master and his men-servants; here he receives his visitors, and to this alone are strangers ever admitted. Another winding passage opens from this to the inner or chief court, called the Harîm, whose door is kept by eunuchs. It is when this court is gained that the splendour of the mansion first bursts upon the view.

Mr. Porter is enabled to describe this tabooed interior by the privileges obtained through the wife of one Ottoman Effendi. This lady was the daughter of Ali Aga, secretary to the treasury under Ibrahim Pasha, and although her father was put to death by the Egyptian chief, under suspicion of holding a treasonable correspondence with the Turkish government, still the daughter has inherited some of the spirit of the times, which were eminently progressive, and sets light value on the absurd laws that make Muslem ladies little better than prisoners.

The interior court, or harim, is a quadrangle from fifty to sixty yards square, with a tesselated pavement of marble; a large marble fountain stands in the centre, and several smaller ones of great beauty sparkle around, and give a delicious coolness to the air, even amid the heat of summer. Orange, lemon, and citron trees, diffuse their fragrant odours; while gigantic flowering shrubs and rare exotics are disposed in tasteful groups, and climbing plants are trained on trellis-work overhead, affording grateful shade and pleasing variety. All the great reception-rooms and chambers open on this court; the former are upon the first floor, and the latter above, having in front a narrow corridor closed in with glass. On the southern side is the lewan, or open alcove, similar in design to those found in the exterior courts, but loftier, and far more gorgeously decorated. The grand salon is a noble room. It is divided into two compartments by a beautiful arch richly ornamented with gilt fretwork. The floor of the first compartment is of the rarest marbles of every hue, arranged with admirable precision and pleasing variety in mathematical designs. In the centre is a fountain inlaid with mother-of-pearl and rare stones. The walls to the height of twenty feet are covered with mosaic in panels, in the centre of each of which is a slab of polished granite, porphyry, or finely-veined marble, with the exception of those in the upper tier, which are inscribed with sentences from the Koran, written in letters of gold. Several niches relieve the plainness of the walls; in their angles are slender columns of white marble with gilt capitals, and the arches above are richly sculptured in the Saracenic style. The upper part of the walls is painted in the Italian style. The ceiling is about thirty feet high, and delicately painted. The central ornaments and cornices are elaborately carved and gilt, and inlaid with innumerable little mirrors. The other and principal part of the room is raised about two feet. The walls and ceiling are similar in design to those described, except that the former are in part covered with a wainscoting, carved, gilt, and ornamented with mirrors. Around the three sides run the divans, covered with the richest purple satin, embroidered with gold, in chaste designs of flowers and scrolls, and having a deep gold fringe descending to the floor. Though none of the workmanship might bear minute examination, and some of those accustomed to the chaste and subdued style of decoration in Western Europe might pronounce this gaudy and even vulgar, yet all will admit that the general effect is exceedingly striking. It resembles, in fact, some scene in fairyland; and one feels, on beholding it, that the glowing descriptions in the "Arabian Nights" were not mere pictures of the fancy. But it is only when the "bright-eyed houris" of this sunny clime assemble in such a salon, decked out in their gay and picturesque costumes, and blazing with gold and diamonds, and when numerous lamps of every form and colour pour a rich and variegated flood of light all round, to be reflected from polished mirrors, and countless gems, and flashing eyes, that we can fully

comprehend the splendour of Oriental life, and the perfect adaptation of the gorgeous decorations of the mansions to the brilliant costumes of those that inhabit them.

There are many other apartments in the court, less spacious it is true than the grand salon, but no less beautifully finished. The style of decoration in this mansion may be called the modern Damascene, the painting of the walls and ceiling being a recent innovation. In the more ancient houses the ceilings and wainscoted walls are covered with the richest arabesques, encompassing little panels of deep blue and delicate azure, on which are inscribed, in elegantly interlaced Arabic characters, whole verses and chapters of their law. Vast sums of money are thus expended, the ornamenting of one chamber often costing upwards of 20001. sterling. A few of the more wealthy Jewish families have also large and splendid residences, but they cannot be compared with those of the Muslems. The Hebrew writing, too, which they universally put upon the walls, is stiff and formal-looking, and is infinitely inferior, in an ornamental point of view, to the graceful curves and easy flow of the Arabic.

