310 On the Sabbatic River. 
ancients for the marvelous, and the desire to conform this natural 
phenomenon to the Jewish division of time, will car: ac- 
count for the statements of these great historians. 
The following circumstance corroborates the general correct- 
ness of the preceding statements, which were drawn up after 
my first visit to the convent of St.George in 1840. In October, 
1845, I again had occasion to visit the same part of Syria, and 
had opportunities to make farther inquiries in regard to this re- 
markable river. Having visited and examined the ruins of the 
magnificent-temple at Arca, I traveled across the country towards 
the north, along or near to the line of the ancient Roman road, 
according to the itineraries and old geographers. At length I 
came to the dry channel of a wide stream, coming down from 
the mountain on which the convent is built. - As I expected, the 
peasants informed me that its source was at the cave below the 
eonvent. After traveling two or-three hours farther north I 
crossed another river, called Abrosh, or Leper’s River, on the banks 
of which there is an ancient site, still called Rahanea, which is 
exactly the Arabic pronunciation of the Raphanea of Josephus. 
I spent the night with an old Sheikh of the Ansairiyeh at a 
village about twenty miles to the west of the convent. The 
Shiekh was not only acquainted with the fountain, which he call- 
ed Neba el Fair, but immediately gave to the stream itself the 
name of Nhr Sebty, or seventh day river. And he insisted. that 
it ran only once every seven days, although I knew to the con- 
trary. But, in accordance with his own religion, he made it a 
mosilem, declaring that it flowed only on Friday. From some such 
Sheikh as this, Josephus (or Titus) may have received his ac- 
count eighteen centuries ago, as he passed along this road. Nor 
ought it to be regarded as very wonderful, that traditions should 
be handed down, in the east, for somany generations, unchanged. 
We have the very names of the places preserved unaltered, vat 
why not the singular tradition connected with them. 
My traveling companion on the latter tour, Capt. Deiat : 
the East India army, subsequently made a visit to the convent of 
St. George, solely to examine this river. He is fully convinced 
of its identity with the Sabbatic River of Josephus.. He however 
understood the monks to say that the periods of anger sa 
ith the rainy: 0 
