of the Lake of Tiberias; a distance of about eight hours, or twentyfour miles from Bisan.*

Tiberias, still called by the natives Tabaria, or Tabbareeah, was anciently one of the principal towns of Galilee. It was built by Herod the Tetrarch, and named by him in honor of Tiberias, the Roman emperor, with whom he was a great favorite. Very considerable privileges were granted to those who chose to settle there, in order to overcome the prejudice arising from the city's having been built on a site full of ancient sepulchres; from which circumstance we may infer the existence of a former city in the vicinity; this is supposed to have been the ancient Cinneroth or Kinnereth. Here, during a visit paid to the city by Herod Agrippa, the kings of Comagene, of Emessa, of the lesser Armenia, of Pontus, and of Chalcis, met to do him honor, and were magnificently entertained.‡ After the downfall of Jerusalem, it continued to be, until the fifth century, the residence of Jewish rabbies and learned men; and was the seat of a patriarch, who acted as the supreme judge between persons of his own nation. The office was hereditary, and was supported with some lustre, under the Emperor Hadrian, in the person of Selim III.; but, in the year 429, it was suppressed, after subsisting 350 years, under nine or ten patriarchs. In the sixth century, according to Procopius, Justinian rebuilt the walls. In the seventh, A. D. 640, during the reign of the Emperor Heraclius, the city was taken by the Saracens under Caliph Omar. Yet, in the eighth, it is mentioned in an Itinerary cited by Reland, as still containing many churches and Jewish synagogues. Pococke, without citing his authority, says, that the Jewish rabbins lived here till the eleventh century, but that the Jews had left the place above eight hundred years. It seems doubtful, however, whether it has ever been wholly deserted by them. Tiberias was an ancient seat of Jewish literature. A university was founded here by the patriarch, after the fall of Jerusalem; and it is remarkable, that there is a college of Jews in Tabaria at the present time: it would be very interesting to ascertain the date of its establishment. Dr. Richardson found six rabbies engaged in studying Hebrew folios. They occupied two large rooms, which were surrounded with books, and said they spent their time entirely in studying the Scriptures and commentaries thereon. I regretted much,' adds Dr. R., 'that I had not been apprised of this institution at an earlier part of the day. Not having an interpreter with me, I could not turn my short interview to the same advantage that I should otherwise have done.'

The modern town of Tabaria is situated close to the edge of the lake. It has tolerably high but ill-built walls on three of its sides,

*The river Jordan, on issuing from the Sea of Galilee, flows for about three hours near the western hills: it then turns towards the eastern, on which side it continues its course for several hours, till, at Korn-el-Hemar, it returns to the western side.

† Joseph. Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 3; De Bell. lib. ii. cap. 8.

Joseph. Antiq. lib. xix. cap. 7.

flanked with circular towers; on the fourth, it is open to the water. Its figure is nearly quadrangular; according to Pococke, it is about a quarter of a mile in length, and half that in breadth; in circumference, therefore, about three quarters of a mile. Like all Turkish citadels, it has an imposing appearance from without; and its fortifications and circular towers give it more the aspect of a Moorish city than most of the towns of Palestine. But it exhibits the utmost wretchedness within the walls, one-fourth of the space being wholly unoccupied, and the few houses or huts which it contains are not built contiguously. The sheikh's house is described by Van Egmont as tolerably good, and indeed the only building that deserves the name; and even this owes its beauty to the ruins out of which it is built. Adjoining to it is a large handsome structure, which serves as a stable. Near the sheikh's house are the ruins of a very large castle, with some remains of towers, moats, and other works, which probably commanded the harbor. One of these works, facing the lake, has been turned into a mosque. On the rising ground to the northward of the ruin, stands the modern castle, which dates only a few years before the period of Pocock's visit. Hasselquist informs us, that it owes its erection to Sheikh Daker, a native of Tiberias, and at that time independent lord of the place, which he had recently defended against the Pasha of Seide. 'He had no more than six small iron cannon in this work of defence; but he used another method, still more ancient than cannons, for defending forts. He ordered loose etones to be laid on the top of the wall, four feet high, which in case of a siege, might be rolled down, and crush the besiegers.' The marks of the siege were then to be seen on the walls. Pococke, who preceded Hasselquist about thirteen years, was at Tiberias when the fort was building, and they were strengthening the old walls with buttresses on the inside, the sheikh then having a dispute with Pasha of Damascus. They have often,' he adds, 'had disputes with the pashas of Damascus, who have come and planted their cannon against the city, and sometimes have beaten down part of the walls, but were never able to take it.' The town has only two gates; one near the sheikh's house, facing the sea; the other, which was very large, is partly walled up, the city on that side being uninhabited. The houses are described by Van Egmont as 'very mean and low cottages, some of stone, and others of dried mud, and can hardly be said to be above the ground. On the terraces, which even the huts in this country are not without, they build tents of rushes.' Mr. Buckingham states, that there are two synagogues near the centre of the town, both of them inferior to that of Jerusalem, though similar in design; and, on the rising ground near the northern quarter, a small, but good bazar, and two or three coffee-sheds.

