Page images
PDF
EPUB

We had nearly completed our observations, and were preparing soon to set off on our return by way of Mt. Hor, when the old Shekh of Wady Mousa, Abu Zeitûn, who caused so much difficulty to Mr. Bankes and his party in 1817, came down upon us with thirty armed men, demanding a tribute of a thousand piastres for the privilege of visiting his territory. We declined payment, of course; but after long and repeated altercation it came to this result, that unless we paid this full sum, he would not suffer us to visit Mt. Hor. We attempted nevertheless to set off in this direction; our own Shekh leading the forward camel; but the hostile party closed around, and swords were drawn and brandished; which however among these Arabs means nothing more than to make a flourish. As it was in vain for us to use force against so large a party, we decided to set off on our return by the way we came. This took the old man by surprise, and thwarted his plans. Messengers soon followed us, saying we might return for the half; and at last, for nothing. We replied that he had driven us from Wady Mousa, and we should not return; but should report his conduct at Cairo. The old man then came himself, to get our good will, as he said, which was worth more to him than money. thought it better to keep on our way; and suffered no further interruption. It was probably the fear of the Pasha of Egypt alone, that withheld these miscreants from plundering us outright; and we afterwards received compliments from the Arabs in and around Hebron, for the boldness and address with which we had extricated ourselves from the old Shekh's power.

We

Descending the pass of Nemella, we struck across El Araba in a W. N. W. direction, travelling for a great part of the night. In the morning we reached Wady Jib, here quite on the western side of El Araba; and stopped for a time at the fountain El-Weibi. Other fountains occur at intervals along the valley at the foot of the western hills, both North and South of ElWeibi. From here path strikes up the western mountain in the direction of Hebron, which is used by the Southern Arabs. Our guides took a more northern road, leading up a very steep pass called Sufah, over a broad surface of shelving rock extending nearly from the bottom to the top, an elevation of 1000 or 1200 feet. This is probably the hill Zephath, afterwards Hormah, where the Israelites attempted to enter Palestine, and where they were attacked by the king Arad; Num. 14: 40 sq. 21: 1 sq. comp. Judg. 1: 17. Some miles N. N. W. of

this pass is a conical hill still bearing the name of Tell Arad, probably the site of the ancient town.-All these circumstances lead me to place the site of Kadesh in the great valley below, near the fountain El-Weibi or one of the neighboring springs. Here it would be near the border of Edom, opposite a broad passage leading up through the eastern mountains, and in full sight of Mt. Hor. That the Israelites must have approached Palestine through the Wady Araba, is a necessary conclusion from the mountainous character of the district on the West of this valley, through which no road has ever passed.

Our further way to Hebron led us by the sites of Arara, the Aroer of Judah; and Melh, where is a fine well and the traces of a town, not improbably the ancient Moladah or Malatha. At Hebron we remained a day and a half; being obliged to send for horses to Jerusalem.

We left Hebron again on the 6th of June, taking now a S. W. course by the large village Dûra, the Adora of Josephus; and descending the mountain to El Burj, a ruined castle of which we had heard much, but where we found no trace of antiquity. Hence we bent our course northward among the hills; and passing again through Jedna, rested for a time at Terkumieh, the Tricomias of former ages; leaving Beit Jibrin on our left. We lodged now a second time at Beit Nettif; and the next morning descending N. N. W. we came to the site of the ancient Bethshemesh in the opening of Wady Sŭărâr into the plain. The place is now called Ain Shems, although no fountain exists there; but the situation corresponds to the Scriptural accounts; and there are evident traces of a large city. From this point we turned our course N. W. into the plain, in search of the ancient and long lost Ekron. After travelling in this direction for four hours, we arrived at the large village Äkir, an Arabic name corresponding to the Hebrew Ekron. The situation too corresponds with the accounts of Eusebius and Jerome. There are now no remains of antiquity visible; probably because the ancient houses, like the modern hovels, were built not of stone, but of earth.

From Ekron to Ramleh is two hours. Here we lodged, and the next day proceeded to Jerusalem by the camel-road, which also is the ancient Jewish and Roman way, over Lûd (Lydda), Gimzo, Lower and Upper Bethhoron (now Beit Ur), and Jib or Gibeon. The pass between the two villages of Bethhoron is a steep and rugged ascent of some 1500 feet, up the point of

a ridge between deep vallies. It is the ancient road; and has in several places steps hewn in the rock. The present shorter and less feasible route between Ramleh and Jerusalem, appears not to have been in use in the time of the Romans.-Looking down from Upper Bethhoron, a broad valley is seen in the S. W. issuing from the mountains and hills into the plain; while on the ridge that skirts its S. W. side, is seen a village called Yâlo, the Arabic form for the Hebrew Ajalon. This then is probably the spot, where Joshua in pursuit of the five kings, having arrived at or near Upper Bethhoron, looked back toward Gibeon and down upon the valley before him, and uttered the command: "Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon; and Moon, in the valley of Ajalon!"

We found Jerusalem still shut up on account of the plague; and therefore pitched our tent in the Olive-grove North of the city, before the Damascus gate. Here we were joined by our travelling companion and Mr. Lanneau, who had performed their quarantine of seven days. Our other friends held communication with us from the wall; and once came out to meet us, under the charge of a guardiano or health-officer.

