IV, CHAP. history of the actions of the holy Apostles, where mention is made of the visit paid to it by St. Paul and his companions, during their voyage from Tyre to Cæsarea'. The Editor of the Oxford edition of Strabo affirms that it regained its antient name under the Mohammedans2. Ammianus Marcellinus, as cited by Maundrell, best explains the cause; when he affirms, that "the Greek and Roman names of places never took amongst the natives of this country." It is therefore most probable that it always retained its original Oriental appellation among the natives of Syria; and that the word Ptolemaïs,' used by Greek and Roman writers, and found upon medals of the city struck after it was a Roman colony, was never adopted the indigenous inhabitants. In the light sandy soil, containing a mixture of black vegetable earth, which lies near the town, we observed plantations of water-melons, pumpkins, and a little corn; also abundance of (1) Acts xxi. 7, 8. "And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemaïs ..... And the next day, we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Cæsarea." (2) "Sub Mahommedanis nomen vetus revixit." Vid. Annot. in Strab. Geogr. ed. Oxon. p. 1077. (3) Lib. xiv. Hist non longè ab initio. (4) Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 64. Oxf. 1721. cattle. We continued along the sea-shore until we arrived at the camp of Djezzar's cavalry. CHAP. IV. Djezzar We Pasha's for the Ex pedition. The Pasha had fixed upon this place, as a point Camp of of rendezvous for mustering our party. found our whole force to consist of twenty-three armed persons on horseback, with two camels Cavalcade laden,-a cavalcade which the turbulent state of the country at this time rendered absolutely necessary for our security. The individuals composing it were, Captain Culverhouse, of the Romulus frigate; Mr. Loudon, purser of the same ship; Signor Catafago, the Imperial Consul; Signor Bertocino, interpreter to the Pasha; the Captain of Djezzar's Body Guard; ten Arab soldiers of his cavalry; the Cockswain of the Captain's barge; two servants; two servants; two Arab grooms belonging to Djezzar's stables; Antonio Manuraki, our own faithful interpreter; Mr. Cripps; and the Author of these Travels. This number was soon augmented by pilgrims from the different places we passed through, desirous of an escort to Jerusalem; so that at last we formed a redoubtable caravan. In viewing the camps of Syrian the country, we were struck by the resemblance between the common tents of Europeans and those used by Arabs in this part of Asia. Perhaps there is no art of man more antient than that of constructing these temporary habitations; but although simplicity be their Tents. CHAP. universal characteristic, they are by no means uniformly fashioned among different nations. A variety of climate necessarily modifies the mode of their construction. The conical dwelling of the Laplander is not shaped after a model borrowed from the wandering hordes of Tahtary; nor does the lodging-place of a Calmuck resemble the wide-spreading airy pavilions of Syria. To what then can be owing the similitude which exists, in this respect, between a tribe of Arabs and the inhabitants of Europe; unless the latter derived the luxury and the elegance of their tents, as they did so many other of their refinements, from the inhabitants of this country, in the time of the Crusades? Where customs are beheld as they existed during the first ages of the world, there is little reason to believe the manner of building this kind of dwelling has undergone any material alteration. The tent of an Arab Chief, in all probability, exhibits, at this day, an accurate representation of the Hebrew Shapheer1, or regal pavilion of the Land of Canaan: its Asiatic form, and the nature of its materials, render it peculiarly adapted to the temperature of a Syrian climate: but viewing it in northern countries, where it appears rather (1) See Harmer's Observations on Pass. of Scripture, vol. I. p. 129. ed. Lond. 1808. IV. as an article of elegance and of luxury, than of CHAP. comfort or of utility, we can perhaps only explain the history of its introduction by reference to events, which, for more than two centuries, enabled the inhabitants of such distant countries to maintain an intercourse with each other. In the beginning of our journey, several of the escort amused us by an exhibition of the favourite exercise called Djerid: also by an equestrian sport, resembling a game called 'Prisoner's Base' in England. In the plain near Acre we passed a small conical hill, upon which we observed a ruin and several caverns: this answers to the situation assigned by Josephus for the Sepulchre of Memnon2. We crossed the Belus. sandy bed of the river Belus, near to its mouth, River where the stream is shallow enough to allow of its being forded on horseback: here, it is said, Hercules found the plant Colocasia, which effected the cure of his wounds. According to Pliny, the art of making glass was discovered by some mariners who were boiling a kettle upon the sand of this river3: it continued for ages to (2) Joseph. De Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 9. IV. CHAP. supply not only the manufactories of Sidon', but all other places, with materials for that purpose2. Vessels from Italy continued to remove it, for the glass-houses of Venice and Genoa, so late as the middle of the seventeenth century3. It seemed to us to be muddy, and mixed with various impurities: we afterwards regretted that we did not collect a portion, in order to examine whether it naturally contains an alkali. There is an air of something strained in the addition made to the story concerning the Phoenician mariners, of the blocks of nitre used as props for their caldron: Pliny may have added this himself, by way of explaining the accident that followed. Farther toward the south, in the east corner of (1) Strabo says, it was carried to Sidon, to be made ready for fusion. Strab. Georg. lib. xvi. p. 1077. ed. Oxon. (2) "Idque tantum multa per secula gignendo fuit vitro." Ibid. L. Bat. 1635. (3) Doubdan relates, that even in his time vessels from Italy came to be freighted with this sand. "Quelques fois; quoy que fort rarement, quelques vaisseaux d'Italie en ont chargé pour cet effect." Voy. de la Terre Sainte, p. 599. (4) See the sublime Song of DEBORAH (Judges, V. 20, 21.) "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, that antient river, the river Kishon." |