PART

II.

Coast from

Haifa to
Cæsarea.

Head

lands.

Athicet.

settled here, and brought their gods with them. Once here, they would not easily be exterminated; for no better place could be desired by them than this vast jungle and impracticable swamp. I was delighted, on my first visit, many years since, to find these creatures still on hand to confirm the assertions of Greek and Roman geographers. The historians of the Crusades speak of this marsh, which they call a lake, and also say that there were crocodiles in it in their day. If the locality would admit, I should identify this Zerka with the Shihor-libnath of Joshua xix. 26, for Shihor is one of the names of the Nile, the very home of the crocodile; but the river in question was given to Ashur, and is probably the Naaman (the Belus of ancient geographers), and the marshes at its source are as suitable for this ugly beast as these of Zoar.

By taking the interior route on the east and south of Carmel, we have missed a long stretch of the coast. Is there anything of interest on the shore from Haifa to Cæsarea?

The best answer is to pass it in review; and it is about as profitable, and far more pleasant to traverse this nine hours in imagination than to ride them on horseback. By way of introduction, listen to some remarks on the general character of the Syrian sea-board. From Carmel and northward there are numerous headlands, with bays on the north of them more or less deep, by which the line of the coast falls back to the east, as it were, by successive steps. Carmel itself, with the Bay of Acre, is not only the first, but one of the most striking. North of Acre is the Ladder of Tyre, which consists of three such capes,-el Musheîrifeh, en Nakûrah, and el Bŭyăd. Between Tyre and Sidon is the low headland of Sarafend, and from Sidon to Beirût are three rocky Nakûrahs, with the retreating coves of Rumeîleh, Neby Yûnus, and Damûr. Then comes the projecting cape Ras Beirût, with its Bay of St. George falling back to the deeper cove of Jûn. The next salient point is the Theoprosopon of the ancients, north of Bătrûn; beyond which, by successive steps, at Cape Enfeh and the mina of Tripoli, the coast enters far eastward into the plain of Akkar. With lesser indentations at Ruad and Balinas, we come to the long, low promontory of Ladakîyeh. Finally, stretching across the open sea at the so-called Bay of Antioch, we pass Ras el Khanzîr, and enter the Bay of Scandaroon. Such is the configuration of the northern half of this coast; but from Carmel southward it runs in a direct line a little west of south, in long unvaried reaches, far as the eye can see, and further too, past Athleet, past Tantûra, Cæsarea, Jaffa, Askelon, Gaza, and quite on round to Egypt.

After this rapid survey, we will begin again at the point of Carmel. It is three hours thence to Athleet, with no important villages or ruins intervening. Athleet, however, presents the greatest historic and architectural puzzle found at the head of this sea. I cannot identify it with any ancient site whatever. Neither the Bible, nor Josephus, nor any profane historian or geographer mentions it, nor does its name appear in the old itineraries; and yet the

remains

remains of antiquity at it are more numerous, more striking, and in better CHAPTER preservation than at any other city of Phoenicia. The exterior wall, built of XXXII. great stones, and protected by a ditch, cut through the solid rock where necessary, enclosed a large quadrangular space reaching quite across the headland on which the city stood. Most of this wall has been carried away to build those of Acre during the long centuries of the past. The acropolis was at the extremity of the cape, cut off from the outer city by a wall prodigiously strong, whose heavy stones are bevelled after the purest Phoenician style. Large sections of it remain entire, and just as they were first put up. There is no patch-work, no broken columns or other fragments, as in the oldest Greek and Roman structures in Syria. It is pure, unmixed Phoenician. Just within this wall stands a portion of a gigantic building, whose character Interior it is difficult to comprehend. It was erected on vaults of very great strength, and the fragment of the east wall towers up at least eighty feet high. There it stands in its loneliness, unbroken by a hundred earthquakes, the first object that strikes the eye of the traveller either up or down the coast. Near the top, on the interior, so high that it strains the neck to look at them, are the flying buttresses (finished off below with the heads of men and beasts) from which sprung the arches of the great dome. It must have been superbsublime. Now, who erected this magnificent temple, and when? The only history we have of Athleet begins with the Crusaders, who call it Castellum Peregrinorum (Pilgrims' Castle), because they used to land there when Acre was in the hands of the Saracens. But they built none of these edifices. There are also other remarkable indications of extreme antiquity about Athleet. This low, rocky ridge on which we are encamped, and which occasions this marsh of Zoar, begins a little to the north of Athleet, and in front of the city it rises to a considerable elevation, and is there cut up in a singular manner by old quarries. Directly east of the city, a broad road was hewn through the ridge, which is still the common highway for the surrounding country, and well-worn tracks of chariot-wheels are still to be seen along this remarkable passage. Mr. Van de Velde supposes that these were for railroad cars, and makes some further guesses on the subject, which must have required a good deal of nerve to pen and publish.

Now the question returns, What is Athleet, either by this or any other Mystery name? I have no answer. The Hebrew writers may have had no occasion of Athleet. to mention it, because that part of the coast was not in their possession. The Roman and Greek writers and travellers generally passed round on the east of Cæsarea, as I believe, and did not visit it. Strabo says, "After Acre is the Tower of Strato, having a station for ships. Between them is Mount Carmel, and names of cities, but nothing besides; the City of Sycamenon, Bucolon, and the City of Crocodiles." The ruins of this last town are here at the month of this River Zerka. This silence of Strabo with regard to both Athleet and Dor favours the idea that the Roman road passed on the east of Carmel. Sycamenon is probably Caimon. The Bible repeatedly mentions Tantûra

66

and her towns by the name of Dor; and Athleet may have been one of her 'towns," though it was immensely superior to Dor. But enough abcut Athleet, except that her people are great villains; and so are those of Et Tirêh, at the foot of Carmel, north-east of it. En Haud, on the brow of the mountain, may possibly mark the site of En Haddah, given to Issachar. It is nearly three hours from Athleet to Tantûra, and the two villages, Kefr Lam and Sarafend, both apparently ancient, are between them. Further inland are Yebla and 'Ain Gazzal. The name Yebla resembles Ibleam, which was assigned to Manasseh, though belonging to the lot of Issachar.

