CHAPTER XII.

FROM BACA TO THE VALE OF NABLUS

OUR encampment at 'Ain el Haramiyeh, or Robber's Fountain, was in a picturesque location. On either side of the narrow valley were high hills, fortified by "the munitions of rocks," in the clefts of which we saw the traces of wild honeysuckle and maiden's‑hair fern. Far up the heights we heard the partridges clucking to their chickens as the night drew on. On the west side of the glen was a patch of green sward, where our five tents were pitched, and near by the thirty animals, which transported our persons and effects from place to place, were tethered. The brook, with its volume of water largely increased by the spring rains, ran just in front of our location, into which our copious fountain also emptied its constant current.

This location has long been noted as a haunt of robbers, but we were not disturbed by any greater enemy while there than the jackals, which kept up their wild serenade at intervals during the hours of darkness. An old man, travelling with a boy and a forlorn‑looking donkey, whom we had passed at Bethel, crept slyly

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into our camp late in the evening, and, avoiding the notice of the guards, located his sleeping place against the side of our tent, where his company kept up a continual shuffling and grunting during the night. Our annoyance at this intrusion we quietly endured, however, out of pity for these poor wayfarers, who must have suffered from the cold winds which swept down from the hills, and against which they had only their garments and an old blanket for protection. We could not help thinking that thus, perhaps, Joseph and Mary made their way over this same route, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, just before the first Christmas. The poor people of this land have always travelled in this manner, sleeping in the open air or in the poor khans at night, and with only the meagre contents of their wallets for defence against hunger.

Just as the day began to break the poor man aroused his boy and donkey from their sleep, and hastily departed. Toward evening of the same day we overtook him at Jacob's Well just as be was entering Nablus. As the Samaritans claim that Mount Gerizim was the mountain where “on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off," we thought of the sorrowful patriarch and his obedient son as we passed the little party, and the language of Gen-

FROM BACA TO THE VALE OF NABLUS. 203

esis reverted at once to our memory-‑ "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took . . . Isaac his son, . . . and went unto the place of which God had told him."

The sun was beginning to chase away the shadows from the winding valley and its deep recesses, whose dripping waters are compared to “tears" by the Psalmist, when we set forth upon our day's journey. Scarcely had we crossed the little stream before we met a garrison of Turkish soldiers, on their way from Nablus to keep the peace during the Easter festivities at Jerusalem. They came on at a quick pace, in broken ranks, and were a hardy‑looking band, well used to slim fare, fatigue and exposure. We were, at this point, on the border line between two tribes of Israel. The “vale of weeping" behind us was anciently the pass, or highway, leading down from the heights of Benjamin about Bethel to the pleasant plains of Ephraim, lying farther north. We soon drew near the village of Sinjil, and at this place departed from the Damascus road eastward, in order to visit the ancient sanctuary of Israel at Shiloh. On the way we passed a little farming village named Turmus Aya, situated upon a mound in the middle of the plain. The land

* Genesis 22: 3.

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seemed to be under cultivation in part, and was composed of a soil at once fertile and tillable. Soon after we turned sharply northward, rode up a gentle slope in the plain, and were at ancient Shiloh. This was one of the places which we had separated from common sites as of peculiar importance and interest. The fact that the tabernacle rested here after its long wanderings in the desert, that Joshua here divided the territory between the twelve tribes after the conquest, and that here Eli and Samuel ministered before the

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Lord, gave this place a claim to our careful attention.

The first question which naturally arises in the mind of the traveller upon approaching a place like this is that of identity. Is this the real Shiloh? The position is set forth in the book of Judges as "on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah."* Notwithstanding this clear description of Shiloh's situation in the Bible, the real site was not known from the times of Jerome until its recent discovery by an American traveller, Dr. Robinson. For centuries both Christian and Mohammedan tradition held that Mizpeh, or Neby Samwil, was the Shiloh of Samuel, and so its real site was completely forgotten. In June, 1838, Dr. Robinson employed a "common peasant" at Sinjal, who had spoken to him of a ruin northeast of that place named Seilun, to conduct him thither. Upon arriving at the place by the same route we traversed, the doctor was convinced of the truth of his previous conjecture that this was indeed the ancient Shiloh, the traces of which are seen in the similarity of the modern name Seilun.

We found the ruins of many buildings here,

* Judges 21: 19.

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lying upon the southern face of a gentle eminence, with a single terebinth tree in the foreground, near which were the remains of a mosque or synagogue. The eminence itself was really a mound separated from the higher hills surrounding it by shallow wadies, which empty their waters northward into the deeper ravine which runs westward toward Lebonah. This conformation rendered the place easy of defence, which may have been one reason why it was originally selected as the resting‑place of the tabernacle and the sacred ark of the covenant. At the same time it was a secluded spot, away from the usual thoroughfare, while it was in the very heart of the country, at which all the tribes could conveniently assemble. Just before reaching the mound we came to the ruins of an old church of the Roman period, situated at the base of the higher hill to the eastward. This ruin fronted the north, and once had a large tower at its corner, fourteen by twenty‑eight feet at the base, with heavy buttresses still clinging to its sides. The huge lintel was still at the doorway of the church, ornamented with the figures of a vase, and on either side of it a chaplet. Three broken columns of the Corinthian order of architecture lay within the walls amid heaps of rubbish and overgrown with weeds.

