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 UCSB LJBKAKY
 
 THE 
 
 ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN 
 
 NILE, RED SEA, & GENNESARETH, &c. 
 
 A CANOE CRUISE IN PALESTINE AND EGYPT, AND THE 
 WATERS OF DAMASCUS. 
 
 By J. MACGREGOR, M.A. 
 
 THIRD EDIT/OX. 
 
 WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1870. 
 
 T/ie ri^ht of Translation is reserved.
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
 AND CHARING CROSS.
 
 TO 
 
 HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS 
 
 THE COMMODORE OF THE CANOE CLUB 
 
 Js gcbicittcb 
 
 THIS RECORD OF THE ROI! ROY'S CRUISE 
 
 ON ANCIENT RIVERS, LAKES, AND SEAS, 
 
 IN BIBLE LANDS, 
 
 HIS MOST DUTIFUL HUMBLE SERVANT, 
 
 THE CAPTAIN.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 SUEZ CANAL— PORT SAID — LAKE MENZALEH — THE START — ROGUES 
 
 — SAND STORM — BEARS — ISMAILIA — CROCODILE LAKE — MURDERS 
 
 — GUY FAWKES — JACKAL — THE CANOE — MY BED Page I 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 KAMESES — SWEET CANAL — BITTER LAKES — STRANGE LEAP — RED SEA 
 
 — PHARAOH — CAMEL WADING — WELLS OF MOSES — MIRAGE — SUEZ 
 
 — HOW TO LOSE MONEY ^ — SHAME! — CAIRO RAGGED-SCHOOLS — 
 ON THE NILE — WORSHIP — PADDLE TO THE PYRAMIDS ^ WILD 
 BOARS — (note on RED SEA IN APPENDIX, page 469) I9 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NILE — INUNDATION — RAISING WATER — WATERING WITH THE 
 FOOT — ROB ROY THE ROBBER — CATCHING THE CANOE — LIVING- 
 STONE — THE DELTA — ■ THE SEVEN STREAMS — DELIGHT OF THE 
 NATIVES — FOG — PIGEONS — POTTERS — PUMPKIN RAFT — FIDDLE 
 AND DRUM 36 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 NILE AND SEVERN — NILE AND THAMES — BAB EL HAGAR — MISERY — 
 COMPASS CARD — MANSOURAH — KING COTTON — SHOEBLACKS — THE 
 ZRIER RIVER — A WATER PUZZLE — A RUN ON THE BANK — LAND OF 
 GOSHEN — WONDERMENT — ADMIRERS — FINDING THE WAY — THE 
 
 MAKALOLO — THE GOVERNOR START ON LAKE MENZALEH — LIVING 
 
 CLOUDS — MATARYEH — LEGS OF INGLEEZ — EGYPTIAN LOCK ... 52 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 RIVER MUSHRA — "FIELD OF ZOAN " — STRANGE CREATURES — A LOST 
 NEEDLE — "FIRE IN ZOAN" — QUALMS — FLAMINGOES — RIGS — A 
 YARN — LUBBERS — BY MOONLIGHT — PORT SAID — PARTING SHOT — 
 SQUALL 74
 
 viii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BEYROUT — MASSACRE — GOOD NEWS — SCHOOLS — BUSTLE — BLIND — 
 AMERICAN MISSION — MOSLEMS — PRINCE OF WALES — AGRIPPA — 
 OUR FLAG— FRENCH LAKE — " GRATIAS " Page 88 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OVER LEBANON — CANOE ON WHEELS — THE ROB ROY IN SNOW — ODD 
 QUARTERS — YOUNG LADY — GENEROUS — ZAHLEH SCHOOL — RIVER 
 LITANY — HANGED — AN EAGLE — THE FIJI — SOURCE OF ABANA 
 — INDOORS — CATS Id 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ABANA — SOURCES — ABANA AND PHARPAR — THEIR NAMES — CANA- 
 LETTES — START ON ABANA — CHANGE TO THE TAURA — HOW TO DO 
 IT — PLEASANT TOIL — PROCESSION II5 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1>AMASCUS DOCK — PRETTY SIGHT — EASTERN DESERT — ^ RECONNOITRE— 
 THE ROB ROY ON HORSEBACK — LATOOF — ON ABANA — CELEBRATED 
 CANOEISTS — BRAVE GUARDS — TENT LIFE — HARRAN — MIRAGE — 
 "ABRAHAM'S WELL" — PLUNGING — ATEIBEH MORASS — " KO-AX 
 KO-AX" 127 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ATEIBEH MORASS — DROWNED IN THE LAKE — MENAGERIE — EMBARK- 
 ING — DANGEROUS DAY— A LONELY WOLD — END OF ABANA — 
 RETREATING — CHRISTMAS ON ABANA — THOUGHTS — NORTHERN 
 LAKE — MOUTHS OF ABANA — TELL DEKWEH — TELL HIJANEH — 
 HIJANEH LAKE — PADDLING TO BASHAN — THE GIANT CITIES — 
 NIMRIM — THE ISLAND — IN A BOAR-TRACK — CHANNEL I43 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HIJANEH LAKE — JUNGLE — PLAIN OF PHARPAR — MAPS — BEARINGS — 
 OFF TO BASHAN — BRAK — STONE EVERYTHING — CUT-THROAT — 
 STONE GATE AND SHUTTER — MR. BRIGHT — KING OG — PADDLE ON 
 PHARPAR — SOURCES — ADALYEH — WINDING PHARPAR — DAMAS- 
 CUS — SPUR OF HERMON — ICE 165
 
 Contents. ix 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RUKLEH — BUST OF BAAL — MOUNT HERMON — KEFR KUK — RASHEYA — 
 SEARCH FOR JORDAN — EARLIEST SPRING — JORDAN'S EYE — SAD 
 LOSS — LEECHES — THE HASBANY — WADY ET TEIM — HASBANY 
 SOURCE — FIRST BRIDGE — START ON JORDAN — COLOURED CASCADE 
 
 — PITCH PITS — JORDAN VALE — THE LITANY — STORM — DRIPPING 
 
 BEDROOM Page 185 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ACROSS JORDAN — BLOODY FRAY — BRITISH OFFICERS — OUR IGNORANCE 
 — JORDAN'S STREAMS — TELL EL KADY — DAN — LAISH — THE GOLDEN 
 IMAGE — SOUNDING THE SOURCE — JUSTICE AND MERCY — NAME OF 
 JORDAN — EL GHUJAR — HAZOR 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BANIAS — C^SAREA PHILIPPI — CAVERN — JOSEPHUS — THREE STREAMS 
 OF JORDAN — PHIALE — OUR SAVIOUR'S VISIT — THE GREAT QUES- 
 TION — PETER — CRUSADERS' KEEP — VIEW FROM SUBEIBEH — 
 ANXIOUS — MANSOURA — PARLIAMENT — CATECHISM — COSTUMES — 
 NOSE-RINGS — WATERWAYS — BRIGHT EYES — ENTER ARABS ... 224 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 RIVER BANIAS — STRANGE ROCK — AFLOAT ALONE — HIDING — "WALTZ- 
 ING" — MEETING OF THE WATERS — PURSUED — AT B.VY^ — FIRED AT 
 
 — CAUGHT — captive's APPEAL — CARRIED TO CAPTIVITY — BEFORE 
 THE COURT — SENTENCE — TAUNTS — REVENGE — ESCAPE ... 246 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CHASE RESUMED — A RASCAL — THE RIVER — BUFFALOES — SNAKES — 
 THE BARRIER — HOW TO EAT — PRISON FARE — THE RASCAL AGAIN 
 
 — VOICE OF THE NIGHT — HURRAH ! — RIDING HIGH HORSE — FREE 
 
 — DUTY — CHEAP 263 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MELLAHA — WATERS OF MEROM — THE LAKE — RAFT OF BULRUSHES — 
 FROM ABOVE — PUZZLE — KEDESH — START — ARABS AGAIN — 
 PELICAN HUNT — GRAND DISCOVERY — NEW MOUTH — THUNDER — 
 INNER LAKE — LILIES — ROYAL SALUTE — BREADTH OF BARRIER — 
 SIXTEEN SWANS — PAPYRUS — ITS USE — HOW IT GROWS — BENT BY 
 CURRENT ,. 278
 
 X Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 on hooleh^ cutting a cape — canoe chase — hooleh lake — 
 Jacob's bridge — who crossed it — templars' keep — grand 
 VIEW — Jew's lament — ten miles of torrent — hard times — 
 
 a set of ruffians — THE WORST — AT LAST — ALL RIGHT ! — NOTE 
 
 ON THE rivers Page 302 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 "on deep GALILEE" — BANK — NAMES OF THE LAKE — SHORES — SUB- 
 MERGED RUINS — NAKED STRANGER — LAGOONS — PORTS — BETH- 
 SAIDA JULIAS — OOZING STREAMS — RIVER SEMAKH — GERGESA — 
 A PAUSE — TELL HOOM — KERASEH — FETE — SEARCH FOR PIERS — 
 SUBMERGED REMAINS — BREEZE — STORM — SEARCHING BELOW — 
 CURIOUS STONES — NO PORT — TABIGA — BETHSAIDA BAY — FLOCKS 
 AND SHOALS — GENNESARETH 319 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BETHSAIDA BEACH — OF OLD — EVIDENCE — BIAS — SERMON AFLOAT — 
 STONES — FISHERMEN — SHIPS AND BOATS — DISTINCTION — AN 
 EXPLANATION — PRESENT BOATS — THE " PILLOW "^SAILING-BOAT 
 — FISH — NETS — HOOKS — CLIFF — "SCORPION ROCK"- — "CAPHAR- 
 NAOUM " — AIN ET TIN — OTHER STREAMS — THE CORACINUS — 
 OTHER FISH — THE HOT SPRINGS — THE AQUEDUCT — JOSEPHUS 
 FOUNTAIN — AT TABIGA 346 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE APOSTLES' VOYAGE — THE " DESERT PLACE " — THE EMBARKATION — 
 DIRECTION — POSITION OF TPIE SHIP — THE WEATHER AND WAVES 
 
 — APPROACH OF CHRIST — ACTION OF PETER — ARRIVAL OF THE 
 SHIP — OTHER INCIDENTS — OTHER EVIDENCE — "EXALTED TO 
 HEAVEN " — JOSEPHUS — WOUNDED — DIMENSIONS — TESTIMONY — 
 THANKS — MAPS 374 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SEA OF GALILEE — MAGDALA — DALMANUTHA — AIN BAREIDEH — TIBE- 
 RIAS — THE JEWS — FAST TRAVELLERS — AMERICAN CONFESSIONS 
 
 — HOW TO SEE ENGLAND — A RAINY DAY — EARTHQUAKE — SHORE 
 SOUTH OF TIBERIAS — HOT SWIMMERS — SOUTH-WEST SHORE — 
 NIGHT — JOYOUS — SIZE OF THE LAKE — KERAK — RUINS — EXIT OF 
 JORDAN — DOWN STREAM — MOLYNEUX AND LY'NCH — FAREWELL TO 
 JORDAN 393
 
 Contents. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IN IHE LAKE — STRANGE SWELL — A STORM — SUBMERGED RUINS — 
 THE "herd of swine" — SEMAKH VILLAGE — HIPPOS — HIGH SEA 
 
 — VALE OF DOVES — LONG LAST LOOK — CANA — NAZARETH — OLD 
 SIGHTS — SIGHTS UNSEEN — PLAIN WORDS Page 419 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SOURCE OF KISHON — MEGIDDO — FORDS OF KISHON — KISHON'S BANKS 
 
 — SISERA'S steeds — LAUNCH IN A STORM — UP THE MELCHI — 
 MEETING A CROCODILE — WHAT TO DO — FEELING A CROCODILE — 
 FLIGHT — EVIDENCE — START ON THE BELUS — RIVER AUJEH — 
 ACROSS THE B.\Y OF ACRE — FAIR JEWESS — ' ARIADNE ' — PRAISE 
 
 437 
 
 457 
 
 The Temple, 
 London, November 5, 1870.
 
 ( xii ) 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 MAPS. 
 
 I. The Delta and the Suez Canal 
 
 II. The Morass of Ateibeh, neai* Damascus 
 
 III. The Abana and Pharpar 
 
 IV. The Dake of Hijaneh 
 
 V. The Three Streams of Jordan 
 
 VI. The Waters of Merom 
 
 VII. The Lake of Gennesareth ... 
 VIII. Palestine (outline and route) 
 
 TO FACE P.^GE 
 
 86 
 134 
 168 
 
 220 
 306 
 386 
 450 
 
 COLOURED PLATES. 
 
 Capture of the Rob Roy on Jordan (frontispiece). 
 
 Start on Lake Menzaleh in Egypt 
 
 Prison Fare in the Waters of Merom 
 
 " Country of the Gergesencs," Sea of Galilee 
 
 70 
 270 
 424 
 
 WOODCUTS. 
 
 The Shallows of Lake Menzaleh ... 
 Night Visitor on Crocodile Lake ... 
 Dinner in the " Sweet Canal" 
 
 Camel in the Red Sea 
 
 Slave Children at Cairo 
 
 The Barrage of the Nile 
 
 Fisherman's Raft of Goui-ds 
 
 Common Compass Card and Compass Card of the Rob Roy 
 The Land of Goshen from the Banks of the Zrier River 
 
 The "Field of Zoan" 
 
 Flamingoes taking Wing 
 
 Night on Lake Menzaleh 
 
 Blind reading to the Lame 
 
 The Rob Roy in the Snow of Lebanon 
 
 New Schoolhouse at Zahleh 
 
 Fiji Source of the Abana 
 
 Gorge of the Abana near Damascus 
 
 Pole Frame for the Canoe on Horseback 
 
 A Plunge in Ateibeh Marsh 
 
 Christmas Night on a Mouth of the Abana ... 
 Bird's-eye View of the Lake of Hijaneh (outline) 
 
 IS 
 21 
 
 25 
 31 
 41 
 49 
 56, 57 
 63 
 
 75 
 80 
 84 
 
 93 
 103 
 107 
 112 
 123 
 
 131 
 
 141 
 
 151 
 157
 
 Illustrations. xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Rob Roy in the Wild Boar's Haunt 163 
 
 Hermon and Plain of the Pharpar 167 
 
 Stone Door and Shutter in Bashan 174,175 
 
 Half a Mile of the Pharpar (outline) 181 
 
 " Ain Rob Roy," under Mount Hermon 191 
 
 Wady et Teim (outline) 196 
 
 Jordan Source near Hasbeya (plan) 197 
 
 General View of the Hasbeya Source of Jordan 199 
 
 The Vale of Jordan 204 
 
 A Fish from the Hasbany 209 
 
 Jordan Source at Dan (plan) 215 
 
 Jordan Source at Banias (plan) 227 
 
 Hooleh Morass, from the Castle of Subeibeh 235 
 
 Heads of Three Hooleh Arabs 241 
 
 vStrange Rock in Jordan (plan) 247 
 
 " Waltzing " (plan) 250 
 
 Capture by the Arabs of Hooleh 255 
 
 Huts and Bull of Bashan 265 
 
 Raft of Bulrushes 281 
 
 The New-found Mouth of Jordan 289 
 
 Papyrus Stems and Roots 298, 301 
 
 Ten Miles of " the Descender" (outline) 311 
 
 Jordan Mouth, Sea of Galilee 320 
 
 Lagoon and Port, Butaia Plain 325 
 
 Semakh River, near Gergesa 330 
 
 Submerged Ruins near Tell Hoom (plan) 337 
 
 Storm on the Sea of Galilee 339 
 
 Coast at Tell Hoom, and Curious Stone in the Water 340 
 
 Fish-traps near Bethsaida 351 
 
 Galilee Fishing-boat 359 
 
 The " Scorpion Rock " (plans) 363,364 
 
 Bethsaida Bay 371 
 
 Structure in the Water and Covered Passage, near Bareideh (plan) ... 396 
 
 Submerged Ruins along the Shore South of Tiberias 407 
 
 Exit of the Jordan, and Kerak (plan) 413 
 
 Last View of the Lake of Gennesareth 429 
 
 The New Protestant Church at Nazareth 432 
 
 The Crocodile on the Kishon 445 
 
 ' Ariadne's ' Farewell 455 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 The Rob Roy Cabin 460 
 
 Bed— Bag— Bottle 462 
 
 Canoe Wheels 463
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 14, line 6 of note, yJv Isa. xiv. 5, /rod x\x. 5. 
 Page 44, top line, y?';' verse 16, ;-tV7^/ verse 15.
 
 THE ROB ROY ON THE JORDAN, 
 
 CfC. CfC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUEZ CANAL — PORT SAID — LAKE MENZALEH — THE START — ROGUES 
 
 — SAND STORM — BEARS — ISMAILIA — CROCODILE LAKE — MURDERS 
 
 — GUY FAWKES — JACKAL — THE CANOE — MY BED. 
 
 AT Alexandria we took off the carpet that had 
 covered the ' Rob Roy' during her long voyage 
 from England in the good ship * Tanjore.' 
 
 Her polished cedar deck glittered in the African sun, 
 and the waves of a new sea played on her smooth 
 oak sides. 
 
 I stepped in lighthearted, for a six months' cruise, 
 and the first half-hour round the crowded harbour 
 showed that the Moslems would be as kind in their 
 welcome of the little craft as the Norsemen had been, 
 and the Swiss, and the Indians of Ottawa in my other 
 journeys. 
 
 The dockyard workmen ran to see the canoe, shouting 
 in their scant attire. The sailors of a hundred vessels 
 peered over their bulwarks to gaze at her dark blue sails 
 and gilded silken flag ; even the lone sentry on the 
 walls was aroused from his stare into nothing by 
 the sight of the little English " Merkeb " that skimmed 
 over the sea so near to the breakers. 
 
 A few days more, and the Rob Roy came to 
 
 y,
 
 Suez Canal. [Chap, I. 
 
 Port Said, the bustling town of wooden shanties, new 
 sprung from the sand at the mouth of the Suez 
 Canal. No place so small as this has so large a 
 variety of inhabitants. It is like a slice of great Nijni 
 fair. 
 
 When the canoe touched the beach, the red man and 
 the white ran to see her, and gabbled loud ; then she 
 was borne on two negroes' shoulders to the " Grand 
 Hotel de France." Great interest was shown in the 
 arrival of the smallest boat that ever journeyed in 
 the East, and it will be entirely the fault of the narrator 
 if her delightful voyage does not fulfil the expectations 
 of what has to be told. But the first part of our journey 
 being in Egypt, it has few of the dangers, the adventures, 
 and the discoveries which will be found in her cruise 
 over Syria. It was novel, indeed, to paddle our canoe 
 upon the Red Sea and the Nile, but far more when 
 the Rob Roy essayed the Syrian lakes and the rivers 
 and seas of Palestine, among sacred scenes never opened 
 before to the traveller's gaze, being entirely inacces- 
 sible except in a canoe. These we are to meet farther 
 on. Meanwhile, on this 28th of October, the Rob Roy 
 is content to start at a slower pace and in easier navi- 
 gation. 
 
 The quick-witted officials of the Suez Canal Company 
 are all day busy here about dredges and barges, and 
 steamers, and dusty coal brigs, and no wonder they 
 hailed with joy our new and dainty craft. They over- 
 whelmed me with hospitality, explaining in voluble 
 accents the wonders of the place, and barely concealing 
 a suspicion that their guest was at least half crazy. A 
 thorough examination of the Suez Canal was the first 
 part of my long programme for this Eastern voyage, and
 
 Chap. I.] Port Said. 3 
 
 a fortnight's careful observation did not settle the ques- 
 tion whether it is most difficult to cut a canal, to keep 
 it open, or to make it pay. With confidence I left this 
 to the infallible Council, as the least knotty point, and 
 the most practical, to be decided by the bishops who 
 went through the canal to settle the new creed at 
 Rome. 
 
 A hole in the sand is an excellent place for sinking 
 capital. You can always dig it deep if people will pay 
 the diggers. You can even keep it clear if you pay 
 dredges rather than dividends. When Europe or Asia 
 or Africa is at war, of course the canal is closed, and the 
 expenses go on, and the earnings stop ; but so far as 
 concerns old England, we have always got, at Aden, the 
 cork at one end of the bottle. 
 
 The Suez Canal is open, and everybody is pleased. 
 President Lesseps has made Afi'ica an island. For 
 him and his shareholders our wishes are much better 
 than our expectations. 
 
 Six years ago there was nothing at Port Said but 
 sand, and even now the streets are nothing else. JNIen 
 fire at sea-gulls among the shops ; pelicans toss upon 
 the waves and flamingoes fly over the houses, and 
 porpoises tumble in the harbour. Among these new 
 friends the Rob Roy sailed over the water, and at the 
 table d'Jiote all the guests talked about her intended 
 voyage from sea to sea. One gentleman was very 
 -^^positive in his description of her build and of her 
 crew, for he had " actually seen the canoe and the man 
 inside it ; " yet he did not recognise me sitting oppo- 
 site to him all the time. Another, a Belgian, was 
 earnest in his praise of England, and told how hos- 
 pitably he had been received, with other Belgian rifle-
 
 Suez Canal. [Chap, I. 
 
 men, at the Wimbledon shooting ; and the argument 
 was closed by a general confession that " Les Anglais 
 sont plus cliic que nous." A Frenchman came to thank 
 me for a little paper, ' The British Workman ' (in French), 
 which I had given' to him at Havre last summer, just 
 before leaving that port in my yawl for a voyage alone 
 over the broad Channel to Portsmouth. Out of the cafe 
 to pace the sand, and to ruminate on the rise of 
 nations, we are challenged even here by little ink-faced 
 urchins, who rush at the new traveller with " Black 
 shoes, sare ! " 
 
 From Map I., at page "^6, it will be seen that the 
 canal at first goes through Lake Menzaleh, a vast ex- 
 panse of shallow water, the accumulation of what trickles 
 through the soft dykes along the Damietta branch 
 of the Nile. The lake, being now full (in October), had 
 advanced its margin close to the town of Port Said. 
 About six weeks afterwards, it was at nearly the same 
 level, when I walked to see the "Gemileh mouth" of the 
 Nile, where a fitful stream only sometimes overflows sea- 
 wards. At my visit to Menzaleh a third time (in March) 
 the lake had receded half a mile from the swampy flats, 
 and at that dry season the fulfilment of the prophecy 
 seemed most complete which tells us that the seven 
 streams of the Nile shall fail. 
 
 Later in the cruise we shall spend a pleasant week 
 upon Menzaleh. 
 
 Meanwhile, in search of adventure, we soon dragged 
 the Rob Roy over the sand-bank which separates the 
 
 ' Good and harm may be done in this, as in other ways : good by 
 giving as a present ; harm by giving as a rebuke. Critics were rather hard 
 once upon tliis ready way of addressing strangers ; now their own clever 
 thoughts are daily proffered to each of us, everywhere.
 
 Chap. I,] 
 
 Lake Menzaleh. 
 
 lake from the sea, and launched her upon the calm wide 
 water that reaches away to a far-off dimness. 
 
 The sun w^as hot, the water unruffled by the lightest 
 air or any current, and there was nothing to betray the 
 
 The shallows of Lake Meii/.aleh. 
 
 shallows round us even to a practised eye. Very soon, 
 therefore, the canoe got entangled in mud-banks, and 
 the sharp little ragamuffins of an Arab village gladly 
 perceived there was a new victim come for them to 
 teaze. 
 
 They scampered out to me, naked and black, and a 
 score of them were splashing and tumbling round the 
 canoe, now helpless to run away. 
 
 "Backshish!" was the first cry I heard in the East, 
 and the last I heard there, after wandering long, was
 
 6 Suez Canal. [Chap. I. 
 
 "Backshish!" Their Hthe limbs revelled in the tepid 
 water, and their feet in the oozy mud. Their heads were 
 like little cocoa-nuts, with only one hair-lock left at the 
 top, for Mahomet to hold them by at last. Their frolics 
 were very forward, to say the least, but boys, black or 
 white, must be humoured to be ruled ; so I appointed the 
 noisiest of them a "policeman," and paid him a month's 
 salary in advance — one penny — for which he made the 
 rest drag the canoe, with me in it, a long way cheer- 
 fully. At last I got out of the boat, and, wading in the 
 soft mud, spoiled for ever a pair of chamois shoes twenty 
 years old, but never meant for use in water work like this. 
 Trudging through the black slush, I dragged the Rob 
 Roy over a wall into deep water, but with a sad loss of 
 dignity, and we then launched once more upon the old salt 
 sea. It was charming to be danced on the swell of real 
 ocean waves, and to shoot at the pelicans lifted on the 
 foam, and to scud back again with a reef in my lug, 
 and to race with the swarthy Nubians tugging at their 
 oars. 
 
 But, after a day or two here of this amphibious life, 
 the sights of Port Said had all been seen, the workshops 
 inspected, and the huge machines of the canal. The last 
 news from England had been read at the " cercle," and 
 a farewell dinner finished with my new French friends. 
 Then my heavy baggage was sent on by water, and my 
 " sea-stores " were embarked by the Rob Roy for our 
 lonely cruise. The exulting delight of freedom possessed 
 me once more with an access of joy which had always 
 come soon in my voyages, and never ceased to the end. 
 
 And yet I cannot say that it would be wise to begin 
 one's canoeing in the East, or to begin in the East by 
 canoeing. 
 
 Over and over I felt the great advantage of having
 
 Chap. I.] The Start. 7 
 
 made already three tours in these hot latitudes ; and 
 often there was full need for the shifts and plans for 
 safety, speed, or comfort, which had been shaped by the 
 experience of three former journeys afloat entirely alone.- 
 The wind to-day is from the north, and thus right in 
 my favour. The French officers crowd around as the 
 canoe is launched, now heavy with provisions for four 
 days. Her topsail swells with the breeze as we glide 
 from the shore, and the Egyptian sailors shout, " All 
 right!" in English, nodding their shaven polls. Nothing 
 could be a happier start, and we were soon skimming 
 swiftly on the smooth canal, which here runs perfectly 
 straight for nearly thirty miles, while its banks vanish 
 on the horizon in trembling perspective. It is but 
 a short voyage to-day, and begun in the evening, with 
 no work to do but to steer and to look at the high 
 banks on both sides, like two railway viaducts, five 
 hundred feet apart, at the steam dredges rattling their 
 wheels and chains, and the coal-boats lazily towed in a 
 
 ^ The first of these Eastern tours was in 1S49, through Palestine, Greece, 
 and Egypt, &c., of which some account was pubHshed in ' Three Days in 
 the East,' and in ' Eastern Music' Tlie solitaiy cruises were described in 
 ' A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe' (5th edition), through Central 
 Europe ; ' The Rob Roy in the Baltic ' (2nd edition), through Northern 
 Europe ; and ' The Voyage Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy ' (2nd edition), 
 to Paris, and in the English Channel. The last three books are published 
 by Low and Marston, of Fleet Street (price 5^. each). The two others are 
 now out of print. 
 
 When a man has to tell by the pencil and pen what he has done with the 
 paddle, it is impossible to be otherwise than individual and personal in the 
 narration, or even egotistical in style. It would be affectation not to avow 
 that one is sensible of this ; but it would be pedantic to try an escape from 
 the inevitable by using the word " we " instead of " I " in the story. Those 
 who write anonymously, and can abide by the good custom of using the 
 impersonal "we," will be best aware of the double protection they enjoy 
 from any such tendency to become naive in their expression, and they can 
 understand how it may be better for an author to be open to the charge of 
 simplicity than to that of unnatural reserve.
 
 8 Rogues. [Chap. I. 
 
 line, and the pretty fleet of small craft all pressing on 
 with me, crowding white-bosomed sails, and laden with 
 merry song. 
 
 The sky glows softly as the sun sets red, and the 
 white moon rises full. By its bright shining on the 
 waters of cold Lake Menzaleh, we draw up the Rob Roy 
 ashore on the bank, in the loneliest spot to be found, 
 near Ras el Esh, and soon my " Canoe Cuisine " is boiling 
 Liebig's soup, and bread and wine fill up the carte of 
 dinner. 
 
 The fish are leaping in the moonbeams nowv They 
 often jump into the little steamers on the canal, and a 
 fish had leaped right across my boat as she started ; but 
 there is no other noise. Wrapped in my great brown 
 cloak for the night, I take a last look about me to 
 see that nobody is near. For sleeping quietly, the main 
 thing is to be quite alone, and on this Suez Canal all 
 strangers may safely be distrusted as rogues, for the 
 number of murders in its neighbourhood is altogether 
 unreasonable. 
 
 Under the moon, then, one could see only long rows 
 of water-fowl on the silent lake in regiments gleaming 
 white, so I turned in, while my cabin w^as lighted by a 
 beautiful little oil lamp,^ and opened a page of the 
 ' Times.' 
 
 With all these comforts about me I passed a miserable 
 night. The place so carefully chosen turned out to 
 be only a heap of refuse, and it swarmed with angry 
 flies, so very minute and so inquisitive, or so hungry, that 
 
 ■* I had devised a " canoe candle-lamp," weighing only five ounces; but 
 the oil lamp answered far better for many reasons, at least in countries 
 where oil can always be had. This lamp had been obtained at the Paris 
 Exhibition, and was given to me by Col. Stanton at Alexandria, and its 
 extremely clever construction made it useful on a hundred occasions after- 
 wards in the voyage.
 
 Chap. I.] Sand Storm. 9 
 
 the musquito curtains of my cabin only made their 
 attack vaore piqua7it. 
 
 The moon is, indeed, very pretty to look at, and proper 
 to sing to in rhyme or blank verse ; but its pale light 
 shows no colour in objects, and so, for selecting night 
 quarters, give me in future the truth-telling rays of honest 
 Father Sol. 
 
 Next morning at four it was cheerful to breakfast 
 on a cigar, until I could catch a boat and buy bread 
 from a funny little Greek. But a Frenchman hailed me, 
 and his wife brought out some excellent coffee, and both 
 were intensely polite and conversational as they handed 
 the sugar-tongs into the canoe. 
 
 At Kantara the canal cuts through the old Arab 
 track over the desert, and by which I had travelled 
 years ago on camel's back, and the name of the place 
 — meaning " bridore " — reminds us that here was once 
 some wet lagoon simmering its tepid fever in the 
 reeking sand.^ 
 
 There I stopped Sunday, and slept in a little wooden 
 shed, A furious storm whirled up the arid plain, and 
 dishevelled the face of nature and dimmed the sun in 
 heaven. The landscape, to look upon, was now one vast 
 yellow sand-cloud, with men and camels faintly floating 
 in a fog of dust, without any horizon. To paddle against 
 this hurricane next day was impossible, but I towed the 
 canoe by a long cord girt round my waist. Even the 
 mosquito-net, double-folded over my face, quite failed to 
 
 •* When our Saviour, as a child, was taken into Eg>'pt, the road 
 would, no doubt, pass this place. From Josephus we learn how numerous 
 were the Jews in Eg)'pt then, and that their worship was more pure in 
 Egypt than in Palestine ('Antiquities of the Jews,' book xiv. chap. vii. 
 sec. ii.).
 
 lO Bears. [Chap. I. 
 
 keep out the drifting sand ; and the few wayworn tra- 
 vellers who passed when the Rob Roy was made up for 
 the night under the sheltering bank might well look 
 amazed. A wholesome fear of the strange creature they 
 saw was all in my favour, and often in this journey I 
 traded on the belief that the coward and the superstitious 
 are not seldom the same person. 
 
 Wild dogs, not exactly jackals, for their tails were 
 erect, generally chose the night hours to call upon me, 
 and sometimes travellers belated did the same. The 
 white-robed Rob Roy, whiter under the moonlight, must 
 have puzzled them greatly, and so long as they argued 
 in whispers outside I let them alone, but there was a 
 pistol ready all the time in my bedroom, and I always 
 had the (unfortunate) capacity of instantly waking at the 
 slightest noise. 
 
 For several days a curious group of beings had exactly 
 kept pace with the Rob Roy — three brown men leading 
 three brown bears. One bear was old, another was 
 blind, the third was very frisky, but the men insisted 
 upon all of them bathing in the water exactly at noon, 
 about the very last thing a bear would like to do, 
 and it was great amusement to watch their struggles, 
 remembering the gross indignities offered by the bathing- 
 woman to every one of us when he was a British 
 baby. 
 
 One pitch-dark night, when I ought to have reached El 
 Gisr (" the bridge "), the sand-hills were high, and I could 
 not find the place. At length, after paddling back and for- 
 ward a mile or two, I went to a barge, where loud singing 
 told of inmates. When my paddle tapped on the window 
 a man came out, and offered to find me lodging, but, after 
 some parley, he seemed so drunk, and evidently such a
 
 Chap. I.] Pace. 1 1 
 
 villain when sober, that it would never do to leave my 
 canoe with him ; so I paddled on, and slept in my 
 cabin as usual, but with no dinner or supper, and 
 frequent visits at midnight from very strange folks. 
 This place is noted for ruffianism, and the Greeks 
 had the worst character by universal consent — in- 
 cluding their own. The best men in the canal I found 
 were Austrians. 
 
 There was ample variety in the scenery or circum- 
 stances of each day to make it extremely interesting to 
 voyage thus here once, and it was an excellent prepara- 
 tion in many ways for the more difficult times and places 
 that were to come. Among other things, I was able to 
 make numerous experiments with my boat, and all her 
 multifarious fittings, of which a full list and description 
 will be found in the Appendix. Her pace I tried repeat- 
 edly in calm water, without current, and where all the 
 kilometres were marked by posts on the bank ; and this 
 trial was extremely useful afterwards when we (the Rob 
 Roy and I) had to measure the lakes and rivers where no 
 man had been before. 
 
 Thus it was found that the canoe, being in heavy sea- 
 trim, and going at the pace one can easily keep up for 
 eight hours a day, would paddle 542 yards, with 100 
 double strokes (right and left), in five minutes. This 
 pace, it will be seen, is not four miles an hour, but then it 
 can be kept up for months, carrying both food and lodging 
 and comforts all the way. Current and wind are to be 
 so used as to add to the speed and diminish the work.^ 
 
 In the midday hours the heat was excessive, and I 
 
 * This is, of course, for a travelling canoe, which bears the same relation 
 to a fast canoe as a hunter does to a racehorse. Our fast canoes can go a 
 good pace, also for a long journey. The last "twelve-mile race" of the 
 Canoe Club was accomplished with the tide in eighty-five minutes. No 
 man in a row-boat could keep up with a canoe in strange rivers for a week.
 
 12 Isniailia. [Chap. I. 
 
 rested then in some shady nook under a mud barge, or, 
 hauling the canoe ashore, I reclined by its side on the 
 sand, with the sun behind the blue sail. The cooler 
 hours were spent in progress or in visits aboard the 
 numerous steam dredges which kept dragging, scraping, 
 and shovelling the mud of the desert on each side over 
 the new bank, and this by such very ingenious contri- 
 vances, and on so gigantic a scale, that there was enough 
 every hour to study and to admire. 
 
 The Rob Roy was next housed at Ismailia, the half- 
 way town of the Suez Canal. All the men here, and 
 animals, and the shrubs and pretty flowers, depend for 
 life upon the fresh water brought from the river Nile 
 along the " Sweet Canal." Another branch of this gives 
 water to Port Said by an iron tube, with open troughs 
 at intervals to drink from, as the traveller rides or walks 
 a weary fifty miles along the bank, or sails in the salt 
 water of this enormous cut. If ever this tube is in the 
 power of an enemy, Port Said will be athirst, and the 
 sternest garrison must yield. 
 
 A railway from Ismailia to the west had been opened 
 only a few weeks. The station is the largest in the 
 world — the desert. The rails themselves end on the 
 bare sand, and the " station master " occupies a little 
 bell-tent. Passengers are waiting for the next train, which 
 is to start " about four o'clock," that is, anything up to 
 six. There is no platform, so they place their bundles 
 on the sand, and friends take leave of one another as if 
 they cannot expect to meet again alive. 
 
 Certainly it was a strange sound, the guard crying 
 " Now, then, for Rameses ! " Then he looked at each 
 man's ticket, a long paper crowded with Arabic writing, 
 and, lastly, all of them lay down in a row under the 
 bales of goods, the guard, engineer, ticket-man, and
 
 Chap. I.] Crocodile Lake. 1 3 
 
 passengers, and they were soon fast asleep in the 
 shade. 
 
 Ismaiha is hke a hothouse without the glass, and all 
 the life in it is exotic. The sun's heat and the Nile's 
 cool water force the arid sand into a tropical verdure. 
 Embosomed in this are French cafes and billards, with 
 Arab huts and camels — the signboards on booths in 
 Greek, and Turkish, and Spanish, and American ; ateliers 
 resounding with hammer and cog-wheel ; and tents full 
 of half-dressed savages chaffering uproariously; and 
 boulevards thronged by the second-rate fashion of a 
 French town planted and growing fast too in the 
 veritable desert. Beside it lie the shores of the Lake 
 Timsah, " Crocodile Lake," which had a few pools when 
 the canal was begun, but now it is filled with brackish 
 water. 
 
 Only freshwater shells are to be found in Lake Timsah, 
 and the crocodile does not live in salt water. These 
 facts seem to confirm the idea that a freshwater canal 
 had long ago existed here, and that the town, of which 
 there are ruins at the end of the Bitter Lakes, with relics 
 of the canal that fed it, may have been destroyed by 
 the same upheaving of the land which dried the lakes 
 themselves.'' 
 
