last against the victorious troops of the Kurd Saláhu-d-dín, our Saladin. In after times, it, in a similar mamer, opposed, but unsuccessfully, the devastating progress of Taïmur the Tátár, who, after its capture, bestowed much care in restoring its fortifications.

It is impossible not to remark here how much, notwithstanding the daily advance which is made in our acquaintance with the comparative geography of the East, is wanting to give accuracy and correctness to the details of the progress of the Crusades, and the history of the Latin possessions in Syria and Palestine. As they at present exist, these histories are often little better than romance; and, indeed, the Crusades appear to have been long since given up as a theme only for poetry or fiction. It is not that a noble exception to this presents itself in the labours of such men as Robertson, Mackintosh, Chateaubriand, and Guizot, who have justly vindicated the philosophy of these otherwise unfortunate enterprises, and which were truly not mere questions of rescuing a tomb, but wars, upon the event of which hung the decision as to whether the Christian or the Mohammedan religion should predominate in the world. It is that no such a thing as a correct history, in regard to sites, exists of the Crusades. The best, the German work of Frederick Wilken, is wonderfully incomplete and unsatisfactory in these points; and those of Mills and of Michaud are, in the same point of view, utterly useless. It is an error to suppose that the exploits of the Crusaders would lose in interest or beauty by being subjected to such a searching inquiry. They would, on the contrary, in a country like Syria, where the natural beauties are so great, and the archæological and scenic details are always of the most picturesque character, gain by it to an unanticipated and unimagined extent.

From 'Azáz, our object being attained, we returned by the same road to Antioch. During the early part of this month the wagons brought from England, and a number of vehicles of different kinds, amounting in all to thirty-three, had been either constructed or put together at Amelia depot; and a few camels and mules having been at length procured, chiefly through the exertions of the British consul and merchants at Aleppo, the transport now for the first time commenced; and shortly after our return the novel spectacle was afforded to the inhabitants of the ancient city of Antioch of loaded wagons, with teams of six horses, crossing the narrow bridge of Orontes, and plying their way from beneath its arched gateway through its encumbered markets and rudely paved streets.

This mode of transport proved, however, from the badness of the roads, to be very laborious and dilatory; and on the 22nd of the month I received orders to explore the Lake of Antioch and its affluents, with a view to ascertain if the transport could be assisted by waternavigation. I accordingly started the next day, in company with Mr. Bell, and we proceeded up the Orontes in a native boat propelled by poles. We were not long in arriving at the point where this river is joined by the Kárá sú, or Black water, which flows out of the lake; and we continued our way up the latter, passing on our right hand a mound isolated among the marshes, and on the summit of which is the tomb of a holy man, to whom once a year a crowded pilgrimage is made.

The two natives we had with us as boatmen, however, made but

slow progress, added to which, although the current was not strong, the river was very tortuous; and night was coming on apace when we reached the border of the lake, so that it was not deemed advisable to venture upon the open water that night. The boat was accordingly, for security sake, run out of the channel into the marsh, composed at this point of reeds, amid which occasional willow trees rose, their aged-looking trunks half buried in water. After sunset the musquittoes came down upon us like a cloud, and added, by their incessant hum and piercing attacks, to the dismal character of the swamp.

We were glad to start the next day with the earliest dawn, not waiting for daybreak, which came too tediously, in so grievous a position; and the native mode of propulsion not allowing the boat to take the open waters, the navigation of the lake was performed by the slow and safe means of keeping to the limits of the marsh; and the same day we gained the Black Water, where it entered the lake at its northwestern extremity, and were forced to pass the night in a somewhat similar position as on the other side of the lake, only that the channel of the river was less discernible from the number of aquatic plants which nearly choked it, and which harboured numerous waterfowl.

The ensuing day (June 25) we continued our way up the Black Water, our progress being somewhat impeded by the close vegetation, amid which beauteous nymphæas and nuphars,-naïads of the stream, -made themselves peculiarly noticed by their gorgeous beauty; the common white water-lily especially attained great perfection, its large flower, filled with petals so as to appear almost double, expanding to a gigantic size. Nor was our progress void of life or animation. Here and there a solitary heron watched, in motionless silence, for a passing fish; red legged storks waded in the marsh, where crested herons herded in troops; spur-winged plovers screeched above; bald coots stole away behind tufts of reeds or rushes; various kinds of duck and snipe occasionally winged their long flight away; while giant pelicans sailed bravely before us, the boat being unable to match them. in speed.

Pelicans and storks were always objects of interest to me. Afterwards, when encamped at Murád Páshá, it was part of the evening's recreation to watch these great fisher-birds collecting from the lake, and its various affluents; then eddying for awhile in aerial evolutions, performed at a vast height, to ultimately descend on some open part of the plain, where they disposed themselves in a circle, so that danger could be perceived approaching on whatever side, and where they resigned themselves to a repose only interrupted by the prowling hyæna, or the savage gambols of troops of jackalls.

