In the Number of this work for Feb. 1846, p. 213, after assigning the reasons which go to fix the position of Hazor "on the south of Kedesh in Naphthali, somewhere on the way between Kedesh and Safed," I suggested that "it is a matter well worth the attention of future travellers, to ascertain whether there exists in that district any remains, or any name, which may correspond to the name and the features of the ancient Hazor."

I was not then aware, that something had already been done in this respect. On mentioning the subject to the Rev. Eli Smith, after the article was printed, he informed me that while at Kedes in April 1844, his attention had been directed to a large Tell called Khureibeh some distance south of Kedes, on which were said to be ruins. He kindly furnished me with the following extract from his journal, with the accompanying remarks. If Khureibeh be not Hazor, it is at least deserving of further examination; and we may hope that Hazor may yet be identified, either there or in that region.

"Khureibeh is a Tell, apparently with ruins on it, at the south end of the plain of Kedes. Its bearing from Kedes is 186°. Just there, in a deep ravine, the Wady el-Muadhdhamiyeh [coming from near el-Jish] finds its way into the plain of the Hûleh, at the fountain of Mellâhah."

"The above is all the notice my journal contains respecting Khureibeh. We did not visit it; and I can add but little from recollection. It rises from an uneven tract, apparently on the north side of the deep ravine. I should judge it to be less than three miles from Kedes; and though aided by a spy-glass, I could not determine, whether the appearance of ruins on it might not be natural rocks. The name implies that it is a ruin. Should this turn out to be the Hazor of Scripture, perhaps the fountain Mellâhah may be the En-Hazor of Josh. 19: 37."

II. ANTIQUITIES ON THE ROUTE from Ba'albek to Hamath and

ALEPPO.

It is singular that in respect to just these regions, certainly among the most accessible in Syria, we have less information than of almost any other. Of the tract between Ba'albek and Hums, we have as yet only Buckingham's meagre notes, (Arab Tribes, p. 486 sq.,) and the still briefer ones of W. H. Barker on his visit to the sources of the Orontes; Jour. of Lond. Geogr. Soc. 1837. Between Hamath and Aleppo, the direct

road usually followed by travellers and caravans, presents little of interest; but a route further to the west, which Burckhardt took, leads through a region full of antiquities, though that traveller has not fully described them. The following extracts of a letter recently received from the Rev. W. M. Thomson of Beirût, will serve to give the reader some idea of the interesting objects still to be explored in those regions. I subjoin at the close some explanatory remarks.

"Beirut, Dec. 14th, 1846.

REV. AND DEAR SIR,-My late tour to Aleppo gave me an opportunity to complete my exploration of the Phenician cities, and led me to many other places of interest, as Selucia, Antioch, Jebel Simûn, full of Grecian towns and temples, Aleppo and its neighborhood, the great salt valley where David conquered Hadadezer, etc. This Vale of Salt is the most extraordinary place I have yet visited. I could also say something about Zobah, Khanâsereh, etc. in this connection.

ance.

Returning from Aleppo, I first visited Jebel el-Aala, ten hours nearly due west of that city; a singular isolated mountain with some sixty-five or seventy ruined Grecian towns, beautiful temples, churches of old date, with many Greek inscriptions. This mountain is inhabited by Druzes; some of whom had once lived in Abeil. They were like old acquaintFrom Jebal el-Aala my route was south by Jebel Nusrin to Edlip; then to Riha; then to the vast remains at el-Bâra, perhaps the largest ruin in Syria. I copied many inscriptions, all Greek. Next to Apamea, the ruins of which have never yet been described, or at least not in any book I have seen. Burckhardt could not have examined them. There is a single avenue from a mile to a mile and a half long, one hundred and twenty-three feet broad; with a colonnade twenty-four feet wide on each side for a foot-path. The columns were six feet apart, They were of various sizes, from three to four feet in diameter, and thirty-four feet high, with beautiful Corinthian capitals and cornice. The shafts of the columns were of all kinds, plain, fluted, flute inserted, double fluted, and twisted. There must have been about sixteen hundred columns, forming one of the most magnificent avenues in the world. But I cannot enlarge.