The only interesting relic of antiquity in the town, is the church dedicated to St. Peter; an oblong square edifice, arched over, said to be on the spot where the house of St. Peter was though St.

Peter lived at Capernaum. It stands at the north-east corner of the town, close to the water's edge, and is described by Mr. Buckingham as a vaulted room, about thirty feet by fifteen, and perhaps fifteen feet in height: over the door is one small window, and on each side four others, all arched and open. The ancient town extended about half a mile further to the south than the present walls, as is indicated by a great number of confused ruins; and Pococke observed, that the suburbs extended still further in the same direction. Near the present town, he says, there are ruins of another church; and further on some signs of a large square building, about which lie several pillars, which might be the house of the government. Captain Mangles states, that 'at the northern extremity of the ruins are the remains of the ancient town, which are discernible by means of the walls and other ruined buildings, as well as by fragments of columns, some of which are of beautiful red granite. This agrees with Van Egmont's representation, that the old city began at some distance to the north of the present town, extending along the side of the lake beyond the Baths of Emmaus, which are about a mile from the modern town, to the south of it. 'In our way thither,' says the last-mentioned traveller, 'we plainly saw the foundations of the old city, and the remains of bulwarks erected on frustums of pillars. In short, the whole road to the bath, and even some distance beyond it, was full of ruins of walls; and near it we saw the ruins of a gate.' These walls were continued to the mountains which confined the city towards the west, so that its breadth could not exceed half a mile. The wall beyond the baths, which runs from the lake to the mountain's side, is, however, supposed by Mr. Banks to be rather the fortification of Vespasian's camp. Pococke places the baths a quarter of a mile south of the walls of old Tiberias. The ancient name of Emmaus, which signifies baths, is still preserved in the Arabic Hamam, by which the place is now called. The waters are much resorted to, being esteemed good for all sorts of pains and tumors, and even for the gout. Dr. Richardson found the Pasha of Acre encamped here, with a numerous retinue; having been advised to use the baths, by his medical attendant, who, was a Frank. At a little distance from him, Lady Hester Stanhope had taken up her residence in a mosque. Not having any thermometer,' says Dr. R, 'I could not ascertain the temperature of the spring; but it is so hot, that the hand could not endure it; and the water must remain twelve hours in the bath, before it can be used; and then I should consider it as above one 100°. It contains a strong solution of common salt, with a considerable intermixture of iron and sulphur.' Pococke, who brought away a bottle of the waters, says, that they were found to hold a considerable quantity of' gross fixed vitriol, some alum, and a mineral salt.' He observed a red sediment upon the stones. Van Egmont and Heyman state, that they resemble in quality those of Aix la Chapelle. Our curiosity,' they say, 'led us to go into the bath, the

