Jr- J* 1 -r*f' v i if w W -ii- -*\ .ift j^ ** ^^"~-^am^^rf^ > * >t" V * Jr J* - > ^ ^ ^ ^\ y* - *^*~" "^^ ***" "^^ > ^' - K * If ii > >- > * ,-* >* >- ^ >- ..j ^ > *. J< W' ^ ^ ta* W /T > > j >r 1 > < X B * > ,* x >r >Pp .--^y nuFi > * ->f k / ;>- , > ' ^^/ (rimarttcr (^gj > f. ^ ui -=SKFf *3OMr- i ' -- > >- * > > > V * * * %< Y-. y* -> -* > X ,* . X *' J* > >- * -^ * ^P^^N^^I ,* > jr' >- .v .> *- Jf ^ > >f- ^ i> ~L. _ t^ ^t.-^, w -V* .*' " V -^ 3T - ; ^7 * /(T ff * ** r\ w > x A .-*>>>> *T >>-> >* * > ^ > ^* >- * >f ^ >- * -> *" > ^ Jr J >r 4 ^ ^ >" > A X . - j * Jf >- *- ^ > > Jr > * ,* *' * > ^ * ^ > * >* LIBRARY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA PRESENTED BY ERIC SCHMIDT > jr ilAP OF THE HOLY LAND Corrected oy f. S. DE HASS, D. D TRIBAL. REFERENCES. I. JUDAH. l.Rimmon S.Aoatbotb j.Gibeon &Nob 3.Michmb T Gibnh tGba e.Miipeh IV. DAX. V. EPHRAIM. VI. MAXASSEH. VII. ZEBULOX. VIII. ISSACHAR. IS. ASHER. X. XAPHTALI. XI. JIAXASSEa. XII. GA1>. XIII. REUBEN. BURIED CITIES RECOVERED, OR, Exploration^ in Bible Lands, GIVING THK RESULTS OF RECENT RESEARCHES IN THE ORIENT, AND RECOVERY OF MANY PI.Al ES IN SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY LONG CONSIDERED LOST. irith FRANK S.^DEHASS, D. D. Member of the American Geographical Society, and late United States Consul in Palestine. REVISED EDITION, WITH APPENDIX. CONTAINING A FU1.I. ACCOUNT OF EGYPT AND THE KGY1TIANS, RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES IN THE LIGHT OK PROPHECY, AND WONDERFUL CON- FIRMATION OF REVELATION BY LATE DISCOVERIES. PHILADELPHIA: BRADLEY & COMPANY, 66 NORTH FOURTH STREET, 1889 Copyright, 1886, by F. S. DEHASS, D. D. AM. RIGHTS RKSERVKI). DEDICATION. TO MY NUMEROUS FRIENDS, WHO HAVE REQUESTED THE PUBLICATION OF THESE SKETCHES; TO THE WIFE OF MY YOUTH, WHO ACCOMPANIED ME IN ALL MY TRAVELS THROUGH THE ORIENT; TO MY AGED MOTHER, WHO EARLY TURNED MY WAYWARD FEET INTO THE PATH OF LIFE; I TO THE MEMORY OF MY HONORED AND SAINTED FATHER, WHO, AS HIS SON WAS EXPLORING THE EARTHLY, PEACEFULLY DEPARTED FOR THE HEAVENLY, CANAAN; AND ABOVE ALL, TO GOD, WHO HATH GRACIOUSLY PRESERVED ME IN ALL MY JOURNEYINGS AT HOMP. AND ABROAD, I AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATE f)i0 Jlcutjrur cf tfje ^dg Eanfc. INTRODUCTION. author's object in accepting an appointment under the United States Government was not the honor or emolu- 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 with the inspired word. These sketches were originally written for our own gratifica- tion, 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 this concise form, and at the request of numerous friends gives them to the public, not as a scientific work for the antiquarian, but as an humble contribution to Biblical archaeology for the home circle, believing that such a volume will add greatly to the elucidation of the Scriptures, and serve to correct some of the errors which many travellers have fallen into by a too hasty or superficial view of the places visited. Palestine, the great centre of religious interest, though com- paratively a small mountainous country, has, nevertheless, been 10 INTRODUCTION. the theatre of the most stirring and momentous events in the history of our world. Learned divines, historians, and anti- quarians for ages have been visiting this land, giving us glowing descriptions of their travels, with the results of their investiga- tions, until our libraries teem with volumes on these subjects; and yet the desire to know more about this country was never greater than at present. No other land is so fruitful a theme for meditation or so hallowed in its associations ; and what is remarkable, it never loses its interest. It can no more be ex- hausted than Deity himself. The more we know about Pales- tine the more interest it awakens. The whole country seems to breathe an inspiration, and to the devout mind is fragrant with the most sacred memories. The author's official position, together with his long residence in Jerusalem, and his connection with the American and English Palestine Exploration Societies, afforded him many facilities in his researches he otherwise could not have enjoyed ; and under the conviction that the publication of these investigations will not only add to the knowledge but greatly strengthen the Christian's faith, he casts these fresh leaves upon the waters, with the sincere prayer that they may not return void, but tend to correct in some measure the perverse tendency of the age to doubt the credibility of the inspired volume. FRANK S. NEW YORK, October, 1886. CONTENTS. PART I. EGYPT, IN ITS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. CHAPTER I. PAGE OUR INHERITANCE IN EGYPT THE BIBLE WRITTEN ON HER MONUMENTS. 28 CHAPTER II. ALEXANDRIA SEAT OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. 33 CHAPTER III. HELIOPOLIS, PYRAMIDS, AND COLOSSAL SPHINX 42 CHAPTER IV. MEMPHIS, THE NOPH OF SCRIPTURE NECROPOLIS OF EGYPT 53 CHAPTER V. THEBES, THE NO-AMON OF THE BIBLE GRAND TEMPLE OF KARNAK 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. THE LAND OF ISRAEL. CHAPTER I. THE PROMISED LAND ITS EARLY INHABITANTS AND CONQUEST 109 CHAPTER II. JAFFA TO JERUSALEM TENT LIFE IN THE HOLY LAND 119 11 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. CITY OF THE GREAT KING A WALK ABOUT ZION 133 CHAPTER IV. MORIAH THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD'S HOUSE SOLOMON'S TEMPLE... 145 CHAPTER V. GOLGOTHA AND TOMB OF CHRIST TRADITIONAL SITES 160 CHAPTER VI. ROYAL SEPULCHER OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID ROCK-HEWN TOMBS 172 CHAPTER VII. EASTER FESTIVITIES IN JERUSALEM SOLEMN MOCKERIES 183 CHAPTER VIII. BETHLEHEM, AND HILL COUNTRY OF JUDEA LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY. 191 CHAPTER IX. POOLS OF SOLOMON CAVE OF ADULLAM TOMB OF HEROD 202 CHAPTER X. HEBRON CAVE OF MACHPKLAH BEER-SHEBA WELL OF ABRAHAM 213 CHAPTER XI. LAND OF THE PHILISTINES AN EXTINCT RACE 224 CHAPTER XII. SEA-COAST OF PALESTINE PLAIN OF SHARON ANCIENT TYRE 233 CHAPTER XIII. MOUNT CARMEL SCENE OF ELIJAH'S SACRIFICE CONVENT AND GROTTO. 244 CHAPTER XIV. FROM JERUSALEM TO DAMASCUS BETHEL JACOB'S WELL GALILEE 253 CHAPTER XV. DOWN TO JERICHO VALLEY OF THE JORDAN PLAIN OF GILGAL 278 CONTENTS. ] 3 CHAPTER XVI. PAGE 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. THE LAND OF MOAB FORTRESS OF MACH^ERUS PRISON OF JOHN THE BAPTIST 315 CHAPTER II. HOT SPRINGS OF CALIRRHOE MOABITE STONE AND POTTERY 329 CHAPTER III. MOUNT PISGAH GRAND OUTLOOK FROM ITS SUMMIT 341 CHAPTER IV. LAND OF GILEAD REMARKABLE RUINS WILD SONS OF ISHMAEL 350 CHAPTER V. STONE CITIES OF BASHAN AND THE HAURAN GIANT RACES 366 CHAPTER VI. THE LAND OF Uz TRADITIONAL PALACE OF JOB 382 CHAPTER VII. ARGOB AND PABAN-ARAM HARAN PROBABLY IN SYRIA 393 CHAPTER VIII. LATEST DISCOVERIES IN ASSYRIA AND PALESTINE-RECOVERY OF NINEVEH 404 CHAPTER IX. NORTH ERN SYRIA DAM ASCUS BA ALBEC EPH ESUS ATHENS 43 1 14 CONTENTS. PART IV. ASIA MINOR. CHAPTER I. ANCIENT ANATOLIA TURKISH RULE LOST ARTS 457 CHAPTER II. SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA TEMPLE OF DIANA ATHENS 474 CHAPTER III. RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES IN THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY 501 CHAPTER IV. THE CRUSADERS THEIR OBJECT AND HEROES 521 APPENDIX. CHAPTER I. EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIANS 537 CHAPTER II. THE SOUDAN AND EL MAHDI ... 559 CHAPTER III. MULTUM IN PARVO VERY LATEST DISCOVERIES , 571 JEWJSH COINS. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE 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 3-52 Arak el Emir. Rock-hewn Palace. . 3o6 Arch, Ecce Homo 134 Askelon, Ruins of 228 Assyrian Black Obelisk 411 Assyrian Sculpture and Seals 408, 409, 414, 415 A-yrian 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 of the Rock 152 Cedars of Lebanon 438 Cesarea Philippi, Banias 272 15 16 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. KMi Church of the Ascension ^ . . 141 Church of the Holy Sepulcher 161 Coins, Ancient Jewish, Widow's Mite ... 473 Colossal Statues, Thebes 75 Convent of St. Catharine 99 Crucifixion 185 Damascus, View of 432 Damascus, Wall and East Gate 433 Dead Sea, from Engedi 310 Donkey of Alexandria 37 Down to Jericho 280 Dromedary Eiding 271 Egyptian Boat, Ancient 41 Egyptian Brick 73 Egyptian Funeral 59 Egyptian Gate-way 21 Egyptian Remains, Island of Philse 79 Egyptian Sculpture Hebrews Making Brick 26, 86 Egyptian Temple, Exterior 69 Egyptian Temple, Interior 31 El Aksa, Temple Inclosure 158 El Kuzneh, Petra 103 Engedi and Cliff of Ziz 310 Ephesus, Ruins of 479 Fish Poolsof Heshbon 321 Flight into Egypt 24 Flint Knives, from Tomb of Joshua 284 Ford of the Jordan 285 Fountain at Tomb of Dorcas ... 182 Gadara, Ruins 363 Gate of Damascus, Jerusalem 254 Gate-way of the Sik, Petra 102 Gethsemane and Olivet 138 Golden Gate, Temple of Solomon 146 Grapes of Palestine 365 Great Sea under Temple Court 147 Grecian Temple Hauran 392 Grinding at the Mill 136 Hadrian's Statue, Head of 427 Haggai's Seal 154 Hebrew Inscriptions 422 Hebron 219 Hezekiah's Pool and Dome over the Tomb of Christ . 170 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 17 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 Kedron Valley 135 Kirjath Jearim Emmaus 122 Lamps, Egyptian 89 Last Judgment, Egyptian 86 Levitical Cities, Plan of 423 Lotus of the Nile 32 Luxor, Ruins of 61 Machaerus, Fortress of 328 Maps of Palestine and Gulf of Suez 3, 91 Mars' Hill, Athens 498 Masada, Fortress and Synagogue 307 Moabite Pottery and Images 345 Moabite Stone 336 Moabite Vase and Inscription 420 Masque of Omar 155 Mountains East of Dead Sea 297 Mount Carmel and Convent 245 Mount Tabor 249 Mummy Case, Egyptian 55 Nablous, Ancient Shechem 260 Nazareth 263 Nineveh, Excavations 405 Oak of Abraham 215 Oak of Bashan 358 Obelisk, Heliopolis 44 Palm Trees 201 Pompey's Pillar 36 Pools of Solomon ... 203 18 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Pyramids 46 Quurnntania, Mount of Temptation 291 Kabbah Ammon 318 Rachel's Tomb 192 Ramesium, Colossal Statue 74 Kehoboam, 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, 41") Smitten Rock 223 Sphinx 51 Sphinx, Theban 62 Springs of Moses, Mount Pisgah :;44 Stone Houses of the Hauran, Stone ,Door 371, 397 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 1 98 Winged Globe, Egyptian 63 Winged Lion, Nineveh 408 Wooden Statue, found at Memphis 27 PART I. EGYPT IX ITS RELATION TO THE BIBLE. " The LORD did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt . . . with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm." Exod. xii, 51; Deut. xxvi, 8. EGYPTIAN GATE-WAY. BURIED CITIES RECOVERED, OR, RECENT EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS, CHAPTER I. OUR INHERITANCE IN EGYPT. 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 Stoue '' Religion of the Old Egyptians. THE present century lias 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- elation. These disentombed cities are not composed of dead walls, but living stones, witnessing to the truth of Scripture. Egypt and Palestine are so closely related, and their histories so interwoven, it is difficult to write about the one without includ- ing the other, as so many events in sacred history transpired in the valley of the Nile. Abraham, when driven by famine from Ca- naan, found here a home and plenty ; the beautiful narrative of Joseph is located here ; Jacob and his sons settled here in the land of Goshen ; here Moses was born, and the Passover was in- stituted ; the wife of Solomon was a daughter of the reigning Pha- raoh ; and hither the holy family fled for safety from the bloody 23 24 BIBLE LANDS. sword of Herod ; thus fulfilling the prophecy, " Out of Egypt have I called my Son." 1 And, what is very remarkable, many names mentioned in the Scriptures, such as Ham, Mizraim, Potiphar, Shishak, Asenath the wife of Joseph, and others, are still found written on her monuments, and many incidents of the Bible are recorded in sculpture and hieroglyphics on her grand temples. In one place we have what appears to be a representation of Joseph introducing his KULNS OF iltill'Mb t ALLEN fcTA'it'L OF KAJULfcE.S li. 8 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 scourge in hand urging them " not to be idle ;" and in still another, an account of the exodus, or a race of strangers going up out of Egypt and settling in Syria, under a leader by the name of Osarsiph, which is identical with that of Moses, the name being derived from Osiris, the golden Apis. Also, an account of plentiful harvests, and the filling of the royal 'Matthew ii, 15. * See page 53. EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY. 25 granaries with corn, followed by a great famine, agreeing with that which prevailed in the time of Joseph. 1 Egypt is probably the oldest civilized portion of our globe. Little, however, is known of her history prior to Abraham ; in fact, nothing reliable. The works of Manetho, her only his- torian, who wrote B. C. 285, have long since been lost, and all we know of his writings is what has been transmitted to us by later authors, after passing through many hands, and, no doubt, greatly perverted. EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE HEBREWS MAKING BRICK. Some claim for this country a much higher antiquity than the Mosaic chronology or the facts will warrant, as must ap- pear to every candid reader who investigates the subject. In dealing with this question of chronology we shall do so with reverence and freedom reverence for every thing sacred and venerable, freedom in regard to the opinions and theories of others with the one desire to arrive at the truth in relation to the age of those wonderful remains that mark the development of our world's civilization. It is claimed, for example, that on the ancestral tablets only 1 See BRUGSCH'S " Histoire d'Egypte," second edition, p. 177. 26 BIBLE LANDS. lately recovered the names of certain Pharaohs are found, each reigning so many years, and when you come to compute the whole list it carries you back beyond our era five thousand years or more. Which is true. But then they overlook the important fact that these kings did not reign successively, but. in many instances, contemporaneously ; rival 1'haraohs being on the thrones of Upper and Lower Egypt at the same time, and in other instances father and son were associated in the government of the country. Then there are many gaps of omissions in these tablets which, when supplied with the proper data, remove all difficulties in harmonizing the Hebrew and Egyptian chronology. It is further argued that the sediment deposited during the annual overflow of the Nile accumulates at the rate of so many inches in a century, and as from twenty to thirty feet of this alluvial deposit are found over some of these buried cities, they, therefore, must be from six to eight thousand years old. Tiiis, however, does not follow, as the deposit some years is much greater than others, and forms in the eddies over these ruins much faster than out on the naked plain. This whole argument reminds me of the logic of a noted humorist, 1 who, in ridiculing the theories of some of our modern scien- tists, says : " It can be easily demonstrated that the Mississippi liiver, by washing out new channels across her great bends, has shortened the distance between Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio, and New Orleans, at least one hundred and sixty miles in the last two hundred years;" which being admit- ted, he then very amusingly concludes, "that if this process continues for two thousand years longer, New Orleans will be where Cairo now stands!" And this is about the weight 1 Mark Twain. EGYPTIAN REMAINS. 27 of the arguments advanced against the chronology of the Bible. It is also a notable fact that the oldest relics found in the oldest tombs of Egypt are wooden coffins and idols, in many instances not the least decayed ; embalmed mummies., the linen wrappings upon them scarcely soiled ; rolls of papyri WOODEN STATUE. ONE OF THE OLDEST RELICS FOUND IN EGYPT. 28 BIBLE LANDS. as legible as if written but yesterday ; eggs, looking as fresh as if just taken from the nest ; garden seeds and wheat, said still to retain their vitality ; loaves of bread, different kinds of vegetables, even honey in the comb ; nothing to war- rant a more remote antiquity than the Mosaic account, espe* cially if we adopt the Septuagint standard. And what makes these statements of the skeptic appear even more absurd is 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, has since been proven to belong to the first century of our era. We admit that, next to the Bible, the monuments of Egypt contain the earliest chronological history of our race, but these records are not entirely reliable, in part owing to the lack of 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 by comparing the statements of Bunsen, Wilkinson, Mariette, and other eminent archaeologists, you will find a discrepancy of from one to three thousand years in their calculations. So that the early history of this ancient people is lost in mythical conjectures, and a deep mystery still hangs over the land of the once mighty Pharaohs. The Nile, so mysterious in its source, but more mysterious in its annual rise, sweeps on in its course for thousands of miles under a cloudless sky, causing the parched desert to rejoice, and the rainless region through which it flows to blossom as the rose. Along the banks of this sacred river, half-buried in the ever-drifting ROSETTA STONE. 29 -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. Standing upon the great rock-bed of the Libyan desert are those wonderful Pyramids whose origin is also involved in im- penetrable mystery. Who conceived or executed these stu- pendous monuments will, more than likely, forever remain unknown. Looking down upon the placid waters of this renowned stream reclines the colossal Sphinx, the local deity -of the ancient Egyptians, invested with the same mystery. And in whatever direction you turn your eyes the mind is appalled as it contemplates lone obelisks, of vast dimensions ; gigantic statues, wonderful to behold ; grand edifices, forming ^, labyrinth of gorgeous halls ; the origin of all being en- shrouded in the most profound mystery. And yet this obscur- ity imparts a peculiar charm and romance to the country. One can spend days and weeks amid these ruins without any sense of weariness, not knowing what moment he may discover the hidden key to some secret door that may unlock the mys- teries of ages or lead to mines of untold wealth. Since the discovery by the French of the celebrated " Ro- setta Stone," ' at the mouth of the Nile in the summer of 1799, and its translation by Champollion, much additional light has been shed on the hitherto obscure history of this country. And the explorations still going on under the direction of that indefatigable archaeologist, Marietta Bey, furnish us with 1 This stone, now in the Bri'.ish Museum, is a trilingual tablet of black basalt, containing a decree in honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes, B. C. 196, written in three different languages the Greek, the hieroglyphic, or sacred language of the priests, and the demotic, or common dialect of the people. The deciphering of this stone afforded a key to the hitherto mysterious hieroglyphics on these monuments, "which can now be read with as much ease as any other dead language. (V BIBLE LANDS. many additional facts touching the occupancy of the land by the Jews, and the religion of the old Egyptians, proving very conclusively that the latter had no clear idea of the immor- tality of the human soul, or the resurrection of the body, or other biblical truths, before the settlement of the Hebrews among them. We also find that in their religious sentiments they were very much like the Jews, both being of a deeply spiritual turn of mind, ever contemplating the future, but in other respects very dissimilar. The Egyptians were polytheists and pantheists ; God, accord- ing to their idea, not being a person, but an essence diffused throughout all nature animate and inanimate. Many of their gods were creations of their own fancy, some of them the most ludicrous monstrosities. Osiris, their principal divinity, was represented in Apis, the sacred bull ; Athor, either as a cow or with cow's horns on her head ; Thoth, with the head of an ibis ; Anubis, always with a jackal's head ; Kneph, with the head of a rain ; Pasht, with a lion's or cat's head ; Sevak, with the head of a crocodile ; Horns, with that of a hawk ; Typhon, their evil genius, as an ass, with many others equally fanciful. Almost every animal, bird, and insect that lives, and every vegetable that grows, was with them an object of divine wor- ship, under the impression that the gods were personified in these objects. On the other hand, the Hebrews believed in but one Supreme Being, invisible, all-wise, and eternal ! Among the Egyptians every temple was full of idols, and the walls, ceilings, and columns were covered with sculptures, paintings, and inscriptions from top to bottom, within and without, all in honor of their gods. And every statue and work of art, from the colossi to the smallest scarabee, bore the image of, and was EELIGIOUS IDEAS. 31 dedicated to some god. But among the Jews every thing was spiritual, intellectual, and typical of something purer, grander, and more enduring. God was supreme in their thoughts and affections. They worshiped not by sight, but by INTERIOR OF THE TEMPLE OF ISIS. faith, as seeing the Invisible himself ; no idol, no painting, no inscription of any kind, has ever been found upon all the monuments of Israel in the Holy Land. After the conquest of 32 BIBLE LANDS. Palestine by Alexander we lind some traces of Grecian sculpt- ure and inscriptions, but on the works of the old Hebrews- there is nothing to indicate their name, age, or object, which no one can but regret, as most of these remains are without name or history. After these general remarks in reference to the history, chronology, and religious ideas of this ancient nation, we shall proceed to notice some of their most interesting monumental remains, showing their connection with our faith and with the sojourn of Israel in " the land of Ham." THE LOTUS OF THE MLE. CHAPTER II. ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA SEAT OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY ANI> CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. Royal City of Alexander the Great Ancient Splendor The Pharos Chris- tianity 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. THE tourist from America or Europe visiting Egypt gener- ally lands at Alexandria, founded, by the great general whose name it bears, B. C. 332. The city was laid out by Dinoc- rates, architect of the famous temple of Diana at Ephesus, who on one occasion proposed cutting Mount Athos into a colossal statue of Alexander, holding a city in one hand and pouring out a river from the other. Alexandria, being situated in the Delta of the Nile, near to Asia and convenient to Europe, was long regarded as only second to imperial Rome, and is still the largest commercial city in Africa. It is not our purpose, how- ever, to attempt any detailed description of the magnificence of ancient Alexandria, with its four thousand palaces, grand temples, beautiful gardens, numerous schools, and rich collec- tions of art. The far-seeing Macedonian designed it as the em porium for the entire East, and from its peculiar circular shape one would suppose that the mighty conqueror realty intended throwing his mantle over the whole world. As a strategic point Napoleon considered it of the first importance, and made it the base of operations in his attempted conquest of Asia. For many centuries this city was the great center of trade 33 34 BIBLE LANDS. and learning, wealth and power. Here the Ptolemies, Cleopatras, and Caesars reigned in all their glory ; here science, literature, and every branch of philosophy flourished ; here the Hebrew Scriptures were first translated into the Greek, B. C. 280. Here, also, stood the famous Pharos, one of the seven wonders of the world, a light-house five hundred and fifty feet high, erected by Ptolemy Philadelphus, throwing out its beacon light for a hundred miles over the midnight sea. This tower was MODERN ALEXANDRIA. designed as a memorial of the king, who ordered his name to be inscribed on its pediment ; the architect, however, first cut his own name in the solid marble, placing over it, in stucco, the name of Ptolemy, which in a few years crumbled to dust, leaving that of Sostratus, the architect, emblazoned through after ages on the front of this unrivaled monument. Christianity was early planted here, according to some histori- ANCIENT ALEXANDRIA. 35 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. Prom lower Egypt Christianity rapidly extended to Cyrene, Libya, central and upper Egypt ; so that by the middle of the third century there were not less than twenty bishoprics in Egypt ; and in a corrupt form the Church still exists among the Copts, or natives of the country. This old seat of pagan philosophy and mysticism soon became the seat of Christian literature, and the Alexandrian School ranked among the oldest and highest Christian institutions of learning in the primitive Church. But little remains of her ancient grandeur. Most of the old city lies imbedded beneath the deposits of the Nile and .sands of the desert. Her invaluable library of 700,000 MSS.. containing a copy of every work then known, and collected with so much labor and expense, was consigned to the flames by order of Caliph Omar, after the fall of the city, A. D. 641. The Serapeum, the last temple of paganism in Alexandria, with its exquisite statues and v^ist treasures, was destroyed by Theodosius. Even the tomb of Alexander himself can no longer be identified, and not a vestige of the celebrated Pharos remains. A single obelisk, one of the so-called Cleopatra's Needles, and Pompey's Pillar, a beautiful red granite Corin- thian column, one hundred feet high, including base and cap- ital, and ten feet in diameter the largest monolith in the world still stand as old landmarks of this once opulent city. Egypt, under the lately deposed Khedive, Ismail Pasha, grand- son of Mohammed Ali, has rapidly advanced in civilization. Many Europeans are settling in the country ; new railroads and canals are being constructed ; Christian Churches and schools 36 BIBLE LANDS. are every-where springing up ; and Alexandria is sharing largely* in this general prosperity, is lifting her head out of the dust of ages, and is fast recovering some of her ancient glory. The city contains a population of at least two hundred thou- sand, made up chiefly of Egyptians, Nubians, Arabs, and Turks ; POMPEY'S PILLAR. and as you land in this motley crowd the first word that greets your ears will probably be lackskeesh an Arabic word you will never forget. It simply means some small gratuity, and wherever you stroll gangs of half-naked natives will follow ORIENTAL SCENES. 37 you pleading for backsheesh. Enter any mosque, and it is 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 streets of Alexandria are narrow and filthy; crowded with Arabs, dogs, and donkeys. The latter are used instead of street- ALEXASDRIAN DONKEY. cars 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 very dogmatic, leading lazy, independent lives, having no mas- ters to serve, or homes to guard miserable, ugly curs, ever growling and snarling at all who disturb them as they lie coiled up in the streets. This is the land of sunshine and legends, of superstition and 38 BIBLE LANDS. oppression. Every thing to the stranger appears different from every thing else lie has ever seen before. The turbaned Turk, in his gay attire, sitting in his cozy bazaar ; the long caravans of camels, jogging quietly along, with nose erect and eye set as on Mecca ; and the women, veiled from head to foot, moving about like phantoms, make up such a picture as can only be seen in the Orient. In the East you scarcely ever see a woman's face on the streets. A man does not even see his intended wife's be- fore marriage, and not then unless he lias paid for her. In Mohammedan countries all brides are sold to the highest bidder, the same as horses or camels, the money to be paid on delivery. Even after marriage the wife is kept like a prisoner in the harem, and always closely veiled when she appears in public. The Arabs have a proverb, '' When a wife has seen the guest, she cares no more for her husband ; " hence all freedom is de- nied 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 unless be could see the patient ; but as that privilege could not be granted, he insisted at least on seeing her tongue. So they arranged to stretch a sheet over an opening in the wall, with a small slit cut in it, through which the patient protruded her tongue, and thus the doctor was enabled to prescribe. What the Khedive lacks in the development of his country are men and means to carry out his projects. His dominion at present is confined to the narrow valley of the Kile, with a population of only 5,000,000, not enough for a great nation ; but far away to the south of him lies Abyssinia, rich in prod- SUEZ CANAL. 39 nets, with a population equal to his own, a prize his father long coveted. Two years ago the late Khedive sent an army into this territory, with a view of annexing it to Egypt, as he had done with Xnbia. All counted on the success of the campaign ; but the Abyssinians, being nominally Christians, fired with re- ligious ardor, defeated the Egyptians in every engagement, and almost exterminated the invading army/ The reverse had a depressing effect on the Khedive, who fully calculated on the easy conquest and absorption of Abyssinia, and had gone so far as to select his commissioners to arrange details, one of whom was the Protestant Bishop of Jerusalem, and another the Cop- tic Patriarch at Cairo. The King of Abyssinia, however, was not to be conquered thus easily, and when commanded by the Khedive to lay down his arms and surrender, Johannes very nobly and defiantly replied, " Not till you have restored to use every foot of territory between Jerusalem and Abyssinia." Since then peace has been established between the two coun- tries, the Khedive indemnifying King John for the expenses of the war. One of the greatest works of the century, if not the greatest, was the completion in 1869 of the Suez Canal, connecting the Eed Sea with the Mediterranean, at an outlay of $130,000.000 ! The canal is eighty-six and a half miles long, two hundred and fifty feet wide, and of sufficient depth to allow the largest vessels to pass through without difficulty ; thus saving in the voyage from Europe and America to India or China from five to seven thousand miles in distance, and about a month in time. This great achievement was no new conception of the French, but the completion of a scheme that had been under contem- plation for three thousand years. It is recorded by Strabo, 40 BIBLE LANDS. and other historians, that Barneses II., B. C. 1340, cut a canal between the Red Sea and the Kile. 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 improvement. 1 Eight centuries later, according to Herodotus, Necho II. enlarged this canal, sacrificing 120,000 men on the work, and sent a fleet through it to circumnavigate Africa. SUEZ CANAL. "When the Persians, under Cambyses, B. C. 525, conquered the country, they found the canal no longer navigable ; but Darius, son of Hystaspes, re-opened it. In the course of centuries it 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 Xapoleon III. to complete this grand work of ages on a large scale, by cutting through Menzaleh 1 Joseph introduced the system of irrigation into Egypt by cutting canals that still bear his name, and distributing the waters of the Nile over the neighboring desert, thus reclaiming a large district of waste territory. SUEZ CANAL. 41 and the Bitter Lakes a maritime canal from sea to sea ; which has proved as grand a success as the enterprise itself. During the year 188 11,4:94: vessels, carrying 80,805 passengers, passed over this highway of the seas ; the receipts from freight and passen- gers amounted to 85,755,205, and its traffic is yearly increasing. England, who at first ridiculed the idea of a ship-canal across the Isthmus as visionary, was the first to profit by it ; and see-- ing the importance of keeping up regular and rapid communi- cation with her East Indian Colonies, has lately purchased the Khedive's interest in this great improvement ; and, with Cyprus in her possession, will before many years control not only the canal, but Egypt and the whole Levant. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BOAT. CHAPTER III. HELIOPOLIS AND THE PYRAMIDS. The On of Scripture Grand Temple of the Sun Ancient Seat of Learning Legend of the Phrenix One solitary Obelisk all that Remains The Pyramids of Ghizeh Their Origin Invested with Mystery Probably Tombs for their gods and Kings Latest Speculations Cheops identical with Joseph, the Hebrew Piazzi Smyth's Theory Colossal Sphinx Interesting Legend Reflections. TTELIOPOLIS, the On of Scripture, and one of the oldest J-J- cities in Egypt, was situated at tlie 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 was 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. Here Plato and other Greek philosophers obtained most of their knowledge of the natural sciences; and here, according to the legend, the fabled Plicenix was consumed. This bird was exceedingly beautiful, about the size of the eagle, with a plumage that shone like gold around its neck, a purple body, and a tail of blue and rose- colored feathers. It wore a coxcomb gill under its neck, and a magnificent crest on its head. This splendid-looking bird was supposed to live five hundred years, then burn itself, and rise again from its own ashes young, strong, and more beautiful than ever a symbol of the resurrection of the human body. 1 Gen. xli, 45. 42 OBELISK OF HELIOPOLIS. 43- The new birth of this fabulous creature always took place at Heliopolis. The priest of the temple kindled a fire of spices- on the altar, and the old bird, weary of life, after hovering for a few moments over the fumes, alighted in the flames and was soon consumed. On the second day after the burning a small worm appeared among the ashes on the altar, and on the third day the Phoenix rose again, more beautiful than ever,. with powers of endurance warranted to last five hundred years, longer. The Temple stood at one end of a large inclosure, three miles around, the walls of which may still be traced. Through this outer court there ran an avenue of marble sphinxes and granite obelisks terminating at the main entrance to the tem- , pie ; all of which have been destroyed or removed save one k lone obelisk the oldest in Egypt still standing as erect as when first elevated upon its pedestal four thousand years ago, guarding like an old sentinel the tomb of this long-buried city. This tapering shaft of red granite, which has withstood the storms and earthquakes of so many centuries, is about seventy feet high, and six feet three inches square at its base. The four laces are beautifully polished, and covered with hiero- glyphics and symbolical figures deeply cut in the hard rock, showing great skill, and that it was erected as a monumental record by Osirtasen I., probably B.C. 2080 years, if not earlier. 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 woman had nothing to do with them. One of these famous needles has just been taken to England ; the other has been re.noved to America, and may now be seen at the eastern 44 BIBLE LANDS. entrance to the Central Park, New York, thus connecting the earliest and latest civilizations of our world. 1 The Heliopolis obelisk formerly stood on an eminence ; now its base is at least six feet below the neighboring plain, indicat- ing how the whole lower valley of the Nile is gradually filling up. "Within ten minutes' walk of this old landmark is the celebrated *' Fountain of the Sun," that supplied the temple with fresh, sweet water, the only living spring in Egypt ; and overshadow- ing this fountain is the venerable sycamore-tree, gnarled with age, under whose broad branches, it is said, the Holy Family encamped when they fled to Egypt from the wrath of Herod. 1 The author was in Alexandria at the time the English removed their obelisk, and through Mr. J. Baldwin Hay, formerly IT, S. Consul-General at Beirut, pre- sented to the late Khedive, on the 16th of July, 1877, a request that the remaining needle be given to the United State?, which the Viceroy afterward consented to do. THE PYRAMIDS. 45 With the conquest of Egypt by- the Persians the glory of this city departed. With the rise of Alexandria under the Greeks she lost her prestige ; and with the birth of Christianity Heli- opolis died ! The greatest mystery, and oldest chronological records in , s- Egypt, if not in the world, are the Pyramids about seventy of which are still standing in the Valley of the J^ile. They be- long to the prehistoric 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. The most famous are those near Ghizeh, midway between \f Cairo and Memphis. They stand about one hundred feet above the overflow of the Xile, on the rocky ridge forming the east- ern border of the great African desert ; and the earthquakes of forty centuries have failed to move them from their firm foundations. The largest, known as the Pyramid of Cheops, is seven hun- dred and sixty-four feet square at the base, and rises at an angle of fifty-two degrees to the height of four hundred and eighty feet, (originally it was about twenty feet higher,) containing ninety million cubic feet, and covering an area of more than thirteen acres ; being larger than Madison Square, Kew York, 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 as large as Washington, including all the public edifices. According to Herodotus, four hundred thousand men were employed twenty years in the erection of this single monu- ment. They are all constructed on the same general principle : 46 BIBLE LANDS. \ " 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 or mummies have been found ; in one, an embalmed bull. PYRAMIDS. The entrance to the Great Pyramid, the corner-stone of our civilization, which was originally closed, is a narrow passage three feet five inches wide, and three feet eleven inches high, on the north face, fifty feet above the base. This gangway appears to have been cut after the pyramid was built. On en- tering this contracted passage you descend at an angle of twenty-seven degrees for about one hundred feet, when you are: PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 47 stopped suddenly by a granite plug closing up the entry en- tirely. Here, to avoid this obstruction, you make a short detour to the right upon your hands and knees, and by clam- bering over some broken stones, and through a hole fourteen inches in diameter, torch in hand, and almost stifled with dust and smoke, you emerge into an ascending passage, no larger than the one you entered, and rising at the same angle, up which you climb with great difficulty into the grand gallery that leads to the queen's and king's chamber ; the latter a room thirty-four feet long, seventeen wide, and nineteen high, faced with red granite highly polished, single slabs, extending from wall to wall overhead, forming the ceiling. This chamber is almost under the apex, and about three hundred and fifty feet from the outer entrance ; and it is a curious fact that this is the only pyramid containing two such large apartments, with an ascending gallery leading thereto. None but those who have full command of themselves should venture into this dark, prison-like tomb. No doubt many deaths have resulted from the fear produced by the awful gloom and confined atmosphere of this dismal palace of the dead. One lady of our party was carried out almost suffocated and partially paralyzed. Nothing was found in the pyramid when opened by Caliph Mahmoud, A. D. 850, but the empty, lidless sarcophagus of the once mighty, but now unknown, builder of this vast sepulchral monument. With the aid of two or three Arabs you can ascend to the top of Cheops, and enjoy one of the grandest views on earth. Beneath your feet repose the dead of forty centuries. To the north you have the meanderings of the Nile through the ever green Delta ; to the west, the desert the great African desert 48 BIBLE LANDS. the very synonym of utter desolation ; to the south Mem- phis and her pyramids, where Joseph ruled the land under her most powerful and wisest Pharaoh ; and to the east you can see the little island of Rodah, where it is said Moses was found in his " ark of bulrushes ; " and beyond, Cairo, with its numer- ous domes and minarets ; and still beyond, the citadel where the Mamelukes were massacred by order of Mohammed Ali r March 1, 1811. And the interest of this panorama is heightened by the asso- ciations it awakens. You stand upon a monument whose his- tory is lost in mystery, dating back at least to the patriarchal age ; which must have witnessed the conquest of the country by Darius, Cambyses, and Alexander ; which was a problem to- Pythagoras, Strabo, and Herodotus ; on which the Cleopatras, Ptolemies, and Caesars must have gazed with amazement ; and which inspired the army of the great Napoleon with ardor when battling beneath its shadow. Many theories have been advanced touching the age and object of the pyramids. Josephus and other ancient historians- were of the opinion that some of them were built by the He- brews during their oppression, which is very plausible, as sev- eral near Memphis are composed of large sun-dried brick made without straw. Another theory is that the Great Pyramid was constructed by Joseph when governor of Egypt. The celebrated archae- ologist, Col. Howard Vyse, has discovered upon some of the stones of this pyramid certain hieroglyphics that answer to the name of Shoofoo rendered by Herodotus Cheops, and Snphis- by Manetho, but which is in reality the identical name of Joseph the Hebrew. It is, therefore, inferred that Joseph, during the long famine, when he gathered the people into the cities, and LATEST THEORIES. 49" was compelled to feed and find them employment, engaged them in the construction of this grand monument, perhaps for astronomical purposes, or as a depository for valuable records ; and that, by order of Pharaoh, he was buried in it at his death, and when his people returned to Canaan they carried his remains with them, which will account for the empty sarcophagus, and the pyramid being closed again ai'ter first, opened. It is also a singular coincidence that the description given by Herodotus of Cheops answers exactly the character of Joseph ;. who, he says, closed the temples of the Egyptians, and for- cibly employed the people in building this pyramid ; and that the same cartouch found here above the king's chamber, con- taining the name of Suphis, has been discovered in AVady Magharah, on the route of the Israelites through the wilder- ness of Sinai. Josephus ' speaks of the ancients erecting two pillars for the preservation of the early history of the world, and their knowl- edge of the heavenly bodies ; one of stone in Egypt, which may apply to this pyramid ; the other of brick, ' l in the land of Siriad,'" which may refer to the Temple of Belus. And as. the Pyramid of Cheops was originally beautifully cased with marble and covered with hieroglyphics, may it not have been constructed for the twofold purpose of a tomb or depository for valuable records, and also as an historical and astronomical monument of the wisdom of the ancients, their knowledge of the heavenly bodies, and their discoveries in the natural sci- ences so in case the world should be destroyed again by water or fire some account of its history and inventions might be preserved ? The other pyramids, being of a later date, were 1 Antiquities, i, 2. 50 BIBLE LANDS. probably erected in imitation of this one, and evidently as tombs of royalty. But the most curious theory is that advanced by Piazzi Smyth, Professor of Astronomy in the University of Edin- 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 built by inspiration, the same as Solomon's Temple or Noah's Ark, under the direction of the Great Architect of the universe, for astronomical purposes, and as a physical revela- tion to determine the precession of the equinoxes, the sun's mean distance from the earth, the cardinal points of the earth's astronomical axis, the interval between its erection and the second coming of Christ, and many other mysteries of the moral and material universe. A symbolical meaning is also attached to almost every por- tion of the structure. The long, narrow gangway by which you enter, is interpreted to represent the Jewish dispensation ; the grand gallery, the Christian Church ; the king's chamber, the heavenly world; and the sarcophagus, or coffer therein, the throne of the Eternal. It is also claimed that the "well" leading down to the base of the pyramid represents the way to perdition; the souterrain or cavern below, hades or the grave; the inclining wall, the impending judgment of God; and the supposed tomb of Cheops, far down in the solid rock, hell, or the prison of the damned. All which we regard as very apocryphal : nothing more than " extravagant nonsense." If one is allowed to establish his own standard of weights and measurements, he can prove almost anything from it ; and this whole argument reminds me of the absurd speculations con- COLOSSAL SPHINX. 51 cerning Jacob's pillow, or the " Stone of Destiny " in the coro- nation chair of England. Five minutes' walk from this unsolved problem is another equally as wonderful. We refer to the colossal Sphinx. This enigma of history, which recent discoveries show to be older '^ TKE 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. According to the legend, this fabulous monster visited differ- ent cities, propounding certain riddles, which if the people failed to guess, they were at once destroyed, with their city. Finally this nondescript came to Egypt with the conundrum, What animal is it that walks on four legs in the morning, on two at noon, and three at night ? They called together their seers, and the answer was man who in his infancy, or morn- ing of life, creeps upon his hands and feet ; in his meridian, 02 BIBLE LANDS. stands erect ; and in his old age, or evening of life, leans upon 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 perhaps the largest image ever worshiped. The body measures one hundred and forty feet long, not including the fore paws, which extended about fifty feet in front, and between which stood the altar, from which the smoke of incense went up into 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- fully, as if they had some great secret to reveal ! Ah, could those thick lips speak, what volumes they would relate ! What mysteries they would unravel ! What a flood of light they would pour upon the early history of our race ! Alas, they are sealed forever! Here this representative of royalty has patiently reclined for four thousand years, watching with sleep- less vigilance the ashes of the mighty dead reposing beneath its gaze. One cannot but feel a degree of reverence for this monster idol when he considers its great antiquity ; that it has witnessed the rise and fall of the greatest empires of earth, is 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, poured down rivers of blood. CHAPTER IV. MEMPHIS, THE NOPH OF SCRIPTURE. Royal City of Osiris Scene of the Miracles of Moses Statue of Rameses II. Necropolis of Egypt Mummy Pits Victims of Divine Vengeance-^Ful- fillment of Prophecy Mausoleum of Apis Grand Temple of Serapis Tomb of Till Interesting Sculptures. CjITUATED on the western bank of the Nile, a few miles ' O south of the Pyramids of Ghizeh, is Memphis, the Noph of Scripture, founded by Menes, the first recorded King of Egypt, and for a thousand years the capital of the old monarchy, and the most magnificent city in Egypt. It was here Joseph served as governor, and Pharaoh reigned in the days of Moses and the patriarchs ; and no doubt some of the buildings whose ruins may still be seen in this vicinity were constructed by the He- brews during their long bondage. The embankments that once protected the city from the inundations of the river have ages 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 city of Osiris. Scarcely a vestige remains of the grand tem- ples that were once the chief glory of Memphis. Some blocks of granite, broken columns, mounds of sun-dried brick, massive foundations, and a colossal statue of Rameses II., lying with his face in a pool of water, as if bemoaning the departure of his glory and the fate of his kingdom, are all that remain bv which the place can now be identified. 53 64 BIBLE LANDS. This statue, originally about fifty feet high, was one of two that stood in front of the great gate-way leading to the grand temple of Phtah or Osiris. An amulet is suspended from the neck, somewhat like the breastplate of the high-priest among the Jews, and the name of Rameses the Great may still be seen engraved upon his girdle, and on the scroll which he holds in his hand. The face is well preserved, looks youthful, and by many is considered beautiful. A life-size figure of his daughter is represented standing by his side, which possesses additional interest from the fact that ^ this is probably the Pharaoh's daughter who adopted Moses ; and his son, Menephtali, who succeeded him in the empire, and whose statue may be seen in the museum at Cairo, is supposed to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus who pursued the Israelites and was destroyed with the Egyptians in the Red Sea. The present condition of Memphis fulfills almost literally the predictions of the Jewish prophets concerning her : " I will destroy the idols out of Noph; . . . the pomp of her strength shall cease ; . . . a cloud shall cover her, for Noph shall be waste and desolate, without an inhabitant." ' Directly back of these ruins back of the forest of palin- v trees and about four miles back from the river, you strike the great Libyan desert and the Necropolis of Memphis. The contrast between the green valley of the Nile and the bleak African desert is like that of life and death ; making it an ap- propriate sepulcher for the myriads that repose beneath its shadowing wings. This vast cemetery, the oldest and largest in the world, \ extending from the Pyramids of Ghizeh on the north to those of Dashur on the south, a distance of perhaps twenty miles, 1 Ezek. xxx, 13-18; Jer. xlvi, 19. MUMMY PITS. 00 is estimated to contain at least twenty-five million human bodies, besides innumerable ibises and embalmed animals. In strolling through this metropolis of the dead one is shocked at the number of skulls and other human remains that lie bleach- ing in the sun ; often the head or feet of a mummy protrud- ing from the sand, and the desert around strewn with arms and legs, hands and feet, sometimes whole bodies, still wrapped in their winding sheets, calling vividly to mind Ezekiel's vision of dry bones, for " Behold, there were very many . . . and, lo, they were very dry," and continually prompting the in- quiry, " Can these bones live ? " and the answer, " O Lord God, thou knowest." ' MUMMY CASE. "We entered several pits that appeared to be the burial-places for the lower classes, and found long galleries cut in the lime- stone rock that underlies the desert, filled with mummies piled one upon another six and eight courses deep, like cord-wood, all carefully embalmed, and looking as fresh as if laid but yes- terday in their quiet tombs ; and yet these countless thousands were the men and women who lived in the days of Abraham and Joseph and Moses ! We spent hours in going from pit to pit, wandering through the courts of death between walls of human mummies, some beau- tifully encased, with their arms folded across their breasts, hold- 1 Ezek. xxxvii, 3. 56 BIBLE LANDS. ing some little charm or idol in their embrace, j ust as they were laid to rest by loving friends three or four thousand years ago; and, what is most revolting, the natives are using these mummies for fuel, and fertilizing their fields with the dust and ashes of their ancestors ! even stripping them of their wind- ing-sheets, and sending cargoes of the linen wrappings to Eu- rope and America for the manufacture of paper. Some of the linen was of finest texture, over five hundred threads to an inch of warp. For scientific purposes, we examined many of these remains, and to our surprise found them mostly young persons, their heads thickly coated with straight black hair, all the teeth sound, their bodies well proportioned and of full habit, as if 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 have been 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 made reference to this visitation when he says, " Egypt shall gather them up ; Memphis shall bury them ? " ' How solemn the reflection ! In the center of this Necropolis are the Pyramids of Sakara, the royal tombs of the Memphite kings, hoary with age, and looking as old as the sand-hills among which they stand. There are eleven in the group, the largest of which is curiously built in stages or terraces diminishing as they go up, and is claimed 1 Hosea ix, 6. MAUSOLEUM OF APIS. 57 o trpPSRROOM 4-S X 3O GROINED CEIL IX 3 \ ROOM. 1 I ." . . F WEST. $ 12 COLUMNS m o U - LJ - <"> MINARET CISTtRr LOWER TERRACE Illlllllllllll STEPS TO TERRACE FROM WHICH YOU ENTER. UPPER .TERRACE- BAST! OPEN COURT. PLAN OF THE UPPER ROOM, OVER TOM15 OP DAVID. A and B. Remains of two small minarets, right and left of original entrance, now cioswL C. Stairs leading to lower apartments and the Royal Sepulcher of David. No. 1. Red granite column with Jewish capital. No. 2. Gray granite column with Grecian capital, very fine. No. 3. Exquisite marble column of the Roman order, the capital richly sculptured with birds and animals among the foliage. A belt course or frieze runs round the room at the spring of the arch, of Jewish workmanship, and very beautiful, showing the vine and clusters of grapes. ories it awakens ! But no words can describe the emotions expe- rienced by the devout mind on first entering that " upper room." That this is the site of the City of David none will deny, as the remains of the old citadel and walls and towers clearly at- test, and as the excavations lately made on Zion by that enthu- siastic Christian archaeologist, Mr. Henry Maudslay, fully 178 BIBLE LANDS. demonstrate. That there are great caverns under this portion of Mount Zion there can be no question, having myself ex- plored them in part. And that the royal sepulchers of the kings of Israel, entered and robbed by Hyrcanus and Herod the Great, if not here, are very near this locality, there can be but little doubt. Beyond this, until further explorations are made, nothing can be definitely known. I visited this interesting place early one morning during the Passover, and was sur- prised to find a large number of Jews, men and women, weep- ing and praying against the eastern face of the old wall just outside the crypt, not being allowed to enter the tomb of their own prophet and king ; at the same time I could hear the Mo- hammedans at prayers within. Rather a novel sight Jews without, Moslems within, and Christian looking on. This is considered one of the most sacred localities about Jerusalem by all religionists. No place is guarded more jealously by the Turk, and only good Moslems are permitted to enter the vault that contains the cenotaph of the royal prophet. Having long had a desire to visit this mysterious crypt, about which I had heard the most fabulous tales, and being familiar with the dialect of the land for whatever it may have been of old backsheesh is the language of Canaan now I succeeded one midnight hour, when the guards, were asleep, in gaining admission into these forbidden parts. It was a perilous under- taking, and I knew my life was in jeopardy every moment. Going down seventeen stone steps in the south-west corner of the upper room, I was landed in a chamber the size of the one above a kind of chapel or mosque for common pilgrims from which, through a grated window hung with thousands of votive offerings, can be seen what is termed the tomb. This room communicates with another, a kind of ante-room TOMB OF DAVID. 179 with a niche for prayer, in front of which stood two large brass candlesticks, and in the corner on the left several flags and devices, such as are carried on pilgrimages. Between this ante-room and the next, which is the sanctum sanctorum a vaulted room twenty-five feet square with walls of great thick- ness there are double doors, the outer one iron with strong bolts, the inner, wood, overhung with a black velvet curtain TOMB OF DAVID. embroidered with silver. The cenotaph extends almost across the crypt from east to west on the north side. It is built of common stone, nicely dressed, about five feet high, with a square marble slab in front, and an oval porphyry one on top, the whole covered with a green velvet canopy or pall, with black border richly wrought in gold ; and directly in front, on a black velvet ground in Arabic characters, is the following 180 BIBLE LANDS. passage from the Koran, also embroidered in gold : u O David ! verily thou art a sovereign prince in the earth." The marble floor was covered with Persian rugs. The walls were cased with blue encaustic tiling, and the vault lighted dimly by six lamps suspended from the ceiling, and two very large silver candlesticks, one at either end of the tomb, rendering the place awfully solemn. But the most interesting part of this venerable edifice is a door with an oval top on the left of the shrine, now closed securely with masonry. In a little niche by the side of it a lamp is kept always burning, and the most frightful stories are told of persons being struck with blindness in attempting to enter this door, and of others being consumed by fire probably fire-damp bursting out of the cavern be- low; and, in consequence, the door was walled up many years ago, in all probability the very door that leads to the royal catacombs of the kings of Israel. Over this closed entrance there is an Arabic inscription to the effect, " This is the gate to heaven," or " the door to paradise," but alas ! it is closed. Closed by Mohammedan superstition. Ah ! could we but open that door, and get down into the grotto below, and be permitted to gaze upon the gold and silver coffins of God's own chosen kings, and find there the golden harp on which David played his immortal psalms, what a discovery it would be! How much speculation it would remove ! and how many points it would establish in the topography of the Holy City ! But we must wait. "God is his own interpreter, And he will make it plain." An interesting discovery has lately been made at ancient Timnath-serah, the heritage of Joshua, in the supposed tomb of Joshua the son of Nun. It differs from the other rock TOMB OF JOSHUA. 181 tombs in the vicinity by having a vestibule in front, supported by two columns, portions of the natural rock, with a fillet run- ning round them after the Egyptian style. In this vestibule there are two or three hundred niches for lamps, indicating that it was the tomb of no ordinary person. Back of this ves- tibule are two chambers, one containing fifteen receptacles, the other but one. The latter is supposed to be Joshua's, the former his family vault ; and in proof of this supposition many flint-knives were here found, such as were used in circumcising 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. Another beautiful tomb was discovered a short time since, about one hundred and fifty yards north of the Damascus gate. In digging a cistern at this point the workmen came upon sev- eral sepulchral vaults, in one of which was found a large stone chest or coffin, containing human remains. It measured seven 182 BIBLE LANDS. feet seven inches in length, by two feet eight inches in width, and was three feet two inches high, standing on four feet in the center of the chamber. As no name or inscription was found in the crypt by which it could be identified, it is impos- sible to tell to whom this stately tomb belonged ; but, as near 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. Arrival of Pilgrims Religious Fanaticism Solemn Mockeries Ceremony of Feet- washing Dramatizing the Crucifixion Baptism of Fire Other Shock- ing Scenes. IN the center of the Greek Chapel, in front of the tomb of Christ, a small marble globe on a low pedestal is pointed out as the center of the world. Many visitors laugh heartily at the idea, but is it not as near the center as any other spot on the earth's surface ? For centuries Jerusalem was regarded as the world's center of wealth, power, intelligence, and popula- 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 will be, round which the dearest hopes and affections of our race revolve. Thousands of pilgrims from all lands are constantly coming and going. Many save up their money for half a life-time in order to make this journey. The very stones are worn smooth with their kisses and tears ; and yet, with all this devotion, which we cannot but admire, there is very little true religion. Just now we are in the midst of the Easter festivities, which attract vast multitudes. The city is crowded with strangers, and the hills outside the walls are white with their tents, look- ing as if we were invested by a besieging army. The arrival 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 Kussia, 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 very sharp. Others pretend to thrust swords and daggers through different parts of their bodies, and others again to eat fire without being burned, all of which is regarded by the super- stitious as miraculous. One of the dervishes has just corne into the Consulate with a sword run through his face from near the right ear and out of his mouth, to the great amaze- ment of the natives ; but on examination I found that the cheek had been previously pierced, and allowed partially to heal up, the opening being concealed by his black heavy beard. This deception we can account for among the ignorant Mussul- mans ; but how are we to excuse even greater mockeries when practiced by professing Christians ? The Easter services began by the ancient and very curious ceremony of feet- washing. A platform gorgeously decorated was constructed in the open court in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, on which were seated the Greek Patriarch, personating Christ, and twelve Bishops, representing the twelve apostles. After reading a portion of the Gospel relating to Christ washing the disciples' feet, the Patriarch, in imitation of our Lord, went a short distance with three of his disciples, and knelt down, as if in prayer, under an olive-tree planted there for the occasion. After a few minutes he returned to the stage, and, taking off his outer robe, proceeded to wash and kiss the feet of the pretended apostles. The looks of Judas rather betrayed him during this operation, and Peter at first hesitated, then refused to submit to such DRAMATIZING THE CRUCIFIXION. 185 an act on the part of the Lord, but finally was persuaded to yield. The vessel used for the purpose was a basin of pure gold, very large, and richly chased. When this ceremony was con- cluded Judas stealthily retired, and the Patriarch, with a bunch of hyssop, sprinkled the vast assemblage with the water that remained, all manifesting the greatest eagerness to catch if but a drop : some turning up their faces, others baring their breasts, in hope that a drop of the holy water might fall upon them. When this service ended, a rush was made for the olive-tree, supposed to possess rare healing qualities, the super- stitious believing that a leaf or twig burned in a sick chamber would recover the patient immediately. The scene at this moment was frightful to behold, thousands of infatuated men and women rushed pell-mell upon the tree, till not a branch or leaf remained, not even a trace of the tree, so completely was it destroyed ; and had Judas not escaped when h did, he too would have shared a similar fate. In this same church, on the following evening, an exhibition 186 BIBLE LANDS. took place almost as shocking as that witnessed very near the same spot eighteen centuries before. Christ in effigy was nailed to a cross and crucified afresh in the presence of an excited multitude, that could only be kept under control by the pres- ence of a strong guard of Turkish soldiers detailed for the pur- pose. After hanging for an hour or more, during which time all the scenes of the crucifixion were re-enacted, the nails were drawn from the hands and feet, the crown of thorns removed from the head, and the body carefully lowered from the cross ; after which it was wrapped in a winding-sheet, carried to the stone of unction, where it was prepared for burial, then placed in the supposed original tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where it remained until Easter morning, when it was spirited away while yet it was dark, in imitation of Christ's resurrection. The whole effect on the multitude was wonderful ; men and women wept like children ; some smote violently their breasts ; others struggled to touch or kiss the figure ; and some to wipe up the drops of blood that oozed from the wounds, applying it to their lips, eyes, and hearts, in the firm belief that it would cure them of all their sins. But the most exciting scene witnessed here during these festivities is the kindling of the holy fire. The foundation for this unwarranted imposition is that portion of Scripture where Christ represents himself as the " Light of the world," and says, "I am come to send fire on the earth." There is also an old legend which says that on one occasion, the day before Easter, fire was seen issuing from the tomb of Christ. Hence, the imposition is still practiced by the Greek and Arme- nian Churches. Usually on this occasion thousands of pilgrims gather about the Holy Sepulcher. The crowd at times has been so great that many have been trampled to death on one THE HOLY FIRE. 187 occasion several hundred. Now a strong body of Turkish soldiers is employed to preserve order and hold in check the excited multitude. We were present on several occasions to witness this strange exhibition of fanaticism. The vast edifice, with its courts and galleries, was packed with pilgrims hours before the service began. Some had been there from the night before, anxiously waiting for the baptism of fire. The interval up to the hour appointed for the service to begin was occupied by all kinds of performances. Men, mounted on the shoulders of others, were carried about, going through a variety of fantastic ma- neuvers; some seemed to walk on the heads of the human mass beneath them, haranguing the multitude, pouring male- dictions on the Jews for crucifying the Lord of glory, and shouting in their frenzy for fire to come down from heaven and consume their enemies. The excitement of the scene was heightened by frequent conflicts between the soldiers and the people, the whole assembly at times swaying to and fro like the surging sea. About two o'clock in the afternoon the procession of priests and bishops, led by the choir and followed by the Greek Pa- triarch, all richly attired, came moving out of the Greek Chapel, and after marching round the sepulcher three times the Patriarch entered the Chapel of the Angel, in front of the supposed tomb of our blessed Lord, the door closing immedi- ately after him ; the soldiers with difficulty keeping back the 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. All eyes were turned toward the opening in the tomb from which the fire was expected to come. Ten thousand tapers in ten thousand hands were ready to be 188 BIBLE LANDS. lighted by the first flash from the sepulcher ; one man, it is said, paying eighty thousand piasters for a position near the opening. All now was silence, and the suspense oppressive, when suddenly a flame was seen bursting from the tomb. The great bells in rapid peals announced the event far and near. Thousands of men and women, wild with enthusiasm, and be- lieving that the fire actually came from heaven, rushed to light their tapers in the flame. The soldiers on duty were swept away like chaff before the whirlwind. Hundreds fell upon the marble pavement and were trampled under foot by the infu- riated mob. Shrieks and cries ascended from the seething crowd. Men rushed frantically out with torch in hand to diffuse the fire among their friends and neighbors. Some in their frenzy set their beards on fire, others tore off their cloth- ing to burn their bodies, and parents were seen holding up their little children that they, too, might touch the flame. As if by magic, thousands of lamps, candles, and tapers were lighted in every chapel, alcove, and gallery, until the entire vast edifice was ablaze. The confusion and noise were bewil- dering ; the heat and smoke, suffocating ; and the whole effect reminded one more of the fire-worshipers of Baal in their midnight orgies than of a Christian service. We pity the credulity of the ignorant people present on this occasion ; but what excuse can be offered for the learned priests and bishops who thus wantonly turn into comedy the most sa- cred events? For all such exhibitions we regard as nothing more than solemn mockeries. CHAPTER VIII. BETHLEHEM, AND HILL COUNTRY OF JUDEA. Birthplace of Christ Church of the Nativity Oriental Khan Christmas in Beth- leheui Armenian Convent Midnight Service Solemn Impressions Grotto of St. Jerome Birthplace of John the Baptist Wilderness of Judea Lo- custs and Wild Honey Difference of Opinion. QITUATED ou a fruitful ridge about six miles south of *J Jerusalem, overlooking the Valley of the Kedron on the north, and the deep chasm of the Dead Sea on the east, is Bethlehem of Judea, to the Christian the holiest place on earth. It is one of the oldest villages in Palestine, and associated with some of the most stirring events in the religious history of the world. Here Ruth gleaned after the reapers of Boaz ; here the youthful David kept his father's flocks, and was anointed King of Israel ; here, also, Jeremiah, after denouncing God's terrible judgments upon the people, foretold the coming of " The Lord our Righteousness ; " l and here the shepherds who watched their flocks by night were startled by the angelic song announcing the Messiah's birth, and proclaiming the evangel of " peace on earth, and good-will toward men." The name signifies the House of Bread, and truly it may be said, Bethlehem has given to our perishing race the bread of eternal life. What countless millions have feasted on this heav- enly loaf ! As we rode along the well-beaten path leading from Jerusa- lem, crowded with pilgrims from all lands going up to visit 1 Jeremiah xxiii, 6. 