FROM JAFFA TO JERUSALEM.

Jaffa (Yâfa).

Hotel Jerusalem.-About ten minutes' walk from the landing-place. It is a comfortable hotel, overlooking the sea, and adjoining the German colony. Proprietor, Mr. Hardegg, who acts as American Vice-Consul. British Vice-Consul.-M. Amsalek.

Carriages may be obtained at Jaffa for the journey to Jerusalem.

Approaching Jaffa from the sea, the traveller will be struck with the singular beauty of the scene upon which he gazes, and will experience what so many travellers have expressed-the strange sensation of gazing upon a land sacred above any earthly place. It is the Holy Land on which we gaze-the country of Jacob and David, of Rachel and Ruth; the scene of our sweetest fancies, of our childish prayers, and of our household psalms. Amongst yon hills the prophets of Israel taught, and the Saviour of all men lived and died. That stony hillock of a town is the Joppa to which Hiram sent the cedar-wood. This roadstead is the port from which Jonah sailed on his tempestuous voyage. Down by the shore to the south, hides the flat roof on which it is said that Peter slept. The stretch of sand, with its dunes and crests blown over from the Nile, backed here and there by a palm, a fig-tree, or a pomegranate, is the forepart of that plain of Sharon on which all the roses of imagination bloom and shed their scent. Yon towering chain of earth-dark, swelling, ridge-like-flushing into pink. and amber, growing out into your grasp as you stand peering towards it, is that mountain home of Judah, Benjamin, and

Ephraim, which boasts of having Hebron, Zion, Bethel, and Gerizim for its most eminent and holy peaks."

Landing at Jaffa. If the traveller has come from Egypt and has landed at Alexandria, he will know how to act when he arrives at Jaffa. If he has not, he is hereby advised to keep himself perfectly cool and unperturbed by the noise and bustle, the gesticulations, and the patent frauds which will surround him. If travelling under the auspices of Messrs. Cook & SON, he will merely have to ask for their representative, and station himself beside his own personal luggage and see that nobody runs away with it. Messrs. Cook & Son's boatmen will be recognized by the name on their jackets. If travelling independently, let him have some French or English money in his pocket (not Egyptian); let him associate himself with two or three others, and get into one of the swarm of boats around the vessel. The fare ought not to exceed six francs for the party, except in bad weather, when from two to three shillings for each passenger is scarcely an equivalent for the risk and labour of landing. If this sum has been agreed upon, he may rest assured that he will be asked double before he lands; but the only course is to turn a deaf ear to all solicitations of the kind.

Landing at Jaffa is at all times rather unpleasant, and sometimes a little bit dangerous, as the boats are all rocking by the side of the vessel, and there are awkward waves to encounter before foot is set on terra firma. Travellers are advised to place themselves implicitly in the hands of those who arrange for their debarcation, and however portly the traveller may be, he will do well to trust himself to the strong arms of those who assist him. When the boat journey is over he will be carried ashore, and will then proceed to the Custom House, where all luggage is examined.

If the weather be rough, landing at Jaffa is impossible,

as there is no harbour, the sea is boisterous, and the coast is dangerous. In this case the traveller must proceed to Haifa (p. 404) or Beyrout (p 367).

Jaffa, or Yâfa, is the Joppa of Scripture. Some say it is named after Japhet, son of Noah, and ancient geographers affirm that a city existed here before the Flood; others derive it from Yafeh, meaning "beautiful." Some classic scholars claim the derivation to be from Iopa, daughter of Eolus, Jaffa being the reputed scene of the legend of Andromeda. (In Pliny's time the chains were still shown with which she was bound to the rocks by the cruel monster afterwards slain by Perseus.) In Joshua xix. 46, it is called Japho; elsewhere in the Authorized Version it is Joppa. In the Apocrypha it is Joppe (1 Esdras v. 55).

