ruins of the ancient city, Paltus; and a little to the E.N.E. there is a large subterraneous conduit, with a mumber of lesser ones detached from it; which, spreading themselves for several furlongs through a low marshy ground, might have been some ancient drain, to render this place more fit for tillage. Not far from the Melleck, are the ruins of Balanea, or Baneas, or Пaves, where the author of the Jerusalem Itinerary, and Hierocles in his Synecdemus, place the boundary betwixt Cole-Syria and Phoenice. Seven leagues further, a little to the northward of Tortosa, are the traces of a cothon, with a small pottery by it. Here we are to look for the ancient Carne, as the cothon itself might be the e, or the dock that *Strabo tells us belonged to the Aradians. Betwixt the pottery and Tortosa, are the cryptæ that were mentioned above. Tortosa has been generally mistaken for Orthosia, which lay a great way further to the southward, upon the confines of Syria and Phonice. And though indeed Orthosia may seem to have an easy transition into Tortosa, yet considering there was formerly a large convent, and two very magnificent Christian churches at this place, Tortosa is rather to be received as a corruption of Deirdouse, i. e. the place of a church, or convent, as the inhabitants interpret it. And in no small conformity to this circumstance, we VOL. II. C are * Καράνος το επίνειον της Αραδε, λιμένιον εχον. Strab. lib. xvi, 1093. are acquainted, that the first church erected to the honour of the blessed Virgin was at Tortosa *. However, as it lies at no more than half a league's distance over against the ancient Aradus, there is no doubt but it must be the Antaradus of the old geography. This is confirmed by Phocas, in his Description of Syria, (apud L. Allatii visa) Ανταρίδα ήτοι ή Ταρτεσα; and likewise by Willerm, of Tyret. Antaradus, says he, quæ vulgari appellatione Tortosa vocatur. In the fourth century, (viz. about A. D. cccxxx.) it continued to be known by its old name, as appears from the Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum; which, with its other name Constantia ‡, given to it by its restorer Constantius, were disused some centuries afterwards, in, or perhaps before, the time of the Croisades. For thus we have it related by a poet of these times. Non procul urbs aberat, ripa vicina marinæ, Nomine quæ celebris ipso Tortosa vocatur. Guil. Paris. Exp. Hier. The island Aradus, the Arpad of the Scriptures, the seat of the Arvadite or Aradite, is called at present Rou-wadde; which, with El Hammah, the ancient Hamath, the seat of the Hamathite, lying * In Tortosa fuit prima ecclesia quæ in honorem B. Virginis ædificata fuit. Vid. Willebr. ab Oldenburg. Itinerarium apud L. Allatii Evμisa. p. 130. Itiner. 1. vii. c. 17. Constantius Antaradum instauratum suo nomine donavit. Theoph. Chronogr. p. 31. lying over against it, Ezek. xlvii. 29. ten leagues to the eastward, are the most northern settlements of the sons of Canaan. Mr Bedford, in his Chronology, has an ingenious conjecture, espoused by the Lord Bishop of Clogher (Chronol. p. 90.) that Ham, in the dispersion of mankind after the flood, entered the land of Canaan (as it was afterwards called) at the latter of these places; and from thence we find it so frequently 'called in Scripture the entering in of Hamath, non. This learned prelate supposes further, that Abraham likewise came into the same country, north about, as Canaan or Ham himself did before, by the entering in of Hamath. From the situation indeed either of Shinar or Haran, with respect to the land of Canaan, Ham, Canaan and Abraham might have taken this road as well as any other, or the more open one which Jacob took by Gilead and the Jordan, Gen xxxi. 21. and xxxii. 10.; yet there seems not to be the least authority for it from the original word (or 5* with the præfix) which signifies no more than barely the going to, or until thou arrive or come at; or the entering in or into such or such a place, without the least regard to what might have been transacted there by one or other of those patriarchs. As Hamath likewise lies about fifty *Thus, is as frequently joined in Scripture withi c. as with& צורה,אפלתה מצרים עיל פרבלה non; and may be presumed to have the same signification; viz. the entering in, &c. of Egypt, Ephrata, Adad, as among many others, Jer. xli. 17. Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, as thou goest to enter into Egypt. fifty leagues to the S. S. W. of Haran, from whence Abraham departed with his father Terah, (Gen. xi. 31.) after he left Ur of the Chaldees, we may very well account for his journeying, as it is recorded, Gen. xii. 9. going on still, as we may presume, from his first setting out, towards the south, but by no means for his going north about; contrary to the respective situations of those places. But, to return to Rou-wadde, the prospect of it from the continent, is wonderfully magnificent, promising at a distance a continued train of fine buildings, and impregnable fortifications. But this is entirely owing to the height and rockiness* of its situation; for at present all the strength and beauty it can boast of, lies in a weak unfortified castle, with a few small cannon to defend it. Yet we are not to judge of the ancient strength of this place from its present condition. For it was formerly surrounded with a large strong wall, consisting of stones of an immense bigness, which, as in many other specimens of the ancient buildings, so exactly tallied and corresponded with each other, that the architect might very justly estimate the weight and symmetry alone of the materials, without cramps and mortar, to have been sufficient to withstand the violence of the sea, and the engines of an enemy. During the time of its prosperity, both art and nature seem to have conspired in making it *Rou-wadde or Arpad being probably derived from fir mus fuit, &c. it a place of such strength and consequence as sufficiently to justify the boast, Where is the king of Arpad? which Sennacherib (2 Kings xix. 13.) made in the conquest of it. * The ancient Marathus may be fixed at some ruins, near the Serpent Fountain, which make, with Rou-wadde and Tortosa, almost an equilateral triangle. For Strabo tells us, that Aradus was situated betwixt its Navale and Marathus, and that the opposite shore had not the least shelter for vessels. The latter of these observations is very just; and, provided the Navale is the Cothon, which has been already taken notice of to the northward of Tortosa, no place can better fall in with the situation of Marathus; in as much as Rou-wadde, upon this supposition, will lie not only between, but very nearly equidistant from the Navale or Marathus. Five miles to the S. S. E. of the Serpent Fountain, are the Maguzzel, or spindles, as they call those pointed and cylindrical little buildings that are erected over the cryptæ, described by Mr Maundrell. The situation of the country round about them, has something in it so extravagant and peculiar to itself, that it can never fail to contribute an agreeable mixture of melancholy and delight to all who pass through it. The uncommon contrast and disposition of woods and sepulchres, rocks and grottos; the medley of sounds and echoes from birds and beasts, casçades and water-falls; the distant roaring of the * Strab. Geogr. 1. xvi sea, |