Haifa - free ebook by Laurence Oliphant

Read as playlist

Haifa

Laurence Oliphant

73 chapters

11 hour read

Read as playlist

Selected Chapters

73 chapters

PREFACE.

PREFACE.

The expectations which have been excited in the minds of men by the prophecies contained in Scripture, and the hopes which have been roused by them, have ever invested Palestine with an exceptional interest to Biblical students; while its sacred conditions, historical associations, and existing remains prove an attraction to crowds of pilgrims and tourists, who annually flock to the Holy Land. As, however, the impressions of a resident and those of a visitor are apt to differ widely in regard to

1 minute read

Read Chapter

INTRODUCTION.

INTRODUCTION.

The chapters which compose this volume originally formed a series of letters, all of which passed through my hands. I prepared them for their first appearance in print, and corrected the proofs afterwards. Finally, it was at my suggestion and advice that they were gathered together in a book. The deep interest which the land of Palestine possesses for every thoughtful mind makes us all greedy for fresh and truthful information, alike concerning its present condition and the discoveries which new

1 minute read

Read Chapter

A VISIT TO EPHESUS.

A VISIT TO EPHESUS.

Smyrna , Nov. 4, 1882.—There are two ways of doing Ephesus: you may either go there and, like the Apostle, “fight with beasts,” in the shape of donkeys and donkey boys, or you may wear yourself to death under the blazing sun, alternately scrambling over its rocks, and sinking ankle deep in the mire of its marshes. In old days it was an easy two days' ride from Smyrna to Ephesus, the distance being about fifty miles, but the Smyrna and Aiden Railway speeds you to the ruins in about two hours now,

7 minute read

Read Chapter

THE RUINS OF ATHLIT.

THE RUINS OF ATHLIT.

Haifa , Nov. 27, 1882.—The more you examine the countries most frequented by tourists, the more you are perplexed to comprehend the reasons which decide them to confine themselves to certain specified routes, arranged apparently by guides and dragomans, with a view of concealing from them the principal objects of interest. There is certainly not one tourist in a hundred who visits the Holy Land who has ever heard of Athlit, much less been there, and yet I know of few finer ruins to the west of t

8 minute read

Read Chapter

A JEWISH COLONY IN ITS INFANCY.

A JEWISH COLONY IN ITS INFANCY.

Haifa , Dec. 10.—About sixteen miles to the south of the projecting point of Carmel, upon which the celebrated monastery is perched above the sea, there lies a tract of land which has suddenly acquired an interest owing to the fact of its having been purchased by the Central Jewish Colonization Society of Roumania, with a view of placing upon it emigrants of the Hebrew persuasion who have been compelled to quit the country of their adoption in consequence of the legal disabilities to which they

9 minute read

Read Chapter

THE TEMPLE SOCIETY.

THE TEMPLE SOCIETY.

Haifa , Dec. 25.—There are probably not many of your readers who have ever heard of “The Temple Society,” and yet it is a religious body numbering over 5000 members, of whom more than 300 are in America, 1000 in Palestine, and the remainder scattered over Europe, principally in Germany, Russia, and Switzerland. The founder of the sect, if sect it can be called, is a certain Prof. Christophe Hoffman of Würtemberg, who, after studying at the University of Tübingen about thirty-five years ago, beca

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE TEMPLE COLONIES IN PALESTINE.

THE TEMPLE COLONIES IN PALESTINE.

Haifa , Jan. 20, 1883.—In a former letter I gave you a sketch of the origin of the Temple Society and of the religious motives which have led to the establishment of four agricultural colonies in the Holy Land by emigrants from Germany, America, Russia, and Switzerland. As I have taken up my winter residence in the principal one of these, situated beneath the shadow of Mount Carmel, some description of the place and its resources may not be without interest for your readers. I know of no localit

7 minute read

Read Chapter

EXPLORING MOUNT CARMEL.

EXPLORING MOUNT CARMEL.

Haifa , Feb. 7.—It was my fate as a child to live in a country-house in Scotland, of which one half was some centuries old, with stone walls several feet thick, and circular stone steps leading up into a mysterious tower, which was supposed to be haunted, and in which it was rumoured that a secret chamber existed, built in the wall, and I remember perfectly that certain places seemed to sound hollow to blows of a crowbar, which as I got older, I used to apply to suspected localities. It is more

9 minute read

Read Chapter

THE VALLEY OF THE MARTYRS.

THE VALLEY OF THE MARTYRS.

Haifa , Feb. 12.—A more thorough examination of the rocky hillsides of the Carmel promontory in the vicinity of the celebrated monastery than I have been hitherto able to give it, has revealed many spots of interest, and one in particular, which seems to have escaped the observation of the Palestine Exploration Fund Survey. About two miles and a half from Haifa the road to Jaffa passes between a projecting spur of the range and a mound about a hundred feet high, which formed the centre of the an

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE ROCK-HEWN CEMETERY OF SHEIK ABREIK.

