CHAPTER XXVII. GALILEE. THE HOLY LAND. FROM TIBERIAS TO NAZARETH. Palestine. Its extent and names. - Jordan. — Lake of Tiberias. Hills of Gaulonitis and Bashan. Baths of Ti berias. Ruins of ancient Tiberias. Sepulchral caves inhabited by maniacs and lepers. - Modern town. - Wall. -Mosque. Church. Christians despised. - Conduct of governor. - Leave Tiberias. Town of Mary Magdalene. Banks of lake.- Ruins of towns. - Chorazin. Repast on "five Joseph's well. Encampment of Bedouins,-Their conduct. Safet.· Prospect. Situation. -The " city set - Anecdote. - PoTheir local attach ments. Cemetery. - Jewish calendar. A native Protestant. - Khatain. -Mount of Beatitudes. - View. Condition of women. - Strength of Syria departed. Plain of Esdraelon. Its boundaries and soil. - Little Hermon. -- Deboree. - Nain. - Sleep in mosque.· Tradi tion regarding our Lord.-Bedouin tents and horses. Ascent of Tabor. - Scene of transfiguration.- Altar and day. Scramble for palms. Grotto of Annunciation.Miraculous pillar. Removal of virgin's house to Loreto. — Greek site of Annunciation. Church. Sacred fountain. - - Water-pots. - Leathern bottles. - Illustrations of Scripture in Palestine. - Striking coincidence. — Synagogue where Christ preached. Hill of precipitation. Table on which last supper was eaten. Respect shown to monks. Workshop of Joseph. View from hills.Sephoury. The talmud.-Roman Catholic love of tradiReflections. tion. THOUGH long in the vicinity of the goodly heritage of Israel, we now for the first time entered within its precincts. Sidon, Beersheba, the Mediterranean, and Jordan may, strictly speaking, be regarded as the boundaries of the Holy Land. Palestine, or the country of the Philistines, comprehended originally nothing more than Philistia, which extended from Jaffa to El-Arish, including part of the plain of Sharon with the five cities of Gaza, Gath, Ekron, Askelon, and Ashdod. This name, with that of Canaan similarly derived from the ancient inhabitants expelled by the Israelites, was applied by extension to the whole territory they occupied; and thus, the three names may be regarded as almost synonymous. Entering the Holy Land at this point, we found ourselves at once ushered into the midst of the principal scene of our Lord's miracles, a large proportion of which were performed on the shore of that sea which laved the walls of Tiberias, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. Jordan rises in a branch of Anti-Lebanon at a spot called Panias, the site of Cæsarea Philippi, nearly opposite Sidon. Increased by the snow melting on the adjacent hills, it reaches a deep valley hemmed in by the mountains of Galilee and Jedoor, where, overflowing its banks and aided by numerous springs, it forms the sea of Galilee, whence it again pursues its course as a river through the plain called Al Ghor; after traversing this, the lowest level of Syria, it is lost in the deep and silent Asphaltites, from whose expanded surface its waters are now disposed of by evaporation before the dreadful catastrophe which converted the plain of Sodom into a sea, there is reason to believe that Jordan found its way into the Red Sea. Having skirted the southern shore of the lake, our course lay along its western bank, to the modern town of Tiberias. This beautiful piece of water, called indiscriminately the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Chinnereth, and the Lake of Gennesaret, from the situation it occupies and the cities once near LAKE OF TIBERIAS. 343 its banks, is about fifteen miles in length from north to south, and about six in width from east to west. Its water is of a greenish hue and abounds in fish, some species of which are said to be found only here and in the Nile; it is perfectly clear and sweet, though it receives several hot saline streams so impregnated with gases that they change the color of the stones over which they pass. The depression of the land in the Ghor is such that the opposite hills of Gaulonitis and Bashan, which rise from the plain of the Haouran, assume an appearance of loftiness not real; nor, seen from any point to the east of them, would they bear out, as they do when viewed from the river above which they are elevated between one and two thousand feet, the aptness of the similitude, " a high hill as the hill of Bashan." At the time of our visit the face of nature wore a smiling aspect after rain; and the bright verdure of the opposite country of the Gadarenes and of the "hills of Bashan" seemed to promise abundant pasturage to "fat bulls," such as those for which the district was famous even in the days of the Psalmist. Nearly two miles distant from Tiberias are the baths above referred to, over which the pasha has lately erected a handsome building 344 TOMBS TENANTED BY MANIACS. for the accommodation of the public, about sixty yards distant from the margin of the lake; it is the first institution of the kind in Palestine, and therefore peculiarly interesting. Baths are supplied in the European and Turkish fashions; and some soldiers were performing their ablutions when we entered. These springs have enjoyed a high reputation from a very early date, and promise to attain greater celebrity with the advancing civilization of Syria. Josephus mentions them as the hot baths of Ammaus, but we heard no other name applied to them than that of Tiberias. Their natural temperature is 85° of Fahrenheit; they are salt and taste of sulphur; and the stones of the beach over which the refuse water finds its way to the sea are blackened by its action. For full a mile to the south of Tiberias, now called Tabbereea, the margin of the lake is covered with ruins of the former city, and the waves gently ripple over its fallen columns, while the sides of the hills of Galilee rising above it are filled with sepulchral caves. These are very ancient; for, in the time of our Lord, they seem to have been disused and thrown open, probably because that part had long ceased to be inhabited as it was in the days of the kingdom of Israel; and maniacs |