 ^ A canal from the Nile to the Red Sea was begun 2400 years ago, and 
 a branch of it went to Pelusium, in the Mediterranean. The "Bitter 
 Lakes " were then navigable for small craft. About twelve centuries after 
 that the canal joined the Nile near Cairo, and the navigation was kept open 
 for 120 years. Napoleon I. resolved to revive the scheme long disused in 
 practice. The Bitter Lakes were, doubtless, once a portion of the Red Sea. 
 The marine shells found at the bottom of the lakes and those of the Red 
 Sea are identical. These shells are to be seen on the sides of the lakes, 
 and even on a raised beach, which is now above the level of the Red Sea. 
 The ridge between the end of the Red Sea and the Bitter Lakes consists of 
 tertiai"y strata, the fossils of which are identical with those of tlie London 
 basin and of the hill of Montmartre, near Paris. " Egj-pt, England, and
 
 14 Mttrders. [Chap. I. 
 
 I rashly determined to spend a night on this lake, 
 and launched the Rob Roy after sundown, with rod and 
 line, net, deep-line, bait, flies, and trawling-hooks ; after 
 sailing everywhere until the wind died out, our fishing 
 was begun in four ways at once. The moon beamed 
 brilliantly after midnight, and my little lamp, fastened 
 on the canoe so as to be protected from the paddle 
 by my knee, glittered on the water, and a hundred 
 flies kept dancing round it always. I plied every 
 means in my power to catch one fish, but did not 
 get one single bite, and sad disasters happened to my 
 gear. 
 
 The deep-line ran out overboard. The bait melted 
 away without a nibble, my rod slipped into the water 
 unperceived, and the " spinner " of my trawling-line 
 got hooked in rocks below. Wet and disappointed, I 
 sought an island to sleep upon, for the shores of the lake 
 were quite unsafe. In the preceding week two murders 
 had been perpetrated, only one murder had come off 
 in the present week, so it was still one below the average, 
 v/here any man with five francs, or supposed to have 
 them, is worth killing, and there is no policeman Z, and 
 no Coroner holds his quest. 
 
 France are consequently of the same age." — 'Glynn on the Isthmus of Suez,' 
 and discussion on the paper (Minutes of the Institute of Civil Engineers, 
 vol. X. session 1850-51). See also Robinson's ' Biblical Researches' (1841), 
 vol. i. p. 72. In Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible' (article "Red Sea"), it 
 seems to be considered that the Red Sea once extended to Lake Timsah, 
 and receded thence, fulfilling jDrophecy (Isaiah xi. 15 ; xiv. 5 ; Zechariah 
 X. 11). The project for a salt-water cut from the Mediterranean to the Red 
 Sea has been a long time under consideration. In 1830, General Chesney 
 reported upon the subject, and Mr. Stephenson and others in 1847. In 
 1833, M. de Lesseps had been interested in the subject by Enfantin. The 
 concession to the present promoters was granted in 1854, and the work 
 was to be finished in six years. Afterwards, it was arranged that the 
 " Sweet Canal" is to belong to the Eg}'ptian Government.
 
 Chap. I.] 
 
 Gity Fazukcs. 
 
 15 
 
 The lake is girt by hills of purest sand, and a few 
 shrubs perish by the margin, but farther back are rich 
 deep jungles, full of water-fowl and small game, a per- 
 fect larder for the wild beasts of the bare desert around. 
 
 Night Visitor on Crocodile Lake. 
 
 Under a sandy hill I grounded the Rob Roy, and 
 rigged out her nightly cabin. Chill air and wet gar- 
 ments soon made me shiver under the cold moon, but I 
 did not know then that this is about the worst fever 
 spot in Egypt. There was not fuel enough for a fire, 
 but I lit up my Russian cooking-lamp, and this warmed 
 the cabin wonderfully. Poor, however, were my pyro- 
 technics for this the fifth of November, yet it is well to 
 remember Guy Fawkes. 
 
 To my great surprise, although it was on an island.
 
 1 6 Jackal. [Chap. I. 
 
 a visitor came, and he would not be denied an inter- 
 view. He was only a jackal, and the conversation was 
 entirely on his side, as he screamed his shrill cry, and 
 would neither leave me in peace nor come near enough 
 to be shot. The savoury smell of hot supper, perhaps, 
 found the poor beast desperately hungry. Next morning, 
 on a return visit, I traced him by footsteps to his den, 
 but he would not come out. Then to recover the lost 
 fishing-rod I visited every cape, and bay, and beach, 
 and reedy fen, and stony islet, where I had fished or 
 walked upon during the night before. All these features 
 appeared so different now in broad daylight, and at the 
 very last place of all the rod was found, and with every 
 hook still floating in the water. 
 
 At Ismailia, now again all safe, there met me the 
 brave and faithful companion of my future journey, 
 Michael Hany, well known to me as my dragoman in 
 1849, frequently trusted since by large parties sent to his 
 charge ; most welcome now as the man without whose 
 aid I could scarcely have ventured to take the Rob Roy 
 through the journey we are about to relate. My old 
 friend was delighted with the new boat, and all her 
 fittings had to be thoroughly explained to him. Perhaps 
 this may be a good time to mention them briefly here. 
 
 The new canoe, named Rob Roy, like the other two, 
 is, of course, fitted with every improvement suggested 
 by former experience or kind hints from the 200 members 
 of our Canoe Club. She was specially built for this 
 voyage (by Mr. Pembery, of London), and is probably 
 the smallest vessel ever launched in which one can 
 travel long and far, and sleep at the end in comfort. 
 Moreover, she is strong and light, portable and safe, a 
 good sailer, and graceful to behold. 
 
 The Rob Roy is 14 feet long, 26 inches wide, and one
 
 Chap. I.] The Canoe. 1 7 
 
 foot deep outside, built of oak below and covered with 
 cedar. A waterproof apron protects me from waves 
 and rain. Her topmast is the second joint of my fishing- 
 rod, and a third joint is ready in the stern. Her sails 
 are dyed deep blue, an excellent plan, for it tempers 
 the glare of the sun, and is more readily concealed from 
 the Arab's eye. The blue bladed paddle is the same 
 that was wielded in Sweden over many a broad lake, 
 and though an inch of its edge had been split off by 
 an upset of the canoe from a runaway cart in a Norway 
 forest, yet I loved my old paddle best of them all. To 
 sleep in the canoe I always go ashore, and work her 
 back and forwards on the beach until the keel is firmly 
 bedded for a good night's rest. Next we form a little 
 cabin less than 3 feet high, and more than 6 feet long, 
 and then having inside the gauze musquito curtain, and 
 over all a strong white waterproof sheet, 6 feet square, 
 and drooping loose upon each side, we are made up 
 snug, and can defy all kinds of weather. A " post-office 
 bag," very light, but completely waterproof, has held 
 our clothes during the day, and now it becomes a pillow. 
 The bed is 3 feet long, and 14 inches wide, quite long 
 enough for all one cares about, and no complaints were 
 heard of its being too broad. It is only the shoulders 
 and hips that really require a soft mattress if the head 
 is pillowed too ; as for the rest of one's body it doesn't 
 matter at all. When travelling under hot sun, I place 
 this bed behind me, with one end on deck, and the 
 middle of it is tied round my breast, so as to bring 
 the upper end just under the long back leaf of my 
 sun-helmet, which is of pith and felt combined, a 
 head-dress lately introduced by Tress, and entirely 
 successful, for I wore it during about seven months, 
 and neither rain, nor sun, nor duckings in salt waves, 
 
 C
 
 1 8 My Bed. [Chap. I. 
 
 ever' altered its lightness or good shape. The bed thus 
 becomes an excellent protector against sunstroke, and 
 it was especially useful when my course was north, and 
 my back was thus turned to the sun. Often in forget- 
 fulness I went ashore with the bed still dangling from 
 my waist behind, while wondering natives gazed at the 
 " Giaour " with his air-bag tail. The bed was useful too 
 when I sat upon wet sand, or grass, or gravel, and it 
 was always a good life-buoy in case of an upset. This 
 and all other fittings were made at Silver's, of Cornhill, 
 where each of the four Rob Roy cruises had its outfit. 
 Other minutiae of the Rob Roy's build and details, 
 specially interesting to paddlers, are given in the 
 Appendix. 
 
 Every timber in the boat had, of course, been care- 
 fully placed, so as not to interfere with my comfort in 
 sleeping, or to catch the shoulders, elbows, hips, or knees 
 while turning in bed. In fact this canoe was built round 
 me reclining, as my first one had been built round me 
 sitting — in each case recognising the one great principle, 
 far too often forgotten, that a comfortable boat, like 
 a shoe, or a coat, must be made for the wearer, and not 
 tvorn dozvn to his shape.
 
 Chap. II.] Rameses. 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RAMESES — SWEET CANAL — BITTER LAKES — STRANGE LEAP — RED 
 SEA — PHARAOH — CAMEL WADING — WELLS OF MOSES — MIR.VGE — 
 SUEZ — HOW TO LOSE MONEY — SHAME! — CAIRO RAGGED-SCHOOLS 
 — ON THE NILE — WORSHIP — PADDLE TO THE PYRAMIDS — WILD 
 BOARS. 
 
 HANY had brought a tent and a cook, and a 
 luggage-boat carried these, while the canoe went 
 westward by the Sweet Canal to spend the Sunday at 
 Rameses. 
 
 The French seem to have settled it, to their own 
 satisfaction at any rate, that this place is rightly named. 
 It is now a bleak " wady " in the dreary desert, and a 
 walk from it far away on the burning sand found for 
 me only more loneliness. Yet hereabouts the Israelites 
 must have lived In their Egyptian bondage. A railway 
 .passes near, and affronts our dreams of the past by its 
 iron print of the present. The wires of the telegraph, 
 curving thin from their naked posts in the desert, seem 
 to jar upon a half-sacred silence with a wild ^olian 
 humming in the faintest breeze — that strange yet well- 
 known music. 
 
 I sat down in the desert under my white-topped 
 umbrella. Only a little black spider seemed to be alive 
 on the black gravel. The sandhills in the distance
 
 20 Sweet Canal. [Chap. ii. 
 
 quivered in the sunlight, or gently floated for a while 
 upon a sea of liquid nothing in the bright mirage. 
 Pictures came forward to the inner eye of fancy : crowds 
 of Israelites, laden with jewels and kneading-troughs ; 
 countless cattle trudging along ; a half-frightened, half- 
 escaped multitude, beginning that wonderful walk of 
 forty years. 
 
 By the " Sweet Canal " the Rob Roy sailed again 
 southward, and, hoisting her topsail to the pleasant 
 breeze, she kept pace well with the luggage-boat, which 
 was wafted along by her tall and graceful lateen. Brilliant 
 meteors shot across the sky at night, but softly the 
 stars hung out their spangles, and the moon slowly rose. 
 Then it was silent and cool and delicious for sleep : 
 so far removed from the barking dogs of towns, and 
 with only the wild jackal's music, plaintive and clear, 
 lulling to slumber. But even here a rumbling in the 
 distance came nearer as the express train rattled up, 
 jingling, and swa}'ing its red light like a great beast's 
 angry eye. No wonder the Arabs rah up the bank to 
 look at the hissing, puffing monster, and murmured 
 a prayer to the Prophet as they came back amazed. 
 Two active, merry Nubian lads were with our luggage- 
 boat. They seemed never to weary or to quarrel 
 as they towed her along with ripples simpering under 
 the bows, and the red English ensign lazily flut- 
 tering against a sky of purest blue. One of the lads 
 had all his wealth on his back — a shirt most uncommonly 
 brief. 
 
 Sometimes, for a change, I lounged on the soft carpets 
 in the stern, while the Nubians towed both our craft 
 in the midday heat. Dinner was cooked on shore by 
 Hany, and my table was set in the boat, whiie Sleman,
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 Bitter Lakes. 
 
 21 
 
 the waiter, handed the dishes as he stood impassive in 
 the cool water between us. 
 
 DiniiL-r in the " Swcut Canal." 
 
 In this way we visited the Serapeion, and then Cha- 
 louf, where ten thousand men were hard at work, and 
 a thousand donkies and steam-engines and raihvays, 
 all carving out that deep slice from the desert where now 
 on salt water full navies float from sea to sea. 
 
 Then came the vast hollow of the Bitter Lakes, 
 where the sea had to rush in for months to quench 
 the thirst of many hundred years since water was here 
 before. 
 
 As yet on this wide tract, the salt glistened bright 
 and dry, INIen were loading huge white blocks of its 
 sharp crystals into boats on the Sweet Canal, which
 
 22 Strange Leap. [Chap. II. 
 
 meanders near the lakes, and is often a hundred feet 
 wide, with verdure on its shores, and bushes tangling in 
 my topsail yard. 
 
 But the canoe has no special work for it here, and 
 all this can be seen from a camel or on foot. It 
 was pleasant enough to sail over, but a very inactive 
 voyage. So much is to be told of livelier work in 
 the bounding waters of Palestine that we must hurry 
 through this slow canal, and even the Red Sea and the 
 Nile, so as to reach the mountains and lakes and rapids, 
 where discovery is open, and adventures are sure to be 
 met. 
 
 We were now descending from the level of the Nile 
 to that of the Red Sea, and so there was a lock to 
 pass through. Many boats were waiting for the Turkish 
 officials to open the gates, but these lazy fellows meant 
 to keep the boats there all night. Our red ensign, how- 
 ever, soon stirred them up, and a few kind words per- 
 suaded the guards to let all the boats into the basin. 
 At least a hundred passengers were on board one of 
 these floating boxes, and all of them had to debark until 
 the lock was passed. Then what a rush there was to 
 get aboard again, pell-mell ! and to secure the most 
 comfortable places and softest boards to sleep upon in 
 the cold. 
 
 Fish leaped and splashed in the still evening always. 
 Once, in the midday, a man shouted to me to approach 
 the bank, for he had a letter from Suez ; so I moved 
 the canoe to the shore, and, after reading the letter, I 
 put it into my breast-pocket, when at the same moment 
 a beautiful little fish leaped from the water into my 
 pocket with the letter. The bystanders shouted eagerly 
 at this as an undoubted sign of " good luck ; " and I had 
 the fish broiled for dinner, occupying the centre of a
 
 Chap. II.] Red Sea. 23 
 
 large flat dish. The extreme length of the fish was 
 under two inches, but the happy omen from it lasted 
 among my men for months. 
 
 At Suez we camped, and next day (November 12) 
 the Rob Roy was launched upon the Red Sea. The 
 name of this may signify the sea of the " Red Man ; " or 
 it may refer to the red coral reefs, or the red sea-weed, 
 or the very brilliant hues of the rocky shores which are 
 noticed farther on. At the north end this arm of the 
 sea there runs up a crooked channel, where the variable 
 tide of about six feet is magnified by the contracting 
 bends, and very difficult currents whirled the canoe about 
 uncertainly. 
 
 There is a ford across this twisted channel, nearly at 
 the mouth of the Sweet Canal ; and an island opposite 
 Tell Kholzum, where the ford is, still bears the name of 
 Jews' Island. The ford is not often passable, except at 
 low water ; and here it is that local tradition seems 
 to place the passage of the Israelites.^ After considering 
 all that I saw of the land and water, and what is believed 
 to have been its ancient condition long ago, I think the 
 weight of evidence is much in favour of the opinion 
 that the Israelites crossed at or above Suez. 
 
 The other place assigned by many for the miracle is 
 much farther south, and where the water would be more 
 than a hundred feet deep on the occasion of the passage, 
 and at least ten miles across. Among other objections to 
 this theory are the following : — 1. The east wind would 
 
 * In Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible' (article "Red Sea"), the passage 
 of the host seems to be placed about thirty miles north of Suez. The 
 word " Pihahii-oth" is said to mean a reedy place, and there is still much 
 jungle-morass near Lake Timsah. The Septuagint has the word "south " 
 wind where the A. V. reads "east " wind; but it is said to include a wind 
 several points off the E. towards S.E.
 
 24 Pharaoh. [Chap. II. 
 
 not have caused the water there to recede. 2. The 
 water held up on each side of the dry passage would 
 have been very high, and would rather have been 
 styled a " mountain," whereas it is repeatedly called 
 a zvall on either side. This latter expression is quite 
 intelligible when used for a heap of water even eight 
 or ten feet high (and in the Bitter Lakes it would be 
 thirty feet), and that depth, when the waves returned, 
 would be quite enough to overwhelm the Egyptians. 
 
 3. One night would not suffice for the first and last of 
 the long column of such a host to walk so many miles, 
 nor would the women and children be able to do it. 
 
 4. It does not appear that Moses had special directions 
 to go far south from Goshen, and the natural desire of 
 escape by the shortest way would lead him to the more 
 northern part. 5. The relative positions of hills, valleys, 
 and the sea itself, strongly favour the idea that the 
 host passed over above Suez. 6. Pharaoh, coming from 
 Zoan, would hasten his army to the upper end of the 
 Red Sea (then farther north), and so bar the passage by 
 dry land ; and then the subsequent " turnings " of the 
 Israelites, as mentioned in the Bible account, would all 
 be more intelligible. 
 
 The splendid range of Attaka rises grandly on the 
 African side of the Red Sea, and the steep bare rocks 
 glow ruby red in the setting sun. The ships of Eng- 
 land, France, and Egypt, rest on the smooth bosom of 
 the bay, and the Rob Roy dips her paddle-blades for 
 the first time in bright waters of the south. 
 
 I paid a visit to the ' Malabar,' one of the magnificent 
 troop-ships which, with the ' Crocodile ' and ' Serapis,' on 
 the other side of the Isthmus, carry our regiments back 
 and forward for the Indian reliefs. All the sailors were 
 at once in love with the canoe. As for the captain and
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 Camel luading. 
 
 officers, they were profuse in their kindness. The visitors 
 at the hotel, too, insisted on having a regular lecture 
 in explanation of all her fittings, and a crowd of on- 
 lookers hedged her round for the occasion. 
 
 -^:^- 
 
 Camel in the Red Sea. 
 
 The gallery was filled by ladies and children from 
 India with their native nurses. The Hindoo servants of 
 the hotel stared with large black eyes from beneath their 
 raven silky hair. Greek, Turkish, Italian, and French 
 sailors, with Indians and negroes of every shade, up to 
 the jet-black woolly pate of Central Africa, peered over 
 the others' shoulders, and three pig-tailed Chinamen 
 smiled at everything. 
 
 Next day we started on a Red Sea voyage. A clumsy 
 native boat took the luggage about ten miles down the 
 eastern shore, to rig up the tents at Ain Moosa, where
 
 26 Wells of Moses. [Chap. II. 
 
 the "wells of Moses" spring up with refreshing sweet- 
 ness from a desert of dry rock and illimitable sand. 
 
 In almost a gale the Rob Roy scudded along and 
 over a swell of waves, until she came to the luggage- 
 boat, now aground in the fallen tide, and a camel was in 
 the water unloading our gear. 
 
 More than a mile from the present shore, and on the 
 highest point of the district round, but on what may 
 have been the ancient coast-line once, fresh water, con- 
 stant and copious, bubbles up, overflows into the sand, 
 and sobbing, as it were, with a few fitful gushes now 
 and then, loses its glittering stream in the ever-thirsty 
 desert. About fifty feet farther down, water appears 
 again in a pool about six feet wide, under one lonely, 
 tall, and weatherbeaten palm-tree. Not far off this, 
 Arabs have dug about a dozen pits, in each case finding 
 water, which is ladled up with a leathern bucket, and 
 supplies the life-giving moisture to grow many trees and 
 garden plots, while bleating sheep and cackling fowls are 
 gathered all about them. The long-stepped, silent camel 
 marches past in his caravan, stately and tall, and the Arab 
 sings, but with thin music as if withered dry. The sea- 
 bird shrieks as he wends aloft to the crags far over the 
 waves, and our little boat is soon left alone by the un- 
 rippled beach, like a dead thing thrown up by the tide. 
 
 After two pleasant days at this oasis, the Rob Roy 
 paddled back to Suez in a lovely quiet morning. The 
 clear water showed bright sand below and rocks of 
 all painted hues, with patches of coloured coral. Dip- 
 ping my arm down, I grasped a beautiful shell as a 
 trophy to bring home. The flying-fish rose here and 
 there in a shoal at my paddle-blade, and they danced 
 along the tops of the little glittering waves, flashing light 
 from their silver scales ; and then, fresh and quivering
 
 Chap. II.] Mirage. 27 
 
 with life, and after a glance at the sun-gleam of the 
 morning, and most beautiful to see, they vanished. 
 
 Far off were the huge war-vessels, pictured above in 
 the vapour and below in the sea, and twisted by mirage 
 into weird and wonderful forms. Sometimes a great 
 frigate would disappear from sight entirely ; then a 
 huge steamer would suddenly rise in the air, and mount 
 up silently above a sailing vessel's deck. All these views 
 were increased in grotesqueness by the nearness of my 
 eye to the water's surface. The whole scene had an air 
 of enchantment which one can never forget, and there 
 was a solemnity given to it all by the perfect noiseless- 
 ness of the panorama changed. The Rob Roy hovered 
 here a few minutes to look on this marvellous spectacle. 
 Her bows were in Asia, her stern was in Africa ; her 
 crew had the mingled thoughts of years of travel — 
 such thoughts as cannot be seized for confinement in a 
 cramping chain of words. 
 
 The hotel at Suez has a very motley mixture of 
 nationalities rushing through it to all parts of the world. 
 There is, of course, a regular tide of passengers, rising 
 full for a day in each week as the Indian mail comes in, 
 either that from home or the other from the East ; and 
 next day all of these are on the wing again, some 
 will glide over the sea to the Indies, the others are fast 
 speeding home over the sand. 
 
 Though most of these passengers are English people, 
 yet the manners and appearance of the outward and of 
 the homeward bound are very different. 
 
 The mail-train to-day has filled all the corridors of 
 our hotel with passengers straight from England, the 
 faces of many blooming with youth, and others freshened 
 up for another spell of service by a year's leave at home. 
 Their talk is of the latest London news and the Bay of
 
 28 Suez, [Chap. II. 
 
 Biscay, and their big strong boxes and their new port- 
 manteaus will all stream out again to-morrow into that 
 barge by the quay for loading to Bengal. 
 
 Next day another living tide is rushing in from the 
 distant East, from India, and Hong Kong, and Nagasaki, 
 and the Australian mail. The clothes of these are well 
 worn, almost threadbare, and their " puggeries " are 
 ample and business-like round their hats ; their faces 
 are pale or careworn, or even haggard, and their fretful 
 children battle on the stairs : pretty, and with brilliant 
 eyes, but no bright English roses on their cheeks. What 
 country but Britain could stand for ten years this ex- 
 haustive drain that India makes upon our health and 
 energy ? Many of the men who are thus turned into 
 scarecrows by the heat and dust of our empire in the east 
 will always deserve, and they do, indeed, obtain, full 
 credit from all Englishmen at home for their brave and 
 hardy work in the sun so long and so far away. 
 
 The hotel is excellent, but the cafes of Suez are a 
 wretched jumble of the worst features of two hemispheres. 
 Better by far is that rude African dance of negroes and 
 feathers and tom-toms in the open square, where the 
 unspoiled wildness of the savage has poetry and fitness 
 in his outlandish yell. Let us leave Suez. 
 
 This is to be done by the railway to Cairo, but did 
 ever any one see such a terminus as this .-' The door is 
 still locked, the guards inside are snoring, loud batteries 
 on the wooden window wake up the clerk at last, and he 
 makes no toilette for his morning work. Our boxes, 
 and tents, and bundles, are tediously weighed on a rusty 
 steelyard, which will tell any weight you please according 
 to your purse. The Rob Roy itself is weighed, almost 
 blushing at the indignity, and half an hour after the 
 train is to start, we bustle all these things in.
 
 Chap. II.] Holu to lose Money. 29 
 
 Of course there was no room in the carriage specially 
 provided for the canoe. We had been foolish enough to 
 take tickets instead of paying backshish to the guard. My 
 fellow-passengers laughed at this my greenness — "We 
 never buy tickets," they said ; " give five francs to the 
 guard, he gives one to the engine-driver, and one to the 
 station-master at the end, and so you can then go any- 
 where you please." 
 
 This is what the Viceroy gains by working a railway, 
 while the fell plan of "backshish" reigns in his flat and 
 sandy kingdom.- But though I had thus paid 6/. for 
 transit, it was better than to sell one's honesty even 
 dearly, and yet it was only at the last moment, and after 
 regular battle for the point, that the Rob Roy could be 
 thrust into a huge box, called a third-class carriage. 
 There we tumbled over an entangled mob of miserable 
 natives sprawling on the floor, for there were no seats, 
 in a mess of pumpkins, and babies, and filth, and Ave 
 tied the canoe inside against the open spaces of the 
 travelling shed. 
 
 At Zag-a-Zig all had to change to another train. So 
 everybody scampered off with his bundles, and a down- 
 right scramble began for places in the new carriages. 
 
 Entreaties here were vain, and so were threats. The 
 whistle was shrieking, but it was just one of the times 
 when to do the thing yourself is the only way to do it. 
 Therefore I carried my boat in my arms, and shoved 
 her right into a carriage already full, and tied her again 
 to the side, and, what was most strange of all, not a 
 single person protested, or said he would write to the 
 ' Times.' 
 
 - I was assured, on good authority, that a milhon sterh'ng is lost thus 
 each year to the Viceroy. Unless it had been declared by several passengers ^ 
 that to bribe was their custom, I should not say so thus distinctly.
 
 30 Shame! [Chap. 1 1. 
 
 Cairo I had seen well years ago, and, at any rate, 
 now is not the time to paint once more in words that 
 stereotyped and gorgeous picture in the East. 
 
 Yet there were many changes here in twenty years : 
 knocking down, building up, opening out, planting, 
 fencing, colouring, cleaning, almost civilising, the old 
 Egyptian capital. 
 
 Great gangs of workmen are all day toiling here at 
 reconstruction. Puny children, herded in flocks by 
 cruel task-masters, who flog them with long sticks, are 
 carrying on their heads straw-baskets full of earth and 
 stones. As they march they sing ; but it is in a rhythm 
 of slavery. The strongest repression of one's feelings 
 is scarce enough to keep us from knocking that wretch 
 over who has just belaboured with his bludgeon a tender 
 little girl ; even the meek Moses got into quarrels here, 
 for this is Egypt, the product of idolatry, of philosophy 
 without truth, of books without the Bible ; nor is it 
 worse than England would become if left to " philan- 
 thropy " without the love of God. 
 
 The evening brings a short relief even to the woe 
 of these hapless little ones. Then they sit round in a 
 circle with their baskets before them, while the roll- 
 call is droned over by a taskmaster. The little sketch 
 on the opposite page records the curious scene. 
 
 And can nothing be done for these poor little babies, 
 starved in mind and soul, slaved in muscle and life .'' 
 Shall so many hundreds of happy English " Christians " 
 hurry past here every month to the work, the wealth, 
 the honours of the East, without one effort to comfort 
 or to teach the dark nation they pass by '^. 
 
 One brave British woman at least has nobly answered 
 this, and has planted here the " Cairo Ragged School." 
 Many as I have seen of schools, none struck me more
 
 Chap. II.] 
 
 Cairo Ragged School. 
 
 than that one, and a long and pleasant morning was well 
 occupied in those cheerful classes, among those little 
 faces, grateful, however poor, and pinched, and wan — and 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 slave C.iildrcn at Cairo. 
 
 with those bright teachers whose prayers and labour 
 dewed with tears will have most certain fruit.^ 
 
 ^ The girls gave me a little sample piece of very quaint and pretty needle- 
 work (the same on both sides). People in London who wish to add tasteful 
 colours to their drawing-room tables, and to cheer up the hearts of the 
 teachers and children in Cairo, would do well to buy some of the neat and 
 original patterns co])ied in this school ; and these can be had from 
 Mrs. Vaughan (The Temple). The little girls thus taught to embroider 
 get better husbands by the accomplishments added to their charms, so the 
 time spent on the work is not lost, but very well bestowed. The school 
 was begun eight years ago. In September, 1869, there were 170 boys 
 and 75 girls attending. The Prince and Princess of Wales kindly visited 
 the place. In 1849, I visited the Ragged School at Siout, far up the 
 Nile, where little Coptic children were taught good doctrine and practice. 
 This is the town where it is believed that our Saviour lived when He was a 
 child.
 
 32 On the Nile. [Chap. II. 
 
 But besides the young in Cairo, Miss Whately cares 
 too for the ignorant old Arabs, even in the desert. Only 
 one who knows their ways and their language — a woman 
 — a lady, a cultivated mind, and a tender loving heart, 
 could win room here amid the sand for the ever advancing 
 Gospel. 
 
 My tent at Boulak, the bustling port of Cairo, was 
 placed close to the water, and the Rob Roy was launched 
 into the Yellow Nile. Long lines of native boats lay rest- 
 ing here with lofty yards pointing up into the blue sky. 
 Splendid " dahabeeahs " for the European traveller's 
 use vied in their brightest paint and gaudy flags. I 
 stopped at one of these, and a dragoman I had met 
 years ago hailed the canoe, and handed a cup of hot 
 coffee as we ranged alongside. On the other bank were 
 steamers, moored head and stern, in a far-reaching line. 
 Many of these were the Viceroy's yachts, with trim 
 sailors louneing- on the bulwarks, and the reflected sun- 
 beams sleepily waving on their upturned open ports of 
 rich plate-glass. 
 
 Staid and passive as the Egyptians are, they stared 
 astonished at the little " Merkeb."^ The word was passed 
 along — some outlandish word of their own — and all 
 eyes were set upon the Rob Roy, slowly moving towards 
 them. Turning a point of land, I came upon soldiers at 
 their prayers. Of course I advanced softly, not to dis- 
 turb them as they went through the regular kneeling, 
 sitting, standing, kneeling again, and all the time mut- 
 tering, with a look at least of intense and simple de- 
 votion. The Rob Roy came upon them suddenly, and 
 they could not but see it in the field of vision, however 
 straight they gazed away. Yet not one single glance 
 
 ■• A boat is called "Merkeb," and so is a camel — "the shipof the desert." 
 The word is applied to anything you mount upon for travel.
 
 Chap. II.] Worship, 33 
 
 was directed to the canoe. I doubt whether such a new 
 sight could be thus received by people at prayers in Europe. 
 
 It is a curious comparison that one makes in visiting 
 the places of worship of different nations. Once I was 
 in St. Peter's, when a new saint was being added to the 
 calendar (next year it would be a new miracle, and the 
 next a new doctrine, for the oldest thing in the Romish 
 Church is to be always adding new bits of stucco and 
 plaster to the stone). I had a place very near to the 
 Cardinals, who were all on their knees, he of England 
 among them, and they passed from hand to hand a 
 goodly snuff-box. 
 
 From this saintly sneezing let us come back to Egypt 
 again, and see how the Moslems behave. Once I was 
 at the Viceroy's palace for an interview with a Pasha, 
 one of his Cabinet. In the waiting-room there was a 
 Turk, a fine old gentleman, patiently sitting until his 
 turn might come for business. But suddenly he rose 
 and began his afternoon prayers upon the royal carpet, 
 and he went on and on entirely undisturbed, even by 
 the din of a score of noises. 
 
 At a far-off island again in an Egyptian lake, a crowd 
 of men were round the Governor, who had brought them 
 in a large boat to welcome the p.ob Roy. There was 
 scarcely standing-room for the excited visitors, yet on 
 the deck and amid them all was one who had spread 
 out his carpet and kneeled for his prayers, and he prayed 
 on this boat in this bustle as if it were the quietest of 
 private chapels in the world. 
 
 Certainly the Mahommedan has a plain and majestic 
 ritual, whatever we may think of the meaning of his 
 prayers. His mosque has no idols, or pictures, or orna- 
 ments, or pews, but on a carpet, or on a mat, or on 
 the floor, he kneels before God. 
 
 D
 
 34 Paddle to the Pyramids. [Chap. II. 
 
 No church, no chapel is needed for him to pray in, no 
 image to adore, no book to suggest, no priest to offer 
 his petitions. The hour of worship comes, and wherever 
 is the man there is his place of worship. On a ship's 
 deck he spreads his carpet and kneels down. The stone- 
 mason bows his forehead on his white block of stone. 
 The Arab kneels under his camel's shade while the sun 
 is scorching the desert, and the shepherd bows adoring 
 amid the green grass of the hills.^ 
 
 So far in admiration, yet must we well remember that 
 to pray thus before men — a characteristic of outward 
 religion — is all the more easy if it does not clearly 
 signify that the worshipper is yielding what is asked by 
 the demand, " My son, give me thine heart." 
 
 As the Rob Roy neared the Water Palace of the 
 Nile, so prettily posed upon an island, the watchful 
 guards cried loudly to her to keep off. The life of the 
 Viceroy had been several times lately attempted, and 
 the orders to his guard were now rigorous. But the 
 wayward Rob Roy wished to approach, though no boat 
 is allowed to come here. To their shouts I shouted 
 " Ingleez," and at length an officer was called who cour- 
 teously told me in French that, being an Englishman, I 
 might go where I pleased. A little time after this the 
 palace was honoured by the presence of the first gentle- 
 man of England, the Commodore of the Canoe Club. 
 
 Glorious old pyramids ! is it you I see over the palm- 
 trees, pointing your peaks to the sky } 
 
 " A paddle to the Pyramids ! " 
 
 Can two words be put together so little and so great } 
 
 * Buckingham ('Travels in the East,' p. 92) says that he saw, near Ras 
 el Ain, two Arab women at prayer on the road, and that he "had never 
 yet, either in Turkey, Egypt, or Arabia, seen a woman thus employed." I 
 noticed a woman praying in public upon one occasion, but only one.
 
 Chap. II.] Wild Boar s. 2>5 
 
 It seems, indeed, a desecration, so the Rob Roy floats 
 back to her tent at Boulak, where barbarism and civilised 
 life entangled distractingly amid camels grunting, and 
 the rudest, nudest natives squatted on the ground, while 
 yet a railway engine near us, built in Manchester, shrieks 
 out with warning whistle, " Clear the line ! " The Turks 
 care very little about clearing any line if they are walking 
 upon it, and everybody here saunters between the rails 
 at pleasure ; men will even ride donkeys on the " four- 
 foot way," and sometimes I did it myself, while the 
 " down express " whisked by. 
 
 As evening falls there are thick swarms of very large 
 hornets hurrying to the water. It is wonderful how soon 
 one gets used to these formidable-looking visitors, but 
 when they are not teazed, they appear not to do any 
 mischief. In the dark a shot was heard, and a bullet 
 came through my tent. From my bed I asked what was 
 the meaning of this note of emphasis, but the only 
 answer was, " Somebody is firing at the wild boars." 
 They would be as likely to find wild boars in Belgrave 
 Square.
 
 36 The Nile. [Chap. III. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NILE — INUNDATION — RAISING WATER — WATERING WITH THE 
 FOOT — ROB ROY THE ROBBER — CATCHING THE CANOE — LIVING- 
 STONE — THE DELTA — THE SEVEN STREAMS — -DELIGHT OF THE 
 NATIVES — FOG — PIGEONS — POTTERS — PUMPKIN RAFT — FIDDLE 
 AND DRUM. 
 
 TO descend the Nile, we now hired as a luggage-boat 
 a very clumsy craft, with her top streaks plastered 
 some inches thick of mud. The three men of the crew 
 were not promising in appearance. They were hired by 
 the day, and the wind was 4n our teeth, so the canoe 
 could run round and round them under sail. But ener- 
 getic argument accomplished a little with this stolid crew, 
 and the stream of the Nile runs steadily here and fast. 
 
 Here, windbound in the water, we may jot down some 
 water-notes about this old land. The average amount 
 of rain in Egypt being only forty days at Alexandria, 
 seven at Cairo, and two or three at Assouan, the land 
 would never bear green things but for the Nile that 
 brings water from far-off melted snow, and with this 
 laves the rich soft loam which settles on the surface of 
 the exhausted soil, and makes it ever new again. The 
 Nile begins to rise in July, and is highest in the end of 
 September, when, at Cairo, it is from 17 to 28 feet above 
 its lower level. After this it gradually lessens again 
 until June.^ 
 
 ' Last summer (in 1869) it sank lower than for 150 years before. On
 
 Chap. III.] Inundation. 37 
 
 The river at Cairo, when in flood, is about 70 feet 
 higher than the sea, with a fall of about ^\ inches per 
 mile, and a velocity of 5 feet in a second. In " low Nile " 
 the fall is only 3 J inches per mile, and the velocity 19 
 inches a second. Thus the current is not sufficient to 
 turn hydraulic engines at the time they are most required. 
 When at its lowest, the surface of the water is below the 
 banks at the mouth about 4 feet, at Cairo about 16 feet, 
 and at Assouan about 33 feet. The water in flood over- 
 flows Upper Egypt, but in the Delta it is restrained by 
 high banks. 
 
 To use the inundations properly for agriculture, the 
 water must be conducted to the plots of ground quietly, 
 and so as not to tear them up by any violent current. 
 Then it must rest, in order that the rich deposit may be 
 precipitated, and when one level is watered thus, the 
 channels to another below can be opened. The water is 
 led from the full Nile by numerous canals. Mehemet 
 Ali paid great attention to this subject. He opened up 
 again many of the ancient canals, and made cross dykes 
 in Upper Egypt, and strong banks along the two branches 
 of Damietta and Rosetta, so as to control the irrigation 
 of the Delta. 
 
 Artificial irrigation has to be employed during the five 
 or six months of the crops growing, and when the Nile 
 has sunk far the labour of raising water is considerable. 
 A small proportion of this watering is done by the 
 shadoof. This is a leathern basin, slung from a long pole, 
 which is mounted on pivots, and balanced by a stone or 
 counterpoise of clay at the other end. The basin end is 
 
 October lo, an extraordinary inundation occurred (' Times,' October 
 27, 1869). The plain of Thebes has been raised about twenty feet 
 by the deposit from the Nile inundations since the temples were erected 
 there.
 
 38 Raising Water. [Chap. III. 
 
 depressed by the labourer until it dips into the water 
 below, and, being freed, it is raised by the counterpoise 
 until the leather basin comes level with the upper chan- 
 nel, into which it is then emptied, and the operation 
 begins again. The men at this work are swarthy fellows, 
 nearly nude, and singing a wild not unmelodious song. 
 Sometimes two are alongside ; sometimes one above the 
 other, when the water is raised by stages. For filling 
 with water any canal or pond quite near the river's level, 
 the leathern basin is not slung to a pole, but by four cords 
 held by the hands of men facing each other, who dip the 
 bucket and swing it full to the level above. One or other 
 of these men usually leans against a mud bank, but sel- 
 dom both of them. I have seen some hundreds of these 
 at work close together in a gang of men and women, 
 and they were always very good-humoured whenever the 
 canoe came near. 
 
