Morning Glories

AS I begin the storj’ of Jesus, beautiful in name, transcendent in subject, it is morning, when the air is crisp with December’s frost and a merry sparkle is in the trees, starlighted with a million gleams gathered from the sun just looking over the blue hills of the East and brightening the frozen dew. My room is flooded with gilded beams that build a stairway with gentle slope across the sea and up to the door-step of heaven, where there is a rush of glories that dazzle, and a maze of beauties that bewilders, and a witchery of magnificence that confounds the imagination while thrilling and throbbing the heart with adoration and ecstasy. It must have been such a morning that awakened the Judean hills and set all nature to singing, and the music of heaven to playing, and the pulse of universal joy to throbbing, when the Christ was born. It must have been such a morning when, after the star choristers had hushed their acclaims, and the angels of the annunciation had left the startled shepherds and, on impatient wing, swept back to the cradle of the newly-born Lord, that the glad news was scattered throughout the valleys, and over the mounts, and down the slopes, and across the Jordan.” For unto you is born this day, in the City of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

The Holy Land.

The country in which this most momentous event occurred is remarkable, almost in consonance with the event itself. From the earliest ages it has been known as the Holy Land, because within its small territorj’ transpired so many immensely important incidents that were directly controlled by God, as manifestations of His care for His chosen people. Palestine is a more recent designation, derived from the Hebrew word Pelesheth (Philistia), or country of the Philistines. Even this application was only to the southern and coast regions, and not until it came under Roman dominion was the term Palestine applied to the whole country, 7 (97) as we now find it between Tyre, or Dan, on the north, and Egypt and Arabia, or Beersheba, on the south, a distance of something less than 150 miles, while the mean breadth does not exceed thirty miles.

Palestine is pre-eminently a land of hills and valleys, the most broken region, perhaps, on earth. From a country of first importance, rivaling Egypt, like Egypt, it has declined until Joppa is the only port remaining, and even this does

not admit vessels of large size at all
seasons. Caesarea was the principal
harbor during Roman occupation, the
chief work of Herod the Great, who
made of it one of the most splendid
ports ever constructed, and named the
city in honor of Augustus Caesar. It
was here the titular kmgs of Judea had

D Appletou&Coi

RUINS OK ANCII NT C 1 SKL AS THE/ APPEAR AT TUh 1 Ky Sy NT DAY

their seats, and also the Roman procurators, and where the most famous temple, theatre and circus were erected to amuse a heterogeneous populace of Jews, Romans, Greeks, Syrians, Egyptians and other nationalities of the East that flocked to the city, which was in the zenith of its commercial prosperity during

D. Appleton <&

TUli ClTAUHl, OK DAMASCUS.

I99j
loo FROM MANGER TO THRONE.

the ministry of Jesus. To-day the site of Caesarea is marked by magnificent ruins, the stones of which the great wall was constructed, which are said to have been fifty feet long by eighteen feet wide, having been displaced and broken up by the invading sea, while of the great buildings that distinguished the place and its 400,000 inhabitants not even the ruins remain.

Ancient Tyre and Sidon.

But long before the founding of Caesarea there were other cities in Palestine, in the country which was then known as Phoenicia, whose splendor and population far exceeded that of any other cities of the lycvant, not even excepting Carthage. Of these, Tyre was the largest and most” important, the commerce of which extended east to China and westward to all the then known world, including a traffic of no inconsiderable magnitude with the central and western parts of Africa, which are to-day practically unknown regions. Tyre was founded by the Sidonians at a period so remote that the date lies hidden behind the thick mists of centuries, but in the time of Ezekiel and Isaiah she was” the stronghold of the sea,” and a glowing picture of splendor and maritime power. Against her walls the Assyrians thundered in vain, and Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar, with their million men, were hurled back at every attempt to scale her fortifications. Not until Alexander the Great assaulted, with all the power of Macedonia, Egypt and Greece, the battlements, by constructing moles about the city, did Tyre lower her banners to a conqueror. But her fall was like that of her offspring, Carthage, so terrible that the devastating teeth of war, demolition, subjugation and spoliation brought her speedily to a -ruin so complete that to-day the relics of her splendor are beneath the restless sea. Back from the shore are still to be seen the rock-hewn tombs of some who once knew Tyre when she was mistress of the sea, but of her magnificence nothing but scattered stones and crumbled edifices now remain.

