anon, and are famous for their beautiful gardens of fruit-trees of every kind. The present population is about 5000. The most notable ruins here are those of an immense theatre. This theatre was one of the largest in Asia Minor-capable of containing 15,000 spectators. The lower half of it was excavated in the solid rock, and the seats were of white marble, beautifully wrought; many of them remain, and are in a good state of preservation. There are also ruins of buildings in and around the town, and of a wall that extended into the sea. The place of sepulture of the ancient Sidonians was on the adjacent mountain; which is honey-combed with cells cut in the rock, and connecting with one another by arched doors. These cells are all rectangular, from 10 to 15 feet square, and contain three niches, one in each wall; the niche opposite the door usually exhibits sculptures in white marble surmounting a sarcophagus. Many of these cells have their walls covered with Phoenician inscriptions in bright colors. These cells are very similar to the Egyptian Catacombs, especially those of Sakara. In one of these sepulchral caves there was discovered in 1855 a singular Phoenician antiquity. It is a sarcophagus of black cyanite, with a lid carved in human form; bandaged like a mummy, the face being bare. On the lid and on the head are inscriptions in which the king of Sidon is mentioned. It evidently belongs to the 11th century B. C. This relic is now in the Louvre, Paris. The Maronites have a small chapel in a garden at the gates of the town; and the tradition runs that here stood the house in which Mary, the sister of Lazarus, died. JERICHO, THE VALLEY OF MURDER. Jericho was a city of great antiquity and considerable importance-13 miles E. N. E. of Jerusalem, and 7 miles from the Jordan. It was situated at the mouth of Wady Kelt, and where the road from Jerusalem comes into the plain. The Jericho destroyed by Joshua was nearer to the fountain of Elisha; the present Ain Sultan. On the west and north of Jericho rise high limestone hills; one of which, the dreary Quarantina, rises 1,500 feet above the plain. The walls of Jericho were so wide that houses were built on them. The entrance to the city was through several gates, which were closed at dark, the same as is the practice in the East at the present day. Jericho is first mentioned as the city to which the spies were sent by Joshua; they lodged in the house of Rahab, upon the wall, and departed after promising to save her and all that were found in her house from destruction. In the annihilation that ensued, this promise was religiously kept. This was the first city taken by the Israelites west of the Jordan. Its walls are said to have supernaturally fallen down before the Jews, after being compassed about seven days; it was then burnt with fire: afterwards it was rebuilt, and gradually rose into importance again. Over against Jericho, beyond the Jordan, “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." In its plain |