Mount Carmel, is the brook Kison, which rises in Mount Tabor, or Itabyrius, and flows into the sea a little below Ptolemais, so called from the Ptolemies, kings of Egypt, but antiently Aco, and so memorable in the time of the crusades, under the name of Acre, for the exploits of our king Richard the First, and in our own time for the defeat of Buonaparte by Sir Sidney Smith. East of Ptolemais was Cana of Galilee, and Southward of Cana was the strong city of Sepphoris, afterwards called Dio Cæsarea, now Sefouri; South of it was Nazareth, and a little South East of Nazareth was Mount Tabor, thought by some to have been the scene of the Transfiguration. South East of Mount Tabor is Bethsan or Scythopolis, now Baitsan; it was the chief of the cities of Decapolis, or the ten confederate cities, which being not inhabited by Jews, formed a confederation for mutual protection against the Asmonean princes of Judea. Between Mount Tabor and Scythopolis was Endor, near Mount Hermon, which must not be confounded with the great range of the same name East of the Jordan. The city Tiberias, so named by Herod Antipas in honour of Tiberius Cæsar, stood on the western shore of the lake to which it gave name, which is also called the Sea of Gennesareth, from a pleasant district called Gennesar, near Capernaum, at the Northern extremity of the lake. * A little North of Tiberius was Magdala, West of which was Bethulia, where the Jews were delivered by Judith from the power of Holofernes. Capernaum stood about midway between Bethsaida, to the South, and Chorazin, upon the Northern point of the lake.

North West of the lake is Jotapata, where the Jewish historian Josephus sustained a siege against Vespasian. On the Northern confines of Palestine was the district of Trachonitis, in which was the city of Pareas, antiently Laish, which Herod's son Philip called Cæsarea, and which received the addition of Philippi to distinguish it from the Cæsarea already noticed. A little West was Dan, the Northern boundary of the kingdom of Israel, as Bethel was on the South.

The country on the East of Jordan, between the two lakes was called Peræa, perhaps from Tépav, beyond, extending from the brook Arnon, which flows into the North Eastern end of the Dead Sea, to the mountains of Galaad, near the sea of Tiberias. At some distance from Jordan, and almost opposite to Jericho, are Mounts Abarim and Nebo, from which Moses had a view of the Promised Land. A little East of Mount Nebo is Hesbon, and North West of it the very strong fortress of Amathus, or Assalt, commanding the plain of Aulon, or El-Gour, along the banks of the Jordan, above which is Bethabara. North East of Peræa is the district called Galaaditis, from Mount Galaad, in which, on the brook Jabbok, is to be found Ramoth, or Ramoth Gilead. North of Galaaditis is Bataneea, or Batania, the antient territory of Og, king of Basan, South of which lay the possessions of Sihon, king of the Amorites. A strong fortress called Gaulon gave the name of Gaulonites to the Eastern shores of the lake Gennesareth, at the Southern extremity of which was the impregnable fortress of Gamala; and above it Gadara, or the country of the Gadarenes, on the torrent Hieromax, or Yermak, so

signalized by the fatal defeat of the Christian forces by the Saracens, under Abu Obeidah, November 9, A. D. 636. East of Gadara is Adra, or Edrei, now Adreat. North of the lake, Mount Hermon separates Palestine, properly so called, from the adjacent countries of Trachonitis (a rugged district, as its name imports, adjoining Colesyria), Ituræa, and Auranitis, the chief city of which, Bostra, now Bosra, was the metropolis of a province formed under the name of Arabia. Below Auranitis was Ammonites, or the land of the children of Ammon, whose chief city was Rabbath Ammon, called afterwards Philadelphia, but now Amman; and below it was Moabitis, or the land of Moab, the chief city of which was Areopolis, or Rabbath Moab, now Maab, or El-Raba, and a little above it Aroer, on the river Arnon.

We shall now briefly review the situation of the tribes of Israel when settled under Joshua. The largest portion was that of Judah, along the Western side of the lake Asphaltites, and West of Judah was Simeon, bordering on the Philistines, who occupied the Mediterranean coast. North of Judah was the smaller tribe of Benjamin, in which was Jerusalem; and West of Benjamin, the still smaller tribe of Dan, reaching to the coast, having the Philistines to the South. Above Dan and Benjamin was a considerable district, from the coast to Jordan, the portion of Ephraim; above Ephraim, extending in a like manner, was half the tribe of Manasseh. The coast then became that of Syro-Phoenicia, along which, but rather inland lay the tribe of Asser, forming a Western barrier to the three following tribes: Issachar (which

lay above Manasseh, reaching to the Southern extremity of the sea of Tiberias), Nephtali, and Zabulon. The whole Western coast of the Sea of Tiberias, and as far as Dan, considerably North of it, was occupied by the tribe of Nephtali, and between Nephtali, Issachar, and Asser lay the tribe of Zabulon. The whole Eastern side of Jordan to the Southern extremity of the Sea of Tiberias, was occupied by the other half tribe of Manasseh; below it was Gad, reaching about half way between the two lakes; and below it Reuben, reaching to the plains of Moab at the North Eastern corner of the Lacus Asphaltites. These two tribes and half were the first settled, though their warriors crossed over Jordan to assist their brethren in subduing the Canaanites on the Western side.

CHAPTER XIII.

A MORE succinct description may suffice in a work like

this for the remainder of Asia.

Arabia is divided into Arabia Petræa, Arabia Felix, and Arabia Deserta. Arabia Petræa extends from the South of Holy Land along the two gulphs which form the extremity of the Sinus Arabicus, being bordered by Egypt on the West, and Arabia Deserta on the East. That part of it which borders on Judæa was called Idumæa, or Edom, and was possessed by the posterity of Esau. The Arabians in general recognize for their ancestors Jectan, or Kahtan, the son of Eber, and Ismael, the son of Abraham by his concubine Hagar. In Arabia Petræa were Mount Sinai and Horeb, between the two gulphs, but nearer the Eastern gulph, which branches from the extremity of the Red Sea, and which was called Ælanites, from the city of Elana, or Ailath, at its Northern point. The other gulph was called the Sinus Heroopolites or the Gulph of Suez, from thecity of that name built on it. The Nabathæi were a nation of Arabia Petræa, deriving their name from Nebaioth, the son of Ismael. Here was Madian, the country of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Towards Diræ, or the Straights of Babel Mandeb, were the Sabæi, in Arabia Felix, or Yemen, East of which is the thurifera regio. The best

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