191 192 BIBLE LANDS. the place that gave birth to the Saviour of mankind, what old memories were awakened ! Here, on the plain of Kephaim over which the road winds, it is supposed the army of Sen- nacherib lay encamped when smitten by the destroying angel 1 along this same road Abraham probably journeyed on his way to the Mount of God, leading his only son as a lamb to the slaughter ; along this same road the Virgin and her husband once toiled on their weary way to the " City of David, which RACHEL'S TOMB. is called Bethlehem ; " along this same road the magi came with their costly gifts to worship at the feet of the new-born King ; and long before the advent of Christ, long before the Hebrews possessed the land, when the Jebusites still held the old " Castle of Zion," Jacob, on his way to Hebron, traveled over this same road ; and it was here that Eachel, his young and beautiful wife, died as she gave birth to her second son. 1 2 Kings xix, 35. THE INX OF BETHLEHEM. 193 How touchingly sad the narrative. " And Kachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave," etc. 1 Nearly four thousand years have elapsed since this mother in Israel died, and Jacob set up this stone as a memorial over her grave ; and yet the tomb of Rachel is still here by the way-side, protected by Jewish, Christian, and Moslem piety as one of the most sacred spots in the Holy Land. That the grotto pointed out as the birthplace of Christ is very near, if not the identical spot of our Saviour's nativity, there is no reason to doubt. All tradition and history agree upon this locality. Justin Martyr, who was a native of Syria, and had every opportunity of knowing the precise place, tells us Christ was born in this cave ; Origen mentions the same fact. Helena, also, before she erected her grand basilica to commemorate the event, must have known the spot. It is not likely that events so wonderful as the visit of the angels who announced his birth, the coming of the wise men from the East to render him homage, and the star standing over the place where the young child lay, would soon, if ever, be for- gotten ; certainly not in the brief period that intervened be- tween Justin Martyr and the Empress Helena. That the present Church of the Nativity is the identical one built by this empress none will deny. It is the oldest Christian church in the world, and many of the forty-eight beautiful col- umns which support the cedar roof were in all probability taken from the grand Temple of Solomon on Moriah. For fifteen centuries this venerable edifice has stood as a silent 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 Genesis xxxv, 19. 194 BIBLE LANDS. to all people ; " and that also on this very site 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 comfort at an inn are unknown in the Orient, and belong exclusively to western civilization. In the East all travelers carry their own bedding and provision with them, and must dress their own food, kindle their own fire, and spread their own table. An Oriental inn is merely a place of shelter from the storm or protection from robbers, where a man and his beast can safely lodge for the night free of charge. A portion of the khan was assigned to the beasts, generally one side, and travelers who came in late, if they 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 do. These caravansaries, or inns, were some- times very rude, simply a rough wall built round a house, or natural caves in the rocks, as appears to have been the case at Bethlehem. Many of these grottoes are still used as stables in the neighborhood, and some of them as dwellings by the Arabs. Until superseded by convents, every village had its khan ; 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 liberality of some prince or man of wealth, it became public property consecrated to hospitality, and could never be appro- priated to other purposes. We have been thus minute in our description of an Oriental ORIENTAL KHAN. 195 khan because tradition locates the inn of Joseph and Mary at Bethlehem on a portion of the estate of Boaz the old home- stead of Obed and Jesse so that the birthplace of David was identical with the birthplace of Jesus, his illustrious successor and King eternal. We visited this place on Christmas eve in 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 Ar- menian 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 respect, and every attention was shown us ; but the thought of 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. Still, I considered it a great privilege to be there, and a strange feeling came over me as I joined in the midnight service over the manger where our blessed Lord, in all probability, once lay a helpless babe ; and when we all marched with lighted tapers through the old church and down into the Grotto of the Na- tivity chanting the Christmas carol, " Glory to God in the high- est/' we felt spell-bound, and our hearts ^re-echoed the senti- ment back to heaven ; and when we surrounded the manger and read in characters of gold the inscription beneath the altar, HERE JESUS CHRIST WAS BORN ! no words can describe my emotions. Manv gold and silver lamps, the votive offerings of royalty, 13 196 BIBLE LANDS. are kept continually burning, like vestal fires, over the silver star that marks the supposed spot where the Prince was born,, to " whose kingdom there shall be no end." Many other events associated with Bethlehem added 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 r 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- ences have gone out from this center! What hopes cluster around it ! Blot out the association of Bethlehem and you plunge our world into moral darkness, ruin, and death. This village was generally called " Bethlehem of Judea " to distinguish it from another place of the same name in the tribe of Zebulon, 1 and because it was situated in the " hill country of Judea." the birthplace of John the Baptist. This mount- ainous district extends as far south as Hebron ; and it was here, among these hills, about four miles west of Bethlehem, near the old road leading to Gaza and not far from Philip's Fountain, where, according to tradition, the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized, that John, the forerunner of Christ, was born. There is good authority for believing that Zacharias and Elizabeth lived in this neighborhood. The traditional site of 1 Joshua xix, 15. BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 197 their house is covered by the old Franciscan Convent of St. John, which stands on a fruitful ridge in the midst of the- modern village of Ain Karim. The church of the convent is a massive stone structure, with a graceful dome supported by four square pillars. "Within, the walls are cased with porcelain tiles, and hung with rich drapery of crimson brocatel silk. A small circular chapel, or grotto, cut in the natural rock, to which you descend by seven steps on the left of the high altar, marks the supposed spot of this good man's birth. A Latin inscription on a marble slab in the floor states that " Here the forerunner of our Lord was Tiorn" and the paint- ings on the walls give, in part, the details of his eventful life. On the right John is represented preaching in the wilderness ; on the left baptizing Christ in the Jordan ; and under the altar on one side, sculptured beautifully in marble, we have his birth ; on the other side his tragic death ; and in the center, as an altar-piece, the visit of the Yirgin Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, mentioned by St. Luke. My first visit to this interesting locality was in company with Dr. Newman and his wife. It was a beautiful spring day ; and as we rode over the hills, gathering wild flowers here and there by the way-side, we could not but feel that perhaps we were riding along the same path once trodden by the Mother of our Lord. After his birth but little is known of John until he com- menced his public ministrations by calling sinners to repentance. It is said his father was killed by the monster Herod, because he refused to reveal the hiding-place of his son ; that afterward John, for safety, fled into " the wilderness of Judea," a wild, desolate region east of his native hills, where he remained " till the day of his showing unto Israel." ' 1 Luke i, 80. 198 BIBLE LANDS. His great mission was to prepare the nation for the coming of the Messiah. His dress was, like that of the old prophets, simply a garment of camel's hair fastened with a leathern girdle, and his meat " locusts and wild honey." In his lonely desert abode, living on this rough fare, and clad in his coarse raiment, God was preparing this remarkable man for his great AVILDERXESS OF JCDEA. work, and when his voice was heard in the wilderness, crying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ! " so in- tense was the desire to hear him that great multitudes from " Jerusalem and all Judea " went out to his preaching. Many thought him to be the long-looked-for Messiah, others Elijah, LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY. 199 or one of the old prophets returned to earth. Among the thousands from all parts who attended his ministry, Christ also came "to be baptized by him," for the Son of God must fulfill the law in this respect before he can enter upon his work as a teacher in Israel. And it was on this memorable occasion the Father publicly acknowledged his Son, and the Holy Ghost visibly descended upon him in the form of a dove. John's mission was now fulfilled, his dispensation terminated, and soon after he was called to his reward. From our observations in the East we are inclined to believe that the "locusts and wild honey," referred to as the diet of John the Baptist, was the fruit of the carob-tree and the dibs, or honey, extracted therefrom. The popular name for this tree in Palestine is " the 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 Prodigal in his distress would fain have eaten. This tree is found all over Palestine. Two may be seen growing on the side of Olivet, just above the Garden of Geth- semane. It is a dark evergreen, with heavy foliage, affording a delightful shade, and bears a crescent-shaped bean, about six inches long and one wide. The outside of this bean, when ripe, is a dark brown, and does not look unlike the honey-locust of America. The fruit is fed to horses, cattle, and swine, and is a common article of food among the natives. Traveling through the country, our muleteers appeared to live almost upon these pods. The trees are generally registered ; property in them is capital, and marriage portions are frequently given in 200 BIBLE LANDS. "locusts," or the fruit of the carob. A grove of these trees is considered as valuable as a vineyard or olive grove, and a single tree often yields a thousand pounds of pods, which are exported in large quantities to Russia and elsewhere. The fruit, when ripe, contains a sweet pulp, which is ex- pressed and made into a honey called dibs, which is the honey in general use among the peasantry of Palestine. Sometimes, when a pod is stung by a bee, honey will ooze from the wound and drop to the ground. May not this have been the honey Jonathan found in the wood when pursuing the Philistines ? l The Hebrew word debash, which so often occurs in the Scriptures, and is translated " honey " in our version, refers generally to vegetable honey, distilled as dibs from the pods of these trees, or to any sweet glutinous substance, as the syrup of grapes and dates. It was this, and not bee-honey, with which Israel supplied the market of Tyre, and that Jacob sent as a present to Joseph 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 likely, was the honey he used, bee-honey being considered a great delicacy and only eaten by the rich. It is also more than probable that the locusts he ate were not the insect, but pods of the carob-tree. Josephus gives an account of a tutor of his who " lived in the desert for many years on food that grew 7 of its own ac- cord ;" he also mentions "honey exuding from the trees," and of living in the wilderness himself for three years on no other meat than that which grew therein. John must have been in the desert for several years. The insect locust is not common to Palestine. Their visits are re- 1 Samuel xiv, 26. FRUIT OF THE CAROB-TREE. 201 garded as severe scourges. They come but seldom, often at intervals of many years, and only remain for a short time, so could not be relied upon as an article of daily food. Those who entertain the opposite view, and contend for the insect, confound it with the locust of Arabia, which is eaten in that country, but is a different species altogether from the locust of Palestine and Mesopotamia. The Arabian locust is a large reddish-brown insect, about two and a half inches long, thick as your finger, and has " no king." l The other is only half that size, of a pale green color, like our grasshopper, 2 has a leader or queen, the same as bees, and is never eaten, not even by the Bedouin of the desert. 1 Proverbs xxx, 27. * Amos vii, 1. CHAPTER IX. POOLS OF SOLOMON CAVE OF ADULLAM TOMB OF HEROD. Water Supply of Jerusalem Great Reservoirs Ancient Aqueducts Gardens of Solomon Cave of Adullum David and Saul Tekoa, the Home of Amos Herodiurn, the Tomb of Herod. rP HOUGH Jerusalem is situated on one of the highest J- mountain ranges in Palestine, and so tar as known has neither a spring nor well of living water within it. few cities- were ever better supplied with purer or better water. In all the protracted sieges the place has undergone the complaint was never heard of any scarcity of water. But from the flow of water in the Virgin's Fountain, Pool of Siloam, and Joab's Well, and from frequent reference in the ancient history of Jerusalem to the brook that ran through the " midst of the land," and to "the Fountain" or outflowing waters "of Gihon," there must have been one or more living streams near the city before Hezekiah sealed or stopped up their course " to cut off the supply from the Assyrian king ;" and these springs may still flow by subterranean channels into the Temple inclosnre, and through " the Well of the Leaf," down to " the waters of Shiloah that go softly." l The city is now entirely supplied with rain water caught during the rainy season in rock-hewn cisterns, but from numerous large reservoirs of great antiquity, now 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, 6. 202 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 of Wady 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. Great engineering skill has been displayed in the construc- tion of these pools on successive terraces one below another, so that the lower one catches the overflow of those above ; and no less ingenuity in concealing the sources of the fountains from their enemies, and collecting the waters of remote springs in tun- nels under the mountains one of those tunnels being four miles long, and connected with secret conduits conveying the fresh, cool stream into the Holy City. One of the aqueducts a por- 204 BIBLE LANDS. tion of which may be seen near Rachel's Tomb is constructed on the siphonic principle, not curving round the hills on a level, as the Romans constructed theirs, but following the elevations and depressions of the country. The pipe is made of large stones with a hole sixteen inches in diameter drilled through SEALED FOUNTAIN. them. These blocks are nicely jointed, similar to the cast- iron pipes now in use, the sections fitting as snugly as if 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 credit on the wisdom of Solomon. CAVE OF ADULLAM. 205 It was also here in this once lovely valley, just below the pools, that Solomon satisfied himself in regard to the riches and pleasures of this world. Here he built his summer palace, to which, Josephus says, he drove in his chariot every morn- 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 ; otherwise, the picture is one of utter desolation ; the palaces and pleasure grounds of Solomon are no more, showing the correctness of the royal Preacher's conclusion, " Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit." ' A short distance above this, near the old road to Hebron, in a cleft of the rocks, is one of the reputed hiding-places of Sam- son after avenging himself on the Philistines for the burning of his wife, and, what is remarkable, the very name of Etam is still applied to some ruins among the rocks close by the pools ; and all the natural features of the place agree fully with the narrative of Samson's adventure. About one and a half hours' ride down the ravine from Sol- omon's Pools, and about the same distance east of Bethlehem, where the valley assumes the features of a wild gorge cutting its way down to the Dead Sea, is the traditional Cave of Adullarn. This is a large natural cavern on the south side of Wady Urtas, supposed to be the same to which David fled from the Xing of Gath, and where he probably cut off the skirt of Saul's 1 Ecclesiastes i, 14. 206 BIBLE LANDS. garment, as these two events appear to have occurred in the- same vicinity. It is now known as Klmreitnn, from Chariton,. a monk who founded a convent here at an early day ; the old name, however, is still retained by the El Dhullam Arabs in 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 slings, others who were older playing on a rude instrument like the clarionet recalling the comely son of Jesse when a shepherd boy on these same hills, and who probably here took jbis first lessons on the sackbut and harp, and composed some of those immortal psalms that form so appropriate a part in the worship of God. 1 The cave is in the north face of a precipitous mountain, and the only approach to it is along a narrow shelving rock over- hanging the dry bed of the stream a hundred feet below. Near the entrance a mass of rock has fallen from above, blocking up entirely the path, so that no one can now enter without clam- bering over this obstruction on hands and knees with great difficulty, and in constant danger of slipping oif into the chasm beneath. The mouth of the cave is very narrow, admitting only one person at a time ; however, once within, ample room is found for double the number that at any one time were with David in his hiding-place. From the entrance winding galleries lead in different directions, and opening out of these are many small grottoes where a man could easily conceal himself and cut off 1 Psalms cxlii and cxliii were probably written in this cave, being " the prayer of David when in the cave." CAVE OF ADULLAM. 207 the garment or head of an enemy without being seen. About 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 high, looking very much like an old Gothic church, the vaulted ceiling of which was covered with bats. Several passages THE CAVE OF ADCLLAM. branch off from this chamber to others of less dimension ; one of 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 208 BIBLE LANDS. floor down which you drop about ten feet into another large hall,, with something like a cistern in the center, now tilled up with the bones of different animals. May not this have been " the hold " of Israel's anointed king referred to by David ? ' Other galleries lead from this apartment to halls still more remote, seemingly without end, which we did not explore, as we had reached the " end of our rope," and dare not venture beyond its length, as our guides assured us we could go until we heard the smiths of Hebron hammering over our heads. We found the cave dry and the air pure, though strongly tainted with the smell of jackals, hyenas, and other wild beasts, that find in its numerous grottoes a warm and safe retreat, making its exploration rather dangerous, as you have to advance very cautiously, with revolver in hand, not knowing what moment you may meet with some ferocious, half-starved beast. This has long been regarded as the veritable Cave of Adullam ; though of course, in a country where caves abound, it is impos- sible to fix with certainty on any particular one. William of Tyre locates Adullam six miles east of Bethlehem toward the Dead Sea, which is the exact distance and locality of this cave. 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 be would naturally seek refuge in some favorite haunt among "the rocks of the wild goats," where his knowledge of the coun- try would add greatly to his security. Some locate the cave near the supposed city of Adullam, in the plain country of Judah. There is, however, nothing in the text to warrant the location of the cave near the city of that name, even if the site of the old city could be identified ; and 1 1 Samuel xxii, 4. HIDING-PLACE OF DAVID. it is not likely that David would select a retreat so near his enemies, where he could not possibly hope to conceal himself and four hundred followers for any length of time. Then, no cave near Gath, or on the plains of Philistia, would meet the conditions of the narrative, for it appears that " when his breth- 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 the mountains of Judea. It was from Adullam he took his aged parents for protection to " Mizpeh of Moab," beyond Jor- dan, which he could not have done from the plain country with- out passing through the lines of the Philistines. It was also- when here that the three mighty men came down to him, and brought him water from " the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate," which they could easily do from the locality we have named, but not in any reasonable length of time from beyond the mountains near Gath, as the whole distance traversed, near 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 wilderness of Judea. So the small artificial caves near some ruins, sup- posed to be those of the city of Adullam, not far from Gath, do- not meet a single condition of the scriptural account. From here David, after his return from Moab, went into " the wilderness of Maori," a day's journey to the south of this, " and dwelt in strongholds at Engedi," on the borders of the Dead Sea ; after which he probably returned to Adullam, as- Saul found him here on his way to Engedi. It will be observed that the place where David and Saul met was not at Engedi,. but " by the way " * to Engedi. And the cave we have been 1 1 Samuel xxii, 1. s 1 Samuel xxiv, 3. 210 BIBLE LANDS. describing is on the direct road from Bethlehem to Engedi, and meets all the conditions of the case better than any other. On the hill directly above the cave of Adullam is Tekoa, the birthplace of the Prophet Amos, who, in his defense before the king, when accused of troubling Israel, meekly said : " I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son, but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit ; 1 and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel." a ~No doubt, on these very hills this faithful servant of the Lord often gathered wild figs, and pastured his herds and flocks, and in some one of the many rock -cut tombs in the neighborhood his ashes still repose, awaiting the hour when all who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake to life again. About midway between Adullam and Bethlehem, half a mile north of Wady Urtas, is a remarkable truncated cone, overlooking the Wilderness of Judea and Valley of the Jordan for many miles. The natives call it Jebel Fureidis " Hill of Paradise," but it is more generally known as the Frank Mount- ain, or Herodium. Plerod, according to Josephus, built a strong fortress and splendid palace not far from Tekoa, and sixty stadia, or about eight miles, from Jerusalem ; which agrees pre- cisely with this site. The cone rises from a high plateau,*and its upper section, of perhaps one hundred and fifty feet, ap- pears to be artificial, the ascent to which was by a marble stair- case on the north side, traces of which still remain. There may also have been a secret entrance from below and up through the interior, as the top is deeply sunken in the center, like a great well-hole. The only ruins to be seen on the sum- 1 The sycamore tree of Palestine bears a fruit called by the natives wild figs. s Amos vii, 14. FRANK MOUNTAIN, OR HERODIUM. 211 mit are two walls built in a perfect circle of beveled stones, one within the other, thirty feet apart, the outer one about one thousand feet in circumference, the inner one seven hundred and fifty feet, with circular towers at the four cardinal points, forty feet in diameter, beneath which are vaults and other sub- terranean works. At the base of the hill are extensive ruins of other fortifications and palaces, and a large square reservoir with the remains of a building in the center, perhaps a swim- 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, Antipater, the father of Herod I., being the son of a slave taken prisoner at Ascalon by Idumean robbers. At least the family came from Idumea, and were Jews only by conquest and adop- tion. Herod the Great, when quite young, was made governor of Galilee under Julius Caesar, and afterward appointed king of Judea by Marc Antony B. C. 40. Though cruel and bitter toward his enemies, he was a man of great energy and foresight, and did more for the develop- ment of his country than any of his successors. He was ambi- tious to leave great monuments of his power to posterity, and to establish a kingdom equal in splendor and extent to Solo- mon's, but not on a religious basis using Judaism merely as a bond of union to hold his kingdom together. Fond of ostentation and display, he was lavish in the distri- bution of his means; courting the favor of Caesar by founding cities in honor of his name ; of the Jews, by enlarging and beautifying their temple ; and of the people in general, by building palaces and public edifices of every kind, the remains of which are among the grandest ruins to be found in Palestine 14 212 BIBLE LANDS. today. A man of strong passions, vain, unscrupulous, and selfish, he hesitated not to rob the tomb of David, and put to death all the Sanhedrin who opposed his measures. He also, under suspicions of intrigue, caused the death of his favorite wife and three of his own sons, and with the children of Beth- lehem would have slain the Saviour of our world but for divine interposition. Beneficent, but brutish, he showed great con- tempt for public opinion, treated his subjects as mere slaves, and even planned the massacre of the principal men of his court in the event of his own death, that the whole nation might be thrown into mourning. After reigning over forty years he died a most terrible death at Jericho, about two years after the birth of Christ, and was buried in great pomp in his royal tomb at Herodinm. Thus Herod the Great passed away from earth ; his kingdom, also, has long since fallen to pieces. Of all his public works not a city, fortress, or palace remains to perpetuate his name. Scarcely a stone of his grand mausoleum is left, and the jackals that burrow in his grave have long ago scattered his ashes to the four winds of heaven ; while the infant King he sought to destroy still lives and reigns, and shall forever live and reign, for of " his kingdom there shall be no end." CHAPTER X. HEBRON CAVE OF MACHPELAH BEER-SHEBA. Ancient City of Arba Plain of Mamre Valley of Eshcol Oak of Abraham Cave of Machpelah Tomb of the Patriarchs Solemn Reflections Beer- Sheba Kadesh-Barnea Meribaii-Kadesh. The Sinkteu Rock. "\TO city on earth can claim such a long continuous history as -Li Hebron ; certainly the oldest populated city in Palestine, if not in the world. Before Rome, or Nineveh, or Memphis, Hebron was. It is mentioned even before Damascus, and, on the best authority, " was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt," the Tanis of the Greeks. Zoan has been in ruins for two thousand years, its very site is in dispute, while Hebron looks as fresh and thriving as any modern Oriental city. It appears also to have had a still more remote antiquity, being originally known as Kirjath-Arba the " City of Arba," the father of Anak, from whom sprang the powerful race known as giants, who occupied the land in the days of Joshua and Caleb. It is difficult to conceive of a community existing through so many ages, marked by so many social, religious, and political changes of a city, still astir with life, that must have been standing long before Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, and before a verse of the Bible was written ; and the possibility of identifying, after so long a period, the city where David was crowned king over all Israel, the valley where the spies cut the great "cluster of grapes," the plain where the tent of Abraham was pitched when he entertained the angels, and the 213 214 BIBLE LANDS. very cave of Machpelah where the ashes of the patriarchs repose, seems incredulous. And yet all these places, so fraught with interest, are still here, and may be visited any day. Hebron is beautifully situated in the Valley of Eshcol, among olive groves and vineyards, and near the summit of the high- est ranges of the Judean Mountains. This fruitful valley is still noted for its fine grapes, single "clusters" of which may still be found here that would require two men to carry. The present name of the city was probably given in com- pliment to Abraham, the Arabic meaning of Hebron being the City of the " Friend of God," Abraham having settled here soon after parting with his nephew, Lot, on their return from Egypt. Here he abode for many years, here Isaac also lived, and here Sarah died. The associations of the place were enough to inspire the heart of the venerable Caleb with courage ; and it is no wonder that he, after the conquest of the country, when tendered the first choice of the whole land, selected this, the roughest por- tion, as an inheritance for himself and family. 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 6ea, or from which the smoke of burning Sodom could be seen, is the plain, or more properly the grove, of Mamre, only another name for Hebron, the 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- tiful symbol of the patriarch whose name it bears, and whose 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 four thousand years ago. -*v_ OAK OF ABRAHAM. But the point of greatest interest about Hebron is the Field and Cave of Machpelah, purchased by Abraham from " Ephron the Hittite" as a place of sepulture for himself and family. There can be no reasonable doubt in reference to the locality of this tomb; all history and tradition fix it exactly where pointed out, within the walls of the great mosque, which the 216 BIBLE LANDS. Mohammedans guard with religious jealousy as one of their four holy places, and is known among them as the Harani, and Castle of Abraham. The name Machpelah would indicate a double cave, and we were told by the sheik of the mosque a personal friend, on whose word we could rely that under the elevated platform of the Haram there are two large natural grottoes, one above the other ; that the patriarchs arid their wives were buried in the lower one, and that the upper one is also full of human bones ; which is more than probable, as it was the custom of the old Israelites to gather the bones of their forefathers from all parts of the land and deposit them in or near this mausoleum of their great ancestor. The walls inclosing this sacred spot tower above every thing else, and are the most conspicuous objects in the city. They are about seven hundred feet in circuit, ornamented with pilas- ters without capitals, and of great strength ; agreeing in every respect with the description given by Josephus, and are evi- dently of Jewish or Phoenician workmanship. Jewish tradition attributes them to David, which is very possible, as this was his royal city, and the capital of Judah down to the capture of the " Castle of Zion " from the Jebusites. The mosque, which stands at the southern end of this in- closure, appears to have been built for a Christian church during the Justinian age, and beyond doubt covers the tomb which contains all that remains on earth of the chosen progeni- tors of the nation, through whom, in the fullness of time, came the Messiah of our world. Christians are not admitted into the cave scarcely allowed to touch the outer wall and the Mo- hammedans, owing to their great reverence for the dead, con- nected with the superstitious dread of the place, seldom or never enter it ; many entertaining the idea that whoever CAVE OF MACHPELAH. 217 attempts to intrude will be instantly struck with blindness or death. The question as to whether the embalmed body of Jacob is still here must for the present remain unsettled, as we have no reliable account of any one ever going beyond the entrance to the cave, and no one is likely to do so soon, as the door leading to it is now securely closed. The Prince of Wales and a few others have been admitted into the mosque, but no further. The six cenotaphs here seen are nothing more than coffin-shaped shrines representing the real tombs that are in the grotto below. The first you come to on entering the mosque, in a little chapel to the right, cased with marble and closed with silver gates, is the shrine of Abraham ; and directly oppo- site, to the left, Sarah's, in a similar chapel, both covered with green velvet drapery embroidered with gold. Two other chapels, near the center of the mosque, contain memorials of Isaac and Eebekah. The shrines of Jacob and Leah are in a cloister opposite the entrance, at the farther end of the court. A small hole in the marble floor near the shrine of Abraham, through which a lamp is suspended said to be kept constantly burning, is the only opening to the cavern below ; and as you peer down into the darkness thousands of prayers written on little slips of paper may be seen lying around, thrown through this hole under the superstitious belief that all prayers offered here will be surely answered. In the floor at the other end of the mosque, to the right of the nave, is a marble trap- door, large enough to admit a man, and apparently leading to the cave below. This door is now closed with iron clamps and concealed with Persian rugs. The probability is a stair- case leads from here down to the tombs, but is no longer used. All the natural features of this locality, together with the 218 BIBLE LANDS. Moslem traditions concerning these shrines, and the religious awe with which they approach them, agree remarkably with the biblical narrative, and it is impossible for the devout mind to contemplate the events that have transpired here without feeling the force and truth of the Psalmist's declara- tion, " Surely the righteous shall be in everlasting remem- brance." As we sat in the grove near the city, under the shade of an olive-tree, absorbed in meditation, what recollections of the past were awakened ! There was Mam re, the favorite camping- ground of the patriarchs, w T here the Chaldean shepherd sat in the door of his tent and served his hasty meal in the cooling shade to the angels who honored him with their visit. Down the valley yonder winds the path along which Joseph, the Hebrew, must have traveled after being sold by his brethren to the Midianites. And down the same Valley of Eshcol Jacob also, in after years, must have journeyed on his way to Egypt to see his long-lost son. Here, too, by the road-side, is an ancient pool, looking old enough to be the same over which David caused the murderers of Ish-bosheth to be hung. And just beyond the pool, on the hill-side facing the west, is " the Field of Ephron " and Cave of Machpelah, probably the only piece of ground Abraham ever owned in fee, purchased as a family tomb on the occasion of Sarah's death, she being the first to occupy it ; then Abraham himself was buried there, his sons Isaac and Ishmael performing the ceremony. Xext, in a 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 PATEIAECHS. 221 the father of a numerous family. Joseph was next to Pharaoh in position, and when his father died there was great lamenta- tion, the highest honors were paid Israel, his body was em- balmed, and with all the pageantry of royalty, attended by horse- men, chariots, and a great multitude of mourners, they brought his remains up to Hebron, and laid him with his kindred in the cave of Machpelah, where possibly his body may yet be WELL OF ABRAHAM. found undisturbed and uncorrupted. "What a find that would be ! One has strange feelings standing by the grave of such men as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; men who lived so many ages ago ; men who communed face to face with Jehovah, and through whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed. Twenty miles south of Hebron, on the undulating plain of rich pasture lands lying between the hill country of Judea and the Desert, is Beer-sheba, one of the old landmarks defining the southern boundary of Palestine. Abraham removed here from Hebron soon after the destruc- 222 BIBLE LANDS. tion of the cities of the plain. It was here he " planted a grove "" and dug the celebrated well that still bears his name. This well is over twelve feet in diameter and not less than 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 same dug by Abraham and Isaac, are still in good condition, containing an abundant supply of water, abiding witnesses to the eventful lives of these two illustrious men. This is still a nomadic country, just what it was in the days of Abraham, and the wandering Arabs may still be seen water- ing their flocks and herds out of the old stone troughs that stand around these ancient wells, antique enough in appearance to have been used by the patriarchs themselves. Abraham was living here during that severe trial of his faith when called upon to render his only son as a burnt-offering unto the Lord. Whether this was the birthplace of Isaac or not, we know it was here he married his beautiful Rebel-call, and here Jacob and Esau were born. This, also, is the scene of the final expulsion of Hagar and her son. And the history of this woman, which still lives in the traditions of the country, is another illustration of the truthfulness of the Scriptures. Ishmael, her discarded son, has become " a great nation." His descendants are wild men still, " their hand against every man, and every man's hand against them," dwelling in the presence of their brethren, "yet repelling every effort to civilize them." "Whether Kadesh-barnea, the camping ground of the Israel- ites on the borders of Canaan, was the name of a place or dis- trict has not been determined, neither has its locality been satisfactorily established. There is a fountain in Wady Jeib, KADESH-BARXEA. 223 two days' journey south-east of Beer-sheba, within the borders of Edom, that meets all the requirements of the site, and more than likely marks the scene of Israel's rebellion and great provocation when the spies brought back their unfavorable report of the land. This, also, would be Meribah-Kadesh, and these running brooks, " the waters of Meribah," where Miriam, the sister of Moses, died, and where the offense was committed which ex- cluded the great prophet and lawgiver from the Promised Land. In one place the waters issue from a cleft of the rock, appropriately symbolizing the Rock smitten on Calvary, pour- ing out his life-blood for a famishing world. CHAPTER XL THE LAND OF THE PHILISTINES. An Extinct Race Early Settlers Canaanites Her Royal Cities Site of Gath, Gaza, Askelon, Ekron, Ashdod Fulfillment of Prophecy Scene of Samson's Exploits Slaughter of the Philistines Pulls Down the House of Dagon Our Adventures in this Land. FT! HE decay of cities and nations seems as inevitable as the J- decay of individuals and families. Traveling through the East you every- where meet with the vestiges of an earlier civil- ization, in broken columns, pieces of sculpture, beautiful tombs,, and the remains of once populous cities now entirely deserted and as silent as the grave. We were never more forcibly impressed with the instability of every thing worldly than during a late visit to " the land of the Philistines," which includes the great maritime plain lying between the Judean hills and Mediterranean Sea, and extend- ing from Carmel on the north to " the borders of Egypt" on the south. This country, generally known as the Plain of Philistia, in natural fertility is unsurpassed ; but the powerful nation that once occupied it has long since become extinct. The earlier 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 country," he found the Philistines there. Some suppose they were of the Rephaim stock or family of giants from east of the Jordan, but from the Mosaic genealogy it appears more 224 AX EXTINCT RACE. 225 probable they came from Egypt, and were the descendants of Canaan, the fourth son of Ham. Hence, to distinguish them from the Amorites, or those living in the Hill Country, they were called Canaanites, or dwellers in the Lowlands a name that was afterward given to all the inhabitants of Palestine. The county, however, did not derive its name from its natural features, but from Canaan, the progenitor of the people who first settled the Shefelah, or low district along the coast, and have stamped their ancestor's name on the entire land. The Hyksos, or shepherds expelled from Egypt, are also sup- posed to have emigrated here at a later period. Though the Philistines by descent were Hamites, their lan- guage seems to have been Semitic, as the patriarchs, without an interpreter, appear to have had no difficulty in communi- cating with them as with the Egyptians; and all the names and other traces of the language thus far discovered prove it to- have been identical with the Hebrew. The only explanation of which is, that probably a portion of the country was first occupied by the descendants of Shem, and that the Canaan- ites, when they settled in the land, adopted the common lan- guage of the country ; or the two families may have retained a. knowledge of the original language, which was substantially the same as the Hebrew and Phoanician. The Philistines were a tall, well-proportioned, warlike peo- ple, living in well-built cities, going to war in "chariots of iron," armed with helmets, shields, swords, and other weapons of artistic workmanship, when " there was not a smith in all the land of Israel ; " * and were always a great scourge to the Israelites, invading and spoiling their territory at pleasure. Philistia was within the bounds of the Promised Land, and 1 1 Samuel xiii, 19. 226 BIBLE LANDS. after the conquest properly belonged to Judah and Dan, but the Hebrews, except for short intervals, were never able to hold it. Occupying a country unequaled in its productiveness, and being situated on the direct route between Asia and Africa, their opulent cities became a coveted prize to ambitious inon- archs, and their rich plains the great battle-h'eld of contesting armies. The Assyrians, in their invasions of Egypt, had to traverse this territory. Alexander the Great, after taking Gaza by storm and putting its inhabitants to the sword, devastated the whole land. During the Egyptian, Syrian, and Jewish wars, the country was frequently overrun by hostile armies, until the nation fell under Roman rule and was despoiled by the Caesars forever of its glory. Since then the Philistines have had no national existence, but have gradually become absorbed by the Bedouin tribes of the Desert on their south, until one of the most powerful and highly civilized nations of Asia has been blotted out entirely from the earth. The government of Philistia appears to have been a federal union composed of five districts or provinces, in each of which there was a royal city ruled by a powerful lord or chief, of whom the lord of Gath was king. From these fortified cities they made frequent incursions into the land of Israel, and it was not until after David's successful encounter with their champion, Goliath, and the utter defeat of their army by Abner, that they were finally subdued and became tributary to Israel. The names of all these cities except Gath have been preserved, and the site of that place is now tolerably well established at Tell es Safieh, a conical hill rising perhaps two hundred feet above the surrounding plain, and commanding a view of all the other royal cities. The site is about ten miles east of Ashdod, be- tween Shoco and Ekron, and agrees exactly with the locality as HER ROYAL CITIES GATE AND GAZA. 227 given by Eusebius. Some ancient cisterns and rock-cut tombs, together with the remains of some old fortifications on the summit, and many fragments of columns, some with capitals richly carved, show that it was a place of considerable impor- tance, and in all probability is the native city of Goliath, where David found an asylum when driven by Saul from his own people. Gaza was situated near the sea on the southern border of Philistia. It is mentioned among the first cities built after the flood, and was the stronghold of the Anakim a race of power- ful men who dwelt there before Joshua conquered the country. That it was a place of great strength may be inferred from the fact that Alexander, after the fall of Tyre, only succeeded in taking it after a five months' siege. The modern city contains a population of sixteen thousand, and appears to be built on a low, natural ridge, which, however, is nothing more than the accumulated rubbish of successive cities on the same spot, literally a mountain of rubbish broken pillars and walls of massive masonry cropping out of the sand every-where. The great mosque, with its tall minaret, that crowns the hill, is the most interesting building in the place ; originally a pagan temple, afterward a Jewish synagogue, then a Christian church, and now dedicated to Islamism. Cut in bass-relief on one of the ancient marble columns in this mosque is a beautiful representation of the seven-branched golden can- dlestick, with the sacrificial knife hanging from one of the branches. The houses here, as in the East generally, are built of stone, with flat roofs, called terraces, on which the inmates sleep, eat, and promenade during the summer, and where all entertain- ments are given. The house-top of an ordinary dwelling will 15 228 BIBLE LA^DS. hold conveniently five hundred persons, and there are churches and mosques in Palestine on the roofs of which you could stand from two to five thousand people. These terraces are sup- ported by arches or pillars, and often so constructed that the removal of a single column would cause the whole house to topple over, there being nothing to bind the building together after the supports are removed. So we can clearly see how Samson pulled down the temple of Dagon, and can easily account for the great loss of life on that occasion. RUINS OF ASKELOS. Askelon, ten miles north of Gaza, was the sea-port of Philis- tia. Nothing, however, remains of this royal city but portions of the maosive walls and ruins vast heaps of ruins greater than Baalbec, or any other ruins in Syria ; not a house, palace, or building of any kind standing all desolation, and quiet as the grave ; the sands of the desert rapidly entombing the famous city of the Syrian Yenus. Ekron, celebrated for the worship of Beelzebub, stood in the center of the plain north of the beautiful Yalley of the Surar, the ancient Sorek, where Samson was betrayed by the infamous- Delilah. The place at present consists of a few mud huts filthy, poor, wretched, not a vestige of royalty left. A large BIRTHPLACE OF SAMSON. 229 deep well and some fragments of broken columns are about all that is left of this once royal city. Midway between here and Askelon, on a low, rounded hill overlooking the sea, is the site of ancient Ashdod, another of 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 power of Egypt the longest siege on record. When we consider the present desolate condition of these cities, how forcibly we are reminded of the prophecy concern- ing them : " Gaza shall be forsaken, and Askelon a desolation ; 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 shall be no inhabitant." * On a high conical hill overlooking the whole plain of Philis- tia, and about three miles north of Beth-shemesh, is the Arab village of Surah, the Zorah of the Bible, where Samson, the son of Manoah, was born. 2 A welly or tomb, of some unknown person, inclosing a beautiful palm-tree, crowns the hill-top, and a very ancient square well in the valley a little north of the village, round which some ruins may still be seen, mark the early home of Israel's famous judge ; and without doubt, on some one of the many rocks that here crop out of the. hill-side, Manoah the Danite was offering his sacrifice when " the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar toward heaven." 3 In stature Samson probably was no larger than other men of his tribe, but, being raised up for the deliverance of his peo- 1 Zephnniah ii, 4. 2 Judges xiii, 2. 3 Judges xiii, 20. 230 BIBLE LANDS. pie, who for forty years had been oppressed by the Philistines, the Lord at times endowed him with miraculous strength, as he did Solomon in after years with divine wisdom. And though " his strength " is said to have gone " from him " when shorn of his locks, we are not to suppose that his power was in his hair, but, having now broken his vow as a Nazarite, he lost the favor of God. Samson's first exploit was when he tore to pieces the young lion that roared against him on his way to Timnath, where he married his first wife a village of the Philistines, now in ruins, about five miles to the south-west of Zorah. It was here, during his wedding festival, that he propounded his well-known riddle. 1 And on the extensive plain to the west of this are the corn- fields of the Philistines he destroyed with his foxes, or, more properly, jackals. The jackals of Syria very much resemble the American red fox, and are still found in great numbers in this section ; and it would be no very difficult matter at the present day to catch, or secure in some other way, three or four hundred, and turn them loose among the standing barley and wheat with the same effect. Near this, also, is the hill of Lehi, the jaw-bone, so-called from its peculiar shape, where Samson with the jaw-bone of an ass slew a thousand of his enemies. It is a barren, rocky ridge, in shape resembling a jaw-bone, about midway between Jar- muth and Timnath, and, what is singular, it is still called by the natives Kheishun, which signifies nose, or cheek-bone. And the traditional fountain that sprang, not from the jaw-bone with which Samson slew the Philistines, but from the hill of Lehi, is still pointed out in a cleft of this rocky ridge. 2 After many other adventures, showing his moral weakness in 1 Judges xiv, 14. 8 Judges xv, 14-19. EXPLOITS OF SAMSOX. 231 strange contrast with bis physical prowess, and, after judging Israel twenty years, Samson, through the intrigue of an infa- mous woman, was captured by the Philistines, who, after putting out his eyes and binding him with fetters of brass, took him down to Gaza, whose gates he before had carried away, where, in his blindness and humiliation, he was compelled to grind at the prison mill and make sport for his enemies. An opportu- nity was finally given him to prove once more his strength and avenge his wrongs. k ' All the lords of the Philistines," and thousands of men and women, were assembled at Gaza to offer sacrifices unto Dagon, their god. There was great rejoicing on account of the capture of Samson, and all were anxious to see the wonderful man who so long had been such a terror to their nation. Samson was brought forth from his prison to amuse the multitude, and, taking hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple, " bowed himself with all his might ; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were 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 bury- ing-place of Manoah his father." ' And, what at least is very curious, during the last summer there was found in an old rock-hewn tomb near Zorah a large terra-cotta coffin covered with sheet-lead one third of an inch thick, on which there was an inscription of several lines in old Hebrew, containing what appeared to be the name of Samson, and something more we could not make out owing to the cor- roded state of the lead. Could this be the tomb of Manoah's son ( Nothing was found in the casket but dust and ashes. 'Judges xvi, 30, 31. 232 BIBLE LANDS. After a visit of unusual interest to the scenes of Samson's exploits we started for Shoco, down the valley of Elah, passing the scene of David's encounter with Goliath, expecting to find our tents at Gath. Night overtook us at Azekah, where Joshua slew the five kings of the Amorites. Still we pressed on over the rich, undulating plain, startled occasionally by the bark of the jackal and doleful shriek of " the night monster." After two hours' hard riding, seeing light ahead, we were greatly delighted, thinking, of course, it was our camp fire, but soon discovered the mistake, and found, much to our dismay, that we were riding into a den of Bedouin robbers. Quietly withdrawing, we resumed our lonely journey, and about nine o'clock reached Gath, but, to our great disappointment, our tents were not there ; so, hungry and tired, we rode into the once royal city of the Philistines. At first we found difficulty in getting into any house, and had about concluded to spend the night in the streets, when a soldier from Jerusalem, recog- nizing me, took us into the best house in the place ; nothing more, however, than a mud hovel walls, floor, roof, all mud, without windows or ventilation of any kind. After partaking of some eggs and Arab bread we were shown to our quarters for the night ; but O, such quarters ! It was a large room with a raised platform at one end, on the earthen floor of which we were to sleep without bed or covering. Taking our saddles for pillows, with the horses, mules, and donkeys all in the same room, we stretched ourselves out on the floor, hoping to find some rest ; but, " tell it not in Gath," no sooner had we lain down than myriads of fleas and other vermin began their bloody work, and though we fought them bravely, and slew our thousands, thousands more came to the attack, until, finally, we were driven from our position, only too glad to escape with our lives. CHAPTER XII. SEA-COAST OF PALESTINE. Plain of Sharon Csesarea Athlit Grand Ruins Haifa German Colony Acre, or Ancient Accho Napoleon's First Repulse Pasha El Jezzar Tyre and Sidon Hiram's Tomb Interesting Discovery. T) ORDERING Philistia on the north is the plain of Sharon, -U anciently a part of Philistia, extending from the sea back to the Mountains of Ephraim, about fifteen miles, and along the <:oast from Jaffa to Carmel, once the garden of Palestine, but now almost deserted, and seldom visited by tourists. This is owing mainly to the dangerous character of the Bedouin tribes that roam over this rich plain, and still claim possession of the 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- try. A few places, such as Caesarea, Tantura, and Athlit, can be identified, but many other remains, equally grand, are with- out name or story. Among the most extensive and picturesque ruins in Syria are those at Athlit a few miles south of where Carmel juts out into the sea consisting of an old crusading castle and fortress of great strength, once the capital of Palestine, and known as Castellum Perigrinorum, or Landing-place of the Pilgrims, be- ing situated on a low rocky point projecting into the sea, and forming a safe harbor for the knights of the cross. The walls of the castle are from eight to twenty feet thick, and in places are standing at least seventy-five feet high. The lower and outer 233 234 BIBLE LANDS. courses are beveled with bold projections similar to the oldest in the temple wall at Jerusalem, and bound together with leaden clamps and heading courses of large dressed stone, so firmly that the restless surf beating for many centuries upon them,, and the shocks of a hundred earthquakes, have failed to disturb them. The fortress stood on an elevated platform of this massive masonry, under which there were great subterranean vaults one on the south two hundred and forty feet long, forty feet wide, and thirty high ; another on the east still larger, used r perhaps, as store-rooms, and connected by dark, secret gal- leries cut through the rock. There was a very fine magazine near what appears to have been the office for the receipt of customs. It was about one hundred feet long, with groined ceiling and richly carved corbels and bosses. When the place w r as abandoned by the Crusaders, in A. D. 1291 after the fall of Acre they left here written on the wall the sarcastic in- scription : " This vault we filled with raisins ; you will never fill it with straw." The defences of the place show great military skill. Every approach from the sea was securely guarded by strong towers built in the water. On the land side it was protected by a double wall, between which was a deep moat that could easily be flooded from the sea. Beyond these artificial defenses, run- ning parallel with the coast, was a limestone ridge, the face of which was so quarried and scarped as to form a third wall of living stone. The only entrance to the castle from the main- land was by a narrow covered way cut for half a mile through this rocky ridge. The deep ruts worn by the war-chariots may still be seen in the solid bed of this road. 1 At the eastern end 1 Van de Velde thinks these ruts are the remains of a railroad track. GERMAN COLONY AT HAIFA. 235 of this rock-passage was a massive gate-way flanked by bastions and commanded by forts, all cut out of the solid rock in the most wonderful manner. This portion of the work evidently belongs to a period prior to our era, and doubtless gave to the fortress the name it formerly bore Petra Incisa " Rock-cut Citadel." Beyond this natural barrier there was yet another outer wall, and a ditch, which, by means of large earthen pipes, could be filled with water from the sea, rendering the place almost impregnable. The origin of this remarkable ruin is lost in the misty past. Who laid these massive foundations will probably never be known. Neither the Bible nor any ancient historian mentions the place. The Greek and Roman writers are all silent on the subject. We have no reliable history of this ruin beyond the Cru- sades ; 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, perhaps the Roman, if not the Phoenician age. It certainly is one of the grandest ruins in Palestine, and all who visit it will not only be pleased but amazed with the boldness of the con- ception and the untiring energy displayed in erecting this once formidable fortress on this sea-girt rock. The remains of a well- 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 at Kcenthal, Germany, by the celebrated Dr. J. A. Bengel, author of the Gnomon of the New Testament, and is now 236 BIBLE LANDS. under the presidency of Herr Christopher Hoffman. They call themselves " The Temple," their mission being to build up a spiritual temple in the Holy Land. Their first permanent settlement in Palestine was effected here in 1868. Since then colonies have been planted at Jaffa and Jerusalem, numbering in all about eight hundred souls, representing all professions and trades. There are quite a number of naturalized citizens of the United States among them. They have purchased a tract of land, which is divided among the members for cultiva- tion, thus rendering the community self-sustaining. Their set- tlement here looks very much like a New England village, the streets being planted with trees and the houses set back, with flower-gardens in front. They have a good hotel, " Hotel du Oarmel," and school-house ; the latter being used also for public worship. On the stone lintel over the entrance to their houses you will generally find some text of Scripture ; and morning and evening the voice of praise and prayer may be heard in almost all their dwellings. All of their buildings are con- structed of a very light-colored stone, in the European style, with good taste, and in striking contrast with the mud hovels of the natives. The colonists are an intelligent, hard-working, moral people, and cannot fail to exert a salutary influence upon the native population. They are building roads back into the country, and have introduced wagons, steam-engines, and improved agricultural and other implements. They are running a line of carriages from Haifa to Acre ; also from Jaffa to Jerusalem ; and recently imported from America a reaper and thresher the first in Palestine, if not in Asia. It was very amusing to see the effect produced by these ma- chines. Mules were the only animals that could be subdued AMERICAN THRESHING-MACHINES. 237 and broken in ; horses, oxen, and camels were entirely unman- ageable. The peasants seemed even more frightened than the beasts ; some would squat down upon the ground and look with amazement at the machinery in motion ; others, trem- bling with fear, looked on from a distance, as though Satan was devouring their crops. The reaper does the work in four hours of sixty men in a whole day. The natives, however, think it possessed of a devil, because it leaves nothing for the gleaners, 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. The colonists were divided at first as to the merits of the American and German machines, and to pacify the parties two were ordered, one from each country ; but when the trial as to their superiority was made the German got such a thrashing it has never run since, and is now for sale. Sweeping close by the base of Carmel, on the north, the river Kishon flows into the bay of Acre, a large, beautiful, but not very secure harbor, owing to its exposure to the north- west storms. The famous city of Accho, or St. Jean d' Acre, is situated on the northern side of this bay, and is strongly fortified with double walls and fosse next the land, through which there is but a single portal. Xapoleon considered Acre the key to Palestine, and his failure to gain possession of the place in 1799 blasted all his hope of an eastern empire. Here he lost his prestige, and his downfall may be dated from his repulse before this city. This, the richest portion of Palestine, fell to the lot of Asher, 238 BIBLE LANDS. who here " dipped his foot in oil," but was never able to drive out the original inhabitants. The Plains of Acre and Esdra- elon are connected by the Kishon Valley, and with the Jordan Yalley by the Plain of Jezreel. If a railroad should ever be built from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, this will likely be the route crossing the Jordan near Succoth, thence up the Yalley 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. One mile south of Acre the river Belus, a small stream, flows into the bay. It was on the banks of this river, ac- cording to Pliny, that glass was first accidentally discovered ; which is very probable, as, owing to the quantity of vitreous matter mingled with the sand, a fire kindled anywhere on its shores would likely produce the same result. The history of Acre dates back to the earliest Phoenician settlements on the shores of the Mediterranean. During the Crusades it was the chief sea-port in Syria, and head-quarters of the Knights of St. John. When retaken by the Moslems, sixty thousand Christians were either put to the sword or sold into slavery. Many of her Pashas have been monsters of cruelty. One in particular, El Jezzar, amused himself in torturing his victims by putting out their eyes, or cutting off their ears, tongues, and noses. On one occasion he suspected the fidelity of his wives, and with his own hands put to death his whole harem. Some of his servants having offended him, he caused them to be thrown into a heated oven alive and roasted. 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 OF EL JEZZAR. 241 The mosque and tomb of El Jezzar occupy a portion of the garden where he wantonly murdered the beautiful, and, as is generally believed, innocent women of his harem. The pillars in front of the mosque are red granite, with bronze bases and 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 court is paved with the richest marbles ; waving palm-trees shade the walks ; 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 can be found only in Oriental lands. A few miles north of Acre the spurs of Lebanon crowd into the sea, forming the " Ladder of Tyre," a very narrow, diffi- cult pass, beyond which the Israelites were never able to extend their conquests. And here we cross again the pathway of our divine Lord, for over this mountain staircase the Saviour of our world must have passed when he visited " the coasts of Tyre and Sidon;" and it was here he gave to our world those crumbs of comfort which inspire with hope the despairing soul, and prove God's willingness to save, even where there is no promise of salvation upon which to rest a plea for mercy. The renowned city of Tyre, whose king furnished the skilled workmen and much of the material for Solomon's grand tem- ple, was situated just beyond the Scald Tyriorum. And on the ridge about three miles east of the ancient city, overlooking the plain and sea, is the reputed tomb of Hiram, King of Tyre historically, the first Grand Master of Masonry. It is a 242 BIBLE LANDS. massive monument of pyramidal shape, fifteen feet long, by ten feet wide, and twenty-one feet high, composed of large blocks of limestone in perfect ashler, roughly dressed, the up- per courses being single stones, and evidently of Phoanician workmanship. A very interesting discovery has just been made at Tyre by Dr. Sepp, of Prussia. In digging for the remains of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa they came upon the ruins of a magnifi- cent Christian church probably the cathedral erected by Paul- H1KAM 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 interesting as showing the vestments of the bishops during the first centuries of our era. One of these remains is, doubtless, the body of Origen. How strange all this seems ! When they INTERESTING DISCOVERY AT TYRE. 243 discovered the tomb of the emperor, at the depth of eight feet, it was found to be empty, which explains another mystery. On examining his wife's tomb a few years since, in the cathe- dral of Spires, Germany, it was found to contain two skeletons, which never before could be explained. It now appears that some person, perhaps centuries ago, quietly removed the bones of Frederick Barbarossa from Tyre to Hohenstauffen, and placed them in the coffin of his wife. All that remains of this once strong and wealthy city, " whose merchants were princes," are heaps of rubbish ; piles of beauti- ful granite columns, some of vast dimensions ; substructures of 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 Phoenicia's once proud capital, literally fulfilling the prophecy of Ezekiel, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of 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 shalt be built no more : for I the Lord have spoken it, saith the Lord God." ' 1 Ezekiel xxvi, 3-14. 