 The irrigation of wider tracts of land, requiring a 
 copious stream of water, is effected by hydraulic engines 
 of more or less simplicity. 
 
 The sakicJi was used, as now, in most ancient times, 
 and consists of a wheel turning on a horizontal axis, and 
 carrying an endless rope of hemp or withs, upon which are 
 earthen pots so placed as' to dip into the lower water, and 
 to be carried up as the wheel revolves until they empty 
 themselves successively into a shallow trough at the 
 higher level. Sometimes, instead of jars on a rope, there 
 are buckets, or compartments like boxes, in the hollow 
 rim of a wheel, the lower part of which dips into the 
 water and fills the buckets, and these empty their contents 
 above through one side. Wheels of this sort and others 
 are worked by oxen, horses, camels, buffaloes, mules, 
 or asses, which move in a circle, turning round a hori- 
 zontal frame, in the centre of which sits a boy or a woman
 
 Chap. III.] Watering zuith the Foot. 39 
 
 to flog the animals. In the ruder forms of this machine, 
 where wooden pegs answer for cogwheels, much power is 
 expended in friction. Much water also escapes by leakage, 
 or bad adjustment of the upper flow, and a loud splashing 
 noise generally tells how a large proportion of what is 
 raised only falls back again through bad adjustments. 
 
 Wheels turned by men's hands and legs acting in uni- 
 son are sometimes used in the East to wind up buckets 
 from wells, but I never saw one employed for irrigation. 
 
 Robinson (vol. i. p. 542) thinks that this was the mode 
 of watering alluded to in Deuteronomy xi. 10 — " For the 
 land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the 
 land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou 
 sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a 
 garden of herbs." But as we constantly see men water- 
 ing land in Egypt at the present day by opening and 
 closing- the canalettes of mud in their fields with their 
 feet, it is surely to be presumed that this more general 
 characteristic is referred to rather than the use of a 
 particular machine.^ 
 
 A steam-engine, working the best hydraulic pumps, 
 may now be seen in very many places, sometimes 
 in those apparently most out of the way. These, 
 however, were more employed when the cattle dis- 
 ease made animal power dear, and when the cotton 
 culture became less lucrative, and steam-engines then 
 were more at liberty, on account of the cessation of the 
 American war. The steam-engine and the sakiehs often 
 
 "^ Niebuhr, in 1776, mentions having seen only one machine turned by 
 hands and feet at once ('Voyage in Ai-abia,' p. 12). Thomson ('Land 
 and Book,' p. 509) does not agree with Robinson's view. The wheel 
 turned by the current of the river, which one sees in France and Germany, 
 and is found on the Orontes, is not, I think, to be seen on the Lower Nile. 
 About half of the area of the Delta is cultivated, and to water about one-fifth 
 part of this it was estimated, in 1849, there were 50,000 sakiehs in operation, 
 each employing three oxen, and managed by 25,000 men.
 
 40 Rob Roy tJic Robber. [Chap. ill. 
 
 work night and day, and the sound of night labour in 
 the East jars upon the wonted stiUness and soft dark- 
 ness. Music accompanies the watering, whatever be the 
 mode employed. The sakieh, with its ungreased ricketty 
 axles, groans, rattles, and creaks with painful regularity. 
 When the harmony stops, by the blind ass going to sleep, 
 the labourer in charge of it is sure to be awakened, but 
 he is generally too lazy to do more than to hurl a threat 
 or a brickbat at the resting brute. The steam-engine 
 pants with its hot strong breathings, and the men at the 
 shadoof whine a vagrant music in no particular key. 
 
 Though we often linger to listen and look on at these, 
 of course the canoe was soon out of sight of the luggage- 
 boat, and M^hen, after sixteen miles, I came to the 
 Barrage, at the fork of the Delta, I ran through speedily, 
 at my very best pace, lest the crowd that came shouting 
 might send a volley of mud from the high walls above. 
 There was noise in plenty, but I heard only one faint 
 cry of "Monsieur!" from an irate official, and I was too 
 much occupied to heed this while gazing upon the 
 splendid bridge before me, which was built to head back 
 the Nile water for thirty miles ; because even a few 
 inches more or less of water flooding the land means 
 hundreds of thousands of pounds to be gained or lost 
 from the fertilised soil. 
 
 My luggage-boat came to the Barrage long after me, 
 and she was detained two hours because the canoe had 
 not been " inspected " by the donane. The dragoman 
 and the crew were brought before the Governor, and 
 a very angry man he was. " I insist on your bringing 
 the small JMcrkcb back, that I may see it." "We cannot, 
 my Lord, it is miles away." "Who is in it.'" "An 
 Englishman." "One.'" "Yes, by the Prophet! one." 
 " Impossible ! He must be a robber escaping ; bring
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 Catching the Canoe. 
 
 41 
 
 fetters for these men." And chains were soon at hand. 
 " O ! my Lord, we did not know the rule." " Catch the 
 canoe, then, or go to prison." " Not a boat on the Nile 
 can catch it, my Lord." Two witnesses were then pro- 
 duced who swore they had seen the canoe, and that it 
 
 The Barrage of the Nile. 
 
 was only the size of a large fish, but that it " flew like a 
 bird." Finally, the Rob Roy was rated at half a ton's 
 burthen, and heavily taxed, and all this time she was far 
 off, quietly in a shady nook, while I wandered over the 
 lovely sand in the charming day, inspecting the plants, 
 birds, fish, and deep rich loam, and waiting to see the 
 English ensign of my luggage-boat flutter in the distant 
 horizon. 
 
 Meanwhile I made a sketch of the Barrage. This
 
 42- Livingstone. [Chap. III. 
 
 great work Avas resolved upon in 1843, and begun in 
 1846. It acts as a long gate or weir across each of the 
 two forks of the river, at the point of the Delta. The 
 portion across the Damietta branch is about 600 yards 
 long, and that over the Rosetta branch 500 yards. The 
 weir consists of arches each of 16 feet span. Of these 
 there are 72 ^ upon the Damietta branch. On the branch 
 to Rosetta there are 62. Mehemet Ali died ^ before any 
 progress was made with this scheme, and his successor 
 resolved to continue only the barrage proper without the 
 canal, which formed its most important feature. At 
 present it appears that the work has been entirely use- 
 less, and it is considered that, if any attempt were made 
 to dam back the Nile by closing in the structure at 
 high flood, the river would sweep away the whole mass 
 together. 
 
 Until this point the Nile has run in one stream, and 
 for a thousand miles of that without a tributary, pouring 
 on towards the sea its gracious waters, whose birth is 
 so far away, even at " Lake Livingstone."^ But the river 
 now divides into two great branches, and the triangular 
 shape of the country embraced between these and the 
 
 * My dragoman counted 74, but this, no doubt, included the two arches 
 ashore. The other dimensions given above are taken from ' Annales des 
 Fonts et Cliaussees,' 185 1, p. 161. 
 
 ^ The traces of wliat this wonderful man, Mehemet Ali, began in building, 
 in works of irrigation, in agricultural improvement, as well as in administra- 
 tion and foreign conquest, are already almost like old ruins of the Pharaohs. 
 His amazing energies came not from the lotus-eaters of the Nile. He was 
 "no true Ottoman Turk, but rather a Seljakian Koniarat of Cavalla " 
 (' Saturday Review,' June 26, 1869) : whatever all that means. 
 
 ' At Suez I met the foreign correspondent of the 'New York Herald,' 
 who was waiting there to receive Dr. Livingstone, then expected every 
 day. This active little Yankee had accompanied the armies of India, 
 Sadowa, and Abyssinia, and had now 1000/. ready wherewith to telegraph 
 to the American press every word he could get from the lips of the brave 
 explorer. Such world-wide interest has this hero of Africa.
 
 Chap. III.] The Delta. 43 
 
 sea at the end is called the Delta, from its resemblance 
 to the Greek letter A, answering to our D. I have 
 voyaged along both branches of the river, but I do not 
 feel able to say which of them has the larger volume 
 of water. The left branch, going towards Alexandria, 
 has its mouth near Rosetta. The right branch, down 
 which the Rob Roy is to sail, flows into the sea near 
 Damietta. 
 
 About the mouths of both these branches are large 
 swamps and lakes. One of them — Lake Moeris — had 
 long been dry, until the sea was admitted by the English 
 army to protect Alexandria from Buonaparte and the 
 French. The other great lake is Menzaleh, near the 
 eastern branch, and where our paddle is to ply in a day 
 or two among the flamingoes and pelicans. 
 
 The boats on the Nile are truly picturesque. To catch 
 the breeze over the lofty banks, the long lateen sail lifts its 
 pointed head high up into the air. No rig is so graceful 
 as this. One sees it on the Swiss and Italian lakes, the 
 Rhine, and the Danube, and (in a modified form) all 
 through the Levant ; but by far the largest lateens are 
 in the Delta of the Nile. Some of these have yards 
 150 feet in length. The sails are often striped wath a 
 gore of blue cloth, and delicate streamers are waving 
 aloft, or the sailor's charms like necklaces dangle from 
 the farthest peak. 
 
 Boats with two and three masts are also common. 
 Pressed by a strong north wind, they breast the powerful 
 current with their white-bosomed sails, which lean over 
 athwart each side, or, as we call it, "goose-winged." 
 This river was for ages the "seven-mouthed Nile." It 
 was called by a Hebrew word, " Yam," and is still called 
 in Arabic " El Bahr," with the same meaning, " the sea." 
 These features do, indeed, remind us of the prophecy
 
 44 The Seven Streams. [Chap. III. 
 
 uttered by Isaiah when he says (ch. xi. ver. i6), "And 
 the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyp- 
 tian sea ; and with His mighty wind shall He shake 
 His hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven 
 streams, and make men go over dryshod." 
 
 The "tongue" is evidently what is now called the 
 Delta, and the Egyptian " sea " is the Nile. The " seven 
 streams " have now dwindled down to only two,^ and by 
 the bridge at the Barrage, for the first time, men can 
 " go over dryshod." 
 
 Nothing is more useless than a fanciful interpretation 
 of prophecy, even of that which is fulfilled and past, but 
 it is impossible not to follow the Scripture words into the 
 next verse in this chapter, " And there shall be an high- 
 way for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, 
 from Assyria ; like as it was to Israel in the day that he 
 came up out of the land of Egypt." 
 
 Whatever may be this " highway," we have at present 
 a railway here from the Red Sea itself, and the Suez 
 Canal, the Sweet Canal, and all three of them traversing 
 probably the very ground on which the host of Israel 
 marched. The railway is already finished to Mansoura, 
 and a branch is next to extend to El Arish, the frontier 
 post of Palestine. Consider also verse 1 1 of this chapter, 
 and in chapter xix. verses 23-25. 
 
 The Damietta branch of the Nile which thus bears us 
 along has all the grandeur of a noble river. It is wider 
 than the Thames at Gravesend, and neither rocks nor 
 rapids break the stately flow. The banks are high, and 
 they are partly artificial. The foliage of green under- 
 
 ^ In the clays of the Romans the Nile was known by its eleven branches, 
 but of these, seven were principal ones. Herodotus states that of these seven, 
 the Rosetta and the Damietta branches were both artificial. Thus at the 
 present time the only mouths which are in proper action are the two artificial 
 ones.
 
 Chap. III.] Delight of the Natives. 45 
 
 wood often shades the water. Sometimes the shores are 
 really beautiful with splendid trees and wide-spread park- 
 like spaces, carpeted by richest grass. The current is 
 quickened where the banks close in, and the Thames 
 above Richmond Bridge was brought to my recollection 
 by several turns in the Nile. In very few places is the 
 scenery positively tame, and no two bends of the river 
 are alike. 
 
 My reception by the natives was generally civil, often 
 humorous, and sometimes exciting, when the boys who 
 cheered the coming stranger flung sods and mud upon 
 him for a parting salute as he retired from the bank. 
 This conduct was harmless while I had the broad river 
 Nile (or even its branch) to take speedy refuge in, but 
 afterwards, in the narrow rivers, it was a serious con- 
 comitant of the voyage. Generally, as the blue sail was 
 seen, a whole village rushed down to the bank, and half 
 of them into the water, but with nods and smiles and 
 "salaam" from her crew, the Rob Roy managed to secure 
 a good offing before the awe of wonder had subsided into 
 the boyish desire to have a " shot " at the tiny craft. 
 
 We camped on a nameless island — no dogs howling all 
 night as in every town — no " ghuffeer " as a guard to 
 snore under my tent-eaves, but the radiant moon shining 
 in the eddies of old Nile as they rippled me to sleep. 
 Next we stopped at Benha, the old Atribis, with huge 
 mounds of potsherds, the remnant that never perishes 
 from an ancient town. I dug long to get at a mummy 
 here, having spied a bit of garment sticking out from the 
 rubbish, but at last the whole piece came forth, much 
 burned at one end, for the place was no doubt set on 
 fire before it was deserted, and then buried for ever. 
 
 The countiy on both sides of the river here is perfectly 
 flat, teeming with verdure. At Port Said, Dr. Yaab has
 
 46 Fog. [Chap. III. 
 
 a very fine garden, with the rarest and most beautiful 
 African plants growing, and a collection of others grow- 
 ing from seeds and cuttings in sand covered by small 
 glasses. Moisture is supplied to these only once in 
 several months. Five crops of clover had already been 
 housed this year in the Delta, and the sixth was to be 
 the largest of all. Delicious Indian corn grew high, and 
 my table was supplied with dainty fare. Working, 
 eating, and sleeping well, I soon gained the exuberant 
 spirits of buoyant health, and the whole journey of twelve 
 days on the water was a continual delight and surprise, 
 for indeed I had expected only a tame sort of trip, like a 
 canal voyage in Holland, or a paddle in Lincolnshire. 
 
 By five in the morning our slumbers were done ; at six 
 o'clock three eggs appeared with tea and toast, while the 
 tent was struck, and then off went the Rob Roy into a 
 dense but mild-tempered fog, which instantly concealed 
 everything around. Then I took out my Bible, or a tra- 
 veller's ' Book of Psalms,' the parting present of the 
 Earl of Shaftesbury, and while my canoe gently floated 
 down stream, then was the time to read. 
 
 The sensation of being thus enveloped in what was 
 like white wool was most singular, and wholly un- 
 disturbed by any sense of danger. We vmst be going 
 the right way. For the next hundred miles at least 
 there was no new river to be entered. No boat could run 
 me down, for there was no wind for it to sail with, and 
 none of them dared to row in the mist. My luggage-boat, 
 for certain, must be behind me, and at eleven o'clock I 
 would somehow meet her again for luncheon. But by the 
 time the Rob Roy had twirled round and round for half 
 an hour the cotton atmosphere was evidently thinner. 
 Then rents appeared in it, and then patches of blue sky, 
 and the faint green of trees, and the faint brown of mud
 
 Chap. III.] Pigeons. 47 
 
 villages, and the faint red flicker that I knew was the 
 ensign on the gaunt tall yard of my consort. 
 
 See the veil rises now, and the silk flag flutters on 
 my little mast ; the whole bright scene soon comes out 
 fresh and gorgeous, and a breeze has begun — yes, a 
 south wind, favourable ; so my blue sail runs up, and 
 away goes the Rob Roy on another twelve hours of 
 charming journey. 
 
 By the way we shall fish and shoot, and land to see 
 the shore, and sing and talk with the natives, and sketch, 
 and read, and soliloquise. There is one of the pigfeon 
 villages. It exists for pigeons. A hundred mud towers, 
 about thirty feet high, are clustered together, and myriads 
 of blue and white pigeons wheel in the air. Sometimes 
 passing these in my little vessel, one could see what I 
 had remarked before on the Nile, that, when the banks 
 are steep, and the pigeons cannot well stand on them 
 to drink, they settle on the water itself, and closing their 
 wings and floating for a few seconds, they manage thus 
 to slake their thirst. 
 
 Evening comes quick in winter, and near the tent there 
 sleeps, on the ground, our ghufieer, or native guard, 
 which personage you must take at every village, and pay 
 this beadle of the Nile a franc or two for sleeping very 
 loud to keep away the robbers. We were in a bad 
 neighbourhood last night, and even before this potent 
 functionary had arrived, some thief had stolen a long 
 piece of rope left out for two minutes. At another place 
 our three boatmen absconded entirely, being displeased 
 at some order I had given about their tattered but grace- 
 ful sail. It is sometimes more pain than pleasure to 
 know too much about what others are doing for you 
 badly, and boat-sailing being a hobby, it was hard to 
 put up with the lubberly ways of an Egyptian crew.
 
 48 Potters. [Chap. III. 
 
 Here is the large town of Semenood, where I had 
 hoped to have a boar hunt, but my last experience of one 
 in the Delta many years ago was not encouraging. The 
 moment a boar ran out from the dense high covert of 
 beans and prickles high above my head, all the beaters 
 ran off, and as I fired into the brute's hind-quarters my 
 foot fell into a deep chasm in the mud, so the hunter 
 sprawled on his back with spear and sword and dagger 
 all clinging entangled together. 
 
 In more specific humour now an hour was spent to see 
 the potters at their work, near Semenood, the town being 
 celebrated for this ancient art." Among the tombs, in low 
 clay huts, the nimble-fingered and prehensile-toed suc- 
 cessors of old Egypt's potters were plying the busy 
 wheels. The wheel that flies round by that man's 
 naked foot is the same as when Amenophis died, and 
 the vase that is now spinning swiftly is of the shape that 
 Sesostris drank from — for " why should they change .-' " 
 that is what the people always ask me. Yet they ^^•il- 
 lingly go by railway even in the Delta. 
 
 In a pottery far up the Nile, in my former visit, one of 
 the men had his long chibouque suspended by cords from 
 the roof, so that with one end in his mouth he could 
 smoke and yet have both hands free to work. The 
 idea of a shorter pipe seemed never to have occurred 
 even to this man so conversant with the clay. At a 
 seaport again there was a man up to his waist in water 
 and caulking a ship, while all the time, somehow or 
 other, he managed to wield also a large "nargilleh" with 
 two tubes, a yard long, stuck into a cocoa-nut, which 
 every now and then was submerged by a wave. 
 
 '• Thomson (' Land and Book,' p. 521) gives a good picture of the potter 
 of Eg)'pt, and cites the texts Jeremiah xviii. 4, 6 ; Isaiah xxx. 14 ; and 
 Paul's striking metaphor in Romans ix.
 
 Chap. III.] 
 
 Pumpkin Raft, 
 
 49 
 
 Fishermen have odd ways of filling their baskets in the 
 Delta. One of the most primitive is to see a man sitting 
 on a sort of raft made of empty gourds, which are held 
 
 =it?rJ.' 
 
 Gourd Rait on the Nile. 
 
 Till; Katt seen from below. 
 
 together by a net below a small platform of river reeds. 
 How can he sit upon that for two minutes without an 
 upset .'' He asks me the same question about my canoe. 
 Both of us conclude that practice will teach almost 
 anything. In the next river the raft was still more 
 rude, merely a large bundle of reed shanks tied together. 
 Another mode of fishing practised in the h^ast (but 
 chiefly on the sea-coast) is to scatter on the water crumbs
 
 50 River God. [Chap. hi. 
 
 of bread soaked in poison. The fish eat these and die 
 and float, and the man then gathers them to sell. 
 
 All along the banks of the Nile is free luxuriant life, 
 animal and vegetable, with a sense of profuseness and 
 overflowing that is almost oppressive. And yet every 
 person around us looks squalid and poor, although not 
 one begged from me. The cry of " backshish " was heard 
 here only once, and then it may have come from a 
 donkey boy who had floated down from Cairo. 
 
 Everybody is getting water all day and most of the 
 night. The Nile is everything to the Egyptian. The 
 women are filling huge earthen jars, while they stand 
 gazing at me in the stream that laves their bare knees, 
 and instantly they replace the long, black, dirty yash- 
 maks, which hang by three brass rings on the middle 
 of the nose, to screen their sallow features from mas- 
 culine eyes. The men are lifting water either in a 
 leathern bucket or by a pole and weight, or a long 
 lever, and working the Persian wheel. Not far off you 
 can hear the pnjf, puff ! of a high-pressure engine, and 
 this also is pumping water. Marvellous Nile, how far you 
 spring from, how long you wander, how many millions all 
 take water from you, and no wonder you were worshipped 
 as a god ! At eventide, the buffaloes wend their way to 
 the river, and run the last few steps with neck out- 
 stretched, and eager thirsty eye, and wading forward they 
 plump down in the mud, rollicking about in their bovine 
 gladness, with only the nose above the surface, and 
 a cloud of flies fighting to find room upon that. 
 
 Warm red now creeps over the western sky, and our 
 anchor hooks us to the shore. The Rob Roy meanders 
 up some creek, while the tent is being smartly pitched by 
 my admirable dragoman, and in half an hour my dinner 
 is served up, having been partly cooked at the bows of the
 
 Chap. III.] Fiddle and D mm. 51 
 
 luggage-boat upon that clay slab you see there white with 
 ashes. The repast is hot, and clean, and wholesome, ex- 
 cellent soup, one of the ducks I shot yesterday, peas, 
 oranges, and coffee ; can any travelling be more comfortable 
 than this, in a canoe with a luggage-boat .'' And I mention 
 the fare distinctly, for all members of the Canoe Club soon 
 come to know that, unless you are thoroughly well fed on 
 a voyage, it is impossible to keep up both pace and spirits. 
 
 The rising moon, now full, lights up the whole pic- 
 ture again, and makes it new with silver setting instead 
 of gold. The oxen and asses for the night-work still 
 keep grinding on the tedious round of the water- 
 wheels, but the rather creaky tune is soon lost in the 
 merry song from every hamlet, with the shrill shrieking 
 "trill, trill," of the women, and the deep-toned solemn 
 sound of the Egyptian drum.'^ Some swains join in with 
 reed pipes, and an old blind maestro will moan a sort 
 of dirge while he plays, wonderfully well too, on a fiddle, 
 called kanijek, made out of half a cocoa-nut and only one 
 solitary string. 
 
 Then begin the jackals, and, at their sharp whine of 
 challenge, the dogS: — arrant cowards both ; you can 
 make them scamper- with a straw. Meantime, in my 
 large and beautiful tent, I recline reading ' Speke and 
 Grant's Travels' in French, or Tristram's 'Land of 
 Israel,' or add to my notes and sketches, or chat with 
 Hany, or post up my log, and before ten o'clock I shall 
 be in bed. 
 
 " I had learned to play this daraboohra years ago, and brought a good 
 one home. Music floats ever in the air of Egypt, as " backshish " in Turkey 
 proper, and " dollar" in the land of the West. Crossing the Missouri River 
 in Kansas, I thought thei'e at least I was out of the range of Scotchmen and 
 of dollars ; but in the ferryboat the only other passenger was a Macdonald, 
 and from the opposite shore the first word — shouted at an auction — was 
 "dollar!"
 
 5- Nile and Severn. [Chap. I v. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 XILE AND SEVERN — NILE AND THAMES — BAB EL HAGAR — MISERY — 
 COMPASS CARD — MANSOURAH — KING COTTON — SHOEBLACKS — THE 
 ZRIER RIVER — A WATER PUZZLE — A RUN ON THE BANK — LAND OF 
 GOSHEN — WONDERMENT— ADMIRERS — FINDING THE WAY — THE 
 MAKALOLO — THE GOVERNOR — START ON LAKE MENZALEH — LIVING 
 CLOUDS — MATARYEH — LEGS OF INGLEEZ — EGYPTIAN LOCK. 
 
 MANY of the reaches of the Nile were Hke what is 
 seen from the\\-indow where these hnes are written, 
 as the heavy tide of the Severn runs sleepily past the red 
 cliffs near Newnham. But substitutions must be made 
 in the mind if Gloucestershire is to look like the Delta. 
 Those corn-fields are instead of maize ; those bushy 
 elms are put for palm-trees. The spires that point our 
 English landscape must be thought of as minarets, 
 gaudy and white, and this pleasant " Severn Bank 
 Hotel " is a change from the door-less, wall-less, window- 
 less " khan " of the East, with only a roof and pillars, 
 and a general odour of donkeydom. 
 
 August here on the Severn will do very w^ell for 
 December on the Nile, and as the moon lights up at 
 eve, the difference between the two pictures is only that 
 between shadows. That lazy boat at anchor, fishing 
 in mid-channel, would do for either continent, only in 
 Egypt there would be gay turbans on board, and the 
 soft, melodious drum, and gentle, careless song.
 
 Chap. IV.] Nile and Thames. '^2) 
 
 As night advances, the illusion is more complete that 
 we are now in Egypt, and can fancy the bed is in the 
 same old tent, for quite close is heard the roar of wild 
 beasts ; they are in the vans of Mander's " Unrivalled 
 Menagerie," and their species and genera must be very 
 terrible, for there is inscribed upon the caravan the fol- 
 lowing Latin — the whole stock, no doubt, of the com- 
 poser : — " Sui generis," " Veni vidi vici," " Vas victis." 
 Meanwhile the brass band plays a chorus from Handel 
 — an oratorio — at a show ! 
 
 Even a better likeness of the Nile is seen upon the 
 Thames, from the garden of the hotel at Purfleet, where 
 the old Rob Roy on her first voyage passed her first 
 night in comfort. The dykes along the Thames are 
 smaller than in Egypt, but equally strong. The Essex 
 marshes stretch their flat landscape on either side, just 
 like the Delta. When the setting sun casts a hazier 
 light behind the shores, and fancy is more free, and 
 colours are less true, then the tall tower of the new 
 Asylum on the opposite hill might well be taken for a 
 Moslem minaret, and the whitebait fishers' boats for 
 boats of Egypt. Greenhithe to our left from hence is 
 shaded deep, but we can still discern the sharp masts 
 of the ' Chichester ' Training Ship, the floating home for 
 the homeless boy, and nearer, we hear a soft, sweet 
 chant of the " Evening Hymn " from the open ports of 
 the ' Cornwall,' where the poor lads who have slipped in 
 first steps of life are put in the way upright, that they 
 may cheer up, and try again.^ 
 
 We halted in a lovely bend of the Nile, while I walked 
 about two miles through the cotton-fields to examine a 
 wonderful ruin very seldom visited by travellers. Alas ! 
 
 ^ Details concerning the "Training Ships," and tlie "Reformatory Ships," 
 are given in ' The Voyage Alone in the Vawl Rob Roy.'
 
 54 Bab d Hagar. [Chap. IV. 
 
 to reach this relic of the past, we have to cross the rails 
 of a new " iron road " of the present ; so the romance 
 is much spoiled of this "Bab el Hagar" (Stone Gate). 
 No one can tell what the place was in ancient days ; 
 now it is a heap of stupendous cut stones, all granite 
 and porphyry, all brought hundreds of miles, carv^ed, 
 polished, exquisitely fashioned, then all cast down, a 
 huge pile of utter confusion — but how ? Really no one 
 has yet found out the mode by which the ancients could 
 tear asunder the enormous blocks of these grand tem- 
 ples. A long green snake came out of the ruins to 
 dispute the ground with us. Hyenas and foxes live in 
 the tenantless palace, and the winding canal that watered 
 its magnificent portal sleeps now for ever, with a stagnant 
 pool just here and there to trace it by. 
 
 At Zifteh the people were in holiday trim, on their 
 Moslem sabbath, being Friday. The men had on their 
 clean Avhite turbans, and my crew asked to stop two 
 hours for their mosque, which, of course, was allowed, 
 because they cared for their worship. Indeed it be- 
 came a question whether it was not right for me to let 
 the boat rest all their " Sunday," as it did during all of 
 mine, but they have no such custom here. 
 
 Another scruple may now be noticed, as one of the 
 very few things which even for a moment interfered with 
 the continuous pleasure of this canoe journey. 
 
 When we had only one tent in Egypt, and when 
 afterwards in Syria, with two tents for a larger suite, 
 we had still to accommodate some of them at night in 
 that splendidly roofed spare-room — the open air — it 
 was not easy to enjoy my comfortable bed, piled up 
 with blankets, and sheltered above from the dew, while 
 some of my dependents were out the live-long night
 
 Chap. IV.] Misery. S5 
 
 in a keen, cold, frosty winter blast, lying upon the bare 
 ground. 
 
 'Tis true they were " used to it ; " that I paid them 
 highly for the additional hardship of a journey in 
 winter ; that for some at least, as, for instance, the 
 ghuffeer, it would be a breach of duty to come under 
 cover, when theirs was the post of watchmen ; and that 
 none of them ever complained to me, and none would 
 accept the rugs and carpets we freely offered for their 
 comfort : still it was not quite a lullaby to hear men 
 groaning with cold outside, huddled under the lee of 
 my tent (at the best a rather bare shield against the 
 bitter blast), and only separated by a thin bit of canvas 
 from their fortunate employer, who was so intensely 
 snug in his soft, warm bed. 
 
 Some of the men, too, had terrible coughs, for hours 
 barking away by moonlight as if they must burst their 
 very lungs before morning ; and by our tent at Suez a 
 poor woman, in a wooden hut beside me, coughed the 
 whole night incessantly, as if each moment was to sob 
 out her soul. It was a relief indeed to hear that in 
 Egypt these colds in the chest seldom, if ever, prove 
 mortal, but their trouble and their loud appeal to sym- 
 pathy were scarcely less from this. Even the stout 
 old muleteer would whine at the cold racking his hardy 
 bones, and at dead of night I could hear the muffled 
 prayer of " Yorub !" (God help me !), or a long-drawn 
 moan — " Alla-a-a ! " 
 
 Thick walls in England separate us from the dark, 
 wet, freezing misery of the poor amongst us, and deaden 
 to our ears their cries of hunger and of pain. Life would 
 be impracticable if we could realise one tithe of the 
 wretchedness around us ; but his is a stony heart that
 
 56 
 
 Compass Card. 
 
 [Chap. IV. 
 
 does not think of this often, and get nerved by the sad 
 thought to do his share in helping. 
 
 Our voyage so far had no need of a compass, for the 
 river kept us in its own course ; but among the sea-stores 
 of the Rob Roy a mariner's compass was an article very 
 
 Common Compass Card. 
 
 specially prepared. In my voyage alone in a yawl, I 
 had found some defects in the construction of the Liquid 
 Compass, which had been kindly presented to me by the 
 Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Months of experi- 
 ence by day and night in the use of it at last resulted 
 in several improvements as to the mode of lighting, and 
 the diagram on the card, &c., which were adopted. The 
 new card is applicable, of course, to a canoe compass. 
 Messrs. Newton, the well-known opticians, presented to 
 me one made in the new pattern, and by which for half
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 Mansourah. 
 
 SI 
 
 a year my course was guided, and many curious observa- 
 tions were made, as will afterwards be noted in our log. 
 The two forms of card are shown here in the woodcuts, 
 and the superior clearness of the new one will not need 
 to be explained when it is compared with the other.^ 
 
 Rob Roy Compass Card. 
 
 Before a fresh breeze still favouring, and an onward 
 current, too, our boat speeds fast and pleasantly to the 
 large bustling town of Mansourah. The name means 
 " a delightful place," and several towns in Syria are so 
 
 ^ The Arabs, when lookuig at the compass, always speak first of the 
 south point, "kibleh," as they call it. This is the same as among the 
 Chinese, who "box" the compass by "South, North, ^Yest, East," and not, 
 as with us, beginning at the north. I once heard a lecture upon "Great 
 Britain," when the map used by the eccentric lecturer had its north point to 
 the right hand, but the names all written so as to be read.
 
 58 King Cotton. [Chap. l v. 
 
 called. The sounds and sights, and even the very scents, 
 around us now seem to tell at once that a revolution has 
 been working here. 
 
 Mansourah is immersed in cotton, and " Cotton is 
 king ! " The American war gave suddenly a start to 
 this trade in Egypt.^ Even now, much of the cotton that 
 reaches England comes from the land of the Pharaohs. 
 
 Cotton bursts forth on all sides. Children are pluck- 
 ing it in the fields, and singing as they gather the fleecy 
 pods into their little blue dresses tucked up for pockets. 
 From country plantations you see camels in a long string 
 stalk over the plain, all cotton- laden. Boats full of it 
 are tracked along the sleepy lagoons of the Nile and 
 the countless canals which intersect the ancient land of 
 Goshen. At Mansourah the cotton-gins for cleaning the 
 stuff and separating the seed are worked by steam ; and 
 the ceaseless sighs of the engine are heard, though the 
 bell has been ringing long this Sunday for the Greek 
 Church prayers. 
 
 The tall, simple, smiling camel has found out this 
 cotton-seed, too ; and as he strides along, he turns his 
 head, and {when his driver is turning Jiis head) he bites 
 a mouthful of cotton out of the sack he is carrying, and 
 munches away with a look of guileless innocence. 
 
 Behind my tent is another railway, all made by 
 Englishmen. See the " signalman," with a bright turban 
 and no shoes ; he is spinning with the distaff, and the 
 " pointsman " lies prone on the ground and fast asleep. 
 In front are the steamers, with the crescent flag shin- 
 ing ruddy in the deep-flowing stilly Nile. Thus the 
 spirits of fire and water, raised by James Watt, are 
 
 •* The export of cotton from Egypt from Oct. i, 186S, to August 13, 1869, 
 was 217,596 bales ('Times,' Aug. 26, 1869). From America, in 1868-9, 
 it was a million bales; the total American crop, 2,750,000 bales.
 
 Chap. IV.] Shoeblacks. 59 
 
 in the locomotive, the marine engine, and the land- 
 engine, haunting us everywhere. 
 
 The English Vice-Consul at Mansourah was kind and 
 hospitable, and he already knew the Rob Roy well by 
 name. He told me the following strange story, quite 
 typical of Turkish ways. An accident happened a few 
 days ago in a factory, when one of the cotton-gins 
 mangled a little lad's arm. The necessity for am- 
 putation caused great excitement, but a terrible delay 
 intervened. First, the boy's consent had to be given ; 
 then, being a minor, it was found his father must assent ; 
 next, his mother, too, had to be persuaded ; and when 
 all had agreed, the wise officer of justice had to re- 
 examine each and to take their evidence in writing ; 
 after which, and other formalities occupying three mortal 
 hours, the operation was begun which should have been 
 finished long before. As a set-ofif to these evidences 
 of barbarity, we noticed, at any rate, one plain sign of 
 civilisation at Mansourah : there are shoeblacks in the 
 streets. Cairo, Beyrout, and Alexandria have also their 
 blacking brigades, though they are not so organised as 
 we have them in London, but each boy works on his 
 own account as a " freebooter." ^ 
 
 After a blood-red sunset, empurpled far overhead by 
 heavens of deeper blue, we had a sudden and fierce gust 
 of wind from the west, which whistled through the lofty 
 masts and marred the sleeping landscape of the evening 
 with a rushing storm of sand. My tent quivered again, 
 and all inside was dust and darkness, as the poor, 
 fainting candle soon gave in. Loud cries now for the 
 
 ■• The "Ragged-School Shoeblack Societies" of London earned during 
 the twelve months ending June, 1869, nearly 9000/. The oldest of the seven 
 Societies, begun in 185 1, and of which 100 boys occupy chiefly the City and 
 the Strand, earned during the same time, as part of the above amount, the 
 sum of 2400/., and this year it will earn 3000/.
 
 6o The Zriei'' River. [Chap. iv. 
 
 mallet to hammer down our iron tent-pegs ; so I must 
 close my inkbottle for the night, and give an extra brush 
 to my hair in the morning. 
 
 I left the Nile at this town, and chartered a luggage- 
 boat on the Zrier River (small river). Our Ryis, or 
 captain, is a veteran seventy years of age, but he objects 
 to being called "old." His two sons are the crew, both 
 able lads, and the moment the bargain was struck {now 
 made " by the piece," and not " by the day ") the ancient 
 mariner begged us to hoist our ensign upon his boat 
 at once, for only that, he said, would keep him from 
 being at the mercy of the soldiers, who could claim 
 his boat at any moment and at any price they pleased. 
 Next morning we launched our little navy, with a fine 
 breeze behind us, and tropical verdure thick on the banks 
 of the Zrier. The oak, sycamore, and weeping Avillow 
 overhang us now ; gorgeous butterflies flit from the tall 
 reeds, or rest as if poised on the sunbeams ; the black 
 and white kingfisher hovers in mid-stream, and the 
 large Indian kingfisher, arrayed in red and blue, twitters 
 as he launches on the breeze. See there are eagles, 
 also hawks and bustards, wild ducks, the graceful ibis 
 now and then, the crook-necked flamingo, and the 
 pretty little hoopoo, with its crest and bill in a line 
 till it settles on the sand, and spreads its chignon to be 
 admired by its partner, for they are always conjugal in 
 pairs. 
 
 On board our floating home we have, of course, a sort 
 of " family worship " with my dragoman and his servant 
 (both professing Christians — one, I hope, more than 
 that) ; but, before this, it is a strange sight to see the 
 crew of our boat every day at their prayers. They first 
 wash their faces, adjust their garments, and then on the 
 cloak of the Ryis each man will kneel, bow, stand, bow>
 
 Chap. IV.] A Water Pnzzlc, 6i 
 
 and rapidly repeat his words of Moslem wosrhip, turning 
 still to Mecca as our boat is wheeled round in the current. 
 Then they give willing silence while a chapter of the 
 Bible is read for ourselves. To such as could read I 
 gave Arabic tracts, or French, or English, and they were 
 always gratefully accepted. It seems strange and un- 
 friendly to live with men for days, and not to impart 
 one word to them about the great eternity that they and 
 we shall meet in again most surely. 
 
