(1887) Explorations in Bible Lands
(1887) Explorations in Bible Lands
(1887) Explorations in Bible Lands
HOLY LAND
Corrtctea by
T. 8. DE HA88, D. D
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BY
FRANK S. DEHASS, D. D.
Member oftkt American Geographical Society, and late United State* Conmlin Palettint,
PHILADELPHIA:
BRADLEY & COMPANY,
66 NORTH FOURTH STREET.
1887.
Copyright by F. S. DEHASS, D. D., 1886.
All right* reserved.
109
DEDICATION.
TO MY NUMEROUS FRIENDS,
WHO HAVE KEQUESTED THB PUBLICATION OF THESE SKETCHES;
TO MY AGED MOTHER,
WHO EARLY TURNED MY WAYWARD FEET INTO THE PATH OF LIFE;
TO THE MEMORY OF
MY HONORED AND SAINTED FATHER,
WHO, AS HIS SON WAS EXPLORING THE EARTHLY, PEACEFULLY DEPARTED
FOE THE HEAVENLY, CANAAN;
ments of office, but a desire to visit the lands of the Bible, that
he might see for himself how far the manners, customs, and
traditions of the people and topography of those countries agreed
tionj amid the vivid scenes where the events described occurred;
and it; is a remarkable fact that nearly all the places mentioned
in the Bible where any great event transpired may still be identi-
fied by their old Hebrew names in the Arabic form a most
wonderful philological corroboration of the Biblical narrative.
Recent explorations in the East have resulted in the recovery
of many places in sacred and profane history long regarded as
lost ;
and as the facts brought out by these researches are not
accessible to the general reader, the author has compiled them in
and yet the desire to know more about this country was never
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
MEMPHIS, THE NOPH OF SCRIPTURE NECROPOLIS OF EGYPT 53
CHAPTER V.
THEBES, THE NO-AMON OF THE BIBLE GRAND TEMPLE OF KARNAX, 60
CHAPTER VI.
ISLAND OF PHIL.E, LAST SEAT OF EGYPTIAN IDOLATRY 81
CHAPTER VII.
THE EXODUS PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA WILDERNESS OF WANDERING.
;
90
PART II.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
BETHLEHEM, AND HILL COUNTRY OF JUDEA LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY. 191
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER X.
HEBRON CAVE OF MACHPELAH BEEB-SHEBA WELL OF ABRAHAM 213
CHAPTER XL
JXLANDOFTHE PHILISTINES AN EXTINCT RACE 224
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XIV.
FROM JERUSALEM TO DAMASCUS BETHEL JACOB'S WELL GALILEE 253
I
CHAPTER XV.
DOWN TO JERICHO VALLEY OF THE JORDAN PLAIN OF GILGAL 278
CONTENTS. 13
CHAPTER XVI.
^THE DEAD SEA CITIES OF THE PLAIN LOT'S WIFE 294
CHAPTER XVII.
FORTRESS OF MASADA, ENGEDI, AND CLIFF OF Ziz 305
PART III.
TRANS-JORDANIC PALESTINE.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LAND OF Uz TRADITIONAL PALACE OF JOB 382
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER IX.
NORTHERN SYRIA DAMASCUS BAALBKC EPHESUS ATHENS 431
14 CONTENTS.
PART IV.
ASIA MINOR.
CHAPTER I.
PACK
AUCTKXT ANATOLIA TURKISH BULK LOST ARTS... ... 457
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CRUSADERS THEIR OBJECT AND HEROES 521
APPENDIX.
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER IIL
MULTUM IN PABVO VERY LATEST DISCOVERIES ... 57J
JEWISH COINS.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FAOB
Aaron's Tomb 171
Adonis, River 440
Adullara, Cave of 207
Alexandria, Modern 34
AH Diab, Sheik of the Adwans 351
American Consulate, Jerusalem Frontispiece
Apis, or Sacred Bull 57
Arabs Eating 352
Arak el Emir, Rock-hewn Palace 356
Arch, Ecce Homo 134
Askelon, Ruins of 228
Assyrian Black Obelisk 411
Assyrian Sculpture and Seals 408, 409, 414, 415
Assyrian Tablet of the Deluge 412
Baalbec, Great Stone 436
Baalbec, Ruins of Temple 430
Baal, Head of 385
Banias, Grotto and Source of the Jordan 274
Bedouin Camp 352
Beelzebub, Image of*. 425
Beersheba 221
Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity 189
Bloody Way 279
Bozrah, Ruins of 378
Bridge, Natural, Mt. Lebanon 441
Bridge, Robinson's 150
Calirrhoe,Hot Springs 331
Camels, Ships of the Desert 97
Camp Life in the Holy Land 112
Capernaum and Sea of Galilee 269
Castle of Subeibeh, Mount Hermon 276
Cave under Dome Rock
of the 162
Cedars of Lebanon 438
Cesarea Philippi, Baniaa 272
15
J6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Hiram's Tomb 242
Hyrcanus, Castle of 355
Inscribed Rocks Wady Mukatteb .' 100
Jacob's Well 175
Jaffa, from the Sea 121
Jerash, Mahanaim 360
Jericho, Ruin 287
Jerusalem, Plan of the City 131
Jerusalem, View from Olivet 125
Jerusalem, View from the Wall 144
Jew, Polish 117
Jew's Wailing Place 129
Job's Traditional Palace, Kunawat 388
Joseph's Tomb 175
Karnak, Temple of 64
'
MM
Pyramids 46
Quarantania, Mount of Temptation 291
Kabbah Ammon 318
Rachel's Tomb 192
Kamtwium, Colossal Statue 74
Rehoboam, Son and Successor of Solomon 67
Robber's Retreat 265
Rock-cut Tombs, Jewish 181
Rock-hewn Tombs Interior 174
Samaria, Ruins 261
Sealed Fountain 204
Seals,Assyrian 414, 415
Smitten Rock 223
Sphinx 51
Sphinx, Theban 62
Springs of Moses, Mount Pisgah 344
Stone Houses of the Hauran, Stone Door . . .
.371, 397
j
Stork and Nest 480
Suez Canal 40
Table-ware, Egyptian 72
Temple of Isis, Island of Philse 84
Tomb of Bishop Kingsley 442
Tomb of Christ 165
Tomb of David, with Diagram 177, 179
Tomb of Joseph 175
Tomb of the Judges 173
Tombs of the Kings, Egypt 544
Tyre 240
Vaults under the Temple Platform 143
Water-Wheel for Irrigation 277
Well of Abraham 221
Wells of Moses 95
Wilderness of Judea 198
Winged Globe, Egyptian 63
Winged Lion, Nineveh 408
Wooden Statue, found at Memphis 27
PART I.
CHAPTER I..
Oldest Civilized Portion of the Globe The Bible written on her Monuments-
Egyptian Chronology No Conflict with the Mosaic Account History Lost
in Mystery The " Rosetta Stone "Religion of the Old Egyptians.
fPHE present century has been noted for its discoveries in science
*
and explorations among the ruins of the past. Europe and
America have been vying with each other in the recovery of lost
arts, lost languages, lost cities, and lost nations.
Thus far, no discovery has been made that conflicts with Rev-
"
sword of Herod; thus fulfilling the prophecy, Out of Egypt
have I called my Son." 1 And, what is very remarkable,
the such as Ham,
many names mentioned in Scriptures,
the wife of Joseph,
Mizraim, Potiphar, Shishak, Asenath
and others, are still found written on her monuments, and
many incidents of the Bible are recorded in sculpture and
In one place we have
hieroglyphics on her grand temples.
what appears to be a representation of Joseph introducing his
brethren to Pharaoh ;
in another, the Hebrews making brick,
with a decree ordering them to build the temple and quarry
stone for Rameses; their task-masters standing by with
" not to be idle
scourge in hand urging them ;" and in still
torian, who wrote B. C. 285, have long since been lost, and
all we know of his writings is what has been transmitted to
River, by washing out new channels across her great bends, has
shortened the distance between Cairo, at the mouth of the
i Mark Twain.
EGYPTIAN REMAINS. 27
the fact that in some of these cities which they affirm have
been buried ten thousand years or more, recently have been
found coins and pieces of pottery belonging to the Greek and
Roman period. And the zodiac carved on the ceiling of
the temple at Denderah, which at first was claimed by the
French to be from fifteen to seventeen thousand years old, hai
since been proven to belong to the first century of our era.
proper data and the vagueness of the Egyptian year, and are
not sufficient to set aside the authority of God's word.
Even learned Egyptologists cannot agree on certain dates, as
sands, are the ruins of many temples, the fires on whose altars
have long since been extinguished, and the remains of a thou-
sand cities whose histories are lost in the misty past.
1
This stone, now in the British Museum, is a trilingual tablet of black basalt,
the Jews, and the religion of the old Egyptians, proving very
cow or with cow's horns on her head Thoth, with the head of
;
these objects.
On the other hand, the Hebrews believed in but one
grander,
and more enduring. God was supreme in their
not by sight, but by
thoughts and affections. They worshiped
Royal City of Alexander the Great Ancient Splendor The Pharos Christi-
anity early Planted here Cleopatra's Needle Pompey's Pillar Modern
City Backsheesh Oriental Scenes Veiled Women Dogs Donkeys
Failure of the Khedive to conquer Abyssinia Suez Canal probably first
projected by Joseph.
porium for the entire East, and from its peculiar circular shape
one would suppose that the mighty conqueror really intended
Here, also, stood the famous Pharos, one of the seven wonders
of the world, a light-house five hundred and fifty feet high,
erected Ptolemy Philadelphus, throwing out its beacon light
by
for a hundred miles over the midnight sea. This tower was
MODERN ALEXANDRIA.
ans, by the Apostle Peter. St. Mark, it is believed, was the first
Bishop of the Church, and suffered martyrdom here. Clement,
Athanasius, Origen, Cyril, and other eminent divines, were edu-
cated here, and the eloquent Apollos was a native of this city.
From lower Egypt Christianity rapidly extended to Gyrene,
Egypt ;
and in a corrupt form the Church still exists among
the Copts, or natives of the country. This old seat of pagan
POMPEY'S PILLAR.
and as you land in this motley crowd the first word that greets
backsheesh go up
;
or come down the pyramids,
or go any-
where else, and you hear nothing but backsheesh O howadji ! !
backsheesh backsheesh
! ! Like all Oriental' cities, the
! ! !
Arabs, dogs, and donkeys. The latter are used instead of street-
ALEXANDRIAN DONKEY.
care for all short excursions, and are certainly very conven-
ient little animals especially for a tall man, as
he can ride and
walk at the same time and the dogs, like those of Cairo, are
;
camels, jogging quietly along, with nose erect and eye set as on
Mecca and the women, veiled from head to foot, moving about
;
denied her, and she spends her days dreaming of a liberty she has
never enjoyed. Some men are so jealous of their wives, it is
said, they will not allow them out on a moonlight night, lest
the man in the moon should see them. One of the Khedive's
wives being sick, he sent for our American physician to visit
her; but the doctor said he could do nothing in the case un-
lesshe could see the patient but as that privilege could not be
;
ing effect on the Khedive, who fully calculated on the easy con-
quest and absorption of Abyssinia, and had gone so far aa
to select his commissioners to arrange details, one of whom waa
dive to lay down his arms and surrender, Johannes very nobly
and defiantly replied, " Not till you have restored to me every
foot of territory between Jerusalem and Abyssinia." Since then
time.
between the Red Sea and the Nile. Others attribute the work
to Sethi I., a century earlier, under whom Joseph served as gov-
ernor, who may have been the original projector of this grand
SUEZ CANAL.
again became obstructed with the sand, and was restored once
more by the Emperor Trajan, in the beginning of our era, from
which period it appears to have been kept open until finally
filled up and destroyed by the Arab Caliphs.
It remained, however, for Napoleon III. to complete this
and the Bitter Lakes a maritime canal from sea to sea which has ;
TJ ELIC)I>OLIS >
t*16 On of Scripture, and one of the oldest
JL-L cities in Egypt, was situated at the head of the Delta,
a few miles north of Cairo, the present capital, and on the
borders of what was anciently the land of Goshen. This wag
the city of the grand Temple of the Sun, where the golden
Apis was worshiped, and was the great seat of learning among
the old Egyptians. Asenath, the wife of Joseph, was a
daughter of the high-priest of this temple.
1
Here Moses was
educated for his responsible mission. Ilere Plato and other
Greeks obtained most of their knowledge of philosophy and
astronomy and it was here, according to the legend, the fabled
;
gold around its neck, a purple body, and a tail of blue and rose-
colored feathers. It wore a coxcomb under its neck, and a
supposed to live five hundred years, then burn itself, and rise
its own ashes young, strong, and more beautiful
again from
than ever a symbol of the resurrection of the human body.
42 i
Gen. xli, 45.
OBELISK OF HELIOPOLI8. 43
longer.
The Temple stood one end of a large inclosure, three miles
at
The Egyptian name for these columns has been lost. They
were called "obelisks" or needles by the Greeks, and the two
that were removed from here to Alexandria by the Romans
were known as " Cleopatra's Needles," though that renowned
opolis died !
long to the pre-historic age, and are among the earliest monu-
ments of man. Herodotus, B. C. 443, speaks of them as of
great antiquity, but was as ignorant of their origin as we are.
and twice the height of Trinity Church spire. All this is solid
masonry, of the most massive kind. Some of the stones are
from twenty to thirty feet long, varying in thickness from
three to five feet, evenly dressed and laid with mortar in regular
courses. There is enough material in this pyramid to build a
city large Washington, including all the public edifices.
as
"
Oriented," or facing the four cardinal points, with vaults or
chambers within, and a passage leading thereto.
They evidently were erected as tombs or mausoleums for
their gods and kings, as they are always located in the midst of
mummy pits.
All stand west of the Nile, which was con-
sidered the region of death ;
and in all explored, sarcophagi ci
mummies have been found ;
in one, an embalmed bull.
green Delta to the west, the desert the great African desert
;
48 BIBLE LANDS.
Many theories have been advanced touching the age and ob-
ject of the pyramids. Josephus, and other ancient historians,
were of the opinion that some of them were built by the
Hebrews during their oppression, which is very plausible, as
several near Memphis are composed of large sun-dried brick,
made without straw.
long famine, when he gathered the people into the cities, and
LATEST THEORIES. 49
opened.
It is also a singular coincidence that the description given
by
Herodotus of Cheops answers exactly the character of Joseph ;
the same cartouch found here above the king's chamber, con-
burgh, and those who adopt his views. From certain calcula-
"
tion based upon a granite boss," or projection on one of the
stones in the vestibule of the king's chamber, which they regard
as a standard for the inch and cubit, they claim that this
pyramid
was by inspiration, the same as Solomon's Temple or
built
THE SPHINX.
than the pyramids, has the head of a man and the body of a
lion in a recumbent posture a combination of great wisdom
and strength.
stands erect ;
and in evening of life, leans upon
his old age, or
his staff for support. The question having been answered, the
Sphinx, so the story runs, immediately destroyed itself, or was
turned into stone, as it now appears.
This gigantic idol, the local deity of the old Egyptians, is
its huge nostrils. The head, including the helmet, is one hun-
dred and two feet in circumference, and the body, just back of
the neck, forty feet in diameter. It is all cut out of one block
of stone, in situ, being a portion of the native limestone rock
that here crops out of the desert.
The features are purely Egyptian, and the red paint can still
be seen upon the face and neck. What events have transpired
under those sightless eyes which look out so pensively and wist-
would pour upon the early history of our race Alas, they 1
older than the pyramids, and yet reclines upon its stony couch
to-day, as it did before a verse in the Bible was written, when
darkness prevailed over the land, and the Nile, at its base,
protected the city from the inundations of the river have agea
ago been washed away, and the rich alluvial deposits of twenty
centuries have well-nigh obliterated the site of this once cele-
brated place, and a beautiful grove of date-bearing palm-trees
now wave their long, feathery branches over the tomb of the
This statue, originally about fifty feet high, was one of two
that stood in front of the great gate-way leading to the grand
shadowing wings.
This vast cemetery, the oldest and largest in the world,
MIMMY CASE.
ing some little charm or idol in their embrace, just ae they were
laid to rest by loving friends three or four thousand years ago.
And, what is most revolting, the natives are using these mum-
mies for fuel, and fertilizing their fields with the dust and ashes
of their ancestors ! Even stripping them of tjieir winding-
they had died suddenly. They also appeared to have been em-
balmed hastily simply wrapped in swathing bands and dipped
in common pitch or bitumen.
As it was here, or near this, that Moses wrought his miracles
before Pharaoh, and as this was the Necropolis for all Egypt,
may not some of these be the victims of divine wrath who
perished on that eventful night, when the destroying angel
"
swept through the land, cutting off the first-born," the flower
and hope of the family, in every Egyptian household ? And
may not Hosea have reference to this visitation when he says :
ing out of this subterranean tomb to the right and left, but
one, the lid of which was partly removed, and then by the aid
of another ladder we descended into the interior, and could stand
58 BIBLE LANDS.
erect in it and walk about with ease, there being room enough
for as many more. Some of the sarcophagi bear hieroglyphic
r votos, giving full details of the age, death, and burial of the
Apis, and the persons present on the occasion. Ten of these
sarcophagi appear never to have been used they are in the ;
vaults with their lids lying by their sides, but for some cause
Tin, one of the oldest and best preserved in Egypt, dating back
to the fifth dynasty of the old empire, at least four thousand
Tih evidently looked upon this life as transitory, and the fu-
ture as eternal. His farm buildings where he resided, as here
shown, though elegantly designed and richly decorated, are
constructed of wood and other perishable materials ; while his
Egypt-
There are many other temples and tombs in this vicinity, but
KJTPTIAH FUNERAL.
CHAPTER V.
dynasty, B. C. 1500.
Strabo, Diodorus, and other ancient historians speak in the
most glowing terms of the wealth, power, and magnificence of
and Homer has immortalized it as " hundred-gated
this city,
inclosed with walls, that the river was always its principal de-
the river that is, on the river Nile there being no other
" the round about
river in Egypt having waters it," . . .
" whose
ramparts were the sea-like river, and her walls the
sea-like river." And if the old' Grecian bard had consulted
1
Nahum iii. 8.
60
GKAND TEMPLE OF KAKNAK. 61
RUINS OF LUXOR.
deep, wide canals, which may still be traced, so that the place
"
literally was among the rivers," and of great strength.
About all that remains of this once populous city, east of
figure when he speaks of " The land shadowing with wings," '
WINGKD OLOBK.
dred and seventy feet front by fifty deep, and one hundred
and forty feet high, through which you enter a court about
three hundred feet square, with covered corridors along the
you emerge into the grand hall of Sethi I., father of Rameses
the Great, and supposed to be the Pharaoh Joseph served as
>IuUhxriii, I.
64 BIBLE LANDS.
largest sixty-six
feet high without the base, and within a few
inches of thirty-six feet in circumference, the smallest over
TEMPLE OF KAKXAK.
ing Osiris, with arms crossed upon his breast, holding in one
hand the knotted scourge, and in the other the key of the
Nile or symbol of life. In this court once stood two red
III., the Hall of Ancestors, and many smaller chapels, all fast
structure, and then, but not till then, will you be able to com-
Jacob's favorite son may have been the architect of this, the
Bun, and hence was called Pharaoh, from "Phra," the sun.
In another large temple the only idols found were about fifty
cats and in another, the floor of which was alabaster, we found
;
gressing, and without the aid of divine grace are more likely
to retrograde to monkeys with tails than ever to advance to
angels with wings by any mere process of evolution, though
continued through countless ages.
And is it not unaccountably strange that a people capable of
building such wonderful and enduring monuments should be
so superstitious and degraded as to worship such deities as
the abode of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated, and
into which not even the high priest was allowed to enter.
where the priests officiated, and here was kept the sacred ark
containing the golden sistrum, or emblem of the deity. This
poses. Then came the outer courts, halls, and other temples,
the votive offerings of successive kings through many gen-
erations, in acknowledgment of mercies received, victories
Egyptian temples is, the largest and grandest halls are the
farthest removed from the sanctuary, as each successive Pha-
trampling the slain beneath his and putting out the feet,
reliefs, so that the arches under the temple site at Jerusalem are
Among the tombs on the edge of the desert, and about one
mile north of Medeenet Haboo, stands the Ramesium or tem-
owing to the colossal statue that once stood in the outer court
on the left of the main entrance. This enormous statue the
THE RAMF.SIUM.
THE COLOSSI.
God, I will also destroy the idols, and will execute judg
. . .
no musical mood ;
at least, we waited long in vain for some
soul-stirring strain, forgetting that it
only gratified the curiosity
of distinguished visitors, and such only at sunrise an hour we
are not often guilty of disturbing.
1
Ezekiel xxx, 18-10.
THE VOCAL STATUE OF MEMNON. 77
All the temples west of the river were located qn the edge
of the desert, above the inundations, and at the base of the
again.
They are all hewn out of the natural rock, some of them
penetrating the mountain to a great depth, containing numer-
"
Truly, the fashion of this world passeth away."
Thebes was first taken by the Babylonians, afterward by the
Persians under Cambyses, B.C. 525, who destroyed or muti-
lated many of her monuments. Still later it was conquered by
Alexander the Great, and finally, after a three years' siege,
almost totally destroyed by Ptolemy Lathyrus, B.C. 81.
It was this last invasion, followed by the removal of the
seat of government, first to Bubastis and then to Alexandria,
tion, and makes him feel really homesick. The railroad from
Cairo up the river is now within three hundred and fifty mile*
of here ;
so in a few years we can penetrate Africa by steam.
