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see that this rule is not infringed upon. The Matron has an office subsidiary in some respects to that of the steward: she has the nurses under her control, and superintends everything relating to the personal cleanliness and comfort of the boys. She is present present in the kitchen at stated times, to see that the food, as well as its mode of preparation, is unexceptionable. She attends in the Hall, at dinner and supper, and, together with the steward, accompanies the boys to Christ-church twice every Sunday. She visits the wards at stated periods, and superintends all the arrangements of beds and bedding. The linen for the establishment is mostly made by the Blue-coat girls at Hertford, and is cut out by, or under the superintendence of, the matron. The nurses, who are all freemen's widows, are fourteen in number, and have the personal management of the boys. Each ward, to which one nurse is attached, contains beds and accommodation for about fifty boys.

The Infirmary is under the care of a Physician, a Surgeon, an Apothecary, and a Nurse, whose best services are directed to any case of sickness occurring in the school. The apothecary resides within the hospital.

The Surveyor (who has a house within the precincts) has the general superintendence of all the lands, houses, and buildings, belonging to the Hospital, whether devoted to the purposes of the establishment, or let to others, and has to draw plans for all the new buildings erected in the hospital, and to superintend the erection. There are also a Land-surveyor and a Solicitor employed in offices which their titles sufficiently indicate.

Lastly, but not least, we may enumerate the officers employed directly in the instruction of the boys in the various schools,-four classical masters, two mathematical masters, drawing-master, writing-master, two assistant writing-masters, two ushers, and a music

master.

Thus it will be seen that the general superintendence of such a large establishment requires a wellordered system to be observed in everything, there being no fewer than fifty persons engaged in a daily routine of business connected with the maintenance and education of the boys. Our concluding article will be devoted to the boys themselves; to a sketch of the system of education pursued in the school, and to various matters illustrative of the life of a "Blue."

APPLICATION OF THE DAGUERREOTYPE TO PORTRAITS.

THERE has seldom been a scientific discovery which attracted such immediate and universal attention, or which so many persons aimed simultaneously at improving, as that of the Daguerreotype, or its twin process, photogenic drawing. It was truly remarked by M. Arago, when he first publicly explained the principle of the Daguerreotype, that the extent to which that method might ultimately be carried, could scarcely even be guessed at, as it opened a new field for the production of those works of art, which the draughtsman has hitherto produced. Were it possible to enumerate all the individuals who are at present engaged in forwarding this discovery in England, France, and other countries, the reader would see a strong warranty for expecting a succession of important results from their united labours. We have, in former papers, described the process employed by Mr. Talbot for photogenic drawing, and by M. Daguerre for the Daguerreotype; and we shall continue to present to our readers, from time

to time, such new additions as the labours of scientific men may have produced.

On the present occasion we shall describe a mode of producing portraits of individuals, by means of the Daguerreotype, as developed by Professor Draper of New York, The professor states, that very soon after Daguerre's process was known in America, he made attempts to apply it to the execution of portraits from life; and in the course of the experiments into which he was led, he produced several results which are worthy of note, as differing somewhat from those obtained by Daguerre. We will briefly mention a few of these points of difference.

The reader will remember, from the description given in the Saturday Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 79, that the Daguerreotype process consists of five stages; viz., Ist, a thorough cleansing of the silver surface of the copper-plate, by means of pumice-stone, olive-oil, cotton, and dilute nitric acid; 2nd, an exposure of the silver to the vapour of iodine, by which the surface acquires a fine yellow gold colour; 3rd, the adjustment of the plate in a camera obscura, so as to receive light only from the illuminated object which is to be represented; 4th, the exposure of the plate at a certain angle, to the vapour of mercury, by which the photogenic figure on the plate is developed and tendered visible; and 5th, the washing of the plate alternately in a solution of common salt and in distilled water, to remove the sensitive coating which the vapour of iodine has produced, and thereby to fix the drawing.

