From this bridge we reached the famous bitumen wells in twenty minutes. They are dug in the eastern slope of the mountain, a little to the north of the village Kaukaba, and about three quarters of an hour S. W. of Hasbeiya. I was disappointed in the locality. Nothing on the surface indicates the presence of such a mineral. The wells are dug in the side of a smooth and gently declining hill, of soft chalky rock, or indurated marl, abounding in nodules of flint. A shaft is sunk about twenty feet deep, to the bed or stratum of bitumen, which appears to lie horizontally, and is wrought like coal mines. These wells are not now worked; but the Sheikh who formerly rented them of the government informed me, that the supply was apparently inexhaustible; and were it not for the exorbitant demands of the Pasha, bitumen would be sold at the wells for about one hundred piastres the Cantar. As the geological formation is exactly similar for many miles north and south of the mine, it is not improbable, that this valuable product may be very abundant, and at some future day of better things to Syria, become an important article of commerce.

Thirty-five minutes ride along the banks of the Hasbâny, brought us from the bitumen wells to the Khân of Hasbeiya. This is a large and very ancient caravansary, a regular quadrangle, eighty paces square, with an eastern and western entrance. The eastern entrance had been highly ornamented in the Saracenic style. There are several Saracenic inscriptions; but in a character so singular and involved, that our guide, though skilled in Arabic calligraphy, could not decipher them. There was once an elegant Mosk attached to this Khân.-These large and expensive buildings standing alone in the desert, and by the side of now almost untrodden paths, add the sad testimony of their dilapidated walls and unnecessary accommodations, to the general signs of decay and desertion, which meet the traveller at every step of his pilgrimage through Syria. There must have been once much more wealth to construct, and more travel and trade to protect and accommodate, than now, or these establishments would never have been built. The whole Khân, with the grounds attached, will not rent for fifty dollars a year.

There is a fair held at this place every Tuesday, frequented by the peasantry from the districts of Hasbeiya, 'Ard el-Hûleh, Belâd Beshârah, Belad Shukif, Merj 'Ayûn, and Jezzîn. Large quantities of coarse earthen ware, manufactured at the village called Râsheiyet el-Fukhâr, are exhibited for sale, with various kinds of cotton, woollen, and silk fabrics, woven in Hasbeiya. Also horses and mules, donkeys, camels, neat cattle, sheep, goats, butter, oil, cheese, and all other sorts of eatables, are paraded on the plain, or exhibited in the stalls which cover the hill to the south of the Khân. I counted fifty pair of millstones constructed of

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the porous lava of the Haurân, and brought here for sale by the Bedawin. There are sixty-four stalls or booths, arranged in rows, on the hill near the Khân, in which the venders expose their wares. The hill itself is wholly volcanic.

From the Khân our path led along the western bank of the Hasbâny, and passing several mills and a stone bridge, we came in fifteen minutes to a long oval hill covered with a dense forest of mountain-oak, whose deep green refreshed the eye with its bright and happy contrast to the barren and burnt district around. We skirted the base of this oakbill for twenty minutes, and then entered an olive grove which extended for about three miles to the south. Thus far the Hasbany had been our constant and cheerful companion; but as the path now kept along the level plain, while the stream sank down in its rocky channel, its lively murmur, now heard, now lost, fell fainter and more faintly on the ear, until from the depth and distance it could no longer be distinguished.

At the termination of the olive grove the valley suddenly widens into a plain, which it took forty-five minutes of brisk riding to cross. It is every where covered with lava, and terminates by a rapid descent around the base of a conical limestone hill, remarkable only from its isolated position in the midst of a wild waste of volcanic tuf. This descent brought us down to the general level of the great volcanic plain, which stretches down to the very margin of the marsh of the Hûleh. We here crossed the Hasbâny, and inclining to the left along the base of the mountains, reached Bânias in two hours and three quarters from the ford.

During all this ride of five hours, we passed through no village. On the western mountain, though not visible, are the villages, Îbel or Abil el-Hawa, el Khiyam, and el-Ghŭjar; and on the east, Râsheiyet el-Fukhår, el-Khureibeh, and el-Màrieh, as also two encampments of Arabs, called es-Subân and es-Subeib. There is a sprinkling of burnt and blasted oak trees, standing here and there, like sentinels over these gray boulders of basalt, which strew the plain as far as the eye can reach. As you approach Bâniâs, vegetation greatly increases, and puts on a livelier hue, until, coming within the magic influence of her thousand rills, you are surprised with the verdure and fragrance of a little Eden.

Banias. The city is securely embosomed among mountains, which stand around it on the northwest, north, east, and south. The platform, or terrace, upon which it is built, may be elevated about one hundred feet above the extensive plain of which we have already spoken. That part of the city which was within the ancient walls, lay directly south of the fountain. The stream formed a deep channel along the northern and western walls; and a part of the water was formerly carried into the ditch, which protected the eastern wall, and fell into the deep ravine of

the mountain-torrent, Wady el-Kid, on the margin of which the southern wall was constructed. Thus the city was surrounded by water, and defended on all sides by natural ravines, except on the east, which was secured by a wide and deep fosse. The walls were very thick and solid, and were strengthened by eight castles or towers; and before the introduction of artillery, Bâniâs must have been almost impregnable. The shape of the city is an irregular quadrangle, longest from east to west, and widest at the eastern end. The whole area is small, not being much more than a mile in circumference. The north-eastern corner is occupied by about fifty wretched hovels, constituting the entire modern representatives of this great city. The western half is overgrown with luxuriant briars and thorns, which cover up, and quite conceal, two or three flouring mills. Another mill has been built in the southern ravine, beneath one of the castles, to which the water is conveyed from the fountain through the city in a covered canal. A good stone bridge, probably Roman, spans the ravine at this castle; and the modern road into the country south of the city passes over it.

