an escutcheon charged with what appears to be a cross-crosslet; which, being the bearing of the family of Lorrain, may vouch for the tradition that it was built by Godfrey of Bulloign. At Bellmont, upon an eminence two leagues S. from Tripoly, there is a famous convent of Greek kalories founded by the Croisades. We see, upon the southermost declivity of it, a large heap of ruins, which might belong to the ancient Trieris; and betwixt these and Tripoly, is the small village Kalemony, the Calamos of Pliny.

I am not acquainted with that part of Phoenice, which lies between Cape Greego (the O OY of Ptolemy) and Tyre. At Tyre, I visited several of its creeks, in order to discover what conveniences there might have been formerly for the security of their navy. Yet, notwithstanding it was the chief maritime power of this country, I did not observe here the least token, either of a cothon, or of a harbour, of any extraordinary capacity. The coasting ships indeed still find tolerable good shelter from the northern winds under the southern shore; but are obliged immediately to retire, when the wind changes to the W. or S. so that there must have been some better station than this for their security and reception. In the N. N. E. portion indeed of the city, we see the traces of a safe and commodious bason, that lies within the very walls; but this is scarce forty yards in diameter; neither could it ever have enjoyed a larger area, unless the buildings which now circumscribe it, were encroach

encroachments upon its original dimensions. Yet even this port, small as it is at present, is choaked up to that degree with sand and rubbish, that the boats of those poor fishermen who now and then visit this once renowned emporium, and dry their nets upon its rocks and ruins, (Ezek. xxvi. 4,5.) can, with great difficulty, only be admit

ted.

All the nations of the Levant call Tyre by its ancient name 13, or Sur, from whence the Latins borrowed their Sarra *. Sur lays claim to a double etymology, each of them very natural; though the rocky situation, the 13 of the Phonicians, will prevail, I am persuaded, with every person who sees this peninsula beyond the Sart, or purple fish, for which it might have been afterwards in so much esteem. The purple fish, (the method at least of extracting the tincture), has been wanting for many ages. However, amongst a variety of other shells, the purpura of Rondeletius is very common upon the sea-shore. Several of the eruvia which I saw, had their insides beautified

Sarræ nomen deduci notum est ex Hebræo Tyri nomine 13, Tsor; in quo literam Trade, quæ medii est soni inter T et S Græci, in T mutarunt: et Romani in S. Ita factum ut ex eodem Tsor et Tugos nasceretur et Sarra. Boch. 1. ii. Chan.

c. 10.

+ Quæ nunc Tyrus dicitur, olim Sarra vocabatur, a pisce quodam qui illic abundat, quem lingua sua Sar appellant. Vet. Scholiast. in iv. Georg. Virg.

+ Vitruvius, de Architect. 1. vii. c. 13. gives us the method of extracting the purple. Vid. Libav. vol. ii. Alchem. par. i. p. 160. Witsonii Theatr. variarum Rerum. p. 1. lib. 1. Card. de Subtilit. 1.iv. p. 240. Tab. Column. de Purpura, § 37.

beautified with purplish streaks; a circumstance which may instruct us, that the inhabitants were pregnant with juices productive of such tinc

tures*.

There is nothing remarkable betwixt this place and Mount Carmel, but what has been taken notice of by Mr Maundrell. In travelling under the S. E. brow of that mountain, I had an opportunity of seeing the sources of the river Kishon; three or four of which lie within less than a furlong of each other, and are called Ras el Kishon, or the head of Kishon. These alone, without the lesser contributions nearer the sea, discharge water enough to form a river half as big as the Isis. During likewise the rainy season, all the water which falls on the eastern side of the mountain, or upon the rising ground to the southward, empties itself into it in a number of torrents, at which conjunctures it overflows its banks, acquires a wonderful rapidity, and carries all before it. And it might be at such a conjuncture as this, when the stars (Judg. v. 21.) are said to fight against Sisera, viz. by bringing an abundance of rain, whereby the Kishon was so unusually high and rapid, as to sweep away the host of Sisera, in attempting to ford it. But these inundations are extemporaneous only, without any duration; for the course of the Kishon, which is only about seven miles in length, runs very briskly till within half a league of the sea. When the Kishon therefore

* Nunc omnis ejus nobilitas conchylio atque purpura constat.

1. v. c. 19.

therefore is not augmented by these accidental torrents, it never falls into the sea in a full stream, but insensibly percolates through a bank of sand, which the north winds throw up against the mouth of it. In this manner I found it, in the middle of April 1722, when I passed it. Mr Sandys and others have been mistaken, in making the Kishon flow from the mountains of Tabor and Hermon, with which it has no communication.

Beyond the sources of the Kishon to the S. E. and along the banks of it to the N. E. there are several hillocs, which separate the valley through which it runs, from the plains of Acre and Esdraelon. The river Belus, now called the Kar-danah, has its sources about IV M. to the eastward of the Ras el Kishon, on the other side of these hillocs, where there are several ponds; the largest whereof may be the Cendevia* of Pliny, who derives the river Belus from it. And as this river waters the plains of Acre and Esdraelon, such brooks as arise from Mount Tabor, as well as others (if there be any in this neighbourhood) may possibly communicate with it; whereas the Kishon cannot, for the reasons already given. Neither indeed does the Kishon run in the direction that has been hitherto assigned to it by geographers; its true course lying from S. to N. after which it falls into the gulf of Kaifah.

VOL. II.

E

The

Rivus Pagida sive Belus, vitri fertiles arenas parvo litori miscens. Ipse e palude Cendevia a radicibus Carmeli profluit. Plin. 1. v. c. 19.

The remarkable ponds above mentioned, from their near situation to the Kishon and Jezreel, may be well taken for the waters of Megiddo; as Megiddo itself, together with Taanach, in the neighbourhood of it, might have been built near, ör upon their banks. And in this situation was Siserá discomfited by Deborah and Barak, Judg. v. 19. Jósh. xvii. 11. 1 Kings iv. 12.

Leaving Mount Carmel to the N. W. we pass over the S. W. corner of the plain of Esdraelon, the lot formerly of the tribe of Issachar. This is the most fertile portion of the land of Canaan, where that tribe might well be supposed to have rejoiced in their tents, Deut. xxxiii. 18. To the eastward, our prospect is bounded at about fifteen miles distance, by the mountains of Nazareth, and Hermon; with the pointed Mount Tabor, standing apart before them. Advancing farther into the half tribe of Manasseh, we have still a fine arable country, though not so level as the former; where the landscape is every hour changed and diversified by groves of trees, or by the ruins (which are very numerous) of ancient villages. In deviating here from the beaten path, (which we generally did to avoid the Arabs) we were sometimes obstructed, or at least had difficulty enough to force our way through this rieh champain; which, through neglect and want of culture, was so thickly planted with the more luxuriantly growing plants, such as teasels, mullein, charlock, (Mark iv. 31.) thistles, and the like, that we had much ado to defend our faces from