16 CHAPTER XIII. MOUNT CARMEL SCENE OF ELIJAH'S SACRIFICE. Convent of Mar Elyas Cave of Elijah Grotto of the Sons of the Prophets Mukhrakah, or Place of Sacrifice View from the Mountain Priests of Baal The Lord, he is God. THIS noted mountain is called by the Arabs, Jebel Mar Elyas Mountain of Elijah as it was the favorite resort of that prophet, and is celebrated as the scene of his triumph over the priests of Baal. Isaiah speaks glowingly of the " ex- cellency of Carmel," and Solomon, in complimenting his wife, uses the metaphor, " Thine head upon thee is like Carmel." As the name signifies, this mountain, without doubt, was once a " fruitful field," a beautiful park covered with forest trees,, olive groves, and vineyards, as numerous old rock-hewn oil and wine-presses indicate; but she has long since been shorn of her tresses, the " plentiful field " has become barren, and the shouting of her vintage has ceased. With the exception of here and there a cultivated patch, and a few large trees, the mountain is covered with scrubby oaks and a dense under- growth of brush, the favorite haunt of wolves, hyenas, jackals, wild boars, and other wild animals. Carmel is a ridge about fifteen miles long, running in a north- westerly direction from the mountains of Samaria to the Medi- terranean Sea, forming a natural barrier between the rich plain 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 ELYAS. 245 est elevation one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight feet near Esfieh, about ten miles back. The Convent of Mar Elyas, a large stone edifice belonging to the order of Carmelite monks, is beautifully situated on the bold promontory at the northern extremity of Carmel, com- manding a fine view of the Bay of Acre, and the Lebanon mountains beyond. The Cave of Elijah, where it is said the prophet concealed himself from Ahab and Jezebel, is directly CONTEST ON CARMEL. under the altar of the convent chapel, and is the principal object of interest. These monks claim Elijah as their founder, and they, no doubt, have a remote ancestry. They are mostly Span- iards and Italians, and in general bigoted and indolent, but man- 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- 2-i6 BIBLE LANDS. like convent. At the call of the vesper bell all collected in the chapel for evening prayers. The sanctuary was dimly lighted, and in the grotto beneath burned a glimmering taper, throwing out light just sufficient to reveal the form of the old prophet, who is here represented in his peculiar dress as still occupying his lonely cell. Vespers over, the monks retired to their rooms, and during the watches of the night the profound silence was often broken by the plaintive song, suppressed moan, or half- audible prayer of some burdened heart communing alone with God. The nights seemed dreadfully long, and the days in- terminable. Life in such a place is entirely too monotonous for me. "We have something more to do in this world than lock ourselves up in prison-like convents to fast and pray, or, worse, drink and smoke our lives away. God and humanity, religion and poli- tics, have claims upon us we dare not ignore. Man was created for an object. He should live to some good purpose ; not bury, but improve, his talents. If one has the privilege of thus se- cluding himself from society, all have the same privilege, which would soon stop all progress, and terminate ignobly our race. Near the base of the promontory, a few hundred yards north of the convent, and close by some ancient cisterns, is the Grotto of Elisha, or of the "Sons of the Prophets," a large cave, fifty feet long by 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- MTKHRAKAH THE PLACE OF SACRIFICE. 247 tions are cut on the wall, some in old Phoenician and Greek, others in unknown characters. This grotto is held in great veneration by Jews, Christians, and Mussulmans, and for some reason the Druzes come every year and sacrifice a lamb at its entrance. There are many other caves in this neighborhood, once the retreat of pious hermits, now the lair of wild beasts and half-naked Arabs. Mukhrakah, the place of burning, and traditional site of Elijah's sacrifice, is a truncated cone not over one hundred yards in diameter on the top, at the extreme south-eastern point of the Carmel range. It was probably at one time covered with a forest of oaks, as the trunks of several large trees are still stand- 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 he seen from almost every point on the mountain and terrace below. The locality, the name, and all the sur- roundings favor the supposition that this is the identical spot where it was demonstrated by fire from heaven that there was 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, with great Hermon in the distance, head and shoulders above his fellows, radiant in midsummer with the snows of winter. Eastward the view is unsurpassed ; at your feet flows the Kishon, where the priests of Baal were slaughtered, and beyond it the great plain of Esdraelon, not only the battle-field, but 248 BIBLE LANDS. granary of Palestine, yellow with its rich harvest ripe for the sickle. Tabor rises up beautifully directly in front of you, with the Jordan valley and mountains of the Hauran in the back- ground. Next comes Little Hermon on the right, with the villages of Nain and Endor on her slopes, and Shunem at her base. One can almost fancy he sees the prophet's room upon the wall, and the Shunammite riding across the plain in the heat of the day to tell Elisha of her son's sudden death. Then comes Gilboa, Mount Gilboa, where Saul and his three sons fell in the battle, and the shield of the mighty was cast away. On a low spur of the mountain jutting out into the plain are the ruins of Jezreel. This is the site of Naboth's vineyard. Here Ahab built his ivory palace, and three successive kings of Is- rael reigned. Here, also, Joram was pierced to the heart by Jehu, and the profligate Jezebel trodden under foot and thrown to the dogs. This locality fulfills all the conditions of the inspired narra- tive. The mountain here breaks off in terraces to the plain, a thousand feet below, and can easily be ascended from all sides. In a depression on the north side, about one third down, is a copious fountain walled round with ancient masonry, which may have supplied the water used on the occasion. The Kishon sweeps close by its eastern base, and a mound on the right bank of the river, called Tell el Kusis " The Hill of the Priests " ia pointed out as the spot where the false prophets were slain. What interest gathers about this spot ! On this lofty eminence, in the presence of all Israel, the great contro- 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!" 251 Ahab, and propounded the important question to the people, " How long halt ye between two opinions ? " His proposition to submit the question to God was accepted, and the test was at once to be made. The priests of Baal prepared their sacri- fice. From morning till noon, and from noon till evening, they called in vain upon their god, " O Baal, hear us." Then came the momentous hour ! Elijah, the only prophet of Jeho- vah left, prepared his offering. The vast multitude waited, in breathless expectation, the result. The hopes of the world centered upon that rude altar. The sun was rapidly sinking beneath the horizon. All eyes were now fixed upon Elijah. An earnest prayer ascended to God. Instantly fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice. The people, . blinded by the light, buried their faces in the dust ; then, with one voice, exclaimed, " The Lord, he is the God ! The Lord, he is the God ! " ' The mountain has ever since been regarded as holy ground. Pythagoras, Vespasian, and many others have come from afar to touch the " mount that burned with fire," and the event is still celebrated by an annual feast on the 20th of July, which is the great festival of the year. We were present on one occasion at the celebration of this feast. Thousands were in attendance from all parts of the country ; some from as far as Damascus. They generally come in parties consisting of vil- lages or families, bringing their own provision, and each party a lamb or kid to make merry with, fattened for the occasion, which is slaughtered and eaten, not as a sacrifice, but as a memorial feast. There was no particular religious ceremony observed, nothing instructive or inspiring, but eating and drinking, dancing and shooting, seemed to be the order of the day more in keeping with pagan rites than Christian worship. 1 1 Kings xvili. 39. 252 BIBLE LANDS. All descriptions I have ever read of this locality represent the altar as near, but not upon, the summit, and the sea as not visible from the place of sacrifice, which are incorrect. The altar stood upon the top of Carmel, in full view of all Israel, and from this point the sea can be distinctly seen. To harmonize the locality and narrative : When Ahab, after the slaughter of the priests, returned to the place of sacrifice, Elijah must have gone to some lower point on Carmel to pray for rain ; probably stopped on the terrace near the spring, from which a view of the Mediterranean is shut out by a western spur of the mountain ; and his servant would have to " go up " perhaps fifty feet to get a glimpse of the sea, and still higher to tell Ahab to " prepare his chariot," and get himself down before the great rain-storm broke upon the mountain. It is clear to my mind that Ahab at this time was some distance above Elijah ; and this agrees with the whole record, from which it appears the king went up to the place of sacrifice, or summit of Carmel, and the prophet only to the terrace lower down. One thing is certain, there is no point near where the altar stood from which the sea is not visible. So the place of sacrifice could not have been the place of prayer, or the servant of Elijah would have had no occasion in fact, it would have been impossible to go np higher to obtain a view of the sea. And is it not reasonable to suppose that the prophet would seek some retired spot where he could be alone in prayer with God, and not return to the summit where the noisy multitude were feasting and drinking ? Great changes have taken place since the lone prophet erected his altar on this mount, but the identity of the place has never been questioned ; and though Carmel may languish, the name of Elijah the Tishbite shall never die ! CHAPTER XIV. FROM JERUSALEM TO DAMASCUS. Tent Life Gibeah of Benjamin Bethel Curious Legend Shiloh Jacob's "Well Sliechem Xazareth Sea of Galilee Site of Capernaum Waters of Merom Dan Csesarea Philippi Crossing Hermon Tomb of Nimrod Damascus. WITH good tents, horses, and dragoman there is now no difficulty in traveling from one end of Palestine to the other, and, with the Bible as a guide-book, locate nearly every place of religious interest. And there is something fascinating, almost inspiring, in such a trip ; the dews of night are cooling and refreshing ; the atmosphere clear and exhilarating ; every hill and dale and plain, in the spring-time, covered with wild flowers ; and the mind is kept constantly excited by the sacred and historic memories awakened by every tree and rock and ruin by the way. True, there is nothing very striking or grand in the scenery, yet it possesses an interest greater than any other land, when we call up the ancient men born among its craggy hills and cradled in its little wadies, and whose bodies still sleep in its rock-hewn tombs, j^or is there any thing very beautiful ; btit who thinks of the beautiful when visiting a grave-yard or strolling over a battle-field ? Palestine contains the tomb of Christ ; here repose the ashes of the Patriarchs, and this is the world's great moral battle-field, where the Captain of our sal- vation stormed the citadel of sin and death, and " brought life and immortality to light." 253 254 BIBLE LANDS. The events of the remote past seem to have occurred but yesterday. Christ appears every-where present, and you can almost fancy you hear his voice, saying, " Lo, I am with you alway." The narratives of the New Testament become living realities, and so striking is the harmony between the text of DAMASCUS GATE, JERUSALEM Scripture and the landscape, and so wonderfully do they accord, the very scenery is like a new gospel, or fresh revela- tion from God. .Going out of the Damascus gate, and taking the old Roman road leading north the very same along which Christ must have journeyed on his way to Galilee in about one hour we BETHEL THE HOUSE OF GOD. 255 reach the ruins of Gibeah of Benjamin, once the royal residence of Saul, Israel's first king, and where Rizpah watched with so much maternal tenderness the dead bodies of her two sons, from "the beginning of the barley harvest," 1 about the month of May, till the autumn rains began to fall, in October or No- vember. In the Orient they bury their dead very shallow, and this devoted mother during all that time Avatched the graves of her children, keeping off the vultures by day and the jackals and hyenas by night, from devouring their remains. The names of towns. in the East often apply to the districts in which they are located. Bethany, for instance, not only relates to the home of Mary and Martha, but to the district of which it is the principal village; and by Gibeah we are to understand not only the royal city of Saul, but the district of which it was the capital. This will harmonize the passages that refer to " Gibeah in the field," 2 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," 4 to meet the messengers from Jabesh. It was also here that the shock- ing offense was committed against a helpless woman that well- nigh involved the extermination of the tribe of Benjamin. Resuming our journey, in two hours we come to the site of , / ancient Bethel the house of God so called in commemora- tion of God's manifestations here to his servants the patriarchs. Near this Abraham, when he first entered Canaan, built an altar, "and called upon the name of the Lord." 6 Here Jacob had his wonderful vision of the ladder reaching from earth to heaven, on which the angels of God ascended and descended ; and it was here, in after centuries, the ark of the covenant was 1 2 Samuel xxi, 10. 2 Judges xx, 31. 3 1 Samuel xiv, 2. 4 1 Samuel xi, 5. 5 Genesis xii, 8. 256 BIBLE LANDS. kept for many years in the days of Phinehas:/ Bethel was situated on the highway between Jerusalem and Shechern. Por- tions of the paved road-bed may still be seen, and a few of the old mile-stones are yet standing and others lying by the way. The supposed site of Jacob's vision is marked by the ruins 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 all through Palestine, the thick turbans worn by the natives protecting the head, and rendering even a rock a comfortable pillow. A curious legend is told in connection with this stone which Jacob slept on, and afterward set up and anointed with oil. After the conquest of the country, according to the tradition, this stone, known as the " Stone of Destiny," was kept in the sanctuary at Bethel until removed to the temple at Jerusalem, where the ark of the covenant was placed upon it. This, it is said, was the stone referred to by Jacob as that " which the builders rejected," but which afterward became the " head of the corner," and was destined for peculiar honors! When the temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, the Prophet Jeremiah, as the story runs, with the remnant of the tribe of Judah, migrated to Ireland, taking " Jacob's pillow " with them, and all the Irish kings were crowned upon it ! An Irish prince afterward conveyed it to Scotland, and all the Scottisli kings were crowned upon it ; but with its loss Ireland lost her independence, and this is the secret of all her woes. In after centuries it was removed to Westminster Abbey, where it may MICH MASH. 257 still be seen in the seat of the coronation chair, and upon it all the kings and queens of England, since the days of Ed- ward III. down to Victoria, have been crowned, and many superstitious people think that so long as England retains possession of this stone, so long will she maintain her ascend- ency among the nations. Ten minutes' walk along the ridge south-east of the old tower are the ruins of a large Christian church, probably built by the Crusaders, marking the supposed camping-place of Abraham on his return from Egypt, and where he parted with his.nephew Lot. The spot commands an extensive view of the Jordan val- ley, and you can distinctly see from this point with the naked 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 this mountain range, and just below where Abraham erected his altar, are large rock-hewn reservoirs, and the ruins of a very old city, supposed to be the remains of Ai, the second place taken by Joshua in the conquest of the land, and where Achan's sin brought defeat and disgrace upon the people of God. 1 Still farther east, perched like an eagle's nest on a craggy, almost inaccessible cliff, is Michmash, the scene of Jonathan's bold adventure, when with only his armor-bearer he surprised and put to flight the whole garrison of the Phi- listines. 2 And just here, where the mountain slopes down into the valley up which winds the road from Jericho to Bethel, Elisha was returning from Gilgal when the naughty children mocked this old servant of God, and two hungry bears came " out of the wood " and destroyed forty-and-two of their num- ber. 3 Bears are still found in this region, and if the young 1 Joshua vii, 21. 2 1 Samuel xiv, 4. 3 2 Kings ii, 23. 258 BIBLE .LANDS. trees were allowed to grow forests would again cover these hills, as when Joshua's array lay in ambush on their slopes. It was no doubt up this same valley the lion came from the jungles along the Jordan that slew the disobedient prophet who came out of Judah. After the formation of the new kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam selected Bethel as his royal residence, building here great pal- aces and " houses of ivory " inlaid with ivory making it the seat of the idolatrous worship of the golden calf, thus turning the house of God into a house of idols, until God in his wrath rent the altar asunder, and scattered its ashes to the four winds of heaven. But little is left of the old city. The prediction of Amos, that " Bethel shall come to naught," has been fulfilled to the letter ; for all that remains of that 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 to its sacred associations. The first night after leaving Jerusalem we encamped at Shiloh, under a venerable oak near the ruins of an old church, supposed to mark the spot where the tabernacle was first set up after the conquest of Canaan, and where Eli officiated as high-priest, and little " Samuel ministered before the Lord." The following day we lunched at Jacob's well, on the Plain of Moreh, where Abraham first pitched his tent in the Land of Promise. The well is one hundred and five feet deep, cut through 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 dis- course to the woman of Samaria. A ride of five minutes over NABLOUS ANCIENT SHECHEM. 261 the plain, directly north, brings us to Joseph's tomb, an open inclosnre about twenty by thirty feet, containing, beyond ques- v - tion, the ashes of Jacob's beloved son. 2sablous, the old city of Shechem, our camping-place for the night, is situated a little way up the valley to the west, with Mount Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. It was here Joshua read the law "before all the congregation of Is- rael," * and we have in the topography of this locality a won- derful corroboration of the inspired narrative. Here are two vast amphitheaters facing each other, and forming a natural whisper-gallery, where a man reading with a clear voice could be heard distinctly by a million persons ; showing that there was nothing impossible nor miraculous in the event re- corded. In our illustration Gerizim is to the right, and it was on the summit of this mountain the Samaritans built 1 Joshua viii, 35. 262 BIBLE LANDS. their temple, and even to the present annually observe the Passover. Breaking camp early, and passing through Samaria, long the capital of Israel, with its once beautiful colonnade half buried in rubbish, and Dothan, where Elisha smote his enemies with blindness, and where Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, we crossed the eastern spurs of Carmel, leaving the scene of Elijah's sacrifice to our left, and, descending into the plain, found our tents pitched on the site of Naboth's vineyard, near the Fountain of Jezreel, where the infamous Jezebel was thrown to the dogs. It was up this valley Jehu furiously drove in his chariot, and out on the plain before us is where "the sword of the Lord and of Gideon " prevailed against the Midianites. Resuming our journey on the morrow, crossing the broad, rich Plain of Esdraelon, and sweeping round the base of Little Hermon and Tabor, leaving Shunem and Nain on our right, we began the difficult ascent of the Galilean hills, and after an hour's climb- ing reached the quiet village of Nazareth, the early home of the Son of God on earth. What memories the name of " Jesus of Nazareth" awakens! Among these hills Christ spent his childhood ; on this landscape he must have gazed ; at the fount- ain from which we drink he must often have quenched his thirst ; here he labored for his daily bread ; here he was trained for his life sublime ; here lie taught in the synagogue ; and over one of these neighboring cliffs his own people, after rejecting his preaching, would have hurled him to death had not his divinity saved his humanity. From Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee via Cana, where Christ performed his first miracle, is an easy day's ride. On the way we stopped for luncheon on the traditional mount where Christ delivered his inimitable sermon, and miraculously fed the him- NAZARETH AND SEA OF GALILEE. 263 gry thousands who waited on his ministry. Here, also, was fought, in A. D. 1187, the last great battle between the Cru- saders and Mohammedans, that sealed the fate of Palestine. Rather singular that this fearful slaughter of Christians should have taken place on the reputed spot where the Prince of Peace taught our world the divine precepts of charity and forgiveness. Mounting our horses, we soon began descending from the high table-land, and by sundown were in our tents on the shores of the lake just below the town of Tiberias the ancient capital of Galilee. This lake is fifteen miles long by about half that distance wide, and lies six hundred and fifty feet below the level of the ocean. It still abounds with fish, and its shores are 264 BIBLE LAXDS. covered with small shells, and bordered with oleanders and other flowering shrubs. What could be more delightful than to stroll 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 \ or, after a morning walk on its shores, or a sail over its glassy surface, make your breakfast on tish taken from the same lake where the disciples toiled all night and caught nothing ? About four miles north of Tiberias is the village of Magdala, the native town of Mary Magdalene ; and two miles west of this, in a wild, rocky gorge, are the ruins of Irbid, and of an old castle perched on the top of a high cliff, in the sides of which are numerous caverns. This undoubtedly is ancient Arbela, from which Herod the Great dislodged the band of robbers who were such a terror to the inhabitants of that region. According to Joseph us, Herod first laid siege to the caverns, but without avail. He then lowered parties of soldiers in large boxes by chains from above, and with fire and sword attacked those who defended the entrance, dragging them out of their dens with long hooks, and hurling them down the precipice ; and in this way the place was finally taken and the robbers 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 plain, 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 Capernaum was "upon the sea-coast" in "the land of Gennesareth," a 1- HEROD DESTROYING THE ROBBERS. SITE OF CAPERNAUM. 267 Matthew affirms, it must have been here, and could not have been at Tel Hum. Quaresmius states positively that it was by this khan. 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 very extensive, most of the material having been carried away to build up Tiberias. But how terrible the judgments of God on the cities up- braided by Christ ! Capernaum, once " exalted unto heaven," now thrust down so low its very name and site are in dispute. As for Chorazin and Bethsaida, they had been entirely oblit- erated, not a living soul upon the site of either of these cities. All is desolation, death, and ruin. 'What a woe befell them ! Every spot along the shores of this lake seemed to be holy ground. Here the Saviour spent most of his public life ; here he wrought his greatest miracles ; and it was here he chose his twelve apostles. How the hours flew as we wandered along the beach, picking up pebbles, and plucking wild flowers from every sacred spot. Many wild ducks, geese, pelicans, and other water-fowl were swimming about on its surface, and in the neighboring jungle, at night, could be heard the howl of the wolf or cry of the panther, jackal, and leopard, fulfilling most literally the prophecies concerning this land. 1 If these prophecies had been written yesterday, they could not more correct!} 7 and graphically describe the present condi- tion of this sea and its surroundings. Every prediction has become an historic fact. And in the ruins of the cities that once stood upon its shores we have an argument in support of the divine record that all the ingenuity of modern criticism and scientific skepticism can never overthrow. 1 Leviticus xxvi, 22-35. 268 BIBLE LANDS. Crossing a lofty ridge, with Safed " the city set on a hill " to the west, we stopped for lunch at Khan Jubb Yusuff the Khan of Joseph said to inclose the pit into which Joseph was thrown by his brethren, though we think Dothan has stronger claims ; camping at night on the banks of Nahr Hendaj, a mountain stream that flows into Lake Hnleh, the " Waters of Merom," where Joshua slew Jabin, king of Hazor. 1 Next morning we arose early, and, riding round the west shore of the lake, hugging closely the rocky hills to avoid the great marsh that surrounds this lake, we crossed a rich but swampy plain, black with grazing herds of buffalo, and sicken- ing from the stench of numerous carcasses, the effects of a late storm that destroyed many of these beasts, upon which scores of eagles and vultures were preying ; illustrating the saying, " Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together." After passing the Lebanon branch of the Jordan on an old Roman bridge, we came in a few miles to Tell el Kady the Dan of Scripture one of the sources of the Jordan, and largest fountain in Syria, where we lunched under the shade of a grand old terebinth, standing directly over 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 through a lovely district, shaded with terebinths and the "oaks of Bashan." As we were riding along, admiring the beautiful 1 Joshua xi, 6. ANCIENT DAN. 271 scenery, our attention was arrested by a Bedouin in gay attire on a swift dromedary, hurrying by us as if on some important mission. In a few minutes lie halted, and, taking his position by the road-side, saluted, in the most profound manner, each one of our party as we passed along. On inquiring the mean- ing of all this civility, we were informed by our dragoman that the Arab was the Sheik of that territory, and wished to show all respect to the Americans passing through his country. SWIFT DROMEDAKY. Our tents were pitched in an olive grove, near where the Jor~ 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- turbed about midnight by some noise, looked out of his tent, and saw a large hyena in the camp snuffing the breath of the muleteers, who were sleeping on the ground, by putting its nose to their mouths. This was done to ascertain whether they 272 BIBLE LANDS. were dead or alive. Finding them alive, the hyena walked leisurely away, as, fortunately, this animal feeds only on putrid flesh. As Minerva leaped full armed from the brain of Jove, so the Jordan here bursts a full river from its hidden source, and, sweeping on in its course for two hundred miles, plunges into the Sea of Death, and is seen no more. Beautiful symbol of man's career ! The most remarkable river in the world, flowing throughout its entire length beneath the level of the sea. CJSSAREA PHILIPPI. Csesarea Philippi occupies one of the most picturesque sites in Syria, being situated on a terrace at the foot of Hermon, in the midst of olive groves and forests of oak, gladdened by numerous springs and waterfalls. It derived its name from Caesar Tiberius and Philip the Tetrarch, son of Herod the Great. This region was the great seat of idolatry among the ancients, and the whole country is dotted with the remains of old pagan temples. When the Canaanites yet held the land there was a temple here dedicated to Baal-gad ; and just above CLESAREA PHILIPPI. 273 the principal fountain there is a large grotto in the face of the mountain, once used by the Greeks as a temple for the wor- ship of Pan, as niches in the sides of the cliff and numerous inscriptions fully attest ; here, also, stood the magnificent tem- ple built by Herod the Great, and dedicated to Augustus Caesar,, where Titus, after the destruction of Jerusalem, was feted by Agrippa, and returned thanks to his god for the success of his campaign. All these temples of Baal, Pan, and Caesar are now gone, but the rock on which they stood remains unchanged, and on this solid platform Christ may have stood, and to this- firm foundation may have referred when he laid the corner- 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 against it ; " * beautifully setting forth the stability and per- petuity of his kingdom. Eusebius, who visited this city at the close of the third century, says that the afilicted woman who had vainly " spent all her living on physicians," and who was healed by merely touching the border of Christ's garment, 2 was a native of this place ; that her house was still standing in his day ; and that the incident was commemorated by two bronze statues which he saw elevated on a stone base at the entrance to her house, one representing " the woman on her knees, with her hands stretched out before her, like one entreating," the other, of " Christ, standing erect, clad in a mantle, and stretch- ing out his hand to the woman." 3 It is said these monuments were destroyed by Julian the Apostate. If not, they may still be buried beneath the debris of the old city, and some day may be recovered. This same author gives an interesting description of the cave and fountain we have mentioned. He says : " At Caesarea. 1 Matthew xvi, 18. 2 Luke viii, 43. 3 Eusebius, book vi, chapter 18. 274 BIBLE LANDS. Philippi, which is called Banias by the Phoenicians, there are springs shown at the foot of the mountain from which the Jordan rises, and that on a certain festival day there was usually a person thrown into these springs, and that the victim, by the power of some demon, in a wonderful manner entirely BANIAS AND GROTTO. disappeared." Josephus, also, in referring to this grotto, 1 de- scribes it " as a very fine cave in the mountain, under which is a great cavity in the earth, and that the cavern is abrupt and prodigiously deep, and full of still water. Herod adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one, still 1 Antiquities, xv, 10 ; Jewish Wars, i, 21. MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION. 275 further, by the erection of a temple of .white marble by the fountains of the Jordan, which he dedicated to Caesar. The place is called Panium, and beneath it a dark cave opens itself, within which is a horrible precipice which descends abruptly to a vast depth. It contains a mighty quantity of water, which is immovable ; and when any thing is let down to measure the depth of the earth beneath the water, no length of cord is sufficient to reach it." Could this legend and cavern have suggested to John his imagery of the " bottomless pit ; " and the Jordan flowing from its mysterious source beneath Her- mon, which is more than probably the Mount of Transfigura- tion, his beautiful description of " the river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb ? " ' The Jordan, after issuing from the mountain in a succession of sparkling cascades, flows down the valley, giving life, beauty, and fertility to the most charming landscape ; and in the midst of it, " and on either side of the river," are all manner of tropical trees yielding their fruits every month, and the leaves of the trees are still used " for the healing of the nations." Very suggestive of Paradise ; and may not this lovely spot have been a part of the garden planted by the Lord, 8 wherein the opening scene in the history of our race transpired ? Breaking camp at an early hour, we crossed the valley on a stone bridge, and, riding round the walls and through the city, soon began the long zigzag ascent of Hermon, the highest peak of the Anti-Lebanon range, passing on our way the old Phoani- cian castle of Snbeibeh, one of the grandest ruins in Syria, and the last stronghold of the Crusaders. After hours of climbing, when near the summit we came upon vast fields of drifted 1 Revelation xxii, 1. a Genesis ii, 8. 18 276 BIBLE LANDS. snow ; deeper and deeper it became as we advanced. Our horses soon began to labor, then plunge, finally they stuck fast and were unable to proceed. Holding a consultation, it was determined to try a path to the left, but we soon found it im- practicable. Next, we tried to force a passage over the ridge, CASTLE SCBEIBEH. 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 upon the remains of a flock of sheep that had been devoured by wolves, and we had reasons for apprehending a similar fate. It was a perilous hour. Lofty mountains surrounded us. In MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION. 277 our fruitless efforts to get through we lost our way. It was 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 mountain, over fields of lava, and through drifts of snow, our poor horses struggling, falling, bleeding, almost dying, when we fortunately struck a path that led round the southern base of the mountain, reaching our tents at Kefr Hauwar, near the traditional tomb of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, about an hour after dark, faint and hungry, but thankful for our safe passage of Hermon. The ladies of our party, Mrs. A. N. Riddle, of Cincinnati, and my wife, showed great bravery in plunging through snow-drifts, almost burying their horses. We reached Damascus by noon the following day, but shall reserve for another place a description of this, among the oldest cities in the world. WA1'R-WHL, FOR IRRIGATION CHAPTER XV. DOWN TO JERICHO. The Inn by the "Way-side Going up to Adummim Brook Cherith Valley of Achor Site of Gilgal Passage of the Jordan Place of Christ's Baptism Pilgrims Bathing Ancient Jericho Singular Tradition Quarantania Mount of Temptation Bone Caverns. tf T\OWX to Jericho," from Jerusalem, is a trip taken by -L' almost every traveler visiting Palestine. The distance is 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 rocks, ready to pounce upon any wayfaring man courageous enough to venture into these forbidden grounds without proper guards. On leaving Jerusalem and going out at St. Stephen's gate, you cross the Kedron on a stone bridge near the Garden of Gethsemane, and, sweeping round Olivet below the tombs of the prophets, in half an hour you are at Bethany, once the humble home of the Son of God in the hospitable family of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. From here you descend rapidly to En-Shemesh the Fountain of the Sun a fine spring now known as the " Well of the Apostles," issuing from the eastern face of a rocky ridge, and one of the old landmarks between Judah and Benjamin. Following for two hours the meanderings of the stream 278 BKOOK CHERITH AND VALLEY OF ACHOR. 279 flowing from this fountain, you come to the traditional site of the " inn by the way-side," where the good Samaritan left the wounded man who had fallen among thieves. The spot is marked by the remains of an old khan, where you can lunch under the shadow of the great rock, the only shelter to be found in this, the most desolate and dangerous part of the route. This district is " the going up to Adummim," and is proverbial THE BLOODY WAY. for its bloody deeds. St. Jerome calls it " the red, or bloody 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 left for dead by the road-side ; and still later, Dr. Ley burn, of Baltimore,- Md., was robbed by the Bedouins, who to the present infest this lonely, uncultivated region. It was to protect pilgrims going over this 280 BIBLE LANDS. dangerous road that the order of Knight Templars was first organized, an office now performed by the Abu Dis tribe of Arabs, with whom we have a regular treaty, guaranteeing the protection of Americans passing through their territory. DOWN* TO JERICHO. No scenery in Palestine is wilder or grander than from Adummiin to Jericho mountains heaped onmountainsin endless confusion. The road now winding through tortuous glens, then over bold peaks and along the brink of fearful precipices, ren- dering one dizzy peering down into the seemingly bottomless depths. From one point the view is unsurpassed. Spread out before you is the whole Jordan valley, with the purple-tinted VALLEY OF- THE JORDAN. 281 Mountains of Moab beyond, On your right may be seen the Dead Sea, rolling its leaden waves over the supposed site of the guilty " Cities of the Plain," with a sleepy haze floating on the water, as if " the smoke of their torment " was still ascending to heaven ; and on your left is "Wady Kelt, or Valley of Achor a deep rocky gorge through which the brook Che- rith cuts its way, and where Achan was stoned to death for his <2ovetousness. The descent here is very steep the mountain breaking away abruptly down to the plain, rendering the ap- proach to Jericho from the west very difficult. In places the old paved Roman road may still be seen ; undoubtedly the same over which the "Man of sorrows" once pursued his weary way, and by the side of which poor Bartimeus sat when the Light of the world passed before him and dispelled the dark- ness forever from his sightless eyes. 1 About sundown we crossed the Yalley of Achor, and found our tents pitched on the banks of the " brook Cherith," where Elijah was fed by the ravens, or Arabs of Oreb a village not far from this just as you please. The Jordan valley at this point is from ten to fifteen miles wide, the soil if we except the nitrous plain bordering the Dead Sea rich " as the garden of the Lord," and " well watered," as when Lot chose it for his inheritance before the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. No less than six springs, any one of them sufficient to run a mill, and the remains of twelve ancient aqueducts for irrigating the plains, may still be seen in this immediate vicinity. As there is no river so hallowed in its associations as the Jordan, having been thrice miraculously divided, so there is no valley like that through which this renowned river, winds its 1 Mark x, 46. 282 BIBLE LANDS. tortuous way, from its mysterious source beneath the base of Ilermon to where it plunges into the Sea of Death to be seen no more. We have here an immense fissure, unparalleled in the world a depression of more than a thousand feet below the level of the ocean, and which, apparently, must have existed before the destruction of the Cities of the Plain. Various conflicting theories of its formation have been advanced, but scarcely any reliable facts have been furnished. It is evidently, however, of volcanic origin, as the whole valley is one vast field of lava. 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 Hasbeiya, 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 climate, with perpetual summer, rendering those familiar lines of Dr. Watts, " Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood Stand dressed in living green," SITE OF GILGAL. 283 literally true of this region, when viewed from the mountains east of the river. During our visit we witnessed here a singular phenomenon. Dark clouds and a furious rain-storm swept along the Judean Mountains to the west, and the Mountains of Moab to the east, shutting out both ranges completely from our view ; while on 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. Among the most important discoveries made by the English Exploring Society is that of Gilgal, the first encampment of the Israelites in Canaan. This place was considered by Dr. Robinson as forever lost. But traces of the name and site have lately been found at Tell Jiljul, about one and a half miles east of the old tower known as the house of Zaccheus, in El Riha, or modern Jericho, which agrees exactly with the location given by Josephus and Joshua. As the name indicates, we find here an undulating plain above the overflow of the Jordan, and pre- cisely on " the east border of Jericho ; " the natives of the Ghor never cultivating the land eastward of this point. The spot is marked by a large tamarisk-tree near an old reservoir called Birket Jiljulieh. Ther eare also other ruins, and many little mounds scattered over the plain, more than likely the ash-beds of the Israelites' camp-fires. If this is really Gilgal and there seems no ground for doubt- ing it what solemn recollections the spot awakens ! Here " the 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. first time they ate of the corn and fruit of the land they were henceforth to possess. Here, also, the male children born dur- ing their wanderings in the wilderness were circumcised, and in confirmation of the identity of the place some of the flint- FLIXT KNIVES. knives, probably used in the operation, have here lately been discovered, similar in every respect to those found in the tomb of Joshua at Timnath-Serah. This site is about five miles from the Jordan, and on the direct road from where the Hebrews crossed to Jericho. The river at this point, during its low stage, is not over fifty yards wide and four or five feet deep. This is the traditionary place of our Lord's baptism, of the healing of Xaaman, and where Elijah passed over just before he mounted the skies in his chariot of fire ; and it is here the ceremony of the pilgrims bathing in the Sacred River is witnessed during the Paschal Moon, from year to year. On the Monday of Passion week the number is incredible. Hundreds of tents dot the plain, and thousands of pilgrims from every part of the Orient, some on foot, others on horses sometimes a whole family on a mule or camel come to perform this religious rite. They usually first encamp on the higher banks of the Jordan near Jericho, recalling the tents of Israel when first pitched near this same spot, and in the early dawn, by the light of the moon and SITE OF ANCIENT JEKICHO. 287 numerous torches, guarded by Turkish soldiers, they resume their pilgrimage for the river, and as the first rays of the morn- iiig sun flash along the Judean Mountains the mixed multitude, men, women, and children red, black, and white plunge into the turbid waters, in the firm though superstitious faith that all their sins shall be washed away. Some bathe entirely nude, but most of them in white dresses, which they carefully SITE OF AS'CIEXT JERICHO. preserve, and never wear again until attired therein for their burial. With them, the great end of life has been attained. They have made the pilgrimage of the Holy Land ; have bathed in the sacred Jordan ; and now have nothing more to do but return home and die. Happily, there is no difficulty in determining the site of Jericho the famous " City of Palm-trees "the first city taken by Joshua in the conquest of the country. " The Fountain of Elisha," a magnificent spring gushing from beneath a partly 288 * BIBLE LANDS. artificial knoll, is undoubtedly the same whose bitter waters were healed by the prophet whose name it bears, and settles the site of ancient Jericho. The remains of buildings, and the line of the old walls, may also be traced, inclosing several arti- ficial mounds, the largest having an elevation of at least one hundred feet. Some of these hillocks, in their interior, are of stone, others of sun-dried brick, and evidently belong to the Canaanitish period, and were constructed either for defensive purposes or as high places for the worship of their gods. The walls of the city were rudely built of undressed stone, and could not have been more than two miles round. Not a vestige of the house of " Eahab the harlot " is left ; nor are we to suppose that this woman, who concealed the spies, was any thing more than the keeper of the inn of the place. She is called " harlot " because inn-keepers of old were generally of that class. Rahab, however, must have been an exception, as she subsequently married a prince in Judah, and became the mother of Boaz, who was husband of Ruth and i head of the house of David, through whom, in the fullness of time, the Messiah came. The overthrow of the place was complete not a house of any kind marks the spot. Occasionally a few gypsy tents may be seen among the ruins, but, owing to the curse pronounced upon it by Joshua, all efforts to rebuild the city have proved abortive. And, what is remarkable, we find all the facts of the taking of this stronghold preserved in a curious legend com- mon among the Bedouins of the plain. The Arabs say that there once stood upon this site a city of 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 r QUARAXTAXIA. 289 and blew down the walls with a blast of his horn, the ramparts falling of their own accord, stone by stone. The day was drawing to a close, and Aly, fearing the infidels might escape, prayed to the sun, " Return, O blessed light," and the sun rolled back, and went not down till all the inhabitants were destroyed. Here we have the leading features of the fall of Jericho and of Joshua's victory over the Amorites, in the very legends of the country. In the mountain just back of the ruins are many caves, where the two spies could easily have hidden for three days from their pursuers ; and on a low spur of this mountain is 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, perhaps the same in which Aristobulus was drowned, with some broken aqueducts, and other extensive ruins ; enough to identify the place, and show the vanity of man's greatest monu- ments. Directly back of Elisha's Fountain, and about six miles west of the river, overlooking ancient Jericho and the whole valley of the Jordan, rises one of the highest mountains of the Judean range, the traditionary scene of Christ's temptation and fast of forty days in the wilderness. This mountain, at least since the third century, has been regarded with peculiar interest as the locality of the interview between Satan and our Saviour ; ' and round its base, during the ascetic age that followed the bloody persecutions of the early Christians, the first monasteries were erected. The remains of no less than seven of these monastic 1 Matthew iv, 8. 290 BIBLE LAXDS. institutions, some of them equal to palaces* in grandeur, may still be seen in this vicinity. The eastern face of the mountain is, in places, almost perpen- dicular, and on its towering summit, where the eagle delights to build her nest and soar in her airy flight, are the ruins of a Christian Church and strong fortress with rock-hewn fosse the latter, probably, of the crusading period. The sides of this cliff are pierced by numerous natural grottoes, to which many of the disciples of our Lord, " of whom the world was not worthy," fled for safety when driven by their enemies into the " dens and caves of the earth." ' In time, others followed them from choice, among whom were many monks from Egypt, cut- ting for themselves cells in the limestone rock, until the whole mountain became burrowed like an ant-hill. There are hun- dreds, if not thousands, of these caves, natural and artificial, not cut in regular galleries, but here, there, every-where, to suit the inclination of their inmates ; many of them inaccessible, and most of them dangerous to approach. The wonder is, how the old monks managed to reach their little cells, or to live when there, unless fed by the angels or ravens, as was Elijah, the illustrious founder, as they claim, of their order. By a zigzag path and rock-hewn steps we succeeded in reach- ing a platform running along the face of the mountain, which in places overhung the path, affording to the hermits protec- tion in their walks from the sun and rain. At the southern end of this ledge we came to a large cavern communicating with a chapel and several small grottoes. The chapel had been frescoed, after the Byzantine style, the coloring in places still looking, fresh, and some of the paintings easily recognized, one of Christ being very distinct. St. Paul and Andrew appeared 1 Hebrews xi, 38. MOUNT OF TEMPTATION. 291 to be favorite subjects ; but we could see no trace of the Virgin and Child. The most curious fresco was a representation of the angels distributing white resurrection robes to the saints. We found a Greek monk from Xew York living here, who took us to many other cells. One was known as Elijah's, the approach to which was by a narrow staircase cut in the natural rock. There were several apartments here, one above another, QUARAXTAXIA MOUXT OF TEilPTATIOX. the only entrance being through a hole eighteen inches in diameter cut in the ceiling of the lower cave, and which could only be reached by a ladder or rope. Even after climbing up to this opening, we found it exceedingly difficult to squeeze our small bodies through the contracted entrance. This second chamber was a chapel with an inscription over the altar, and the entire room at one time had been beautifully frescoed ; but the paintings and inscription were too much defaced for us to 19 292 BIBLE LANDS. make any thing intelligible out of them. There were still other apartments above these, which we did not explore ; and south of a rent in the mountain, still higher up, numerous grottoes, the access to which was both difficult and perilous. In reaching these aerial habitations we had to clamber from rock to rock on our hands and knees, till we gained a shelf, at a dizzy height, where we had just room to stand. Here we halted for breath ; then, crawling along the brink of the preci- pice on a narrow ledge, we came to a projecting rock round which it seemed impossible to pass. But others had gone be- fore, and we must follow. Rounding this point was frightful. We shudder to think of that hazardous feat. The path in places was so narrow that if a fragment of the rock had given 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, some nicely vaulted, with recesses for sleeping, and cis- terns to catch the rain-water as it dripped from the cliffs above ; others had rock-cut seats in front, on one of which, it is said, 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 anchorites a beautiful custom prevailed of putting a light in these win- dows at night, so that the whole mountain seemed illuminated with vestal lamps, as the hermits sat in the doors of their cells singing 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 by swinging with ropes from projecting crags over an abyss of BONE CAVERNS. 293 great depth, the paths that once led to them having been either tilled up with rubbish or washed away by the storms of many centuries. One feels very solemn visiting this retreat of the early Chris- tians, and abode of those good though mistaken men, who, through a sense of duty, renounced the world, and withdrew from all society, that they might commune more closely with 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 spent their lives in prayer, fasting, and meditation, in imitation of the Master, who on this same mount is said to have overcome the temptations of the wicked one. This mountain is separated from the main range on the south by Wady Kelt, along which there are also numerous caves, and through which the brook Cherith flows ; so that the locality of Christ's fasting was identical with that of Elijah's. Many of the caves near the foot of the mountain were formerly occu- pied during Lent by Christian pilgrims; but, owing to the in- security of life and property under Turkish rule, they are now hiding-places for Bedouin 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 chronology of the Bible. CHAPTER XVI. THE DEAD SEA. Lowest Sheet of Water on our Globe Mountains of Pure Salt Lot's Wife De- struction of the Cities of the Plain Site of Sodom and Gomorrah Identity of Zoar Singular Phenomenon Nature's Sanitarium. E have made the entire circuit of this inland sea, in many respects the most remarkable body of water in the world ; and, with the exception of two places, where the mountains rise almost perpendicularly out of the water, we rode along the shore the whole distance, making the journey, including delays and necessary rests, in fourteen days. The sea covers an area of perhaps three hundred square miles, and is the lowest sheet of water on the globe, being 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 a rocky ridge over twenty-one hundred feet high, running en- tirely across Wady Arabah, through which the Jordan never could have flowed. Having no outlet, with the Jordan, Arnon, and many other large streams flowing into it, there is only a variation of from ten to fifteen feet in its elevation and depression, being highest in the spring of the year, after the winter rains-, though the Arabs say it rises and falls of itself, the rain having no effect upon it. This equilibrium is maintained solely by evaporation. The density of the water is very great, a gallon weighing 294 APPLES OF SODOM. 295 twelve and a quarter pounds, and containing, besides bromine, potassium, and other minerals in a state of solution, three and a quarter pounds of pure salt, or twenty-eight per cent. ; while the water of the Atlantic contains only four per cent. Owing to the buoyancy of the water, bathing in it is a great luxury and perfectly safe, it being impossible for a person to sink. An egg that would sink in the Mediterranean will float half out of 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 fish can live in such a briny deep. Those carried into it by the Jordan instantly die, and may be found floating on the surface near the mouth of the river. The impression that this sea is always a dead calm, sending forth poisonous vapors, with the angel of death brooding over it, is erro- neous. Storms frequently prevail here, the waves dashing high up on its shores : and we have seen birds flying over it and dncks swimming far out on its surface. There, however, is no animal or vegetable life in the sea itself. Nor is there any vegetable life along its shores ; but up the valleys, down which the sweet, pure waters flow from mountain springs, every tropical plant grows luxuriantly, in some places the shrubbery crowding down to the very edge of the sea; and in these. groves of palm, juniper, and oleander you will find birds of every hue and song. Several of these fresh-water streams empty into the sea near its southern extremity, causing the arid " desert to rejoice and blossom as the rose." Nothing could surpass the productiveness of " The Safieh," as this district is 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, indigo, jnjube, and other rare plants, all grow spontaneously. 296 BIBLE LAXDS. The osher-tree generally grows to the height of ten or twelve feet, has a large oval leaf, and when cut or broken discharges a milky fluid, said to be fatal to the sight if applied to the eyes. The fruit, when ripe, in color and size resembles an ordinary yellow apple, rather beautiful to the eye, but void of substance. It is not, however, filled with ashes, as commonly supposed, but with air, and when pressed explodes like a puff- ball, emitting smoke and a sulphurous smell, but containing nothing save a few small seeds and thin silky fibers, the latter very combustible, which the Arabs, not having matches, use as tinder, witli their steel and flint, in firing their matchlocks and lighting their pipes. The Bedouin tribes in this fertile valley are of the lowest type of human beings. A more desperate, savage, and degraded set of cut-throats and robbers are not to be found among Ishmael's depraved sons. Generally they are as black as Af- ricans, entirely nude, and licentious as the Sodomites of old ; 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. Directly west of this Eden, across the Gharandel, is a great salt plain, entirely destitute of vegetation, the supposed site of Sodom, and where David overthrew the Edomites. The whole plain is a vast slime-pit, incrusted with salt, beneath which is a black, greasy marl, very slippery, rendering riding over it both difficult and dangerous. As a general thing the mountains bordering this sea present a picture of utter desolation, as if scathed with lightning and riven with thunder-bolts. Many of the rocks are igneous, emit- ting fire when struck, and an odor very much like a Lucifer match. Slime-pits and sulphur springs are found along the 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, as if thrown together by some great convulsion, and pure bitu- men in large quantities may at times be found floating on the surface. The sea at night, when the water is ruffled by the wind, is one sheet of phosphorescent foam, and the waves as they break upon the shore throw a sepulchral light upon the rocks that wall in this dismal gulf reminding one of the MOUNTAIN'S EAST OF THE DEAD SEA. "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 LANDS. ticular, on the very top of the cliff, from a certain stand-point resembles a woman in hasty flight, with her disheveled hair and torn garments flying in the wind, and her head slightly turned, as if looking back over her left shoulder on the burning cities from which she is fleeing for her life. There is nothing very remarkable in the statement concern- ing the fate of this disobedient woman. From the narrative, it appears the Lord said unto Lot and his family, "Up, get you out of this place. Escape for thy life ; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain, lest thou be consumed/' They started on their flight. " But his wife looked back, . . . and she became a pillar of salt." l Probably in the very act of dis- obedience she was struck dead with a thunderbolt, or suffocated with the sulphurous fumes that pervaded the valley, as the elder Pliny in the destruction of Pompeii. It would have beea miraculous had she become a sand-stone or lime-stone pillar. But any man's wife would become a pillar of salt in this region if allowed to remain here long enough. No corpse would ever decompose on the shores of this sea, and if permitted to remain here would naturally become incrusted with salt, and in time a pillar of salt. These pillars are formed by accretion, from the spray, mist, and saline exhalations of the sea, and are always growing larger. So it is literally true, that if you break a piece off it will form on anew. In one place we found a tunnel or cavern leading into the very heart of the mountain, into which we rode several hundred feet, until it became too dark to venture farther. It looked beauti- ful by the light of a few matches and candles, the vaulted roof and sides sparkling as of alabaster. Many grottoes led off to the right and left, all salt; nothing but salt; the whole mount- 1 Genesis xix, 14, 17, 26. SITE OF THE CITIES OF THE PLAIN. ain salt ! During heavy rains a stream of briny water rnns through this cavern to the sea, only a few rods distant. This- same rock formation, to all appearance the same vein of salt,, crops out of the mountain east of the sea between the Fortress- of Machaerus 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 surrounding 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 Usdnm, south of the sea. Recently some remarkable ruins have been discovered at Gumran, two miles north of Ain Feshkah, near the northern end of the sea, and supposed, from a similarity of name, to be the site of Gomor- rah. The ruins consist of a rude wall, a small reservoir built of unhewn stone, and a mass of indistinguishable rubbish of old houses and broken pottery. The most interesting feature of the place is the great number of graves in the vicinity per- haps a thousand. And what is more singular, the bodies all lie with their heads to the south ; so they cannot be Jewish, Mo- hammedan, or Christian. The tombs are about five feet deep, with a vault for the body at the bottom. The receptacle for the corpse is built of large sun-dried bricks fifteen inches long,, eleven wide, and nine inches thick. Hough upright stones mark the head and feet, and the surface of the graves is rudely paved with the same material. Xo 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 Gomorrah is hypothetical. Of the other cities destroyed, Ad- mah and Zeboim, all traces have long since disappeared. "300 BIBLE LANDS. The identity of Zoar is not so difficult, as down to the four- teenth century of our era it was a place of considerable impor- tance. All the fathers and historians of the Church locate it south-east of the Dead Sea, on the road leading from " The Sa- iieh " to Kerak ; and we lind here, on a spur of the mountain, six 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 mount- ain was too distant for him to reach. Why, then, locate it on the mountain, and so far from the scene of danger ? Both Isaiah and Jeremiah refer to it among the cities of Moab. It is never mentioned as belonging to Israel, but always as within the territory of Moab ; so could not have been north 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, one of which is pointed out as the cave of Lot ; and a short distance above this, along the sea-shore, is a curious pillar, not of salt but sand-stone, resembling very much a female with a water-jar in her right hand and a child on her left shoulder, called by the natives Bint Sheik Lut the " Daughter of Sheik Lot." We confess, however, that little is to be found DESTRUCTION" OF SODOM AND GOMORRAH. 301 among these shapeless ruins to satisfy the inquisitive mind ; and as to the other cities, we are fully convinced, after the most thorough investigation of the whole plain, that there is nothing above ground by which they can be identified or their sites determined. From the topography of the whole Ghor, and the peculiar geological formations, such as banks of water-worn shingles, with deposits of salt and sulphur, there must have been a sea or fresh-water lake in this valley long prior to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, and there is no reason for believing that these cities were submerged, or that their destruction was brought about by any great geological disturbance. Among the mountains that border the sea on the east there are several craters and other evidences of extinct volcanoes. The road leading north from Machaerus down to the Zurka Main runs over great fields of lava, scoria, and cinders, very much like the descent of Vesuvius. The Cities of the Plain were, more than likely, constructed of perishable materials, perhaps sun-dried bricks mixed with cut straw, like Damascus and other places in the East, as the remains of such brick-kilns still exist on the plain near ancient Jericho. In the erection of their buildings bitumen, which abounds in this region, was probably used instead of mortar, and the houses were covered, as in Babylon, with a matting made of rushes coated with bituminous slime, and supported by wooden beams. From the Mosaic account it appears the cities were destroyed, not by water but fire, very much as Pompeii and Herculaneum, probably by a shower of hot sulphurous ashes from some neigh- boring volcano, leaving no trace of their sites. This would lit- erally be a rain of " brimstone and fire," entirely consuming the combustible material of which they were composed. And the 302 BIBLE LANDS. 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 the whole lower valley of the Jordan is nothing but a bed of lava, indicating some such volcanic action. The most remarkable feature of this most remarkable sea is that it appears to be subsiding or growing less every year. The water lines on the beach, of which there are three distinct lev- els, clearly indicate this ; and, what is more strange, the bottom seems to be receding, or falling out ; that is, the surface is sink- 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 Lisan, 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 frequently dry ten years ago is now completely submerged. This is true of all south of the peninsula ; instead of filling up^ with the debris washed down from the neighboring hills by a hundred mountain torrents, it is actually growing deeper. We have no explanation of this phenomenon, unless on the suppo- sition that, the prevailing winds being from the south and west,. a current is created which carries the sediment from the shal- low portion at the lower end into the almost fathomless depths 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 corroborate CORROBORATTOX OF SCRIPTURE. 303 the inspired record. The Scriptures are so legibly written along the desolate shores of this desolate sea that a person visiting this region, who had, never heard of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, would infer from the sterility and death- like solitude which prevail that nothing but some great judg- ment from the Almighty could ever have produced such utter desolation. "We find here " a waste land that smoketh, and a fruitful land turned into saltness for the wickedness of them that dwelt therein ; "* so that " no man shall abide there, nei- ther shall a son of man dwell in it ; and the stranger that shall come from a far land shall say, . . . Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land ? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? . . . The whole land is brimstone, and salt, and burning." 2 Lieutenant Lynch, in his report upon this region, says : " We entered upon this sea with conflicting opinions. One of our party was skeptical, and another a professed unbe- liever. After twenty-two days' close investigation, if I am not mistaken, we are unanimous in the conviction of the truth of the Scripture account of the destruction of the Cities of the Plain. And this conclusion I record as a protest against the shallow deduction of those who would be unbelievers." In summer, at this great depth below the ocean, and walled in by mountains four thousand feet high, the atmosphere is very hot and sultry. The average temperature on the shore of this sea for the first ten days in June, 1877, was one hundred and four degrees in the shade ; but there is nothing in this heat deleterious to health. In winter, however, the climate is per- fectly delightful no frost, miasma, or chilling winds, but a salubrious, invigorating, almost intoxicating atmosphere. Here you can "run and not weary," climb the highest mountains 1 Psalm cvii, 34 ; Jeremiah xlix. 18. 2 Deuteronomy xxix, 22. 2-i. 304 BIBLE LANDS. without any sense of fatigue, and breathe freely with one lung r or half a lung. The effect of the bracing air is really wonder- ful. You feel as though you could " run through a troop, or leap over a wall." Bathing here is delicious. You have also the choice of hot or cold baths, in fresh, salt, or sulphur fount- ains along the shore. 