commerce and navigation, the nurse of arts and sciences, and the city of, perhaps, the most industrious and active people the world has yet

seen.

Sour is situated on a peninsula, which projects from the shore into the sea in the form of a mallet with an oval head. This head is a solid rock, covered with a brown cultivable earth, which forms a small plain of about eight hundred paces long, by four hundred broad. The isthmus, which joins this plain to the continent, is of pure sea sand. This difference of soil renders the ancient insular state of the plain, before Alexander joined it to the shore by a mole, very visible. The sea, by covering this mole with sand, has enlarged it by successive accumulations, and formed the present isthmus. The village of Sour is situated at the junction of this isthmus with the ancient island, of which it does not cover above one-third. The point to the north is occupied by a basin, which was a port evidently formed by art, but is at present so choaked up that children pass it without being wet above the middle. The opening at the point is defended by two towers, corresponding with each other, between which formerly passed a chain fifty or sixty feet long, to shut the harbor. From these towers began a line of walls, which, after surrounding the basin, enclosed the whole island; but at present we can only follow its traces by the foundations which run along the shore, except in the vicinity of the port, where the Motoualis made some repairs twenty years ago, but these are again fallen to decay.

Further on in the sea, to the north-west of the point, at the distance of about three hundred paces, is a ridge of rocks on a level with the water. The space which separates them from the main land in front, forms a sort of road, where vessels may anchor with more safety than at Saide; they are not, however free from danger, for they are exposed to the north-west winds, and the bottom injures the cables. That part of the island which lies between the village and the sea, that is, the western side, is open; and this ground the inhabitants have laid out in gardens; but such is their sloth, that they contain far more weeds than useful plants. The south side is sandy and covered with rubbish. The whole village contains only fifty or sixty poor families, which live obscurely on the produce of their little grounds, and a trifling fishery. The houses they occupy are no longer, as in the time of Strabo, edifices of three or four stories high, but wretched huts, ready to crumble to pieces."

Again he says: "We know that at the time when Nebuchodonoser laid siege to it, Tyre was on the continent, and appears to have stood

near Palæ-Tyrus, that is, near the well; but in that case, why was this aqueduct constructed at so much expense from the rock? Will it be alleged it was built after the Tyrians had removed into the island? But prior to the time of Salmanasar, that is, one hundred and thirtysix years before Nebuchodonosor, their annals mention it as already existing. In the time of Eululæus, king of Tyre,' says the historian Menander, as cited by Josephus, Salmanasar, king of Assyria, having carried the war into Phenicia, several towns submitted to his arms: the Tyrians resisted him; but being soon abandoned by Sidon, Acre, and Palæ-Tyrus, which depended on them, they were reduced to their own forces. However, they continued to defend themselves, and Salmanasar, recalled to Ninevah, left a part of his army near the rivulets and aqueduct, to cut off their supply of water. These remained there five years, during which time the Tyrians obtained water by means of the wells they dug.'

If Palæ-Tyrus was a dependence of Tyre, Tyre then must have been situated elsewhere. It was not in the island, since the inhabitants did not remove thither until after Nebuchodonosor. Its orginal situation must, therefore, have been on the rock. The name of this city is a proof of it; for Tsour, in Phenician, signifies rock, and stronghold. On this rock the colony of Sidonians established themselves, when driven from their country, two hundred and forty years before the building of Solomon's Temple. They made choice of this situation, from the double advantage of a place which might be easily defended, and the convenience of the adjacent road, which would contain and cover a great number of vessels. The population of this colony augmenting in time, and by the advantages of commerce, the Tyrians were in want of more water, and constructed the aqueduct. The industry we find them remarkable for in the days of Solomon, may, perhaps, induce us to attribute this work to that age. It must, however, be very ancient, since the water of the aqueduct has had time to form, by filtration, a considerable incrustation, which, falling from the sides of the channel, or the inside of the vaults, has obstructed whole arches. In order to secure the aqueduct it was necessary that a number of inhabitants should settle there, and hence the origin of Palæ-Tyrus. It may be alleged, this is a factitious spring, formed by a subterraneous canal from the mountains; but if so, why was it not conducted directly to the rock? It seems much more probable it is natural; and that they availed themselves of one of those subterraneous rivers of which we find many in Syria. The idea of confining this water to force it to rise is worthy of the Phenicians.

t

Things were thus situated, when the king of Babylon, conqueror of Jerusalem, determined to destroy the only city which continued to brave his power. The Tyrians resisted him for thirteen years, at the end of which, wearied with endless efforts, they resolved to place the sea between them and their enemy, and passed accordingly into the opposite island; a quarter of a league's distance. Till this period the island must have contained few inhabitants, on account of the want of water. Necessity taught them to remedy this inconvenience by cisterns, the remains of which are still to be found in the form of vaulted caves, paved and walled with the utmost care. Alexander invaded the east, and, to gratify his barbarous pride, Tyre was destroyed, but soon rebuilt; her new inhabitants profited by the mole, by which the Macedonians had made themselves a passage to the island, and continued the aqueduct to the tower, where the water is drawn at this day. But the arches being in many places wasting, and serviceable in none, how is it that the water is conveyed thither? This must be done by secret conduits contrived in the foundations and which still continue to bring it from the well. A proof that the water of the tower comes from the Ras-el-aen is, that it is troubled in September as at the tower, at which time it is of the same color, and it has at all times the same taste. These conduits must be very numerous; for although there are several lakes near the tower, yet the well does not cease to supply a considerable quantity of water.

