Page images
PDF
EPUB

from Ba'albek seems as if it could be carried into the Hasbȧny without difficulty, and thus fill up the Hûleh and the lake Tiberias, augment the Jordan, and enlarge the Dead Sea. This hypothesis presents a beautiful chain of lakes and rivers stretching from Coelo-Syria to the Red Sea, and opening a magnificent channel of internal commerce and communication.

But to return from this digression. Having crossed the Litany, and passed some old ruins a few rods from the bridge, we turned to the left, up an almost impracticable mountain path. The ascent was so precipi-. tous that we were obliged to dismount, and after three quarters of an hour of hard climbing, we reached the castle, our horses being as much exhausted as ourselves. By keeping the regular road towards Nebâtiyeh for about half an hour, and then passing through the village Tumrah, you reach the castle without difficulty.

Castle of esh-Shukif. This is an exceedingly strong fortress crowning the oval summit of a high mountain, and overhanging the Litâny. The course of the river here is nearly south, and the castle is on the west of it. The natural position renders it almost impregnable; access from the east being impossible; from the north nearly so; from the west very difficult; while on the south, the ridge is only a few rods wide which connects it with the adjacent mountain. The west and south, were defended by a wide and deep ditch cut in the live rock. The whole bottom of the ditch is a vast cistern covered with a strong vaulted roof. This cistern is even yet in good repair; and the farmers were driving their herds into it to drink, while we were there. The walls of the castle are very solid and lofty, towering sixty or eighty feet above the ditch. There was but one entrance, which is on the south east; reached by a bridge across the fosse, and overhanging the awful precipice of the Litâny. A stone, dropped from this part of the castle will descend many hundred feet at a single bound; and unless accidentally checked will not pause in its headlong course, until it reaches the river some fifteen hundred feet below. There are but few castles in the world, perched upon such a giddy precipice. The length is about eight hundred feet, and the breadth three hundred. And when in good repair, and well garrisoned, I do not see how it could be subdued. It was built before the invention of cannon, and is not at all adapted for them. There are a few port holes; but these may not have been intended for fire arms, or they may have been cut through the walls at a later date. The area within the walls was nearly all covered with buildings, and numerous magazines have been excavated beneath them in the solid rock. I have no doubt but that some of the many dark passages, cut in the rock, lead down through the base of the castle into the great cistern at the bottom of the ditch.

1846.]

Region north of Hunin.

207

This castle is mentioned in the twelfth century under the name of Belfort or Beaufort. It has been often besieged, and during the crusades it experienced every variety of fortune and misfortune. When it was reduced to its present condition I have no means of ascertaining. It is far less dilapidated than the other castles we have visited; and might readily be repaired and made a very formidable fortress. I think it probable that there was a castle here from very remote times. It entirely commands the only passage over the Lîtâny, which the Sidonians could have had into the Merj and Ard el-Hûleh, both of which certainly belonged to them. The latter was even called the great plain of Sidon.1 Here, too, the great road to Damascus must have passed, as it does still. That there was in the palmy days of the Phenician commerce a fortress commanding this important pass and the bridge over the Litâny, can scarcely be doubted. That this would be the site selected, is, to say the least, not unlikely; and is rendered probable by the nature of the works found here at present. The large excavations in the live rock, the deep ditch, and the heavy bevelled stones, out of which so much of the castle is constructed, are all marks of antiquity. It may therefore have been only rebuilt by the Saracens at or about the time of the early crusades, out of materials found on the spot.

From the castle to Nebâtiyeh is one hour and a half; and from this to Sidon five and a half hours of rapid riding. We reached Sidon about an hour after dark. The distance from this city to Kulat esh-Shŭkif is about twenty-five miles, and to Hunin at least ten miles further. The road from Sidon to Damascus by Jisr el-Khŭrdela is never blocked up by snow and is better than any other with which I am acquainted. The highest part of the pass to the Jisr cannot be more than fifteen hundred feet, and the ascent beyond is very gradual. Caravans find it much easier and safer in winter than the rugged and higher pass of Lebanon on the road from Beirût. And if government should ever wish to make a carriage road to Damascus, it would no doubt commence it, not at Beirut, but at Sidon.

