Part 14

And a blessed day that was. We were all in need of bodily rest, ourselves, the servants and the cattle--and it was enjoyed to the full--my young friend and I derived blessing and refreshment also from the word of God. The words, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," seemed to have a reviving significance, as well as those of "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

Such a Sabbath in the Holy Land is true enjoyment.

VII. ESDRAELON PLAIN AND ITS VICINITY.

_May_ 1851.

From Jeneen, (En-gannim, Josh. xxi. 29,) to Acre, _i.e._, towards the north-west, and skirting the great plain under the line of the hills of Samaria,--thus following the western coast of Zebulon to the south of Asher.

The road was enlivened by numerous companies of native people travelling from village to village.

In an hour and a half from Jeneen we were at _Seeleh_, a cheerful and prosperous-looking place; and in three-quarters of an hour more we were abreast of both _Ta'annuk_ and _Salim_, at equal distances of quarter of an hour from the highway; the former on our left hand, and the latter on the right. These places were at that time tolerably well peopled.

Here we gained the first view of Mount Tabor from a westerly direction, and indeed it was curious all along this line to see in unusual aspects the well-remembered sites that lie eastwards or northwards from Jeneen, such as Zera'een (Jezreel,) Jilboon (Gilboa,) Solam (Shunem,) or Fooleh and Afooleh. In fact, we overlooked the tribe or inheritance of Zebulon from Carmel to Tabor.

With respect to the circumstance of numerous passengers, whom we met this morning, it was a pleasant exception to the common experience of that district, where it is often as true now as in the days of Shamgar the son of Anath (see Judges v. 6), that the population fluctuates according to the invasions or retiring of tyrannical strangers. That vast plain affords a tempting camping-ground for remote Arabs to visit in huge swarms coming from the East with their flocks for pasture; and in the ancient times this very site between Ta'annuk and Lejjoon, being the opening southwards, gave access to the Philistines or Egyptians arriving in their chariots from the long plain of Sharon, or a passage over this plain to that of the great hosts of Syria under the Ptolemies, with their elephants.

In all ages the poor peasantry here have been the victims of similar incursions, "the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byeways." Yet though chased away from their homes, the populations returned, whenever possible, with pertinacious attachment to their devastated dwellings, and hence we have still the very names of the towns and villages perpetuated by a resident people after a lapse of almost thirty-three hundred years since the allotment made by Joshua, (xiii.-xxi., etc.,) and the names were not then new.

I have myself known villages on the Plain of Esdraelon to be alternately inhabited or abandoned. At one time Fooleh was a heap of ruins, while its neighbour Afooleh had its residents; on my next visit it was Fooleh rebuilt, and the other a heap of overthrown stones, or next time both of them lying in utter silence and desertion. The same with _Mekebleh_, sometimes inhabited, but more frequently a pile of broken-down houses, with some remains of antique sculpture lying on the surface of its hill; and the same occasionally, though not so frequent in vicissitude, with _Iksal_.

From this exposure to invasion of royal armies or of nomad tribes, ("children of the East," Judges vi. 33,) it has always been the case that no towns were built in the central parts of this plain; and even when the kings of Israel had their country residence at Jezreel, that situation was selected because it was nestled close to the hills, and had ravines on two sides of it, serving as fortifying trenches made by nature.

At the present time there are no trees upon that broad expanse, not even olives, to furnish lights for dwelling, either of villages or tents. The wretched people grow castor-oil plants instead for that purpose, sown afresh every year, because these afford no temptation to the hostile Arabs.

That year, however, of 1851, and probably for some time previous, the plain (Merj ibn Amer is its Arabic name,) had been at peace, unmolested by strangers; consequently I saw large crops of wheat there, and fields of barley waving in the breeze. These were mostly the property of a Turkoman tribe, who, like the Kenites of old, reside there in tents, neither building houses nor planting vineyards, though to some extent they sow seed. They have been long upon that ground, but move their tents about, according to the exigencies of pasture for their flocks and herds. I believe, however, that they pay "khooweh" (brotherhood,) _i.e._ tribute and military aid, to the Sukoor Arabs for protection and peace under common circumstances.

