___ tance north of Beirfit. . Titus was on his march towards Antioch 
___ when he noticed it. The river could not therefore have been in 
__ Agrippa’s kingdom; and I think it not improbable that the words, 
Tig Ayolnna Puothelos; are an interpolation of some transcriber or 
_ Seholiast, intending to make the description of Josephus more.de- 
- finite, by limiting it to the Arca and. Rajhanea. in the south of 
_ Palestine—the only cities of that name probably with which he 
Was acquainted. Nor would such a geographical mistake be at 
all surprising. For ages, Syria was a kind of terra incognita, 
Few even of the learned knew that there was such. a place as 
___Beirat in existence ; and fewer still had any accurate information 
as to its relative position, A) transcriber therefore might very 
____ Teadily ‘suppose it to be in Agrippa’s kingdom, and so add the ex- 
_ Planatory clause. The Jewish origin of the name might suggest 
the same thing. : 
This much however is certain. If Titus saw the river on his 
tour northward of Beirit,'we must travel in the same direction 
lo find it. Accordingly, about half a day’s ride to the north of 
‘Tripoli, (or three days north of Beirit,) there was a well known 
| ancient city called Arca or Arcea; and afew miles farther north, 
@town called Raphanea. Between these two places, no doubt, 
_, flowed the Sabbatic River. In all probability this river derived 
_ lSorigin and peculiar character, from one of those intermitting 
fountains which are to be met with occasionally in different parts 
of ‘th world, and of which there are several examples in Syria, 
This necessary supposition will guide to the precise spot where 
our Tver first appears, 
In the valley below the Kulaat Hissn, and near the great con- 
_ Vent of Mar Jirjius, there is a fountain which throws out at sta- 
_ led.intervals an immense volume of ‘water, quite sufficient to en- 
litlevit in Syria to the name of river. And it is‘in fact the head 
_ Source of one considerable branch of the Nhr el Kebir, the an- 
Gent Eleutherus. ‘This locality answers, in all respects, to the 
eas i ion of Josephus, with the single exception of the words, 
“in Agrippa’s kingdom,” explained above. Arca is on the south, 
_ id a village called Raphanea or Rahanea on the north. 
There are however somedifficulties in the account which re- 
ire explanation, In the first place, this fountain at Mar Jirjius 
now, as I was informed, quiescent fo days and active on the 
The account given me on the spot was, that every third 
xe descended, and forced out the water with loud 