As to storks, there was something that was always refreshing in their entire confidence in humanity, and their noisy and vehement conjugal affection. They constituted excellent alarum clocks, for the male and female, throwing their long mandibles upon their backs, saluted each other by reiterated clappings at the earliest dawn. It was once my lot to be quartered in a town, close by a mosque, at the time when the storks came from their southerly migrations to build. One perched upon my roof, which the functionaries of the Mohammedan house of prayer observing, they sent a boy to carry a basket to the summit of

the dome, in order to entice the sacred bird from the infidel's roof. I at once, however, sought also a basket for my visitor-a lady stork, by the bye, for the gentleman was soaring over her somewhere between us and the sun-and to outdo the Mussulmans I added a bit of carpet. This, however, only increased the activity of my rivals to win the affections of the bird, and they sent devout urchins in pursuit of frogs and other reptiles, and deposited them on the top of the dome. It so happened, however, that my house furnished an abundant opposition supply of lizards, centipedes, scorpions, and other pleasant creatures which were to be met with in every crevice of the mud-walls, even in my dormitory, and under every brick that lay about, and which I seized with a pair of small forceps, and laid out for the bird's refreshment; so that, although the stork did for a time delight the eyes of the multitude which had assembled in the court-yard of the mosque, by settling on the dome, it soon returned to take up its dwelling with the Christian, a thing the chagrined Mohammedans asserted had never before happened in that city to a follower of the Messiah.

We continued the navigation of the Black Water to where it was joined by another stream from the north-east, called the Egrí, or Crooked; and we turned up this latter till we came to a bridge, which put an end to any further necessities for exploration. The road from the sea to Aleppo is carried round the northern part of the lake at this point, and it is here carried across marsh and river, and a territory liable to extensive inundations at certain seasons of the year, by this bridge and a stone causeway nearly three miles in length, and called after its originator, Murád Páshá. Not far from the bridge, was a tel, having upon its summit a village of Arabs called Göl Báshí, or the "Head of the Lake," from an abundant spring of clear water, which issued from a mass of basaltic rocks cropping out at the foot of the tel.

Having now, by the route, followed from Beilan to Antioch, and from Antioch by the Iron Bridge to Jindarís, combined with the present navigation of the lake and its northerly affluents, explored the plain of Imma in nearly all its details, the opportunity may be taken to remark that the identification of the rivers at present existing on this plain, with such as are described as watering the same expanse of territory in ancient times, presents greater difficulties than usual. We have, indeed, but one leading statement to assist us in this inquiry. It is that of Strabo, who says, "not far from Gindarus is Pagræ in Antiochidæ, a place strongly situated on the road which, crossing the Amanus, leads from the Amanian gates into Syria." Pagræ denominates the plain of Antioch, where flow the Arceuthus, the Orontes, the Labotas, and where are also met the rivulet or ditch of Meleager and the river Ænoparas.

From the description here given of Pagræ there would be much to justify the identification of that site with Beilan; but it appears, according to Colonel Chesney, that the castle previously described as that of 'Ibn 'Abi Dáúd is also known by the name of Pagras Kal'ehsí. Concerning the identity of the Orontes and the present El 'Así, we are safe by tradition and position, originating, according to Pliny in Colo-Syria, from the neighbourhood of Heliopolis (Ba'lbek); and, according to Mr. Barker, five hours north-east of the village of Ar rás, or the Honoured Head," (Abú-l-fedá Syria, p. 150). It washed,

according to Strabo, amongst others, the cities of Apamea and Antioch; and its embouchure was, according to the same authority, at a distance of forty stadia from Seleucia Pieria, shewing that, even at that point, it differs little from what existed in antiquity.

With regard to the Arceuthus, as it comes first on the list, we ought to seek for its representative in the largest river of the plain; and this is presented to us in the 'Afrín, a tributary to the Lake of Antioch, which has its origin in the Arsís Tágh, or ancient Arsace Mons, with which its name appears to have some relation. Words like Arsaces, Ariarathes, Arii, &c., all contain the same root Ar, signifying, as in the Sanscrit, Arya, "honoured or respected."

The next on the list is the Labotas, which follows the Orontes, and therefore, probably, adjacent to it; and from its name, if taken as expressive of a leaping or vaulting stream, the same as the river of Emgöli. There only remains, then, to identify the river Ænoparas and the ditch of Meleager, which appear together in Strabo's enumeration, and we must thus seek for them in the only remaining rivers of the plain-the Kárású, formed by the junction of numerous tributaries from the higher country, and the shorter affluent, which flows beneath the bridge of Murád Páshá.