I visited Seijar and Hamath; and then kept along the eastern base of the mountains of the Nusairiyeh to the head of the Lake of Hums, called Kedes in the old Arabian geographers. Here I discovered the ruins of a Grecian city, called Kedes and also Kudesianos, at the head of the lake, from which the name of the lake no doubt came. I then followed up the Orontes to Riblah, the “Riblah in the land of Hamath," 2 Kings 23: 33; and thence to the great fountain of the Orontes, leaving Jury, the Laodicea ad Libanum on my left. This fountain is near Hurmnul. It is twice as large as that of the Jordan at Tell el-Kâdy. It rises under Lebanon, and sends out a strong river, which bears directly across the plain towards Anti-Lebanon, until it reaches Riblah, when it turns north and runs down into the lake. This almost impassable river forms the natural southern boundary for the kingdom of Hamath; and guides to the northern limits of the land promised to Israel. I was extremely interest

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A Catalogue and Library of Arabic Works.

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ed in this region. The two ranges of mountains come close together; and here I suppose was the "entering in" of the land of Hamath.

There are two objects at Hŭrmel of peculiar interest. One is the ruined convent [cavern] of Mâr Marôn, the founder of the Maronites. It is hewn out of the solid rock, immediately over the great fountain of the Orontes, a dark prison-like construction, more resembling the stronghold of a bandit, than the peaceable abode of the ministers of Jesus Christ, and strikingly emblematical of the dark, fierce, boorish sect, which traces its rise to these dingy caverns. The other curiosity is a very large monument about two miles east of the fountain, called el-Kâmo Hurmul. It is built of large hewn stones, is twenty-five feet square at the base, rises seventy or eighty feet, and is terminated by a pyramid. The four sides are covered with figures of various animals, intermingled with bows, arrows, spears, and other implements of the chase, in alto relievo, beautifully executed, and as large as life. This monument is in full view of Riblah, which lies on the river below. Can it have been the work of Nebuchadnezzar, when he was encamped here, and designed to commemorate his conquests? Or is it a great hunting trophy, erected by some one of the chase-loving Seleucidae? I can meet with no description of this wonderful monument in any book of travels. The style of architecture will not contradict the first supposition. There is no inscription in Greek; which would hardly have been the case, had it been constructed by that scribbling people. They could hardly set up a stone in this region, without inscribing something upon it; and had this monument, in some respects the most singular one now standing in Syria, been erected by any of the Graeco-Syrian monarchs, they would hardly have failed to put at least their name upon it.

I passed up between the two ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon to the water-shed between the Orontes and the Litâng, near 'Ain (see Num. 34: 11); and so by way of Ba'albek and Zahleh to my residence at Abeih.

My colleague, Dr. De Forest, was so much interested in my account of this route, that he set out to visit it a short time after my return. Following my directions, and having more leisure, he visited both sides of the lake Kedes, passing on the east as he went, and returning on the west side from Apamea. He also visited Selemqa east of Hamath; and thinks he has discovered the site of Shepham, Num. 34: 11.

A little society of intelligent Arabs, mostly young men of Beirût, has lately been commenced; one of whose objects may possibly interest you. They are preparing a descriptive catalogue of all known works in Arabic; and these will prove to be more numerous than was supposed. When they shall have made this as complete as possible by corresponding with literary men in Egypt, Bagdad, Damascus, Aleppo, and other centres of Arabic learning, and by the catalogues of European libraries, it will be prepared for the press by Nasif el-Yazagy, the best native Arabic scholar now known in this country. I hope they will be able to print an English translation in parallel columns. Having then the name, character, subject, and value of all Arabic works, it is a part of their plan to use this catalogue as a guide in the purchase of books for an Arabic library.

May we not hope, that this undertaking will not only give a new impulse to the study of this noble and wide-spread language; but that it will also aid in the effort to revive a taste for improvement, which has slept for so many centuries in these oriental countries. With the revival of literature will be introduced the press with its mighty and transforming agency. As these young men are generally not wealthy, and the forming of an Arabic library will be expensive, the work must of course advance very slowly. Still, in fifteen or twenty years, a good deal may be done. I remain, with great respect, yours, etc.

W. M. THOMSON."

I subjoin a few remarks upon some of the names of places mentioned in the above letter, viz. those printed in Italic.1

