"Homs is surrounded by a strong wall, and has a citadel, said to have been built by King Solomon. Homs is famous for her Arabian poets and writers. The chief manufactures of Homs are beautiful cloaks, made of wool, the most ancient garment of the country. They also manufacture the Cafiéh, a well-known handkerchief, which the Arabs and Bedouins carry on their heads, as a protection from the sun. It abounds in corn, butter, meal and fruits, wool, and manufactured goods. European merchandise is brought thither from Damascus, Tripoli, and Aleppo; rice, chiefly Eygptian, is brought from Tripoli. The river Asie, the ancient Orontes, runs about a mile from the town; its banks are planted with gardens, to which the natives resort to smell the fresh air, as they term it."-Voice from Lebanon.

"The district of Homs, the ancient Emessa, lies to the south of Hamah. It is watered by the Orontes, and is exceedingly fertile. In the list of its villages is that of Riblah, mentioned in 2 Kings xxiii. 33, still bearing

its ancient name. It is situated in the northern part of the valley Bekaa, on the river Orontes. Between Homs and Damascus, is Sadad, the Zedad mentioned in connexion with the north-eastern boundary of the Holy Land, in Ezek. xlvii. 15."-Lands of the Bible. (It is a large village, in the desert.)

ARPHAD, OR ARPAD.

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"Where are the gods of Hamath and of Arpad?”2 Kings xviii. 34.

"Where is the king of Arpad ?"—2 Kings xix. 13. "Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; for they have heard evil tidings."-Jer. xlix. 23.

[Gen. x. 18.; Isa. x. 9; xxxvi. 19; xxxvi. 13.]

"We reached Tortosa in time to visit the island of Ruad, as it is pronounced by the natives. It is called Arvad and Arphad, and is believed to be the seat of the ancient Arvadites. The Greeks and Romans called it Aradus, and the Arabs now call it Ruad, pronounced nearly as if written Rwad. We found it three miles from Tortosa, and at least two miles to the shore at the nearest point. We found about two thousand inhabitants, dwelling in very good, and, from appearance, very ancient houses. .

"Several large castles, in good repair, still protect this isle from invasion and insult. They are probably of Saracenic origin, but many have been constructed by the crusaders. Considerable portions of the very ancient wall remain. From the size of the stones, reminding the traveller of Baalbec, it is evident that this wall must have been prodigiously strong. It was built on the extreme verge of the rocks, so as to secure as large an area as possible; and in some places it appears even to

have encroached upon the dominions of the sea by means of arches. These walls must have been originally very lofty, as there is one portion still standing, at least forty feet in height. The entire circumference was nearly fifteen hundred paces, and every inch of space enclosed seems to have been built upon, and, as history states, with houses many stories high. The island is nearly as large as Tyre, and rises higher than that in the centre. There are no fountains on the island, but the population use rain-water preserved in cisterns. There are several hundreds of these, and most of them in good repair, so that water is quite abundant . . . There are two small harbours open to the north-east, and sheltered by a strong wall carried out into the sea from the north-west corner of the island; this is the work of remote antiquity, as is the wall which divides the harbour into two. people are nearly all sailors, or shipwrights. Several vessels are on the stocks at present, and one nearly ready to be launched. As nothing grows on the island, the inhabitants depend entirely upon the fruits of commerce and the riches of the sea for their subsistence. eastern part of the island is used as a cemetery, but in the days of her power the Arvadites must have sought their sepulchres on the adjacent coast, and probably the tombs around the columns of Amreed were constructed by them. Many granite and marble columns are scattered over the island, and upon several of them I noticed inscriptions in Greek

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The

The

"Who can tell the history of Arvad? in what volume is it recorded? Isaiah, 2,500 years ago, asks, 'Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad?' And Jeremiah, a hundred years later, responds, Hamath is confounded, and Arphad, for they have heard evil tidings; they are faint-hearted, there is sorrow on the sea, it cannot be quiet."—Journal of the Rev. W. M. THOMSON, in American Missionary Herald.

E

HELBON. (ALEPPO.)

SCRIPTURE NOTICE.

"THE wine of Helbon."-Ezek. xxvii. 18.

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Aleppo is pleasantly situated in a hollow surrounded by sloping hills, which are very uninteresting, having no trees. The houses are built of stone; the streets are narrow and ill-paved, except the bazaars, which are all roofed over with arches, and are lighted from above. Thus you can walk all over the town on the terraces of the houses, the arches I have mentioned connecting the streets one with the other. The Franks avail themselves of this mode of communication to visit each other during the time of the plague; we made visits half a mile distant in this manner. We visited some Turkish houses, and were much struck with the beauty of the ceilings of the apartments, which are decorated by Persian artists; they are very curiously gilded and painted. The decorations in carved work on the doors and window frames, are also extremely curious.

We

were struck with admiration at the neat and cleanly appearance of the butchers' shops, which are equal to those of London . . . The city is surrounded with gardens, watered by small rivulets.

"Sometimes we went out shooting, the gardens near Aleppo abounding in woodcocks, &c. : twenty a day is not thought very good sport: I have killed altogether one dozen, but never more than three in one day; we coursed the gazelle and hare alternately, the greyhounds in this country being very swift and strong. The cheapness and plenty of game is astonishing; every day we have had either woodcocks, or partridges, wild-geese or ducks, teal, the bustard, or wild turkey, &c.; and, to crown all, the porcupine, which is a delicious animal, resembling, both in appearance and taste, the pig and hare."-IRBY and MANGLES.

NICOLAS, a proselyte of Antioch."-Acts vi. 5. "The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." -Acts xi. 26. (Read from verse 19-30.)

"So they, being sent forth (from Antioch) by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia, and from thence they sailed to Cyprus."-Acts xiii. 4.

"Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord."Acts xv. 35.

[Acts xiv. 26, &c.; xv. 22, 30; xviii. 22; Gal. ii. 11.]

HISTORICAL NOTICES, &c.

The mention of the city of Antioch occurs so frequently in the Acts of the Apostles, and especially in the eleventh, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters, that