Twenty miles north of Tyre was another great Phoenician city called Sidon, second only to Tyre in importance, but with a history less pregnant with great events, though its end was equally tragic. The city’s power was greatest about fifteen centuries before Christ, during a period when the Egyptians held the supremacy over Phoenicia. About five centuries before Christ the city fell into the possession of the Persians, who destroyed the place because the inhabitants rebelled against Artaxerxes. The city never regained its commercial importance, but continued as a proAnncial capital until about the time of .Christ, when it became, with nearly all Palestine, a part of the Roman empire. It was in Sidon that Christianity found an early foothold, a bishop having’ been ordained for the place about A. D. 300. In the eleventh century, however, the city was captured by the Mohammedans, who held it until 1108, in which year the Crusaders under (lOl)

Baldwin I. re-captured and retained it until 1187, when the Saracens again

became the conquerors, only to be divested a second time by the Christians ten

years later. Nearly one hundred years after, however, the place was abandoned

and ordered destroyed by the Sultan Ashraf, since which time only a few fisher

huts and some wave-washed ruins, that tell a tale of former splendor, now mark

the site.

The history of Tyre and Sidon, with small difference, is the history of other

coast cities of Palestine, and the other important towns of Phoenicia, such as

Sarepta, Gebal, Beyrout, Dor, Accho, and many others that exist to-day either

as small villages, or heaps of carved stone, scarred and broken by the chisel of

time.

Famous Places of Sacred History.

From the Mediterranean Coast the land upheaves toward Central Palestine, where a great ridge is formed that slopes away again towards the east until reaching the plains of Assyria. Along a cleft in this ridge runs the Jordan river, so deep below its banks that it may be reached conveniently only at certain passes and fords which have continued practically the same since the time of Joshua.

Beyond Caesarea, on the north, the beach rapidly narrows to a termination at Mount Carmel, which is a ridge some ten miles in length and fifteen hundred feet in height, enclosing the bay of Acre on the South. Immediately north of Mount Carmel are the Lebanon Mountains, of two parallel ranges, between which is the vale of Eebanon, a fertile district, fruitful of all the products peculiar to Palestine, and of the cedars famous in history. At the southern point of the lycbanon range rises the peak of Hermon, ten thousand feet above the sea-level and overlooking nearly the entire country. South of Hermon the range is reduced to bare hills, sloping on the east to the Jordan and on the west to the historical plain of Esdraelon, sometimes called Megiddo, and Jezreel, in the Scriptures, the site of the greatest battle in Jewish history. On the northeast of this plain, at its border, is Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the transfiguration. Here was the rendezvous of Barak, from which he descended like a whirlwind and overwhelmed Sisera’s army.

Jewish tradition has woven about this mountain many curious legends which have attracted the interest of mankind from time immemorial. The ruins of several prehistoric edifices are still to be seen scattered about the apex, while the relics of a fortress, presumed to have been built by the Saracens about the time of Saladin, are conspicuously strewn about over a considerable surface of the peak. A few miles south of the plain of Esdraelon rises another tract of country, broken by irregular hills, stretching east and west nearly across the breadth of Palestine and terminating in the south with the Mount of Hebron.

(103)

North of this Hes Samaria, with its mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, between which, in a narrow valley, nestles the small village of Nablus, formerly the town of Shechem, where the two tribes established their capital after the revolt from Israel. South of Hebron is the country of Judea, with its desolate hills and mountains of stone, descending towards the Jordan Valley, in which lies thelyEBANON MOUNTAINS.

dangerously steep road from Jerusalem to Jericho. In this central region are such natural fastnesses of mountains, cliffs, gorges, caves and beetling crags that it was the fighting ground of such adventurous spirits as the Maccabees, of Jephthah’s robber bands, of David, when pursued by Saul, and of the leaders of small parties when brought to bay by stronger forces.

The Eye of the East.

To the east of Sidon, some forty miles, in Coele-Syria, which adjoined Phoenicia, was the city of Damascus, said by many historians ‘to be one of the most ancient cities in the world, and formerly the capital of all Syria. Its situation is in an astonishingly fertile plain, of such exceeding beauty that Orientals frequently refer to it as one of the four terrestrial paradises. The city extends for two miles along the Abana river, which empties into Lake Ateibeh at Haran, a famous place in Scripture, scarcely ten miles distant towards the east.