We had frequently to cross small streams issuing from the ranges of hills, along the base of which our road lay; but they accomplished only short courses, for they were soon absorbed into the ground or settled into morasses, which emitted strong miasma under the influence of the sun. Some petty springs were seen rising from the ground itself, and near each of these were sure to be met some relics of antiquity, such as good squared building stones, or door-posts, or broken olive presses, or fragments of sarcophagi, while the adjacent hills exhibited the hewn lines in the form of steps, remaining from ancient quarrying. The deep alluvium of the plain furnishes no stone whatever for such purposes.

In forty minutes from Ta'annuk, we came to the small mills of _Lejjoon_, (the Roman _Legio_, named from a military station there.) At that time of the year the body of water was not considerable, and there is no village there.

In fifty minutes more we crossed a rivulet named _Menzel el Basha_, (the Pasha's halting-place,) and in twenty minutes more, the _'Ain Kaimoon_ with abundance of water. This is at the foot of a hill which has on its summit the vestiges of the large ancient town _Kaimoon_.

This hill is long, narrow, and curved like a cucumber, lying at the south-east end of Mount Carmel, and having the Kishon river on its outer or north-eastern side. Here, therefore, we come distinctly upon the western geography of the Zebulon tribe. In Joshua xix. 11, the border of Zebulon is given as reaching "to the river that is before Jokneam." I do not doubt that this river is the Kishon, or that Jokneam is the "Jokneam of Carmel," in chapter xii. 22, which was given to the Levites "out of the tribe of Zebulon, Jokneam with her suburbs," (chap. xxi. 34.) This place, Kaimoon or Yokneam, must have been one of particular value in a military point of view, commanding as it did the pass of the Kishon valley on one side, and the _Wadi Mel'hh_ on the other. Such a post would be in good hands, when intrusted to the bold and warlike tribe of Levi. In the same way several other defensible posts were committed to their charge all over the country. {230}

On my present journey I passed round the outer line of Tell Kaimoon, having Kishon on the right. In so doing we crossed various tributary streams--the first one, in quarter of an hour from 'Ain Kaimoon, was in _Wadi el Kasab_, (valley of reeds or canes)--the stream was bordered by reeds and a profusion of tall oleander in gorgeous pink flower.

In this neighbourhood, the Turkomans had commenced reaping their grain. They are a race of people not to be mistaken for Arabs, men of strong build, and with a smiling expression on their clear, ruddy countenances. Besides Arabic, they speak their own coarse dialect of Turkish--several of them came running to us with handfuls of wheat from their harvest. They possess large herds of oxen with good horses.

In another half hour we were at _'Ain el Sufsafeh_, (the "fountain of the willow-tree,") where the water issues from a rock, and in its bed are two willow-trees; upon the bank were plenty of blackberry bushes.

Just before this we had by the roadside a common looking Arab burial-place, named _Shaikh Sad_; probably from some Mohammedan devotee of that name interred there; and among the stones about the graves is a fragment of an ancient cornice, deeply sculptured in the pattern here shown.

[Picture: Fragment of Sculpture at Shaikh Sad]

In a quarter of an hour further we passed _Wadi Keereh_, with its full stream of water, and plenty of oleander for adornment.

Thence in about half an hour we arrived at _Wadi Mel'hh_ ("Salt valley,") with its rivulet and wild holly-oaks, in which is a great highway leading southwards. This separates the Samaria ridge and Kaimoon from the extremity of the long Mount Carmel.

Having thus passed from one end to the other along the side of the hill of Kaimoon, we turned aside from the road, for taking refreshment under a large oak halfway up that hill, where wild holly-oaks were springing from the ground to mingle with the sombre yet shining boughs of the tree. This was at the sudden contraction of the country into a narrow neck leading to the Plain of Acre. This strait is bounded on one side by Carmel, and on the other by the Galilean hills, both sides clothed with abundance of growing timber; and through its midst is the channel of the Kishon, deeply cut into soft alluvial soil, and this channel also is bordered with oleander and trees that were enlivened with doves, thrushes, linnets, and gold-finches. The modern name of the river is the _Mokatta_ (the ford,) and that of the valley _El Kasab_, derived from the spring and valley before-mentioned.