Travellers have generally represented Damascus as almost wholly destitute of ancient remains. Mr. Porter shows that if ruins do not stand out here in bold relief from a desert plain as they do at Palmyra, or lift their proud heads in solitary grandeur far above the crumbling ruins around them, as in Baalbek, Busrah, or Jerash, they still abound, encompassed by modern mansions or buried in the labyrinth of bustling bazaars. Indeed, with the help of a valuable Arabic MS. of Ibn Asaker's "History of the Celebrated Tombs and Mausolea in and around Damascus," and his own persevering and long-continued researches, we are presented with such a picture of Damascus as it once was, and Damascus as it is now, as has never been attempted before, or is likely to be superseded for detail and accuracy for many a year to come.

Oriental archæologists, also, owe Mr. Porter a debt of gratitude for his researches on the plain of Damascus, more particularly his determination of the Tell es-Salahiyeh as an Assyrian ruin.

The Tell es-Salahiyeh is one of the most interesting remnants of antiquity in the whole plain. It is an artificial mound of an oval form, about 300 yards in diameter and about 100 feet in height. The whole surface is covered with loose earth, composed mainly of brickdust and fragments of broken pottery. On the southern side, next the bank of the river, a portion of the mound has been cut away, and here may be seen the regular layers of sunburnt brick of which the whole appears to have been constructed. From the present form of the mound it seems that there was originally a large platform built, from twenty to thirty feet high, and then in the centre of this stood a lofty conical structure, which during the course of long centuries has gradually crumbled down to its present form. On the western side of the mound, beside the little village, I found, on my first visit to this place, a limestone slab, about five feet long by three wide, containing a bas-relief representing an Assyrian priest. The workmanship is rude and the stone has been defaced; but still it was sufficiently plain to show the costume and attitude of the figure. I sketched it at the time, intending on some future occasion either to obtain a cast or the stone itself; but, unfortunately, it has since disappeared, and I have been unable to discover what has been done with it.

There can be no doubt that none of these tells, so numerous in Syria, but would repay the archæological explorer more or less. We have already particularly called attention to the groups of artificial mounds in North Syria, between Antioch and the Euphrates, and in Northern

Mesopotamia, between Urfah and Mardin; Mr. Porter also calls the attention of future explorers to the tells in the valley of the Upper Orontes, ancient Cœlo Syria, more especially near Hums.

Almost the only objects of interest in an antiquarian point of view in this whole region are the artificial mounds that meet the eye in every part of the plain, but which occur in greatest numbers along the banks of the 'Asy. They are regular in form, generally truncated cones, and vary in height from 50 to 250 feet. The sides and summits are universally covered with loose whitish gravel, like the débris of some structure originally composed of bricks and small stones united with cement. These mounds are also found in the Bukala and plain of Damascus. Villages generally stand either upon or beside them, and fountains, or large cisterns, and wells are always found near those that are situated at a distance from the river's bank. They appear to be in every respect similar to the mounds on the plains of Mesopotamia and Assyria described by Layard and others, and from which monuments and sculptures of such great interest and beauty have lately been brought to light. It is highly probable that, were some of the more extensive of these Syrian mounds excavated, sculptured tablets, like those of Nimroud and Kouyunjik, would be discovered, at least in sufficient number to repay the labour and expense. The bas-relief already referred to at the tell el-Salahiyeh, on the plain of Damascus, proves the existence of sculpture in some of them, and forms an interesting and important monumental evidence of the occupation of this region by the ancient Assyrians, and of the truth of the statements in the Sacred Record.

