CHAPTER VII.

_Description of the Country Northward of Jerusalem_.

Grotto of Jeremiah; Sepulchres of the Kings; Singular Doors; Village of

Leban; Jacob's Well; Valley of Shechem; Nablous; Samaritans; Sebaste;

Jennin; Gilead; Geraza, or Djerash; Description of Ruins; Gergasha of the

Hebrews; Rich Scenery of Gilead; River Jabbok; Souf; Ruins of Gamala;

Magnificent Theatre; Gadara; Capernaum, or Talhewm; Sea of Galilee;

Bethsaida and Chorazin; Tarrachea; Sumuk; Tiberias; Description of modern

Town; House of Peter; Baths; University; Mount Tor, or Tabor; Description

by Pococke, Maundrell, Burckhardt, and Doubdan; View from the Top; Great

Plain; Nazareth; Church of Annunciation; Workshop of Joseph; Mount of

Precipitation; Table of Christ; Cana, or Kefer Kenna; Waterpots of Stone;

Saphet, or Szaffad; University; French; Sidney Smith; Dan; Sepphoris;

Church of St. Anne; Description by Dr. Clarke; Vale of Zabulon; Vicinity

of Acre.

Upon leaving the northern gate of Jerusalem, on the road which leads to

Damascus, there is seen a large grotto much venerated by Christians,

Turks, and Jews, said to have been for some time the residence, or rather

the prison, of the prophet Jeremiah. The bed of the holy man is shown, in

the form of a rocky shelf, about eight feet from the ground; and the spot

is likewise pointed out on which he is understood to have written his book

of Lamentations. In the days of Maundrell, this excavation was occupied by

a college of dervises.

We have already alluded to the Sepulchres of the Kings as very singular

remains of ancient architecture, and standing at a little distance from

the city. There still prevails some obscurity in regard to the origin and

intention of these places of burial, occasioned chiefly by the fact

recorded in Holy Scripture, that the tombs of the kings of Judah were on

Mount Zion. Pococke held the opinion, that they derived their name from

Helena, the queen of Adiabene, whose body was deposited in a cave outside

the northern wall of Jerusalem; a conclusion which derives some

countenance from the language of Josephus, and has been adopted by Dr.

Clarke. M. de Chateaubriand, on the contrary, supposes these grottoes to

have been appropriated to the family of Herod; and in support of his views

quotes a passage from the Jewish historian, who, speaking of the wall

which Titus erected to press Jerusalem still more closely than before,

says, that "this wall, returning towards the north, enclosed the sepulchre

of Herod." Now this, adds the Frenchman, is the situation of the royal

caverns.

But whoever was buried here, this is certain, to use the words of the

accurate Maundrell, that the place itself discovers so great an expense

both of labour and treasure, that we may well suppose it to have been the

work of kings. You approach it on the east side through an entrance cut

out of the rock, which admits you into an open court of about forty paces

square. On the south side is a portico nine paces long and four broad,

likewise hewn out of the natural rock, and having an architrave running

along its front adorned with sculpture of fruits and flowers. The passage

into the sepulchre is now so greatly obstructed with stones and rubbish

that it is no easy matter to creep through; but having overcome this

difficulty you arrive at a large room, seven or eight yards square,

excavated in the solid body of the hill. It sides and ceiling are so

exactly square, and its angles so just, that no architect could form a

more regular apartment; while the whole is so firm and entire, that it

resembles a chamber hollowed out of one piece of marble. From this room

you pass into six others, all of the same construction; the two innermost

being somewhat deeper than the rest, and are descended to by a certain

number of steps.

In every one of these, except the first, were coffins of stone placed in

niches formed in the sides of the chamber. They had at first been covered

with handsome lids; but the most of them have been long broken to pieces,

and either scattered about the apartment, or entirely removed. One of

white marble was observed by Dr. Clarke, adorned all over with the richest

and most beautiful carving; though, like all the other sculptured work in

the tombs, it represented nothing of the human figure, nor of any living

thing, but consisted entirely of foliage and flowers, and principally of

the leaves and branches of the vine. The receptacles for the dead bodies

are not much larger than European coffins; but, having the more regular

form of parallelograms, they thereby differ from the usual appearance

presented in the sepulchral crypts of the country, where the soros is of

considerable size, and generally resembles a cistern. The taste manifested

in the interior of these chambers seems also to denote a later period in

the history of the arts; the skill and neatness visible in the carving is

admirable, and there is much of ornament displayed in several parts of the

work.

But the most surprising thing belonging to these subterranean chambers is

their doors; of which, when Mr. Maundrell visited Jerusalem, there was

still one remaining. "It consisted," says he, "of a plank of stone of

about six inches in thickness, and in its other dimensions equalling the

size of an ordinary door, or somewhat less. It was carved in such a manner

as to resemble a piece of wainscot: the stone of which it was made was

visibly of the same kind with the whole rock; and it turned upon two

hinges in the nature of axles. These hinges were of the same entire piece

of stone with the door, and were contained in two holes of the immoveable

rock, one at the top and another at the bottom."[128]

We are informed by Dr. Clarke, that the same sort of contrivance is to be

found among the sepulchres at Telmessus; and, moreover, that the ancients

had the art of being able to close these doors in such a manner that no

one could have access to the tomb who was not acquainted with the secret

method of opening them, unless by violating the abode of the dead, and

forcing a passage through the stone. This has been done in several

instances at the place just named; but the doors, though broken, still

remain closed with their hinges unimpaired.[129]

In pursuing the road to Nablous, the ancient Shechem, the first village

which meets the eye of the traveller is Beer, so named from the well or

spring where the wayfaring man stops to quench his thirst. The

inhabitants, who appear to be chiefly Arabs, are in the greatest poverty,

oppressed and alarmed by the incessant demands of their Turkish rulers. It

is the Michmash of Scripture, celebrated as the place whither Jotham fled

from the anger of his brother Abimelech. It presents, too, the remains of

an old church, created, as tradition reports, by the pious Helena, on tho

spot where the Virgin sat down to bewail the absence of her son, who had

tarried behind in Jerusalem to commune with the doctors in the Temple.

Beyond this interesting hamlet, at the distance of about four hours, is

Leban, called Lebonah in the Bible, a village situated on the eastern side

of a delicious vale. The road between these two places is carried through

a wild and very hilly country, destitute of trees or other marks of

cultivation, and rendered almost totally unproductive by the barbarism of

the government. In a narrow dell, formed by two lofty precipices, are the

ruins of a monastery, being in the neighborhood of that mystic Bethel

where Jacob enjoyed his vision of heavenly things, and had his stony couch

made easy by the beautiful picture of ministering angels ascending and

descending from the presence of the Eternal.

The next object of interest is connected with the name of the same

patriarch. It is Jacob's Well,--the scene of the memorable conference

between our Saviour and the woman of Samaria. Such a locality was too

important to be omitted by Helena while selecting sites for Christian

churches. Over it, accordingly, was erected a large edifice; of which,

however, the "voracity of time, aided by the Turks," has left nothing but

a few foundations remaining. Maundrell tells us that "the well is covered

at present with an old stone vault, into which you are let down through a

very straight hole; and then removing a broad flat stone you discover the

mouth of the well itself. It is dug in a firm rock, and extends about

three yards in diameter and thirty-five in depth; five of which we found

full of water. This confutes a story commonly told to travellers who do

not take the pains to examine the well, namely, that it is dry all the

year round except on the anniversary of that day on which our Blessed Lord

sat upon it; but then bubbles up with abundance of water."[130]

At this point the traveller enters the narrow valley of Shechem, or

Sychar, as it is termed in the New Testament, overhung on either side by

the two mountains Gerizim and Ebal. These eminences, it is well known,

have obtained much celebrity as the theatre on which was pronounced the

sanction of the Divine law--the blessings which attend obedience, and the

curses which follow the violation of the heavenly statutes. "And it shall

come to pass, when the Lord thy God hath brought thee in unto the land

whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon

Mount Gerizim, and the curse upon Mount Ebal. Are they not on the other

side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the

Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the

plains of Moreh?"[131]

Every reader is aware that the Samaritans, whose principal residence since

the captivity has been at Shechem, have a place of worship on Mount

Gerizim, to which they repair at certain seasons to perform the rites of

their religion. It was upon the same hill, according to the reading in

their version of the Pentateuch, that the Almighty commanded the children

of Israel to set up great stones covered with plaster, on which to

inscribe the body of their law; to erect an altar; to offer

peace-offerings; and to rejoice before the Lord their God. In the Hebrew

edition of the same inspired books, Mount Ebal is selected as the scene of

these pious services;--a variation which the Samaritans openly ascribe to

the hatred and malignity of the Jews, who, they assert, have in this

passage corrupted the sacred oracles. In the immediate vicinity of the

town is seen a small mosque, which is said to cover the sepulchre of

Joseph, and to be situated in the field bought by Jacob from Hamor, the

father of Shechem, as is related in the book of Genesis, and alluded to by

St. John in the fourth chapter of his gospel.[132]

The road from Leban to Nablous, or Naplosa, is described by Dr. Clarke as

being mountainous, rocky, and full of loose stones. Yet, he adds, the

cultivation is everywhere marvellous; affording one of the most striking

pictures of human industry that it is possible to behold. The limestone

rocks and shingly valleys of Judea are entirely covered with plantations

of figs, vines, and olive-trees; not a single spot seemed to be neglected.

