[p.317] with very little basalt or tufwacke. At the end of three hours
and a half, after a short descent, we reached Szaffad (Arabic), the
ancient Japhet; it is a neatly built town, situated round a hill, on the
top of which is a castle of Saracen structure. The castle appears to
have undergone a thorough repair in the course of the last century, it
has a good wall, and is surrounded by a broad ditch. It commands an
extensive view over the country towards Akka, and in clear weather the
sea is visible from it. There is another but smaller castle, of modern
date, with halfruined walls, at the foot of the hill. The town is built
upon several low hills, which divide it into different quarters; of
these the largest is inhabited exclusively by Jews, who esteem Szaffad
as a sacred place. The whole may contain six hundred houses, of which
one hundred and fifty belong to the Jews, and from eighty to one hundred
to the Christians. In 1799 the Jews quarter was completely sacked by the
Turks, after the retreat of the French from Akka; the French had
occupied Szaffad with a garrison of about four hundred men, whose
outposts were advanced as far as the bridge of Beni Yakoub. The town is
governed by a Mutsellim, whose district comprises about a dozen
villages. The garrison consists of Moggrebyns, the greater part of whom
have married here, and cultivate a part of the neighbouring lands. The
town is surrounded with large olive plantations and vineyards, but the
principal occupations of the inhabitants are indigo dyeing, and the
manufacture of cotton cloth. On every Friday a market is held, to which
all the peasants of the neighbourhood resort. Mount Tabor bears from
Szaffad S.S.W.
June 22d.--As there is no Khan for travellers at Szaffad, and I had no
letters to any person in the town, I was obliged to lodge at the public
coffee house. We left the town early in the morning, and descended the
side of the mountain towards the lake; here the