The mound on which Hums itself stands is of the same character; so also is the great mound of Jisr Shogher; as also in part that of Aleppo, and of most other towns in Syria that have a mound, whether crowned with a citadel or buildings, or not.

A propos of the plain of Damascus, Mr. Porter makes a strange attack upon a traveller whose writings have lately attracted a deal of attention from certain peculiarities of a very blamable character-we mean the work of M. de Sauley. We are the more surprised at these repeated disclosures, as that gentleman holds a responsible situation in Paris, is much esteemed there as a man and a scholar, and his word is looked upon as truth itself. We have before adverted to M. van de Velde's repudiation, from personal examination, of the much-talked-of ruins on the Dead Sea; we have felt that even if M. de Saulcy was in the right, and that the sculptures described as existing on the Nahr al Kelb had disappeared by lapse of time, or by some profane hand, that he had no right to charge an honourable man with an archæological imposture! But on the point on which Mr. Porter attacks him he has to do with his own countrymen as well as with English travellers.

It has now been well known for more than thirty years to every student of sacred geography, that near the sources of the same river that waters Damascus lie the ruins of the Ancient Abila of Lysanias, the capital of the tetrachy of Abilene. The old itinerants fix the position of that city with sufficient accuracy to identify it. It was on the great road between Heliopolis and Damascus, thirty-two miles from the former city, and eighteen from the latter. But still more clear and decisive evidence was brought to light when Mr. Banks, nearly forty years ago, discovered two Latin inscriptions, containing the name of the city. (See Art. Abila, Cyclops of Biblical Literature; Hogg's Damascus, i. 301; Quart. Rev., xxvi.. 388;

Journ. of Sacred Lit., July, 1853.) Mr.. Porter now gives such a description of the remains of antiquity, and the precise position of the ruins, as their importance demands, and he adds to these descriptions the following observations :

It was with considerable surprise that I lately read the narrative of M. de Saulcy's visit to this place, in which he pompously claims all the honour of having discovered these ruins and inscriptions, and of having identified the site of the Ancient Abila! As the work of this French savant has attained to considerable popularity, and has attracted much notice both in France and England, I may be allowed to call the reader's attention to a few facts connected with his pretended discoveries at this place. It is to be observed that, from the moment he enters the village of Sûk, he professes total ignorance of all previous researches, and of everything that had been written about this interesting spot before his time. It was only when he saw an old mill, constructed, as he supposes, from the ruins of an ancient temple, that he became convinced of the fact that he was on the site of an ancient city! After a little farther examination, he adds, "Ancient remains are visible everywhere in and around the village, and it would be evidently most interesting, were it possible, to find some inscription from which we might learn the name of the city formerly existing here. On my return to France I resolve to make some researches concerning this locality, and have good hopes that I may succeed in determining the name. (!!) I LITTLE THOUGHT at the moment that the very next morning the problem would be solved."

Thus writes the member of the French Institute, for the sake of heightening the dramatic effect, and exciting the attention and admiration of his readers, whom he supposes as profoundly ignorant as he himself professes to be. Next morning he sallies forth, notwithstanding the " unsatisfactory aspect of the heavens," and, urged on by antiquarian zeal, he is almost tempted to "risk life and limb," by crossing the river on a ladder, in search of the hoped-for inscriptions. Discretion was deemed the better part of valour, however, and, leaving the more venturous abbé to pursue his researches alone, he returned to the village "rather ashamed of himself." In due time the abbé comes back enraptured with the discovery of the ruins of an "immense city," a "vast necropolis," and "splendid inscriptions among the rocks." The enthusiasm of M. de Sauley is now excited to the highest pitch, and he is "quite ready to attempt the dangerous passage of the ladder;" but, fortunately for the cause of science, there was no occasion to hazard such a valuable life. A bridge was found farther up, crossing which, he scaled the mountain-side, and there saw before him the inscriptions he had longed for. After briefly commenting upon them he concludes as follows:-"The problem of the unknown name of the ancient city happened thus to be immediately and perfectly resolved. The city was Abila. The reader may thus observe that chance greatly favoured me, by thus supplying in my need a precious document concerning the name and history of the city through the territory of which we were passing."