THE ROCK-HEWN CEMETERY OF SHEIK ABREIK.

Nazareth , Feb. 18.—There is a low range of hills, about five hundred feet above the sea-level, half-way between Haifa and Nazareth. It is beautifully timbered with oak-trees, and cut up into the most charming valleys. Running almost due north and south, it divides the plain of Esdraelon from that of Acre. Its southern extremity, terminating abruptly, forms a small gorge with the Carmel range, through which the Kishon forces its way to the sea. It was during a heavy rain-storm a week ago that I

8 minute read

Read Chapter

EASTER AMONG THE MELCHITES.

EASTER AMONG THE MELCHITES.

Haifa , April 2.—The population of Haifa, which amounts to about six thousand souls, consists, so far as religious distinctions are concerned, of Moslems, Roman Catholics—here called “Latins”—orthodox Greeks, and Greek Catholics, or Melchites. Of these the latter are the most numerous. This town may be considered the stronghold of the Melchite schismatics. They are more influential here than in any other town in Syria. They compose two thirds of its entire population. Originally orthodox Greek,

7 minute read

Read Chapter

THE JEWISH QUESTION IN PALESTINE.

THE JEWISH QUESTION IN PALESTINE.

Haifa , April 17.—The exceptional interest which, in the minds of many people, attaches to the Jewish question in Palestine must be my excuse for now alluding to it. Although, in consequence of the strenuous opposition of the Turkish government, the tide of emigration into the country has been checked, the desire of the Russian and Roumanian Jews to escape from the persecution to which they are subjected in Europe to the Holy Land has in no degree diminished. On the contrary, colonization societ

6 minute read

Read Chapter

“HOLY PLACES” IN GALILEE.

“HOLY PLACES” IN GALILEE.

Nazareth , May 1.—Talking the other day to a Franciscan monk on the prospects of his religion and of the propaganda for the faith which his order is making in these parts, he informed me that much depended upon the restoration of “holy places,” with a view to increasing their importance and popularity, for practically the most effective agent for the conversion of infidels is hard cash, and the increase of expenditure means the increase of converts. Of course he did not put it in this undisguise

9 minute read

Read Chapter

PROGRESS IN PALESTINE.

PROGRESS IN PALESTINE.

Haifa , May 16.—Considering the number of tourists, both American and English, who annually visit the Holy Land, I have been much struck with the erroneous impression which still continues to prevail in regard to its availability as a field of colonization, and as an opening for foreign enterprise and capital. For some time past a discussion has been taking place in the Jewish papers on both sides of the Atlantic, in which the merits of Palestine from this point of view have been canvassed, and

6 minute read

Read Chapter

THE FIRST PALESTINE RAILWAY.

THE FIRST PALESTINE RAILWAY.

Haifa , June 13.—When Thackeray foretold that the day would come when the scream of the locomotive would awake the echoes in the Holy Land, and the voice of the conductor be heard shouting, “Ease her, stop her! Any passengers for Joppa?” he probably did so very much in the spirit in which Macaulay prophesied the New-Zealander sitting on the ruins of London Bridge, as an event in the dim future, and as a part of some distant impending social revolution; but the realization of the prediction is be

8 minute read

Read Chapter

SAFED.

SAFED.

Haifa , July 10.—Next to Jerusalem, the city most highly venerated by the Jews in Palestine is Safed. I had occasion to visit it a few weeks ago on my way to a colony of Russian and Roumanian Jews which has been established in the neighbourhood. Perched on the summit of a mountain nearly three thousand feet high, it is one of the most picturesquely situated towns in the country; and there is a tradition to the effect that it was alluded to by Christ as “the city that is set on a hill, and cannot

6 minute read

Read Chapter

MEIRON.

MEIRON.

Haifa , July 20.—One of the most interesting and little-known spots in Palestine is the famous shrine of Jewish pilgrimage called Meiron. Hither, in the latter part of the month of May, Hebrews resort in vast numbers from all parts, especially of the East, and as many as two thousand are often encamped there at a time. It is situated in a wild part of the mountains of central Galilee, on the edge of the most fertile plateau in the whole district, where the villages are surrounded by the most lux

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE FEAST OF ST. ELIAS.

THE FEAST OF ST. ELIAS.

Haifa , July 31.—The greatest religions festival of the year in these parts takes place on the 20th of July at the Monastery of Mount Carmel, and is called the Feast of St. Elias. It does not rank in the Roman Catholic Church generally as one of the highest importance, but among the Maronites, Melchites, and the Latin Oriental Church, as well as among the Carmelites themselves, it is par excellence the great annual ecclesiastical event. From all parts of Palestine worshippers of all ranks flock

7 minute read

Read Chapter

A SUMMER CAMP ON CARMEL.

A SUMMER CAMP ON CARMEL.

