222 SAMARIA-SCENERY. where tradition says that John the Baptist was buried Having obtained lights, we descended twenty-one steps into a handsome vault, the floor of which was tesselated with marble. There were five niches for the dead. The centre one was said to be that of the Baptist, and the door had a hinge of stone like the remarkable doors in the sepulchres of the kings at Jerusalem. "Now," said our friend Giuseppe with great gravity, "Tell your father when you go back to your own country, that you have seen the tomb of John the Baptist!" But the natural scenery of Samaria had greater charms for us. The situation of the city is worthy of particular notice. The sun, about two hours from setting, was gilding the whole country with his mellowed rays, while we stood and gazed around. We could plainly see the meaning of Isaiah's description, "Wo to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine." * The valley near the head of which the hill of Samaria stands, is even now rich in olive-trees, and probably abounded in vineyards and gardens in former days, while the hill itself, covered with palaces and towers, rose over it like a glorious crown. The natural strength of the position of the city at once suggested the true force of the words of Amos, "Wo to them that trust in the mountain of Samaria." † Within half an hour's distance of the hill on the north and south, and still nearer on the east, the ring of lofty hills which enclose the valley of Samaria begins to rise. These are what the Scripture calls "the mountains of Samaria." They encompass the city, so that in the days of Israel's glory, when they were all clad in vineyards, the capital would appear encircled by plenty and Juxuriance. The days are coming, when these same "mountains of Samaria" shall again be clothed more luxuriantly than ever, and cultivated by the hands of ransomed Israel; for the same unerring word that foretold the present desolation, has foretold the coming glory, "Thou shalt yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things." We remembered the history of the siege of Samaria by Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, and observed how easy it would be to shut in such a city on every side, so Isa. xxviii. 1. See Lowth's Note. ↑ Amos. vi. I. $2 Kings vi. 24 VIEW FROM HILLS OF SAMARIA. 223 as to cut off the supplies; and it occurred to us, that probably the unbelieving lord, who was trodden to death in the gate, was thrown down by the stream of people rushing down the hill toward the Syrian camp.* As we had still a journey of several hours before us, we were compelled to leave Subuste before sunset. heard the sound of the millstone in some of the houses as We we passed, and saw a man kneeling in prayer on the roof of his house, reminding us of Peter at Joppa. It was very pleasant to remember that along the road we had come, and on the spot we had been traversing, Philip the Evangelist preached Christ unto the people. "There was great joy in that city" then-greater than in the days of her royal magnificence, for Philip brought them joy from the fountain of life. Regaining the public road, we proceeded due north to the foot of the hills which enclose the valley of Samaria, having high on our right a village called "Bet-emireen," "the house of Emirs." In about half an hour we began to ascend, and came to a romantic village called Bourka, half-way up the mountain. The peasants were all actively engaged at the thrashing-floor; their houses were built entirely of mud, but pleasantly surrounded by olive-trees, out of which the voice of the turtle sounded sweetly as we passed. Looking back we saw the whole of " the fat valley" beautifully illumined by the last rays of the setting sun. A very steep and difficult ascent soon brought us to the summit of the ridge, when a magnificent scene burst on our view. To the west lay the Mediterranean Sea, and that part of the plain of Sharon which stretches to ancient Cæsarea; to the north, immediately beneath us, Wady Gaba, a fine valley or undulating plain, which seemed like a Paradise, watered by a winding stream, and abounding in olive-trees. This stream we afterwards conjectured to be the brook Kanah mentioned in Joshua.{ To the north-east rose the hills of Galilee, among which we thought we could distinguish Mount Tabor in the distance. At the head of the valley below, appeared a sheet of water, the first we had yet seen in this country. Slanting down the mountain side, which the Arabs called Jebel Gaba, in a north-easterly direction, we passed through the small village Matalish, and then through the village of Gaba; the latter may possibly indicate the position of 2 Kings vii. 17. Acts viii. 8. + Acts x. 9. 224 CASTLE OF SANOUR-POOL OF WATER. the ancient Gibbethon, where Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, was slain by Baasha,* for that town seems to have been near Tirzah, and Tirzah was near to Samaria. The moon rose with great beauty, and the noise of the grasshoppers quite filled the valley. The glow-worms and fireflies were scattering their light around us. At length we encamped on the plain opposite Sanour. The time in which the servants were occupied in putting up the tents generally afforded us a profitable hour for meditation and retirement under the shady trees. In our evening worship together we read 2 Kings vi. which recounts some of Elisha's deeds in Samaria. We set out at six next morning (June 21,) and passed by the foot of a steep rocky hill, upon which stands the ruined castle of Sanour, a relic of crusading times. We were now within the borders of the half-tribe of Manasseh, and remarked the abundance of streams and the remnants of fertility, far exceeding any thing we had seen in the southern parts of the country,-as if the blessing put "upon the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren," had not yet passed away. We rode alongside of the large sheet of water which