“ And when Cæsar had further bestowed on him (Herod) another additional country, he built there also a temple of white marble, hard by the fountains of the Jordan. The place is called Panium, where is the top of a mountain that is raised to an immense height, and at its side, beneath, or at its bottom, a dark cave opens itself, within which there is a horrible precipice that descends abruptly to a vast depth. It contains a mighty quantity of water, which is immovable; and when anybody lets down anything to measure account. Euseb., book vi, chap. xviii. XVI. the depth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord is sufficient to CHAPTER reach it." Making all due allowance for subsequent changes, it is still impossible to clear our author of great exaggeration. He probably never saw Banias himself, and took the extravagant stories of others for truth. It is evident that Banias was a remarkable place before the age of Augustus. History of Philip the Tetrarch called it Cæsarea in honour of Tiberius, and Philippi in Banias. his own, and to distinguish it from Cæsarea Palestina. Herod Agrippa beautified it, and complimented that monster Nero by giving it the name of Neroneas. But all these foreign titles soon fell off, and it resumed its old name, Banias, by which alone it is now known. For its history during the Roman empire, and under the Saracens, Crusaders, and Turks, you must consult more authors than I can now mention. Reland's "Palestina" and Robinson's "Researches" will serve as guides to the original sources of information. Great changes have happened to the cave since these authors wrote about The cave. it. Probably the earthquake which overthrew the temple may have filled up the depths spoken of. It was here that Titus, after the destruction of Jerusalem, was feasted by Agrippa for twenty days; and in this temple he " returned public thanks to God for the good success he had in his undertakings." the Transfiguration If all that is recorded in the 16th and 17th of Matthew in immediate con- Scene of nection with the visit of our Saviour actually occurred in this neighbourhood, it has been the scene of some very remarkable transactions. Among them was the Transfiguration, and this Panium may have been that high mountain apart into which our Lord took Peter, James, and John, and was transfigured before them.1 I have supposed, ever since my first visit to Tabor, that that could scarcely have been the place, for the whole summit was covered by a vast castle, which we know was occupied, if not then, yet shortly after, by soldiers. It is true that Josephus says he built the castle,-the only foundation for which assertion being that he repaired one that had been there for ages. Moreover, that locality does not suit the accounts given of events immediately connected with the Transfiguration as recorded by the Evangelists, though it must be confessed that these are not definite or very decisive. I would not, therefore, contend with those who prefer the old tradition in favour of Tabor, and yet I think it probable that it was somewhere in this direction, and see Probably no good reason why it may not have been on this lofty and lonely Panium, or not Tabor rather Hermon, of which it forms the southern termination. Here also occurred that remarkable discourse with the disciples, in which Simon Peter answered our Lord's question by the solemn assertion, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;" and received in reply, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church."2 Could the claims of Banias to this wonderful discourse be established, it might vastly enhance the interest of the place in the eyes of those who have made so much capital out but Her mon. |