sisting chiefly upon fishing, who seem to be preserved in this place by Divine providence, as a visible argument how God has fulfilled His word concerning Tyre, viz. that it should be as the top of a rock,-a place for fishers to dry their nets on."

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In Pococke's day (1738), the French factory at Sidon exported large quantities of grain from Tyre; and Volney says that the only merchant in Tyre was a Greek factor in the service of that establishment, who scarcely made sufficient profit to maintain his family! Another traveller describes Tyre as a rock whereon fishers dry their nets," and Volney speaks of the "trifling fishery of Tyre," and, although in later days this fallen city has in some small degree risen from its ruins, yet the latest accounts describe it as "hardly deserving the name of city."-See ROBINSON'S Researches, pp. 401-407. MAUNDRELL'S Journey, pp. 48, 49. HARDY'S Notices, pp. 110, 111.

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After leaving the beautiful plain by which Acre is bounded on the west, we began," writes Mr. Paxton, "to ascend a high promontory, called White Cliff, from the whiteness of the rock of which it is composed. This is made up of the softest limestone I have ever seen, interspersed with nodules of flint. It was well for our nerves that a barrier had been left between us and the precipice, for sometimes there was a perpendicular descent from the road above to the sea below, which was dashing and foaming at its base. From this point, or ridge of hills, we entered the plain of Soor. This plain is narrow at first, but gradually spreads out, and presently has a wide extent, with a gentle rising of its eastern side into hills, with mountains towering beyond. The soil is rich and productive. There are some villages on the hills, but none of any size. passed several places near the shore, where there had evidently once been villages; in one or two of these there were remains of walls, and other relics of former habitations. As we approached Soor, the mountains and

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hills fell back, making a kind of amphitheatre, rising more or less, as it approached the mountains, but forming a rich and valuable back country to this former mistress of the sea

Travelling from Safed to Tyre, and when some few hours' distance from the latter, Dr. Robinson writes, "We came out upon the brow of a steep and long descent, leading down from the high broad region of mountainous country, over which we had hitherto been travelling, to a lower tract of hills and valleys lying intermediate between this upper region and the plain of Tyre . . . Here was a most extensive and magnificent view of the hills and plains, the coast, and sparkling waters of the Mediterranean; on which last we could distinguish several vessels under sail, like white specks, in the distance. Directly before us, and the only object to break the monotony of the flat coast itself, was Sûr and its peninsula; while its plain, and the lower region of hills, teeming with villages, and variegated with cultivated fields and wooded heights, were spread out before us in great distinctness and beauty; it ranked high among the many beautiful prospects we had seen

The path now led us down, after a great descent, into the head of a deep and narrow valley, which we followed for a long distance directly on our course. It is called Wady 'Ashûr, and was now without water; but the steep sides are thickly wooded with prickly oak, maple, arbutus, sumach, and other trees and bushes, reaching quite down to the bottom; so that we often travelled among the trees. It reminded me strongly of some of the more romantic valleys among the Green Mountains in Vermont. Beneath the fine shades of this sequestered dell we stopped, at a quarter past eight o'clock, for breakfast. The morning was serene and beautiful, as the journey of the day was to be short, we gave ourselves up for a time to the luxury of repose. "The hill country, as we here approached Sûr, is fully tilled; and a peculiar characteristic of it is the produc

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tion of great quantities of tobacco. Throughout all Palestine, this plant in cultivated, more or less, for home consumption, in small patches, around most of the villages, where the soil permits; but here it is largely raised for exportation, and actually forms one of the main exports of Sûr, if not the chief; being carried mostly to Damietta.

