to add that it rises in the Lebanon, to avoid any
misconception that the Jabbok which falls into the Jordan is
meant.]

[Footnote 55: Boemond III, surnamed le Baube (the
Stammerer), succeeded his mother in 1163. We owe the
doubtless correct rendering of this passage to the ingenuity
of the late Joseph Zedner. Benjamin visited Antioch before
1170, when a fearful earthquake destroyed a great part of
the city.]

[Footnote 56: It must be inferred from the context here, as
well as from other passages, that when Benjamin mentions the
number of Jews residing at a particular place he refers to
the heads of families.]

[Footnote 57: Gebal is the Gabala of ancient geographers.
See Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 25. Many travellers, among
them Robinson, identify Baal-Gad with Banias, others suppose
it to be Hasbeya.]

[Footnote 58: Hashishim--hemp-smokers--hence is derived the
word "assassin." See Socin, _Palestine and Syria_, pp. 68
and 99. Ibn Batuta and other Arabic writers have much to say
about the Assassins or Mulahids, as they call them. They are
again referred to by Benjamin on p. 54, where he states that
in Persia they haunted the mountainous district of Mulahid,
under the sway of the Old Man of the Mountain. The manner in
which the Sheik acquired influence over his followers is
amusingly described by Marco Polo (_The Book of Ser Marco
Polo_: translated and edited by Colonel Sir Henry Yule;
third edition, London, John Murray, 1903): "In a fertile and
sequestered valley he placed every conceivable thing
pleasant to man--luxurious palaces, delightful gardens, fair
damsels skilled in music, dancing, and song, in short, a
veritable paradise! When desirous of sending any of his band
on some hazardous enterprise the Old Man would drug them and
place them while unconscious in this glorious valley. But it
was not for many days that they were allowed to revel in the
joys of paradise. Another potion was given to them, and when
the young men awoke they found themselves in the presence of
the Old Man of the Mountain. In the hope of again possessing
the joys of paradise they were ready to embark upon any
desperate errand commanded by the Old Man." Marco Polo
mentions that the Old Man found crafty deputies, who with
their fo