have dismantled the fortifications, and partially destroyed the city; for when in A. D. 1197, after the hard-fought general battle with Melek el-'Adil in the vicinity, the Christians entered Sidon, they found it desolated. The pilgrims stabled their horses in mansions ornamented with the cedar of Lebanon; and cooked their food at fires fragrant with the odours of the same precious wood, collected from the ruins. The crusaders proceeded to Beirût, of which they took possession; while Melek el-'Adil again appeared in their rear, and completed the destruction of Sidon.2

3

The Christians, however, rebuilt and occupied the city; which, after half a century, was once more taken and dismantled by the Saracen forces in A. D. 1249, during the siege of Dami etta by Louis IX. of France. Four years later, in A. D. 1253, when an officer of the French king with a small party of troops had begun to restore the city, a Muslim host again approached, and took possession of the place. The garrison, with a few of the inhabitants, withdrew to the castle upon the rock; which being entirely surrounded by water, afforded them security; but of the remaining inhabitants, two thousand were slain, and four hundred carried off as prisoners to Damascus, after the city had been laid waste. In July of the same year, only a few weeks afterwards, king Louis himself repaired to Sidon, and caused the city to be rebuilt with high walls and massive towers. The Templars in A. D. 1260 purchased Sidon from Julian its temporal lord; and, with the exception of its being plundered by the Mogols in the same year, they retained possession of it for thirty years. In A. D. 1291, after the atrocious and terrible overthrow of 'Akka by the Sultan el-Ashraf, and the abandonment of Tyre, the Templars also left Sidon to its fate, and withdrew first to Tortosa and afterwards to Cyprus. Sidon was taken possession of by the Muhammedans, and once more dismantled."

Eight or ten years before this event, Brocardus describes Sidon as a large place; although a great part of it already lay in ruins. On the north was a fortress in the sea, built originally by crusaders from Germany; and on the hill upon the south another, then occupied by the Templars. After its abandonment by the Franks, Sidon appears not to have been, like Tyre,

entirely forsaken by its inhabitants. Abulfeda speaks of it not long after as a small town, having a citadel; and according to edh-Dhâhiry in the middle of the fifteenth century it was a place of some importance, constituting one of the ports of Damascus, and visited by ships. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, Frank travellers describe it as still for the most part in ruins, with few inhabitants and a single Khân.

But about this time, Sidon received a new impulse from the genius and activity of the celebrated Fakhr ed-Din. This Emîr of the Druzes, having got possession of all the towns along the coast, gave way to his propensity for building, not only at Beirut and Tyre, but also at Sidon. Here he erected a vast seraglio or palace for himself; and also the large Khân afterwards occupied by the French, besides other structures. His policy was to encourage commerce; and although he filled up the port of Sidon, yet in consequence of his measures and protection, the trade of that city revived to some extent, and a greater activity was awakened along the whole coast. Professing to be himself descended from French ancestors, he treated the Christians in his dominions with great equity, especially the Franks; granting privileges and immunities to the Latin convents, and encouraging the commerce of the French, which had now extended itself to these shores. The consul and merchants of this nation at Sidon, managed also to keep on good terms with the Emirs and Pashas who were his successors; although in consequence of a temporary quarrel, the consulate was for two or three years removed to 'Akka; from which place it returned to Sidon in the spring of A. D. 1658.5

At this time, on the establishment of a new house at Marseilles for trading to Saida, one of its partners was appointed consul at the latter place; and D'Arvieux, a relative, who had already been five years in Smyrna, also repaired thither, where he continued chiefly to reside until A. D. 1655. To him we are indebted for a minute account of the city as it then was, and of the state of the French trade."

1 Abulf. Tab. Syr. p. 93. Edh-Dhâhiry in Rosenm. Analect. Arab. III. p. 22. Lat. p. 47.

Cotovic. p. 116. Sandys' Travels p. 164, "But this once ample city, still suffering with the often changes of those countries, is at this day contracted into narrow limits, and only shows the foundations of her greatness," etc. etc.

'D'Arvieux Mém. I. pp. 303, 312.

