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es-Subân and es-Subeib. The latter name is identical with that given to the castle; and if the bevelled stones, of which the round towers are built, point to works of greater antiquity, may there not have been an ancient ruin here, frequented by these half-gipsy Arabs, called es-Subeib, from whom, first the, tract, and subsequently the castle derived its temporary name? This of course is mere hypothesis; but in the absence of positive information, conjecture is not impertinent.

Having completed our examination of the castle, we visited a very ancient ruin, a short distance to the east of it, called Sheikh Othman elHazûr. From this place we descended the mountain at our leisure, and reached our tents at Bâniâs, as the shades of evening fell gradually over mountain and plain, and marsh and lake. Though much fatigued, we were grateful for a day of such rich and varied enjoyment.

Sept. 21st. The early part of the morning was spent in copying from the rock above the fountain the accompanying inscriptions.2

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OIMEP * O * A * ПANOCIEPEYVCOEOYHANOCTIIN

KYHANNOAECINKAITON ̃YNTHYIIAYTOYKOIAAN

ОEICHпCП * TEAECIOYPII * * *

*NTAI ONAYTHC

ΑΝΚΕΛΛΩΣΙΔΗΡΩ

ΙΠΑΛΙΤΙ

1 See Burckhardt's Syria, p. 44, 4to.

2 No. 4 was copied by Burckhardt; see his Syria, p. 39.

1846.]

Bániás. Inscriptions.

195

The first of these is interesting, as it corroborates the testimony of Josephus that Agrippa adorned Bàniâs with royal liberality. The others confirm the uniform testimony of antiquity that this fountain was held sacred to Pan. And as Pan was the god of shepherds and huntsmen, and loved mountains, forests and fountains, he could not have selected a more delightful residence.

A short distance east of the castle of Bâniâs, there is a very ancient ruin, and around it a thick grove of most venerable oaks, apparently planted by the hand of man. From this spot, the view over the plains and marsh and lake Hûleh, and of the surrounding mountains, is very grand. A better situation for the observance of the Lupercalia, with its absurd but imposing ceremonies, could hardly be found. And when walking through its solemn glades, the deep shade and impressive silence suggested to the fancy, that this might be the remnant of a grove once sacred to the fantastic son of Mercury and Penelope. Certainly the oak casts the most religious of all shades.

Bâniâs appears to have been the seat of idolatry from the remotest ages. Besides the worship of Pan, which continued down to the time of the Romans, the tribes of Dan carried with them into this neighborhood Micah's graven image, ephod and teraphim. Jeroboam too set up, near by, one of his golden calves.2

Baniâs was honored, at least once, with a visit from our Saviour. It was then called Cesarea Philippi. Eusebius relates that the woman who was cured of an issue of blood was a native of this place. Her supposed house was still pointed out in the early part of the fourth century, when that historian visited the city.3

Leaving Bànias, we immediately crossed the brook on a small stone bridge, and stopped to examine some ruins on the western end of the town, but north of the brook. There are several granite and limestone columns, also capitals, pedestals and foundations of buildings to be seen in the fields west of the city; and evidently the water from the fountain was formerly conducted through these extensive suburbs of Bâniâs. The canals are still visible. On a higher terrace north of these ruins, is the present burying-place of Bâniâs, overshadowed by a thick grove of very large oak trees.

I neither saw nor heard of any castle south of Bâniâs, which Burckhardt seems to describe. The fact is, however, that the whole description of this place, by this in general most accurate traveller, is not only confused and imperfect, but in some places quite erroneous. He visited Bâniâs in very cloudy and rainy weather, and evidently did not examine 21 Kings 12: 29, 30.

1 Judges 18: 14―31.

3 Euseb. Hist. Ecc. VII. 18.

the walls of the city. The castle which he mentions on the south of the village, with its bridge across the Wady el-Kid, is still there, and the inscription and granite columns; but then, instead of its being a separate castle, as he says, like that on the mountain, it is one of the four towers which defend the southern wall of the city. This mistake Dr. Robinson has copied into his noble Researches; and also, that the ancient city was on the north of the stream, while it is in reality and necessarily on the south.1

Tell el-Kady. From Bàniâs to Tell el-Kâdy, it took us forty-five minutes of brisk riding; and the distance, therefore, is not far short of three miles. The course is west, or perhaps a little south of west; and most of the intervening plain is densely covered with oak and other trees, having a thick undergrowth of various kinds of bushes. From this point to the western mountain, the plain is altogether destitute of trees. The Tell (or hill) is elevated about forty or fifty feet, and its figure is circular or rather oval, being longest from east to west. One part of it is covered with oak trees, and another part with thick brush-wood and briars. It is evidently an extinct crater, about half a mile in circumference. On the south-western side, the wall of this crater has been partly carried away by the action of the great fountain, which gushes out all at once a beautiful river of delicious water, several times larger than the stream at Bâniâs. The fountain in reality first appears in the centre of the crater. The great body of water, however, glides underneath the lava boulders, and rushes out at the bottom of the Tell on the west. But a considerable stream rises to the surface within the crater, and is conducted over its south-western margin, and drives a couple of flouring mills, which are overshadowed by some magnificent oak trees, and almost buried beneath the luxuriant vegetation of the place. The two streams unite below the mills, forming a river forty or fifty feet wide, which rushes very rapidly down into the marsh of the Hûleh. There were a multitude of turtles sunning themselves on the rocks around.