It is, indeed, difficult to understand how one so versed in ancient itineraries, and so deeply learned in the geography of this land, should have been so long ignorant of a fact which every schoolboy can learn from his dictionary of geography! It is strange that he, a member of the French Institute-of which honourable distinction he so often reminds his readers-should have known nothing of inscriptions the purport of which was communicated to the world in 1820 in one of the best-known periodicals of Europe, the Quarterly Review; which were published at large, with a memoir by Letronne, in the Journal des Savans for March, 1827, and again, in the following year, in the great work of Orellius;, and which have since that period been referred to and commented on by scores of travellers and literary men! All this, however, we could perhaps believe; and, had no other circumstance come to my knowledge, I might have

rested content with giving M. de Sauley full credit for his ignorance, and should probably have regarded him as a zealous but unfortunate antiquary, whose discoveries were made some forty years too late. The public will no doubt be astonished to learn that I now accuse the learned "Member" not merely of ignorance, but of an act of literary dishonesty unworthy of a scholar. M. Antôn Bulâd, of this city, has informed me that before M. de Sauley left Damascus, on his way to Bâ'albek, he had given him copies of the inscriptions he professes to have discovered, and had directed his attention to the village of Sûk-wadyBarada, as the site of the ancient Abila!

Such is a specimen of the learning and researches of a man whom a recent reviewer represents as "having contributed to our geographical and historical knowledge a series of discoveries equal in importance and extent to any which human intelligence and perseverance have accomplished since Columbus passed the Atlantic Ocean, and added a new and boundless field for the exercise of human energy." !!

The thing is really very absurd, and we must let M. de Saulcy get out of this new difficulty as well as he can. It is remarkable that it is

not the first, and probably will not be the last.

Mr. Porter by no means confines his researches to the immediate neighbourhood of Damascus. He visits Palmyra, and experiences, on crossing the desert, all those annoyances from lawless Bedouins which are inevitable in that part of the country. Mount Hermon and the sources of the Pharpar and Jordan also come in for his critical and controversial remarks, and he again falls foul of the unfortunate De Saulcy. The determination of the site of Helbon, and the description of the site itself, is a gem of archæological topography.

But the great points of interest are decidedly associated with the Hauran, a wild, rocky, desert region, covered with ruins of ancient time, but now given up to robber tribes, and rarely visited since the days of Burkhardt. Here was the kingdom of Bashan, here also the ruins of Kenath, of Bozrah, of Salcah, and of a hundred other remarkable sites of antiquity. Mr. Porter grapples with the whole subject like a man who has studied it thoroughly, and traces the history of the country through its various political phases in Biblical and in Roman times. He makes us more than ever familiar with those peculiar stone houses and tombs with stone doors of one massive slab, as have also been detected in modern times at Kohrasar, in Northern Mesopotamia.

To show under what adverse circumstances the ruins of ancient towns have to be explored in these regions, we extract the following account of an adventure in Edhra, the ancient Edrei or Adra :

While we stood examining the exterior of this building and trying to decipher the inscription, we noticed that a crowd of some sixty or seventy people had collected round us in the court. We paid little attention to this, however, as we had got accustomed to such evidences of popularity; and so intent were Mr. Barnett and myself on our antiquarian work, that we did not hear the remarks passed or the threats uttered by them. Nikôla heard these, and felt alarmed; but, just as he was about to inform us of them, we turned and went into the interior, while Mr. -, Nikôla, and the sheikh remained without; Mahmûd and our servants were in the house where we had left our luggage and arms. Shortly after we had entered Mr. Barnett was some yards in front of me, writing, and I stood, with my arms folded and my back against a column, looking at the building. Ten or twelve men had followed us into the building. While I was