D'Arvieux Mém. I. pp. 362, 363.-For notices of the life and character of Fakhred-Din, see Sandys' Travels pp. 164-166. D'Arvieux Mém. Tom. I. p. 857 sq.

Volney Voyage II. pp. 38-45. The Emir was strangled at Constantinople in A. D. 1633, at the age of 70 years. The account which honest Sandys (his cotemporary) gives of him, is not very favourable; at least in respect to his moral character.

• D'Arvieux Mém. I. pp. 380, 397 sq. 404.-The occasion and progress of the quarrel are detailed ib. pp. 261, 262 sq.

Mém. Tom. I. pp. 294 sq. 331 sq. 463 sq. Tom. III. pp. 341–374.-At that time there were many Jews in Sidon, dwelling in a quarter by themselves; the

At that period the French were the only nation, who took part in the commerce of Sidon, and the vicinity. Their trade had become so extensive and firmly established, as to bring annually two hundred thousand crowns into the coffers of the Grand Seignor; and was so beneficial to the inhabitants, according to D'Arvieux, that had the Franks removed to another place, the city would have been immediately abandoned and left desert. Saida was the central point, and traded directly with the Druzes; but the merchants established there had likewise factors in Ramleh, 'Akka, Beirût, Tripolis, and sometimes Tyre, who purchased up the products of the country and transmitted them to Saida, whence they were shipped to Marseilles." rect and secure road led from Saida to Damascus in two and a half days, over Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon; crossing the Bukâ'a obliquely, and passing by the villages Meshghŭrah and Jubb Jenin. Saida was at this time regarded as the port of Damascus; but the trade of the latter city as yet went more to Aleppo, and turned westwards only at a later period.

The articles purchased and exported by the French from Saida, were cotton both raw and spun, silk, rice, nutgalls, ashes from the desert, bird lime, senna, and a few other drugs. Hitherto these had been paid for in money; but about this time the French began to import various articles in return; among which the chief were cloth, spices, dye stuffs, and some jewelry."

The French consul at Saida enjoyed great consideration throughout the country. His jurisdiction and title included also Jerusalem; and it was a part of his duty to visit the Holy City every year at Easter, in order to afford protection to the sacred places and to the Latin monks."

Such, with occasional alterations, though with a gradual extension, continued to be the state of the French trade at Saida down to near the close of the last century. In Pococke's day, the merchants all resided in the great Khân, and exported chiefly raw silk, cotton, and grain. Hasselquist in A. D. 1751 gives a more particular notice of their trade. More than twenty ships were every year freighted for France, laden chiefly with spun

cotton and raw silk; but carrying also the beautiful silken and half silken stuffs of Damascus to Italy, and likewise nutgalls, oil, and ashes to France. The imports were cloth, spices, Spanish iron, and dye stuffs; all of which were mostly sent to Damascus, which now furnished great part of the trade both of Saida and Beirut.1

In Volney's time the French continued to be the sole European traders at Saida; and had there a consul and six commercial houses. Cotton, both raw and spun, and silk, were still the chief commodities. The same traveller gives a general account and estimate of the French commerce in Syria at that period. But in A. D. 1791, Jezzâr Pasha drove the French out of all his territories, including Saida ; and since then its little trade has been carried on chiefly by the natives. At the present day, the tide of European commerce has turned to Beirût; and Sidon is rarely visited by foreign vessels.

Tuesday, June 26th. The sun rose upon what proved to be our last day of travelling in Syria. Our journey lay along the coast from Saida to Beirut, usually reckoned a distance of nine hours. But the road is difficult; leading most of the way over heavy sands or across rocky promontories; and presents comparatively little of interest.

We set off at 5.10, keeping along the sandy beach; and after a few minutes, passed the Lazaretto of Saida in a pleasant shady spot on our right. An attendant of duke Maximilian of Bavaria, a mulatto, had been left here by his master ill of the plague; he now lay at the point of death; and in Beirût we heard of his decease."

