ion to
suggest the position of an altar now removed, leaving only the hollow
orifice of a channel for carrying away blood or ashes. This may be worth
an examination hereafter.

There are tokens of buildings having stood near, but these may have been
of later date. I picked up a fragment of tesselated pavement there, but
that may have come there by means of any conceivable accident from
Adloon.

Such is my simple account of what I cannot but believe to have been a
temple of Baal-worship for the old Phoenicians, certainly of earlier
period than any Greek or Roman architecture in the country; and vestiges
such as these, of antique Syrian monuments, may, on careful examination,
furnish us with data, useful in enabling us to understand the Celtic
remains still found in Europe.

The nearest village to these remains, though at some distance upon the
hills, is _Sairi_, hence the place is named _Sook Sairi_, from the
circumstance of a "market" of cattle and general goods being held there
periodically for the district around. But why should this spot above all
others in the long-deserted plain be used for such a market? Is it not a
traditional continuance of some remote custom in connexion with the
importance conferred by the ancient temple and its now-forgotten worship?
Who can tell us through how many ages this rural fair has been held at
Sairi or Adloon?

The peasant account of the stones is that they were formerly men, whom
God, or a prophet in His name, turned into stones for their wickedness,
while they were employed in reaping a harvest; further my informant could
not tell. The narrative closely resembled the explanation given me by
country people in England respecting some almost similar stones at
Long-Compton, on the border between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire; and I
think I remember to have read of similar instances in other parts of
England.

Vandevelde was told that this miracle was wrought by Nebi Zer, (whose
weli is in the neighbourhood,) and that this prophet Zer was nephew to
Joshua, the son of Nun,--_i.e._, if he understood his interpreter aright.

I cannot well leave that vicinity without mentioning the long lines of
sepulchres excavated in the cliff-line which runs parallel to the sea,
eastwards of the highway, and upon the crest of which line Sarafend and
other villages are posted. These sepulchres have been noticed by
travellers generally, even while merely passing along without leaving the
beat