bled upon this sickly spot instead of living in the more healthy and pleasant mountain villages.

The facility of obtaining building materials from the field of ruins, and some advantages of fishing, were probably the chief inducements for reviving this poor shadow of Tyre. As late as the middle of the last century it was nearly desolate and without inhabitants. It has now a paltry trade with Egypt, chiefly in tobacco, which grows along the seashore and in some of the neighbouring valleys. A little wood is also exported to Beyrout and other places along the coast. The existence here of consuls or vice-consuls is not to be taken as an indication that there is really any foreign commerce. Of this there is none; but it is accounted a great boon by the respectable natives to obtain this title and office, which, besides the distinction it confers, has attached to it certain privileges and immunities, that afford some security against the rapacity of the government. In a mere commercial view, it would be little less absurd to see the American flag waving over the tent of a Bedouin sheik in the midst of the Desert. These titular functionaries, however, are usually distinguished for their hospitality towards the citizens or subjects of the nations they have the honour to represent. I was too busy while in Tyre to waste a couple of hours upon some idle forms, and therefore did not accompany my companions in their visit to the representative of the United States in this ancient city. They were very courteously received, as our countrymen always are, by this worthy man.

We left Sur at 12 M. The road is for a while sandy, and the travelling laborious. The city appears to greatest advantage when seen at a little distance, either before entering or after leaving its gate. A great many palm-trees are scattered over its surface, which conceal the meanness and filth of the lone hovels and crooked, narrow streets, and throw over everything an air of thrift and beauty.

PLAIN OF PHOENICE.

449

The plain of Phoenice is here about two miles wide. It begins about eight miles south of Tyre, at a point, called Promontorium Album by the ancients, where the mountain approaches close to the sea. Hence it extends northward a little beyond Sidon, attaining a length of about thirty miles. Its breadth is variable, never exceeding four or five miles, and it is several times reduced to nothing by the encroachments of the low mountains upon the coast. From one to two miles, I should think, is about its average breadth. The soil is of a very dark colour, and is very productive when tilled, but for the most part lies waste.

At two o'clock, we crossed, on a bridge of one arch, near a khan, a small, beautiful river flowing to the sea.

At ten minutes past three we came to a rude quadrangle, formed by rows of square, unhewn pillars, standing deep in the ground. There were ten monolith pillars in all remaining in their places, and the quadrangle was fifteen paces long by eleven in width. A large enclosure was formed around it by the erection of a wall at some distance from the pillars. I have seen nothing in this style, with the exception of some rough columns standing in the ruins of the demolished castle, or fort, as I ventured to call it, which we passed the previous day just before emerging from the mountains into the Phoenician plain. Near these pillars, towards the sea, is a well, apparently ancient.

In another half hour the mountains encroach upon the plain, reducing it to an inconsiderable breadth, and disclosing to the traveller a great number of sepulchres excavated in the cliffs along their base. They offer nothing remarkable to the view, being merely simple chambers six or eight feet square. The mountains beyond are crowned with villages, and upon the seashore are the ruins of a town, some substructions, some shapeless heaps, and two or three wells. Our guides called the spot Adloni. I also saw here a sarcophagus.

At five P.M. we came to a Mohammedan tomb, and near it a khan, upon the seashore. Just by are some ruins, thought by most travellers to mark the site of the Sarepta of the evangelist, and Zarephath of the Old Testament. The name is preserved in that of an Arab village, distant about a mile up the side of the mountain, called Zararafet. The spot marked by the ruins near the sea answers well to the descriptions given of Sarepta by Josephus and other early writers and travellers, and the identity of the site can hardly be considered as doubtful. It was here that the prophet Elijah found refuge during the terrible drought in the reign of Ahab. Sarepta or Zarephath then belonged to Sidon. Josephus says it lay between Tyre and Sidon. The miracles performed here for the relief of the poor, but hospitable widow, so like those of our blessed Saviour in their tender regard for the poor, have almost made the site of Sarepta holy ground, and I looked upon this, the last spot I was to visit, so illustrated by manifestations of the Divine benevolence and power, with profound-I may say melancholy interest.