1

Now, there is not one of these stages but what has received subsequent improvements from the labours of the many scientific men who have directed attention thereto; but the part which seems at present to resist theory most, is the effect of the mercury. Professor Draper asks, "Why does the vapour of mercury condense in a white form on those portions of the film of iodide which have been exposed to the influence of light?" Without attempting any solution of this question, he considers that the cause, whatever it be, may be similar to that which produces the following phenomenon:-If a piece of very clear and cold glass, or a cold polished metallic reflector, has a small object laid upon it, and the surface be breathed over, and the object then removed, a spectral image of the object will be seen by breathing again on the surface, even for several days after the first trial. And also the following:-If a piece of soapstone be made use of as a pencil to write on glass, though the letters that may have been formed are invisible, and though the surface of the glass may be subsequently well cleaned; yet the letters will come into view as soon as the glass is breathed on. fessor Draper even states,—as a parallel instance to those just given,-that if we take a Daguerreotype drawing, clean off the mercury, polish the plate thoroughly with rotten-stone, wash it with nitric acid, and bring it to a brilliant surface, yet, notwithstanding all these processes, the original picture will reHe also appear on exposure to the vapour of mercury. states, that the fancied necessity for an angle of 45° in the position of the plate in the mercury-box, is not well-founded; for "plates mercurialize equally well in a horizontal, as in any other position; perhaps a slight inclination may be of advantage, in allowing the vapour to flow with uniformity over the iodized process; but the chief use of an angle of 45° is to allow the operator to inspect the process through the glass."

Pro

The professor recommends, that, in polishing the plate previous to the iodizing, whiting be used in addition to rotten-stone, as tending to produce a

more perfect lustre. He also remarks, that, in exposing the polished plate to the iodine, he finds no necessity for the gauze screen; but holds the plate, by means of a temporary handle, about two inches above the surface of some coarse flakes of iodine, placed in a box two inches deep: the iodizing is thus completed in from one to three minutes. Daguerre had suggested that the iodized plate should be inserted in the camera immediately, as the iodide else loses its photogenic property; but Draper has found, that the plate may not only be kept (in the dark) twenty-four hours before it is placed in the camera, but that its sensitiveness is often increased thereby.

M. Daguerre and Sir John Herschel have expressed opinions that the object-glass of the camera should be perfectly achromatic, i.e., capable of focalizing light without producing coloured fringes, in order to produce the photogenic effect; but the American professor deems this achromaticity unnecessary, because the different colours which compose the spectrum take different spaces of time to produce their effect on the iodide of silver, and the plate may be removed before the slowly-acting rays have time to act upon the drawing. Many of his drawings were produced with a common spectacle-lens, of fourteen inches' focus, arranged at the end of a cigar-box as a camera: with this humble camera, he produced highly-finished plates, measuring four inches by three.

The last improvement suggested by Professor Draper which we shall describe, before entering upon his method of producing portraits, is that in the process of fixing, or removing the sensitive coating after the mercurializing. Daguerre used a solution of common salt, and other solutions have been still employed; but the process now recommended is exceedingly elegant:The plate, after being dipped in cold water, is placed in a solution of common salt, of moderate strength; and while in this situation, it is touched on one corner with a piece of bright and clean zinc. The effect produced is remarkable; for the yellow coat of iodide disappears almost immediately; the zinc, the salt-water, and the silver, form a galvanic circuit, by which the zinc is oxidized, and the silver begins to evolve hydrogen gas; whilst this is in a nascent state, it decomposes the film of iodide of silver, giving rise to the production of hydriodic acid, which is very soluble in water, and hence easily removed.

In taking portraits with the Daguerreotype, the chief difficulty has been, to illuminate the face of the person sufficiently for the conducting of the process, without exposing him to a light which the eyes cannot conveniently bear; for if the latter be the case, the eyes are nearly closed, and the eyebrows drawn over them, so as almost to exclude the eyes from the drawing produced. When the sitter is able to bear the light of the sun for a short time, a portrait may be produced in a time varying from twenty to ninety seconds; by placing the sitter before the sun, in the same vertical plane as the sun in the camera, and using a double-convex non-achromatic lens of four inches' diameter, and fourteen inches' focus. If the sun be at a considerable elevation, the shadow of the eyebrows will descend over the eyes, and be thrown into too great an obscurity. To avoid this the following plan is recommended: arrange the camera and the sitter so that the line joining the former and the head of the latter may make an angle of about ten degrees with the incident ray, as falling on the sitter; and this may be effected by the use of one or two reflecting mirrors, so arranged as to deflect the sun's rays into a direction nearly horizontal.

