II. REMARKS ON A SERMON DELIVERED BY THE LATE DR. EMMONS OF FRANKLIN BEFORE THE NORFOLK BIBLIOTHECA SACRA AND THEOLOGICAL REVIEW. NO. XVII. FEBRUARY, 1848. ARTICLE I. TOUR FROM BEIRÛT TO ALEPPO IN 1845.1 By Rev. W. M. Thomson, Missionary at Beirut. WITHIN the last few years Palestine has been traversed in all directions by travellers from Europe and America, who have in various ways given to the public the result of their discoveries. Northern Syria however has been rarely visited, and but comparatively little is known in regard to it. This fact will probably be regarded by oriental students as a sufficient apology for publishing the following brief journal of a tour through this interesting country. Oct. 16th, 1845. In company with Capt. Newbold of the East India service I left Beirût this afternoon at 3 o'clock, on a tour to Aleppo. A ride of half an hour through rich mulberry orchards brought us to Nahr Beirût-the Magoras of Strabo and Pliny-which we crossed on a substantial stone bridge of seven arches. My companion examined, with some curiosity, the remains of a very ancient building, of Roman brick, which has for many ages marked the spot where St. George killed the Dragon. Leaving the lovers of legendary lore to discuss the rival claims between this and twenty other sites, for the honor of this wonderful combat, we pass on our way around the deep bay of St. George. The path lies along the soft sea beach, and the feathery surf of the light summer breeze tumbles harmlessly over the 1 A similar tour in 1840 is described by Mr. Thomson in the Missionary Herald for 1841, p. 28, etc. 66 feet of your horse. From N. Beirût to N. Antelias1 is one hour, and as much further to Nahr el-Kelb-or Dog river-the Lycus of the ancients. Remarkable on many accounts is this little river. Between lofty ramparts of perpendicular rock, it leaps boldly down from snow-clad Sunnîn into the Mediterranean. Its southern rampart projects into the sea, forming a bold, rough promontory, along whose overhanging brow, a narrow and slippery path has been cut out of the solid rock by men of other days." This remarkable pass was once defended by a gate in the narrowest part, the remains of which are still visible, including a granite column with a Greek inscription too much effaced to be copied. A few rods further on are the Egyptian and Persian figures cut in relief on the face of the rock. I see the name of Sesostris constantly coupled with one of these figures, and shall not attempt to disturb the relation. The origin of the winged globe overshadowing youth acting Egyptian gymnastics is not to be mistaken, and the inscriptions in the arrow-headed character are undoubtedly Persian. Further on and lower down are two Latin inscriptions which may be read in Burckhardt and many other travellers. Near the foot of the present bridge is a very long Saracenic inscription, so involved that our Arab scholars are not able to decipher it. Men of all ages and dynasties have been ambitious to leave some memento of their existence at this remarkable spot. The pass is about half a mile long, rough and rocky and disagreeable in the extreme to a timid rider. The river is always fordable except in very rainy weather, and for such times there is a good stone bridge of three arches erected by the Emeer Bshire. About six miles above the bridge a large part of the river flows out of a cavern; and there are two other caves further up the valley. Across the interior and lower extremities of these caves the river glides darkly, and disappearing beneath the mountain bursts out finally at the mouth of the lowest cavern. These caves are well worth visiting.2 The real sources of the river are the great fountains, Neba el-Asil and Neba el-Lebn, some fifteen miles further up the mountain. A few rods below N. el-Lebn the river flows under a magnificent natural bridge; and then fretting and foaming through, over and 1 1 Is the village, Antelias, which is prettily situated about a mile east of the road where the N. Antelias bursts through the rocky barrier of the hills into the plain, the modern representative of the Leontos mentioned by Strabo as between Beirût and the river Lycus? Here are, and probably always were, the mills which mainly supply Beirat with flour. This of itself would make it a place of importance. The shipping in the bay also water from Antelias. 2 For a full account of these caverns by Mr. Thomson, see Missionary Herald, 1841, p. 31.-EDS. 1848.] Ruins of a Greek Temple. 3 amongst huge rocks it leaps from a giddy precipice into the valley below, a beautiful but solitary cascade in the heart of these mountains. This natural bridge is one of the largest in the world. The span of its noble and finely turned arch is 163 feet. The elevation above the stream is from 70 to 80 feet, and the width on the top varies from 120 to 160 feet. The rock is 30 feet thick in the centre of the arch, and much thicker at the abutments. The public road passes over the top, which Mr. Wildenbruh, the Prussian consul general, ascertained to be 4926 feet above the sea. No traveller should fail to explore Dog river. The ride to this natural curiosity by Ajeltoon and Fareiyeh is one of the most romantic in all Lebanon. Two or three miles south-west of this bridge are the ruins of a temple of Grecian architecture called Fukrah. It faces the east, and measures 110 feet by 55. The walls are partly standing, but the columns are all prostrate. They are plain shafts of limestone with Corinthian capitals. Fragments of a Greek inscription are found on broken pieces of cornice, but they cannot be collected into an intelligible record. There are considerable ruins as of a town in the vicinity; and on a hill forty or fifty rods to the north stands an isolated tower of singular construction. What remains, appears to be only the basement, nearly solid and without any arch. Probably there were upper stories on this very substantial base. The prospect from the top down the gorge and over mountain and valley to the distant sea at Beirût is magnificent. The water of Neba el-Lebn is still conducted over the hill to the temple, but it now only waters the plantations around it. Who built this temple, tower and city, and when, it is impossible to ascertain. Every trace of the inhabitants who could have required such a place of worship has long since vanished from Leba There is an illegible inscription over the door of the tower, and on a stone near it is the following, cut in large well-marked characters. LΕΝΤΕΠΙΘΟΛΟΝ ΡΑΒΒΟΜΟΥ ΕΠΙΜΕ In two hours from N. el-Kelb we reached Maamelteîn, a collection of Khans at the extreme north-east corner of the bay of Jûneh. The wady of this place and name divides the districts of Kesrawân and Jebail; and here is seen the best specimen of a Roman bridge in Syria. It is a single arch whose span is 38 feet 4 inches, the width 23 feet 9 inches, and the heighth 26 feet. Some of the stones are 10 feet long by 3 thick. The whole fabric has a bold, substantial appear |