of whom I was acquainted, that I was persuaded he acted from ignorance and not in defiance of the custom; and as he was under English protection, I hoped they would let him go without further molestation. This appeal was successful. His clothes were unfortunately ruined beyond repair, but we borrowed for him a large mashlakh, which served to cover the little that remained of his Frank costume, tied a handkerchief round his head, and engaged a Turk to guide him, terrified and crest-fallen, to the house of the Greek archbishop, to whom he was addressed." The same aversion existed to Christians being seen on horseback in Damascus. "No European," says Mr Hardy, "was allowed, even within a few months of my visit, to wear a white turban in public, or ride on horseback; and I am told that a brother missionary of my own (the Wesleyan) Society was compelled to enter in disguise, and in the darkness of the night, during the early part of the year 1824. I wore the prohibited badge, and rode several times through the principal streets and bazars, and, though there might be a few murmurings in an under tone, I received no open insult. change has arisen from the greater protection and encouragement that Europeans derive from the new government, which I trust will lead to nobler results than the mere setting aside of a few sumptuary regulations." Dr Hogg also mentions the revolution of public feeling on this subject in Damascus. "Mr Todd, a respectable British merchant from Alexandria, had already settled at Damascus, and rode out in his hat and Frank dress daily through the town. Two other commercial houses have since been established. Mr Farren, the consulgeneral, and his family, have made it their residence, nor is any objection now made to their wearing Frank clothes." This traveller informs us, in a note to his two interesting volumes, that a considerable trade has already commenced between Liverpool and Damascus, the sea-port of the latter being a place called Beyruth or Bairoot, the harbour of which

The

is not good, but in winter vessels may anchor in a river five leagues thence, where they are secure. "There is at present," says Dr Hogg, "an established demand at Damascus for muslins, cotton yarns, and white and printed goods. The trade is daily increasing, and the exports of the current year (1835) will certainly exceed L.200,000 sterling. West India produce is sent to a moderate amount, and the various goods are paid for in specie, bills of exchange, and the productions of the country. The principal returns are silks, galls, madder, gums, opium, and sponges the silk in considerable quantity, but the quality not very fine. The annual amount of imports from Syria can scarcely be ascertained, the trade being quite new, with every prospect of being considerably increased. Three English houses have already been established at Damascus-goods designed for that market are shipped at Beyruth-those sent to Aleppo go by way of Alexandria.”

The extent of Damascus is variously stated, the city being long, but of inconsiderable breadth. Its walls, according to Dr Richardson, are "very old and frail, and fallen down in several places;" and Ali Bey in his "Travels" confirms the statement. "The true defence of Damascus," says the latter, "consists in its gardens, which, forming a forest of trees, and a labyrinth of hedges, walls, and ditches, for more than seven leagues in circumference, would present no small impediment to a Mussulman enemy who wished to attack the city." The gardens are all private property, and answer better to the description of what we call orchards than gardens. They abound in fountains and summer-houses, and furnish a delightful retirement under the shade of the walnut, the citron, the orange, and the pomegranate. The principal gardens lie close to the city on the west, but they are scattered throughout the whole of the plantations around it, Damascus being nearly in the centre, and about six miles in circumference. The circumference of these gardens is

rated from about twenty to sixty and even seventy miles. "The city," says Lamartine, "is entirely surrounded by orchards, or rather by forests of fruit trees, with which the vines are entwined as at Naples, and hang in festoons among fig, apricot, pear, and cherry trees. Under these trees the earth, which is rich and fertile, and always well watered, is carpeted with barley, corn, maize, and all the leguminous plants which this soil produces. Little white houses peep out here and there from amidst the verdure of the forests; they are either the gardeners' houses, or little summer-houses belonging to the families who own the ground. These cultivated inclosures are peopled with horses, sheep, camels, and doves, and every thing that can impart animation to the scenery of nature; they are on the average two or three acres in extent, and are separated one from another by mud walls baked in the sun, and by fine quickset hedges. Numerous shady paths, refreshed by fountains, intersect these gardens, leading from one suburb to another, or to the different gates of the city."

mascus.