Directly opposite here is the beautiful island of Elephantine,
covered with crumbling ruins, among them the Nilometer
mentioned by Strabo the oldest of which any traces remain.
Back of Assouan about one mile, you come to the granite
quarries of Syene, that furnished the material for all the enor-
mous statues and obelisks we find in Egypt. One huge biock
ome cause still lies in the quarry, never having beeu removed,
the river forces its way through innumerable rocks and small
islands that obstruct its passage. The greatest descent in any
one of the rapids at the First Cataract is from six to eight feet
in perhaps two hundred yards. There must have been at one
time, either here or at Silailis, forty miles below, a much greater
fall, as the water-line and alluvial deposits along the shore, thirty
prove. The probability is, the rocky ledge crossing the river
at this point orbelow has been swept away, and the whole up-
'Ezekiel xxix, 10
ANCIENT ETHIOPIA. 83
here forces its way, is now, as in the days of Ezekiel, the nat-
great blocks of red and black granite that line the shores, and
riseout of the water in every fantastic shape, look like so many
pear to have left their mark every-where they went, and mt.de
84 BIBLE LANDS.
and upon every charm, bracelet, and ring, you will h'nd some de-
vice. In their campaigns the name of every soldier is written
down, the cost of the war, the amount of booty in gold, horses
who worked these quarries, and where almost every stone waa
taken to, and for what purpose applied.
At the head of the rapids, six miles above Assouan, is the
rniall picturesque island of Philae, with extensive ruins of a
temple dedicated to Isis, but of comparatively modern date.
And it is an important fact that in point of age the higher you
ascend the Nile the more modern the remains, showing clearly
that Egyptian civilization began in the Delta, and gradually ex-
deity. It was believed that no bird would fly over it, nor fish
B wim near it ;
and no one was allowed to approach it except
when the priest came to crown the reputed tomb of Osiris,
whose very name was held so sacredly that only the priest*
were permitted to utter it.
Though there is nothing grand about the ruins at Philse, the
"
effect of Pharaoh's Bed," and the long colonnade and lofty
truth ;
and as the souls are ushered into Amenti the region of
they are either admitted into the palace of Osiris, their state
of blessedness, or changed into some bird or beast, generally
into pigs,and sent back into this world to " root, hog, or die."
This seems to have been their idea of our probationary state,
now being revived and
the very doctrine of a second probation
American audiences.
OUBIOU8 SCULPTURE. 87
It would appear from this, that the old Egyptians had some
comes judge of the dead and king of Hades. The dead must
all appear before his judgment-seat, where they are either
Christ, and many have been puzzled to know how the Egyp-
tians obtained these ideas of the Saviour's incarnation and
of Christ ? And how very natural for them, as they saw their
own religion dying out, to appropriate to their favorite deity
some of the attributes of the Christian's Messiah.
Barneses II., among the largest and decidedly the most beauti-
ful of all the colossi in Egypt. As in all the other temples,
over them, saith the Lord." " It shall be the basest of the
king-
doms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations :
" '
few miles south of where the new ship canal enters the Gulf
of Suez.
The deliverance of the Hebrews from their long and severe
bondage, and the punishment of the Egyptians by the mi-
raculous interference of Providence, constitute an important
wide, and from ten to forty feet deep. The crossing at Suez
is a shallow ford on the great caravan route to Arabia and
would have been no necessity for any miracle, nor any occasion
for the consternation that prevailed in the camp of Israel.
JfSEL
ATAKAH
water at the Wells of Moses the first day after their passage ;
yet it
appears they were three days in coming to water after
crossing the sea. The only difficulty in settling this ques-
92 BIBLE LANDS.
road to Succoth, and next to " Etham, on the edge of the wil-
derness."
'
From this it appears they did not strike the desert
until the close of the second day. From Robinson's location
of Barneses they would have reached it within a few hours,
to Gaza and Damascus, round the head of the sea, when the
Almighty, for the purpose, no doubt, of displaying his power
in their salvation, directed them to the place where they finally
crossed
The distance through Wady Tawarik from old Cairo is a
little over fifty miles, and can easily be traveled in three days,
" "
though from the pillar of fire going before them by night it
would appear they traveled day and night. There is a station
and fountain about one third the way still called by the natives
the Station of Moses, that would answer very well for Succoth,
where they pitched their tents at the close of the iirst day's
bel Atakah, that cut off their escape, and where Jehovah inter-
the Gulf at this point appears to have derived its name from
the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host, as Suez literally means
Destruction.
In determining this question it should be remembered that
the event is
every-where referred to in the Scriptures as a mi-
raculous deliverance ; that the narrative expressly states that
the path of the Israelites was " through the midst or, more
"
literally, the heart of the sea ; that " the floods stood upright
as an heap," and "the waters were a wall on their right
hand and on their left " * and that " the Egyptians pursued
;
them into the midst of the sea," where the Lord destroyed
" There remained not so
them alL much as one of them ;
the
1
Antiquities, li,
15 'Exodus xir, 22, 38.
95
interposition ;
and where it would be impossible to overwhelm
" in the
and destroy an army like Pharaoh's depths of the sea."
They who would explain away the miracle contend that the
WKLLS OK MOSKS.
wind blew back the waters from the head of the which
gulf,
seems very absurd to one standing upon the
spot.
"
strong A
east wind"* would never drive the water out of the
bay of
Suez, but -at Ras Atdkah would force the tide back into the
piling up the waters in " an heap " around Suez. All this ren-
dt.d the traditional site the probable crossing-place ;
and Aynn
1
Eiudua liv, 10.
1
Eludu* liv, 21.
96 BIBLE LANDS.
Musa, on the Asiatic side, more than likely the spot where
Miriam struck her timbrels, and all Israel praised the Lord
who had triumphed so gloriously in the overthrow of Pharaoh
1
and his chariots in the sea.
ing a cool oasis in the desert about twelve miles south of Suez,
and probably marking the first encampment of the Israelites in
The caravans usually start from the Wells of Moses for the
1
Exodus xv, 1-21.
CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 99
towers two
peak of the Horeb range. The legal mountain
thousand feet above the convent, and seven thousand four
hundred and fifty feet above the sea at Tor.
rocks that mark their line of march. And we here learn the
"
full force of that expression, They went out into the waste
1
Exodus xix, 11.
PETRA. 101
the place by the Greeks and Romans, the natural rock dwellings
of the aborigines were only enlarged and beautified, so that Petra
has always been what its name imports,
" A
city in the clefts of
the rocks," almost every house in it
being hewn out of the
(iATK-WAY TO PKTRA.
history, and for twelve hundred years its very site was unknown,
and only within the present century recovered by Bnrckhardt.
It is situated in a wild, rugged region, almost inaccessible, with
tifty feet front and two hundred and forty high, its
facade or-
namented with two rows of eight Corinthian columns one above
the other, the lower tier of columns fifty feet high and seven
feet in diameter, is a vast monolith the entire edifice being
hewn out of one massive block of stone. But no description
of ours can do justice to these unique remains of a past civili-
ancient inhabitants have all been cut off, and so far as known,
not an Edomite to-day is to be found in all the world.
Near this Aaron died, and in a rock-hewn tomb covered
with a welly, on the highest summit of Mount Hor, the brother
1
of the great lawgiver sleeps his last long sleep.
The usual route from here to Palestine is across the desert
to Beer-eheba by way of Ain Weibeh, a fountain in Wady
el
God's Covenant with the Patriarchs Jacob's Name changed to Israel Land of
name, and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the
land."'
The twelve sons of this illustrious man were the twelve pa-
Europe ;
and in point of riches and wisdom Solomon is said
.
sites, and other Cauaanitish tribes, being all descendants of Ca-
1
Judges iii, 3; 1 Kings ix, 26. "Genesis xv, 18. '2 Chronicles ix, 22, 24
*
2 Chronicles ix, 20. 1 Kings x, 9. 1 Kings iv, 25.
EARLY INHABITANTS OP PALESTHni. Ill
lands, or by the sea and we are informed that Zidon, the eldest
;
son of Canaan, founded the city that bears his name, and was
father of the Sidonians and Phoenicians. Canaan had ten other
sons who were heads of as many tribes dwelling in this land,
Numbers *
xlii, 12. ill!, 29. RereUtion rf, 1ft.
112 BIBLE LANDS.
ucts must always have been great, as the numerous ancient oil
and wine presses cut in the solid rock, and the many threshing-
floors every-where to be seen, fully attest.
this tent life. Just fancy the pleasure of traveling over the
game hills and through the same valleys once trodden by the
weary feet of God's eternal Son. Camping on Olivet, lunch-
ages are springing up, and the old ones are slowly going to de-
cay. The people, too, are
becoming impoverished there is less ;
crushing the nation to death, and has brought about the present
114 BIBLE LANDS.
masters.
they nmst be worse than the publicans of old. Then, all the
able-bodied men are pressed into the army, leaving only the aged
and the women to cultivate the land. These peasant women
do most of the manual labor, are generally treated as slaves,
never as the equals of man, and, like all women in the Orient,
the women to leave, taking with them any thing they could
gather round them and sit and weep for hours. The whole vil-
lage is in mourning, and when finally they are marched off
their relatives follow them as to the grave.
upon his face hia manly heart gave way, and he wept like a lit-
tle child. Poor wretches well might they weep for they serve
1 !
when the crowd dispersed, and the wives and children, mothers
and sisters, came back through the gates of the city to their
his consul, who alone has power to arrest, try, and punish him k
8
116 BIBLE
government.
Jerusalem is a city of about thirty thousand inhabitants
godly man, and did much for his Master's cause. After spend-
ing more than half a century in hard missionary work in Abys-
sinia and Syria, in he resigned his office, and
his eightieth year
rousit JEW.
may sleep with their fathers in holy ground. They are gener-
ally aged and poor, living on the alms of their people collected
in Europe and America. It will require a different class of
night, the last night we were out, all at once there arose a
fearful storm, and as we approached the port in the early morn
the wind was blowing a gale, and the waves threatened to en-
gulf the little boats that ventured out to take the passengers
ashore. board were pilgrims on their way to the
Many on
holy places, and it was frightful to see the poor wretches
swung out over the sides of the ship by ropes tied round their
dangling in the air till the proper moment,
waists, and, after
dropped into the boats below, the sea being too rough to land
them in the usual way. Finally, it came our turn to quit the
ship. How this was accomplished we shall leave for some ono
else to relate. The
great difficulty was in getting into the
mall boat, which one moment would rise level with the
119
120 BIBLE LANDS.
steamer's deck, and the next sink with the receding waters
until lost to view under the sides of the ship. With fear and
ing ;
we see its
foaming crest on our starboard it is also seen at ;
" "
the same moment by the helmsman. Hard-a-port 1 he shouta
to the six swarthy men at the oars. The wave strikes us harm-
own soldiers who were too sick to follow him in his retreat from
Syria, after his repulse at Acre. The site of Simon's house,
" the tanner " with whom Peter was stopping when he raised
than all these first impressions are dissipated. The streets are
KIKJATH-JKARIM EMMATS.
you meet by the way, some blind, others lame, and all in rags,
nothing could be more delightful than this ride of ten hours.
For twenty miles the road over the flowery Plain of Sha-
lies
ron, the country of the old Philistines, and through the very
Tillages, with the bine sea on the distant horizon, may be seen.
But we have no time to muse on the landscape. The object
of our journey and our heart's desire lies just beyond the ridge
before us the highest of the range. We spur up our jaded
horses, and soon cross the great mountain barrier between the
Dead Sea and Mediterranean, when lo! Jerusalem, all
aglow
in the gleams of a gorgeous sunset, burstsupon our vision, and
with hearts throbbing with unutterable emotion we ride through
the " Gates of Zion," and dismount in the " City of God."
If in visiting the battle-fields of Marathon or Bunker Hill
one feels inspiredwith patriotic ardor, is it not a cold philoso-
our memories.
124 BIBLE LAND8.
express. "
Even the lifeless stone is dear
For thoughts of Him."
Why God selected this city before all others for the habita-
dom, the great center of religious interest, and the most memo-
rable spot on earth. Even they who discard our faith must
reverence this city for its great antiquity and historic asso
ciations. Long before Rome, or Athens, or Thebes were
founded, Jerusalem lifted her towers from the crest of Mornt
Holy City, fell upon their knees, covered their faces with their
knights have laid down their lives for the privilege of standing
within her gates. This reverence for the place continues to
the present. Jew, Mussulman, and Christian still consider her
the Queen city, and pilgrims from all lands, in great numbers,
cent elevated above the rock over which the grand temple of
Solomon once lifted its golden dome. Mount Zion, the site of
the royal city of David, is now mostly without the walls, and
used as a cemetery. Ophel, once the most magnificent part of
the city, is now either " plowed as a field," or overrun with
weeds and prickly-pear. The valley through which flowed
" the sweet "
gliding Kedron up with loose stones to a
is filled
depth of from forty to fifty feet, and is now entirely dry and ;
King." Dig down almost anywhere within the old walls, fif tj
12S BIBLE LANDS.
Then the streets of all Oriental cities are very narrow, and
the people spend most of their time in the open air, throwing
all their garbage, ashes, and every thing else into the streets.
1
Matthew udT, ft.
WAILING-PLACE OF THE JEWS. 129
their citadel ;
and that old tower is the cistern of the mission
school to-day.
Those who feel disappointed in the wretched outward ap-
it.
predictions concerning
Over this waste the Jews are constantly pouring their lamenta-
180 BIBLE LAJ*D8.
They come from all lands are of every age, from youth to
fourscore years; and this sobbing, sorrowing multitude have
been coming through a long course of years, century after
be heard, "
Among their lamentations may O, may our. Father
in his infinite mercy compassionate his orphans, and gather his
ignorant, the land neglected and barren, and the towns filthy
and cheerless. Yet many of these insignificant and ruined vil-
Joseph, or David I
JERUSALEM
CHAPTER HL
A WALK ABOUT ZION
Stroll around the Holy City Points of Interest Suggestive of Christ's tint
Identity of the Holy Places The Enduring Word Result of Scienonc la-
res tigation.
six degrees Fahrenheit, and the winters are equally mild and
ing along Via Dolorosa, under the Ecce Homo Arch, by the
ing the Kedron on a little stone bridge, and turning into the
down under one of the old olive trees perhaps marking the
spot of our Lord's agony, and gathering beautiful wild flowers
from beneath your feet, crimsoned as with his bloody sweat ;
leper, and of Mary and Martha, and the tomb of their brother
Lazarus. Then, returning by the tombs of the prophets, and
133
134 BIBLE LANDS.
KKDUO.N VA1.JLKV.
Many visit the Holy Land with the evident intent of throw-
"1
ing discredit on every thing sacred. One author writes :
like to feel assured that all these localities are fabulous and
"
apocryphal ;
another facetiously remarks in reference to the
tombs of the patriarchs, "I don't know and don't care where
"
Jhey are buried ;
also in speaking of the place of our Saviour's
against the verity of these places. Not only the Bible, but all
near, the precise spot where they are pointed out. The identity
of the Coliseum at Rome, or the Parthenon at Athens, cannot
be more clearly established than that of the temple of Solo-
mon, the inn of Bethlehem, or the tomb of Christ.
this does not affect the truth, and we are not to reject the real
world was never to know where the great events of his history
transpired. But why? We see his foot-prints in creation,
miracles he wrought ;
the garden in which he was betrayed ;
physical, moral, and political changes, but they have not de-
Holy Land.
Facts are stubborn things to resist, and geographical facts
most stubborn of all ;
but there is no conflict here with Reve-
lation. The plains of Moreh and Mamre, where Abraham
first pitched his tent and erected his altar in the land of
and Moriah, Pisgah, Tabor, and Olivet still stand upon their
firm foundations, beautiful symbols of God's unchanging lova
visiting the places designated as such that you are not far from
the precise localities.
Any one visiting the Valley of the Dead Sea, though he had
never seen a Bible never heard of the overthrow of Sodom
and Gomorrah would be able to read the whole account of
God's terrible judgments which destroyed the cities of the
pure water from mountain springs twenty and forty miles dis-
would soon be persuaded that the high
tant, platform on which
he stood must at one time have been the site of some grand
temple of worship. And every reader of the Bible would be
convinced that the rock beneath the dome of the Mosque of
"
Omar could be none other than the threshing-floor of Arau-
nah," where Abraham built his altar for the sacrifice of hia
tion the fact that they are in exact accord with the Bible nar-
rative.
try. The natives still plow, sow, and reap as of old ; the soil
still retains its fertility; the streams still swarm with fish;
lilies still bloom in the valleys ;
birds still
lodge in the branches
BIBLE LANDS.
lished forever.
CHAPTER IV.
high God," and Solomon in after years erected the first tem-
ple ever built with hands for the worship of Jehovah, on the
identity as Moriah.
The predictions of Christ in regard to the Temple itself
other," all
THE (iUI.UKN
ever,on and around the mountain, traces left of the extent and
1
Matthew xxiv, 2.
HABAM LNCLOSURE. 147
enough for three men to walk abreast, cut through the hard
solid rock connecting the Temple with the Citadel on Mount
under the platform, great vaults and cisterns, secret doors and
Holy Sanctuary ;
and all the outer wall up to the present sur-
extent, and from fifty to one hundred and forty feet high, but
rock, but are anchored with lead and iron to the mountain it-
The stones are from ten to forty feet long, with a face
these ponderous blocks are cut and fitted with so much pre-
that the stones were all dressed before brought upon the ground ;
and under the city, just north of the temple inclosure, maj
Great, and the same as when Christ walked through its courts.
The site of the Lord's house was connected with Solomon's
by Dr. Robinson.
Near the center of the temple inclosure is a raised platform
five hundred and fifty by four hundred and fifty feet, and fif-
teen high, paved with marble, the slabs resting on the native
rock. This is considered holy ground, and all visitors are here
gold, lest the polluted hand of man should touch it. This rock,
known as the Sakhra, according to the Rabbinical writers is the
" Stone of Foundation " the first work of
creation, next the
" Stone
ages. From the Talmudic account we learn that the
from this rock steps led down to the floor of the Temple, which
seat, and the eastern door of the Mosque of Omar, and see a
four sons hid themselves from the angel of the Lord. Isaiah
"
appears to refer to this same stone in the passage, Behold, I
lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious
'
corner-stone." It is also figuratively applied to Christ, who is
" Rock "
of our salvation," and chief Corner-
represented as the
stone."
holy fire upon the altar, and the cloud of glory which filled
the house, rendered it an occasion never to be forgotten. This
hundred and twenty-four
splendid edifice, after standing four
years, was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and most of its wealth
carried with the Jews to Babylon. But no mention is made
of the Ark of the Covenant being taken, and many believe it
The ark was not in the second Temple, so could not have
been among the trophies carried to Rome, and in proof of this
it is not represented in the sculpture on the Arch of Titus with
quently spoken of as the same temple, and the holy place was
probably the same in both, as was also the magnificent Porch
of Solomon, overlooking the valley of Jehoshaphat.
After the conquest of the country by the Mohammedans, one
of thefirst acts of Calif Omar was to build a splendid
mosque,
known as the " Dome of the Rock," on the site of Jehovah's
Temple. This edifice, afterward beautified by Calif Abd el Mar-
wan, still crowns the summit of Moriali, and the place is re-
"
Solomon, or Mohammed, but the name of Jesus, the son of
Mary," is mentioned four times. Is this prophetic of it becom-
ing some day a Christian church ?
all the earth was the only living and true God worshiped
throughout long ages ! When . Greece was ignorant of God,
and Eome had "
changed the glory of the Incorruptible into
MOSQUE OF EL AKSA.
through long centuries the daily sacrifice was offered, and God
manifested himself to his people in the mysterious Shekinah
as nowhere else on the earth here first were sung those stir-
;
REFLECTIONS. 159
ed, feeling very comfortable over the matter. There was, how-
ever, a lady with me, and she must needs try and try she did, ;
but failed, and again and again she tried, and as often failed.
So we came away feeling quite sad, she at her failure, I at the
;
thonjjht of go ng to heaven without my wife.
CHAPTER V.
city."
When Constantine the Great embraced Christianity, feeling
moved to do something in honor of his divine Master, he caused
to be erected over the then supposed sites of our Lord's passion
age in the caves and rock-tombs along the Kedron ; there, how
11
164 BIBLE LANDS.
over, were many aged and sick and poor who remained in the
city. Eusebiufl says that not more than half the population left,
and most of those who left returned immediately after the siege
was raised but can
;
it be supposed that in this brief interval of
less than five months the place before all others dear to them
would be These points of sacred interest were
lost sight of ?
places, and when she reported to her son that the altar of Venus
still desecrated the site of the Holy Sepulcher, the Emperor at
day, and its very crypt is still used as a cistern by the Copts.
In this imperial order, which Eusebius has preserved, no doubt
is expressed touching the site ;
no search is to be made for the
tomb;
no inquiry instituted in reference to its identity that is
known and admitted by all and when the earth was removed
;
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHER. 165
floor, covered with a white marble slab. The door is not over
three feet high, so that a person looking in would have to
stoop in order to see where the body lay, agreeing in every par-
ticular with the narrative ; and there can be but little doubt that
this is the tomb in which the Lord Jesus Christ once lay.
year 350, speaks of the Sepulcher and rent rocks just as they
now All the fathers of the Church give the same
appear.
testimony, and it was not until the middle of the eighteenth
century that a doubt was even expressed touching the locality.
