The coast of nearly every island of the Mediterranean has been minutely surveyed and described by British naval officers. The two islands which were most intimately connected with St. Paul's voyages have been among the latest to receive this kind of illustration. The soundings of the coast of Crete are now proved to furnish a valuable commentary on the 27th chapter of Acts; and the chart of Cyprus should at least be consulted when we read the 13th chapter. From Cape St. Andreas, the northeastern point of the island, the coast trends rapidly to the west, till it reaches Cape Grego, the southeastern extremity. The modern town of Famagusta is nearer the latter point than the former, and the ancient Salamis was situated a short distance to the north of Famagusta. Near Cape St. Andrea are two or three small islands, anciently called The Keys. These, if they were seen at all, would soon be lost to view. Cape Grego is distinguished by a singular promontory of table land which is very familiar to the sailors of our merchantmen and ships of war; and there is little doubt that the woodcut given in one of their manuals of sailing directions represents that “very rough, lofty, table-shaped eminence” which Strabo mentions in his description of the coast, and which has been identified with the Idalium of the classical poets.

The ground lies low in the neighborhood of Salamis, and the town was situated on a bight of the coast to the north of the river Pedieus. This low land is the largest plain in Cyprus, and the Pedieus is the only true river in the island, the rest being merely winter torrents, flowing in the wet season from the two mountain ranges which intersect it from east to west. This plain probably represents the kingdom of Teucer, which is familiar t us in the early stories of legendary Greece. It stretches inwards between the two mountain ranges to the very heart of the country, where the modern Turkish capital, Nicosia, is situated. In the days of historical Greece, Salamis was the capital. Under the Roman Empire, if not the seat of the government, it was at least the most important mercantile town. We have the best reasons for believing that the harbor was convenient and capacious. Thus we can form to ourselves some idea of the appearance of the place in the reign of Claudius. A large city by the seashore, a widespread plain with corn fields and orchards, and the blue distance of mountains beyond, composed the view on which the eyes of Barnabas and Saul rested when they cam to anchor in the bay of Salamis.

The Jews, as we would have been prepared to expect, were numerous in Salamis. This fact is indicated to us in the sacred narrative; for we learn that this city has several synagogues, while other cities had often only one. The Jews had doubtless been established here in considerable numbers in the active period which succeeded the death of Alexander. The unparalleled productiveness of Cyprus, and its trade in fruit, wine, flax, and honey would naturally attract them to the mercantile port. The farming of the copper mines by Augustus to Herod may probably have swelled their numbers. One of the most conspicuous passages in the history of Salamis was the insurrection of the Jews in the reign of Trajan, when a great part of the city was destroyed. Its demolition was completed by an earthquake. It was rebuilt by a Christian emperor,