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From this point we went immediately to the central mound, only five minutes distant, and, again dismounting, we ransacked the extensive ruins. As we went up the acclivity, turning from side to side in order to make our way through the ruins, we discovered that these fragments must have been used in the construction of a modern village. Bits of pottery lay scattered about here and there, and the deserted dwellings were located without any order or system in respect to streets or passage‑ways. From the summit we obtained a pleasant view of the plain to the southward by which we had approached the place, while on all the other sides the high rocky, treeless hills stood like grim sentinels to guard this ancient sanctuary of Israel. Upon our descent to the single terebinth tree and the ruined mosque in the foreground we searched for some relic of the ancient city gate, but were unable to discover any trace of its location. The gate must have been near the location of the terebinth tree, for this was the only place suitable for the main entrance to the ancient city. And here it must be that poor old Eli “sat upon a seat by the wayside watching " when his heart trembled for the ark of God, which his sons Hophni and Phinehas had carried away to the battle‑field of the Philistines; and here, when the

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sad news came that the ark of God was taken, “he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died."* Precious memories were associated with that ark here in Shiloh, and indulgent old Eli was heartbroken even before the shock came which caused his death. Here the Lord's call came to Samuel during the silent hours of the night as they both lay within the purlieus of the holy tabernacle, and that which would cause the ears of all Israel to tingle had now come to pass. And so to this day Shiloh is desolate. Not an inhabited dwelling, not even a herdsman or shepherd, was in sight, and the prophecy of Jeremiah seemed literally fulfilled‑-"Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel."+

Without the company of our reluctant guide, we mounted our horses and turned down the open wady to the eastward, where the waters would surely run "softly" because of the gentle inclination, and made our way toward the famous spring of Shiloh. We soon passed a number of rock‑hewn tombs, with rectangular openings, sunk into the base of the adjoining hill, which, it may be, have held the remains of the descendants of

*1 Samuel 4: 18. + Jeremiah 7: 12.

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the judges. We now passed into the bed of the valley, the stream of which runs on the north side of the mound westward toward Lebonah. The valley became quite narrow as we proceeded eastward, having large fragments of loose rock lying in its bed, giving it a wild and rugged appearance. In fifteen minutes we turned sharply to the left, and arrived at the fountain, which is rather a well some ten feet in depth, from which a copious stream of sweet, pure water flowed into a sort of reservoir farther down the slope. This is supposed to be the spring where the maidens of Shiloh came to celebrate their annual festival by dancing, when the sons of Benjamin rushed out from the adjoining vineyards, and bore them away as wives into their own territory.*

We hastened our return to the place where we left our attendants, and followed down the stream over a rough and almost precipitous, path, winding around the jagged point of rocks into the wide and fertile valley of Lebonah. Here we regained the beaten track or highway, and proceeded on our course northward. We lunched this day beneath a large and beautiful terebinth tree, and, as at Deir Diwan, had a number of idle men watching us, while their wives were toiling in the fields and vineyards near by.

*Judges 21: 23.

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We were now in the plain el Mukhnah, and our course ran north‑northeast, bordered on either side by parallel ridges of blue mountains. We saw women in the fields weeding. wheat, and as they plucked the weeds and grass they carried them in bundles in their arms, and deposited them at the roadside to be used as fodder for the donkeys. It was now three o'clock P.M., the sun shining fiercely, so that we almost envied the occupant of a little booth near by, composed of green boughs, which presented the appearance of a comfortable shelter. We had for the last half hour been slowly nearing the chain of mountains on our left hand, and were at half‑past three o'clock at the foot of Mount Gerizim.

Here we dismounted at Jacob's Well, one of the few sites surely known to have been pressed by the feet of our Saviour. Here he sat beside the well, and instructed the Samaritan woman in the mysteries of his kingdom.* The well is situated at the foot of the mountain, on the gentle slope which sinks away into the green sward of the plain below. An old church, now fallen into ruins, marks the site, in connection with which an arch was formerly constructed covering the mouth of the well. This arch has now tumbled in, leaving a large open cavern some eight feet

* John 4: 9‑24.

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in depth, in one corner of which the traces of the well appear wedged full of loose stones. It was originally very deep, but for years has been neglected, until now, at last, its mouth has become entirely filled with rubbish.*

Upon leaving this relic of ancient patriarchal life we noticed on our right the so‑called tomb of Joseph,+ which bears nearly the same relation to Mount Ebal that this does to Mount Gerizim. As we rode up this magnificent gateway between the two mountains, the well on one side and the ruined arch over the tomb on the other seemed to us to resemble porters' lodges, which are often found on either side of the grand entrance of

*See note at end of this chapter. +Joshua 24: 32.

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some nobleman's estate. Not far away was the city to which the two disciples went to buy food, while the Saviour talked with the woman at the well.

We soon reached the two recesses, fronting each other, where the law was read under Joshua.* Regarded in any light, no more suitable place for the purpose can be found. If the priests stood in the centre of the valley, their voices could be heard at the extreme points of the recesses, while the curses could properly be pronounced from Ebal, which to this day is rocky and barren, and the blessings would come from the Gerizim side, which is covered with green trees and vegetation.+

At this point we left the line of the valley, which runs straight onward through Nablus, and began the ascent of Gerizim. Higher and yet higher we urged our weary horses, up an ascent which to a stranger's eye seemed almost inaccessible. The merry voices of the women and children, who were enjoying a romp and swing at a picnic in an adjoining grove, rang out cheerily upon the air. After a steady and hard climb of

* Joshua 8: 34.

+ Joshua 8: 33. Tristram's Israel, p.152, gives an account of his party stationing themselves on the aides of the two mounts and reciting the Ten Commandments antiphonally.

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fifteen minutes' length we came upon a kind of plateau, where we found a few specimens of a large flower, with bright crimson petals, of the lily or amaryllis species.