The hills, from their bases to their upmost summits, are overspread with

gardens; all of them free from weeds, and in the highest state of

improvement. Even the sides of the most barren mountains have been

rendered fertile, by being divided into terraces, like steps rising one

above another, upon which soil has been accumulated with astonishing

labour. A sight of this territory can alone convey any adequate idea of

its surprising produce; it is truly the Eden of the East, rejoicing in the

abundance of its wealth. The effect of this upon the people was strikingly

portrayed in their countenances. Instead of the depressed and gloomy looks

seen on the desolated plains belonging to the Pasha of Damascus, health

and hilarity everywhere prevailed. Under a wise and beneficent government,

the produce of the Holy Land, it is asserted, would exceed all

calculation. Its perennial harvests, the salubrity of its air, its limpid

springs, its rivers, lakes, plains, hills, and vales, added to the

serenity of its climate, prove this land to be indeed a "field which the

Lord hath blessed."[133]

The ancient Shechem is one of the most prosperous towns in the Holy Land,

being still the metropolis of a rich and extensive country, and abounding

in agricultural wealth. Nor is there any thing finer than its appearance

when viewed from the heights by which it is surrounded. It strikes the eye

of the traveller who advances from the north, as being imbosomed in the

most delightful and fragrant bowers, half-concealed by rich gardens and

stately trees, collected into groves all round the beautiful valley in

which it stands. There is a considerable trade, as well as a flourishing

manufacture of soap; and the population has been reckoned as high as ten

thousand, an estimate, however, which Mr. Buckingham thinks somewhat

overrated. Within the town are six mosques, five baths, one Christian

church, an excellent covered bazaar for fine goods, and an open one for

provisions, besides numerous cotton-cloth manufactories, and shops of

every description. The inhabitants are chiefly Mohammedans. The Jews,

inheriting their ancient enmity towards the Samaritans, avoid the country

which the latter formerly possessed; while the Christians, alienated by

the suspicion of heresy among their brethren at Nablous, prefer the more

orthodox assemblies at Jerusalem and Nazareth.

The Samaritans themselves do not exceed forty in number. They have a

synagogue in the town, where they perform divine service every Saturday.

Four times a year they go in solemn procession to the old temple on Mount

Gerizim; on which occasion they meet before sunrise, and continue reading

the Law till noon. On one of these days they kill six or seven rams. They

have but one school in Nablous where their language is taught, though they

take much pride in preserving ancient manuscripts of their Pentateuch in

the original character. Mr. Connor saw a copy which is reported to be

three thousand five hundred years old, but was not allowed to examine, nor

even to touch it.

If any thing connected with the memory of past ages be calculated to

awaken local enthusiasm, the land around this city is eminently entitled

to that distinction. The sacred record of events transacted in the fields

of Shechem is from our earliest years remembered with delight. "Along the

valley," observes a late traveller, "we beheld a company of Ishmaelites

coming from Gilead, as in the days of Reuben and Judah, with their camels,

bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh; who would gladly have purchased

another Joseph of his brethren, and-conveyed Him as a slave to some

Potiphar in Egypt. Upon the hills around flocks and herds were feeding as

of old; nor in the simple garb of the shepherds of Samaria was there any

thing to contradict the notions we may entertain of the appearance

formerly exhibited by the sons of Jacob."[134]

It has been remarked in reference to Jacob's Well, where our Lord held his

conversation with the woman of Samaria, that no Christian scholar ever

read the fourth chapter of St. John's Gospel without being struck with the

numerous internal evidences of truth which crowd upon the mind in its

perusal. Within so small a compass it is impossible to find, in other

writings, so many sources of reflection and of interest. Independently of

its importance as a theological document, it concentrates so much

information that a volume might be filled with its singular illustration

of the history of the Jews and the geography of the country. All that can

be collected upon these subjects from Josephus seems to be but a comment

on this chapter. The journey of our Lord from Judea into Galilee--the

cause of it--his passage through Samaria--his approach to the metropolis

of that country--its name--his arrival at the Amorite field which

terminates the narrow Valley of Schechem--the ancient custom of stopping

at a well--the female employment of drawing water--the disciples sent into

the city for food, by which the situation of the well and of the town is

so obviously implied--the question of the woman referring to existing

prejudices which separated the Jews from the Samaritans--the depth of the

well--the oriental allusion contained in the expression "living

water"--the history of the well itself, and the customs thereby

illustrated--the worship upon Mount Gerizim--all these occur within a few

verses, and supply a species of evidence for the truth of the narrative in

which they are embodied that no candid mind has ever been able to

resist.[135]

The ancient Samaria presents itself to the traveller in these days under

the name of Sebaste, or the Venerable,--an appellation conferred upon it

by Herod in honour of his patron Augustus. The Jewish historian describes

at length the buildings erected by the Idumean prince, especially a

citadel, and a noble temple which he intended to exhibit to future

generations as a specimen of his taste and munificence. He adds, that the

town was twenty furlongs in circumference, and distant one day's journey

from Jerusalem. It is computed by modern tourists to be more than forty

miles. The situation is extremely beautiful as well as naturally strong,

being placed on a large hill encompassed all round by a broad deep valley,

and therefore capable of an easy and complete fortification. But the

splendid city of Herod is now reduced to a village, small and poor,

exhibiting only the remains of its former greatness. In one place,

according to Dr. Richardson, there are sixty columns of the Ionic order

extended in a single row, marking the site of some gorgeous structure

erected by the vassal of Augustus. Mr. Buckingham counted eighty-three of

these pillars, and alludes to a tradition current among the natives, that

they formed part of Herod's own palace. This may be the edifice mentioned

by Josephus, who says that the king just named built a sacred place of a

furlong and a half in circuit, and adorned it with all sorts of

decorations; and therein constructed a temple remarkable both for its

largeness and its beauty.

Mr. Maundrell relates, that in his time the place where the city had stood

was entirely converted into gardens; and all the tokens that remain to

testify that there ever was such a metropolis are only a large square

piazza surrounded with pillars, and some poor ruins of a church, said to

have been built by the Empress Helena over the place where St. John the

Baptist was both imprisoned and beheaded. In the body of this temple you

go down a staircase into the very dungeon where that holy blood was shed.

The Turks hold the prison in great veneration, and over it have erected a

small mosque; but for a little piece of money they suffer you to go in and

satisfy your curiosity at pleasure.

A hundred and thirty years, aided by the destructive habits of

Mohammedans, seem to have made a deep impression upon the remains of

Sebaste; for when Dr. Clarke passed through it, he could not discover even

the relics of a great city, and was, therefore, disposed to question the

existence of the splendid ruins mentioned by Maundrell, and more minutely

described by Richardson and Buckingham. He is inclined to identify the

site of the ancient Samaria with the high ground on which stands the

castle of Santorri; but his reasoning is not sufficiently cogent to

satisfy the mind even of the least reflecting among his readers.

At this point we leave the territory of Ephraim, and pass into that of the

half-tribe of Manasseh. Pursuing his course northwards, the traveller

reaches a small hamlet called Bethamareen; and afterward, at the distance

of three or four miles, he finds himself at Gibba, a village surrounded

with trees bearing olives and pomegranates, and occupying a lofty station

over a narrow valley. This place is succeeded by Sannour, which appears to

be nothing more than a castle erected on an insular hill, and is more

commonly known by the name of Fort Giurali. Another village, called Abati,

presents itself on the right-hand, imbosomed in a grove of fruit trees;

but the stranger, desirous to proceed, advances along the valley until,

after having ascended a rising ground, he beholds stretched out at his

feet the fine plain of Esdraëlon covered with the richest pasture.[136]

On the slope of the hill which bounds the southern extremity of this

fertile valley stands the town of Jennin, a place, like most of the cities

of Palestine, more remarkable for decayed grandeur than for actual wealth,

beauty, or power. Its ancient name was Ginoa, and it is found recorded in

the works of some of the older writers as a frontier place between Samaria

and Galilee. The population at present is said to amount to about eight

hundred; but the ruins of a palace and a mosque prove that it once

possessed a greater importance than now belongs to it. Marble pillars,

fountains, and even piazzas still remain in a very perfect state; an

Arabic inscription over one of which induces the reader to believe that it

was erected by a commander named Selim.