Esfia , Aug. 20.—The fact that the cholera was raging in Egypt, that in the ordinary course of events it was certain to visit Syria, that even if it did not, the months of July, August, and September are disagreeably hot at Haifa, determined me to make the experiment of camping out on the highest point of Carmel, and I am at this moment sitting under a Bedouin tent, arranged after a fashion of my own, at an altitude of eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, upon which I look down in t

7 minute read

Read Chapter

THE DRUSES OF MOUNT CARMEL.

THE DRUSES OF MOUNT CARMEL.

In Camp, Mount Carmel , Sept. 10.—It is not generally known that the Druse nation extends as far south as Carmel. The most southern village occupied by them in Syria is at Dalieh, about two miles from my present camp; their most northern home is at Aleppo. When, nine hundred years ago, Duruzi, the teacher from whom they take their name, came from Egypt to spread his new teaching, it was accepted by a tribe of people who lived in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, whither they had originally migrated f

9 minute read

Read Chapter

EXPLORATION ON CARMEL.

EXPLORATION ON CARMEL.

Haifa , Sept. 24.—During the two months that I have been camped on the highest summit of Mount Carmel, I have visited no fewer than twenty ruins of ancient towns and villages. Of these I have discovered six which were heretofore unknown, the others having been found ten years ago by the officers of the Royal Engineers sent out to survey Palestine by the Society for Palestine Exploration. Prior to that time, this historic locality was a terra incognita . The tourists who visited the mountain, lik

8 minute read

Read Chapter

A PLACE FAMOUS IN HISTORY.

A PLACE FAMOUS IN HISTORY.

St. Jean d'Acre , Oct. 14.—Of all the towns on the Syrian coast, from Antioch to Gaza, none has had a more eventful history than Acre, or one which more directly affected the fortunes of the rest of the country at large. Napoleon I. called it the key of Palestine, and it is doubtless owing to its important strategical position that it has undergone so many vicissitudes, and been the scene of so many sanguinary battles. There is, indeed, probably no similar area on the face of the globe on which

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE BABS AND THEIR PROPHET.

THE BABS AND THEIR PROPHET.

Haifa , Nov. 7.—The Nahr N'aman, called by the ancients the river Belus, rises in a large marsh at the base of a mound in the plain of Acre called the Tell Kurdany, and, after a short course of four miles, fed by the swampy ground through which it passes, it attains considerable dimensions. Before falling into the sea it winds through an extensive date-grove, and then, twisting its way between banks of fine sand, falls into the ocean scarcely two miles from the walls of Acre. Pliny tells us that

8 minute read

Read Chapter

AN ANCIENT JEWISH COMMUNITY.

AN ANCIENT JEWISH COMMUNITY.

Haifa , Nov. 25.—In one of the most remote and secluded valleys in the mountains of northern Galilee lies a village, the small population of which possesses an interest altogether unique. As I looked down upon it from the precipitous and dangerous path by means of which I was skirting the flank of the mountain, I thought I had rarely seen a spot of such ideal beauty. It was an oasis, not actually in a desert—for the rocky mountain ranges were covered with wild herbage—but in a savage wilderness

9 minute read

Read Chapter

DOMESTIC LIFE AMONG THE SYRIANS.

DOMESTIC LIFE AMONG THE SYRIANS.

Haifa , March 1, 1884.—The ordinary tourists in Palestine who write books of their experience have so little opportunity of knowing the conditions which surround the daily life of a resident in a small country town, that a few details of domestic existence here, as contrasted with those of more civilized countries, may not be uninteresting. As a general rule, the foreigner who comes to a native town to settle down as a permanent inhabitant finds himself compelled more or less to adopt the manner

8 minute read

Read Chapter

FISHING ON LAKE TIBERIAS.

FISHING ON LAKE TIBERIAS.

Haifa , April 2.—I have just returned from a trip into the interior, during which I have been exploring some new and interesting country. Instead of following the usual road to the eastward by way of the valley of Esdraelon, I struck in a northeasterly direction across the fertile plain of Acre, fording the Kishon at the point of its debouchure into the sea, where, after the winter rains, we are generally obliged to swim the horses, while we cross ourselves in a ferry-boat. In two hours from thi

8 minute read

Read Chapter

A VISIT TO THE SULPHUR SPRINGS OF AMATHA.

A VISIT TO THE SULPHUR SPRINGS OF AMATHA.

Haifa , April 15.—At the spot where the Jordan issues from Lake Tiberias there are two large mounds, a fragment of sea-wall, and a causeway on arches which projects into the river, dividing it from the waters of the lake, and suggesting that it may possibly, in ancient times, have formed the approach to a bridge. There is no bridge there now. The river swirls round the arches, which are choked with ruins and reeds, and in a broad, swift stream winds its way to the Dead Sea. Here, in old time, st

8 minute read

Read Chapter

EXPLORATION OF THE VALLEY OF THE YARMUK.