We now enjoyed a fine view of the valley spread out before us, with the village nestled against the foot of Gerizim in the distance, and the bald side of Ebal everywhere confronting us. Another fifteen‑minute climb, and we were at the place where the Samaritans roast the lambs at their annual passover. The spot is marked by holes sunk into the ground and walled up with loose stones. Leaving our horses there, we continued on eastward over acres of fragments of stones, evidently employed in former times for building purposes, until at last we reached the extreme summit, overhanging the plain el Mukhnah.

Here we found an old tower or ruined mosque, to the top of which we made our way, and were rewarded with a magnificent view. On the north stretched the vale of Shechem, bounded by the sterile and rocky side of Ebal, with the summit of far‑distant Hermon in the background; on the east was the beautiful plain el Mukhnah, on the south the high hills of Benjamin and Judea, and on the west, far in the distance, the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. With pleasure we lingered upon the beautiful scene until our guide hastened

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us away, lest the night should overtake us before reaching the encampment.

When we had resumed the saddle once more, we followed the crest of the mountain westward for half a mile, over loose stones, with grassy plots here and there intervening, until we arrived at a point directly opposite the village, when we commenced the descent. Half way down the mountain side we came upon the living fountains which supply Nablus with abundance of clear, sweet water, and, amid groves of poplar and orchards of olive and fig trees, we came to our tents, ready for our use, just on the border of the village. Here, as the evening drew on, we were visited by the missionary El Karey, who, though educated in England, is a native of Palestine, and is engaged among his countrymen in the interests of Protestant Christianity. It was a pleasure to sit with him at the door of the tent, and listen to his descriptions of the surroundings of Nablus and the character of its inhabitants. The great hindrance to his missionary work, he said, was the Mohammedan faith, which is firmly seated in the hearts of the people. The women especially suffer from this adherence to the teachings of the false prophet, which fosters polygamy and keeps the sex in ignorance and degradation. Several English ladies, travelling on horseback, stopped

FROM BACA TO THE VALE OF NABLUS. 215

near a group of poor women at work in the fields, who looked with envy at their more favored sisters from a foreign land, and said, "Dismount and come and share our burdens," adding, "Surely God has blessed these strangers; they must be good women."

The question was started why the patriarch Jacob had dug that deep well just beyond the village, when the whole vale was furnished with fountains of running water. This fact El Karey explained in this way: In the time of Jacob the Shechemites had the vale in their exclusive possession, while the patriarch had purchased land in the plain of Mukhnah, which lies to the eastward. In order to avoid intercourse with the idolatrous people Jacob dug the well on his own land, that his family might not come among them to obtain water, and thus be contaminated with their idolatry. The missionary also believed that the woman whom the Saviour met at the well was a peasant woman at work in the fields, who had just come hither with her plain pitcher to get the necessary supply of water.

We found El Karey's discourse very interesting, delivered, as it was, with the true Oriental ease and deliberation. The speaker was evidently a genuine "son of the soil," and allowed the long hours of the evening to wear away while he con‑

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tinued his discourse, and dextrously twisted the paper of fresh cigarettes, and smoked them at frequent intervals. As he sat in the door of our tent his fine black eyes and beard, olive complexion and expansive chest showed to good advantage in the flickering light of the candle, which was placed upon the little table within, and was now burning low in its socket. The purling rills which ceaselessly flow along the narrow streets near by lent the speaker's voice a pleasing accompaniment; and when at last he arose to depart we seemed to have enjoyed the charm of an original Arabian Nights entertainment. The curtain at the tent's door was dropped, the candle extinguished, and we were soon dreaming of the wondrous tales of the Orient.

JACOB'S WELL.--As Jacob's Well is an undisputed spot, and a subject of great interest to Christian readers, we add the remarks of travellers who have recently explored the place. The fact that this is at once a relic of the patriarchal age, and a spot assuredly visited by the Saviour, gives it a special claim to consideration.

There is much uncertainty about the original depth of the well, which can be settled only by clearing it of rubbish. In 1838 Robinson found its depth to be 105 feet, Conder in 1866 found it to be 75 feet and the same in 18l5, but in 1881 Rev. C. W. Barclay found it to be 67 feet deep from the top of the carved aperture or slab of stone covering the mouth. The vault of masonry built over the well is 20 feet long by 10 feet broad, rudely built and broken through at the northeast side. The vault may be the crypt of a church built over the well in the

FROM BACA TO THE VALE OF NABLUS. 217

fourth century. Access to the well may be gained through this opening in the vault. A second entrance at the northwest side is walled up. A rude stone wall 4 or 5 feet high surrounds the patch of ground in which the vault and well are situated.

Lieutenant Anderson gives the following account of his descent into the well in 1866: " We lowered a candle down the well, and found the air perfectly good, and, after the usual amount of noise and talking among the workmen and idlers, I was lashed with a good rope round the waist and a loop for my feet, and lowered through the mouth of the well which we had opened, by some trusty Arabs. The sensation was novel and disagreeable. The numerous knots in the rope continued to tighten and creak, and, after having passed through the narrow mouth, I found myself suspended in a cylindrical chamber, in shape and proportion not unlike that of the barrel of a gun. The twisting of the rope caused me to revolve as I was being lowered, which produced giddiness, and there was the additional unpleasantness of vibrating from side to side and touching the sides of the well. I suddenly heard the people from the top shouting to tell me that I had reached the bottom, so that when I began to move I found myself lying on my back at the bottom of the well. Looking up at the mouth, the opening seemed like a star. It was fortunate I had been securely lashed to the rope, as I had fainted during the operation of lowering. The well is seventy five feet deep, seven feet six inches diameter, and is lined throughout with rough masonry, as it is dug in alluvial soil. The bottom of the well was perfectly dry at this time of the year (the month. of May), and covered with loose stones. There was a little pitcher lying at the bottom unbroken, and this was an evidence of there being water in the well at some seasons, as the pitcher would have been broken had it fallen upon the stones. It is probable the well was very much deeper in ancient times, for in ten years it had decreased ten feet in depth." (Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 362.) Lieut. Anderson made a second examination of the well in 1877.