Instead of pursuing our course towards Nazareth and the Lake of Tiberias,

we shall now cross the Jordan into the Land of Gilead, and lay before our

readers a brief outline of the discoveries which have been recently made

in that section of Palestine, the inheritance of Reuben and of Gad. We

have already remarked, that to the indefatigable exertions of Dr. Seetzen

the world are indebted for much of the knowledge they possess relative to

the ancient city of Geraza, the ruins of which are pointed out by the

Arabs under the name of Djarash.

Approaching it from the south, the traveller first observes a triumphal

gateway, nearly entire, bearing a striking resemblance in point of

workmanship to the remains of Antinoë in Upper Egypt. The front presents

four columns of a small diameter, and constructed of many separate pieces

of stone; their pedestals are of a square form, but tall and slender. On

each of these is placed a design of leaves, very like a Corinthian capital

without the volutes; and on this again rises the shaft, which is plain,

and composed of many small portions. As all the columns were broken near

the top, the crowning capitals are not seen. The pediment and frieze are

also destroyed; but enough remains to give an accurate idea of the

original design, and to prove that the order of the architecture was

Corinthian. The building appears to have been a detached triumphal arch,

erected for the entrance of some victorious hero passing into the city.

Just within this gateway is perceived an extensive naumachia, or theatre

for the exhibition of sea-fights, constructed of fine masonry, and

finished on the top with a large moulding wrought in the stone. The

channels for filling it with water are still visible. Passing onward there

is seen a second gateway, exactly similar in design to the one already

mentioned, but connected here on both sides with the walls of the city, to

which it seems to have formed the proper entrance. Turning to the left the

stranger advances into a large and beautiful colonnade arrange in a

circular form, all of the Ionic order, and surmounted by an architrave. He

next perceives beyond this point a long avenue of columns in a straight

line, supposed to mark the direction of some principal street that led

through the whole length of the town. These columns are all of the

Corinthian order, and the range on each side is ascended to by a flight of

steps.

Making his way along this imaginary street over masses of ruins, his

attention is attracted by four magnificent pillars of greater height and

larger diameter than the rest; but, like all the others, supporting only a

entablature, and probably standing before the front of some principal

edifice now destroyed. He next arrives at a square formed by the first

intersection of the main street by one crossing it at right angles, and,

like it also, apparently once lined on both sides by an avenue of columns.

At the point of intersection are four masses of building resembling

pedestals; on the top of which there probably stood small Corinthian

columns, as shafts and capitals of that order are now scattered below.

Passing the fragments of a solid wall on the left, which appears to have

constituted the front of a large edifice, the tourist next comes to the

ruins of a temple of a semicircular form, with four columns in front, and

facing the principal street in a right line. The spring of its half-dome

is still remaining, as well as several columns of yellow marble and of red

granite. The whole seems to have been executed with peculiar care,

especially the sculpture of the friezes, cornices, pediments, and

capitals, which are all of the Corinthian order, and considered not less

rich and chaste than the works of the best ages. On a broken altar near

this ruin is observed an inscription, containing the name of Marcus

Aurelius. "Beyond this, again," says Mr. Buckingham, "we had temples,

colonnades, theatres, arched buildings with domes, detached groups of

Ionic and Corinthian columns, bridges, aqueducts, and portions of large

buildings scattered here and there in our way; none of which we could

examine with any degree of attention, from the restraint under which our

guides had placed us."[137]

The author of the unpublished journal from which we have already drawn

some rich materials, inspected the remains of Geraza three years ago. "We

set out for the ruins, and reached them before sunrise. Having seen them

only partially by a faint light and from a distance the previous evening,

I had not formed a high opinion of them, and wondered that they should

ever have been brought into comparison with Palmyra. A full examination

now altered my decision, and left me and all the party full of admiration

at the grandeur and the elegance of the ruins. We were struck with the

view down the main street of the city. Close to us was a temple, a fine

mass of building, surrounded by innumerable fallen columns and ruined

cornices. Beneath was the great street, commencing in an elegant circular

or rather oval colonnade of fifty-seven pillars, and containing a

succession of straight colonnades on each side, crossed at right angles by

another line of columns with an entablature. On one side was a splendid

temple with columns, on a height; and on the other a bridge crossing the

stream on which the ruins stand. Close to this temple is a theatre in

remarkably high repair; almost all the seats are quite entire. The

proscenium is still sufficiently so to give a complete idea of the plan;

and it is easy to sit on one of the benches and fancy a Greek play

performing to a Gerazan audience as it was seventeen hundred years ago.

Proceeding northward along the great street, we soon came to a building

which seemed to me one of the finest things in Jerash. It was a sort of

semicircular temple, in front of which had been a portico of Corinthian

columns, composing part of the grand colonnade. I do not think they can be

under fifty feet in height, and their form is very elegant. The

semicircular building itself is covered with a half-dome, and ornamented

with particular richness and beauty. It is remarkable throughout these

ruins, how admirably the columns and buildings are disposed for producing

effect in combination. Of two bridges, a good deal of the one to the east

remains, and the arches reach across the river, though it is not passable,

owing to the destruction of the upper part. There is a paved road between

the colonnades leading from the bridge."

The ground occupied by this city, which was nearly in the form of a

square, might have been, enclosed by a line of four English miles in

length; the distance from the ruined gateway on the south to the small

temple on the north being about five thousand feet. It stood on the

corresponding sloes of two opposite hills, with a narrow but not a deep

valley between them, through which ran a clear stream of water, springing

from fountains near the centre of the town, and bending its way thence to

the southward. But so complete is the desolation of this once magnificent

place, that Bedouin Arabs now encamp among its ruins for the sake of the

rivulet by which they are washed, as they would collect near a well in the

midst of their native desert. Such portions of the soil as are still

cultivated, are ploughed by men who have no property in it; and the same

spot accordingly is occupied by different persons every succeeding year,

as time and chance may happen to direct.

Mr. Buckingham thinks that the similarity of situation, as well as of

name, would lead to the conclusion that this Jerash of the Arabs is the

same with the Gergasha of the Hebrews. Reland gives a variety of

derivations, quoted from Pliny, Jamblichus, Epiphanius, and Origen; all of

which are much more satisfactory as they regard the position of a certain

town in the Land of Gilead, than as they convey any precise ideas as to

its etymological import. After the Romans conquered Judea, the country

beyond the Jordan became one of their favourite colonies; to which, from

the circumstance of its containing ten cities, they gave the name of

Decapolis, an appellation recognised by St. Mark in the seventh chapter of

his Gospel. Geraza, it is presumed, was one of those cities; and although

its history is darkened with more than the usual doubt which attaches to

the Jewish annals after the fall of Jerusalem, there is reason to believe

that in the time of Vespasian it suffered the penalty of rebellion, and

was finally destroyed by the Saracens when they attacked the eastern

boundaries of the empire.

We must satisfy ourselves with a mere glance at the hills of Gilead; the

rich pasture-lands of the tribe of Reuben, and formerly the kingdom of the

gigantic Og, the monarch of Bashan. It is well known that the Valley of

the Jordan is bounded on the east by a range of mountains still more lofty

than those which skirt its western limits; but it was not suspected till

lately that the former concealed in their recesses some of the richest

scenery and most valuable land anywhere to be found in Palestine. Rising

gradually from the bed of the river, the traveller soon finds himself on a

platform seven or eight hundred feet above its level; forming a district

of extraordinary fertility, abounding with the most beautiful prospects,

clothed with thick forests, diversified with verdant slopes, and

possessing extensive plains of a fine soil, yielding in nothing to the

most prolific parts of Galilee and Samaria. "We continued our way," says

Mr. Buckingham, "to the north-east, through a country, the beauty of which

so surprised us, that we often asked each other what were our sensations;

as if to ascertain the reality of what we saw, and persuade each other by

mutual confessions of our delight, that the picture before us was not an

optical illusion. The landscape alone, which varied at every turn, and

gave us new beauties from any point of view, was of itself worth all the

pains of an excursion to the eastward of the Jordan; and the park-like

scenes that sometimes softened the romantic wildness of the general

character as a whole, reminded us of similar spots in less neglected

lands."[138]

The scenery continues of the same fascinating description till the

traveller reaches the Nahr el Zerkah, or river Jabbok, the ancient

boundary between the Amorites and the Children of Ammon. The banks are

thickly clothed with the oleander and plane-tree, the wild olive and

almond, and many flowering-shrubs of great variety and elegance. The

stream is about thirty feet broad, deeper than the Jordan, and nearly as

rapid, rushing downwards over a rocky channel. On the northern side begins

the kingdom of Bashan, celebrated for its oaks, its cattle, and the bodily

strength of its inhabitants. The opposite plate exhibits a view of the

Jabbok, and of the bold Alpine range which fenced the territory of one of

the most formidable enemies of Israel; verifying in its fullest extent the

description of Moses, who says, "The border of the children of Ammon was

strong."[139]

The curious reader will find in the Travels of Mr. Buckingham some

ingenious reasoning employed by him to fix the locality of Bozor, Ramoth,

Jabesh, and other towns situated in Gilead, and which were rendered

important by the various events recorded in the sacred volume.

