PREFACE TO THIS EDITION. T HE work of Dr. Thomson, which the present edition is designed to make more generally known to British readers, carries us over a part of Southern Syria and over Palestine, but in a direction opposite to that pursued by most travellers. Palestine is commonly entered from the south; and Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem are among the first places visited by tourists. Dr. Thomson enters it from the north, and the places which other travellers usually visit first are kept by him to the end. In the first part of the following work the scene is laid at the foot of Lebanon, along the coast of PHOENICIA, which, though included in the land promised to Abraham, was not, in point of fact, possessed by the Jews. From Tyre we are conducted, in the pleasant pages of Dr. Thomson, across the NORTHERN BOUNDARY OF PALESTINE; and after gazing on the snowcapped Hermon, visiting the sites of Dan, and Cæsarea Philippi, and the sources of the Jordan, we pass through UPPER GALILEE, and return to the sea at the BAY OF ACRE. There we spend some time in the survey of a neighbourhood memorable in all history, ancient and modern. Again we strike eastwards, and cross to the LAKE OF GALILEE, walking right round the shores which were so familiar to Jesus. Leaving them, we again turn westwards, till we reach the scene of his childhood, NAZARETH. From Nazareth we strike into the famous plain of ESDRAELON, survey the heights of Tabor, Hermon, and Gilboa, visit Endor and Shunem, and other places famed in Old Testament history; and crossing the Kishon and the ridge of Carmel, come again on the sea at the ruins of CÆSAREA PALESTINA. From this ancient Roman capital of Palestine we proceed along the sea-shore, with the plain of SHARON and the mountains of Samaria on our left; leaving which we enter the plain of PHILISTIA, flanked in like manner by the mountains of Judah. From the cities of the Philistines we strike up, like Samson with the gates of Gaza on his back, to HEBRON, on the top of the great ridge that runs along central Palestine; then through the WILDERNESS OF JUDAH, to the northern edge of the DEAD SEA, JORDAN, and JERICHO. From Jericho we advance along the same wild path which was traversed by Jesus on his last journey to Jerusalem, pausing like him at BETHANY, before entering the sacred city. Having conducted us through JERUSALEM, and some of the most celebrated localities in its neighbourhood, Dr. Thomson takes his leave, after having given us an amount of information on the manners of the country, and thrown a degree of light on the meaning of Scripture, unexampled, we do not hesitate to say, in the pages of any other writer. NOTE. THE purposely négligé style in which "The Land and the Book" is thrown together, while it enlivens the narrative, and affords easy introduction to a vast variety of topics, has, nevertheless, some disadvantages. Ordinary readers will sometimes desiderate a little more plain information on the places noticed; and it will often be felt desirable to have beforehand a sort of general idea of the districts to be traversed. In republishing the work in this country, we have not thought it necessary to make any alterations on the text of the author; but we have tried to remedy the defects alluded to, by supplying-1. An occasional bird's eye view of the districts traversed; 2. Brief notices, in foot notes, regarding particular places; 3. A summary of the principal contents, prefixed to each chapter; and 4. Marginal notes along each page. All that has been thus supplied in the present edition (with the exception of the contents of the chapters) is distinguished from the author's text by being enclosed within brackets []. We trust that these additions will serve to render this unique and truly valuable work of Bible illustration more generally useful in this country. |