ciples at Emmaus, when in the act of making himself known to them by the breaking of bread. Another exhibits the Virgin bearing in swaddlingclothes the infant Jesus; and a third seems to illustrate the same subject in circumstances somewhat different. They are said to bear a great resemblance to those used in the churches of Russia, being executed upon a square piece of wood about half an inch in thickness. As they were not valued highly by the person into whose hands they had accidentally fallen, the Englishman bestowed a trifle on the ignorant Mohammedan, and "took them into safer custody."*

The Vale of Zabulon divides the village just described from the ridge of hills which look down on Acre and the shores of the Great Sea. This delightful plain appears every where covered with spontaneous vegetation, flourishing in the wildest exuberance. The scenery is described by Dr Clarke as not less beautiful than that of the rich valleys upon the south of the Crimea. It reminded him of the finest parts of Kent and Surrey. The prickly pear, which grows to a prodigious size in the Holy Land, sprouts luxuriantly among the rocks, displaying its gaudy yellow blossoms, and promising abundance of a delicious cooling fruit. On either side of the road the ruins of fortified places exercise the ingenuity of the antiquarian traveller, who endeavours, through the mist of tradition and the perplexing obscurity of modern names, to identify towns which make a figure in Jewish and Roman history. All remains of the strong city of Za

Travels, iv. p. 148.

bulon, called by Josephus the "city of men," have disappeared; and its " admirable beauty," rivalling that of Tyre, Sidon, and Berytus, is now sought for in vain among Arab huts and scattered stones.

The plain, which skirts the Mediterranean from Jaffa to Cape Blanco, presents many interesting memorials of Hebrew antiquity and of European warfare. Every town along the coast has been the scene of contention between the armies of Christendom and those of Islamism; whence arises the motive which has determined us to incorporate the history of these cities with the narrative of the exploits whereon their fortunes have chiefly depended. Suffice it to mention as we go along, that the vicinity of Acre invites the attention of the naturalist, on account of certain facts recorded by Pliny, and repeated by subsequent historians. It is said by this writer, that it was at the mouth of the river Belus the art of making glass was first discovered. A party of sailors, who had occasion to visit the shore in that neighbourhood, propped up the kettle in which they were about to cook their provisions with sand and pieces of nitre; when to their surprise they found produced by the action of the fire on these ingredients, a new substance, which has added immensely to the comforts of life and to the progress of science. The sand of this remarkable stream continued for ages to supply not only the manufactories of Sidon, but all other places, with materials for that beautiful production. Vessels from Italy were employed to remove it for the glasshouses of Venice and Genoa so late as the middle of the seventeenth century.

There is another circumstance connected with the same river, which, in the mythological writings of antiquity, makes a still greater figure than the discovery just described. Lucian relates that the Belus, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody colour, a fact which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy for the death of this favourite of Venus, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains whence the stream takes its rise. "Something like this," says Maundrell, "we saw actually come to pass; for the water was stained to a surprising redness, and, as we had observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea a great way into a reddish hue, occasioned doubtless by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Adonis❜ blood."*

The excellency of Carmel, which here rises into view, has in a great measure passed away. The curse denounced by Amos has fallen upon it," The top of Carmel shall wither;"-for it is now chiefly remarkable as a mass of barren and desolate rocks. Its sides are indeed graced by some native cedars, and even the brambles are still intermingled with wild vines and olives, denoting its ancient fertility or more careful cultivation; but there are no longer any rich pastures to render it the "habitation of shepherds," or to recall to the fancy the beauty of Carmel and of Sharon, and to justify the comparison of it to the glory of Libanus. It owes to its name and to its prominent situation on the coast, as a

Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 35.

sentinel of the Holy Land, all the interest which can now be claimed for the mountain on which Elias vindicated the worship of Jehovah, and where thousands of holy Christians have spent their lives in meditation and prayer.

The monastery which stands on the summit of the hill, near the spot where the prophet offered up his sacrifice, was long the principal residence of the Carmelite friars. It appears never to have been a fine building, and is now entirely abandoned. During the campaign of the French in Syria, it was made an hospital for their sick, for which it was well adapted by its healthy and retired situation. It has been since ravaged by the Turks, who have stripped its shrines and destroyed its roof; though there still remains, for the solace of devout visiters, a small stone altar in a grotto dedicated to Saint Elias, over which is a coarse painting representing the holy man leaning on a wheel, with fire and other instruments of sacrifice at his side.*

* Buckingham, vol. i. p. 181.

CHAPTER VIII.

The History of Palestine from the Fall of Jerusalem to the Present Time.

State of Judea after Fall of Jerusalem-Revolt under TrajanBarcochab-Adrian repairs Jerusalem-Schools at Babylon and Tiberias-The Attempt of Julian to rebuild the Temple-Invaision of Chosroes-Sack of Jerusalem-Rise of Islamism-Wars of the Caliphs-First Crusade-Jerusalem delivered-Policy of Crusades-Victory at Ascalon-Baldwin King-Second Crusade -Saladin-His Success at Tiberias-He recovers JerusalemThe Third Crusade-Richard Cœur de Lion-Siege and Capture of Acre Plans of Richard-His Return to Europe-Death of Saladin-Fourth Crusade-Battle of Jaffa-Fifth Crusade_Fall of Constantinople-Sixth Crusade-Damietta taken-Reverses Frederick the Second made King of Jerusalem-Seventh Crusade -Christians admitted into the Holy City-Inroad of Karismians -Eighth Crusade under Louis IX. He takes Damietta-His Losses and Return to Europe-Ninth Crusade-Louis IX. and Edward I.-Death of Louis-Successes of Edward-Treaty with Sultan-Final Discomfiture of the Franks in Palestine, and Loss of Acre-State of Palestine under the Turks-Increased Toleration-Bonaparte invades Syria-Siege of Acre and Defeat of French-Actual State of the Holy Land-Number, Condition, and Character of the Jews.

THE destruction of Jerusalem, though it put an end to the polity of the Hebrew nation as an independent people, did not entirely disperse the remains of their miserable tribes, nor denude the Holy Land of its proper inhabitants. The number of the slain was indeed immense, and the multitude of captives carried away by Titus glutted the slave-markets of the Roman empire; but it is true, nevertheless,