XXXVII.

miss; "1 but this is a region where such a mode of warfare would be culti- CHAPTER vated in ancient times, and be very effective. The stones for the sling are everywhere at hand, and the country is cut up by deep gorges, with impracticable banks; and, before the invention of guns, there was no other weapon that could carry across these profound depths and reach the ranks of the enemy. David, while following his flocks over these rough mountains, practised other arts besides that of playing on the shepherd's pipe, for he became as expert in the use of the sling as any of the chosen men of Benjamin. He was manifestly one of nature's noblemen, born to excel in everything he undertook. Not only was he the most skilful musician, but the greatest poet; not only David's the most daring shepherd, but the bravest soldier and the most success- strength. ful general. It is nowhere stated in so many words that he possessed great physical strength, but this is implied in several anecdotes of his life. Without this he could not have wielded the sword of Goliath, and yet he chose that of all others for himself; and again, none but the very strongest could kill a lion and a bear in fair fight. What the lion is we all know, or at least The lion imagine, and yet David says, “I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and and the slew him."2 The Syrian bear-still found on the higher mountains of this country is perhaps equally to be dreaded in a close personal encounter. The inhabitants of Hermon say that when he is chased up the mountain he will cast back large stones upon his pursuers with terrible force and unerring aim. The stoutest hunter will not venture to attack him alone, nor without being thoroughly armed for the deadly strife. David, however, caught him as he was running away with a kid from his flock, and slew him; and this when he was but a youth, ruddy, and of a fair countenance, so that Goliath disdained him as an antagonist. It is interesting to remember that these personal adventures of David, both with giants and with wild beasts, took place in these mountains immediately above us.

bear.

PART IV.-SOUTHERN PALESTINE.

[In this, the concluding section of the journey, our travellers advance by Hebron, through the hill-country of Judea, to the northern angle of the Dead Sea, visiting the localities of Gil. gal and Jericho; then proceed westward to Jerusalem, and devote the closing portion of their tour to the Holy City and places around.-ED.]

Road from OWING to the wretched headache which tormented me all day, our ride from Beit Jibrîn to this city has left no distinct trace on my memory, except that of a very fatiguing ascent from Idna toward Taffuah.

Beit Jibrin to Hebron.

I can readily refresh your memory this morning by passing in review yesterday's journey, which was one of great interest to me. While the muleteers were packing up and loading, I rode out and again examined the excavations on the south-east of Beit Jibrîn. My guide led me on horseback through a Caverns. long succession of caverns, all dug out of the white cretaceous rock of the hill above the city. They closely resemble ancient cisterns, having a hole at the top as if to draw water from; but their number and vast size fill the mind with astonishment, and suggest doubts with regard to the original purpose for which they were made. They, however, were hewn out of the rock precisely as cisterns were, and the mark of the pickaxe is distinctly seen on the sides of those that are tolerably perfect. Multitudes of them, however, have fallen in from above, and the partition-walls of others have dissolved by time, thus throwing many into one. Indeed, they appear to have been originally con nected by doors and galleries cut through the rock. Bnt it would require a separate memoir adequately to describe these remarkable caverns, and this I certainly have no disposition to write, nor would you have patience to hear. They are all circular, and I measured one which was sixty-five feet in diame

ter, and ninety-one to the top of the dome from the rubbish which covered the CHAPTER floor, ten feet deep at least. The entire height of this cistern must therefore XXXVIII. have been more than a hundred feet. On the north side, and about midway to the top, are several figures of idols cut in the rock-rude images of Dagon Idols. himself perhaps. In several of the caverns further south are inscriptions very high up, in a large and mixed Cufic and Phoenician character. I have copies of them, and also of the images, kept rather as curiosities than for any light which they shed upon the mysteries of their location. The only theory I can Immense entertain in regard to these gigantic excavations is, that they were cisterns of old Gath, made thus numerous, and on such an immense scale, to secure a supply of water against all emergencies of drought or of war; and this idea is corroborated by the existence, at the present day, of similar cisterns in more than one of the neighbouring villages. At Zikrîn, some six miles north-west of

cisterns.

Beit Jibrîn, are vast excavations beneath a broad platform of hard rock which covers several acres, and it is pierced by forty openings or doors-babs in Ara

PART

IV.

Valley of
Senaber.

'Ain el Kuf.

