mountain of Galilee, about 12 miles from the city of Tiberias. It rises in the form of a sugar loaf, in the midst of an extensive plain, to the height of 30 fadla, according to Josephus. The ascent is so easy, that one may ascend on horseback. On the top there is a plain two miles in circumference.

The situation of Mount Tabor is most delightful. Rising amid the plains of Galilee, it exhibits to the enchanted eye a charming variety of prospects. On one side there are lakes, rivers, and a part of the Mediterranean; and on the other a chain of little hills, with small valleys, shaded by natural groves, and enriched by the hands of the husbandman with a great number of useful productions. Here you behold an immensity of plains interperforated with hamlets, fortresses, and heaps of ruins; and there the eye delights to wander over the fields of Jezrael or Maggeddon, named by the Arabs Ebn-Aamer, which signifies "the field of the sons of Aamer." A little farther you distinguish the mountains of Hermon, Gilboa, Samaria, and Arabia the Stony. In short, you experience all those sensations which are produced by a mixture and rapid succession of rural, gay, gloomy, and majestic objects.

It was upon this enchanting mount that the apostle Peter said to Christ, "It is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Mozes, and one for Elias."

Flavian Josepheus, governor of Galilee, caused the summit of this mountain, for the space of two miles and a half, to be surrounded with walls. The inhabitants of Tabor long braved the power of the Roman armies; but being deprived of water in consequence of the great heats, they were forced to surrender at discretion to Placidus, the general of Vespasian.

Several churches were built upon this mountain by St Helen, who founded here also some monasteries. Of the two most remarkable, one was dedicated to Mozes, and inhabited by Cenobites of the order of St Benedict, who followed the Latin rites: the other was dedicated to the prophet Elias by monks of the order of St Basil, attached to the Greek rites. The kings of Hungary erected here also a pretty spacious convent for some monks belonging to that nation, of the order of St Paul the first hermit. Tabor was also the seat of a bishop, dependant on the patriarchate of Jerusalem.

When Godfrey of Bouillon seized on this mountain, he repaired the ancient churches, which were beginning to fall into ruins. Under Baldwin I. in 1113, the Saracen troops retook Tabor; and their sanguinary fury gained as many victories as there were priests and Cenobites. This mountain again fell into the hands of the Christians; but the Catholic standard was not long displayed on it. Saladin pulled it down the year following, and destroyed all the churches. The Christians retook it once more in 1253; and their zeal made them rebuild all the sacred places. At this time Rome being accustomed to give away empires, Pope Alexander IV. granted Tabor to the Templars, who fortified it again. At length, in the course of the year 1290, the Sultan of Egypt destroyed and laid waste the buildings of this mountain, which could never be repaired afterwards; so that at present it is uninhabited.