We must not omit the rivers of DaNaaman, the Syrian general, when he was told by the Prophet Elisha to wash in the river Jordan seven times and he would be cured of his leprosy, indignantly exclaimed, "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean ?" 2 Kings v. 12. Those two rivers, or rather branches of one river, although they cannot now be distinguished, rise in Mount Hermon, and flow through the valley or plain of Damascus, which lies between Libanus and Antilibanus. This river is the Barrady, so called by the moderns, and Arfana by the ancients; and Chrysorrhoas, or the Golden Stream, by the Greeks. "The Barrady," says Dr Hogg, "having quitted the mountains, flows through the plain in a wide and deep channel, divested of vegetation, in which from the heights above no water is visible. As it approaches the city it

divides into several branches, and these subdivide as they advance into innumerable fertilizing streams. But within this circuit only these waters seem to dispense their beneficent influence, for, ere they quit the vicinity of the town, the different branches once more unite, and a bare undulating outline alone marks the course of this river, as it rolls away to form a distant lake, whose waters are said to be silently absorbed by the arid sands of the Desert." This lake, which is about seven hours' journey from Damascus, is called Hotaibe, or Behirat el Merdj, and is about seven or eight leagues in circumference. "It has no apparent outlet," observes Ali Bey, "and hence I am led to imagine that there exists a subterraneous outlet, for it does not increase in the rainy season, nor does it diminish in dry weather. Its water is drinkable. There are a great many antelopes and wild boars, as well as water fowl, to be met with in its neighbourhood." This writer describes the water of the Barrady as of a "bad quality, and would not be drinkable if it were not mixed with that of another river named Fichée or Feejy, anciently called Farcana, which rises near a village of that name about five hours' journey distant on the north of Damascus." This account is confirmed by Mr Buckingham; but it appears that when both streams are united the water is excellent, and flows over a plain which is not perhaps exceeded in beauty by any on the surface of the globe. "So superior," says Mr Buckingham, "are these waters in every estimable quality of that element to the Jordan, or any other river of Israel, that the rage in which the Syrian is said to have turned away at the proposition of washing in the latter to purify himself, when he could do this so much more readily and effectually in the former, was natural to one in his situation, and thus easily explained."

The population of Damascus is also uncertain. Lamartine says that according to some authorities, the inhabitants amount to 400,000; according to others, only

200,000: "I cannot decide," he says, "and indeed it is impossible to do so; one can only conjecture. In the East there is no exact census taken, and the travellers can only judge by the eye. By the extent of the crowd which inundates the streets and bazars, by the number of armed men who issue from the houses on the least signal of revolution or tumult, and the extent of ground which the houses cover, I should myself be inclined to believe that those who are inclosed within the city walls might number between 300,000 and 400,000 souls." A great uncertainty hangs over this part of statistical inquiry in all Eastern cities, in which no registers are kept, but the haratch, or poll-tax, affords some grounds for judging of the Christian population. According to the Revue des Deux Mondes, quoted in the Asiatic Journal for 1831, the population of Damascus amounted to 170,000 or 180,000 souls, of whom there are from 120,000 to 150,000 Jews and Mahometans, and from 25,000 to 30,000 Christians, of whom five-sixths are Roman Catholics.

Such is Damascus, before the walls of which occurred that great and illustrious event in the history of the Christian Church, the conversion of St Paul. This fact alone invests it with an interest peculiar to itself, especially when the very spot is still pointed out where the great Apostle fell to the earth, exclaiming, in reply to the voice from Heaven, "Who art thou, Lord ?" We may sum up our account of this famous city, the scene of many interesting associations and traditions, in the language of Lamartine, that " so long as the earth shall bear empires upon her surface, Damascus will continue to be a great city. On emerging from the Desert, and entering on the plains of Colo-Syria and the valleys of Galilee, the caravans of India need repose, and they find a spot of enchantment at Damascus." Yet, with all the advantages of cloudless skies, the environs of Damascus, says Dr Richardson, "in points of natural scenery, extent, or cultivation, are not once to be named or

