DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN.

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cupies the northwest angle of the enclosure, and is by far the best and largest structure in the town, is quite ruinous, though still occupied. The city walls were originally solid and of a respectable appearance, as some portions still entire sufficiently show. They were nearly twenty-five feet high, built of squared stones, and strengthened with twentytwo towers, one at each angle and two standing by, or rather in, the sea, at the termination of the north and south walls. Only three sides of the town were fortified, the sea being regarded sufficient for the protection of its shore. The form of the city is quadrangular. The west side may be a third of a mile in length, while on the north and south the walls are not much more than an eighth of a mile in extent. The little enclosure, which, from the heights that overlook it on the west, seems no larger than an extensive garden, is close to the water, which is often forced almost to its centre by the winds. A rough and rocky, though fertile plain, extends from the walls back to the mountain, a distance of near half a mile, and to the north and south of the city not far from a mile. One third of the enclosed area on the north is wholly uninhabited.

The Jews live nearer the southern wall, in a central situation, and in what now appears the most respectable portion of the city. I walked through their quarter, which is cut off from the rest of the city by a wall that has been partially repaired. Many of these Jews are Poles, and a more poverty-stricken, filthy, and disgusting company of human beings I have seldom seen than was assembled at their synagogue, preparatory, I suppose, to public worship, as this was Saturday. Their place of meeting is a poor, dirty room, in which are a considerable number of old, muchhandled Hebrew books. One man particularly attracted my attention by his loud, ostentatious manner of reading, which he evidently regarded a high accomplishment. The Spanish and Portuguese Jews-here, as in Jerusalem, holding

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JEWS, SCHOOLS, ETC.

themselves distinct from the Polish, and mostly natives of the country-have two synagogues, which I also visited. One is very small as well as poor, the other tolerably respectable, with mats, cushions, and a raised divan. Several of the men were well dressed, and one of them treated us with marked politeness, requesting us to stay and lodge with him, &c. The women whom we saw were handsome, and cleanly in their attire. Here is a school for boys, and one of more pretensions-it is denominated a college-for imparting instruction in the higher branches of Hebrew literature. At least, such was the account given by this polite rabbi, who, at our request, showed us the two schools. In one were two or three little boys, staring vacantly about, and occasionally reading a word or two from a tattered, foul book, in a thundering tone of voice. As to the college, there was one larger boy, quite a stupid-looking fellow, sitting with an old book in his hand, upon which he did not deign to look, till, by-and-by, as we were about leaving the room, he uttered some words in a stentorian voice, and began to chant, swaying his body about in the usual way. The rest of the pupils, as our friend told us, were not present. This hopeful youth is in training for the rabbinical dignity.

There are in Tiberias about 200 Jews-males, I suppose. Formerly there were many more, who perished in the earthquake, or have since dispersed. The residue hold in their hands nearly all of the pitiful trade which exists in this most wretched of all the towns I have ever seen. Judging from the aspect of the inhabitants, the climate must be desperately malignant. So, indeed, the communicative rabbi told us it was, and that the place would soon be forsaken, but that it is one of the holy cities of the Jews. I learned from the same authority that here are a hundred Christians, which I presume to be the number of men. They are Greek Catholics. The rest of the population, which I un

ST. PETER'S HOUSE.

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derstood to be on the decline, is Mohammedan, and the whole amounts to 2000 or 2500.

The Christians show to the traveller the house of St. Peter, now a church, built close to the water, at the northeast extremity of the inhabited portion of the city. It is perhaps thirty feet long and less than twenty wide. It is formed of a single arch, has four small arched windows on each side, and one in front. In the eastern end is an altar, ruinous and poor in appearance, but ornamented in the usual way. On one side is a kind of pulpit, and the floor is paved with flat stones. All this I ascertained by looking through the window, as the house was locked, and I declined as unnecessary, after I had seen all, the proffered politeness of a lad, who would run for the key. The monks come here to worship once a year, on St. Peter's day. At other times the resident Christians occupy this church. It has no claim to the high antiquity assigned to it, being rather Saracen than Greek in its architecture, though in reality it is neither one nor the other.