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 Mediterranean. And the purple tints of the mountains in the rays of the setting sun. reflected from a sky of unequaled beauty, are often gorgeous. As Mr. Palmer remarks, " The coloring of the Dead Sea, and its neighborhood, when the atmosphere is clear, is simply magnificent." Instead of the exhalations from the sea being injurious, as- has been supposed, they seem to sharpen the appetite, quicken the intellect, and impart new life to the whole physical system. As it seldom rains in the Ghor, the days are generally bright and cheerful, the nights dry and balmy, lulling the weary into- refreshing slumbers, from which they awake " rejoicing as a. strong man to run a race." A steamer on this sea for excursions, and a good hotel near its shores, would make this a most charming winter resort for invalids, nature's own sanitarium for suffering mortals. CHAPTER XVII. FORTRESS OF MASADA AND CLIFF OF ZIZ. Last Stronghold of the Jews Great Strength of the Fortress Tragic End of the- Garrison The Silence of Death Eugedi Cliff of Zhc Rocks of the Wild Goats Burning Bush Stones of Witness. T)ERCHED, like an eagle's nest, on one of the boldest cliffs J- along the western shores of the Dead Sea, and overlooking a scene of natural desolation uneqnaled on the globe, is the re- nowned fortress of Masada, the last stronghold taken by the- Romans in the conquest of Palestine. This celebrated fortress was erected by Jonathan Maccabaeus,. about the year 160 B. C., but afterward enlarged and greatly strengthened by Herod the Great, who surrounded it with walls and towers of great strength, and supplied it with stores and arms for ten thousand men, designing it as a place of refuge for himself in case of rebellion among the Jews, or Cleopatra, transferring his kingdom to Mark Antony, of which the queen of Egypt had given some intimations. Josephus describes the castle and fortress as " built on a rock prodigiously craggy, and inaccessible enough to strike the stout- est man living with horror." J All which we found to be strict- 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 detached ledge to the north probably the "beautiful and 1 Jewish Wars, vii, 8. 305 BIBLE LANDS. richly garnished " pulace of Herod, where his wife, the queenly and matchless Mariamne, was cruelly imprisoned before her death are entirely inaccessible, the secret passage from the palace to the citadel being still undiscovered. Almost the only approach to this aerial fortress was by a ser- pentine path called the " Snake," so narrow and difficult that to slip or make a misstep was certain death to the bold intruder. Even this perilous path was so guarded by strong towers as to render the place next to impregnable. One hour of climbing, falling, and sweating under the scorching rays of the noonday sun brought us to the great causeway thrown up by the Ro- mans from the mountain in the rear to the isolated castle in front, over winch we easily passed, and soon gained the es- planade of the fortress, a platform about one mile in circum- ference. The view from this lofty position was magnificently wild and drear. The whole of the Dead Sea and all trans- Jordanie Palestine, with the Jordan Yalley 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- ing entered through a breach to the north of it ; but the wall and towers on the summit have all been toppled over. The ruin of a synagogue, with tessellated floors, near the center of the platform, is in good preservation, and undoubtedly is the oldest one in existence a cut of which we insert as sketchc-d GREAT STRENGTH OF THE FORTRESS. 307 by Dr. Ridgaway on the spot. Much broken pottery and glass covered the ground. Several rock-hewn cisterns and natural caves are within the inclosure, and the remains of many large buildings may still be seen. The mountain near the top is pierced with numerous galleries, one above another, running 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 rock, and flanked by strong towers at the angles. The position, naturally strong, was rendered doubly so by art ; gallery above gallery, turret on turret, and fortress within fortress ! SYNAGOGUE IX MASADA. After the fall of Jerusalem, Herodium, and Machserus, Fla- vins Silva, now in command of the Roman army, led all his forces against Masada, the last important post held by the Jews. The place was defended by the Sicarii, a class of Jewish des- peradoes, or freebooters, whose only bond of union was their hostility to the Romans. They were under the command of Eleazar, a man of great bravery and influence among his fol- lowers, and were prepared to make a most desperate resist- ance. Silva first seized a high projecting rock called " the lance," 20 308 BIBLE LANDS. immediately in the rear of the fortress, from which he raised a causeway over against the outer ramparts of the citadel by filling up a deep ravine, thus enabling his engines of war to play upon the walls. He also constructed a tower sixty cubits high, plated with iron, from which scorpions and firebrands were hurled against the doomed garrison. Those within long and stubbornly resisted any attempt on the part of the enemy to scale their works, but when they saw their massive walls crumble beneath the ponderous strokes of immense battering-rams, and their wooden defenses swept away by the devouring flames maddened by a furious wind, they gave up all as lost, and prepared like men to meet their fate. The Romans, having carried the outer walls after a long, des- perate struggle, were preparing to storm the citadel as night dropped her curtain upon the bloody scene, and they retired to their quarters, expecting on the morrow to return, complete their work, and gather their spoils, little dreaming of the bloody tragedy to be enacted within the fortress during that night of horrors. Eleazar, despairing of any help from without, determined never to surrender to his sworn enemies ; and, conscious of his own inability to hold out longer, called a council of war ; set before his comrades the hopelessness of a further resistance j told them of the disgrace and sufferings that awaited them if they capitulated ; related the wrongs the Romans had inflicted upon their nation ; then appealed to their religious convictions,, showing how noble it would be to die as martyrs for their God, and proposed that all their wealth be gathered into the castle and destroyed by fire ; that each husband murder his own wife and children ; that ten men be selected by lot to slaughter the rest, and finally one from the ten to complete the work of deatli TRAGIC END OF THE GARRISON. 309 by the suicide of himself, after all his brethren were dead. The Sicarii, ever ready to obey their leader, at once accepted the proposal. Their vast treasures were soon given to the flames. -Infatuated husbands and fathers first affectionately embraced, then murdered their own wives and offspring. The men chosen to slay their fellow-soldiers did faithfully their work. Throughout the fortress during that night of blood 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, " Be- hold your house is left unto you desolate." Two hours north of Masada is Engedi, the site of ancient Hazezon-tamar, a city of the Amorites older than Sodom or Gomorrah. It was not far from here, in the "Yale of Siddim," perhaps near the slime-pits a few miles south of this, that the kings of Chaldasa defeated the five kings of the cities of the plain, carrying off Lot among their prisoners, who was after- ward rescued by his uncle, Abraham. About four hundred feet above the sea the celebrated "Fountain of the Kid," that gives its name to the place, gushes from the mountain side, distributing its warm, sweet waters through a thousand channels over the fields below, changing the arid desert into a blooming garden, fragrant with tropical flowers and fruits. " The Wilderness of Engedi," where David found a hiding- place from Saul, is a desolate tract of country lying directly we.-t of this; and it was here, in one of the numerous caves 310 BIBLE LANDS. among " the rocks of the wild goats," probably Adullam, that the son of Jesse cut off the skirt of the king's robe. This is still the highway and usual route between Moab and Western Palestine. The road winds round the southern end of the sea, up its western shore, thence by the " Cliff of Ziz " to Hebron or Jerusalem. Nothing could be more frightful than DEAD SEA FROM EXGEDI. crossing this mountain pass ; several times we had to unload 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 renowned passage of the " Cliff of Ziz." WILD GOA1S, BURNING BUSH, ETC. 311 While encamped at Engedi some Arabs brought in a " wild goat" they had just killed among the rocks, showing that this animal is still found in the neighborhood. We also had here a line exhibition of the " Burning Bush." There is a tree peculiar to this region, and which, when cut down or dying naturally, sends forth numerous branches or parasites from near the ground, forming a thick cluster of bushes large as a shock of corn. At night the natives, to light up their camp, set fire to the dry stump in the center, and the flames slowly spread to the green twigs until the whole is ablaze and gradu- ally consumed. A single brush heap will burn for several hours, and in the darkness looks beautiful. It was thus the Almighty manifested himself to his servant Moses on Horeb, only in that instance the bush was not consumed, symbolizing Guil's care for his people amid the fiery trials of earth. We observed also a beautiful custom among the Arabs of o commemorating every important event, and marking every prominent point, by setting up memorial stones, as Samuel raised his Ebenezer at Mizpeh ; and every good Christian or Mussulman, in passing these memorials, is expected to add thereto his " stone of witness." These Ebenezers you will find on almost every high place in Palestine, and scarcely a pilgrim vi>its the Holy Land without commemorating the event by setting up a stone in acknowledgment of God's goodness and 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 pile of witness stones, the accumulation of ages, and every year growing larger, as every Bedouin and traveler passing that way contributes his stone to the heap. Having a great reverence 312 BIBLE LANDS. for the memory of Aaron, we, of course, added our testimony to the countless multitude of witnesses, then resumed our journey, bidding adieu to the Valley of the Dead Sea. Even passing travelers thus adopt the peculiar customs of Palestine ; and so fully do all these regions claim our veneration by his- torical ruins and by traditional sites ; by inspired records and by Mohammedan legends ; and especially by an indescribable antique and oriental quality pervading every sight and sound and feeling that, in spite of ourselves, we are transported to other days, and in fancy live again the lives of patriarchs and judges, of prophets and monarchs, of Christian disciples and knightly crusaders. Piece of Silver Kcvrrsr side. Farthing Two Mites Widow's Mite. COINS USED IK TIME OF CHRIST. PART III. TKANS-JOEDANIC 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 Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, with the cities thereof, from the river Arnon unto Mount Hermon, and all the plain on the east." Num. xxxii, 33; Josh, xii, 1. CHAPTER I. THE LAND OF MOAB. Beyond Jordan Rich, unexplored Region First settled by the Descendants of Lot Conquered by Moses Given to Reuben, Gad, and Mauasseh Now over- run by the wild Sons of Ishmael Castle of Kerak Fortress of Machaerus. DIRECTLY east of Jerusalem, beyond the Jordan, and over- looking the whole of western Palestine, is the almost un- known and unexplored region generally known as Persea the land beyond ; a vast tract of high rolling table-land lying at least four thousand feet above the valley of the Dead Sea, and extending eastward to the great Desert which stretches away to the Euphrates. This portion of Syria, from south of the Dead Sea to Mount Plermon, usually referred to in Jewish history as the land of Moab, Gilead, and Bashan, was first permanently settled by the Moabites and Ammonites, the descendants of Lot's two sons, Moab and Ben-ammi. 1 It was among the first countries con- quered by the Israelites, and, on account of its rich pasturage, given to Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh as their inheritance, because " they had much cattle." 2 In the eighth century B. C. this country was invaded by the Assyrians, and these tribes were carried away captives into Assyria. 3 And from that period down to our era the land was successively oc- cupied by the Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans, the remains of whose wealth and power may still be seen m the magnificent ruins found scattered all over this part of Palestine. Xo dis- 1 Genesis xix, 37. 2 Deuteronomy iii, 19. 3 1 Chronicles v, 26. 315 SI 6 BIBLE LAXDS. trict of equal extent on the face of the earth can furnish such remarkable remains of ancient races. After the fall of the Roman empire, the wild sons of Ish- mael from the Arabian Desert overran the country, and to the present have retained their possession. So that for centuries this whole territory, including Edom, so intimately connected with Jewish history, has been inaccessible to travelers. The Bedouins who occupy this land are a warlike, lawless, independent race, very much like our North American Indians. They have no permanent settlements have never submitted to Turkish rule, pay tribute to no king lead a nomadic life, dwelling in tents, and roaming from place to place as necessity may require ; the most independent people in the world. The men pride themselves in being warriors, and are generally seen mounted on splendid Arab mares. You never see a Bedouin chieftain riding a horse. The women do all the drudgery, and are treated as mere slaves. The principal occupation of these tribes is plunder ; their religion, Mohammedan, with the sim- 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. It is only within a few years that foreigners, under any cir- cumstances, have been allowed to enter this " no man's land," as it is called. In company with Dr. James Strong and his 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 LAXD OF BEULAH. 317 plateau, containing several thousand square miles of well watered, fertile land, covered with flocks and herds, and black with Bedouin tents. The soil is a rich limestone loam, capable of supporting an immense population, and of growing almost any thing ; reminding one very much of the rich rolling prairies of the "Western States. The central portion of this region is known among the na- tives as the Belka, and from its natural productiveness, its salu- brious climate, and the grand outlook from the lofty mountains, taking in the whole of the Land of Promise from u Dan to 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 Bunyun has so beautifully woven into allegory ; illustrating the repose experienced by the Christian warrior after having over- come the world, and the joy which enraptures his soul, when, with the heavenly Canaan and the Celestial City in view, he descends into the shadowy valley of death, crosses in safety the Jordan, and passes triumphantly home. The Land of Moab included the southern part of this terri- tory from Edom to the Mountains of Gilead, a vast, almost un- broken plateau of the richest soil, capable of sustaining a dense population. When first conquered by the Israelites, Moses took among other spoils six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, and seventy-two thousand beeves ; and after it became tributary to Israel we find the king of Moab paying as a rev- enue to the king of Israel two hundred thousand lambs and rams. 1 These figures do not astonish us after seeing the natural productiveness of the country, and the numerous ruins that almost literally cover its surface. 1 2 Kings iii, 4. 318 BIBLE LANDS. Some of these ruins, as of Rabbah Ammon, are immense ; hundreds of beautiful granite and marble columns strew the ground, some of them sixty feet long and fifteen or twenty feet in circumference. One very unique building near the river must have been designed for a tomb ; or, perhaps, was the repository of the " iron bedstead " ' of Og, the giant king of Bashan. The gate- way on the north, before which Uriah proba- RABBAH AMMOX. bly fell, is a wonderful piece of workmanship, and of itself would repay a trip from America to see. This city must have been destroyed by an earthquake, as the columns generally lie in one direction, as if prostrated at the same moment by some sudden shock or upheaval of the earth. We saw many camels feeding among the ruins, literally fulfilling the prediction of 1 Deuteronomy iii, 11. KABBAH AMMON. 319 Ezekiel, " I will make Kabbah a stable for camels." ' Of Hesh- bon, the royal city, of Sihon, king of the Amorites, but little re- mains. Her famous fish-pools are in ruins; her walls lie in the dust ; and in looking over her waste places one is ready to adopt the plaintive language of Isaiah, " I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon." 2 Near Rabbath-Moab we found the remains of a large temple, facing the east, with portico in front, and many broken pillars, and richly carved capitals, and frag- ments of cornice lying around. Among the rubbish were sev- eral sculptured figures of lions and other animals, and on the 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- ing gracefully on the shoulders. There seemed to be a crescent supporting the figure, with rays of light radiating from the head. The features were youthful and intellectual ; and I have no doubt the image belonged to the temple close by, and was designed to represent Ashtaroth, the queen of heaven and consort of Baal, the favorite goddess of the old Phoenicians, whose first settlements, long anterior to the founding of Tyre or Sidon, were east of the Dead Sea and in this immediate 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 the 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 it, along which may still be seen some of the mile-stones giving the distance, in Roman numerals, to unknown places. Many of 1 Ezekiel xxv. 5. 2 Isaiah xv, 9. 320 BIBLE LANDS. the streets are clearly defined. The gate-ways are plainly marked. Some beautiful columns are still standing, and half buried in rubbish are the remains of tombs, temples, theaters, and other edifices, showing the extent and grandeur of the city that was " laid waste and brought to silence in a night." x 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. "VVady 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- try by the Israelites a natural barrier, standing like a wall of iron two thousand feet high between the two nations. The passage of this chasm was truly frightful. It was with great difficulty we succeeded in getting down to the river, as in places the bluffs were almost perpendicular; and the only way we could make the ascent was by a zigzag path through clefts in the rocks. Sometimes it appeared like going up a winding staircase, and in a few instances we had to dismount, and were drawn up by holding on to our horses' tails. A few miles south of ancient Ar is the renowned fortress and city of Kerak, the Kir-hareseth of the Bible, 3 one of the most remarkable ruins in the world. As the name signifies, this is emphatically a city on a hill, being situated on a towering rock at least one thousand feet above the surrounding valleys, and four thousand three hun- dred and ninety feet above the Dead Sea at its base. And yet even this elevated platform is commanded by the neigh- boring heights, which inclose it on all sides except the west. 1 Isaiah xv, 1. 2 Joshua xiii, 9. 3 Isaiah xvi, 7. CASTLE OF KERAK. 823 On these heights the armies of Israel were encamped when * the slingers went about it and smote it." ' Xaturally a strong position, it was rendered by art almost impregnable. Formerly, the only entrances were through two dark, crooked tunnels cut out of the solid rock, and commanded by fortifications of great strength. Even the citadel was so isolated from the city by a -deep, wide fosse that an enemy in possession of either post could not occupy the other. These fortifications are of three distinct periods. The most ancient belongs to the Jewish, the next to the Roman, and the third to the time of the Crusaders. It was here that Rnynald of Chatillon, when Lord of Kerak, feeling secure in the possession of this stronghold, defied the authority of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, broke the treaty with Saladin, and by his rashness brought on the battle of Hattin, that resulted in the fall of Jerusalem and expulsion of the' Crusaders from Palestine. The platform on which the city is built is about two miles in circumference, and has been surrounded by a high, strong wall resting on the natural rock, which was either scarped down or smoothly faced, rendering it insurmountable from without. These defenses are, in many places, in ruins, it being the pol- icy of the Turkish Government to weaken the position as much as possible. A year or two since a Turkish garrison was sent here, but the natives refused to tolerate it, and drove the sol- diers out of the citadel and back to Damascus. The two principal positions of strength are the castle and citadel. The former was built by By bars. King of Egypt, about A. D. 1363. This fortress fronts to the north-west. The lower sections of the walls are twenty-seven feet thick, casemated, and the whole flanked by two lofty square towers with loop- 1 2 Kings iii, 25. 21 324 BIBLE LANDS. holes for the archers. The other stronghold is the great citadel on the southern angle of the wall ; an immense fortress, perhaps one thousand feet long, by half that distance wide, and from eight to ten stories high. Portions of this citadel belong to a very early period, but it was greatly strengthened and enlarged by Raynald and Godfrey of Boulogne, in the twelfth century. Taken altogether, this is the grandest ruin in Moab, and the greatest monument the Crusaders have left of their energy and power. The walls are of incredible thickness, and of the most massive masonry vaults, arches, galleries rising one above another to a bewildering height, and pierced by innumerable loop-holes. In the center are the remains of a large Christian church, with vaulted ceiling, once frescoed. Some of the paint- ings may still be faintly traced one, the head of some saint with a corona, is quite distinct. A secret gallery cut through the solid rock connected the citadel with the castle. Somewhere on this high altar, perhaps on the esplanade where our tents are pitched and the American flag is waving, thirty centuries ago one of the most tragic scenes in our world's history was witnessed. The kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom made war against Moab. They laid waste the whole land, and drove the Moabites with their king into this strong position, laying siege to the 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 out of his beleaguered castle, but in this he failed. Then, in his desperation, that he might lire his own army with increased ardor, and show to the enemy his determination to sacrifice every thing before surrendering, " he took his eldest son, who should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall," ' probably in full view of both armies ; 1 2 Kings iii, 27. FORTRESS OF MACH^ERUS. 325 rousing among his soldiers such a feeling of indignation against Israel as to cause the allies to raise the siege at once, " and re- turn to their own land." The Kerak Arabs are among the most treacherous and dan- gerous tribes east of the Jordan. AYe were the first Americans to pass through their territory, and on several occasions appre- hended the most serious results, but by paying liberal back- sheesh, with due prudence and firmness, managed to escape with our lives. But the place of greatest interest to the Christian in all this land, so remarkable for its wonders, is the lonely fortress and castle of Machserus, mentioned by both Pliny and Strabo as among the strongest fortifications of the Jews, and where John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded. About midway be- tween Wady Zerka on the north and the Ttiver 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, conical hill, upon which stood the citadel and palace, the city covering the upper and lower terraces east and west of the Acropolis. The place, naturally strong, was rendered almost invulnerable by numerous walls, ditches, and towers, the remains of which lie scattered over the ridge. Xo sooner had we pitched our tents, and unfurled the stars and stripes amid the ruins of the upper city, than we, in company witli Dr. Ridgaway, hastened BIBLE LANDS. off to the citadel, perhaps half a mile due' west, ambitious to l^e the first Americans to enter this interesting ruin. Descend- 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 climbing, scrambling, and falling the writer was the first to reach the summit and look out upon the grand panorama in front ; for from this eminence the whole of the Dead Sea, with its desolate shores Jerusalem and all the hill country of Judea, Jericho, and the Yalley of the Jordan stretching far away to the north can be distinctly seen. The fortress was circular, about one thousand feet in circumference, the walls of which can still be traced, and, as described by Jewish historians, were of great strength, and one hundred and sixty cubits high, which may be correct, as the upper section of the cone appeared to be artificial, similar to that at Herodium. The valleys which formed the natural defenses of this fortress ai of great depth ; so deep, says one historian, " that the eye could not reach their bottom," which is strictly true, for when standing among the ruins on the summit of this loft} T cone we found it impossible to see some of our party in the abyss below, so precipitous are the sides and so deep the valleys. Within the citadel was the royal palace, which to us is the chief point of interest, as the place of John's imprisonment and martyrdom.- The palace, according to Josephus, was of u towering height and vastly beautiful," the ascent to which, from the lower city, was by a secret staircase, which also com- municated with great cisterns cut in the sides of the mountain, one of which is ninety feet long, twenty wide, and thirty deep, hewn out of the solid rock, with steps leading down to it on the north. 'PRISON QF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 327 Among the remains of the castle we found two vaulted dun- geons, thirty feet long and twenty wide, near the wall on the south ; in one of which, more than probably, the forerunner of Christ was beheaded. It was with peculiar emotions we hunted among the rubbish of ages for some memento of the place, and when we found the mouth-piece- of an old earthen 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. Josephus gives a full description of Machaems and its event- ful history, 1 and the place in every particular answers the de- scription. It was built by Alexander, son of Hyrcanus I., but afterward enlarged and strengthened by Herod the Great, who, to protect his Arabian frontier, made it the most formidable fortress east of the Jordan. To this castle Herod Antipas brought Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, having h'rst discarded his own wife, the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia, with whom he had long happily lived. John at the same time was preaching and baptizing in the neighborhood. He was unsparing in his denunciations, and fearlessly told Herod " it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife/' This rebuke provoked the wrath of her with whom the king was living in adultery. At the instiga- tion of Herodias John was at once arrested and cast into the prison of Machaerns. And it was here that Herod, during the celebration of his birthday, when surrounded by his court, to please the whims of this abandoned woman and to flatter the vanity of a dancing damsel, against his own better conviction.- ?ent to the prison in the midnight hour and had this man of God beheaded. 1 Jewish War?, vii, 6. 328 BIBLE LANDS. Herod and his infamous mistress have long since gone to their reward, their palace lies in ruins, and their scepter has 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 silent dungeons of Machserus. 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 when we consider that the name has never been changed, M'khaur, the present name, being the exact Arabic of the Greek Machaerus ! CHAPTER II. HOT SPRINGS OF CALIRRHOE THE MOABITE STONE. Zurka Main Enchanting Valley Numerous Hot Springs Delicious Bathing Strange Legend Fishing in Wady Waleh Dibon, Ancient Capital of Moab Discovery of the Meslia Stone Oldest Alphabetic Inscription A Lost Chapter of ilie Bible Recovered. ONE of the most remarkable and romantic valieys in this land of wonders and romance is the Zurka Main, or Ca- lirrhoe, celebrated for its hot springs, mentioned by Pliny and Josephus. 1 and to which Herod the Great resorted during his last illness a wild gorge directly north of, and about three thou- sand feet below, Machserus. Riding out the old Roman road along the ridge north of M'khaur, we soon began the descent of the mountain to a lower terrace, where we found traces of a prehistoric race in numerous dolmens, tumuli, and curious 8tuiie circles composed of large basalt blocks, the inclosures being from two to three hundred feet in diameter. Sweeping round the head of Wady Z'gara, from which a grand view of the sea and country beyond is had, we continued our descent by a perilous path over fields of lava and scoria, very much like Vesuvius. Next we came to the limestone bed, and below this to a strata of pure rock-salt of unknown thickness, crop- ping out of the mountain, and corresponding exactly with the formation at Jebel Usdum. It was a bold piece of engineering to construct a chariot road down such a declivity, but the old Romans did it, and did it well, as in places where our path 1 Antiquities, xvii, 6. 329 330 BIBLE LANDS. crossed the old track we could still see its solid bed and side walls. After two hours of riding and walking, stumbling and falling, we reached safely the bottom of this deep gorge, which, for natural beauty, is without an equal. The valley, generally, is not more than fifty or one hundred yards wide, w r alled in with almost perpendicular cliffs from live hundred to one thousand .feet high, as if rent asunder by some earthquake, reminding one very much of the canons of California. The view through this chasm down to the Dead Sea is fearfully grand ; for wild- ness nothing can surpass it in Palestine. On these towering cliffs the eagle, undisturbed, builds her nest, and the ibex, un- pursued by man, leaps from crag to crag, while in the jungle at their base the wild boar and leopard still find a safe retreat. l;>eing 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 corner ; thickets of oleanders, in full bloom, border the streams ; dense cane-brakes wave their beautiful plumes in the air ; wild tulips and geraniums, of most delicate tints, perfume the whole valley ; mosses and maiden-hair ferns fringe the limpid fount- ains, and every rock appears as set in a frame-work of flowers. The 'whole scene, gladdened by the voice of many waters and the softer notes of the cuckoo and other warblers of the glen, makes this truly a lovely spot for sick and weary mortals. 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 ninety to one hundred and forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. In testing one I found it impossible to hold my hand in the ZURKA MAIN CALIRRHOE. DELICIOUS BATHING. 333 water over half a second. It was rather amusing to see the horses jump when they stepped into these seething fountains. The water is strongly impregnated with sulphur, and where it issues from the mountain leaves a sulphurous deposit, in some instances acres in extent. This deposit increases from year to year, so that some of the springs, immediately below their source, are entirely covered to a depth of from fifty to one hundred feet, just ns ice forms over a running brook in winter. In some places there are crevices in this crust from which the heated air and steam escape, affording a grand vapor bath. Where the water forms into cascades the rocks, shrubs, and even trees are incrusted with the sulphur, giving them the appearance of beautiful coral formations. In one place in particular, at the foot of a water-fall, large palm-trees were petrified or turned into sulphur, and crumbled like chalk to the touch. A few steps, however, from the springs vegetation flourishes as in tropical climes. Bathing here is as great a novelty as luxury. Almost any temperature of water can be enjoyed, as hot and cold streams fre- quently flow side by side in the same channel for some distance without commingling. On the one side, where the cold stream flows, all is life fish abound, and flowers bloom along the shore. On the other side, where the hot water runs, all is death ; 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 pleasing sensation is experienced by lying on your back in the middle of the stream with half your body in cold water and the other half in hot ; one side almost parboiled, the other de- 334 BIBLE LANDS. lightfully cool. What a place for a sanitarium ! I know of nothing like it. On the plateau directly north of these springs is the tradi- tional field where Elijah, on his return from Horeb, met Elisha " plowing with twelve joke of oxen." ' There is nothing sur- prising in this statement. I have seen as many as twenty yoke of oxen plowing at the same time in the same field. Our party were the first Americans to visit these remarkable springs, which for more than two thousand years have been celebrated for their healing properties. This was the great resort of the.Romans in the days of the Empire, but we could find no trace of Herod's marble baths ; every thing being buried beneath the sulphurous deposits of twenty centuries. The few Bedouins who come here to be cured of their infirmities believe firmly in the virtue of the water, and have a tradition that these fountains flow from the lower regions, and are allowed to escape lest the unfortunate doomed should bathe in their heal- ing waters and be restored to life again. Leaving these springs, and continuing up the valley to its head, we rode over a rocky ridge into Wady Waleh, a -branch of the Arnon, where we encamped for the night in a grove of flowering oleanders. An old Roman road once crossed the valley at this point on a bridge of five stone arches, now in ruins ; the paved road-bed may still be seen, and on some of the mile-stones can still be read the name of the Emperor Severus. We saw illustrated here how " the waters wear the stones." The bed of the stream is a soft limestone, and the waters have worn it into a thousand different channels, cavities, and pools, of every fantastic form : some of them have the shape of bath- tubs, in one of which we took a refreshing swim ; others are 1 1 Kings xix, 1 9. THE MOABITE STOSE. DISCOVERY OF THE MOABITE STONE. 337 larger, and full of fish, of which we caught enough for break- fast. The fish, not being acquainted with modern tactics, were easily taken with a pin-hook. The natives thought the fish very foolish for biting, and said, " They caught themselves ; for if they didn't bite they wouldn't be caught." Striking our tents at an early hour we soon gained the high, rich plateau immediately north of the Arnon, dotted with flocks and herds, and yellow with fields of wheat and barley, where Sihon, king of the Amorites, was slain when he gave battle to the Israelites after refusing them the privilege of passing through his territory. A ride of a few miles over this fertile plain the grass in some places up to our horses' knees brought us to the ruins of Dibon, the ancient capital of Moab, where the celebrated Mesha stone was found. Among all the discoveries of modern times none possess greater interest to the linguist, historian, and biblical scholar than " The Moabite Stone." Apart from the light it sheds upon an obscure portion of Jewish history, it is of great value to the archaeologist as the oldest specimen of alphabetic writing extant dating back at least to 890 B. C. The Assyrian inscrip- tions are older than the Moabito, but they are not a language of letters ; the arrow-headed character being used to denote whole words. The hieroglyphics of Egypt are older, but they are symbolic writing, not alphabetic. Among the Egyptians a. lamp signified life ; a jackal, cunning ; a waving line, running water ; so that the finding of this stone lias helped greatly to settle the long-disputed question as to the origin of letters and the art of writing. It also shows clearly that the Semitic na- tions east of the Jordan were more civilized than is generally admitted; that they practiced writing nearly a thousand years before Christ, if not much earlier ; that they had a complete. -338 BIBLE LANDS. alphabet of their own language, and kept correct records of important events ; that in writing, the same characters were used by all the Semitic nations ; and that the Phoenicians and Hebrew alphabets are closely allied, if not identical, in their origin. It also illustrates the history of our own language, for the whole of the Greek alphabet is here found in its primitive state, not only similar to, but scarcely distinguishable from, the Phoenician ; answering fully the objections that have been made to Psalm cxix, and other alphabetical Psalms, and show- ing that the Greeks must have received their entire alphabet from the East ; which is very likely, since it appears that Cad- 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 very similar to those used in the days of Moses. This is the first fragment recovered of Moabite literature, and all that is extant except w r hat is preserved in the Mosaic records. The finding of this stone is like the recovery of a lost chapter from the inspired volume, and, without doing vio- lence to the text, might be added to the Second Book of Kings. The first chapter of that book opens with the declaration, " Then Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab." The subject then changes, and nothing more is said of this re- volt till we come to the third chapter, when the kings of Israel, Judah, and Edom go forth to suppress the rebellion. On this monument we have the particulars given us of this war : who the king of Moab was, where he lived, the cities he built, the god he worshiped, how he took Nebo, what he did with the prisoners, and finally, in his desperation, sacrificing his eldest son, and heir to his throne, on the esplanade of his citadel at Kerak, in sight of all Israel. DESCRIPTION OF THE STOXE. 339 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 discovery was purely accidental. The first European to see it was Rev. F. A. Kline, an English clergyman of Jerusalem, who was passing through Moab, and had his attention called to it by a friendly Arab in the summer of 1868. The value of the stone was not known at first, and for more than a year it remained where first found, on the surface of the ground, in a depression between two hills covered with ruins, in the north- west corner of Dibon. When discovered it was lying with the inscription uppermost, and in a perfect state of preservation ; but unfortunately, through a rivalry that sprang up among the Bedouins in reference to the backsheesh, the Ishmaelite, Saleein el Kari, who first found it, kindled a fire beneath the stone, and by throwing cold water upon it when heated broke this invaluable monument of antiquity into ten thousand pieces. About seven tenths of the fragments were afterward recovered, and are now in the Louvre, at Paris. There were over one thousand neatly cut letters on the tablet arranged in thirty-four lines. About seven hundred of these letters have been secured, which, with the " squeezes " taken before and after its destruc- tion, give a pretty correct idea of the record. The language is very expressive, and the sentences carefully punctuated. It was probably placed by the king in front of some temple to commemorate his victories ; and from the facts set forth we learn, that after Solomon's reign Moab again be- came an independent nation ; that it was known then as the land of Moab, or Meab ; that Mesha was king, and Dibon its capital ; that they were oppressed forty years by the house of 22 340 BIBLE LANDS. Omri, father of Ahab and founder of Samaria ; that Jehovah was generally known among the nations as Israel's God, and Chemosh as the god of the Moabites. Mesha goes to war with Israel, and this monumental slab was erected to commemorate- his deeds. We are indebted to that eminent archaeologist, Clermont- Ganneau, for the most correct translation of this invaluable- record. Other portions of the stone have more recently been- recovered by M. Clermont-Ganneau, from whom we learn, in- addition to the above, that the name of Mesha's father was- Chamos-Gad ; that he was a native of Dibon, and among other exploits took Ar, or Rabbath-Moab, and slew Ariel, probably Benaiah, one of David's mighty men, who had slain two lion- like men of JVIoab. 1 How strange that a chapter from the word of God, after- lying for nearly thirty centuries among the ruins of a pagan temple, should thus be found by a Christian missionary travel- ing through the land ! The Bible does not claim to narrate all the events of the past,, only the most important, and such as relate to God's purposes. in the redemption of man. So, really, we are no wiser relig- iously by this discovery. Still, it is gratifying in this age of skepticism, when the authenticity of the Scriptures is often called into question, to find among the vestiges of a former remote civilization such a record of Jewish history and to re- cover from King Mesha's own royal library a lapidary volume fully corroborating the truth of revelation. 1 2 Samuel xxiii, 20, CHAPTER III. MOUNT PISGAH. Its Identity Established Wady Musa The Outpourings of Pisgah High Places of Baal King's Highway Moabite Images Grand Outlook. dream of my life has at last been realized. From boy- J- hood I had been singing in my heart, " Could I but climb where Moses stood." That desire has just been gratified. My feet have stood on Pisgah, and with my natural vision I have looked beyond the Jordan, and viewed " the landscape o'er." Few places mentioned in the Bible have been more fre- quently discussed than the situation of Pisgah. Yet, down to the present, its precise locality had been undetermined. This was owing to the danger attending a thorough exploration of the country, from the hostility of the Bedouins to all foreign- ers, especially Christians. All these tribes are uncivilized and rapacious, and it would be madness to attempt to go through their territory without permission and proper escort. We had many adventures with these wild sons of Ishmael, on two oc- casions being compelled at midnight, Arab-like, " To fold our tents and steal away." We, however, accomplished our purpose : making safely the tour of Moab and Edom, and, at least to our own satisfaction, fixing many localities hitherto unknown among them the Pisgah of Moses. 341 342 BIBLE LANDS. All who have investigated the subject will admit that this mountain must be in the immediate vicinity designated. To our mind the arguments adduced are conclusive in fixing its locality on the highest summit of the Nebo range, known among the natives as Jebel Neby, or Mountain of the Prophet, a bold promontory about five miles west of Heshbon, where the mountain breaks off abruptly, falling in rocky terraces down to the Salt Sea and plain of Shittim, four thousand feet below. In determining the position of this mountain we have to rely upon the scriptural account and natural topography of the country. The inspired record is sufficiently clear on the subject : " And Moses went up from the Plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho," etc. 1 Here are several conditions to be met in de- termining its locality. Pisgah must overlook the Dead Sea and Plains of Moab. There must be an easy ascent to its top from the valley below. It must stand opposite to or facing Jeri- cho; must have two or more summits, with a ravine separating it from Beth-peor, arid a field capable of cultivation on its top, with springs of water flowing from beneath it ; and. finally, it must command a view of the whole of Western Palestine, and trans-Jordanic Palestine, from Dan to Zoar. Now, all these conditions are met in the locality we have given. Nebo is the name of the mountain a spur of the " Abarim " range. This mountain has several summits, which answer to the " high places of Baal " to which Balak brought Baalam. Pisgah, which signifies the height, we very properly apply to the highest of these summits, and the only one from which the " utmost sea," and other points mentioned in the narrative, can 1 Deuteronomy xxxiv, 2. LOCALITY OF PISGAII. 343 be seen. Ruins, as of an old altar, are found upon this hill ; we, however, attach but little importance to this circumstance, as the remains of altars and temples are found on all the "high places of Moab." There can be no doubt as to the place where the Israelites wore encamped at the time of their leader's death. It is defl nitely given, on "the Plains of Moab, by Jordan, near Jericho." 1 This alone should settle the position of Pisgah ; as Moses locates it directly east of the Jordan, overlooking the Plains of Moab, and facing Jericho, which is the exact position of the mountain for which we contend. By referring to the interview between Balak and Balaam, you will find that the king of Moab brought the Assyrian prophet to the " field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah ; " 2 which literally means to the cultivated field on the " top of Pisgah," and very truthfully applies to this mountain. As we rode over the undulating ridge to the east it looked like a beautiful meadow, with here and there cultivated patches the wheat in some places up to our saddle-skirts, and even on the top and down the slopes of the mountain we found fig and juniper trees growing ; and in one place discovered an old wine-press ten feet by eight cut in the solid rock, two feet deep, showing that there must have been at one time vineyards here. Moses, in assigning to the children of Reuben their portion of the territory, names, among other places, Dibon, Heshbon and " Ashdoth-Pisgah " the outpourings or "springs of Pis- gah," as rendered in our translation. 3 Here we have natural landmarks by which Pisgah may be determined to a certainty ; it being the highest peak, opposite and nearest Jericho, from beneath which the fountains pour. 1 Numbers xxxi, 12. 2 Numbers xxiii, 14. 3 Deuteronomy iv, 49. 344 BIBLE LANDS. Sweeping round the base of this mountain on the east and north is a deep ravine, extending down to the Jordan, up which Moses could easily have ascended from the plain to the top ; and, what is remarkable, this valley is still called by the Arabs Wady Musa the Valley of Moses. Near the head of this ravine, bursting from beneath the highest summit, are a number of living springs of clear, pure, cool water, forming SPRINGS OF MOSES. quite a brook, that leaps in beautiful cascades down the mount- ain side. These springs are known as Ayun Musa Springs of Moses and correspond exactly with the outpourings of Pisgah. In fact, one of the springs literally pours from a natural tunnel in the limestone rock, and, after flowing a short distance along the projecting cliff, at one bound leaps fully fifty feet into the gorge below. These springs are an argument in favor of this WADY MUSA AND BETH-PEOR. 345 locality, which will not apply to any other mountain east of the Jordan. After the Lord showed his servant " the land which he sware unto Abraham," it is recorded that Moses died, and was " buried in a valley over against Beth-peor." Now, directly east of this mountain, across Wady Musa, is another eminence, with the tomb of some sheik and ruins upon it, which in every respect answers to Beth-peor ; that is, the House of Peor, or place where Baal-Peor, the god of the Moabites, was worshiped. 'This deity corresponds with the Roman Priapus, and is iden MOABITE IMAGES FOUND NEAR PISGAH. tical with Chemosh, the national god of the Moabites, whose name is frequently mentioned on the celebrated Moabite stone, found at Dibon, only a few miles south of this. The religious rites attending the worship of Baal-Peor were of the most indecent character, as the name indicates, and as may be seen from the idols and coins recently found in Moab ; and it is a singulai coincidence that within a few years hun- dreds of obscene idols of this god, made chiefly of terra-cotta, have been found in this vicinity, and are now on exhibition in the Berlin museum. "When the children of Israel entered the 346 BIBLE LANDS. country and pitched their tents " before 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 leads down 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, referred to above, are also in this ravine, pouring down from over a shelving rock their limpid waters, causing the whole valley to rejoice. Here, it is said, the servant of God rested on his weary way up the mountain. Poor pilgrim ! another 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- peor; and if the great prophet was not translated, no doubt somewhere in this lovely valley, among the blooming lilies and babbling waterfalls, forever concealed from mortal eyes by the wild flowers and ferns that hang in drapery rich from every cliff, is the grave of Moses God's faithful servant, and earth's greatest lawgiver. Having carefully examined all the mountains from the Jab- bok to the Arnon, we are fully persuaded this is the only one that can fulfill all the conditions in the scriptural account Mount Gilead being too far north, and Attarus entirely too far south. Then, neither of these mountains are opposite Jericho ; there never could have been a cultivated field on their rocky SPRINGS OF PISGAH. summits; they do not overlook the Plains of Moab, and the outlook from their tops is too circumscribed. The Pisgah we contend for meets all these conditions ; the scriptural topography harmonizing exactly with the actual facts. "We have here the Nebo range, with " the high places, of Baal" the mountain with two summits facing Jericho, with the springs gushing from beneath it ; Beth-peor on the east, with Wady Mnsa sloping gently down to the plain ; and on the top traces of a cultivated field, from which can be had the most extensive view in all the land. This site agrees with, both Jerome and Eusebius, who locate Pisgah " six miles to the- west of Heshbon " the exact distance by the old road ; and also with Drs. Strong and Ridgaway, with whom the writer first visited this mountain ; and in all essentials with Prof. Paine, who, however, contends for the more westerly peak. In examining this locality, much to our surprise we found,, on a second projection of No bo, about half a mile west of Pis- gah, extensive ruins of a city not marked on any map. In some places the walls were standing twenty feet high ; many prostrate columns were lying about, as if thrown down by an earthquake ; we also found large cisterns, rock-hewn tombs, and massive foundations as of a strongly fortified place, in all probability the remains of the city of Nebo. The ruins indicated a re- mote antiquity, as there was no trace of Grecian or Roman architecture among them. Nebo is mentioned among the cities rebuilt by the tribe of Reuben, and was built, doubtless, on this second knoll for defensive purposes. Eusebius refers to it, and locates it in this neighborhood. Isaiah classifies it with Heshbon, Dibon, and Baal-Meon, all in this vicinity ;. and Jeremiah, in denouncing the judgments of God upon Moab, exclaims, " Woe unto Nebo, for it is spoiled judg- BIBLE LANDS. ment is come upon Dibon and Nebo Moab shall howl over JSebo." We also found the track of an old paved road in good pres- ervation, with the side walls standing, leading from this city .in the direction of Aroer, which undoubtedly is the " KING'S HIGHWAY," by which the Israelites entered Canaan ! From the Mosaic record it appears they came by this highway to the " top of Pisgah," pitching their tents " in the mountains of .Abarim, before Nebo," l that is, in the valley or table-land, "over against Beth-peor." a The discovery of this city and road we consider, apart from the interest they possess, an addi- tional argument in support of the identity of Pisgah, establish- ing beyond controversy its site, leaving no longer a doubt as to the verity of the spot where " Moses, the servant of the Lord," closed his eyes on earth. 3 The view from the top of this mountain is sublimely grand. Nothing on earth can equal it in sacred and historic interest. I :shall never forget the rapture of that vision. At our feet the "Sea of Death rolled its sullen waves over the once fertile Plain of Siddim. To the north the winding course of the Jordan could be traced to its fountain head, with Hermon, standing like 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 Tier misty veil over the grave of Aaron on its highest summit. Far away to the north, " goodly Lebanon," still clothed in her wintry robes. On our left Hebron loomed up in the distance, as if proud of her sacred charge the tomb of the patriarchs. On our right, tinged with a bluish haze, were the Galilean hills, J Numbers xxxiii, 47. 3 Deuteronomy iii, 29. 3 Deuteronomy xxxiv, 5. OUTLOOK FROM PISGAH. 349 -with Nazareth nestling on their bosom. Directly in front of us was the '" city of palm-trees ; " and just back of it the mount- ain of Christ's temptation and the brook Cherith, where Elijah was fed by the ravens ; and beyond Herodium, the mausoleum of 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 Jerusa- lem, so beautiful for situation and hallowed in its associations ; and close by Olivet, beaming in the sunlight like the gate-way to glory ; and just beyond Xeby Samvvel, where Israel's last judge lived, died, and awaits the resurrection. Still farther north could be seen Gerizim and Ebal, overlooking the well of Jacob and the tornb of Joseph ; and beyond Carmel, stretching away to the " utmost sea," the Mediterranean Sea. Then came the depression of the Plain of Esdraelon, guarded by Tabor and Gilboa scenes of some of the most stirring events in sacred history. The Mount of Beatitudes was only partly seen, but east of the Jordan, Mizpah-Gilead, where Jacob and Laban last parted, was in full view, with the tomb of Hosea on its summit. And eastward, as far as the Hauran 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 inarch of civilization, and clearly indicate that " Westward the star of empire takes its way." Words, however, can never describe the grand outlook from this lofty eminence. Only such as have enjoyed the prospect can fully appreciate it. CHAPTER IV. LAND OF GILEAD. Mount Gilead Name Applied to all Eastern Palestine Home of Elijah Jephthab. Ramoth-Gilead Eemarkable Kuins Arak el Emir Jerash Hella Ga- dara Balm of Gilead. HPHE mountainous district lying north of Moab, and extend- * ing along the Jordan like a massive wall from its mouth to- the lower spurs of Hermon, was known as Gilead, deriving its name from Mount Gilead, 1 or Mizpah Galeed, where Jacob and Laban had their last interview, and set up their memorial stones as a witness between them. This country was early conquered and absorbed by Sihon, Icing of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. 2 It afterward belonged to Gad, and though the- name survived, and sometimes applied to the whole of Eastern Palestine, 3 the aboriginal inhabitants became extinct. The Adwan tribe of Bedouins, of which Ali Diab is sheik, now hold the country, and have generally been friendly to Americans. We have visited their camp frequently, and al- ways received a hearty welcome. The sheik's tent can be easily distinguished from the rest by the number of lances stuck in the ground around it, with shafts from twelve to four- teen feet long, and often ornamented with tufts of black or white ostrich feathers near the blade. These plumes are their battle-flags, and the warriors who carry the black feathers on. their spears are the invincibles, who never retreat, surrender, or show mercy; but those with white plumes will both grant: J Genesis xxxi, 25-49. * Joshua xii, 1-5. 'Deuteronomy iii, 12. 350 BEDOUIN HOSPITALITY. 351 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- ing out of the same large dish. Such articles as knives, forks, ALI DIAB, SHEIK OF THE ADWANS. 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. handful of lentiles, thrust it into your 'mouth, almost choking- you ; but woe betide the guest who refuses this special mark of attention. All visitors are required to conform to these usages, As " when in Kome we do as the Romans do," so, on the same principle, when in Turkey we must do as the Turkeys do, that 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. Among so many mountains it is difficult at this late date to determine the particular eminence where Laban overtook Jacob, and that gave its name to this whole province. It, however, is generally conceded to Jebel Jil'ad, the Arabic of Mount Gilead, a peak that rises to the height of four thousand seven hundred 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 as Jebel Osha, from the reputed tomb of the Prophet Hosea being on its summit ; and is supposed to be Mizpah-Gil- ead, where Jephthah made the rash vow which cost the life of MOUNT GILEAD. 353; his only child, whose untimely death the maidens of the land; still lament, by the annual observance of a day of mourning on, this lofty mountain. David, when driven from his kingdom, by the wrathful Saul, found here an asylum for himself and parents. Elijah was a native of Gilead, and from the plain below, near the Jordan, mounted the heavens in his chariot of lire. As we rode over the same plain, a whirlwind swept across our path, and we could almost fancy we saw the fiery prophet ascend the skies. Sweeping round the base of the mountain on the north is the river Jabbok and the ford where Jacob spent the night he prevailed with God ; and only half an hour's ride from here is Ramoth-gilead, so celebrated in Jewish history as one of the cities of refuge, where Ahab received his mortal wound, and the impetuous Jehu was anointed king of Israel. The view from this eminence is magnificent ; in some respects even finer than from Nebo, taking in the entire Jordan Valley and all Western Palestine from Lebanon on the north to the Dead Sea on the south. This was the landscape on which Abraham first gazed as he journeyed over this same mountain on his way to the Promised Land. Some have contended that this Mount is the Pisgah of Moses, but no one who has ever visited the two mountains will entertain such an idea for a moment. Except in the extensive outlook, Jebel Jil'ad does not fulfill a single condition of the true Pisgah ; then, it is at least twenty miles too far north. On the summit of this mountain the naked rock crops out, forming a natural watch- tower from which a beacon light could be seen half over Palestine. Excavated in this rock are some curious tombs and cisterns, with steps leading down to them, and under the ledge that projects toward the west three large caves, forty feet. 354 BIBLE LANDS. square, one with seats cut in the rock round three sides, with a recess facing the entrance, as if designed for a place of worship or council chamber. As we entered one of these caves the largest eagle I ever saw flew out, an auspicious omen, the Arabs say. This was Israel's great rendezvous. Here they held their councils of war, and probably in these caverns Jephthah and his desperadoes laid their plans for the recon- quest of the country from the Amorites. This whole land at one time must have been thickly pop- ulated and highly civilized. Every few miles you come upon the remains of cities, some of them dating back to the days of the Rephaim. The great number of these ruins prove a dense 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 Persea. It WHS built by Hyrcanus I., an Asmonean prince, one hundred and ninety years before Christ, on a terrace of the mountain twenty- five hundred 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 plateau, surrounded by a strong wall and deep fosse, stood the castle or fortress. The only entrance to it was by a massive gate-way of large beveled stones, well dressed, with a beading running up the angles. The frieze of this portal was an enor- mous stone, in the Ionic style, and very beautiful. There was a colonnade in front of the castle composed of plain and fluted columns with Ionic and Egyptian capitals rather a strange CASTLE OF HYRCAISTUS. 355 medley. The building itself was constructed of great stone slabs, hard as marble, from fifteen to twenty feet long, by ten feet wide and two feet thick, just the thickness of the wall. These slabs stood on their edge, and were held together by knobs about eight inches square, cut on the upper edge of the lower stones and fitting snugly in corresponding sockets in the -'' CASTLE OF HTRCANCS. next course above, and so on to the topmost course. No mor- tar or iron clamps were used. Above the second course, or twenty feet from the foundation, ran a Doric belt-course, highly ornamented, and above this a frieze twelve feet high, formed of colossal sculptured slabs, with enormous lions in alto 23 356 BIBLE LANDS. relievo ; and above this, still another entablature and frieze int the Ionic style. Most of this once beautiful edifice is now in ruins fragments of broken columns and cornices strew the ground ; but the foundations and several courses of the walls, and a few of the sculptured slabs, are yet in situ, having resisted the storms and earthquakes of more than two thousand years. The account of this palace, as given by Josephus, 1 is very correct, to which the reader is referred for details. ARAK EL EMIR. Ten minutes' walk from the castle is Arak el Emir, the rock dwelling and stables of the prince, a perfect labyrinth of dark 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. ROCK-HEWN TOMBS. 357 or railing. This unique castle consists of numerous halls, 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 steep and difficult path a narrow passage or rent in the rock, which leads to a long range of cells for all purposes some for feasting and sleeping ; others for attendants and guards ; in some instances several cells communicating. One apartment, designed for a stable, was large enough for at least a hun- dred horses ; the feeding and watering troughs, and holes for fastening the halters, all hewn out of the native rock. The approach to all these caves is difficult, and to some dan- gerous, it being necessary in places to creep along a narrow ledge on your hands and feet. The doorways generally are so small that not more than one person can enter at a time. The only entrance to one suite of apartments was by a small hole through the floor of the cell above, concealed by a stone slab, rendering it impossible for an enemy to force an entrance, as the trap- 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 feet, on barbed pikes. There is a deep cistern connected with these apartments, and in all probability it was here that Hyr- canus ended his unhappy life. When he built this strong- hold and cut out these numerous hiding-places in the cliffs of the mountain, he fancied himself secure; but being naturally timid and suspicious was kept by his enemies in a constant state of alarm, and after seven miserable years committed suicide in one of these cells, when Antiochus Epiphanes laid 358 BIBLE LANDS. siege to the castle and fortress. One feels very sad wandering through these dark passages and tomb-like cells, once the seat of royalty, now the habitation of wild beasts and the wilder children of the desert. Alexander, who built the fortress of Machserus, was the son of this Hyrcanus. Crossing the Jabbok at Jacob's ford, we began the ascent of the Mountains of Ajlun, covered with forests of oak, fir, and terebinth. It was somewhere in these forests that the rebellious OAK. OF BASHAX. Absalom came to his ignoble death. The stiff, shaggy branches of the oak hang very low, and unless a person is careful he is likely to meet with the same mishap that befell this young man. Eiding carelessly under one of these trees I was caught by the low boughs round the neck, and would have been lifted from the saddle and left dangling in the air had my horse not suddenly stopped. Two hours of climbing over hills and rocks, through jungles JERASH. 361 and park-like forests, brought us to an open country of low, rounded ridges and verdant valleys, running north and south, and covered with the remains of a once magnificent city known among the natives as Gerasa or Jerash. In some respects, these ruins are more imposing and extensive than any others in Syria ; not so colossal as those at Baalbec, but equally classical and more vast. It appears to have been a city of palaces, tem- ples, and other public edifices ; and one is perplexed to know where the people came from to fill these theaters and numer- ous temples. Though most of the city is a heap of ruins, much of its ancient grandeur remains. Colonnades fully a mile in length, crossing each other at right angles, may still be traced. Tri- umphal arches of rich design, spanning the streets at different points, may still be seen. One of several bridges over the val- ley and stream which ran through the midst of the city may still be crossed. Grand gate-ways, towers, theaters, baths, and 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 lying prostrate and broken at their base. The Temple of the Sun, of which only eleven columns of the portico remain, must have been a gem of Grecian art. Many inscriptions may still be seen on pedestal, column, and architrave, but nothing earlier than the Greek and Roman period, though there is every rea- son for believing that this city existed long before that period. The first mention made of Jerash in history is by Josephus, who gives an account of the taking of the place by Alexander Janneus, B. C. 85, 1 showing that it must have existed prior to 1 Jewish "Wars, i, 4, 8. 362 BIBLE LANDS. that date. And from the fact that Mahanaim, where Jacob met the angels, 1 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 is also supposed that the beautiful Twenty-third Psalm was written here.* The valley of the Jabbok, through which David must have fled, with his enemies lurking behind every rock, would represent forcibly " the Yalley 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 the once opulent city. The place is entirely deserted. "With some difficulty we clambered up into the room over the southern gate a very antique and curious ruin, with foliage round the bases of the columns where it is supposed- David received the first news of his son's death ; and when there, we could almost fancy we heard that stricken father exclaiming in all the anguish of his soul, " O my son Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, iny son ! " Twenty miles north-west of Jerash, on a terrace of the mountain overlooking, and about a thousand feet above, the Jordan Valley, a few standing columns near the foundations of some old buildings, and some rock-hewn tombs in the side of the mountain near the remains" of a temple or church, mark the site of ancient Pella, which possesses no interest to the general reader except as the city of refuge for the Christians- during the siege of Jerusalem by Titus. 1 Genesis xxxii, 1. 2 See Sermon by Rev. Stopford Brooke. 3 2 Samuel xviii, 33. GADAEA. 