had entirely eclipsed the mother city, if she had not actually reduced Sidon to a mere dependency of her own.

I have been out examining the remains of the cathedral mentioned by most visitants to Tyre. It must have been a noble edifice. Is there any reason to doubt that these ruins belonged to that grand basilica built by Paulinus, and so pompously described by Eusebius in his speech at the consecration of the edifice?

None that I know of or can suggest. He says it was by far the most noble in Phoenicia, and the present remains justify the assertion. The foundation of no other ancient church in this country can compare with it. The whole consecration speech of Eusebius is well worth a careful study, not so much for its inflated oratory, as for the light which it throws on the style of ecclesiastical architecture at the beginning of the fourth century. "It appears to be superfluous," says he, "to describe the dimensions, length, and breadth of the edifice, the grandeur that surpasses description, and the dazzling aspect of works glittering in the face of the speaker, the heights rising to the heavens," etc. Now I wish he had performed just this superfluous work. It is not easy to ascertain these facts at present. My measurements give for the length two hundred and twenty-two feet, and for the breadth a hundred twenty-nine and a half; and by estimation from the spring of the arch at the east end, the height to the dome must have been at least eighty feet. Native ecclesiastical traditions assign a far greater elevation, probably suggested by the words of Eusebius, "the height rising to the heavens." I have been gravely assured that Cyprus could be seen from the top, which, under the most favorable circumstances, requires a stand-point not lower than eighteen hundred feet. The tradition is therefore incredible and absurd.

Our largest dimensions I understand to include that "wider space, the outer inclosure, strengthened with a wall to compass the edifice, that it might be a most secure bulwark to the whole work." The south and east of this outer bulwark can still be measured quite accurately. The entrance was,

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of course, from the west, and into "a large and lofty vestibule." Passing through this, the worshiper found himself in a "quadrangular space, having four inclined porticoes, supported and adorned with pillars on every side;” and there stood those noble rose-granite columns, specimens of which now lie half buried beneath the ruins at the west end. I suppose others would appear if the modern huts, and hills of rubbish which now choke up the whole area, were cleared away. We can not follow Eusebius through all the intricacies of an ancient cathedral, but, having noticed so much as still remains for the tourist to examine and compare with his description, we take our leave, commending the oration to the study of the curious about such matters.

We may, of course, infer that Tyre early became a Christian city?

No doubt. Indeed, it is clear from Acts xxi. 3–7 that Paul found a considerable number of disciples here on his visit to Jerusalem from Greece. He remained with them a week, and when he left, "they all brought us on our way, with their wives and children, till we were out of the city, and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed." I have often been reminded of this interesting scene when taking leave of my Tyrian friends outside of the city, on the same sea-shore. These people of modern Phoenicia are especially given to such external manifestations of friendship. Leaving, they accompany you; returning, they go forth to meet and welcome you. It is, in fact, a stringent and tyrannical custom, the neglect of which is felt as an insult, remembered long, and paid back with interest on the first favorable occasion.

What does "yukta ámmrû" mean?

Hah! what are you driving at now?

Nothing in particular, only Salîm was dealing it out very plentifully just now in the market. The fact is, I have, for the first time in my life, come in personal contact with that very ancient law concerning things clean and unclean, and have been surprised and somewhat scandalized to find myself classed among the latter.

Indeed! so you have been among the Metawely shopkeepers?

Yes; and a queer set they are. Walking through the market, I picked up a specimen of dried figs to examine, when the owner shouted out something very savage at me, which I took to mean put it back, and, in` all haste, was going to do so, to avoid a brawl in the streets; but at this he was more furious than before. I looked to Salîm for an explanation, and he said, "Yukta ámmrû!" half a dozen times, and then told me that the owner says you have “nejest" it. "And what is that?" "Why, only, sir, that you make it dirty—no, not that, you make him unclean, sir." "How! I make him unclean?" "Yukta ámmrû! he tink so

by his religion." "Oh, I understand. According to his creed, I have defiled his figs by touching them." "Yes, sir; yukta ámmrû!" and he kept on growling to himself as he walked the street, "You one gentleman Amelican defile this Metawely beast! yukta ámmrû !"