But the more horizontal the solar rays reach the

eye, the more painful are they, from the impossibility of shielding the eye by the brow. It is therefore necessary to diminish the intensity of the light by interposing some semi-opaque substance between the sun and the eye. Draper has used for this purpose blue glass, and also ammoniaco-sulphate of copper, contained in a large trough of plate-glass, the trough, and consequently the contained solution, being about an inch thick, and the fluid being diluted to such a degree that the solar light, as transmitted through it, could just be borne by the eye. When a blue or green medium is employed in this manner, the plate requires to be retained in the camera a longer time than under ordinary circumstances.

It may naturally be asked, how far this "portraitpainting" can be carried on under the more agreeable light which we denominate "daylight." On this point Mr. Draper informs us, that on a clear day, and with a very sensitive plate, a portrait can be obtained in the course of five or seven minutes in diffused daylight; but that the advantage which might be supposed to accrue from the features being more composed, and of a more natural aspect, are more than counterbalanced by the difficulty of retaining them so long in one constant mode of expression. An artist in the common course of his operations can delineate the features of a sitter, although those features may undergo occasional changes of expression: but Nature, by means of Daguerreotype, is such a rapid portraitpainter, that every shade of expression is depicted on the plate, almost in the same instant that the features assume that expression: if the expression varies, therefore, the photographic picture would present a confused mingling of features. Mr. Draper recommends, therefore, that the sitter be placed in the same vertical plane as the camera and the sun, with his face towards the sun; that the solar rays be brought into a direction nearly horizontal, by the aid of one or two reflecting mirrors; that a blue-coloured medium be interposed between the sun and the eye of the sitter, in order to prevent the eye from being distressed by the light; that the back-ground should be at some distance behind the sitter, to prevent his shadow from being copied as part of his body; and that the aperture of the camera should be about three and a half or four inches.

In order to keep the head of the sitter in one uniform position, the chair on which he is seated is provided with a staff at the back, terminating upwards in an iron ring, which serves to support the head: the back or side of the head (according as a front view or a profile is to be taken) is rested simply against or partially within the ring, by which it is easily kept steady. This chair should be placed four or five feet from the wall, in order to prevent the shadow of the body from interfering with the picture. To show the remarkable delicacy and minuteness of photographic workmanship, it is stated that if the hands are allowed to rest upon the chest, the slight motion which respiration gives them will produce thick and clumsy hands in the picture; whereas if the hands be held steady, the very veins are depicted with minute accuracy.

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With regard to dress, it is found necessary to avoid all strong contrasts in colours, since the brighter tints act more speedily on the plate than the more sombre. If the sitter had a black coat and waistcoat, with the shirt showing within the waistcoat,— mon attire in the present day,—the white shirt would be represented in a shorter time than the coloured portions of the object, and would acquire a blue or even a black tint before the other parts of the picture are finished: the white would, in fact, be "over-done"

by the time the coloured portions were depicted. It is therefore advised, that the dress of the sitter, as well as the back-ground behind him, should be as free as possible from strong contrasts in colour.

The camera, as employed for the production of these portraits, necessarily gives reversed pictures, the right and left sides changing places. To obviate this defect, an American mechanician devised the employment of an elliptical concave mirror, instead of a convex lens: this has the effect of presenting the object in the picture in the same position as in nature but it has the unavoidable defect of producing only very small pictures, confused, too, at their edges.

