Byeways in Palestine. James Finn

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4057664598738

Table of Contents

       PREFACE.

       NOTE.

       I. OVER THE JORDAN AND RETURN BY THE WEST.

       II. NORTHWARDS TO BEISÂN, KADIS, ANTIPATRIS, etc.

       III. SOUTHWARDS ON THE PHILISTINE PLAIN AND ITS SEA COAST.

       CHAPTER IV. HEBRON TO BEERSHEBA, AND HEBRON TO JAFFA.

       V. THE LAND OF BENJAMIN.

       VI. SEBUSTIEH TO CAIFFA.

       VII. ESDRAELON PLAIN AND ITS VICINITY.

       1. FROM SAFED TO CARMEL.

       2. NAZARETH TOWARDS ACRE.

       3. FROM TIBERIAS TO ACRE.

       II. THE REVERSE WAY FROM WEST TO EAST.

       1. ACRE TO TIBERIAS.

       2. CAIFFA TO NAZARETH.

       3. CAIFFA TO NAZARETH.

       4. CAIFFA TO SHEFA ’AMER.

       III. SOUTH SIDE OF ESDRAELON.

       1. PLAIN OF SHARON TO CAIFFA.

       2. PLAIN OF SHARON TO CAIFFA.

       IV. FROM CARMEL SOUTH-EASTWARDS.

       VIII. BELÂD BESHÂRAH.

       IX. UPPER GALILEE.—FOREST SCENERY.

       X. A TEMPLE OF BAAL AND SEPULCHRE OF PHŒNICIA.

       XI. JERUSALEM TO PETRA, AND RETURN BY THE DEAD SEA.

       XII. ACROSS THE LEBANON.

       XIII. NORTH-WEST OF THE DEAD SEA.

       XIV. SOBA.

       XV. THE TWO BAIT SAHHOORS IDENTIFIED WITH BETHSURA AND BATH ZACHARIAS.

       XVI. THE BAKOOSH COTTAGE.

       APPENDIX.

       A.—Page 32.

       B.—Page 367.

       INDEX OF PLACES.

PREFACE.

       Table of Contents

      These papers on “Byeways in Palestine” are compiled from notes of certain journeys made during many years’ residence in that country; omitting the journeys made upon beaten roads, and through the principal towns, for the mere reason that they were such.

      Just what met the eye and ear was jotted down and is now revised after a lapse of time, without indulging much in meditation or reflection; these are rather suggested by the occurrences, that they may be followed out by the reader. Inasmuch, however, as the incidents relate to out-of-the-way places, and various seasons of the year, they may be found to contain an interest peculiar to themselves, and the account of them may not interfere with any other book on Palestine.

      I may state that, not being a professed investigator, I carried with me no scientific instruments, except sometimes a common thermometer: I had no leisure for making excavations, for taking angles with a theodolite, or attending to the delicate care of any kind of barometer, being employed on my proper business.

      Riding by night or by day, in the heat of Syrian summer, or through snows and piercing winds of winter on the mountains, I enjoyed the pure climate for its own sake. Moreover, I lived among the people, holding intercourse with peasants in villages, with Bedaween in deserts, and with Turkish governors in towns, or dignified Druses in the Lebanon, and slept in native dwellings of all qualities, as well as in convents of different sects: in the open air at the foot of a tree, or in a village mosque—in a cavern by the highway side, or beneath cliffs near the Dead Sea: although more commonly within my own tent, accompanied by native servants with a small canteen.

      Sad cogitations would arise while traversing, hour after hour, the neglected soil, or passing by desolated villages which bear names of immense antiquity, and which stand as memorials of miraculous events which took place for our instruction and for that of all succeeding ages; and then, even while looking forward to a better time to come, the heart would sigh as the expression was uttered, “How long?”

      These notices will show that the land is one of remarkable fertility wherever cultivated, even in a slight degree—witness the vast wheat-plains of the south; and is one of extreme beauty—witness the green hill-country of the north; although such qualities are by no means confined to those districts. Thus it is not necessary, it is not just, that believers in the Bible, in order to hold fast