EXPLORATION OF THE VALLEY OF THE YARMUK.

Haifa , April 30.—In my last letter I described the little-known hot sulphur springs of Amatha, with their extensive ruins, which indicate the celebrity they must have acquired in the days of the Romans. As the river Yarmuk above this point had, so far as I know, never been explored, I determined to push up the gorges through which it cleaves its way from the highlands of the Hauran to the valley of the Jordan. Some years ago I had crossed it about thirty miles higher up, where it flows across a

8 minute read

Read Chapter

EXPLORATION ON THE YARMUK.

EXPLORATION ON THE YARMUK.

Haifa , May 15.—From the ancient fortress of El-Hösn we crossed a spur to a high projecting point, from which we could look down a sheer precipice one thousand feet high, which had been formed by a land-slip, to the bed of the river. Forcing their way impetuously through a gorge opposite, the tributary waters of the Rukkad mingled their clear stream with the turbid Yarmuk, after a rapid course from their source in the highlands of Jaulan, from which elevated plateau they are precipitated in a ma

6 minute read

Read Chapter

A DRUSE RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL.

A DRUSE RELIGIOUS FESTIVAL.

Haifa , May 27.—Travellers who have gone from Nazareth to Tiberias must be familiar with the singular outline of a mountain which they perceive to the left of the road, with its two rocky crests separated from each other by a hog's back about a quarter of a mile long, and called the Horns of Hattin. The summit of the higher peak, one thousand feet above the sea, and about three hundred feet above the plain across which they are riding, forms a conspicuous object in a landscape which, at this poi

9 minute read

Read Chapter

THE GREAT FESTIVAL OF THE DRUSES.

THE GREAT FESTIVAL OF THE DRUSES.

Haifa , May 30.—Towards evening of the day on which I arrived at the great Druse shrine of Neby Schaib, near Hattin, most of the sheiks who were expected had arrived, with their retinues. It might have been a feudal gathering of olden time; the noisy welcome of the chiefs, the clansmen singing war-songs and firing guns, the women following on donkeys, all combined to make a scene which carried one back to the Middle Ages, and I never wearied looking at it. My tent was pitched on the lowest terra

11 minute read

Read Chapter

HATTIN AND IRBID.

HATTIN AND IRBID.

Haifa , June 22.—While my two days' experiences at the Neby Schaib, described in my last two letters, were in the highest degree novel and picturesque, and enabled me to obtain an unusual insight into the manners and customs and religious observances of the Druse nation, my stay at this celebrated shrine of their pilgrimage was by no means destitute of archæological interest. The village of Hattin, which is in the immediate neighbourhood of the tomb of the prophet, forms the centre of many sacre

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE JEWISH FEAST OF THE BURNING AT TIBERIAS.

THE JEWISH FEAST OF THE BURNING AT TIBERIAS.

Haifa , July 8.—In the early days of May there is annually celebrated at Tiberias a festival in honour of the Rabbi Mâir, at the large shrine built above his tomb, within a few hundred yards from the sulphur baths. Thither, having terminated my visit to the Druses, I determined to repair to witness the nocturnal ceremonies. I was escorted to the extremity of the village of Hattin by a band of young Druses, firing guns and singing complimentary odes, who thus sought to speed with honour the parti

8 minute read

Read Chapter

HOUSE-BUILDING ON CARMEL.

HOUSE-BUILDING ON CARMEL.

Daliet-el-Carmel , July 12.—Those readers who may have read my letters from Palestine, may remember that last year I took refuge from the summer heats at the village of Esfia, on the highest point of Mount Carmel, where I established a temporary camp. The disadvantage of living under canvas is that, though it may secure you cool nights, it affords but insufficient shelter from the noonday sun. I therefore determined to build myself something more substantial. My experiences of house-building on

10 minute read

Read Chapter

DOMESTIC LIFE AMONG THE DRUSES.

DOMESTIC LIFE AMONG THE DRUSES.

Daliet-el-Carmel , Aug. 1.—A residence in a Druse village upon the familiar terms which I have now established with the inhabitants of this one, opens up a phase of existence so utterly foreign to all Western notions of domestic life, and involves experiences so novel and characteristic, that I am constantly receiving illustrations of the truth of the saying that one half of the world has no idea how the other half lives. Early the other morning, for instance, my native servant appeared in a sta

7 minute read

Read Chapter

CIRCASSIAN HIGHWAYMEN.—A DRUSE FESTIVAL AT ELIJAH'S ALTAR.

CIRCASSIAN HIGHWAYMEN.—A DRUSE FESTIVAL AT ELIJAH'S ALTAR.