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"Proceeding over the hilly tract, with a gradual descent. . . we came to one of the most remarkable monuments of antiquity yet remaining in the Holy Land. It is an immense sarcophagus of limestone, resting upon a lofty pedestal of large hewn stones; a conspicuous ancient tomb, bearing, among the common people, the name of .. Sepulchre of Hiram.' The sarcophagus measures twelve feet long by six feet in height and breadth; the lid is three feet thick, and remains in its original position; but a hole has been broken through the sarcophagus at one end. The pedestal consists of three layers of the like species of stone, each three feet thick, the upper layer projecting over the others; the stones are large, and one of them measures nine feet in length. This gray, weatherbeaten monument stands here alone and solitary, bearing the marks of high antiquity; but the name and the record of him by whom or for whom it was erected, have perished, like his ashes, for ever. It is indeed possible, that the present name may have come down by tradition; and that this sepulchre once held the dust of the friend and ally of Solomon; more probably, however, it is merely of Muhammedan application, like so many other names of Hebrew renown, attached to their tombs and monuments in every part of Palestine. I know of no historical trace having reference to this tomb; and it had first been mentioned by a Frank traveller only five years before

"We entered the plain, and reached Râs-el-'ain ; (so called,) as being the fountain head of the aqueducts, by which Tyre was anciently supplied with water. The

place lies in the plain, hardly a quarter of an hour from the sea-shore, and one hour from Tyre, on the direct road. It is a collection of large fountains, where the water gushes up in several places with great force, and in very large quantities. . . In order to raise them to a head sufficient to carry off the water by aqueducts, the ancients built around them elevated reservoirs, with walls of large stones, immensely thick, and fifteen or twenty feet high. There are four of these reservoirs, in all, at this place. (From two of them) an ancient aqueduct goes off N.N.E. through the plain, exhibiting strong and excellent masonry . . . evidently of Roman architecture ... The water of (the principal fountain) is now used only to turn a single mill, which stands immediately under the north side of the basin, having tub-wheels, like most mills in Syria . . . Around these fountains there is much verdure, and many trees. We made our noon-day halt in an orchard of fig-trees; and the whole scene was rural and refreshing. There is also something of a village. A few years ago the Pasha of Egypt began to erect here several factories for cloth ;

but after a while the expenses were found to be so great that the project was abandoned. The foundations of two buildings yet remained as they were then left; and the materials collected still lay upon the ground. .

"We reached . . . the only gate (of Tyre), situated close by the water, on the northern side . . . With indescribable emotion, I found myself within the circuit of the ancient mistress of the commerce of the East. Alas, how fallen!

"The peninsula on which Tyre, now Sûr, is built, was originally a long, narrow island, parallel to the shore, and distant from it less than half a mile. It was perhaps at first a mere ledge of rocks; and inside of this the island was formed by the sand washed up from the sea. The isthmus was first created by the famous causeway of Alexander; which was enlarged and rendered permanent by the action of the waters, in throw

ing the sand over it broadly and deeply. At present the isthmus cannot be less than half a mile in width; and although consisting of loose sand, yet it is covered with traces of the foundations of buildings, probably out of the Middle Ages. It lies between the shore and the more northern part of the island; so that the latter, as seen from the shore, seems to project further towards the south of the isthmus than towards the north, and forms here a larger bay; although the harbour, or rather road, in which vessels lie, is that on the north. The island, as such, is not far from a mile in length. The part which projects on the south beyond the isthmus, is perhaps a quarter of a mile broad, and is rocky and uneven; is is now unoccupied, except as place to spread nets upon.'

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"The southern wall of this city runs across the island nearly on a line with the south side of the isthmus. The present city stands upon the junction of a portion of the latter. On the north and west, towards the sea, are no walls; or at least they are so far broken away and neglected as to be like none. The inner port or basin, on the north, was formerly enclosed by a wall, running from the north end of the island in a curve towards the main land. Various pieces and fragments of this wall yet remain, sufficient to mark its course; but the port itself is continually filling up more and more with sand, and now-a-days only boats can enter it... The western coast of this island is wholly a ledge of rugged picturesque rocks, in some parts fifteen or twenty feet high, upon which the waves of the Mediterranean dash in ceaseless surges. The city lies only upon the eastern part of the island: between the houses and the western shore is a broad strip of open land, now given up to tillage. This shore is strewed from one end to the other, along the edge of the water, and in the water, with columns of red and gray granite, of various sizes, the only remaining monuments of the splendour of ancient Tyre. (I mean here, of course,