 The Zrier is not visibly joined to the Nile, though once 
 it was. This little river is one of many hundred streams 
 that seem to rise out of the surplus water which percolates 
 the soft loam of the Delta, coming underground from the 
 Nile itself, by working through its narrow banks of clay. 
 An elaborate map is before me of the canals and rivers in 
 the Delta. Years must be spent in learning the outlines 
 of an aquatic network like this, and the clearest head 
 M'ould be very long puzzled in arranging their outlets and 
 overflows, so as not to require some of them to run up 
 hill.^ 
 
 The fish are so numerous that no bait need be used : 
 the hook is sure to catch a fish, even if the fish does not 
 catch the hook. When caught, the fish are tasteless — 
 as they are, in my opinion, all over the Mediterranean 
 — and not worth cooking. A curious, economical mode 
 of fishing is practised all over Egypt, which was par- 
 ticularly well suited to a narrow river like the Zrier, 
 A man flings a brickbat with a string to it across the 
 little channel — fifty yards. By this another man draws 
 
 ' The map is a photograph of one made by Mr. Lutfy, C.E., and it was 
 found to be very correct. By a decree (' Times, ' Aug. 20, 1869), "Omar 
 Pasha Lutfy " has been appointed the Director of the Egyptian Canal Works. 
 P'rom part of this map has been prepared our map at p. 86, engrafting 
 on it from the official map of the Suez Canal, and from a tracing of the 
 last new lines of railway.
 
 6i A Run on the Bank. [Chap. iv. 
 
 over a long string carrying large bare hooks upon it, 
 attached by a span of cord at every three inches. 
 A float of cork is at each three feet, and some brickbat 
 sinks at every six yards. These were all neatly tied on by 
 the fisherman with one hand and his teeth. A dozen 
 lines are thus stretched across the stream, and fixed by 
 pegs to the bank. The two men then take the ends of 
 the string they first laid down, and so drag the hooks 
 slowly under water against the current. Each of the strings 
 is worked in succession, and thus in half an hour the two 
 fishers catch at any rate a few of the more sleepy of 
 the fish. Besides this plan, the Delta fishers also use a 
 triangle of bare hooks dangling from a short rod, and 
 the more ordinary drag-net and the seine. 
 
 The trees became rather troublesome now that they 
 branched so far across the little river, and there was 
 scarcely room for the sail to pass between their green 
 boughs, which almost met in a leafy arch from bank to 
 bank. Still the current ran fast, and the wind freshened 
 up until we had to take in a reef; while our ensign, 
 floating off" to leeward in the breeze, often lapped the 
 foliage on the tree-tops with its long red tongue. 
 
 Tall reeds on either side choked up the channel, and as 
 the wind down in the hollow between such high banks 
 could not reach the little sail of the canoe, I was towed 
 by the other, while I climbed the bank for a scamper 
 over the country alone. 
 
 It was exceedingly amusing to see the astonishment 
 of the natives when they suddenly perceived a human 
 form entirely clad in grey, and trotting steadily along. 
 But they were never uncivil to me, and they always 
 returned the salutations of the runner. By cutting 
 across the windings of the channel it was easy for 
 me to keep up with the boat, which was now tearing
 
 Chap. IV.] 
 
 Land of Goshen. 
 
 along at great speed through the water. The view from 
 the high bank was very interesting, for before me was the 
 " Field of Zoan," where once was the pride of Egypt, and 
 where mighty miracles were wrought through Moses. 
 
 Gosein, in the " Field of Zoan," seen from a bank on tlie Zrier Kiver. 
 
 The horizon on every hand was one straight line, with 
 only a few very distant mounds, or " Tells," to show 
 where cities had stood of yore. All the vast plain was 
 deep brown in colour, not the sombre hue of wild, 
 bleak savagery, but that of a rich and mellow land. 
 Several large villages were visible to the north, and 
 beyond these were the minarets of Damietta. Between 
 the trees and just beside our sail-top, as it hurried past, 
 there was a little row of dots on the distant limit, a village 
 still called Gosein.^ This was the only relic I could find 
 
 " This is marked on the map. There is also another of the same name, 
 which I did not see. One of the great streams or canals from the Nile is 
 called "Moes," in memory of Moses, and it Rows toward Goshen and Zoan.
 
 64 Wonderment. [Chap. IV. 
 
 to teli of the famous land of Goshen, and the sketch here 
 given was taken on the spot. 
 
 Berimbal was the name of a village where we camped, 
 with fine trees all round it, and a peaceful look of 
 plenty and intelligence on many faces. The river 
 here was not twenty yards broad, and a good deal 
 resembled the wooded stream under Magdalen Bridge 
 at Oxford. 
 
 After another day's delightful sailing, on December i, 
 we arrived at the lively town of Menzaleh, with its 
 mosques and minarets, and its bazaars, its street mer- 
 chants squatted beside their piles of gourds, and dates, and 
 pepper, and round flat bread, eggs, sweetmeats, oil, em- 
 broidered shoes, copper pots, mule saddles, and a host of 
 other things one does not want, although loud voices roar 
 the names. 
 
 The Zrier River has a barrier here, which no per- 
 suasion could induce our boat captain to pass ; therefore, 
 yielding to the custom of the place, it was necessary for 
 us to hire another boat to enter upon Lake Menzaleh ; 
 and we were sorry to part with the nimble sons and the 
 juvenile father, and they were sorry too. 
 
 We camped in the highway, just outside one of the 
 town gates, and in full view of the broad lake of Men- 
 zaleh. A dense crowd soon assembled, but they behaved 
 most courteously, ranging in a wide circle with the first 
 few rows squatted down in the usual Eastern fashion. 
 The tent was a delight to them, but a tent they had seen 
 before. As for the canoe, it was so entirely new to every 
 man that the oldest shook their heads when asked by 
 the juniors in a timid way, "What in the world is that?" 
 In the various cruises of the Rob Roy the wonder or 
 inquisitiveness shown by the natives of different countries 
 has always been a study to her captain. Where boats
 
 Chap. IV. j Admirers. 6^ 
 
 are unknown — as upon the Upper Danube and Moselle, 
 the canoe was greeted with an unmeaning stare, which 
 often became a gaze of fright, especially if she was seen 
 first in motion on the water, or dragged over the grass. 
 In Canadian waters the Indians examined only the crew 
 of the canoe I paddled alone. They saw plenty of the 
 bark canoes and of " dug-outs," and the craft therefore 
 was no novelty. In parts of Palestine, where not only no 
 boat had ever been seen but no picture of such a thing 
 which might give an idea of a boat to the Mahommedan 
 mind, the feeling of the spectator on a sight of the canoe 
 generally began with fear, and sometimes ended in a brave 
 attack, as will be told before the end of the Rob Roy's log. 
 
 Again, where boats are known, as in Norway, Sweden, 
 the Elbe, and Schleswig-Holstein, as well as here in 
 Egypt, the natives were all admirers, rather than amazed. 
 They smiled with a yearning to examine the canoe more 
 nearly, and their animated discussions about the matter 
 showed how much they appreciated her delicate con- 
 struction, and beautiful finish, and diminutive size, com- 
 pared in each feature with all the best models of naval 
 architecture which the oldest sailor of them had ever seen 
 before. 
 
 But now came the difficult part of the work — to find 
 any man among these wonderers who could point out 
 our way over the lake to the ruins of San, the modern 
 name of Zoan, whither the Rob Roy was bound,' 
 
 7 From Lynch's 'Visit to the Suez Clanal ' (iS68), p. 58, \ve learn that 
 Menzaleh Lake was formerly called Zoan, or Zan, or Tanis, or Tan ; and 
 in Scripture the fertile district round was called the "field of Zoan." Strabo 
 mentions fields and villages on its site, and the word used by him ( vofMos), 
 "pasture lands," corresponds with the word employed by Arab geographers, 
 who also call the lake Tanis, from a ^\'ord meaning clay or mud. The 
 Hebrew "Tan" means "clay," and the Greek irriXos, found still in the 
 modern name Pelusium. An Arab tradition from the tenth century states 
 that this district was once covered with villages ; that many hundred years 
 
 F
 
 66 Finding the Way. [Chap. IV. 
 
 I selected three of the Hkeliest fishermen for consulta- 
 tion, and the plan of travel we had formed was explained 
 for their opinion. We were standing in full view of the 
 lake, and with an excellent map, and these three men to 
 help us in counsel, yet, after a good hour's earnest talk, 
 of which, however, almost half was wasted in an ani- 
 mated debate between the guides, who at last came to 
 blows, we found it utterly impossible to make out how 
 the canoe was to paddle to San. 
 
 " Toweel " was the place most difficult to fix in their 
 different versions of directions. At one time we were to 
 go outside of " Toweel," at another it was evident that 
 " Toweel " was to be left outside of our route. " Nobody 
 lived at Toweel," and yet there were " always men " at 
 this very place. The canoe could not sail nor paddle to 
 "Toweel," nor could "the Howaga^ walk to it." 
 
 Even by a careful sketch of the coast I made for them, 
 no man could tell us the proper course for San. But 
 I have found that explaining things by drawings is 
 seldom of any advantage, except when only common 
 objects are outlined. People who have never before 
 seen a map or a plan have no idea of it as a miniature 
 of the land and water." Dr. Livingstone told me that 
 the intelligent Makololo chief, Setcheli, was perfectly 
 incapable at first of discerning any figure even in a plain 
 picture. The Doctor tried him at last with the simplest 
 
 ago the sea overwhelmed all except Toon eh and others on high ground, and 
 that the survivmg inhabitants carried their dead to Zoan. F"uneral hiero- 
 glyphic inscriptions found at Memphis mention " the land of Tannen." 
 
 '^ In Egypt the Arabic g is pronounced hard, whereas in Syria the word 
 would be with the softy, as " Howaja." 
 
 " Once upon a steamboat I observed a Turkish lady studying an atlas. 
 The map represented Tiukej-, not only as the centre of the earth, but as 
 occupying nearly all the circumference ; while England and America were 
 two red dots on the farthest verge. I M'as generally spoken of as a native 
 of Belad Ingleez— " the town England."
 
 Chap. IV.] The Makololo. 67 
 
 sketch of a few men in a group, but the puzzled clever 
 African, though truly anxious to make the best of what 
 was put before him, only turned it round and round in 
 his hands, and upside down, and still stared intensely at 
 the paper utterly bewildered. One day a gleam of light 
 seemed to flash upon his mind, and he pointed to a man's 
 arm he could just descry in the drawing ; then gradually, 
 but very slowly indeed, he seemed to catch another limb, 
 and then a head, until the whole of the pictured group 
 became intelligible. After his eye had been thus tutored 
 to look for form represented in miniature, he could always 
 make out the meaning of pictures ; and the process his 
 mind went through is, doubtless, like that which a little 
 child must graduate in before he can point to a cow in 
 his nursery picture-book, and tell us that he kno^vs it by 
 saying " Moo !" 
 
 I retired from the bustle to consider the conflicting 
 evidence as to the best route, and the verdict was "to 
 start next day, and find the way myself" 
 
 Four fowls must be roasted at once, and bread and 
 eggs made ready for four days' food. To lighten the 
 canoe, I left every possible item behind, even the boat's 
 topsail ; and thus, prepared for all chances, there was 
 encouragement in the reflection that surely this insoluble 
 Menzaleh could not be worse to get over than the Malar 
 Lake in Sweden, where the Rob Roy had found her way 
 to the end, though eleven hundred islands had to be 
 threaded to get there. 
 
 It was a wide and novel view as we sat to meditate 
 before the open lake of Menzaleh and the strange fisher- 
 men around us. The sun just setting showered upon the 
 water a flood of fiery red. On the large marshes near 
 was a company of fowlers at their work, while more than 
 thirty beaters spread out in a great semicircle and
 
 68 TJic Governor. [Chap. IV. 
 
 plashed along wading. The ducks and water-fowl rose 
 in advance by thousands, and whole clouds of winged 
 game flew straight into the range of men posted with 
 guns in little bowers far out in the water. Many reflec- 
 tions crowded into my mind as to the strange things 
 I should meet there on the morrow ; the men, the birds, 
 the water, even the land, so entirely different fro'm what 
 could be seen elsewhere. Thunder in the night rumbled 
 from afar, and a few drops of rain came sprinkling in the 
 dark. My macintosh sheet was soon rigged out to cover 
 us from a storm, but it did not come to-night, and only 
 pleasant sleep. 
 
 Before our start on this doubtful journey to San, a 
 crowd came to see us, and in the middle of them, arrayed 
 in full state, was the Governor himself In almost every 
 town where we stopped in Egypt, the chief ruler was 
 courteous enough to honour us with a visit, but this 
 Governor at Menzaleh was particularly complaisant. 
 He was venerable and dignified. He was dressed in 
 most brilliant colours. His suite encircled him with 
 pomp, and the boy slave, his pipe-bearer, carried for him 
 a niagnificent chibouque, all gold and gems, which 
 reached from the old man's mouth even to the ground. 
 
 His interest about the canoe was excessive. All its 
 contents had to be explained — the cabin, sails, lamp, 
 curtains, compass, paddle, and cuisine. He felt the long 
 lithe sides of the Rob Roy with his hands from end to 
 end, because he was nearly blind. How vague must 
 have been, after all, his notions about the whole affair. 
 Explanations from this worthy fellow soon cleared up 
 the meaning of that mysterious word " Toweel," which 
 we now found to signify any piece of land not solid 
 enough to walk upon, and not covered enough to sail 
 over. In fact, there were fifty Toweels around us,
 
 Chap. IV.] Start on Lake Mcnzalch. 69 
 
 and the particular Toweel that was marked on the 
 map near Mataryeh, and described as a village in the 
 guidebook, had no special existence whatever, nay, the 
 natives protested against any such town in the world. 
 
 Plans fully made in a campaign should be carried 
 out at all hazards — if only you have made them after 
 weighing all the evidence. But in canoeing one learns, 
 among other lessons, that an important fact, though new, 
 must be duly considered in our plans, even though its 
 intrusion discomposes all. Thus it was now plain that 
 the route I had settled to start upon, all alone, would 
 entail a full half-mile of sheer haulage of the Rob Roy 
 over deep mud and very shallow water, and yet there 
 was a far better way to San, for the lake was wide, and 
 3000 fishing-boats upon it all had ample room. 
 
 At once my plans were changed then, and a luggage- 
 boat was hired to take us for fiv^e days at the price of 
 eight napoleons, of which sum the large proportion 
 of five napoleons went to the Government for their 
 share as a tax. By this boat we were to enter the lake 
 at another side from the west, and to double the Cape of 
 Mataryeh instead of crossing a marsh, and so to push on 
 to San, which place I was more than ever resolved to 
 visit by water now that the difficulty of getting there in 
 this Avay was fully proved. 
 
 Camels came to carry our luggage and tent, as our 
 camp Avas now going to sea. The tall palm-trees bent 
 gracefully over the gazing crowd, and shaded us to the 
 last. Two stalwart fishermen shouldered the canoe, 
 amid loud plaudits, and Hany singing led the way. 
 My parting address to the Mayor of Menzaleh was 
 earnest, if not intelligible, and in a few minutes more 
 we had borne the canoe through the cotton-fields and 
 launched her on a silent, beauteous river, hemmed
 
 Livino- Clouds. [Chap. IV, 
 
 in deeply by the weeping willows and other pendent 
 trees. 
 
 Four miles of a winding course upon this brought me 
 gradually dovvm to the west limb of the lake, where a 
 very fresh breeze was blowing, and quite a new scene 
 awaited my arrival. We had been told of the enormous 
 flocks of wild fowl to be seen on this lake, and especially 
 in winter. I had seen thousands, myriads of these, 
 and wondered at the multitude in the air. But I never 
 expected to see birds so numerous and so close together 
 that their compact mass formed living islands upon the 
 water, and when the wind now took me swiftly to these, 
 and a whole island rose up with a loud and thrilling din 
 to become a feathered cloud in the air, the impression 
 was one of vastness and innumerable teeming life, which 
 it is entirely impossible to convey in words. The larger 
 geese and pelicans and swans floated like ships at 
 anchor. The long-legged flamingoes and other waders 
 traced out the shape of the shallows by their standing 
 in the water. Smaller ducks were scattered in regi- 
 ments of skirmishers about the grand army, but every 
 battalion of the gabbling shrieking host seemed to be 
 disciplined, orderly, and distinct. 
 
 The breeze bore me fast from shore, and the waves ran 
 high. More wind came, and I had to take in a reef. 
 Still more came whistling in squalls, and I tied my air- 
 bed round me as a life jacket. Soon it was a gale on 
 the lake, presaged indeed by the thunder of last night, 
 and being far out of sight of the luggage-boat, I struck 
 sail to lie to, and to wait, and look, and listen, tossed 
 upon the waves delightfully in the light sunshine. 
 
 For a large boat the navigation of this vast sheet of 
 surplus water is extremely intricate. The edges of it are 
 of course entirely unseen when you leave them a few miles
 
 Chap. IV.] Matajjc/i. 71 
 
 astern, and I never could discover how the pilots found 
 their way among so many shallows and by such hidden 
 channels. Soon the red flag of my consort joined, and 
 the blue sail of the Rob Roy ran up to have a race with 
 the luggage-boat, until we rounded in towards " the 
 Egyptian Venice," Mataryeh, a very curious town, built 
 upon two flat islands, which are united by a causeway 
 only six feet wide and very low. Some hundred boats 
 were here, and their long lateen yards broke up the 
 straight horizon by a jagged forest of sharp peaks. By 
 cutting across the shallows, the canoe was able to keep 
 up with the great luggage-boat, which had to go round 
 each island in a deeper channel. When the red ensign 
 came in sight of the town, the whole population turned 
 out to see. Red, with a white crescent on it, is the 
 Moslem flag ; so the people thought my luggage-boat 
 had some high officer of state on board, coming, 
 perhaps, to raise their taxes, which already for the 
 fishing on the lake produce ten thousand pounds a year. 
 But presently, when the Rob Roy showed round the 
 " Hospital Point," it was to her, of course, that every 
 eye was turned, for all the people here are interested 
 in fish, and so in boats— men, women, and children. 
 
 The deep calm harbour was a contrast to the ^\'inter 
 gale outside. Under the gaze of the crowd, Hany, with 
 due dignity, prepared the midday repast, and I had to 
 attack it (nothing loth) with many hundred eyes fixed 
 upon the clean white tablecloth spread on my deck. A 
 barge approached from the shore all full of people 
 and music, and with the Governor himself on board. 
 I landed with him to see the town, and a very amusing 
 progress we made of it through his aqueous domain. 
 He was a young sprightly fellow, very well dressed, a 
 Nubian with a face like the blackest charcoal. Six of
 
 7 2 -^^I^-^ of Ingleez. [Chap. IV. 
 
 his suite preceded and six followed me on my rounds, 
 and all of them had long bamboo canes. The first half- 
 dozen of these were to thrash the people out of the way, 
 and from the other six I heard Avhack ! whack ! as they 
 thumped the population who insisted on following after. 
 But it was all done in good humour ; and, for a bit of 
 fun, I began a quick-march too, stepping out gradually 
 at first, then more and more at speed, until with the 
 longest strides I walked my very best, in and out and 
 round all the blind alleys of the town and its dark 
 bazaars. The escort had to run to keep up with their 
 charge, for the Egyptians cannot walk five miles an 
 hour. Often the vanguard rushed in one direction, but 
 when I came to the turning, I went perversely down the 
 other way. As they ran, they panted, and laughing said 
 while they scampered along, "How he does walk!" 
 "Great is the power of the Ingleez!" "Oh his long 
 legs!" 
 
 The fish caught here seem to be nearly all of one 
 size and shape, like perch, but of exaggerated depth 
 and stumpy length, and exactly of the form depicted 
 in so many Eastern paintings. The houses for packing 
 these fish, when salted, were very interesting to see. 
 Our parting with the people and their dusky ruler was 
 more than cordial, it was almost affectionate ; while all 
 the crowd exclaimed, " Never was there seen such a 
 sight in Mataryeh!" We had laughed a good deal at 
 many things together, and now the Mayor most gladly 
 received from me some little books, for he could read 
 quite well, and which dealt with graver topics common 
 to all mankind, and far too interesting and good to be 
 shyly ignored between men meeting for once in the 
 wide, wide world. 
 
 Three sailors and a boy were our crew of the luggage-
 
 Chap. IV.] Egyptian Lock. 73 
 
 boat this time, but there was another Httle fellow, almost 
 a baby. I did not know at first he was with us, for they 
 had locked him up for safety in the forecastle, an apart- 
 ment about the size of a portmanteau, and when he 
 whined inside, and I ordered him to be let out, they 
 brought the key of the Egyptian lock, just like a tooth- 
 brush, with wires for its hairs, each wire corresponding to 
 a ward in the lock. The plan is simple and sure, and it 
 certainly contains the idea too of the well known " Bramah 
 lock," which is used all over the world.'" 
 
 The wind being contrary, the paddle had now to drive 
 the Rob Roy for about four hours, ascending the river 
 Mushra, but I ran her up the winding creeks, and soon 
 began to replenish our larder by shooting my first wild 
 duck from a canoe. People had foreboded an upset as 
 the sure result of a gun's recoil. However, it was only 
 the duck that was knocked over. 
 
 ^'^ The Eg}'ptian lock and its key are both of wood, and when a man has 
 locked his door, he throws the key over his shoulder, where it can hang all 
 day suspended by a string round his neck. This custom, no doubt, explains 
 that verse of prophecy, "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon 
 his shoulder ; so he shall open, and none shall shut ; and he shall shut, and 
 none shall open " (Isaiah xxii. 22) ; which passage again leads us to the 
 further and clearer mention of the solemn truth in the Book of the Revela- 
 tion, " These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the 
 key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no 
 man openeth" (ch. iii. 7).
 
 74 River Mitshra. [Chap. V. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 RIVER MUSHRA — "FIELD OF ZOAN ' — STRANGE CREATURES — A LOST 
 NEEDLE — " FIRE IN ZOAN " — QUALMS — FLAMINGOES — RIGS — 
 A YARN — LUBBERS — BY MOONLIGHT — PORT SAID — PARTING SHOT 
 — SQUALL. 
 
 AFTER a long winding voyage on the Mushra, we 
 came near the vast Tells, or mounds, of ancient 
 Zoan, and I started on foot to explore them all alone, 
 for it is best to be alone in examining a huge relic like 
 this, where desolation reigns, where all may be seen 
 without a guide, and where the sentiment of silence 
 ought to have full sway. 
 
 For a mile I crossed a marsh, with frequent diffi- 
 culties, and then climbed up to the highest mound, per- 
 haps 200 feet above the water. All was seen from that 
 point, and indeed it is a noble view. The horizon is 
 nearly a straight line on every side, and looking west, the 
 tract before us is a black rich loam, without fences or 
 towns, and with only a dozen trees in sight. This is 
 " The Field of Zoan." ' 
 
 ' "Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan" (Numbers xiii. 
 22). In Psahn Ixxviii. 12, we read, " Marvellous things did He in the sight 
 of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan ; " where Stanley 
 considers that "field" may be the translation of the Hebrew signifying 
 " to level." Cruden gives "motion" as the meaning of "Zoan." The 
 name is referred to again in Isaiah xxx. 4.
 
 Chap. V.] 
 
 '' Field of Zoan'.' 
 
 ID 
 
 Behind is a gleam of silver light on the far-away shore 
 of Lake Menzaleh. Across the level foreground winds 
 most gracefully the Mushra, and down there below us 
 the Rob Roy floats on the ripples of a gentle breeze. 
 
 The " Field of Zoan." 
 
 But between that winding river and the mound we look 
 from, there is lying bare and gaunt, in stark and silent 
 devastation, one of the grandest and oldest ruins in 
 the world. It is deep in the middle of an enclosing 
 amphitheatre of mounds, all of them absolutely bare, 
 and all dark-red from the millions of potsherds, that 
 defy the winds of time and the dew and the sun alike 
 to stir them, or to even melt away their sharp-edged 
 fragments.
 
 ']6 Strange Crcatiircs. [Chap. V. 
 
 M. Mariette, of Cairo, lately had these ruins uncovered 
 (by forced labour, I was told, of 500 men at a time). 
 They are wide-spread, varied, and gigantic. Here you 
 see about a dozen obelisks, all fallen, all broken ; twenty 
 or thirty great statues, all monoliths, of porphyry, and 
 granite, red and grey ; a huge sarcophagus (as it seemed 
 to me) was of softer stone, and enormous pillars, lintel, 
 and wall-stones are piled in heaps one over the other, 
 most of them still buried in the earth. The polished 
 statues are of various sizes, and of beautiful workman- 
 ship. Some sit with half the body over the ground, 
 others have only a leg in the air. One leans its great 
 bulk sideways, covered up to the ear ; another lies with 
 its chair and legs appearing, but the head is buried deep 
 out of sight in the mud.'"^ 
 
 The buildings seemed to have formed a temple, with 
 three outlying edifices. Some of the obelisks must have 
 
 2 In the exfoliating granite of these old walls I found some very curious 
 insects. They were crowded in groups of many hundreds close together, 
 and they seemed to lie dormant until disturbed. Each was like a small 
 grain of corn, but flatter, and more of the shape of a ladybird. The colour 
 was a uniform pale yellow, and they had many legs. I could not discover 
 the slightest trace of moss, or any vegetable matter, in or near these groups, 
 though I carefully examined the stone with a lens. Some of them I brought 
 away, and sent in a letter to that amusing and excellent weekly paper, 
 ' Land and Water,' being quite sure that a description of them there would 
 educe full explanation of their proper names and habits, if they did not 
 eat their way through the envelope on their passage home. However, in 
 'Land and Water,' September 18, 1869, Mr. Henry Lee wrote: — 
 " With the kind assistance of Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum, I 
 have compared their damaged remains with the specimens of this class of 
 insects in the national collection, and find that there is only one individual 
 there which at all lesembles the Rob Roy specimens. This is an unnamed 
 coccinella from China. It has the same buff-yellow elytra with verj' faintly 
 discernible spots of a slightly deeper shade on them, and, so far as we 
 could ascertain, the same number of black spots (nine) on the thorax, 
 placed in the same form and position. Mr. Smith hopes to be able to 
 make a perfect insect for the collection from the disjecta viembra of more
 
 Chap. V.] A Lost Needle. 77 
 
 fallen long before the dust and refuse of ages had filled 
 the courtly halls, then tenantless. Others fell on this 
 new stratum, and these now lie, say, ten feet higher than 
 the floor, while a few of the taller columns lasted perhaps 
 for another thousand years, and then they toppled over 
 on the lonely plain with a crash unheard by a regardless 
 world. The sand soon buried them there, and even the 
 memory of Zoan faded away. 
 
 The words in Isaiah (xix. 11-13) may well be read 
 here with so plain a comment round us : — 
 
 " Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of 
 the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish : how 
 say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son 
 of ancient kings .'' 
 
 " Where are they .'' where are thy wise men .'' and let 
 them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of 
 hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. 
 
 " The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of 
 Noph are deceived ; they have also seduced Egypt, even 
 they that are the stay of the tribes thereof" 
 
 Think of the labour of transporting hither these 
 stones, each many hundreds of tons in weight, from the 
 Upper Nile, whence several of them nnist have come. 
 Sadly behind these men in energy are we Britons, 
 who have left that splendid obelisk, " Cleopatra's 
 Needle," close by the sea at Alexandria for fifty years, 
 although it belongs to England, and it would grace 
 our finest site in London. In 1849 this neglected gift 
 was only half buried, but in 1869 it was so completely 
 hidden that not even the owner of the workshop where 
 
 than one individual." A subsequent letter from Mr. F. Smith (October ii, 
 1S70) kindly informs me that he believes it to be of a Species Bulrea. 19, 
 notata. Steven.
 
 78 ^'' Fire hi ZoanT [Chap. V. 
 
 it lies could point out to me the exact spot of its sandy 
 grave ! 
 
 The mounds that now hedge in the ruins of Zoan 
 — so that from no point in the plain can you see even 
 one stone of the grand silent pile — were "probably the 
 houses of a great town built of mud, and an extensive 
 pottery. All over and under and among the stones are 
 large masses of vitrified bricks, evidently the produce of 
 the kilns, and reminding us of what was predicted in 
 Ezekiel (ch. xxx. 14), " I will set fire in Zoan." Not 
 one of the other celebrated ruins I have seen impressed 
 me so deeply with the sense of fallen and deserted mag- 
 nificence.'^ 
 
 Our wandering up and down the Mushra was like a 
 quiet walk along a country lane to see a deserted town, 
 only the way was by water. In the lake again once 
 
 * In the 13th verse of the 30th chapter of Ezekiel it is said, "And there 
 sliall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt." The country has been for 
 ages subject to foreign rule. Lately the present Viceroy seemed to have 
 acquired almost the place of on independent sovereign, but the Sultan has 
 just reminded his Highness very distinatly how entirely dependent upon 
 the Porte is this Governor, who would set up as "a prince of Egypt." In 
 Isaiah (ch. xix. 4-10) is the following further prophecy : — "And the Egyp- 
 tians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord ; and a fierce king shall rule 
 over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of Hosts. And the waters shall fail from 
 the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. And they shall turn 
 the rivers far away : and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried 
 up ; the reeds and flags shall wither. The paper reeds by the brooks, by 
 the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks shall wither, 
 be driven away, and be no more. The fishers also shall mourn, and all they 
 that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon 
 the waters shall languish. Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they 
 that weave networks, shall be confounded. And they shall be broken in the 
 purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish." How much of 
 this is already fulfilled can only be seen by going to the brooks, and ponds, 
 and fishers for oneself. The word "aroth" is said, in Smith's Dictionary, 
 to be wrongly translated " paper reeds'" in this passage.
 
 Chap. V.] Oiialuis. 79 
 
 more, the journey is livelier as the Rob Roy dashes 
 out upon a wave-flowing sea. Islands innumerable block 
 up the horizon. Sea-birds by thousands sail upon the 
 wind. Flamingoes hover in flocks, and spread a pale 
 pink cloud of beauteous plumage painted by the sun. 
 Pelicans in groups of ten at a time gently rise and fall on 
 the ground-swell, or lumber through the air with heavy 
 wing, and pouch well filled with fish. 
 
 The life of a waterbird seems the most full of enjoyment, 
 for it has three elements to sport in, and on the earth 
 and the wind and the wave it is equally at home. But 
 what is to be said about the fourth element, fire ? There 
 is good reason for the gun to cut short even so happy an 
 existence if the dead bird is really useful for the mind or 
 the body of man, to be stuffed for a museum, or for a side 
 dish, or to grace the head of a girl. Still I own to some 
 tender qualms when the pretty gay feathers are fluttering 
 at the other end of my gun-barrel, unconsciously waiting 
 their doom ; and it may even be a consolation to the 
 sportsman that a miss of his trigger will disappoint only 
 one of the parties concerned, while it sets the other free. 
 'Tis better to grumble at one's bad luck or bad shooting 
 than to be haunted by the ghosts of orphan ducklings, or 
 the cackling jf a web-footed widow. 
 
 To the bird-fancier, or the scientific ornithologist, one 
 might well suppose that a month on Lake Menzaleh 
 would be the very least he could give. As for myself, 
 I did not go for the waterfowl, but for the water, and 
 yet every day there was some new feature of winged life 
 to be noticed on the lake. One of the most amus- 
 ing sights was the odd clumsy manner in which the 
 flamingoes {nchaf in Arabic) rise from the water to the 
 air when they are hard pressed by such an intruder as a 
 canoe.
 
 8o Flamingoes. [Chap. V. 
 
 The bird, with the utmost reluctance, having at last 
 resolved to fly away, up he springs, with his long legs 
 dangling upon the wave-tops, and walking on the water 
 might and main, while his wings are struggling above, 
 
 Flamingoes taking Wing. 
 
 and his neck is crooked out in front. It is only after a 
 long doubtful scramble between earth, water, and air, 
 that the scrimp little body, with its pretty pink wings, 
 can finally manage to carry off the whole concern, in a 
 hurry packed together, the long snake-like neck and 
 the lower incumbrances called legs. The various phases 
 of this process of locomotion are shown in the sketch 
 above. 
 
 It will be seen by Map I., at p. ^6, that Lake 
 Menzaleh has a very irregular outline, especially on the 
 southern side. Its length from north-west to south-east is 
 about forty miles, and when the water is full, the breadth 
 from Port Said is fifteen miles. A distinct chain of 
 islands runs along the middle, and many others of various 
 sizes dot the surface, or disappear just beneath the water 
 when that is full. 
 
 The depth of the lake is nowhere great, and for many
 
 Chap. V.] Rigs. 8 1 
 
 square miles we found it not more than four feet, even in 
 the channels. On first thoughts one is apt to suppose 
 that a shipwreck in water only a yard deep would not be 
 a very serious disaster, even if the solid land were several 
 miles away on every side ; but, on reflection, it is soon 
 found that this shallow pond-like area is more dangerous 
 for the lone sailor who may be overturned, or water- 
 logged, or benighted, than a deeper lake would be. For 
 while it would be veiy difficult or impossible, without 
 complete exhaustion, to reach the shore by wading 
 several miles over such shallows, it would also be a 
 severe tax upon both pluck and patience to find for the 
 first time a channel deep enough for a boat, where so 
 many parts of the lake are mere pools joined by surface 
 water only a few inches in depth. When you get into 
 one of these, desiring to cross it in some determinate 
 direction, the channel leading to another of the pools in 
 the chain may be in the most unlikely side of the pool 
 you have entered, and thus for hours the boat would be 
 caught in a ail-dc-sac. On one occasion, long ago, 
 voyaging alone, my boat found its way into a pool of 
 this kind, but it was more than six hours before she 
 could get out again, and all that time there was nothing 
 to do but to read the only book I happened to have on 
 board, ' A Table of Logarithms.' 
 
 The various rigs of vessels on the lake are not nume- 
 rous, but we may be allowed to spin a little yarn about 
 them. Small boats, especially at Port Said, carry the 
 orthodox lug-sail, some of them also a jib. F'ish tank- 
 boats, very low in the water, and (without any conceivable 
 reason I can see) depressed on deck at the bow and stern, 
 have the lateen sail on their masts, but they are much 
 propelled by poling. All the larger vessels also have long 
 poles to punt with, and of course they row with " sweeps.'' 
 
 G
 
 82 A Yarn. [Chap. v. 
 
 The large lateen sail of the Nile is much used on the 
 lake, but without the good reason which justifies its use 
 in the river: that its uplifted peak may catch the breeze 
 over the top of the high banks. For lake sailing, and 
 wherever any attempt to beat to windward in regular 
 boards has to be made in rough water, and in narrow 
 bounds, the lateen is used by the Menzaleh boats most 
 absurdly. Often they tack ship without shifting the sail 
 to leeward of the mast, and they are content to lose all 
 weather progress whatever while sailing on the "short 
 leg," besides fraying the sail itself to pieces by grinding 
 it on the shrouds. 
 
 The sail is not like a " dipping lug," for the yard is 
 permanently slung at the masthead, and when the vessel 
 comes about, the canvas has to pass above all, so that 
 the aftcr-leach goes over the mast and yard and then is 
 brought round to the other side. Afterwards the yard 
 itself swings over the masthead, and at last the sheet 
 can be hauled aft. 
 
 This dangerous and lubberly process is so much more 
 easily done by " wearing ship " that in most cases you 
 find the pilot put his helm up. Sometimes, when the 
 loss of weather-way would be too bad to justify this, the 
 vessel is actually stopped, and held by a pole (or even 
 anchored !) while the sail is got over. In such cases, and 
 often when " going large," and wearing, the sail is triced 
 up for a minute or so, while a boy is sent out on the yard 
 to hold it up and to gather it with his arms, in order to 
 prevent the canvas from catching too easily in the upper 
 gear. The braces, too (or vangs, as they would become 
 in an ordinary cutter-sail, with gaff and boom rig), bind 
 the sail in an extremely dangerous manner, and, if taken 
 aback in a squall, the boat is most apt to subside for 
 a ducking, hke a man in a strait jacket adrift on the
 
 Chap. V.] Liibbcrs. 83 
 
 waves. The crew, however, care very little indeed about 
 the prospect of a capsize, being fatalists in the most 
 illogical fashion. Once, when my " dahabeeah" was sailing 
 on the Nile in a fresh gale, the hardihood of the men was 
 beyond all bounds, and the boat reeled about several 
 times, within an ace of upsetting. To the sailors per- 
 sonally it was no matter if she did go over ; not one of 
 them had any luggage to care for but his pipe ; so after 
 they had disobeyed my directions once too often, and 
 the vessel heeled down under a long mountain squall, I 
 quietly went forward and cut the sheet in two with a 
 knife at the time in my hand, being then at breakfast. 
 
 Had this been done with any semblance of anger, it is 
 not easy to say what the consequences might have been, 
 for it was of course the highest possible affront to the 
 seamanship of the crew, but being perpetrated with 
 serene calmness, and even a smile, they only wondered 
 and muttered, and put it down in their memories as 
 another of the extraordinary things that those " Ingleez " 
 will dare to do. But many occasions occurred when the 
 extreme ignorance of sailing on the part of a crew, 
 willing enough, but utterly lubbers, grieved me, in the 
 hopeless knowledge that it was no use to protest, far 
 less to instruct, and the only thing was to sit still with 
 an air resigned, but a deep wounding of one's sense of 
 the " ship shape," and an excruciating pain concealed. 
 
 There was now always plenty to occupy the mind of 
 any one who cares for boat-sailing, besides many other 
 interesting and varied sights in our life on Lake Menzaleh. 
 Camping for the night on a lonely islet here is truly a new 
 lodging. It was quiet enough until the jackal's scream 
 woke up some distant echoes on the mainland, but yet the 
 shrill music near us being a solo made the other silence 
 more impressive. Not far off were the fishers' stations,
 
 84 
 
 By Moonlight. 
 
 [Chap. V. 
 
 find themselves at last in the net at the end. This net is 
 little bowers of rushes, each at the end of two lines of 
 wattles fixed obliquely zigzag in the shallows. The fish 
 swim along these hedgerows seeking an outlet, and they 
 
 * 
 
 Night on Lake Menzaleli. 
 
 held by the strange baboon-like native, whose fire for 
 the evening is now alight, and the smoke feebly curls in 
 the dark gloaming of eve. He will stop there for days 
 and nights together, and boats will take away his 
 basketful of fish, which at Matar^-eh will be salted and 
 thence sent all over Egypt. The wonder felt by these 
 men may be imagined — sitting in silence in their funny 
 little nests — when I visited them suddenly in the canoe. 
 The moon rose in state to brighten long rows of white 
 sea-birds dotting the dark water, and the horizon was
 
 Chap. V.] Port Said. 85 
 
 only broken by the distant mast-tops at Mataryeh. 
 Then ghding back in the Rob Roy brought me to our 
 camp again, and her covering was thrown over her as she 
 was resting in bed and well " tucked in" by Hany. 
 