About six miles from Djerash towards the north stands the village of Souf,

on the brow of a lofty hill, and flanked by a deep ravine. It retains

several marks of having been the site of some more ancient and

considerable town, presenting large blocks of stone with mouldings and

sculpture wrought into the modern buildings. In the neighbourhood are seen

the walls of an edifice apparently Roman, as also the ruins of two small

towers which may with equal certainty be traced to the age of Saracenic

domination. Souf can boast of nearly five hundred inhabitants, all rigid

Mohammedans, and remarkable for a surly and suspicious character.

Leaving this rather inhospitable village, the traveller who wishes to

visit the remains of Gamala proceeds in a north-westerly direction,

descending into a fine valley, and again rising on a gentle ascent, the

whole being profusely and beautifully wooded with evergreen oaks below,

and pines upon the ridge of the hill above. "Mr. Bankes, who had seen the

whole of England, the greater part of Italy and France, and almost every

province of Spain and Portugal, frequently remarked, that in all his

travels he had met with nothing equal to it, excepting only in some parts

of the latter country,--Entre Minho and Douro,--to which alone he could

compare it."[140]

Several hamlets and some obscure indications of ancient buildings meet the

eye in course of the journey to Om Keis. Before reaching this town, the

road emerges into a hilly district, bleak, rocky, and ill-cultivated. The

view is as monotonous as that from Jerusalem, forming a striking contrast

to the rich, verdant, and beautiful scenery which distinguishes Bashan and

Gilead.

Gamala, for under that name the ruins of the Roman station are most

familiarly known, must have covered a site nearly square; its greatest

length, from east to west, being seventeen hundred short paces, and its

breadth about one-fourth less. A considerable portion of it seems to have

stood on the summit of a hill, well fortified all round; the traces of

towers and other works of defence being still visible even on its steepest

parts. The portals of the eastern gate remain, from whence a noble street

appears to have run through the whole length of the city, lined by a

handsome colonnade of Ionic and Corinthian pillars. The pavement is formed

of square blocks of black volcanic stone, and is still so perfect, that

the ruts of wheel-carriages are to be seen in it, of different breadths

and about an inch in depth, as at the ruins of Pompeii and

Herculaneum.[141]

The first edifice which presents itself on entering the eastern gate is a

theatre, the scene and front of which are entirely destroyed, but the

benches are preserved. Still farther on are appearances of an Ionic

temple, the colonnade of the street being continued; and about half-way

along is a range of Corinthian pillars on pedestals, marking the position

of some grand edifice. Not a column, indeed, continues erect, but the plan

can be distinctly traced. This supposed temple must have been a hundred

paces in depth from north to south; and its façade, which fronted the

street and came in a line with the grand colonnade already mentioned,

cannot have been less than a hundred and eighty feet in breadth. The chief

peculiarity of this structure, however, consists in its having been built

on a range of fine arches, so that its foundations were higher than the

general level of the town; and hence, as the pedestals of the columns were

elevated considerably above the street, it must have presented a very

striking object.

There are the remains of numerous other edifices, theatres, and temples,

but they are all too indistinct to enable even a professional eye to

pronounce with confidence on their plan and particular purpose. The

prevalent orders of architecture are Ionic and Corinthian, though some few

capitals decidedly Doric are discovered among the ruins. The stone

generally used throughout the city is that of the neighbouring

mountains,--a species of gray rock approaching to a carbonate of lime; but

the shafts of some of the pillars are formed of a black substance,

supposed to have a volcanic origin, and most commonly preferred for the

internal decorations of funereal vaults and sarcophagi.[142]

As the ruins here described are not immediately on the position usually

assigned to Gamala on the maps, and as Dr. Seetzen, the only person

besides Mr. Buckingham who has published any account of them, thinks that

they are those of Gadara, the latter enters into a lengthened discussion

in support of his own views, calling in the authority of several ancient

writers to establish his position. The reader will find that much of the

ambiguity which prevails on this point arises from the fact of there being

in different parts of Canaan several towns of the same name. For example,

there was unquestionably a place called Gadara on the eastern shore of the

Lake of Tiberias; while from the testimony of Josephus, it is equally

certain that the same appellation was given to the capital of Perea. In

the New Testament, the country of the Gadarenes is described as being on

the other side of the sea, over-against Galilee, a notice which removes

all doubt from the opinion of those who maintain the existence of a town

or village, named Gadara; situated to the northward of the site generally

claimed for Gamala, and nearer the body of the lake.

Mr. Buckingham tells us, that the account given in the gospel of the

habitation of the demoniac, out of whom the legion of devils was cast,

struck him very forcibly while wandering among savage mountains and

surrounded by tombs, still used as houses by individuals and even by,

whole families. A finer occasion for expressing the passions of madness in

all their violence, contrasted with the serene virtue and benevolence of

Him who went about continually doing good, could hardly be chosen for the

pencil of an artist; and a faithful delineation of the rugged and wild

majesty of the mountain scenery on the one hand, with the still calm of

the lake on the other, would give an additional charm to the picture.[143]

Amid the interesting ruins of Gamala, situated in a barren district, alike

unfavourable for agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, it is impossible

not to be surprised at the indications of wealth and luxury which must

have centred within its walls. The opulence cannot but have been

considerable which erected such splendid temples and colonnades, and

supported two large theatres; erecting, at the same time, such massive

tombs and splendid sarcophagi for all classes of the population. Its

desolation may be traced to the rebellious spirit of the inhabitants, and

the sanguinary wars to which it led under successive emperors. Vespasian,

whose name is so closely associated with the history of Palestine for good

and for evil, directed against it on more than one occasion the fury of

the Roman legions, and finally levelled its walls, that they might not

again be defended by such desperate insurgents. At a later period, its

remote situation withdrew it from the attention of Europeans; and, in

truth, its very existence had ceased to be remembered, until its ruins

were once more visited by travellers in the course of the present century.

Passing along the eastern border of the hike, and advancing towards its

northern extremity, the traveller easily recognises that desert place

where the multitude was fed upon the miraculous loaves and fishes. Here,

too, was the scene of the remarkable punishment inflicted upon the

Gadarenes for their insensibility to Divine instruction, as well, perhaps,

as for their unhallowed pursuit in feeding animals forbidden by the law of

Moses. The brink of the water presents many steep places where such a

catastrophe might be easily realized.

At the upper end of the lake are the remains of Capernaum, now called

Talhewm, or Tel Hoom, situated about ten miles from Tiberias, in a

north-easterly direction. This village, although at present nothing more

than a station of Bedouins, appears to have been occupied in former times

by a settlement of some importance, as the ruins of stately buildings are

found scattered over a wide space in the neighbourhood. The foundations of

a magnificent edifice can still be traced; but the structure itself is so

much dilapidated that it is no longer possible to determine whether it was

a temple or a palace. The northern end is sixty-five paces in length, and,

as the eastern wall seems to have extended to the edge of the water, its

length could not be less than five hundred feet. Within this space are

seen large blocks of sculptured stone, in friezes, cornices, and

mouldings.

The appearance of the Sea of Galilee, as seen from this point of view at

Capernaum, is very grand. Its greatest length runs nearly north and south,

from fifteen to eighteen miles, while its breadth averages from five to

six. The barren aspect of the mountains on each side, and the total

absence of wood, give, however, a cast of dulness to the picture; and this

is increased even to a feeling of melancholy by the dead calm of its

surface, and the silence which reigns throughout its whole extent, where

not a boat or vessel of any kind is to be found. No fisherman any longer

plies his laborious craft on the bosom of the lake, nor seeks to vary his

scanty meal by letting down his net for a draught. Mr. Buckingham

observed, from the heights above, shoals of fish darting through the

water, and the shore in some places covered with storks and diving-birds,

which repair hither in search of food; but when, on one occasion, he

suggested that a supper might be procured for his party by exercising a

little skill with the rod or net, he discovered that the ignorant

barbarians whom he addressed had not yet taken a lesson from the fowls of

the air.