We encamped a few minutes after six o'clock. The day had been excessively hot, and I felt the fatigues of a ride of seven hours through this beautiful plain more sensibly than I had been accustomed to those of much longer journeys among the wild and rugged mountains of Arabia Petræa. It was fortunate for me that my tour was so near its termination.

Our tents were pitched near the shore, and I was tempted, by the smooth, sandy beach, and the stillness of the glittering and beautifully transparent sea, to indulge in the luxury of a bath. This is commonly a doubtful experiment with me, and on the present occasion it rather increased my overpowering lassitude than proved refreshing.

Near our encampment was a beautiful fountain, which sends forth a considerable stream towards the sea. Upon

RUMOURS OF PLAGUE.

451

this a mill has recently been erected by the French consul in Saida (Sidon). The same gentleman has established here extensive plantations of cotton, and some beautiful gardens stocked with vines, fruit, and ornamental trees. He has likewise built a house, in which, I understood, he resides a part of the time, and a khan for the accommodation of travellers. Such instances of improvement are rare indeed in this part of the world, and their rarity prepares the traveller to hail them with redoubled pleasure. This noble establishment, though quite new, and still unfinished, bears the waste and half-ruinous aspect of everything Oriental.

May 6. It was forty minutes past seven when we mounted our horses this morning, and set off for Saida. We were told at the khan that the town was under a strict quarantine, on account of the plague in Alexandria and Jaffa, and that we, of course, should not be permitted to approach the gate. We have learned, however, not to give much heed to such The same thing had been said to us of Tyre at the Cisterns of Solomon, and we approached the ancient city doubtful whether we should be allowed to set a foot within its walls; but we heard nothing more upon the subject, and the guards at the gate asked no questions.

rumours.

At a quarter past eight o'clock we came to a small stream, running from the mountains across the narrow plain towards the sea. Here was a ruined stone bridge. The mountains soon after recede, and upon the broader plain, which stretches out northward beyond Sidon, I saw twelve yoke of oxen, with twelve ploughs, at work in one field, or, in more technical language, ploughing the same land. I was agreeably reminded of the ample farming establishment of Elisha, which he left to enter upon his prophetic mission. His ploughmen appear to have followed each other in a similar way. Customs are slow in changing in the East. An American farmer would soon learn to subdivide his corps

452

BEAUTIFUL GROVES.

of ploughboys, so that every accidental hinderance might not delay the whole train.*

SIDON.

We reached Saida in a little more than two hours after leaving our camp. The city and its environs are conspicuously seen many miles towards Tyre. The situation is elevated, and a large tract of the adjacent plain, extending east almost to the mountains, is covered with luxuriant gardens, and such a variety and abundance of fine fruit and other trees as I had not seen since leaving Grand Cairo. It had, at a distance, the look of a noble forest waving upon a distant hill, and all that was seen of the city, as it stood out from the wooded shore into the sea, bore the aspect of a lovely rural village, the eastern side buried among the trees. I knew full well that the illusion would vanish upon a nearer view; but it was altogether so unusual and lovely a sight that I saw little else during my morning ride. Among the great variety of trees, the mulberry occupied by far the largest space. Great quantities of silk are produced along the coast of Syria and among the mountains of Lebanon, and the proper silk region begins at Sidon. I saw, also, a great many acacia, fig, pride-of-India, tamarisk, pomegranate, almond, lemon, and plum trees. There were some other kinds, which I did not recognise. All were clad in the richest verdure, and grow with the utmost luxuriance. These plantations are well watered by some mountain streams, which are diffused over the plain by the usual contrivances for irrigation. It is a striking instance of the efficacy of water in creating fertility under this fostering climate. Much of the original soil, especially that next the city, is mere drifting sand.

We were met, before reaching the gate, by a band of soldiers-the only police here for the health and all other * See 1 Kings, xix., 19.