In conclusion, we will give Professor Draper's remarks on the degree of success which has generally attended these very curious experiments:

Miniatures, procured in the manner here laid down, are in most cases striking likenesses, though not in all. They give, of course, all the individual peculiarities, a mole, a freckle, a wart. Owing to the circumstance that yellow and yellowish browns are long before they impress the substance of the Daguerreotype, persons whose faces are freckled all over give rise to the most ludicrous result, a white mottled with just as many black dots as the sitter had yellow ones. The eye appears beautifully, the iris with sharpness, and the white dot of light upon it with such strength and so much of reality and life, as to surprise those who have never before seen it. Many are persuaded that the pencil of the painter has been secretly employed to give the finishing touch.

ON GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES.

VI.

IN our former articles we have noticed the more im

portant varieties of gems and precious stones, without any very distinct reference to the curious and difficult art of the lapidary, whereby the beauties and apparent value of gems in general, are brought out in all their gorgeous lustre. We propose, therefore, to detail a few of the processes connected with the cutting and polishing of gems. The operations of splitting or cleaving, and of sawing diamonds, have been already described in Saturday Magazine, vol. vii., p. 21; the processes there described pertain, with a few variations, to gems in general; so that we have in this place only to describe the operation of cutting or grinding, and polishing the facets.

Gems are cut and polished by the lapidary, by means of a mill of a very simple construction. It consists of a very strong frame, having four upright standards at the four corners, two of which are seen at AA. These standards are about seven Fig. 1.

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presented two pieces D D, which, with similar ones at the other end of the frame, form the support of two long cross-bars, passing through the whole length of the frame, one above the working-bench, the other below it. These bars are seen cut through transversely at EE: they are called summers, and their use is to afford bearings for the tops and bottoms of two or three spindles or arbors, one of which is seen at F. These spindles pass through holes in the workingbench.

The spindle being made to turn as freely as possible in its bearings, has a circular metal plate G, which can be taken off or fitted on at pleasure. This plate is called variously wheel-plate, mill-wheel, or ill-plate, and it is on its upper smooth surface that the artist grinds away the facets of the stone. The hardness of the wheel-plate must be proportional to, but not so great as, that of the stone to be cut. Hence the material of which the wheel is composed, the powder used to give it roughness, and the fluid employed to moisten it, must all vary with the comparative hardness or softness of the gem. mond is the only gem hard enough to require a steel wheel. This must be of soft steel, both for grinding dust, moistened with olive-oil.. and polishing, and the powder employed is diamond

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Gems of the second degree of hardness, that is, of the sapphire kind, including the oriental ruby, &c., are ground and polished on a copper wheel. The powder for grinding is diamond-dust, moistened with olive-oil; and for polishing, Tripoli powder, moistened with water.

The softer gems, such as hyacinth, emerald, beryl, topaz, and garnet, are cut on a wheel of lead, with emery and water; and polished on a tin or zine wheel, with Tripoli or putty powder and water.

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The still softer stones, viz., all the varieties of quartz, opal, and artificial gems or pastes, are cut and polished on a wheel of hard wood. The powder for cutting being emery and water; and for polishing, Tripoli and water.

Let us now see how a very rapid revolving motion is given to the wheel-plate, to enable it to grind down

substances so much harder than itself.

The wheel-plate G is fixed on its spindle immediately above the hole in the working-bench; and just below that hole is fixed on the same spindle a pulley н, or, rather, several pulleys of different sizes, as in a common lathe; so that, by shifting the strap from one to another of them, the speed of the spindle may be increased or diminished at pleasure. The other part of this strap passes round the large horizontal fly-wheel K, which is fixed on a vertical axle, whose lower bearing is in the floor, and its upper bearing in the ceiling of the room. Just below the large wheel, this axle has a crank L, turned by a rod м, whose other end bears an upright handle N, rising through a slit in the working-bench. When the lapidary has fixed the stone in the proper position, he takes hold of this handle, and works it backwards and forwards with his arm, causing the fly-wheel to make one revolution during each stroke of his arm, and thus communicating to the small pulley and to the wheel-plate above, an almost inconceivable degree of rapidity.

The manner in which the lapidary presents the gem to the wheel, so as to grind it accurately, is a most important part of the operations: the gem to be cut or polished must be fixed in so exact a manner that the wheel-plate may act on one facet only at a time.