We came to the Nahr el-Auwaly at 8 o'clock, and in order to cross it, turned for some distance up along its southern bank, to a fine old bridge of hewn stone of one arch, with mills and a Khân upon the northern side. This bridge is the work of Fakhr ed-Din. The stream rises in Mount Lebanon, northeast of Deir el-Kamr and Bteddîn," from fountains an hour and a half beyond the village of el-Bârûk; it is at first a wild torrent, and its

Hasselquist Reise p. 190. Niebuhr's account is similar in A. D. 1766; at that time there were here fourteen French merchants, all living in the Khân. Reisebeschr. III. p. 79. Volney Voyage en Syrie II. pp. 192, 891 sq. 'Brown's Travels 4to. p. 369. Olivier Voyages, etc. Tom. IL P. 231.

This appears to be the spot mentioned by D'Arvieux as the site of a Khân built by Fakhr ed-Din, on the shore north of the city, just beyond a rivulet; Mém. I. p. 326.

Bteddin, vulg. for Beit ed-Dîn. This singular contraction, or rather hurried pronunciation of Beit, which thus assumes the form of a simple b, is very frequent in Mount Lebanon; e. g. Bsherreh, Bhannis, Bzummâr, etc. Something of the same kind is found in Beisân for the Heb. BethShean. See Gesenius Notes on Burckhardt p. 491.

course about south. It afterwards turns west; and where it issues from the mountains, its waters are taken out to supply the city of Saida, and to irrigate the surrounding plain. Yet it here was still a fine broad stream, flowing rapidly in a deep channel through a verdant region. Maundrell remarks, that before his time this river had been mentioned by no geographer; since then it has been noticed by all. Yet all appear to have overlooked the fact, that this can be no other than the ancient Bostrenus, described by Dionysius Periegetes as the "graceful river, upon whose waters Sidon was situated.'

The whole region of the Auwaly is full of fig and mulberry orchards, intermingled with Pride of India and other ornamental trees. The loftier peaks of Lebanon here began to appear; the hills became higher and more romantic. Just beyond this spot, indeed, the tract of mountains on the west of the upper part of the Auwaly approach the sea, and send out their roots quite to the shore. Here the fine plain of Sidon, as also the great Phenician plain, terminates; and for many hours further north, the rocky and uncultivated coast along the foot of the mountains, is interrupted only by a succession of sandy coves. The ancients sometimes reckoned this as the beginning of Lebanon on the south. The Auwaly is still, in this part, the southern boundary of the territories of the Emir Beshir of Mount Lebanon, extending from Belâd esh-Skükif to some distance north of the cedars, and including the whole mountain, from the shore of the sea to the Bukâ'a, as well as part of the latter, Only the town of Beirut, and its immediate environs, are excepted.

At 6.10, in crossing the first promontory beyond the Auwaly, there was a charming back view of Saida and its groves and gardens. The way was now uneven and rough, for nearly two hours, across the rocky tract, with an intervening sandy cove. Dionys. Perieget. Orbis Terr. Descr. 905:

1

Καὶ Τύρον Ωγυγίην, Βηρύτου τ' αἴαν ἐραννήν,
Βύβλον τ' ἀγχίαλον, καὶ Σιδόνα ἀνθεμόεσσαν,

Ναιομένην χαρίεντος ἐφ ̓ ὕδασι Βοστρηνοῖο, κτλ.

This passage is translated by both the later Latin poets Avienus and Priscianus as follows. Avienus:

Priscianus:

Hic Tyrus est opulens, et Berytus optima, Byblos,
Bidonfique lares; ubi labens agmine amono
Cespitis irrigul Bostrenus jugera findit.

Antiquamque Tyium, Beryli et mænia grata,
Vicinamque mari Byblum, Sidonaquo puleram,
Quam juxta liquido Bostrenus gurgite currit.

The passages are cited in full by Reland, Palæst. p. 437 sq.-Mannert holds the Auwaly to be the Leontes of Ptolemy, which however was more probably the Kasimiyeh; see above, pp. 472, 473. n. 1.

Plin. H. N. 5. 20, "Sidon, artifex vitri. . a tergo ejus mons Libanus orsus, mille quingentis stadiis Simyram usque porrigitur."