C. W. Barclay gives some facts of interest connected with his visit in 1881. He says, “The well has been again and again

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described by the many writers on Palestine, and all have mentioned their disappointment that instead of finding any semblance to a well, or anything which could recall the interview of our Lord with the woman of Samaria, they have merely found a dark irregular hole amid a mass of ruins in a vaulted chamber beneath the surface of the ground. I have shared this disappointment on many previous visits to Nablus . . . Vainly attempting to peer into the dark hole amid heaps of stones and rubbish, we chanced to notice, a few feet from the opening, a dark crack between the stones. Fancying that it might possibly be another opening of the well, we moved some stones and earth, and soon were able to trace part of a curved aperture in a large slab of stone . . . We cleared away more stones and earth, and soon distinguished the mouth of the well, though it was blocked by an immense mass of stone. Calling two men who were looking on to aid, with considerable labor we at length managed to remove it, and the opening of the well was clear. It is impossible to describe our feelings as we gazed down into the open well, and sat on the ledge on which, doubtless, our Saviour rested, and felt with our fingers the grooves caused by the ropes by which the water‑pots were drawn up. The following day we devoted to completely excavating round the opening of the well and laying bare the massive stone which forms its mouth," It is of hard white limestone, 3 feet 9 inches long, 2 feet 7 inches in breadth, and 18 inches thick. Rev. John Mill, who resided some months in Nablfla in 1860, was informed by a priest of the Greek church that their church had bought the plot of ground, about 180 feet square, around the well from the Turkish government, paying for it from 70,000 to 100,000 piastres. He also supposes that the well is not fed by an 'Ain or spring, but is a Bar or cistern, supplied by water from the surface during the rainy season. See Survey of Western, Palestine, vol. ii. pp. 172‑178. Ed. Am. S. S. Union.

CHAPTER XIII.

FROM NABLUS TO JENIN.

WE were awakened at early dawn in Nablus by the song of the birds and the noise of villagers astir in the streets. After having partaken of breakfast we went out to examine the town. We found it quite a manufacturing centre, producing silks, cotton cloths, soap and other commodities. The population is variously estimated as between thirteen and twenty thousand inhabitants, lately on the increase; and of this number there are about six hundred and fifty Christians and Jews, and two hundred Samaritans. The others are all, nominally at least, Mohammedans.*

Evidently nature has adapted this place for the site of a city. It is in the centre of Palestine, protected from the bleak winds by the heights of Ebal and Gerizim, and is furnished with a fine mill‑stream, supplied, it is said, by some eighty living springs. The valley in which Nablus is

* Prof. Socin dives the population of Nablus as about 13,000; the Survey of Western Palestine says it was stated at 13,000 in 1875; and in 1881 Mr. Falsher, the missionary, computed it at 20,760, including 160 Samaritans and 600 Christians and Jews.-‑Ed. Am. S. S. Union.

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situated is only some five hundred yards in width, its bottom about eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, and the top of Gerizim eight hundred feet higher still.

The main street follows the line of the valley from east to west, and contains a bazaar, where a great variety of goods and products are sold. Most of the other streets cross this, and at the intersection are the smaller shops and the workstands of the artisans. Most of the streets are narrow and dark, as the houses hang over them on arches, and the two that run lengthwise in the central portion of the town are mere lanes or alleys when compared with the streets of a modern city in Europe or America. The houses are built of stone, and are of the plain pattern so common in this country, and the dress and manners of the inhabitants correspond with their shabby and dilapidated appearance.

The few Samaritans still in this their native city retain their ancient temple or synagogue. It is a small edifice, in a retired place, close to the foot of Gerizim, consisting of a square nave, with a small transept at the end facing the door, and on the left or east end a chancel, in which the ancient rolls or copies of the law are kept, with a curtain hanging before them for concealment. These rolls, which are kept in many folds of

FROM NABLUS TO JENIN. 223

brocade and faded satins, they claim, were written by Abisha, the son of Phinehas; but Mr. Grove, an English scholar; assigns to them an antiquity of only about four hundred and fifty years.* The synagogue itself may be five or six hundred years old, and is the humble successor of the great temple whose ruins we had seen upon the summit of Gerizim. The Samaritans are probably the smallest as well as the oldest of all the existing religious sects which have any historical standing of importance. Besides this synagogue, Nablus has four or five mosques and one Protestant mission. The great interest in Nablus, however, is in its natural advantages and its past history. Here Abraham halted, and built his first altar upon the soil of Canaan. Here Jacob came and dug his well, and set up the altar of Jehovah; and Shechem was even then a city, so that it may be next to Damascus in antiquity, and is certainly five hundred years

* The age of the Samaritan MSS. is yet an open question. Mr. Grove's view is only a conjecture. The oldest MS. at Nablus was believed by Dr. Rosen to have been prepared for the temple on Mount Gerizim. Dr. Davidson does not accept this view, but says its high antiquity is unquestionable, and adds, Levisohn procured a very old copy from Nablus probably written not long after the commencement of the Christian era. Another codex at Nablus, examined by Levisohn, Kraus and Dr. Rosen, is also assigned to the seventh century, A.D., by Davidson.-‑Ed. Am. S. S. Union.