Valley of Salt. This is the celebrated valley or lake of salt, now called es-Subkh, about eighteen miles south-east of Aleppo, near the village Jebul. It is described by Maundrell (p. 213), by Pococke (II. p. 168), and more particularly in Russell's Nat. Hist. of Aleppo, I. p. 55. In winter the rains and torrents, with a few springs, convert the surface into a shallow but extensive lake. In summer the water evaporates, leaving a crust of salt of various thickness and quality. This is broken up, sorted, and carried to Jebûl; where it is dried and winnowed, and thence sold to all parts of the country; furnishing indeed the main source of supply for all northern Syria.-It is related of David (2 Sam. 8: 3—18) that be undertook a military expedition in order to extend his dominion to the Euphrates; and being attacked by Hadadezer, king of Syria-Zobah, be routed him and subdued the whole of northern Syria. After an enumeration of the rich offerings which David made in the temple on this occasion, it is immediately added, v. 13: "And David gat him a name when he returned from his smiting of the Syrians () in the valley of Salt, eighteen thousand men." All the circumstances, and the vicinity of the Euphrates, leave little occasion to doubt, that the valley of Salt here named is that above described. It is true, that in the parallel passages, 1 Chron. 18: 12, Ps. 60: 2 (inscr.) we find the reading Edomites instead of Syrians. This has evidently arisen in the course of transcription, by the change of a single Hebrew letter (7 for x). These passages all obviously refer to the same event; and a change of the name being here unquestionable, it is much easier to account for the substitution of Edom for Syria, than vice versa. The later Jews were far more familiar with the neighboring Edomites, than with the regions of northern Syria; and would be very likely to confound this distant valley of Salt with that at the south end of the Dead Sea mentioned on another occasion in connection with Petra; 2 Kings 14: 7.

Khandsereh is mentioned by Abulfeda as situated in the border of the descent about two stations south-east of Aleppo. It was at one time the seat of a Khalif Omar, of the line of the Ommiadae. But since the days of Abulfeda the name has been entirely lost to modern geography; and

The best maps for consultation are those of Berghaus and Hughes; the latter in the Atlas published by the London Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, No. 98.

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El-Bára, Apamea and Seijár.

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now re-appears for the first time. See Abulf. Tab. Syr. p. 170, ed. Köhler.

El-Bara. This place was visited by Niebuhr in 1766, who writes the name Berua, in Arabic Birûah; also Kefr el-Berha; see Reisebeschr. III. p. 95. Burckhardt took it in his route from Aleppo to Hamath in 1812; he writes it correctly el-Bâra. He says: "The mountain of Riha, of which el-Bâra forms part, is full of the ruins of cities which flourished in the times of the lower empire; those of el-Bâra are the most considerable of the whole;" Travels in Syria, p. 130. Both he and Niebuhr speak of the remains of public buildings, churches, and private dwellings; and especially of three tombs,-plain square structures surmounted with pyramids, one of which has fallen. Niebuhr, misled by the similarity of the name, seems to regard this as the ancient Beroea of Syria; but the specifications of all ancient writers go to make that place identical with Aleppo; Cellarius Not. Orb. 11. p. 362. But without much doubt, el-Bâra, as suggested by Niebuhr, marks the site of the city Albaria destroyed by the crusades in 1098; see Robert Monach. lib. VII, in Gesta Dei per Francos, p. 67.

Apamea was a large city on the valley of the Orontes, often mentioned by Josephus and other ancient writers; see Cellarius, H. p. 354. In the time of the crusades it was still a flourishing and important place under the Arabic name Fâmieh, and was occupied by Tancred; it is also described by Abulfeda as situated near an extensive lake in the valley; Wilken Gesch. der Kr. II. p. 274. Abulf. Tab. Syr. p. 114, 157. On the strength of these notices the name Fámich has continued to be inserted on modern maps down to the present century; although both the name and the site have long been forgotten in those regions. Niebuhr heard at Aleppo in 1766, that the site of the former Fàmieh was now called Kulat el-Mudik; Reisebeschr. III. p. 97. Burckhardt in 1812 found the castle of this name occupying a hill projecting into the valley of the Orontes, not far from the lake et-Tâkah; and although he could not enter it nor examine the neighborhood, yet he fixes upon it as the probable site of Apamea; Trav. in Syr. p. 138. In connection with the Euphrates expedition in 1835, Mr. Ainsworth visited this region, and speaks of Kulat el-Mudîk as the site of Apamea, and as exhibiting “ruins of a highly ornamental character. Part of the town is enclosed in an ancient castle situated on a hill; the other ruins lie in a plain; part of a strong wall and an archway still exist, and also remains of a temple. In the adjacent lake are the celebrated black-fish, the source of a distant commerce;" see Journ. of the R. Geogr. Soc. 1837, p. 414, 415. above account by Mr. Thomson is still more full and satisfactory. Seijar is at the point where the Orontes issues from the mountain ridge which it breaks through below Hamath; a bridge here crosses the river. On the summit of the range on the west bank stands a castle; which in its present state is from the times of the later Khalifs; but the many remains of Grecian architecture, fragments of columns and elegant Corinthian and Doric capitals, indicate that a Greek town formerly stood here. It is doutbless the site of the ancient Larissa of Syria, situated between Apamea and Hamath. See Burckh. Syr. p. 143. Cellarius, ib. p. 356.

The