At the narrowest part of this "Kasab" stands a hill, forming a serious impediment to the progress of armies, named _Tell el Kasees_ (Hill of the Priest,) which name may be a traditional remembrance of Elijah, slaying the priests of Baal; but inasmuch as the word "Kasees" is in the singular number, the appellation may be more likely derived from some hermit residing there in a later age. At any rate, this Tell lies immediately below the site of that memorable sacrifice, and at the point where the Kishon sweeps round to the foot of the mountain a path descends from the "Mohhrakah," _i.e._, the place of the burnt-offering, to the river. It must therefore, have been the spot where the priests of Baal were slain, whether the hill be named from the fact or not; and nothing can be more exact than the words of the Bible in 1 Kings xviii. 40.

We were preparing to remount for continuing the journey when our guide espied four wild-looking Arabs walking with long strides up the hill, so as to pass behind and above us; they were well armed, and made no reply to our challenge. As our horses and the guide's spear would have benefited us little on the steep hill-side, but on the contrary were tempting prizes, and as our fire-arms were not so numerous as theirs, we thought fit to pace away before they should obtain any further advantage of situation over us.

In another quarter of an hour we left the straight road to Caiffa, and struck out northwards, crossing the Kishon at a fort opposite a village on a hill called _El Hharatheeyeh_, just before we should otherwise have come to a low hill covered with a ripe crop of barley, which, from its formation and other circumstances, bore the appearance of an ancient fortified place. This hill was named _'Asfi_, as I wrote it from pronunciation. This, with the _Hharatheeyeh_, one assisting the other, would prove a good military defence at this end of the valley, as Kaimoon and the Kasees were at the other.

Dr Thomson, in his "Land and the Book," chap. xxxi., considers this site to be that of "Harosheth of the Gentiles," (Judges iv. 13,) and I have no doubt that his supposition is correct; the topography agrees, and the etymology in both Hebrew and Arabic is one, viz., "ploughed land." This author, however, makes no mention of _'Asfi_ though he speaks of "the double Tell."

Whether 'Asfi was an aboriginal home of the people in the modern _Esfia_ on the summit of Carmel, I have no means of knowing; but that a population, when emigrating to a new settlement, sometimes carried their name with them, appears in Scripture in the instance of Luz, (Judges i. 26,) and of Dan in the 19th chapter.

Previous to this day's journey I had no adequate idea of the quantity of water that could be poured into the Kishon channel by the affluents above-mentioned, (since our passing the Lejjoon stream which runs in an opposite direction,) namely, the Menzel el Basha, the 'Ain Sufsafeh, Wadi Keereh, and Wadi Mel'hh, all these on the Carmel side of the river, and omitting the more important spring called _Sa'adeh_, near _Beled esh Shaikh_, on the way to Caiffa.

Still portions of the channel are liable to be dried up in that direction, although the bed extending to Jeneen if not to Gilboa contains springs from the ground at intervals, but the level character of the country and the softness of the ground are unfavourable to the existence of a free river course. There was but little water at Hharatheeyeh when we crossed in the month of May. The 'Ain Sa'adeh, however, which I did not then visit, never fails, and in full season, the Kishon near the sea becomes a formidable river, as I have more than once found.

To return to the valley "El Kasab," we were assured that in winter time the whole breadth is sometimes inundated, and even after this has subsided, the alluvial soil is dangerous for attempting to travel in, it becomes a bog for animals of burden. Thus it is quite conceivable that at the occurrence of a mighty storm, divinely and specially commissioned to destroy, the host of Sisera and his chariots would be irretrievably discomfited.

Where the scene opened upon the plain of Acre there was extensive cultivation visible, and the town of Caiffa appeared with the grove of palm-trees in its vicinity.

