PHILISTIA, ANCIENT AND MODERN.

193 ancient sites of much importance throughout the entire distance, except the 'Aijlân-Eglon—and Um Lâkis-Lachish-of Scripture.

This I shall not regret, for I am fatigued by the effort to trace out the history of extinct races and magnificent cities amongst mud hovels and semi-savage Arabs. Give me for one day the open country, unencumbered with shapeless heaps of rubbish.

I cannot promise, however, freedom from Arabs, not even from Bedawîn robbers; for we ride along the very borders of their desert homes, and they frequently make inroads quite beyond our track. Neither is the country anything like what we understand as virgin soil. It has been ploughed for thousands of years, and probably very much as at present; but in some respects it is quite different now from what it once was. Long, long ago it may have been covered with primeval forests; and there have been ages of prosperity and peace since then, when it was crowded with towns and villages, surrounded by beautiful gardens and orchards. But under Moslem rule most of the land has become the property, not of the cultivator, but of the government; and while this ruinous régime lasts, this country will remain as it is. No man will plant orchards and make improvements on land not his own; but give him a secure title, and, under the crude husbandry of even ignorant peasants, Philistia will quickly recover her ancient prosperity. This, however, will never be realized until the Bedawîn are driven back to their deep deserts, and kept there by a firm and stable government. Neither vineyards, nor fig-orchards, nor vegetable-gardens can exist while these plunderers are allowed to roam at will with their alldevouring herds and droves of camels.

The first time I came into this region I was agreeably surprised to find it neither flat nor barren, nor in any way resembling a sandy desert, as I had been led to expect from reading the narrative of Philip's ride through it with the eunuch. From the distant mountains it indeed has the appearance of a level plain, but the view is so vast that even very considerable hills are lost to the eye. In reality, Philistia closely resembles in appearance some of the rolling prairies of the Mississippi Valley. The country is equally lovely, and no less fertile. I am inclined to believe that, owing to something in the nature of the soil, or of the climate, or both, the sources of its

fertility are even more inexhaustible than in most parts of our own land. Without manure, and with a style of ploughing and general culture which would secure nothing but failure in other countries, this vast plain continues to produce splendid crops every year, and this, too, be it remembered, after forty centuries of such tillage.

Here we are at el Mŭntâr. I have brought you to the top of this high tell, not to honor the mukâm of the saint, nor because this is the "hill that is before Hebron," to which Samson carried the gate of Gaza-though the tradition is probably correct, since it is in the proper direction-but because from it there is a fine view, stretching far away to the south-east, even to the ridge that overshadows el Khulil, as the city of Abraham is now called. Nothing more than this can be intended by "the hill before Hebron," for the town itself is at least thirty miles off, and behind lofty mountains. Be this as it may, I know no one stand-point from which you can survey so much of old Philistia as from this Mŭntâr. We are to pass through the central part eastwards to-day, and can study it at our leisure; but the southern region, quite to the desert, is best seen from here. I once came from er Ruhaibeh, spending the night on the bank of Nahr es Sŭny, where it unites with Wady es Seba', which comes down from Beer-sheba. The rolling plain from that wady northwards to Gaza was then green and flowery as a meadow, and much of it clothed with wheat; but there is not a village along the entire route, and all the grain belonged to tent-dwelling Arabs. We passed many of their encampments, where every kind of work common in ordinary villages was in active operation, and carried on with the same sort of implements. There were, however, as was natural, many more camels and larger flocks than ordinary peasants possess; and these formed a very striking feature in this agricultural tableau. All around us were examples of primitive pastoral life, like those seen on this same plain, I suppose, in the days of Abraham and Isaac. Men, women, and children, clad in garments, and following employments, pastoral and agricultural, like those of the patriarchs. It carried one back, as by enchantment, to the tents pitched in the valley of Gerar in the days of those venerable ancestors of God's chosen people.

