438 MOHAMMEDAN CIVILIZATION. The inhabitants of Palestine are Arabs; that is, they speak the Arabic, though, with slight exceptions, they are probably all descendants of the old inhabitants of Syria. They are a fine, spirited race of men, and have given Mohammed Ali much trouble in subduing them, and still more in retaining them in subjection. They are said to be industrious for Orientals, and to have the right elements for becoming, under better auspices, a civilized, intellectual nation. I believe, however, it will be found impracticable to raise any people to a respectable social and moral state under a Turkish or Egyptian, or any other Mohammedan government. The inherent vices of the religious system enter, and, from their unavoidable connexions, must enter, so deeply into the political administration, that any reform in government or improvement in the people, beyond temporary alleviations of evils too pressing to be endured, cannot reasonably be expected. The Turks and Syrians are about at the maximum of the civilization possible to Mohammedans of the present time. The mercantile class is said to be little respected, and generally to lack integrity. Veracity is held very lightly by all classes. The people are commonly temperate and frugal, which may be denominated Oriental virtues. Their situation, with regard to the physical means of comfort and subsistence, are, in many respects, favourable, and under a tolerable government would be almost unequalled. As it is, the Syrian peasant and his family fare much better than the labouring classes of Europe. The mildness of the climate, the abundance of land and its fertility, with the free and luxuriant pasturage that covers the mountains and the plains, render it nearly impossible that the peasant should not be well supplied with bread, fruit, meat, and milk. I have already had occasion to repeat the declaration that this people almost always appear well clothed. Their houses, too, though often of a slight construction and mean appearance, must be pronounced commodious when com pared with the dark, crowded apartments usually occupied by the corresponding classes in Europe. Agricultural wages vary a good deal in different parts of the country, but I had reason to conclude that the average was not less than three or four piasters per day. With all these advantages, population is on the decline-so active and destructive are the vicious tendencies of the reigning system of religion. and government. Polygamy, military conscription, unequal and oppressive taxation, forced labour for the rulers, general insecurity of property, and the consequent discouragement of industry, are probably the principal causes of this deplorable result. There are other causes of depopulation, which are inseparable from general ignorance and barbarism. One of the most destructive, and, at the same time, most latent, is, probably, the want of medical knowledge and skill. There are no well-taught physicians; and in the hands of the ignorant pretenders, who always thrive under such circumstances, diseases come armed with a fatal malignity unknown in civilized countries. The plague often sweeps unchecked over the country as well as the town, carrying off a tenth, a fifth, or a third of the inhabitants. The more common and milder diseases, which readily submit to proper treatment, often acquire the greatest virulence, through neglect and mismanagement, till they yield only to the great destroyer in the extent of their ravages. The unskilfulness of all agricultural operations is not entitled to a place among these causes of decay, in an ample and fertile region, where the most imperfect tillage can hardly fail to supply the wants of so scanty a population, yet the mere substitution of the plough of Palestine for the improved instrument used in England and Belgium would diminish the productions of the earth in those countries one third in amount, and overspread the land with poverty and famine. 440 CISTERNS OF SOLOMON. CHAPTER X. Phoenice.-Cisterns of Solomon.-Form and Dimensions.-The ancient Aqueduct to Tyre. - Stalactites. - Mills. - Abundance of Water.-Its Source.-Road to Sur.-Situation of the Town.-Origin of the Isthmus. -Approach to Sur.-American Consulate.-Circuit of the ancient City made in a Boat.-The present Harbour.-Ancient sea Wall.-Great Number of ancient Columns.-Ridge of Rocks before the Harbour.-Remains of the old Wall.-Excavation.-Grandeur of ancient Tyre.-Ruins of a Church.-Harbour and Walls of Sur.-Population and Wretchedness.Trade.-Honours of a Consul.-Route to Sidon.-View of Sur.-Extent and Fertility of the Plain of Phoenice.-A River.-Singular Monument. ---Sepulchres. —Ruins. - Villages.-Sarepta.-Sea Bath.-Seat of the French Consul.-Gardens.-Rumours of the Plague.-Farming.-Saida. -Its Situation.-Luxuriant Gardens in the Environs.-Great Variety of Trees. Appearance of the City.-Quarantine.-The Town.-Ancient Harbour and Pier.-Bridge.-Excavations and Staircases.-Revival and Decline of Saida.-Population.-Route to Beyrout.-River and Bridge.— Cultivation. Mountain Pass. - Jonah's Tomb.-Unique Ornament.—— Khan.-Convent.-A Monk.