basis-rock along this shore, which has undergone some local change, perhaps a subsidence; for it has been cut away and prepared for foundations to houses, which, however, had the sea always preserved the same relative level, Iwould have been uninhabitable. In some places excavations of a few inches disclose foundations; and there are fragments of hewn marble within so near the water that they are washed by every high wave.

At about three miles from Tyre we could see a domelike mountain, which our guide assured us was Mount Tabor. We skirted the shore, and at about twenty-five minutes after nine o'clock were within the walls of Tyre.

CHAPTER VIII.

TYRE-ITS HISTORY AND LEGENDS.

IMMEDIATELY after our entrance we were introduced to a condition of things very nearly resembling a barn-yard. We were the objects of not a little curiosity as we wound our way through narrow streets, like those at Sidon, and at last entered the court-yard of a khan. Here we dismounted, and, taking a guide, commenced our examinations. The guide had acquired a few words of French, which he made use of whenever he was unwilling that any around should understand him. After passing the bazaars, we were taken to what is evidently the great relic in the opinion of the present Tyrians, namely, the ruins of the ancient church.

Back of these ruins are numerous others; and there is one solitary pillar, the lower half of which is beneath the soil, like that "nameless column with its buried base” at Rome. Who knows what interesting discovery might be connected with its uncovering? Near it some Arabs were digging for building material, which is shipped from this port; and they had uncovered large stones and one or two shafts of marble which were lying horizontally. The height of debris over these remains was fully sixteen feet by measurement, several of the columns being six feet in circumference. This was the circumference also of the leading column; but another was nine feet; and this was fluted. The soil for some distance around seems to be formed upon ruins and débris of a time anterior to the erection of the church, to the ruins of which we again returned. The walls form a part of the city-walls, and appear to be the

work of the same age. The interior of what was once a splendid building is now completely filled up with little huts with mud roofs; and several fig-trees grow in the ancient nave and transept. In one of the yards of these huts we found a double column of red granite, measuring twenty-six feet eight inches in length, and nearly six feet in diameter. Near it, and parallel with it, was another of smaller size. We now traversed the shore and the point running into the sea. Here, in the water, were more than forty broken shafts lying in one heap, all apparently of a grey granite. A wharf, or "break-water," runs along the shore for about half a mile, in some parts from fifteen to twenty feet in height; and into this wall is built in several places pieces from the granite columns, showing that they were used to form parts of the building material of the wharf at the time of its erection. Men were fishing from the rocks, and some carrying out and preparing to spread their nets over the fragments of ancient palaces and buildings of great beauty now lying scattered in the sea. Farther to the north of the peninsula I found some half-buried capitals of a pink variegated marble. The crystallization is very fine, and the marble is evidently imported, as no such material is found in Syria. The order appears to be a plain Corinthian, and, from the volutes, probably Roman, though the excessive corrosion precludes certainty.

There are facts and legends connected with the history of Tyre of a variety, beauty, and importance which, though they attest to the fact that Sidon was its parent, add an interest to Tyre which appertains neither to Sidon nor to any other city in the world. There is, however, a necessity for a previous knowledge of the general history of the city, which I think can be summarily given in the following epitome.

2200 B.C.-The present peninsula was probably first settled by a colony from Sidon, who took possession of what was then a rocky island about two hundred and fifty or