“The district of Banias is classic ground; it is the ancient _Caesarea Philippi_; the lake Houle, is the _Lacus Samachonitis_. Immediately after my arrival, I took a man of the village to shew me the way to the ruined castle of Banias, which bears East by South from it. It stands on the top of a mountain, which forms part of the mountain of Heish, at an hour and a quarter from Banias; it is now in complete ruins, but was once a very strong fortress. Its whole circumference is twenty-five minutes. It is surrounded by a wall ten feet thick, flanked with numerous round towers, built with equal blocks of stone, each about two feet square. The keep, or citadel, seems to have been on the highest summit, on the eastern side, where the walls are stronger than on the lower, or western side. The view from thence over the Houle and a part of its lake, the Djebel Safad, and the barren Heish, is magnificent. On the western side, within the precincts of the castle, are ruins of many private habitations. At both the western corners, runs a succession of dark, strongly built, low apartments, like cells, vaulted, and with small narrow loop holes, as if for musquetry. On this side also, is a well more than twenty feet square, walled in, with a vaulted roof at least twenty-five feet high; the well was, even in this dry season, full of water: there are three others in the castle. There are many apartments and recesses in the castle, which could only be exactly described by a plan of the whole building. It seems to have been erected during the period of the crusades, and must certainly have been a very strong hold to those who possessed it. I could discover no traces of a road or paved way leading up the mountain to it. In winter time, the shepherds of the Felahs of the Heish, who encamp upon the mountains, pass the night in the castle with their cattle. “Banias is situated at the foot of the Heish, in the plain, which in the immediate vicinity of Banias is not called Ard Houle, but Ard Banias. It contains about one hundred and fifty houses, inhabited mostly by Turks: there are also Greeks, Druses, and Enzairie. It belongs to Hasbeya, whose Emir nominates the Sheikh. On the north-east side of the village, is the source of the river of Banias, which empties itself into the Jordan at the distance of an hour and a half, in the plain below. Over the source is a perpendicular rock, in which several niches have been cut to receive statues. The largest niche is above a spacious cavern, under which the river rises. This niche is six feet broad and as much in depth, and has a smaller niche in the bottom of it. Immediately above it, in the perpendicular face of the rock, is another niche, adorned with pilasters, supporting a shell ornament.