Mount Cannel is celebrated in scripture as the abode of Elijah and Elisha. It was here that Elijah opposed so successfully the false prophets of Baal ; (I Kings xviii.) and there is a certain part of the mouhtain facing the west, and about eight miles from the point of the pro montory, which the Arabs call 'Mansur, and the Euro peans the Place of Sacrifice, in commemoration of that Miraculous event. Here also, near the same place, is shown a cave, in which it is alleged the prophet had his residence, and in which, according to Phocas, " that wonderful man, after he had spent an angelic life, was translated into heaven." There is a small spot, too, which tradition represents to have been his garden. \lariti observes, that the prophet seems to have inhabit ed successively every part of Mount Carmel ; for almost all the fields, grottos, and fountains, arc still called by his name. On the summit of the mountain there is a chapel dedicated to Elijah, which commands a most ex tensive and delightful prospect. It is certain that Mount Cannel very early began to be an object of great vene ration among both Jews and Christians, and that those parts of it which were particularly hallowed by his pre sence, have been always regarded by them with the most pious emotions. Chateaubriand gives an animated ac count of the impression made upon his own feelings and on those of the pilgrims who accompanied him, by the first view which they got of it. (See his Travels, p. 358.) And we are told that even the Mahomctans, forgetting their principles and their prejudices, participate occa sionally in the reverence which is felt for Mount Cannel, and invoke the images of the Virgin and Elijah, which are worshipped there in the Carmelite church.
Carmel is mentioned in profane history. Suetonius tells us, that Vespasian, when he went into Syria to sub due the Jews who had revolted, ascended this mountain to offer a sacrifice to the deity of the place, and to con sult the oracle as to his future fortunes. Tacitus, (Hist. 1. ii. c. 78.) in relating this fact, states, that the name of this deity was the same with that of the mountain; that there was no image or statue of him, and no temple erected for his worship; and that there was only one altar, on which sacrifices were devoutly offered to him Jamblichus, however, in his life of Pythagoras, speaKs of a temple there, to which that philosopher frequently resorted, for the purposes of solitary meditation. In the writings of Scylax, who, according to Gronovius, flourished in the reign of Darius Hystaspes, and whose geographical notices have been much restored by the la bours of the learned Vossius, we read of Carmel as " the mountain and temple of Jupiter"—" K K.C4$ ;Ee0Y A/05." There is a book written by ;Mendoza a Spaniard, and translated into Latin by Papenbrochius, which treats particularly of the god Carmel, and contains many things in proof or illustration point.
The order of the Carmelites has its name from this mountain, and, if we may beliere some of themselves, takes its origin from the prophets Elijah and Elisha. Phocas, already quoted, gives an account of their origin as rational as any other. In 1185, when he was at Car mel, he tells us, that there still existed the remains of a large monastery, which time and violence had reduced to ruins; and that a few years before, one Berthold, an aged Calabrian priest, instructed, as he said, by a reve lation from the prophet, erected a small temple or cha pel, and having collected about ten brothers, took up his abode in that holy place. He was in this situation when
Phocas was there. These Carmelites, in 1205, got a Very rigid rule from Albert the patriarch of Jerusalem; which, in 1226, was confirmed by Pope Honorius and afterwards mitigated by Innocent 1V. In 1229, they left the Holy Land under Alan, the 5th general of the or der. Sonic of them were sent into Cyprus in 1238; some went to Sicily; and some were brought by St Lewis into France. They came into England in the year 1240, and erected a great number of monasteries. In the 16th century, they divided into two branches, viz. Carmelites of the ancient observance, and Carmelites of the strict observance, or bare-footed Carmelites, which separation was confirmed in 1587 by Sextus V., and completed in 1593 by Clement VIII. The Carmelite order has al ways been eminent for its missions, and for the great number of saints with which it has furnished the Romish calendar. Its members received from several of the popes the title of Brothers of the Blessed Virgin.
On the mountain, the Carmelites have still a convent, which is almost wholly indebted to nature for its con struction and accommodations. It has a small chapel, containing two altars, one of which is consecrated to the Virgin Macy, and the other to Elijah. Two priests and two Carmelite lairs arc here almost constantly at prayer. There are seveiql cells and apartments destined for the use of travellers, 2nd for the French inhabitants of Acre, who conic hither scrnctimes for the benefit of the air. They arc under the protection of the consulship of Acre, and depend upon the clarity of the Mahometans, who esteem them for their exemplary life. The ruins of the monastery formerly mentioned, which are as thick as the walls of a fortress, and have every appearance of solidity, hang over the cells of these Carmelites, who, afraid of teeing buried under them, an accident not unlikely to happen, have taken a great part of them down. Some of the grott)es have been converted by the Mahometans into a mos•ue, under the title of El 'laden, the green, in which a deryise, who with his family lives in a neigh Ilouring Itot, ri gularly performs divine service. Between dd.; pl: cc and the cunt cut of the Carmelites, along the holk. decli,ity, there is a great number of cisterns, some of them very spacious, intended to hold the ram Water which is collected during winter for the use of the monks. Most of them are now insufficient for that pqr pose, but there are some excellent springs at a little dis tance, which supply their place in the summer time or dry season. From one of these flowed a stream which passed along a canal cut out of the rock, and after turn ing a mill lost itself in the sea. Both canal and mill arc now destroyed, and the stream is applied to no useful purpose. From the foot of the mountain proceeds the lake Cendevia, out of which flows the Belus, a river mentioned by Pliny, Tacitus, and Flavian, as famous for having its sand richly intermixed with glassy particles. This sand is taken away by foreign vessels as ballast ; and from it were manufactured those fine plates of glass with which Venice long supplied the European market. The brook Kishon, which issues from Mount Tabor, waters the bottom of Carmel, and falls into the sea towards the northern side of the mountain, and not the southern, as some have erroneously alleged.