on the north of it. The walls of an ancient city, or immense quadrangular CHAPTER fort, can be traced all round; and on the north-west corner was a citadel over- XXXIII. hanging the sea, and cut off from the rest by a deep ditch. It must have been There are also other traces of antiquity in various direc a very strong place. tions. What an extensive view this elevation commands! The precipice breaks sheer down to the sea, while to the east the country declines gently over many a mile of this sandy desert. Isaiah says that Sharon shall be a wilderness,1 and the prediction has become a sad and impressive reality. And so these flocks of the Arabs fulfil that other prophecy, "Sharon shall be a fold of flocks."2 Why is Sharon always joined with Carmel? Because, as we remarked when turning round the extreme end of it to Cæsarea, the broad vale which stretches southward to this distance and a great deal further does actually commence at the base of that mountain. This long plain seems always to have been celebrated for its flocks and herds. David appointed one of his great officers-Shitrai, the Sharonite3-over the herds that fed in Sharon. By the way, we have skirted this plain for so many miles without meeting any of those roses about which Solomon sings so sweetly.4 There are wild roses enough in some parts, with their ever-accompanying Roses. thorny thickets; and, if the Hebrew word khubbaizly may be interpreted by the Arabic khubbaizy (malva), I have seen thousands of Solomon's roses on Sharon; and, before you explode at the thought of degrading the poetic rose into marsh-mallows, let me tell you that certain kinds of mallows grow into a stout bush, and bear thousands of beautiful flowers. However, I will not contend for the identity of khubbaizly and khŭbbaizy, for that would exclude our favourite rose from the Bible altogether,—a calamity which the critics seem determined to bring about at any rate, for some of them maintain that the khubbaizly is the narcissus, others that it is the asphodel, and some translators call it lily. But come, bid adieu to El Haram, and, for the present, to Sharon also, and slide down this steep declivity to the shore, along which our track lies all the way to Jaffa, a distance of three hours. You may go to sleep for the first two, for there is nothing to attract attention except the infinite quantity of shells, Sea shells of which there are banks many miles long and several feet thick. A whole fleet might be loaded with them. And now we shall have to wait at this 'Aujeh, and take off the loads from our mules; for I see, by that horseman who is fording it, that the water will come up to the sides of the mules, and wet our clothes and books. I never before attempted to cross at this place; but the people of El Haram said that, owing to the scarcity of rain, it could easily be done; and so it can, by all except the loaded animals. However, we shall quickly pass the things over Isa. xxxiii 9. 2 Isa. Ixv. 10. 31 Chron. xxvii. 29. Song. ii. 1. PART 111. Jaffa. on the shoulders of the men, then another hour will bring us safely to the biarah of our worthy and hospitable friend Mr. Murad. Jaffa appears well, bathed in the soft light of sunset. We see almost every house, for they are built on the steep northern declivity of the cape, and the roof of the range below is on a level with the street of those above. The city therefore shows to best advantage from the sea as one comes from the north. The cape itself is merely a sand conglomerate, like the cliffs of Durb el Kheît; it is, in fact, the continuation of that ridge, broken up for a short distance by the joint influence of the ’Aujeh and the sea. of Jaffa. Antiquity JAFFA is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was given to Dan, in the distribution of the land by Joshua, and it has been known to history ever since. It owes its existence to the low ledge of rocks which extends into the sea from the extremity of the little cape on which the city stands, and forms a small harbour. Insignificant as it is, and insecure, yet there being no other on all this coast, it was sufficient to cause a city to spring up around it even in the earliest times, and to sustain its life through numberless changes of dynasties, races, and religions, down to the present hour. It was, in fact, the only harbour of any notoriety possessed by the Jews throughout the greater part of their national existence. To it the timber for both the temples of Jerusalem was brought from Lebanon; and no doubt a lucrative trade in cedar and pine was always carried on through it with the nations who had possession of the forests of Lebanon. Through it also nearly all the foreign commerce of the Jews was conducted until the artificial port of Cæsarea was built by Herod. Hither Jonah came to find a ship in which to flee from the presence of the Lord, and from it he sailed for Tarshish. Story of meda and By-the-by, do you think there is any foundation for the idea of Reland and others, that the story about Andromeda and Perseus originated from some confused account of Jonah and the whale which had reached the Greeks through sailors of Tarshish? Possibly; and it is certainly curious that Pliny, after alluding to the story of Andromeda, says that M. Scaurus, among other wonderful relics, showed the bones of a wild beast brought, during his ædileship, to Rome from Joppa, JOPPA-ITS HISTORY--GROWTH-TRADE. 515 a walled town of Judea. The length was forty feet, the elevation of the ribs CHAPTER greater than the height of an Indian elephant, and the thickness of the skin XXXIV. was a foot and a half! This may well have been a whale, if not the identical Skeleton one in whose belly Jonah passed three days. The fact, also, that in the of a whale mythical fable of Perseus and Andromeda the name Iapolis frequently occurs as that of a city connected with the same, strongly favours the original identity of the stories. But we leave all such questions to the learned. Joppa has a story of history not made up of fables, but, alas! for the most part written in blood. Joppa. Scarcely any other town has been so often overthrown, sacked, pillaged, burned, and rebuilt. It would be tedious to enter into minute detail of these disasters, and they may be gathered from the Bible-the books of the Maccabees, Josephus, the Greek and Roman historians, Eusebius, Jerome, and others of the fathers, and from the chronicles of the Crusades in the "Gesta Dei per Francos." In our day it has acquired an unhappy notoriety in connection with Bonaparte, the plague, and the poisoning of sick soldiers. I myself was held prisoner in it for