The Biblical history of Jaffa is this. It is described in Joshua xix. 46, as in the boundaries of Dan. In Solomon's time, when Hiram, King of Tyre, sent the cedar and pinewood for the building of the Temple, he said in his contract, "We will cut wood out of Lebanon as much as thou shalt need, and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa" -" and will cause them to be discharged there" (1 Kings v. 9)" and thou shalt carry it up to Jerusalem" (2 Chron. ii. 16).

The materials for the re-building of the Temple under Zerubbabel were also brought " from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa" (Ezra iii. 7). Jonah, fleeing "from the presence of the Lord, went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish" (Jonah i. 3). The succeeding circumstances are referred to by our Lord as typical of himself (Matt. xii. 40).

Here Peter raised Dorcas to life (p. 71), and here the Apostle had that remarkable vision, showing him that the distinction between Jew and Gentile was for ever abolished (p. 71).

During the stormy period that elapsed between the last of the prophets and the coming of our Saviour, Joppa was a place of great importance, and was considered a key to the district. It was under foreign rule at the time of the Maccabean Wars, a Jewish minority being tyrannised over by the Greeks, Syrians, and Egyptians, who were continually reinforced from their fleets. I Macc. x. 75 and xiv. 5-34 show the steps taken by Simon to improve and defend the place. A large number of Jews were drowned by the foreigners ruling in the place, and in revenge Judas Maccabeus attacked the town, and burnt the shipping with all on board. Other allusions to Joppa in connection with Maccabean politics, will be found at I Macc. xii. 34, xiii. 2, xiv. 5, etc.

When Pompey invaded Syria, in B.C. 63, Joppa was annexed to that province. It was subsequently part of the possessions of Herod the Great and Archelaus, until, with all Palestine, it became a part of the Roman province of Syria.

Since that day, Joppa has had various vicissitudes. In the last Jewish War, Josephus states that 80,000 inhabitants were slain by Cestius. The city was rebuilt by pirates, who ravaged the neighbouring coast from Cilina to Egypt. For this, Vespasian again destroyed the town. In the time of Eusebius, Joppa had again revived, and had a bishop. For a thousand years it has been the principal landing-place for pilgrims going to Jerusalem. During the Crusades, Paynim and Christian took and re-took, fortified, destroyed, and re-built Joppa as occasion served. After the Crusades, desolation set in, and in thirteenth-century-travels the town is described as a mere collection of tents, no habitable house remaining. During succeeding times it again revived, and resumed a portion of its old importance. In 1797 the

French took the place, and shot on the strand 4000 Albanians, who had surrendered on solemn promise of safety. Here also Napoleon, when obliged to retreat, had 500 sick soldiers poisoned in the plague hospital.

In the time of the apostles, a considerable number of Jews dwelt in Joppa. The remaining population was a mixed multitude of Egyptians, Phoenicians, Syrians, and Greeks, with a few officials of the Roman Government. Amongst the Jews, a few disciples of Jesus of Nazareth were found, and when Dorcas died, "full of good works and almsdeeds," her fellow converts sent to Lydda (p. 78), where Peter had just restored Eneas to health, and besought his aid. Peter came, restored Dorcas to life (Acts ix. 31-43), and lodged at the house of one Simon a Tanner, a house to be henceforth memorable in the world's history as the spot where divine command was given to include the Gentiles in the fold of Christ (Acts x. 9—23).

The House of Simon the Tanner is still shown, and Dean Stanley considers that the circumstances are all in favour of the site having been truly identified.

"The rude staircase to the roof of the modern house, flat now as of old, leads us to the view which gives all that is needed for the accompaniments of the hour. There is the wide noonday heaven above; in front is the long bright sweep of the Mediterranean Sea, its nearer waves broken by the reefs famous in ancient Gentile legends as the rocks of Andromeda. Fishermen are standing and wading amongst them-such as might have been there of old, recalling to the Apostle his long-forgotten nets by the Lake of Gennesareth, the first promise of his future call to be a fisher of men.'"-Stanley's Sinai and Palestine.

The town of Jaffa is beautiful from the sea, but the reverse of beautiful in the midst of its streets, which are