 The absence of all sounds but the faint ripples on 
 the shore is intensely refreshing. Our party are all 
 silent now, but yet we can hear at times the latest 
 flocks of geese speeding homeward to roost in the fens, 
 and the beat of their instant tireless wings sounds 
 sharply musical, but unseen, as if you were to whisper 
 loudly and very fast the words " Tiff — tiff — tiff — tifif," 
 lowering the voice as the sound dies away in the night, 
 and the moon shines calmly still. 
 
 By sunrise our tent is melting into a bundle, while a 
 lovely morn is welcomed and a friendly breeze. With 
 compass and map I cheerily sail out alone, and after a 
 long cruise with my gun, and a rest on the islands, 
 peeping into the wild ducks' homes, we board the 
 luggage-boat as usual, when sharp hunger, after five 
 hours' work, quickens the nautical sense, for it is won- 
 derful how soon you can " find the way to food " if you 
 have but a good appetite, and know where it will be 
 appeased. 
 
 Thus we sailed on till, in the far horizon, blurred 
 and quivering with mirage, the ships at Port Said 
 could be seen. The Arabs call this " Bult," a way of 
 saying " Port " when their language has no /. Safely 
 landed at our old quarters there, we looked back on the 
 past six weeks of travel with unmingled pleasure, and 
 forward to the Syrian tour with hope. 
 
 •* The Suez Canal is a success for the pubhc good, but not as yet for the 
 enrichment of its makers. To pay 5 per cent, interest on 16 milHon of 
 pounds invested will need 6000 tons of shipping to pay toll every day. 
 The latest accounts (Times, Oct. 11, 1870) state that at this season — not 
 the best, however — not 2000 tons pay toll on any day.
 
 86 Parting Shot. [Chap. V. 
 
 Next day I took a long walk by the seashore, which 
 here is of unsullied sand. The temperature was perfect 
 — cool enough to walk anywhere, warm enough to sit 
 any time. The tide came quietly in upon the glittering 
 beach, and rushed and gurgled round the coloured shells. 
 Wave after wave gracefully bent its thin crest, and, top- 
 pling over, flung athwart the sloping shore a long, wide, 
 tongue-like sheet of glistening water, which lapped 
 around it with a gentle sweep, and then left the cool 
 wet sand to shine in the sun, verged by a rim of pure 
 white foam, melting away. 'Tis in such days one can 
 walk fast and far, singing unheard. It was my last walk 
 in Africa, and a good twelve miles, rather too long for a 
 morning stroll. 
 
 The heavy luggage and the second tent which we had 
 not taken through Egypt were all waiting for us at Port 
 Said. The officers of the canal very kindly permitted 
 our party to camp in their well kempt ground, an 
 excellent place for a Sunday rest. Hany was delighted 
 to be no longer shorn of half his dignity by ruling over 
 only a half-equipment, so he rose to the occasion, and 
 spread abroad our English flag in this French town of 
 wood. 
 
 Next day all was bustle in preparation for the farewell 
 dinner in my tents, to which were invited four of the 
 French Company, who had been most kind to the Rob 
 Roy, and while plate and glasses, and viands and 
 decorations, and hangings and flowers, were being pre- 
 pared, the canoe took a farewell paddle down the canal, 
 for a parting shot at my old friends the pelicans. 
 
 A fine rolling swell in the bay poured its blue waters 
 tumbling through the long-armed piers projecting seaward. 
 The pelicans were swimming, and had been daring us 
 to come out for hours, but they could be seen only at
 
 V 
 
 o 
 
 ILKP 1. 
 
 IL\ST PART OP THE DELTA. 

 
 Chap. V.] SqualL 87 
 
 rare intervals when the canoe and the floating birds 
 happened both to be high on the waves. It seemed as 
 if it would be impossible to use a rifle in such a swell, 
 but it was impossible to resist the desire to try it. No 
 one can tell what excitement will not urge him to dare 
 if once the idea seizes the mind that a shot can be had 
 at a fine large bird like a pelican. 
 
 To shoot was not easy, for when I brought the Rob 
 Roy as near as possible to the birds, and then put clown 
 the paddle and drew out the double-barrel, the very 
 next wave was sure to turn round the head of the boat, 
 and the next turned her more, and so while the little 
 canoe was brought " side on " to the long rollers, my 
 body had to be screwed round at a most crooked angle 
 to get the barrel in line with the birds, which now were 
 behind my right shoulder. Nothing but daily use of the 
 boat would enable one to balance himself while aiming 
 thus, without the paddle, and without regarding in the 
 eye the waves as they came, for the boat must now be 
 poised by only the sense of feeling. At length arrived 
 that supreme moment when the gun and the bird were 
 each on a wave, and I fired, and I missed, and that was 
 an end of it. 
 
 On the pier some pilots shouted to me that the big 
 squall was coming, which long was looming in the sky, 
 while a rainbow framed the picture. As we got out on 
 the pier, down came a furious gust of wind and drenching 
 rain while we cowered under the huge blocks of the 
 jetty, and the men told me all the secrets of their craft, 
 and entirely confirmed the impression I had received 
 after carefully going round the whole area of water here 
 enclosed, as a place of safety for the navies of nations 
 that now hie them in a body to Port Said.
 
 88 Bey rout. [Chap. VI. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BEYROUT — MASSACRE^- GOOD NEWS — SCHOOLS — BUSTLE — BLIND — 
 AMERICAN MISSION — MOSLEMS — PRINCE OF WALES — AGRIPPA — 
 OUR FLAG — FRENCH LAKE — " GRATIAS." 
 
 SPLENDID old Lebanon, snow-capped; young 
 Beyrout smiling in rain tears ; and all the street- 
 boys running down to the beach to see the canoe — that 
 was our way of landing in Syria. Yet it was only with 
 reluctance that I could bring her to the shore and leave 
 the fresh-flowing waves of that pretty bay. 
 
 Egypt, indeed, is grand with the sublimity of vast flat- 
 ness. But now we have the mountains for a happy 
 change, and, after all, the plain cannot please like the 
 hills. Quaint oldness is the feature of Egypt, lovely 
 beauty is the charm of Beyrout. 
 
 A rapid glance at this thriving town soon shows one 
 that it is now the focus of civilisation for Syria, perhaps 
 of the evangelisation also of this district of Asia. My 
 faint recollection of it many years ago was still enough 
 to let me judge how wonderful is its recent advance. 
 The town is increased in size. Its roads and streets 
 are far better kept than most of those in Alexandria or 
 Cairo ; its houses are altogether superior externally to 
 those of Egypt ; its people well clad and wholesome- 
 looking — women comely and tidy, children mirthsome
 
 Chap. VI.] Massaci'C. 89 
 
 and intelligent, a "school-going" race, whose mothers, 
 too, can look men in the face as equals. Most of these 
 improvements here have been effected during the last 
 eight years, since the terrible massacre of the Christians 
 by — but we shall not name the assassins. 
 
 While family ties were cut asunder then with a bloody 
 violence, the bonds of priestcraft were broken by the 
 same rude shock, and people were set free from worn- 
 ^ out crazy systems, to unite again under new associations 
 of religion or nationality. Hence Beyrout has become 
 a camp groiuid for both truth and. error. Popery is 
 entrenched here. The Greek Church has enormous 
 buildings and collegiate apparatus (if we extend the 
 title " college lads " to the merest schoolboys). Prussian 
 deaconesses congregate and toil with zeal and success. 
 The American Christians are banded in close array — 
 they who almost first won the ground here for the 
 Bible. The practical action of British Protestants may 
 be seen and closely studied in Mrs. Thompson's schools, 
 and even the dull cry of the Moslem prophet is 
 quickened by these intruders, so as to have, at any rate, 
 a Mahommedan college too. 
 
 It is scarcely fair to any of these institutions to visit 
 one or two of them and to describe only these, when so 
 many are clustered in the beautiful slope of the town, 
 looking out upon " that goodly Lebanon," now decked 
 to its waist in purest snow, and skirted below by the 
 azure sea. But my time here was limited to the few 
 days required for preparing men, horses, mules, tents, 
 luggage, supplies, and porters for my own journey, and, 
 this being unique in its kind here or anywhere else, with 
 a canoe as the centre of the cavalcade, I felt it would be 
 out of place to inspect Beyrout, however interesting, if 
 the time thus consumed would be taken from that
 
 90 Good Nezus. [Chap. VI. 
 
 absolutely needful for success in the main purpose of the 
 Rob Roy's voyage on the " waters of Israel." 
 
 Let us, however, go into that airy, cheerful, and sub- 
 stantial building, where the chief schools are carried on 
 by Mrs. Thompson. Her husband, well known years ago 
 to travellers Avho went to Damascus, bravely did his 
 duty in the Crimea and fell a victim to disease. As a 
 widow, she felt sympathy for the widowed wives and 
 bereaved mothers and sisters in these mountains, when 
 "all their men" had been butchered for their Christian 
 name. She assembled these poor hapless ones, and told 
 them of the aid sent out by England, and which was 
 so well dispensed by Lord Dufiferin. The widows were 
 grateful for the help, but far more than gratitude 
 moved them when they were told of the sympathy of 
 our Queen, and of English ladies, and that these had 
 even wept for the poor Syrian mourners. Sympathy is 
 more, or seems more, than money gifts when the heart 
 is sore. 
 
 She spoke to them of Christ, and the story of His 
 love was news to many. They would not leave the room 
 where such good news had been heard. Their new friend 
 was forced thus by heart pressure to begin a noble work. 
 Her schools are chiefly for girls, as most needed for the 
 country and most fitting for a woman to manage. 
 
 What a pleasant schoolroom this ! Nothing can be 
 more cheerful or inviting. Children of all ages, nations, 
 and ranks, are busy and happy here together. Those 
 of them who are the best learners now will be teachers 
 soon under this excellent training. See that first class 
 of girls, with their bright-hued dresses, the natural and 
 therefore graceful colours of their land, toned down a 
 little by the neat, plain pinafores, sent as presents 
 from England. How many lovely faces there are among 
 those maids from the mountain ! Druse girls, with gay
 
 Chap. VI.] Schools. 91 
 
 kerchiefs and black hair ; Arabs and Mahommedans, 
 some who will not show their faces, and others who 
 smile at every look from a visitor. One coming in state 
 with nine servants ; another sent to school in a carriage ; 
 the next one a mere pauper from the street ; and beside 
 them both an Abyssinian with her frizzled locks. Two 
 or three English are here, too, but all seem equally 
 happy and equally loved. 
 
 No wonder this little family should gladly meet in 
 such a place, and with such kind ladies to direct them, 
 and such excellent, active, and intelligent teachers to 
 instruct them. They read in Arabic, French, and Eng- 
 lish ; they trace the maps or sew embroidery ; they 
 write and cipher. A few recite some simple drama, 
 wherein one is the " spider," one the " fly," and one the 
 wise fairy who tells the moral to us all at the end. 
 Then how w^ell they sing ! and what sermons their very 
 manners must preach at their several homes, even if 
 they never speak a word of what they have learned. 
 There are several branch schools also at mountain out- 
 posts in connection with the head-quarters in Beyrout, 
 and we shall visit some of these as we go farther on. 
 
 Coming so recently from Egypt, with its vast plains, 
 to Syria, with its lofty mountains, it was natural to com- 
 pare the countries and the people of the two ; also to 
 regard together the Ragged -school at Cairo with this 
 training-school at Beyrout, and to consider the separate 
 fields occupied by Miss Whately and Mrs. Thompson, 
 working in the same vineyard. Both are of their kinds 
 most interesting, useful, and worthy of all support. In 
 Cairo the degradation of the ignorant is deeper, the 
 bonds of women are more cruelly slavish, the position 
 of the Christian teacher is more isolated, the lack of 
 sympathy and companionship is more depressing. No- 
 thing, in fact, but positive heroism could attack such a
 
 92 Bnstle. [Chap. VI. 
 
 difficult post as that, or win it, or hold it when a footing 
 was secured. In Bey rout there is an atmosphere more 
 free, and the brighter faces of the pupils are more glad- 
 dening to the teacher's eye ; but yet in each place, 
 Cairo and Syria, there is a most signal evidence of 
 the constraining power of Christian love for souls ; one 
 more proof of the influence of woman in the world when 
 patient, persevering work is to be done, and one more 
 sign that of all women British ladies are the best for 
 noble deeds.^ 
 
 Every moment of my time here was soon engaged by 
 kind friends on one side or another. An address to this 
 school, an examination at that, a peep into a third, a 
 lecture on canoes to the English residents, and a service 
 for the school children, &c., these filled up pretty well 
 the time between packing and buying, and settling those 
 nameless nothings without which, well arranged, a special 
 journey of this kind is certain to break down. 
 
 Besides these efforts on behalf of the ignorant, and 
 the orphans, and the sick, a very interesting but very 
 difficult work has also been commenced for the blind, 
 and one for the-'maimed. Mr. Mott's little class of blind 
 men reading is a sight, indeed, for us who have eyes. 
 Only in February last that poor sightless native who 
 sits on the form there was also in the mental and moral 
 darkness of ignorance. How glorious now the change, 
 as his delicate fingers run over the raised types of his 
 Bible ! and he reads aloud and blesses God in his heart 
 for the precious news and for those who gave him the 
 new avenue for truth to his soul. "Jesus Christ will be 
 
 ' Information may be obtained by those who would help those Beyrout 
 schools from Mrs. Smith, Morden College, Blackheath, Kent. My last 
 communication with them was in a sad letter to the children, enclosing a 
 holly leaf plucked from the open grave of their fond "mother," Mrs. 
 Thompson, in the peaceful cemetery at Blackheath, Nov. 14th, 1869.
 
 Chap. VI.] 
 
 Blind. 
 
 93 
 
 the first person I shall ever sec," he says, "for my eyes 
 will be opened in heaven." Then even this man be- 
 comes a missionary. Down in that room below the 
 printing-press of the American Mission, and in the 
 dark, for Jic needs no sunlight in his work, you find him 
 actually printing the Bible himself in raised type, letter 
 
 Blind reading to the Lame. 
 
 by letter, for his sightless brethren. A most impressive 
 scene was this to look upon. 
 
 As we leave the place, some of the maimed, and lame, 
 and halt, scramble along the road to their special class for 
 a lesson, so that all kinds of suffering are here provided 
 for ; and this mission of Christians is following closely 
 in the actual personal work which He, the Great Mis- 
 sioner Himself, described as His mission to mankind. 
 The woodcut here is from a photograph of this blind 
 man reading God's Word to the maimed. 
 
 The American Mission and Schools and College in 
 Beyrout are in amicable Christian fellowship with their
 
 94 American Mission. [Chap. vi. 
 
 British brethren ; and this is most happy, for their pre- 
 mises are near one another, and their work is to the same 
 end, though by different means and in distinct depart- 
 ments. While the " British Syrian Schools " are educat- 
 ing children and training teachers, the American College 
 is intended to instruct youths willing and able to give 
 some years to deeper study, and to aim high at learning, 
 so as to enter important professions and to become 
 ordained ministers or doctors of medicine. 
 
 The College^ is a large, plain, and practical-looking 
 edifice, with halls and dormitories, and a medical school 
 and dissecting-room ; and a pretty chapel is a new 
 prominent addition to the beautiful buildings of other 
 kinds ranged all around upon the same hill. When 
 I entered this church, an old gentleman addressed 
 me. He is the architect of the building, a native 
 
 2 The following information is derived from Dr. Post, of the medical de- 
 partment in the Beyrout College : —"The College (in January, 1869) numbers 
 sixty-seven students, of whom forty-six are in the literary and twenty-one 
 in the medical department. The latter all pay their fees in full ; and as 
 these, for the new class, are quite heavy for this country (10 gold medjidies 
 = about 9/.), we consider this a great success in the direction of self-support. 
 The students in the literary department are in part supported by scholar- 
 ships ; but a considerable number defray all their expenses. They are from 
 six different religious sects, including Druses. The students of the literary 
 department study the Arabic language and literature, English, French, the 
 natural and physical sciences, and will ultimately advance to the higher 
 departments of intellectual and moral philosophy, and the analogy of natural 
 and revealed religion. The mathematics are also thoroughly taught. An 
 air of studiousness and decorum, unusual in Arabic schools, pervades the 
 building. The religious influences brought to bear on the students are of 
 the strongest kind. The medical students for the most part room out {i.e., 
 in English, 'lodge out') of the college building, and cannot, therefore, be 
 brought so much under college discipline. The students have gone through 
 a thorough course of anatomy, chemistry, and physiolog}', and are now 
 receiving instruction in materia medica and practical clinical medicine and 
 surgery. Not a few of them attend the services of the college and mission 
 chapels." N.B. A proper official Report with full particulars and a finance 
 statement would be interesting to those who have aided this College (1870).
 
 Chap. VI.] Moslems. 95 
 
 Syrian, the brother of one well known in England. 
 He was the first Protestant convert in Syria, but soon 
 after the change he had a difference with the mis- 
 sionaries which ''resulted in a separation. Then his 
 former friends came round him again, insisting that he 
 should return once more to his discarded creed ; but 
 he answered, " No ! I have a quarrel now with some 
 other Christians, but not with Christ. I love Him more 
 than ever, and I will never separate from Him." Re- 
 stored friendship enabled this steadfast man again to 
 work in harmony with his foreign brethren, and now he 
 is building their church ; and when its marble floor has 
 been laid, and its clock has been set a-going, and its 
 bell a-ringing, he will have just reason to be proud of 
 the part he has been privileged to take in the American 
 Mission. 
 
 Dr. Bliss is at the head of it, and Dr. Vandyk, 
 eminent as an Arabic scholar, and another able pro- 
 fessor of medicine, and all the appliances for education 
 — broad, sound, if not refined — which our western cousins 
 know so well how to keep in action on strictly econo- 
 mical terms. The Bible is, of course, their solid founda- 
 tion. Their curriculum requires four years' study before 
 any youth is deflected into one or other particular line 
 by choice and fitness, and at his entrance he must be 
 sixteen years of age, and pass a creditable examination. 
 I could not judge of the aptness of the scholars, because, 
 very properly, their studies are not allowed to be inter- 
 rupted by the examination often given in other places 
 when visitors call to see a school. 
 
 In one of Mrs. Thompson's schools I found the man 
 who calls the Moslems to prayers from the top of their 
 mosque — one of the Muezzim whose faint shrill voices 
 sound in the hot sun of noon ; but now he is reading
 
 g6 Prince of Wales. [Chap. VI. 
 
 and praying over the Bible. In another school, that at 
 Zahleh, one of the pupils is the best painter of church 
 interiors in Syria. Many a " Virgin " and " Saint " has 
 he limned upon their idolatrous walls ; but now he 
 knows the purer faith, and at a great sacrifice he has 
 given up his former profitable business, because it was 
 inconsistent with obedience to God's Word. 
 
 After a service at one of these schools, all the girls 
 pressed forward to shake hands with the " Howaja 
 Ingleez," and one of the little creatures confided to me 
 a very loving message I was to carry to her former 
 teacher, now in Damascus. They were, indeed, a happy 
 and affectionate party, more like a family than a school, 
 and amongst them were the little Druse girl, and the 
 Abyssinian child, the intended bride of Theodore's son, 
 who found so far away from home a nestling place upon 
 her teacher's knee. Even the Moslem Governor of the 
 the town now sends his children to the school, and he 
 came himself to the examination. 
 
 It was truly kind of the Prince of Wales, who had 
 visited these schools, that he did not forget to com- 
 mend them to the Sultan when that phlegmatic monarch 
 came to England. Nor was this without result, for 
 the Sultan has since issued a firman to protect the 
 Christian schools. Let all nations see for themselves, and 
 let them hear besides from the mouths of our princes, 
 that education without religion is like an atmosphere 
 without its oxygen. We can breathe it so, but it is not 
 the " breath of life." 
 
 The prosperity and progress of Beyrout, and the re- 
 markable stir to be seen there in the matter of education, 
 and the great quickness and aptitude of the Syrians to 
 learn, are all exceptional features in the East, and are 
 the more striking because of so much sluggish dulness
 
 Chap. VI. j Agrippa. 97 
 
 at this end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is well to 
 remark that Beyrout is beyond the strict limit of the 
 Holy Land, and it seems also to be outside the borders 
 of the curse which rests upon the land of Israel — only for 
 a time, we know, but still heavily now, and for good cause 
 too. Fast comes the day, however, Avhen the wider blessing 
 will embrace them and " all Israel shall be saved." ^ 
 
 While the English after the massacre in i860 did the 
 real work of helping the poor, and the widow, and the 
 fatherless, the French blew their bugles and marched 
 their Zouaves throughout the land. A splendid road 
 was made by the French from Beyrout to Damascus. 
 This is a hundred miles long, and the Suez canal is just 
 the same length over Egypt. Thus Paris has two arms 
 stretched over the East : one on the land, the other on 
 the water ; and both seem to clutch, if they do not em- 
 brace, the country of Osmanli. 
 
 The road is more French than anything in France — 
 a strict monopoly to begin with, and it does not by any 
 means " pay," except in political influence. The very 
 
 * Not many notices of this town of Beyrout can be found in ancient 
 authors, but Josephus tells us something of what Agrippa did for the 
 place. ' ' Now, as Agrippa was a great builder in many places, he paid a 
 peculiar regard to the people of Berytus ; for he erected a theatre for them, 
 superior to many other of that sort, both in sumptuousness and elegance, 
 as also an amphitheatre, built at vast expenses ; and besides these, he 
 built them baths and porticoes, and spared for no costs in any of his edifices, 
 to render them both handsome and large ; he also spent a great deal upon 
 their dedication, and exhibited shows upon them, and brought there musi- 
 cians of all sorts, and such as made the most delightful music of the greatest 
 variety. He also showed his magnificence upon the theatre, in his great 
 number of gladiators ; and there it was that he exhibited the several anta- 
 gonists, in order to please the spectators : no fewer indeed than seven hun- 
 dred men to fight with seven hundred other men ; and allotted all the 
 malefactors he had for this exercise ; that both the malefactors might receive 
 their punishment, and that this operation of war might be a recreation in 
 peace. And thus were these criminals all destroyed at once." — ' Ant. Jews, ' 
 book xix. ch. vii. sec. v. 
 
 H
 
 98 Our Flag. [Chap. VI. 
 
 same carts, with big wheels, gawky shafts, thin bodies, 
 canvas tops, and cerulean-bloused Frenchmen inside and 
 out, are rumbling along here, precisely as they rumble 
 in Algeria to the Atlas, or, in France, to the mountains 
 of Grenoble. 
 
 The sea, too, is scored deep with French ruling. 
 Splendid steamers run up and down the coast incessantly, 
 and so long as the enormous subsidy is paid them by 
 Government, they will never cease to run. 
 
 Russia, jealous, sends her steamers too, along the 
 same route, which bring pilgrims to Jerusalem by thou- 
 sands from Odessa, and garrison the holy places by 
 battalions of sturdy women, who start from the steppes 
 of Moscow, where I have seen them on their way, each 
 in a universal garment, with its hood about her cheeks, 
 and a staff in her hand. Half a year is their holiday 
 for the crusade, and they fight their way to Rachel's 
 tomb, and then, quite satisfied, they all stump back again. 
 
 Austria buys steamers too in Scotland, and sends 
 them along this coast. England, alone, is entirely ab- 
 sent on this l?ne of travellers, for she will not pay for an 
 " idea," nor for that will her merchants equip a passenger 
 line of Syrian steamboats."* 
 
 But a good quiet trade in merchandise is done by 
 Britain here, and if you go farther round the African 
 headlands, and look at the flags in Lagos, and along the 
 bights, on to the Cape of Good Hope, it is the brave 
 
 •* In one good policy, however, all the steamers I used in the East did 
 well — they carried the Rob Roy gratis. England had set them the ex- 
 ample when the "Peninsular and Oriental Company" kindly took her 
 from Southampton to Alexandria, and brought her back again, quite free. 
 The French steamers did the same, the Austrian too, and the Russian 
 likewise. For this I thank them all, not as for a money boon (a few pounds 
 is little in a six months' journey here), but because it showed kind feeling to 
 the voyager, and an intelligent approval of his purpose.
 
 Chap. VI.] French Lake. 99 
 
 old ensign of our island that is waving there, as it 
 always will do when freights are found, and dividends 
 are to be earned by sheer work. Still this absence of 
 England from the Palestine coast is not pleasant to 
 notice for an English traveller. 
 
 'Tis true the mercantile attractions for shipping there 
 are but meagre now, at any rate for passenger-boats. 
 From Alexandria right up to Skanderoon there is really 
 not one good port all along this iron-bound shore. Port 
 Said is of the future. Joppa is utterly bad. Acre has 
 a row of skeleton hulls bleaching on the shore to warn 
 you off. Haifa is a mere tossing roadstead. Beyrout 
 has no dock, but squalls and swell in plenty, and if the 
 Turk would invite good commerce to his country, he 
 really must provide or alloiu that a port should be made 
 to receive it. 
 
 Besides this want of harbours in Syria the distance 
 between the present ports is wasteful of steam and of 
 seamen's wages. Joppa must be entered by daylight, so 
 the steamer runs six hours in the dark to Port Said, and 
 then waits a long time there, so as to arrive next 
 morning at Joppa. Again she leaves Joppa, so as to 
 enter Beyrout in the morning. In fact, the whole eastern 
 side of the Mediterranean is inconvenient as yet for 
 legitimate commercial venture, and it is precisely in the 
 condition when France finds scope for national advance- 
 ment at any cost, however great, to her taxpayers. 
 
 All this clever policy has one purpose ; Algeria, Egypt, 
 Syria, and so on round the coast, are to be attached to 
 Paris, until the Mediterranean becomes a "French lake." 
 France is tJic nation here in Syria, and napoleons are 
 the common coin. French is the best known foreign 
 tongue here, and the very shops in the streets have 
 French signboards besides their own. England, which
 
 lOO " Gratias." [Chap. VI. 
 
 is, after all, dearer to the hearts of these people than any 
 other " Feringhee," appears to be, is it must be confessed, 
 most lamentably absent from the sight and the hearing 
 of the common people, except by these schools we have 
 mentioned, by the large number of English travellers in 
 Palestine (about fifty times the number of the French), 
 and by the impression, still very vigorous and fresh, of 
 what Albion achieved in her Abyssinian raid. 
 
 How much the canal, the road, the French shops, and 
 French prestige in the East, will be affected by the recent 
 French disasters at home is too large a matter to enter 
 upon here.
 
 Chap. VII. ] Over Lebanon. lor 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 OVER LEBANON — CANOE ON WHEELS — THE ROB ROY IN SNOW — ODD 
 QUARTERS — YOUNG LADY — GENEROUS — ZAHLEH SCHOOL — -RIVER 
 LITANY — HANGED — AN EAGLE — THE FIJI — SOURCE OF ABANA — 
 INDOORS — CATS. 
 
 IN our ride over Mount Lebanon we soon felt the 
 rapid change from Egypt and the yellow Nile to 
 the rugged cliffs of the mountain, the whirling mist, 
 the dashing torrents, and, at last, the snow. It was 
 unusually early for the winter garb to clothe even this 
 the " White Mountain," as its name signifies. Yet for 
 miles we plunged on in snow a foot deep, driven like 
 dust by a keen, cutting wind, and hundreds of men were 
 required to clear this away that the French diligence 
 m.ight ply its daily course in time. 
 
 On arrival in the dark at a khan my saddle-bags had 
 dropped off, but two hardy mountaineers trudged back 
 with lanterns, and splashed through the mud and slush 
 and sleet, till they found the bags. 
 
 The road is excellent ; it is all marked in kilometres 
 (French again), very well kept, and rolled down and 
 fenced and drained. But the toll of 3 francs for each 
 mule deters hundreds of these from using the road ;
 
 I02 Canoe on Wheels. [Chap. vil. 
 
 so they plod on their way along the old worn-out, 
 steep, muddy, slippery, winding bridle-path, which 
 runs often for miles alongside the carriage-way, and 
 thus 3^ou see strings of heavy-laden asses, camels, and 
 mules, toiling among boulders and sharp rocks, with 
 their drivers ankle-deep in mud, while the even flat 
 surface of the new road is used by a scant few ; and no 
 cart or carriage goes upon it except as part of the 
 " Company's " monopoly. It is a miserable sight, and 
 this gift of France to Syria is like the present of a crust 
 to a toothless beggar. 
 
 Our first intention as to the mode of transporting the 
 canoe through Syria was to have her carried by two 
 men, with two others in reserve at intervals, for the 
 weight of the Rob Roy, when lightened as much as 
 possible, could be reduced to about 60 lbs., an easy 
 burden for a couple of stout Syrians. 
 
 But after careful consideration of this plan, I came to 
 the conclusion that something better must be devised, 
 and the events of the very first day on Mount Lebanon 
 clearly showed us how difficult it would be to carry a 
 boat by hand, especially on slippery ground, and that it 
 would have been more than could fairly be expected 
 from mortal men to plash through the half-thawed snow, 
 while a canoe was upon their shoulders or in their arms, 
 constraining their motions, and making the troubles of 
 their way ten times more irksome. Therefore, for this 
 part of the journey at any rate, we were glad to be 
 able to hoist the Rob Roy into a covered cart on 
 the top of some rice bags. Happily she got over the 
 high pass just in time to avoid the worst part of 
 the storm, which came in sudden fury soon, and though 
 the diligence had been stopped here for many hours.
 
 Chap. VII.] The Rob Roy in S?iozl 
 
 \o' 
 
 buried in a drift up to its axles, our cart went over 
 easily bearing its novel cargo.^ 
 
 Is it maudlin that one cannot help personif}-ing a boat 
 
 Crossing Mount Lebanon. 
 
 like this, the companion of so many happy hours, the 
 sole sharer of great joys and anxious times ? When we 
 
 * Some thousands of persons have seen the Rob Roy since she returned 
 to England, and was shown for three months at the Palestine Exhibition in 
 the Dudley Gallery. 
 
 Many of these visitors, well aware of the numerous scars and scratches 
 which a six months' journey would inflict upon so light a craft, are astonished 
 to observe that the canoe has weathered it all, and is almost unscathed, 
 for she is far less knocked about than the former Rob Roy was in her trip 
 to the Baltic. There is not one crack in her planks or her thin cedar deck, 
 after all sorts of hardships from weather, and carriage, and hauling on land, 
 and never spared for a moment in waves, or rapids, or morass. For the 
 present winter of 1870 she was hauled up through a window to sleep in a 
 bed-room in the Temple.
 
 104 Odd Quai'ters. [Chap. VII. 
 
 see even deal tables merrily turning round, and can fancy 
 a smile on the face of a clock, are we quite sure that 
 there is no feeling in the "heart of oak," no sentiment 
 under bent birch ribs ; that a canoe, in fact, has no cha- 
 racter ? Let the landsman say so, yet will not I. Like 
 others of her sex, she has her fickle tempers. One day 
 pleasant, and the next out of humour ; led like a lamb 
 through this rapid, but cross and pouting under sail on 
 that rough lake. And, like her sex, she may be resisted, 
 coerced, nay, convinced, but, in the end, she will always 
 somehow have her own way. Yet however faintly other 
 people may feel with me in this matter, it will be allowed 
 that any one who keeps a boat for a journey, and expects 
 her to go long and far, and to be always staunch and 
 trim, must at least be careful of her safety in dark nights, 
 in doubtful places, or when left alone. Few boats can 
 have had greater variety in their night quarters than 
 the Rob Roy. At hotels she was often locked up in a 
 bed-room ; and once she floated on a marble basin under 
 the moon. In private houses a place was kept for her 
 near the fire, and away from the children. By lakes, 
 canals, and rivers, the Rob Roy was sometimes my 
 house, and so it covered me ; or, when the tent was used, 
 she was covered up herself from the dew by a carpet, 
 and snugly placed under the tent lines safe from the 
 mules. The straw hut of the Arab gave her shelter 
 once, and, at another time, a buffalo's byre. Her 
 polished dfeck was shielded from sun by hiding her 
 below the long grass of Gennesareth, and for two nights 
 she rested on the shelly beach of the Red Sea. She 
 was lodged in a custom-house, or on a steamer's deck, or 
 down in the hold, or she floated on the Nile under the 
 protection of her rough sister of the sail, whose sides 
 were of Delta clay, or at times she was taken on board
 
 Chap. VII.] Young Lady. 105 
 
 so as to be quite out of danger. Great deference was. 
 paid to the canoe by all the men of our retinue. She 
 had not one tumble or accident, and no wonder that 
 Hany always called her ^' the young lady." Perhaps 
 through this pleasant fiction the voyage was safer, cer- 
 tainly it was more fortunate, and it was impossible for a 
 cruise to be more successful in all the course prescribed. 
 At present, however, the Rob Roy was safe on the rice- 
 bags in a Frenchman's wacrgon, while we rode on to meet 
 her at the Abana River. 
 
 Our traveller's morning lesson was now on horseback, 
 as it had been on the Nile in a boat, and it was soon 
 found to be quite easy to read aloud while riding over 
 the grassy plain. From this we turned aside to Zahleh 
 (pronounced with a strong aspirate on the letter //, 
 almost as if it were the Scotch di). This is the largest 
 village in Mount Lebanon. It was all burned down in 
 the " massacre time," an epoch of suffering which seems 
 to date so many changes here ; but Frenchmen soon re- 
 built the houses, all with flat roofs, Avhile at Beyrout the 
 sloping tile is beginning gradually to appear in large new 
 buildings, where they wish the house to be dry, and to 
 last a long time. 
 
 Gushing waters loudly sound in a deep and wind- 
 ing valley, with poplars at the bottom, and vine-terraces 
 to the top. The houses are all neat-looking, and 
 most of them white in colour, and, as there are no 
 chimneys and no streets, the appearance of the whole 
 is very peculiar, even to the eye well used to Eastern 
 buildings. What strikes one about it is that the irregu- 
 larity is so very regular. The houses nearly all face to 
 the same point, but they are not in rows. We stumbled 
 up one hill and down the other until our horses reached 
 the new school-house of one of Mrs. Thompson's branches,
 
 io6 Gencroiis. [Chap. VII. 
 
 chiefly aided by kind friends in Glasgow. The old school- 
 house being too small and too far off, a new one, in every 
 way suitable, was most generously offered free during 
 the remainder of the lease, if taken after that for five 
 years. This munificent aid from a native is of itself a 
 real proof of the value set by them on the operations of 
 a school. 
 
 The new building has a wide front, and stands high 
 on the slope. The excellent Scotch lady in charge was 
 delighted to receive her visitor, and soon men and women 
 came in from other houses, all evincing by look and 
 manner, and earnest salute, how glad they were to see 
 an Englishman ; for the place is not often thus visited, 
 being a few miles out of travellers' paths, and only 
 otherwise interesting because of its picturesque situation. 
 Nearly all the inhabitants of this village are Christians 
 in name, most of them bigoted Papists, with lazy priests 
 for guides, and the church and the convent bells ring 
 on the hill ; but no mosque is there that I could see. 
 
 A deeper Christianity seems lately to have spread in 
 Zahleh, and many are eager to read the Word of Life. 
 Perhaps it was by some of these that, within the last two 
 months, more than three hundred Arabic Testaments 
 had been piirchascd at one shop alone in Beyrout, as I 
 heard from the person Avho sold them. The people 
 are seeking the Bible, and the missionaries are seeking 
 the people. 
 
 Comfortable airy rooms, and a cheerful courtyard, 
 open to the fresh blowing mountain air ; these are the 
 features of Zahleh school ; but all the children are now 
 away, for the house is to be whitewashed to-day, so 
 the scholars have a holiday, and the ivomai who are to 
 whiten the Avails have not arrived, though it is noon. 
 
 But a pith helmet, with the Canoe Club cipher upon
 
 Chap. VII.] 
 
 ZahleJi School. 
 
 10' 
 
 its black ribbon, and a waterproof coat, and a dragoman 
 with a double-barrelled gun, these are novelties that do 
 not scramble through the lanes of Zahleh unnoticed by 
 the boys of the town. They followed us, so that when 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
 "t: ^s^ -^-^^.^tflj&t^-"^," ji! If, ^ 5* ?f 
 
 Zahleh School — Opening Day, 
 
 called to come in, there Avas soon a large and motley 
 array, first of little girls (for whom the school is meant)* 
 who sat quiet and well behaved in a room open to the 
 air, and then of boys from the American school, just 
 opened, under the Sultan's sanction, for the English 
 female department (by a clever extension of the boon, 
 whether legal or not) ; and then of men of various ages, 
 fringing the background with their graceful head-gear 
 and their manv-coloured robes.
 
 io8 River Litany. [Chap. vii. 
 
 An address to the children was very well interpreted, 
 by a girl, each sentence at a time, and another inter- 
 preted a prayer, to which all listened. 
 
 It was a pleasing, strange, and solemn sight. The 
 congregation half in-doors and half in the open air ; 
 half children, half old men ; the words half spoken in 
 English, half in Arabic ; and to think (and to say) 
 that never again in this world, but surely again in 
 the next, we should all meet each other once more. 
 The men were anxious for a longer interview, and 
 some of them sat down on chairs (a very unusual 
 thing here), while they were spoken to apart. Then 
 being invited to ask any questions, one of them wished 
 to have our "jury system " explained, which was, of 
 course, soon done, and my dragoman gave, in round 
 guttural Arabic, Jiis version of the Templar's picture 
 of our English law. All kissed my hand, and we 
 were soon in our saddles again. As a memento 
 of Zahleh, I made the above sketch of the new school 
 on its opening day, from the roof of another house, 
 though there is little chance of forgetting such a visit 
 as this. 
 
