in Syria, Phoenice ^c. ^27 



The moft confiderable of the Rivers, which run throiidi ^^^"""^ '^- 

 the Jeune, is the Akker, called fo perhaps from a City of the 

 fame Name it runs by. The latter is fituated upon Mount Bar- 

 gylus about nine Leagues to the S. E. of Tortofa , and mull 

 have been formerly as noted for It's Strength^, Extent and 

 Beauty, as it is at prefent for the Goodnefs and Perfedion of 

 the Apricots, Teaches, Ne&arines, and other Fruit which it 

 produceth. Akker may probably be theA'er (i.e. tbe City) which is 

 mentioned in the Book of Aynos (9. 7.) and elfewhere in Scri- 

 pture, where it is faid, Han^e not I hr ought up Ifrael out of the 

 Land of Egypt and the Philiftines froin Caphtor, and Aram 

 fromY^Qx:', where the fimple reading of .^r<^???, without the 

 Diftin6:ion of Tadan, or Naharaim, may induce us to believe 

 that Ker was of Syria or Aram, properly fo called, and not 

 of Media or Mefopotatnia, the Tadan Aram and the Aram 

 Naharai7n of the Scriptures. 



About a Leasue and a half from the River Akker and^"""?/^" 

 eight to the S.S.E. oi Tortofa, there are other Ruins, ftillfema4ts 

 known by the Name ofSumrah. Thefe may be very well taken 

 for the Remains of the antient Simyra or Taximyra as Straho 

 calls it, the Seat formerly of the Zemarites. Tliny ' makes 

 Si?nyra a City of Ccele- Syria, and acquaints us at the fame Time^ 

 that Mount Lihanus ended there to the Northward : but as our 

 Sumrah lyeth in the Jeune, at leaft two Leagues diftant from 

 any Part of that Mountain, this Circumftance, will better fall 

 in with Area, where that long Chain of Mountains is remark- 

 ably broken off and difcontinued. 



Five Miles from Sumrah to the Eaftward, are the Ruins arka, the 

 of the antient Area, the City of the Arkites , the Offspring ^liilV. " 

 likewife of Canaan. It is built over againft the Northern Ex- 

 tremity of Mount Lihanus , in a moft delightful Situation: 

 having a Profpedl to the Northward of an extenfive Plain, di- 

 verfifyed with an infinite Variety of Caftles and Villages, Ponds 

 and Rivers; to the Weft ward, it feeth, the Sun fet in the Sea, 

 and, to the Eaftward, rife over a long and diftant Chain of 

 Mountains. Here likewife are not wanting Thebaic Columns 

 and rich Entablatures to atteft for the Splendour and Polite- 

 nefs that it was fometime poffefled of The Citadel was erecl- 



I A tergo ejus (Sidon'ts) mons L'tbanus orfus, mille quingentis ftadiis Simj/ram ufque por- 

 rigitur, qu^ Coele Syria cognominatur. Pirn. ibid. 



N n n n X ed 