The old city of Damascus still preserves many of its ancient attractions and presents an appearance of elegance in striking contrast with other towns of that region. Its streets are generally narrow, but usually admirably paved with basalt, an excellent substitute for asphaltum. The residences, though not inviting from an exterior view, are often magnificent within, frequently a large court being left

D. Apjplbt4>u Co.!

RUINS OF ANCIENT FORTRESS OVERI.OOKING THE WATERS OF MEROM.

in the centre, from which rises a fountain that discharges a cooling spray particularly grateful in that country during the summer months.

So very ancient is the city that, like Tyre, the time of its founding is uncertain. Tradition, a main reliance with the people of Syria, says the city was built by Uz, who was the son of Aram. This belief, in connection with the fact that it is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures as contemporary with Abraham, leads to the not unreasonable supposition that the place was known to Job, who, we are told, lived in the land of Uz.

The earliest reliable history we have respecting the city is that recorded by Josephus, who says Hadad, its first king, was conquered by David, but if the city capitulated at that time the subjection was only for a brief period. We learn that in the reign of Ahaz (two hundred and fifty years after David), the city was captured by Tiglath-pileser, who slew its last king and added the place and surrounding plain, probably certain provinces, to Assyria. Following the downfall of Belshazzar, Damascus, with the rest of Assyria, passed to the dominion of the Persians and Babylonians. The city then enjoyed a period of peace until the invasion of Persia by Alexander the Great, who, at the decisive battle of Issus (B. C. 333), conquered the country and Damascus became a part of the Seleucidse, or Syrian monarchy, and so continued until 64 B.-C, when Pompey attached it to the Roman Empire.

It was near Damascus that Paul’s miraculous conversion occurred, at which time the place was in possession of the Arabian King Aretas, who was father-in-law to Herod Antipas. At that period the city contained a large population of Jews, who had been flocking in after Alexander’ s conquests, but notwithstanding this influx of an anti-Christian people, Damascus was, next to Corinth, the first place in which a Christian Church was founded, and it has continued, with all the opposing influences of Jews and Mohammedans, strong to this day.

Under the Romans Damascus became the most important Eastern city, and chief arsenal in Asia, with such afiiuence of manufacture, wealth, power and position that Julian gives it the designation of” The Eye of the East.”

When Rome declined, the Saracens captured the city, directly after Mohammed’s death, and made it the capital of all their possessions, which it continued to be for ninety years, when the capital was transferred to Bagdad. Since that time Damascus has passed through many ordeals of battle and change of rulership. The Egyptian Caliphs held the place for a time, but were dispossessed by the Turks, who in turn were besieged by Louis VII. of France and Conrad III. of Germany in 1148, but in vain. Three centuries later it surrendered, after a desperate resistance, to Tamerlane, who put the inhabitants to the sword, sparing neither age nor sex. The Turks again captured the city in 151 6 and retained possession until 1832, when Egypt a second time became the possessor, but restored the place to Turkey eight years later.

Massacre of Christians.

In 1860 occurred a dreadful massacre of Christians in Damascus, by Mohammedans, in which it is said no less than three thousand adult males were slaughtered, and an equal number of females were reduced to slavery. This dreadful act of fanatical savagery was never punished, and the city still continues in possession of the murderers.

Damascus, or the ancient portion, has not materially changed in the past two thousand years, and the people have also preserved to an astonishing degree the customs and manners that distinguished them in the days of Christ.

As already mentioned, the streets are narrow and run through the extreme length of the town, but to their narrowness is added the inconvenience and unsightliness of tortuous windings, so as to make a succession of corners. One of these Paul refers to” as the street called Straight,” but this title was probably given to it by a facetious Arab as the climax of an antique joke, for so far from being straight, the street is one of the crookedest of all the serpentine public ways

SAMARIA, FROM A RECENT PHOTOGRAPH.

of that winding city. The houses ver>^ rarely have any yards in front, all the open spaces about them being confined to courts, as already described. Above the walls, which still stand in a condition of dangerous disintegration, rise rude habitations which were once, no doubt, as in the days of Paul, fairly commodious abodes, but all their splendor is now in their antiqueness and historical association with the hoary past.