And why doubt the verity of this site ? Is there any thing im-
probable about it ? Any thing unworthy of credit in the uni-
versal belief of the Apostolic Church in reference to this spot I
About the only objection ever raised against the site is its
pound them, have selected a site and built a church within the
city to commemorate an event that transpired without the gates,
if they had not had the strongest reasons for so doing ? Or,
if a pious fraud had been intended, would they not have chosen
a site outside Then, what motive could the)- have
the walls ?
had who suffered persecution, torture, and even death for tho
truth, to practice such an imposition upon the Church and the
world ? Some have contended for the knoll over Jeremiah's
grotto, outside the present walls, near the Damascus gate, but
without a single argument to support their theory. The rocks
of this knoll all lie undisturbed in their natural beds, there
was a new tomb. In front of one the stone slab was still
lying that closed the door, showing that it had once been occu-
pied and probably opened at the time of Christ's resurrection,
and from the hollow sound when striking on the natural rock
floor, there are evidently other tombs below. Could these be
the graves from which the saints arose ? Some of these tombs,
s those back of the Holy Sepulcher, have long been known
as the graves of Nicodemus, Gamaliel, and Joseph, and one
under Calvary Adaml Those who may feel dis-
as that of
posed to smile at this last statement had better first account for
the tradition, which is older than our era, that Golgotha de-
rived its name from Adam's skull or tomb being there, and
"
that Christ, the second Adam, was to die and bring immor-
"
tality to light on the spot where the first Adam, who brought
death and ruin into our world, was buried; and the human
skull in all old paintings of the crucifixion is designed to
that this locality was outside of the city at the time of the
city, and that these old Jewish tombs must be prior to that
event: and also, that from the time of the construction of
Agrippa's wall A. D. 45, down to the building of the Church
of the Resurrection, the place, for some reason, must have been
carefully guarded, if not covered over with earth, or these
PILGRIMS VISITING THE TOMB. Iti9
vows and drop a upon the rock where, as they believe, the
tear
Ixxiy of Jesus once lay and we do not envy the man who can
:
170 BIBLE LANDS.
mark unmoved the zeal and love and faith, though mixed with
superstition, of these
devoted Christians. Some, when they
enter the rotunda, stand for hours gazing intently on the tomb,
TOMB OK AAHON.
CHAPTER VI.
^
ROYAL 8EPULCHER OF THE HOUSE OP DAVID.
Ancient Rock-hewn Tombs Old Jewish Tombs Natives Use them as Dwellings
Tombs of the Patriarchs, Prophets, Kings Sepuleher of David on Mount
Zion Tomb of Joshua St. Stephen Eudocia.
They are all as distinct from the Greek, Roman, and Christian,
bench along the end wall or side, on which the corpse was laid,,
as in the Holy Sepulcher. Sometimes this shelf, or loculus, was
cut out like a trough, of sufficient depth to receive the body,
which was then covered with a flat stone or marble slab. All
these tombs are anterior to our era. Some have Hebrew in.
>
During the spring rains a float in the vestibule cistern would remove a key that
held in position a circular stone that closed the entrance, which at once, of it*
own weight, would roll back, and the door open of its own accord.
ANCIENT JEWISH TOMBS. 175
dence, and when Israel's great king closed his eventful reign of
176 BIBLE ULKD&
century, and said to be the only edifice within the city not
destroyed by Titus. The foundations of the present building
are evidently of great antiquity, the beveled stones having
originally been laid without mortar, being held together with
stone knobs and sockets, and the old capitals on the pillars and
other fragments of sculpture are clearly of Jewish origin, having
on them the vine with foliage and clusters of grapes, so peculiar
to that people, with other marks of Jewish workmanship.
Over the reputed tomb on the second floor of this old Chris-
WX8T
178 BIBLE LANDS.
|
place early one morning during the Passover, and was sur-
enter the vault that contains the cenotaph of the royal prophet.
TOMB OF DAVID.
u O David
passage from the Koran, also embroidered in gold : !
were cased with blue encaustic tiling, and the vault lighted dimly
ago, in all probability the very door that leads to the royal
catacombs of the kings of Israel. Over this closed entrance
there an Arabic inscription to "the effect, " This
is is the gate
" the door to
to heaven," or paradise," but alas ! it is closed.
kings, and find there the golden harp on which David played
must wait
" own interpreter,
God is his
*
JEWISH ROCK-CUT TOMBS.
the children of Israel after they crossed the Jordan, and simi-
lar to those discovered at Gilgal, their first camping-place in the
Land of Promise.
about one hundred and fifty yards north of the- Damascus gate.
In digging a cistern at this point the workmen came upon sev-
this, if not on the very spot, once stood the grand Church of
St.Stephen, on the supposed site of that holy man's martyr-
dom, and as the beautiful and accomplished Empress Eudocia,
died and was buried here, may not this sarcophagus be the
tomb of the unfortunate wife of Theodosius II., if not that of
St. Stephen himself, who was re-interred here by that empress!
These tombs are every-where found. They cover the face
of the Holy Land. In them sleep the dust of the most eminent
men that ever lived; of whom, however, nothing more can
be known until the earth delivers up her dead.
CHAPTER VII.
EASTER FESTIVITIES.
ing Scenes.
tion, and all degrees of latitude and longitude, and all astro-
nomical calculations, were reckoned from this center. It was
also the great center of religious influence, and is still the moral
center, and ever be, round which the dearest hopes and
will
of these caravans is
quite exciting ; processions go out to meet
[ them, and with music, dancing, and waving banners, they are
183
184 BIBLE LANDS.
escorted into the Holy City. Those from Russia Mecca and
Persia attract the greatest attention.
As I write, a procession is
passing, with a man standing bare-
footed on the sharp edge of a sword. Of course there is some
deception ;
either the feet are well protected, or the sword not
yield.
The vessel used for the purpose was a basin of pure gold,
very large, and richly chased. AVhen this ceremony was con-
cluded Judas stealthily retired, and the Patriarch, with a bunch
of hyssop, sprinkled the vast assemblage with the water that
them. "When this service ended, a rush was made for the
it
destroyed and had Judas not escaped when he did, he too
;
multitude, who now made a rush for the entrance, all eager to
catch the first flame from the holy shrine. The excitement at
this moment was intense. AJ1 eyes were turned toward the
their frenzy set their beards on fire, others tore off their cloth-
dering ;
the neat and smoke, suffocating ;
and the whole effect
enly loaf !
Jerwnlah uffl, .
191
192 BIBLE LANDS.
the place that gave birth to the Saviour of mankind, what old
memories were awakened Here, on the plain of Rephaim,
!
RACHEL'S TOMB.
grave and yet the tomb of Rachel is still here by the way-side,
;
witness to the fact that in the grotto beneath its altar the " King
"
of kings was born, who brought " good tidings of great joy
1
Goneaia HIT, 19.
194 BIBLE LANDS.
to all people ;" and that also on this very Bite the inn of Beth
lehem once stood.
An eastern inn, or khan, never was a house of entertainment
in the sense that Americans understand a hotel to be.- Such
accommodations as provision, bed, and other comforts at an inn
are unknown in the Orient, and belong exclusively to western
ifthey found the khan full, would have to make their beds in
the manger with the horses and camels, as Joseph and Mary
were forced to These caravansaries, or inns, were some-
do.
they were also found along the great lines of travel. These
inns were considered sacred property. No invading army ever
disturbed them. Generally there was but one khan in a place,
and in a small town like Bethlehem there never could have
been but one. When once an inn was established, through the
order to celebrate the great event very near, if not on the very
spot, where Christ our Lord was born. The weather was mild,
and on the way we passed several shepherds with their flocks
of sheep and goats, among which we saw quite a number of
lambs and kids skipping among the rocks.
As eighteen centuries before, " there was no room in the inn,"
but by invitation of the Patriarch we stopped at the Armenian
Convent close by. Our party were the first Americans ever
entertained by the monks, and our ladies the first women ever
admitted into the convent. We were treated with great re-
sitting and sleeping on rich divans in the same city, and very
near the identical spot, where the infant Saviour once lay upon
the straw, detracted greatly from the enjoyment of the occasion.
are kept continually burning, like vestal fires, over the silver
star that marks the supposed spot where the Prince was born,
" whose
to kingdom there shall be no end."
Many other events associated with Bethlehem add greatly to
the interest of the place, especially the life and labors of that
eminent Christian man, St. Jerome, one of the most learned
and devout fathers of the Church, who, wishing to get as near
as possible to the fountain of truth, here secluded himself from
the world and performed the immortal service of translating
the Scriptures from the original text into the Latin, thus giving
to our world a correct version of the Bible.
The little cell, cut out of the solid rock, where this good man
lived and wrote with the trump of God sounding in his ears,
may still be seen. Here he died and was buried, and here he
awaits the call of the last trump to a new and endless life.
What
hallowed memories this place awakens What influ I
ences have gone out from this center! What hopes cluster
around it Blot out the associations of Bethlehem and you
1
ings on the walls give, in part, the details of his eventful life.
birth ;
on the other side his tragic death ;
and in the center,
His great mission was to prepare the nation for the coming
of the Messiah. His dress was, like that of the old prophets,
raiment, God was preparing this remarkable man for his great
WILDERNESS OF JUDEA.
work, and when his voice was heard in the wilderness, crying,
"Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" so in-
John the Baptist, was the fruit of the carob-tree, and the dibs,
or honey extracted therefrom. The popular name for thi
" the
tree in Palestine is locust," and the fruit is known every-
where as the "bread of St. John." In Arabic it is called
cArob, from the horn-like shape of its pods or fruit, which are
considered very wholesome, and are always found in the
markets among the other fruits of the land. These pods are
sometimes called " husks," and without doubt are the husks the
"
locusts," or the fruit of the carob. A grove of these trees i*
which Israel supplied the market of Tyre, and that Jacob sent
as a present toJoseph in Egypt. It has the appearance of
granulated honey, is often used instead of sugar, and is com-
"
monly known as wild honey." As John was an austere man,
this, more than was the honey he used, bee-honey being
likely,
considered a great delicacy and only eaten by the rich. It is
also more than probable that the locusts he ate were not the
mostly dry, both within and without the walls, the principal
supply of water must always have been from a distance. Traces
may still be seen of five broken aqueducts from ten to thirty
1
Isaiah viii, 0.
'.' 'L
POOLS OF SOLOMON. 203
miles long entering the city from the south, three of which
connected these ancient reservoirs with the Pools of Solomon.
These famous pools are situated among the mountains near
the head ofWady Urtas, three miles south of Bethlehem, and
drain at least sixty square miles of surface. There are three
basins of massive masonry in good preservation, measuring in
the aggregate one thousand three hundred and eighty five feet
long, by two hundred and thirty-six wide, and about forty feet
deep.
SOLOMON'S POOLS.
SEALED KOr.NTAI.V
ground into each other, and the whole tube imbedded in rub-
ble-work and coated with cement mixed with oil, rendering
it both air and water-tight. Openings were left on the high-
est points to relieve the pressure when too great. Altogether
it is a most wonderful piece of workmanship, reflecting great
It was also here in this once lovely valley, jugt below the
ing ;
here he planted vineyards and gardens and orchards of
all kinds of fruit, and yielded to the gratification of every
desire of his heart, "that he might see what was good for the
sons of men." The Valley of Etam now Urtas is still
here,
well watered, and one of the richest in Palestine. A few
garden patches along it are still under cultivation, and the
remains of ancient buildings may still be seen here and there ;
1
Eccleaiantea i, 14
206 BIBLE LANDS.
this neighborhood.
On our way to this romantic spot we did not follow the val-
ley, but rode over the hills once the favorite resort of David
when in charge of his father's flocks, passing many shepherds
with their sheep and goats, some of them mere lads with their
worship of God.
The cave is in the north face of a precipitous mountain, and
person at a time
however, once
; within, ample room is found
for double the number that at any one time were with David
grottoes where a man could easily conceal himself, and cut off
cilii and cxllll were probably written in this care. bdnr "the cmrer of
Darid when in the cave."
CAVE OF ADULLAM. 207
fifty feet
from the main entrance you come to a grand hall over
one hundred feet long by perhaps fifty feet wide and thirty feet
these passage ways, through which you must crawl like a serpent
in the dust, with torch in hand, and almost suffocated from the
heat and smoke, brings you to a room with an opening in the
808 BIBLE LANDS.
floordown which yon drop abont ten feet into another large hall,
with something like a cistern in the center, now filled up with
the bones of different animals. May not this have been " the
" *
hold of Israel's anointed king referred to by David I Other
galleries lead from
apartment to halls still more remote,
this
David, also, must have been familiar with every spot in this
wild region, as it was here he smote " the lion and the bear "
when he kept his father's " few sheep in the wilderness ; " and
he would naturally seek refuge in some favorite haunt among
" the rocks of the wild where his of the coun-
goats," knowledge
try would add greatly to his security.
the text to warrant the location of the oave near the city of that
ren and all his father's house," who lived at Bethlehem, heard
that he was in the Cave of Adullam, " they went down thither
*
to him," which could not truthfully be said of any cave west of
forty miles there and back, would have been through the ene-
my's country. From the whole narrative it appears that Adul-
lam was a large natural cave below Bethlehem, in the wilder-
ness of Judea. So the small artificial caves near some ruing,
ing the hour when all who sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake to life again.
cisely with this site. The cone rises from a high plateau, and
itsupper section, of perhaps one hundred and fifty feet, ap-
pears to be artificial, the ascent to which was by marble stair
a
1
The sycamore tree of Palestine bean a fruit called by the natires wild fig*.
*
Amos Til, 14.
FRANK MOUNTAIN, OB HEBODIUM. 211
forty feet in diameter, beneath which are vaults and other sub-
terranean works. At the base of the hill are extensive ruins of
ming bath. These are, without doubt, the ruins of the once
magnificent palace and tomb of Herod the Great.
But little is known of the ancestry of the Herodian family.
From the most reliable authority their origin was very obscure,
Herod I., being the son of a slave taken
Antipater, the father of
Ascalon by Idumean robbers. At least the family
prisoner at
came from Idumea, and were Jews only by conquest and
adoption. Herod the Great, when quite young, was made
governor of Galilee under Julius Caesar, and afterward ap-
pointed king of Judea by Marc Antony B.C. 40.
Though cruel and bitter toward his enemies, he was a mac
of great energy and foresight, and did more for the develop-
also, has long since fallen to pieces. Of all his public works
not a city, fortress, or palace remains to perpetuate his name.
destroy still lives, and reigns, and shall forever live and reign,
for of " hi* kingdom there shall be no end."
CHAPTER X.
Egypt," the Tanis of the Greeks. Zoan has been in ruins for
changes of a city, still astir with life, that must have been
Egypt. Here he abode for many years, here Isaac also lived,
and here Sarah died.
The were enough to inspire the
associations of the place
that he, after the conquest of the country, when tendered the
first choice of the whole land, selected this, the roughest por-
an inheritance for himself and family.
tion, as
About one mile up the Valley of Eshcol, north of Hebron,
and the only point in the neighborhood that overlooks the
Valley of the Dead Sea, or from which the smoke of burning
Sodom could be seen, is the plain, or more properly the
Mamre, only another name for Hebron, the
grove, of first
per-
manent home of the patriarchs in Canaan.
Near the foundations of some very old buildings may still
be seen the grand old " Oak of Abraham ;" not a terebinth, but
a sturdy, evergreen oak, with broad-spreading branches ;
a beau-
spotless life, after the lapse of ages, is still fresh and green in
the memory of the Church. The tree will girt over twenty
ABRAHAM'S OAK. 215
feet, is very much like the oaks on Carmel and in the forests
of Bashan, and if not the identical one under which the Jews
were sold by their Roman conquerors after the fall of Bether,
it certainly marks the spot, and is a descendant of the famous
grove in which Abraham and Sarah pitched their tent nearly
OAK OF ABRAHAM.
pointed out, within the walls of the great mosque, which the
216 BIBLE LANDS.
else, and are the most conspicuous objects in the city. They
are about seven hundred feet in circuit, ornamented with pilas-
ters capitals, and of great strength
without agreeing in every-
;
case leads from here down to the tombs, but is no longer used.
All the natural features of this locality, together with the
21 S BIBLE LANDS.
shade to the angels who honored him with their visit. Down
the valley yonder winds the path along which Joseph, the
ft
family tomb on the occasion of Sarah's death, she being the
first occupy it then Abraham himself was buried there,
to ;
* good old age, Isaac was gathered unto his people, and buried
there with his parents ; and after him Rebekah and Leah were
laid in the shades of this same tomb. The last solemn service
of this character performed here excelled all others in magni
tude and pomp. Jacob had gone down to Egypt and become
TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS. 22}
tion, the highest honors were paid Israel, his body was em-
WELL OF ABRAHAM.
tion of the cities of the plain. was here he " planted a grove,"
It
and dug the celebrated well that still bears his name. This well
IB over twelve feet in diameter and not less tnan
fifty feet deep,
mostly hewn out of the solid rock, with many deep grooves in
its
coping, worn by the friction of the ropes in drawing water
through so many centuries. There are other wells and cisterns
in the vicinity, but the two principal ones, supposed to be the
ing their flocks and herds out of the old stone troughs that
stand around these ancient wells, antique enough in appearance
Kitlnct BMW Early Settlers Canaanites Her Royal Cities 8it of Gmih,
Oaxa, Askelon, Ekron, Ashdod Fulfillment of Prophecy Scene of 8amon'i
Exploits Slaughter of the Philistines Pulls Down the House of Dagon
Our Adventures hi this Land.
natural fertility is
unsurpassed ; but the powerful nation that
once occupied it has long since become extinct
The early settlers of Philistia, as the name imports, were
strangers or foreigners, whose origin is involved in much ob-
"
scurity. When Abraham first pitched his tent in the south
The country, however, did not derive its name from its natural
cating with them as with the Egyptians and all the names and ;
" '
to the
the land of Israel and were always a great scourge
;
the whole land. During the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jewish wars,
the country was frequently overrun by hostile armies, until the
nation fell under Roman and was despoiled by the Caesars
rule
they made frequent incursions into the land of Israel, and it was
not until after David's successful encounter with their champion,
royal cities. The site is about ten miles east of Ashdod, be-
tween Shoco and Ekron, and agrees exactly with the locality a*
HEB BOYAL CITIK8 OATH AND GAZA. 227
own people.
Gaza was situated near the sea on the southern border of
Philistia. It is mentioned among the first cities built after the
RUINS OF A.SK.ELON.
deep well and some fragments of broken columns are about all
the royal cities, and where Dagon fell down before the ark of
the Lord. A
few sculptured stones and mud hovels, surrounded
by the richest farming lands, and in the midst of beautiful
groves of olives, figs, and pomegranates, mark the site of the
renowned city that withstood for twenty-nine years the whole
they shall drive out Ashdod at the noonday, and Ekron shall
be rooted up. "Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast the
land of the Philistines; I will even destroy thee, that there
l
hall be no inhabitant."
On a high conical hill overlooking the whole plain of Philis-
village, round which some ruins may still be seen, mark the
hair, but, having now broken his vow as a Nazarite, he lost the
favor of God.
Samson's first was when he tore to pieces the young
exploit
lion that roared against him on his way to Timnath, where he
married his first wife a village of the Pliilistines, now in
1 *
Judges X!T, 14. Judges xv, 14-19.
EXPLOITS OF SAMSON. 231
therein, so the dead which he slew at his death were more than
they which he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all
the house of his father came down, and took him and brought
him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the
'
burying-place of Manoah his father."
lighted, thinking, of course, it was our camp fire, but soon dis-
Plain of Sharon Cseearea Athlit Grand Buina Haifa German Colony Aera,
or Ancient Aocho Napoleon's First Repulse Pasha El Jeuar Tyre and
Sidon Hiram's Tomb Interesting Discovery.
land. The distance by the coast is about fifty miles, and along
the whole route are to be found the ruins of many cities whose
histories have been lost in the general desolation of the coun-
ing situated on a low, rocky point projecting into the sea, and
forming a safe harbor for the knights of the cross. The walli
from eight to twenty feet thick, and in places
of the castle are
subject.
We have no reliable history of this ruin beyond the Cru-
ades;
but from the character of portions of the work, the
rock-hewn tombs in the vicinity, old coins and other antiques
found on the spot, it must belong to a much earlier period,
paved road may still be traced, leading from Athlit over Car-
mel to the cities of Galilee.
On the plain near Haifa, and under the shadow of Jebel Mar
Elyas, is the new German colony, which promises to work
great changes in this land. It is a religious movement for the
colonization of Palestine, first organized half a century ago
vouring their crops. The reaper does the work in four hours
of sixty men in a whole day. The natives, however, think it
and cuts the corners of the fields, which the Koran prohibits.
The threshing-machine does the work of one hundred oxen,
and does it much better and cheaper. The Mohammedans call
it the " Christian Thresher," and think it a wonderful inven-
tion.
who here " dipped his foot in oil," but was never able to drive
oat the original inhabitants. The Plains of Acre and Esdra-
elon are connected by the Kishon Valley, and with the Jordan
Valley by the Plain of JezreeL If a railroad should ever be
bnilt from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, this will
up the Valley of the Jabbok, the old caravan trail from the East.
There is no mountain to cross in the whole distance, and it fur-
nishes a better supply of water and timber than any other route.
During my visit to this place I saw a man who had all his
fingers, toes, and part of his tongue cut off. by order of a former
Pasha. These abuses, I am happy to say, are being rapidly
corrected in Turkey.
THE TOMB OP EL JEZZAE. 241
capitals. A
colonnade incloses the garden on three sides, all
the columns of which are from older buildings, and scarcely
two alike granite, marble, porphyry, of every size, color, and
quality, some of exquisite workmanship. The
paved court is
flowing fountains cool the air ; cozy arbors with soft divans in-
vite repose,and the whole, gladdened by the sweet notes of
many songsters, and redolent of the orange, jasmine, and other
blooming plants, make up a luxurious pleasure-ground such as
cult pass, beyond which the Israelites were never able to extend
their conquests.