The view hence of the Caiffa bay reminds us of the prophetic blessing pronounced by the patriarch Jacob. "Zebulon shall dwell at the _haven_ of the sea, and he shall be for a haven of ships." I am convinced that this Hebrew root [Hebrew text] (English _haven_ and the German _hafen_) is perpetuated not only in those words but in the modern appellation, Caiffa, or as it may be more properly written _Hhaifa_. The Arabic letter [Arabic letter] is the real equivalent for [Hebrew letter] in Hebrew; by grammatical permutation the letter [Hebrew letter] rightly becomes [Arabic letter] in Arabic, and this we have

[Picture: Arabic word]

Hhaifa which Europeans turn into Caiffa.

We then reached a low natural mound on which are ruined walls of great thickness, the levelled surface on the summit had been probably all occupied by one castle with its outworks, but we saw it yellow with a ripe crop of barley. This place is _Hurbaj_, and the neighbourhood abounds with destroyed villages, the natural consequence of being so near to Acre, and being the _paloestra_ or wrestling ground of great nations in successive ages.

We arrived at Acre in exactly twelve hours from Jeneen, and pitched the tents outside upon a bank between two trenches of the fortification, commanding extensive views in every direction, and were fanned by sea breezes from the bay.

In conclusion, I may observe that the plain called by the Greeks _Esdraelon_, as a corruption of Jezreel, is that named "Megiddo" in Old Testament Scripture. In the New Testament it bears the prefix of the Hebrew word _Har_ (mountain) minus the aspirate, being written in Greek, and so becomes "Armageddon" in the book of Revelation.

For topographical reasons it is very likely that the city of Megiddo was at Lejjoon. There is a village of _Mujaidel_ on the north side of the plain, not far from Nazareth, but this is a diminutive of the Arabic _Mejdal_, so common in Palestine as a variation from the Hebrew Migdol.

* * * * *

Besides the above journey I made an excursion in 1859 on the summit of Carmel itself.

Leaving the Convent, which is at the western termination of the mountain, we proceeded along the top of its main ridge to the opposite extremity, the _Mohhrakah_, undoubtedly the locality of Elijah's miraculous sacrifice in presence of King Ahab with the priests of Baal and of the groves; thence we returned to encamp for a time at the cleanly Druse village of _'Esfia_; after which a few hours' ride westwards led us by the village of _Daliet el Carmel_, {238} also inhabited by Druses, to the romantic _'Ain ez Zera'ah_ and over the sites of ruined places, _Doomeen_, _Shelaleh_, and _Lubieh_, where the hewn stones lying scattered over the ground were indications of much better buildings than those of modern villages.

Then down the long and wearisome descent to _Teeri_ on the sea-coast south of Caiffa.

For topographical purposes chiefly, let me give an outline of a few other journeys made about the same neighbourhood.

1. FROM SAFED TO CARMEL.

_Sept._ 1846.

Going in the direction of the sea, that is, from Naphtali downwards into Zebulon, we crossed westwards the _Jebel Rama_, a long hilly range ending in the south at Rama, and richly wooded, but to our surprise there were numerous fires left by the people to consume trees and large shrubs at discretion, for the making of charcoal. Fortunately for us there was no wind blowing, but several times as the fiery ashes had been drifted upon the road, our horses had no choice but to step into them. On that eminence I picked up specimens of Geodes which abound there, being lumps resembling fruits outside, but when broken found to be a crust of bright spar, and hollow in the centre; some of these were remarkably large. The hills were fragrant with wild herbs, and the views from them delightful.

After _Semwan_ we strayed from the right road and got to _Shemuata_, where we procured a guide to conduct us in the direction of Carmel; he undertook to conduct us as far as _Abu 'Atabeh_, from which Carmel would be visible, and the distance equal either to Acre or to Caiffa. From the heights we descended to _Ekwikat_, and there found ourselves too tired to get further that night.

In the morning we passed the _Bahhjah_, which had been the luxurious summer residence of Abdallah Pasha, but was in a ruinous condition, and came to _Abu 'Atabeh_, which is not a village but a collection of a few houses, perhaps formerly some outlying dwellings belonging to the Bahhjah. Here was a fountain, and a small aqueduct for conveying water to gardens.