About the suburbs of Damascus are frequent cafes, where the traveler, half faint with summer heat, may refresh himself with such delicious coffee as can be found nowhere else, save in Arabia. Sununer huts are also provided by the poor as a partial refuge from the oppressive warmth which prevails during the hot and dry season of nearly six months. These are occasionally built on a frame-work of poles, with planks roughly laid for flooring. The material of which they are constructed is usually the branches of trees so interlaced and covered with leaves as to give a secure and yet airy habitation, though in appearance they very much resemble the leaf huts of the Backone tree- dwellers.

Jerusalem.

The founding of Jerusalem, like that of Tyre, Damascus and many other places of Palestine, was accomplished at such a remote period that no records remain to give us any information as to the time or by whom. Its history is the story of the Hebrew people and of the Saviour of the world; its shrines, the repositories of all that is sacred to Christianity. No other city has passed so often through the crucible of devastation, spoliation and massacre. Since the time of Abraham it has been besieged twenty-four times and destroyed four times. Seven times has the city been captured since the birth of Christ, and twice its walls, and every building of importance, demolished. From a great commercial mart, with a population of two hundred thousand souls, which distinguished it above the cities of the East during the ministry of Jesus, it has sunk to a condition of apathy and squalor, and is now like fruit that hangs too long on the tree, blighted, shriveled, decayed, and contains scarcely twenty thousand inhabitants, of a heterogeneous admixture.

Anciently Jerusalem was the seat of David’s empire, and of many kings before him, but now the only claim to royalty which the place retains is found in its being the seat of a Turkish Pasha, and as being one of the three holy cities of its last conquerors, the Mohammedans, who have so long defiled its sanctuaries.

The city as it now stands occupies a site on a high plateau of some two miles square, which is connected with the mountain range that provides a water-shed for all Palestine. Every spot within several miles of the city is holy ground, by reason of some momentous event that has transpired thereon, worthy of description in sacred history. To the west is Gihon, at the feet of which trail their lengths along the valleys of Hinnom and Jehoshaphat, which make a sweep around the walls of Jerusalem and blend near the pool of Siloam, which once “flowed fast by the oracle of God.”

On the east, rising from the valley of Jehoshaphat into three bold peaks, is the Mount of Olives, while overhanging the valley of Hinnom on the south is the Hill of Evil Counsel, on the rock-ribbed side of which is the Potters’ Field, once called “The Field of Blood.” Scarcely half a mile from Jerusalem is the upper pool of Gihon, a large reservoir of water, whic’h flows into the pool of Hezekiah within the walls and furnishes the city water supply for bathing purposes.

The country everywhere about Jerusalem is not only nuich broken, but is ver>^ rocky, and hence little suited for either agricultural or pastoral purposes. That it was at one time a fairly fertile district is well proved by the history of the peoples who anciently occupied it, but the many devastating wars through which the region has passed have rendered it barren almost beyond reclamation. At every siege the city sustained, such vegetation as had grown up about the

SUMMER HUTS IN THE SUBURBS OF DAMASCUS.

place was destroyed either by the besiegers or the besieged, and this denudation permitted the rains to wash down the hillsides, carr>’ing with every flood great quantities of soil, until the substratum of stone was exposed and made cultivation of the slopes, except for raising of grapes and olives, impossible. On the other hand, the valleys became extremely rich by reason of having received the soil no FROM MANGER TO THRONE.

and vegetation washed down into them from the hills, and in these there is an immense yield of grain and grasses.