 Soon we cross the Litany, the largest river flowing 
 through Palestine into the Mediterranean. It is not 
 easy to resist the desire to paddle at once upon this fine 
 strong stream, but, strangely enough, there are scarcely 
 any historical associations, and no sacred ones, about 
 this river at all. We shall see some of its grandest 
 beauties farther on, meanwhile it flows steadily here, 
 yet enlivening the landscape at once. Land without 
 water never can be perfect in scenery. The veriest pond 
 on a plain gives new feature like a dimple on a smooth 
 cheek. The lightsome glitter of a lake or a river bend
 
 Chap. VII.] Hanged. 109 
 
 brightens a landscape as a sweet smile plays gladly on 
 the face of a beauty.^ 
 
 With the first glimmer of day, it was most pleasant to 
 walk over the rich plain of Coele Syria, breathing the 
 air of the morning. My horse's bridle was slack upon 
 my arm, and our tread was light on the footpath wind- 
 ing through the level loam made fat by many battles. 
 
 The pretty crested larks 
 
 " that tira lira chant " 
 
 rose into the merry blue sky twittering their song to the 
 sunrise. Thus in advance and alone until Hany over- 
 took me, I gradually ascended the pass through Anti- 
 lebanon, in charming enjoyment of unfettered thought, 
 and lovely scene, and healthy exercise. 
 
 In a former travel of this road some twenty years 
 before, I was weak from severe illness, and had to 
 fasten a chair on the saddle-bow for support. Getting 
 worse, I had a long pole lashed on the back of a mule, 
 
 2 " Ain," the Arabic for " eye," is also the word for a fountain bursting 
 out from the earth, a glittering "eye" on the face of nature. The word 
 has the same meaning in "Hebrew and Syriac, and is in that form in 
 Amharic, Arkiko, Hurar, Gindzhar, and Gafat " (Paper by H. Clarke, 
 ' Atheneeum,' No. 2178, 1869, p. 116). 
 
 If the " face of nature " is to have fountains for eyes, and hills for cheeks, 
 and forests for hair, our fancy may as well make it sentient at once, by 
 putting telegraph wires for the nerves, by which quick pleasure or neuralgic 
 pain thrills through the great dull body. 
 
 The electric wire is spread over Egypt. There are two lines of tele- 
 graph from the south to Damascus. The posts cresting the rocky moun- 
 tains, over some desolate pass, remind one of those in Switzerland, only they 
 are often prostrate. More than once we came upon broken wires in coils on 
 the plain. Turkish reforms are by jerks and starts, but it is a steady maxim 
 never to repair. Nothing is more dangerous to ride over than an iron 
 trap like this, for an Arab horse becomes furious if his legs get entangled. 
 The Arabs themselves are compelled to respect the telegraph. One of them 
 who defiantly struck the wire with his spear was ferreted out, and hanged 
 upon the very post he injured.
 
 no An Eagle. [Chap. VII. 
 
 and sprawled upon that, face downwards, and dismount- 
 ing each half-hour for a short rest on the ground. But 
 all was different now. 
 
 Not far from the ruins of old Chalcis is the beautiful 
 temple at Mejdel, from which our view is magnificent over 
 the wide-spread plain of Bukaa. For many centuries this 
 had sounded with the shouts of warriors battling for the 
 mastery of Palestine. But now it is all sad and silent 
 here, and the only noise at Chalcis is the chirping of 
 a little bird under a thistle in the sun. From these 
 graceful ruins a large grisly beast came out to stare, but 
 I could not get near enough to see whether he was a 
 hyena or only a jackal, and at 500 yards a shot from 
 my gun merely splintered the rock. Unfortunately the 
 rifle itself had no claim to my confidence, for it shot 
 always to the right, as is often the case when a gun 
 barrel for shot and another for ball are welded together 
 as a double-barrel. The bores are seldom parallel, and 
 the thickness of metal being unequal for the two. there is 
 a deflection caused by their expansion when heated. 
 
 A cold biting breeze from the snows of great Hermon 
 gave zest to the ride, and brought us to Dimes, where I 
 went off" for game on the mountains, and after two hours, 
 I met on the highest peak a splendid eagle, feasting on 
 some quarry, with his broad wings outstretched, as he 
 stamped with his talons and chuckled, tearing with 
 strong, ravenous beak the bloody living flesh. 
 
 Our meeting was so sudden, and after so long with 
 nothing to do, that I lost my presence of mind, and, in- 
 stead of stalking up to easy distance, which my grey dress 
 would have facilitated, especially when the hungry bird 
 was carving his dinner, I dropped on one knee in " Hythe 
 position," and aiming at 300 yards, flashed quick the 
 sudden trigger, but only hit the hare, which was being
 
 Chap. VII.] TJic Fiji. 1 1 1 
 
 devoured piecemeal, and was yet quite warm, nor had 
 its glazing eye yet ceased to quiver, while the eagle 
 mounted in reluctant circles only half fed. 
 
 It may well be evident from these records of failure 
 with the gun that, if my paddle had not been better than 
 my powder, the Rob Roy's cruise would have been 
 rather a bore, but it is one thing to hit a target on a 
 rifle-range, with the distance known, and the shooter 
 cool, and a very different thing to fire at rough game on 
 the open. 
 
 Next day at El Hameh, the Arab host of the house we 
 put up at received very gladly a little printed sheet in 
 French, and he went on translating it to a congregation 
 in the next room, while at every sentence everybody 
 said " Um ! " as a token of assent. 
 
 A stormy sky and cold rain next morning were all 
 in keeping with a wild ride over the bleakest of hills, 
 and through deep dales gushing with waterfalls to Ain 
 Fiji,^ a source of the Abana, not the highest, but far the 
 
 ^ My dragoman, who seemed to have a minute and deHcate apprehension 
 of Arabic, his native tongue, said that this word Fiji means "premature, 
 unripe, or sudden." Mr. Palmer, the traveller in Sinai, whose acquaint- 
 ance with the langiiage may be acknowledged as almost unrivalled, ap- 
 peared to think that "Fiji," if it be the word with a short first syllable, 
 '• Fidji," denotes a source from which the water ascends and then spreads, 
 and that in an Arabic poem it is contrasted with another word, indicating 
 a source M'here the water descends or trickles down. This meaning of 
 the term Fiji corresponds with the actual character of the source so named. 
 Can the word " Feejee," as a name of islands in the Pacific, be related 
 to this Arabic term ? Reland makes the " Figa " the Belus. 
 
 The dip of the strata here is 49°, according to the observation of 
 Captain Wilson, R.E., who, with Lieutenant Anderson, R.E., on behalf 
 of the Palestine Exploration Fund, surveyed part of Syria and Palestine in 
 1865-6. The unpublished MS. notes of their journey have been kindly 
 lent to me for perusal, and when the information obtained from this valu- 
 able and accurate source is embodied in these pages, the reference to it is 
 made simply under the name "Wilson."
 
 112 
 
 Source of Abana. 
 
 [Chap. VII. 
 
 largest of its springs. In a dark dell here, all shadowed 
 by rugged cliffs, is a sudden change of scene, where 
 water perennial quickens life in the soil, and while the 
 snow is thick above, and reaches down in long streamers 
 
 Fiji Source of the Abana. 
 
 as far as it dares to enter the w^arm vale, the blooming 
 little garden by the fountain below is redolent with 
 walnut-trees, apricots, olives, and long trailing vine 
 branches, tangling the tall poplars. Here stand the 
 ruins of two bluff old temples, and the massive stones 
 of an arch, from out of which bursts a pure and copious 
 river, rushing at once into light with a roar as if free, and 
 staggering over rocks and boulders for about 70 yards, 
 till it tumbles into the ravine and meets the other branch, 
 and so forms the Barada, the ancient Abana, the river 
 by which the Rob Roy will enter Damascus.
 
 Chap. VIT.] Indoors. 113 
 
 We took shelter from rain in a Moslem house, and the 
 inmates were amazed to see my "canoe cuisine," by which 
 in ten minutes I prepared four cups of good English tea. 
 They had never before heard of " tchai " (tea), and a 
 wax-match to each of the pretty daughters pleased also 
 their grave papa, who said it was the third day of the 
 Ramadan, when none of them eat, drink, or smoke, from 
 4 A.M. to 5 P.M., but then the whole night is passed in 
 these three engagements. Such is Mahommedan fasting. 
 
 Abd-el-Kader, the brave veteran Arab of Algeria, re- 
 sides near Damascus, but his observance of the fast is so 
 strict a seclusion that it was impossible to get an inter- 
 view with him. 
 
 While the rain patters at Dimes, we can glance round 
 our lodgings and take notes. My room then — vacated 
 of course by the family — is about twenty feet by fourteen 
 wide. I know the breadth exactly, for the Rob Roy 
 reclines by my side, and just fits into the room. The 
 walls are mud, but well plastered, and neatly white- 
 washed. Hollow arched spaces are left in them here and 
 there as cupboards and shelves, just as one sees in the 
 stone dwellings of old Bashan. There is a Avindow, with 
 shutters, but no glass. The floor is raised eighteen inches 
 above the doorway entrance, and is spread with mats, 
 but there are no tables or chairs. Our table and camp- 
 stools from the tent supply the want. The ceiling is of 
 two logs unhewn ; across them are barked trees, about 
 two feet apart, and again across these are bundles of 
 sticks, over which is a flat mud roof After rain you 
 will see a little boy with a stone roller smoothing the 
 roof to fill up the sun cracks. In one corner of the room 
 is a great copper salver, three feet wide, and a candlestick 
 three feet high. A mirror is near ; it is evidently made 
 in Damascus, with the golden crescent on its frame. This 
 
 I
 
 114 Cats. [Chap. VII. 
 
 is the first mirror I have looked into for many a day, and 
 surely the glass must be of a rich brown tint — or is it my 
 countenance that colours the portrait } The door is closed 
 by a wooden bolt, with a key such as I have described 
 before, and the lock can only be opened from the inside ; 
 but near it there is a hole in the door through which the 
 hand can be put from the outside for a friend to open 
 with the key and so let himself in. Does not this remind 
 one of the beautiful expression in Canticles, which seems 
 to tell that Christ is an intimate of the believer, and can 
 admit Himself into the heart-home of His friend .-* 
 
 Outside are my little band of followers ; we are in 
 all, as yet, only seven men, six mules, and two horses. 
 A dog with me as a pet w'ould have been great fun, and 
 good to keep off the cats of the house, which pester me 
 sadly. I don't like them, but I don't like to hurt them, 
 though they spring on the table and nibble my bread. 
 Throwing nutshells at them answered at first, but then 
 boots had to be thrown, and at last I found that cold 
 water was what they most fear, so they all scamper off 
 when I take up a tumbler, and they escape in a bound 
 through the hole in the door. At night I stuffed my 
 large sponge into this hole, and that puzzled the cats, 
 but at 2 A.M. they had pulled this out, so I had to rise in 
 the cold and fasten the entrance by a riding-boot, which 
 they tugged at for an hour or two in vain.
 
 Chap. VIII.] The Abana. i 13 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ABANA — SOURCES — ABANA AND PHARPAR — THEIR NAMES — 
 CANALETTES — START ON ABANA — CHANGE TO THE TAURA — HOW 
 TO DO IT — PLEASANT TOIL — PROCESSION. 
 
 WE are now about to descend one of the most inter- 
 esting of the ten rivers explored in this journey, 
 and which run through channels where important parts are 
 entirely inaccessible except in a boat, and as no voyager 
 has been mentioned in history to have floated on them 
 thus, it may well be supposed that their full beauties- and 
 all their dangers have never been seen before, j 
 
 When we are asked where is the source of a river, 
 it is necessary to agree about the meaning of the term 
 " source :" for the " historic source " or that which is 
 written about soonest, is by no means sure to have been 
 the most distant or the most copious one, or the most 
 constant origin of its waters, though it may be the most 
 accessible, or the most striking in appearance and inter- 
 esting from local associations. Thus it will be seen 
 hereafter that the " historic source " of the Jordan at 
 Laish is not that which we should now style " the 
 source of Jordan," when describing or exploring the river 
 thoroughly. 
 
 Then there is the " geographical source," that which 
 ought to be reached by following up the largest perennial
 
 ii6 Sources. [Chap. VI 1 1. 
 
 stream where the river is formed by tributaries. But 
 here again there is the doubt whether we ought not to 
 follow up the longest tributary rather than the largest, so 
 as to reach what may be termed the " theoretical source " 
 of the river. The Mississippi flows into the Missouri, 
 but as the former was probably seen first, it gives its 
 name to the united stream, though every one who has 
 been upon them both knows well that the Missouri 
 is the longest and is also the largest of the two at 
 their junction. This difficulty as to whether we should 
 cite for the source of a river the water which has run 
 the longest, or the largest, or the loudest, occurs con- 
 stantly in our paddling tours. It was a puzzle on the 
 Danube to say whether that, the largest river of Europe, 
 rises at Donaueschingen (whence the water comes to it 
 most), or at St. Georg {whence the water comes to it 
 farthest) ; and with respect to the most interesting 
 rivers of Syria, the Abana and the Jordan, the ques- 
 tion is even more difficult, for to displace the " historic 
 source " of either of these is to tamper with the tradition 
 of some thousand years. 
 
 The splendid gushing forth of the Fiji under the cliff 
 at the end of the Antilebanon is at once the most striking 
 and most copious source of the Abana, which passes 
 straight through Damascus, the oldest inhabited city 
 in the world, and so we may linger on its wavelets with 
 the deep interest aroused by the far-gone past, while tell- 
 ing how the stream flows now as newly seen.^ The water 
 
 ' Josephus says that Damascus was founded by Uz, the son of Shem 
 ('Ant. J.' ch. vii. sec. iv.). The Arabic name of Damascus is Sham. 
 The name Abana means "made of stone" (Cruden), perhaps because 
 of its rocky bed. The three other more distant sources of the Abana 
 are marked in Vandevelde as follows : — (i) Near Ami El Hawar, north 
 of Zebedany, under Jebel Ruzma, not far from a tributary of the Litany, 
 which river falls into the Mediterranean ; (2) west of Zebedany, running
 
 Chap. VIII.] Abana and PJiarpar. 1 1 7 
 
 new-born joins a stream which has come from the west 
 through a marvellous glen, so steep that I could only 
 see it in safety by lying down on the cliff to look over, 
 and opposite were the ruins of Abila, the city of Abel, 
 under high snow peaks.^ 
 
 It may, however, be stated broadly, that the i\bana 
 rises from the Antilebanon range, while the Pharpar 
 rises from Hermon. These rivers are entirely distinct in 
 their rise and in their flow, their characters and their 
 use, as well as in their terminations, and yet the " Abana 
 and Pharpar" are represented in many maps as united, 
 and their identity is disputed, and their very names are 
 interchanged even by Jews at Damascus." 
 
 After a careful reading of what is written by the best 
 authorities upon this subject, it seems plain that the 
 
 through the Wady el Kurn, but this seemed to me quite dry ; (3) west 
 of Rulvleh, under Hermon, near Kefr Kook ; but this, though the ground 
 was very wet and marshy, appeared to have no flow. The springs of 
 Abana here are near a source of Jordan, and tire river Orontes rises not 
 very far away. Tlius four rivers rise and flow north, south, east, and 
 west. Porter states that the Abana rises in a little lake, 300 yards long, in 
 the plain of Zebedany, iioo yards above the sea level, and falls 400 yards 
 before reaching Damascus, i. e. 50 feet in the mile. 
 
 ^ Whiston states that the city Ablemain (or Abellane in Josephus' copy) 
 is the same as Abilo, and considers that Christ referred to the shedding of 
 the blood of Abel the righteous within the compass of the land of Israel, in 
 His prophecy, Matt, xxiii. 35, 36; Luke xi. 51 ('Ant. J.' book viii. ch. 
 xii. sec. iv.) In ch. xiii. sec. vii. Josephus speaks of the prophet " Elisha of 
 the city of Abela." Another Abila, now " Abeel," is marked on Map V. 
 
 * There is an artificial conjunction of their waters led off by a canal 
 from each, meeting at half a mile from Muaddamyeh ; I heard that the 
 united water is delicious (see the two rivers in Map III.). It ap- 
 pears clearly from the following passages in p. 54 of Rabbi Schwartz 
 that he makes the Pharpar to be the north river, and the Abana the south 
 one. " Not far from the village Bar Kanon (Hazar Enan), there is a village 
 called Fidjeh (the Figa of Parah ; viii. 10), north of which is the source of 
 • the stream of the same name, which flows southeasterly to Damascus, and 
 unites with the Amanah near the lake Murdj. Now this stream is the Pharpar, 
 as it is still called by our fellow-Israelites in the vicinity, according to tradi-
 
 ii8 Their Names. ,'* [Chap. VI 1 1. 
 
 Barada is the old Abana (the middle a of both words is 
 pronounced short), and the Awaj is the Pharpar, which 
 latter name in Chaldee means " crooked," as Awaj does 
 in Arabic. The Arabic word " Barada " means small 
 hail or hard snow, and is very appropriate when the 
 hail and sleet are seen so near the river. Benjamin 
 of Tudela, who lived A.D. ii6o, calls the Abana the 
 Amana (Purchas' * Pilgrims', ii. 1448). This may be a 
 mode of pronouncing the word Abana, which readily 
 passes into "Amana," as will be found from trial. 
 Porter cites it as probably giving the name to the 
 mountain whence it flowed, and as part of his strong 
 argument for the identification of the Abana and the 
 Pharpar with the Barada and Awaj. It is in Solo- 
 mon's Song (chap. iv. ver. 8) that we find this beautiful 
 name of a mountain : " Come with me from Lebanon, 
 my spouse, with me from Lebanon : look from the top 
 of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from 
 the lions' den, from the mountains of the leopards." 
 
 Josephus speaks of the " mountains Taurus and 
 Amanus ; " and again, " Syria and Amanus and the 
 mountains of Libanus" ('Ant. J.' book i. ch. vi: sects, i. 
 and vi.). Pliny mentions the "hill Avanus " (lib. v. 
 ch. xxii.). 
 
 tion which they have. In case, therefore, that a divorce takes place in 
 Damascus, they write in the letter of divorce, ' at Damascus, situated on 
 the two rivers Amana and Pharpar.' " 
 
 "About \\ English mile north of the village Beth al Djana is found a 
 large spring, called Al Barady, that is to say, ' the cold.' Its waters are 
 clear and excellent for drinking, and it flows north-east to Damascus. This 
 river, formerly called Chrysondioas (Gold River), and known in the Talmud 
 Baba Bathra, 741^, as the Karmion, is the identical Amanah of the Bible, 
 as it is actually called by all the Jews of Damascus." Neubauer says the 
 Karmion is the Kishon (' La Geographie du Talmud,' 1868, p. 32). 
 
 Pocock seems to suggest that the Fiji, or, as the Arabs called it, 
 Fara, may be the Pharpar, and the Barada the " Abna " (' Pinkerton's 
 Voyages,' vol. x. p. 503).
 
 Chap. V III.] ' Canalettes. 1 1 9 
 
 Having traced the Abana on foot from very near its 
 furthest source to the Fiji, and thence on horseback clearly 
 to the bridge at Doomar (see Map VI II.), I consider that 
 its course so far is well given in Vandevelde's map. But 
 here we notice at once that, just as the Nile while it runs 
 on lessens in volume partly by evaporation and absorp- 
 tion, partly by the artificial conduits which bear away 
 large portions to water the country around, so the 
 Abana is early seized upon for distribution, and grows 
 thinner as it runs. The highest conduit from it above 
 Doomar, called the Yezid, runs among the hills north- 
 ward, and was said to go as far as " Tadmor in the 
 wilderness ; " but it ends in the plain. This flows in a 
 winding channel, seven feet Avide and three feet deep, 
 which I followed on foot for miles. A second, about 
 twelve feet wide, the Taura,* branches out below Doomar ; 
 and there are said to be other canalettes on the south 
 side of the river made for the same purpose, to irri- 
 gate the plain. 
 
 The best detailed account I have met with of these 
 waterways is by Pocock (in ' Pinkerton's Voyages,' vol. 
 X. p. 503), written so long ago as A.D. 1745. According 
 to him the Yezid and Taura do not enter the town of 
 Damascus. The Acrabane, or Serpentine River, passes 
 close by the north wall of the . town (and by this 
 branch of Abana I entered the place), while the other 
 four streams pass through the town, and one more waters 
 
 ^ Query from the Taurus of Josephus ? In an Arabic version (of the 
 eleventh century) tlie Pharpar is called Tourah in 2 Kings v. 12, and the 
 Abana is called Barda. Vandevelde marks the Berdy River flowing into the 
 Awaj (see Map III.). The Avvaj was no doubt crossed by Jacob (Gen. xxxi.). 
 As to the Yezid reaching Tadmor, it may be remarked that Josephus says 
 ('Ant, J.' b. viii. ch. vi. sec. i.) : — "Now the reason why the city lay so remote 
 from the parts of Syria that are inhabited is this : that below there is no 
 water to be had, and that it is in that place only that there are springs or 
 pits of water,"
 
 i'2o' Start on Abana. [Chap. viii. 
 
 a village in the plain. Some of these rivers are under- 
 ground, and may often be seen and heard through holes 
 in the surface. Numerous other runnels are formed by 
 connecting wells opened at successive levels. Some of 
 these are marked on Vandevelde's map by a line on 
 the plain where they are spent in irrigation. Most of the 
 streams indicated on maps as if they were tributaries do 
 in fact run out of the main river. 
 
 Naaman '" might well speak of the Abana as superior 
 to Jordan, seeing that the former river waters a whole 
 city and about a hundred villages and thousands of 
 acres of richest land ; whereas the Jordan, below the 
 Sea of Galilee, waters only a strip of jungle. Cer- 
 tainly, as a work of hydraulic engineering, the system 
 and construction of the canals by which the Abana 
 and Pharpar are used for irrigation may be still con- 
 sidered as the most complete and extensive in the 
 world. 
 
 Two days were employed on foot or in the saddle in 
 examining these complicated waterways before launching 
 the Rob Roy upon a stream too strong to remount, and 
 too much hemmed in by forest and crags to let any man 
 come near for help, however much the need might be. 
 
 The village of Doomar was all astir when the canoe 
 came down to the bridge for a start. Although I had 
 resolved to begin there, and all the spectators were 
 expecting, amid silence almost enforced upon them by 
 the loud rushing of waters, I altered my plan at the 
 last moment, for there was one particular rapid with a 
 
 * In the account of Elisha given by Josephus, he has omitted all mention 
 of the miracle wrought upon Naaman. Whiston considers that a part of 
 the original is wanting here. Lepers are alluded to in another place, and 
 amongst them "great captains of annies " ('Ant. J.' book iii. ch. xi. sec. 
 iv. ; and book ix. ch. iv.).
 
 Chap. VIII.] CJiano;e to the Taitra. 121 
 
 <!5 
 
 fallen tree across which on closer inspection seemed 
 absolutely too dangerous, at least for the first essay 
 upon rapids in a new boat, and with so many rivers to 
 come, and unknown and unavoidable dangers to be met 
 in them. The people were much disappointed by this 
 prudent refusal. Some of them had ridden out from 
 Damascus to see the wonder, having heard of the ex- 
 pected event by telegraph ; but it is one of the small, 
 useful bits of wisdom one learns in canoeing not to 
 mind in the least what the natives say or think upon 
 matters about which they are profoundly ignorant. 
 
 The river we are now launched upon is like a Scotch 
 salmon stream, with high snow-clad mountains on one 
 side and bluff rocks on the other, leaving now and then 
 a green flat sward between crags and boulders and 
 gravel banks well clothed with trees, among which the 
 French road winds. This is the only piece of real 
 carriage-way in all Syria, and its presence in this valley 
 at once Europeanises the scene ; but the Abana soon 
 runs out of sight of all such detestable civilisation, 
 and pours its old stream, as it did in Abraham's time, 
 gushing under the thickets and round the lonesome 
 rocks with a merry onward gait, too fast to let you stop 
 to look how fast it runs or how wide. 
 
 Part of the river — the Taura arm, branching to 
 the north — passes, like a broad mill-race, under the 
 road ; and for variety the Rob Roy followed along 
 this on a higher level, while the main water soon 
 gets much lower, running at a more headlong pace ; 
 but the Taura goes at last through a dark tunnel 
 in the cliff, and it would have been madness to follow 
 it there, so I dragged the canoe down again to the 
 old river, and plunged once more out of sight into 
 places perhaps never seen before, though very beau
 
 122 How to do it. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 tiful. The pace quickens as we approach the cut of 
 the great gorge, and there is a goodly sound of waters 
 echoed from lofty rocks. After months upon the quiet 
 level of the Suez Canal, and the oily-running Nile, and 
 the waves of the Red Sea, and the broad sheet of Lake 
 Menzaleh, it was true luxury to be whirled in the swift 
 eddies of Abana, and to speed at a river's gallop among 
 rocks and forests, where the midriff is tickled in the 
 paddler's breast by the sensation often felt on a high- 
 rope swing, and the mind expands into an exulting glee, 
 always begotten by rapids encountered alone.'' 
 
 Many birds and animals were roused from their unin- 
 vaded haunts, and they splashed into the stream or scur- 
 ried away, rustling among the dusky brakes. The canoeist 
 soon finds that it is impossible to note these pretty com- 
 panions when he is in this sort of river ; for the stream 
 carries you suddenly to where a dozen prostrate trees are 
 tangled in the water, while their straggling roots hold 
 fast to the bank ; a heavy, treacherous rock overhangs 
 on the left, and the right shore is steep with soft 
 mud. 
 
 The whole picture of this is presented in an instant 
 as you round a point, and the decision how to deal 
 with it must be instantly made, or the current itself will 
 decide. "Strong to the left hand, seize that bough with the 
 right. Swing round a quarter circle, then duck the head 
 for ten seconds under that thorn, and shoot across below 
 the second tree, drift under the third, and five strokes 
 will free us, surely." After settling all this as the course 
 to be pursued, at the first paddle-stroke out splashes 
 
 •"' It was soon found that this new canoe, with its long floor adapted for 
 sleeping in and sailing, was thereby rendered much less "handy" in rapids 
 than my Norway Rob Roy. Every canoe is a compromise between the 
 qualities of steering, stowage, sailing, strength, and speed.
 
 Gorge of the Abana.
 
 Chap. VIII.] Pleasant Toil. 125 
 
 a shrieking bird, rattling the close thicket of canes as 
 he plunges into the water. 
 
 Now in such a place, if you look at the bird, even for 
 an instant, the whole programme above is at once in con- 
 fusion — the bough knocks your hat off, the rock catches 
 your paddle, and the third tree gets hooked in your 
 painter. This comes of mingling ornithology with canoe 
 craft, and yet it is in just such a place that strange 
 birds are most likely to be flushed. 
 
 My dragoman on his horse, and a muleteer on mine, 
 rode along through orchards or water-meadows, and 
 closing to the rapid river wherever they might get a 
 glimpse to see me pass in safety, ever shouting among the 
 crags that echoed his voice, " Rob Roy ! " the usual hail 
 we had for each other. Meantime I was swiftly borne 
 away into a thicket of trees, with magnificent towering 
 crags and snow behind them. The Abana here was 
 about sixty feet broad, but every mile wo. go down it has 
 less of water, for the canalettes lead off the precious liquid 
 right and left, to far-away meads and long dry plains. 
 The stream is swift, and tumbles along in a rugged bed, 
 with a very lively noise. I had to jump out into the 
 water at least twenty times, and used a strong pole as 
 a prop in fording the powerful current. At one or two 
 places I had to haul the boat round on land, where the 
 trees met over the water, and their branches were inter- 
 laced, or their trunks had fallen in root foremost. Next 
 came a weir for a mill, a waterfall and torrents of foam 
 with dense woods all round, through which no one could 
 see me as I waded, and shoved, and dragged away, but 
 always, somehow, getting onwards, and most thoroughly 
 enjoying the varied exercise on so bright a sunny day. 
 The amount of labour involved in a voyage of this kind 
 will be understood by the fact that with every effort to
 
 126 Procession. [Chap. VIII. 
 
 get on, the canoe was five hours in reaching a point 
 which is only one hour distant by the road at a walk. 
 After I had battled with all the difficulties which could 
 be crammed into this time, panting with a tired but 
 wholesome excitement, the sun suddenly appeared, that 
 had been hidden by rocks or trees ; the gorge had loosed 
 its hold of us, and the canoe soon floated along the now 
 placid river, while Damascus, old Damascus! gleamed out 
 brilliant before me in the evening light, with its groves 
 of green, and white shining walls, and airy minarets, a 
 glorious scene. 
 
 The far-famed approach to this city from the west, 
 which unfolds upon the traveller all its gentle beauty 
 from a lofty hill, I had well remembered nineteen years 
 ago ; who could forget it .'' That is one of the sights 
 of the world, but the sudden emerging now from 
 rapids, and rocks, and dense jungle, into the broad 
 day, with such a picture before me, was more striking 
 by far than the other view, especially to one who was 
 the first to see it. 
 
 And now the river itself seemed tired of the struggle, 
 and it gurgled, almost sleeping, between the green mea- 
 dow banks. There a most pleasant repast was spread 
 on the soft grass, and the little knot of wondering Turks, 
 which soon collected, was good proof that even Moslems, 
 with all their apathy, could not help looking at a boat 
 on the river. Then the Rob Roy glided into the town 
 itself, under the bridges, round the dripping aqueducts, 
 past the barracks, close up to the Pasha's palace ; and 
 two men carried her wearied hull safe to the hotel with 
 colours flying, Hany singing, mud splashing, Moslems 
 wonderine, and the landlord bowing-.
 
 Chap. IX.] Damascus Dock. 12^ 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DAMASCUS DOCK — PRETTY SIGHT — EASTERN DESERT — RECONNOITRE 
 THE ROB ROY ON HORSEBACK — LATOOF — ON ABANA — CELEBRATED 
 CANOEISTS — BRAVE GUARDS — TENT LIFE — HARRAN — MIRAGE 
 — "ABRAHAM'S WELL" — PLUNGING — ATEIBEH MORASS — "KO-AX 
 KO-AX." 
 
 DEMETRI'S HOTEL is like other houses of 
 Damascus, with the rooms around a large court- 
 yard, looking inwards upon a broad marble basin, where 
 fountains copious and cool sprinkle soft music, with 
 gentle splashings never ceasing ; and little rivulets pour 
 in as they gleam under the coloured sunbeams that dart 
 through vine branches, and orange trees ; and gaudy- 
 hued dresses are flitting about — for it is the people's 
 clothes you see in the East, the faces of the fair are all 
 closely bandaged up. 
 
 There, on the cool water, I placed the canoe, with her 
 blue sails set, and her golden flag reposing. Soon began 
 the long line of visitors ; each one, as he left, sent in a 
 dozen friends to see. Even the Pasha of Damascus 
 came, and the English Consul ; and the Arabic news- 
 papers gravely chronicled the arrival of the canoe, in the 
 same page with the movements of the Greek ironclads, 
 stirring up their fires then for a European war. 
 
 On Sunday (December 21) the Consul had an English 
 service, and among the five present was Mrs. Thompson, 
 of Beyrout, who — indefatigable woman — had come here
 
 J 28 Pretty Sight. [Chap. ix. 
 
 to open her new school-house. This is large and roorriy, 
 and very suitable for its purpose. After you have strug- 
 gled up and down dingy lanes, ankle-deep in mud, you 
 enter a substantial pile of buildings, and under the 
 gilded carving of these roofs, the girls of Damascus 
 stand silent and smiling, to wait for their kind Christian 
 " Mother," with Bibles in their hands. Not long ago a 
 Giaour dared scarcely to ride through the streets of the 
 town, and in my former visit there our very mules were 
 taken by force, because we were " Nussarenes." Now 
 there are schools and " Bible women," supported by the 
 ladies of Turkish harems here, who saw their own chil- 
 dren able to read, while the mothers were ignorant and 
 cried to their husbands, " Why are wc to be less blessed 
 than our children .'' " 
 
 Among the forty-four young people who had as- 
 sembled in the school, there were Jewesses, Greeks, 
 Moslems, and Christians. I never saw so many pretty 
 faces among a like number of girls. As for their 
 dresses, they were so varied, so graceful, so suitable to 
 womankind, that one could not but lament that our 
 climate (for of course the fault is not ours) has so grie- 
 vously contorted our feminine toilette. Mrs. Thompson 
 was received with a gush of welcome and sweet greetings. 
 She went round the circle of girls, and kissed each of 
 them in turn, not with a mere " general salute," but a 
 tender thrilling look from heart to heart, a special clasp 
 for every one, that made each child to feel the embrace 
 was for herself and in good earnest. This was indeed a 
 pretty sight for a rough-bearded traveller to see. 
 
 Need we enlarge upon the importance of sustaining 
 this school .-* One thought of Saul and Paul stamps 
 Damascus on a Christian's heart, and fixes it as a post 
 of duty for the brave and the generous, who have gone
 
 Chap. IX.] Eastern Desert. 129 
 
 out there to labour for Christ's sake. Nor js it only 
 Paul of the past, but shall we not see him ourselves in a 
 future we know not how near, and speak to him then of 
 Damascus ? Let us cherish a vivid sense of heaven in 
 its reality as a present life ready for our acceptance. 
 
 The girls sang gentle hymns, and then the whole of 
 them listened to an English address, which was very 
 well interpreted, as also a prayer. At Damascus I met 
 Mrs. Digby, the English wife of a great Arab chief, and, 
 when in English society, her quiet manner as a lady 
 makes one forget that her husband has some thousand 
 spearmen at his beck, and that to get to Palmyra with 
 their aid, the curious traveller must pay a heavy black- 
 mail of yellow gold. 
 
 On a hill above Damascus is the celebrated " wely," 
 or little domed chapel, where first, as you journey east- 
 ward, the splendid panorama bursts upon the view. 
 Looking from this years ago over the vast plain, I had 
 observed in the distance, tremulous with mirage, two 
 huge black vapour pillars, which drifted slowly across 
 the limitless flat. These were sand clouds, whirled aloft 
 by the breeze, and I was told that they were coursing 
 over a silent and desolate region, almost unknown, 
 through which the river Abana runs, and though it had 
 run there for ages, the life-blood of thousands, and was 
 praised in every language, and sung of in melodious 
 verse, and fabled in prose, it melted away in the desert 
 somehow, nobody knew how. 
 
 The Rob Roy had come to this region, and to probe 
 the inviting mystery of the ancient river's end. But all 
 enquiries as to how she could follow the Abana to the 
 east were baffled more every day by the stolid igno- 
 rance or stupid exaggeration with which natives compli- 
 cate any stranger's effort to do what ought to have been 
 
 K
 
 130 Reconnoitre. [Chap. I x. 
 
 done long since by themselves. Their united testimony- 
 asserted that the canoe might be taken by land if I 
 could mount her upon a horse, but that to float her by 
 water all the way was impossible ; and yet this was pre- 
 cisely what we meant to do. They all agreed, too, in 
 describing the bleak morass at the end as "impenetrable," 
 full of whirlpools, which sucked people down ; of hyenas, 
 panthers, and wild boars, which ate people up ; and of 
 fevers, agues, snakes, jungle, sun-strokes, and many other 
 horrible things. As usual we found that there was just 
 one peg of truth in each of these warnings whereon to 
 hang a huge fiction, and that nothing in the tale had 
 the merit of pure invention. 
 
 To reconnoitre the land and water of at least the 
 first day's route, Hany and I rode along the banks 
 near Abana. The river's speed was moderate now, for 
 it was running through a plain, but the intricacies of 
 its navigation v/ere most perplexing, because the water 
 branched out right and left into numerous channels, of 
 which one only could be the right one, and nobody 
 could tell us that one. It is only by a ride of this sort 
 that 3'ou can apj^reciate the richness and beauty of the 
 Damascus plain, or can understand the marvellous in- 
 genuity and perseverance with which the Abana has been 
 led through the desert to water it. In Egypt, indeed, 
 the sluices and canalettes are intricate enough, but 
 nothing to what is done here. Banks, dams, lashers, and 
 weirs, seem to force the water into every nook of the 
 country ; to force it underground, and, as it were, even 
 up hill, until every available drop has been wrung out 
 for use. Below the shady groves, athwart bright level 
 meads, oozing over, murmuring beneath, and softly 
 hurrying by, there is water everywhere, and nearly all 
 this from that one river which has fed millions of people
 
 Chap. IX.] The Rob Roy on Horseback. 
 
 for ages of time, and if this river stopped, Damascus 
 would perish. 
 
 The problem of carrying the canoe on a quadruped was 
 new and difficult, but it must be solved, as complete pre- 
 paration for months of journey, where much was over 
 mountain and plain. Ali, my chief muleteer (an excel- 
 lent fellow to the limits of his calling), was therefore 
 consulted, and he looked grave for two days, after which 
 he proposed that the Rob Roy should be slung cross- 
 ways over a mule, so of course his further suggestions 
 were useless. 
 
 After thought and experiment, I went out and bought 
 two strong poles, each sixteen feet long, and about three 
 inches thick at the larger end. These were placed on 
 the ground two feet apart, and across them, at three feet 
 from each end, we lashed two stout staves, about four 
 feet long, which resulted in a frame like that shown in 
 the sketch. Then a leading horse ^ was selected, a 
 strong, docile, sure-footed creature. On his back a large 
 bag- of straw was well s^irthed, and flattened down above. 
 The frame of poles was firmly tied on this, and a crowd 
 looked on as we wrapped the canoe in carpets and placed 
 
 ' Most good caravans have a "leading horse" in front. He costs 
 double the price of the others, but he is well worth the expense : he finds 
 the way for all, keeps up the pace, and is very soon recognised as a guide 
 by the other mules, horses, and donkies. Indeed they are restless without 
 him, and wander about in straggling disorder.
 