The utmost nicety is therefore required, and for this purpose the gem is generally fixed to one end of a small rod, called a cement-rod, because the stone is attached to it by means of cement.

To receive diamonds, the end of the cement-rod is made like a cup, into which is poured melted solder of tin and lead: the diamond is then plunged up to the girdle into the liquid solder, which, on cooling, retains it firm in its place. When the table-side has been finished, the diamond is taken out by paring away the solder with a knife. The solder is then re-melted, and the cut side of the diamond is plunged in so as to expose the uncut pyramid to be formed into the collet. When this is completed, the cementrod is fixed to a most ingenious and invaluable instrument, called a dial; the most improved construction of which is represented in the following figure.

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circle of sixteen parts; but the tube E is not moved till the tier is finished, and a still lower one about to be begun. This most ingenious contrivance has hitherto been used only by the inventor, a very expert lapidary of Geneva.

When the facets are all cut, they are dull, like ground-glass, and therefore have to be polished: this consists in simply repeating the operation, but with a softer and finer powder, and sometimes a wheel-plate of a different metal, as has been already described.

This notice would be incomplete without some mention of the ancient and curious art of making imitative gems. We say imitative to distinguish them from artificial gems, or those which exactly resemble the natural ones in their internal properties, compo. sition, &c., as well as in their external appearance. Artificial gems have been very seldom produced; indeed, almost the only one that has been really formed by art, is the ruby, and that only in very small crystals.

Imitative gems are composed of various kinds of coloured glass, of superior hardness and refractive power. In this manner the colour and the play of light of real gems can be so nearly imitated, that in former times, such pastes (as superior kinds of glass are called) were often sold at immense prices as true stones. Such frauds can scarcely happen now, since there is a simple test, that of hardness, by which every

the best imitations which can be made in paste.

This art is of very remote antiquity, as is proved by many ancient Egyptian relics. Pliny says that the Greeks and Romans also imitated gems by colouring crystals; a method still partially in use. In the middle ages, this art was kept a profound secret, and in most books false recipes were given, which, if followed implicitly, could never produce the desired effect. This has been remarked even in the works of Neri and Kunkel, which were once thought to be the best guides in making imitative gems.

In later times M. Fontanieu has made some valuable researches and experiments on the subject. He divides the composition into bases, or pure white pastes, and colouring substances to be added in very small quantity to the bases. When the different ingredients of the composition which forms a base, are reduced to powder and well mixed together, they are placed in a Hessian crucible, and melted by the heat of a furnace or forge. The melted substance is called frit. It is poured into cold water, and if any lead be separated in metallic globules, it is carefully removed. The substance is re-melted, and the same process repeated three times, each time in a new crucible, and with pure water. Lastly, it is powdered, mixed with colouring matter, and melted into the proper shape.

Suppose A A to represent the surface of the workingbench, and B the wheel-plate on its spindle: c is a piece of wood or metal, bearing a fixed brass quad-person may soon learn to distinguish real gems from rant DD, which is graduated into ninety degrees; E is a brass tube, fixed on an axis at F, just in the centre of the quadrant, but free to move up and down, so as to point to any required degree. The upper end of this tube bears a flat disk of brass G, which is of a circular shape, (though seen edgewise in the figure,) and has engraved on its upper surface several circles, each divided into a number of equal parts; as many as can possibly be wanted for cutting any circle or tier of facets on a stone. Now the cement-rod HK is passed up the tube E. It has the stone H fixed to its lower end, and to its upper end is affixed a hand K, like that of a watch, by turning which so as to point to any division on the circular plate, the stone is of course turned on its axis. Now suppose the tube E to be vertical, or pointing to ninety degrees, at the top of the quadrant D. Then the stone will be in the proper position for cutting the table, or horizontal face of a brilliant. The cement-rod is, of course, pushed down till the lower point of the stone just touches the wheel-plate: sometimes it is kept down by a weight placed on the top of the cement-rod. When this point has been ground down far enough to produce a table of the requisite size, it has to be surrounded by eight more facets, perfectly equi-distant, equal in size, and regular. The artist first ascertains what angle their planes should make with the plane of the former large facet or table. Suppose this to be twenty degrees, he lowers the tube E till it points to the twentieth degree below the top of the quadrant D. It is then fixed in that position by a small screw, and the hand K is made to point to one of the divisions of a circle that contains eight parts. The cement-rod being then slid down till the stone touches the wheel-plate, one of the first tier of facets will be cut with unerring accuracy. When this is done, the hand K is moved on to the next division, and another facet is cut. When the hand has been moved entirely round the circle, the first tier, or circle of eight facets, will have been cut. In order to begin the next tier, the place of the tube E is shifted, and brought lower down on the quadrant, so as to present the stone still more obliquely to the grinding-plate. This tier probably contains sixteen facets, therefore the hand is pointed successively to all the divisions in