put in comparison with the environs of London, no more than a river about thirty yards broad is to be compared to the majestic Thames, or a continuous and almost uninhabited wood of five or six miles to the beautiful and populous environs of the British capital; and the boasted view from Salhiyyeh is to that from Hampstead, or Highgate, or Richmond Hill, what a cottage garden is to Kew. But if the drapery of external nature be so inferior in the Syrian capital, that of the intellectual nature is so many thousand times more to be deplored. The Turks and the Negroes are the unproductive members of our race; they have never contributed one thought to science, nor suggested one scheme to improve our condition. This cannot be said of any Christian country upon earth, and he that contributes to christianize the millions of Moslem and Negroes, contributes to turn the force of so many additional intellects to improve the science and advance the happiness of man."

DAMMIM, or DAMINIM, the name of a place in the territory of the tribe of Judah, between Shochoh and Azekah, both of which lay south of the city of Jerusalem, and east of Bethlehem. See EPHES-DAMMIM.

DAMNA, a town belonging to the Tribe of Zebulun, allotted to the Levites of that Tribe, of the family of Merari.

DAN, judgment, or the judge, the name of a cantonment of Palestine, so called from Dan the fifth son of Jacob, and the eldest by Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, and was the territory allotted to his descendants the Tribe of Dan. The province was bounded on the north by the Simeonites, on the east by Judah and Benjamin, on the south by Ephraim, and on the west by the Mediterranean. Its greatest length from north to south did. not exceed forty miles; on the north side it was very narrow, and was not above twenty-five broad on the south. The soil was very fertile, and produced corn, wine, oil, fruits, and other necessaries; and the vineyards of Timnath and of the Valley of Eshtaol were celebrated for

their fine grapes. From the latter the spies sent by Moses brought excellent specimens of its fertility to the camp of the Israelites. The appearance of the country is diversified by hills and valleys, and several brooks and rivulets refreshed and fertilized the soil. Its principal cities and towns were Joppa, Jamnia, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, Gathrimmon, Timnath, Ajalon, Gibbethon, Baalath, Eltekeh, Lydda, Zorah, and Eshtaol, Josh. xix. 40-48, four of which belonged to the Levites of the Children of Kohath, Josh. xxi. 23, 24.

Jacob, in his final blessing of his sons, thus speaks of Dan-" Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel; Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder (in the Hebrew an arrow-snake) in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward," Gen. xlix. 16, 17; and Moses, in his blessings of the Twelve Tribes immediately before his death, describes Dan as a "lion's whelp, he shall leap from Bashan," Deut. xxxiii. 22. This latter announcement intimated that the Danites were to be eminent for stratagems and strength in wars, and may be compared to the lions of Bashan, celebrated for their ferocity, and leaping upon their prey with great force and subtlety. Jacob's announcement that "Dan shall judge his people," evidently means, that though Dan was the son of a bond-woman, his posterity would nevertheless be governed by a ruler of their own Tribe, as well as the direct descendants of Leah and Rachel. He was to be "a serpent by the way," which may either refer to Samson, who was of the Tribe of Dan, or to the general character of the Tribe, who were to conduct their wars rather by cunning and deceit than by open hostility, a remarkable example of which occurs in the Book of Judges (xviii). In the Book of Joshua we are told that "the coast of the Children of Dan went out too little for them; therefore the Children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called

Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father," Josh. xix. 47. The meaning of this historical passage is, that the Danites were dispossessed of their territory in some parts by their powerful neighbours the Amorites, who forced them into the mountains. The Danites in consequence fought against and took Leshem, a city not far from Jordan, called Laish in the Book of Judges, and in after times Cæsarea Philippi, to which they gave the name of Dan. This affair is very minutely given in the Book of Judges. It appears from the narrative of the inspired author that, after the death of Joshua, "the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the Tribes of Israel,” Judges xviii. 1. They had their inheritance allotted to them like the other Tribes, but, either on account of their own inactivity, or from the want of that assistance which the Tribes should have afforded them, they could not get possession of a considerable part of it, being compelled by the Amorites, as was previously observed, to inhabit the mountainous parts of the country. After the conquest of Laish, which lay in the north part of Palestine, the Danites degenerated into gross idolatry, and this was one of the causes of their exclusion from the list of the Twelve Tribes at a later period. This idolatry had been suggested to them during their march against Laish, when they robbed Micah of Mount Ephraim of his idols, and carried off the person who officiated as his priest. We are told that "the Children of Dan set up the graven image, and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the Tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh." The phrase, until the day of the captivity of the land, has induced some commentators to suppose that the Book of Judges was written in later times, after the Ten Tribes had been carried into captivity by Shalmanezer; but it is very