 132 Latoof. [Chap. IX. 
 
 her on the frame, and the moment it was there, I saw 
 the plan would succeed. For three months this simple 
 method enabled us to take the Rob Roy over sand and 
 snow, over rock and jungle, across mud and marsh — 
 anywhere, indeed, where a horse could go ; and therefore, 
 perhaps, it deserves to be described. The frame was 
 elevated in front, so as to allow the horse's head some 
 room under the boat's keel. Two girth-straps kept the 
 canoe firmly in position above, and folded carpets were 
 cushions under its bilge. 
 
 It will be seen from the sketch of this boat-frame 
 that, in the event of a collision with a rock or a tree, 
 or if the horse had a stumble and a fall, the shock 
 would be received upon one or other of the four pro- 
 jecting points, instead of striking the canoe itself To 
 lead the horse by a long rope (though for many a day he 
 was ever shortening it), we told off Adoor, a gentle, half- 
 witted, raw-looking youth, who was brought with us 
 because with a charming voice he sang so sweetly that 
 all his faults were drowned in his music. In sharp con- 
 trast to him was Latoof, a powerful fellow, purposely 
 chosen at Beyrout to hold fast to the canoe in every 
 difficulty, grasping the frame as he trudged through the 
 pools, or clambered the rocks, or swayed the high top- 
 heavy burthen right and left, when fierce gusts of wind 
 threatened to overturn us all. To guide these three came 
 Hany next behind on his plucky little Arab, with a hun- 
 dred and one things in his saddle-bags (and always the 
 things one wanted most), his cocoa-nut nargilleh dangling 
 at his side, and his double-barrel rifle slung upon his 
 back. Without him personally, and his care over all, 
 there is no doubt in my mind that our long new way of 
 travel in the East could not have been finished as it was, 
 without one check, or disaster, or breakdown, without
 
 Chap. IX.] On Abana. 133 
 
 one day lost, or the slightest injury to any of us, men, 
 horses, mules, donkeys, and boat. 
 
 Another secret of success was the elaborate prepara- 
 tion of minutiae, and the stern resolve that everything to 
 be used should be of the best, as the clearest econom}' 
 in the long run, when any failure might cost a day's delay, 
 and the cost of a day was never less than three pounds.- 
 
 Those delights or dangers of the river which the 
 canoe-man might meet with anywhere, we need not 
 describe in this story, having plenty to tell that is pecu- 
 liar to the place and the people. However, as this stream 
 of Abana has not been boated upon before, it may be 
 well to inform the next canoeist that, below the first 
 mill beyond Damascus, we found it full of interest and 
 variety. The general route of our journey may be 
 traced on Map VIIL, while Map II. (p. 134), and Maps 
 III. and IV. (p. 168), give portions on a larger scale. 
 
 The water was now red in colour and two feet 
 deeper than before, being swollen high by mountain 
 storms, and the channel led us away and away among 
 orchards and groves and thick osier beds and smiling 
 water meadows. Tortoises sleeping on the bank toppled 
 into the stream as we passed, and land crabs lazily 
 crawled out of sight. There were many Avild ducks in 
 the river brakes, most of them too fat or too lazy to 
 rise, and I had to get out many times to haul the 
 canoe past obstructions, until on a sudden the ruddy 
 current bore the Rob Roy right into an impassable jungle 
 of osiers ten feet high. This sort of obstacle, or a marsh 
 full of deep holes, are the only real troubles to the 
 
 - The same dragoman, providing also the best materials in 1849, charged 
 2/. per diem for myself and a companion. The increased expense now of 
 about 100 per cent, is accounted for by the Crimean war, the Abyssinian 
 expedition, and the cattle murrain, which raised the price of animals and 
 labour.
 
 1^4 Celebrated Canoeists. [Chap. IX. 
 
 canoeist, if we except (as very unusual) a river covered 
 with small hewn logs, such as I met in Norway on the 
 River Vrangs ; but even then I had only to drag the 
 boat for a mile through a lonely wood. Rapids however 
 long, waterfalls however high, can be passed on the land 
 by persevering patience. The sea between Ireland and 
 Scotland was traversed by one of our Canoe Club in 
 his canoe ; another member sailed his Rob Roy from 
 England to France, and a third paddled from France to 
 England, all in one summer.^ Still, though a canoe can 
 start from any part of Britain, and struggle all the way 
 to Hongkong, there will always be much difficulty in 
 passing it through a forest of small trees, Avhich may be 
 too dense to allow the canoeist to shove his craft by the 
 water, or to drag it along the bank. 
 
 An invariable policy in such cases always brings 
 relief: " Persist in the assurance that you miLst get 
 through ; pull up to the side ; ponder on the best plan, 
 and shout aloud." Who would have thought that in such 
 a strange jungle as this on the Abana there would be 
 any one within reach of a call .'' Yet a man was there, 
 cutting the osiers, and soon his head was stretched for- 
 ward. Then he ran off at once as fast as his legs could 
 carry him. Smiles and soft speeches speedily brought 
 him back, and we soon shouldered the Rob Roy toge- 
 ther, and so passed the obstruction. I slept that night 
 at Jisrin (Map III., p. i68). 
 
 The Abana now ran eastward, steady and deep, in a 
 tortuous way between high grass banks, with a lively day 
 for enjoyment. No trees now, and no thickets, but wide 
 and fruitful plains, and oxen that stopped ploughing 
 
 * The names of these three members of the Canoe Chib may well be 
 recorded — Mr. R. Tennent, the late Hon. J. Gordon, and Mr. Bowker.' 
 Our canoe cruises have now extended through Europe, Asia, Africa, 
 America North and South, India, Australia, China, and at last Japan.
 
 MAF 
 
 M0I3THS or ABANA.. 
 
 SCALE OF MILES 
 
 I. MO. u,th.iu,A. . t /^-— tj ahr 6 1=" ■ ^-= 
 
 Ard el Musa 

 
 Chap. IX. j Brave Giiards. 135 
 
 while the peasants ran from their teams to see the 
 " Shaktoor." For miles they ran with me thus, a good- 
 humoured, smiling band, men, women, and children, 
 shouting with joy, while statelier Turks on horses and 
 mules kept pace alongside with more dignity, when any 
 path on the bank could be found. Thus we came to 
 El Keisa, and pitched our tents in the cemetery, while 
 at least a hundred people sat round the camp in a 
 picturesque circle, staring hard till sundown. It was 
 important to make friends with these people, who were 
 being rather drilled than delighted by the officious order- 
 ings of two Turkish soldiers I had taken with me as 
 guards, splendidly mounted, miserably clothed, wretchedly 
 armed, and thoroughly prepared for their only duty in 
 danger — to run away. The peasants' red coats reached 
 to their ankles. Every man had a staff five feet long. 
 Some of the women had yashmaks, and a few of the 
 men wore a black cotton kerchief (the Mandeel) tied over 
 the face, to moderate the reflection from the ground, and 
 concealing the nose, but used in a manner I had never 
 seen before, except among the Touaregs in Algeria, a 
 tribe to the extreme south of the French settlements in 
 the hot Sahara, where all the men wear black crape 
 masks entirely covering their faces. 
 
 These quaint folks on the Abana were easily amused 
 by a few pleasantries, and laughed very heartily. Patting 
 the children's heads pleased the little ones, and their 
 mothers too. One copper-coloured youngster, wallowing 
 in the mud, asked me for a farthing (the only beggar), 
 but when I gave it to him, he asked that it might be 
 " put by." Poor fellow ! he had no pocket for his purse, 
 being as perfectly naked as on the day he was born. 
 
 A long string of my new friends followed in procession 
 to the village, which was of mud, but far better built
 
 136 Tent Life. [Chap. IX. 
 
 than ill Egypt. A shepherd was dozing by his flock, 
 with a sword girt round his waist. A few Arab tents 
 were near, and keen eyes in them eyed me askance. I 
 slept now in my tent, feeling far more lonely under canvas 
 than when lodging in my canoe. It was a small square 
 tent, sent from England as a present to Hany — double, of 
 course — and m.ade by Edgington, so it ought to be good, 
 but we shall have it tried by jury further on. The other 
 round Syrian tent was henceforth used by the servants. 
 
 Sweet sleep follows such a day, but the winter's dawn 
 next morning cannot soon struggle through our English 
 canvas. Yet one awakes by habit or instinct, or by a 
 previous resolve ; and, without lighting a match to see 
 my watch, it is easy to tell the time by the sounds 
 outside. First, there is the feeblest bustle heard in the 
 dark, and a trinkling sound as the charcoal briskly kindles 
 in the cook's fire. The cock-crows (so many and loud in 
 Palestine) are absent here. Soon the men around are 
 whispering more loudly, and then a horse neighs. The 
 sharp " whish " of swift pinions is from a wild bird over- 
 head hieing off thus earliest to the lake ; then the soft 
 regular beat of the cook's bellows gets louder, it is a 
 turkey's wing waved with a sound like "fam, fam, fam !" 
 At last a donkey brays. Up now ! An end to sleep for 
 ever, and let the joyous splashing of my bath bespeak 
 me eager for the happy hours of another bright day. 
 Hany hears the sound, and soon after it a " Good 
 morning ! " times the hot wholesome breakfast to a 
 minute. 
 
 Among the chief features of the Abana River is the 
 fine Tell of Salahiyeh, a green mound that looks like 
 Primrose Hill, in Regent's Park. The excavations made 
 here for the Palestine Exploration Fund, in 1866, by 
 Mr. Rogers are described in Part 2 of the ' Quarterly
 
 Chap. IX.] Harran. 137 
 
 Statement' Some of the articles dug up were shown in 
 the Society's Exhibition at the Dudley Gallery. 
 
 The Tell had an imposing grandeur, and, at the same 
 time, an air of lively interest, as the huge green mound 
 seemed to turn slowly round, while my canoe bore me 
 floating by in the bend of the river ; but nearly all the 
 researches in these artificial hills, so common in Palestine, 
 have been barren of valuable results.* 
 
 After El Keisa, the Abana has some very intricate 
 navigation. Against my opinion — for experience points 
 the way even in new places and by indications that can- 
 not be explained — I was directed down the wrong branch 
 of three into which the river had forked. At last my 
 faithful compass told the tale so clearly that it was plain 
 we were going astray ; so I took the Rob Roy across the 
 plain to the right way, and we halted at a point about 
 
 ^ The following is the conclusion of the account Mr. Rogers gives of the 
 excavations at Salahiyeh : — " Close to this cutting, and to the east of it, 
 I made another, in which was found much broken pottery, black inside 
 and red on the surface. A few stones, similar to those already mentioned, 
 with bricks, mortar, and strong cement were found. It was opened to the 
 depth of 32 feet. 
 
 "... at the south of the mound, the regular layers of bricks are very 
 distinct and perfect ; these bricks are about i8 inches square and 4 inches 
 thick ; some pale yellow, others pale red, joined by strong mortar ; . . . 
 some stones of a heart shape were found, as if belonging to a pavement. 
 
 " The people in the neighbourhood came to me, and said that, if I wanted 
 to make any discoveries, I must first propitiate the sheikh, whose tomb is 
 on the top of the Tell, by sacrificing a sheep in his honour. I immediately 
 gave them half a sovereign, with which to purchase the victim, and my 
 workmen partook of the feast. 
 
 "... it seems to me that the Tell is a solid mass of brickwork built over, 
 perhaps, one chamber or more in the centre, similar to the Pyramids of 
 Eg}'pt ; for wherever I dig I find layers of bricks and mortar. If the Tell 
 were the mere store of a brick factory, there would be no mortar between 
 the layers. The work, affording no promise of further discovery, was then 
 abandoned." Captain Wilson gives the position of this Tell as in 33° 30' 
 28" N., and 36° 28' 02" E. The mound is 60 feet high, the largest side 
 nearly east and west, and the Barada washes its southern slope.
 
 138 Mirage. [Chap. IX. 
 
 sixteen miles straight from Damascus, the village of 
 Harran el Awamid, that is, " Harran of the pillars." 
 
 These are three handsome basalt columns in the 
 middle of this village. Sculptured fragments also are 
 amongst the mud hovels. The pillars, standing 40 feet 
 high, served as a landmark to my journey for a whole 
 fortnight, and I took a careful sketch of them,^ and 
 some bearings by compass, while the most exemplary 
 silence prevailed among the wondering villagers. 
 
 Then, by a "silver argument," the sheikh was per- 
 suaded to let me mount the minaret of the mosque, and 
 for the first time to get a good general survey of the 
 country about us, the snow hills behind, the river wind- 
 ing below, the far-off desert, the nearer plain with its 
 hundred villages, and the weird morass I had come to 
 pierce. 
 
 Not a drop of water could be seen in this " Lake of 
 Ateibeh," painted so prettily blue on the travelling maps. 
 Mr. Rogers told me he never could see water in the 
 marsh. On the other hand. Porter saw, in November, 
 1852, "a large expanse of clear water in the midst of the 
 marsh," a little south of the Abana mouth, where there 
 was not a pond visible to me.° In his visit to Hijaneh 
 
 ^ It was unfortunately lost overboard, but a beautiful photograph of the 
 pillars is in the series published by the Palestine Exploration Fund. The 
 side pillars are not equidistant from the corner one. Wilson gives their 
 height of shaft 29 feet, base 2 feet 3 inches, circumference 1 1 feet 7 inches. 
 
 ^ Partly this may be accounted for by different times of the year, and by 
 wet or dry seasons, though his visit was in a season "unusually dry;" 
 partly because the appearance of water is deceptive in hot regions of mirage, 
 as one soon discovers by journeys on rivers and lakes, and Porter himself 
 describes a phenomenon of this kind in this very plain (vol. ii. p. 11). 
 Thomson ('L. and B.' p. 521) says that the mirage, or Serab, "thirst of the 
 gazelle," is meant by the word translated "parched ground" in Isaiah 
 XXXV. 7, "And the parched ground shall become a pool;" and certainly this 
 rendering gives much force to the passage. The mirage on the river St. 
 Lawrence is perhaps the most wonderful one can see.
 
 Chap. IX.] '"' Abrahains WeW 139 
 
 also, where I traversed a full lake with 5 feet of water 
 
 in it, he found a basin " perfectly dry." 
 
 With such variations of the surface we are about to 
 map, we must expect the contours of these marshes 
 to be very different as sketched by different travellers, 
 or at different times. The maps of them in Porter's 
 ' Five Years in Damascus ' are different from those in his 
 excellent Guidebook (' Syria and Palestine,' Murray). 
 The Maps II. and IV. of the district are made from 
 my own compass bearings, of which a list is given at 
 p. 169, while the other parts are taken from Vandevelde's 
 map, which I found to be more correct than any other. 
 
 As for the branch of Abana passing by Harran, it was 
 only a few disjointed pools. We were now on almost 
 unknown territory, and it was something to know that ; 
 but I instantly resolved to carry the canoe north to the 
 next arm of the Abana, for it was plainly impossible to 
 get her into the morass from Harran. By the mosque 
 here they showed me a very ancient well, about 6 feet 
 deep, with stones exceedingly worn."^ This is called 
 Abraham's Well, and Dr. Beke and others consider the 
 village to be the Harran where Abraham dwelt " be- 
 tween the two rivers " (Abana and Pharpar). Josephus 
 ('Ant. J.' b. i. ch. vii. sec. ii.) states that Berosus writes : 
 " Now the name of Abram is even still famous in the 
 country of Damascus, and there is showed a village 
 named from him — ' the habitation of Abram.' " 
 
 We bade good-bye to the amiable village sheikh, 
 a man with long, shaggy, red hair, very intelligent, 
 
 ' Stones are sooner worn at wells than elsewhere, and as an indication of 
 antiquity this is deceptive. The edge-stones of the tanks in the Haram at 
 Jerusalem are seamed several inches deep by the bucket-ropes, but Captain 
 Warren, R.E., the clever explorer of the Holy City, told me that a year or 
 two of use is enough to make a deep cut in the stone when a wet rope 
 (always carrying grit with it) is constantly worked.
 
 140 Plunging. [Chap. IX. 
 
 and very sorry we were not to stop a night in his 
 mayoralty. 
 
 Our route lay across the verge of the morass (see 
 Map II., p. 134), but we went too far eastward, and the 
 work was now very troublesome and dangerous. We soon 
 found that the experienced " marsh- walker," who acted 
 as guide, had never led more than cattle over these wilds, 
 and the amphibious oxen here can plunge through pools 
 that are impossible for laden mules and restifif horses. 
 It was a wide sea of shallow water, concealed by grass 
 in tufts, like an Irish bog, and with soft deceptive mud, 
 deep holes, and trickling streamlets. 
 
 Hundreds of cattle stood up to their stomachs in the 
 water, as our mules plunged deep above their girths, 
 and the men sank down repeatedly. The guide now 
 fairly lost his head, and I had to push on in front to 
 lead, with a feeling of some responsibility in having 
 brought to such a place our long cavalcade, numbering 
 eleven men and twelve animals. 
 
 At length mule after mule slipped in till only his 
 shoulders were visible, and one of the little donkeys dis- 
 appeared under water completely, head and ears and 
 everything, but a clever muleteer caught him by the tail, 
 and we pulled him out. Then he began to bray — a 
 piteous performer, all wet and muddy. I noticed that 
 particular donkey's music for months afterwards was 
 always, at least, double his natural allowance, but, in 
 consideration of his gallant behaviour on this occasion, 
 he had special license to bray on continually to the end. 
 
 The men lamented their moist bread, the load of the 
 ass submerged. In such a wild district, of course, we had 
 to bring all our provisions from Damascus, but I cheered 
 them up with a promise of Christmas fare, and then I 
 dismounted, and punted and paddled the Rob Roy, for
 
 Chap. IX.] 
 
 Ateibeh Morass. 
 
 141 
 
 she might have been injured by a fall if carried any 
 longer on horseback, as shown in. our sketch below. 
 
 By the route line on map II. it will be seen that we 
 were travelling nearly north along the edge of the marsh 
 
 Morass of Ateibeh, east of Damascus. 
 
 until at last we struck upon that branch of the Abana 
 which passes near Haush Hamar ; we camped by its 
 mouth, on fine solid ground, to spend our Christmas 
 Day, and the red ensign of England was soon hoisted on 
 a high pole, to wave over as wild a spot as ever was seen. 
 The river narrowed here to four or five yards across, 
 with a deep and quiet stream. The course of the 
 branches is explained further on. Porter states the 
 breadth as thirty feet, but this is only at a long pool 
 by the ford. 
 
 No jackals sang out now their usual lullaby we had
 
 142- ''' Ko-ax ko-axT [Chap. IX. 
 
 nightly listened to before, but it is said that where larger 
 beasts are near, the jackal does not cry, and I have gene- 
 rally found this to be true. The frogs owed no such 
 tribute of silence, and their chant was from a thousand- 
 throated chorus, each one croaking as loud as the quack 
 of a duck. 
 
 The croak of a frog has been one of the best means 
 of informing the modern world of the mode in which 
 the ancient Greeks pronounced their beautiful language, 
 for in an old Greek author, the frogs are made to sing 
 what w^ould now be written in English " Brech-ech-ech- 
 ex ko-ax ko-ax." Now the frogs of the nineteenth 
 century have probably been faithful to the pronunciation 
 of their race in former times, and as we listen in the 
 still night to their curious music, it is exactly as if one 
 set of them — perhaps the tenors — the gentlemen of their 
 choir, kept saying " Brekekekex ! " while the softer 
 wooing of the ladies is uttered always as " Koax koax 
 ko-ax." The din made by millions of these songsters, 
 in a marsh many miles extended, is astounding. Those 
 in the distance are heard like the sound of a railway 
 train when it passes over a metal bridge. The nearer 
 croakers, being more articulate, are more disturbing. 
 Sometimes they all stop, as if by command, and, after a 
 few moments of silence, the catch-note of some flippant 
 flirt just whispers once, and instantly the whole Babel 
 resumes its universal roar.
 
 Chap. X.] Ateibeh Morass. 143 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ATEIBEH MORASS — DROWNED IN THE LAKE — MENAGERIE — EMBARK- 
 ING — DANGEROUS DAY — A LONELY WOLD' — END OF ABANA — 
 RETREATING — CHRISTMAS ON ABANA — THOUGHTS — NORTHERN 
 LAKE — MOUTHS OF ABANA — TELL DEKWEH — TELL HIJANEH — 
 HIJANEH LAKE — PADDLING TO BASHAN — THE GIANT CITIES — 
 NIMRIM — THE ISLAND — IN A BOAR-TRACK — CHANNEL. 
 
 HERE then we face this dread lake of Ateibeh, 
 which I have carried the Rob Roy over the snow 
 to explore. Behind us is a vast plain, bounded by the 
 rocky hills and snow-capped mountains, and great Her- 
 mon in his cold white robe presiding over all. Small 
 mud villages are scattered upon the grassy level. The 
 inhabitants are very interesting to look at, tall, very 
 handsome, men, women, and children, strong, good-tem- 
 pered, healthy, and intelligent, also well dressed. They 
 wear long robes of most brilliant colours, bright red pre- 
 dominant. Even if a man is in tatters, his rags are crim- 
 son. The better sort have embroidered coats and ear- 
 rings (not in the lobe of the ear, but in the small pro- 
 jecting flesh), and their faces are tattooed. Their boots 
 are of red leather, with long turned-up toes, and the 
 women seldom conceal their faces. Scores of these have 
 often run a mile alongside the canoe, but I never had an 
 unkind word or act from one of them Their villages 
 are nearly surrounded by water, and not very dirty — one 
 gets used to all things being reasonably dirty here.
 
 144 Drowned in the Lake. [Chap. X. 
 
 Compared with Egypt, this verge of house habitation in 
 the East (bordering the real Arab tent-folk) is a paradise. 
 
 Great excitement was caused by the Rob Roy coming 
 to such a place, because the only boat which had 
 attempted this lake had a miserable end three years 
 ago. I made particular enquiries as to this accident, and 
 went to the spot where she launched, and saw one of the 
 men who helped to find her sad wreck. From these 
 enquiries it appeared that two Moslems and a Christian 
 from Ateibeh (a village near the lake) brought a boat 
 from Damascus. They were all " fowlers," and wished 
 to shoot more ducks for the market. The boat was 
 shorter than the Rob Roy, but broader, evidently a poor 
 tub, and the three men having been absent in her for 
 five days, an offer of 500 piastres' was made to any one 
 who would find them. The villagers selected a man who 
 was a good swimmer, and they made a raft of reeds and 
 sticks, upon which he set off' naked, and after fifteen days 
 he found the boat upset and the bodies of the three 
 drowned men — none of them could swim — and each of 
 them, in true Arab style, had strapped to his body his 
 gyn, ammunition, and food. So I was put quite at ease 
 about this foolish adventure. 
 
 Before us the Abana ran straight into the marsh for a 
 quarter of a mile ; so it was evident we were at the right 
 place for our essay at quagmire navigation, and the next 
 thing was to determine the best mode and time and 
 direction for penetrating to the centre of the morass. 
 Not an atom of information could be got on this subject 
 from the books or the maps, of which I had three, and 
 the best that the inhabitants could tell us was not re- 
 assuring ; for, according to these, besides the panthers, 
 
 ' A piastre is about twopence of our value. Not many years ago its 
 ■\'alue was sixpence.
 
 Chap. X.] Menagerie. 145 
 
 hyenas, and other beasts, there are, worst of them all, 
 wild boars. In ordinary times a wild boar avoids a man, 
 but if I came upon him in my canoe in a marsh among 
 tall reeds, he would most likely " charge" the newcomer, 
 and one blow of his tusk, I knew, would finish the Rob 
 Roy. In such a case she would not float, for when mud 
 gets inside it, even a lifeboat will sink. Then I could not 
 swim ashore for the reeds, and I could not wade or drag 
 the boat through the deep pools if it were broken and 
 jagged, nor could any help whatever be given from 
 shore, because the water jungle completely hides you. 
 
 Still the thing must be done somehow, and plans for 
 new projects of this kind cannot be hit off in a moment. 
 Long consideration, and a resolve to leave nothing hap- 
 hazard, are the true secrets of ensuring success, and here 
 comes in one of the great advantages of travelling alone 
 — you have time and silence to consider maturely. You 
 do not mar your plans by feeble compromises. You see, 
 hear, and think a great deal more than if a " pleasant 
 companion " is beside you all day, whose small talk (and 
 your own) must be run dry in a month, and neither of 
 you is free. In these solitary expeditions I have never 
 a sensation of loneliness. Hard work, healthy exercise, 
 plain food and plenty of it, early hours, reading at night, 
 and working, moving, noting, drawing, observing, and 
 considering all day, one's plans are quietly perfected, and 
 there is no more of tedium or solitary dulness than is 
 felt when you read or fish alone, or paint or write in a 
 town — the place one can feel most lonely in, after all. 
 
 Our object was now to trace the Abana River until it 
 flowed no farther, and to see whether its end is in a mere 
 morass or in a lake, that is, a sheet of water reasonably 
 open all the year round. For this purpose it was plain 
 that our course ought to be always in the strongest flow 
 
 L
 
 146 Embarking. [Chap. X. 
 
 and towards the lowest depression, which, after careful 
 scrutiny, appeared to lie to the south-east. 
 
 At break of day the compass bearings of the chief 
 objects around us were accurately taken, and their align- 
 ments with the snow-hills far in our rear. This was 
 done to enable me to get out of the marsh by the way 
 through which I came in at the end of the river, for at no 
 other place could I hope to bring the Rob Roy close to 
 the margin. 
 
 The canoe compass has been already explained. In 
 taking bearings by it when afloat, I found it best to hold 
 the compass to the eye with both hands, and to keep the 
 lid slanted back so as to allow a long black line on its 
 inside to be directed by the eye to the object, when the 
 pressure of the right forefinger acting upon a stud will 
 fix the needle for reading off, and this being done four 
 or five times, and a mean taken of the angles noticed, 
 it is easy to obtain bearings within a quarter of a 
 point. 
 
 Having thus made every possible preparation, I ran 
 the Rob Roy to the river's mouth, with the sun just 
 rising over the illimitable desert on the other side of the 
 lake, and gilding bold Hermon with a bright morning 
 ray. I had food for two days, a double-barrelled gun, 
 one barrel loaded with ball, a long pole for working in 
 the reeds, and a number of strips of calico two feet long, 
 which I tied one by one at various points to the loftiest 
 canes, that I might have perhaps some chance of finding 
 my way back to the river's mouth. This last object was 
 important, because if in the return I arrived at any other 
 place, it would still be a quarter of a mile from the verge, 
 without water enough to float in, or land enough to stand 
 upon. 
 
 Hany, my invaluable dragoman, was to hail me every
 
 Chap. X.] Dangerous Day. 147 
 
 ten minutes until he could not hear my voice. In the 
 first ten minutes I was invisible, and he saw me no more 
 all day. The river ran to a clump of bushes, widened to 
 twenty feet and four feet deep, and then branched out 
 into five or six small streams among the reeds. The 
 current became stronger, and it was impossible to forget 
 that this would be all "up hill" in coming back. I had 
 soon lost sight of the tents, but part of the red flag was 
 always visible when I stood up. Taking my bearing 
 from this, I wound a long strip of calico round the tops 
 of three highest plants tied together, and carefully 
 entered the particulars in my " log-book ; " doing this all 
 very deliberately, for certainty in such matters is bettei 
 than speed, and any confusion or excitement might ruin 
 the whole proceeding. From this, called " Station No. i," 
 I worked on until it was nearly invisible, and then placed 
 " Station 2," and so on. The plan answered admirably.- 
 Soon I put my paddle away below deck, and worked 
 with a long pole. As the water shallowed, I had to 
 " punt " the canoe, standing up in her, and with my shoes 
 off for better foothold, and to lessen the danger of making 
 a hole in her skin, which would probably have let in the 
 mud so fatal to the boat, or by its rough edges outside 
 would prevent her progress on her return. I had shot a 
 few ducks, for there were hundreds quite close, but it was 
 impossible to retrieve them when they fell even a few 
 yards off; and, moreover, it was soon found that all one's 
 attention in such a place is required for navigation. 
 Sporting with either the rod or the gun is, in my opinion, 
 incompatible with proper progress in discovery when only 
 one man has to do all. 
 
 At length I reached a point where all stream ceased 
 
 ^ As this method may be a hint to others packlhng where they cannot 
 see twenty yards in front, the e.xact notes are given at p. 169.
 
 148 A Lonely Wold. [Chap. x. 
 
 as was shown when the mud stirred by my pole did not 
 advance beyond my boat at rest^in fact the Rob Roy 
 was now in the middle water of the marsh, and to be 
 quite sure of this, I got out and waded, dragging the boat 
 to the point P in Map II., at p. 1 34 ; but the deep holes con- 
 cealed by clumps of grass were very troublesome, though 
 of course a good wetting had to be counted on at starting, 
 and the water was warm, while the mud below was cold. 
 
 Some of these holes indeed seemed bottomless, and 
 now I understood what had been so often stated to me 
 before setting out : " There are whirlpools (as they styled 
 them) which drag men down — every year men are lost 
 even on the edges, and no help can reach them." These 
 are the Arabs who shoot ducks which fall a few yards off 
 in the marsh, and the men, eager to retrieve them, soon 
 get overhead. It was one more proof added to hundreds 
 in my voyages that natives speaking of what they don't 
 understand always give the worst view of danger, but 
 that there is generally something meant by them which 
 it is well to understand for oneself 
 
 Having fully satisfied myself that I was now going up 
 hill to the other side of the lake, and it being noon with 
 a hot sun, after four hours of tremendous labour, and 
 craving for food, I sat down and enjoyed an excellent 
 luncheon. How silent, how solitary, how desolate the 
 scene in this wilderness of marsh. No ducks rose now, 
 for I was quiet. I saw three very tiny fish, but could not 
 catch them. One mosquito came to me, but he did not bite. 
 Perhaps he had never been taught that man is the sweetest 
 morsel for his ravenous tooth. A beautiful fly buzzed 
 about me, like a bluebottle of the most brilliant green. 
 
 The faint buzzing of that fly made the silence of all 
 else far deeper, for the ear was aroused by the sound, 
 and yet there was only that sound for its listening.
 
 Chap. X.] End of the Abana. 149 
 
 It was a position this entirely unique, sitting most com- 
 fortably in a boat, aground, hidden, absolutely still ; time 
 passing, but nothing doing. If you are floating on a lake, 
 there is at least a scene around, or catspaws on the water, 
 or cries from the shore, for variety. If you are alone in the 
 sea, be it ever so glassy, there is sure to be a ground-swell 
 gently curving the clouds pictured on the waves. If you 
 rest thus on a river, the boat will turn round, and so a 
 panorama seems to pass before the eye, and lastly, if 
 you are alone on the water in the dark, you can at any 
 rate strike a light for company's sake. In sailing alone 
 from Havre to Portsmouth in my yawl, there was a sense 
 of isolation when each port was fifty miles away, and no 
 other vessel was in sight, but then there was always 
 action, a movement of the waves and of the boat ; 
 and isolation to be felt in all its force must have 
 absolute rest and silence. In every one of these cases 
 some new object is likely to appear, or, if not, it 
 may be hoped for, while, if sickness or death come 
 suddenly then, there is the grim consolation that some- 
 body would find the boat and the body. But now in 
 this marsh I was out of the network of things : no change 
 took place in the view about me, no event happened, I 
 was farther away from the world than on the highest 
 mountain's peak, or in the deepest mine — and the world 
 was getting on very well without me. Let us go back to 
 it, thoroughly convinced that the Abana dies in the marsh 
 of Ateibeh, yielding its vapoury spirit to the hot sun, as 
 Jordan faints away in the Dead Sea, and so, rising into 
 the clouds again, both of them perhaps wafted aloft to 
 the snow-peaks where they were born, they pour down 
 their old waters in a current ever new, in that circuit of 
 life and death which God has ordained for all. 
 
 The end of the Abana, then, may be less sublime than
 
 150 Retreating. [Chap. X. 
 
 that of the Jordan, but it is not less dark and mys- 
 terious. A trackless marsh has horrors worse than the 
 Dead Sea. You can float in water, but in mud you 
 can neither swim nor stand, and the great slime 
 volcano in Sicily seemed to me more terrible than even 
 the crater of Etna. 
 
 To turn the boat required a sweep of half a mile, and 
 then I could see snowy Hermon in front, and a flutter of 
 my English ensign at the tents where poor Hany, like a 
 distracted mother, was waiting long hours in despair, for 
 these Easterns jump from exulting joy to deepest distress 
 at a bound. 
 
 Beginning with " No. 6 " guide of cotton, I traced back 
 to No. 5, having recorded each one clearly in my note- 
 book. One of the most important things, I repeat, in 
 such expeditions is to do everything very slowly, and to 
 keep every idea clear and separate. 
 
 Much sooner than in the outward voyage I reached the 
 river again. An Arab fowler was there, wistfully gazing 
 at a very large bird which was out of his reach. I shot it, 
 and the bird flew towards him wounded. He put a bullet 
 through its head as it lay on the rushes with dishevelled 
 outstretched wings, and then he brought it to me, but of 
 course I gave it to him, which made us great friends. 
 The bird had a beak like the " great bittern's," and a 
 large crest on its head. 
 
 The men at our camp were rejoiced to hear my hail 
 again, " Rob Roy ! " long before they saw the canoe. 
 Orientals speedily identify themselves with their master's 
 cause, and these fellows had believed all the nonsense 
 told them about this lake. Besides, their promised 
 Christmas feast depended a good deal on my being 
 among them. For this I bade them collect materials 
 to make a huge bonfire, and these were piled up high.
 
 Chap. X.] 
 
 Christmas on the Ahana. 
 
 15T 
 
 Hany brought in a splendid stuffed roast turkey for me 
 and then a capital plum-pudding swimming in the flames 
 of brandy. Fancy such an orthodox dinner in the desert 
 of Ateibeh ! 
 
 Christmas Night on a Mouth of the Abana. 
 
 The moon shone clear, and our fire had become embers 
 when the Howaja joined the party round it and asked 
 silence for his address. He told them that we had now 
 reached the farthest point of our journey ; after this we 
 were ""oing- south, and west, and homewards. Then he 
 turned to the journey of life, and the home for us pil- 
 grims — then to the Christmas Day just finished as a 
 great mark in time's road to eternity — and then he gave 
 them a condensed history of the world from the creation
 
 15^ Thoughts. [Chap. X. 
 
 — the law — the prophets, and the Saviour — the apostles 
 — the martyrs and ourselves. 
 
 Hany interpreted each sentence, and every sentence 
 was heard with intense interest. It was indeed an open- 
 air sermon, and what with the time, the place, the au- 
 dience, and the occasion, we might well feel solemnly the 
 heavy responsibility we incur in speaking to others who 
 will listen on subjects like these. Long after the hour 
 for sleep these men were talking of it all. Perhaps no 
 one of them had ever heard so much truth before, or 
 will ever hear it again. 
 
 Those who are not convinced of the truth of the 
 Gospel must at any rate admit that Christianity exists. 
 How it came here, how it thrives, and how it works more 
 than all other energies, are questions that no man has 
 solved without assuming far more unlikely things than 
 the existence of a Christ such as the Scriptures describe. 
 
 The phenomenon appeared, they must allow, some 
 eighteen centuries ago, and among a few fishermen upon 
 Bethsaida beach. These simple folk carved out the only 
 God-like image ever seen. These crafty conspirators 
 arrayed it with a glory that eclipsed first of all them- 
 selves hopelessly and for ever. They devised the most 
 novel and successful scheme of moral conduct, and kept 
 on preaching doctrines that convicted every day their 
 own falsehood and deception. They invented the very 
 best plan for benefiting other people, but they utterly 
 failed to get anything out of it for themselves except 
 weeping and loss. These simpletons, that could not see 
 through the flimsy veil of fable, saw deeper into human 
 hearts than any other men, and they gave voice to yearn- 
 ings that were felt everywhere, but were never understood 
 before. These dupes exposed all other deceptions that
 
 Chap. X.] Thoughts. 153 
 
 had deceived the wisest of philosophers. These dullards 
 conceived a system that outreached the loftiest fancies of 
 the cleverest thinkers. 
 
 We who are of course so much wiser, and cooler, and 
 better altogether — we are the only fair and shrewd 
 judges to try this case. A whirlwind of clashing thoughts 
 is sweeping in thunder through the darkness above us, 
 and an earthquake rends the rocks, but we are placid, 
 and can sit unmoved, while we rake among the chaos 
 and sift out grains of truth. We have not taken sides — 
 we are only standing aloof from everything. It does not 
 tell upon our verdict at all that, if these prisoners at the 
 bar are in the right, then we are utterly in the wrong, 
 and must lay our mouths in the dust and confess that we 
 are miserable sinners, and give up our dearest idol — self, 
 and change our whole course of life, and labour and 
 suffer and die for the truths we are now judging. 
 
 'Tis true that we have ourselves no rival system that 
 will bear five minutes' comparison with theirs — that our 
 advance towards any better truth from the beginning of 
 mankind, say fifty thousand years ago, is rather minute ; 
 but the day after to-morrow we shall have explained all 
 mysteries by our sun-like inner light, without that dim 
 candle of revelation — our existence in flesh and spirit, right 
 and wrong, happy and wretched, poverty, sickness, death, 
 and the illimitable past and future of it all. 
 
 Oh it is a delightful thing to live in an age so modest, 
 impartial, and serene, and to trace back my pedigree with 
 honest pride to the ancestral oyster in a metamorphic rock, 
 to feel a patronising regret that no light from heaven could 
 ever penetrate his thick shell, but that all truth is re- 
 vealed to my soul by me, and that my law of life is what 
 I think right, and (for I am charitable as well as infallible)
 
 154 Northern Lake. [Chap. x. 
 
 your law of life is whatjw/ think right, and that nobody 
 can say anybody is more right than anybody else, and 
 yet we are all right together — and that's the way to 
 make things pleasant all round. 
 
 Next day I rode to the village of Ateibeh to examine 
 the northern lake. Pools of water made this town nearly 
 an island, but its five hundred inhabitants seemed healthy 
 and comfortable, and the sheikh was most hospitable in 
 his palace of clay, with pictures on its outer walls, which 
 sloped like those in Egypt. 
 