There is another very superior base, called Mayence base, or strap, from the name of its inventor; it is thus made :-three parts of carbonate of potash, and one part of silica, prepared from rock-crystal, are mixed and melted together. When cool, this is dissolved in warm water, and nitric acid is added till no more precipitate forms. The precipitate is then well washed and dried; and two parts of it are mixed with three parts of ceruse. This is melted, and poured into cold water. It is again powdered, and mixed with one-twelfth of its weight of borax, and again melted. This having been poured into cold water and powdered, is mixed with one-twelfth of its weight of nitre, and again melted for use.

For imitating the diamond, M. Fontanieu says, that he knows of no better composition than a base of twelve parts silica, twenty litharge, four nitre, four borax, and two white arsenic. Of course no colouring matter is wanted.

For blue sapphire, Fontanieu recommends twenty- | stream rushing through its deep rocky channel, and four ounces of the Mayence base, coloured with fortysix grains of zaffre, or oxide of cobalt.

For the oriental ruby forty parts of the Mayence base made with flints, four parts rock-crystal, and one part fusible manganese. The fusible manganese is made by making the common manganese red-hot, and then plunging it in vinegar.

For the ballas ruby, or spinelle, there should be one-fourth less colouring matter.

The proper base for the hyacinth is, according to Loysel, one hundred parts silica, two hundred and fifty minium, from fifteen to twenty fused potash, and from twenty-five to thirty borax.

To imitate the amethyst, he uses twenty-four ounces of Mayence base, four drachms fusible manganese, four grains precipitate of cassius.

For the imitation of the garnet, two ounces Mayence base, one ounce glass of antimony, one grain each of Cassius's precipitate and of oxide of manganese.

M. Fontanieu has published a large work on the subject of making these imitations. We have directed the attention of our readers to a few specimens, and might have added many more, if our limits would have allowed, or the details had been sufficiently interesting to the general reader.

THE SYRIAN COAST. VI.

FROM Beyrout an old Roman road, constructed by the Emperor Antoninus, runs along the shore towards Djebail. It soon crosses a small stream, (supposed to be the Magoras of Pliny,) which, when swollen by rains, foams so violently in its rocky bed, that it has received the name of Nahr-el-Leban (Milk River). About four miles further the road is carried along the face of a lofty cliff, adorned with numerous sculptures and inscriptions, now much defaced, but supposed to be of Phoenician origin; and a short distance beyond occurs a deep ravine, through which the Nahr-el-Kelb (Dog River) rushes to the sea with extreme fury. This stream, the Lycus of antiquity, derived both its former and present name from a tradition that an idol in the form of a dog, or wolf, was once worshipped on its banks, and near its mouth is still found a broken pedestal, presumed to have been that of the idol the figure of a dog also occurs, carved in the rocks, near the bridge, constructed by Fakr-el-Din, by which the stream is crossed. This river is the southern boundary of the exclusively Christian district of Kesrouan, principally inhabited by the Maronites, but also containing some Catholics, Greeks, and Armenians: it extends northward to the Nahr-elKebir, (Great River,) beyond Tripoli.