Daliet-el-Carmel , Aug. 15.—About this time last year, when I was at Esfia, we were suddenly disturbed by the intelligence that a German teamster, whom I have been in the habit of employing, had been attacked in the night at the bridge over the Kishon, distant about three miles from my camp, while on his way from Haifa to Nazareth, by four Circassians, who, suddenly surrounding him, pointed their guns at his head, thus preventing him from using his revolver, which they stole from him, at the sam

8 minute read

Read Chapter

ARMAGEDDON.—THE BOSNIAN COLONY AT CÆSAREA.

ARMAGEDDON.—THE BOSNIAN COLONY AT CÆSAREA.

Daliet-el-Carmel , Sept. 11.—There is no fact at first more puzzling to the traveller in Palestine than the contrast between the misery and poverty of the fellahin and the extent and fertility of land owned by each village. This is, however, the inevitable result of the various fiscal devices to which the government has been compelled to resort, in order to provide a revenue which shall meet the needs of its internal administration, and the claims of its foreign bondholders. These press more sev

11 minute read

Read Chapter

CÆSAREA.

CÆSAREA.

Daliet-el-Carmel , Oct. 2.—The habit of tourists of visiting only those spots in Palestine called holy places, or to which some striking Biblical association is attached, causes them to neglect ruins of the highest historical interest, and which are often as well worth seeing from a picturesque as from an archæological point of view. They make an effort to go to Nazareth, which differs in no respect from an ordinary Syrian town, and which does not boast a single object of antiquarian interest, w

9 minute read

Read Chapter

VILLAGE FEUDS.

VILLAGE FEUDS.

Daliet-el-Carmel , Oct. 15.—In order to really understand this country, to become acquainted with the inner life of its inhabitants, to familiarize one's self with their manners and customs, their necessities, and their aspirations, such as they are, and to arrive at a true estimate of the national character, it is needful to remove one's self from any centre of so-called civilization, however crude, and to live among them, as I have been doing for the last three months and a half, not as a stra

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE ARISTOCRACY OF MOUNT CARMEL.

THE ARISTOCRACY OF MOUNT CARMEL.

Daliet-el-Carmel , Oct. 30.—I have been making acquaintance with some of my neighbours, and will take you with me to call upon what in England would be called the leading members of the county aristocracy. They are the blue blood of this region of country, the families which in the early part of the present century exercised power of life and death, and supreme control, over the inhabitants for many miles around; who thought nothing of calling out their retainers and resisting the constituted au

9 minute read

Read Chapter

THE JORDAN VALLEY CANAL.

THE JORDAN VALLEY CANAL.

Haifa , Nov. 10.—In one of my former letters I described the nature of the concession which had been obtained by some capitalists at Beyrout for the construction of a railway from Haifa to Damascus, and of the survey of the line, which had already been completed half-way to the latter city. The matter has been the subject of a good deal of financial intrigue, and the capital which was sought for in London has not been forthcoming in consequence. A new element of uncertainty has just been importe

6 minute read

Read Chapter

LOCAL POLITICS AND PROGRESS.

LOCAL POLITICS AND PROGRESS.

Haifa , Nov. 27.—The native population here is in a high state of excitement at news which has just reached us. The government, it is reported, intends transferring the seat of the provincial government from Acre to this place. This change has been recommended on the grounds of the superior excellence of the harbour of Haifa, of its increasing export trade and rapidly growing population, and, above all, of the constantly augmenting influence of foreigners, which is the natural result of the infl

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE IDENTIFICATION OF ANCIENT SITES.

THE IDENTIFICATION OF ANCIENT SITES.

Haifa , Dec. 13.—The researches which I have been making into the oldest authorities, with the view of identifying the sites of the numerous ancient towns that once formed the homes of the extensive population which in ages long gone by inhabited this coast, have only served to reveal to me the enormous difficulty of the task. This difficulty is created partly by the confusion introduced by the crusading nomenclature and traditions, partly by the inaccuracy of the itineraries of early pilgrims a

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE SEA OF GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST.

THE SEA OF GALILEE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST.

Haifa , Dec. 26.—In reading the works of Dr. Kitto and other writers who have endeavoured to present a picture of the manners and customs of the population which inhabited Palestine in ancient times, I have been much struck by the erroneous impressions which the descriptions of those writers are calculated to convey in many important respects. This has arisen from the fact that while they have portrayed, with tolerable accuracy, the rude civilization of the original inhabitants and the subsequen

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE SCENE OF THE MIRACLE OF THE FIVE LOAVES AND TWO SMALL FISHES.

THE SCENE OF THE MIRACLE OF THE FIVE LOAVES AND TWO SMALL FISHES.

Haifa , Jan. 6, 1885.—If, as I stated in my last letter, students of Biblical topography have been much exercised in their minds as to the identification of the ruins on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, which indicate the site of the once famous city of Capernaum, and have applied not only a great amount of antiquarian research and of time in the way of minute local examination and literary labor in the hope of definitely settling this knotty point, there is another upon which they hav

8 minute read

Read Chapter

CAPERNAUM AND CHORAZIN.