NOTES ON THE PRECEDing Article.

By Prof. E. Robinson.

THE public are greatly indebted to the author of the preceding Article for his very distinct and graphic account of the topography of Bàniâs aud the vicinity. It is the first good account that we possess, that of

1 Joseph. Antiq. V. 3. 1.

Burckhardt being very confused and imperfect; which, indeed, is doubtless to be accounted for by the fact, that his visit to Bâniâs occurred during his very first journey as an oriental traveller, and was made under quite unfavorable circumstances, both as to weather and opportunities for personal investigation.1

In respect to some of the conclusions of the preceding Article, there would seem to be room for some further consideration, either by way of fuller illustration, or perhaps occasionally of modification.

The Jordan. It is certainly a remarkable circumstance, that the great Jewish historian, in speaking of the Jordan and its sources, has apparently made no allusion to the Hasbâny, the largest and by far the longest of all the streams which enter the marshes of the Hûleh. Yet so definite and explicit is the language of Josephus in respect to the fountains of that famous river, that I am unable to arrive at any other conclusion, than that he purposely, and no doubt in accordance with popular usage, limits the name of Jordan to the two streams above described as flowing from Baniâs and Tell el-Kâdy.

The following are the passages in Josephus, which refer to the Jordan in general:

Antiq. V. 1. 22. The Naphthalites are said to take possession of Upper Galilee as far as to Mount Lebanon and the sources of the Jordan, which break forth from the mountain, etc., αἳ [πηγαὶ] τὴν ὁρμὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὄρους ἔχουσιν.

Antiq. XV. 10. 3. This is the passage quoted above, p. 189, describing the temple erected by Herod in honor of Augustus at Panium, that is, at the cavern beneath the impending mountain; under which cavern rise the fountains of the river Jordan : ὑπὸ δὲ τὸ σπήλαιον ἀνατέλλουσιν αἱ πηγαὶ τοῦ Ιορδάνου ποταμοῦ.

Bell. Jud. I. 21. 3. Here the historian is speaking also of Herod's temple at the same place, Panium, which he describes in the same manner. At the roots of the cavern outside, rise fountains; and here, as some think, is the beginning of the Jordan : τοῦ δὲ ἄντρου κατὰ τὰς ἔξωδεν ρίζας ἀνατέλλουσιν αἱ πηγαί· καὶ γένεσις μὲν ὡς ἔνιοι δοκοῦσιν ἔνθεν Ιορδάνου. But Josephus refers the reader, for a more accurate view, to the passage next following. The language here quoted might perhaps be supposed to imply, that the appearance of the fountain at the mouth of the cavern in Josephus' day, did not much differ from its present state as above described.

B. J. III. 10. 7. This is the celebrated passage, which, while affirming that the source of the Jordan seems to be Panium, (δοκεῖ μὲν Ιορδάνου πηγὴ

1 Burckh. Travels in Syria, etc. 4to. p. 36-43.

1846.]

Bânias and Lake Phiala.

209

to Пávaov,) nevertheless refers it to the more distant lake Phiala.— "The open stream of the Jordan," he goes on to say, “issues from the cavern Panium; flows through the marshes of the lake Semechonitis; then, after a further course of a hundred and twenty stadia, enters the lake of Gennesareth near the city Julias; and at last, after passing through a long descent, terminates in the Dead Sea."

From all these passages, I can draw no other inference, than that Josephus and the Jews were accustomed to speak of the sources of the river Jordan, as being situated at Bàniâs or the lake Phiala. Josephus mentions, indeed, another less important source, to which we shall revert below; but that, too, has no connection with the Hasbâny. This latter stream, therefore, although longer and larger, is left wholly out of the ac

count.

Such anomalies in popular nomenclature arise, sometimes perhaps from ignorance of the country and of the relative length of streams, as in the case of our own great rivers, the Missouri and Mississippi. In other cases the reason is less obvious. Even in the Jordan itself, if mere length of course is to determine the appellation, this name ought to be borne by the Hieromax, which comes in below the lake of Tiberias; since this stream is very considerably longer even than the Hasbȧny. Yet here, no doubt, the direction determined the name, and properly. As to the two streams in question, the one from Bàniâs and the Hasbâny, may not the natural prejudice of the Jews have had some influence? The Jordan was their only river, the national and sacred stream. May they not therefore have felt an interest in making it wholly their own; and have thus chosen to find its sources at Bâniâs, within their own borders, rather than in the Hasbâny, which came from without their territory? Whatever reason we may assign for the anomaly, the language of Josephus leaves us no room to doubt of the fact itself.

