in the far distance by his guide, and translated Cana of Galilee. "The words, Cana of Galilee," says De Saulcy, supposing even that the country of Galilee should ever have been called El-Djalil in Arabic, could never have been expressed by Kanael-Djalil. This last word is positively an adjective, meaning great or illustrious. I then most conscientiously declare that, according to my interpretation-and, I make bold to say, according to the interpretation of any native scholar the words El-Djalil, in Arabic, cannot have any other meaning than that of Kana the Great, or Kana the Illustrious." This is close reasoning against the reverend doctor, and shows how difficult it is for even the most diligent inquirer to be always right, and the danger of trusting to any secondary report. De Sauley proves clearly that there were two Canas, and that Kafr-Kenna, and not Kana-el-Djalil (which latter cannot be made to agree with the Gospel of St. John), was the place of the miracle. "It is much to be regretted," he observes, "that this learned expositor (Dr. Robinson) should have neglected (I cannot guess for what reason) to visit Kafr-Kenna. By not studying this place de visu, he has exposed himself to the charge of acting like a judge, who pronounces condemnation without hearing the case.' From Kafr-Kenna to Tabarieh, they passed two spots, memorable in recent and mediæval history-the village of EchChedjara, at the foot of Mount Tabor, where, on the 16th of April, 1799, a handful of French soldiers, led by Bonaparte and Kleber, scattered a Turkish army of 25,000 men; and the plain of Hattin, where, in the eleventh century, King Guy de Lusignan and his gallant knights sustained and lost the disastrous battle with Saladin, which extinguished the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem.

"

The modern Tabarieh is an ill-fated city, destined apparently to be continually overthrown by earthquakes, as fast as it rises from the ruins of a preceding catastrophe. Yet the inhabitants cling to their cherished locality, as the swallow builds his nest again where the first was destroyed, and the ant re-constructs his mound where the plough or the harrow has dissipated his preceding labours. The Lake of Gênesareth and the ruins of Tiberias

are attractive in themselves, and teeming with recollections. The feelings of the author, while contemplating this delightful spot, are eloquently expressed in the subjoined passage:

"We are now outside the walls of Tabarieh. There is not a cloud in the sky! Every corner of the ground is decked with a lovely garment of plants and flowers; everywhere ou the waters that reflect the azure sky, are thousands of water-fowl, flying, sporting, and diving. Before us lie the ruins of the Tiberias of Herod, levelled with the ground, and over which the plough passes with each succeeding year, displacing the innumerable shafts of columns that still rise above the fields. Where these columns terminate are now two or three decayed buildings, ruins of yesterday, built by Ibrahim Pacha, over the warm springs of Emmaus. In the far horizon lies the green valley of the Jordan, limited to the westward by the mountains of Judæa, and to the eastward by the high lands of the country of the Ammonites; and though last, not least, on the opposite side of the lake, are the rich and beautiful mountains of Haouran. In whatever direction you turn, you look on the soil marked by the footsteps of our Saviour and his beloved disciples, and the waters upon which they sailed; and all bright and glowing with the most translucent atmosphere. may traverse the world without finding a panorama to compete with this. It was impossible to restrain our emotions while contemplating this magnificent creation of the Lord, this blessed and hallowed spot, where the Messiah has left at every step a token of his presence."

You

Having satisfied himself that he had discovered the ancient Tariches in the modern Kedes, M. De Saulcy continued his journey to Damascus, passing over the mountain ridge of the AntiLibanus. Everywhere, except only on the highest land, he found ruins scattered profusely over the ground-some, of the most gigantic proportions, and extending without interval for several miles. Amongst them he identifies Capernaum, Bethsaida, Chorazin, Dan, and Hazor, a vast city, the capital of Jabin, principal king of the land of Canaan, a metropolis built long before the days of Moses, first burnt by Joshua, and finally reduced by Nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon, to the state of desolation which it now presents. Hazor must have been of enormous extent, and conveys the idea of having been inhabited by a race of giants, such as the Anakims, Emims, and Rephaims, who are expressly

mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. Our author and his companions gazed on these colossal vestiges with bewildered astonishment. The Abbé Michon was inclined to look upon them as antediluvian, an hypothesis in which De Saulcy is by no means disposed to coincide. On the 8th of March, they reached Damascus. The outward aspect of this far-famed city, the pearl of the east, much disappointed them, but they were consoled by finding a superb hotel, with the most luxurious accommodation. The houses of Da

mascus are generally built of mud and plaster, and out of repair. The Turks seldom attempt to arrest the encroachments of time, who thus operates as their most persevering enemy. Until a very recent date, all Christians were compelled to alight and cross the gate of Damascus on foot, but this humiliating regulation no longer exists, having been abolished since 1850, by the energetic interference of M. De Ségur Duperron, the French consul. The ladies of Damascus are represented as being exceedingly handsome, but disfigured by ungraceful decorations, and a most defective style of costume. The following passage indicates a strange and primitive fashion, still universal amongst the female natives, and which shows itself everywhere as you approach the city:

"This fashion is by no means a new one, since it can be traced back to the most remote antiquity; I mean a small gold button, often ornamented with a turquoise, and which females insert into their nostrils, in imitation of a shirt-button. We learn something on this subject from the Bible, when Abraham's servant was sent into Mesopotamia, to seek a wife for Isaac, the son of his master. Coben translates the passage as follows: I then put a ring to her face, and bracelets to her hands.' The Hebrew text says literally, I put the nezem to her nose, and the bracelets to her hands.' This word nezem has been translated by Mendelsohn, nose-bob, although the Septuagint had rendered it ear-drops. In the 22nd verse of the same chapter it is said, 'And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of teu shekels weight of gold.' The Samaritan text, after the mention of the first ornament, adds, and he put it to her nose.' Any traveller who has passed through the villages in the neighbourhood of Damascus and Baalbek, can have no doubt as to the meaning of these two verses; the orna

ment in question is unquestionably the same which the females still wear appended to their noses, and has no resemblance either to a ring or a drop, but is a real button."

Damascus has been so often described, that little can be added to what we already know. One of the most ancient places in the world presents scarcely any vestiges to interest the antiquary. But that many exist under the ground of the modern city, and might be dis-interred by a series of diggings on an extensive scale, is a question which can scarcely be dis puted, although the undertaking is so difficult as to be impracticable at the present moment. A few years more may effect wonders in this quarter. Baalbek detained De Saulcy and his party for three days. They would willingly have remained a month, had their arrangements permitted. The account of these magnificent ruins is one of the most attractive passages in the book. And here again several errors in the descriptions of earlier travellers are carefully noted and corrected. The size of some of the stones employed in the Temples of Jupiter and the Sun, and the power by which they were raised to their position, exceeds all that we can imagine of mechanical process, and leave us utterly unable to calculate how such miracles of architecture can have been effected in remote periods.

On the 20th of March, the enterprising French travellers arrived at Beyrout without accident, after an absence of three months, thus closing a most perilous and difficult expedition with triumphant success, and contributing to our geographical and historical knowledge a series of discoveries equal in importance and extent to any which human intelligence and perseverance have accomplished since Columbus passed the Atlantic Ocean, and added a new and boundless field for the exercise of human energy. M. de Saulcy has done much, where little was previously known, and declares that he has left still more to be accomplished by others, whose emulation may be excited by a very encouraging example. The short synopsis we have been enabled to give, will afford the reader but an inadequate idea of the information and amusement he will surely extract from the perusal of these extraordinary volumes.

J. W. C.