we had seen the night before at the head of the valley. The Arabs called it Merj Ibnama. It is merely a gathering of water left by the latter rains, and is often dried up in summer. A much larger supply of rain than usual had fallen this year, which accounted for its being so full at this advanced season. It resembled not a little the Compensation Pond among the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. We came upon two men ploughing with oxen, and noticed that they held the plough only with one hand. The soil appeared rich and fertile. Thousands of a blue starshaped flower, the name of which we did not know, decked the ground, mingled here and there with the pink, anemone, a very large species of convolvulus, and the tall plants of the lavatera. The beautiful hills all round the plain were clothed with brushwood, with olives and fig trees sometimes running up a short way from their base. Leaving this pleasant vale, we soon came to a height from which the hills of Galilee again came in view. From this we descended a rocky pass into a rich olive valley, with yellow corn-fields beyond and found the * 1 Kings xv. 27; xvi. 15. TOWN OF JENIN-PLAIN OF ESDRAELON. 225 large Arab village of Gabatieh. Some of the houses were well built of stone, others were entirely of mud. They had no windows except loopholes, and these generally looking into the court of the house; the doors also were very low, perhaps for the purpose of defence. Emerging from the olive-grove we got a full sight of its beauty, and again remembered the many Scriptures which compare the soul of a thriving believer to a green and vigorous olivetree.* Two things seem invariably united in this land, namely, the voice of the turtle wherever there is an olivegrove, and a village wherever the eye discerns verdure. We met here, and often afterwards throughout the day, camels carrying home the harvest, with tinkling bells hanging from their neck. Many splendidly coloured butterflies were on the wing, and lizards without number were seen basking upon the rocks. Descending a ravine, still to the north-east, on the banks of a small stream running in the same direction, we reached Jenin in three hours from Sanour. This is the frontier town of the great plain of Esdraelon in this direction, so that it must always have been a place of some importance. It is believed to be the ancient Ginea, mentioned in the wars of Josephus. It is still a considerable town, surrounded with gardens and hedges of prickly pear, interspersed with a few graceful palm-trees, over which rises a mosque with its pointed minaret. The Bedouin camel-drivers seem to make it a place of rendezvous. Many of their brown tents were planted near, closely resembling our gipsy encampments; and in one of their herds we counted as many as thirty camels. We halted for a short time under the shade of a spreading tree, while our servants went into the town to buy provisions. Turning now to the N. W. we began to move along the edge of the plain of Esdraelon, the ancient valley of Jezreel. Very large fields of ripe barley occasionally occurred, sometimes a grove of olive-trees, but oftener the plain was waste and given over to thorns. It is melancholy to traverse the finest spots in this land, and to find them open and desolate. Even the highways are gone, along which the chariots of the kings of Jezreel used to run. The times of Shamgar are returned-" In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways." The threatening of Moses † Judg. v. 6. * See p. 106. 226 VILLAGE OF RAMOUNI-WASTE REGION. is fulfilled, "The land shall rest and shall enjoy her Sabbaths, while she lieth desolate."* We felt the heat of the sun very intense, while it poured its rays down upon the plain. Sometimes we sought a moment's shelter under a shady tree, and sometimes we rode briskly forward to create a refreshing current in the air. It was over these level fields that the Canaanites used to drive their iron chariots in the days of Joshua ; and it was in these plains that Sisera was defeated with his multitude and nine hundred chariots of iron: “The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Tannach by the waters of Megiddo." We saw how easily Ahab could ride in his chariot from Carmel to Jezreel, while Elijah ran before him, there being no obstacle in all the plain ;{ and also how Jehu "could drive furiously" || as he came up from Jordan toward Jezreel. It was in another part of the same valley that good king Josiah came to fight with Pharaoh Necho in the valley of Megiddo, when the archers shot at him and wounded him in his chariot, and he died. T Leaving the plain we entered among the low swelling hills on the west near a village, Bourkeen, in less than three hours from Jenin, and arrived at Ramouni, (that is, "pomegranate,") a village finely embosomed in figtrees, olives, and pomegranates, from the midst of which came the voice of the blackbird and turtle-dove. Could this be Hadad-rimmon, of which Zechariah speaks, and which was near the valley of Megiddo!** There is space for a large town here, and there are many reservoirs of water, which show that it has been a place of some importance. Flocks of goats were couching by the well, and the Arab women were milking them, while a boy drew water in a skin and poured it into the trough. Our way lay westward over the slope of low undulating hills, covered with the carob-tree, and evergreen oak, a finely wooded wilderness. Immense thistles, having heads of a rich violet hue, Spina Christi, lavatera, convolvulus, and our common hollyhock, were the most abundant plants. We encamped at noon under the deep shade of a carob-tree of unusual size, and employed ourselves in writing up our notes and gathering wild flowers. Leaving at three o'clock, we rode through a fine sylvan solitude, hills and dales, all wild and seemingly untrodden, yet *Lev. xxvi. 34. † Josh. xvii. 16. Judg. iv. 15; v. 19. ¶ 2 Chron. xxxv. 23. |