Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/338

Rh world. Close to the palace is a structure called the Hippodrome, and great festivities are held there on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus the Nazarene. Various feats of jugglery are performed in the presence of Cæsar and his queen. Lions, bears, and other animals are brought into the place and engage in combat with one another. Such sport is not seen in any other country Great are the resources of the land; the annual revenue derived from letting the markets and bazaars alone amounts to 20,000 gold pieces. The men of the country are very rich, and go about dressed in garments of silk embroidered with gold, and the wise men are well versed in the books of the Greeks, and they sit each under his vine and under his fig-tree. The people are, however, effeminate, and lack the strength to ward off an enemy; accordingly they hire men from other lands (whom they call barbarians) to light their battles with the Sultan, the ruler of the Turks The Greek Empire reaches as far as Malmistras, which is Tarshish, situated by the sea. Thence it is two days' journey to Antioch the Great, situated on the banks of the River Pur (Orontes), which flows from the Lebanon and the land of Chamath. The city lies by a lofty mountain, which is compassed by a wall. At the top of the mount there is a well, from which a man, appointed for that purpose, directs the water, by means of 20 subterranean passages, to the houses of the great men of the city. The other part of the city is surrounded by the river. It is a strongly fortified city under the sway of Prince Boemond Poitevin, surnamed le Baube, and ten Jews dwell there engaged in glass-making. Thence it is a two-days' journey to Lega, which is Latakia. . . . . Two days' journey from this place brings one to Gæbal, which is Baal-gad, at the foot of the Lebanon. In this district there dwells a people known as the Assassins. They do not believe in the religion of the Mohammedans, but follow one of themselves, whom they regard as their prophet, and all that he tells them to do they carry out, whether for life or for death; they call him the Sheik-al-Hasissim, and he is known as their Elder. At his word these mountaineers so out and come in. Their principal seat is Kadmus, which is Kedemoth, in the land of Sihon. They are faithful to each other, but a source of terror to their neighbours, killing even kings if told to do so. The extent of their land is eight days' journey, and they are at war with the Christians, who are called the Franks, and with the ruler of Tripoli, which is Tarablous-el-Sham. At Tripoli in years gone by there was an earthquake which caused the death of over 20,000 people. From Tripoli it is one day's journey to the other Gelial (Byblus), which is on the border of the Children of Amnion and is now under the sway of the Genoese, the name of the governor being Guillelmus Embriacus. Here are found the remains of a temple containing an idol, formerly worshipped by the Ammonites, made of stone overlaid with gold, with a female figure at each side thereof and an altar in front. From Gebal it is two days' journey to Beyrout, the Beeroth of Scripture. A day's journey thence takes one to Saida, the Sidon of old. Ten miles therefrom is a people who are at war with the