A circumstance deserving of notice is mentioned by Hasselquist, in regard

to the tenants of this lake. He thought it remarkable that the same kind

of fish should be here met with as in the Nile,--charmuth, silurus,

baenni, mulsil, and sparus Galilaeus. This explains the observations of

certain travellers, who speak of the Sea of Tiberias as possessing fish

peculiar to itself; not being acquainted perhaps with the produce of the

Egyptian river. Josephus was of the same opinion; and yet it is worthy of

remark, that in describing the fountain of Capernaum his conjectures tend

to confirm the conclusions of the Swedish naturalist:--

"Some consider it," says the Jewish historian, "as a vein of the Nile,

because it brings forth fishes resembling the coracinus of the Alexandrian

lake."[144]

That Capernaum was a place of some wealth and consequence in the time of

our Saviour may be inferred from the expostulation addressed to it, when

he upbraided the other cities wherein most of his mighty works were

done:--"Wo unto thee, Chorazin! Wo unto thee, Bethsaida! And thou,

Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell."

But the history of all the towns on the lake of Genesareth has been

covered with a cloud which it is now impossible to penetrate; and nothing,

accordingly, is more difficult than to determine the situations occupied,

even during the latter period of the Roman ascendency, by some of the

principal places on which the emperors lavished their wealth and taste.

Bethsaida was converted by Herod from an insignificant village into the

dignity and grandeur of a city, named Julias, in compliment to the

daughter of Augustus. At the present moment, however, no traces remain to

point out the line of its walls or the foundations of its palaces.

Genesareth has in like manner disappeared; or if there be any relics of

the town which once gave its name to the inland sea whose shore it

adorned, they are so indistinct and ambiguous as not to merit the notice

of the traveller. Tarachea is represented by the hamlet of Sumuk, and the

ruins of Chorazin are imagined to meet the eye somewhere on the opposite

coast; but, upon the whole, the denunciation uttered against the

unbelieving cities of Galilee has been literally fulfilled, as they are

now brought down to the lowest pitch of obscurity and oblivion.[145]

Tiberias is the only place on the Sea of Galilee which retains any marks

of its ancient importance. It is understood to cover the ground formerly

occupied by a town of a much remoter age, and of which some traces can

still be distinguished on the beach, a little to the southward of the

present walls. History relates that it was built by Herod the Tetrarch,

and dedicated to the Emperor Tiberius, his patron, although there

prevails, at the same time, an obscure tradition, that the new city owed

its foundation entirely to the imperial pleasure, and was named by him who

commanded it to be erected. Josephus notices the additional circumstance,

which of itself gives great probability to the opinion of its being

established on the ruins of an older town, that, as many sepulchres were

removed in order to make room for the Roman structures, the Jews could

hardly be induced to occupy houses which, according to their notions, were

legally impure. Adrichomius considers Tiberias to be the Chinneroth of the

Hebrews; and says, that it was captured by Benhadad, king of Syria, who

destroyed it, and was in after-ages restored by Herod; who surrounded it

with walls, and adorned it with magnificent buildings. The old Jewish

city, whatever was its name, probably owed its existence to the fame of

its hot baths,--an origin to which many temples, and even the cities

belonging to them, may be traced.

The present town of Tabaria, as it is now called, is in the form of an

irregular crescent, and is enclosed towards the land by a wall flanked

with circular towers. It lies nearly north and south along the edge of the

lake, and has its eastern front so close to the water, on the brink of

which it stands, that some of the houses are washed by the sea: The whole

does not appear more than a mile in circuit, and cannot, from the manner

in which they are placed, contain above 500 separate dwellings. There are

two gates visible from without, one near the southern and the other in the

western wall; there are appearances also of the town having been

surrounded by a ditch, but this is now filled up and used for gardens.

The interior presents but few subjects of interest, among which are a

mosque with a dome and minaret, and two Jewish synagogues. There is a

Christian place of worship called the House of Peter, which is thought by

some to be the oldest building used for that purpose in any part of

Palestine. It is a vaulted room, thirty feet long by fifteen broad, and

perhaps fifteen in height, standing nearly east and west, with its door of

entrance at the western front, and its altar immediately opposite in a

shallow recess. Over the door is one small window, and on each side four

others, all arched and open. The structure is of a very ordinary kind,

both in workmanship and material; the pavement within is similar to that

used for streets in this country; and the walls are entirely devoid of

sculpture or any other architectural ornament. But it derives no small

interest from the popular belief that it is the very house which Peter

inhabited at the time of his being called from his boat to follow the

Messias. It is manifest, notwithstanding, that it must have been

originally constructed for a place of divine worship, and probably at a

period much later than the days of the apostle whose name it bears,

although there is no good ground for questioning the tradition which

places it on the very spot long venerated as the site of his more humble

habitation. Here too it was, say the dwellers in Tiberias, that he pushed

off his boat into the lake when about to have his faith rewarded by the

miraculous draught of fishes.[146]

Besides the public buildings already specified are the house of the aga,

on the rising ground near the northern quarter of the town, a small

bazaar, and two or three coffee sheds; the ordinary dwellings of the

inhabitants are such as are commonly seen in eastern villages, but are

marked by a peculiarity which Mr. Buckingham witnessed there for the first

time. On the terrace of almost every house stands a small square enclosure

of reeds, loosely covered with leaves; to which, he learned, heads of

families are wont to resort during the summer months, when, from the low

situation of the town and the absence of cooling breezes, the heat of the

nights is literally intolerable.[147]

According to the opinion of the best informed among the inhabitants, the

population of Tiberias (or Tabareeah, as they pronounce it) does not

exceed two thousand. Of these about one-half are Jews, many of whom are

from Europe, particularly from Germany, Russia, and Poland; the rest are

Mohammedans, with the exception of twenty or thirty Christian families who

profess the tenets of the Latin church.

The warm baths, which have given celebrity to that neighbourhood, are

still found at the distance of between two and three miles southward from

the town. The building erected on the spring is small and mean, and

altogether the work of the present rulers of Palestine. The bath itself is

a square room of eighteen or twenty feet, covered with a low dome, and

having seats or benches on each side. The cistern for containing the hot

water is in the centre of this room, and sunk below the pavement. It is a

square of eight or nine feet only, and the spring rises to supply it

through a small head of some animal but this is so badly executed that it

is difficult to know for what it was intended. Mr. Buckingham states, that

his thermometer, when immersed in the water, instantly rose to 130°, which

was the utmost limit of the instrument. He is satisfied, however, that the

heat was much greater, because is was painful to the hand as it issued

from the spout, and could only be borne by those who had bathed in the

cistern.[148]

Tiberias makes a conspicuous figure in the Jewish annals, and was the

scene of some of the most remarkable events which are recorded by

Josephus. After the downfall of Jerusalem, it continued until the fifth

century to be the residence of Jewish patriarchs, rabbis, and learned

men. A university was established within its boundaries; and as the

patriarchate was allowed to be hereditary, the remnant of the Hebrew

people enjoyed a certain degree of weight and consequence during the

greater part of four centuries. In the sixth age, if we may confide in the

accuracy of Procopius, the Emperor Justinian rebuilt the walls; but in the

following century, the seventh of the Christian era, the city was taken by

the Saracens, under Calif Omar, who stripped it of its privileges, and

demolished some of its finest edifices. It must not be concealed, however,

that in the Itinerary of Willibald, who performed his journey into the

Holy Land towards the close of the eighth century, mention is made of many

churches and synagogues which the conquerors had either not destroyed or

allowed to be repaired.[149]

From Tiberias to Nazareth the traveller has to encounter an almost

uninterrupted ascent. The village of Caber Sabet first attracts his

attention by its architectural remains, indicating the existence of an

ancient building, which must have had marble columns and a magnificent

portico. He soon afterwards reaches Soak el Khan,--a place chiefly

celebrated for a weekly market, where every description of commodity in

use among the people is collected for sale. It also presents the ruins of

a Saracenic fort of a square shape, with circular towers at the angles and

in the centre of each wall.

In pursuing this route we have Mount Tor, or Tabor, on the left-hand,

rising in solitary majesty from the Plain of Esdraëlon. Its appearance has

been described by some authors as that of a half-sphere, while to others

it suggests the idea of a cone with its point struck off. According to Mr.

Maundrell, the height is such as to require the labour of an hour to reach

the summit; where is seen a level area of an oval figure, extending about

two furlongs in length and one in breadth. It is enclosed with trees on

all sides except the south, and is most fertile and delicious. Having been

anciently surrounded with walls and trenches, there are remains of

considerable fortifications at the present day. Burckhardt says, a thick

wall, constructed of large stones, may be traced quite round the summit,

close to the edge of the precipice; on several parts of which are relics

of bastions. The area too is overspread with the ruins of private

dwellings, built of stone with great solidity.

Pococke assures us that it is one of the finest hills he ever beheld,

being a rich soil that produces excellent herbage, and most beautifully

adorned with groves and clumps of trees. The height he calculates to be

about two miles, making allowance for the winding ascent; but he adds,

that others have imagined the same path to be not less than four miles.

