There is another circumstance connected with the same river, which, in the mythological writings of antiquity, makes a still greater figure than the discovery just described. Lucian relates that the Belus, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody colour, a fact which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy for the death of this favourite of Venus, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains whence the stream takes its rise. "Something like this," says Maundrell, "we saw actually come to pass; for the water was stained to a surprising redness, and, as we had observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea a great way into a reddish hue, occasioned doubtless by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Adonis' blood."

The excellency of Carmel, which here rises into view, has in a great measure passed away. The curse denounced by Amos has fallen upon it," The top of Carmel shall wither;"—for it is now chiefly remarkable as a mass of barren and desolate rocks. Its sides are indeed graced by some native cedars, and even the brambles are still intermingled with wild vines and olives, denoting its ancient fertility or more careful cultivation; but there are no longer any rich pastures to render it the "habitation of shepherds," or to recall to the fancy the beauty of Carmel and of Sharon, and to justify the comparison of it to the glory of Libanus. It owes to its name and to its prominent situation on the coast, as a

* Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 35.

sentinel of the Holy Land, all the interest which can now be claimed for the mountain on which Elias vindicated the worship of Jehovah, and where thousands of holy Christians have spent their lives in meditation and prayer.

The monastery which stands on the summit of the hill, near the spot where the prophet offered up his sacrifice, was long the principal residence of the Carmelite friars. It appears never to have been a fine building, and is now entirely abandoned. During the campaign of the French in Syria, it was made an hospital for their sick, for which it was well adapted by its healthy and retired situation. It has been since ravaged by the Turks, who have stripped its shrines and destroyed its roof; though there still remains, for the solace of devout visiters, a small stone altar in a grotto dedicated to Saint Elias, over which is a coarse painting representing the holy man leaning on a wheel, with fire and other instruments of sacrifice at his side.*

CHAPTER VIII.

The History of Palestine from the Fall of Jerusalem to the Present Time.

State of Judea after Fall of Jerusalem-Revolt under TrajanBarcochab-Adrian repairs Jerusalem-Schools at Babylon and Tiberias-The Attempt of Julian to rebuild the Temple-Invasion of Chosroes-Sack of Jerusalem-Rise of Islamism-Wars of the Caliphs-First Crusade-Jerusalem delivered-Policy of Crusades-Victory at Ascalon-Baldwin King-Second Crusade -Saladin His Success at Tiberias-He recovers Jerusalem— The Third Crusade-Richard Cœur de Lion-Siege and Capture of Acre Plans of Richard-His Return to Europe-Death of Saladin Fourth Crusade-Battle of Jaffa-Fifth Crusade Fall of Constantinople-Sixth Crusade-Damietta taken-Reverses Frederick the Second made King of Jerusalem-Seventh Crusade --Christians admitted into the Holy City-Inroad of Karismians -Eighth Crusade under Louis IX. He takes Damietta His Losses and Return to Europe-Ninth Crusade-Louis IX. and Edward I.-Death of Louis-Successes of Edward_Treaty with Sultan-Final Discomfiture of the Franks in Palestine, and Loss of Acre State of Palestine under the Turks-Increased Toleration-Bonaparte invades Syria-Siege of Acre and Defeat of French-Actual State of the Holy Land-Number, Condition, and Character of the Jews.

THE destruction of Jerusalem, though it put an end to the polity of the Hebrew nation as an independent people, did not entirely disperse the remains of their miserable tribes, nor denude the Holy Land of its proper inhabitants. The number of the slain was indeed immense, and the multitude of captives carried away by Titus glutted the slave-markets of the Roman empire; but it is true, nevertheless,

that many fair portions of Palestine were uninjured by the war, and continued to enjoy an enviable degree of prosperity under the government of their conquerors. The towns on the coast generally submitted to the legions without incurring the chance of a battle or the horrors of a siege; while the provinces beyond the Jordan, which formed the kingdom of Agrippa, maintained their allegiance to Rome throughout the whole period of the insurrection elsewhere so fatal, and especially to the inheritance of Judah and of Benjamin.

It has been already suggested that soon after the Roman army was withdrawn, many of the Jewish families, Christians as well as followers of the Mosaical Law, returned to their sacred capital, and sought a precarious dwelling among its ruins. To prevent the rebuilding of the city, Vespasian found it necessary to establish on Mount Zion a garrison of eight hundred men. The same emperor, it is related, commanded strict search to be made for all who claimed descent from the house of David, in order to cut off, if possible, all hope of the restoration of that royal race, and more especially of the advent of the Messiah, the confidence in whose speedy coming still burned with feverish excitement in the heart of every faithful Israelite. A similar jealousy, which dictated a similar inquisition, was continued in the subsequent reign, a fact strongly illustrative of the spirit which prevailed at that period among the descendants of Abraham, and explanatory also of their successive revolts against the Roman power.

Under the mild sway of Trajan, the Jews in Egypt, Cyprus, and even in Mesopotamia, flew to

arms, to avenge the insults to which they had been subjected, or to realize the hopes that they have never ceased to cherish. After a war, remarkable for the waste of blood with which it was accompanied, the unhappy insurgents were every where suppressed; having lost, according to their own confession, more than half a million of men in the field of battle, or the sack of towns. The skill and fortune of Adrian, who soon afterwards occupied the imperial throne, were displayed in the island of Cyprus, from which the Jews were expelled with tremendous slaughter, and prohibited from ever again touching its shores.

To check the mutinous disposition, or to weaken the influence of the vanquished tribes, an edict was promulgated by their Roman masters, forbidding circumcision, the reading of the Law, and the observance of the weekly Sabbath. Still farther to defeat their favourite schemes, and to blast all hopes of a restoration to civil power in Jerusalem under their Messiah, it was resolved by the government at Rome to repair to a certain extent the city of the Jews, and to establish in it a regular colony of Greeks and Latins. At this crisis appeared the notorious Barcochab, whose name, denoting the " son of a star," made him be instantly hailed by a large majority of the nation as that predicted light which was to arise out of Jacob in the latter days. Recommended by Akiba, one of the most popular of the Rabbim, to the confidence of Israel, this impostor soon saw himself at the head of a powerful army; amounting, say the Jewish annalists, to more than two hundred thousand men. In the absence of the legions now called to other parts of the East, he found little difficulty in taking possession of Je