1HKA.M S TOMB.
inus, when Bishop of Tyre, and for which Eusebius wrote the
'dedicatory sermon. The great Origen and many of the fathers
and early bishops were buried here. And, what is very remark-
able, not only their graves and bodies were found with the re-
covery of this old church, but their vestments, jewels, and robes
of office, in almost perfect preservation. This discovery is
pagan and Christian temples, with here and there the fisher-
man's hut, who now spreads his nets upon the broken walls
and fallen towers of Pho3nicia's once proud capital, literally
" Therefore thus saith the
fulfilling the
prophecy of Ezekiel,
Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will
cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth
hiswaves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls pf
Tyrus, and break down her towers : . . . and they shall lay
thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the
water. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease ;
and
the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will
make thee like the top of a rock thou shalt be a place to spread
:
nets upon ;
thou filial t be built no more : for I the Lord have
'
Convent of Mar Elyas Cave of Elijah Grotto of the Sons of the Prophets
here and there a cultivated patch, and a few large trees, the
of Acre on the north and Sharon to the south. The ridge con-
tinues to rise as it recedes from the sea, until it attains its great
1
Song of Solomon vii, 5.
244
CONVENT OF MAR ELY AS. 245
CONVENT ON CAUMKL.
under the altar of the convent chapel, and is the principal object
of interest. These monks claim Elijah as their founder, and
age to raise their own tobacco and make their own wine. We
spent a few days with them, but were not favorably impressed
with monastic life. At sunset the massive gates were closed,
and strong bars and bolts secured every portal of the fortress-
246 BIBLE LANDS.
like convent. At the call of the vesper bell all collected in the
but improve his talents. If one has the privilege of thus se-
feet longby twenty-five wide, and twenty feet high, where, ac-
cording to tradition, Obadiah concealed and fed the prophets
of the Lord during the long famine in Samaria. There is a
deep niche facing the entrance, and a large recess on the east
side, with seats cut in the rock along the west side and south
end. It is a natural cave artificially enlarged, and bears the
marks of great antiquity. Many curious designs and inscrip-
MTJKJTRAKAH THE PLACE OF SACRIFICE. 247
tions are cut on the wall, some in old Phoenician and Greek,
ing ;
and it is
just such an eminence as the followers of Baal
would select for their worship. Some old foundations, a large
open cistern, with many dressed stones lying round, would in-
dicate that some kind of a temple had once crowned its crest
On the summit, where the Tishbite's altar is supposed to have
stood, the native rock crops out, forming a natural platform
which can be seen from almost every point on the mountain and
terrace below. The locality, the name, and all the surround-
ings, favor the supposition that this is the identical spot where
it was demonstrated by fire from heaven that there wae still a
God in Israel.
The view from this point is very grand. On the west and
south all the plain of Sharon, and the sea-coast for fifty miles,
can be seen ;
to the north the verdant mountains of Galilee,
granary of Palestine, yellow with its rich harvest ripe for the
thousand feet below, and can easily be ascended from all sides.
In a depression on the north side, about one third down, is a
versy was settled as to who was the true and only God. How
noble the conduct of Elijah on that occasion !
Though he stood
alone, confronted by eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal,
his faith did not stagger for a moment. Fearlessly he reproved
"THE LORD, HE IS THE GOD I
" 251
buried their faces in the dust then, with one voice, exclaimed,
;
" The
Lord, he is the God The Lord, he is the God "
! !
'
himself down before the great rain storm broke upon the
mountain. It is clear to my mind that Ahab at this time wai
some distance above Elijah and this agrees with the whole
;
hill and dale and plain in the spring-time, covered with wild
flowers ;
and the mind is kept constantly excited by the sacred
much maternal tenderness the dead bodies of her two sons, from
1
"the beginning of the barley harvest," about the month of
ber. In the Orient they bury the dead very shallow, and thii
devoted mother during all that time watched the graves of her
children, keeping off the vultures by day and the jackals and
understand not only the royal city of Saul, but the district of
which it was the capital. This will harmonize the* passage!
" Gibeah in the '
that refer to field," and Saul's abode being
" in the uttermost "*
part of Gibeah under a pomegranate-tree ;
" *
and of his coming out of the field with the herd," to meet
the messengers from Jabesh. It was also here that the shock-
and it was here, in after centuries, the ark of the covenant wai
1 *
i Samuel xxi, 10. Judge* xx, 81. 1 Samuel xlr, ft.
4
1 Samuel xi, 6. OenesU xii, 8.
256 2IBLE LANDS.
old mile-stones are yet standing and others lying by the way.
The supposed site of Jacob's vision is marked by the mina
of a square tower half a mile to the east of the modern village;
and as we rode up to the place an Arab, wrapped in his aba,
or cloak, lay fast asleep by the way-side, with a large stone for
his pillow, recalling the old patriarch,
who, long centuries be-
fore, had slept in the same manner, and very near the same
spot, on his way to Padan-aram. This custom of using stones
for pillows prevails through Palestine, the thick turbans
all
all the kings and queens of England, since the days of Ed-
ward III. down to Victoria, have been crowned, and many
superstitions people think that so long as England retains
eye the traditional site of Zoar, near the southern end of the
Dead Sea, thus removing at least all topographical objections
to the location of the
" little
city,"
On a lower spur of mountain range, and just below where
this
rod where Achan's sin brought defeat and disgrace upon the
1
and houses of ivory " inlaid with ivory making it the seat
"
letter ;
for all that remains of this memorable place are a few
hovels and a large ancient reservoir fed by a living spring, to
which the village maidens may be seen coming with their
water pitchers as of old, but entirely ignorant of the history of
the place, and indifferent toits sacred associations.
supposed to mark the spot where the tabernacle was first set
up after the conquest of Canaan, and where Eli officiated as
Promise. The well is one hundred and five feet deep, cut
tlirough the solid rock, and without doubt is the same on the
curb of which the Saviour of our world, weary and faint, rested
in the heat of the day, when he delivered his memorable die
'
and we have in the topography of this locality a won-
rael,"
derful corroboration of the inspired narrative. Here are two
vast amphitheaters facing each other, and forming a natural
where a man reading with a clear voice could
whisper-gallery,
be heard distinctly by a million persons showing that there ;
the Son of God on earth. What memories the name of " Jesus
of Nazareth " awaken 1
Among these hills Christ spent his
childhood ;
on he must have gazed at the fount-
this landscape ;
tin' ret;
here he labored for his daily bread here he was trained
;
NAZARETH.
distance wide, and lies six hundred and fifty feet below the
level of the ocean. It still abounds with fish, and it* shor.es are
BIBLE LAND8.
covered with small shells, and bordered with oleanders and other
along the pebbly beach, bathe in the limpid waters, and be lulled
to rest at night by the rippling waves of the Sea of Galilee 1
Or, after a morning walk on its shores, or a sail over its glassy
surface, make your breakfast on fish taken from the same lake
where the disciples toiled all night and caught nothing I
About four miles north of Tiberias is the village of Magdala,
the native town of Mary Magdalene ; and two miles west of
destroyed.
Magdala is on the southern edge of the rich Plain of Gen-
nesareth, that here puts into the sea. On the northern side of
this pkin, which is about three miles wide, is Khan Minyeh,
near the large spring of Ain et Tin, which is evidently the
fountain of Capernaum mentioned by Josephus as on this plain ;
and the ruins on a low mound a short distance south of the
khAn and fountain in all probability mark the site of Caper-
" "
naum, the adopted city of Jesus. This is on the great Da-
mascus road, in a well-watered, fertile plain ;
and if Capernaun
"
was " upon the sea-coast in " the land of Gennesareth,^ &
HKKOO DESTROYING THX ROBBKRS.
SITE OF CAPERNAUM. 267
Matthew affirms, it must have been here, and could not have
been at Tel Hum. Quaresmins states positively that it was by
this kli&n. Dr. Robinson also locates it here, and the Pales-
tine Exploration Society have lately found the very name, pre-
served by the natives and applied to these ruins, which are not
Khan of Joseph said to inclose the pit into which Joseph was
thrown by his brethren, though we think Dothan has stronger
shore of the lake, hugging closely the rocky hills to avoid the
spring, and shading with its broad branches the portal of the
river of God. Here stood ancient Dan, the most northern
city in Palestine proper ;
here Jeroboam built his temple and
set up his golden calf, and it was here Abraham, centuries
before, rescued his nephew Lot and defeated the Mesopotamian
kings on their retreat from the Jordan valley.
Our ride from Dan to Banias, or Csesarea Philippi, the other
source of the Jordan, where we encamped
for the night, lay
a
through lovely district, shaded with terebinths and the " oaks
of Baahan." As we were riding along, admiring the beautiful
1
Joehna Yi, 6.
ANCIENT DAN. 271
SWIJT DKOMKDAUY.
dan issues from the mountain, and during the night we were
much disturbed by the jackals and other wild beasts that kept
howling round our camp. Mr. Holman Hunt, the eminent
artist, encamped one night in this same grove, and, being dis-
CJiSAREA PH1LIPPI.
stone of our Zion, and said to his disciples, " Upon this rock
I will build my Church ;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail
'
the close of the third century, says that the afflicted woman
who had vainly " spent all her living on physicians," and who
was healed by merely touching the border of Christ's garment,*
was a native of this place that her house was still standing in
;
* *
1
Matthew zri, 18 Lake riii, 48. Euebltu, book ri, chapter 18.
274 BIBLE LANDS.
1
Antiquities, xv, 10 ;
Jewish Wars, i,
21.
MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION. 276
month, and the leaves of the trees are still used "for the
CASTLE SrilKIBKH.
but here met with a high precipice over which it was impossi-
ble to go. The day was intensely hot, the reflection of the
sun on the snow blistering our faces. In one place we came
now two o'clock in the afternoon, and we were five hours from
our camping-ground. Something must be done, or the party
perish. At last we made a detour to the right down the
the
U AlKH-\\ JIKKL,
CHAPTER XV.
DOWN TO JBBIOHO.
"
li T\OWN to Jericho from Jerusalem, is a trip taken by al
perhaps sixteen miles, and the descent near four thousand feet,
Jericho being about one thousand feet below the ocean level.
The road lies through the ""Wilderness of Judea," and the
journey is still full of perils, from the roughness of the way
and the wild Arabs every-where to be seen skulking among the
"
the red, or bloody
for bloody deeds. St. Jerome calls it
its
way," and a deep ravine through which the road winds is still
"
known as the Murderer's Glen." Here Sir Frederick Hen-
niker, a few years since, was stripped and dead by the
left for
was
roadside; and still later, Dr. Leyburn, of Baltimore, Md.,
robbed by the Bedouins, who to the present infest this lonely
uncultivated It was to pilgrims going over this
region. protect
280 BIBLE LANDS.
the guilty " Cities of the Plain," with a sleepy haze floating
way, and by the side of which poor Bartinieus sat when the
Light of the world passed before him and dispelled the dark-
1
ness forever from his sightless eyes.
our tents pitched on the banks of the " brook Cherith," where
ley like that through which this renowned river winds its tor-
1
Mark i , 46.
282 BIBLE LANDS.
"
tuonfl way, from itsmysterious BOUT ooth the base of Her-
The entire length of this Ghor does not exceed one hundred
miles in a direct line, and yet in that short distance we have
every variety of climate and production found between Green-
land and the equator. Standing on the Plain of Jericho, you
can see to the north mountains covered with snow the year
round ;
and to the south, fields growing every plant and fruit
of the tropics.
The Jordan, that waters this valley, is very rapid, having a
descent of over three thousand feet from the springs of Ilasbeiya,
its remotest source, to where it empties into the Salt Sea.
And this river is so rapid, its course is almost one continuous
cataract, and so crooked and broken by these numerous falls as
to render it useless for commercial purposes. No vessels have
ever navigated its waters, and not a city has ever flourished on
its banks. A strange river, with a strange history.
As a winter resort, I know of no place more inviting than
the valley of the lower Jordan. Here we enjoy a salubrious
of Dr. Watts,
" Sweet fields beyond the i well ing flood
Stand dressed in living green,"
BITE OF GELGAI* 283
the Plain of Jericho the sun was brightly shining the valley
of the Jordan, like a zone of light, separating the combating
elements on either side.
"
Captain of the Lord's host appeared to Joshua, and the twelve
memorial stones were set up by the children of Israel in com-
memoration of their safe passage of the Jordan. Here they
kept the Passover, and pitched the tabernacle for the first time
In the Land of Promise. Here the manna ceased, and for the
284 BIBLE LANDS.
firsttime they ate of the corn and fruit of the land they were
henceforth to possess. Here, also, the male children born dur-
im* their wanderings in the wilderness were circumcised, and
ii. confirmation of
the identity of the place, some of the fliut-
FLIST KNIVES.
spot, and in the early dawn, by the light of the moon and
SITE OF ANCIENT JERICHO. 287
Jericho the famous " City of Palm-trees" the first city taken
" The Fountain of
by Joshua in the conquest of the country.
Elisha," a magnificent spring gushing from beneath a partly
288 BIBLE LAJTD8.
any kind marks the spot. Occasionally a few gypsy tents may
be seen among the ruins, but, owing to the curse pronounced
brass ;
that it was inhabited by infidels and surrounded by
seven walls. Imam Aly made war against the infidels, and,
mounting his horse, Meimoun, rode around the city seven times.
QUARAOTANIA. 289
and blew down the walk with a blast of his horn, the rampart*
where " the sons of the prophets " are supposed to have stood
when they beheld Elijah go up in the whirlwind to heaven.
The Jericho of Christ's day, and where Herod the Great died,
was about one and a half miles south of this. Nothing, how-
ever,remains of this once opulent city except a large reservoir,
tion in their walks from the sun and rain. At the southern
end of this ledge we came to a largecavrn communicating with
a chapel and several small grottoes. The chapel had been
frescoed, after the Byzantine style, the coloring in places still
1
Hebrews xi, 88.
MOUNT OF TEMPTATION. 291
to be favorite subjects ;
but we could see no trace of the Yirgin
and Child. The most curious fresco was a representation of the
make any thing intelligible out of them. There were still othei
way, or we had lost our balance, or had our feet slipped but
an inch, instant death would have followed.
The cells in this upper tier were generally hewn out of the
rock, somenicely vaulted, with recesses for sleeping, and cis-
terns to catch the rain- water as it dripped from the cliffs above
Christ sat, and where the old monks could sit far up on the
mountain side, and enjoy a grand view of the Plain of Jericho
and the Valley of the Jordan, with Pisgah and the Mountains
of Moab beyond. Most of the caves have a little window in
front to admit light and air ;
and among these pious anchorite*
a beautiful custom prevailed of putting a light in these windows
*t night, so that the whole mountain seemed illuminated with
vestal lamps, as the hermits sat in the doors of their cells sing
ing their vesper hymns.
The ascent to these upper grottoes is now so hazardous few
persons will make
the attempt, as it can only be accomplished
great depth, the paths that once led tothem having been either
filled up with rubbish or washed away by the storms of many
centuries.
One feels very solemn visiting this retreat of the early Chria
tians,and abode of those good though mistaken men, who,
through a sense of duty, renounced the world and withdrew
from all
might comnmne more closely with
society, that they
God. In some of the cells human skeletons were found, with
little earthen lamps by their side, that had expired with their
lives,showing that the old hermits died where they lived, and
were buried where they died. There are many of these sepul-
chral vaults containing the bones or dust of those who had
security of life and property under Turkish rule, they are now
hiding-places forBedouin robbers, or dens for wild beasts, and
in some of them bones of camels, hyenas, and other animals,
may be found to the depth of several feet ; fully explaining
the formation of the old bone caverns without disturbing the
Lrvert Sheet of Water on oar Globe Mountain* of Pare Salt Lot's Wife De-
traction of the Cities of the Plain Site of Sodom and Gomorrah Identity
of Zoar Singular Phenomenon Nature's Sanitarium.
along the shore the whole distance, making the journey, in-
thirteen hundred and twenty feet lower than the ocean level ;
and its greatest depth of water thirteen hundred and ten feet,
thus precluding the possibility of it ever having had any con-
nection through the Arabah with the Red Sea. Then, there is
water in this sea ; and a vessel which would float with ease here
would sink instantly in the Atlantic or any other ocean. Of
course, no can live in such a briny deep. Those carried
fish
any vegetable life along its shores but up the valleys down
;
these groves of palm, juniper, and oleander, you will find bird*
of every hue and song. Several of these fresh-water stream*
arid " desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose." Nothing could
" The
surpass the productiveness of Safieh," as this district if
called ; a rich, well- watered valley, " even as the garden of the
Lord," about six miles long from north to south, and two wide.
In this oasis the osher-tree, or apple of Sodom, acacia, camphor,
nothing save a few small seeds and thin silky fibers, the latter
very combustible, which the Arabs, not having matches, use as
tinder, with their steel and flint, in firing their matchlocks and
ever on the lookout for victims, and ready for the perpetration
of any crime. Our adventures among these miserable wretches
were too horrible to relate.
ting fire when struck, and an odor very much like a Lucifer
match. Slime-pits and sulphur springs are found along th?
LOT'S WIFE. 297
shore, and between the head of the sea and Jericho hills of
almost pure sulphur ; also gypsum, asphaltum, and black bitu-
minous blocks, mixed with gravel and sulphur, strew the beach,
thrown together by some great convulsion, and pure bitu-
as if
they break upon the shore throw a sepulcliral light upon the
rocks that wall in this dismal gulf reminding one of the
" lake of
fire," and may have suggested this imagery to the
Apostle John.
Jebel Usdum, or mountain of Sodom, at the south-west end, is
a ridge of almost pure rock-salt, extending for about five miles
along the shore, and rising perhaps two hundred and fifty feet
above the sea. There are many deep clefts in the range, leaving
detached portions of salt standing like pillars in every fantastic
shape, some of them at least one hundred feet high, any one
"
of which would answer very well for " Lot's wife ; one in par
298 BIBLE LAJTD3.
ain salt !
During heavy rains a stream of briny water run*
through this cavern to the sea, only a few rods distant. Thia
same rock formation, to all appearance the same vein of salt,
crops out of the mountain east of the sea between the Fortress
of Machserus and the Hot Springs of Callirrhoe, a fact, we
believe, never before noticed.
The precise location of the Cities of the Plain will probably
never be known. If not submerged, they are buried many feet
beneath the soft marl constantly washing down from the sur-
rounding hills and filling up the valley. The opinion has long
obtained that Sodom was situated on the great salt plain at the
base of Jebel Usdum, south of the sea. Recently some re-
north of Ain Feshkah, near the northern end of the sea, and
and nine inches thick. Rough upright stones mark the head
and feet, and the surface of the graves is rudely paved with the
same material. No inscription or device has yet been found to
indicate the race or age to which these tombs belong, and all
that has been written on the identity of this place with Gomor-
rah is hypothetical Of the other cities destroyed, Adinah and
hundred and fifty feet above the water, extensive ruins that
" "
have long been regarded as the remains of the little city to
which Lot escaped when driven from Sodom. Zoar was made
an Episcopal See at an early period, and its Bishop was present
and took an active part in the Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451.
Being in the province of Kerak and Ar, it must have been south
of the Arnon. It was also one of the five Cities of the Plain ;
so could not have been where Dr. Tristram locates it, on the
western slope of Pisgah, several thousand feet above the plain.
Lot was permitted to enter this city because the mountain wai
him to reach. Why, then, locate it on the mount-
too distant for
of the river Arnon, but somewhere very near the site we have
named. We might also add, this situation can be distinctly
seen from the mountain east of Bethel, where Lot and his
uncle Abraham parted. Back of these ruins the mountain
rises abruptly, and there are numerous caves among the rocks,
as to the other cities, we are fully convinced, after the most thor-
niter thrown out by the eruption would transform the rich vale
of Siddim into the present alkali desert, and the fresh water
lake into this briny sea. It also appears, as before stated, that
that it
appears to be subsiding or
growing every year. less The
water lines on the beach, of which there are three distinct levels,
ing lower, and the sea becoming deeper. When Lieut. Lynch
made his survey in 1848, there were but three fathoms at the
ford opposite the Lisaii, and many old Arabs say they could
easily ride across on their camels when they were boys. Now
there is not less than thirty or forty feet of water at the lowest
point where once it was fordable, and yet the shore line is
lower than it was then. At another place a portion that was
low portion at the lower end into the almost fathomless depth*
farther north. This, however, would not explain the settling
of the surface, which perhaps could be accounted for by
increased evaporation.
The Bedouins call this lake, Bahr Lut the " Sea of Lot"-
and all traditions among these tribes touching this locality,
together with the sea and all its surroundings, fully coiroborate
OOBBOBOBATION OF SCBIFTUKB. 303
The waters of the sea have not that dull, leaden appearance
described by some travelers, but are as clear as Lake George,
sometimes of a greenish tint, and often look as blue as the
Last Stronghold of the Jews Great Strength of the Fortress Tragic End of tht
Garrison The Silence of Death Engedi Cliff of Zix Bock* of the Wild
GoaU Burning Buah Stones of Witness,
-L
along the western shores of the Dead Sea, and overlooking
a scene of natural desolation nneqnaled on the globe, is the re-
nowned fortress of Masada, the last stronghold taken by the
Romans in the conquest of Palestine.
ly true ;
the rock rising almost perpendicularly one thousand
two hundred and fifty feet above the sea, and separated from
the mountain range by deep chasms apparently impassable. A
round tower with double walls, and other extensive ruins on a
"
richly garnished palace of Herod, where his wife, the queenly
and matchless Mariamne, was cruelly imprisoned before her
death, are entirely inaccessible, the secret passage from the
front, over which we easily passed, and soon gained the es-
ence.