36S Gadara, the most northern city of Gilead, was situated on a north-western spur of the mountains just south of the Sea of Galilee, where the river Hieromax empties into the Jordan, and on the highway between Jerusalem and Damascus, along which the Israelites probably traveled when taken captives to Baby- lon. As at Jerash, a colonnade street ran through the city, the columns of which are all lying among the rubbish of ages, but RCIXS OF GADARA. the paved road-bed, with the nits 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 Jerusalem, some quite large, with stone doors still swinging on 364 BIBLE LANDS. their stone hinges. We found several of these tombs occupied .by a low, desperate class of natives, recalling the visit of Christ to this neighborhood, and the healing of the demoniac who came out of the tombs, and met Jesus as he landed from the ship. 1 This miracle, it will be observed, was not wrought at Gadara, but " in the country of the Gadarenes," of which Gad- .ara was the capital, or, according to Strabo, " in the territory of Gadara," which extended to the Sea of Galilee. This was one of the cities of the Decapolis, and at one time the capital of Peraea. It was first taken by Antiochus the -Great, B. C. 218, afterward rebuilt by Pompey, and again captured and destroyed by Vespasian, and all its inhabitants put to the sword. Again it was rebuilt, and became the seat of an episcopal see, but never recovered from its conquest by the Mohammedans ; and all that remains of this once opulent city is a confused heap of ruins. 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. Among the rare plants indigenous to this country is the cele- brated shrub or tree from which the balm of Gilead was ex- tracted, once the great specific for all diseases peculiar to the East. It is an aromatic tree with long slender twigs thickly covered with sharp thorns, still found growing about Jericho, and along the Jordan in Crilead, commonly known as the Arabian Nubk, or Spina Christa, and is probably the tree from which the Saviour's crown of thorns was woven. And may not Jeremiah have referred to the crowning of our Lord with thorns, and to the blood which flowed from the peerless 1 Mark v, 1-21. BALM OF GLLEAD. 365 t>row of Christ, when he, in the bitterness of his soul, inquired, " Is there no balm in Gilead ? " l This most precious gum was generally obtained by making an incision in the bark of the shrub ; it also oozed from the 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 around Heliopolis and the Fountain of the Sun, in Egypt, no longer produce this rare specific for suffering mor- tals, and it has long since ceased to be an article of export from Gilead ; but the more precious balm it typified is still offered < without money and without price " to a dying world. 1 Jeremiah viii, 22. CHAPTER V. STONE CITIES OF BASHAN. Giant Tribes of Men Land of the Giants Present Population Patriarchal Char- acter Deserted Cities Adraha Bozrah Salcah. fTlHESE are the ruins described by Mr. Porter as the Giant -L Cities of Bashan ; but whether there ever was a race of men much larger than the present remains to be proven. At a very early period, when the mode of living was more simple, and the habits of the people more hardy, certain tribes, under favorable circumstances, may have attained an unusual height and extraordinary strength ; still, from the statements of the most ancient historians, from the human remains found in the oldest tombs, and from the dimensions of their dwellings and the size of their armor, it does not appear that the early in- habitants of the world differed materially from the present race. True, the Bible makes mention of the fact that " there were giants in the earth in those days ;" ' but we are only to under- stand from this that they were wicked, ferocious men ; men of violence and blood ; men of strong animal passions, who op- pressed and plundered the weak and defenseless. The Hebrew word nephilim, which is rendered giant, literally signifies earth- born or fallen ; men of depravity, strong, bull-necked, muscular men, of which " the earth was full " after the fall ; but it no- where represents them of great size, such as the term giant in modern parlance implies. The Kephaim, or first settlers of Bashan, appear to have been. 1 Genesis vi, 4. 366 GIANT RACES. 367 of this character, of whom Og, their giant king, only remained in the days of Moses. That there were men of gigantic pro- portions in every age of the world none will deny, as we occa- sionally meet with them in oar own day ; and it would seem that in primitive times, when armies fought hand to hand, and much depended on great physical strength, these semi- civilized nations selected the largest men for their leaders. Such was Og, king of Bashan, whose iron bedstead was nine ubits long ; * Saul, first king of Israel, who stood head and shoulders above his brethren; Goliah of Gath, whose height was " six cubits and a span."' nine feet and a fraction ; 3 Poms the Indian king, who was five cubits in height, and many others we might name. These, however, were exceptions, and only prove that the soldiers composing the armies they led to battle were no larger than ordinary men. The " land of Bashan " extended from the " border of Gilead " on the south to Mount Hermon on the north ; and from the Jordan Valley on the west to Salcah on the east,* including that portion of Palestine east of the Jordan, called " the land of the giants,'' which fell to the lot of the half tribe of Manasseh. 4 As the name signifies, it was a fat and fruitful country, a high plateau of rich pasture-land, densely populated, and pro- verbial for its exuberant fertility, ever-green forests, and su- perior breed of cattle. " The oaks of Bashan " are classed by the inspired writers with the cedars of Lebanon. Her " rams, lambs, and goats " are alluded to as superior to all other failings,* and the " bulls of Bashan " have always been celebrated for 1 Deuteronomy iii, 11. * 1 Samuel xvii, 4. * Deuteronomy iii, 3-14 : Joshua xii, 3-5. 4 Deuteronomy iii, 13. 5 Ezekiel xxxix, 18. 368 BIBLE LANDS. their great strength, and are supposed to be the behemoth mentioned by Job. This country is first noticed in connection with the invasion of Chedorlaomer and his con federates, who "smote the Rephaim in Ashtaroth Karnaim," ' the royal city " of Og, king of Bashan, who was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ash- taroth." " The land was anciently divided into three provinces : Gaulanitis, on the west ; Argob or Trachonitis, to the north ; and Auranitis or Batansea, on the east. It is now generally known as the Hauran, the land of mountains and of free- dom, so called from Jebel Hauran, a volcanic mountain that rises from the great plain of Moab, six thousand four hundred feet above the sea. When the Israelites invaded Canaan, they " went up by the way of the Bashan," probably by the Haj route-. east of the Salt Sea, now traveled by the pilgrims to Mecca, and after conquering the nations east of the Jordan crossed over into Western Palestine. The present occupants of this country are chiefly the wild,, nomadic children of the desert. Most of these Bedouin tribes. are lawless, hereditary robbers, and have always lived by plunder- ing all who came within their reach. Time has neither changed their character nor improved their condition. You will find them to-day leading the same predatory life they did a thou- sand years ago. They excuse themselves for their robberies by the treatment received by their father, Ishmael, who, being turned out upon the world without patrimony, was allowed to take all he could find, and collect tribute from all travelers passing through his dominions. There are, however, a few tribes who pride themselves on being the descendants of the Patriarchs are given to hospi- 1 Genesis xiv, 5. a Joshua xii, 4. BEDOUIN HOSPITALITY. tality, and really are very patriarchal in their manners. They treat all travelers as guests, and often press you to accept their entertainment, and appear offended if you decline. They have coffee and milk always on hand, and a kid or fatted calf always ready to be served, with provender in abundance for your horses or camels, reminding one very much of the sim- plicity of primitive times. On one occasion, as we approached a village, the Sheik and 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 given us to recline on, after which we were served with bread, honey, milk, coffee, and every other delicacy they had, the chiefs joining us in our repast, which was accompanied by singing, and music on a stringed instrument something like a violin. They pressed us earnestly to stay with them over night, and when we declined, the Sheik appeared disappointed, and said, " I would rather bury one of my children than have you go." And he really seemed to mean it. In parting he gave us the customary blessing, and refused any gift for himself or servants. The men generally wear the aba, girdle, and turban, and the women a dress of blue cotton cloth, with a white veil thrown over the head, the latter frequently elevated from twelve to fifteen inches above the head by a silver horn, richly chased, which makes them look very tall and defiant. Among the wealthy, and on special occasions, a silk fabric is worn. This tantura, or horn, denotes wealth, position, and power, and is interesting as illustrating and explaining that familiar expression of the Psalmist, "My horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of a unicorn." ' The females all tattoo their cheeks and. 1 Psalm xcii, 10. 370 BIBLE LANDS. chin, the back of their hands, and arms up to the elbow, also the top of their feet and ankles. Their finger-nails are painted red and their eyebrows black, giving them a rather hideous appearance. We met here with some vounor men living with women much > o c? older than themselves, and when we inquired the cause were told that " the 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 tribes you can buy a camel, horse, or piece of land on credit, but not a beautiful woman ; for all such articles you have to pay the cash or its equivalent on delivery. Bashan was but a small portion of trans- Jordanic Palestine,. and yet contained sixty "fenced cities," with towering walls and gates secured with " brazen bars." Out of over one hun- dred places mentioned in the Scriptures as belonging to this region, a few only have been identified ; of most of them nothing is left but heaps of shapeless ruins without either name or story. Sometimes a solitary column will be found, standing 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 connecting these cities may still be traced by the deeply worn ruts of chariot wheels in their solid beds, though no wayfaring man has walked therein for ages ; and occasionally a bridge may be seen spanning some stream, or a mile-stone marking the dis- tance to some unknown place, but nothing remains by which the names of many of these places can be determined. GIANT CITIES. 371 In a few of these cities houses may be found perfect as the day they were built. They are constructed entirely of stone, generally of black basalt hard as flint. Not only are the walls stone, but the floors, roofs, doors, even the window-shutters and SCARFED STONE WALL. hinges. No mortar was used in the construction of these build- ings, but the stones were scarfed, so as to bind them firmly to- gether. In some instances the doors are beautifully paneled, with moldings running round, and ornamented with clusters of fruit and flowers. Some of the houses consist of several apartments with folding doors communicating, each door a single slab of stone. The streets are paved with stone, the court-yards flagged with stone, the gates leading to them are stone, some of them ten feet high and eight inches thick, with stone hinges, and grooves for brazen bolts. In the stables all the stalls and man- gers are stone, and from the charac- ter of their habitations, one would suppose that the great aim of the former inhabitants of this land was to fortify themselves against their enemies, as each house is a fortification of itself. The cisterns, baths, and aqueducts 24 STONE DOOR. 372 BIBLE LANDS. which supplied them are all hewn in the solid rock, and in. some of them water may still be found. Many of these cities belong to the Greek and Roman period ; others, however, are prehistoric, and carry us back to the first settlements made by man after the flood. Or, probably, they may owe their origin to the Geshurites, that powerful race of men known as giants, who occupied this land when Israel came up out of Egypt. And, what is remarkable, in some of the oldest buildings materials from still older edifices may be seen, indicating a remote antiquity, and showing that portions of these structures must date back at least four thousand years. After the conquest of the countr\ T by Alexander, the Grecian architecture was introduced ; and when occupied by the Ro- mans every thing was remodeled in conformity to their ideas ;. and when Christianity became the established religion many old pagan temples were converted into Christian churches. So we frequently find ancient temples of Baal, first dedicated to some Greek or Roman deity, and afterward consecrated to the wor- ship of Christ. Some of the inscriptions on these temples are very curious, as showing the religious changes that have taken place during the last two thousand years. One feels very sol- emn standing in these ruined churches amid these deserted cities, gazing upon the broken columns and tottering walls of grand edifices that once resounded with the high praises of Jehovah, but are now without a single worshiper all silent as the grave. Nothing could be more clear than the fulfillment of prophecy, in the utter overthrow and desolation of these once famous cities. The nations which anciently held this country having either been killed in battle or carried away captives to other lands, their cities were not destroyed only deserted and their houses, FIRST EXPLORERS OF BASHAN. 373 being constructed of stone, are still in good preservation. The present Arab population have always lived in tents ; and from superstitious notions avoid these cities under the impression that they are haunted, or inhabited by evil spirits, so that many of these places are without an inhabitant. Often, in a day's ride, you will pass the ruins of half-a-dozen nameless deserted cities, built by an unknown people, or a people long since forgotten. Yet we know they were of our race, possessed of human feel- ings and affections, and in every other respect very much like ourselves ; and, after the lapse of ages, from their dwellings we can see how they lived ; from their temples, how they wor- shiped ; from their theaters, how they amused themselves ; and from their tombs, how they died and were buried ; but as to their history we know nothing more. A striking fulfillment of the prophecy, " The cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein." ' The first European to visit this unexplored region was Burck- hardt, in 1814. Since then a few other travelers have passed hastily through it, among them the Rev. J. L. Porter, who, in his " Giant Cities of Bashan," has furnished us with much valuable information touching this country. Still later, the American Palestine Exploration Society sent out two exploring parties, but, owing to the lack of funds and the unsettled con- dition of the land, they failed in accomplishing their work. To describe at length these remarkable remains of a former civilization, so replete with interest to science and religion, would require us to go beyond the limits of this volume. We shall, therefore, only give a brief sketch of some of the most inter- esting ruins visited in our late trip through the Hauran. Leaving Gadara when the sun, as the Arabs express it, was 1 Jeremiah xlviii, 9. 374 BIBLE LANDS. about " six lances high," we continued up the valley of the Hieromax, or Yarmuk, and over Jebel Ajliin, b} 7 the old cities of Abila and Capitolias, to Adraha, supposed by some to be Edrei, the ancient capital of Bashan. There is nothing here, however, to indicate royalty, or that it was ever a place of great strength. The city is literally buried beneath the filth of ages. The only ruin of any extent is an old Christian church, opening on a court surrounded by cloisters, in one of which we found an empty basaltic sarcophagus, ornamented with lions' heads. It is said there is a subterranean city beneath the more modern, and we looked long for it and inquired diligently of the natives, but could learn nothing. As the place is entirely destitute of living water, the probability is the numerous cis- terns below gave rise to the report ; and during a state of siege the citizens would very naturally take refuge in these cisterns, which would explain the statement that when the Romans oc- cupied the place and attempted to draw water " their buckets were always cut from the ropes by some malignant spirit." From Adraha to Bozrah we followed the old Roman road, crossing the Zeidy on an ancient stone bridge, and traveling most of the distance through one continuous grain-field, We were ten hours making the journey, and it was after night be- fore we reached our tents, which were pitched near the spring a little north-west of the city. It being quite dark, and we compelled to pick our steps over heaps of rubbish, I became separated from our party just outside the gate, and soon found I was lost ! lost amid the interminable ruins of a deserted city. 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 ov six miles over broken walls in the darkness of the night. I next tried to find my way through the city, but the streets BOZKAH. 375 were so blocked up with ruins as to render the task impossible. My great fear was, of falling in with the desperate robbers who frequently infest these abandoned cities. Finally I made for the citadel, and fortunately met there a Turkish soldier who conducted me safely to our tents. Bozrah, once the Roman capital of Bashan and the Hauran, is situated on the plain of Moab, which is here, perhaps, fifty miles wide from east to west, and, with the exception of some sandy ridges, is of unusual richness and fertility. The Castle of Bozrah, with its deep fosse and massive square towers, is a citadel of great strength, and commands a view of the surround- ing country for many miles. The outer walls are almost per- fect, and within, besides the numerous courts, halls, and gal- leries of a great fortress, there are the remains of a grand am- phitheater nearly three hundred feet across the arena, with a Doric colonnade running around the upper tier of seats, and two large royal apartments of the same order, on either side of the stage. Underneath the theater are extensive vaults and dun- geons where the wild beasts were kept, similar to those under the Colosseum at Rome, only deeper and larger. In one of these vaults there was standing a white marble column, beauti- fully polished, that glittered like alabaster in the light of our tapers, probably the first light to flash upon it in many centuries. Some of the passage-ways were covered overhead with col- umns laid crosswise, and the arches were most unique in their construction, clearly indicating the work of different ages, and great antiquity. Many of these underground apartments are almost closed with rubbish, and as T groped my way from dun- geon to dungeon, the gloom and silence, together with the vast- ness and massiveness of the work, impressed me as no other ruin had ever done before. The city must have contained a 376 BIBLE LANDS. population of at least one hundred thousand, and the whole plain for many miles around is dotted with the black remains of other cities and villages, presenting a picture of desolation rarely met with. Little is known of the early history of Bozrah. Jeremiah first mentions it among the cities of " the plain country in the land of Moab," ' but it must have been a flourishing city, given up to wickedness, long before Jeremiah denounced against it the judgments of God. It is next mentioned in the Talmud, and by Josephus. 2 When the Romans conquered the country 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 metropolis of his eastern kingdom. Early in the Christian era it became the seat of a bishopric, and afterward of an arch- bishopric, with thirty-three dioceses, and in time the center of Nestorian power and controversy. Being a frontier city, it was among the first to fall before the Moslem invaders, and from that moment began to decline, until now nothing remains but heaps of broken columns and tottering walls, to mark the site of this once renowned Roman metropolis. Rummaging among the ruins, we found many inscriptions in Greek, Latin, Cuh'c, and Nabathean characters, generally giving the name and builder of the edifice. On the square base of a column half buried in the ground close by our encampment, probably the remains of some bath or temple, we found a bold Latin inscription stating that the building was dedicated to "Antonia Fortunata, the devoted wife of Antonius Csesar." There are many sermons written on these broken pillars and crumbling walls. You can sit for a whole day in an old temple 1 Jeremial) xlviii, 24. 3 Antiqu lies, xii, 8. CITADEL OF BOZRAH. 377 musing over the past, and living through two or three thou- sand years in an hour. Here are Christian churches, some of them probably planted by Paul when he first preached in Arabia, 1 once crowded with worshipers, but now empty and quiet as the grave; grand tem- ples dedicated to different pagan divinities, entirely deserted, without priest or devotee ; triumphal arches, erected in honor of men unknown in history, tottering with age, and ready to fall ; beautiful tombs, reared to the memory of persons long since forgotten ; palaces, theaters, and other public edifices unoccupied for centuries, and yet, in their decay, beautiful to behold. Many of the columns that lie around on every hand are evi- dently of greater antiquity than the buildings in which they are found. Some of them are marble, a few porphyry. On one of the latter, standing in an old mosque, is the singular Greek inscription, " In the name of Christ our Saviour." On others you will find, perhaps, the name of some heathen deity, and wherever you stroll you meet with these inscriptions and sculptured stones, reminding one of the desolation of Pompeii. Truly, " Judgment is come upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near." a East of the city, near the mosque of Caliph Othman, is an immense reservoir, of beautiful workmanship, five hundred and thirty feet long, and four hundred and twenty wide, supplied by aqueducts from distant mountain springs; and another, near the citadel, al- most as large, designed to flood the fosse when necessary, both in good condition, and still full of water. The great mosque, said to have been erected by Caliph Omar, contains, among many others in marble and granite, seventeen 1 Galatiaus i, 17. 2 Jeremiah xlviii, 21-24. 378 BIBLE LANDS. porphyry monolith columns of the Corinthian order, probably taken from the Cathedral of Bozrah, or some older pagan tem- ple. The church of the Nestorian monk, Boheira, who, it is said, assisted Mohammed in writing the Koran, is a grand old edifice, square without and circular within, very much like Dr. Hall's fine church in New York. From a Greek inscription over the entrance, it appears to have been originally a Christian church erected by Julianus, Archbishop of Bozrah, A. D. 513, in honor of the blessed martyrs Sergius, Bacchus, and Leon- tius. How sad to contemplate such ruins ! 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- tle are interesting on account of their ponderous stone doors, several being at least ten feet high, and eleven inches thick, still swinging on their stone pivot hinges. The western gate Bab SALCAH. 379 el Hawa " Gate of the Winds," is a tine specimen of Roman architecture. Nothing could be more graceful than the arches which span the roadway, the pavement of which is still un- broken. Five minutes' walk directly west of this is a round tower eighteen feet in diameter, standing on a square base, per- haps a tomb or watch-tower, and very beautiful. The stone lias the ring and appearance of metal, and is about as hard, yet of the finest workmanship. Salcah, the eastern border of Og's kingdom, 1 though six hours distant, can be distinctly seen from Bozrah, and the road leading thereto is as straight as an arrow. About half a mile east of Bozrah we passed a little stone mosque with stone door and tracery windows, said to mark the place where Moham- med's camel stopped when the Prophet first came to Bozrah. We followed the Roman road most of the way, over a rich plain covered with small, irregular blocks of basalt, but yielding abundant crops of grain. The Citadel of Salcah is built in the crater of an extinct volcano that rises about five hundred feet above the plain, and very difficult to ascend, owing to the lava and cinders that cover its slopes. The walls of the castle are massive, and of great height. Outside of them are two moats, one about two hundred feet below the other, rendering the po- sition one of great strength. The interior is a labyrinth of dark vaults, narrow passages, and spacious halls : in one of the latter we saw a beautiful rose-window in stone tracery. Many curious sculptures of lions, palm-trees, eagles, and human busts adorn the walls, but no inscriptions throwing light on its early history. And yet, from the large beveled blocks and other old material that may be seen every-where in the more modern portion of the fortress, there must have been a citadel here be- 1 Df uterotiomy iii, 10. 380 BIBLE LANDS. fore the Roman Conquest, and perhaps as early as the invasion of Bashan by Moses. No view could be more extensive than that from the towers of this "castle in the air." On the north and west may be seen Hermon, Ajlun, and the mountains of the Hauran ; to the south, the plain of Moab, covered with desolate cities far as the eye can reach ; and to the east, the vast desert of Arabia dotted with tells, stretching away to the great river the river Euphrates. One hour east of Salcah, on the bosom of the plain, is Orman, the birthplace of Philip the Arabian, and where he was crowned Emperor of Rome. The country east and south of this appears one great plain, with tells or conical hills rising up here and there like islands in the sea, many of them the craters of extinct volcanoes. These tells are generally connected by low, sandy ridges, the depressions between them aifording rich pasturage for the flocks and herds of the Bedouins. We met here with several Arabs trading with the tribes of this great desert, and they represented the country as rich and pop- ulous. One of them had brought in, a few days before, a 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 like the Jordan Valley, about four days' journey east of Zurka Main, and extending far down into Arabia. He called it Wady el Azrak the blue valley and said his tribe usually wintered in it, as they found there plenty of water, good pas- turage, and many date-bearing palm-trees. He further said there was a lake of pure, sweet water in this oasis, and on its 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- jambs. As this tribe occupy GREAT DESERT OF ARABIA. 381 Southern Moab, I took occasion to ask him if he ever saw any of the Moabite pottery. He at once described several pieces he had found two jars with inscriptions running round them, and many smaller vessels and images. He also spoke of a slab of basalt with the image of a man in bass-relief, about six feet high, with hands clasped in front, and the head resting on one shoulder, bearing an inscription of four lines across the base, which, of course, he could not read. When I inquired what became of this slab, he replied, " We buried it." After enjoying the hospitality of the Sheik of Salcah, who had prepared a sumptuous feast for us, and calling to examine some folding stone doors in the lower part of the village, we turned our faces toward Bozrah ; returning via Kerioth, one of the oldest, and at one time among the largest, cities of Bashan. You will find it mentioned in the judgments denounced against the cities of Moab by Jeremiah and Amos. 1 There are some 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 indicating that it belonged to the Jewish period. Others ap- 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 cry most piteously. To pacify him, I gave him a piaster; when instantly the big boy, without any provocation, began rapping them all over the head, raising a terrible howl. All which was for backsheesh. 1 Jeremiah xlviii, 21 ; Amos ii, 2. CHAPTER VI. THE LAND OF U Z. Suweideh Ancient Tombs Kynawat Tlie Kenath of the Bible Interesting- Monuments Strong Tower Serai of Job Land of Uz Probable Scenes of Job's Fiery Trial Book of Job. AFTER spending three memorable days in and around Boz- rah, we started early on Tuesday morning, May 2d, for Kunawat, Our ride most of the way was through waving grain-fields, almost ripe for the harvest. About nine o'clock we passed the village of Ary, on a tell in the midst of rich downs, at the base of Jebel Hauran, and at noon were lunching under the shade of a plane-tree in an old Christian church, just without the walls of Suweideh, the present capital of the Ilauran. This city was beautifully situated on a low spur of the Hau- ran mountains, and must have been a place of considerable im- portance ; but not a temple, palace, or house remains entire all ruin and desolation the present sparse population living in the cellars or lower stories of the grand edifices that once crowned the ridge. And, what is singular, nothing is known of the history of this place prior to the Roman Conquest, A. D. 105, though there is every reason for believing that the founding of this city dates much further back, as the buildings of that period look like patch- work, being all constructed of older materials. Suweideh appears to have been a commercial city, and to have had her "merchant princes," who have left behind them, in two temples, monuments of their wealth and liberality, though their own names, with the ancient name of their city, 382 SUWEIDEH. 383 are forgotten. From a Greek inscription on one of these tem- ples, now used as a mosque, we learn that it was erected by the " Bitaiena Company," in the eleventh year of Aurelius, A. D. 171 ; and the other by the " Alexandrian Firm," dur- ing the reign of the apostate Emperor Julian. But to me one of the most interesting monuments here is a Doric tomb, about thirty feet square and forty high, standing on the ridge to the north of the city. The sides are ornamented with twenty-four Doric columns, between which are armorial de- signs in bass-relief, very bold, and on the north and east faces two inscriptions, one in Greek, the other in Palmyrene, stating that " Odainathos, son of Annelos, built this monument in honor of his loving wife Chamrate." Nothing more. How touch- ingly beautiful this memorial of a husband's affections? Mr. Porter suggests that this Odainathos may have been the hus- band of the celebrated queen Zenobia. On another tomb is recorded the virtues of a lady by the name of Flavia, who died A. D. 135 ; but who this beautiful character was will never be known until the records of time are unrolled. Two hours' ride from Suweideh, over rocks and up among the mountain spurs covered with evergreen oaks, brought us to 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. 1 We found our tents pitched a few minutes' walk west of the city, near the ruins of a beau- tiful 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 xxxii, 42. 384 BIBLE LANDS. longer legible. Only seven of these columns are standing; the others, with many beautiful sculptured stones, lie in confused heaps about the court. Strolling in any direction, you will find beneath your feet, half buried in the earth, broken statues, inscribed blocks, and other remains of architectural grandeur, presenting a sad picture of utter desolation. The principal ruins of Kenath extend for about a mile along both sides of a ravine, through which flows a mountain stream, supplying the place with an abundance of good water. In this valley, above 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 beveled stones, apparently of Phoenician workmanship. The stone doors of this building are tastefully paneled and em- bossed, with a groove on the inside for the bolt to slide in, which, by a simple but secure arrangement, could also be opened from without. May not these bolts be the " brazen bars " referred to in the Scriptures ? ' A few rods from this fortress is one of the many round towers every-where to be seen in this region. They are from thirty to forty feet in diameter and about fifty high some round without and square within, with stone doors barely large enough to admit one person at a time, and very thick walls. They bear the marks of great age, and were, no doubt, con- structed for the protection of the herdsmen and shepherds from the Bedouins of the desert, and are the "strong towers" so often alluded to in the Scriptures, and to which David refers when he says, " The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and a strong tower from the enemy." a 1 1 Kings iv, 13. 2 Psalms xviii, 2; Ixi, 3. KUNAWAT. 385 But the most interesting ruin in Kunawat is a group of buildings on the ridge in the heart of the city, known as the " Serai," or " Palace, of Job." Three large buildings of different periods, in good preserva- tion, are still standing. They have been remodeled and used as Christian Churches or convents, but evidently belong to a much earlier period. The door casings are elaborately orna- mented with vines and clusters of grapes, and the friezes with grotesque satyrs in wreaths of flowers and fruit. Some of the BEAD OF BAAL ON AN ALTAR AT KUNAWAT. pillars are entirely plain, with square capitals ; others Corinthian ; and others, again, Palmyrene, with brackets for statues. The large court in front is nicely paved with dressed stones, and be- neath it are numerous cisterns for water, and vaults for storing grain, or, it may be, sepulchers for the dead. There is such a collection of halls, galleries, and corridors, colonnades, porticoes, and sculpture, half buried in heaps of rubbish, and so overrun with brambles, hawthorn, and dwarf oaks, as to render it next 386 BIBLE LANDS. to impossible to make any thing out of this remarkable ruin. A Greek inscription on the base of a column, in raised letters, states that the temple to which it belonged was dedicated to " 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 the door-sill and lintel : and many other remains equally inter- esting. One ruin is supposed to be a temple of Ashtaroth, the Astarte of the Greeks, from an image of that goddess found near it. And another building, known as the Hippodrome, presents nothing but a confused heap of broken columns arid statues, fragments of sculptured animals and inscribed blocks, perfectly bewildering to behold. Eusebius and Pliny both mention this place under its Greek name, Canatha, and describe it as an " important town in Arabia, captured by Nobah, and belonging to the tribe of Manasseh, and situated in the province of Trachonitis, near Bostra ;" thus establishing the identity of Argob and Trachonitis. We have here direct proof that Kunawat is the Kenatli of the Bible and the Canatha of the Greeks, and one of the giant cities taken by Nobah in the conquest of Argob. 1 Plow difficult it is to grasp at once the events of three thou- sand years ! or to realize, when wandering through the streets of this city, that the ruined buildings over which we clamber were erected before Christ was born, before Rome was founded, even before the children of Israel came up out of Egypt ; 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 xxxii, 42. LAND OF UZ. 389 climbing were reared by that powerful race of men ; that these cities of Bashan are among the oldest works of man, and were standing before Abram left his native land, and before the patriarch Job endured his fiery trial. But that which staggers our faith more than all this is to believe the tradition, now almost an established fact, that the Hauran is " the land of Uz ; " that Job was one of the first princes of this country ; that this city of Kenath was his home ; and that the " Serai," or palace, that still bears his name marks the site of his severe trial and glorious triumph. There has been much discussion as to the locality of the country where Job resided. The name, doubtless, was derived from Uz, the grandson of Shern, 1 who is said to have founded Damascus and Trachonitis. 2 and probably lived in this neigh-, borhood, giving his name to the district where he resided. The country, being exposed to the incursions of the Chaldeans and Sabeans, must have been a frontier province to the north- east of Palestine. It could not have been as far south as Edom, for " the daughter of Edom " was in exile when dwelling in the land of Uz. 3 And the Edoniite Uz is not to be confounded with the grandson of Shem, the Edomite being a descendant of the Horites, who removed from their own country and set- tled in " the land of Uz." Some locate the home of Job in Mesopotamia, near the Euphrates. But if Aram and Syria are identical, which none will deny ; and if Padan-Aram, as we think can be shown, was in Syria round about Damascus, and sometimes called Aram Damascus ; 4 and if the land of Uz de- rived its name from the son of Aram and lay to the north-east of Israel, in Aram, or between Aram and Edom, as is more 1 Genesis x, 23. * Josephus, Antiquities, i, 6. 3 Lamentations iv, 21. * 2 Samuel viii, 5. 390 BIBLE LANDS. than probable ; then, no country can so fully meet all the con- ditions and facts in the life and writings of this remarkable man as the Han ran. So there is some ground for the tradition that locates Uz in Aram, and the residence of Job at Kunawat. This locality is not only the traditionary but historic Uz. Chrysostom speaks of many people, during the first centuries of our era, making pilgrimages to the Hauran to see the spot " where the patient patriarch sat and scraped himself with a potsherd." Wetstein, Delitzsch, and other eminent biblical scholars were of the opinion that Job was a native of the Hauran. It also accords with the general belief that the buffalo, or " strong bull of Bashan," was the behemoth of Job. And the customs, productions, and topography of the country, .and the high degree of civilization described in the Book of Job, agree better with this locality than with any other in the East. In a note appended to the Book of Job in the Septuagint version, it is stated, " That the translation was made out of a Syriac book, and that Job dwelt in the land of Ausitis, on the confines of Idumea." Now we know that the Herodian family was of Idumean origin, and, if their country did not extend so far north as the Hauran, that Bashan was given to Herod the Great by Augustus Csesar, that it was also part of Philip's tetrarchy, 1 and that it was afterward given by Caligula to Herod Agrippa, and after Caligula's death conveyed by Claudius to Agrippa 11." And it is a singular coincidence that among the ruins of a temple at Sia. near Kenath, very similar to the temple of Solomon, were found a statue of Herod the Great, and an inscription containing the names of the two Herod Agrippas. 1 Joseplnis, War, ii, 6 ; Antiquities, xviii, 4. 2 Antiquities, xx, 7. GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION. 391 CTz, the eldest son of Nahor, probably lived in the country that bore his name. He was the brother of Buz, and it will be remembered that Elihu, the young friend of Job, was a ' Buzite, of the kindred of Aram," * showing that the land of Uz was in close proximity to Aram, as was also Aram to the Haurdn ;* and that Job may have been a descendant of Xahor, the brother of Abraham. But whether Job was an Israelite or Ishmaelite, it is generally admitted that he lived in Arabia, near the fron- tier of Palestine ; that he must have had some acquaintance with Abraham or his immediate descendants; and that the country named fulfills the conditions of the narrative better than any other known. This region was never before visited by an American, and it was with peculiar feelings we strolled over the traditional estate of Job, drank from the spring of 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. Ko other book in the Old Testament is so full of divine truth, and none contain such revelations of the invisible world. It was probably first written in the Arabic, and afterward translated into the Hebrew by, perhaps, Moses, who is supposed to have been his contemporary ; though some biblical historians make him the contemporary of Abraham. All this region was anciently known as " the East," and it 1 Job xxxii, 2. * 1 Chronicles ii, 23. 3 Job i, 8. 392 BIBLE LANDS. was probably from here the Magi came with their costly pres- ents to worship the infant Saviour; as frankincense, myrrh, and other aromatics are indigenous to this section, and a star blazing over Bethlehem could be distinctly seen from here. Nothing could be more picturesque than the scenery around Kunawat. The babbling waters leap in cascades down the mountain. The hills are covered with forests of oak the oaks of Bashan ; and from almost every high place some round tower or ruined temple, overrun with woodbine, wild flowers, and creepers, may be seen lifting its venerable weather-beaten head, as if defying the ravages of time. CHAPTER VII. AEGOB AND PADAN-ARAM. 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. rPHE night before leaving Kunawat we were waited on by a deputation from the village, and told not to be alarmed if we heard firing in the night, as they expected an attack from some of their enemies, with whom they had had a quarrel, as usual, about a young woman. Frequent reports of guns were heard during the night, but I slept through all ; and in the morning learned that eight of the enemy had been killed, and twelve or more wounded. The victory was celebrated by a grand war-dance, very similar to that among the North Ameri- can Indians. Soon after leaving camp we saw a large wolf near some tombs west of Kenath, and shoutly 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," and 'is de- scriptive of its physical aspect, being a wild, sterile district re- sembling a sea of lava poured out from a thousand craters, and spread like a coat of mail over the surface of the plain. It 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. vations, the surface is not level, but undulating and broken very rough in places, with many deep chasms and fissures, as if there had been internal disturbances and upheavals during its cooling progress a congealed sea of iron. This remarkable district, forming the northern boundary of the Hauran, is about twenty-five miles long by twenty wide ; and has always been a hiding-place for Bedouin robbers and wild beasts, and a place of retreat for the natives in time of danger, the numerous caves and clefts affording them a safe shelter from their enemies ; its rocky fastnesses being inac- cessible to horsemen, and its labyrinth of pits and crevices dangerous to footmen. The Arabs call it the " Fortress of trod." Being in the midst of a vast plain unsurpassed for its productiveness, the remains of at least fifty cities and villages are found within its iron-clad limits ; built there, no doubt, for security, as there are no living streams in this desolate region, and the only arable ground a few small patches in the depres- sions, formed by the dust blown in from the surrounding plain. That the Lejah is a portion of the Argob of Scripture, after- ward known as Trachonitis, there can be but little doubt, the Hebrew Argob having the same meaning as the Greek Trach- onitis, and the same cities located by Moses in the former, later historians locate in the latter. We also find on the temple at Musmeih, ancient Phaeno, one of the principal cities of the Lejah, an inscription of forty lines, giving a history of the place as the capital of Trachonitis ; thus establishing beyond controversy the identity of the Lejah with Argob, and Argob with Trachonitis, over which " Philip the Tetrarch " ruled in the days of Christ. 1 Many of the villages of the Lejah and of the II an ran 1 Luke iii, 1. DRUSES. 395 are occupied by Druses, a peculiar people, with a strange history and mysterious religion. They are of Caucasian ex- traction, being the descendants of the Mardi, a warlike tribe from north of the Caspian Sea, who settled among the Lebanon mountains about the close of the seventh century of our era. They have always been an independent, exclusive, and revenge- ful people, and yet noted for their hospitality, truthfulness, and temperance. Strangers among them are entertained in true patriarchal style. To one of their own sect they never tell a falsehood ; and a good Druse never drinks wine nor smokes tobacco. Their religion is a mixture of idolatry, Mo- hammedanism, and Christianity, dating back to the Egyptian Caliph Hakin, whom they regard as their founder and prophet. Their meetings for worship are held on Thursday evenings, and are of a social, religious, and political character. Having no regular priesthood, these services are conducted by their sheiks, or emirs, as they are called, who are their religious and political leaders. These meetings are all held secretly, no stranger or uninitiated person being admitted under any circumstances, and in character partake of a secret organization, with different de- grees, signs, and passwords. They are an intelligent, tidy, and industrious people, almost white, with red cheeks, and in every respect far superior to the ordinary Arab. In making some ex- plorations in this region, Prof. Lewis, of Beirut, on one occa- sion, left his horse, shawl, and gloves near the path. After an hour's absence he returned, and was surprised to find his shawl and gloves gone. He at once communicated the robbery to the emir of the nearest village, remarking, "That he thought the Druses were never guilty of stealing, and was sorry to lose his good opinion of them." The emir replied, " It was not his people that committed the theft, but some 896 BIBLE LANDS. Christians who had passed that way during the professor's absence." However that may be, the articles were returned in a few hours. Nejran is a large old city within the Lejah, but its ancient name and history are unknown. It is now inhabited by the Druses, and, as we drew near the place, the emir and his chiefs met us with the usual salam, giving us a cordial welcome, and, after entertaining us in the most hospitable manner, ex- pressed their regrets as we were leaving that we could not stay with them longer. One hour from here brought us to the extensive ruins of Kiratah, where there is an abundance of water. Soon after leaving this place we were overtaken by a furious wind and rain-storm ; some of our pack mules were swamped, and one we rescued with great difficulty from the rushing waters, which carried him far down the stream. The sun, however, came out bright and warm as we approached Edrei, where we encamped for the night, much to the alarm and amazement of its sparse population. Edrei, the ancient capital of Bashan, 1 is situated on a spur of the Lejah, that runs far out toward the west into the fertile plain which incloses it on three sides. The ruins are not so extensive, but appear older than those of Bozrah. Many of 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 workmanship, though generally massive, gloomy, and rude. As the city had to rely entirely upon the rains for water, there are many cisterns, and underground vaults for storing grain. So when you ride through the city there is a hollow sound, as if you were riding over subterranean houses. It was with peculiar 1 Numbers xxi, 33. EDREI. 399 feelings we stood on the walls of this old city of Og, and looked out over the rich plain, and considered that on that very plain the Amorites met the conquering Israelites in battle, 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, thirty centuries and more ago. 1 . There are here several churches that well deserve a passing notice. That of St. Elias, though in ruins, is the old church of John Methodius, and certainly the oldest Methodist church in the world, The Church of St. George not the saint who killed the dragon, but the porter who aided Paul in his escape from Damascus is a unique building, of an early date and almost perfect. It is square without and octagonal within, with an apsis, containing three tiers of stone seats, back of the pulpit. The rotunda is surmounted by an egg-shaped dome, thirty-six feet in diameter, resting on eight square piers. There never could have been a particle of wood about the building; the seats, altar-rails, doors, shutters, ceiling, roof, every thing stone. From an inscription over the door we learn that it was first a heathen temple, then a Christian church, and now a Moham- medan mosque. In the crypt we found many human skeletons wrapped in their winding-sheets, perhaps the relics of the men and women who once sat under the preaching of Paul the first converts from paganism -sleeping here, in their silent tombs, awaiting the trump of God, which shall call them to life again. To avoid the sharp rocks of the Lejah, we turned to the west from Edrei, reaching Ae're for luncheon. We found here some large ruins, but were not able to make any thing out of them. Some of the stone doors were folding, and large enough to ride through without difficulty. - Numbers xxi, 33-35. 400 BIBLE LANDS. At Aere we struck again the great Haj trail from Damascus to 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 military escort ! Riding, over the plain a little west of the Lejah, we witnessed a singular phenomenon -'one of those beautiful mirages peculiar to this region, produced, probably, by the glare of the sun on this metallic mirror. The entire Lejah looked like a rippled sea of glass, bordered with forests, with here and there islands covered with foliage. The whole effect was wonderful. In the evening we encamped at a place called Ghubaghib, near a Turkish garrison, and were compelled to add two of the soldiers to our guard to keep the garrison from robbing us. Such is Turkish rule. Starting at an early hour to avoid the heat, a ride of two hours brought us to Musmeih, the Phaeno of the Greeks, the capital city of Trachonitis, the Argob of Joshua. The Lejah here has the same general appearance that of a molten sea of iron suddenly chilled, then settling and cracking, leaving the surface full of rents and air-bubbles. The principal ruin at 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 Bnrak, 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 feet long and three inches thick, nicely jointed. Many of the houses were well preserved. From Burak the road leads di- PADAN-ARAM. 401 rectly to Damascus, distant about twenty-five miles; but we shall sweep round to the east by way of Harran el Awamid, which is more than likely the Haran where Abraham buried his father on his way to Canaan. The country called Aram probably took its name from Aram, the son of Shem and father of Uz, who first settled in this quarter of the globe. After the Greek conquest it was known as Syria, and in the Greek translations of the Bible Aram is always rendered Syria, the two names having the same import and being used in common to denote the same country. The name signifies u 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 divided, Aram Damascus was the principal ; and though at first it only included the territory around that ancient city, was afterward applied to the whole of Syria, of which Damascus was for a long time the capital. Pad an- Aram, where " Laban the Syrian " ' lived, rendered in the Hebrew Aram-Naharaim T " the Plain of Aram," or the country between the rivers, or, a& Dean Stanley renders it, "the cultivated district at the foot of 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-Naharaim is translated "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 Euphrates. When the Almighty appeared to Abraham and commanded him to get out of his own country, he left " the land of his- nativity, Ur of the Chaldees," 2 situated, not on the head- 1 Genesis xxv, 20. 2 Acts vii, 2; Genesis xi, 31. 402 BIBLE LANDS. waters of the Euphrates, but down near its entrance into the Persian Gulf, and settled first at Haran, which appears to have been somewhere near the borders of Canaan. And when we consider that his steward, who was " born in his house," and whom he raised up as his heir, was "Eliezer of Damascus." ' the clear meaning of which is, he was born in or near Damas- cus, and that Josephus informs us Abraham was a prince in this land, and " reigned at Damascus," 2 we infer that Haran could not have been very far from that city. The river that Jacob passed over after leaving Laban 8 was probably the Phar- par, as from here he could see the mountains of Gilead, which is implied in the narrative. And it appear.? he was onh* ten days making the journey, with his family and flocks, from Padan-Aram to Mount Gilead, and Laban only seven days in overtaking him. We rode it. in eight days; but from the Mesopotamia of the Greeks the journey could not be made in less than thirty days, and through a desert part of the way, where it would be impossible to drive flocks with their young. It will also be remembered that Nahor, the brother of Abra- ham, when living at Haran, named one of his sons Uz, indi- cating a connection between Haran and the land or family of Uz ; and that Laban and Jacob, when they parted for the last time on Mizpah-Gilead, erected an altar, and heaped up stones of witness to define the boundary between the possessions of the two families, 4 showing that they could not have lived very far apart. Now, strange as it may seem, after the lapse of near four thousand years, we find in the delta of the Pharpar and Abana, about twelve miles east of Damascus, the remains of a city still 1 Genesis xv, 2. 2 Antiquities i. 7. 3 Genesis xxxi, 2 1 , 23. 4 Genesis xxxi, 52. HARAisr. 403 bearing the name of Harran, which meets every condition of the inspired account. It is situated in the midst of a fertile 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 remains standing of an ancient temple without name or date ; and these silent witnesses, with a few fragments of sculpture, and some broken stone pillars, are the only memorials left to mark the site of this interesting place ; which, so far as location and topography are concerned, may be Haran, " The city of K"ahor," l where Terah, the father of Abraham, died, and where " Labaii the Syrian " lived. And " the well in the 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. 4 'Genesis xxiv, 10. 2 Genesis xxix, 10. 26 CHAPTER VIII. LATEST DISCOVERIES IN ASSYRIA AND PALESTINE. Recovery of Long-lost Niueveh Wonderful remains of an Extinct Nation As- syrian Records of the Creation Cesnola's Explorations in Cyprus Moabite Pottery Suburbs of the Levitical Cities Golden Candlestick Image of Beel- zebub House of Simon the Tanner Hadrian's Head. fTlHE discoveries lately made in Assyria among the ruins of -L long-buried Nineveh and Babylon, by Botta, Layard, Smith,. and others, are a most valuable contribution to biblical archae- ology. These cities appear to have been founded about the same time : Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, by Asshur, son of Shem who may also have given his name to the country on the river Tigris, five hundred miles above its junction with the Euphrates ; Babylon, the capital of Chaldsea, by Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, on the Euphrates in the land of " Shi- nar," three hundred rniles south of Nineveh. From the fre- quent reference to Nirnrod on the Babylonian monuments, the name, like that of Pharaoh, probably applied to all the early 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 Chaldsea, and that after this event the two nations became one empire their language, religion, and customs appearing to be essentially the same and that the old Accadian language of Chaldsea or Babylonia grad- ually became extinct, being substituted by the Semitic or As- 404 EXCAVATION'S AT XIXKVKH. RECOVERY OF NINEVEH. 407 Syrian. Nineveh was made the political capital of the new empire, and Babylon the religious capital, or city of her tem- ples, gods, and priests. Profane writers furnish us with nothing but some traditions 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 and archaeological explorations. Nineveh, after flourishing for many centuries as the great city of the East, suddenly disappeared from the earth about seven centuries before Christ, as if engulfed by an earthquake, and for ages ^11 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 its 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 Christian, " AVhere is 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- lost capital of Assyria never would be recovered, so literally was the prediction concerning it fulfilled : " I will make Nin- eveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her. . . . This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me : how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in ! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand." ' 1 Zephaniah ii, 13-15. 408 BIBLE LANDS. Early in the present century Mr. Rich, an English traveler, visiting Mosul, on the Tigris, observed an old mosque on the top of a large mound directly opposite the city, and on inquir- ing its name, was told by the natives that it was Neby Yunus, or tomb of Jonah. Associating Jonah with Nineveh, he at once commenced some excavations, and soon came upon the ruins of what has since proved to be the grand palace of Esar- haddon, son and successor of Sennacherib. The walls were of ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE WINGED LION. great thickness, and built of large sun-dried bricks covered with mysterious cuneiform characters. This discovery soon led to others, of even greater importance, by Mr. Botta, the French Consul at Mosul, and Messrs. Layard, Rassam, and Smith, under the auspices of the British Museum. These gentlemen, with a strong force, began their operations in the great mounds at Koyunjik, Khorsabad, and Nimroud names of Arab villages that have sprung up over the ruins of this INTERESTING SCULPTURE. 409 ancient city and in a very little while exhumed the magnifi- cent palaces of Sargon, Sennacherib, Sardanapalus, and other kings of Assyria, with their wonderful collection of sculptured slabs in alto and bass-relief, representing the worship of their gods, combats with wild beasts, battle-scenes, and almost every event in their nation's history. So that now, after the lapse of twenty-five centuries, you can stroll through the streets and palaces of long-lost ISTineveh, see how royalty lived in those early 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, KING OF ASSYRIA PUTTING OUT THE EYES OF CAPTIVES. cruelly putting out the eyes of prisoners dragged into his pres- ence with cords, and iron hooks through their lips or nose. In another, we have pictured the invasion of Palestine, giving the very name of Hezekiah, King of Judah, together with the number of prisoners and amount of spoils earned away, and in still another, a description of the siege of Jerusalem, agreeing so remarkably with Ezekiel's account, that one would suppose the Prophet had been an eye-witness of the siege itself. 1 1 Ezekiel iv, 1, 2. 410 BIBLE LANDS. During their explorations they came upon the bakery of King Sargon's palace, and the old hand-mills, with loaves of bread still in the ovens, baked probably before Rome was founded ; and the wine-cellar was discovered full of large egg- shaped pottery jars ; the wine had all evaporated, leaving a sediment in the jars, from which you could easily detect the odor of the grape when the vessels were filled with water. They also struck upon the store-room, containing many articles in different materials, principally wrought iron, such as nails,, saws, chains, picks, and shovels, the latter weighing from twenty to thirty pounds, and so well preserved, they were put at once into the hands of the workmen, and the excavations carried on with shovels and picks forged Iw blacksmiths centuries before Christ was born. How marvelous all this seems! This palace consisted of forty-nine halls, cased round with sculptured alabaster slabs, from seven to eight feet high, above which the walls were plastered and frescoed. The ceilings of the different apartments were cedar from Leb- anon, or blackwood from India, the floors were paved with marble, and the principal door-ways guarded by colossal, human-headed, winged bulls or lions, denoting great strength, wisdom, and fleetness; beautiful symbols of their divinities. The gates leading to the palaces were bronze, two of which, twenty-two feet high and sixteen feet wide, have lately been recovered by Mr. Rassam at Balawat, belonging to the royal residence of Shalmaneser II., richly wrought in low relief, re- cording among many other campaigns the invasion and con- quest of Israel by that king 859 B. C. Shalmaneser also built the north-west palace at Nimrond, in which was found the celebrated black obelisk now in the British Museum. This- obelisk, which is seven feet high and twenty-two inches square BLACK OBELISK. 411 at its base, supplies a lost link in Assyrian history, giving a full account of the reign of Shalrnaneser II., who ascended the throne about 890 B. C. The monument bears a Cuneitic inscription of two hundred and ten lines, and is covered v/ith figures in bass-relief of men BLACK OBELISK. and various animals, but not very correctly drawn the rhinoc- eros having hoofs and mane, the monkeys perfect human features, and the camels two humps on their backs. After an invocation to Assarac, the supreme god of heaven, the king furnishes a record of his reisjn for thirty-one years, 412 BIBLE LANDS. INSCRIBED TABLET OF THE DELUGE. comprising an account of battles fought, kings conquered, and cities taken. Among many other places mentioned, are Baby- lon, Borsippa, Tyre, and Sidon ; and among his vassal kings, Jehu, king of Israel, and Hazael, king of Syria, whom Elijah anointed confirming in a remarkable manner the historical statements of the Bible. But the most interesting discovery made was the finding of numerous inscribed tablets and cylinders in the palaces of Sen- RECORDS OF THE CREATION AND DELUGE. 413 nacherib, and his grandson Asshur-bani-pal, or Sardanapalus, opposite Mosul. Hundreds of volumes were here found, not written on paper or parchment, but in the cuneiform character on thin bricks or clay tiles while yet soft, and then burned hard in the kiln. The books were neatly paged, numbered, cata- logued, and arranged upon shelves for the convenience of the reader. They were on all subjects history, poetry, and biogra- phy ; agriculture, religion, and politics; also grammars, arith- metics, and dictionaries ; legal documents, songs to their gods, tables of cube roots, even the multiplication table, that before this was supposed to have originated with Pythagoras. One work on astronomy covered seventy tablets, giving the posi- tion of the pole star, the movements of the comets, and. of Venus and other planets. A library was found belonging to one of the early kings of Ur in Chaldsea, at least 2,000 years B. C. Abraham was a native of this city, and here were the books that perhaps the patriarch read before he left his native land. More than twenty thousand of these tablets have been recovered, and, what is very strange, thej 7 all bear silent wit- ness to the truth of God's word ; for here, on these earthen tiles, as well as on the gates of brass and slabs of marble that once adorned these splendid palaces, was found written the whole history of the world, from the creation down to a thou- sand years after the flood ; wonderfully confirming the Mosaic narrative, as these ancient legends, some of them dating back four thousand years, must have originated in facts, and these facts are the facts of the Bible. Not only was here found an account of the creation, the deluge, and the building of the Tower of Babel, but of the genesis of our world the beginning, when " the earth was without form and void ;" also, of the origin of evil, and of 414 BIBLE LANDS. man, with all the particulars of his temptation, his fall, the curse 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- other the casting of the dragon, or Lucifer, out of heaven ; and on still another Noah, in his ark, floating on a shoreless sea. We also find on these cylinders and tablets the names of Abra- ham, Ishmael, Noah, Enoch, and other biblical characters. CHERUBIM GUARDING TREE OF LIFE. These records further show that " Eden " was the old and natural name of Babylon ; and we have furnished here a geo- graphical description of the garden in which the opening scene of human history is laid ; answering, in every respect, the particulars as given in the Scriptures, even to the names of the four rivers that watered the garden. 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 so 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. 415 out of the rubbish of ages, the royal library of the Assyrian kings, written on slabs of stone, plates of brass, and tiles of burned clay, and so fully agreeing with the inspired volume, that they seem almost like a lapidary edition of the Book itself* And it would almost seem as if this ancient city had been allowed to remain entombed through so many centuries solely to confound the folly of modern skepticism. Babylon, though first mentioned in connection with Nineveh, was probably founded before the flood, as the name signifies "the gate of God," or more properly, "the gate- way to the EXPULSION OF LUCIFER OCX OF HEAVEN garden of God," and it more than likely covered the site of the garden of Eden. It was only rebuilt by Nimrod, grand- eon of Ham, " the beginning of whose kingdom was Babel," l a name with which Babylon became confounded after the con- fusion of tongues. This famous city the capital of Shinar or Chaldaea was greatly enlarged and beautified by Semiramis and Nebuchad- nezzar. Herodotus and other ancient historians describe it as a vast city situated on both banks of the Euphrates, inclosed with double walls of great height and thickness. The two 1 Genesis x, 10. 416 BIBLE LANDS. portions of the city were connected by a bridge half a mile- long spanning the river, also by a tunnel under the river-bed,, traces of which still remain. Bece'nt 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, lias lately made 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 in terraces on stone piers; wells, reservoirs, and aqueducts, used doubtless in irrigating the gardens ; ponderous masses of black basaltic rock, to represent mountain scenery, which must have been floated down the river from the hills of Armenia,, together with inscriptions and numerous other articles, proving beyond doubt that this was the imperial palace of Babylon's greatest king. Among the many interesting discoveries made here were the dens where the wild beasts were kept, and a sculptured colossal lion in basalt, about thirteen feet long and ten high, standing over a prostrate man, supposed to represent Daniel in the lions' den. There is a band around the jaws of the lion like a muz- zle, indicating, perhaps, that the angel " shut the lion's mouth." ' And in the mound of Birs-Nimrnd, the supposed site of the- Tower of Babel, Mr. E-assam found the remains of several richly decorated chambers. The painting was on plastered walls and enameled bricks of beautiful designs. This able explorer also discovered the palace and banqueting hall of Bel- shazzar, the roof of which was Indian blackwood. supported by 1 Daniel vi, 22. FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 417 Mosaic columns and pillars of enameled brick. This rich hall was probably the same in which the king gave the great feast to his thousand lords, and saw the mysterious writing on the wall, the night he was slain, 1 B. C. 539. It has been asserted that no such king ever reigned at Babylon, his name not appearing in profane history ; but tablets have lately been found here hearing the identical name of "Belshazzar, king of the Chaldreans." This was Babylon's last king. The Medes under Cyrus, after a two years' siege, that night entered the city. It was afterward taken by the Greeks, who removed the seat of em- pire to Seleucia. "And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency," passed forever away. And according to Isaiah's prediction, " It shall never be inhab- ited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to genera- tion ; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there ; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there ; and their houses shall be full of doleful 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." * AVhat Layard, Rassam, and Smith have done for Nineveh and Babylon, General Cesnola has done for Cyprus, the Chittim of Scripture. He has identified eight ancient cities, explored fifteen temples and over sixty thousand tombs ; and has found in these tombs and temples twenty thousand vases, busts, and statues in marble and terra-cotta ; three thousand seven hundred and nineteen glass vases and bottles; sixteen hundred articles in gold, silver, and bronze, some of beautiful workmanship ; two solid gold armlets, weighing two pounds 1 Daniel v. 30. J Isaiah xiii, 19-22. 