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older than Jerusalem. Shechem also became the capital after Joshua's conquest of the country. Following this was the period when the temple was built here to rival that of Jerusalem. Then followed the colonization by the king of Assyria,* through which the Samaritan people sprang into existence, with their bitter hatred of the Jews, which continues to this day. Here Jotham stood and uttered his parable,+ and here at last came the world's Redeemer to proclaim the universal extent of his kingdom.++

Of the beauty of this valley we have many testimonies. It has been compared to that of Heidelberg in Germany in respect to the sloping hillsides and abundant foliage. Dr. Clarke wrote, “There is nothing finer in all Palestine than a view of Nablus from the heights around it." Dr. Robinson wrote, "The whole valley was filled with gardens of vegetables and orchards of all kinds of fruits, watered by fountains, which burst forth in various parts and flow westward in refreshing streams. It came upon us suddenly like a scene of fairy enchantment. We saw nothing to compare with it in all Palestine. Here, beneath the shadow of an immense mulberry tree, by the side of a purling rill, we pitched our tent for the remainder of the day

* 2 Kings 17: 24. +Judges 9: 7. ++John 4: 21‑24.

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and the night. We rose early, awakened by the songs of nightingales and other birds, of which the gardens around us were full. There is no wilderness here." Figs, almonds, walnuts, mulberries, grapes, oranges, apricots, pomegranates, are abundant in their season.

We left Nablus by the road leading down the valley westward, amid olive and orange orchards, where the spring birds were nest‑building and making the air vocal with their songs. The millstream rippled along merrily over the shingle at our side, reminding us that this is named by the inhabitants the most musical vale in Palestine, and that not without good reasons. Many passengers, some on horseback and others on foot, passed us on the highway, besides the camels, mules and donkeys laden with cotton bales, firewood and baskets of corn husks, and, most interesting of all, a camel laden with coal‑oil from America.

Our sympathy had again been aroused as we passed through the market‑place in Nablus by the sight of three young girls, from fourteen to sixteen years of age, who came staggering into the town with immense burdens of fire‑wood on their heads, which they had evidently carried many miles to market. Their faces were flushed, their eyes strained as if ready to start from the

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sockets, and the perspiration streaming from every pore. What would we say if our own daughters were subjected to such treatment? And yet these girls, we thought, have never done any wickedness to deserve such inhuman treatment above the thousands of girls in Christian lands, who are reared in homes of luxury and blessed with every means of improvement and culture. The base system and bad government of Mohammedanism is responsible for all this wrong to humanity, and its abettors, who wink at its "peculiar institutions" in order to preserve what is known as "the balance of power in Europe," must share in the responsibility of an attempt to turn backward the wheels of the advancing chariot of a pure Christian civilization.

Another incident illustrative of Scripture came under our observation. When about one hour distant from Nablus, we were to leave the course of the mill‑stream and strike across the country toward Samaria. Just as we drew near to a fine spring by the wayside I noticed a man approaching the place from the opposite direction. He had a package of considerable weight strapped upon his shoulders, so that it would have been difficult for him to kneel down to drink and then resume an erect posture. Accordingly he came quite up. to the edge of the pool, and, planting

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his feet wide apart, he stooped forward, and, gently dipping up the water in the palm of his hand, by a quick and dextrous motion he threw it into his mouth. This reminded us of the test which Gideon proposed in order to sift out the poor soldiers from his band. He wished for a few choice men only, whose soldierly qualities would not suffer them to lie prone upon the earth or kneel down to drink but who were thus accustomed to take water by lapping it from the hand.*

Our course now lay almost due north, over a district full of fields of growing wheat, and studded with low hills covered with green sward, quite in contrast with the barren hill country of Judea. The distance from Shechem to Samaria is eight miles by the way of the winding valley, but our course lay more direct over the intervening hills, and thus was accomplished within two hours. We now found ourselves in a sort of basin, surrounded by hills, and in the centre of which was the oblong hill of Samaria, with steep yet accessible sides and a long flat top. On this hill is a modern village, from which two long rows of broken stone columns extend westward. We first rode up the steep ascent to the ancient structure named the Church of Saint John the

* Judges 7: 5 ‑7.

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Baptist, dating from the middle ages. In keeping with the tradition that the Baptist suffered martyrdom here, though modern authorities agree that he was beheaded at the castle of Machaerus, east of the Dead Sea, his tomb is shown in a deep cavern beneath the pavement of this structure. Evidences of former architectural beauty still appear in the fine large arches and lance windows in this mediaeval building, with fragments of columns and capitals and traces of figures of the cross painted upon the walls.

Leaving the miserable village which lies just behind the church, we rode on through the rows of columns, erected by Herod the Great as a colonnade in honor of Caesar Augustus. They

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stand in two long rows, along a terrace on the southern face of the hill, sixteen yards apart continuously for a distance of one thousand yards, until they reach the western front, where a fine view is gained of the maritime plain stretching down to the Mediterranean Sea. The columns were originally sixteen feet in height and twenty‑five inches in diameter. Many of them are still standing, while fragments of stone and heaps of rubbish lie scattered around their bases.*

As we returned to a point just above the modern village we came upon a spacious terrace, also occupied with standing columns, where some ancient structure had once stood, the character of which we could not decipher, probably the remains of Herod's magnificent temple. As we passed down the eastern front of the hill we noticed another group of these ancient columns located near the base at the northeast corner.

It is possible that this long winding avenue, bordered by the columns, was a consecrated ap-

* The Survey says: "The colonnade appears to have surrounded the hill with a cloister. The remains are most perfect on the south, where some 80 columns are standing; the width of the cloister was 60 feet, the pillars 16 feet high, 2 feet in diameter, and about 6 feet apart. On the south it extended about 2100 feet, and the remains of a gate are pointed out, and rude rock cuttings in the southwest corner, apparently the foundations of two gate towers." Vol. ii. 211. Ed. Am. S. S. Union.