Palestine, with the Jordan Valley to the north, and the great
Salt Plain to the south, were spread out before us. The breast-
works and other fortifications constructed by the Romans when
they laid siege to this stronghold, nearly two thousand years
ago, may still be distinctly traced on the plain below and up
the mountain side, in some instances looking as if vacated but
yesterday.
Of Masada little remains. There was only one gate-way to
the fortress, which still stands almost perfect, the enemy hav-
and towers on the summit have all been toppled over. The
ruin of a synagogue, with tessellated floors, near the center of
along the face with loop-holes for the archers. "We counted
four tiers of embrasures facing the north, with parapet walls in
front and passage ways from one to another cut in the solid
SYNAGOGUE IX MASADA.
ance.
" the
Silva first seized a high projecting rock called lanee,"
20
808 BIBLE LANDS.
their work, and gather their spoils, little dreaming of the blood}
they capitulated ;
related the wrongs the Romans had inflicted
the cry of death was every-where heard, and when the morning
dawned nine hundred and sixty victims lay dead upon the
ground. Two women and five children who concealed them-
selves in a cave were all that survived to tell the tale of woe.
In the morning the Romans entered, but found death and
destruction had gone before, leaving them an empty victory
after their long siege. Thus the prophecy was fulfilled, " IJe-
hold your house is left unto you desolate."
Two hours north of Masada is Engedi, the site of ancient
plain, carrying off Lot among their prisoners, who was after-
" that
aiuung the rocks of the wild goate," probably Adullam,
tlie son of Jesse cut off the skirt of the king's robe.
our poor mules, and with ropes help them up the acclivity.
At some points as we looked ahead it seemed utterly impossi-
ble for man or beast to scale such rocks ;
but after three hours
of hard climbing we accomplished without serious accident the
thereto hia " stone of witness." These Ebenezers you will find
protection.
On a spur of the mountain, about midway between Engedi
and Jebel Usdum, commanding a fine view of Mount Hor and
the tomb of Aaron far away to the south, there is an immense
knightly crusaders.
TEANS-JOKDANIC PALESTINE,
**
And Moses gave unto the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, and
unto half the tribe of Manasseh the son of J .seph, the kingdom of Sihon king of
the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, with the citiea
thereof, from the river Arnon unto Mount Hermon, and all the pUin on the east."
Num. xxxii, S3 ; Josh, xii, 1.
CHAPTER I.
land beyond ;
a vast tract of high rolling table-land lying at
least four thousandabove the valley of the Dead Sea, and
feet
from that period down to our era the land was successively oc-
trict of equal extent on the face of the earth can furnish such
remarkable remains of ancient races.
After the Roman empire, the wild sons of Ish-
fall of the
maol from the Arabian Desert overran the country, and to the
ple creed, Love Allah, kill your neighbor, and pray with the
face toward Mecca five times a day. Owing to their preda
tory character, their greed for backsheesh, and great hatred for
Christians, this interesting field, which, without doubt, contains
the oldest monuments of man, remains almost unexplored.
Itonly within a few years that foreigners, under any cir-
is
"
cumstances, have been allowed to enter this no man's land,"
as it is In company with Dr. James Strong and his
called.
party, under the American flag, with a firman from the Sultan,
and letters from the Pasha of the Belka, by paying liberal
tribute we made our first tour of this disputed territory in the
spring of 1874.
No portion of the United States is richer than this high
THE LAND OF BEULAH. 317
brious climate, and the grand outlook from the lofty mountains,
" Dan to
taking in the whole of the Land of Promise from
"
Beer-sheba," and from the Jordan to the uttermost sea," with
"
Jerusalem, the city of God," as the central figure, probably
suggested to Isaiah his imagery of the Land of Beulah, which
Bunyan has so beautifully woven into allegory, illustrating the
1
a Kings iii, 4.
818 BIBLE LANDS.
KAHBAII AMMON.
bon, the royal city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, but little re-
end of a stone two feet square and four feet long was carved
the head of a woman in alto relievo. The hair was parted in
the center, and hung in ringlets over the sides of the face, rest-
neighborhood.
Rabbath-Moab, the Areopolis of the Greeks, became the
capital of Moab after the Amorites took possession of that por-
tion of the territory lying north of the river Arnon ;
and after
tin: fall of Petra it was made the metropolis of Palestina Tertia.
The place is now, and has been for centuries, entirely deserted.
The old Roman road from Petra, running north, passes through
" The road to the Arnon," along which the children of Israel
must have traveled when they came up out of Egypt, may still
be traced from here to the " city in the midst of the river,"
'
and in places the ruts may still be seen, worn by chariot wheels
in its solid bed. Wady Mojib,
through which the Arnon flows,
formed the southern boundary of trans-Jordanic Palestine and
the northern boundary of Moab after the conquest of the coun-
*
XT, 1. Jochu* xiii, 9. luiih xri, 7.
CASTLE OF KERAK. 32 #
and the whole flanked by two lofty square towers with loop
1
a Kingi iii, U.
21
824 BIBLE LANDS.
holes for the archers. The other stronghold IB the great citadel
The battle became too sore for the King of Moab, and as a for-
lorn hope, with seven hundred men he undertook to cut his way
>
a Eingi iii, 87.
FORTRESS OF MACH^ERUS. 326
Israel as to cause the allies to raise the siege at once, " and re-
The Kerak Arabs are among the most treacherous and dan-
tween Wady Zerka on the north and -the River Arnon on the
south,two of the deepest, wildest gorges that cut their way
down to the Dead Sea from the east, on a bold spur of the
mountain that projects westward from the main land, and ap-
pears to overhang the sea four thousand feet below, are the
ruins of this celebrated fortress.
This spur is, perhaps, two miles long, sloping gradually to-
ward the west, but is cut through about midway by two deep
ravines, leaving in the center a high, almost perpendicular, con-
ical hill, upon which stood the citadel and palace, the city cov-
ering the upper and lower terraces east and west of the
Acropolis.
The place, naturally strong, was rendered almost invulnerable
by numerous and towers, the remains of which
walls, ditches,
lie scattered over the ridge. No sooner had we pitched our
tente, and unfurled the and stripes amid the ruins of the
stars
ing by the old road to the causeway thrown across the valley
on the south-east by the Romans, when the stronghold was
taken by Bassus, we began the fatiguing ascent, and after much
reach the summit, and look out upon the grand panorama in
front ;
for eminence the whole of the Dead Sea, with
from this
we found it
impossible to see some of our party in the abyss
below, so precipitous are the sides and so deep the valleys.
1
dungeons, thirty feet long and twenty wide, near the wall on
the south ;
in one of which, more than probably, the forerun-
ner of Christ was beheaded. It was with peculiar emotions we
hunted among the rubbish of ages for some memento of the
water-jar, we could not but think that perhaps the parched lips
of the martyr might once have touched that piece of potter's
clay. Very sad, indeed, to visit the scene of such painful events.
Philip's wife, having first discarded his own wife, the daughter
of Aretas, king of Arabia, with whom he had long happily
lived. John same time was preaching and baptizing in
at the
departed forever ;
but the voice they sought to hush in death/
"
may still be heard crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the|
way of the Lord ;" and John the Baptist never preached more
effectively than he does to-day from the prostrate walls and
silentdungeons of Machaerus. How strange that the scene of
one of the most tragic events in Gospel history should so long
remain unvisited by the Christian traveler and more especially
;
M'khaur, the present name, being the exact Arabic of the Greek
Machaerus !
CHAPTER IL
sand feet below, Machserua. Hiding out the old Roman road
by a perilous path over fields of lava and scoria, very much like
Romans did it, and did it well, as in places where our path
829
330 BIBLE LAJTOS.
crossed the old track we could still see its solid bed and side
the eagle, undisturbed, builds her nest, and the ibex, un-
cliffs
Being one thousand feet lower than the level of the ocean,
with a mild temperature, and well supplied with water, vegeta-
tion is prolific and the effect enchanting.
Date-bearing palm-
trees,with the juniper and tamarisk, grow in every nook and
There are ten hot springs in the distance of, perhaps, three
miles. They are all on the north side of the gorge, four to six
miles from the sea, and burst forth at the junction of the lime-
stone with the red sandstone. Their temperature ranges from
flows, all is life fish abound, and flowers bloom along the
shore ;
on the other where the hot water runs, all is death,
side,
not a thing that hath life can be found in the stream or on its
banks. In bathing, you can first plunge into a pool seemingly
hot enough to scald you, then with a bound leap into another
cold enough to chill you or you can lie with your head in the
;
cold water, and your feet in the warm. And quite a novel and
middle of the stream with half your body in cold water, and
the other half in hot ;
one side almost parboiled, the other de-
S34 BIBLE LANDS.
springs, which for more than two thousand years have been
celebrated for their healing properties. This was the great re-
sort of the Romans in the days of the Empire, but we could
find no trace of Ilerod's marble baths ; every thing being bur-
ied beneath the sulphurous deposits of twenty centuries. The
few Bedouins who come here to be cured of their infirmities
ruins ;
the paved road-bed may still be seen, and on some of the
mile-stones can be read the name of the Emperor Severus.
still
1
1 Kings xix, 10.
THE MOAHITK HTONK.
DISCOVERY OF THE MOABITE STONE. 337
admitted ;
that they practiced writing nearly a thousand years
before Christ, if not much earlier ;
that they had a comple**
338 BIBLE LANDS
mus signifies the Orient, and is not a proper name. And what
is
singular, we find on this stone many of the letters of our
own alphabet, showing that the characters in use to-day are
For near three thousand years this inscription had been lying
among the rubbish of a ruined city. Its preservation was en-
tirely owing to the quality of the stone upon which it was en-
graved hard, black basalt, requiring a diamond to cut it- -and its
set forth, we learn that after Solomon's reign Moab again be-
capital ;
that they were oppressed forty years by the house oi
22
840 BIBLE LANDS.
The Bible does not claim to narrate all the events of the past,
MOUNT PISGAH.
its Identity Established Wady MUM The Outpourings of Pisgali High Flacw
of Baal King's Highway Moabite Images Grand Outlook.
41
To fold our tents and steal away."
All who have investigated the subject will admit that thii
mountain must be in the immediate vicinity designated. To
onr mind the arguments adduced are conclusive in fixing its
old wine-press ten feetby eight cut in the solid rock, two feet
deep, showing that there must have been at one time vineyard*
here.
from
it
being the highest peak, opposite and nearest Jericho,
beneath which the fountains pour.
*
1
Numbers mi, 12. Number* xxiii, 14. Denteronomj IT, 49.
344 BIBLE LANDS.
SPRINGS OF MOSES.
the projecting cliff, at one bound leaps fully fifty feet into the
may be seen from the idols and coins recently found in Moab ;
" before
country and pitched their tents Nebo," they became
enamored with the daughters of Moab, and joined in the wor-
ship of this deity, thus provoking the anger of the Lord, who
sent a plague upon them, and destroyed twenty-four thousand
of the people for their apostasy. The identity of this place
we regard as additional proof in support of our position.
The valley over against Beth-peor is, beyond doubt, Wady
Musa, or the deep ravine between Pisgah and Beth-peor, which
leadsdown to the Plains of Moab, and up which Moses made
the ascent of Pisgah, and the same town which the children of
Israel may have passed. Ayun Musa, or the Springs of Moses,
halt, and thou shalt reach thy journey's end Slake thy thirst !
for the last time; for from the peak that towers above thy
head thy pure, meek spirit shall return to God. There are
many caves and rock-tombs in the side of Pisgah, facing Beth-
greatest lawgiver.
with Drs. Strong and Ridgaway, with whom the writer first
visited this mountain and in all essentials, with Prof. Paine,
;
merit is come upon Dibon and Nebo Moab shall howl over
Ncbo."
We also found the track of an old paved road in good pres-
ervation, with the side walk standing, leading from this city
in the direction of Aroer, which undoubtedly is the " KING'S
an old sentinel with frosty locks, guarding the source of " the
river of God." To the west, the mountains of Western Palestine,
dotted with cities and villages, were spread out like a panorama
before us. Far away to the south was Mount Hor, throwing
her iniety veil over the grave of Aaron on its highest summit.
Far away to the north, " goodly Lebanon," still clothed in her
that monster Herod the Great. And still beyond, near the
summit of the Judean mountains, Bethlehem, to the Christian
the most sacred spot on earth and a little to the north, Jeru-
;
to glory ;
and just beyond, Neby Samwel, where Israel's last
"
away to the utmost sea," the Mediterranean Sea. Then came
the depression of the Plain of Esdraelon, guarded by Tabor and
parted, was in full view, with the tomb of Hosea on its summit.
And eastward, as far as the Ilauran and Mountains of Arabia,
rolled the Belka, the beautiful Belka one vast fertile plain,
fragrant with flowers, and covered with the flocks, herds, and
black tents of the Bedouins, who now roam at will over the
ruins of those giant cities that mark the march of civilization,
and clearly indicate that
LAND OF GILEAD.
Mount Gilead Name Applied to all Eastern Palestine Home of Elijah Jephthah
Ramoth-Gilead Remarkable Ruins Arak el Emir Jerash Hella Ga-
dara Balm of Gilead.
ing along the Jordan like a massive wall from its mouth to
or show mercy; but those with white plumes will both grant
favors and ask for quarters. Hence the familiar saying, " Show
the white feather." Their entertainments are usually given in
the sheik's tent, without any great display or ceremony, the
guests sitting on mats or rugs spread on the ground, and all eat-
spoons, and plates, are unknown among them. If you are a per-
son of distinction, and the sheik desires to show you great re-
spect, he will seat you on his left, then dip his hand into the
mess of pottage first, and, taking out a piece of the kid or
352 BIBLE LANDS.
is, gobble every thing down. After the repast the dogs lick the
platter, when it is set aside all ready for the next meal, no
washing of dishes being required. Liberal backsheesh is gen-
erally expected in return for their hospitality.
ARABS EATING.
and sixty feet above the sea, and not only retains the name, but
meets all the conditions, of the text. This mountain is also
known from the reputed tomb of the Prophet
as Jebel Osha,
ead, where Jephthah made the rash vow which cost the life of
MOUNT GELEAD. 35ft
his only child, whose untimely death the maidens 01 the land
ztill lament, by the annual observance of a day of mourning on
square, one with seats cut in the rock round three sides, with
recess facing the entrance, as if designed for a place of worship
or council chamber. As we entered one of these caves the
Jephthah and his desperadoes laid their plans for the recon-
population ;
and the magnitude and elegance of their works,
their numerous reservoirs and aqueducts, their well-paved
roads and rock-hewn tombs, their wine and oil presses, and
the inscriptions in some, instances found upon their monuments,
evince a high degree of civilization.
The Castle of Hyrcanus, about fifteen miles south of Mount
Gilead, is one of the most remarkable ruins in Peraea. It was
built by Hyrcanus I., an Asmonean prince, one hundred and
before Christ, on a terrace of the mountain twenty-
ninety years
fivehundred feet above the Jordan, a secure position, near the
source of a mountain stream, abounding with fish, and shaded
with large trees. On a knoll in the center of this beautiful
feet wide and two feet thick, just the thickness of the wall.
knobs about eight inches square, cut on the upper edge of the
lower stones and fitting snugly in corresponding sockets in the
CASTLE OF HYRCANUS.
ARAK EL EMIR.
Ten minutes' walk from the castle is Arak el Emir, the rock
of dark
dwelling and stables of the prince, a perfect labyrinth
passages and haunted cells. The road from the fortress to this
rock castle is
clearly defined by two rows of squared perforated
stones, standing a few feet apart, as if for
some kind of a signal
1
Antiquities, xii, 4.
BOCK-HEWN TOMBS. 357
chambers, and stables cut in the solid rock, and rising tier
above tier in the face of a bold cliff, almost inaccessible.
The first hall you enter is a large square room with vaulted
ceiling and cornice, perhaps a council chamber or banqueting
hall. On the right of the entrance is a mutilated inscription in
old Samaritan characters. Still higher up we reach by a very
door would only admit one man at a time, and he would have
to drop himself from the ceiling to the floor, at least fifteen
through these dark passages and tomb-like cells, once the seat
of royalty, now the habitation of wild beasts and the wilder
cliildren of the desert. Alexander, who built the fortress of
AA Or' bASHAX.
suddenly stopped.
Two hours of climbing over hills and rocks, through jungle*
JERASH. 361
points, may still be seen. One of several bridges over the val-
jey and stream which ran through the midst of the city, may
till Grand gate-ways, towers, theaters, baths, and
be crossed.
other public buildings, some almost entire, are still standing.
Of the Forum alone, fifty-seven columns, with their entabla-
ture, remain erect, and throughout the city not less than five
times that number are still in situ, with thousands of others
that date. And from the fact that Mahanaim, where Jacob
1
met the angels, about this time mysteriously disappears from
history, and Jerash as suddenly springs into notice, this city
is now generally believed to be the place where the Lord ap-
peared to Jacob, and to which David fled for protection from
Absalom, and mourned so piteously over his son's death. It la
also supposed that the beautiful Twenty-third Psalm was written
here.* The valley of the Jabbok, through which David must
have with his enemies lurking behind every rock, would
fled,
" the
represent forcibly Valley of the Shadow of Death," and
the shepherds watching their flocks would naturally suggest the
Lord's constant care for his people. Not a soul is now living
on the site of this once opulent city. The place is
entirely
deserted. With some difliculty we clambered up into the room
over the southern gate a very antique and curious rain, with
RUINS OF GADAKA.
the paved road-bed, with the ruts worn by chariot wheels, may
still be distinctly seen. The remains of extensive fortifications,
two theaters, and what appears to have been the Forum, are easily
traced out ;
also the ruins of the Cathedral of Gadara. North-
east of the city are many rock-cut tombs similar to those about
The old stone bridge over the Jordan, and the only one over
that river now passable, and the same very likely by which
Saul crossed on his way to Damascus, is a little south-west of
this and in tolerable preservation.
leaves, and hung in drops like honey from the branches. The
tree, which originally was only found in Palestine, was trans-
planted to
Egypt by Cleopatra, to whom the groves near Jeri-
cho were presented by Marc Antony. The plant was after-
ward taken to Arabia and grown in the vicinity of Mecca,
whence the balsam is now brought to Europe and America, not
as balm from Gilead, but balsam from Mecca.
The gardens aroundHeliopolis and the Fountain of the Sun,
in Egypt, no longer produce this rare specific for suffering mor-
ttlant Tribe* of Men Land of the Giants Present Population Patriarchal Char*
acter Deserted Cities Adraha Bozrah Salcah.
Such was Og, king of Bashan, whose iron bedstead was nine
Saul, first king of Israel, who stood head and
1
cubits long;
feet above the sea. When the Israelites invaded Canaan, they
" went
up by the way of Bashan," probably by the Haj route
east of the Salt Sea, now traveled by the pilgrims to Mecca,
ing all who came within their reach. Time has neither changed
their character norimproved their condition. You will find
them to-day leading the same predatory life they did a thou-
chief men of the tribe came forth to meet us, and after the
usual salutation conducted us to their camp. Rich rugs were
spread on the ground where we were to sit, and soft pillows
'
Ptalm xcii, 10.
870 BIBLE LANDS.
chin, the back of their hands, and arms up to the elbow, also
the top of their feet and ankles. Their linger nails are painted
red and their eyebrows black, giving them rather a hideous
appearance.
We met here with some young men living with women much
older than themselves ; and when we inquired the cause, wei
" the
told that price of young women had gone up fearfully of
late, and they couldn't afford to marry youthful maidens."
One of our guides was a married man, and when we expressed
a desire to see his wife, he replied, he had never yet seen her
himself, and then went on to explain that he was poor, and had
to pay for her in labor or service, and that she would remain
with her father until he "worked her out." Among these
like a lone sentinel with all his comrades lying at his feet, guard-
ing the gate- way to some long deserted city. The old highways
generally of black basalt hard as flint. Not only are the walls
stone, but the floors, roofs, doors, even the window-shutters and
ings, but the stones were scarfed, so as to bind them firmly to-
which supplied them are all hewn in the solid rock, and TO
some of them water may still be found.
Many of these cities belong to the Greek and Roman period >
place during the last two thousand years. One feels very sol-
emn standing in these ruined churches, amid these deserted
gazing upon the broken columns and tottering walls of
cities,
grand edifices that once resounded with the high praises of Je-
hovah, but are now without a single worshiper all silent as the
grave. Nothing could be more clear than the fulfillment of
ties, but owing to the lack of funds and the unsettled condition
1
Jeremiah ilrili, 9.
374 BIBLE LANDS.
terns below gave rise to the report and during a state of siege
;
My first impulse was to ride round the city until I came to our
camp, but very soon discovered it was no easy matter to ride
five or six miles over broken walls in the darkness of the night.
I next tried to find my way through the city, but the street*
BOZRAH. 375
ing country for many miles. The outer walls are almost per-
fect, and within, besides the numerous courts, halls, and gal-
geon dungeon, the gloom and silence, together with the vast-
to
ruin had erer done before. The city must have contained a
876 BIBLE LANDS.
it was
greatly enlarged, and by Trajan made the capital of
Arabia. And the Emperor Philip, who was a native of Bashan,
conferred still
greater honors upon the place by making it the
musing over the past, and living through two 01 three thou-
worshipers, but now empty and quiet as the grave grand tem- ;
fall ;
beautiful tombs, reared to the memory of persons long
since forgotten; palaces, theaters, and other public edifices,
you will find, perhaps, the name of some heathen deity, and
wherever yon stroll you meet with these inscriptions and
Near the center of the city four tall Corinthian pillars, with
their capitals, are all that remain standing of an imposing tem-
ple that once stood upon this spot. Some ruins east of the Cas-
several being at least ten feet high, and eleven inches thick, still
above the plain, and very difficult to ascend, owing to the lava
and cinders that cover its slopes. The walls of the castle are
history. And yet, from the large beveled blocks and other
old material that seen every-where in the more modern
may be
here be-
portion of the fortress, there must have been a citadel
1
Deuteronomy iii, 10.