If we pass through and around Jerusalem, we cannot fail to notice relics of the ancient city that bring fresh to our minds much that is of profound interest and with which the life of Jesus is inseparably connected, as is also many of the most exciting events in Jewish history. Ancient Jerusalem was well protected by strong walls, a defence which all cities of the East possessed two thousand years ago. The first wall was probably built during David’s reign, as it encircled Zion and a considerable part of Moriah, upon which the Temple was afterwards erected. One end began at what was known as the Tower of Hippicus and crossed to the Tower of Xystus, close to the Temple site, dividing the city, and thus, while affording a strong defence for the upper portion of the place, left the lower part in an almost defenceless condition. It was for this reason that besiegers of the city frequently gained possession of the lower portion, only to be hurled back with dreadful slaughter when they assaulted the hill. From this wall another branched off towards the west from the Tower of Hippicus and extended to the Essenes Gate, from whence it made a sweep toward the southeast, enclosing Zion, and terminated again at the Temple. Yet another wall had its beginning at what was called the Gate of Gennath, which pierced the first wall very near the Hippicus tower. It extended towards the main gate on the north side of the city and then turned towards the southeast until it flanked the Temple and joined the other wall at the Fort of Antonio. There wi:s still a fourth wall, which extended from the Tower of Hippicus to that of Psephinus, from whence it diverged eastward, thence southward until it united with the first and principal wall east of the Temple. None of these walls are now standing, though the remains of them are still to be seen and their foundations are frequently struck in modern excavations.

Though the first defences of the city have become nearly obliterated by time, and a long period of peace which did not call for their restoration, the city is still protected by a very large wall built in the years 1 536-9 by the Turkish Sultan, known in history as Solyman the Magnificent. This wall, the most substantial as well as imposing that ever enclosed the city, is fifteen feet thick at the base and varies in height from twenty-five to seventy feet, with a circuit of a little less than three miles.

Jerusalem of to-day, though much smaller than in the time of Christ, is so ancient in appearance and presents so few changes in general aspect from that of Jerusalem of two thousand years ago, that the first impression made upon the Bible student who enters the city is, that he is amid surroundings made familiar to him through a reading of the Scriptures. Herod’s Palace, Pilate’s splendid residence, the magnificent Temple, the great synagogues, are not there, having been reduced by the dissolving effects of time, or destroj’ed Ijy the ruthless hand of spoliation, but in their stead are other buildings of similar architectural appearance, built upon sites memorable for all ages, so that though the body may be dissipated the spirit of the holy period still remains. The city is now almost a square, and, like the Jerusalem of old, the walls are pierced by five gates called

SCKNKRV IN THIC MOUNTAINS NKAR JKKITSALKM.

respectively the “Hebrew Gate,” which is the principal entrance; “Gate of the Columns,” “Gate of our Lady Mary,” “David’s Gate,” and “Gate of the Moors.” These modern gates not only bear names which connect them with holy characters, but they replace those with which we have old acquaintance because so frequently mentioned in the New Testament, such as were called the “horse,” “sheep” and “fish gates,” which no doubt opened near the market places, and the “fountain” and “water” gates, and the gates of “Ephraim”

and of “Joshua.”

The Rivers of Palestine.

Of the water-courses of Palestine the Jordan is most important, as it is really the only river in the country-, the other so-called rivers being evanescent streams that appear sometimes swollen into great torrents during the rainy season, and again presenting beds of luxuriant valley grasses throughout the summer months. The Jordan has its principal source at the base of Mount Hermon, where several streams boil out in incessant flow, tumbling down their noisy beds until they unite to form a lake formerly known as Huhel, but now designated as Merom. The waters gathered together in this lake run out in a murky and sluggish stream until they reach a rocky bed so narrow that the current is greatly accelerated, and then goes gamboling into lake Gennesaret some dozen miles below Huhel. Gennesaret is also called the Sea of Galilee, and of Tiberias, being more often referred to in the Bible than any other body of water in Palestine, save the river Jordan. This lake is about 650 feet below sea level, and though it receives heavy deposits of sediment, carried into it by numerous brooks started into renewed life each fall and spring, its waters are always clear and beautiful, abounding with many species of fish. As agriculture is nowhere in Palestine extensively followed, the people living adjacent to the lake are largely engaged in taking fish therefrom, just as they were in the time of Christ.

Leaving Gennesaret, the Jordan passes through a broad valley in an extremely tortuous course, descending no less than twenty-seven rapids on its way to the Dead Sea, 1300 feet below the sea level, its extreme length being about 300 miles, but on a direct line from source to mouth not more than 125 miles.

The Dead Sea.