418 BIBLE LANDS. each, belonging to the king of Paphos; a great variety of rings, necklaces, and bracelets, some like serpents, others with the head of Medusa. He also found the name of the procon- sul, Panlus, probably Sergius Paulus, one of Paul's converts, and governor of Cyprus at the time of the apostle's visit. 1 This island was first settled by the Phoenicians, afterward held successively by the Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Turks, and is now an English colony, having lately been ceded to Great Britain by the Sultan of Turkey. Other explorations have been made at Sus, or Susa, the Shushan of Scripture and royal residence of the Persian kings, situated on the river Euleeus. about one hundred and twenty miles north of the Persian Gulf. General Williams and Mr. Loftus, in their excavations on the site of this old capital of ancient Elarn, found the citadel and other extensive remains, among them the supposed palace of Ahasuerus, the Xerxes of history. This ruin stands on a raised platform of sun-dried bricks covering sixty acres, and seventy feet high. The walls, being of sun-burnt brick, have all crumbled to dust, but the bases of seventy-two richly carved pillars, together with many other pieces of sculpture, have been recovered. The palace was a pavilion very similar to that at Persepolis, consisting of a grand central hall or inner court, two, hundred feet square, paved with colored marble, the roof of which was supported by thirty-six beautiful marble columns over sixty feet high. This hall was inclosed on three sides by wide colon- nades or porches, in which Ahasuerus gave his public recep- tions. The "inner court" was where he held his private audiences, and probably where Queen Esther went " in unto the king," to intercede for her people. 2 The great feast was 1 Acts xiii, 7. a Esther iv, 16. OTHER IMPORTANT DISCOVEKIES. 419 given " in the gardens of the king's palace," or the courts sur- rounding the palace. " The 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- place, and hold their nightly carnivals in the courts of the renowned king who " reigned from India even unto Ethiopia,*' and commanded the largest army ever marshaled on earth. The reputed tombs of Daniel, Esther, and Mordecai are still pointed out near this the scene of their labors and death. Equally important discoveries are being made in Palestine. In a former chapter we gave an account of the finding of the '"King's Highway." over which the Israelites, after passing the wilderness, entered Canaan. It is a paved road, with side walls, and can easily be traced from " the city that stood in the midst of the river," at the " fords of Arnon," through Aroer to Heshbon and Xebo. Dibon, once the capital of Moab, and where the celebrated Mesha stone was found, was situated on this highway, and just now is the center of considerable inter- est from reports that other similar stones have been discovered near there, during the last year. It is also in this neighborhood that the ^unique Moabite pottery is found, about which there has been such a sharp controversy among antiquarians. Per- sonally, we have no doubt concerning the genuineness of these articles, but are not disposed to discuss the question here. The savants of Europe are at work upon the inscriptions, and the result of their investigations will shortly be made known. We, however, are fully satisfied from what has already been deci- phered, that the discovery will shed much additional light upon many obscure portions of Old Testament history. 27 420 BIBLE LANDS. The collection thus far made consists of about fifteen thou- sand kiln-burnt -urns, idols, vases, tablets, and other articles, many of them 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 MOABITE VASE, WITH INSCRIPTION. articles bear inscriptions in Greek or Phoenician characters. These characters appear to be divided into four or more sys- tems, belonging to as many ages and dialects. In addition to the- Greek alphabet there are several irregular letters, the meaning of which has not yet been determined. About one third of the characters are uniform in all the systems, and identical with those on the famous Moabite stone. THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 421 We have before us, belonging to this collection, an urn six- teen and a half inches high without the base, which has been broken off, and seven and a half inches in diameter, found in a cave near Heshbon, not far from Beth-peor. It appears, so far as we are capable of judging, to have been a votive offering, probably filled with wine or oil, and presented to the god Taad corresponding to the Egyptian Thoth the god of letters, by a person named Hasak or Hezekiah, with the prayer that Taad would remember and bless him, and all the gods protect him. It has on it sixty raised characters, about two inches long, arranged in five lines extending entirely round the vase. 1 Abu Shusheh, about four miles south-east of Ranilch, has lately been identified as the ancient Levitical city of Gezer, retaken from the Philistines by Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and given to his daughter, Solomon's wife. The boundaries of the forty-eight cities set apart for the sons of Levi have long been a subject of controversy. Last summer, in visiting this place, my attention was called to two large stones with inscriptions upon them in old Hebrew and Greek characters ; the letters were about nine inches long, and deeply cut in the horizontal face of the native limestone rock where it cropped out of the ground. According to Mr. Clermont-Ganneau, and other archaeologists, the inscriptions read, " The limits, or boundary, of Gezer," and these old land-marks were no doubt intended to define the outer boundary of the city suburbs. It is to be regretted that the stones are no longer in their original position, the Turkish authorities having removed them to Constantinople. This discovery will go far toward fixing the standard of the 1 This vase is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 422 BIBLE LANDS. OLD HEBREW INSCRIPTIONS. Jewish cubit, and in determining the shape and extent of the suburbs of the Levitical cities. The cities themselves being among those taken from the former occupants of the country, were more than likely of dif- ferent dimensions, no two, perhaps, alike. Some may have been square, others round. The limit of the inner suburb was one thousand cubits from the wall " round about ; " this may have been circular. The outer precincts were two thousand cubits beyond the inner, east, west, north, and south, or, accord- THE LEVITICAL CITIES. 423 ing to the Hebrew text, " to the east corner two thousand cu- bits." 1 So the boundary of the outlying fields could not have been circular, but angular. The suburbs did not measure three thousand cubits in all directions ; only the angles at the four cardinal points, the sides being diagonal. The first thousand PLAN OF LKV1TICAL CITIES. 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 syna- 1 Numbers xxxv, 3-4. 424 BIBLE LANDS. gogue. On one of the marble columns of this mosque is a beautifully executed model of the golden candlestick of the Temple. It resembles very much the one on the Arch of Titus at Home ; only this one is surrounded with a wreath, as if trimmed for some festive occasion, perhaps the feast of taber- nacles. It has the seven branches with candles represented as burning in the sockets. The knife of sacrifice hangs from one of the branches, and some other instrument from another branch on the opposite side. The name of Rabbi Hanna, son of Yo- seph John, the son of Joseph in old Hebrew, is inscribed below on the same column. A few months since a peasant man found near Ekron, five miles south-west of Ramleh, on the great maritime Plain of Philistia, a stone seal about one inch square on the face, bearing a peculiar device, and which I purchased for a trifle, not consid- ering it of any great value. Since then many antiquarians, to whom impressions were sent, have pronounced the device an image of Beelzebub, the great Fly-god, and the only one ever discovered. He is represented as a man of the Assyrian type, with short beard and four wings. In his hands he holds two apes or monkeys, denoting, perhaps, his office as " Prince of devils," apes being sometimes translated devils in the Script- ures. 1 Beelzebub was the principal deity of the Philistines, and is frequently referred to in the New Testament. We are also informed that when Ahaziah, King of Israel, fell from his palace window in Samaria and was fatally injured, he sent to this god at Ekron, to inquire whether he should recover or die. We, however, have never before been able to form a cor- rect idea of the figure of this celebrated deity. The name signifies Fly-god, or destroyer of flies, a generic term applicable 1 Deuteronomy xxxii, 17. IMAGE OF BEELZEBUB. 425 to all winged insects, as flies, gnats, locusts, mosquitoes, and 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, so must have been represented in the human form, as man is the only creature endowed with the gift of speech. And may not this deity answer to " the prince of the power of the air," referred to by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephe- sians ? : Beelzebub was regarded as the god of all the insects BEELZEBUB.^ that fly in the air, and the ignorant Philistines in their worship sought to secure his favor under the impression that he only could protect them from the fearful plague of flies, locusts, and grasshoppers, so common in the East ; the visitation of which was generally followed by famine and pestilence, translated in some instances demon or destroyer in the Scriptures. This view appears more rational than to suppose the air we breathe to be swarming with evil spirits. 1 Ephesians ii, 2 ; Mark iii, 22. 8 This seal is still in possession of the author, who has refused a large sum offered for it by the British Museum, it being the only image of Beelzebub thus far discovered. It was probably used for sealing the oracles of this god. 426 BIBLE LANDS. An order was recently issued by the Sultan for removing' the old walls and dismantling the fortifications of Jaffa. In cutting a gate through a watery battery at an angle of the sea wall built by Vespasian, and directly in front of the reputed house of Simon the tanner, the workmen came upon three oval- shaped tanners' vats, hewn out of the natural rock, and lined with Roman cement, down very near the sea, and similar in every respect to those in use eighteen centuries ago. There is also a fresh-water spring flowing from the cliff close by, long known as the Tanners' Spring. This discovery, at least, proves that the house on the rocky bluff above, from which steps lead down to the vats, must have belonged to some tanner ; and, as it is not likely more than one of that trade would be living in so small a place as Jaffa,, this, in all probability, is the identical spot where the house of Simon stood, with whom Peter was sojourning when he saw his wonderful vision and received the servants of Cornelius, who came all the way from Csesarea to have the apostle visit their master in that city. A cedar beam was also found under a section of the wall, deeply imbedded in the sand, showing that this was probably the very port where Solomon landed the timber and marble for his gorgeous temple on Mori ah. Another interesting discovery has just been made by the Palestine Exploration Society. It will be remembered that, after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the city was rebuilt by order of the Emperor Hadrian, and the name changed to ^Elia Capitolina, in honor of himself. This emperor also, to commemorate his victory over the Jews and the overthrow of their religion, erected a grand temple on Mount Moriah, which he dedicated to Jupiter, placing therein a beautiful marble statue of himself. HEAD OF THE EMPEROR HADRIAN. 427 Lately a poor peasant, digging among the rubbish in the old road-bed, just outside the Damascus gate, near the Tomb of the- Kings, came upon what appears to be the head of this celebrated statue. The physiognomy of Hadrian is striking, and there is. little difficulty in identifying his statue by the rather low fore- head, Roman nose, crisp beard, curved eyelids, stern look, and curled mustache, all of which are here clearly defined. M. Clermont-Ganneau, and other archaeologists, consider this the HADRIAN'S HEAD head of the identical statue of the great emperor, which origin- ally stood in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, erected on the site of the once magnificent temple of Solomon. The statue had been broken into fragments, its head used as a common paving-stone, and when found was lying in the highway, face downward, where for centuries it had been 428 BIBLE LANDS. trampled in the dust by almost every donkey, camel, and pil- grim that entered the gates of Zion ! How strangely God brings to naught the designs of wicked men ! This emperor sought to obliterate all knowledge of the true God and his worship ; blotted out the very name of the lioly city ; piled up mountains of earth over the tomb of Christ ; built pagan temples on Calvary and Moriah, and set up liis own image in the most sacred place to receive the homage due only to God. All which seems to have transpired but yes- terday in the history of our race. To-day, in clearing away the ruins of the past, we* find the mutilated head of the con- queror of 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 beautiful tomb in Rome is the Castle of St. Angelo ; his mar- ble sarcophagus is the baptismal font in St. Peter's, and Jupiter, his favorite deity, is without a temple, priest, or worshiper on the face of the whole earth ; while, on the other hand, for every fragment of Jehovah's temple demolished by this emperor a Christian church has sprung up somewhere in the earth, and to-day millions of devout hearts crowd the courts of the Lord's house in every land, to join in doxologies of praise to " Him whose dominion is universal, and of whose kingdom there shall be no end." These, and other discoveries which are almost daily made in the sites of cities and places not hitherto identified, help very much to settle long-disputed points, go far toward establishing the inspired record, and add greatly to the interest taken in biblical researches. CHAPTER IX. NORTHERN SYRIA. Impressions on Leaving Jerusalem Old City of Damascus Turkish Bath Great Mosque Baalbec by Moonlight Cedars of Lebanon Ruins of Ephesus Temple of Diana Classic Athens Vestiges of Ancient Greece Home again. TX leaving Jerusalem, after a residence of four years, we ex- perienced the saddest feelings. It was like parting with some long-cherished friend, and painful to tear ourselves away. Our heads were continually turning and looking back to catch, if possible, another and still another view of the Holy City. Even when miles away, we found ourselves standing up in our stirrups, stretching our necks and straining our eyes in hopes of getting yet another glimpse. And when, near Bethel, we saw for the last time the "Dome of the Rock" on the summit of Moriah, it was like taking a last look of the old homestead or of a beloved parent. Crossing the Jordan at Damieh, and tak- ing on our route Jerash, Bozrah, Edrei, and other famous stone cities of Bashan and the Hauran, after many adventures, but nothing serious, we safely reached the old city of Damascus. The history of this city dates back very near the flood. It is supposed, by some, to cover the site of the Garden of Eden, and to have been founded by Uz, the great-grandson of Xoah. It must have been a place of importance in the 'days of Abra- ham, whose steward was "Eliezer of Damascus," and, according to Josephus, Abraham himself at one time was a reigning prince of this city. It certainly is among the oldest cities on our globe, and, what is remarkable, has flourished under every 431 432 BIBLE LANDS. dynasty, and is still the largest city in Syria. Beautifully situ- ated on the banks of the Abana and Pharpar rivers, in the midst of luxuriant gardens, it may very appropriately be called "the pearl of the East." Our first stroll was through the crooked "street called Straight," by the house of Judas, and Ananias, and out of the eastern gate, where we were shown the traditional site of DAMASCUS. 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. of the grand entrances to this temple, now closed, may still be seen the very singular Greek inscription, " Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations." This prophetic inscription has. stood here since the earliest ages of Christianity, and over the portals of Islamism for these twelve hundred years. Never having taken a Turkish bath, several of us one morning concluded to test this Oriental luxury. On entering the estab- lishment, we were met by two turbaned Turks evaporated into EAST GATE, DAMASCUS. mere skin and bones, and conducted to an elevated platform' where we were requested to undress. From here we were- taken from apartment to apartment, each one hotter and hot- ter, until respiration became difficult, and a peculiar sensation of suffocation came over me. Yery soon we were ushered into- a small oven-shaped room, feeling hot enough to roast a man, and stretched out on its heated marble floor, the perspiration oozing profusely from every pore, as if the whole body were dissolving. After this we were drenched, at intervals, with. 434: BIBLE LAXDS. pails of hot water thrown over our shoulders, the steam filling the room and almost parboiling us. Next, in came a gaunt, raw-boned Arab, looking as if all commiseration had been stewed out of him, and with brush and soap-suds began scrub- bing our tender, half -cooked bodies at a fearful rate, fairly taking the flesh from our bones. This process of steaming, scraping, scrubbing, was kept up for perhaps half an hour ; when, blind from the soap in our eyes, faint from the excess- ive heat, sore from the unmerciful scouring, and provoked at our own folly in submitting to such vile treatment, we were taken into another apartment and plunged into a bath up to our chins, hotter, if possible, than any thing we had yet experienced. Never did mortals suffer more in the same length of time than we poor wretches in that seething caldron. Taken from this vat, we were wrapped in winding sheets and laid out on marble slabs to cool, as if, sure enough, they intended us for immediate burial ; and really, if this process had continued much longer, we would soon have been fit sub- jects for the tomb. Finally, after more rubbing, rolling, and thumping, we were conducted back to the room we first en- tered, stretched out on Turkish divans, regaled with Turkish coffee, fumigated with Turkish tobacco until our eyes began to swim as in some dreamy state, from which we were soon aroused by our sharpened appetites clamoring for something more substantial than smoke and vapor. So off "we hastened to our tents, reaching them just in time for a good breakfast, thoroughly satisfied and disgusted with the Turkish bath. About midway between this and Beirut, on the high plain between the two ranges of the Lebanons, are the ruins of Baal- bee, in some respects the sublimest works ever executed by the genius of man. Nothing in Greece, Rome, or Egypt can com- RUINS OF BAALBEC. 437 pare with them. Here, on a vast platform nine hundred feet long and live hundred wide, standing thirty feet above the plain, and supported by a wall of immense stones, the largest sixty-nine feet long, fifteen feet thick, 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 single columns seventy-five feet high and twenty-one feet in circumference, surmounted by an entablature fifteen feet high, all of exquisite workmanship. The eastern door-way to the temple of Jupiter is forty-two feet high in the clear, and twenty-one feet wide, with massive pilasters richly carved. The key-stone of this portal weighs sixty tons, and on it is sculptured the symbol of Jupiter ; power and dominion an 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 anew the place, and as we wandered from temple to temple over broken columns and crumbling walls we could almost fancy we saw the old fire- worshipers in their midnight orgies again. In visiting the cedars of Lebanon from Baalbec, we crossed the broad rich plain of Bnka'a, nearly four thousand feet above the ocean level, and in two hours began ascending the lower 438 BIBLE LANDS. CEDARS OF LEBANON. spurs of the mountain, and in two hours more were at 'Ain 'Ata, where we encamped for the night. After pitching our tents we retired early, hoping to enjoy a comfortable night's rest ; but about midnight a furious hurricane suddenly struck our camp, blowing down our tents and leaving us exposed to the peltings of the pitiless storm. The next morning, half frozen, we continued our journey, and after three hours' hard CEDARS OF LEBANON. 439 climbing by a rocky, tortuous path over fields of snow and the highest ranges of Lebanon, when near the summit we encoun- tered another fearful storm of wind, rain, and hail. The thun- der shook the very mountain beneath us, bringing down great avalanches across our path. The lightnings shot forth their fiery fangs like enormous serpents. The rain fell in torrents. Our horses refused to face the storm, and all we could do was to turn our backs 10 the blast and wait until it had spent its fury. Cold, wet, hungry, almost dead, we reached the famous cedars, so celebrated in sacred history, about nightfall, greatly 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 recently been discovered to the north and south, one back of Sidon, very beautiful ; and no doubt the whole mountain, at one time, was covered with these goodly trees. But Hiram's thirty thousand men, and the ravages of three thousand years, have made sad havoc among them, and the wonder is that any remain to this day. The wood is of a close-grained, firm text- ure, very durable, and in appearance resembles our white-pine. Anciently it was used only by royalty and for religious pur- poses. The great image of Diana, at Ephesus, and the oldest idol in Egypt, were of cedar. The palace of King David was "a house of cedar," and the wood-work of the grand temples of Solomon, Apollo, arid Diana were of the same material. 440 BIBLE LANDS. These trees are called in the Scriptures, " The trees of the Lord, . . . which he hath planted," ' and they belong exclu- sively to Lebanon are indigenous to no other part of the world. " No other tree was like unto them for beauty." And IJIVER OK ADOSIS. in the poetic language of Ezekiel, " All the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied" them." Though some- what shattered with age, they still spread wide their fragrant 1 Psalm civ, 16. 2 Ezekiel xxxi, 9. RIVER OF ADONIS. 441 tranches, and run out their roots far and deep, taking hold of the very foundation of the mountain, so that the storms of many centuries have failed to destroy them : beautifully sym- bolizing the Christian rooted and grounded in Christ, whom no storm can uproot. " The righteous shall flourish like the 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 through the gnarled branches, and the associations awakened NATURAL BRIDGE. 'by the venerable appearance of these trees, made us feel more -solemn than joyous ; and after a few hours' rest we turned our 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. Passing the river Adonis, near the fabled scene of that young man's death and frequent interviews with Venus a wild, picturesque gorge, with numerous fountains and water- 1 Psalm xcii, 12. 442 BIBLE LANDS. falls fit temple for Cupid and crossing a deep chasm on a natural bridge, one hundred and sixty-three feet long, eighty feet high, by about one hundred and twenty wide a most romantic spot, and a wonderful freak of nature, we, on the second day, began the ascent of another mountain range near the coast, and as we were wondering in our own minds whether we should ever reach its craggy summit, lo, all at once the sea, the blue, tideless Mediterranean Sea, burst upon our TOMB OF KINGSLEY. vision ! and in a few hours we were in Beirut, the end of our journey in Palestine, feeling very thankful for our safe pas- sage of the Lebanons. In the Prussian Cemetery, close by the road-side, as you enter Beirut, a gray granite obelisk marks the tomb of the lamented Bishop Kingsley, who died in this city April 6, 1870, on his tour round the world. The monument was shipped from New York during the author's residence in Palestine, and BEIRUT. 443 stands as a beautiful memorial over the grave of the first Meth- odist Bishop to circumnavigate the globe. Beirut is the most flourishing commercial city in Syria, re- minding one very much of an American city. It is beautifully situated on the site of ancient Berytus, at the base of the coast range of the Lebanon Mountains. Three lines of mail steamers run regularly from here to Europe, and diligences to Damascus daily, over the finest macadamized road in the East. The American Mission established here in 1823 has contrib- uted more than any other agency to the recent rapid growth of this city, which now contains a population of 80,000. The Syrian Protestant College established by the Legislature of Xew York in 1863 occupies a commanding position on the promon- tory about a mile west of the city. It was erected and is sup- ported by the liberal voluntary contributions of Christian gen- tlemen in America and England ; and under the management of Revs. D. Bliss, D. D., Vandyck, Post, and other efficient pro- fessors, has given a great impulse to education and civilization io Syria. There are also here a Prussian Hospital, founded and sup- ported by the Knights of St. John, 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. This city was probably founded by the Phoenicians, though little is known of its early history. It was celebrated as a seat of learning under the Greeks and Romans. Herod Agrippa adorned it with splendid colonnades, and an amphitheatre for gladiatorial combats, in which Titus, after the fall of Jerusalem, celebrated the birthday of his father, Vespasian, by throwing 444 BIBLE LANDS. thousands of captive Jews to the wild beasts. Among her an- cient remains, that which will interest the antiquarian most is 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. On the 9th of July, 551 A. D., Beirut was entirely destroyed by an earthquake, burying most of the population beneath the ruins. The shock is described as fearful! Enormous chasms were opened in the earth, huge masses were thrown into the air; the sea was greatly disturbed, the very mountains torn from their firm foundations, and one cast into the sea, forming the present harbor of Butrone. Traces of this upheaval and dreadful calamity may still be seen in and around the city. Dig down anywhere within the walls of ancient Berytus, and you will come upon the remains of grand palaces, theatres, porticos and other edifices. Recently a bronze statuette was found of a female figure, crowned with a crescent. One hand rests upon an oar, with an inscription, "To the Sidonians," in Phrenician characters. It is supposed to represent the goddess Astarte. Portions of the city must have been submerged, as many of these ruins may be seen through the clear waters lying at the bottom of the harbor. In 1840 the governor of Beirut built a breakwater to protect the harbor, entirely of large granite columns taken from the sea in front of the city. Six miles north of Beirut, Nahr-el Kelb, or Dog river, empties into the sea, a wild, romantic stream, gushing out of mysterious caverns under the snowy peaks of Lebanon. The chasm through MONUMENTAL TABLETS. 445 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 advent of Christ, and have left enduring records of their power, in monumental tablets cut in the living stone, recording their achievements. About a dozen of these tablets, carved on the face of the rock, may still be seen above the old road, near the mouth of Dog river; some much defaced, others in good preservation. They look as if set in a frame, the rock being scarped away, leaving a cornice above, with mouldings running down the sides. They are of different shapes, some square at the top, others round. The panels are sunken, and of different izes, but all large enough to contain the full-length figure of a person. Three of these tablets are Egyptian, bearing the cartouche of Rameses II., the Sesostris of the Greeks. They refer to dif- ferent campaigns of this monarch, and are dedicated to Ra, Amrnon, and Phtah, the three principal deities of the old Egyptians, dating back to the invasion of Asia by Rameses the Great, 1351 B.C. Herodotus tells us that Sesostris, in his ex- pedition to Asia, did leave behind him stelse 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 figures re- ferred to by the historian ? Six of the sculptures are Assyrian ; the figures on them well preserved, representing the king standing with right hand up- lifted, and the left folded across his breast grasping a mace. The background and dress are covered with cuniform inscriptions, very dim, however, from age. Some of these tablets refer to the invasion of Sennacherib, whose army was smitten by the angel of 446 BIBLE LANDS. the Lord, on the plain of Philistia ; others, though it is difficult to fix the dates, relate to the expeditions of Tiglath-pileser, Shal- maneser, Sargon and other Assyrian kings, whose conquests ex- tended to the Great Sea. Two of the inscriptions are Greek very ancient and almost illegible. " The epoch of Sesostris," says Dr. Robinson, " covered the last half of the fourteenth century B. C., and was three centuries earlier than the accession of King David to the throne of Israel. Sennacherib is supposed to have ascended the throne of Assyria in 703 B. C. Between the tablets of Sesostris, the former con- queror, and those of the latter, therefore, there intervened a period of not less than six centuries. And looking back from our day,, these Assyrian tablets have continued to commemorate the pro- gress of the Assyrian hosts for more than twenty-five centuries ;. while those of Egypt have celebrated the prowess of Sesostris for thirty-one centuries. They reach back to hoary antiquity,, even to the earliest days of the judges of Israel." Other sculptures have been found higher up among the moun- tains, and within the last year two were discovered in a narrow valley near Hurmul, eighteen feet long by eight feet high. They are on opposite sides of a rocky gorge, facing each other, with the figure of Nebuchadnezzar, giving his name and titles in full. It was near Hurmul, at Riblah, that Pharaoh-Necho encamped on his expedition against the Assyrians, when he slew- Josiah, the last good king of Judah, at Megiddo. 1 Here also- Nebuchadnezzar encamped while his army captured Jerusalem, and it was here the cruel King of Babylon put out the eyes of King Zedekiah, then bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. 2 How strange, after the lapse of so many centuries, we should; 1 2 Kings xxiii, 29. a 2 Kings xxv, 7. ANCIENT SIDON. 447 find here written on the enduring rocks a corroboration of all these events ! A day's ride on horseback along the coast south of Beirut brings us to Sidon, " Mother of all the Phoenicians," now hoary with age, sitting by the sea, as if weeping over her faded beauty 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 Xoah. When the Israelites entered Canaan it had already become famous as " Great Zidon." * Homer celebrates this city and her mariners in the " Iliad." The beautifully embroidered robes worn by Helen were brought from here by Paris, and the richly wrought votive offering of the Trojans to Minerva was the work of Sidon's daughters. Strabo also celebrates the Sidonians for excelling in architecture, astron- omy, navigation and philosophy. Sidon was first conquered by .Shalmaneser, 720 B.C. Afterwards it was taken by Alexander the Great. Paul landed here on his way to Rome, but since the Crusades its history does not contain a single incident worthy of notice. The most interesting remains of ancient Sidon yet discovered have been among the rock-hewn tombs everywhere to be found on the plain and in the neighboring hills. Some of these tombs consist of several chambers communicating with each other. Many of them are occupied as dwellings by the natives, and one appeared to have been used for a church : so we here literally find " the living among the dead." In some, beautiful sarcophagi were found ; in others various articles in glass, pottery, and even 1 Joshua xix, 28. 448 BIBLE LANDS. gold. A few years since several copper or bronze boxes were dug up, containing thousands of old coins of the purest gold, bearing either the image and superscription of Philip of Mace- don or of his son, Alexander the Great, and valued, it is said, at $200,000. We carefully examined some of these coins, and found them, in their artistic execution, equal if not superior to- any issued by our mint. As none of them were of a later date than Alexander, they probably were a part of his royal treasure, aud concealed here by himself or some of his officers at the time he occupied Sidon during his invasion of Asia, 332 B. C. But a still more valuable discovery was made on the 20th of January, 1855, beneath the ruins of a Pagan temple in the old cemetery of Sidon. It was an ancient sarcophagus belonging to> one of Sidon's famous kings, with one of the oldest if not the oldest Phoenician inscription yet recovered carved upon its lid* Our engraving gives a very good idea of this rare relic. It is seven feet long by four feet wide, resembling very much an Egyptian mummy case. The material is blue-black basalt, intensely hard, and highly polished. The inscription of twenty- two lines is in perfect preservation, and as easily read as the day it was cut. Scholars differ in their translation of the inscription,, but the version most generally received is that of the French, which reads thus : TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION. " In the month of Bui, in the fourteenth of my reign, King Ashmunazer, the King of the Sidonians, spake, saying, I am snatched away before my time, like the flowing of a river. Then I have made a house for my funeral resting-place, and am lying in this sarcophagus, and in this sepulchre, the place which I have built. My prohibition to every royal person, and to every man, BURIED TREASURES. 449 1 not to open my sepulchre, and not to seek with me treasures SARCOPHAGUS OF ASHMUNAZER. for there are no treasures with me nor to take away the sarco- phagus of my funeral couch, nor to transfer me with my funeral 450 BIBLE LANDS. couch upon the couch of another. And if any man command to do so, listen not to their opinion, because every royal person, and very man who shall open this funeral couch, or who shall take away the sarcophagus of this funeral couch, or who shall transfer me with the funeral couch, he shall have no funeral with the dead, nor be buried in a sepulchre, nor leave behind him son or 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 spring upward, and he shall be accursed among those living tinder the sun, because I am to be pitied snatched away before my time, like a flowing river. " Then I have made this edifice for my funeral resting-place, for I am Ashmunazer, King of the Sidonians, son of Tabnith, King of the Sidonians, grandson of Ashmunazer, King of the Sidonians, and my mother, Immiastoreth, priestess of Astarte, our sovereign queen, daughter of King Ashmunazer, King of the Sidonians. It is we who have built this temple of the gods in Sidon by the sea, and the heavenly powers have rendered Astarte favorable. And it is we who have erected the temple to Esmuno and the sanctuary of Ene Dalil in the mountains. The heavenly powers have established me on the throne. And it is we who have built the temples to the gods of the Sidonians in Sidon by the sea : the temple of Baal-Sidon, and the temple of Astarte, the glory of Baal, lord of kings, who bestowed on us Dor and Joppa, and ample corn-lands which are at the root of Dan, Extending the power which I have founded, they added them to the bounds of the land, establishing them to the Sidonians for- ever. LADY HESTER STANHOPE. 451 "My prohibition upon every royal person, and upon every man who shall open me, or uncover me, or shall transfer me with the funeral couch, or take away the sarcophagus of my funeral couch, lest the holy gods desert them, and cut off that 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 exact age of this monument. But, as there is no evidence that the " ample corn-lands at the root of Dan " ever belonged to the King of Sidon after the conquest of Laish under the Judges, 1 it is probably the oldest Phoenician record yet discovered, dating back to the eleventh century B. C. As Xapoleon III. had this royal sarcophagus removed to Paris and placed in the Museum of the Louvre, the maledictions invoked by Ashmunazer upon whomsoever should disturb his tomb must have fallen on the head of Louis Napoleon and his posterity. Can this be the cause of the late emperor's downfall, and the untimely death of his only son ? LADY HESTER STANHOPE. In the garden of the old convent of Mar Elias, perched on the summit of a rocky spur of Lebanon, overlooking the sea, and about eight miles back of Sidon, may be seen the humble tomb now almost obliterated of Lady Hester Stanhope, who died and was buried in this lonely spot, on Sunday, June 23d, 1839. A volume might easily be written on the life and adventures of this beautiful, talented, but eccentric woman. She was the eldest daughter of Lord Stanhope, and niece of William Pitt, second son of the celebrated Earl of Chatham, whom she served as pri- vate secretary, sharing in all his confidences. After the death 'Judges xviii, 27. 452 BIBLE LANDS. of her uncle this accomplished lady visited the different countries of Europe, and finally left her native land for Syria, taking up her abode among the wild Arabs of the desert. No satisfactory reason has been given for this strange movement on the part of this highly educated and aristocratic lady. Some think it was the disgust of her noble nature for the intrigues of court life. Others, that it was a romantic passion for adventure and perfect freedom from the conventionalism of London society, influenced, also, by the impression that a great destiny awaited her in the East. It, however, more than likely arose from disappointed affection. She greatly admired, and it is said was engaged to be married to Sir John Moore, one of the bravest generals in the English army, who fell in Spain, during the wars of Napoleon, in 1809. This may account for the fact that she never married, spurning imperiously all advances on the subject. The Pasha of Sidon conveyed to her the old deserted convent of Elijah, high up on Lebanon, which she greatly enlarged and beautified, enclosing it with walls, giving it the appearance of a strongly fortified castle. Her wealth, which she distributed with a liberal hand, made her many friends, and enabled her at least to keep up the appearance of royalty. Her palace was crowded with servants and soldiers, and when she appeared in public was always attended by a strong body-guard, impressing the natives with her great wealth and power. 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 religion was a mysticism, or a mixture of Christianity and Ori- ental superstition. She was a firm believer in astrology, and nightly consulted the stars in reference to coming events. She LADY STANHOPE. 453 held that we all are children of the celestial body presiding at the time of our birth that the stars exert a fortunate or malignant influence over our destiny, and that this influence may be deter- mined by the expression of the eye, or may be seen in the feat- ures or written on the brow. She also had some strange ideas in reference to the temporal reign of Christ and for fourteen 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 present at her funeral, the greater part of her household having robbed and deserted her during her last illness. And how sin- 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. Xow 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, and thrashing the officers sent to her lodge ; to-day charitable and kind to the poor; to-morrow oppressive and selfish in the extreme. Such was Lady Hester in her mountain home on Lebanon. I should like to read the long, dark, interior life 454 BIBLE LANDS. 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. What a death i Without a friend, male or female alone, on the 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 of England's happy daughters to fall and expire on this solitary summit of Lebanon ! I drop a tear upon thy lonely grave, which, living, thy proud spirit would have scorned." PABT IV. ASIA MINOR. " What thou seest. write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia." Rev. i, 11. CHAPTER I. ANCIENT ANATOLIA. The Levant Ancient Splendor Present Desolate Condition Natural Resources Scene of St. Paul's Labors Fathers of the Church Ignatius Polycarp Chrysostom Turkish Rule Extinct Nations Ruined Cities Knowledge and Skill of the Ancients Lost Arts Process of Moving great Stones Con- stantinople The Sublime Porte Church of St. Sophia. ASIA MINOR, anciently known as Anatolia, or the Levant, applies to the peninsula of Western Asia lying between 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 those passages in the New Testament where the word Asia occurs are to be understood as referring not to Asia proper, but to this peninsula, which was the field first cultivated among the Gentiles, by the apostles and disciples of Christ. Here Paul spent most of his ministry, planting and establishing churches in Colossa3, Lystra, Iconium, Derbe and many other cities; here he first met with Timothy, and three of his epistles are ad- dressed to the Christian churches of Asia Minor. This also was the scene of the effective labors of Ignatius, one of the apostoli- , cal fathers, and worthy successor of St. Paul. He is supposed by some to be the child whom Christ took in his arms, 1 and, with Polycarp, was a disciple of St. John ; afterward 1 Mark ix. 36. 457 458 BIBLE LANDS. bishop of Antioch, and finally taken prisoner to Rome by order of Trajan, and thrown to the wild beasts in the Colosseum, about 115 A. D. The saintly Polycarp was a native of this country, and here suffered martyrdom. And Chrysostom, the golden-mouthed pulpit orator, and patriarch of Constantinople, one of the most learned, orthodox, and eloquent ministers in the primitive church, died here in exile, 407 A. D. This peninsula, forming, as it were, a bridge between Asia and Europe, has been the great highway between the two conti- nents, over which the commerce, wealth, and teeming population of the East found their way into Southern Europe. The ear- liest Greek scholars were natives of Asia Minor; civilization and art, philosophy and literature, were first cultivated here. This was the home of Homer, Pythagoras and Herodotus. Here the model of all epic poetry was written. Here Grecian archi- tecture achieved its first triumphs ; and it was here Alexander the Great cut the intricate Gordian knot that made him con- queror of all Asia. But to write the history of Asia Minor would be to write up the history of the world ; as it was among the earliest civilized portions of the globe, and the seat of some of the most wealthy, powerful, and highly cultured nations of antiquity. Here was the Trojan Kingdom of Priam, that with- stood the arms of all Greece for years; here flourished the re- fined Republic of Ionia, marking the first development of Grecian art; here, also, Crcesus reigned in grander state than any other king on earth. The monumental remains of these kingdoms are among the grandest works of man, and for ages have been among the wonders of the world. The Temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was perfection itself; and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus a gem of beauty. Mausolus was King of Caria, in the southwest corner of AN(1ENT ANATOLIA. 459 Anatolia. At his death his wife, Artemisia, caused this magnifi- cent monument to be erected to his memory. It was called the Mausoleum in honor of the king, and on account of its cost and exquisite workmanship was estimated one of t'he seven wonders of the world, giving its name to all future imposing structures of the kind. Yet, this beautiful monument was only his ceno- 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 tomb. Recently some Austrian archa3ologists, excavating on the site of an unknown city, near Halicarnassus, discovered another Mausoleum, not unlike that of the King of Caria, and orna- mented with reliefs in the finest style of art. The sculptures, which comprise scenes from the " Odyssey," and combats of Amazons, belong to the early florid epoch of Greek art. No portion of the East is favored with a more salubrious climate, or a more productive soil, or with greater natural re- sources of wealth, than Asia Minor. And in no portion of the globe can there be found so many buried cities, and other traces of extinct nations. This magnificent domain, which in ancient times supplied the wealth and splendor of a dozen thrones, is now lying, like an old neglected estate, in ruins, no encouragement being given to its development by the effete Turkish government. Being a part of the Ottoman Empire, an absolute despotism, there is no protection to life or property ; and this whole region, once the fairest portion and light of Asia, has become a vast wilderness, infested with panthers, wolves, bears and other wild beasts, and overrun by wandering Arabs and Greek brigands, making it extremely perilous to explore; in fact, without a strong escort, and authority from the pashas or sultan, it would be impossible BIBLE LANDS. to travel safely through this portion of Asia. On one occasion we were attacked by brigands during a furious rain and hail- storm ; we, however, were too strong for the banditti, and not only drove them off but captured one of their number, turning him over to the civil authorities, I suppose, only to be set free, as a few dollars will secure the release of any criminal in the East. At another time a treacherous guide we had employed to conduct us to a certain point, led us out of our way, and per- sisted in going on until his life was threatened, if he did not 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 pashas and tax-collectors are in authority. With its fine climate, splendid harbors, rich deposits of iron, copper and gold, and other natural advantages, under a proper government it would soon recover much of its ancient glory. In our late tour through the Levant, so full of historic inter- est, we were favored with a firman from the Sublime Porte, as- SULTAN'S FIRMAN. 461 suring us protection, and granting us the freedom of the country. The document is five feet five inches long, and twenty-two inches broad, beautifully written on vellum paper, in red, black, and gold Turkish characters, also bearing the large unique sig- nature of the Sultan in red, about the size of and resembling a human hand. During the Dark Ages, when the Goths, Van- dals, Huns, Turks, and other barbarian hordes overran Europe, the masses, and even the nobility and many of the kings, could neither read nor write, and when these unlettered kings had to subscribe their names to documents drawn up by their scribes, they would smear their right hand with ink and slap it down upon the parchment, saying, " Witness my hand." And it is related of many of the Sultans that, in signing their names, they dipped their hands in human blood, which is strongly suggested by the autograph on this firman. At a later date, seals, bearing some device, were used with the hand; hence, the formula still in use, " Witness 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: TRANSLATION OF THE SULTAN'S FIRMAN. "The President of the United States of America, having appointed the Hon. F. S. De Hass Consul at Jerusalem, and the Legation of the United States having requested the official recognition of Effendi De Hass as United States Consul at Jerusalem, I therefore issue this Firman, and give my orders to all in authority, and to all subjects of the Sublime Porte, to recognize the said Hon. F. S. De Hass as the American Consul, and grant him that protection and respect which his office commands. "And all governors, judges, and officers of the Sublime Porte are to aid him in the execution of his duties, and under no pretense interfere in his affairs, nor ar- rest any American subject without his permission; nor under any plea enter the consul's domicile, or molest him, or his family, or servants, or property of any kind, in any way, under the severest penalty. Custom-house officers are also to allow all articles for the consul to pass free of duty, and all respect and dignity are to be shown the Hon. F. S. De Hass on all occasions. " By order of the Sublime Porte. (Signed) "The Sultan." 462 BIBLE LANDS. Armed with this formidable document, and accompanied by a military escort, detailed from the pasha's body-guard, we suc- ceeded, without any great difficulty, in making the tour of Western Asia, and in identifying many of her renowned cities, the ruins of which still attest their ancient splendor. It is very difficult, however, to realize that the heaps of rubbish every- where met with, were once opulent cities teeming with popula- tion ; that these almost forgotten nations excelled in their knowl- edge of architecture and many of the sciences, and that we are still far behind them in many of the fine arts. It is a great mis- take to suppose that we of the nineteenth century are wiser and more skilled than the nations of old. Except in morals, where Christian principles prevail, we are nothing more than plagiar- ists and imitators. We are greatly indebted to the ancients for our language, laws, and principles of self-government. Our much-admired public buildings at Washington and elsewhere, are mostly modeled after the edifices of ancient Greece or Rome ; and the beautiful frescoes and sculptures that adorn them are mere copies, and many of them nothing but caricatures. No modern architect has been able to produce anything like the Parthenon at Athens, that looks down through the ages upon us more like an apparition than anything real. They undertook to reproduce it in Paris, in building the Madeleine, at a cost of $2,500,000, but signally failed. This church, when compared with the Temple of Minerva, looks stiff and graceless, like a wooden horse by the side of a sprightly living steed. The secret of its beauty lies in the fact that there is not a straight line in the Parthenon, every wall, column, and architrave, from foundation to pediment, being cut on a graceful curve, corre- 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 works are the very ideal of perfection. The most brilliant thoughts that glow in modern poetry, are borrowed from Orien- tal legends older than Christianity. No higher compliment can be passed upon a public speaker, than to tell him his eloquence equals that of Cicero, or Demosthenes ; and everybody knows that Washington Irving's legend of Rip Van Winkle was sug- gested by the seven sleepers of Ephesus. Even the familiar nursery rhyme, " The House that Jack built," is found in the oldest legends of the Orient, and is supposed to have originated with the building of Solomon's Temple. We have scarcely added a single line of beauty to the poetry, painting, sculpture, or architecture of by -gone days. When I inquired of one of the engineers engaged on the great Brooklyn Bridge, if there was no 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 science of practical chemistry, and the mechanical arts. In some of these cities, buried for thousands of years, speci- mens of glass have been found perfectly beautiful. Translucent window-glass, cut glass, colored glass, even crown glass, in a great variety of articles, some resembling precious stones, which our best glass workers have failed in reproducing : such as the Portland Vase in the British Museum, and the celebrated Geneva Cup, which, according to tradition, was among the presents given to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba, and so perfect, it was long con- sidered a solid emerald, and valued at $3,000,000. On the oldest monuments of Egypt, glass-blowers may be seen at work very much as at the present day, and in the tombs near Thebes lovely 464 BIBLE LANDS. goblets of variegated glass were found. In the Catacombs of Rome, they have found glassware richly enamelled, and on one piece, the outlines of the Temple at Jerusalem in gilt. I have in my possession a glass bottle taken from a tomb in Cyprus, in which gold has been fused, giving it a golden tinge; and a large bead inlaid with enamel, at least 3,000 years old. The latter is Egyptian. The ancients also understood the manufacture of malleable glass, so pliant it could be bent like copper, or if thrown on the marble floor would not break. It was transparent, but not brit- tle. An art entirely lost. And in the working of metals they far surpassed us. Chisels, and other instruments in copper or bronze, have been found 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- cer in America could equal it in workmanship. They were equally skilled in lapidary work. Their engraved gems are marvels of beauty ; battle-scenes often carved on the hardest gems not larger than a dime. I have in my cabinet a signet ring, 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 coloring, we have never been able to compete with them. Our brightest colors fade in a few years, but in the tombs of Egypt, and on the walls of Pompeii, the paintings of the ancients look as fresh as if done but yesterday. In the tomb of the old Pharaohs recently discovered at Deir el Bahari, a funeral tent was found, twenty by twenty-two feet, richly embroidered oil LOST ARTS. 485 gazelle skins highly colored, the separate pieces being stitched to- gether with colored thread; the whole wonderfully preserved The Roman empire has come and gone ; the Greek empire has come and gone ; the Assyrian and Persian empires have come and 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 fact, we have been dealing with borrowed capital. Many of the inventions we claim are only reproductions; and at least ninety-nine per cent, of all we know we have gathered from the ashes of the past. Their mechanical skill in moving heavy bodies was even more marvelous. We consider the transporting of Cleopatra's Needle from Alexandria to New York, weighing less than two hundred tons, a great achievement, but in the foundation walls of the great temple at Baalbec there are single stones weighing twelve hundred tons, equal to half a dozen such obelisks. The colossal granite statue of Rameses the Great at Thebes, in the rough, must have weighed one thousand tons, which Herodotus tells us was brought overland one hundred and fifty miles, from the quarry at Syene. This statue represents the king sitting on his throne as a mighty conqueror, in perfect majesty and repose. No longer engaged in conflicts with his enemies, he has laid aside his sword, and is now enjoying the reward of his victories, and homage of his subjects. 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- tration. In one of the halls of the magnificent palace of Sen- 466 BIRLK LANDS. nacherib, discovered by Mr. Layard at Nineveh, numerous large sculptured alabaster slabs were found, recording all events of interest during the king's reign, and giving us some idea of their mechanical skill. One bass-relief represents the process of trans- porting a colossal human-headed bull from the quarry to the palace. There is the wooden sledge on which the monster stands ; there the cables that hold it in position ; and there the overseer standing on the front of the sledge directing operations. Strong ropes of bark are attached to the sledge, by means of which, with the aid of levers, it is moved slowly along on rollers, by a host of men, probably captives, as they are in squads under armed guards. Similar scenes are depicted on the monuments of Egypt, leading us to infer that this was their process in mov- ing such bodies. But whether masses weighing four and five thousand tons, as the temple of Sai's, could be moved six hundred miles by such appliances, remains still a problem which future explorations can only solve. Constantinople being the capital of the Ottoman empire, and partly in Asia Minor, we cannot very well conclude this chapter without a passing notice of this ancient city, the scene of so many severe conflicts between the armies of Asia and Europe. Taking a steamer at Smyrna we were soon out among the classic islands of the Grecian Archipelago. There was Tenedos, so celebrated in heathen mythology, where Laocoon and his sons were strangled by the serpent, and where the Greeks found shelter after their repulse from Troy, and constructed the wooden horse by means of which they finally captured the city. And a little beyond, on the horizon, could be seen the two volcanic crests of Lemnos, where Vulcan forged his thunder-bolts for Jove. The sun was just rising over the lofty summit of Mount Ida, as we passed the site of ancient Troy, causing the whole CONSTANTINOPLE. 469 plain to flash with fire as when the hosts of Greece, on the same field, drew their glittering swords for the last grand charge on the Trojan stronghold. What emotions the scene awakened J What heroic deeds of old were witnessed on that plain! How the forms of Hector, and Achilles, and Paris, and a host of others rose up before me like spectres from the grave! Xo shout of victory, no noise of contending armies is now heard ; all is silence and desolation, and a few mounds of rubbish about all that remains above ground of the royal city of Priam. A few hours brought us into the Dardanelles, up which we now steamed with the two castles of Asia and Europe on our right and left. Passing rapidly Cape Nagara, where Xerxes and Alexander crossed the Hellespont, and Leander was drowned in swimming over to his beautiful Hero, we soon entered the Propontis, or Sea of Marmora, then the deep channel of the Bosphorus, and as we rounded to in the Golden Horn, Constantinople, with her thous- and domes and minarets, loomed up before us like some celestial city, in all her glory. Nothing could be more grand than a view from the bay, on a bright morning, of the city of the "Crescent and Star," with its background of dark cypress trees. They have a beautiful prac- tice here of planting a cypress in memory of every one who dies, so that there are vast groves of these trees in the suburbs of this city, and it said that their foliage absorbs the poisonous gases exhaled by the dead, thus preventing pestilence. Constantinople, or ancient Byzantium, was founded by Byzas, 658 B. c. Constantine the Great made it the eastern capital of the Roman Empire, 328 A. D. Now it is the third city in Eu- rope, with a population of over 1,000,000. There are, in fact, three cities in one, Stamboul, Pera and Scutari, situated on both sides of the Bosphorus and Golden Horn. It is the head of the 470 BIBLE LANDS. Ottoman Empire, and known as the Sublime Porte, from a mag- nificent gateway leading to the royal palace. The government is an absolute despotism ; the will of the Sultan being supreme, he claiming the whole country and all the people in it. Through the influence of Europeans 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 changes in customs and manners indicate a new departure in the right direction, and bid fair to renovate the nation and prolong the "sick man's" life. The Sultan seldom appears in public, except when he goes to the mosque for prayers once a week, at noon, on Friday. Never having seen the ruler of Turkey, I embraced the first oppor- tunity, and mounting my horse, on Friday, the Mohammedan Sunday, rode down to the Sublime Porte, of the sublime palace, to see his sublime majesty, mount a sublime horse, and ride in sublime state, to a sublime mosque, to engage in the sublime worship of the sublime camel-driver of Mecca. The whole affair appeared like sublime nonsense and ended in a sublime farce. The day was very warm ; the turnout of soldiers fine, and the throng of citizens and strangers great. After waiting about an hour in the hot sun, the Sultan and his suite appeared on horseback, he on a large, gray Arabian steed, splendidly caparisoned. As his majesty rode slowly along, officers walked ahead scattering clean, sharp sand over the road-bed, that Allah's representative might not even ride over ground polluted by the common feet of man or beast. Soon after he left the palace-gate, a poor peasant man, near where I was standing, rushed through the crowd and threw DANCING DERVISHES. 471 himself in front of the Sultan's horse, to be ridden over, which is considered by pious Musselmans, a great privilege. There is a sect of fanatical Mohammedans here known as the howling or dancing dervishes. They are a class of astrologers. The mosque they meet in is circular. Their sheik or priest, repre- senting the sun, sits in the centre; the other worshipers represent different planets ; the music the sighing of the winds, and the whole service the harmony of nature. Their dress consists of a high, conical hat, short, tight jacket, and long, wide skirt. After bowing to the sheik and going through other performances, they commence whirling round faster and faster, thirty, forty and fifty times a minute, like so many tops; some with hands up- lifted, others with arms extended, until one becomes dizzy wit- nessing their rapid movements. After, perhaps, fifteen minutes, there was a lull, and they all walked in front of the sheik, bow- ing to the floor as they passed, and then continued their revolu- tions as before. The howling dervishes began by groaning, then puffing, and next howling like savages; at the same time their bodies were kept in rapid motion right and left ; then for- ward and backward, jumping higher and higher, howling louder and louder in the most disgusting manner, until one after another 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 pivot, his long hair snapping with every jerk, and his head re- volving so rapidly on his long, slender nsck, I expected every moment to see it fly off on a tangent. He must have repre- sented the moon, for I never saw such a lunatic before. No more delightful excursion can be taken than a sail up the Bosphorus twenty-five miles to the Black Sea. With Europe on 472 BIBLE LANDS. the one side and Asia on the other; the shores lined with forti- fications and palaces, and the stream crowded with vessels from every port of the Orient. The Bosphorus itself is the most beautiful sheet of water in the world, not over a mile wide, 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 banks. They are highly Oriental in style, with grounds beauti- fully laid out, and in every respect are equal to any in western Europe. 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 of Thebes, set up by Theodositis the Great; here also is the broken pillar of Constantine, stripped of its bronze by the Turks when the city was first captured. Between the two is the spiral brass column consisting of three serpents twisted together; they originally supported the golden tripod in the temple of Delphi. Bordering on the Hippodrome was the old imperial palace; also the Senate-house and Forum. The object, however, of greatest interest in Constantinople to most travellers is the great mosque of St. Sophia, originally a Christian church, commenced by Constantine the Great in the fourth century. Its dome, the largest in the world, is supported by one hundred and seventy columns of granite, marble, jasper and porphyry. All the pagan temples of Rome, Greece, Asia and Egypt, were stripped of their rich marbles for the erection of this magnificent church. A gallery extends around the whole building sixty feet deep, the approach to which is by an inclined plane on the outside, up which you could easily drive a carriage. Here, in this grand old church, the " Golden-Mouthed " Chrysos- ANCIENT ANATOLIA. 473 torn, bishop of Constantinople, often denounced in fervent words the errors of his day, and preached Christ as the only hope of our wretched world ; and it was here, when threatened with banishment or death for his earnest, practical preaching, by the empress Eudoxia, that he fearlessly replied, " Should the empress determine to banish me, let her banish me. The earth is the Lord's. If she should cast me into the sea, let her cast me into the sea. I will remember Jonah." The symbol of Christianity no longer adorns the dome of St. Sophia, and it is a standing disgrace to the Christian nations of the world, that the crescent of the false prophet is allowed to supplant the cross on this ven- erable church. That which renders Asia Minor of special interest to us is the fact, that it was the seat of the first Christian churches among the Gentiles, whose histories we are now to consider. CHAPTER II. SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. Gift of power First great revival Early persecution of Christians Martyrdom of Stephen, James the brother of John, and James the just The disciples scattered abroad John in Ephesus Banished to Patmos Writes the Apo- calypse Returns to Ephesus Writes his Gospel and Epistles Death and burial Description of Ephesus, and Temple of Diana Smyrna and Poly- carp Pergamos Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea Athens and Mars' Hill. THE gift of power, or baptism of the Holy Ghost, on the day of Pentecost was attended by a gracious revival of pure religion among the multitude of strangers then in the Holy City celebrating the great feast that commemorated the giving of the Law on Sinai. These thousands of new converts soon after re- turned to their homes, carrying with them vivid recollections of what they had witnessed, and heard, and felt on that memorable occasion, and many Christian societies were formed in different parts of Asia, Africa and Europe. This wonderful display of divine grace was followed by a bloody persecution of the disciples of Christ in Jerusalem, during which Stephen, a pious deacon of the church, and James the just, and half-brother of Jesus, were stoned to death; and James the elder, a brother of the apostle John, beheaded. The immediate effect of this persecution was to scatter the apostles and disciples abroad among the Gentile nations. Many of these Christians came into Anatolia, planting churches in most of the cities of western Asia. John, the Apostle and Evangelist,. 