230 TENT AND SADDLE LIFE.

proach leading up to the temple. The whole hill was probably girt about by graded ways, well adapted to lend a fine effect to the imperial processions of Herod. Josephus says, "Within and about the middle of it he built a sacred place of a furlong and a half, and adorned it, with all sorts of decorations, and therein erected a temple, which was illustrious on account of both its largeness and beauty. As to the elegance of the buildings, it was taken care of also, that he might leave monuments of the fineness of his taste and of his beneficence to future ages."*

Taken together, these ruins are as extensive as any remains of antiquity in Palestine, not excepting those at Jerusalem itself, or in Banias at the source of the Jordan. The first city was founded here by Omri, about 925 B.C., whose ivory palace, located upon the summit of the hill, was celebrated among the ancients. At a later date the famous siege of the Israelites by the king of Syria took place here, attended by the extreme sufferings of the besieged, until they were suddenly relieved by the flight of the enemy, which was first made known by the four lepers.+ Here too was the scene of many of the acts of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, connected

*Antiquities, xv. 8, 5. + 2 Kings 7: 3‑9.

FROM NABLUS TO JENIN. 231

with the various famines in the land and the deliverances of the people.*

As we resumed our journey northward we cast many a “longing, lingering look behind" upon this battle‑ground of the ages, beautiful even in its present desolation. As last seen from the summit of the high hill over which we passed, the north side of the mount appeared completely terraced, and, though evidently in a natural state, was like a piece of landscape gardening. Here and there were spots which appeared as if arranged into parterres for flowers, in curved and elliptical figures, bordered by the green sward, now in its brightest green of the spring season. It was the final triumph of nature over the decayed grandeur once wrought by the ambition and skill of our perishing race upon this "watch mound" of past generations.+

Onward from Samaria, now named Sebaste, we had a pleasant ride through the narrow wedge-shaped territory originally set apart for the half tribe of Manasseh. The aspect of the country was not unlike that of Ephraim, which we had left behind us as we crossed the boundary line near Samaria. From hill to dale, by the side of pleasant olive orchards, along the course of me-

* 1 Kings 17: 16.

+The name Samaria meant watch‑mountain.

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andering brooks, our route led us during the whole forenoon.

We dismounted in a fine orchard, filled with olive and fig trees, for luncheon at midday, and then continued on our way northward through scenery as diversified and interesting as that passed over in the morning. We now came to the long ridges, with broken passes between them, which run northward and fall away at last into the great plain of Esdraelon. This was the debatable land, where the Israelites had to contend for many years with the hordes of Bedouin, which came by the valley of Jezreel from beyond Jordan to plunder and pillage the whole district. In a sort of upland vale, the surface of which, though stony, was covered with green growing grass, we saw, situated upon a commanding summit, the strong fortress of Sanur. Here, it is said, the tragedy of Judith and Holofernes took place, which is narrated at length, and with a curious mixture of truth and error, in the Apocrypha of the Old Testament.* This singular story, seldom read by the present generation, has become almost a classical legend by its frequent repetition in the paintings and statuary of the most celebrated galleries of Europe. This may be the ancient Bethulia, indeed, where the

* Judith 13: 3.

FROM NABLUS TO JENIN. 233

great general of Nebuchadnezzar lost his head, and the tide of battle was turned by the fierce bravery of a woman.* At half‑past four o'clock we rode over the crest of a long ridge, from which we had an excellent view of the beautiful valley of Dothan. This is the traditional site of the two wells, into one of which Joseph was thrown.by his brethren, and from which they took him in order to sell him to the Midianitish merchantmen, who came from the mountains beyond Jordan, and were on their way to Egypt.+ Dr. Tristram speaks of meeting here a "long caravan of mules and asses, laden, like the Ishmaelites of old, on their way from Damascus to Egypt." The tell or mound on which the ruins of Dothan are found is very large and situated at the south end of a plain of the richest pasturage, and at its southern foot is a fine spring. The remains of an ancient road, having a massive Jewish pavement, are still distinguishable here, which, taken with the fine pasturage around it, where Joseph's

* Von Raumer, Guerin, and other travellers have identified ancient Bethulia with modern Sanur, but Lieut. Conder points out with much particularity that Sanur, fails to meet the various requisites of the description given of Bethulia in the book of Judith. He proposes to identify Bethulia with Meseliah, a small village about three and a half miles northeast of Sanur, and which in his opinion fulfills the requirements of the ancient narrative.‑-Ed. Am. S. S. Union.

+ Genesis 37: 24‑28.

234 TENT AND SADDLE LIFE.

brethren would find it convenient to keep their flocks, and with the fact that ancient wells are yet seen in the neighborhood, sufficiently prove the reality of the Scripture site.

Dothan is distant from Shechem about twelve miles, and is four or five miles southwest of Jenin, and separated only by a swell or two of hills from the plain of Esdraelon. The place is twice mentioned in the Old Testament account of the prophet Elisha. And its topography enables us to see how the king of Syria could station his forces so as to "compass the city," and how the mountain could appear to the prophet's servant full of horses and chariots of fire.*

From the height above Dothan we went on north by northeast, and finally descended into a narrow, stony, naked dell, not very deep, but yet sufficiently so to exclude a view of the surrounding district. It was nearly six in the evening when we reached Jenin, our camping‑place for the night. This town, containing some three thousand inhabitants, chiefly Mohammedans, is situated at the mouth of the wady we had just passed through, and on the borders of the great plain of Esdraelon. It is the site of the ancient town named by Josephus as Ginea, and the Engannim of Josh. 19: 21, and is now surrounded

* 2 Kings 6: 15‑17.

FROM NABLUS TO JENIN. 235

by rich gardens, well watered, and orange groves, guarded by hedges of prickly‑pear, with here and there a palm tree towering above the houses. We found our tents pitched outside the town, adjacent to a cemetery, where we enjoyed a comfortable night's rest, without molestation of any sort.