CAPERNAUM AND CHORAZIN.

Haifa , Jan. 20.—Perhaps the most interesting spot in the world to those deeply under the influence of that charm which association lends to places hallowed by the ministrations of the Founder of Christianity is to be found in a desert, rock-strewn promontory on the northwest shore of the Lake of Tiberias; for among these piles of hewn blocks of black basalt still remain the ruins of a great synagogue, within whose walls, the foundations of which may still be distinctly traced, were collected th

7 minute read

Read Chapter

DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE.

DISCOVERY OF AN ANCIENT SYNAGOGUE.

Haifa , Feb. 2.—I narrated in my last letter the disappointment I experienced when, after making a pilgrimage to the north end of the Lake of Tiberias for the express purpose of seeing some stones covered with inscriptions and pictorial representations, said to be in the possession of the agent of a rich Arab proprietor, I found their owner gone and the relics locked up in a building of which he had taken the key, and all ingress to which was impossible. The Bedouin sheik whom I had picked up as

8 minute read

Read Chapter

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RUINS OF SYNAGOGUES.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RUINS OF SYNAGOGUES.

Haifa , Feb. 16.—I described in my last letter the discovery of the ruins of an ancient Jewish synagogue at a spot on the east bank of the Jordan, about three miles north of the upper end of the Lake of Tiberias. As the question of ancient Jewish synagogues is one of great interest, in regard to which considerable misapprehension prevails even among archæologists, I may be excused for entering upon a short disquisition upon the subject, as I am not aware that the great light which has been throw

8 minute read

Read Chapter

A NIGHT ADVENTURE NEAR THE LAKE OF TIBERIAS.

A NIGHT ADVENTURE NEAR THE LAKE OF TIBERIAS.

Haifa , February 28.—The tourist who follows the ordinary track of Palestine travel from Jerusalem to Damascus inevitably passes Tiberias. Standing on the flat roof of the convent, where, if he is not one of a Cook's party, he is compelled to lodge, he has a splendid view of the lake and of the precipitous cliffs opposite, which descend abruptly to its margin from the elevated plateau behind, that averages two thousand feet above the level of the lake. That sheet of water being nearly eight hund

10 minute read

Read Chapter

KHISFIN.

KHISFIN.

Haifa , March 15.—There is no part of ancient Palestine which offers a more fertile field for antiquarian research than that portion lying to the east of the Jordan, which fell to the share of the half-tribe of Manasseh. In Biblical times a part of it was called Golan, and its modern name of Jaulan is almost identical with its ancient appellation. It is to this day the finest grazing land in all Palestine, as it was in the days of old, when Job fed his vast flocks and herds upon its more eastern

9 minute read

Read Chapter

FURTHER EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY.

FURTHER EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY.

Haifa , March 31.—From Khisfin, the ruins of which I described in my last letter, I struck off in a westerly direction under the guidance of the sheik who had been my host the night before, and who, now that he was convinced that I had nothing to do with tax-gathering, and was only possessed by what must have seemed to him an insane desire to find old stones and make pictures of them, took an evident pleasure in ministering to such a harmless form of insanity; in fact he became quite a bore on t

9 minute read

Read Chapter

THE DISCOVERY OF UMM EL-KANATAR.

THE DISCOVERY OF UMM EL-KANATAR.

Haifa , March 20.—When we had sufficiently satisfied our curiosity with regard to the dolmens, which I described in my last letter, the sheik who was our guide disappeared suddenly over the edge of the plateau on which they stood, down what seemed to be a precipice of black basalt. His reply to our anxious inquiry as to whither he was leading us—“to very old stones, with writing on them”—was a talismanic utterance which at once overcame all hesitation. On such occasions there rises in the mind o

10 minute read

Read Chapter

THE ROCK TOMBS OF PALESTINE.

THE ROCK TOMBS OF PALESTINE.

Haifa , April 26.—The fact that I am laboring under a peculiar phase of insanity, which takes the form of descending with a light into the bowels of the earth with a measuring tape, and writing down cabalistic signs of what I find there, whether it be in a cistern or a tomb, or a natural cavern, has become pretty widely known among the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages, and the consequence is that from time to time I receive information which may minister to this harmless monomania. The o

9 minute read

Read Chapter

GENERAL GORDON'S LAST VISIT TO HAIFA.

GENERAL GORDON'S LAST VISIT TO HAIFA.

Haifa , May 10.—The interest which attaches to the memory of the late General Gordon must be my apology for devoting a letter to my personal reminiscences of one whose singularly pure and lofty character attracted me to him at a time when he was comparatively unknown. Nothing is in fact more remarkable than the suddenness of the notoriety into which he sprang, a notoriety from which he of all men would have the most shrunk, and of the knowledge of which, by the singular fatality which isolated h

11 minute read

Read Chapter

THE CONVENT OF CARMEL versus THE TOWN OF HAIFA.