474 SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 475 was among those who settled in Ephesus, where Paul, and per- haps Timothy, had already preceded him. Here the earnest preaching and spotless life of the apostle soon resulted in the organization of a strong Christian church in this great centre of power and idolatry, and under the very shadow of the goddess whom all the world worshipped ; and through his labors and the influence of the gospel he preached, the great temple of Diana, that has never been equaled in grace, beauty, or design, was stripped of its prestige, and in a few years leveled with the ground, and its beautiful marbles carried away to build up Chris- tian churches in different cities of the Levant. How little the Ephesians thought that the worship of their goddess should ever be superseded by that of Jesus of Nazareth ! Yet, the shout, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians," that rang through the theatre and this temple, at the time of St. Paul's visit to Ephesus, has long since died away into the silence of forgotten centuries, while the praises of Jesus are chanted to-day by millions of Christian voices all over the globe. The Gospel and Epistles of St. John were probably written from this city, and his Revelation from Patmos, a small rocky island in the JEgean Sea, not more than ten miles in diameter, and about twenty-five miles from the main land. On a hill to the south an old monastery is still standing, bearing the name of " John the Divine ; " and about half way up this rugged moun- tain, is a cave said to be the grotto where the divine received and wrote the Apocalypse. Whether the Apostle and Evangelist was banished to the isle " that is called Patmos," or went there of his own accord to commune alone with God, is a disputed point of no great mo- ment. Tradition tells us, he was sent there with others, to work ill the mines. Not very likely, as there are no mines in Patrnos 476 BIBLE LANDS. to work, and never were ; at least we were all over the island and could find no traces of raining. Or whether it was in the reign of Nero or Domitian he wrote the Apocalypse, has never been settled. The majority of critics, and biblical scholars think it was during the reign of Domitian, about 95 A. D. Little, how- ever, is known of this apostle prior to his apocalyptic vision and return to Ephesus. The internal evidence of the genuineness of this message to the churches is so strong, its authenticity is generally admitted. It is a book of burning words, deep emo- tions and startling revelations. As Bengel says, " Without tears it was not written ; without tears it cannot be understood." The Revelator seems to write as Jerome, with the trump of God ringing in his ears. The church was in close conflict with Greek philosophy, and in direct antagonism to pagan Rome. John, " in the Spirit on the Lord's day," from his sea-girt isle views the terrible conflict from afar, and seeing the fierce, relentless perse- cution everywhere waged against the helpless disciples of Christ; and "the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus," 1 among them the soul of James, his own brother, and the great soul of St. Paul, both of whom had sealed their faith with their blood ; he issues his letter to these churches, exhorting them to endure the fiery trial, calling the whole Christian host to arms, encouraging them with the precious promise, "To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." Though desolation and defeat threaten the church, and the heavens are lurid with the fires of burning saints, he sees through the blood, and smoke, and flames, the final triumph of the cross, and urges them on to victory, inspiring them to heroic deeds by holding out a crown of life, and by assuring them that the king- 'Rev. xx ,4. REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. 477 doras of this world shall " become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." 1 The book abounds with lofty ideas, beautiful metaphors, and startling visions. The author writes from the highest court of heaven, under the eye of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and as the Spirit dictate?, giving a progressive history of the church from his day to the end of time. From its peculiar style, it has been misunderstood by some not familiar with its form of literature. Others have rejected it be- cause they could not explain its mysteries, owing to a lack of personal religious experience; and others again through ignor- ance or bigotry have so misapplied its symbols as to confuse if not disgust the intelligent reader. " Happily," says Farrar, " these theological romances of Apocalyptic commentary have had their day. Like a thousand other phantoms of exegesis, they have vanished into the limbo of the obsolete. They may linger on for a time, like spectres not yet exorcised, but they are doomed to disappear forever in the broadening light of a sounder knowl- edge." It is not our intention to attempt any explanation of these metaphors, nor to give any analysis of the doctrines set forth in this the final revelation of God to man, but to furnish a concise history of the churches mentioned, with the cause of their decline, and a description of the present condition of the cities named. The book opens with a salutation of the seven churches of Asia, which were the special objects of the apostle's solickude. They are addressed in the person of their angel. This may refer to the bishop or responsible head or guardian of the church. Eph- esus is first noticed, being probably the most important, and is represented as yet faithful, but waxing cold, having lost her first love. ' Rev. vii. 15. 478 BIBLE LANDS. EPHESUS. THIS city, situated about forty miles south of Smyrna, was the ancient capital of Ionia, and for centuries the metropolis of Asia Minor. Among the splendid edifices for which Ephesus was celebrated was the magnificent temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world. There were three or more. temples erected in Ephesus, at different periods, to this goddess, of the same dimensions and on the same platform. The foundations of the first were laid B. C. 500. This was the temple destroyed by fire the night Alexander the Great was born. The others were destroyed by earthquakes. Pliny's statement that the temple was 220 years in building must include the time occupied in the erec- tion of all three. The fragments of sculpture found among the ruins show that the decorations of the temple standing in St. John's day must have been exquisite in design and execution. The fig- ures sculptured on the drums of the columns prove the highest 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- ple supposed had fallen from heaven, and " whom all Asia and the world worshipped." 1 The remains of this grand edifice, the very site of which had been lost for centuries, has recently been discovered after a search of eight years, by Dr. J. T. Wood, of the British Museum. It was found at the end of the sacred way, a colonnade of gorgeous tombs about one mile long, leading from the Magnesia gate. No young mother ever rejoiced more over her first-born than did the doctor over the recovery of this long buried temple. The earth- quake that almost destroyed Smyrna, in 178 A. D., greatly in- jured Ephesus, by filling up the harbor and creating a pesti- lential morass of mud and rushes over the rich valley of the 'Act's xix, 27. EPHESUS. 479 Cayster. So that now most of the ruins are covered with rubbish and a rank growth of vegetation, no one living on the site of this once populous city. All is silent as the grave. Paul visited Ephesus in the year 54, and the large the- ater, where he " fought with beasts," ' and stirred up the great tumult on that occasion,- is still standing on the side of Mount Prion. It is partly cut out of the mountain, ellip- AMPHITHEATER 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 here, one of the seven in Asia, and, with Luke, is supposed to be buried here ; John, the " beloved disciple," also preached, and, it is said, died and was buried here after his return from Patmos. The remains of his old church, and his tomb back 1 1 Corinthians xv, 32. 480 BIBLE LANDS. of the altar, are still pointed out. The buildings along the quay are in good preservation, and the steps leading down to the water as firm as when Paul with Priscilla and Aquila landed here eighteen hundred and twenty-five years ago. It was very solemn to wander among the ruins of this desolate 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 Ephesians, now read throughout Christendom, has no one to read it in Ephesus ! She lost her first love, and her caudle- stick was removed forever. It was from Ephesus we derived the word Evangelist. "When about to build this city, there was a great scarcity of good building material. A shepherd by the name of Pixodorus, feeding his flock on the neighboring hills, discovered a quarry of fine marble, bringing back a specimen. He was received with great joy ; his name was changed to Evangelus, that is, bearer of glad tidings, and divine honors were paid him. Thus SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 48,1 we see how words full of sacred import are derived often 1'roni pagan legends. SMYRNA. SMYRNA, which is only mentioned once in the Scriptures, as the second of the seven churches, is a beautiful city, beautifully situated on a beautiful bay, about forty miles north of Ephesus. It long was the chief commercial city in the Levant, and hon- ored with the proud distinction of being the " Crown of Ionia/" 1 and " Ornament of Asia." And it is still the principal seaport ANCIENT COINS OF SMYRNA, WITH THE HEAD OF CYBELE. for Asia Minor, with a population of 200,000, of whom about 30,000 are Greek or Armenian Christians. This city claims a high antiquity ; was founded, it is said, by the Amazons and from them derived its name. It was first taken by the ^Eolians, then joined the Ionian Confederacy, afterwards became a Roman colony, and finally, after many changes, a flour- ishing city of the Ottoman Empire. In 178 A. D. Smyrna was almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake, and during 1883 experienced a similar visitation, obliterating many of her old landmarks. Homer, it is claimed, was born here, and among her numerous pagan temples was one dedicated to the great bard, containing a statue of the poet A colossal head of Apollo was found among some ruins near the 482 BIBLE LANDS. west gate, showing that lie, 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. Christianity was early introduced here, and under Polycarp, a disciple of St. John, and first bishop of Smyrna, the church greatly prospered and is commended for its steadfastness amid Jewish persecutions. The most interesting remains of antiquity that survive the wreck of ages are the Acropolis, an old castle on the hill over- looking the city ; the theatre, where many Christians were thrown to the wild beasts and others burnt at the stake ; and the Stadium, where the Olympian games were celebrated under Roman emperors, and where Polycarp, probably the last of the apostolical fathers, suffered martyrdom under Emperor Marcus Aurelius, A. D. 169. The venerable bishop in his eighty-sixth 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 fire to burn him, but the flames, accord- 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 the Roman 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 crumbling cells Polycarp was once confined. An ancient mosque is also standing, said to be the church where this good man offi- 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- ation by the Christians of Smyrna, who annually go in solemn procession to his tomb and the place of his martyrdom. Truly, * the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." PERGAMOS. THIS city derived its name from Pergamus, a grandson of Andromache, and was situated on the north bank of the river PERGAMOS Caicus, about sixty miles from Smyrna. It was a city of great wealth and intelligence, and celebrated for its extensive library, which rivalled the famous one at Alexandria, and was removed to the latter place by Antony, and presented to Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Parchment was first manufactured here, and derived its name from the place. Many ruins of its former splendor, such as temples, theatres, and other public buildings, are scattered over the ancient site. Beautiful columns, capitals 31 484 BIBLE LANDS. and other antique sculptures of the purest marble may be seen in modern buildings, but many more have been burned into- lime. Some of the pagan temples have been remodelled into Christian churches, but all are alike in ruins. The old church of St. John is roofless and dilapidated. In the days of the be- loved disciple, the church in this city was commended for its fidelity and firmness in the midst of severe trials. It, however, finally went " with the multitude in the way of transgression." An ancient aqueduct of perfect masonry, 600 feet long by forty wide, still spans, on its graceful arches, the river, irrigating VASE OF PERGAMOS. 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 oil the southeast angle, still standing, at least 100 feet high, the lower courses anchored to the mountain itself, sa that the earthquakes of more than twenty centuries have failed to move it from its firm foundations. SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 485 The city contains a population of 40,000, about one third of whom are nominal Christians. The cross every-where in Asia Minor is overshadowed by the Crescent, and very little of the Gospel is preached or practiced. John, in his message to the church in Pergamos, says, " I know 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 ^Esculapius, who was worshiped 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 worship of this god of the medical art, in his address to this church ? " Thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is." Pergamos was a city of splendid temples devoted to a sensuous worship, and, as the serpent among Christians is regarded as the symbol of every evil, this city could very appropriately be called " the seat " or " throne of Satan." THYATIKA. This city, noted for its beautiful dyes, was located on the river Lycus, in a rich, well-watered valley abounding in oaks and acacias, and on the Roman road leading from Pergamos to Sardis. Lydia, the seller of purple, whose heart the Lord opened for the reception of the truth, and whom Paul met atPhilippi, was a native of this city. A^pollo was worshiped here under the name of Tyrimnas, a deified King of Macedonia. There was also a temple here to Artemis, or Diana. Games were celebrated here in honor of Apollo, Hercules, and even Nero, whose head appears on the coins of that period. Eastern Europe is supplied with leeches from this place. They are found in great numbers in the small streams, and are gathered by a curious process ; little children wade barefooted through the water and come out with 486 BIBLE LANDS. their feet and legs covered with leeches. These waters are peculiarly adapted to dyeing. In no other place can such brill- iant scarlet and rich royal purple be produced. From several Greek and Latin inscriptions found among the ruins, they appear to have had at an early day in Thyatira trade-unions, such as bakers, potters, weavers, robe-makers, dyers, etc. THYATIRA. Many remains of antiquity in sculptured marble have been found built into modern walls, or used as well-covers and water- ing troughs. A short distance from the city, an old ruin bears the name of the " Palace of the Caesars." When it was erected, or how it derived its name, we are left to conjecture. The church here was commended for its charity and faith, patience and good works, but is warned against the corrupt influence of a woman calling herself a prophetess, by the name of Jezebel; SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 487 who appears to be the wife of the angel or guardian of the church, as a proper rendering of the text reads, thy wife Jezebel. She is accused of teaching false doctrines, and seducing certain mem- bers of the church. She had been admonished, but did not amend her ways, and is now threatened, with those who have shared in her guilt, with some terrible judgment, except they repent of their evil deeds. It is painful to see a living man chained to a putrid corpse, but far more so, to see the angel or bishop of a Christian church wedded to a profligate woman. Many devoted ministers, however, have had this sorrowful experience. The old church of St. John, originally a pagan temple, is now a mosque, with a tall minaret, as may be seen on the right in our illustration. The city contains a population of 17,000, mostly Mussulmans, only a few Christians being left to represent the church to which the beloved apostle sent his prophetic message. SARDIS. This, the capital of ancient Lydia, and "Queen City of Asia," was situated in the classic valley of Hermus, on the banks of the golden Pactolus, about sixty miles east of Smyrna. Sardis is first mentioned in history 716 B. C., and its last king was the renowned Croesus, whose great wealth is proverbial. The fame of this king drew to his court many of the wise men of Greece, among them the great Solon, whose interview with Croesus is familiar to every student of classic history. In a war with Cyrus, King of Persia, the army of Croesus was defeated, his capital taken, and he made prisoner. The King of Sardis was condemned to be burnt to death. As he stood before the pyre, he was heard uttering the name of Solon. Cyrus inquired what he was saying, when Croesus repeated the substance of his inter- view with Solon, " That no man should be deemed happy till he 488 BIBLE LANDS. had finished his life in a happy way." Cyrus on hearing this changed his purpose, and not only spared the life of Croasus, but made him his personal friend. Sardis was a city of great wealth, luxury and sensuality. Gold and silver were here first coined as a circulating medium. We give a fac-simile of one of these early coins representing Hercules, or some other deity, in a chariot drawn by winged serpents. Nothing could be more desolate than the present general ap- pearance of Sardis ; scarcely anything is left of her ancient glory, ruin and poverty everywhere. No golden sands are now washed down by the classic Pactolus, no temple of Jupiter Olympus 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 until conquered by the Romans, under whom it long continued one of the first cities of Asia Minor, but successive earthquakes and Turkish rule have laid waste this fertile valley and once opulent city, until scarcely a soul is found living on the site of ancient Sardis. Among her grand edifices may still be seen traces of the theatre, stadium and great temple of Cybele "Mother of all the gods," and great goddess of the eastern world. Only two marble columns of this temple are standing, sixty feet high by six and a half feet in diameter, and these are SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 491 half buried in debris, but they are perfectly beautiful, of the purest Ionic order, and, like two witnesses, bear testimony to the architectural skill of the nation that has passed into oblivion. The floor of the temple is filled in to a depth of thirty feet with the rubbish of ages, so that only about one-half of these two graceful pillars is seen in our engraving. Their capitals are exquisitely wrought. The Acropolis was on a spur of Tmolus, overlooking the city and plain. The natural rock on the south angle of the citadel is almost perpendicular and was considered impregnable, and yet proved the weakest point when the Per- sians laid siege to the city, as Croesus failed to guard this spot, which Cyrus observing under cover of night scaled the rock with his men and the stronghold was taken. North of the Acropolis is the theatre, four hundred feet in diameter, the outlines well preserved, and the retaining-walls nearly perfect. This probably is the one erected by Alexander the Great. West of the Acropolis there is another ruin, with massive walls ten feet thick, which is claimed by some to be the royal palace of Croesus, though there is nothing to establish this fact. The most impressive remains in the vicinity of Sardis are the numerous mounds known as the "tombs of the Lydian kings," about seven miles north of the Acropolis and beyond the river. There are about one hundred and thirty of these mounds, and the explorations that are being made here by Mr. George Dennis, the English Consul at Smyrna, will no doubt lead to many val- uable discoveries. The largest of these tumuli is that of Alyattes, father of Croesus, who died about B. C. 560. Herodotus refers to it as a wonderful monument, only surpassed by those in Egypt and Babylon. It is a mound of earth on a stone foundation, the whole being two hundred and twenty-six feet high, and about eleven hundred and fifty feet in diameter at the base. A large 492 BIBLE LANDS. flat circular stone ten feet in diameter with a raised edge crowns the summit. A vault or chamber, eleven feet long by eight 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 other mounds explored. In some glass vessels, earthen water- jars and human skeletons were found, but nothing of great value, as they all had l)een rifled ages before, probably during the Roman occupancy of the country. But the ruins of greatest interest to the Christian are two churches, one very old, and supposed to be the same occupied by the few worthy Christians who had " not defiled their garments," living in this city when St. John wrote his prophetic message. The other was dedicated to the virgin mother of Christ, and recent researches show that it was constructed almost entirely of material taken from the temple of Cybele, one of the oldest in the world, having been built only three centuries after Solomon's temple. PHILADELPHIA. "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write : These 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. This city was founded by Attalus Philadelphia, king of Pergamos, B. C. 133. It stood twenty-five miles southeast of Sardis on the plain of Hermus, the richest portion of Asia Minor, and cele- brated for its choice wines. Its Turkish name is Allah Shehr SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 493 "City of God." There are several mosques in the city, one of which, with a minaret attached, is pointed out as the church of the early Christians. Four beautiful marble pilasters that once supported the brick dome of some edifice now in ruins are sup- posed to belong to the ancient Cathedral of St. John, and one very large pillar of high antiquity, and still standing erect, may have suggested to John the imagery he employs in addressing PHILADELPHIA. this church : "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out : and I will write 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 to the Byzantine age, and was among the last cities in Asia Minor taken by the Turks. The ancient walls are standing in places, and can be traced their entire circuit by their foundations, and other remains of the old city of " brotherly love." The present population numbers about 15,000, about 1,000 of whom are Greek Christians. They have a railway now running from Philadelphia to Smyrna, and under a liberal, progressive govern- RTJINS OF LAODICBA. ment, this historic land, the ancient seat of so many powerful kingdoms, could be made as productive as any portion of Europe. LAODICEA. There were several cities of this name in western Asia, all so called by Antiochus II. in honor of his wife Laodice. The city referred to in the apocalypse was located about forty miles east SEVEN CHURCHES OF ASIA. 495 of Ephesus, on the river Lycus, near where that stream empties into the Meander. The place was utterly destroyed by an earth- quake in 1230 A. D., and still lies in shapeless ruins, not a soul living on its ancient site. Many fragments of sculpture have been found, but its most beautiful statues and other works of art have disappeared. Two exquisite agate pillars, eleven feet long by eighteen inches diameter, and a great number of richly sculp- tured polumns, like those at Ephesus, have either been carried off or converted into lime. The principal ruins that remain are a stadium, in good preservation, three theatres, one of which is four hundred and fifty feet in diameter. The seats are marble, with numbers and letters cut on them, designating them as reserved or private property ; and aqueducts almost perfect, con- structed of stone pipes, curving over the hills and down into the valleys, showing that they were acquainted with hydrostatic law, or of water finding its level. Col. Leake says: "There are few ancient sites more likely than Laodicea to preserve many curious remains of antiquity beneath the surface of the soil, its opulence and the earthquakes to which it was subject rendering it probable that valuable works of art were often there buried beneath the ruins of the public and private edifices." "Nothing," says Mr. Hamilton, who visited the place in 1835, "can exceed the deso- lation and melancholy appearance of the site of Laodicea ; no picturesque features in the nature of the ground on which it stands relieve the dull uniformity of its undulating and barren hills ; 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 with the early history of Christianity. The gospel was early introduced here and a strong church formed. It became the seat 496 BIBLE LANDS. of an archbishop, and several councils were held in its cathedral, in one of which a system was adopted for supplying villages and small societies with itinerating ministers, similar to the system still in practice among the Methodists. This church, the last of the seven in Asia, is appealed to in the most solemn and impressive manner : "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write : These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness ; because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing ; and 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 ready to burst forth and engulf them any moment. No state is more to be dreaded than that of carnal security. We have no evidence of their repentance, but we have in the present desolate condition of their city the strongest proof of their continued apostasy and final overthrow. Of the author of the book of Revelation, after his return from Patmos to Ephesus, very little is known. Tradition mentions many events in his life which we do not think of sufficient inter- est to repeat. Clement, of Alexandria, tells us of his special interest in the younger members of his flock, and how he lovingly persuaded a young man who had apostatized and become the leader of a band of robbers to return to the deserted fold. The most reliable writers of church history think he died at Ephe- sus in the third year of Trajan, A. D. 100, aged ninety-four years. Toward the close of his life, when he could no longer stand or preach, it is related the disciples would carry him to the church, seat him in the pulpit, and if he could say no more, it ATHENS. 497 was his custom to repeat : " Little children, love one another.% Thus he continued to preach until death sealed his lips. Returning to Smyrna, we took the steamer for Greece, and after touching at Patmos, Rhodes, Scio, and other beautiful islands in the ^Egean Sea, landed at Athens, so renowned in 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 Eu- rope. Close by the light-house, as we entered the bay, a rock- hewn tomb, over which the sea was breaking, was pointed out as the humble grave of Themistocles, the hero of Salamis. During our visit to this city I have been living in the past living my life over again living amid the stirring scenes of two thousand years ago. How inspiring to stand amid the ruins of this classic city, and on the very rock where the great apostle first expounded the doctrines of " Christ and the resur- rection " to the learned Areopagites ! It is hard for me to realize that I am in Athens, but far more difficult to believe what I really see. That the mountains that tower above the plain are Ilymettus, and Lycabettus, and Pentelicus ; that the temple that crowns, like some airy castle, the Acropolis, is the unrivaled Parthenon of Phidias, the votive offering of the gods to Minerva, or Athene, erected four hundred and forty-eight years before Christ ; that the few tot- tering, broken columns on the plain are the last of one hundred and twenty-six that once composed the gorgeous temple pf 498 BIBLE LANDS. Jupiter Olympus ; that just here, where I write, on the hill of Colonus, is where Sophocles was born, and the celebrated tem- 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- covered. Some of the monuments were very fine and sugges- MAKS HILL tive. There was nothing gloomy in the expression of the dying, but rather a hopeful look ; and they seemed to part with their friends in expectation of another meeting in the great hereafter. They were generally attired as if about start- ing on a journey, some shaking hands, others distributing me mentos to loved ones before their departure. On one tomb a young lady was taking a last look of herself in a metallic mir- ror the ruling passion strong in death. On another, Charon ATHENS. 499 was represented waiting with his boat to take the deceased over the river Styx, but refused to start until the price de- manded was paid, and was holding out his hand for the money. Some, who had not the required amount, were sitting weeping on the shore as if their hearts would break, because they could not enter the spirit land beyond. They all carried lamps with them to light up the dark valley they were entering. How we should rejoice that Christ has hung up the lamp of life in this dismal region of death, and that all may now, through his merits, pass safely to a state of blessedness beyond ! One of the most beautiful monuments still standing, and of the purest Grecian architecture, is known as the " Lantern of Demosthenes," and was erected in honor of a school-boy who excelled in his studies. Very little, however, of ancient Athens is to be seen above ground. A modern city of 50,000 has grown 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 robbers, and all murdered in cold blood, because the ran- som of $50,000 was not promptly paid. Our party intended visiting the same locality, but the Gov- ernment assured us that there were not soldiers enough in the garrison to protect us, so we concluded not to endanger our lives even to see Marathon. 32 500 BIBLE LANDS. After spending a delightful week rummaging amid the ves- tiges of this ancient metropolis of Greece, enjoying the soft sunshine and dreamy quietude of Attica's loveliest month visiting the monuments of art and power on the Acropolis among the grandest in the world standing on Mars' Hill, so sacred in its associations to the Christian, and on the Pnyx, where Demosthenes and Pericles often swayed the populace by their eloquence ; strolling through the deserted courts of the Parthenon, once honored with the presence of such men a& Solon, Pythagoras, Socrates, and Zeno ; and over the site of the Academic groves, where Plato and Aristotle taught their disci- ples, we turned our faces homeward, and bade farewell forever to heroic, classic Greece. As the echoes of the evening guns on the men-of-war in the bay of Piraeus reverberated along the shore, and the flags dropped, tinged with the golden hues of a glorious sunset, we sailed out of the port of Athens on our way to America and home. CHAPTER III. RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES IN THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY. Foretelling Future Events The Jewish Prophets History, Prophecy Fulfilled- Nebuchadnezzar's Dream Rise and Fall of the Chaldean, Persian, Grecian, and Roman Empires A Little Stone Breaks them to Pieces Symbol of Christ's Kingdom Daniel's Vision of the Four Beasts The Little Horn of Mohammedanism Makes War against the Saints Pilgrimages to Mecca- Tomb of the Prophet Conflict between the Crescent and Cross The Proph- et's Flag To Prevail 1,260 Prophetic Days Great Battle of Armageddon Overthrow of Islamism The Little Stone becomes a Mountain, and fills the Earth with the Glory of God. THE foretelling of future contingent events belongs exclu- sively to God, and the fulfillment of these predictions is the highest proof of their divine origin. Many of the Scripture prophecies foretold events ages before they occurred events of which there was then no apparent probability, and the occur- rence of which depended on innumerable contingencies. Some of them are of vast extent, reaching down to fhe end of the world's history. The Jewish prophets were a class of holy men specially in- spired to reveal the purposes of God in relation to both future and current events, and to denounce his judgments against the wicked. Their messages were received either directly from God, or through dreams, visions, or trances, and were delivered to those they concerned in writing, or by word of mouth ; often with miracles to enforce them. Many of their prophecies relate to certain persons, cities, or nations, which had incurred the divine displeasure; others, such as we shall more particularly notice, 501 502 BIBLE LANDS. to the rise and fall of empires, and to the establishment of Christ's kingdom in the world. Of all the Old Testament prophets, none give so full an account of the political changes which have taken place among the nations, as Daniel, who lived in the seventh century before Christ, and foretold, centuries before they came to pass, some of the most astonishing events which have ever occurred ; not only under types and figures, but with all the precision of facts, giving the names, dates, and every particular. So literally have the predictions of this prophet been fulfilled, that some, on that ground, have questioned the authenticity of his book, alleging that his prophecies must have been writ- ten after the events transpired. No historian relates events in 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, and to which there should be no end. The king saw, in his dream, an image exceedingly luminous, of terrible form, and composed of different substances. The head was of fine gold, the breast and arms of silver, the thighs brass, and the legs iron. 1 Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled in his mind by this vision, and his own wise men failing to tell him the mean- ing of his dream, he sends for Daniel, then a young man con- Daniel ii, 31. NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S GREAT IMAGE. ,503 nected with the Babylonian court, who, under divine inspira- tion, proceeded to show his majesty its signification ; the in- terpretation of which we also are now able to understand, since the prophecy has become history. The "head of gold" represented the brilliant kingdom of Babylonia, "the lady of kingdoms," 1 "the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency." The first and grandest among the na- tions founded by !Nimrod, B. C. 2233, which, under Nebuchad- nezzar, Babylon's greatest king, extended over all Western Asia. So that the prophet might very truthfully say, " Thou, king, art this head of gold." The " breast and arms of silver " denote the Medo-Persian 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 empire on the ruins of ancient Chaldaea. The " thighs of brass" apply to the Grecian and Macedonian empire under Alexander the Great, who, in his victorious march, not only conquered the Medes and Persians, but all the countries between the Adriatic and the Ganges, and, according to the prophecy, " bore rule over all the earth," there being " none to withstand him." The " Ugs of iron " evidently refer to the Roman monarchy, which succeeded, and was formed out of the wreck of, the Gre- cian. A strong military kingdom, iron in nature, invincible in war. The feet were " iron and clay," denoting that it was a mixture of strength and weakness, of good and bad qualities, which would not freely mingle nor " cleave one to another," but become weakened by conquest and be easily broken to pieces. 1 Isaiah zlvii, 5. 504 BIBLE LANDS. 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 God of heaven has set up, an everlasting kingdom, to which there shall be no end. Every thing made with hands is perish- able and doomed to destruction ; but this, being a spiritual kingdom, and not made' with hands, " shall stand forever." This little stone, after striking the image and breaking it to pieces, " became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." l Thus Christianity, after the fall of the Roman Empire, became a great power, consuming all that remained of the four great monarchies of earth, leaving scarcely a vestige of their former greatness nothing but desolation and ruin to mark the sites of their renowned cities. These empires were destroyed in the very order foretold. First, the head of gold, next the arms of silver, then the thighs of brass, and, finally, the legs and feet of iron and clay. So com- pletely are they blotted out, that none of them are to be found to-day ; all have become extinct, and only live in history. The Chaldeans were absorbed by the Medes, the Medes by the Per- sians, the Persians by the Greeks, the Greeks by the Romans, and the Romans by the Goths and other nations into which the Roman empire was divided. The conversion of Constantine was a severe blow to pagan Rome, and his edict, A. D. 331, abolishing idolatry, speedily es- tablished Christianity throughout the empire. And ever since 1 Daniel ii, 35. DANIEL'S VISION. 507 the downfall of Rome the kingdom of the stone has been gath- ering strength from year to year, and it will continue to in- crease from century to century, until all " the kingdoms of this, world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." ' , It will be observed that " the feet mid 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 many races, and a part of the dismembered Roman Empire. Fifty years later, when Daniel was in the palace at Shushan, the summer residence of the Persian kings, being nearer the mountains and cooler, he himself had a vision of the same im- port, under the symbol of four beasts, which were to represent more fully the order, succession, and character of these four great monarchies. " The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings ; " a this applies to Babylonia, in her great strength and glory, after the conquest of Assyria. The symbol of her kings and deities was the human-headed winged lion, which may still be seen guard- ing the entrance to her ruined temples and palaces. The wings, however, are represented as " plucked," which refers to the decline of the empire ; she is no longer to soar above the nations, has already lost Lydia, Media, and Persia. Her last king is now upon the throne, and soon " the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency " will fade forever from the earth. The next was a ram with " two horns." 3 These horns sym- bolize power, authority, dominion. One of these horns " was 1 Revelation xi, 15. 2 Daniel vii, 4. 3 Daniel viii, 3. 508 BIBLE LANDS. higher than the other," and the higher one " came up last." This higher horn clearly refers to Cyrus the Persian, who came up after Darius the Mede, but soon towered above him. We have here represented the two kingdoms of Media and Persia united under Cyrus, who, like a ram, pushes his victories in every direction, " according to his will." The ram was long the emblem of Persia ; the golden diadem of the empire was ornamented with rams' horns ; and, what seems strange, among the sculptures at Persepolis, the old capital, may still be seen the ram's head with two horns, one higher than the other. Then " a he-goat came from the west," with " a notable horn,'' and ran at the ram in " the fury of his power," breaking his two horns and casting him to the ground, "and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand." 1 All which clearly applies to Alexander the Great, who broke to pieces the Persian Empire, and whose conquests were so rapid he seemed to fly, and there was no power that could stand before him. Alexander's victories over the Persians at the Granicus, at Issus, and at Arbela, were as easy as they were rapid and decisive. " Therefore the he-goat waxed very great," having conquered all the world in twelve years, when suddenly " the great horn was broken," but not in battle, Alexander dying a natural death, in the zenith of his glory and power, B. C. 323. After this a fourth beast appeared, exceedingly terrible, with " great iron teeth," " nails of brass," and *' ten horns." 2 All admit that this monster represents the Roman monarchy ; ex- ceedingly strong and fierce, oppressing her subjects, and de vouring the nations she conquered. The horns denote the ten 1 Daniel viii, 7. 2 Daniel vii, 7-23. FALL OF THE GRECIAN EMPIRE. 509 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 state of society, political storms, civil wars or revolutions, brought about by ambitious men. The Almighty, however, overrules all these warring elements for his own glory, and in due time sets up his kingdom of righteousness and truth, that is to control the destiny of our world, After the goat's " notable horn " was broken, or the death of " the king of Grecia," ' there came up four others, "toward the four winds of heaven ;" plucking up and dividing Alexander's kingdom, but "not to his posterity." 2 No one was ever more ambitious to leave a numerous family behind him, and yet it is a singular fact that all the near relatives of this great general either died or were cruelly murdered within a short time of his own death, so that none of his own kindred were left to in- herit the vast dominions he conquered with his sword. Those who succeeded him were four of his generals : Cassander, toward the west, in Europe ; Lysimachus, toward the north, in Asia Minor; Ptolemy, toward the south, in Egypt: and Seleucus, toward the east, in Syria and Persia; forming four strong kingdoms, all of which, subsequently, were absorbed by the fourth monarchy. Out of one of these horns that sprang from the broken " notable horn, " there " came forth a little horn," 3 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 Moham- 1 Daniel viii, 21. 2 Daniel xi, 4. * Daniel viii, 9. 510 BIBLE LANDS. rnedanism, which arose after the " stone " had struck the feet of the great image, and "plucked up" Arabia, Egypt, and Syria three Roman provinces from the shattered empire of the Csesars. This " little horn," or crescent, had " eyes like the eyes of man," ' denoting that it was a far-seeing, sagacious, cun- ning hierarchy, a religious, military despotism, formed out of the feet of the broken image, which were " part of clay, and part of iron ; " hence, it was a mixture of strength and weak- ness, religion and politics, truth and error. Though Moham- med taught some important truths, he gave to the world noth- ing good which Christ had not given centuries before. It appears that this system was formed out of the "feet and toes " of Nebuchadnezzar's image ; and it at least is a curious fact that the Ottoman Empire, the seat of this hierarchy, has always been governed by Pashas, the meaning of which is, " the feet of the Shah." Though little at first, it "waxed exceedingly great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land," that is, in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine, making " war against the saints, and prevailing against them ; " casting " down the truth to the ground," and taking away " the place of his sanc- tuary," which is literally true of Jslamism. All her conquests have been by the sword, and there is no bloodier chapter in history 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 the south-east corner of an old mosque, inclosed with a silver railing, and overhung with a green velvet pall, richly wrought 1 Chap. vii. 8. MOHAMMED'S TOMB. 513 in gold and silver. Suspended over his grave is a gorgeous chandelier, a present from the Sultan, hung with sparkling prisms. Large wax candles stand in golden sockets on the right and left, and the whole effect is most solemn and impressive. Caliph Omar, his successor, lies buried by his side. Pilgrimages are annually made to his tomb and to Mecca by pious Moslems from all parts of the East. They come in caravans, often many thousands together, from the remotest parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe, under the superstitious belief that their salvation depends on seeing the tomb of their great Prophet. The principal object of interest at Mecca is a building about 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 by Abraham. It is also claimed that Ishmael is buried here, and that here God manifested himself to the patriarchs of old. One thing is certain, this place has long been regarded with 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 stone seven inches in diameter, of irregular shape, and sup- posed by the credulous to possess miraculous powers. This stone, said to have fallen from heaven, and which looks very much like an aerolite, the pilgrims kiss after bathing and marching around the shrine seven times, dressed in robes of spotless white. This completes their pilgrimage, and they re- turn home to die, feeling that the great end of life with them has been attained. Many never live to return to their native land, and some in their superstition put out their sight, that they may die with the vision of the Kaaba before them. 514 BIBLE LANDS. Mohammedanism is still a great power, prevalent throughout the Orient. Kot less than one hundred and eighty millions of our race daily turn their faces toward Mecca when they pray. The Sultan of Turkey, who is regarded by all good Moslems as " the shadow of God on earth," is the civil head of this vast host, and the Shereef of Mecca is their high-priest or spiritual head. They are all the avowed enemies of the Cross, and as intolerant, fanatical, and blood-thirsty as in the days of the Caliphs. This is the religious element in the Eastern question, and will be the great difficulty in the settlement of that ques- tion. Christianity and Islamism can never compromise or combine. They hopelessly diverge from each other in precept and practice. One is cruel and oppressive, blasting every thing it touches, and can only live by blood. When it ceased con- quering by the sword it began to decline and relapse into barbarism. The other is liberal and progressive, elevating and ennobling man ; makes all its conquests by love, and carries with it, wherever it goes, peace, prosperity, and civil- ization. Naturally the Mussulman is docile and submissive, but, when fired by religious fanaticism, his frenzy knows no bounds. It was this enthusiasm that carried the Crescent to the gates of Vienna, and planted it on the walls of Granada ; and for cent- 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 by Mohammed in his wars. It is the sacred standard of their THE FLAG OF THE PROPHET. 515 r faith, and is regarded by the superstitious as possessing some magic power, and if unfurled " would set the whole world ablaze." It should be black, for it is a banner of blood, allows no mercy to be shown, and when thrown to the breeze every follower of the Prophet, under the penalty of eternal punish- ment, is required to take up arms and die if necessary in defense of his religion. Several things, however, assure us that there is no immediate danger to be feared from this source. First, the flag itself, -which is kept in the Mosque of St. Sophia, is so old and rotten it would not bear unfurling, and is not likely ever again to be taken from its golden case to call the faithful to arms. Then, their own internal dissensions, the numerous sects and factions into which the followers of Islam are divided, and the vast territory they occupy, being scattered over three continents, tend greatly to weaken their influence. And, finally, the .greater intelligence, wealth and power of the Christian na- tions, especially England, with her powerful navy, in possession of Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Egypt, Aden, and India, can effect- nally prevent any combined aggressive movement from this quarter. This whole system of antichrist, like the kingdoms preced- ing it, is to be overthrown and absorbed by the Messiah's king- dom. According to the prophecy it was to prevail "until judgment was given to the saints," * which may refer to the final verdict to be rendered by the Christian powers of Europe, ^who are to sit in judgment on this whole Eastern question, and administer on the " sick man's " estate. " The end shall be at the time appointed ; " * when " the judgment shall sit, and J Daniel rii, 22. * Daniel xi, 27. 38 516 BIBLE LANDS. I they shall take away his dominion, and it shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom." ' Its duration was limited to 1260 prophetic days," or years, a day answering for a year, and if we add this number to A. D. 622, the Mohammedan Hegira, or time of the Prophet's- flight from Mecca, we have as our resultant the year 1882, aa the period for the downfall of this hierarchy. This is the Jewish mode of reckoning, or thirty days to the month. Our mode of computation would make a few years difference : or if we date our calculations from Mohammed's return to Mecca, it would add six years to our estimate. From the obscurity of prophecy previous to its fulfillment, we are cautioned not to assign the date of future events too confidently. It, however,, is only a question of time, not of fact. " The time of the end! shall come ; " and many things appear to indicate the speedy fall of the Ottoman Empire, the only centralizing power of Mohammedanism. Daniel, in closing up his prophcies relating to the kingdoms of this world, foretold occurrences which have not been fully understood, but which, we think, clearly apply to the Turkish power and current events. For instance, " The ships of Chit- tim shall come against him : therefore he shall be grieved." a 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 countries, and that Cyprus is the Chittim of the Scriptures. This island is now an English colony, and, what seems singu- 1 Daniel vii, 26, 27. 8 Daniel vii, 25. 3 Daniel xi, 30. PROPHECY FULFILLED. 517 lar, the ships that lately bombarded Alexandria came from Chittim, greatly to the grief and indignation of the Sultan. " But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him." ' Nothing has given the Porte more trouble of late than the Russian advance on Harat and the other move- ments of the great Bear in the east and north, closing in upon him on every hand. " Therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and he shall plant the tabernacle of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain." a This would indicate the Sultan's retreat from Constantinople to some place in Palestine, perhaps Jerusalem, where he will make his last 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 structure, and his days numbered. " Yet he shall come 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 shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation." : The time of trouble here alluded to may refer to the great final struggle between the Crescent and the Cross " Gog and Magog " that is to witness the signal overthrow of antichrist, and the triumph of the Redeemer's kingdom on 'Daniel xi, 44. 2 Daniel xi, 45. 3 Daniel xii, 1. 518 BIBLE LANDS. earth. Michael the archange, wno 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 bloody conflicts. Here, as we learn from the hieroglyphic in- scriptions on the walls of the Temple at Karnak, Thothmes III., before the exodus, when the Canaanites still occupied the land, fought a great battle, and he gives us the names of one hundred and nineteen towns he conquered in Palestine during that campaign. Here Necho, another of the Pharaohs, seven centuries before Christ, on his march to Assyria, defeated the Israelites, and slew Josiah, the wise and pious, but over- zealous, king of Judah. 1 Here Barak overthrew the hosts of Sisera with their " nine hundred chariots of iron." 3 Here, also, Gideon routed and put to flight the countless army of the Midianites, slaying of their number " one hundred and twenty thousand men that drew the sword." ' And here, upon this same bloody field of Megiddo, where the armies of Israel have so often met their foes in battle, probably the last great con- flict of Armageddon 4 is to take place, that shall witness the destruction of God's enemies and the establishment of Christ's kingdom throughout the world. X 2 Kings xxiii, 29. 2 Judges iv, 13. 3 Judges viii, 10. 4 Revelation xvi, 16. MAILED KNIGHT OB CBUSADEB. CHAPTER IV. THE CRUSADES: THEIR OBJECT AND HEROES. Causes that led to this Movement Reverence for Holy Places Pilgrimages to Jerusalem The Empress Helena Church of the Holy Sepulchre Con- quest of Palestine by the Saracens Cruel Treatment of Pilgrims Peter the Hermit His Appeal to the Christians of Europe Pope Urban II. favors the Movement Council of Clermont The Pontiff's stirring Ad- dress Godfrey de Bouillon Antioch and Jerusalem taken Godfrey elected King His Deatli and Burial Origin of the Knights of St. John and Knights Templar Subsequent Crusades. "VTO chapter in history is more full of adventure and chivalry than the Crusades or holy wars of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, for the recovery of the Tomb of Christ from the Saracens. And as they are so intimately connected with Bible Lands, we cannot very well conclude our work, without giving a brief account of the causes which led to this movement, and a sketch of some of the principal actors in this religious drama. Other portions of this book were written from personal observations ; this chapter we compile from the best authors who have written on the subject. There is more or less credulity or superstition in our nature an innate principle of reverence for sacred objects and nothing stirs the human heart more than religious enthusiasm, especially when allowed to run into wild fanaticism. It was this supersti- tious reverence for holy things, and passion to visit the hallowed scenes of human redemption, that brought about the bloody wars of the Crusades. It is computed that fully two million Christians perished by slaughter, hunger and pestilence, during these un- necessary and cruel wars. 521 522 BIBLE LANDS. Ever since Christianity became an established fact, pilgrimages, have been made by the piously inclined to the Holy Land, either in performance of some vow, or to see the places consecrated by the presence of Christ, and where God was manifested in the flesh* Early in the fourth century, with many others, the Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, made this pilgrimage when nearly fourscore years old, visiting many sacred spots, and arranging for the construction of monumental edifices where the- most important events transpired. Over the Tomb of Christ she- ordered the erection of a magnificent church, to commemorate- His death, burial and resurrection, portions of which are still standing. After two years, spent among the scenes hallowed by the sufferings of the Son of God, she returned home, and shortly thereafter died. The visit of this empress to Palestine created an intense interest throughout Europe in the Holy Land, and pilgrimages became more numerous than ever. The story that Helena, in searching for the Tomb of Christ,, discovered the real cross on which Jesus was crucified, is all aa " invention," without any foundation in fact. The empress- never claimed to have made any such discovery, nor was it heard of for several years after her death. Eusebius, if any one, Avould have known of such a precious relic, as he was present at the dedi- cation of the church, and would have mentioned it in his address on that occasion or in his writings; but he is entirely silent upon the subject; nor is it likely that a wooden cross could be buried in the eartli three hundred years without decaying. Then, the law required all such instruments of death to be burned after once used. And the absurdity of Helena putting it, for safe keeping,. 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 church was completed, A. D. 335. It has very properly been PETER THE HERMIT. 523 termed " The Invention of the Cross/' for it is nothing more than a pious fraud, the invention of after years. When Mohammedanism became a power in the East, and the Saracens conquered Palestine, many of these pilgrims were cruelly treated, and the holy places desecrated by the infidels in the most insulting manner. This conduct on the part of the Moslems, more than anything else, provoked the Christian nations of Europe to engage in a war for the recovery of Pales- tine. Peter the Hermit, the apostle of the Crusades, was a native of France ; by profession he was a soldier, but being of a religious turn of mind and very austere in his habits, he with- drew from the army and, secluding himself from the world, spent most of his time fasting and praying in the solitude of the cloister. But his active, restless spirit, and burning zeal for his Master and religion, were not satisfied with the life of a hermit,, and toward the close of the eleventh century he made his first pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Moslem was in power. The crescent of Mohammed waved over the City of God, and when the devout recluse saw, with a bleeding heart, the Holy Sepul- cher and other sacred places in possession of the infidel, and how Christians all over the Orient, and especially the pilgrims, were treated by the followers of the False Prophet, his very blood turned to fire, and he then and there conceived the project of enlisting the Christian powers of Europe in a Holy War, for the recovery of the Holy Land. On his return to the West, he earn- estly presented the matter to Pope Urban II., who as eagerly espoused the cause. A Council was called in Clermont in No- vember, 1095, of representative men from all parts of the con- tinent. A vast multitude assembled on that occasion, all animated by the same spirit. Princes, ambassadors, prelates, and other dis- tinguished persons, came in such numbers, the city was not able 524 BIBLE LANDS. to entertain them. The pope himself was there in his purple and scarlet, and with him Peter the Hermit, clad in his uncouth 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 Christians in Palestine with wonderful effect, electrifying the entire audience. The pope opened his address by complimenting the French, calling them " A nation beloved by God." He then spoke of the Saracenic invasion and the exploits of Charlemagne in driving them out of France, calling on them to show their valor and chivalry by saving Jerusalem the city of Jesus Christ. When the pontiff depicted the wretchedness of the Eastern Christians, and perfidy of the Mohammedans, the warriors present clutched their swords and swore in their hearts to avenge the suffering cause of Christ. And when he appealed to their religious convictions and feelings, by saying, "There is scarcely a Christian family into which the Mussulmans have not brought mourning and despair ; our bishops have been delivered over to the executioner ; the virgins of the Lord have been outraged; 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 weep over our past errors ; let us weep over the captivity of the Holy City ! But evil be to us if, in our sterile pity, we longer Jeave the heritage of the Lord in the hands of the infidel. Why should we taste here a moment's repose whilst the children of Jesus Christ live in the midst of torments, and the queen city groans in chains ?" At these words the auditors displayed an enthusiasm that human eloquence has seldom inspired. The assembly arose in one mass, as one man, and with one voice re- sponded, " It is the will of God ! It is the will of God ! " THE CRUSADES. 525 '"Yes, without doubt, it is the will of God," replied Urban. '"" Let these words be your war-cry. Let the Cross be your standard. Wear it upon your breast. It will be to you the surety of victory or the palm of martyrdom. It will unceas- 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 bare, head uncovered, clad in a long rough cassock, with a coarse rope tied around his lank waist, was going from court to court, city to city, province to province, crossing the Alps, traversing Italy, visiting the greater portion of Europe, telling of the out- rages perpetrated against the religion of Christ by infidel dogs; holding up the crucifix he had carried with him from Jerusalem, .and in the most impassioned manner calling on all to join in the Holy War. His preaching powerfully affected all classes. The singularity of his attire, austerity of his manner, and impressive- ness of his eloquence, influenced all hearts with the zeal that was consuming his own, and in a few months all Europe resounded with the war-cry of the Crusaders. So great was the eagerness to join in the enterprise, and so impatient the crowds that re- sponded to the call to depart at once, by March, 1096, three hundred thousand men, of every condition and of all ranks, were under arms clamoring to be led against the Infidels. It was an armed pilgrimage, on a large scale, of religious fanatics those joining in the expedition regarding themselves as having per- formed all penances. Their insignia was a red cross, which was to be emblazoned on their standards and worn on the shoulder or left breast. Hence their name, as every person who assumed ~the cross was known as a Croise, or Crusader. There was no dis- 526 BIBLE LANDS. tinction among them, the rich and poor serving together as com- mon soldiers; an army of religious enthusiasts, without dis- cipline or any knowledge of military tactics. This advance column, under the leadership of the Hermit and Walter the Penniless, started for Jerusalem through Germany, Hungary, and Bulgaria ; and yet, sad to relate, few if any of that vast host ever reached the Land of Promise. They made no provision for their long, perilous journey, presuming, in their fanaticism, that the rivers would open to let them pass safely through ; that they would he 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 became a prey to wild beasts, famine or pestilence. Peter the Hermit was among the few that escaped, connecting himself with the next expedition, and was present when Jerusalem was finally taken, receiving the grateful homage of the victorious army, and in return, delivered to them a fervent congratulatory address- from the Mount of Olives. This is the last mention made of his name in history. Nothing further is known of this remark- able man. Europe was shocked at learning the fate of the advance divi- sion of the Crusaders. It did not, however, repress her holy- zeal, but served to rouse her chivalry to action. The feudal princes, with their heroic knights young men trained to arms,, and full of adventure now assumed the cross. Castles and lands were sold to raise funds to equip the army. Robert, Duke of Normandy, and son of William the Conqueror, surrendered his right to the English throne to raise money to carry on the war. Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond Count of Toulouse, Tan- cred, and many other noble dukes, counts and barons, inspired with the same spirit, joined in this Crusade. The world never GODFREY OF BOUILLON. 527 witnessed a finer army than was raised in a few months for this occasion. It consisted of one hundred thousand cavalry the very flower of Europe and an innumerable multitude of infan- try, from all classes, under the most illustrious officers. Godfrey was placed in command, and no one was better qual- ified for the position. He was born a king among men calm, brave and dignified, practising the virtues of private life amid the tumults of the camp. In him the gentlest manners were united with the firmest spirit. Mr. Rich, in his Biography, says: "He not only signalized himself by valor among the val- orous, and by enthusiasm among the enthusiastic, but he showed also disinterestedness, probity, skill and prudence, which were of a higher and rarer order. He maintained the most compJete discipline among his division of the Christian army, which he brought safely to the appointed muster-place beneath the walls of Constantinople in the winter of 1096. By his sagacity and firmness he prevented hostilities breaking out between the host of the Crusaders and the Greek emperor, Alexius Comnenus, and in the spring of 1097 Godfrey led the Frankish nations into Asia Minor to the siege of the capital of the Turkish Sultan of Xice. This city was captured after a bloody siege, in which the personal valor of Godfrey, as well as his generalship, was frequently dis- played. He was tall, well proportioned, and of such remarkable strength and dexterity in the use of his weapons that he is said, in more than one encounter, to have cloven his foe by a single sword-stroke from skull to centre." After Nice was captured the Crusaders marched forward and defeated a Turkish army in the great battle of Dorylaeum, reaching Antioch, in Syria, late in the autumn of 1097, and at once laid siege to the place. This city contained a population of 200,000 souls, was surrounded by high walls and a deep, wide ditch, which, with its garrison of 528 BIBLE LANDS. 30,000, under experienced officers, made it a formidable under- taking for the greatly depleted army of Godfrey. Antioch was founded 300 B. C. by Seleucus Nicator, King of Syria, and named in honor of his father, Antiochus. It was con- sidered the third city in the world for beauty, wealth and popu- lation. A grand street, with colonnades, was a marked feature of the city. Pompey enlarged it, and Herod the Great adorned ANTIOCH. it. The Christian faith was early introduced into Antioch ; here 1 the disciples were first called Christians. Acts xi, 26. This was the scene of the early labors of the apostle Paul, and from here he started out on his first missionary tour. Acts xiii, 2. The saintly Ignatius was bishop of the church here, and the eloquent Chrysostom was a native of this city, which in his day contained 100,000 Christians. It was also an important place in a military JERUSALEM TAKEX. 529^ point of view, and the leaders of the Crusaders felt the absolute necessity of occupying the position before marching on to Jeru- salem. The city was captured on the 3d of June, 1098, after an obstinate resistance of seven weary months. No sooner, how- ever, had the victors taken possession of the place than they in turn were besieged by 200,000 Moslems. The condition of the Crusaders became terrible. Famine and pestilence were slaying them by thousands. Many were deserting, and others despair- ing of success. When it was rumored among the dispirited sol- diers that the holy lance which pierced the side of our Saviour had been found under the altar of the Church of St. Peter, in Antioch, and that it possessed miraculous powers, Godfrey, taking advantage of the delusion, led his men in a sudden sortie upon their enemies, which resulted in a complete victory. The sup- posed presence of this charmed relic in their midst inspired the Crusaders with fresh courage, and such prodigies of valor as were performed that day were never seen before. Their cry now was, " On to Jerusalem ! " It was a bright summer morning in the month of June, 1099, that the remnant of the 700,000 which had left Europe more than two years before came in sight of the Holy City. After giving expression to their joy in exclamations of thanksgiving, they all as with one impulse fell upon their knees, and poured out their tears on the sacred soil. The city being strongly garrisoned, several weeks were spent in preparing for the attack. On the eve of the day ap- pointed for the final assault the whole host made a religious procession round the walls, carrying crucifixes and chanting psalms of praise. Then, halting on Mount Olivet, they all joined in solemn prayer invoking divine aid. At daylight the next morning the assault was made. All that day and the next the battle raged with fearful carnage. But the zeal of the Crusaders. 530 BIBLE LANDS. was indomitable. The walls soon began to crumble and fall under their ponderous battering-rams. Godfrey was among the first to enter, and in triumph planted the cross on the battlements of Zion, July 15th, 1099. It is stated that Pope Urban II. died of joy on hearing of the conquest of Jerusalem. We shall not stain our pages with the bloody and sickening scenes which followed, showing what crimes may l>e perpetrated in the name of religion, and to what excesses fanaticism may lead us. The Latin Kingdom of Palestine was at once organized, and eight days after the sacking of the city Godfrey was unanimously elected King of Jerusalem, but refused to be crowned, alleging as a reason, he could not consent to receive a crown of gold where his Saviour was compelled to wear a crown of thorns, asking for himself no higher honor than "Defender of the Tomb of Christ." He died after a brief but brilliant reign of less than twelve 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 still kept as mementos of his deeds, in the Latin chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Latin kingdom continued for eighty-eight years under varied circumstances, but was finally overthrown by the Saracens and Turks. The defeat of the Knights by Saladin on Mount Hattin, July 4th, 1187, was a death-blow to the Christian gov- 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 inspired the Crusades, gave birth to two orders of religious knighthood, through whose valor the Christian cause was long sustained. They were known as the Knights of St. John or Hospitalers, and Knights of the Temple. The origin of both ORDER OF KXIGHTS TEMPLAR. 