The power of the city of Tyre on the Mediterranean, and in the west, is well known; of this Carthage, Utica, and Cadiz are celebrated monuments. We know that she extended her navigation even into the ocean, and carried her commerce beyond England to the north, and the Canaries to the south. Her connections with the east, though less known, were not less considerable: the islands of Tyrus, and Aradus, (the modern Barhain) in the Persian gulf; the cities of Faran and Phenicum Oppidum, on the Red sea, in ruins even in the time of the Greeks, prove that the Tyrians had long frequented the coasts of Arabia and the Indian sea." Finally, he closes his testimony in these words: "Instead of that ancient commerce so active and so extensive, Sour, reduced to a miserable village, has no other trade than the exportation of a few sacks of corn, and raw cotton, nor any merchant but a single Greek factor in the service of the French of Saide, who scarcely makes sufficient profit to maintain his family.'

* Volney's Travels, New York edition, vol. ii. pp. 128-138.

Here the Infidel has what he demands, the fact of the fulfillment of the prophecy proven by the evidence of an unexceptionable witness, one in every respect competent to testify in the case, and who, as the Infidel himself must acknowledge, is above suspicion. But lest the Infidel may imagine that the eyes of one of the great apostles of his cause deceived him, we will produce the testimony of others to the same fact. Dr. Shaw, who visited that country sometime before Volney, says: "I visited several creeks and inlets in order to discern what provision there might have been formerly made for the security of their vessels. Yet, notwithstanding that Tyre was the chief maritime power of this country, I could not observe the least token of either cothon or harbor that could have been of any extraordinary capacity. The coasting ships, indeed, still find a tolerably good shelter from the northern winds under the southern shore, but are obliged immediately to retire, when the winds change to the west or south; so that there must have been some better station than this for their security and reception. In the N. N. E. part likewise of the city, we see the traces of a safe commodious basin lying within the walls; but which at the same time is very small, scarce forty yards in diameter. Neither could it once have enjoyed a large area, unless the buildings which now circumscribe it, were encroachments upon its original dimensions. Yet even this pit, small as it is at present, is notwithstanding so choked up with sand and rubbish, that the boats of those poor fishermen, who now and then visit this once renowned emporium, can with difficulty only be admitted." *

Jiliffe, in his Letters from Palestine, says: "Of this once powerful mistress of the ocean, there now exists scarcely any traces. Some miserable cabins ranged in irregular lines, dignified with the name of streets, and a few buildings of a rather better description, occupied by the officers of government, compose nearly the whole of the town. It still makes indeed some languishing efforts at commerce, and contrives to export annually to Alexandria, cargoes of silks and tobacco, but the amount merits no consideration. The noble dust of Alexander, traced by the imagination, till found stopping a beer barrel,' would scarcely afford a stronger contrast of grandeur and debasement than Tyre, at the period of being besieged by that conqueror, and the modern town of Tsour erected on its ashes." Here then is a man of whom it is alleged by the advocates of Revelation, that the Almighty communicated to him certain events that would take place in the future.

The events, as communicated by this professed prophet of Jehovah, are told in terms not only easy to be understood, but impossible to be misapprehended, and those who will consult chapter xxvii. of Ezekiel, or Rollin's Ancient History, must be convinced that the events were such as no human foresight or sagacity could have discovered. In examining this man's claims as an accredited servant of Jehovah, Mr. Olmsted's requisition has been complied with to the letter, for the occurrence of the facts contained in the prophecy has been proven by what he himself acknowledges legitimate testimony. Therefore Mr. Olmsted and all who occupy his ground, from their own showing are bound to believe that Ezekiel, who foretold the facts, was "a prophet inspired of God."

We proceed by the same process to prove that the other writers of the Old Testament Scriptures have equal claims with Ezekiel, as the prophets of the Highest; and as Volney has so efficiently advocated the cause of the adversaries as to cheat tens of thousands into the belief, that the prophets of Israel were impostors and liars, and the Bible a book of lies, we will again press him into the service, and in spite of himself compel him, by his testimony, to build up that cause against which he felt the most inveterate hostility, and labored during life to destroy. Owing to the labors of the sagacious Keith, this is an easy task; for that able champion of Christianity has prepared a luminous table containing no less than one hundred and fifty predictions relative to Judea and the adjacent regions of Syria; in every instance accompanied with just such testimony of its fulfillment as Mr. Olmsted requires. And as Volney is a leading witness, we have only to cull out of those predictions, the fulfillment of which are attested by this champion of Infidelity, a sufficient number to answer our purpose. And, as the reader will see, the prophecies are so luminous and apposite that they require not a word to point out the meaning or application; and the testimony is so clear and convincing that of themselves they are fully sufficient to settle the conviction in the minds of the most perverse of the votaries of Infidelity, that the seers of Israel, so far from being "impostors " and "liars," were the true prophets of the living God.

The annunciations of the Seers of Israel, who, by Infidels, are stigmatized as impostors and liars.

THE generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and THE STRANGER THAT SHALL COME FROM A FAR LAND,

Volney's Testimony to their Truthfulness.

I JOURNEYED in the empire of the Ottomans, and traversed the provinces, which formerly were kingdoms of Egypt and Syria.