distributed into three walks, of which the middle is 32 feet 9 inches wide, and the side aisles 15 feet 8 inches each; giving a total width of 64 feet. The columns, of which some few are in situ, are all of red granite, about 16 feet in height, exclusive of the capitals, which are of a very debased classical, or early Byzantine, type. Besides the 5 bays in the old church, I counted in the north wall of the modernized mosk, which is built into the ancient arcading, 16 other bays; and, as each bay was II ft. 2 in. wide, this gives a total length of 276 feet about the interior length of King's College Chapel; nor is it at all certain that this was the extreme length; for there is nothing to mark its termination either to the east or to the west. This noble church is said to have been dedicated to S. John Baptist, whose head was found here in the time of Theodosius1; as was the grand Basilica now forming the mosk at Damascus-for the same reason!

And now for the present condition of the Church of Emesa. Dionysius the Bishop had only been two or three months at his post, at the time of my visit. He was advanced in years, and had been a parish priest in the church of S. Nicolas at Constantinople, until he was appointed to this See; which he accepted only at the earnest solicitation of the Patriarch of Antioch. He presides over a small flock, and the Church is a poor and mean building.

1 Pococke, Description of the East, Vol. II. Pt. 1, p. 141.

The

RESTEN-About three hours north of Homs are the ruins of a large Church, originally built in the form of a Greek Cross, with a semicircular apse to the east. A story connected with this Church, which fills a bloody page of the annals of Islam, and of the Church of Syria,-may here be told. When Abu Obeideh was subjugating the Valley of the Orontes from the south, he arrived before Resten, which was so well fortified and garrisoned that it refused his summons to surrender. General promised not to attack it, on condition that he was permitted to deposit there some of his heavy baggage, which impeded his march. Having obtained the governor's consent, AbuObeideh chose twenty of his bravest soldiers, whom he shut up in twenty large cases, which opened from within, and had them conveyed into the citadel. Then leaving Khaled, with some armed troops, in a wood near the town, he continued his march to the north. Scarcely was he out of sight, with the bulk of his army, when the inhabitants of Resten congregated in their Church, to return thanks to God for their deliverance. The Arabs, emerging from their concealment, took advantage of this opportunity to seize the wife of the governor, whom they forced to deliver up the keys of the town. Thus they opened the gates to Khaled, and fell upon the unhappy townsmen in their Church, still singing praises to God for their deliverance; whom they butchered

in an indiscriminate massacre at the very altar! This place is called Restam by Pococke1, who notices these ruins of the Church under the description of a "very large convent," and thought the place might represent "the Arethusa of the Itinerary of Antoninus and the Peutinger Tables; though the distances do not well correspond."

HAMAH is the Hamath of the Bible; afterwards named Epiphaneia from Antiochus Epiphanes, and known under that description in the Ecclesiastical annals; which represent its bishop as subject to the jurisdiction of the metropolitan of Apameia. Its bishop, Maurice, sat in the council of Nicæa; and several of his successors appear in Ecclesiastical history 2. Here, as at Homs, was a noble Church, now converted into a mosk; from the interior of which all traces of its Christian origin and use have been obliterated, with the exception of two columns in its eastern wall. Externally, on the west, a large central gate and two side portals, all with semicircular arches, still retain their original character; and a Greek inscription over a window in the south wall, unhappily illegible from the ground, affords further evidence of its original designation. Tradition says that this Church also was dedicated to S. John Baptist.

The Christians of Hamah are, with very few

1 Description of the East, Vol. II. p. 145.

' Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, Tom. II. col. 915-918.

exceptions, of the orthodox Greek rite, and number about 1500 souls; with a church, a school, four priests and a bishop, of whom more presently. There are about 6000 orthodox in the diocese, of whom Edlip (to be noticed below) contains about the same number as Hamah.

The worthy Bishop Germanus has a melancholy history, which may be recorded as a specimen of the life of an Eastern Prelate, which it is often thought must be very monotonous and uneventful. He is a native of Damascus, where his family has resided for several generations. Having passed through the inferior grades of the ministry, he was ordained priest, and in due time became Archimandrite at Tyre. His father and brother were murdered in the massacre of the Damascene Christians in 1860. He was at Jerusalem at the time, and only learnt of this domestic bereavement on his return to Beirout some time after. His grief was so intense that his health became seriously affected, and he procured the permission of the Patriarch to absent himself from his post and to travel for a twelvemonth; which he passed chiefly at Athens. At this time the See of Epiphaneia became vacant, and was so strongly urged upon his acceptance by the patriarch, that, unwilling as he was to settle again in Syria, he felt that he must not refuse this providential call; and here he had been for four or five years, far removed from the sympathies of civil

ized society, to which he had been accustomed ; living in the midst of a semi-barbarous people; but having this inestimable advantage over his episcopal brother at Homs, that, as a native Syrian, he is familiar with the language and manners of his people. The church at Hamah is but a poor modern building; also dedicated to the Forerunner.

About six hours north of Hamah is a large Moslem village named Khan Sheikhûr, which I am unable to identify with any ancient site, although a remarkable mound outside the village, apparently in great part artificial, would seem to indicate here, as elsewhere in this part of Syria, that it was formerly occupied by a town. This village is just on the confines of the district occupied by the ruined Christian towns, to the description of which I now proceed.

EL-HASS is situated about four hours north of Khan Sheikhûr, on the left of the direct road to Aleppo. It consists of a vast expanse of ruins, which gives promise of the architectural treasures beyond. Most conspicuous among these ruins is the Church, of a design which we afterwards found to be typical of the general character of the ecclesiastical buildings of central Syria; while the variations in detail are infinite. The south wall and the southeast tower were well preserved; and enough remained of the rest of the building to shew what was its original plan. It was built of stone quarried on the spot, beautifully squared and fitted. It was of an

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