380 BIBLE LJLNDb.
up here and there like islands in the sea, many of them the
craters of extinct volcanoes. These tells are generally connected
great desert, and they represented the country as rich and pop-
ulous. One them had brought in, a few days before, a
of
thousand camels for the Damascus market, and was pasturing
them near Salcah. We also met with Zadam, the intelligent
Sheik of the Beni-Sackka tribe, who told me of a depression
Jordan Valley, about four days' journey east of Zurka
like the
shore an old castle, with but one double stone door, large enough
to admit a camel, with inscriptions in an unknown language
on the lintel and down the door jams. As this tribe occupy
OBIAT DESERT OF ARAttTA 38)
high, with hands clasped in front, and the head resting on one
shoulder, bearing an inscription of four lines across the base,
very old houses and square towers here, with heavy walls and
stone doors. One, in which we took shelter from a rain-storm,
was ornamented with the vine and clusters of grapes, clearly
pear still older, and many evidently date back to the Rephaim,
who first settled this land. During our stay here a number of
children gathered about us, and a large boy, for some cause,
struck one of them on the head, and the little fellow began to
grain fields, almost ripe for the harvest. About nine o'clock
portance ;
but not a temple, palace, or house remains entire all
though their own names, with the ancient name of their city,
882
SUWJfilDEH. 383
Kunawat, the Kenath of the Bible, and one of the " threescore
"
cities of Argob captured by Nobah, of the tribe of Manasseh,
more than three thousand years ago. We found our tents pitched
1
a few minutes' walk west of the city, near the ruins of a beauti-
ful periptery temple dedicated to some unknown god, which
stood in an open court, on an elevated platform, with a portico
on its eastern front originally supported by twelve Corinthian
pillars in two rows. The columns rested on square pedestals
about six feet high, on all of which there were inscriptions, no
1
Numbers rxxji, 42.
384 BIBLE LANDS.
find beneath your feet, half buried in the earth, broken statues,
inscribed blocks, and other remains of architectural grandeur,
the bridge and east of the stream, is the theater, built against
a rocky cliff in which the seats are excavated, with a fountain
in the center of the orchestra. Next comes a small temple or
bath, and just above it, on the hill, a fort or castle built of large
large court in front is nicely paved with dressed stones, and be-
neath it are numerous and vaults for storing
cisterns for water,
grain, or, it may be, sepulchers for the dead. There is such a
collection of halls, galleries, and corridors, colonnades, porticoes,
"the great god," but who that god was we are left to con-
jecture. From a colossal head of Baal found near this, it
.
would appear Baal was that deity. Some of the largest and
most beautiful stone doors are here, still swinging on their
stone pivot-hinges which work in corresponding sockets in
and many other remains equally inter-
the door-sill and lintel ;
"
that this is the land in which " the giants dwelt in old time ;
and that perhaps some of the ruins over which we have been
1
Numbers xixii, 42.
LAND OP UZ. 389
1
Damascus and Trachonitis, and probably lived in this neigh-
rived its name from the son of Aram and lay to the north-east
*
1
Genwia x, 28. Joaephus, Antiquities, i, A.
1 4 2 Samuel riii, 8.
Lamentation* IT. 81.
390 HIBLE LANDS.
than probable ; then, no country can so fully meet all the con-
ditions and facts in the life and writings of this remarkable
Syriac book, and that Job dwelt in the land of Ausitis, on the
confines of Idumea." Now we know that the Herodian family
and that Job may have been a descendant of Nahor, the brother
of Abraham. But whether Job was an Israelite or Ishmaelite,
Job, slept in the old house of Job, and cooked our meals on,
perhaps, the same hearth-stone where that holy man, in his
great affliction, once sat in the ashes.
From the inspired record it
appears that Job was an eastern
prince of great wealth and unflinching integrity. Of no other
"
man was it ever said by the Almighty, There is none like him
in the earth, a perfect and an upright man ;
one that fears God,
'
and escheweth evil." As a writer, his style is
highly Oriental,
his conceptions sublime, and his arguments unanswerable. No
other book in the Old Testament is so full of divine truth, and
'
Job izxii, . 1 Chronicle* ii,
28. Job 1, 8.
392 BIBLE LANDS.
was probably from here the Magi came with their costly pres-
ents to worship the infant Saviour; as frankincense, myrrh,
Tribal Wars The Lejah A Sea of Congealed Iron Part of Ancient Argob
Druses Their History and Religion Edrei, the Ancient Capital of Bashan
Taken by Moses Mirage Padan-Aram Haran, near Damascus Laban the
Syrian.
<3an Indians.
Soon after leaving camp we saw a large wolf near some tombs
west of Kenath, and shortly afterward a hyena ran slowly across
our path. In about two hours we passed Suleim, where there
is the ruin of a beautiful temple, and crossing a rich plain, cov-
ered with porous tufa bowlders, struck about noon the Lejah, a
most singular region. The name signifies " rocky, 1 and is de-
'
scriptive of its
physical aspect, being a wild, sterile district re-
looks very much like iron, is about as hard, and when riding
over it, has the ring of iron. Though you see no great ele-
393
394 BIBLE LANDS.
emirs, as they are called, who are their religious and political
was not his people that committed the theft, but some
396 BIBLE LA1TD8.
Druses, and as we drew near the place, the emir and his chiefs
met us with the usual salam, giving us a cordial welcome,
the houses are still in their primitive state, though half buried
in the rubbish of ages. Every thing about them is stone black
basalt,, hard as flint and yet, in some instances, of beautiful
and that perhaps on the very spot we were gazing on the giant
king of Bashan fell when his whole army was routed by Moses,
1
Mecca, which follows the old Roman road far down into Southern
Arabia. Many caravans were going and coming, but all under
guard. How strange that from the oldest city in the world
not a caravan, diligence, or traveler can leave, except under
Musmeih is a
temple of a florid style of architecture. Three
Doric columns of the portico are still standing, and to the
right of the entrance on the door-casing is the long inscription
to which we have already referred. A path winding among
the broken and jagged rocks leads from here to Burak, a de
serted city on the extreme northern limit of the Lejah, contain
ing many massive houses with beautiful stone doors, the slabs
forming the roofs and floors looking like oak plank, twelve
feeiJong and three inches thick, nicely jointed. Many of the
hoopoe were weD preserved. From Burak the road leads di
PADAN-ARAM. 401
always rendered Syria, the two names having the same import
and being used in common to denote the same country. The
name signifies " highland," and was originally applied to both
ranges of the Lebanon, the Hauran, and all the mountains of
Palestine on both sides of the Jordan as far north as the
Orontes. Of the several districts into which this country was
the hills," we
think, with Drs. Beke and Porter, refers to the
Plain of Damascus between the rivers Pharpar and Abana.
In the Septuagint version of the Scriptures Aram-Naharaitn
is translated u Mesopotamia in Syria," or Syria of the two
rivers, as if a distinction was to be made between it and the
country lying between the Tigris and the Euphrates.
When the Almighty appeared to Abraham and commanded
him to " get out " of his own country, he left " the land of hi
nativity, Ur, of the Chaldees,"' situated, not on the head
1
Genedi zzr, SO. Act* rfl, 8 ;
Generis xi, SI.
402 BIBLE LANDS.
waters of the Euphrates, but down near its entrance into the
ham, when living at Haran, named one of his sons Uz, indi-
Uz and that Laban and Jacob, when they parted for the last
;
*
1
Genesis xv, 2. Antiquities i, 7.
* 4
Genesis ixxi, 21, 28. Genesis xxxi, 52.
HARAN. 403
plain between the two rivers, and on the shores of what was
once a large lake before the waters were drawn off to irrigate
the desert. Three Ionic columns of black basalt are all that
field," where the maidens still water their flocks, may be the
same from which Rebecca often filled her pitcher, and where
Jacob first met with his beautiful Rachel.'
1 *
Gencflia U!T, 10. Geueeia nil, 10.
26
CHAPTER VIIL
oJogy.
These cities appear to have been founded about the same
time. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, by Asshnr, son of
Shem who may also have given his name to jthe country on
the river Tigris, five hundred miles above its junction with
the Euphrates ; Babylon, the capital of Chaldaea, by Nimrod,
the grandson of Ham, on the Euphrates in the land of " Shi-
kings of Babylonia.
Very little is known of the early history of these cities. It
would appear, however, from recent explorations, that the As-
syrians at an early period conquered Chaldaea, and that after
this event the two nations became one empire their language,
touching the history of these renowned cities, and the only re-
liable information we possess of them is the little we glean
from the Jewish prophets, and the results of late geographical
city of the East, suddenly disappeared from the earth about seven
centuries before Christ, as if engulfed by an earthquake, and
for ages all traces of the place were lost. Herodotus, Xeno-
phon, and other ancient historians, make no mention of it ex-
cept as a city no longer existing. Xerxes, Alexander, and the
Romans, marched their armies and fought their battles over ita
site without knowing that the city lay buried beneath their
tread. Many persons began to doubt whether such a place
ever did exist and skeptics began sneeringly to inquire of the
;
" Where is
Christian, your great Nineveh ? What do you think
of Jonah and his whale story ? Ah, Jonah was nothing but a
myth his book nothing but a fable no such city as Nineveh
ever existed." And some believers began to fear the long-
city that dwelt carelessly that said in her heart, I am, and
;
days, and can almost fancy you hear her kings tell of their great
exploits from the thrones that are crumbling with age beneath
them. In one sculpture Sennacherib is
portrayed with a spear,
1
Ezekiel iv, 1, 2.
410 BEBLE LANDS.
BLACK OBKLISK.
and various animals, but not very correctly drawn the rhinoc-
man, with all the particulars of his temptation, his fall, the
urse pronounced upon him, and his expulsion from Paradise.
But what is most strange, we find on these tablets an
account of the Mammoth, and other huge extinct monsters,
the fossil remains of which have been such an enigma to nat-
uralists. And on one of the seals we have a curious rep-
resentation of the cherubim guarding the tree of life, on an-
"
These records further show that " Eden was the old and
natural name of Babylon and we have furnished here a geo-
;
Many of these clay tablets are not more than from three to
four inches long, by two inches wide and half an inch thick.
The writing is in the cuneiform character, and in some instances
eo small they can only be read under a magnifying glass, and
some such instrument must have been used in their execution.
Thus, after the lapse of thousands of years, we see dug up
ANTIQUITY OF BABYLON.
solely to confound
the folly of modern skepticism.
long spanning the river, also by a tunnel under the river bed,
traces of which still remain. Recent researches show that
these statements in reference to the extent and magnificence
of Babylon were not exaggerations.
Mr. Rassam, so long connected with explorations in the East,
has latelymade some valuable discoveries on the site of this
ancient city. He has succeeded in identifying the grand palace
of Nebuchadnezzar, and in connection therewith found the re-
mains of the celebrated hanging gardens, erected by that king
to please his Median queen great mounds of earth thrown up
:
den. There is aband around the jaws of the lion like a muz-
" shut the lion's mouth." '
neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there neither shall ;
the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the
creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance
there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their
*
desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces."
workmanship ;
two solid gold armlets, weighing two pounds
*
1
Daniel T, SO. Isaiah xiii,
418 BIBLE LANDS.
" in the
given gardens of the king's palace," or the courts sur.
" The
rounding the palace. king's gate," where Mordecai sat,
was a hall one hundred feet square that stood about two hun-
dred feet in front of the main entrance.
The city is now entirely deserted, save by lions, wolves,
jackals, and other wild beasts, which find here a safe hiding-
sand kiln-burnt urns, idols, vases, tablets, and other articles, many
ofthem small images and coins ; and, what is remarkable, no
two are alike, except in this one particular, they all have seven
indentations upon them, symbolical of something mysterious.
Generally they are rudely made, and some of them indecent,
but this was peculiar to the worship of Peor, the favorite god-
dess of the Moabites. Perhaps one thousand of the larger
tm/jCaxiH
-s/
3
been circular, but angular. The suburbs did not measure three
1,000 CUBITS
WIST COBWB. BAST COKHBB.
cubits were to be measured " from the wall of the city," not
"
from the center of it, the city being in the midst."
A discovery of some interest has also been made at Gaza, in
the old mosque of that city, which was once a Jewish pyna-
1
Numbers xxxv, 8-4.
424 BIBLE LANDS.
the like, which have always been the plague of the Orient.
It has generally been supposed that this god was worshiped
under the symbol of a fly, others argued for the beetle or scara-
beus ;
but Beelzebub, you will observe, was an oracular divinity,
BO must have been represented in the human form, as man is
BEELZEBUB. 1
1
Ephesians it,
2 ;
Mark iii, 22.
far discovered. It was probably used for sealing the oracles <>f this god.
486 BIBLE LANDS.
Roman cement, down very near the sea, and similar in every
a freshwater spring flowing from the cliff close by, long known
as the Tanners' Spring.
bluff above, from which steps lead down to the vats, must
HADRIAN'S HEAD
The statue had been broken into fragments, its head used as
a common paving-stone, and when found was lying in the
had been
highway, face downward, where
for centuries it
428 BIBLE LANDS.
true God and his worship; blotted out the very name of the
the Jews, with the laurel and eagle still upon his brow, and
the imperial expression in his eye, but his power and glory
forever gone. To-day Hadrian only lives in history, his bean
tiful tomb in Rome is the Castle of St. Angelo ;
his marble
the face of the whole earth; while, on the other hand, for
NORTHERN SYRIA.
Kaaman's house, and where Paul was let down over the wall.
But to me, the most interesting object was the Great Mosque,
eleven hundred feet long and eight hundred wide the largest
house of worship in the world, except the noble sanctuary at
Jerusalem, originally a pagan temple, then a Christian church
dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and said to contain his head
in a casket of gold now a Mohammedan mosque. Over one
TURKISH BATH. 433
pails of hot water thrown over our shoulders, the steam filling
jects for the tomb. Finally, after more rubbing, rolling, and
lixty-nine feet long, fifteen feet tliick, and seventeen feet wide,
are the remains of two magnificent temples, one dedicated to
Baal, and the other to Jupiter, the most perfect ruins in the
world columns seventy-five feet high and twenty-one
single
feet in circumference, surmounted by an entablature fifteen
eagle soaring among the stars, grasping in his talons the thun-
derbolts of Jove. The eagle on the standard of our country
was taken from this Roman symbol, and I suppose but for
this sculpture over the entrance to the temple of Jupiter at
Baalbec we never would have had any spread-eagle speeches
in America. Our tents were pitched in the very center of this
grand ruin, the history of which is lost in the misty past, and
we were permitted to eat and sleep and dream in this gorgeous
temple of the sun. The night was clear and warm, and we
enjoyed the rare privilege of seeing Baalbec by moonlight.
The effect was very fine our own shadows seemed to people
;
KDAU.S OF LEBANON.
Our horses refused to face the storm, and all we could do was
to turn our backs to the blast had spent its
and wait until it
enjoying the dinner and warm fire that awaited our arrival.
This grove covers a knoll six thousand three hundred feet
above the sea, at the head of the Kadisha River, on the verge
of perpetual snow ;
thus crowning with glory the summit of
the vegetable world ! There are not more than four hundred
trees in this collection, mostly small, the twelve largest, known
as the twelve patriarchs, are from thirty to forty feet in circum-
ference, and about one hundred feet high. Other groves have
one time, was covered with these goodly trees. But IliramV
" The
These trees are called in the Scriptures, trees of the
'
branches, and run out their roots far and deep, taking hold of
the very foundation of the mountain, so that the storms of
palm-tree ;
he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon."
The solitude of this forest is
oppressive ;
and the somber
shade cast by the evergreen foliage, the sighing of the winds
^TV-
faces westward, first down the valley of the Kadisha, then over
a succession of rocky ridges, through the grandest scenery,
but over the roughest roads, ever traveled by horsemen.
TOMB OF KIXGSLEY.
Syria.
There are also here a Prussian Hospital, founded and sup-
ported by the Knights of St. Joh.i, for the relief of suffering
pilgrims; and an Institution of Prussian Deaconesses, where
native orphan girls, without charge, are educated, boarded,
clothed, and taught to cook, sew and keep house. These institu-
tions are models of order, neatness and cleanliness.
an old Roman aqueduct that supplied the city with water, over
the river Beirut. It consists of a series of lofty stone arches,
the highest tier being 160 feet above the river-bed, and twenty
feet wide. The water was conveyed about eight miles through
stone tubes, then over this aqueduct, and in one place through a
tunnel cut in the solid rock; showing great labor and engineer-
ing skill.
*
the sea was greatly disturbed, the very mountains torn from their
firm foundations, and one cast into the sea, forming the present
characters. It is
supposed to represent the goddess Astarte.
Portions of the city must have been submerged, as many of these
which this river flows afforded the easiest passage of the moun-
tains, and for many centuries was the great highway for commerce
and travel. Through this pass the Egyptians, Assyrians,
Greeks, and Romans marched their countless hosts, long before
the top, others round. The panels are sunken, and of different
sizes, but all large enough to contain the full-length figure of
a person.
Three of these tablets are Egyptian, bearing the cartouche of
pedition to Asia, did leave behind him stela? and figures as mon-
uments of his exploits, and that he himself had seen some of
them in Syria. May not these be the tablets and figure? re-
ferred to by the historian ?
Six of the sculptures are Assyrian ;
the figures on them well
Sennacherib is
supposed to have ascended the throne of Assyria
in 703 B. C. Between the tablets of Sesostris, the former con-
tains, and within the last year two were discovered in a narrow
these events !
and the loss of her youthful vigor. Sidon, says Dr. Porter, is
not only the most ancient city of Phoenicia, but one of the most
ancient cities in the world, being mentioned in the book of Gen-
esis along with Gaza, Sodom and Gomorrah.
According to
Josephus, it was founded by Sidon, the eldest son of Canaan,
and great-grandson of Noah. When the Israelites entered
Canaan it had already become famous as " Great Zidon." 1
Homer celebrates this city and her mariners in the "Iliad."
" the
find living among the dead." In some, beautiful sarcophagi
were found ;
in others various articles in glass, pottery, and even
'
Joshua x i \ , 28.
448 BIBLE LANDS.
gold. A
few years since several copper or bronze boxes were
one of Sidou's famous kings, with one of the oldest if not the
oldest Phoenician inscription yet recovered carved upon its lid.
SARCOPHAGUS OF ASHMUNAZBR.
for there are no treasures with me nor to take away the sarco-
do so, listen not to their opinion, because every royal person, and
every man who open this funeral conch, or who shall take
shall
posterity; and the holy gods, with the king that shall rule over
them, shall cut off that royal person, and that man who has
opened my couch, or who has removed this sarcophagus; and so
also the posterity of that royal person or of that man, whoever
he be; nor shall his root be planted downward nor his fruit
Sidon by the sea, and the heavenly powers have rendered Astarte
favorable. And it is \ve who have erected the temple to Estnuno
and the sanctuary of EneDalil in the mountains. The heavenly
ever.
LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 451
royal person, or that man, whoever he may be, and their pos-
terity forever."
As no dates are given, we are at a loss in determining the
Adopting the habits of the Arabs among whom she lived, her
manner of life and romantic style gave her unbounded influence
over the whole land, so that she was virtually queen of Palmyra,
and as famous among the desert tribes as Zenobia of old. Her
held that we all are children of the celestial body presiding at the
influence over our destiny, and that this influence may be deter-
years kept two beautiful Arab steeds in her stables, one for Christ,
the other for herself, on which to ride into Jerusalem when the
Messiah came to set up his kingdom on earth.
For nearly thirty years this highly cultured woman led this
romantic life, self-exiled from her home and all her family.
Among these cliffs, like an eagle in her nest, she lived, died, and
was buried alone in her glory, none but a few servants being
gular the coincidence connected with her death and that of her
early love. Both died in foreign lands, but far removed from
each other. Both were buried by strangers, in the gloom of mid-
night; and both were laid to rest wrapped in the folds of their
national flag, no relative being present to drop a tear upon their
graves.
Dr. W. M. Thomson, long a missionary in Syria, and who
officiated at her burial, says of Lady Stanhope: "She was mag-
nificently unique. Now riding at the head of wild Arabs, queen
of the desert, on a visit to Palmyra; now intriguing with mad
pashas and vulgar emeers ;
at one time treating with contempt
consuls, generals and nobles ;
at another bidding defiance to law,
of such a being, but not to live it. Alas ! she must have drained
to the dregs many a bitter cup. Her sturdy spirit here fought
out all alone a thousand desperate battles, and lost them all.
top of this bleak mountain, her lamp of life grew dimmer and
more dim, until it went quite out in hopeless, rayless night.
Such was the end of the once gay and brilliant niece of Pitt, the
master spirit of Europe. Will such an end pay for such a life?
Poor wandering star, struck from the bright galaxy ^f England's
ASIA MINOR.
" What thou write in a book, and send it unto the seven chnrches which
seest,
are in Asia." Rev. i, 11.
455
CHAPTER I.
ANCIENT ANATOLIA.
ASIA
applies Western Asia lying between
to the peninsula of
the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, and extending from the
river Euphrates, on the east, to the Grecian Archipelago, on the
west.