improbable that these images should have been suffered to continue so long, especially during the reign of David. It has therefore been concluded that by the captivity of the land is meant the taking of the ark by the Philistines, and the carrying of it captive into the temple of their idol Dagon, 1 Sam. iv. 11. This interpretation is confirmed by the next verse, in which we are informed that the images remained at Dan during the continuance of the ark and sanctuary at Shiloh, which ended in the time of Eli, when the ark was taken by the Philistines, and never afterwards carried back to Shiloh. It is very evident, however, that idolatry continued in this place, notwithstanding the zeal of many of the Judges of Israel, who were distinguished men; and it was perhaps the well-known character of the city, and the idolatrous propensities of its inhabitants, which induced Jeroboam to set up one of his golden calves in it, while he erected the other at Bethel.

Dan, the father of this Tribe, had only one son, named Hushim, Gen. xlvi. 23, and yet, when the eleven secular Tribes were numbered in the second year after the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, the Danites amounted to 62,700, Numb. i. 39. In the subsequent enrolment of the Tribes on the Plains of Moab, the Danites amounted to 64,400, Numb. xxvi. 43. The most celebrated personage belonging to this Tribe was Samson, Judge of Israel, whose extraordinary life and death are recorded in the Book of Judges. DAN, the name of a city at the very northern extremity of Judea, anciently called Leshem and Laish, which the Tribe of Dan took, and called Dan, "after the name of their father." It was situated at the foot of Mount Libanus, near the springs of the Jordan, and hence some writers have deduced the etymology of Jordan, Jor signifying a spring, and Dan a town near its source. As this city stood on the utmost verge of Judea on the north, it is often mentioned along with Beersheba, which stood on the most southern extremity, to denote the whole length of the Holy Land, and hence the phrase, from

Dan to Beersheba, which we find repeatedly used in the historical books of the Old Testament. Abraham pursued the four confederated kings who had carried off Lot and his family as far as this place, which would then be called by its original name; for Josephus informs us that the Patriarch pursued as far as the "place called Dan," where "one of the springs of Jordan rises." We are also told that "the Lord showed Moses all the land of Gilead unto Dan" from the "top of Pisgah, which is over against Jericho," Deut. xxxiv. 1; but it is uncertain whether this is the place mentioned as taken by the Danites when it was called Leshem, or Laish, Judges xviii. 29, or the source of the Jordan so called. It has often been remarked, that some names in the Pentateuch were not applied to the places which they describe until after the death of Moses. If the truth of this observation could be proved, we might suppose the modern names to have been substituted by Ezra, or some distinguished prophet posterior to Moses, for the information of later times. This city became notorious on account of the golden calf which Jeroboam set up in it, after the revolt of the Ten Tribes. The Romans took it, when it received the name of Paneas. They gave it to Philip the Tetrarch, the son of Herod, who called it Cæsarea Philippi. See CÆSAREA PHILIPPI.

DAN, CAMP OF, a place so called because the Tribe of Dan encamped there in their expedition against the preceding city. The inspired writer of the Book of Judges (xiii. 25) informs us that it was "between Zorah and Eshtaol," the correct reading of which is, " In the Camp of Dan, and between Zorah and Eshtaol;" for that place did not lie near the two latter, but in or near the tribe of Judah. It is subsequently called Mahaneh-dan, Judges xviii. 12. It was the residence of Samson, who was buried in it, Judges xvi. 31.

DANABA, a town of Palestine mentioned by Ptolemy, but not known by this name in the sacred writings.