CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Giant Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's H4 Places. By the Rev. J. L. Porter. (T. Nelson and Sons.)—If intimate knowledge fits a man to write on Syria, certainly the author of Murray's Handbook ought to give us a good book on the subject, and he has done so. It is not a diary of travel, nor a history, nor a geography, but a popular account of some of the less known parts and scenes of the Holy Land, derived very often from more than one visit to the spot, and always written with a special reference to the Bible. Sometimes perhaps those references are a little overstrained, as in Keith's well-known book on prophecy, but the language of the prophets always serves to illustrate the character of the scenery, even where we may doubt its being, in the modern sense of that word, prophetic. The most interesting part of the book, because it is the most novel, is that which treats of Bashan. The extraordinary number of the cities, and the beauty and solidity of the architectural remains, call for examination by some skilled archmologist. At present, without disputing one can scarcely accept Mr. Porter's belief that cer- tain buildings, Cyclopean in character, are the houses of the Rephaim of the Book of Joshua. The volume is a very handsome one, and the excellent illustrations add much to its interest.
Previous page
