fifty leagues to the S. S. W. of Haran, from whence Abraham departed with his father Terah, (Gen, xi. 31.) after he left Ur of the Chaldees, we may very well account for his journeying, as it is recorded, Gen. xii. 9. going on still, as we may presume, from his first setting out, towards the south, but by no means for his going north about; contrary to the respective situations of those places. ** But, to return to Rou-wadde, the prospect of it from the continent, is wonderfully magnificent, promising at a distance a continued train of fine buildings, and impregnable fortifications. But this is entirely owing to the height and rockiness of its situation; for at present all the strength and beauty it can boast of, lies in a weak unfortified castle, with a few small cannon to defend it. Yet we are not to judge of the ancient strength of this place from its present condition. For it was formerly surrounded with a large strong wall, consisting of stones of an immense bigness, which, as in many other specimens of the ancient buildings, so exactly tallied and corresponded with each other, that the architect might very justly estimate the weight and symmetry alone of the materials, without cramps and mortar, to have been sufficient to withstand the violence of the sea, and the engines of an enemy. During the time of its prosperity, both art and nature seem to have conspired in making it *Rou-wadde or Arpad being probably derived from firus fuit, &c. it a place of such strength and consequence as sufficiently to justify the boast, Where is the king of Arpad? which Sennacherib (2 Kings xix. 13.) made in the conquest of it. * The ancient Marathus may be fixed at some ruins, near the Serpent Fountain, which make, with Rou-wadde and Tortosa, almost an equilateral triangle. For Strabo tells us, that Aradus was situated betwixt its Navale and Marathus, and that the opposite shore had not the least shelter for vessels. The latter of these observations is very just; and, provided the Navale is the Cothon, which has been already taken notice of to the northward of Tortosa, no place can better fall in with the situation of Marathus; in as much as Rou-wadde, upon this supposition, will lie not only between, but very nearly equidistant from the Navale or Marathus. Five miles to the S. S. E. of the Serpent Fountain, are the Maguzzel, or spindles, as they call those pointed and cylindrical little buildings that are erected over the cryptæ, described by Mr Maundrell. The situation of the country round about them, has something in it so extravagant and peculiar to itself, that it can never fail to contribute an agreeable mixture of melancholy and delight to all who pass through it. The uncommon contrast and disposition of woods and sepulchres, rocks and grottos; the medley of sounds and echoes from birds and beasts, cascades and water-falls; the distant roaring of the Strab. Geogr. 1, xvi. sea, sea, and the composed solemnity of the whole place, very naturally remind us of those beautiful descriptions which the ancient poets have left us of the groves and retreats of their rural deities. A great plain, the Jeune, as the Arabs call it, commences a little to the southward of the Maguzzel, and ends at Sumrah; extending itself all the way from the sea to the eastward, sometimes five, sometimes six or seven leagues, till it is terminated by a long chain of mountains. These seem to be the Mons Bargylus of Pliny*; as the Jeune may be the Interjacentes Campi, which he places to the northward of Mount Libanus. There are dispersed all over the Jeune, a great number of castles and watch-towers, erected perhaps as well for the safety and security of those who cultivated it, as to observe the motions of what enemy soever should at any time pitch upon it for a seat of action. These are pretty common in other places of Syria and Phoenice, and may be the same with the watch-towers, in contra-distinction to the fenced cities, as they are mentioned in Scripture. Besides these towers, we see several large hillocks upon the Jeune, of the same figure, and raised undoubtedly upon the like occasion, with those eminences that we call barrows in England. No * In ora subjecta Libano Berytus---Trieris, Calamus, Tripolis, quæ Tyrii et Sidonii et Aradii obtinent. Orthosia, Eleutheros flumen. Oppida Simyra, Marathos, contraque Aradum Antaradus.---Regio, in qua supra dicti desinunt montes (Libanus sc.) et interjacentibus campis, Bargylus mons incipit. Hinc rursus Syria, desinente Phoenice, oppida Carne, Balanea, Paltos, Gabale; pro montorium, in quo Laodicea libera. Plin. l. v. c. 20. No place certainly can be better supplied with water and herbage; and consequently more proper, either for a field of battle, or where an army could more conveniently be encamped. The most considerable river of the Jeune, is the Akker, so called from running by a city of that name, situated upon Mount Bargylus, about nine leagues to the S. E. of Tortosa. This must have been formerly as noted for its strength, extent, and beauty, as it is at present for the goodness and perfection of the apricots, peaches, nectarines, and other fruit which it produces. May not Akker be the Ker, i. e. the city, which is mentioned, Amos ix. 7.? Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Ker? where the simple reading of Aram, without the distinction of Padan, or Naharaim, may induce us to believe that Ker was of Syria or Aram, properly so called, and not of Media or Mesopotamia, the Padan Aram and the Aram Naharaim of the Scriptures. About five miles from the river Akker, and twenty-four to the S. S. E. of Tortosa, there are other considerable ruins, known by the name of Sumrah, with several rich plantations of mulberry and other fruit trees growing within and round about them. These, from the very name and situation, can be no other than the remains of the ancient Simyra or Taximyra, as Strabo* calls it, the * A corruption from the joining of τα Ενμιρα οι Σιμυρα, 23 Casaubon has observed upon the place. the seat formerly of the Zemarites. Pliny* makes Simyra a city of Cole-Syria, and acquaints us, that Mount Libanus ended there to the northward; but as Sumrah lies in the Jeune, two leagues distant from that mountain, this circumstance will better fall in with Arca, where Mount Libanus is remarkably broken off and disconti nued. Five miles from Sumrah to the E. are the ruins of Arca, the city of the Arkites, the offspring likewise of Canaan. It is built over against the northern extremity of Mount Libanus, in a most delightful situation, having a prospect to the northward of an extensive plain, diversified with an infinite variety of towers and villages, ponds and rivers; to the westward, it sees the sun set in the sea, and, to the eastward, sees the sun rise over a long and distant chain of mountains. Here likewise are not wanting Thebaic columns, and rich entablatures, to attest for the splendour and politeness that it was once possessed of. The citadel was erected upon the summit of an adjacent mount; which, by the figure and situation of it, must have been impregnable in former times. For it is shaped like a cone or sugar loaf, in an ascent of fifty or sixty degrees, and appears to have been originally intended for a mons exploratorius; not being a work of nature, but of art and labour. In the deep valley below, we have a * A tergo ejus (Sidonis) Mons Libanus orsus, mille quingentis stadiis Simyram usque porrigitur, qua Cole-Syria cognominatur. Plin. 1. v. c. 20. 1 |