The considerable body of water known as the” Dead Sea” is ver remarkable not only for the history- with which it is connected, but for the wondrous character of its waters also. It was formerly called the Sea of Sodom, and the Salt Sea of Scriptures, but the designation of Dead Sea has been common since the present era. The sea lies between the mountains of Moab and Hebron, and is eighteen miles east of Jerusalem. Its length is a fraction more than forty miles, and its greatest breadth about ten miles, constituting at one time the valley of Siddim. which Lot selected in which to graze his vast herds of sheep and cattle when he and Abraham separated. In this valley were situated the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, that were destroyed by fire from heaven and from which Lot and his family alone escaped.

While the present basin of the Dead Sea may once have been a fertile valley capable of supporting two large cities and numerous flocks, the region is described “3

Cwyritit, 1>J>-I

PORTION OF THE ANCIE
SOOTH WAIXOF JHRC->=i.-
LKM, AND VIKWOPTH8
MOUNT Of OLIVES.

ill GsnesLs (xiv. lo) as

being “full of slime

pits,” from which we »-ii*»^

may infer that the outcroppings of

petroleum reser’oirs were frequent,

and natural gas vents common.

The destruction is believed to
have occurred about 2000 years before Christ, and to have been accompanied by an eruptive force so
great as to sink the vicinity to a great depth,
and thus make it a receptacle for the waters
of the Jordan. The salt of the lake may
have been produced by the sudden exposure
of soluble matter to the inrushing waters of
8

■>:y..

the river, in accordance with the now well-estabhshed theory of Figuier and Maury as to the manner in which salt is produced in the alembic of nature. Near the sea, on the southwest side, is Sodom Mountain, which contains a salt stratum, while a short distance from the base is a column or figure, on an oval pedestal, which is of saline property except the apex, which is of limestone. This pillar is supposed to be the transformed wife of Lot, a supposition which Josephus also expresses.

Along the shores of the sea bitumen is found in considerable quantities, especially since an earthquake which visited that region some years ago. Sulphur springs are also frequent, and sulphur is found in layers scattered about the adjoining plain. The water is so acrid that, applied to the eyes or mouth, it produces great irritation, sj that bathers in the sea must exercise caution to prevent painful consequences. Soundings by Lieutenant Lynch show a depth of over 1300 feet in the northern portion, equal to the depression of its surface below the Mediterranean level, so that it is the lowest sea in the world. It has no outlet, yet the variations of its rise by spring freshets and its fall during the excessively hot and dry season never exceed fifteen feet. In the summer-time the evaporation is so rapid that the surrounding country is almost hidden by dense mists, which render the vicinity most insalubrious and the air so oppressive as to be almost irrespirable. No living thing exists in the Dead Sea, while along the shores are scattered the trunks of decayed trees and bushes barely alive and always leafless. The birds that are peculiar to the region have dusky plumage, in harmony with the waters, the trees and stones, and the animate no less than the inanimate objects thereabout bear the impress of desolation, the look of doom

and the visage of a curse.

Brooks of Palestine.

The Kishon, where Baal’s prophets were slaughtered by order of Elijah, rises in Mount Tabor and flows into the bay of Acre near Mount Carmel. During the fall and spring it is a considerable stream, but in summer there is no water in its bed save for the last seven miles.

The Arnon and Jabbok are now known as wadys, an Arabic term for a bed that contains water in the wet season and is dry in the summer. They both discharge their waters into the Jordan. The Kidron flows through the valley of Jehoshaphat, east of Jerusalem, and into the Dead Sea. Though a stream often mentioned, both in the Old and New Testament, it is an inconstant brook, more often dry than running. The other streams of Palestine are no more than wadys, important only because of the memorable events that occurred on their banks or in their dry beds.

While Palestine of to-day is generally uninviting as a land sown with dragons’ teeth, choking out, like tares, the fruitfulness of the soil, until it presents “5

the hard appearance of a country mildewed, decayed, desolated, yet many evidences remain to attest its former magnificence, if not fertility. Out on the barren hills where rocks pile up in confusion, covered with wild vines, a haunt for the scorpion, lizard and fox, there will be found ruins of stately edifices, monuments graved with the records of mighty events, columns of marble that once gleamed in the corridors of splendid temples, images and statues which, centuries ago,

THE CITADEIv OF JERUSALEM.

stood in grand halls, great courts and sparkling throne rooms. “For miles and miles, “says Dean vStanley, “there is no appearance of present life or habitation except the occasional goat-herd on the hillside, or gathering of women at the wells, 3’et there is hardly a hill top of the many within sight which is not covered with the vestiges of some fortress or city of former ages. The ruins which we ii6 FROM MANGER TO THRONE.

now see are of the most distant ages: Saracenic, Crusading, Roman, Grecian, Jewish, extending perhaps even to the old Canaanitish remains before the arrival of Joshua.”