forty days in 1834, while it was besieged by the mountaineers in revolt against Ibrahim Pasha. Mr. Arutîn Murad, our consul at the time, told me that the present city was then not a hundred years old. In consequence of the pirates which infested this coast during the early life of his father, Jaffa was entirely deserted, and the inhabitants retired to Ramleh and Lydd. He himself remembered when there was only a single guard-house, occupied by a few soldiers, who gave notice to the merchants in Ramleh when a ship arrived. With this agrees the account of the desolation of Tyre at the same period, and from the same cause. Such facts lay open the wretched state of the country during those times of utter anarchy. When Bonaparte came along, however, Jaffa had again risen to some importance, and it has been growing ever since. Twenty-five years ago the inhabitants of city and gardens Recent were about 6000; now there must be 15,000 at least, and commerce has growth. increased at even a greater ratio. Several sources of prosperity account for the existence and rapid increase of Jaffa. It is the natural landing-place of pilgrims to Jerusalem, both Christians and Jews, and they have created a considerable trade. The Holy City itself has also been constantly rising in importance during the present generation. Then there are extensive soap factories, not only here, but in Ramleh, Lydd, Nablûs, and Jerusalem, much Its trade. of which is exported from this port to all the cities along the coast, to Egypt, and even to Asia Minor through Tarsus. The fruit trade from Jaffa is likewise quite considerable, and lately there have been large shipments of corn to Europe. Add to this that silk is now being cultivated extensively along the River 'Aujeh, and in the gardens about the city, and the present prosperity of Jaffa is fully explained. And unless European enterprise shall hereafter construct a railway which will carry off those sources of wealth to some more secure harbour, Jaffa must continue to rise in importance for ages to come. The harbour, however, is very inconvenient and insecure. Vessels of any Harbour. considerable burden must lie out in the open roadstead,―a very uneasy berth PART III. Gardens aids. at all times; and even a moderate wind will oblige them to slip cable and run out to sea, or seek anchorage at Haifa, sixty miles distant. The landing also is most inconvenient, and often extremely dangerous. More boats upset, and more lives are lost in the breakers at the north end of the ledge of rocks that defend the inner harbour, than anywhere else on this coast. I have been in imminent danger myself, with all my family in the boat, and never look without a shudder at this treacherous port, with its noisy surf tumbling over the rocks, as if on purpose to swallow up unfortunate boats. This is the true monster which has devoured many an Andromeda, for whose deliverance no gallant Perseus was at hand. Jaffa is celebrated in modern times for her gardens and orchards of delicious and orch- fruit more than for anything else. They are very extensive, flourishing, and profitable; but their very existence depends upon the fact that water to any amount can be procured in every garden, and at a moderate depth. The entire plain seems to cover a river of vast breadth, percolating through the sand en route to the sea. A thousand Persian wheels working night and day produce no sensible diminution; and this inexhaustible source of wealth underlies the whole territory of the Philistines down to Gaza at least, and CHAPTER probably much further south. XXXIV Have we any reason to believe that these Persian wheels were here in Persian ancient days of Jewish history? I have been greatly interested in them, and wheels. they seem admirably adapted for the purpose intended-simple in construction, cheap, quickly made, soon repaired, easily worked, and they raise an immense quantity of water. Many efforts have been made to introduce pumps, but they aways fail and get out of repair; and as there is no one able to mend them, they are thrown aside, and the gardener returns to his na'ura. The whole of this machinery is quickly enumerated and described. A wide cog-wheel is carried round horizontally by a mule with a sweep. This turns a larger one perpendicularly, which is directly above the mouth of the well. Over this revolve two rough hawsers, or thick ropes, made of twigs and branches twisted together, and upon them are fastened small jars or wooden buckets. One side descends while the other rises, carrying the small buckets with them, those descending empty, those ascending full, and as they pass over the top they discharge into a trough which conveys the water to the cistern. The length of these hawsers and the number of the buckets depend, of course, upon the depth of the well, for the buckets are fastened on the hawser about two feet apart. The depth of Wells. wells in Jaffa varies from ten to forty feet. If the mule turns the wheel rapidly, which he rarely does, a bucket with about two gallons of water will be carried over the top of it and be discharged into the trough every second; and it must be a good pump that will steadily do as much. The hawser is made of twigs, generally of myrtle branches, not merely because it is cheap and easily plaited by the gardener himself, but because its extreme roughness prevents it from slipping on the wheel, as an ordinary rope would do, and thus fail to carry up the loaded buckets. There are other kinds of water-wheels in this country. The shadûf, so conspicuous on the Nile, is nowhere to be seen in Palestine, but the well-sweep and bucket are used in many places; and I once saw an Egyptian working an apparatus much like the shadûf on the shore of the lake a little north of the city of Tiberias. skin. Another apparatus is common in this land of Philistia, which I bave also Buffalo seen on the plains of Central Syria. A large buffalo skin is so attached to cords that, when let down into the well, it opens and is instantly filled, and, being drawn up, it closes so as to retain the water. The rope by which it is hoisted to the top works over a wheel, and is drawn by oxen, mules, or camels, that walk directly from the well to the length of the rope, and then return, only to repeat the operation until a sufficient quantity of water is raised. This also is a very successful mode of drawing water. bucket. The wheel and bucket (of different sorts and sizes) is an apparatus much Wheel and used where the water is near the surface, and also along rapid rivers. For shallow wells it is merely a wheel, whose diameter equals the desired elevation |