The miller, with whom I happened to be acquainted, pointed out to me a clump of trees, about three miles to the south-west, where, he assured me, the stream from Bàniâs unites with this from the Tell. This juncture is in the marsh, a short distance to the north of a huge mound, very similar to the Tell el-Kâdy, and which, in all probability, is also an extinct crater. My informant had often been there, and I understood him to say, that the river, after the junction, flowed along on the north of the mound until it fell into the Hasbâny, which I have before mentioned as the main stream of the Jordan. I thought also that I could trace the

1 Comp. Burckhardt's Syria, 4to. p. 39, 40.

1846.]

Tell el-Kâdy.

197

course which he pointed out, through the tall reeds of the marsh, down to the point where these two main streams come together.

On the south-western corner of the Tell are the ruins of a few Arab tents, evidently quite modern; but there are no visible traces of any ancient city or temple in this vicinity. Nor is the place adapted for such a purpose. It is so near the marsh, and so entirely exposed to its poisonous miasma, that even the poor Arabs do not venture to pitch their tents there. And I find it difficult to believe, that this was the site of that famous Laish, which the Danites conquered. The report rendered by the spies, is altogether inapplicable to Tell el-Kâdy; while their account applies admirably to Bâniàs. Josephus calls this place Daphne, and also Dan. But he and Jerome and Eusebius, seem to blend the two places together in their occasional notices. The fact appears to be, that they are so near together, have both great fountains, sources of the Jordan, and probably have always followed the fortunes of each other so closely, that their names have thus become inextricably blended together by ancient historians. The editor of Burckhardt and most of the maps make Bâniâs the site of Dan. If 1 might venture a conjecture, it would be, that the two places have always been regarded as in a certain sense identical. The Tell is not more than two miles from the ancient suburbs of Bâniâs; and it is highly probable that country-seats were built as far down on the plain, as the necessary regard to health would allow.

If this is the source of what Josephus calls the lesser Jordan, and Bâniâs, of the greater, there is but little foundation in nature for the distinction. I feel disposed to make the Hasbâny the greater, and both these united, the lesser or shorter Jordan. It seems very unreasonable to allow to these two fountains, which rise close together, and the entire length of whose streams is but five or six miles, the whole honor of giving name to the Jordan; while the Hasbâny, commencing twenty or five and twenty miles more distant, preserves the direct and natural course of the Jordan; receives large tributaries from mount Hermon on the east and Merj 'Ayûn on the west, before entering the marsh; and then, dividing the marsh in its progress, draws into its controlling channel the great fountains of Derakît or Belât and el-Mellâhah from the west, and those of Bâniâs and Tell el-Kâdy from the east. Why should the Hasbâny, therefore, which absorbs not only these two streams, but many similar ones from the right hand and from the left, be deprived of its natural prerogatives, and not even mentioned? I can scarcely believe that antiquity is justly chargeable with such singular partiality.1

* See note at the end of the Article.-E. R.

In a few minutes after leaving the Tell, we encountered a broad marsh, caused by a number of fountains or rills running amongst volcanic rocks, over and through which we waded and floundered for nearly a mile. These taken together would make a large fountain; and they creep through the long grass into the marsh below. I noticed some fields of rice growing luxuriantly along the edge of the marsh, and watered by these many rills. In half an hour from the Tell, we crossed the Hasbâny, now greatly augmented, on a bridge called el-Ghŭjar. The stream runs in a deep fissure or channel of volcanic tuf, and the descent and ascent to and from the bridge is very steep. Turning to the left, we now descended some fifty or sixty feet, to the level of the marsh, and followed the windings of a little canal, by which a portion of the Hasbâny is carried along the upper margin of the marsh for several miles towards the western mountains, until it meets a considerable stream which comes down from Merj 'Ayûn. A short distance west of the bridge is a small brook; and on the flat below a miserable half-ruined village of Ghawârineh Arabs, called ez-Zûk.

Region of the Huleh. About twenty minutes from the western mountains, there rises abruptly from the edge of the marsh a sharp high hill of basalt, which runs almost due north for many miles parallel to the mountains, and forms the eastern wall of the district of Merj 'Ayûn. The waters from the Merj make a considerable stream; which passes out between this hill and the mountains, and enters the marsh. In this brook, and all along the small canal above mentioned, were herds of buffaloes wallowing in the mire. With black hairless hides plastered all over with mud, lank skeletons, slouched ears, lazy gait, sinister sulky looks, and wheezing, disgusting snore, they are certainly the least poetic of all animals. If the buffalo is the Reem of Scripture, as many of the learned assert, it is difficult to sympathize with Job and David and Isaiah in their magnificent descriptions of him.'

From Bâniâs to the bridge el-Ghŭjar, is one hour and a quarter; and from the bridge to the western mountains, an hour and three quarters; which, at our rate of riding, would make the whole distance about twelve miles. The width of the plain itself, immediately above the marsh, therefore, cannot be less than ten miles.

Having reached the western mountains, we sent forward our baggage directly to Hûnîn, and set off to visit the lake Hûleh. We rode rapidly two hours and three quarters along the edge of the marsh, (which

1 Those who hold that by the Hebrew Reem is meant the buffalo of the east, do not suppose the animal to have been at that time domesticated, but still wild, or partially so; as is the case at the present day in Abyssinia. See Bibl. Res. III, p. 306.—E. R.

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