Tantûra merits very little attention. It is a sad and sickly hamlet of wretched huts, on a naked sea-beach, with a marshy flat between it and the base of the eastern hills. The sheikh's palace and the public menzúl for travellers are the only respectable houses. Dor never could have been a large city, for there are no remains. The artificial tell, with a fragment of the kusr standing like a column upon it, was probably the most ancient site. In front of the present village are five small islets, by the aid of which an artificial harbour could easily be constructed, the entrance to which would be by the inlet at the foot of the kŭsr; and should "Dor and her towns ever rise again into wealth and importance, such a harbour will assuredly be made. Twenty minutes south of Tantûra, a considerable stream, called Mufjûr, enters the sea. It descends from Belad er Roha, and is probably the same as Wady Dalia. The beach is thickly strewn with pretty shells, and the sand is solid enough to make the ride along the rippling surf delightful. It is two hours to the mouth of the River Zerka, where are the remains of the old City of Crocodiles: and thus we have reached our camp-ground, and the hour when wearied travellers seek repose.

PART III.-THE SEA-COAST PLAINS-SHARON AND

PHILISTIA.

[The third section of the tour may now be said to commence. The district which we are now to travel is the largest plain of Palestine, embracing the celebrated Sharon on the north, and Philistia on the south. Sharon was more celebrated in poetry than in history; and the number of remarkable places in it is but small. The ancient and celebrated sea-port of Joppa may be said to separate Sharon from Philistia. After visiting the ruins of several of the well-known cities of the Philistines, we climb the mountains of Judah, and pass into the southern district of the land.-Ed.]

THE hurry and bustle of our early start have crowded out our usual morning Morning worship. Let us therefore turn aside and take a lesson from the works and ways of nature, while the grey dawn grows into the full broad day. This is the season and this the hour when poets love to sing,-

he

"Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet,

With charm of earliest birds."

The lark is already on high, saluting the first ray that gilds the dappled east with his cheerful matin. All nature hears the call, shakes off dull sleep, and hastens to join the general welcome to the coming king of day; and yonder comes, over the head of Carmel, "rejoicing as a strong man to run a race." See! even the vegetable kingdom shares the universal joy. Notice these flowers all around us, how they turn smiling to his ardent gaze, bend forward in seeming reverence, throw open their pretty cups, and cast abroad their sweetest perfume. This silent adoration of ten thousand thousand flowers is most beautiful and impressive, and nowhere else beheld in higher perfection than among the lilies and roses of this sacred plain of Sharon.

Now this "powerful king of day" is but the faint shadow of his Maker-the Sun of Righteousness; and when He rises "with healing in his wings," 1

4 Mal. iv. 2.

PART

III.

Midnight.

may we be ever ready to meet him with analogous welcome and superior joy.
Let us even now listen to the many voices around us calling to prayer.
come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker;
for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his
hand."

"1

We have done well to commence our ride with the dawn, for it is the longest, and will be the most fatiguing which we have yet accomplished. "He who goes not to bed will be early up," says an Oriental proverb; and so it has been with me. I can never sleep in such a place as this, and therefore merely wrapped my cloak about me and sat down patiently to watch our boastful guard; for I never yet found them faithful through a whole night. Talking, smoking, and joking, they managed to stave off sleep until one o'clock, and then all except Hammûd gave up the effort. He held on for nearly another hour, humming to himself more and more drowsily, till finally his head subsided on his chest, and his song into a gurgling snore. Poor fellow! let him sleep and dream of home.

Lifting his gun quietly from his knee, I walked out on this ancient causeway, and set myself to count the stars, and listen to the sounds that startle the dull ear of night. I deemed myself familiar with every noise and note that mark the transit of those leaden hours: the surf's low inurmur dying out on the shore-the sobbing of the winds among the trees and rocks-the monotonous response of the night-hawk to his mate-the muffled flutter of the circling bat-the howl of the wolf-the jackal's wail—the bark of the fox-and the ban-dog's cross bay from the distant fold. To these and such as these I have listened with the listening stars a thousand times, and again last night. But there was something additional to render my solitary watch upon this old danı strange, and doubtful, and expectant. Above the clattering of mill-stones and the rush of water-wheels there came, every now and then, a loud splash and hollow roar never heard by me before. Did they come from the slimy crocodiles which crawl through this hideous swamp in search of prey? The idea made me nervous. Ere long, however, my musings wandered off to more interesting themes. I recalled the day and night I spent among Cæsarea's broken walls and prostrate columns more than twenty years ago. Fresh from scenes of war, and earthquake, and sickness, and death in Jerusalem, I then Interest of felt a mysterious sympathy with these sad and forsaken ruins. Cæsarea is, in to the mis- some respects, the most interesting site on the earth to the missionary. Here the Holy Ghost was first poured out upon Gentiles as upon the Jews, and thus the middle wall of partition broken down. From this spot the glad tidings set forth to run among the nations north, and south, and east, and westwest, far west—and, after eighteen centuries, from that New World, westward, far beyond the dream of prophet or apostle, returns the herald of that gospel to mingle his tears with the dust and ashes of this cradle of the Gentile Church.

Cæsarea

sionary.

1 Ps. xcv. 6, 7.