“As we rode toward the sea of Tiberias, the guides pointed to a sloping
spot from the hights upon our right, whence we had descended, as the
place where the miracle was accomplished by which our Saviour fed the
multitude: it is therefore called the _Multiplication of Bread_; as the
mount above, where the sermon was preached to his disciples, is called
the _Mountain of Beatitudes_, from the expressions used in the beginning
of that discourse. The lake now continued in view upon our left. The
wind rendered its surface rough, and called to mind the situation of our
Saviour’s disciples, when, in one of the small vessels which traverse
these waters, they were tossed in a storm, and saw Jesus in the fourth
watch of the night, walking to them upon the waves. Often as this
subject has been painted, combining a number of circumstances adapted
for the representation of sublimity, no artist has been aware of the
uncommon grandeur of the scenery, memorable on account of the
transaction. The lake of Genesareth is surrounded by objects well
calculated to highten the solemn impression made by such a picture; and,
independent of the local feelings likely to be excited in its
contemplation, affords one of the most striking prospects in the Holy
Land. Along the borders of this lake may still be seen the remains of
those ancient tombs, hewn by the earliest inhabitants of Galilee, in the
rocks which face the water. Similar works were before noticed among the
ruins of Telmessus. They were deserted in the time of our Saviour, and
had become the resort of wretched men, afflicted by diseases, and made
outcasts of society; for in the account of the cure performed by our
Saviour upon a maniac in the country of the Gadarenes, these tombs are
particularly alluded to; and their existence to this day, (although they
have been neither noticed by priests nor pilgrims, and have escaped the
ravages of the empress Helena, who would undoubtedly have shaped them
into churches,) offers strong internal evidence of the accuracy of the
evangelist who has recorded the transaction: ‘There met him _out of the
tombs_ a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling _among the
tombs_.’”