On Mount Carmel there are the remains of many magnificent buildings, which are calculated to give a grand idea of what they once were. Mariti tells us, that he saw the vestiges of many convents, and some most beautiful columns of oriental granite. According to Pliny, (.AVat. Hist. 1. v. c. 19,) there was once a town here anciently called Ecbatana, and more recently named Carmel. Scarcely a relict of it, however, was to be seen in his time. The Arabs did much to destroy the edifices on Mount Cannel, the materials of which they trans ported to Damietta, where there were no stones fit for building. At one part of the mountain there is a field called the Field of Cucumbers, because it contains a great many round stones, the inside of which being a sparry substance, resembles the pulp of that fruit. Djezzar, the pacha of Acre, under whose immediate dominion Carmel is situated, told Dr Clarke, that on this mountain " he had found several thousand large balls, and never could discover a cannon to fit them." Dr Clarke supposed, that by these balls the Pacha meant the mineral concretions of a spheroidal form alluded to above, and that being in want of ammunition, he had de termined to make use of these stalagmites. (Clarke's
Travels in various Countries, part ii. p. 388.) It is a fact mentioned by i\laundrell (Journey front Aleppo to Jerusalem,) and by Egmont and Heywood, (Travels through part of Europe, &c.,) that largo stone bullets have been employed, with the help of some military engine now unknown, for the purpose or battering the besieged cities. And Mariti mentions, that " abundance of the same kind of stones may be found in all the moun tains of Sy ria." Mount Carmel has a great variety of plants growing on it, for the sake of which it has been occasionally resorted to by botanists with considerable success. Be sides sonic rare plants, it produces, without cultivation., sage, rue, wormwood, hyssop, lavender, and parsley. It also produces tine flowers, such as hyacinths, anemones, tulips, and ranunculusses. It abounds in fowls of dif ferent kinds, on which account it is agreeable to sports men, who will also meet with various quadrupeds, wild boars, lynxes, Sze. Mariti says that he saw some tigers. Sec llelandi Paliestina Illustrata ; Egmont and Hey wood's Travels through part of Europe, &c. vol. i. ; and Able Mariti's Travels through Cyprus, Syria, and Pales tine, vol. ii. e. 4. (r)