Phiala. That the Birket er-Ràm visited by Mr. Thomson is the same Birket er-Ram of which Seetzen heard, and also that it is the same lake seen by Irby and Mangles, there can be no doubt. The direction and distance from Bâniâs, as laid down on Kiepert's maps, are precisely in accordance with the preceding specifications of Mr. Thomson; and further, the information gathered by him goes to show, that no other lake exists in that vicinity. As little can we doubt, that this is the ancient Phiala.

Burckhardt, in passing from Damascus to the bridge over the Jordan, saw a reservoir called Birket er-Ràm five hours before reaching the bridge. This of course is in a wholly different region, and, being a reservoir, is a wholly different thing, from the Birket er Râm east of Bânias.

1 See above, p. 192.

Nor did Burkhardt or any one else regard it as Phiala. But at three and a half hours from the bridge, he saw a large pond called Birket Nefah or Tefah; and this he lightly conjectured to be Phiala.1

The Lesser Jordan. Although Josephus describes, as above, the source of the Jordan in general, yet he also, in the following passages, speaks of another less celebrated source and stream as forming part of the same river.

Antiq. I. 10. 1. Abraham overtakes the Assyrians, (who had carried away Lot,) at Dan; for so the other fountain of Jordan is called: negì sáνον· οὕτως γὰρ ἡ ἑτέρα τοῦ Ἰορδάνου προσαγορεύεται πηγή.

Antiq. V. 3. 1. The spies sent out by the Danites advance a day's journey into the great plain belonging to the city Sidon, not far from Mount Lebanon and the fountains of the Lesser Jordan: οὐ πόῤῥω τοῦ Διβάνου ὄρους καὶ ἐλάσσονος Ιορδάνου τῶν πηγών. Whither the Danites afterwards go with an army, and build there a city Dan; xrížovow avτóde nóλιν Δάνα.

Antiq. VIII. 8. 4. Bethel, the other at

Jeroboam sets up the golden calves; one in the city Dan, which is at the fountains of the little Jordan; tòv ἐστὶ πρὸς ταῖς πηγαῖς τοῦ μικροῦ Ἰορδάνου.

ἕτερον δὲ ἐν Δάνῃ, ἥδε Bell. Jud. IV. 1. 1. This passage has been already quoted above, p. 199. "Seleucia was on the lake Semechonitis, which is thirty stadia broad and sixty long. Its marshes extend up to the place Daphne (péxor Aάorns zwolov). This place abounding in other things, has also fourtains, which nursing the little Jordan, so called, under the fame of the golden calf, send it forth to the great Jordan ; πηγὰς ἔχοντος, αἳ τρέφουσαι τὸν μικ ρὸν καλούμενον Ιορδάνην ὑπὸ τὸν τῆς χρυσῆς βοὺς νεών, προσπέμπουσι τῷ μεγάλῳ.

In respect to this last passage, it will be seen, that the place here called Aúqvn, is obviously the same spoken of in the other three passages under the name of Δάνον, Δάνα οι Δάνη. The situation in all is the same, viz., at the other fountain of Jordan, or the fountains of the lesser Jordan; and in two passages it is mentioned as the place of the golden calf. In view of these circumstances, it is much easier and better, with Reland and Havercamp, to suppose that the word Дuqrns is here a corrupt reading for dúrns, the ancient and usual name, than to infer a subsequent change of name, of which there is elsewhere no intimation.

At any rate, there can be no question, but that all four of the above passages express a plain distinction between the "lesser Jordan," so called, and the Jordan before described as having its source at Bâniâs. Admitting this distinction, as we must, then these passages all point directly and plainly to the fountains and river of Tell el-Kâdy as uniting with

1 Travels in Syria, etc. 4to. p. 314 sq.

« PreviousContinue »