531 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- salem were subjected to many outrages ; some became sick and too faint to travel ; others were robbed and left half dead by the way. The Knights of St. John furnished entertainment to all such, giving alms to the needy. Their hospital and headquarters in Jerusalem, known as the Muristan, was close by the Holy Sepulcher. It was a large, richly endowed institution, portions of which are still standing, conspicuous among which is a marble Gothic gateway with numerous sculptured emblems of their order. When the Christians were driven from Palestine, the Hospitalers settled on the island of Cyprus. From Cyprus they were driven by the Turks to Rhodes, and from thence to Malta, which was given them by Charles V. in 1530. They have retained their position on this island ever since, and are known as the Knights of Malta. Godfrey left his royal estates in PaU estitie and Europe to this order, of which he was an active member. The order of Knights Templar differed from that of St. John in having a martial profession united with the charitable. They were the chevaliers of Zion ; and though their object at first was the protection of pilgrims, they afterwards became the defenders of Christianity in the East, and the sw r orn enemies of Islam. The royal palace of the Kings of Jerusalem was within the temple enclosure. Baldwin I. gave to these Knights, to whom he was greatly indebted for services rendered, a part of this palace, mak- ing them custodians of the Temple Mount, from which circum- stance they derived their name. In dress they differed from the Hospitalers by wearing a long white mantle with a red cross on the left breast, and were sometimes known as Knights of the Red Cross. 532 BIBLE LAXDS. There were half a dozen subsequent Crusades, extending over a period of nearly two centuries, all ostensibly for the same 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., King of France, and Conrad III., Emperor of Germany, marched for the Holy Land. The expedition, however, proved a total fail- ure. Both armies were almost destroyed by the Turks in Asia Minor. The capture of Jerusalem in 1187 by Saladin, a young Kurd- ish chief who had made himself Sultan of Egypt, was very humiliating to the chivalry of Europe, and filled all Christendom with horror and grief, and a third Crusade was undertaken by the Emperor of Germany, Frederick I., generally known as Barba- rossa or Red-beard, and Richard Cceur-de-Lion, King of Eng- land. This expedition also resulted in disastrous failure. Bar- barossa lost his life by fever, and was buried at Tyre. Richard, the Lion-Hearted one of the bravest of the brave, after many personal adventures and desperate conflicts with the Saracens, in which he performed prodigies of valor when in sight of Jeru- salem, with the enemy terror-stricken by his presence, and the city ready to throw open its gates to receive him, for some unac- countable reason suddenly stopped his advance, returned to Jaffa, and sailed for Europe. The other Crusades resulted in like fail- ures, the Mohammedans, fighting on their own territory, being too powerful for the Knights of the Cross. The most painful and remarkable incident in this remarkable CHILDREN'S CRUSADE. 533 conflict was what is known as the Children's Crusade. A French shepherd-boy, but sixteen years old, in 1212, imagined that the Saviour had appeared to him, and promised if the children would engage in another Crusade they would achieve a victory which the soldiers and nobles could not win. He went to the Church of St. Denis in Paris and preached the Crusade. His fame rap- idly spread throughout France, Germany and Spain. The same old cry was heard again, "It is the will of God." Despite the opposition of kings and parents, large armies of children enlisted. One from Germany proceeded as far as Genoa, but encountered so much hardship many dying from hunger and disease it was abandoned. Another, raised in France, advanced to Marseilles. Here they met with a strange, unlooked-for doom. Some slave traders, whose profession it was to purchase or steal children in order to sell them to the Saracens, offered to furnish transports io convey them to Palestine without charge. A fleet of seven vessels, with twenty thousand of these deluded children on board, the flower of French youth, set sail from Marseilles for the East. For eighteen years nothing was heard of them. At the end of 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 had reached Alexandria, and the children were sold by their betrayers in the slave markets of Cairo and other cities of the Orient. It is estimated that fifty thousand of the youth of Eu- rope were lost in this most remarkable of all the Crusades. "The cessation of the Crusades was not produced by any abatement of the love of arms, or of the thirst of glory, in the chivalry of Europe. But the union with these martial qualities of that fanatical enthusiasm which inspired the Christian warriors of the eleventh century had been slowly and almost thoroughly 534 BIBLE LANDS. dissolved." Every effort to revive this enthusiasm proved abor- tive. The spirit which animated the myriads that joined in these wars had died out, and for the last seven centuries the Holy Land has remained in possession of the Turk. ASSYKIAN SEAL. APPENDIX. CHAPTER I. EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIANS. Land of the Pharaohs To\ver of Syene Oldest Civilized Portion of the Globe Battle-field of the World Grand Monuments Tombs of the Kings Wonder- ful. Discoveries at Dayr el Bahree Royal Mummies Pyramids at Sakara Cleopatra's Needle Prophecy Fulfilled Mohammed All Slaughter of the Mamelukes Joseph's Well Ishmaelites Arab Bey Late Conflict Future of Egypt. "1VTEXT to Palestine, no country possesses greater interest than -Li the land of the old Pharaohs, and every thing that relates to the history of this ancient nation is eagerly sought after. Egypt proper is confined to the valley of the Nile, " the river of Egj^pt," extending from the Delta up to the First Cataract, a distance of about eight hundred miles from north to south. The " Tower of Syene," modern Assouan, has always been the natural southern boundary of " the land of Ham." True, some of the old Pharaohs extended their conquests higher up the river, but they were never able to hold the ter- ritory they conquered. This part of Africa was first settled from the north, as the Scriptures state and the oldest monu- ments clearly prove, by Mizraim the son of Ham ; ' and it is a singular fact that Mizraim, the Hebrew word for Egypt, is the Arabic name of the country at the present time. 1 Genesis x, 6. 535 536 APPENDIX. The history of Egypt almost covers the history of our race. It is probably the oldest civilized portion of the globe, and the most fertile, with the most uniform climate ; and her monuments are among the grandest ever erected by man. All the great powers of antiquity have coveted this rich prize, and millions of lives have been sacrificed for its possession ; so that 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. The monumental remains of this ancient people have long been the wonder of the world. Nothing could surpass in grandeur and magnitude her temples, pyramids, and rock-hewn, tombs, a full account of which will be found in the first part of this book. These explorations are still going on, and within the last year several important discoveries have been made ; one, the mummy-pits near the old temple of Dayr el Bahree, just back of Thebes, the renowned capital of Upper Egypt. The " Tombs of the Kings," recovered by Belzoni, more than half a century ago, were regarded as a great discovery. They are situated among the cliffs at the head of a desolate gorge, about three miles west of Thebes vast temples for the dead, composed of numerous richly-colored sculptured halls,, corridors and chambers excavated out of the solid rock and penetrating the mountain in some instances from five to eight hundred feet. No human remains were found in these tombs, and yet, from the empty, broken sarcophagi, and other evi- dences of vandalism, it was clear they had once been occu- pied but plundered by unknown parties centuries before, and it was a great mystery what had become of the remains of MUMMIES OF THE OLD PHARAOHS. 537 the old kings of Egypt. Happily, through the faithful exer- tions of Herr Brugsch and Professor Maspero, this problem is now solved. In a gallery two hundred feet long and thirty deep, cut in the natural rock at the base of the bleak Libyan Mountains that form the western boundary of ancient Thebes, thirty-six mummies of the old Pharaohs and their families have been recently found. They had been removed ages before from their royal tombs, perhaps during the Persian or some other foreign invasion, and for safe keeping placed in this more secure, though humbler sepulcher. And to-day, in the museum at Boolak, may be seen lying side by side the kings and queens, princes and priests of royal blood, who lived between three and four thousand years ago. How marvelous ! Their bodies were carefully embalmed, and are wonderfully preserved. Even the garlands of the sacred lotus, and other floral mementos, left with the dead by sorrowing friends, are still there, looking as fresh as if cut but a few months ago. The mummy cases are richly decorated, some had been over- laid with gold, and on each the name and titles of its inmate are legibly written ; on one this inscription is set in precious stones. There is Sethi I., one of Egypt's greatest kings, whom Joseph, it is supposed, served as governor ; next to him lies Thothmes III., who first erected, in front of the grand temple at Heliopolis, the obelisk now in Central Park ; then comes Rameses II., the cruel oppressor of the Israelites, and near by the beautifully embalmed body of his daughter, supposed to be the princess who rescued Moses from the Nile; with many other royal personages of different dynasties, cover- 638 APPENDIX. ing a period of at least seven centuries. And what is even more surprising, with each coffin was found a bronze canopic urn, or alabaster vase, containing the embalmed heart of its occupant ; so we have here before us the Pharaoh whose heart was hardened when he refused to let the children of Israel go, and the Pharaoh's daughter whose heart was touched with pity when she heard the young child cry in its ark of bul- rushes. Was ever fiction more strange ! Several of the mummies are females, one an infant, only sixteen inches long, and yet has all the titles of royalty. It EMBALMED BULL, OR APIS. 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 for more than two thousand years ; and not only all natives, but strangers, captives and slaves, were subjected to the rite ; so that there must be at the present time millions, if not hundreds of millions, of these mummies hidden among the mountain ranges or concealed by the ever shifting sands of Egypt. They also embalmed their sacred birds, cats and bulls, the latter being EGYPTIAN MODE OF BUEIAL. 539 regarded as the incarnation of Osiris. It was the custom to bury with the dead such articles as were found about their persons, or belonged to their profession. Thus we find the 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 friend, the youth dying before the letter was delivered. With the mummies found at Dayr el Bahree there were iive thousand seven hundred different articles, among them a royal funeral canopy, three thousand years old, very richly embroidered on leather ; also four large rolls of papyri, one of them one hundred and forty feet long and sixteen inches wide. When these rolls are translated they will no doubt give a full history of the royal dead, with many other important facts. Among the effects belonging to the women were numerous statuettes, libation jars, bottles of ointment and cosmetics, alabaster cups of beautiful design, goblets of variegated glass, and fifteen full-dress wigs, of curled and frizzed hair, of the latest Paris style, all ready to put on when the soul returned to reoccupy its body. But the most exciting event connected with the finding of these mummies was the unwrapping of the embalmed body of Rameses the Great, on June 1st, 1886, by professor Maspero, director-general of the excavations recently made in Egypt, and Brngsch-Bey, keeper of the museum of Boolak. Rameses II., the Sesostris of history, M*as the third Pharaoh -of the nineteenth dynasty, and began to reign about 1430 B. C. He was the foster-father of Moses ; the Pharaoh who so bitterly >40 BIBLE LANDS. oppressed the Hebrews, and the greatest builder of his age. The two magnificent subterranean temples at Aboo-Simbel in Xubia, the Ramesium of Thebes, also the famous temples of Karnak and Luxor, and the small temple at Abydos, are ascribed to him. From the official report of Prof. Maspero we gather the fol- lowing interesting facts concerning one of Egypt's greatest kings. The mummy of Rameses II.,* clearly identified by the official 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 wrapping was removed, there were successively discovered a band of stuff eight inches in width, rolled round the body ; then a second winding sheet sewn up and kept in place by narrow bands placed at some distance apart; then two thicknesses of small 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 prescribed by the ritual. Under this amulet there was found another bandage; then a layer of pieces of linen folded in squares and spotted with the bituminous matter used by the embalmers. This last covering removed, Rameses II. appeared. The head is long and small in proportion to the body. The top of the skull is quite bare, but at the poll the hair is thick, forming smooth, straight locks about two inches in length. White at the 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 Raraeses II., on opposite page, we are indebted to Messrs.. Cupples, Upham & Co., of Boston, Mass. Copyright, Cttpples, Upham < Co., Boston. MUMMY OF BAMESES II,, THE OPPRESSOR OF THE HEBREWS, 1430 B.C. MUMMY OF RAMESES II. 545 small and close together; the nose is long and thin; the temples are sunken ; the cheekbones very prominent ; the ears round, stand- 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 probably allowed to grow during the king's last illness, or they may have grown after death. The hairs are white like those of the- head and eyebrows, but are harsh and bristly. The skin is of earthy brown splotched with black. Finally, it may be said the face of the mummy gives a fair idea of the face of the living- king. The expression is unintellectual, but there is plainly to be seen an air of sovereign majesty about it. The rest of the body is well preserved, but in consequence of the reduction of the tis- sues, its external aspect is less life-like. The chest is^broad ; the- shoulders are square ; the arms are crossed upon the breast ; the- hands are small and dyed with henna; and the wound in the left side through which the embalmers extracted the viscera is large and open. The corpse is that of an old man, but of a vigorous and 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. Equally interesting discoveries have been made recently in the Pyramids at Sakara, the oldest in Egypt, by Mariette Bey and Professor Maspero. These eminent archaeologists suc- ceeded in finding the long-concealed entrance to these tombs of royalty ; found within them the mortuary chapels of the old Pharaohs covered with sacred inscriptions, giving all details of their religious belief ; found the regal sarcophagi of black basalt, and the mummied remains of the old Memphite kings 544 APPENDIX. belonging to the fifth and sixth dynasties, proving beyond con- troversy that these monuments were designed as tombs for their kings, and exploding forever the wild speculations lately indulged in touching the Pyramids. /- ^_ -f^. ^ ,J^A jJu1ih^ text * BPfl "feitfe "** -^^ ii -'J5 * J\." s* j * INTERIOR OF TOMB, SAKARA. r< J Jxt to these royal mausoleums in point of antiquity are the obelisks, of which so little is known. They all appear to have stood east of the K"ile, toward sunrise, and probably sym CLEOFATKA'S KEEDLE AT ALEXANDRIA. CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 547 bolized the dawn of life, as the pyramids did the shades of death. One of the two known as Cleopatra's Needles, re- cently brought to America and now standing in Central Park, N. Y., is a single shaft of rose-colored Syenite granite, sixty- 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, ninety-six feet. These monuments were first called obelisks by the Greeks, from " obeliskos" a spit, awl, or large needle, a name probably suggested by their peculiar shape ; and the two lately taken from Alexandria have long been known as " Cleo- patra's Needles," though that celebrity had nothing to do with their erection, and may never have seen them. The one in Central Park is among the oldest extant. It originally stood in front of the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, but was re- moved to Alexandria by order of Augustus Caesar, in the sev- enth year of that emperor's reign, B. C. 23, or eight years after Cleopatra's death, and placed with its companion, now in Lon- don, in front of a temple dedicated to Augustus. The four sides are covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, cut sharply in the hard granite in three lines from top to bottom. The middle column on each face records the heroic deeds of Thothmes III., who first set up the obelisk at Heliopolis. The 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. Egypt was the land of obelisks. Anciently, hundreds of them stood in front of her grand temples, but she has been 35 548 APPENDIX. cruelly despoiled of these graceful monuments. They have been carried away to Rome, Constantinople, Paris, London,, and now New York, until not more than half a dozen are left standing in all Egypt. The largest of the twenty-five in Europe is before the basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome. The shaft alone is one hundred and six feet high and weighs four hundred and forty-five tons. It belongs to the dynasty of Thothmes III., the same as the one in Central Park, and was transported from Thebes to Rome by Constantius, A.D. 357. The next largest is the one at Karnak, ascribed to Hatasoo r sister of Thothmes III., which is estimated to weigh four hun- dred tons. According to Herodotus, the entire temple of Sais was a monolith, weighing five thousand tons, and two thousand men- were three years transporting it from Syene. How such enor- mous blocks of granite were taken from the quarry at the first cataract of the Nile, eight hundred miles from the sea, and brought down to the delta, and to different parts of Europe, at that early period, before modern appliances were known, is marvelous. There must have been operative masons in that 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 saith the Lord God : " Behold, I will give the land of WONDEKFUL FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY. 549 Egypt unto Xebuehadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil; and it shall be the wages for his army." 1 " It shall be the basest of the kingdoms ; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations." 3 " And the Egyptians will I give over into the hands of cruel lords ; and a fierce king shall rule over them." 3 " I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations." " And there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt." 4 There are many other prophecies of the same import, but these are sufficient to show their striking fulfillment. We have 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. In fact, the history of this country is little more than prophecy fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon's greatest king, was the first to invade and conquer Egypt, B. C. 572. It remained a dependency of Babylonia until the Persian conquest by Cam- byses, B.C. 525, after which it was governed by Persian satraps down to its conquest by Alexander the Great, B. C. 332. The Greeks held possession until it was taken from them by the Romans, B.C. 30, when it became a Roman province, and remained so until conquered by the Arabs under Amer, A. D. 638, after which it was governed by the Caliphs, or Saracens, until conquered by the Turks under Sultan Selim, in 1517, when it became a part of the Ottoman Empire. So that dur- ing the last twenty-four centuries there has not been a native prince for any length of time on the throne of Egypt. The founder of the present dynasty, Mohammed Ali, by birth a European, was made Viceroy of Egypt by the Porte 1 Ezek. xxix, 1Q, 2 Ezek. xxix, 15. 3 Isa. xix, 4. 4 Ezek. xxx, 13-26. 550 APPENDIX. in 1806. He was a man of great courage, intelligence, and liberality, and did for Egypt more than any other prince in centuries. He not only restored order and created an army, but established schools, encouraged industry, protected Chris- 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. Ismail Pasha, who succeeded to the Vice-Royalty in 1863, was the adopted grandson of Mohammed Ali, and, in 1868, his title of Viceroy was changed to that of JTAidewe, or Khedive, a Per- sian title of higher rank. Owing, however, to his extravagance and misrule, Ismail was deposed in 1879, and his eldest son, Tewfik, the great-grandson of Mohammed Ali, appointed by the European powers to reign in his father's stead. The pres- ent Khedive is a young man of sound judgment, good edu- cation, liberal in his views, with but one wife, and if let alone will make a good ruler. Cairo, the capital and residence of the Khedive, is the largest city in Africa, containing a population of half a million, with beautiful avenues, parks, palaces, hotels, opera-house, mosques, bazaars, not to mention the dogs, donkeys, camels, and motley crowds of men, women and children, that serve to make up all Oriental cities. On a rocky ridge to the east, overlooking the city, is the Citadel, built by Sultan Saladin in 1166, of stone taken from the pyramids of Ghizeh. A fine view is had from this eminence of Cairo and its surroundings. Just in front of you is the grand Mosque of Sultan Hassan ; then comes the city with its numerous minarets and sun-lit domes, with the river and its fleet of little boats beyond, and away off on the horizon the great African desert in all its soli- CITADEL, AND WELL OF JOSEPH. 553 tude, flanked by the pyramids on the one hand and the ever- green delta on the other. A view never to be forgotten. It was in the courts of this Citadel the Mamelukes were betrayed and cruelly slaughtered by Mohammed AH in 1811. Originally the men composing this celebrated cavalry were Circassian slaves, belonging to the Sultan, but in time they almost gained control of the army and country, and Mohammed Ali, suspecting them of certain plots and intrigues, resolved on their extermi- nation, which he finally accomplished, by alluring them into the Fortress, and then murdering them in cold blood. The spot where Emm Bey, the only one who escaped, made his fearful leap, is still pointed out. The old palace of Saladin formerly tood within the Citadel, but was removed to make room for the splendid mosque and tomb of Mohammed Ali, which now covers the same site. But the greatest curiosity here is the "Well of Joseph," which supplies the Citadel with water. It is supposed to be the work of the ancient Egyptians, if not of Joseph the Hebrew, whose name it bears, and was discovered by Saladin, filled with sand, when clearing away the site for his fortress. It is two hundred and ninety feet deep and fifteen feet in diameter, excavated in the solid rock, with a spiral staircase or inclined plane, like the thread of a screw, winding around the well from top to bottom, wide enough to drive two mules abreast down, ah 1 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- tinually revolving by mules or oxen, stationed above and belcw. The jars that come up full discharge at the top, and descend empty. It certainly is a grand piece of engineering, and how 554 APPENDIX. such an excavation was made to such a depth, without fractur- 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 eldest son, by Hagar, his Egyptian wife. 1 Ishmael also mar- ried an Egyptian, 8 and was the father of twelve sons, or twelve noted princes, who became the progenitors of twelve Aral) tribes. 8 These tribes are the wandering Ishmaelites, or Arabs of the desert, and, as foretold, have become " a great nation," * numbering probably 100,000,000. They are a fearless, inde- pendent race, claiming never to have been conquered, paying tribute to no king, leading a nomadic life, roving at pleasure over the country, with their vast flocks and herds, having no local habitation, but dwelling in tents of black goat's hair, and living by plunder. A race of hereditary robbers. Their history is a standing miracle. They are still wild men, their " hand against every man, and every man's hand against them." 5 Dwelling for centuries in the presence of their brethren, the Jews, Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, all highly civilized nations, the Ishmaelites are, nevertheless, as wild and uncivilized to-day as they were 3,000 years ago. They build no cities, make no improvements, have no schools, but lead a predatory, lazy life, looking upon all labor as degrading. There are two classes of Arabs the Bedouin and Fellaheen. The Bedouins are the wild sons of the desert, warriors by pro- fession, ever on the war-path, and, when mounted on their fleet Arab steeds, in their gay trappings, armed with long lances, the blades, highly polished, gleaming in the sun-light, look very 'Genesis xvi, 3. 2 Genesis xxi, 21. 3 Genesis xxv, 16. 4 Genesis xvii, 20. 5 Genesis xvi, 12. EGYPTIAN SOLDIERS. 555 formidable. The Fellaheen are the tillers of the soil, generally very ignorant and superstitious, have no taste for war, and will never make soldiers. The Egyptians are principally of the latter class, and though they make good field hands, know very little of politics, and are not the material to form a nar tional party out of. The late army of Arabi Bey was made up almost entirely of this class, and having been forcibly taken from their lands, they were only too glad to throw down their arms and run at the first opportunity. The only soldiers that stood fire during the late con- flict were the black troops from the Sou- dan. These soldiers were formerly slaves, stolen from the interior of Africa, and set free by the late Khedive, on the condition that they would serve in the army ; and, having no country to fight for, and being far removed from their homes, with no prospect of ever returning, are a class of desperate, reckless men, fond of slaughter, who would rather die than live. No importance is to be attached to the religious movement in the Soudan under LANCB - Senoussi, the so-called Moslem Messiah. His followers are merely troops of beggars and dervishes, armed with war-clubs and lances, who from superstition or mercenary motives have joined his standard. One regiment of English soldiers would scatter them like chaff before the whirlwind. 1 BEDOUIN LANCE. 556 APPENDIX. The annual revenue of Egypt is about $40,000,000, collected principally from the products of the soil, and as there are only 5,000,000 acres of land capable of cultivation, this imposes an average tax of eight dollars per acre on these poor Fellaheen. It is this oppressive system of taxation that has crushed out the life of the nation, and still hangs, like a great millstone, around her neck. Nothing could be more wretched than the condi- tion of the peasant women of Egypt. No provision is made for their education ; they are allowed but few privileges, are never consulted in marriage, do all the drudgery, carry all the water, and are treated worse than slaves by their cruel husbands.. They are divorced for any trifling offense, bought and sold like cattle, and die unmoumed. There are few Arabs but would grieve more over the loss of a camel than the death of a wife. Alexandria, the sea-port of Egypt, and largest commercial 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- ment of the forts by Admiral Seymour, and the burning of the city by Arabi Bey. It was this spirit of rebellion and plunder, and the Khedive's inability to enforce law and preserve order, that caused En- gland to send her army and navy to his assistance. Arabi Bey is nothing more than a religious enthusiast, and ambitious rebel, who, under the popular cry of "Egypt for the Egyptians," tried to get up a national party, clamoring for ARABI BEY. 557 independence. But there can be no national party in Egypt, simply because they are not a nation, merely a population, that have had no voice in their national affairs for twenty-four 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- tempted to depose the Khedive. Failing in this, he next, like a highwayman, undertook to murder or drive out of the coun- try all Europeans and Christians, confiscating their property, and even threatened to inaugurate a holy war and desolate the whole land if his authority was not recognized. He is a fanat- ical Mohammedan, and under the impression that he was a second Cromwell, divinely inspired to restore the ancient faith of his prophet, urged on by the students of El Azhar, he began his crusade with sword and torch against all foreigners and Christians. In September, 1881, he first appeared upon the Egyptian stage as a mutinous colonel in the Khedive's army, claiming to be influenced by pure and patriotic zeal in the holy cause of Egyptian independence. Those who knew him, however, de- clared that the so-called patriot was a restless, ignorant puppet, worked by secret wire-pullers in Cairo and Constantinople, to produce anarchy in Egypt, in the hope of exhibiting the in- competency of the Khedive to rule, and of inflaming the fanat- ical hatred of the population against the European control. Such a combination would cause an outbreak, the Khedive would be deposed, the Europeans flee the country, and the Sultan would intervene and appoint a ruler to the throne of Egypt who would re-establish the tottering influence of the Porte. 558 APPENDIX. The entire world has watched with interest the successive acts in this drama. The curtain rose in September, 1881, with Arabi Bey at the head of his mutinous troops defying the Khedive in front of his own palace in Cairo. The curtain has fallen in September, 1882, with Sir Garnet Wolseley's victory. How changed the scene ! Arabi's army has been scattered to the winds ; all national aspirations have been dispelled, and the late leader of the rebellion is left without a follower a crouching sycophant, at the feet of his conquerors. England and the other great powers of Europe were under treaty stipulations to support the Khedive and put down this rebellion ; but the other nations refusing to interfere, England nobly assumed the responsibility, crowning herself with im- mortal glory. But for British interference, the flames that consumed the best portion of Alexandria would have spread all over the East, and thousands of innocent Christians would have been cruelly murdered. The battle of Tel-el-Kebir, on the 13th of September, 1882, will determine the future of Egypt. England is there, and she will stay there, and under the protectorate of Great Britain, the land of the Pharaohs will recover much of her ancient glory. Africa will be opened up to commerce, slavery and polygamy will be abolished, law and order will be enforced, life and property protected, woman emancipated, the people elevated, schools and Christian missions established. *md civilization promoted throughout the dark continent. CHAPTER II. THE SOUDAN AND EL MAHDI. Extent, Fertility, Population and Productions of the Country Khartoum Tim- buctoo Slavery Polygamy Witchcraft Superstition and Religion Con- quest by Sir Samuel Baker Mohammed Achmet, or El Mahdi Traditions concerning him Defeat of Hicks Pasha General Gordon Probable Result of Present Conflict. TO the general reader, the Soudan is almost an unknown region, and the war now raging in that quarter under El Mahdi is about as difficult to understand as a Chinese puzzle. All eyes just now are turned toward Central Africa, and all Christendom is earnestly praying that the light of the glorious gospel may very speedily penetrate the Dark Continent. Hav- ing personally explored a portion of this country, and being ac- quainted with other travelers familiar with every part thereof, we in this chapter furnish from the most trustworthy authorities a description of this mysterious land, give a brief sketch of El Mahdi, the Moslem Messiah, and set forth the real issues in- volved in the struggle now going on. The country called the Soudan, or " the land of the blacks," extends from the Red Sea westward over three thousand miles to the Senegal River and chain of Kong Mountains, which look down upon Senegambia and Liberia on the Atlantic coast. On the north the boundary of the Soudan is the great Desert of Sahara, from which it extends southward to the northern water- shed of the Congo. The area of this, the richest section of the (559) 560 APPENDIX. heart of Africa, is equal to that of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. There are three principal divisions of the Soudan : Eastern, Central and Western, containing a population of over 75,000,000 souls, more than half of whom are in the Eastern and Central portions. This vast, fertile and populous empire of many petty kingdoms of savages and semi-savages, cut off from the civilized world on the north by the great desert of Africa ; on the south by the still unexplored savage countries, with their cannibal tribes, under the Equator ; on the west by the pestilential low- lands of the Atlantic coast, and on the east by the warlike tribes of Ishmaelites along the Red Sea, remains to-day as it was in the days of Abraham, excepting the elements of civilization in- troduced by the wild Arabs, and planted here and there at their 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 White Nile. The inhabitants of this section are fanatical Mo- hammedans, in sympathy with El Mahdi, and this is the Soudan of which General Gordon was formerly Pasha, and which he is now attempting to conciliate and hold. As the whole Soudan, from the river Nile to the mountain bar- riers along the Atlantic, lies within the rainy belt of the Equa- tor, this central or eastern division, from which El Mahdi draws his troops and supplies, could be made, with our modern imple- ments in agriculture, to support a population of 100,000,000. The natives of the Soudan, as the name imports, are negroes of numerous tribes, naked barbarians, with a mixture of Arab blood, very rude, ignorant and superstitious. Polygamy is generally BEDOUIN CHIEF OF EASTERN SOUDAN. AFRICAN SLAVERY. 563 practised among them, and is the common form of social life throughout Africa. Nothing is known of domestic purity. The African family is simply a cattle-kraal. Usually each man has as many women in his kraal as he can buy or steal. The wives are all slaves, and the female slaves are all concubines. This system involves war, jealousy and the grossest sensuality. If one man monopolizes many women, many men must live alone, and the only way to make them live alone is to put them out of the world or into the slave-coffle. These women are generally stolen from neighboring tribes. The sleepers in a quiet village, a few hours before daybreak, will be surprised by some raiding party, their huts are set on fire, the men shot down like dogs, and the women and children carried off as captives ; but men robbed of their wives and daughters do not submit without striking back. Their only alternative is death or the slave-coffle, and bloody scenes are often witnessed during these midnight forays. Some villages are built on piles in the lakes, and others high up among the rocks, as a protection against these night attacks. Another curse of Africa is slavery a system of brigandage scarcely equaled by the most sanguinary wars. Within the con- tinent slavery is universal. During the last four hundred years it is estimated that fifty millions of slaves have been carried out of this country, a number equal to the entire population of the United States, and it is calculated that fully fifteen millions of these were shipped to North and South America to labor in sugar fields and rice swamps. It is also estimated that not less than five hundred thousand perish annually from the slave trade. Many of these slaves are captives of war, which is carried on in the most savage and ruthless manner. To capture one hundred slaves, ten villages, perhaps, will be destroyed, and one thousand natives, old and young, be put to death ; and of these one hun- 36 564 APPENDIX. dred captives not more than twenty, probably, will reach the last slave market. Driven hundreds of miles, overloaded with burdens, starved,, flogged, heart-broken, four out of five, according to Dr. Living- stone, in some instances nine out of ten, perish on the road. " One day," he says, " we passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree, and dead ; she had been unable to keep up with the other 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 positive heart-break. Dr. Livingstone further adds: "The strangest disease I have seen in this country seems really to be broken-heartedness. It mostly attacks freemen who have been captured and made slaves. They endure the chains until they 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 in. He, too,, said nothing was the matter with him except pain in the heart- Children for a time would keep up with wonderful endurance,, but it happened sometimes that the sound of dancing and the merry tinkle of bells would fall on their ears in passing some village ; then the memory of home and happy days proved too much for them ; they cried and sobbed, the broken-heart came on, and they rapidly sank/' WITCHCRAFT SUPERSTITION. 565 If, to procure fifty slaves, five hundred natives perish ; and if, of the fifty captured, 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 hundred years which have witnessed fifty millions of slaves torn from the bosom of Africa ? To polygamy and slavery we are to add witchcraft, f etichism, and superstition, which permeate the whole structure of African society, and are the greatest obstacles to the civilization of this continent. ~No one is supposed to die a natural death, nor to be killed in war, hunting, or by accident; every death is charged to witchcraft, and their lives are spent in constant fear of imaginary malignant spirits. The king of Ashantee in building a new pal- ace recently, slaughtered two hundred young girls for the pur- 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. Finally some one is suspected, and the fanatical crowd, armed with spears or war-clubs, with a wild cry and thirsting for human blood, rush upon the accused, generally some old woman, binding and dragging her down to the river, where she is com- pelled to drink a poisonous potion called mboundou, under the superstitious belief that if the accused is innocent the cup of poison will not kill her ; but it is sure death in every instance. Sometimes several persons are suspected, and whole tribes of these fetich nations are rapidly being exterminated through this superstitious fear, the details of which are too shocking to relate. With the discovery of the two great equatorial lakes of the 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. services of Baker to proceed with a military force up the river to those lakes, for the annexation of all the intervening countries on both sides of the Nile to the Egyptian viceroyalty ; and next, to undertake the suppression of the river slave-trade. Setting out from Cairo with a force of sixteen hundred men, Sir Samuel Baker, in the course of two years, after much hard fighting and many narrow escapes, returned to Cairo in 1873, and reported the annexation of the Soudan and suppression of the slave traffic completely successful in the whole valley of the Nile. Before this work of suppression immense numbers of slave-traders from the Soudan, under the pretense of trading in ivory black ivory had organized themselves as piratical bauds to pillage the natives and kidnap the women and children, to be sold in Khartoum as slaves. Baker estimates that not less than fifty thousand slaves had for years been annually sent down the Nile, closely packed in small boats of about fifty tons. And frightful were the horrors of this traffic, as often two hundred and fifty or more slaves were crowded into one of these little vessels. Since the removal of Ismail Pasha this slave-trade has revived, and doubtless these slave-traders are the chief supporters of El Mahdi, who is only used by them as a catspaw to draw the chestnuts from the fire. Mohammed Achmet, the Moslem Messiah, who has startled the world by his bold assumptions, and about whom so little is known, is a native of Dongola, a small town on the Nile above the third cataract, and bordering upon the Nubian desert. In his youth he was apprenticed to his uncle, a boat-builder, living not far from Berber. Being of a studious and religious turn of mind, he soon left his trade to enter a school at Khartoum, where he became absorbed in learning the doctrines of Islam, and was ordained a Moslem sheik. Soon after he removed to the EL, MAHDI. 567 island of Abba, in the White Nile, where he led a fakir's life of abject humility, repeating for hours together one of the names of the Deity. Here he excavated a deep cave in the natural rock, into which he retired, spending most of his time in prayer, fast- ing and the burning of incense, and so concealing himself in the dark recesses of his hiding-place as to impress the people with a sense of his saintly character, and lead many to believe that he had power to render himself invisible and to work miracles. In 1881, taking advantage of Arabi Bey's rebellion and the unsettled condition of the country, he openly announced himself to be the Mahdi foretold by Mohammed, and whose advent had been predicted for about that period. He claimed to have a di- vine mission to restore the ancient faith, establish a universal re- ligion, and to destroy all who refused to receive him as a true 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 re- 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. This terrific blow at Egyptian rule added immensely to the pres- tige of El Mahdi, giving sanction to his claim, and drawing mul- 568 APPENDIX. titudes to his standard, until he is now seriously threatening Khartoum and the Egyptian fortresses protecting the Soudan at Dongola, Berber, 1 Sennaar, and other places between the Upper Nile and the Red Sea. El Obeid, the chief town of the province of Kordofan, may now be regarded as the Mahdi's base of operations, and he could have no condition of circumstances more favorable. The natu ral fertility of the soil, the rich pastures for cattle, a tropical sun, and nine months of tropical rains, abounding crops of cereals } roots and fruits, with little or no cultivation, while the plains 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 interior. They have apportioned the whole country among themselves, and have brought the natives under complete vas- salage. Under an armed guard from Khartoum they send out their expeditions to their depots, and thus hold the right of way through those savage tribes of the Soudan by an armed occupa- tion. El Mahdi, therefore, we may safely assume, with all his fanat- icism as a Crusader against the "Christian dogs," is only an instrument of the slave-traders for the protection of their infa- mous traffic. And with forty millions of savages under the con- trol of these traders, and with the fruitful districts of the Soudan to draw upon for his army supplies, the Mahdi may prove a very 1 Berber was surprised and taken by El Mahdi's troops at daybreak, May 26th, 1884. Most of the garrison and inhabitants, except the women and children, were massacred. EL MAHDI. 569 formidable foe for General Gordon to crush. It .was this slave power that General Gordon sought to conciliate in his first proc- lamation after reaching Khartoum. As to the heroic Gordon, we have no fears in reference to his personal safety. If England refuses a helping hand, his mission may fail ; he may lose his army ; he may have to abandon Khartoum ; still, we believe 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 action professes to hold communication with Allah, from whom he pretends to derive the inspiration to guide him to a successful issue. In battle he is said to become a true Oriental warrior, kindling to an intense ardor, and becoming savagely intoxicated by the din and fury of the conflict. " His later operations indicate that he is a soldier of no mean order, and that he well understands the conditions of warfare in the desert regions of the Soudan. He appears to have main- tained a wonderful efficiency of organization among the semi- barbarians who so enthusiastically follow his standard, and to have the capacity of creating an army out of the most unpromis- ing material." His exploits have made him, for the present at least, the absolute master of the Soudan, and he now assumes the offensive against the combined forces of Egypt and England. 570 APPENDIX. Such is the man who has cut off the flower of the Egyptian army, carried dismay into the holy places of Mecca, frightened the Sultan on his throne, horrified all Europe by his bloody deeds, and who now proclaims himself El Mahdi of the world. CHAPTER III. CONCLUSION MULTUM IN PARVO. Authenticity of Scripture Egyptian Sculpture Colossal Sphinx Southern Cross Pyramids of Ghizeh Sinaitic Inscription Wilderness of Wander- ing Ash Beds of the Israelites' Camp-fires Overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah Lot's Wife Confirmation of Book of Daniel Explorations iu Assyria Lion's Den and Fiery Furnace Ur of the Chaldees Home of Abraham Temple of the Moon Ancient Graves Tower of Babel Writing 4,000 Years Old Late Discoveries at Pompeii, Mycenae, and Troy Deluge Records Discovery of Sippara, Oldest City in the World. IN preparing this volume our aim was to crowd as much information as possible into the smallest compass, avoiding all unnecessary details, giving simply the latest facts ; leaving the reader to draw his own conclusions. But as many of these statements are entirely new and somewhat startling, and as much controversy has been awakened touching the correctness of some, we deem it proper to append a few chapters of addi- tional matter, explaining more fully certain points only inci- dentally noticed. In this agnostic age there is a disposition to rule God out of the universe, ignore entirely the supernatural, doubt all revealed truths, and reject every thing like intuitive knowledge, receiv- ing that only as truth which is derived through the organs of sense ; nothing more than a revival of the old Epicurean phi- losophy, somewhat modified. Paul had to combat these same errors, and denounces this class of infidels as " proud blasphem- ers, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ; men of cor- rupt minds ever learning and never able to come to the 571 572 APPENDIX. knowledge of the truth." ' " Nevertheless," the apostle adds, " the foundation of God standeth sure." a Others, who are not willing to go to this extreme, deny the historical narratives of the Old Testament, or treat them as mere legends ; reject the theory of the origin of our race as given in the book of Genesis ; ridicule the idea of God dwell- ing with the patriarchs ; even deny that Moses was the author of the laws he gave to Israel, or that David composed the psalms ascribed to him ; and boldly assert that Solomon never wrote the Proverbs that bear his name. "We are free to confess that we have no sympathy with the above views. The Bible states certain great facts, and these facts are recorded in God's word because they are facts. "We believe in the genuineness and divine authenticity of the Holy Scriptures, and have published our explorations in the East to show how wonderfully late discoveries in the lands of the Bible corroborate the statements of the inspired volume. "We have studiously avoided speaking positively concerning any place or event where a doubt existed in reference to its correctness. In our remarks on Egyptian hieroglyphics we carefully qualify every expression, giving only a few brief details, and merely cite Brugsch Bey in reference to the fam- ine, s because that learned Egyptologer believed that di- rect allusion is here had to the famine that prevailed in the days of Joseph. He affirms that the text is perfectly simple and clear, and that the most rigid criticism cannot object to his conclusions. 4 The sculptures represent a num- ber of slaves carrying wheat in sacks, and filling the royal granaries. 1 2 Timothy, iii, 2-7. 2 Timothy ii, 19. 3 Page 25. 4 Histoire d'Egypte, p. 1 77. EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE. 573 We do not know positively that the persons represented making brick in the sculpture 1 are Jews, but they appear to be, and the inference is, they are. Here may be seen a large number of slaves going through the whole process of making bricks, under the eyes of their task - masters, and, above the sculpture, an order of the king directing the captives " to build the temple of the great god." True, the slaves are not called Hebrews in the royal decree, but they have Asiatic features, and are evidently of the Semitic race, EGYPTIAN GRANARIES. some of them with bearded faces, looking very much like 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 the old Egyptians, is fully attested by the sanctuary in front of the image, and the altar of incense that stood between its huge paws. On a monumental tablet, older than the pyra- 1 See page 25. 574 APPENDIX. raids, lately found by M. Marietta, near the Sphinx, and now in the museum at Cairo, may be seen representations of all the principal Egyptian divinities, and among them the Sphinx, which is called the god of Hor-Em-klwo " The sun in his resting-place." On another tablet, found in the sanctuary of the Sphinx, Thothmes IY. is represented offering a libation and incense to this god ; and on two other tablets in this same temple are similar representations of Rameses the great worshiping the same deity, to which are ascribed all the attributes of a god, such as granting power and life to the king ; showing, as Pliny observes, that the Sphinx partook of the character of a local deity, and received divine honors. Some have questioned whether the Southern Cross could be seen from the Nile Yalley between Thebes and Syene; but there is no ground for doubt in the case. I carefully noted down every event of interest, and by referring to my diary under date of January 7, 1875, I find the following entry : " Tied our boat up last night a few miles above Luxor. Mr. and Mrs. Mills, from Cincinnati, O. ; Mr. and Mrs. Balch, of New York, and Mr. Warner, from Hartford, Conn., came on board to spend the evening. About five o'clock this morn- ing we had a fine view of the Southern Cross, which appeared far away to the south, directly above the green waters of the Nile. The effect was grand. The sky being clear and the night favorable, with no hills to obstruct our vision." So, if this constellation, as some contend, cannot be seen north of about twenty-four degrees of north latitude, the maps of Egypt are incorrectly drawn, and Thebes should be located several degrees further south. Our statement that the Great Pyramid of Cheops was GREAT PYRAMID OF CHEOPS. 575 originally beautifully cased and covered with hieroglyphics, is supported by the best authorities, both ancient and modern. The father of historians says : " On the outside were inscribed in Egyptian characters the various sums of money expended in the progress of the work," etc. ; ' Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that " it was covered with a smooth inaccessible casing." a And Dean Stanley adds, " It also seems that these smooth outsides were covered with sculpture." According to the Hindoo records, it was " cased with colored marbles," which, at least, is probable, as fragments of marble and granite were 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 " the polished exterior stones were covered with writing, which, if copied upon paper, would fill more than ten thousand pages." As a settlement, however, of all disputes upon this subject, Col. Howard Vyse, in 1837, actually discovered two of the casing-stones in situ, and on the Pyramid of Chephren, near by. more than ten thousand square feet of the original casing may still be seen. Then, it is a historic fact that the casing- stones of the Great Pyramid were removed in A. D. 1166, by order of Sultan Saladin, to build his citadel at Cairo. Pliny, in describing the grand temple of Diana, says : " It was four hundred and twenty-five feet in length, two hundred and twenty broad, and supported by one hundred and twenty- seven columns, each of which had been contributed by some prince, and were sixty feet high ; thirty-six of them were richly carved." ' Falkner and other historians speak of its 1 Herodotus, book ii, Eut. cxxv. * Wilkinson's Hand-book of Egypt, p. 185 3 Siuai and Palestine, p. 52. 4 YoL iL, p. 201. 5 Hist. Nat., xxxiv., 21. 576 APPENDIX. roof being of cedar and cypress. 1 "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 them, and the charred remains of the edifice. And it is diffi- cult for us to conceive how a building, constructed entirely of marble, as some contend, could be destroyed by fire a historic fact never before denied. The Sinaitic inscriptions are not confined to "Wady Mukat- teb, but are found all over the peninsula of Sinai. Some, doubtless, are Nabathean, and others Christian, but those in "Wady Magarah, Dean Stanley says, " are among the oldest hie- roglyphics in the world." 2 And, what at least is interesting, an oval was here found bearing the identical name of Joseph the Hebrew. Cosmas, the Indian traveler, about A. D. 518, makes mention of the rocks in the peninsula being " written with carved Hebrew characters." And Diodorus, six centuries earlier, B. C. 59, of a stone altar, " very old, inscribed with ancient unknown letters." 3 Dr. S. C. Bartlett, in his " Egypt to Palestine," speaks of numerous ash-beds he discovered in the desert of wandering, some with charcoal in them. 4 These hillocks, Mr. Palmer says, " are found for miles around, generally small inclosures of stone, the largest about twelve feet in diameter, and evidently the remains of a large encampment. The stones show the action of fire, and on digging we found charcoal in great abundance." 5 These 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. 2 Sinai and Palestine, pp. 57, 71. 3 Diodorus, iii, 42. 4 Page 290. 5 Desert of the Exodus, pp. 25-27. WILDERNESS OF WANDERING. 577 it as his opinion that they not only mark the encampment of Israel, but that the graves outside the camp are the graves of those who were cut off by the plague mentioned Numbers 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 graves of the Jews." 1 Lieut. Conder, after describing several of these ash-heaps on the plain of Gilgal, closes his report with the remark : " It may seem bold to suppose that these mounds are traces of the per- manent Israelite camp on the spot, yet we know that nothing in Palestine is more ancient than are such earthworks." a Some of these hillocks have since been found to contain calcined stones, charcoal, ashes, and other traces of a deserted camp. Though but little remains of ancient Jericho not a house its site is easily determined by the fountains and aqueducts that supplied the city with water, also by the ford of the Jor- dan, and old highway leading to Jerusalem, and by the stone 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 Usdum 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 region will admit ; and as no corpse would likely decompose in such a locality, but would soon become incrusted with salt, and in time a pillar of salt, there is nothing very marvelous in the Bible statement that Lot's wife " became a pillar of salt." J 1 Sinai and Palestine, p. 23. * Quarterly Statement, April, 1874. 3 Genesis xix, 26. 578 APPENDIX Our theory of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plain by volcanic agency is sustained by the general character of the country and all recent explorations in the Ghor. Russegger, after expressing his opinion that the whole valley of the Jordan was volcanic in its origin, remarks : " This idea is supported by the crater-like form of the basins of the Lake of Tiberias and the Dead Sea, and by the many other tokens of volcanic action, past and present." l From Hon. George Grove we learn that in Palestine, bitu- men or asphaltum is only met with in the valley of the Jordan ; that the rocks and soil on the plain of Esdraelon are volcanic ; that streams of lava, very porous, containing much pumice and scoria, with beds of basalt, are found back of Tiberias, and three ancient craters near Safed ; that east of the Jordan the most ex- tensive and remarkable developments of igneous rocks are found, covering a large portion of the surface from Damascus to south of the Dead Sea and beyond, and that the hot, salt, and fetid springs along the valley of the Jordan, and the rock salt, niter, and sulphur of the Dead Sea, are all evidences of volcanic or plutonic action a facts which we also gather from Ke wbold, Sir Charles Lyell, Drake, Tristram, and many others. M. Lartet found basalt and other evidences of volcanic ac- tion in the Jordan valley, and directly east of the Dead Sea traces of three eruptions reaching down to its shores. He also mentions hot springs and bituminous eruptions similar to those which follow volcanic action. And yet he did not see all, as Lieut. Conder, after showing that the Jordan crevasse was produced .by volcanic action, and that the country around Bai- san was purely volcanic, closes his report with the statement : ' Russegger, p. 206. 2 Smith's Bible Dictionary, article Palestine. DAKIL'S THE MEDE. 579 * k It is a remarkable instance of the ignorance of Palestine ge- ology, that this great field of basalt, extending over perhaps two hundred square miles, is not shown on Lartet's map." ' Dean Stanley, referring to this region, says : " Traces of vol- canic agency in the limestone bed of the Jordan valley are found here in a greater degree than anywhere else in Palestine. Of this nature are the masses of bitumen which give their name to the Asphaltic Lake, the warm springs at Callirrhoe, on the Dead Sea, and the remains of lava on the shore. And that some such means were employed in the catastrophe of the five cities is now generally acknowledged." 2 Dr. Thomson gives it as his opinion " that, until the destruc- tion of Sodom, this was a fresh-water lake, and that its charac- ter was changed at that time by the obtrusion from below of rock-salt and other volcanic products." 3 And Dr. Anderson, Lieut. Lynch's geologist, further adds : " In the Jordan valley the basalt is frequently encountered. It is visible on the banks and in the bed of the river, but so covered with deposits of tufa, conglomerate and alluvium, as not to be traceable without difficulty," 4 clearly showing that this whole region has fre- quently been disturbed by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Researches in Assyria very fully confirm the Book of Dan- iel, and shed much additional light on many seemingly contra- dictory statements. It has been contended that " Darius the Mede," referred to by Daniel, 5 was the same person as Darius the Persian, son of Hystaspes, mentioned by Herodotus and other Greek historians ; and that, therefore, the biblical chro- nology of that period was incorrect, as there was no evidence 1 Quarterly Statement. July, 1874. 2 Sinai and Palestine, p. 285. 9 Land and Book, p. 623. * Anderson, 136-152. 6 Daniel v. 31. 37 580 APPENDIX. that the son of Hystaspes ever reigned in Babylon. Recent discoveries, however, show that this is an error. Dr. Oppert, one of the most eminent Assyrian scholars in France, says that at least fifty tablets have been recovered, showing that Darius the Persian did rule at Babylon during the very period in dis- pute. We also find that Nabonidus and his eldest son, Bel- shazzar, were associated in the government of the country hence Daniel was made the third ruler in the kingdom, Bel- shazzar being second; and that Kabonidus was at Borsippa,. and Belshazzar in Babylon, the night the city was taken by Cyrus. Another confirmation of the accuracy of this book has also come to light. Daniel records the punishment common at Babylon as being so extremely cruel, such as Shadrach, Meshach,. and Abednego being cast into a burning fiery furnace, and Daniel and his enemies into a den of lions, that some have de- nied the authenticity of the book on this ground alone. In the days of Asshur-bani-pal, son of Esarhaddon, King of Assyria, there is contemporary evidence that both these punishments were in use at Babylon a few years before the reign of Nebu- chadnezzar. Saulmugina, brother of Asshur-bani-pal, King of Assyria, was made by his relative king of Babylon, where he reigned prosperously for seven years. Afterward, for some unknown reason, he rebelled against his elder brother, but, after a severe contest, was defeated and taken prisoner. The Assyrian monarchs appear to have been always animated with a spirit of revenge. Hence we are not surprised to find among the inscriptions containing the annals of Asshur-bani-pal the following : " I ordered Saulmugina, my rebellious brother, who made war with me, to be cast into a fiery burning furnace ! " THE SCRIPTURES CORROBORATED. 583 Of Saulmugina's followers many perished with him in the flames, and of those who escaped, but were subsequently capt- ured, it is said, " The rest of the people I threw alive among the butts and lions, as Sennacherib, my grandfather, used to throw men among them." These inscriptions also give evidence of the observance of the Sabbath among the early Babylonians. The cuneiform text of the first and fifth of the " Creation Tablets," published by the late George Smith, which belong to the reign of Asshur- bani-pal, but which were copies of earlier inscriptions supposed to be as. old as B. C. 2000, after speaking of the upper region before it was called heaven, and the lower region before it was called earth, and the abyss of Hades, and the chaos of waters, says : " God appointed the moon to rule the night, and to wan- 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 its horns to illuminate the heavens. On the seventh day God appointed a holy day, and commanded to cease all business." These and other discoveries, daily made, must add greatly to our knowledge of the Scriptures, and tend to strengthen our faith in the accuracy of the sacred narrative. Some scoffers at religion have greatly amused their hearers by pointing out what they term the " Mistakes of Moses," and among these blunders they cite the ark resting on Mount Ara- rat, 17,000 feet above the sea, amid eternal snows. It is only monkish tradition that locates the landing of Noah on this mountain in Armenia. There is nothing in the Bible to war- rant any such notion. The name Ararat is derived from the Babylonian word Urdu, which signifies " highland ; " and all 584 APPENDIX. we know touching the site where Xoah landed is, that it was somewhere among the highlands east of the Euphrates. Recent explorations in Chaldaea show that u Ur of the Chal- dees " the city of Abraham was not where it generally was supposed to be, at Orfah, in North-western Mesopotamia, a comparatively modern city, and not mentioned on the tablets,' but at Mugheir, in lower Babylonia, west of the Euphrates, and near the head of the Persian Gulf. If Ur was in Chaldaea, then it must have been in this vicinity, as the name is never applied to Mesopotamia in the ancient records. Extensive ruins have been discovered here, and the very name, Hurof Khaldi, in Old Armenian, which is identical with " Ur of the Chaldees " in Hebrew, has been found here on the bricks of the oldest temple. Among the most interesting ruins unearthed is the old temple of the Moon, where Abraham probably worshiped before his conversion. In the foundations of this temple were found.some of the oldest inscribed tablets and cyl- inders yet discovered, with not only the name of the city, but a full list of the kings of Ur, dating back B. C. 2230 years, among them Urukh, the first CYLINDER SEAL!" monumental king, and Chedorlaomer, whom Abraham defeated at Dan," wonderfully confirming the Scripture account. But the most curious remains found here are the tombs that encircle the city for miles. It must have been the necropolis for all Chaldaea for many centuries. The tombs mostly are brick vaults, drained with earthen pipes, and containing from three to eight skeletons each. Those not in vaults are buried 1 George Smith's "Genesis," p. 291. 2 Genesis xiv, 15. TTR OF THE CHALDEES. 585 in terra-cotta coffins, piled on top of each other, thirty and sixty feet deep. Many little articles, such as cups, lamps, bracelets, seals, and ornaments of different kinds, were found with the dead. Where two skeletons were in the same grave, they were always male and female, likely man and wife. The most conspicuous object on the plain of Shinar, about seven miles south-west of Hilleh, modern Babylon, is Birs-Nim- roud, or citadel of Nimrod, and all that remains of the famous Tower of Babel, the oldest historic monument of man. In this rich valley the descendants of Noah settled soon after the ilood ; and, as a bond of union, commenced building a city and great tower. But, as this was contrary to the divine purpose of replenishing the earth, " The Lord came down and con- founded their language." " So they were scattered abroad, and left off to J)uild the city" 1 This is the only intelligent account we have of the dispersion of the nations and the di- versity of languages spoken in the world. There can be no doubt touching the identity of this tower, as there is no other such ruin on all the plain. The Greeks called it Borsippa, or " Tower of Tongues," only another name for Babel. After lying in ruins for many centuries, it was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar, and dedicated to Jupiter Belus ; and Herodo- tus describes this temple as situated at Borsippa, seven miles south- west from Babylon, the precise location of Birs-Nimroud ; so there can be no doubt about the temple of Belus covering the site of the Tower of Babel. But what seems very curious, in further proof of the identifi- cation of this tower, an inscription has been found among its ruins, which, as M. Oppert says, gives Nebuchadnezzar's own 1 Genesis xi, 8-11. 586 APPENDIX. account of the rebuilding of Babel. As a specimen of their ancient documents, we give the inscription entire : "Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, shepherd of peoples, who attest the immutable affection of Merodach, 1 the mighty ruler exalting Nebo ; 2 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 Pyramid is the 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. 1 have adorned it in the form of a cupola with shining gold. " The Tower, the eternal house, which I founded and built, I have completed its magnificence with silver, gold, other metals, stone, enameled bricks, fir, and pine. " The first, which is the house of the earth's base, the most ancient monument of Babylon, I built and finished it ; I have highly exalted its head with bricks covered with copper. " We say for the other, that is, this edifice, the House of the Seven Lights of the Earth, the most ancient monument of Borsippa ; a former king built it, but he did not complete /As- head. Since a remote time people had abandoned it, loith- -;-A- - Jf -y * >f '** -*r- -^*- * -'X :* >? -ir . < JT . ,^Tjr * * .. % . *f".~:M ' ^f *' * * 4^" ~- -<&- ' ~ '^- ^^ .* j** .-< jf --x- * x ': .#( ,-*' *- X M- < .* ?' 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