The fact of Cyrus having, in his celebrated expedition against his brother Artaxerxes, passed the plain of Imma, on his way from Myriandrus to the river Chalus (Koweïk), without the historian of the expedition, Xenophon, having noticed either the plain itself, the lake, or any of its various affluents, has led to many surmises, some of which have affected the accuracy of the historian; others have suggested doubts as to the existence of a lake on this plain at those remote periods; but there is nothing in the character of the soil to uphold the last of these suppositions, for the greater part of the plain is occupied by lacustrine deposits, formed by the gradual desiccation of the lake, proving at once its very remote antiquity, and at the same time that it was in former times even more extensive than at present.

It was on this plain, washed by the Enoparas, that Darius encamped, previous to passing the Amanus and delivering the battle of Issus: and it was on the same plain, that one of the most complicated political dramas, which resulted from the establishment of different governments in the East, upon the death of Alexander the Great, met with a fatal solution.

The drama here alluded to, is presented to us in the usurpation of the throne of Demetrius Soter, by Alexander Balas, "Lord or King," a person of low origin, but who was supported in his pretensions by the Roman senate, and by the kings of Egypt, Cappadocia, and Pergamus. Ptolemy Philometor even conferred upon him the hand of his daughter Cleopatra. The usurper, however, proved himself unworthy of his elevation. Giving himself up to the pursuit of pleasure, he permitted his minister, Ammonius, to put to death all the members of the late royal family, with the exception of two sons of Demetrius, who had taken refuge in Crete. Indignant at the proceedings of the usurper, Ptolemy took from him his daughter Cleopatra, and conferred her on the eldest of the sons of Demetrius, marching with him, at the same time, against the infatuated King of Antioch. The armies met on the plain now before us, and in the battle that ensued, the usurper was defeated, and the throne regained by its rightful claimant; but

Ptolemy died of the wounds he received on this occasion; and Balas was assassinated by an Arab chief, with whom he sought refuge.

Considering that Antioch occupies one corner of the plain of Imma, and that we have in no instance referred to historical facts except when some new and interesting geographical light could be thrown upon the events of olden time, it will be seen how much we have left unnoticed, and that few limited tracts of territory have been more stained by the blood of battles and sullied with human gore than the one now in question. We find, under the Antiochida, under the Romans, under the Persians, during the Low Empire, under the Saracens, the Crusaders, the Mamluks, Tatars, and Turks, down to the time of Ibráhím Páshá, a repetition of the same sanguinary scenes, which sometimes, indeed, by the vast destruction they entailed, rivalled anything that has been presented by any other portion of the globe; and yet this is by nature a beautiful territory, a rich and fertile soil, a most luxuriant climate, with a clear sky, and equally pellucid waters, most favourable to the pursuit of literature and the arts, renowned for learning, philosophy, and religion, the seat of the seductive mysteries of Daphne, the cradle of Christianity, and the so called "

Eastern church."

eye of the What induced Strabo to connect the name of Meleager, the unfortunate slayer of the wild boar of Calydon, with a remote and insignificant stream on the plain of Imma, I am at a loss to discover, unless for Calydon we were to read Chalybon, and this was the site of the fabulous boar-hunt; but the fact is, that we often find the fables of Greece repeated throughout the East, as we find the name of the fountain of Phocis given to that of Daphne, and of Marsyas to the spring near Apamea. Such a repetition of names is far from uncommon.

Having obtained horses and a guide from the Arabs of Göl Báshí, we started on a visit to Ahmet Bey, the chief of the Reï 'anlú Turkomans, and who was encamped in the valley of the 'Afrín, not far from the lake. At the foot of the hills, to the eastward, and on the road from Murád Páshá to Jindarís, were several thermal springs, which presented the peculiarity of having made their appearance at different periods-epochs generally marked by earthquakes-and the temperature of these springs I found to vary with the period to which the tradition of the natives assigned their appearance, the most recent possessing the highest degree of temperature, or 99° 5'. Another, which appeared at a more remote epoch, 98° 7′; a third, 98°; and a fourth, only 77°. Notwithstanding the warmth of the water, in a country where the mean annual temperature was about 66°, these springs contained tortoises, frogs, and plants. They were much resorted to by the natives; and Ibráhím Páshá had erected a house for their accommodation, which was afterwards much used as a place of shelter during the transport.

On our way across the plain, we passed by several encampments of Turkomans, at each of which we were assailed so fiercely by the dogs, that it was with difficulty they were prevented biting our own or our horses' heels. The people themselves never offered to interfere or call them off; and a stranger, on such occasions, defending himself with a whip or stick, or dealing playful blows with the flat of his sabre, his horse kicking about in every direction, makes a very ridiculous figure,