water of which was so hot as not easily to be endured; but, to render it more temperate, we ordered the passage through which it runs into the basin, to be stopped. The inhabitants of Tiberias have built here a small house with a cupola; but there seems to have been formerly a much more splendid edifice, as the baths were very famous. The water rises something higher, whence it is conducted into a stone basin. This water is so salt as to communicate a brackish taste to that of the lake near it.' Hasselquist has given a still more minute account, which Dr. Clarke has evidently overlooked in referring to him. The fountain or source,' he says, 'is at the foot of a mountain, at the distance of a pistol-shot from the Lake Gennesareth, and a quarter of a league from the coasts of Tiberias. The mountain consists of a black and brittle sulphureous stone, which is only to be found in large masses in the neighborhood of Tiberias, but in loose stones also on the coast of the Dead Sea, as well as here. They cut millstones out of it in this place, which are sent by water from Acre to Egypt. I saw an incredible quantity of them at Damietta. The spring which comes from the mountain is in diameter equal to that of a man's arm, and there is one only. The water is so hot, that the hand may be put into it without scalding, but it cannot be kept there long: consequently, it is not boiling hot, but the next degree to it. It has a strong sulphureous smell. It tastes bitter, and something like common salt. The sediment deposited by it is black, as thick as paste, smells strongly of sulphur, and is covered with two skins, or cuticles, of which that beneath is of a fine darkgreen color, and the uppermost of a light rusty color. At the mouth of the outlet, where the water formed little cascades over the stones, the first-mentioned cuticle alone was found, and so much resembled a conferva, that one might easily have taken this, that belongs to the mineral kingdom, for a vegetable production; but, nearer the river, where the water stood still, one might see both skins, the yellow uppermost, and under it the green.' At that time (1750), the waters appear to have been neglected, and the 'miserable bathing house' was not kept in repair.

It seems at first difficult to account for the statement given by this usually correct writer, that there is but one spring, when Captain Mangles states that there are three; but Mr. Buckingham's minute and lively description explains the apparent discrepancy.

'Leaving the town at the western gate, we pursued our course southerly along its wall, and came to some scattered ruins of the old city of Tiberias; among which we observed many foundations of buildings, some fragments of others still standing, and both grey and red granite coluinns, some portions of the latter being at least four feet in diameter; but among the whole, we saw neither ornamented capitals nor sculptured stones of any kind, though the city is known to have been a considerable one.

In our way, we passed an old tree, standing amid these ruins, and observed its branches to be hung with rags of every hue and

color, no doubt the offerings of those who either expected or had received benefit from the springs in the road to which it lay. Throughout the cliffs of the overhanging mountain on the west, are rude grottoes at different heights; and opposite to the tree are two arched caves, one of them having a square door of entrance beneath the arch, and both of them being apparently executed with care. We had not time to examine them, though we conceived them to have been most probably ancient sepulchres.

'In less than an hour after our leaving the town, we arrived at the baths. The present building, erected over the springs here, is small and mean, and is altogether the work of Mahommedans. It is within a few yards of the edge of the lake, and contains a bath for males and a bath for females, each with their separate apartment annexed. Over the door of the former is an Arabic inscription; ascending to this door by a few steps, it leads to an outer room, with an open window, a hearth for preparing coffee, and a small closet for the use of the attendant. Within this is the bath itself, a square room of about eighteen or twenty feet, covered with a low dome, and having benches in recesses on each side. The cistern for containing the hot water is in the centre of this room, and is sunk below the pavement; it is a square of eight or nine feet only, and the spring rises to supply it through a small head of some animal; but this is so badly executed, that it is difficult to decide for what it was intended. My thermometer rose here instantly to 130°, which was its utmost limit; but the heat of the water was certainly greater. It was painful to the hand as it issued from the spout, and could only be borne gradually by those who bathed in the cistern.

'There is here only an old man and a little boy to hold the horses, and make coffee for the visiters; and those who bathe, strip in the inner room, and wash themselves in the cistern, without being furnished with cloths, carpets, cushions, or any of the usual comforts of a Turkish bath. The whole establishment, indeed, is of the poorest kind, and the sight of the interior is rather disgusting than inviting.

'At this bath we met with a soldier whom they called Mahommed Mamlouk, and I learnt that he was a German by birth, having become a Mamlouk and Mahommedan when a boy. He was now the hashadar or treasurer to the Agha of Tabareeah, and was so completely a Turk as to profess, that he would not willingly return to his native country, even if he could do so under the most favorable circumstances. He spoke the Turkish and Arabic languages equally well; and it was in the latter that we conversed, as he had entirely forgotten his native tongue, though not more than thirtyfive years of age.

'Besides the spring which supplies the present baths, there are several others near it, all rising close to the edge of the lake, and all equally hot, finely transparent, and slightly sulphureous, resembling exactly the spring at El-Hame. There are also extensive ruins around, which are most probably the remains of Roman edifices;