Hasselquist conjectures that it is a league to the top, the whole of which

may be accomplished without dismounting,--a statement amply confirmed by

the experience of Van Egmont and Heyman. These travellers relate that

"this mountain, though somewhat rugged and difficult, we ascended on

horseback, making several circuits round it, which took up about

three-quarters of an hour. It is one of the highest in the whole country,

being thirty stadia, or about four English miles. And it is the most

beautiful we ever saw with regard to verdure, being everywhere decorated

with small oak-trees, and the ground universally enamelled with a variety

of plants and flowers. There are great number of red partridges, and some

wild boars; and we were so fortunate as to see the Arabs hunting them. We

left, but not without reluctance, this delightful place, and found at the

bottom of it a mean village, called Deboura, or Tabour,--a name said to be

derived from the celebrated Deborah mentioned in the book of Judges."

But this mountain derives the largest share of its celebrity from the

opinion entertained among Christians since the days of Jerome, that it was

the scene of a memorable event in the history of our Lord. On the eastern

part of the hill are the remains of a strong castle; and within the

precincts of it is the grotto in which are three altars in memory of the

three tabernacles that St. Peter proposed to build, and where the Latin

friars always perform mass on the anniversary of the Transfiguration. It

is said there was a magnificent church built here by Helena, which was a

cathedral when this town was made a bishop's see. On the side of the hill

they show a church in a grot, were they say Christ charged his disciples

not to tell what things they had seen till he should be glorified.

It is very doubtful, however, whether this tradition be well founded, or

whether it has not, as Mr. Maundrell and other writers suspect, originated

in the misinterpretation of a very common Greek phrase. Our Saviour is

said to have taken with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them into

a high mountain "apart;" from which it has been rather hastily inferred

that the description must apply to Tabor, the only insulated and solitary

hill in the neighbourhood. We may remark, with the traveller just named,

that the conclusion may possibly be true, but that the argument used to

prove it seems incompetent; because the term "apart" most likely relates

to the withdrawing and retirement of the persons here spoken of, and not

to the situation of the mountain. In fact, it means nothing more than that

our Lord and his three disciples betook themselves to a private place for

the purpose of devotion.

The view from Mount Tabor is extolled by every traveller. "It is

impossible," says Maundrell, "for man's eyes to behold a higher

gratification of this nature." On the north-west you discern in the

distance the noble expanse of the Mediterranean, while all around you see

the spacious and beautiful plains of Esdraëlon and Galilee. Turning a

little southward, you have in view the high mountains of Gilboa, so fatal

to Saul and his sons. Due east you discover the Sea of Tiberias, distant

about one day's journey. A few points to the north appears the Mount of

Beatitudes, the place where Christ delivered his sermon to his disciples

and the multitude. Not far from this little hill is the city of Saphet, or

Szaffad, standing upon elevated and very conspicuous ground. Still

farther, in the same direction, is seen a lofty peak covered with snow, a

part of the chain of Anti-Libanus. To the south-west is Carmel, and in the

south the hills of Samaria.[150]

The plain around, the most fertile part of the Land of Canaan, being one

vast meadow covered with the richest pasture, is the inheritance where the

tribe of Issachar "rejoiced in their tents." Here it was that Barak,

descending with his ten thousand men from Tabor, discomfited Sisera and

all his chariots. In the same neighbourhood Josiah, king of Judah, fought

in disguise against Necho, king of Egypt, and fell by the arrows of his

antagonist, deeply lamented. The great mourning in Jerusalem, foretold

by Zechariah, is said to be as the lamentations in the Plain of Esdraëlon,

as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon. Vespasian

reviewed his army in the same great plain. It has been a chosen place for

encampments in every contest carried on in this country, from the days of

Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians, down to the disastrous invasion of

Napoleon Bonaparte. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Egyptians, Persians, Druses,

Turks, Arabs, Christian Crusaders, and Antichristian Frenchmen,--warriors

out of every nation under heaven,--have pitched their tents upon the Plain

of Esdraëlon, and have beheld their various banners wet with the dews of

Tabor and of Hermon. And shall we not add that here too is to be fought

the great battle of Armageddon, so well known to all interpreters of

prophecy, which is expected to change the aspect of the eastern world?

When the French invaded Syria in 1799, General Kleber was attacked near a

village called Fouleh, in the Great Plain, by an army of 25,000 Turks. At

the head of twelve or fifteen hundred men, whom he formed into a square,

he continued fighting from sunrise till midday, when he had expended all

his ammunition. Bonaparte, at length, informed of his perilous situation,

advanced to his support with six hundred soldiers; at the sight of whom

the enemy, after having lost several thousands in killed and wounded,

commenced a hurried retreat, in the course of which many of them were

drowned in the River Daboury, at that time, like another Kishon,

overflowing its banks. In a word, the champaign country which stretches

north-west from Tabor has been the theatre of real or of mimic warfare in

all ages. "We had the pleasure," says Doubdan, "to view from the top of

that mountain Arabs encamped by thousands; tents and pavilions of all

colours, green, red, and yellow; with so great a number of horses and

camels, that it seemed like a vast army, or a city besieged."[151]

But we now proceed towards Nazareth, the modern Naszera or Nassera, a

journey of about two hours from the foot of the mountain which we have

just examined. It seems, says one writer, as if fifteen mountains met to

form an enclosure for this delightful spot; they rise round it like the

edge of a shell to guard it from intrusion. It is a rich and beautiful

field in the midst of barren hills. The church stands in a cave supposed

to be the place where the Blessed Virgin received the joyful message of

the angel, recorded in the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. It

resembles the figure of a cross. That part of it which stands for the tree

of the cross is fourteen paces long and six broad, and runs directly into

the grot, having no other arch over it at top but that of the natural

rock. The transverse part is nine paces in length and four in width, and

is built athwart the mouth of the cave. Just at the section of these

divisions are erected two granite pillars, two feet in diameter, and about

three feet distant from each other. They are supposed by the faithful to

stand on the very places where the angel and the Blessed Virgin

respectively stood at the time of the Annunciation.[152]

When Dr. Clarke visited this sanctuary, the friars pointed out the kitchen

and the fireplace of the Virgin Mary; and as all consecrated places in the

Holy Land contain some supposed miracle for exhibition, the monks, he

informs us, have taken care not to be altogether deficient in supernatural

rarities. Accordingly, the first things they show to strangers who descend

into the cave are two stone pillars in the front of it; one of which,

separated from its base, is said to sustain its capital and a part of its

shaft miraculously in the air. The fact is, that the capital and a piece

of the shaft of a pillar of gray granite have been fastened to the roof of

the grotto; and "so clumsily is the rest of the _hocus pocus_ contrived,

that what is shown for the lower fragment of the same pillar resting upon

the earth is not of the same substance, but of Cipolino marble."[153]

A variety of stories are circulated about the fracture of this miraculous

pillar. The more ancient travellers were told that it was broken by a

pasha in search of hidden treasure, who was struck with blindness for his

impiety; at present it is said that it separated into two parts, in the

manner in which it still appears, when the angel announced to Mary the

glad tidings with which he was commissioned. Maundrell was not less

observant than the author just quoted, although he does not so openly

expose the deception. "It touches the roof above, and is probably hanged

upon that; unless you had rather take the friars' account of it, namely,

that it is supported by a miracle."

Pococke has proved that the tradition concerning the dwelling-place of the

parents of Jesus Christ existed at a very early period; because the church

built over it is mentioned by writers of the seventh century. Nor is there

in the circumstance that their abode was fixed in a grotto or natural

cave, any thing repugnant to the notions usually entertained either of the

ancient customs of the country or of the class of society to which Joseph

and his espoused wife belonged. But when we are called upon to surrender

our belief to the legends invented by men whose ignorance is the best

apology we can urge for their superstition, a certain degree of disgust

and indignation is perfectly justifiable.

In such a case we are disposed to question the good effects ascribed by

some authors to the pious zeal of the Empress Helena, who, although she

did not in fact erect one-half of the buildings ascribed to her

munificence, most undoubtedly laboured, by her architectural designs, to

obliterate every trace of those simple scenes which might have been

regarded with reasonable veneration in all ages of the church. Dr. Clarke,

in a fit of spleen with which we cannot altogether refuse to sympathize,

remarks, that had the Sea of Tiberias been capable of annihilation by her

means, it would have been dried up, paved, covered with churches and

altars, or converted into monasteries and markets of indulgences, until

every feature of the original had disappeared; and all this by way of

rendering it more particularly holy.[154]

Of the original edifice, said to have been erected by the mother of

Constantine, some remains may still be observed in the form of subverted

columns, which, with the fragments of their capitals and bases, lie near

the modern building. The present church and convent are of a comparatively

recent date, at least so far as the outward structure and internal

decorations are concerned; the former being filled with pictures supplied

by the modern school, all of which are said to be below mediocrity.