THE CONVENT OF CARMEL versus THE TOWN OF HAIFA.

Haifa , May 25.—It was from Carmel that in times of old a small cloud was seen rising not bigger than a man's hand, which overcast the heavens, and it is not impossible that a political incident which has just occurred here may prove the diplomatic commencement of a storm of another kind pregnant with untold issues. If we look back through history at the origin of some of its greatest events, we often almost fail to discover them, on account of their insignificance. When the moral atmosphere is

6 minute read

Read Chapter

PROGRESS EVEN IN PALESTINE.

PROGRESS EVEN IN PALESTINE.

Haifa , June 7.—I was glad to avail myself of an opportunity to revisit Jerusalem after an interval of six years, and by a journey through a part of Judea to see the changes within that period. The attention which has of recent years been directed towards Palestine has perhaps produced more marked results in this province than in Galilee, and in some respects its progress has been more rapid. This is partly owing to the fact that for the past eight years it has been under the administration of a

8 minute read

Read Chapter

THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF GEZER.

THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF GEZER.

Jerusalem , June 23.—I was much struck on my way from Jaffa to this place the other day by contrasting the different systems which are resorted to by the varied races of foreigners who are invading Palestine. There is the Jew, with curling ear-locks and greasy gaberdine, and wallet slung over his shoulder, trudging painfully along the dusty road. He has had hard work to slip into the country at all, and has only succeeded probably by means of backshish and a false passport. He has undergone disc

9 minute read

Read Chapter

TRADITIONAL SITES AT JERUSALEM.

TRADITIONAL SITES AT JERUSALEM.

Haifa , July 20.—It is a melancholy reflection, and one by no means creditable to the Christianity which prevailed in the fourth century after Christ, that the Jerusalem of the present day, the Holy City of the world par excellence, should contain within its walls more sacred shams and impostures than any other city in the world. The responsibility for the gross superstition which prevails in regard to sites and localities mainly rests with the fourth century, and chiefly with the Empress Helena

10 minute read

Read Chapter

TRADITIONAL SITES AT JERUSALEM—Continued.

TRADITIONAL SITES AT JERUSALEM—Continued.

Haifa , August 3.—The discoveries which have been made in Jerusalem during the last few years, and the conclusions at which those who have most deeply studied the subject have arrived in consequence, render it extremely desirable that a new or revised description of the Holy City should be inserted in the tourists' hand-books for Syria and Palestine. Travellers should be warned against dragomans who waste their time taking them to see Christian sites which have no relation to the facts they are

9 minute read

Read Chapter

PROGRESS IN JERUSALEM.

PROGRESS IN JERUSALEM.

Haifa , August 10.—There is probably no city in the dominions of the sultan which has undergone more change during the last few years than Jerusalem, and as any change which implies progress, implies also the increase of foreign influence, and is always viewed with suspicion by the Porte, the march of events in Palestine is watched by Turkish statesmen with a jealousy which finds its expression in a persistent effort to oppose it. As, however, the basis of the movement to which Jerusalem owes it

17 minute read

Read Chapter

THE THREE JERICHOS.

THE THREE JERICHOS.

Haifa , Sept. 2.—The signs of progress to which I have alluded in former letters as being manifest in Judea are not confined to Jaffa and Jerusalem. The contemplated carriage-road to Jericho will be an immense boon to the crowds of pilgrims who flock annually to the Jordan. The first evidence of activity in this direction was at the Khan el-Ahmah. Here are the ruins of an old building. Fragments of walls and broken arches remain, and a deep well indicates that in former days it was inhabited—pro

9 minute read

Read Chapter

JERICHO—A NEW WINTER RESORT.

JERICHO—A NEW WINTER RESORT.

Haifa , Sept. 15.—When I last visited Jericho, six years ago, it consisted of a miserable village of mud huts, containing a population of mixed negroes and Bedouins, amounting at most to three hundred souls. I was astonished now to find that, of all places in the world, it was going ahead. There was a sort of boom going on; a very minute boom, it is true, but still it was progress, and there is no saying what it may lead to. It is due entirely to the Russians, and I think that a progressive Jeri

11 minute read

Read Chapter

A SHORT CUT OVER AN UNKNOWN COUNTRY.

A SHORT CUT OVER AN UNKNOWN COUNTRY.

Haifa , Oct. 1.—About half a mile in rear of our camp, at Ain-es-Sultan, rose a precipice a thousand feet high, which culminated in the lofty crest of a mountain called Quarantul. It derives its name from a tradition which identifies it with the mount upon which Christ was tempted for forty days in the wilderness. Of course, it is not the mountain at all, or, at all events, there is not the smallest particle of evidence to prove that it is, but that is a trifle where sacred sites are concerned.

11 minute read

Read Chapter

EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE.

EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE.

