THE PHOENICIAN SEA-COAST.
ALONG the whole sea-board of Palestine extends a low plain, twenty miles wide at the southern end, but at the northern a mere strip. In Bible times it was divided into three provinces, Philistia, Sharon, and Phoenicia. The ridge of Carmel sep- arated the two latter. At its northern base is the plain of Acre, reaching inland till it joins Esdraelon. But the mountains of Naphtali first, and then the loftier and bolder chain of Lebanon, shoot out their western roots; and the coast plain, from Achzib to the entrance of Hamath, does not average more than a mile in breadth, and is often intersected by rocky promon- tories. On this narrow tract, under the shadow of Lebanon, stood the world-re- nowned cities of Tyre and Sidon.
The founders of Phoenicia were Sidon, Arvad, Arki (Gen. 10:15-18), sons of Canaan, and consequently, in the Bible as well as on their own coins and monuments the people are always call " Canaanites." (Judges 1 : 31, 32). The name Phoenicia is of Greek origin, and probably derived from the "palms" (phwnikes) that once waved on the sunny plain. Phoenicia was the great mother of commerce the England, in fact, of the Old World. The proudest cities along-the shores of the Mediterranean were her daughters, Carthage, Syracuse, Cadiz, Marseilles, and many others. The plain of Phoenicia was included in the Land of Promise (Josh. 13:4-6), but the Israelites were unable, and probably unwilling, to expel the wealthy and powerful traders (Judges 1:31, 32). David and Solomon even sought their aid as seaman, and took advantage of their skill as architects. (2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 5:9-27).
Thus, while the sacred interest that clusters round every spot in Palestine can scarce be said to find a place in Phoenicia, there is a historic interest in its wave-washed ruins that makes them dear to the scholar, and there is an occasional connection between them and the Bible story, which awakens the attention of the Christian. Elijah's miracle at Zarephath, a city of Sidon (1 Kings 17:9; Luke 4:26), our Lord's interview with the Syro-Phoenician woman (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:26), and the Apostle Paul's visits to Tyre (Acts 21:3), Sidon (27:3) and Ptolemais (21:7), can never be forgotten. Phoenicia, too, is full of prophetic interest. The infallible truth of Scripture is written upon her desolate shores.
My first ride through Phoenicia was a continuation of one of my earliest tours in the Holy Land. Many years have passed since then, but the scenes are still fresh before the eye of memory. From Nazareth I journeyed westward through the wooded hills of Galilee and across the rich plain of Acre. Accho, or Ptolemais, has little Biblical interest, so I pass it and ride northward to Achzib, one of these cities which Asher thought it best to leave, with Accho and Zidon, in the hands of the Phoenicians' Judges 1:31). The hills were now close on my right, clothed with olive groves, which brought to my mind Moses' blessing upon Asher "Let him dip his foot in oil" (Deuteronomy 33:24). I scaled the Tyrian Ladder, a bold headland, which shoots out into the sea, and in two hours more I clambered up the dizzy staircase to the top of the White Cape a perpendicular cliff of limestone rising hundreds of feet from the bosom of the deep; along its brow the ancient and only road is carried, hewn in the living rock. Thence I pushed onward and encamped at the fountains of Tyre.
Nearly the whole shore from the Tyrian Ladder northward was strewn with ruins. Heaps of hewn stone and quantities of marble tessene lay in my path; while broken shafts and mounds of rubbish were seen to the right and left here crowning a cliff, there washed by the waves. One thing I specially noted: from the time I left Achzib till I reached the fountains I did not see a human being, a mournful and solitary silence reigns along Phoenicia's coast.
Syria's Holy Places.