While the mountainous regions are exceedingly barren, the valleys of Palestine are of great fertility, though even these productive portions are not cultivated to their capacity to bear. This does not apply, however, to the valley south of and near Bethlehem, which is irrigated and tilled with such care that it may be considered as one of the fairest vales of the earth. In ancient times the mountains were beautifully terraced and made to produce an abundance of grapes and other fruits, but incessant, devastating wars broke the spirit and ambition of the people so that they practically ceased their former labors and suffered their fields to become rank, in which condition of neglect they still remain. Pastoral pursuits are now as common as in the days of Abraham, though the people confine their attention to sheep and goats, cattle being both scarce and ill-favored. Bees are so numerous throughout the country that everywhere vast storehouses of honey are found in hollow trees and among the rocks, as it was in the time of John. Eocusts also frequently appear in immense swarms, devouring all vegetation, and upon these the people in some localities largely subsist, as they do in

Arabia.

The People of Palestine.

The present inhabitants of Palestine differ little from those who occupied the country in the time of Christ. They include Syrians, Arabs, Jews, Greeks and a sprinkling of all other nationalities. The Mohammedans are in the ascendant, but permit freedom of religious worship and respect the sacred shrines to which so many Christians make frequent pilgrimage. When Palestine was known as Canaan, and the country of Canaan and Gilead were divided by the Jordan, the population was perhaps ten times greater than it is to-day, the decadence having begun with the Israelitish invasion and continued up to the time of the re-building of the Temple by Nehemiah. The influx of returning Jews from their seventy years’ bondage to the Assyrians rapidly increased the population, which was further augmented by a large immigration of Samaritans, but never again did Palestine regain the power or number of inhabitants that distinguished the country when known as Canaan and Gilead.

In the time of Joshua the country was divided among many tribes that have collectively been distinguished as Canaanites, it sometimes happening that the possessions of a tribe were confined to a single city, which was held by something like feudal tenure. This precarious occupancy caused the tribes to throw immense walls about their cities, strengthened and fortified by citadels and barbacans, and to keep a trained soldiery that was generally hotly engaged in an effort to capture other cities or in defending their own. The several tribes of Canaanites

ropTriitht 1881 “S^-^-”^^^^ =sf V D AppleluQ & ( o “^^^”^ ^ZLi-ENTRANCE TO THE CITADEL, ON THE TRADITIONAL SITE WHERE DAVID SAT AWAITING NEWS FROM THE BATTLE IN EPHRAIM WOODS, WHERE ABSALOM WAS KILLED.

(117)
were distributed S?^
about as follows: The
three K’s, that is the
Kadraanites, the Kenizzites and Kenites,
and a small portion of
the Amorites, were occupants of Gilead, or
that portion of Palestine lying east of the ‘Yopjd^Mlm

1,*1 r 1). Applctoui-Cu.V

’ ‘THE RIVER HASBANY, THK NORTHKRN TRIBUTARY OF THE

naan, or west of the tordan.

Jordan,- were the Jebusites, Hittites, Perizzites and a majority of Amorites, who were confined principally to the hilly south country. In the Lebanon country dwelt the Hivites, not a numerous people, and therefore so peaceable that they are not frequently mentioned. The Girgashites were confined to a small strip of country along the east shore of Gennesaret, and were chiefly engaged in swine-raising, an industry which was not so extensively followed by any other tribe. They were the most ignorant and debased of all the people and had no

BEDOUINS OF PALESTINE.

intercourse with other tribes, while their own pos-sessions were insufficient to incite the cupidity of their neighbors.

In the extreme north, as already mentioned, dwelt the Phcenicians, the most civilized and richest of all the dwellers in the east, while in the extreme south-west were the Philistines, noted for their valor in war and their power as a tribe that had all the characteristics of a nation except for their migratory and predatory habits. This fierce and valorous people continued to menace Israel until their ascendancy was finally broken by David.

(I20)