The term Asia Minor was not given to this portion of the
Eastern Continent for some centuries after the Christian era, so
kingdoms are
among the grandest works of man, and for ages
have been among the wonders of the world. The Temple of
taph, for it is said that the grief of this woman was so great
over her dead husband, she had his body cremated, mixing his
ashes in her daily drink, thus making her own body his living
globe can there be found so many buried cities, and other traces
of extinct nations.
This magnificent domain, which in ancient times supplied the
take us safely back to the direct road. We knew not his inten-
tions, but there was something suspicious about the fellow, and
we concluded he was leading us into some robbers' den to rob,
if not murder, our whole party. One day we met a strong party
of Bedouins ;
resistance would have been madness, so we allowed
ourselves to be carried to their village as prisoners. But when
they learned our official character, and that we were travelling
under authority from the Sublime Porte, they, either through
fear of the American government or the Sultan, became greatly
alarmed, begged our pardon, fell on the ground and kissed our
feet, saying, the whole country was ours, and that they were but
dust and ashes before us. Religious fanaticism, despotic rule,
and oppressive taxation are the principal causes of the present
wretched condition of this country. The sparse, ignorant popu-
lation need law, justice,and education, for their protection and
elevation; but these can never be obtained so long as corrupt
est, we were favored with a firman from the Sublime Porte, as-
SULTANS FIRMAN. 461
and gold Turkish characters, also bearing the large unique sig-
" Witness
in use, my hand and seal," reminding us of the igno-
rance of the middle ages. As a translation of this firman may
interest some of our readers, we give it entire :
where met with, were once opulent cities teeming with popula-
tion ;
that these almost forgotten nations excelled in their knowl-
sponding with the rotundity of the earth. Our best artists never
dream of excelling Raphael, Phidias, or the old masters, whose
SCIENCE OF THE ANCIENTS. 463
danger of the sea washing out the mortar between the stones in the
towers, he replied, "None, whatever; we have a new process
of mixing the cement with oil, rendering it impervious to water."
He was very much surprised when 'I told him that Solomon, in
building his aqueducts, three thousand years ago, laid every
stone in cement mixed with olive-oil. The same is true of the
Egyptian.
The ancients also understood the manufacture of malleable
harder than steel, and their swords of steel carry an edge and
bear a polish that we have never been able to give them. A
gold bracelet from an old Phoenician tomb was taken to one of
our first goldsmiths for repairs, and he admitted that no artifi-
2,000 years old, set with an oriental agate less than half an inch
in diameter, on which Hercules strangling the Nemean lion is
carved so perfectly, you can see the expression of the face and
extended muscles of the body distinctly. And in the art of
stitched to-
gazelle skins highly colored, the separate pieces being
gone, since these old kings were gathered to their fathers, and yet,
here is the canopy that covered their mortal remains, the coloring
on it
looking as fresh as when they were laid to rest in their quiet
tombs.
In we have been dealing with borrowed capital. Many of
fact,
How such huge masses were handled has long been the wonder-
ment of inquirers. The only clue we have to the secret is found
pictured on the walls of these buried cities, as shown in our illus-
stands ;
there the cables that hold it in position and there the
;
plain to flash with fire as when the hosts of Greece, on the same
field, drew their glittering swords grand charge on
for the last
city, and it said that their foliage absorbs the poisonous gases
claiming the whole country and all the people in it. Through the
influence ofEuropeans and Americans, a more liberal policy is
being adopted by the Sultan; railroads and lines of telegraph
are being introduced, newspapers under certain restrictions are
permitted ;
females are allowed to be educated and to appear in
public unveiled ;
the streets are being widened, paved and named,
and some of them are now lighted with gas. These and other
senting the sun, sits in the centre; the other worshipers represent
different planets ;
the music the sighing of the winds, and the
high, conical hat, short, tight jacket, and long, wide skirt. After
they staggered and fell groaning on the floor, after which the
sheik arose and walked over their prostrate bodies. There was
one who did not howl or jump, but stood off by himself, swing-
ing his head to and fro, then round and round as if it was on a
snapping with every jerk, and his head re-
pivot, his long hair
fications and palaces, and the stream crowded with vessels from
clear and deep, with bold shores, covered with villas and beauti-
ful gardens down to the water's edge. Just above the city, the
new palaces of the Sultan extend for at least a mile along its
fully laid out, and in every respect are equal to any in western
Europe.
I
The Hippodrome is one of the most celebrated places both of
the ancient and modern city; it is nine hundred feet long by
four hundred and fifty wide. It still contains the granite obelisk
fact, that it was the seat of the first Christian churches, among
the Gentiles, whose histories we are now to consider.
CHAPTER II.
was among those who settled in Ephesus, where Paul, and per-
long since died away into the silence of forgotten centuries, while
holding out a crown of life, and by assuring them that the king-
'Rev. xx, 4.
REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. 477
heaven, under the eye of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and as
edge."
It is not our intention to attempt any explanation of these
represented as yet faithful, but waxing cold, having lost her first
love.
1
Key. vii, 15.
478 BIBLE LANDS.
EPHESU8.
THIS city, situated about forty miles south of Smyrna, was
the ancient capital of Ionia, and for centuries the metropolis of
ruins show that the decorations of the temple standing in St. John's
day must have been exquisite in design and execution. The fig-
degree of art; and the gold found in the joints of the marble to
cover the seams indicate great wealth. This temple was the
shrine of the famous statue of Diana, which the credulous peo-
" whom all Asia and
ple supposed had fallen from heaven, and
1
the world worshipped."
The remains of this grand edifice, the very site of which had
been lost for centuries, has recently been discovered after a search
young mother ever rejoiced more over her first-born than did the
doctor over the recovery of this long buried temple. The earth-
AMPHITHEATEK AT EPHESUS.
tical in form, being six hundred and sixty feet in its greatest
diameter, and capable of seating an audience of fifty-six thou-
sand spectators. Timothy was the first bishop of the Church
city, to see the stork building her nest on the stately columns,
to stand in the church where, perhaps, John the beloved, and
Paul, and Timothy, and Luke often preached a pure gospel
to assembled multitudes, and to think that the Epistle to the
bearer of glad tidings, and divine Jionors were paid him. Thus
SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 481
we see how words full of sacred import are derived often from
pagan legends.
SMYRNA.
It long was the chief commercial city in the Levant, and hon-
"
ored with the proud distinction of being the Crown of Ionia,"
"
and Ornament of Asia." And it is still the principal seaport
west gate, showing that he, too, was among their gods. Many
fragments and blocks of sculptured marble have been used in
building the modern city, and it seems very curious, if not pro-
fane, to see these broken statues of men and gods of finest
Greek art built in the walls of shops and dwellings with com-
mon stone.
year was first thrown to the wild beasts, but it is related they
would not devour him. The infuriated populace then tied him
to a stake and kindled a burn him, but the flames, accord-
fire to
ing to tradition, formed a circle over his head and would not
consume him. After this they offered to spare his life if he
would but throw a few grains of incense in the fire as an offering
to theRoman emperor. This he refused to do, when a Roman
soldier pierced his heart with a spear and the spirit of the saint
took its flight, tradition says, in the form of a dove. The old
Acropolis is still
standing, and it is not unlikely that in one of its
ciated; and a cypress tree in the Stadium is said to mark the spot
SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 483
of his death and burial. His memory is still held in high vener-
PERGAiMOS.
PEROAMOS
Christian churches, but all are alike in ruins. The old church
VASE OF PEKGAMOS.
the city and adjacent farms. A very curious vase, badly broken,
was dug up here among some ruins, representing, in low relief, a
race on horseback by torchlight. The temple of Minerva
within the Acropolis, which crowns the hill back of the city,
was built on an artificial platform, very similar to that on which
Solomon's temple stood. The wall of the Acropolis is of hewn
granite, and on the southeast angle, still standing, at least 100
feet high, the lower courses anchored to the mountain itself, so
thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is."
Rev. ii, 13. Among the magnificent temples of this city there
was one dedicated to JEsculapius, who was worshipped here in
the form of a living serpent, fed in the temple and considered as
its divinity. May not the Revelator have had reference to the
of every evil, this city could very appropriately be called, " the
tHYATIRA.
This city, noted for its beautiful dyes, was located on the river
tl.eir fe&. and legs covered with leeches. These waters are
Greek and Latin inscriptions found among the ruins, they appear
to have had at an early day in Thyatira trade-unions, such as
THYATIRA.
ing troughs. A short distance from the city, an old ruin bears
" Palace of the Caesars."
the name of the When it was erected,
or how it derived its name, \ve are left to conjecture. The
church here was commended for its
charity and faith, patience
and good works, but warned against the corrupt influence of a
is
prophetic message.
SARDIS.
"
This, the capital of ancient Lydia, and Queen City of Asia,"
was situated in the classic valley of Her m us, on the banks of
the golden Pactolus, about sixty miles east of Smyrna. Sard is
is first mentioned in history 716 B. C., and Us king was the
last
changed his purpose, and not only spared the life of Croesus, but
made him his personal friend. Sardis was a city of great
wealth, luxury and sensuality. Gold and silver were here first
COINS OF SARDIS.
now crowns the brow of Mount Tmolus, and no sages now come
from afar to behold the magnificence of Sardis. After the battle
of the Granicus it fell into the possession of the Greeks, who held
it
conquered by the Romans, under whom it long continued
until
impregnable, and yet proved the weakest point when the Per-
sians laid siege to the city, as Croesus failed to guard this spot,
flat circular stone ten feet in diameter with a raised edge crowns
wide and seven in height, was found within, built of marble, the
blocks finely dressed, nicely fitted, and held together by clamps
of lead. The body was placed on a stone couch inside this vault,
the floor of which was covered with ashes, cinders, bits of wood
and bones and fragments of pottery, the remains probably of the
funeral sacrifices. Similar chambers have been found in all the
as they all had l>een rifled ages before, probably during the Roman
material taken from the temple of Cybele, one of the oldest in the
things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key
of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth,
and no man openeth I know thy works behold, I have set
;
:
before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." Rev. iii, 7.
brated for its choice wines. Its Turkish name is Allah Shehr
SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 493
supported the brick dome of some edifice now in ruins are sup-
PHILADELPHIA.
this church :
" Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the
upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my
God, which is New Jerusalem." Many of the pillars in these
pagan temples are inscribed with the name of the donor and the
name of the god that was worshipped therein.
Philadelphia continued to be a place of considerable importance
494 BIBLE LANDS.
down Byzantine age, and was among the last cities in Asia
to the
RUINS OF LAODICEA.
LAODICEA.
and, with few exceptions, its gray and widely scattered ruins pos-
sess no architectural merit to attract the attention of the travel-
ler." Yet it is
impossible to view them without interest when
we consider what Laodicea once was, and how it is connected
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in
;
the fire, that thou mayest be rich." Rev. iii, 14-18. The church
had grown proud, and lukewarm, and luxurious. They fancied
they were safe, and yet were living over a smouldering volcano
classic history, for centuries the great seat of learning, the cen-
ter of civilization, and the capital of the first Republic in our
world's history, 1068 B. C. Just before entering the harbor
of Piraeus, the port of Athens, we passed over the scene of the
celebrated naval engagement of Salamis, and could distinctly
see from our vessel's deck the hill on which Xerxes erected
his silver throne, from which he witnessed the destruction of
his vast fleet, and with it all his ambitious aims of conquest in
During our visit to this city I have been living in the past
tering, broken columns on the plain are the last of one hundred
ind twenty-six that once composed the gorgeous temple of
498 BIBLE LANDS.
Jupiter Olympus ;
where I write, on the hill of
that just here,
ple of Neptune once stood I say to realize all this, and much
more, is to roll the ages back and live through twenty centuries
in a day.
We were especially interested in visiting the cemetery of an-
cient Athens, dating back to 400 B. C., and only recently dis-
MAIls' HILL
up amid the ruins of the old. The royal palace is located here,
and the young king is
doing all in his power to restore the city
to its ancient splendor. But his kingdom is small and poor and
he lacks both men and means to carry out his plans. He is not
able even to hold his own subjects in submission, and bands of
brigands rule the country.
A few years since, a party of English gentlemen went out
from the hotel we were stopping at, to visit the battle-field
of Marathon. They were expected back the same evening.
But not one of them ever returned alive !
They were waylaid
by the robtars, and all murdered in cold blood, because the ran-
som jf $50,000 was not promptly paid.
Our party intended visiting the same locality, but the Govern-
ment assured us that there were not soldiers enough in the garri-
home.
CHAPTER III.
world's history.
The Jewish prophets were a class of holy men specially in-
onjy under types and figures, but with all the precision of facts,
more exact order of time, and his revelations cover the whole
history of the world from Cyrus down to the close of the pres-
ent dispensation.
In the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, as explained by Daniel, we
have clearly set forth the rise, progress, and termination of the
four greatest monarchies of earth, which have been so cele-
brated in history, together with other mighty changes in the
political state of the world, and at the same time, the origin
and nature of a fifth kingdom, destined to absorb all the others,
ing of his dream, he sends for Daniel, then a young man con-
empire under Cyrus the Persian, who, after the fall of Baby-
lon, B. C. 538, and the death of his uncle, Darius the Mede,
united the two kingdoms and established the powerful Persian
The "stone cut out of the mountain" can have but one
meaning, and must refer to the "rock of our salvation," the
"
kingdom of Christ, against which the gates of hell shall not
prevail." Cut from the mountain, " without hands" refers to
the spiritual nature of this kingdom, showing that it " is not of
this world," not of human origin but a kingdom which the ;
to-day ;
have become extinct, and only live in history. The
all
the downfall of Koine the kingdom of the stone has been gath-
'
and he shall reign for ever and ever."
"
It willbe observed that " the feet and toes of this image
were iron and clay, and after it was broken these formed a
separate kingdom, a mixture of iron and clay, or truth and er-
ror. This, it would seem, refers to the rise of the Mohammed-
an power, or the Saracenic Caliphate, which was a mixture of
great monarchies.
" The first was and had eagle's wings " * this,
like a lion, ;
nations, has already lost Lydia, Media, and Persia. Her last
now and " the
king is
upon the throne, soon beauty of the
"
Chaldees' excellency will fade forever from the earth.
The next was a ram with " two horns." These horns
'
sym-
bolize power, authority, dominion. One of these horns " was
1 * *
Revelation zi, 15. Daniel vii, 4. Daniel viii, 3.
508 BIBLE LANDS.
" came
higher than the other," and the higher one up last."
This higher horn clearly refers to Cyrus the Persian, who came
kingdoms out of which the empire was formed, and the great
extent of her dominions.
These beasts are represented as coming up out of a troubled
sea, indicating that these monarchies arose from the disturbed
[
Out of one of these horns that sprang from the broken
"notable horn," there "came forth a little horn,"* plucking
" "
up by the roots three of the horns belonging to the beast
with ten horns. This prophecy has generally been applied to
the papal power, but undoubtedly refers to the rise of Mohun-
1
Darnel * *
viii, 21. Daniel xi, 4. Daniel viii, 9.
510 BIBLE LANDS.
" "
medanism, which arose after the stone had struck the feet
of the great image, and "plucked up" Arabia, Egypt, and
appears that this system was formed out of the "feet and
" and
toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image ;
it at least is a curious
fact, that the Ottoman Empire, the seat of this hierarchy, has
the meaning of which is,
always been governed by Pashas,
* the feet of the Shah."
"
Though little at first, it waxed exceedingly great toward the
i*outh, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land,"
" war
that is, in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine, making against
" " down the
the saints, and prevailing against them ; casting
"
truth to the ground," and taking away the place of his sane*
tuaiy," which is literally true of Islamism. AH her conquests-
have been by the sword, and there is no bloodier chapter in
hiptjry than the wars of Mohammed and his successors against
the followers of Christ.
Mohammed was born at Mecca, A.D. 570, but died and was-
buried at Medina, 200 miles north of Mecca. His tomb is in
forty feet square by fifty high, known as the Kaaba, that stands,
in the center of the great mosque, and is said to have been built
religious awe, and was a seat of worship for a thousand years be-
fore Mohammed was born. The Kaaba, of which very little
is known, is covered like a coffin with a black pall and about ;
five feet from the ground, inserted in the outer wall, is a black
they may die with the vision of the Kaaba before them.
514 BIBLE LANDS.
ization.
uries this delusion hung like a death pall over southern Europe,
and seemed destined to sweep every thing before it.
Some timid persons apprehend danger from the same source
in the near future. The Moslems still claim to have the " Flag
of the Prophet," a faded green silk banner, with a few texts
from the Koran upon it, which is said to be the same carried
of his religion.
Several things, however, assure us that there is no immediate
quarter.
This whole system of antichrist, like the kingdoms preced-
administer on the " sick man's " estate. " The end shall be at
"
the time appointed ;
"
when " the judgment shall sit, and
1 *
Daniel vii, 22. Daniel xi, 27.
516 BIBLE LANDS.
they shall take away his dominion, and it shall be given to the
'
everlasting kingdom."
Its duration 1260 prophetic days,1 or years, a
was limited to
Mohammedanism.
Daniel, in closing up his prophcies relating to the kingdom*
of this world, foretold occurrences which have not been fullj
"
Any one who will examine this prophecy touching the king of
"
the north invading the south, taking the " fenced cities," lay-
" "
ing his hand on Egypt," and devouring the glorious land,"
will find that reference is had to the Turkish conquest of these-
1 * 8
Daniel vii, 26, 27. Daniel vii, 25. Daniel xi, 30.
PROPHECY FULFILLED. 517
stand. This would be " between the seas," and in " the holy
mountain " Moriah where Solomon's glorious temple once
stood, and from which, according to the legend, Mohammed
ascended to heaven. But this will only be for a brief period.
His palace being nothing but a " tabernacle," a temporary
" Yet he shall come
structure, and his days numbered. to his
"
end and none shall help him ; England and France have helped
him out on other occasions, but now all his allies desert him,
and the kingdom of the Crescent, that has desolated the Holy
Land for more than a thousand years, and laid waste the fairest
portion of our globe, shall speedily come to a shameful end.
" And at that
time shall Michael stand up, the great prince
which standeth for the children of thy people and there ;
nation."
'
earth. Michael the archangei, wfio has always been the pro-
tector of God's people, now takes the field and commands the
Christian host. This last great battle will probably take place
at Megiddo, on the plain of Esdraelon, the scene of so many
tious reverence for holy things, and passion to visit the hallowed
never claimed to have made any such discovery, nor was it heard
of for several years after her death. Eusebius, if any one, would
have known of such a precious relic, as he was present at the dedi-
and would have mentioned it in his address
cation of the church,
in the church she ordered to be erected over the tomb, will appear
fully, when it is known that she died eight years before the
Master and religion, were not satisfied with the life of a hermit,
and toward the close of the eleventh century he made his first
Christians all over the Orient, and especially the pilgrims, were
treated by the followers of the False Prophet, his very blood
tinguished persons, came in such numbers, the city was not able
524 BIBLE LANDS.
garb. It was a cold rainy day when they met, but neither cold
nor rain could chill or dampen their ardor. The Hermit was
the first to speak, giving an account of the condition of the
holy places have been despoiled, until God has no longer a sanc-
tuary in His own city," the whole assembly was moved to tears,
seeing which, he continued, "Let us weep, my brethren; let us
ingly remind you that Christ died for you, and that it is
your
duty to die for him."
The Council adjourned with the benediction of His Holiness,
after providing that the Crusade should start the following Au-
gust. In the meantime, Peter the Hermit, riding on a mule, feet
tinction among them, the rich and poor serving together as com-
mon soldiers ;
an army of religious enthusiasts, without dis-
fanaticism, that the rivers would open to let them pass safely
through ;
that they would be fed with manna from heaven, as the
Israelites of old, and that the cities of their enemies would fall
like Jericho before Joshua. Those that were not slain in battle
witnessed a finer army than was raised in a few months for this
high walls and a deep, wide ditch, which, with its garrison of
628 BIBLE LANDS.
army of Godfrey.
taking for the greatly depleted
Antioch was founded 300 B. C. by Seleucus Nicator, King of
sidered the third city in the world for beauty, wealthand popu-
lation. A grand street, with colonnades, was a marked feature
of t'le city. Pompey enlarged it, and Herod the Great adorned
ANTIOCH.
point of view, and the leaders of the Crusaders felt the absolute
spent in preparing for the attack. On the eve of the day ap-
pointed for the final assault the whole host made a religious
morning the assault was made. All that day and the next the
bettle raged with fearful carnage. But the zeal of the Crusaders
530 BIBLE LANDS.
of Zion, July 15th, 1099. It is stated that Pope Urban II. died
months, and was buried in the grotto under Calvary, near the
tomb of Christ, where his grave is still pointed out to the visitor.
His sword, a weighty two-edged instrument, and his spurs, are
kept as mementos of his deeds, in the Latin chapel of the
still
ernment of Palestine.
The capture of Jerusalem, and the rise of the Latin kingdom
in the East, together with the fanatical and martial spirit that
these orders was pious, practical benevolence, for the relief of the
sick and poor, and the protection of pilgrims. The Moslems
still ruled the country, and the numerous pilgrims visiting Jeru-
Cross.
84
532 BIBLE LANDS.
object, or to strengthen
the positions held by the Christians in
the East. The fall of Edessa and the slaughter of the Christians
in that city in 1144 horrified their brethren in the West, and a
second Crusade was preached by the famous St. Bernard, with the
same effect as that of Peter the Hermit. Two enormous armies,
estimated at 1,200,000 fighting men, 70,000 of whom were
mailed cavalry or knights, under the command of Louis VII.,
that time an old pilgrim arrived from Jerusalem with the appall-
ing news that two out of the seven transports had been wrecked
off Sicily, and all on board had perished. The other five vessels
wars had died out, and for the last seven centuries the Holy Land
has remained in possession of the Turk.