The suburbs appear to have been far more extensive than the city itself. The plain towards the north-west, west, and south-west, is covered with columns, capitals, and foundations, bearing indubitable testimony to the ancient size and magnificence of Bâniâs. And should Syria ever again become a flourishing country, this place would speedily rise into a large and important city. Its many natural advantages would secure this result. A more retired, protected, and charming spot for a city could scarcely he found. So thought the spies of the Danites, when their brethren asked them on their return, "What say ye? And they said arise, that we may go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold it is very good. And are ye still? Be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land. When ye go, ye shall come to a people secure, and to a large land; for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth." This is certainly very high praise; but still the place has singular advantages, and the soil of the whole tract is of surpassing fertility. There is a greater variety of natural productions, and of a size superior to those I have observed in other parts of this country. The public lounge of Bâniâs is under a terebinth tree, whose branches cast a shadow seventy-five paces in circumference. Other trees are large in proportion. Vegetation in general is very rank, and almost every production of the earth might be brought to great perfection. Extensive fields of maize present a beautiful prospect to an American eye. The wild boars feed luxuriously upon

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the green corn; and the farmers are obliged to watch their fields by night. This is rather dangerous sport; but they manage to kill a great many of them. Ounces, wolves, and gazelles are also very numerous in the thickly wooded plain before the town.

The Fountain. Josephus, speaking of Herod the Great, says: 1" So when he had conducted Caesar to the sea and was returned home, he built him a most beautiful temple of whitest stone in Zendorus' country near the place called Panium. This is a very fine cave, in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the earth; and the cavern is abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of still water; over it hangs a vast mountain; and under the cavern arise the springs of the Jordan. Herod adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one, still farther, by the erection of this temple, which he dedicated to Caesar."

The above extract is interesting in various respects. But the present cave and fountain differ widely from this description of the great Jewish historian. A few rods north of the town, there runs a perpendicular cliff, forty or fifty feet high, parallel to the old wall of the city. Not far from the middle of this cliff, there is a high irregularly shaped cave, which however, at present, penetrates the mountain only a few feet. Out of this cave Josephus says the river issues; and this, indeed, is the uniform testimony, both ancient and modern, which even Burckhardt also is made to sanction. The fact is, however, that the fountain bursts out amongst loose stones and rocks, several rods distant, and some twenty feet below the mouth of the cave. Nor does that part of the cave which is visible, exhibit any trace of its ever having been the outlet of such a fountain. Probably the ruins of Herod's temple and other ancient buildings, have entirely choked up the entrance of the cave; and if the vast mass of rocks and rubbish, through which the water now bursts out, were removed, we should find the "cavern abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of still water." And probably it might be found arched over, in order to form the floor of the temple. Perhaps upon this arch are heaped together the broken rocks which now cover the bottom of the cave. This supposition seems necessary, in order to explain the various accounts of ancient historians.

To the east of the cave the rock has been cut into niches, and smoothly polished to receive inscriptions. Two of these niches are surmounted with the figure of a large shell (pecten), beautifully carved and in fine preservation. I subjoin the inscriptions further on, for the inspection of the curious.

Lake Phiala. Josephus has some other statements, which merit a pass

1 Antiq. XV. 10.3.

ing notice :1 "Now Panium is thought to be the fountain of Jordan; but in reality it is carried thither after an occult manner from the place called Phiala. This place lies as you go to Trachonitis, and is 120 furlongs from Caeserea, and is not far from the road on the right hand. And indeed it hath its name Phiala, very justly, from the roundness of its circumference, as being round like a wheel. Its water continues always up to its edges, without either sinking or running over. And as this origin of Jordan was formerly not known, it was discovered so to be, when Philip was Tetrarch of Trachonitis; for he had chaff thrown into Phiala, and it was found at Panium, where the ancients thought the fountain head of the river was; whither it had been therefore carried. As for Panium itself, its natural beauty has been improved by the royal liberality of Agrippa, and adorned at his expense. Now Jordan's visible stream arises from this cavern, and divides the marshes and fens of the lake Semechonitis."

The account here given of the lake Phiala, is not very probable. That so small a reservoir should supply such a magnificent fountain, and yet be subject to no fluctuations itself, is nearly incredible. But what, and where the Phiala is, continues to be a matter of dispute. Burckhardt thinks he may have discovered it on his route from Damascus to Safed. Irby and Mangles believe that they saw it at a distance, as they went from Damascus to Bâniâs. The guide who conducted us to the castle of Bâniâs, without being questioned, described to me a small lake called Birket er-Râm, which he said was round like a bowl; had neither stream, nor fountain, nor outlet; and yet its waters continued always at the same height. From the top of the castle, he pointed out a large tree, which he said grew on the margin. He had been often there, and said it was three quarters of an hour in circumference. The direction from Bânias is east, and the distance six or eight miles. I was very anxious to visit it, but the day was too far advanced, and our animals were very tired. If this be indeed the Phiala, I venture to say that it is nearly a geological impossibility that it could have any connection with the fountain of Bânias. The water would have to run up the strata of rock, and must pass under the deep ravine on the south of Bâniâs, before it could reach the fountain; a supposition altogether incredible. Our guide at the same time volunteered another piece of information. He said that five hours up the mountain, towards the snows of Jebel esh-Sheikh, at a place called Sheba there was a cave, through which this stream of Bâniâs flowed. Upon asking him how they knew that it was the same, he replied, that they threw in tibn (chaff") at the cave, and it came out at Bâniâs. This is exactly the experiment ascribed to Philip.

1 B. J. III. 10. 7.