There, that will do. This is a favorite form of cursing, which Master Salîm would not have used so freely if I had been present. This people are fearfully profane. Every body curses and swears when in a passion. No people that I have ever known can compare with these Orientals for profaneness in the use of the names and attributes of God. The evil habit seems inveterate and universal. When Peter, therefore, began to curse and to swear on that dismal night of temptation,1 we are not to suppose that it was something foreign to his former habits. He merely relapsed, under high excitement, into what, as a sailor and a fisherman, he had been accustomed to all his life. The people now use the very same sort of oaths that are mentioned and condemned by our Lord.2 They swear by the head, by their life, by heaven, and by the temple, or, what is in its place, the church. The forms of cursing and swearing, however, are almost infinite, and fall on the pained ear all day long. If the laws of Moses concerning things and persons unclean were intended to keep the Jews from mingling with 2 Matt. v. 34-36.

1 Matt. xxvi. 74.

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the surrounding nations, nothing more effectual could have been devised for this purpose. I know by experience that it even renders it very unpleasant to reside in a Metawely village, and is an effectual barrier against forming any intimate relations with them. You never contract friendships with persons who will neither eat, drink with, nor visit you, and into whose houses you can not enter without contracting or imparting defilement. The law must be broken down before people thus situated can either unite in religious ceremonies or contract family alliances. These Metawelies do thus live separated, both in fact and feeling, from their neighbors, hating all, hated by all. Of course, they refuse to eat with all classes except themselves, and so it was with the Jews. Even the Apostles esteemed it a thing unclean to associate or to eat with one of another nation. Peter said to Cornelius, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or come to one of another nation; and it required a voice from heaven thrice repeated to convince him that he should not call any man. common or unclean. Nor did this divine vision permanently cure him of this deeply-rooted feeling, for not long after it he separated himself, and refused to eat with Gentile converts at Antioch, and was led into a guilty dissimulation in consequence, which Paul openly and sternly rebuked. We need not, therefore, be surprised at the strength of this custom among these poor Metāwelies.

From whom did they derive this law?

It is impossible to ascertain. In its details it so closely resembles the Mosaic precepts concerning ceremonial defilements as to suggest the idea that they have borrowed it from the Jews. Their rules are almost exactly the same. as those found in the 11th chapter of Leviticus, even to the breaking of earthen vessels which have become defiled. And this resemblance is carried into many other things besides clean and unclean meats, drinks, apparel, and vessels for household use. The law which obliged persons affected with loathsome diseases to dwell without the camp3 is still 2 Gal. ii. 12, 13.

1 Acts x. 28.

3 Levit. xiii. 46.

in force, not merely among tent-dwelling Arabs, but also with these people. We spent the hot summer months of 1852 in a village above Sidon. The inhabitants are nearly all Metawelies, and very fanatical. On a rocky hill south of our house, a poor woman was thus separated, living in a booth of green branches. She was not allowed to leave her solitary shelter, and no one was permitted to visit her but the person who carried her daily allowance of food. There she passed her wretched days and nights until death delivered her from this dismal solitude. We remonstrated with the people against this barbarity, and the men consented to have her brought into a room hired for the purpose, where we could provide suitable food, and Dr.Van Dyck prescribe for her disease. But the women rose in furious clamor and rebellion against the proposal, and we were obliged to abandon it. We did this more willingly when we ascertained that the dying wretch herself would neither take the medicines nor taste our food, and yet she was being devoured by that horrid disease generated by vice and pollution. I was amazed at the barbarity and hypocrisy of the women. Sternly they passed her by, day after day, until she died; but then they assembled in troops, and screamed, and tossed their arms, and tore their hair in boisterous grief. There is a sad callousness in the composition of this people; at least they lack those beautiful traits of kindness and sympathy with the diseased and wretched which so adorn Christian countries, and fill them with hospitals, societies, and committees to shelter, aid, and cure them. Religion makes the difference; not that the Metawelies are without religion, and plenty of it too. While the above tragedy was slowly enacting before our eyes, the feast of Ramadan was kept in its utmost stringency, though it was blazing midsummer, and the people nearly perished with thirst. They neither ate, drank, nor smoked for more than fourteen hours of fierce sunshine, and even young children were forced to go through this long fast. There was public prayer, too, in abundance, a sort of Metawely protracted meeting.

Even the women assembled daily at the fountains, per