he neighbourhood.]

[Footnote 206: Cf. Bertinoro's interesting description of
the synagogue at Palermo, which he said had not its equal,
_Miscellany of Hebrew Literature_, vol. I, p. 114.]

[Footnote 207: Hacina is the Arabic for a fortified or
enclosed place.]

[Footnote 208: Buheira is the Arabic word for a lake. The
unrivalled hunting grounds of William II are well worth
visiting, being situated between the little town called
Parco and the magnificent cathedral of Monreale, which the
king erected later on.]

[Footnote 209: King William II, surnamed "the Good," was
sixteen years old when Benjamin visited Sicily in 1170.
During the king's minority the Archbishop was the
vice-regent. He was expelled in 1169 on account of his
unpopularity. Asher asserts that Benjamin's visit must have
taken place prior to this date, because he reads [Hebrew:]
_This is the domain of the viceroy._ The Oxford MS. agrees
with our text and reads [Hebrew:] _This is the domain of the
king's garden._ Chroniclers tell that when the young king
was freed from the control of the viceroy he gave himself up
to pleasure and dissipation. Asher is clearly wrong, because
a mere boy could not have indulged in those frolics. The
point is of importance, as it absolutely fixes the date of
Benjamin's visit to the island. It was in the year 1177 that
William married the daughter of our English king, Henry II.]

[Footnote 210: Edrisi, who wrote his Geography in Sicily in
1154 at the request of King Roger II, calls the island a
pearl, and cannot find words sufficient in praise of its
climate, beauty, and fertility. He is especially
enthusiastic concerning Palermo. Petralia is described by
him as being a fortified place, and an excellent place of
refuge, the surrounding country being under a high state of
cultivation and very productive. Asher has no justification
for reading Pantaleoni instead of Petralia.]

[Footnote 211: The passage in square brackets is to be found
in most of the printed editions, as well as in the Epstein
(E) MS., which is so much akin to them, and is comparatively
modern. The style will at once show that the passage is a
late interpolation, and the genuine MSS. now forthcoming
omit it altogether.]

[Footnote 212: See Aronius, _Re