Besides the antiquities already mentioned having a reference to the early

history of our Lord, the traveller is conducted to the "workshop of

Joseph," which is near the convent, and was formerly included within its

walls. It is now a small chapel, perfectly modern, and whitewashed like a

Turkish sepulchre. After this is shown the synagogue where the Redeemer is

said to have read the Scriptures to the Jews; and also the precipice from

which the monks aver he leaped down to escape the rage of his townsmen,

who were offended at his application of the sacred text "And all they in

the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and

rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the

hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way."[155]

The Mount of Precipitation, as it is now called, is, according to Mr.

Buckingham, about two miles distant from Nazareth; is almost inaccessible,

from the steep and rocky nature of the road; and is decidedly not upon the

hill where the town could ever have been built. Dr. Clarke, on the other

hand, maintains that the words of the evangelist are most explicit, and

prove the situation of the ancient city to have been precisely that which

is now occupied by the modern town. In a recess there is an altar hewn out

of the rock, said to be the very spot where Christ dined with his

disciples. Close by are two large cisterns for preserving rain-water, and

several portions of buildings, all described as the remains of a religious

establishment founded by the pious and indefatigable Helena. Immediately

over this scene, and on the edge of a precipice about thirty feet in

height, are two flat stones set up on their edges. In the centre, and

scattered over different parts of one of them, are several round marks

like the deep imprint of fingers on wax; and it is insisted that these are

the impression of our Saviour's hand when he clung to the stone, and

thereby escaped being thrown headlong down.[156]

One celebrated relic still remains to be noticed, which, although it is

not alluded to in the New Testament, is regularly authenticated by the

pope; who, besides, grants a plenary indulgence to every pilgrim visiting

the place where it is exhibited. This is nothing more than a large stone,

on which it is affirmed that Christ did eat with his disciples both before

and after his resurrection from the dead. A chapel has been built over it,

on the walls of which are several copies of a printed certificate, stating

the grounds of its claim to veneration. Dr. Clarke transcribed this

curious document, which we give in a note below, accompanied with a

translation for the use of such readers as have not formed an acquaintance

with the Latin tongue.[157]

There is not an object in all Nazareth so much the resort of

pilgrims,--Greeks, Catholics, Arabs, and even Turks,--as this stone: the

former classes on account of the seven years' indulgence granted to those

who visit it; the two latter, because they believe some virtue must reside

in a slab before which all comers are so eager to prostrate themselves.

In a valley near the town is a fountain which bears the name of the

Virgin, and where the women are seen passing to and fro with pitchers on

their heads, as in the days of old. It is justly remarked, that, if there

be a spot throughout the Holy Land which was more particularly honoured by

the presence of Mary, we may consider this to be the place; because the

situation of a copious spring is not liable to change, and because the

custom of repairing thither to draw water has been continued among the

female inhabitants of Nazareth from the earliest period of its history.

As another memorial of primitive times, we may mention that it is still

common in Nazareth to see "two women grinding at the mill;" illustrating

the remarkable saying of our Lord in reference to the destruction of

Jerusalem. The two females, seated on the ground opposite to each other,

hold between them two round flat stones, such as are seen in Lapland, and

which in Scotland are usually called querns. In the centre of the upper

stone is a cavity for pouring in the corn; and by the side of this an

upright wooden handle for moving it. To begin the operation, one of the

women with her right hand pushes this handle to her companion, who in her

turn sends it back to the first,--thus communicating a rotatory and very

rapid motion to the upper stone; their left hands being all the while

employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escape

from the sides of the machine.[158]

It is not without pleasure that the traveller contemplates these unaltered

tokens of the simple life which prevailed in Palestine at the time when

our Saviour abode in the house of Mary his mother; and more especially, as

he cannot fail to contrast them with the pernicious mummery which

continues to disgrace the more artificial monuments of Christian

antiquity. From the extravagances chargeable upon the priesthood at all

the holy places in Canaan, there has resulted this most melancholy fact,

that devout but weak men, unable to distinguish between monkish fraud and

simple truth, have considered the whole series of topographical evidence

as one tissue of imposture, and have left the Holy Land worse Christians

than when they entered it. Credulity and skepticism are extremes too often

found to approximate; and the man, accordingly, who suddenly relinquishes

the one, is almost sure to adopt the other.

Burckhardt remarks that the church of Nazareth, next to the one over the

Holy Sepulchre, is the finest in Syria, and possesses two tolerably good

organs. Within the walls of the convent are several gardens and a small

burying-ground; the building is very strong, and serves occasionally as a

fortress to all the Christians in the town. There are eleven friars on the

establishment, the yearly expenses of which, amounting to about 900l., are

defrayed by the rent of a few houses and the produce of a small portion of

land, the property of the good fathers.

Before quitting this interesting place,--the scene where our Lord passed

the days of his childhood and youth,--we may observe, that there is a

great variation in the accounts given by different travellers as to the

number of its inhabitants. Dr. Richardson restricts it to six or seven

hundred; Mr. Buckingham raises it to two thousand; while others assert

that it does not fall short of half as many more. There are five hundred

Turks, and the remainder are Christians,--the later described as a civil

and very industrious class of people.

At about an hour and a half towards the north-east, situated on the slope

of a hill, stands Kefer Kenna, or Cana of Galilee, the village where the

Redeemer performed his first miracle. Here, in a small church belonging to

the Greek communion, is shown an old stone pot made of the common rock of

the country, and which is said to be one of the original vessels that

contained the water afterward converted into wine. It is worthy of note,

says Dr. Clarke, that in walking among the ruins of Cana one sees large

massy pots of stone answering to the description given by the evangelist;

not preserved nor exhibited as relics, but lying about disregarded by the

present inhabitants, as antiquities with the original use of which they

are altogether unacquainted. From their appearance, and the number of

them, it is quite evident that the practice of keeping water in large

stone pots, each holding from eighteen to twenty-seven gallons, was once

common in the country.

The remains of the house in which the marriage was celebrated are likewise

pointed out to the traveller, who, at the present day, is permitted to

examine curiosities with greater deliberation than was allowed to honest

Doubdan.[159] This pious confessor, whose zeal prompted him to leave

nothing unexplored, found an old church in the village, ascribed as usual

to the inexhaustible beneficence of St. Helena; but his attention was more

pleasantly engaged in tracing the course of the stream which issues from

the sacred fountain whence the water was drawn for the marriage-feast.

There is still a limpid spring near the village; which affords to the

inhabitants their daily supply of a delicious beverage. Pilgrims repair to

it moved by feelings of piety, or, as Doubdan expresses it, to satisfy at

once their devotion and their thirst. A few olive-trees being near the

spot, travellers alight, spread their carpets, and having filled their

pipes, generally smoke tobacco and take some coffee; always preferring

repose in these places to any accommodations which can be obtained in the

village. Such has been the custom of the country from time immemorial,

extending, not only to the wayfaring man, but also to the shepherds on the

surrounding hills, and to the companies of merchantmen whose trade carries

them through the neighbouring deserts.[160]

As we must now leave the interior of Palestine, and return to the shore of

the Mediterranean, we cannot do more at this advanced stage of our

progress than take a distant view of the landscape which stretches from

the lake of Tiberias to the sources of the Jordan. The mountains that

terminate the prospect are extremely magnificent, some of them being

covered with perpetual snow. The intervening country, too, is in many

parts uncommonly fine, presenting luxuriant crops, thriving villages, and

other tokens of security and comfort. The Jordan issues from Lake Hoole,

or Julias, which in its turn is fed by so many streams, that it becomes

very difficult to determine the true fountain of the sacred river.

The only town of consequence between the ruins of Capernaum and the alpine

range of Hermon and Djibbel el Sheik is Saphet, already mentioned, being

one of the four cities consecrated by the religious veneration of the

Hebrews. According to Burckhardt, it stands upon several low hills that

divide it into quarters, the largest of which is occupied by Jews. The

whole may contain six hundred houses, of which one hundred and fifty

belong to the people just named, and nearly as many to the Christians. The

summit of the principal eminence is crowned with an ancient castle, part

of which is regarded by the descendants of Israel as being contemporary

with their earliest kings.

Saphet is still a sort of university for the education of the Jewish

rabbis, of whom there are usually twenty of thirty resident, collected

from different countries of Europe, Africa, and Asia. They have no fewer

than seven synagogues. Their attachment to this place arises from various

motives, and especially from the traditionary belief that the Messias is

to reign here forty years before he assumes the government at Jerusalem.

To the north of the hill on which the castle stands there are several

wells, which, it is said, were dug by the patriarch Isaac, and became the

cause of contention between his herdsmen and those of Gerar; but, says

Pococke, they have much mistaken the place, the Valley of Gerar being at a

great distance on the other side of Jerusalem. This town, which is only

mentioned in the book of Tobit as belonging to the tribe of Naphtali,

became famous during the Crusades; it was occupied also by a detachment of

French troops during the invasion of the country by Bonaparte.

