learn that Sidon early achieved great celebrity in philosophy, science, and art. "For wealth, commerce, luxury, vice, and power, it was unequalled in the Levant, until Tyre outstripped it, and Psalmaneser conquered it," in 720 B.C. Thence it passed successively under the rule of Persians, Macedonians, Syrians, Egyptians, Romans, Arabs, and Crusaders.

It was under its Persian masters that Sidon attained its highest prosperity; and it is on record, that towards the close of that period it was in wealth and importance far in advance of all the other Phoenician cities. Sidonians were a conspicuous element in the navy of Xerxes at the invasion of Greece.

In 351 B.C., when Artaxerxes Ochus, King of Persia, was engaged in preparing to put down a revolt in Egypt, Sidon took the opportunity to make an effort for freedom. A league was made with Nectanebos, then ruling on the throne of Egypt, and arrangements made with the other Phoenician cites. All was frustrated by the treachery of King Tennes of Sidon. Six hundred citizens were slain by javelins; and when the Persian troops closed round the city walls, the Sidonians shut themselves up with their families, and fired their houses, and 40,000 persons are said to have perished in the flames.

The city rose again from its ashes, and in 333 B.C. it welcomed Alexander the Great as a deliverer from Persian tyranny, and ranged its fleet and its soldiery on the side of the Macedonians. Sidon now became Grecianised, no longer of political importance, but an opulent city, alternately under Syrian or Egyptian rule, in the long contests between the successors of Alexander. As late as 127 B.C., as shown by coins, the Syrian goddess Astarte was worshipped in this town. Strabo says of Tyre and

Sidon: "Both were illustrious and splendid formerly and now; but which should be called the capital of Phœnicia, is a matter of dispute amongst the inhabitants." He states also that the town of Sidon is situated on a fine, naturallyformed harbour, and that its inhabitants cultivated the sciences of arithmetic and astronomy, and gave great facilities for their study. Such would be the state of things at Sidon at the time of our Saviour's visit. The town was about fifty miles from Nazareth, and is the most northern place mentioned in the accounts of his journeyings.

In 325 A.D. the first bishop of Sidon, Theodorus, attended the Council of Nice. The town scarcely appears again in history till Baldwin and his Crusaders conquered it in IIIIA.D. Troublous times now set in. Seventy-six years the Christians held it, and then in 1187 Saladin seized, dismantled and partially destroyed the city. Ten years after it was again taken by the Christians, temporarily occupied and despoiled, and again left to the Muslims, who rushed in under Melek Adel, the brother of Saladin, and finished the work of destruction. It was again rebuilt and again destroyed; and in 1253 St. Louis renewed the fortifications, and for about thirty years it was held by the Knights Templars. The Muslims again dismantled the town in 1291, and so by degrees, the alternate prey of conflicting armies, Sidon sank towards decay.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Emir Fakhr ed-Din, built a palace here,of which some remains are still seen. He also erected the castle-like khân, and encouraged French traders to settle here. Till the time of the Revolution, the place became almost a French colony. Since the expulsion of the foreign merchants by Djezzar Pasha, Sidon has gradually declined to its present miserable state and proportions.

·

"Once truly the Great Sidon' (Joshua xi. 8) once furnishing architects such as no other city could furnish (1 Kings v. 6), once the 'replenisher' of even luxurious Tyre (Isa. xxiii. 2), once so free that even the conquering hosts of Israel could not overcome her; perhaps God permitted this thorn' in the side of Israel as a punishment overruled to their benefit, inasmuch as, being novices in the arts, they could better be served by the Sidonians. Be that as it may, she who was once great, is now as a cleft in the rock. She who built up cities and nourished them, no longer builds herself, but sits dismantled, and nourishes others only by parting with the sad and beautiful blood-washed garments of her long-lost greatness, carried off daily, as it were, in funeral processions, to be housed for ever in distant places where not even the antiquary shall recognize them.' Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it, and say, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have executed judgments in her. . . . For I will send . . . . blood into her streets. . . . And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel' (Ezek. xxviii. 21-24). And when looking upon the beautiful plain in which this place is set, and considering the excellence of the soil, which even now, without any proper agricultural treatment, bears the luxuriant foliage of mulberries, bananas, and other trees of smaller growth, and then looking out upon the wide sea and the port, we ask the question, 'Why cannot the people revive and gather strength, and make these advantages tributary to their prosperity? Where are their helpers? Are there none to remove these rocks and obstructions, these bonds and yokes' (Jer. xxvii. 2, 3). And the answer returns, from the sepulchres beneath both sea and

...

....

sand: 'Because of the day' that has come to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth '''

(Jer. xlvii. 4). Jûn is a village about six miles north-east of Sidon, wherein are the ruins of the beautiful palace reared by Lady Hester Stanhope, the gifted and extraordinary woman who gained so remarkable an ascendency over the Arab mind, that in 1821 she was offered the crown of Palmyra. Alphonse de Lamartine and the author of Eothen both give accounts of interviews with this extraordinary woman. When the end came the British Consul and American Missionary rode over from Beyrout, and found Lady Hester's corpse the sole tenant of her lovely home. The thirty-seven servants had all fled, carrying with them whatever they could lay their hands on.

SIDON TO BEYROUT.

This is an eight hours' journey, and is very fatiguing in some parts; some consider it almost unequalled in Syria for weariness and want of interest.

After riding half an hour by the shore the Nahr-elAuwaly is crossed. This stream flows down from the Lebanon, amongst the mountain recesses peopled by the Druses. It is the Bostrenus of the ancients. Here the traveller leaves the Phoenician plain and the rocky offshoots of the Lebanon range are encountered. Riding on for about two and a half hours the Khan Neby Yûnus is reached, where stands a wely in honour of the Prophet Jonah, who is said to have been vomited out by a whale on to the dry land at this spot. The old road now runs over a bold headland, being at places deeply cut into the solid rock. Here once stood the fortress of Platane, near which Antiochus the Great and Ptolemy fought in 218 B.C.

Beyond the promontory flows the Nahr-ed-Dâmûr, a gentle brook in summer, but furious enough when the snows melt on Lebanon. Villages, convents, olive gardens, etc., diversify the mountain scenery on the right as the traveller proceeds. At Khan Khulda are some sarcophagi on the side of the hill of very great antiquity, and probably of Phoenician origin. The promontory of Beyrout is shortly reached, and then comes a tedious passage over the sandy mounds which threaten to submerge all the fertile land near the sea. On the right is the largest olive grove in the country. There is a fine view of the glens and villages of Lebanon, and then, passing the Bîr Huseini, or Chapel of St. Joseph, the cactus-hedged and well-watered gardens and plantations of Beyrout are reached, and the gate of the town soon entered.

Beyrout (see p. 367).

TOUR TO THE HAURÂN.

(For Itinerary of this Tour see p. 27.)

The Haurân, strictly speaking, represents the Greek Province of Auronitis, which Josephus mentions in connection with Trachonitis, Batanea, and Gaulonitis, as occupying the territory of the ancient kingdom of Bashan.

The kingdom of Bashan lay to the east of the Jordan. It was a land of mysterious interest, originally peopled by the Rephaim, or Giants, who so terrified Israel. The conquest of Bashan was commenced under Moses at Edrei, and completed by Jair, son of Manasseh, who took possession of Argob for his tribe. "And we took threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides unwalled towns a great many." The remains