Proceeding along a rocky shore towards Djebail, (about twenty miles from Beyrout,) we soon reach the town of Djournie, where occur a lofty square tower and several other Roman remains, it being the site of an ancient city, termed Palæ-Byblos, whose inhabitants founded a second Byblos, higher up the coast. It was at Djournie that the Allied camp was recently established. The bay of Djournie is spacious, its southern promontory running far out to sea, and having at its extremity a small chapel cut in the rock, which bears the name of the tomb of St. George; and the mountain-peaks in the back-ground are crowned by Christian convents. The road next crosses another lofty cliff, (Mount Climax,) where, for more than a mile, the path is less than six feet wide, and overhangs the sea*, beyond which is seen the Nahr-Ibrahim, a

*This pass was the scene of a gallant exploit of Baldwin the First of Jerusalem, when on his journey from Antioch to that city, to assume the crown. "Baldwin was informed that the Turkish princes

in its general appearance much resembling the Nahrel-Kelb. The river has its name from the builder of a bridge over it, and is the classic Adonis, which at certain seasons

Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Tammuz yearly wounded:

a fancy fostered by the priests of the neighbouring city of Byblos, where was a magnificent temple of Adonis, or Tammuz.

Three miles distant, on a hill by tne sea, lies Djebail, the representative of the Gebal of Scripture and the Byblos of antiquity, and still a place of some importance. It is surrounded by well-cultivated gardens, exports much of the silk of the Kesrouan, and has a population of about 3000 persons. Its ancient extent is proved by numerous ruins, principally Roman, in its neighbourhood, and it also contains the remains of a Christian church, of Corinthian architecture, supposed to have been erected in the fourth century. Upon the southern side of the town stands a castle, of mixed Roman and Saracenic architecture, whose solid and lofty walls are more than a mile in compass, and are strengthened by numerous towers. castle was captured by the English and their allies early in the present war.

This

From the Bible we learn that the people of Gebal vere early celebrated for their skill in squaring stone for building, (1 Kings v. 18†,) and they are also mentioned as the caulkers of Tyre, (Ezek. xxvii. 9.) But its chief renown arose from its being the reputed birth-place of Adonis, and the principal seat of his worship; which, however, was practised in other quarters, and at one time prevailed among the Jews under the Syrian name of Tammuz. Among "the great abominations that the house of Israel committed," the prophet Ezekiel in a vision saw the women weeping for Tammuz." (Ezek. viii. 14.)

The history of Byblos differs too little from that of most of the towns along the coast to need much detail. Its ceremonies in honour of Adonis, in a

somewhat modified form, were still practised in the fifth century of the Christian era. The first Crusaders passed it without injury in consequence of an agreement made with the emir of Tripoli, but it was captured by Raymond of Toulouse in 1104, and the wall by which it is now surrounded was built by the Christians, in whose hands the place remained till 1289. Though in the Maronite country it until recently had a Druse garrison, but this before the recent attack had been replaced by a body of Albanians.

Ten miles to the northward of Djebail lies the small town of Batroun, or Patrone, the ancient Botrys. This

place is said to have been founded by Ithobal, king of Tyre, (B.C. 920,) and in the time of the Roman empire had a spacious artificial harbour, to which a vast rock, torn from Lebanon by an earthquake, and hurled into the sea, served as a mole. The only harbour now used is a narrow canal, cut between the rocks, in which a few boats find shelter, the principal trade of of Damascus and Emesa were lying in wait for him at the pass, upon which a part of his followers quitted him through fear, but he was himself resolved rather to die than to turn back. On coming to the pass he found some of the Turks posted in it, others on the rocks above it, while beneath, on the sea, were ships, from on board of which the Turks discharged their arrows at his troops. To win his way by force he saw was impossible: he therefore had recourse to stratagem. At break of day he commenced a retreat, and led his men back to the plain. The Turks, as he had hoped, pursued; the Christians turned; the Turks were routed and driven over the pass, and Baldwin, collecting his men, urged his way along it with all

speed, and safely reached the plain at the other side.—KEIGHTLEY'S

Crusaders.

The Hebrew word rendered "stone-squarers," in this passage, is Giblim, meaning inhabitants of Gebal or Giblus, whence the transiion to the classical appellation of after-days, Byblos, is obvious enough. It is, however, very probable that Palæ-Byblos (Djournie) may be meant.

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