It is worthy of notice, that when the celebrated chief now named retreated

from before Acre, the tyrant Djezzar Pasha, to avenge himself on the

Franks, inflicted a severe punishment on the Jewish and Christian

inhabitants of Saphet. It is said that he had resolved to massacre all the

believers in Moses and Jesus Christ who might be found in any part of his

dominions, and had actually sent orders to Nazareth and Jerusalem to

accomplish his barbarous design. But Sir Sidney Smith, on being apprised

of his intention, conveyed to him the assurance, that if a single

Christian head should fall, he would bombard Acre, and set it on fire. The

interposition of the British Admiral is still remembered with heartfelt

gratitude by all the inhabitants, who looked upon him as their deliverer.

"His word," says Burckhardt, "I have often heard both Turks and Christians

exclaim, was like God's word,--it never failed."

It is to no purpose that we endeavour to ascertain the position of Dan,

the extreme point of the ancient Hebrew territory. Its proximity to the

fountains of Jordan might be supposed to prove a sufficient guide to the

geographer in his local researches; but, as has been already mentioned,

the rivulets which contribute to form the main stream of this celebrated

river are so numerous, and apparently so equally entitled to the honour of

being accounted the principal source, that the precise situation of the

temple where Jeroboam set up one of his golden calves is still open to

conjecture.

The road from Nazareth to Acre proceeds for some time ever a barren, rocky

tract of country, which Hasselquist informs us is a continuation of a

species of territory peculiar to the same meridian, and stretching through

several parallels of latitude. At length the traveller reaches Sephouri,

or Sepphoris, the Zippor of the Hebrews, and the Diocesarea of the Romans,

once the chief town and bulwark of Galilee. The remains of its

fortifications exhibit one of the works of Herod, who, after its

destruction by Varus, not only rebuilt and fortified it, but made it the

principal city of his tetrarchy. Its inhabitants often revolted against

the Romans, relying, on the advantages for defence supplied by its natural

position. It is mentioned in the Talmud as the seat of a Jewish

university, and was long famous for the learning of its rabbis. Here also

was held one of the five sanhedrims authorized by the spiritual governors

of Palestine; the others being established at Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara,

and Amathus. But its chief celebrity is connected with the tradition, that

it was the residence of Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin Mary.

The house of St. Anne, observes Dr. Clarke, is the "commencement of that

superstitious trumpery which for a long time has constituted the chief

object of devotion and of pilgrimage in the Holy Land." No sooner was the

spot discovered where the pious couple had lived than Constantine issued

instructions to build upon it a magnificent church, the remains of which

have been minutely described by the enterprising traveller to whom we have

just alluded.

"We are conducted to the ruins of a stately Gothic edifice, which seems to

have been one of the finest structures in the Holy Land. Here we entered

beneath lofty massive arches of stone. The roof of the building was of the

same materials. The arches are placed at the intersection of a Greek

cross, and originally supported a dome or a tower; their appearance is

highly picturesque, and they exhibit the grandeur of a noble style of

architecture. Broken columns of granite and marble lie scattered among the

walls, and these prove how richly it was decorated. We measured the

capital of a pillar of the order commonly called Tuscan, which we found

lying against one of granite. The top of this formed a square of, three

feet. One aisle of this building is still entire; at the eastern extremity

a small temporary altar had been recently constructed by the piety of

pilgrims; it consisted of loose materials, and was of very modern date.

Some fragments of the original decorations of the church had been gathered

from the ruins and laid upon this altar; and although they had remained

open to every approach, even the Moslems had respected the votive

offerings."[161]

The date of this building is incidently mentioned by Epiphanius, who

relates that one Joseph, a native of Tiberias, was authorized by

Constantine to erect a, number of such edifices in the Holy Land, and that

he fulfilled the intention of his sovereign at Tiberias, Capernaum, and

Diocesarea. Reland, upon the authority of Theophanes, places its

destruction in the year 339 of the Christian era, when the town was

demolished on account of the seditious conduct of its inhabitants.

It is perhaps worthy of notice, that Dr. Clarke examined some pictures

which had been recently discovered among these ruins. One appears to

represent the interview between our Saviour and the two disciples at

Emmaus, when in the set of making himself known to them by the breaking of

bread. Another exhibits the Virgin bearing in swaddling-clothes the infant

Jesus; and a third seems to illustrate the same subject in circumstances

somewhat different. They are said to bear a great resemblance to those

used in the churches of Russia, being executed upon a square piece of wood

about half an inch in thickness. As they were not valued highly by the

person into whose hands they had accidently fallen, the Englishman

bestowed a trifle on the ignorant Mohammedan, and "took them into safer

custody."[163]

The vale of Zabulon divides the village just described from the ridge of

hills which look down on Acre and the shores of the Great Sea. This

delightful plain appears everywhere covered with spontaneous vegetation,

flourishing in the wildest exuberance. The scenery is described by Dr.

Clarke as not less beautiful than that of the rich valleys upon the south

of the Crimea. It reminded him of the nest parts of Kent and Surrey. The

prickly-pear, which grows to a prodigious size in the Holy Land, sprouts

luxuriantly among the rocks, displaying its gaudy yellow blossoms, and

promising abundance of a delicious cooling fruit. Off either side of the

road the ruins of fortified places exercise the ingenuity of the

antiquarian traveller, who endeavours, through the mist of tradition and

the perplexing obscurity of modern names, to identify towns which make a

figure in Jewish and Roman history. All remains of the strong city of

Zabulon, called by Josephus the "city of men," have disappeared; and its

"admirable beauty," rivalling that of Tyre, Sidon, and Berytus, is now

sought for in vain among Arab huts and scattered stones.

The plain, which skirts the Mediterranean from Jaffa to Cape Blanco,

presents many interesting memorials of Hebrew antiquity and of European

warfare. Every town along the coast has been the scene of contention

between the armies of Christendom and those of Islamism; whence arises the

motive which has determined us to incorporate the history of these cities

with the narrative of the exploits whereon their fortunes have chiefly

depended. Suffice it to mention as we go along, that the vicinity of Acre

invites the attention of the naturalist, on account of certain facts

recorded by Pliny, and repeated by subsequent historians. It is said by

this writer, that it was at the mouth of the river Belus the art of making

glass was first discovered. A party of sailors, who had occasion to visit

the shore in that neighbourhood, propped up the kettle in which they were

about to cook their provisions with sand and pieces of nitre; when to

their surprise they found produced by the action of the fire on these

ingredients, a new substance, which has added immensely to the comforts of

life and to the progress of science. The sand of this remarkable stream

confirmed for ages to supply, not only the manufactories of Sidon, but all

other places, with materials for that beautiful production. Vessels from

Italy were employed to remove it for the glass-houses of Venice and Genoa

so late as the middle of the seventeenth century.

There is another circumstance connected with the same river, which, in the

mythological writings of antiquity, makes a still greater figure than the

discovery just described. Lucian relates that the Belus, at certain

seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody

colour,--a fact which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind

of sympathy for the death of this favourite of Venus, who was killed by a

wild boar in the mountains whence the stream takes its rise. "Something

like this," says Maundrell, "we saw actually come to pass; for the water

was stained to a surprising redness, and, as we had observed in

travelling, had discoloured the sea a great way into a reddish hue,

occasioned doubtless by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the

river by the violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Adonis's

blood."[163]

The excellence of Carmel, which here rises into view, has in a great

measure passed away. The curse denounced by Amos has fallen upon it,--"The

top of Carmel shall wither;"--for it is now chiefly remarkable as a mass

of barren and desolate rocks. Its sides are indeed graced by some native

cedars, and even the brambles are still intermingled with wild vines and

olives, denoting its ancient fertility, or more careful cultivation; but

there are no longer any rich pastures to render it the "habitation of

shepherds," or to recall to the fancy the beauty of Carmel and of Sharon,

and to justify the comparison of it to the glory of Libanus. It owes to

its name and to its prominent situation on the coast, as a sentinel of the

Holy Land, all the interest which can now be claimed for the mountain on

which Elias vindicated the worship of Jehovah, and where thousands of holy

Christians have spent their lives in meditation and prayer.

The monastery which stands on the summit of the hill, near the spot were

the prophet offered up his sacrifice, was long the principal residence of

the Carmelite friars. It appears never to have been a fine building, and

is now entirely abandoned. During the campaign of the French in Syria, it

was made an hospital for their sick, for which it was well adapted by its

healthy and retired situation. It has been since ravaged by the Turks, who

have stripped its shrines and destroyed its roof; though there still

remains, for the solace of devout visiters, a small stone altar in a

grotto dedicated to Saint Elias, over which is a coarse painting

representing the holy man leaning on a wheel, with fire and other

instruments of sacrifice at his side.[164]