The weekly Butte record., 1861-11-30
Tyre.

of the plain of Phenicia, winding through
groves of olives and beside private gardens
rich in fruit trees and blooming with flowers.
Ia three hours we reached the Scala Tyriorum.
or "Tyrian Ladder forming the boundary
line between Phenicia and the Holy Land.
This promontory is the most southern root Of
Lbanon with white base dipping into the
sea. The path over it is zigzag, and in fancy
resembles a winding fight of steps The de
scent down the opposite side was rough and
broken, now over low mountain spurs, and
again through Gefle leading out to a noble
plain. Occasionally we passed over bits of an
old noman road, road, now in ruins. Just
before reaching Iskanderiyeh, in the mountain
ravines to the east, we saw a company Of
French soldiers excavatlng a buried city,
which had neither name nor story. They had
succeeded in opening one temple and several
elegant sorcophagi. As yet no inscription
had been discovered to reveal the history of
the unknown city. In half an hour we came
to the white cliffs of Ras-el- bad Or the
Promontorum Album of the ancients. This
is one of the widest and, at times most dam
gerous passes on the Phcnician coast The
path is cut in the white limestone rocks FIVE
hundred feet above the level of the sea the
sides of the mountain are perpendicular, and
the waves dash wildly against their base. Huge
I'll. I
others seemed ready to follow From the
highest point we pass we gained our first view
Of the plain and peninsulas Of ancient Tyre.
Descending rapidly to the plain below, the
dreariness of our pathway was relieved by the
glorious appearance of Hermon, whose SHOWS
capped SUBMITS were bright in the evening
light, while the plain over which we rode was
darkened by the shadows of the crcumambient
mountains. Travelling on for hours over the
deep sandy beach, we passed Aes-el Ain in the
dusk Of the evening, but too late to examine
those celebrated fountains we pushed on and
entered Tyre at l0P.M. The next day was
the holy Sabbath, and in the absence Of a
Christian church, we found it profitable to
mediate upon the numerous prophetic allu-
sions to this venerable city. Few cities can
boast of a higher antiquity, of grander edi
fees, and Of greater renown than Tyre. Origin
ally, it was founded by The PhGniciaus, rebuilt
by the Romans. and again restored by the
Crusaders. The ruins Of its marble castles of
its splendid palaces, Of its triple walls aud
gateways, of its lofty towers and spacious bar~
boTs, are now seen half buried beneath the
drifting sand or washed by the restless waves.
It was strong city in the days of Joshua
it was the ally of Solomon. and was the covet-
ed prize of Shalmaneser. Nebuchadnezzar, ard
Alexander the Great. The cradle of com
merce Tyre became the Mistress of the Seas I;
her merchantmen traded in every port in the
known world and from her thriving shore she
sent her sons. dotting the coasts of Europe
and 8 frica with Aourshing colonies Nothing
can excel the accuracy Of detail and the ele-
sance of graphic description of the 9th
chapter of Ezekiel on the wealth and glory of
Tyre aud now, after the lapse Of twenty-five
centuries, her scattered ruins attest the truth
of prophesy. Her walls are dstroyed, her
towers broken down, her stones and timber are
in the midst of the water, and her ancient site
is "a place for the spreading of nets in the
midst of the sea-" Entering a small boat, we
passed out Of the inner basin into the larger
harbor, and in almost every direction we saw
immense red granite columns lying PROSTATE
beneath the surface of the clear water, and
others imbedded in the solid rock or cemented
together by some powerful agent. ln the
southeast corner of the town are the remains Of
the church built in the fourth century by Pan
linus, and cOnsecrated by Eusebus, and in
which repose the dust Of Orgen and Of the
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Six miles to
the east Of the town is the tomb Of King
Hiram. 1t is an imposing mausoleum, hewn
out of the solid limestone rock, some II feet
lonc wide, and high, and surmouned with
pyramda nd 5 feet in thickness; 1t rests
upon a pedastal of hewn stones 10 feet high.
aud being located on hill, commands a view
of the city Of the great King and of the sea
beyond. On the north side of it is a large
vaull, in which, no doubt, the dust of the good
Hiram once reposed. Around it the country
is strangely soltary-neither ancient ruin nor
human babitation is near, but standing alo e,
il is alike venerable relic of the past and an
impressive monument of the loneliness Of death.
Cor. N Y. Methodid
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