took copies next morning, as others have also
done, but with special pains to insure accuracy. Every one of them has
the name of the god Pan; two of them have the name of Agrippa; one is set
up by a priest of Pan, "for the welfare of the lords the emperors;" and
another is dedicated by Agrippa, son of Marcus, who had been for eight
years Archon, and had been admonished in a dream by the god Pan. The
breaks in the words caused by defaced letters make it difficult to get
more signification out of them.

Some further remarks on the same, as well as copies of the tablets, will
be found in appendix B.

In a field near our tents, were two prostrate granite columns of about
fifteen feet length of shaft by two in diameter; besides a piece of
column of common stone three feet in diameter. In another part of the
same field was a square capital of pilaster with some plain moulding, and
an abundance of squared stones of two to three feet dimensions; such,
however, are to be seen scattered in every direction around.

A small ancient bridge crosses one of the several streams branching away
from the main course, and all running between steep banks. By this
bridge I approached a noble gateway, leading into a very large square
fortress, with strong ancient towers at each corner. The arches of both
gate and bridge were Roman; parts of the walls remained in their regular
courses, and numerous large rabbeted stones were rolled down in disorder
upon the slope and into a military trench. But the whole scene, whether
of rugged rocks or of the work of man, was fringed and clothed with
brambles, ferns, evergreens, and the rosy oleander.

The principal charm, however, belongs to the grotto with the river which
it discharges--the site of which may be described as a semicircular
termination of a valley on a natural platform half way up a cliff--the
water tumbles down in short cascades for some distance; the grotto inside
is untouched by chisel squarings or embellishment, just as Juvenal wished
the grot of AEgeria to be.

All this is particularly romantic, but a more exalted interest is
attached to the town and vicinity of Banias from its being a certainly
known station of our Redeemer's journeys--He who in all His travels "went
about doing good"--but, inasmuch as some records of His blessed footsteps
are connected with incidents of higher importance than others, this one
rises into transcendant value, as being the place where His eternal