CHAPTER XIV.

AROUND THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRAELON.

OUR camp was early astir on Saturday morning, April 12, in preparation for our departure from Jenin. While this work of the camp men was in progress, we made a brief tour of inspection around the village. We found that the Turkish troops were in garrison here, ready to meet the Bedouin hordes who frequently, as of old, sweep over this part of the great plain of Esdraelon for the purpose of plunder upon the crops of grain and herds of cattle.

A fine reservoir, built up of masonry, is filled with a supply of excellent drinking water, which flows down from the hills over which we had come on the previous day. It is in allusion to this abundant water supply that the place is named Jenin, meaning "the fountain of gardens."

A large building, used as a barracks for the soldiers, lay just beyond the reservoir, and near by was the irregular group of dwellings in which the three thousand inhabitants dwell, surrounded by gardens of great fertility. From these a plentiful supply of cabbages, cucumbers, sweet

AROUND THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 239

lemons, melons and dates is obtained in their season. One fine palm tree arrested our attention, the most symmetrical in shape and vigorous in growth of any that we saw in the whole country.

Although this village occupies such a desirable situation, it is but casually mentioned in the Scriptures. It was apportioned to Issachar by the fourth lot drawn under the superintendence of Joshua, and in that connection is named

En-

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gannim, from which Jenin is derived, having the same signification, fountain of gardens.*

This fountain is the source of the stream which flows westward from this point, skirting the range of Carmel and emptying into the Mediterranean at Haifa, known in Scripture as " that ancient river, the river Kishon."+ The mention of this title, drawn from that admirable specimen of Old Testament literature in the book of Judges, so well adapted to the purposes alike of the antiquarian and elocutionist, will afford us food for thought as we pass on our way toward the historic site of ancient Jezreel.

Once more in the saddle, we rode past the hedges of prickly‑pear, or cactus, surrounding the gardens of Jenin, and took our route toward the north‑northeast, across an arm of the great plain of Esdraelon. In the course of half an hour we began to cross the slight undulations formed from the spurs of Mount Gilboa, at which the plain terminates in this direction.

The name Esdraelon is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew Jezreel, the name of the valley and site of the ancient city, so familiar to all Old Testament readers. The plain is an irregular triangle in shape, having its base at the east end, extending from Jenin to the foot of the hills

* Joshua 19: 21. + Judges 5: 21.

AROUND THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 241

below Nazareth, a distance of fourteen miles, and its apex at Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea.* The northern side, formed by the hills of Galilee, is about twelve miles, the southern, bordered by the Samaria and Carmel range, about eighteen miles, in length.

As we advanced northward the whole plain came gradually into view, and was a sight of great interest. The vast expanse spread out before us appeared to have a slightly‑undulating surface, only about one‑sixth of which is cultivated, the remainder being abandoned to a luxuriant growth of wild grass and thistles. The reason of this neglect is the same that hinders the work of the farmer in all Palestine‑-the lack of protection. From time immemorial this plain has been the scene of lawless plunder on the part of the tribes and nations dwelling to the northward and beyond the Jordan. The garrison of Turkish soldiers at Jenin is inefficient, and the government itself is but an incubus upon the native population.

Our guide informed us, as we rode along the

*The Survey of Western Palestine states that the plain of Esdraelon measures 14 miles north and south from Jenin to Junjar, and 9 miles from Lejjun to Zer'in. It has an average elevation of 200 to 250 feet above the sea level, and consists of loose volcanic soil, which is very tiring to horses and not fitted for cavalry evolutions. Vol. ii. p. 36.--Ed. Am. S. S. Union

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borders of the plain without a single farm‑house or village to be seen upon its broad, fertile acres, that the people did not own a foot of this soil, and that for security their poor dwellings were secreted among the high hills around its borders, as in the plain of Sharon. The government owns the land and rents it out to agents (publicans), who engage to pay the authorities one‑tenth—a tithe‑-of all its produce. The agent goes each year to the sheikh, and asks him how much his people sowed upon the land. The sheikh tries to shrink the amount, the agent to raise it. After two or three days talk they generally effect a compromise; but at the time of the harvest the grain must be left undivided until the agent arrives, often to the great damage of the crop, when he generally exacts an extortionate proportion. Is it any wonder then that the farmers here are named “poor fellows," or "fellahin"?

Just at nine o'clock we rode up to Zer’in (Jezreel), a little huddle of huts standing on the site of ancient Jezreel. Poor as this place appears, perched as it is upon the barren ridge which is the foot‑hill of Gilboa, it affords a commanding prospect over the vast surface of Esdraelon. An ancient marble sarcophagus attracted my attention, lying upon its side and half filled with earth, just on the border of the hamlet. It was orna‑

AROUND THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 243

mented, both at the sides and ends, with long, wavy lines separated with corrugated ridges, and evidently had been wrought in the times when this was the site of a royal city. This relic compared strictly with the condition of the few huts of Zer'in, built up of wattled grass, clay and stone, altogether wretched and dilapidated in appearance.* As we rode along the mud walls the poor inhabitants peered forth at us with blank astonishment, while the dogs as usual snarled at our horses' feet. There is a square tower of some height at the north side of the huts, partly in ruins, from the windows of which a fine view may be had of the surrounding country.