These pastoral Arabs present a very interesting study. Unlike

PASTORAL ARABS.-THEIR MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 195

the wandering Bedawîn, their cousins, they are permanently settled on this plain along the seaboard; and their manner of life must closely resemble that of the Philistines with whom the patriarchs associated. We were passing through their encampments for several hours, and were everywhere welcomed as friends. The women were not veiled, nor was there any objection made to our visiting their tents, and inspecting their furniture, their employments, and even their garments. They were far from idle; but, as the harvest had not yet commenced, they were chiefly occupied with their flocks and herds, and in the manufacture of cheese and butter. Some of the women were spinning goat's-hair into strands, to be woven into coarse black material for tent-coverings, rugs, and sacks for the grain. Their spindle was of the most simple kind, being often merely a stone, which they dexterously twirled around until the strand was sufficiently twisted. They can weave without any loom. The threads of the warp are stretched upon the ground, and made fast at either end to a stout stick; and the threads of the woof are passed through with the hand, and pressed back into position by a rude wooden comb.

Boys and girls were scattered over the plain, watching the flocks to prevent them from trespassing upon the wheat-fields. From every camp broad and well-trodden paths led across the plain to the wells, where only the flocks are watered; and I noticed that many of these paths turned towards the sea-shore, probably because water is there found at less depth than in the interior. These wells are the places of public resort, and there one can see and study to the best advantage the appearance, manners, customs, and costumes of these modern Philistines. There they gather, with all their belongings, in groups picturesque and suggestive to the traveller and to the eye and imagination of the artist.

Some singular and even romantic incidents in the history of the Hebrew patriarchs are associated with wells. It was at a well in the city of Nahor, in Mesopotamia, that Eliezer of Damascus, the faithful servant and steward of Abraham, met Rebekah, as recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis. It was at a well in "the land of the people of the east" that Jacob first saw his cousin, the "beautiful and well-favored" Rachel, and kissed her, "and lifted

up his voice, and wept." It was also at a well that Moses met Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, whom he afterwards married, and helped her and her sisters to water their father's flock. Did you notice amongst the tents of these modern Ishmaelites any females of surpassing loveliness that recalled the stories of those celebrated ladies?

No, indeed; still, some of the young people are not wanting in attractiveness. They have good features, bright eyes, forms slender and erect, and a singular ease and grace in the disposal about the person of their flowing garments, and in their attitudes and motions. Doubtless the well is still the favorite trysting-place, as it must have been in ancient days; and any young Bedawy bent on matrimonial alliance would expect there to find the object of his ardent affections.

In what part of this plain was Gerar, where Isaac resided so many years? It seems to have been extremely productive, for he reaped a hundred-fold in that valley: "And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great," as any other farmer would who reaped such harvests.3

According to the Onomasticon, Gerar was twenty-five miles to the south of Eleutheropolis. Beginning, therefore, at Beit Jibrîn, and going southwards about seven hours, the traveller reaches the great Wady esh Sheri'ah, called by some Wady Gŭzzeh, and in it, or in one of its fertile branches, the site will probably be found. It is scarcely proper to speak of it as even now unknown. The Rev. J. Rowlands believes that he not only found Gerar, but also Kadeshbarnea. He thus writes to his friend Mr. Williams: "From Gaza our course was to Khalasa. On our way we discovered ancient Gerar. We had heard of it at Gaza under the name of Joorf el Gerar-the Rush, or Rapid, of Gerar, which we found to lie three hours south-south-east of Gaza. Within Wady Gaza, a deep and broad channel, coming down from the south-east, and running a little higher up than this spot, is Wady esh Sheriah, from the eastnorth-east. Near Joorf el Gerar are the traces of an ancient city, called Khirbet el Gerar-the Ruins of Gerar. Our road beyond Khalasa lay along a plain slightly undulating. This plain must be

1 Gen. xxix. 1, 9, II, 17.

3 Gen. xxvi. 12, 13.

2 Exod. ii. 15-17, 21.