The ancient Tiberias was situated immediately south of the present city; perhaps it also occupied the present site, only extending beyond it in that direction, to accommodate its larger population. I, however, found the northwest angle of the ancient wall a short distance northwest from the southwest corner of the present enclosure; a circumstance which renders it highly probable that the old town extended no farther in this direction. The absence of all antiquities within the city would lead us to the same conclusion. The western ancient wall, which is still traceable by its ruins, is in the middle of the plain, between the sea and the mountain. The valley contracts towards the south, and a spur from the mountain extends into it to the southwest angle of the old wall. On its summit, which commands the ancient site, are extensive ruins of a citadel and its outworks. From this point of the mountain, the south wall extends east

396

MINERAL SPRINGS.

directly to the sea. The old town was also fortified upon the water-side, and a massive remnant of the ancient bulwark, a hundred paces in length, strengthened by a round tower, is seen at the southeast corner of the quadrangle. The earth is covered with shapeless ruins, many of which were concealed by the tall, rank grass, that rendered walking difficult. The foundations and a portion of the cella of one large structure remain entire, twenty-two paces long by sixteen wide. Near this is the substruction of another considerable edifice. Columns of limestone and gray granite lie in several places; in one they are in the edge of the water. From the extent and character of these ruins, we should be led to infer that the ancient Tiberias, though a small city, was well built, and contained several large and costly structures.

South of the ruins, and distant from them, perhaps, a quarter of a mile, are some mineral springs, which rise a few rods only west from the sea, at the termination of a higher part of the narrow plain, that from this point swells into hills and forms the base of the mountain. Four sources spring up near to each other, almost in a line from north to south, and run off towards the sea in as many separate streams, which send up clouds of steam that indicate the high temperature of the water, and convert the atmosphere into a tolerable vapour-bath. I found the water so hot as nearly to blister my hand, which I had incautiously thrust into it to test the temperature. Buckingham found it 130° by Fahrenheit's thermometer. I should have pronounced it considerably higher by the only test which I had it in my power to employ. Its taste is disgustingly bitter and salt, and it emits a strong smell of sulphur. It leaves a thick sediment upon the stones over which it flows to the sea, which is green, yellow, dull red, and white, as seen at different places. Distance from the source, with the changing temperature, probably produces these differ

ences; or perhaps there may be some variety in the qualities of the several springs.

There are two bathing-houses a little north of the fountains, one old and partly ruinous, but still used by the people, of whom a large and boisterous company of females, I presumed by their shrill voices, were in the occupancy of it at the time of my visit. I entered the other, but remained but a moment, being unable to bear the heat, and the disagreeable fumes that loaded the atmosphere. This is a new edifice, the work of the government. It is well built, surmounted by a great central dome, with the lower portions of the building roofed with cupolas in the Turkish style. The great public bath is under the high dome, and has a marble basin, and marble steps and pavement. The water is retained in a reservoir until cool enough for use, and it is brought thither by a conduit, which is, I believe, connected Iwith all the sources. The bathers, therefore, enjoy the combined efficacy of the different sources, if, indeed, there is any variety in their qualities. They seem rather to be so many streams from the same fountain. These baths are a good deal resorted to, chiefly in midsummer, by the people of the country, for most of the diseases and infirmities that prevail in this climate. They are thought especially useful in ulcers, rheumatism, &c. It is not a little remarkable that no allusion is made to these baths either in the Old or New Testament. They must always have attracted attention for their physical peculiarities, even though they possessed no reputation for medicinal virtues. They are several times referred to by Josephus.

A little south of the springs are remains of an ancient wall, running from the sea to the mountain. It may have been an outwork designed to strengthen the defences of the town upon this side, or perhaps it was connected with the approaches of an enemy in some of the many sieges to which this city has been exposed.

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