Haifa , Oct. 7.—The village of Mugheir, where we halted to rest after our long and weary scramble from the Jordan valley, is one of the most out-of-the-way places to be found in Palestine. It is not on the way anywhere, but a sort of Ultima Thule —the last spot where ground fit for cultivation is to be found. It stands on the margin of a charming little plain, where there is a fine olive grove. Indeed, looking westward, the prospect is cheery enough, but eastward it is wild rock, black, gloomy g

10 minute read

Read Chapter

SACRED SAMARITAN RECORDS.

SACRED SAMARITAN RECORDS.

Haifa , Oct. 15.—The chief interest connected with Nablous lies in the fact that it is the residence of the remnant of those Samaritans who were colonized here by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, when he carried away the children of Israel captive. From the Biblical record (2 Kings xvii.), it would appear that the new settlers were drawn from mixed nationalities and various cities within his dominions. Some came from Babylon itself, some from Hamath, a town between Damascus and Aleppo, and others f

11 minute read

Read Chapter

THE TEN LOST TRIBES.

THE TEN LOST TRIBES.

Haifa , Oct. 25.—In my last letter I gave some account of the ancient literature of the Samaritans, which is still extant and in their possession. The people themselves, however, are such an interesting ethnological fragment of a remote past that there are many points connected with their origin and history which are worthy of consideration, the more especially as they bear upon a problem which has, of late years, exercised a singular species of fascination over a certain class of minds. I refer

10 minute read

Read Chapter

RESEARCHES IN SAMARIA.

RESEARCHES IN SAMARIA.

Haifa , Nov. 3.—While at Nablous I received information that a large piece of ancient sculpture had been discovered by a man in excavating some foundations. I procured a guide, and proceeded to his dwelling. It was evidently the residence of a man of means, and stood in a large courtyard, at the entrance to which I knocked for admittance. After hammering for some time a voice from within asked who I was and what I wanted. On my shouting a reply, I was abruptly told to go away, and all was silent

8 minute read

Read Chapter

A DRUSE FATHER'S VENGEANCE.

A DRUSE FATHER'S VENGEANCE.

Daliet-el-Carmel , Nov. 7.—An incident so highly characteristic of Druse life and manners has just occurred here that it seems worthy of narration. About three months ago I was invited to be present at the ceremony of the betrothal of the son of the richest man in the village, by name Sheik Saleh, with the daughter of a neighbour called Kara, whose wife was a sister of Sheik Saleh. The affair came off in the house of the former, a small mud-built cottage situated in a court, with the usual arche

12 minute read

Read Chapter

PHILOSOPHICAL CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS.

PHILOSOPHICAL CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS.

The Volumes in preparation are— In Course of Publication....

14 minute read

Read Chapter

FOREIGN CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS.

FOREIGN CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS.

Edited by Mrs OLIPHANT. In crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. The Volumes published are— In preparation — Leopardi , by the Editor. Now Complete....

1 minute read

Read Chapter

ANCIENT CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS.

ANCIENT CLASSICS FOR ENGLISH READERS.

Edited by the Rev. W. LUCAS COLLINS, M.A. Complete in 28 Vols. crown 8vo, cloth, price 2s. 6d. each. And may also be had in 14 Volumes, strongly and neatly bound, with calf or vellum back, £3, 10s. Saturday Review. —“It is difficult to estimate too highly the value of such a series as this in giving ‘English readers’ an insight, exact as far as it goes, into those olden times which are so remote and yet to many of us so close.” ALISON. History of Europe. By Sir Archibald Alison , Bart., D.C.L. 1

26 minute read

Read Chapter

CATALOGUE OF MESSRS BLACKWOOD & SONS' PUBLICATIONS.

CATALOGUE OF MESSRS BLACKWOOD & SONS' PUBLICATIONS.

1. From the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Battle of Waterloo. Library Edition , 14 vols., with Portraits. Demy 8vo, £10, 10s. Another Edition , in 20 vols. crown 8vo, £6. People's Edition , 13 vols. crown 8vo, £2, 11s. 2. Continuation to the Accession of Louis Napoleon. Library Edition , 8 vols. 8vo, £6, 7s. 6d. People's Edition , 8 vols. crown 8vo, 34s. 3. Epitome of Alison's History of Europe. Twenty-ninth Thousand, 7s. 6d. 4. Atlas to Alison's History of Europe. By A. Keith Joh

23 minute read

Read Chapter

Transcription Note

Transcription Note

The following printing mistakes were corrected: Variant forms like co-religionist / coreligionist , sea-coast / seacoast , Esdrælon / Esdraelon , etc. have been left as in the original. Missing punctuation in entries of the Catalogue has been silently rectified. Variant forms like co-religionist / coreligionist , sea-coast / seacoast , Esdrælon / Esdraelon , etc. have been left as in the original. Missing punctuation in entries of the Catalogue has been silently rectified....

1 minute read

Read Chapter