Crossed the _Naaman_ river, anciently named the _Belus_, on the banks of which, according to Pliny, the primitive idea of glass-making was discovered by accident. Along the beach we came to the Mokatta' or Kishon, found it deep for fording, but got over to Caiffa, and mounted to the Convent of Carmel.

2. NAZARETH TOWARDS ACRE.

_Oct._ 1849.

Passing _Sefoorieh_, (the Sepphoris so often mentioned in Josephus) with a distant view of Carmel on the left, like a huge rampart of dark blue, we came to the ruined Khan with a fountain called the _'Ain el Bedaweeyeh_, then through delightful wooded glades, on issuing from which we saw _Shefa 'Amer_, a handsome-looking place, with which I made better acquaintance in after years.

On the plain of Acre I picked up a cannon ball, probably a twelve pounder.

(This journey was repeated in March 1852, and in March 1859.)

3. FROM TIBERIAS TO ACRE.

_March_ 1850.

From _Hhatteen_ to _'Eilaboon_, a quiet and pretty village, after which we had a long stretch of "merrie greenwood" with furze in golden blossom, birds singing, and the clucking of partridges. At one place where the old trees echoed the shouts of country children at their sports, there rose above the summits a bold round tower, which on nearer approach we found to be an outwork of the fortification of a venerable convent called _Dair Hhanna_, which in comparatively recent times had been converted into a castle, but convent, castle, and tower are now become a picturesque ruin.

Near this we saw squatted on the ground a family of three generations, almost entirely naked; they had a fire lighted, and the women were washing clothes in the water heated by it, a great rarity in Palestine, for they usually wash with cold water at the spring. Some Metawaleh peasants ran away from our party when we wished to make some inquiries of them.

From an eminence we saw before us a flat plain inundated like a lake, left by the wintry floods. This occurs there yearly around the flourishing village of _'Arabet el Battoof_, at which we soon arrived, after which we galloped for miles over green pastures of grass interspersed by trees.

In three quarters of an hour further we came to _Sukhneen_, a large village with good cultivation extending far around. Still traversing green undulations with wooded hills to the right and left, in another hour we were at a small place called _Neab_, where the scenery suddenly changed for stony hills and valleys. In a little short of another hour we saw _Damooneh_ at half an hour's distance to the left. In twenty minutes more we stopped to drink at the well _Berweh_, then pressed forward in haste to arrive at Acre before the gates (being a fortification) should be closed. We got there in fifty minutes' hard riding from _'Ain Berweh_.

II. THE REVERSE WAY FROM WEST TO EAST.

1. ACRE TO TIBERIAS.

_March_ 1850.

Crossed the river Naaman, and paced slowly over the extensive marshes, making for _Shefa 'Amer_.

Among these marshes was a herd of about two hundred horses at free pasture upon the grass, weeds, and rushes, so succulent at that season of the year; these were on their way from Northern Syria, and were intended for sale.

Also among the marshes was a temporary village of tabernacles or huts made of plaited palm-leaves, and papyrus canes or reeds, such as one sees on the line of the Jordan or about the lake Hhooleh, with the same class of proprietors in both cases, the Ghawarineh Arabs. Strange that this race of human beings should prefer to inhabit feverish marshes.

We came upon a paved causeway (called the _Resheef_) leading from a large mill towards the sea, but only the portion nearest to the mill now remains entire. Probably this was turned to some account during the French military operations against Acre in 1799.

At Shefa 'Amer we had _'Ebeleen_ in sight. Both places are conspicuous over the district around. At some distance from the town is a large well for its supply, and along the broad road between the well and the town, the Druse women are constantly passing with their horns over the forehead and their jars on the shoulders.

Shefa 'Amer is crowned by the remains of the Palace Castle erected by Shaikh Daher, (celebrated in Volney's "Syria,") and the shell of a large old Christian church; near these are some very ancient wells cut into solid rock, but now containing no water.