Banias—Csesarea Philippi—Cavern—Josephus—Three Streams of Jordan—Phiale—Our Saviour’s Visit—The Great Question—Peter—Crusaders’ Keep—View from Subeibeh—Anxious—Mansoura— Parliament—Catechism—Costumes—Nose-Rings—Waterways—Bright Eyes—Enter Arabs.

Banias is about an hour’s pleasant ride from Tell el Kady eastwards through a well-wooded district and over springy turf. Caesarea Philippi would have been interesting enough to see with what has been told already as its features—the grand mountain views around it; the worships of Pagan, Turk, and Jew, each with their symbols; the Crusaders’ ruined keep, and the fights of the Cross; and, oldest of all, yet ever fresh, the source of Jordan. Many of the men wore earrings. Nose-rings were the fashion among the young. Heavy dirty coins (kesh) chained together hung from their hair and rattled on their cheeks. A minor tributary to the Jordan, not mentioned by the ancients, is found in the springs of Esh Shir. The more recent name of the time of the Crusaders of ‘Belias’ for ‘Banias’ is founded upon the original appellation of the same Baal-gad.