and the head and wings of a bird; near it was a part of an equestrian statue, well executed, and beside this the trunk and thighs of a figure clothed in scale armour.

Having completed our hasty survey of this interesting group of buildings, we walked down through immense piles of rubbish, intermixed with broken columns, on the inside of the western wall. The path led us through a court in which several Druze women were sitting at work. They covered the lower part of their faces as we approached. While I was drinking a bowl of water, which one of them had handed me, I observed them all rising and embracing a little boy who followed in our train; and each woman, as she kissed him, burst into tears, and

uttered the words,

"May God preserve you, O my son !" Astonished at this strange procedure, I inquired the cause, and was informed that his father had recently fallen in battle, and that his mother had been shot by the Turkish soldiers while attempting to carry away the body of her husband! Poor boy! he had early felt the sorrows of his wretched country, and the mad brutality of its rulers. When we had gone away some distance, I put a piece of money in his hand; he looked at me for a moment in astonishment, and at the shining coin, and then shut his hand firmly and ran back to the women. As I scaled the crumbling walls I could hear their voices imploring blessings on the head of the beg who pitied the poor orphan.

A walk of ten minutes down terraced slopes brought us to a rich wooded vale, in which stands one of the most beautiful buildings in this city-a peripteral temple erected on an artificial platform about 12 ft. high. The interior of the platform has crypt-like chambers, with massive piers

supporting the vaulted roof. The temple consisted of a cell 45 ft. long by 30 ft. wide, with pilasters along the walls. In front, towards the east, was the portico, consisting of two rows of columns, six in each row; and round the other sides ran a range of columns corresponding to those in the outer line of the portico. All these pillars stand upon square pedestals 6 ft. high, and the height of the order I estimated at 36 ft. The capitals are Corinthian, and finely executed. The extreme length of the building is 78 ft., and the breadth 48 ft. Each column seems to have had a short inscription on its base; but these are now so much broken and mutilated, that, though I copied them all, I have not been able to gain any information from them as to the age or design of the building. On the top of one of the pedestals, beneath where the shaft once stood, are the following letters-POY EINOYKAC. Ritter observes that, from a fragment of an inscription copied by Buckingham, it has been ascertained that this was a temple of the sun; but I have carefully observed all the letters copied by Buckingham, and my own copies also, but I have not been able to detect the slightest allusion in them as to the nature of the edifice.

The situation of this temple is very beautiful. The sides of the vale slope gently up, and are thickly wooded. On the east are the walls of the city; and over them rise wooded heights, crowned with ruins and round towers. Westward there is an easy declivity to the plain; and here

1 Palästina und Syrien, ii. 932. Descriptions of this ruin may be found in Burckhardt's Trav. in Syr. pp. 83, 84; and Buckingham's Trav. among Arab Tribes, pp. 240, 241.

the grey ruins of 'Atîl may be seen rising up amid the dense foliage.

Burckhardt's statement about the statues led me to make inquiries everywhere regarding them. We were, consequently, first shown those scattered among the ruins on the summit o. the ridge; and we were now informed that two statues of slaves were in a house between this temple and the city. On reaching the place we were ushered down into a dark cellar, and, when a light was procured, were led about through extensive subterranean apartments in search of the figures. Our search was in vain, until the mistress of the mansion came and led us to the spot; and there, on stones in the vaulted roof, pointed out two faces in alto-rilievo, beautifully executed, but now black with dust and the smoke of torches. Though we were disappointed in the statues, we were interested in these

vast subterranean chambers that exist in such numbers in this land.

On emerging we were surrounded by a crowd of Bedawy women, who earnestly besought us to cure a sick child, or write a charm for its afflicted mother-a young and beautiful woman who stood weeping beside us. The poor child was suffering from some fearful disease of the head, that appeared to have eaten away nearly the whole flesh from one side of it.

Mr. Barnett diligently collected all the inscriptions he could find; but antiquarians no less zealous had been there before him, and had left few discoveries to be made in this department. From a large building standing on the brow of the wady, in the south-east corner of the city, he copied the following, which is inscribed over a nicheAYZONIMAKAPI. This Auxo was one of the Horogoddesses who were supposed to preside over the seasons, and to regulate all matters relating to the fertility of the soil. It was natural that such a deity should find a shrine in this land, where the existence of the people wholly depends on the cultivation of the soil.

Such are the ruins of Kunawât as they now exist; and my reader will agree with me in stating that there are but few ancient sites in Syria that surpass it in the extent and importance of its monuments. It is not, like some of the other cities we have visited, without a name or a history; its annals, though few and very general, date back more than three thousand years, and for nearly two thousand it ranked among the principal citics of the province.

The identity of Kunawât with the ancient KENATH and the more modern Canatha, Kavába, is established be

yond the possibility of doubt by a variety of concurring testimonies. The analogy of the names is sufficient of itself at least to suggest the strong probability of the places being the same when there is no direct evidence to the contrary. But Seetzen discovered here the fragment of an inscription, on which was the word Kavafnvwv, given as the name of the people resident in this city; and this is direct evidence of the identity of this site with the ecclesiastical city Canatha. The situation too has been described with sufficient accuracy by several writers to enable us to determine its position. Stephen of Byzantium says, "Kanatha is a city of Arabia, near to Bostra ;"3 and the testimony of Eusebius is still more important. He thus writes: "CANATH, a town of Arabia, now called Canatha, which when Naboth captured he called it by his own name, and it belonged to the tribe of Manasseh. It is now situated in the province of Trachonitis, near to Bostra." 4 This statement is very important, first, as fixing very definitely the position of Kanatha; and second, as proving the identity of Canatha and the Kenath of the Bible. We may add to this that the Kenath mentioned in the Bible was a city of Argob, and in the sequel it will be shown that Argob and Trachonitis are identical. This affords additional evidence that Kenath and Canatha are also identical. But there is still another argument in favour of Kunawât being the site of Canatha equally strong with any of those above alluded to, but which has hitherto

2 Ritter, Palästina und Syrien, ii. 936.

3 Reland. Palest. p. 682.

Onomasticon, p. 48.

5 Compare Deut. iii. 13, 14, with 1 Chron. ii. 21-23.