At this point we were surprised to find ourselves on the brink of a steep and somewhat rocky descent, perhaps a hundred feet in depth, running sheer down into the valley of Jezreel. The valley is broad, with its stream‑bed well toward the northern side, running down toward the Jordan; opposite, in plain sight, were the heights of Little Hermon. The heights of Gilboa lay east of us, the continuation and culmination

* The Exploration Fund describes Zer'in as a village of moderate size, built of stone, surrounded by rocky ground. A modern tower or taller house stands in the centre of the village. The position is regarded as remarkable for its natural strength and its conspicuous appearance from the plain. Vol. ii. p. 88.-‑Ed. Am. S. S. Union.

244 TENT AND SADDLE LIFE.

of the ridge on which we were standing. Not a shrub or tree could be seen on their lofty summits, nor yet on their sides, rock‑ribbed and barren as they were, shining under the rays of the morning sun in desolate and silent grandeur. Across the vast plain stretching far away toward the west and south flows the ancient Kishon, already mentioned, to the banks of which Sisera, captain of the host of Jabin, the Canaanitish king, was lured by the stratagem of the heroic woman Deborah, the judge and prophetess of Israel. From the side valley, which emerges into the great plain yonder at the point of Little Hermon, in which stands Mount Tabor, the rendezvous of Israel, they swarmed forth ten thousand strong, and falling upon the rear of Sisera's army, with its nine hundred chariots of iron, routed and slaughtered his entire force.+ This signal victory broke the power of the Canaanitish hostility which had continued to harass the Israelites from the days of Joshua.

Turning eastward as we stand on this lofty site of ancient Jezreel, we can see the marsh land in the bed of the valley only a mile and a half distant, where the waters of 'Ain Jalud, Gideon's Spring, pour their strong current forth from the foot of Mount Gilboa. Here it was that Gideon

* Judges 4: 2‑7. + Judges 4: 15, 16.

AROUND THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 245

rallied his famous army against the Midianites and other children of the east, who were pouring into the country like the devastating hordes of grasshoppers for multitude, threatening to eat out the substance of the whole land.* Here he tested the men by the lapping of water from the spring, and, dismissing the great multitude, kept only the famous three hundred.+ And it was in this same valley that he afterward made his famous sortie with the lamps, pitchers and trumpets, and frightened the vast host of Midianites into a rout and utter defeat.++ Casting the eye along these heights of Gilboa, again we are reminded of the tragic end of Saul and Jonathan, which David celebrates with his noble eulogy. From this side of the valley Saul passed over on the night before the battle, and, crossing the eastern shoulder of Little Hermon, went to consult the witch of Endor as to his future.& Endor is now named Endor,// and is but a collection of cave dwellings, shared in common by the modern witches, or women who dwell there, and cattle,

* Judges 6: 3‑5. + Judges 7: 4‑7.

++ Judges 7: 19‑22. & 1 Samuel 28: 7.

// “It is a small village of mud cabins built against a steep hillside. A few cactus hedges exist beneath, and a small spring on the north. Above the village on the east are some small caves in the side of the hill, not ancient."—Survey of Western Palestine, vol. ii. p. 84.

246 TENT AND SADDLE LIFE.

and is more wretched and wild than the other poor hamlets in the country. It was a long journey for Saul to make after midnight, and it had a bitter and ghostly end, for he and Jonathan both perished by the sword the next day here on the heights of Gilboa.* And in the case of Jonathan, at least, all can unite in David's lament: “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!”+

We linger yet a moment to recall another tragedy of Old Testament history centred here at Jezreel when it was the royal residence of the wicked Ahab and Jezebel. Looking to the westward once more, we clearly trace the outlines of Mount Carmel, beyond the Kishon, where Elijah met the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and challenged them to give a miraculous proof of the divine character of their religion. After their signal failure to show a sign from heaven, and the prayer of the prophet and the consuming of the sacrifice, Elijah "girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel."++ He thus ran in advance of the king's chariot, which was no doubt driven in speed, the entire distance of at least sixteen miles to this point; a wonderful feat after the fatigues of the day,

*l Samuel 31: 1‑6. + 2 Samuel 1: 1‑19.

++ 1 Kings 18: 46.

AROUND THE GREAT PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 247

and performed for the purpose of showing his loyalty to Ahab's rule if he would banish idolatry from the land. But in this hope the prophet was doomed to disappointment. Jezebel's influence was paramount, and her college of four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, located here, must be sustained at all hazards. Ahab himself fell into another grievous sin in forcibly taking possession of Naboth's vineyard, situated no doubt along this hillside.* Naboth's murder became the procuring cause of the downfall of the royal lineage, for Jehu the avenger came up this valley one day and fulfilled his bloody mission.+

May it not be that this old ruined tower is the representative of the one on which the watchman stood when he spied the company of Jehu as he came, driving furiously? And these fierce dogs which prowl around the mounds where the offal is cast from the houses, may be the descendants of those which did “eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel."++

In view of the many points of historical interest centering at Zer'in we would gladly have remained longer, but our guide warned us that a long ride intervened between us and Nazareth, our intended camping‑place for the night and the

* 1 Kings 21: 7‑16. +2 Kings 9: 24, 25, 27, 33.

++ 1 Kings 21: 23.

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approaching Sabbath, and so we hastened our departure. We made our way, as best we could, down the hillside, reaching its foot in the bed of Jezreel, where a spring flows out, from which the villagers obtain their supply of water.

We next crossed the valley obliquely, and began the ascent of Little Herman, now called Jebel‑Duhy,* going up a gentle acclivity toward the site of ancient Shunem. We passed several small fields of wheat and barley, in which were several groups of women and girls engaged in plucking up the weeds, which they cast down among the growing grain. This brought to mind the Old Testament story, which will make the place memorable forever, of Elisha the prophet and the "great" woman of Shunem, whose son went out into these fields to his father to the reapers.+

As we approached the town we saw how all parts of the narrative find a ready explanation in its topography. Elisha and Gehazi would natur‑