ASSYKIAN !SKAL.
APPENDIX.
CHAPTER I.
singular fact that Mizraim, the Hebrew word for Egypt, is the
the valley of the Nile has been the battle-field of the world,
and to-day is nothing more than one vast cemetery of buried
cities and buried races.
is now solved.
stones.
Joseph, it is
supposed, served as governor next to him lies
;
>ccupant ;
we have here before us the Pharaoh whose heart
so
sixteen inches long, and yet has all the titles of royalty. It
was found in the same coffin with its mother, and they appear
to have been buried at the same time.
This process of embalming was practiced by the Egyptians
ior more than two thousand years and not only all natives, but
;
embalmed their sacred birds, cats and bulls, the latter being
EGYPTIAN MODE OF BURIAL. 539
soldier with his bow and arrows, the painter with his palette,
the scribe with his pen and papyrus, the carpenter with his
adze, the mason with his mallet and chisel, the musician with his
cymbals, and the child with its doll and other playthings.
On one young man was found a sealed letter directed to a
reoccupy its
body.
But the most exciting event connected with the finding of
oppressed the Hebrews, and the greatest builder of his age. The
two magnificent subterranean temples at Aboo-Simbel in Nubia,
the Ramesium of Thebes, also the famous temples of Karnak
and Luxor, and the small temple at Abydos, are ascribed to him.
entries bearing date the 6th year of the reign of the High Priest
Her-hor Se-Amen, written in black ink upon the lid of the
wooden mummy case, and the further entry of the 16th year of
the High Priest Pinotem I., written upon the outer winding sheet
of the mummy over the region of the breast. After the first
bandages ;
and then a piece of fine linen reaching from the head
to the feet. A figure representing the Goddess Nut, one yard in
length, is drawn upon this piece of linen, in red and white, as
time of death, they have been dyed a light yellow by the spices
used in embalmment. The forehead is low and narrow the brow-
;
ridge prominent ;
the eyebrows are thick and white ;
the eyes are
*For the portrait of Rameses II., on opposite page, we are indebted to Messrs.
ing far out from the head, and pierced like those of a woman for
the wearing of earrings. The jawbone is massive and strong;
the chin very prominent; the mouth small but thick lipped ;
the
teeth are white and well preserved. The mustache and beard are
thin. They seem to have been kept shaven during life, but were
robust old man. We know that Rameses II. reigned for 67 years,
and that he must have been nearly 100 years old when he died.
eight feet eleven inches long, and about eight feet square at its
base, tapering to five feet at the top ; weighing one hundred
and eighty-six tons, and measuring in height, with its pedestal,
lately taken from Alexandria have long been known as " Cleo-
side lines, which are two hundred and seventy years later, but
not so bold, recite the exploits and virtues of Rameses II., of
the nineteenth dynasty, the most famous of Egyptian kings,
who reigned sixty-seven years, about fourteen centuries before
Christ.
day, and this, probably, is the great secret our Masonic friends
have so long and so faithfully kept.
No one can visit these remains of former wealth and power,
and contrast the present condition of Egypt with what it was
under the Pharaohs, without being impressed with the truth
of revelation as seen in the literal fulfillment of the prophecies
that relate to this land. These predictions were uttered when
Egypt was in all her glory, and when nothing but Omniscience
could have foretold her degradation.
Thus Lord God "
saith the :
Behold, I will give the land of
WONDERFUL FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 549
take her multitude, and take her spoil; and it shall be the
* " It shall be the
wages for his array." basest of the kingdoms ;
Wehave here given the very name of the king who was
chosen to break the power of this mighty nation, with the
whole list of reverses experienced in her subsequent history.
tians, aided science, and for over forty years ruled the land
with wisdom, firmness, and justice; and, but for the interven-
tion of Europe, would have added all Syria to his dominion..
(hen comes the city with its numerous minarets and sun-lit
lomes, with the river and its fleet of little boats beyond, and
*way off on the horizon the great African desert in all its soli-
.
CITADKL, A:NT> WELL OF JOSEPH.* 553
tude, flanked by the pyramids on the ore hand and the cver-
enough to drive two mules abreast down, all cut out of the
natural rock, making the entire opening at least twenty-five
feet in diameter. The water is raised by means of earthen jars
fastened to an endless rope passing over a wheel, and kept con-
ing the rock, is even a greater wonder than the well itself.
The present population of Egypt numbers about 5,000,000,
principally Arabs, or the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham's
1
eldest son, by Hagar, his Egyptian wife. Ishuiael also mar-
Arab steeds, in their gay trappings, armed with long lances, thp
8
'Genesis xvi, 3. 'Genesis xxi, 21. Genesis xxv, 16.
4
Genesis xvii, 20. 'Genesis xvi, 12.
EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS. 555
BBDOCIX
No importance is to be attached to the BF.DOUIV
LANCK. LAHCB.
religious movement in the Soudan under
enoussi, the so-called Moslem Messiah. His followers are
principally from the products of the soil, and as there are only
5,000,000 acres of land capable of cultivation, this imposes an
city in Africa, before passing through its late fiery ordeal, was
a stirring place of 300,000 population, and rapidly growing.
We give its eventful history elsewhere, save its last bloody
chapter, enacted on the llth of June, 1882, when hundreds of
innocent Christians of every age were brutally murdered by
fanatical Mussulmans, the sequel of which was the bombard-
centuries, and are too ignorant, and have been too long under
the heel of despotism, to appreciate a free government. In
the recent outbreak, being backed by the army, Arabi first at-
Porte.
558 APPENDIX.
Mahdi, the Moslem Messiah, and set forth the real issues in-
shed of the Congo. The area of this, the richest section of the
(669)
560 APPENDIX.
souls, more than half of whom are in the Eastern and Central
trading-posts.
Western Soudan embraces the famous city of Timbuctoo, the
commercial metropolis of the overland desert traders, and covers
the whole basin of the great river Niger. Khartoum, the capi-
tal of Central Soudan, is situated at the junction of the Blue and
As the whole Soudan, from the river Nile to the mountain bar-
riers along the Atlantic, lies within the rainy belt of the Equa-
dred captives not more than twenty, probably, will reach the last
slave market.
slaves in a gang, and her master had determined that she should
not become the property of any one else if she recovered. A
day or two after, we passed a slave woman stabbed through the
body, and lying on the path in a pool of blood ; an Arab had
done it that morning, in anger at losing the price he had paid for
her, because she was unable to walk any longer." Many die of
see the broad river Lualaba rolling between them and their free
homes; then they lose heart and suddenly die. Eight in one
party died in three days after crossing this river. They ascribed
their only pain to the heart, and placed the hand correctly on the
spot. Some slavers expressed surprise that they should thus die,
seeing they had plenty to eat and no work. One fine boy of about
twelve years, when about to expire, was laid down on the side
of the path, and a hole dug to deposit his body He, too,in.
said nothing was the matter with him except pain in the heart.
Children for a time would keep up with wonderful endurance,
but happened sometimes that the sound of dancing and the
it
much for them ; they cried and sobbed, the broken-heart came
on, and they rapidly sank.*
WITCHCRAFT SUPERSTITION. 565
of the fifty capt^-ed, but ten reach the final market, who shall
compute the villages laid waste, the homes rendered desolate, and
the parents and children slaughtered during these awful four hun-
dred years which have witnessed fifty millions of slaves torn from
pose of mixing with their blood the mortar used in the erection
of his royal residence ;
all to keep off evil spirits. When a per-
son dies, the medicine man is sent for, who goes through certain
incantations to find out who it was that bewitched the deceased.
binding and dragging her down to the river, where she is com-
pelled to drink a poisonous potion called mboundou, under the
poison will not kill her; but it is sure death in every instance.
Nile, the one by Speke and Grant in 1863, and the other by
Samuel Baker in 1864, the Khedive, Ismail Pasha, secured the
566 APPENDIX.
Baker, in the course of two years, after much hard fighting and
small boats of about fifty tons. And frightful were the horrors
of this traffic, as often two hundred and fifty or more slaves were
prophet. His name and austere piety, together with certain pro-
phetic marks upon his person, such as one arm being longer than
the other, and one eye being jet black and the other brown, in-
fluenced many ignorant sheiks, fakirs and dervishes, with their
credulous followers, fired by Oriental enthusiasm, to join his
standard and rebel against the authority of Egypt.
El Mahdi's career from the first has been attended with al-
most unvarying success. More than one Egyptian stronghold
had fallen into the hands of his fanatic horde, when Hicks
Pasha, an English officer, was sent out by the Khedive with a
force often thousand Egyptian soldiers to suppress the rebellious
prophet. The hostile armies met at El Obeid, west of the White
Nile. The encounter was short and savage. Its appalling ro-
sult was, not only the defeat and death of Hicks Pasha, but the
destruction almost to a man of his entire army on the battle-field.
ral fertility of the soil, the rich pastures for cattle, a tropical sun,
and woods are alive with game, from the elephant down, and the
rivers swarm with fish, constitute a condition of things for human
subsistence without a parallel outside the Soudan.
We
have every reason for believing that El Mahdi is in league
with the slave-traders of the Soudan. These ivory merchants,
as they are called, maintain a great number of settlements in the
1
Berber was surprised and taken by El Mahdi'a troops at daybreak, May 26th,
1884. Most of the garrison and inhabitants, except the women and children,
were massacred.
EL MAHDI. 569
some door will be opened for his escape: but will this excuse
England for throwing open the whole Nile Valley to El Mahdi,
and for turning over the dense population of the Soudan to the
mercy of brutal slave-traders?
This remarkable man, who seems destined to play a stormy
part in modern history, is described as tall, slim and straight,
with the true Arab complexion, black hair cut close to the head,
and a black, pointed beard. His manner is stern, serious, and
often absent, as if in deep study. He is very reticent, giving his
orders in few words, closely observing all that transpires. He
maintains rigidly his devotional exercises, and at each crisis of
ing material." His exploits have made him, for the present
at
least, the absolute master of the Soudan, and he now assumes the
Such is the man who has cut off the flower of the Egyptian army,
dentally noticed.
In this agnostic age there is a disposition to rule God out of
the universe, ignore entirely the supernatural, doubt all revealed
ing with the patriarchs even deny that Moses was the author
;
simple and clear, and that the most rigid criticism cannot
4
object to his conclusions. The sculptures represent a num-
ber of slaves carrying wheat in sacks, and filling the royal
granaries.
1
2 2-7. a 8
25. 4 Histoire d'Egypte, p. 177.
Timothy, iii, Timothy ii, 19. Page
EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE. 573
EGYPTIAN GRANARIES.
Jews ;
and as the Hebrews were the only foreigners, so far as
known, in bondage at that time in Egypt, is it not more
than probable that reference is here had to the oppressed
Israelites ?
That the colossal Sphinx was an idol and the local deity of
Nile. The effect was grand. The sky being clear and the
found among the debris. And Dr. Shaw, in his Travels, says, 4
"It was incrusted all over with the finest granite marble.''
All of which is confirmed by Abd-el-Lateef, who states that
*
1
Herodotus, book ii, Eut. cxxv. Wilkinson's Hand-book of Kjrypt, p. 18fc
8 * *
Sinai and Palestine, p. 52. VoL il, p. 201. lliat. NaL, xxxiv., 21.
576 APPENDIX.
1
roof being of cedar and cypress. "We were present when Dr.
Wood discovered this long-buried temple in 1871. We did
not measure the columns, but saw the coloring and gilding on
ash-beds are out in the desert, where there never could have
been either water or vegetation to sustain a village. They are
also on the direct route of the Israelites, and Mr. Palmer gives
*
1
Ephesus and Temple of Diana, 1857. Sinai and Palestine, pp. 57, 7L.
8 4 *
Desert of the Exodus, pp. 25-27.
Diodorus, iii, 42. Page 290.
WILDERNESS OF WANDERING. 577
xi, 34. Dean Stanley says, " These rude burial grounds, with
the many nameless head-stones, found in the wilderness of wan-
dering, far away from human habitation, are such as the host
of Israel must have left behind them at the different stages of
their progress." The Arabs still call them, Turbet es Yahoud
" the '
that supplied the city with water, also by the ford of the Jor-
quarries, brick kilns, and other earth-works that still mark the
spot. That there are pillars of salt
standing in every fantastic
shape in the vicinity of Jebel Usdnm on the shores of the Dead
Sea, and that others are constantly forming by accretion from
the spray and exhalations of the sea, all who have explored that
such a locality, but would soon become incrusted with salt, and
in time a pillar of salt, there is nothing very marvelous in the
" became a
pillar of
Bible statement that Lot's wife salt."
Genesis 2&
and Palestine, Quarterly Statement, April, 1874. xix,
1
Sinai p. 23.
578 APPENDIX
that the rocks and soil on the plain of Esdraelon are volcanic ;
* *
Russegger, p. 206. Smith's Bible Dictionary, article Palestine.
DAKIUS THE MEDE. 579
map."
Dean "
Stanley, referring to this region, says Traces of vol- :
Dr. Thomson gives it as his opinion " that, until the destruc-
tion of Sodom, this was a fresh-water lake, and that its charac-
pute. We also find that Nabonidus and his eldest son, Bel-
Cyrus.
Another confirmation of the accuracy of this book has also
before was called heaven, and the lower region before it was
it
called earth, and the abyss of Hades, and the chaos of waters,
" God moon to rule the night, and to wan-
says: appointed the
der through the night until the dawn of day. Every month,
without fail, God made holy assembly days. In the beginning
of each month, at the rising of the night, the moon shot forth
we know touching the site where Noah landed is, that it was
somewhere among the highlands east of the Euphrates.
Recent explorations in Chaldsea show that " Ur of the Clial-
"
dees the city of Abraham was not where it generally was
"
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, shepherd of peoples,
who attest the immutable affection of Merodach, the mighty 1
a
ruler exalting Nebo ;
the Saviour ;
the wise man, who lends
his ears to the orders of the highest god ;
the lieutenant with
out reproach, the repairer of the Pyramid and the Tower,
eldest son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon. We say :
"
Merodach, the great master, has created me ; he has im-
posed on me to reconstruct his building. Nebo, the guardian
over the legions of the heaven and the earth, has charged my
hands with the scepter of justice.
" The is the
Pyramid temple of the heaven and the earth,
the seat of Merodach, the chief of the gods, the place of
the oracles, the spot of his rest. I have adorned it in the form
of a cupola with shining gold.
" The
Tower, the eternal house, .vhich I founded and built,
I have completed its magnificence with silver, gold, other
its head. Since a remote time people had abandoned it, with-
out order expressing their>' words. Since that time the earth-
quake and the thunder had dispersed its sun-dried clay the ;
*
1
The supreme deity of Babylon. The patron of learning, or genius of inspiration.
TEMPLE OF BELUS TOWER OF BABEL. 587
eternal table, that fix the destinies of the heaven and earth,
bless the course of my days, inscribe the fecundity of my
race.
" O
Imitate, Merodach, King of heaven and earth, the fa-
of gold or silver, were seven stages, the lower one two hun-
dred and seventy-two feet square, and twenty-six high the ;
images, the great golden statue of Belus, forty feet high. The
seven stages represented the seven lights or planets of
hence was known as the "
Earth, it
Temple of the
BIRS NIHKOUD.
Josephus, were made out of the two bronze pillars, Boaz and
Jachin, that once stood at the entrance to Solomon's temple,
1
and which Nebuchadnezzar carried away from Jeruslem.
This was the royal residence of the kings of Babylon. It
1
2 Kings xxv, 13.
BIBS-NIMROUD TOWER OF BABEL. 589
deposited, and all the wealth of the nation kept, which must
have been vast, as Xerxes, on his return from his disastrous cam-
paign in Europe, robbed this temple of $600,000,000 in gold.
All that remains of this celebrated temple is an immense
*
mound of sun-dried bricks, laid with bitumen ;
a truncated cone-
two hundred and fifty feet high, broken off abruptly and rent
asunder. The sides of the mound are deeply furrowed by the
1
2 Chronicles xxxvi, 7.
"They had brick for stone, and slime (or bitumen) for mortar." Genesis xi, a.
500 APPENDIX.
ashes and lava, and now you can stroll for hours and days
beled " To Let," but have been without a tenant for more
than eighteen hundred years. In the Forum there was a call
for a political meeting that night, but it stands forever ad-
As a work of art this has never been surpassed. You can enter
dinner, but the guests had all fled, leaving every thing behind
them, loaves of bread still in the oven, honey still in the comb,
wine still in the bottle, and in the stone sink the cloth was still
the floor, and the impression of her bust could still be seen in
the cold lava. In the Herculaueuin gate the sentinel was found
in hisbox holding with his left hand his tunic to his mouth,
and with his right hand still grasping an old rusty sword.
A woman and a boy about ten years old were recovered
little
stone. And so all over the city you can still see the footsteps
of the destroyer, and how sudden and fearful was the over-
throw of Pompeii. It was during this eruption the elder
" Gate of Lions " to the citadel, and within the citadel
leading
the old council-chamber; and down thirty feet beneath its
marble floor found the treasury and tomb of Atreus, also, the
gold, masks of gold over their faces, gold stars and buttons and
foliage on their dresses, some wearing gold rings and bracelets
came upon a second city, but it was not ancient Troy. It be-
were up, the bricks were burned hard by means of great wood
fires kindled against them within and without. The floors
were made in the same way, first covered with soft clay, and
after drying, burned hard.
NOTE. These tablets of the creation, found union); the ruins of Nineveh,
are made of common potter's clay, covered with inscriptions in cuneiform
characters, giving many ini|K>rtant facts connected with the history of our world,
nd agieeing wonderfully with the inspired record. They were written on
while Uie clay was yet soft, aud then burnt hard in the kilu.
88
EXPLORATIONS IN ASSYRIA. 597
plains of Troy.
We conclude our explorations with one of the latest and
most wonderful discoveries of the century.
Berosus, a Chaldean priest of Babylon, in the third century
before Christ, compiled from the records in the temple of
Belus a history of Babylonia, giving what has long been known
as
" The Chaldean account of the Flood."
Many, however,
looked upon the whole account as mythical, and treated the
matter as a mere legend.
the sun, and to build a vessel, and take with him into it his
friends and relatives, and put on board food and drink, together
Now, what seems most marvelous, Mr. Kassain has just found
at Balawat, in the Euphrates Valley, the antediluvian city of
FADE
Convent of St. John 197 Egyptian Soldiers 656
Council of Clermont 523 Egypt, Population of 654
CHESUS, Last King of Sard is 487 Egypt's Future 658
Creation Tablets, Chaldean. .595, 598 .
Ekron, Worship of Beelzebub 228
Crucifixion, Solemn Mockeries... 185 Elijah's Grotto, Mt. Carmel 246
Crusades 521 Elijah's Sacrifice, Site of 247
Cyprus, Island of 417 Elisha at Dothan MB
Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem. .
.166, 176 Elisha, Mocked by Children 257
Cyrus the Persian 508 Elisha Plowing 334
El Kuzneh, Petra 105
Damascus Gate, Jerusalem 254 El Mahdi, Moslem Messiah 666
Damascus, Great Mosque 432 Embalmed Apis 542
Damascus, Oldest City in the World 431 Embalming the Dead 542
Daniel's Vision 507 Emmaus 123
Daniel, Tomb of. 419 Engedi, Wilderness of 309
Darius the Mede 578 Ephesus, Ruins of 479
David Cuts off Saul's Robe . . 209 Er Rahah, Plain of 99
David in Cave of Adullam 205 Esdraelon, Plain of 247, 262
David, Tomb of 178 Eshcol, Valley and Grapes 214
Dayr el Bahree, Late Discoveries. 538 Esther, Queen 418
Dead Sea, Great Depression 294 Ethiopia, Nubia 83
Dead Sea, Remarkable Phenome- Evangelist, Derivation of Name. . 44o
non 302 Exodus, Departure from Egypt.. 00
Delilah, Betrays Samson 228 Exodus, Pharaoh of 64
Deluge Tablets 598 Explorations, Assyrian 597
Dervishes, Howling and Dancing. 471 Ezion-Geber 101
Desert of Arabia 380
Diana, Temple at Ephesus ..478, 575 . Feet- washing Ceremony 184
Dibon, Ancient Capital of Moab. 339 . Fellaheen Arabs 566
Dogs, Dogmatic 37 Firman of Sultan 461
Dome over Holy Sepulcher.. .170, 431 First-born, Cut off 66
Donkeys of Alexandria . 37.
Fishing in Wady Waleh 334
Dragon Cast out of Heaven 414 Flag of the Prophet 514
Dream of Nebuchadnezzar 602 Flint Knives 284
Dromedary Riding 96, 271 Flood of Noah 698 .
Oate-way of Sik, Petra 106 Herod, the Great 178, 211, 289
Gath, City of Goliath 232, 236 Herodias and Herod Antipas 327
Gaza, Samson's Death 227 Herodium, Tomb of Herod ..178, 354 .
PA..
Bedouin Lances 555
Eire Nimroud, Tower of Babel 583
Cairo, from the Citadel 551
Cleopatra's Needle 565
Coins of Sardis 488
Creation Tablet 595
Crusader Knight 519
Cylinder Seal, Assyrian 584
Egyptian Granaries 573
Embalmed Apis 542
Laodicea 494
Mohammed's Tomb 511
Palace of Sardanapalus, Eestored 581
Pergamos *.....* 483
Philadelphia Ancient 493
Process of Moving Large Stones 467
Mummy of Barneses II., the Oppressor of the Hebrews, 1430 B. 541
Sarcophagus of Ashmunazer 449
Sardis Temple of Cybele 489
Smyrna Ancient Coins 481
Thyatira ~ 486
Vaae of Pei^amaa 484
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