Leather

bolties.

Mandrakes.

bic-through which water is drawn up by the villagers. The excavations underneath this flooring closely resemble these of Beit Jibrîn both in shape and size, and the separate cisterns are so connected by galleries and doors that the water passes from one to the other, and stands in all at the same elevation. The overlying rock at Zikrîn is so hard that the roof has nowhere caved in, and the cisterns are therefore in good preservation, and afford an inexhaustible supply of water. This is all I have to suggest on the subject, and now for the ride to Hebron.

I overtook you at Deir en Nukhaz, slowly sauntering up the pretty valley of Senaber, which village we reached in an hour from our camp-ground. The valley, you remember, was broad and fertile, and the ascent for the first three hours very gradual. As we advanced, side valleys came in from the right and left, opening long vistas into the bosom of the surrounding country. In the mouth of the wady which descends from the vicinity of Turkumieh (Tricomia) we saw a large and picturesque encampment of Arabs, with whose goats, and dogs, and naked children we were highly entertained.

Escaping from the half begging, half-plundering importunity of these Ishmaelites, we rode another hour, and stopped to lunch at 'Ain el Kuf, which is

the only fountain in this entire valley. Here we saw many people coming and

going with pitchers and jars, and not a few with large "bottles" of skin,an unmistakable evidence that good water is very scarce in that region; and had we not filled our own "bottles," we should have suffered no slight inconvenience in the long ascent, for we found no water from that on to this vale of Hebron.

I remember that ascent with sufficient distinctness, and also that we stopped to rest about half way up Wady 'Ain el Kuf, at a sheep-fold under the southern cliff of the ravine; and there, for the first time, I saw the mandrake, with

its broad leaves and green "apples," and my curiosity was excited by the dis

cussion which followed about the singular contract between Rachel and Leah CHAPTER for Reuben's mandrakes.1

XXXVIII.

Into that we shall not now enter, nor will we pry with curious eye into the motives which urged Rachel to make the purchase. I, for one, don't know. As to the mandrakes themselves something may be said. Reuben gathered them in wheat-harvest, and it is then that they are still found ripe and eatable on the lower ranges of Lebanon and Hermon, where I have most frequently seen them. The apple becomes of a very pale yellow colour, partially soft, and of an insipid, sickish taste. They are said to produce dizziness; but I have seen people eat them without experiencing any such effect. The Arabs, however, believe them to be exhilarating and stimulating even to insanity, and hence the name tuffah el jan—“ apples of the jan;" but we may safely leave the disputed questions concerning mandrakes to those who have time and inclination for such inquiries, and hasten on to our camp-ground in Vale of the pretty valley of Mamre, here on the hill side, near the quarantine of Mamre. Hebron.

Hebron.

Whatever may be true in regard to the road hither, the appearance of Heb- Appearron itself, lying in deep repose along the vale of Mamre, was quite beautiful. ance of The time of our visit is doubtless most favourable, for nature upon these mountains is now in her holiday dress; and when we began to descend toward the city, the lengthening shadows of the western hills had just dropped their sober curtains over the scene, softening its somewhat rugged features, thereby greatly enhancing its charms. Seen under circumstances not so favourable, the impression might be much less agreeable; but, apart from natural scenery, no intelligent traveller can approach Hebron with indifference. No city in Palestine so carries one back to earliest patriarchal times. Manners and customs, and modes of action, and even idioms of speech, have changed but little since the Bible was written, or from what they were when Abraham dwelt here among "the sons of Heth." Take the account of the death and burial of Sarah, as it is found in the 23d chapter of Genesis, as an example: "Sarah died Mourning in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, for the and to weep for her." There is something formal in this remark, but it is in perfect accordance with present customs. Should such a person die here tomorrow, there would be a solemn public mourning and weeping,-not as indicating the grief of the family so much as in honour of the dead. The customs of the people demand that there should be loud, boisterous, uncontrollable weeping, mourning, beating of the breast, and every other external manifestation of great sorrow. Such was this funeral mourning of the great emeer Abraham; but, besides this public tribute to the memory of Sarah, he, no doubt, sincerely lamented her death in the privacy of his own tent.

dead.

Abraham's negotiation for a sepulchre is also very Oriental and striking. Purchase Such a purchase was quite necessary. There has always been in this country of tombs.

Gen. xxx. 14-16.