Note 598 — Chapter IX · THE SWORD IN KHITA-LAND, PALESTINE AND CANAAN; PHŒNICIA AND CARTHAGE; JEWRY, CYPRUS, TROY, AND ETRURIA.

This has apparently been done by the Rev. Mr. Porter, the author of that unpraiseworthy Murray’s Handbook. His Strabo had told him that Gaza lay seven stadia or furlongs from the sea; and St. Jerome that a new town had been built. Yet we are led three miles from the shore to modern Ghazzah, and are gravely told of Moslem absurdities concerning the Makám or tomb of Samson. The old port of which the Ancients speak has evidently been buried by the sands which are attacking Bayrút, and the only survivor of the past may be the site of Shaykh Ijlin on the coast, south of the Mínat or present roads. In noticing Askelon, Mr. Porter tells us all about the old story of Ascalonia, Scallion, Shalot: nothing about the Egyptian Ac-qa-li-na. For a third edition the learned author should take the trouble to consult Brugsch Pasha’s Egypto-Syrian studies.