Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1897 edition. Excerpt: ...ix. 5 Psa. xli. 9. ' perfidy, of the Easterns, full of shame and disgrace, after having toiled much and gained little, went home again. XLVII. John, the Emperor of Constantinople, with a countless host of soldiers, chariots, and horses, together with the Prince of Antioch and the Count of Edessa, laid siege to the city of Caesarea, not far from Antioch, which now is called Caesarea the Great;1 but he took a sum of money from the besieged, raised the siege, and went his way, being angry because the aforesaid Prince and Count were slack and remiss in the enterprise, and failed to help him. Baldwin, too, the fourth King of Jerusalem, with much labour and great danger, went to take the city of Bostrum;2 but finding it more strongly fortified than he expected, and not to be taken, went home again, much vexed by the Saracens as he returned, many of his people being slain. Bostrum is a very ancient city, the capital of Arabia the First, and at this day is commonly called Bussereth: it has dominion over the region of Trachonitis, whereof St. Luke speaks in his Gospel, saying, 'Philip being Tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis." As this country is altogether without springs or brooks, its inhabitants collect the rain-water in ponds by iracones that is to say, underground watercourses, whereof this region is called Trachonitis. The people also in that region dwell in caves and tracones, and have their habitations in caverns. After the region of Decapolis, whose boundaries or limits extend from Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, and which also reaches beyond the city of Tiberias towards Damascus, is the country of Ituraea, lying behind the territory of Sidon and the mountains which divide us from the Saracens, in the valley...