VII. FROM JERUSALEM NORTHWARDS TO NAZAREth, Tiberias, and Beirout.

If my feelings were strongly excited on first entering the Holy City, they were hardly less so, on leaving it for the last time. As we had formerly approached repeating continually the salutation of the Psalmist: "Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces;" so now we could not but add: "For our brethren and companions' sakes we will now say, Peace be within thee!" Her palaces indeed are long since levelled to the ground, and the haughty Moslem now treads her glory in the dust! Yet as we turned to look again from the high ground North of the city, I could not but exclaim: “ Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King!" One long, last look, and then turning away. I bade those sacred hills farewell forever!

66

We left Jerusalem July 13th on mules. At Bireh we diverged from the Nablous road to the left, in order to visit Jifna, the Gophna of Josephus. It lies in a deep valley; and near it are the ruins of a large Greek church. By a circuitous route we

came to Sinjil for the night. Next morning we diverged again to the right of the usual road, in order to examine an ancient site called by the Arabs Seilûn. We reached it in an hour from Sinjil, and found it to correspond entirely to the ancient Shiloh, which Josephus also writes Siloun (lou). We fell into the usual road again near Khan Lubban, and crossed the fine though narrow plain, on the West side of which is the village Lubban, the ancient Lebonah.

The country now began to assume a new aspect. The mountains in general are less lofty and less steep; while the vallies open out into fertile plains or basins surrounded by hills. Two hours before reaching Nablous, we entered upon the southern end of such a plain, running off N. N. E. four hours in length and nearly an hour in breadth. About the middle of the western side of this fine plain, are seen the eastern ends of Gerizim and Ebal, 800 to 1000 feet high; between which runs the narrow valley of Nablous in a direction nearly N. W. The city of Nablous lies half an hour within the valley, and directly on the water summit; the waters of the eastern part of the city flowing east into the plain, while the fine fountains on the western side send off a pretty brook towards the western sea. We visited here the Samaritans; and one of them accompanied us to the top of Gerizim, and pointed out their Kebla and other sacred places. On this summit are traces of a considerable town; and also the remains of a large and strong fortress of

stone.

On the way from Nablous to Samaria, where the road turns up the hills to the right, there is in the valley an ordinary Arab aqueduct, which leads the waters of the brook to an overshot mill. This Richardson and others have magnified into an ancient Roman bridge! At Samaria the large ruined church evidently is the work of the Knights Templars; as is testified by the frequent crosses of this order. Many columns also remain of the ancient temples; and a long colonnade extends around the southern base of the hill, for more than half a mile.-We now took the road to Jenîn, on the border of the great plain of Esdraelon; passing on our way the former robber fortress Sanûr, now a heap of ruins.

We crossed the great plain from Jenîn to Nazareth by a route somewhat East of the usual one; passing through Zer'in, the ancient Jezreel, and Sôlam, the ancient Shunem; which Jerome also writes Sulem. At a distance on the S. W. edge of the

plain, are seen Ta'annuk and Lejyun, corresponding to the ancient Taanach and Megiddo. The eastern part of the plain of Esdraelon has never yet been correctly laid down in the maps. Two mountain ridges run out into it from the East, commencing near the brow of the Jordan-valley, and extending westward to near the middle of the plain. The southern ridge is Gilboa, the northern is the Little Hermon of Jerome. They divide the eastern half of the plain into three parts; of which the northern and southern decline towards the West, and their waters flow off to the Kishon, while the middle portion, between Gilboa and Hermon, slopes to the East, and its waters descend to the Jordan through a broad valley or plain at Bisan, the ancient Bethshean. Jezreel stood on the southern brow of this central valley; in which are copious fountains. One of these is now called Jalûd, the Tubania of the Crusaders, and doubtless the ancient fountain of Jezreel.

From Nazareth we went to the summit of Mt. Tabor, where we spent an afternoon and night enjoying the wide prospect, and dwelling upon the associations connected with this beautiful mountain. Here the remains of a large fortress are visible, evidently of Saracenic origin. We descended by way of the Mount of Beatitudes (so called) and Hottin to Tiberias. The walls of this city were thrown down by the earthquake of Jan. 1837; and still lie in ruins. A single sail-boat now exists upon the lake; but we tried in vain to hire it for an excursion.-We had intended to proceed directly to Damascus ; but learned at Tiberias that the Druses of the Ledja and of Antilebanon were in a state of insurrection, so that all the routes from this quarter to Damascus were unsafe. We proceeded however to the North end of the lake; passing by Mejdel (Magdala), the plain Gennesareth with its round fountain, the ruined Khan-Minya, and the remarkable ruins of Tel Hûm. We encamped near where the Jordan enters the lake; and explored the eastern plain, and the site of the ancient Julias, the northern Bethsaida. We made minute and persevering inquiry throughout the whole country, after the ancient names Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin; but no trace of them remains among the Arab population. If former travellers have heard them, it must have been from the monks of Nazareth or their dependents.-We now bent our course to Safet, which was destroyed by the earthquake of Jan. 1, 1837, and is still little more than a heap of ruins. Here we waited a day for intelligence; hoping yet to be able to visit

[blocks in formation]
« PreviousContinue »