-Field of Sarcophagi.-The Seacoast.Forests of Mulberry-trees.-Grove of Pine-trees.-Luxuriant Gardens.The Hotels of Beyrout.-Non-arrival of the Steamer.-Plague at Damascus.-Illness.-American Mission and Missionaries.-Lodgings in the Suburbs.-Notice of Beyrout.-Harbour.-Walls.-Population and Business.-Mount Lebanon.-Cocooneries.-Management of the Mulberrytree. Superstition of the Mohammedans.-Evil Eye.-Suburban Gardens and Houses.-Plain and Rivers.-Mount Lebanon.-Its great Elevation and Appearance.-Terraces.-Mountain Population.-Snows on Lebanon. The Cedars of Lebanon. - History of Beyrout.- Revived Trade.-Bombardment by the Allies. MAY 5. The Cisterns of Solomon, which I visited this morning, are about three miles south of Tyre. They consist of three fountains, nearly on a line from east to west, which is less than a furlong in length. They are about half a mile from the Mediterranean Sea. The first, or one nearest the sea, is in the form of an octagon of unequal sides, and is said to be twenty-two yards in diameter. The accumulations around it make the exact measurement of its height CISTERNS OF SOLOMON. 441 difficult. It is certainly above twenty feet. This vast reservoir is composed of gravel and cement, which form a wall of great thickness, as hard and durable as rock. Its depth, we were assured by the Arabs, is one hundred feet; an exaggerated statement, no doubt, which I had no means of testing; but Maundrell found it only thirty feet deep. A large portion of this area is covered by a species of roof formed of the same materials as the cistern, which projects inward from the top of the wall, and hangs, unsupported, over the water. It has no great thickness, but it forms a pavement, which is in constant use, and yet appears as firm and strong as ever. The open area may be twenty or twenty-five feet in diameter. The other two cisterns are inferior in size, and are without any covering. Their foundations rest on massive blocks of stone. The interior has, apparently, received a new coat of cement, and some other improvements have lately been made, which give to them a more modern aspect than the first, though they probably belong to the same age. All were, no doubt, originally constructed for the purpose of carrying water to ancient Tyre. A lofty aqueduct received it from the largest reservoir, and passing east, near to the two minor cisterns, admitted their contributions into its ample channel. A short distance farther east it turned towards the north, and passing along the base of the hills that bound the plain of Tyre on that side, for about three miles to an elevation now occupied by a mosque, it turned westward, directly across the plain to the city. A considerable portion of this aqueduct still remains entire. On the lower grounds it rests on Roman arches, fifteen or twenty feet high. The channel is four feet wide and two deep. This aqueduct may be traced by its ample ruins throughout its whole course to the borders of the ancient city. The part which conveyed the water from the first, and received that of the second cistern, is wholly destroyed; but its site and direction are curiously preserved 442 CISTERNS OF SOLOMON. by some immense columns of stalactites, perhaps fifteen feet in height, which were formed by the petrifaction of the water that leaked from the aqueduct or flowed over its sides. These stalactites abound along the whole line of the aqueduct. At present the western, or larger cistern, has no connexion with the other two. Apart of its water falls immediately upon a wheel, which turns two sets of millstones. A more copious stream flows over its side, forming a fine cascade, and running west towards the sea, it formerly gave motion to several mills in its course. The pacha of Egypt has laid the foundations of some factories near the foot of this cascade, which, if ever completed, will be worked by this ample stream. The second cistern supplies the ancient aqueduct, which is still used for irrigating some fields, and it discharges about half its water through a hole in one side upon the wheel of another corn-mill. The third, or eastern cistern, likewise sends forth its large supplies of water by two channels—one leading into the second cistern, and the other into a small aqueduct, which runs southward, and diffuses the water over that part of the plain, to be employed in irrigation. The supply of water from these three sources is immense, and would, together, form a considerable river. Are they natural springs, or conducted hither from the mountains by some channel now unknown? is a question which has given rise to some difference of opinion. It is difficult to conjecture why, upon the latter supposition, the water was not conducted at once to the city, which would evidently have been the best and least expensive method. I doubt not that they are natural springs, though certainly very copious. There are several other very copious sources in the neighbourhood-one, not more than half a mile distant on the way to Tyre, pours out a stream that turns a grist-mill standing a short distance below. By the construction of these cisterns the water is raised |