 A dense white fog shaded the morning sun, and be- 
 dewed the grove of trees. Through this we galloped 
 over a fine plain to the mouth of the Abana's northern 
 stream, which ran into the lake, only five feet wide in one 
 part, and five feet deep, with a current of a mile an hour, 
 until it suddenly branched into five, exactly like the 
 palm of a hand, and so oozed forth into deep water, 
 bounded by tall dense canes — a scene quite different 
 from that in the southern lake we had left. 
 
 This was the place where the three men had perished 
 in the only boat known to have come to this lake 
 before. I w^aited till the fog cleared away, in order to 
 get compass bearings, and then commenced a long, 
 tedious, and dangerous, search for the course of this 
 northerly branch of the Abana. 
 
 The route-line on Map II., at p. 134, indicates the 
 general direction, which was sometimes over low mud 
 plains and hollows, at others across numerous canals 
 and streamlets, or deep, treacherous morass, or golden- 
 coloured herbage. 
 
 The general conclusions arrived at during this ride 
 were as follows : — Above El Keisa the Abana had sepa- 
 rated into three streams. The most southerly (marked 
 C on Map IL, and seemingly rather modern and arti-
 
 Chap. X.] Months of the Abaiia. 155 
 
 ficial) is spent in irrigation, but in floods it may run 
 by Harran. The middle one (marked b) we had followed 
 in the Rob Roy, and, soon after the place where we left 
 it, the stream is lost in an upland marsh, until about a 
 quarter of a mile from its mouth. There the water 
 appears again as a river, and, passing near the hamlet 
 of Haush Hamar, runs into the lake through the mouth 
 we had camped by for Christmas Day. The northern 
 branch (marked a) also merges into an intricate spongy 
 bog, until the waters unite in the stream which enters the 
 northern lake. Between these last two branches is the 
 land separating the two lakes. Porter states that this 
 neck of land, about a mile in breadth, divides them 
 permanently, except where the deep channel through it 
 allows the water to run. Vandevelde marks the land 
 here only as a peninsula, and he indicates the channel 
 called El Hawar through this narrow tongue. Porter 
 says that the water flows from south to north through 
 this, but the sheikh at Hijaneh stated that the water 
 runs either way. All the people at Ateibeh assured me 
 that Tell el Khanzir is not at the place so named in 
 Vandevelde and in Petermann (and which is called 
 Tell Namy), but is north and west of Ateibeh. Wilson, 
 however, mentions the Tell by this name, as being near 
 the canal, though he did not reach it, owing to a robbery 
 at his camp. Porter (who visited the actual spot) places 
 Tell Maktil Musa near the channel above mentioned, while 
 Vandevelde calls another Tell by that name. The misty 
 cloud which hung about us for several hours prevented 
 me from taking reliable bearings of the villages in this 
 district, but, on the whole, they corresponded with the 
 position marked in Vandevelde. 
 
 According to Porter, the northern lake is about eight 
 miles long, by four and a half wide, and receives part of the
 
 156 Tell Dekweh, [Chap. x. 
 
 Yezid water, and in winter a stream called the Mahrabrit at 
 the north. It also receives water from some springs. The 
 most copious of these, Ain Halush,waters five villages. The 
 southern morass is about six miles long, and four broad. 
 The plants I saw upon it were seldom higher than five feet. 
 
 On the east of these lakes, and, according to my com- 
 pass bearings, about sixteen miles from Ateibeh, and 
 eighteen from Hijaneh, is a high mound, called Tell 
 Dekweh, one of a line of Tells close together for fifteen' 
 miles. These form the most remarkable, and, indeed, 
 singular feature in the eastern horizon. The land 
 between them and the lakes must be high. Porter says 
 thirty feet, and the outline sketch of them given on 
 Map II., which was taken from my post P in the marsh, 
 shows that they are nearly hidden by the shore when 
 looked at from the water. 
 
 Three strange ruined buildings lie between these hills 
 and the lake, but no man lives in that solitude, and all 
 around and beyond is a desert of silence. 
 
 It was difficult to resist the powerful attraction of a 
 visit to such places on the eastern shore, but the Rob 
 Roy had no business there, and plenty of work was 
 awaiting her which could only be done in a canoe. So 
 she was mounted again on her pony, and we filed along 
 the edge of the morass by Kefrein ("two villages") and 
 Jedideh, easily finding a far better route than our herds- 
 man guide had led before ; for there are very few places 
 where a traveller is not his own best guide when journey- 
 ing in a mode unknown to the natives. The plain of the 
 Abana is considerably lower than that of the Pharpar, 
 and Wilson describes a canal leading from the Pharpar 
 to the Damascus plain. In one place it is crossed by a 
 Roman bridge, so it must have existed in Roman times. 
 This may be the canal alluded to before, p, 117.
 
 Chap. X.] 
 
 Tell Hijaneh. 
 
 157 
 
 In the lovely evening our tents Avere pitched at the 
 foot of the large and very remarkable mound of Hijaneh, 
 which, looming out from the horizon, deep blue-black 
 and vivid, against the evening sky, had long been our 
 landmark from afar. It is strange that this very striking 
 
 S.E 
 
 Hijaneh Lake from the Top of the Tell. 
 
 n, the hrst river. r, second river. /, pools in Bashan. B, Butreya ruins. 
 
 c, cairn. s, summit of Fashal. 1, position ot the island. 
 
 p, south limb of the Pharpar. The dotted part in the lake is densely covered by canes, 
 
 object is not noticed in Murray's Guidebook. It is 
 marked on Map IV. To run up this for a new view of 
 old things, and a sight of what was hidden behind, was 
 of course one's immediate delight. Such pleasures never 
 pall on the voyager. 
 
 This huge Tell is about lOO feet high, and looo yards 
 long, by 400 in breadth. It seems unlikely that it can 
 be wholly natural, yet it is far too large to be formed 
 by man. On one end is a fort. Ruins are in the 
 middle, and enormous stones are piled in circles all 
 about, while a small modern cairn crowns the southern
 
 158 Hijaneh Lake. [Chap. X. 
 
 end, as a look-out for the soldiers here to spy the robber 
 Arabs. 
 
 Towards the north I could not see a speck of clear 
 water in Ateibeh marsh, but to the south-east there 
 stretched the new lake of Hijaneh, its ample basin full, 
 and ready for to-morrow in the canoe, where myriads of 
 water-fowl were darkening the air, or busily crowding 
 amongst the tall yellow canes. 
 
 Here was our first view also of the River Pharpar, 
 which divides into two as it nears the lake,^ and from 
 this point the accompanying sketch was made, looking 
 south-east towards the giant cities of Bashan. 
 
 This was one of those many charming spots to camp 
 in where the traveller can revel in full joy. The air balmy 
 and serene, the prospect grand, the floor of one's little 
 mansion dry and salubrious, the village not too close 
 to mar by its odours and noises, the sky melting from 
 the azure of day into the sombre hues of darkness 
 where only the stars seemed alive, until the last plain- 
 tive wail of the last jackal for the night was blended 
 in the first bark of the most wakeful dog next day. 
 What must it be for a sentimental man to live in scenes 
 like this .-' 
 
 Goats in a flock wending to the river showed us the 
 ford where bushes and wattles laid on the water formed 
 a rude bridge. Then we mounted the little hill, and 
 next Tell Kasrein, to reconnoitre the lake. On both 
 of these are ruins of black basalt, squared as in the 
 cities of Bashan. At the eastern top of Kasrein 
 there is one enormous stone, twelve feet wide, and a 
 yard in thickness, covering a subterraneous store or 
 
 ^ Inspection of these confirmed the evidence of the natives that the 
 branch running south of Tell Kasrein is the larger of the two. Vandevelde 
 marks only one, and that on the wrong side of the Tell.
 
 Ch.ap. X.] Paddling to Basha7i. 159 
 
 chamber. This stone I observed had been blasted by 
 gunpowder, and, descending below it, I came upon the 
 skeleton of a man, from which I brought back a tooth, to 
 remind me to ask about it. Then they told us that, 
 many years ago, some " Frangi " (that is, somebody not 
 dressed or speaking like Turks) had excavated here for 
 " treasure," but that they suddenly left the spot when an 
 " accident " had occurred ; and, doubtless, the skeleton 
 we found was that of the man who was killed. 
 
 Next day the Rob Roy dashed into the reeds of 
 Hijaneh. These were from ten to fifteen feet high, 
 counting the root. The longest I obtained was twenty 
 feet, allowing for five feet of immersion, as the water was 
 usually of that depth. These canes were a barrier not 
 easily forced. However, it was quite a different matter 
 here from the slow dull " punting " across a shallow 
 marsh in Ateibeh. My pole easily caught the long stiff 
 reeds, as a purchase to act upon, and, by standing up in 
 the canoe with a compass to direct, and the clumps of 
 canes to haul upon with my hands, I soon crossed right 
 through them, and came into open water, and so landed 
 at the foot of the long hill of the Fashal, which bounds 
 the lake on the south ; and thus in the Rob Roy I entered 
 the land of Bashan. 
 
 Here I left the canoe and ran up the mountain 
 to a cairn near the end, whence a new and splendid 
 prospect opened out grandly from a point not visited 
 before by any traveller, so far as can be found. Our 
 mode of progress was at any rate unique, thus land- 
 ing on the Hauran* in a canoe, and entering alone 
 upon a district where a guard is always required for pro- 
 
 ■• Hauran, from the Hebrew word meaning a hole. The people there 
 lived in caves, the " Troglodytes." The boundary cf Bashan is the valley of 
 Ajam which we had crossed at its end.
 
 1 60 The Giant Cities. [Chap, x- 
 
 tection. My first care was to see that no lurking Arab 
 should intercept my return to the water. For miles 
 around the place w^as utterly desolate. In case of an 
 armed party appearing, I must be ready to retreat to my 
 boat, and, by gaining the reeds, get out of reach of their 
 guns. Meantime, with cocked pistol in one hand, and a 
 stout staff in the other, I was fully prepared for any 
 single Arab, or even for a couple of them, who might try 
 to make a capture in hopes of the usual ransom. Ruins 
 with huge black basalt rocks crowned the hill-crest, to 
 which I had run up rather than climbed, and the sight 
 all around me was magnificent. The day was bright, 
 the air was clear, no sound whatever came to the listening 
 ear, however still, no moving thing could be seen on that 
 dread wilderness. 
 
 In the far-off picture, which was all black basalt, 
 I could see the mounds and ruins of at least ten 
 towns, apparently tenantless of man, desolate for ages, 
 but sternly defying time and weather still, and telling 
 loudly to the world in their very silence the truth 
 of prophecy, and the sureness of the curse of God. To 
 the north was the wide marsh of Ateibeh, and the un- 
 measured plain beyond. The Jebel Tinyeh chain stood 
 out from the plain of Damascus, and a long line of snow 
 peaks gleamed in the blue sky. Hermon, that ever 
 present mountain, here again asserted his majesty, and 
 pierced the only cloud. From below this, like a long 
 winding thread of silver, the Pharpar flowed, and, 
 sweeping to the south, just under the sun, were the 
 rugged hills where Og had ruled and revelled ages 
 ago. In the middle of this ancient panorama was my 
 pretty little floating home resting by the waterside. All 
 the Bedouins of the desert could not catch us when 
 afloat, nor could they reach me with their rifles, for, in
 
 Chap. X.] Nimrim. i6i 
 
 two minutes, I should be hidden by the reeds. At such 
 a moment the Rob Roy seemed more than ever dear to 
 me, if such an expression is ever permissible respecting 
 an inanimate object, and as I wended my way down the 
 hill again through huge ruins and rank vegetation, there 
 was a feeling of exhaustion and repletion of excitement, 
 and the conviction in the mind, " I have had strange 
 thoughts here." 
 
 A chain of far distant pools shone with light to the 
 south — Bala Lake, the furthest in the facsimile sketch at 
 p. 157, and the long streams of Nimrim'^ — while the oak 
 forests darkened the way to Bozrah. 
 
 In all this panorama of sable rock and hills one man 
 only could be seen, and he was miles away, though he 
 seemed near enough to hail as he marshalled his little 
 flock of desert sheep and a camel, all unconscious that a 
 
 '" "The waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate" (Jeremiah xlviii. 34). 
 The name occurs again in a passage of such exquisite beauty, and with 
 other names so liquid and grand, that we shall quote it from Isaiah 
 XV. 2-7. 
 
 "He is gone to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: 
 Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba : on all their heads shall be 
 baldness, and every beard cut off. 
 
 " In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth : on the tops 
 of their houses, and in their streets, everyone shall howl, weeping abun- 
 dantly. 
 
 "And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh : their voice shall be heard even 
 unto Jahaz : therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall ciy out ; his life 
 shall be grievous unto him. 
 
 " My heart shall cry out for Moab ; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an 
 heifer of three years old : for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping 
 shall they go it up ; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry 
 of destruction. 
 
 " For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered 
 away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing. 
 
 ' ' Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have 
 laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the tvillows." 
 
 [The wonderful inscription on the stone recently found at Deebon men- 
 tions several of these names.] 
 
 M
 
 1 62 The Island. [Chap. X. 
 
 Giaour was staring at him from the hot sharp peaks of 
 the mountain. 
 
 A hasty examination of the ruins marked Betraya in 
 Vandevelde's map found nothing of interest there. But 
 I noticed at once with great dehght that there was, 
 indeed, an island in the lake, and buildings upon it. 
 This can be only just discerned from one part of Hijaneh 
 fort, for it is otherwise hid by Kasrein, and it is 
 strange that I did not remark it from the top of that 
 Tell. Carefully taking its bearings, I descended from 
 my eyrie, and the Rob Roy was soon again in the 
 thick of the reeds. 
 
 By careful steering I reached the spot desired, and 
 was soon made aware of my nearness to it by the tracks 
 of wild boars cut through the reeds as the water shoaled 
 to less than two feet. With necessary caution I went all 
 round the island first, ever ready in an instant to dart 
 out into deeper water, if by misfortune I should come on 
 some sleepy " tusker " who might charge the Rob Roy, 
 smash her to pieces, and leave me helpless on the con- 
 cealed island. From observations here, and in hunting 
 the wild boar in Egypt, I came to the conclusion that 
 in two feet of water the boar is compelled to swim, 
 and he is then more concerned to retreat than to 
 attack. The ground was a few acres in extent, and 
 torn to pieces with innumerable boar ruts, while for 
 200 yards the massive walls of four strong buildings 
 rose to the height of three or four courses of masonry. 
 I determined not to land in so dangerous a place, but 
 with the full conviction all the time that I viust land 
 nevertheless. Very quietly then I punted in along a 
 boar track and stepped ashore, and with pistol and club 
 stole noiselessly into the silent enclosure. I was the 
 only animal then on the island, or the others were very
 
 Chap. X.] 
 
 In a Boar-track. 
 
 163 
 
 well hid. Indeed I have seen only two wild boars at all 
 in the East, and these certainly were not pleasant- 
 looking, with their enormous heads, yellow tusks, and 
 stiff red bristles erect on their back, fully three inches 
 long. I entered chamber after chamber, always pistol in 
 hand, but all was silent. My boat was so buried in the 
 reeds where she was left that I could not find her 
 
 B> a Boar-track 011 Lake HiiaiicMi. 
 
 again, and for a little time there was a qualm in her 
 captain's bosom, but soon we were once more afloat. 
 
 Slowly paddling round the shores of this lonely isle, I 
 saw deep at the bottom ruined walls and piers as of a 
 bridge, and many large stones squared and cut for un- 
 known purposes by unknown men at a time unknown. 
 From the north angle of it there is a channel of open
 
 1 64 Channel. [Chap. x. 
 
 water straight to the shore, in a direction north-west ; 
 this is 200 yards long, twenty yards wide, and with water 
 seven feet deep, so that it was evidently a fortress in old 
 times cleverly placed, though one may well pity the 
 garrison of such a keep. The channel led to a little 
 Tell, no doubt an outwork once, and busy with life of 
 a people long since passed into another world. 
 
 I know not whether this place has been visited before, 
 but it would be easy to reach the island by the channel, 
 on a raft. As for getting through the reeds, that 
 could only be done by a canoe. A row-boat needs room 
 on each side for her oars, and it would be next to impos- 
 sible to wade, with mud below and four feet of water 
 above that, and the reeds between. 
 
 I brought away one of the twenty-foot reeds trodden 
 down by the wild boars in this island as a trophy for my 
 traveller's museum in the Temple, but to my great regret 
 it was afterwards thrown aside by a muleteer heed- 
 lessly. 
 
 There was great rejoicing in the village at the return 
 of the shaktoor, and until a late hour at night the people 
 haunted my tents, and the sheikh, a fine handsome fellow, 
 had coffee with me to learn the news, which afterwards 
 and for many a day he would retail to his subjects with 
 all the additions which a romantic Arab can so pleasantly 
 hang upon a simple tale.
 
 Chap. XL] Hijaneh Lake. 1 6 
 
 3 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 HIJANEH LAKE — JUNGLE — PLAIN OF PHARPAR — MAPS — BEARINGS — 
 OFF TO BASHAN — BRAK — STONE EVERYTHING — CUT-THROAT — 
 STONE GATE AND SHUTTER — MR. BRIGHT — KING OG — PADDLE ON 
 PHARPAR — SOURCES — ADALYEH — WINDING PHARPAR — DAMASCUS 
 — SPUR OF HERMON — ICE. 
 
 OU R next day's start in the Rob Roy was made 
 farther north to survey the rest of the lake, and to 
 determine its nature, depth, and size. Open spaces were 
 frequent, and the countless wild fowl made the scene 
 lively and exciting. The noise of other myriads of these 
 birds feeding all unseen was extraordinary. It sounded 
 like a strong river gushing, and yet it was only the 
 chittering of their bills. 
 
 The dotted route line on the map shows the course of 
 the canoe, with arrow points to indicate its direction. At 
 the round promontory on the north-east I noticed a wolf 
 stealthily drinking, and I landed for battle, creeping low 
 with my pistol and bludgeon, but he decamped with a 
 snarl of defiance Next the canoe entered a canal, to which 
 a deep channel conducts through the bay. The water was 
 fifteen feet wide and four feet deep, and the current about a 
 mile an hour, between banks gradually higher as we floated 
 along, merrily singing, in the bright sunny day. But after 
 a mile or so of this, as the current increased rapidly, we 
 had to think of the journey against it for return, and so 
 I landed in the wilderness to rest and take bearings.
 
 1 66 Jungle. [Chap. XL 
 
 The next promontory was low, and led out to an 
 insular tract of shallow in the lake ; so I hauled the canoe 
 over this and entered a second canal, which seemed to 
 be much older than the other, and it had no current, but 
 ended in a deep dry brake with banks nearly 20 feet 
 high. 
 
 We were told that these two canals were made to 
 drain off the surplus of Hijaneh Lake, that it might not 
 flood the arable land. The canal first entered was made 
 about thirty years ago, and it leads by the Asyah 
 Hasweh to the pool called Bala in Vandevelde's map. 
 
 When the canoe could go no farther in the second 
 channel, I left her for a walk. The jungle became rapidly 
 thicker, and exactly the sort of place where wild beasts lie 
 at noon. Numerous marks of their feet were there, and the 
 turf was torn up freshly by the tusks of boars. Having 
 thus gone as far as prudent towards the " Road of Rob- 
 bers," I sat down on the level plain to rest and enjoy my- 
 self and to take compass bearings. Some at least of these 
 angles were less accurately observed than they ought to 
 be, especially when the fear of robbers and beasts hurried 
 the work of the surveyor, who, besides observing the com- 
 pass, had to look on each side of him for danger just as a 
 monkey does when everything about him is suspected. 
 Perhaps at first sight it may be considered of little conse- 
 quence to ascertain the nature and shapes of these places, 
 but a difterent estimate of their interest and importance 
 is formed when we consider their relation to the ancient 
 city of Damascus, the evidence around them of nations 
 once existing, but now extinct, to whom Hijaneh must 
 have been a well-known feature, and besides all this the 
 lasting interest attached to the Abana and Pharpar by 
 Naaman's comparison of them with that other more 
 blessed stream we are soon to sail upon.
 
 Chap. XL] Plain of PJiarpar 
 
 167 
 
 Let us rest a bit in our tent this fine evening to collect 
 our memoranda from the note-book hurriedly pencilled. 
 Yet it is not easy to withdraw the eye from the beautiful 
 
 Hermon and Plain of the Pharpar. 
 
 picture before us, framed by the curtains of our canvas 
 boudoir. 
 
 Hermon insists on being sovereign of the scene, and
 
 1 68 Maps. [Chap. XI. 
 
 there you see him high over all in the sketch above. 
 The plain, long stretching from the carpet at our feet, is 
 that which is watered by the Pharpar, and to the left is 
 the root of the Fashal Tell, while the mound of Abu 
 Zid and other less prominent hills are grouped in front 
 at the foot of the snov/y throne. But here come the 
 villagers to gossip and to drink our coffee, so now our 
 short reverie is closed. 
 
 After examining all the best maps hitherto drawn of 
 this lake of Hijaneh, it is evident enough that none 
 of them have been made by personal survey from each 
 side.^ Porter declines to imagine where he has not 
 inspected, so he merges the lake in the desert without 
 any southern outline, though, in fact, Hijaneh has a very 
 distinct shore line all round it. Vandevelde's map 
 is distinct, but rather inaccurate. Petermann's is worse, 
 for the whole is imagined, and not even imagined well, 
 though distinctly. Ritter's, however, is the worst of all, 
 for it merges the three lakes in one, and marks all 
 sorts of bays and capes as if they had been accurately 
 surveyed. This pretentious accuracy is equally falla- 
 cious in his delineation of the Abana and Pharpar, the 
 Jordan, the Lake of Hooleh, and the Sea of Galilee, 
 
 Keeping to facts ascertained by those who have 
 actually seen the places, we may consider it to be 
 proved that there are four lakes ; that a channel unites 
 the two northern ones ; that the margins of these are 
 vague, and that the Abana runs into them without ever 
 escaping again except in vapour. Also that the two 
 southern lakes, Hijaneh and Bala, are united by a 
 channel, and that the Pharpar falls into Hijaneh only 
 to be evaporated again like the Abana. Lastly, the 
 
 1 Unless the contour varies much in different seasons. But this is not 
 likely in this deeper lake.
 
 DAMASCITS 
 
 /' '* 'if 
 
 '^'^*^n*V — tl^ '^"^ 
 
 7MUm Tem^\ 
 
 '" I- e ^rd el M u s 
 
 Wuutfxdii'h 
 
 
 
 •mlf'-mS^ """ 
 
 c 
 
 TooU
 
 Chap. XL] Bearings. 169 
 
 water does not increase and diminish in the two sets of 
 lakes at once together, but one lake may be dry while 
 the other is deep, and vice versa. Probably the Abana 
 and Pharpar, therefore, do not flood or dry up together. 
 One may be more influenced by the melting snow, and 
 the other by rain. The investigation of this interesting 
 point is still open to some careful observer. 
 
 The principal bearings obtained by our little compass 
 may now be given from the Rob Roy's Log. From 
 these were constructed the maps of the lakes. A few of 
 the bearings are evident mistakes, or at least they cannot 
 be dovetailed with the rest, but it is better to record them 
 all, with that excuse for a little confusion which any one 
 who follows the Rob Roy will need for himself when he 
 uses together both a canoe and a compass.- 
 
 CoMPASs Bearings near Ateibeh Marsh. 
 From 
 
 Harran Mosque Tell Dekweh, E. by S. 
 
 Haush Hamar Mouth Harran Pillars, S.W. 
 
 North mouth of Abana Tell el Namy, E.S.E. \ E. 
 
 Ateibeh, S. \ W. 
 
 (?) Telle] Khanzir, N.^ 
 
 ^ Those who are interested sufficiently to investigate these bearings in 
 detail will remark that the maps of the two lakes are connected in position 
 only by one observation from Hijaneh Fort, and in citstaftce by the interval 
 between Jedideh and Hijaneh taken as a base. The length of this base I 
 could not measure, but estimating it from the time taken to ride over it, 
 Vandevelde's map, and Murray's account, I reckon the distance as nearly 
 two miles and a half. The time occupied in riding from Haush Hamar 
 mouth to Hijaneh was four hours and a half, but the ground being very 
 heavy at first, and our horses tired by a long morning's work, our pace 
 was not more than two miles an hour, which would agi'ee very well with 
 che distance given by compass bearings, 8^ miles. These maps had been 
 printed before it was thought desirable to allow for variation of the com- 
 pass, which in the other maps is 5° west. 
 
 3 This was pointed to by the native guide, but it was not seen in the fog.
 
 I/O 
 
 Bearings. 
 
 [Chap. XI. 
 
 Log of the Course in Ateibeh Morass. 
 
 stations 
 No. 
 
 Bearings ot Last. 
 
 Started 
 At 
 
 9-36 
 
 10.30 
 
 12.10 
 1-5 
 
 1 ... N.N.W. 
 
 2 ... N.N.W. (tent-flag midway between i & 2). 
 
 3 ... N.N.W. Pillars at Harran, W. S.W. 
 
 4 ... N.W. by N. (turn to left). 
 
 5 ... N.W. AN. 
 
 6 ... Bearings from this : — 
 
 Harran pillars, W.S.W. \ W. 
 HijanehTell, S.S.W. 
 Tent-flag, N.W. by N. 
 Ateibeh, N.N.E. 
 Dekweh mount, E. by S. 
 Tell Maktil Musa, S.E. \ E. 
 Tell el Namy, N.N.E. 
 The position of Station 6 is marked P in Map II. 
 
 CoMP.\ss Bearings in and near the Lake of IIijaneh. 
 From 
 
 IIijaneh (N.E. corner of the fort) Jedideh, N. 
 
 Kefrein, N. \ E. 
 Harran, N. f E. 
 Ateibeh, N.N.E. 
 Tell Meskin and 
 Deir Hagar 
 . ... Pharpar ford, S.S.W. 
 
 End effort, N.W. \ N. 
 
 End of reeds, E.S.E. \ E. 
 
 End of next promontory, S.E. \ S. 
 
 Small Tell near Kasrein, S. J W. 
 
 :'} 
 
 E. 
 
 N.N.W. 
 
 Hijaneh (south cairn) 
 
 Entrance of first canal (first river 
 in plan at p. 157) 
 
 llntrance of second canal (second 
 river, p. 157) 
 
 Hijaneh, east end, W.N.W. \ W, 
 Kasrein Tell, W.S.W. 
 Bataryeh ( ? ) ruins, S.W. 
 End Tell on Fashal, S. 
 Tell Abu Zid, W. \ N. 
 Jedideh, N.W. I N. 
 
 Ruins, W.S.W. 
 Kasrein, N.W. by W, 
 Fashal Cairn, S.W. by S. 
 Tell Dekweh, E. by N. J N. 
 Hijaneh, N.N.W. \ W. 
 
 * This seems too far N. to be correct.
 
 Chap. XL] Off to BasJian. 171 
 
 From 
 
 Post B on south bend of dry 
 
 canal Hijaneh, N.W. byN. 
 
 Fashal, S.W. 
 Second start point on Lake Hi- 
 janeh Ruins, S.W. by S. 
 
 Fashal point, S.* 
 Hijaneh fort, N. by W, 
 N.E. corner of the island in Hi- 
 janeh West corner of Hijaneh fort, N. 
 
 Kasrein to E. covers the rest. 
 Direction of the channel to shore, X.W. 
 
 We thirsted to see near what we had wistfully gazed 
 at from afar, the " Giant Cities " so graphically de- 
 scribed by Porter, and I determined to visit at least 
 one of these. For this we went up the Pharpar to 
 Nejha, a little village full of Arab tents, but built itself 
 on so steep a rock that we could scarcely find room for 
 our camp alongside. Next day leaving our tents, and 
 all our valuables, and with only a mule for light luggage, 
 and with the village sheikh as guide, and one of our 
 soldiers as guard, we rode into the " Land of Argob," as 
 the Bible calls it, the " stone country." Here are the 
 Druses in force, and the Turks have the mere name of 
 possession without rule over the Arab hordes, but an 
 Englishman is safer here than other travellers. They 
 like us, they welcome us, and now and then they 
 plunder us. 
 
 This part of our journey need not be minutely 
 described, for that has been done well by other travellers. 
 The village sheikh who came with us was mounted on a 
 very small saddle made of bones. His wife was weaving 
 cane mats with black strings, each of them tied to a 
 stone. Bleak was the way amid wavelike hills of un- 
 numbered stones. Camels fed in them nevertheless, 
 
 * This seems too far W. to be correct, or the point was not tliat at 
 the end.
 
 172 Brak. [Chap. XI. 
 
 and long-haired goats, and the black Arab tents were in 
 many valleys, with the blue smoke listlessly curling 
 towards the sky, but not very particular as to its 
 direction here or there. Rivers marked in the map 
 we found utterly dry. Yet we went down for miles 
 until a blacker black in the distance showed we had 
 come to the nearest deserted city. 
 
 This Bashan town of Brak looked like a mass of crags 
 without order until we came close. It was far more 
 curious to behold than I had even anticipated. You 
 come upon a mile of rock and stone in piles, the ruins of 
 the commoner houses along a ridge, and at one end 
 of this you perceive with amazement that fifty or sixty 
 of the ancient houses are still standing almost uninjured. 
 They are built of massive basalt blocks, a stone which 
 resists time and weather, and yet is so rough that it will 
 scarcely slip to tumble down even when ruin has begun. 
 No one can tell when these cities were built.^ Porter 
 says it may have been in the days of Ham. We lunch 
 meantime on the roof of one of the houses, and then for 
 four hours wander over and under and through the others, 
 at every step more puzzled about them and more pleased. 
 
 Stone is everything here. The town has no well, but 
 it has some hundred stone cisterns, and the rain water 
 is stored in these ; hence its name Brak (cistern). The 
 walls of the houses are four or five feet thick, sometimes 
 six feet, of roughly hewn basalt. Several houses have 
 the stone well cut, almost polished. Many are of two 
 stories high, and a few three stories. The joists and 
 
 ^ Mr; Freshfiekl, who recently visited the Hauran, thinks that the 
 buildings are modern. They seem to be of two kinds where very ancient 
 remains are interspersed with structures of Roman character and of a 
 different form ; and they certainly are not "giant" in the height of their gates, 
 or roofs, or ceilings.
 
 Chap. XL] Stone Everything. 173 
 
 rafters of the g-reat rooms are all of stone. Some of 
 these are twelve or fourteen feet long. The doors are 
 large slabs of stone, the stables have stone mangers, and 
 the spouts on the roofs are stone. I could not find any 
 chimneys except holes in the roof, but there were stone 
 cooking places, and stone troughs in the kitchens. 
 There is no wood here at all, and every single thing is 
 stone. In several houses fine semicircular arches sup- 
 port the roofs of large halls, and until quite lately all these 
 buildings were entirely untenanted. The Arabs like their 
 tents better than any houses, — nay they pitch their tents 
 even in the courtyards surrounded by good houses, and 
 they do not like other people to take " lodgings " here. 
 
 The sight of this town is a new sensation, a bewilder- 
 ment, and upon looking at house upon house, built, 
 finished, lived in, deserted, and yet unsought by any 
 of the homeless, houseless folks of this world, there 
 is an inward protest against the conclusion, mingled 
 with a romantic interest in the whole affair. Yet, 
 I regret to say, much of this will be lost to future 
 travellers. They will see the houses indeed, but not so 
 silent and tenantless. People are beginning to inhabit 
 them again. Within the last three years a hundred 
 persons have taken up their abode in this onctown of 
 Brak which Porter speaks of as without an inhabitant 
 at the time he wrote. A man came here from Aleppo 
 to avoid the cruel conscription for military service, which 
 is one of the self-inflicted wrongs of the miserable Turk. 
 The squatter collected others round him who liked this 
 convenient " tenant right," with no landlord to give 
 notice, and no rates to pay. So these people settled in 
 Brak, and now the Chief defies the Government to wrest 
 from him his freehold I 
 
 " By all means," I said, " let us call on him." He was
 
 174 
 
 Cut-throat. 
 
 [Chap. XL 
 
 not at home, but his son, a fine youth of twenty, received 
 me well, and I invited myself as a lodger for the night. 
 Turning to the Turkish soldier who was with me, the 
 3'oung chief said with most courteous ferocity, " I should 
 like to cut your throat, sir;" we told him not to joke 
 with the military, but he said it again, said it to his face, 
 and he was in earnest too. However, because of the 
 " Howaja Ingleez," he would let the poor Turk alone. 
 
 htmic Dv:ur ol .1 He as 
 
 We have entered the yard of the dwelling through a 
 gateway where two massive stone doors still turn on 
 their pivots, and folding together are fastened by a rope 
 through holes in their inner edges. I can close them with 
 one finger. These slabs are about seven feet in height 
 and six inches thick, and the pivots about four inches 
 lone: and three in diameter. A stone door of this
 
 Chap. XL] Stone Gate and Slmttei^. 175 
 
 kind has been sent to the British Museum. Inside the 
 court we find a stable with compartments, all of stone, 
 and upstairs my room is now ready, the steps to it 
 being in the wall outside. Perhaps Og, the king of 
 Bashan, may have slept in the same room ; and let me 
 now describe it, after we have swept out all the grain 
 which fills the floor, in a heap. 
 
 
 Etcr.e Shutter of mv Bed Rccm. 
 
 The floor is perfectly smooth ; the walls, of cut stone, 
 well joined. The window, on a level with the floor, and 
 opposite to the door, is actually furnished with a stone 
 wi7idozi'-s/uetter, four feet by three in width. Somebody 
 may have looked through this window when England was 
 a desert, and long before the Britons were painted blue 
 and hunted the elk in Wessex. A Greek inscription is 
 on a wall of the courtyard relating to some monument. 
 Two of such inscriptions are dated three centuries before 
 Christ, according to the copy given by Burkhardt (p. 215). 
 At night I took my candle and went upstairs to bed (in 
 some stairs holes for banisters are noticed), and there
 
 176 Mr. Bright. [Chap. XT. 
 
 read the ' Times,' telling that the new Ministry had been 
 formed with the Right Honourable John Bright in the 
 Cabinet. My bedroom window stone-shutter opened out- 
 wards. The stone doors opened inwards, and when there 
 are two leaves they overlap. In several of the houses there 
 were small stone rollers to smooth the clay on the roof out- 
 side exactly like those now seen elsewhere and described 
 before. One of these rollers was in use at this sheikh's 
 house, and he assured me that he had found it there. 
 Captain Warren says that one was found under Robinson's 
 Arch in Jerusalem ('Quarterly Statement,' No. V. 1870). 
 
 Our bedroom is fourteen feet long, and nine feet wide, 
 and eleven feet high. Stone slabs neatly jointed project 
 inwards from the end walls, and on them are laid six stone 
 rafters, each ten feet long, and about fifteen inches wide. 
 The stones to support the joists are sometimes let into 
 the wall at a slope, and in other cases with a flat part 
 let in and an angle turned up. Rough stones are laid 
 across these above, and then rubble and earth to form 
 the roof One side wall has three recesses, about three 
 feet from the floor, each of them about a yard deep and 
 high and wide. These form cupboards, and in most 
 houses in Syria, whether of stone or mud, the very same 
 plan is adopted at the present day. In the stable below 
 the mangers are recesses of this kind, and the oxen eat 
 their fodder from this sort of recessed shelf, the lower 
 ones being open to allow the sheep and goats to pass. 
 It occurred to my mind at once that, as Bethlehem has 
 many houses built against rocks, the manger of the 
 room in which our Lord was laid may have been 
 precisely of this kind, and if so, it would be the very 
 safest and most convenient place in the apartment for 
 the infant Saviour to be placed. 
 
 At one of the watering places in the ruins there was 
 assembled a picturesque group of men and women,
 
 Chap. XL] King Og. 177 
 
 cattle, sheep, and goats, camels, horses, and asses, all 
 awaiting their turn as a man let down a bucket by a 
 rope thirty feet long, and then poured the water into 
 pots and pans and troughs for the beasts, just as it was 
 done, no doubt, in the days of Og, that lofty warrior- 
 king. 
 
 Wild beasts infest these ruins, and they ran about all 
 night wailing with greedy hunger as they scented the 
 bleating kids. The dogs of the house were equally 
 active, and rushed through my room and clambered on 
 the roof, baying at the moon and barking furiously as 
 the wilder quadrupeds shrieked again for prey. The 
 sheikh, a man with long red hair, was most complacent 
 in the morning. He reviled and defied the Turks and 
 their government, and then extolled the English and 
 our gracious Queen. He said the River Khuneifis never 
 ran water, except in heavy rain storms. This stream is 
 marked in the maps as if it were a regular river. I 
 passed four times over its bed, which had not the sem- 
 blance of water then, but was tilled and verdant with 
 crops. The River Leiva (or Looa) must also be a good 
 deal imaginary. The ground near Brak seemed to be 
 below the level of Lake Hijaneh. The Matkh Brak 
 (marked as a lake in the maps) was dr}' and covered with 
 crops. The pools I saw from the Fashal and the Bala 
 Lake were not visible from the highest point at Brak, 
 though I spent about six hours among the ruins carefully 
 inspecting all that could be dived into or clambered over. 
 
 Returning by another route, we visited Merjany, a 
 smaller town, and with houses just like the others, except 
 that they were utterly vacant and still. As I came near 
 them, riding a mile in advance, a wild cat skulked in one 
 of the kitchens, the only sign of life. The pavement 
 of the enclosures here was absolutely as perfect as it 
 
 N
 
 1 78 Paddle on P harp ar. [Chap. xi. 
 
 ever could have been in old times, but no flock ever 
 bleats now in these ancient folds. Brak was grander 
 than this, and, at first, more striking ; but the mud now 
 plastered on the walls of the houses full of living men 
 has covered up much of the sentiment in Brak, while 
 here, in Merjany, it still reigns supreme and overwhelming 
 amidst absolute silence, and black gaunt loneliness. 
 
 It was a pleasant ride back from the Hauran and the 
 stony land of Argob, and soon our horses' hoofs again 
 sank softly in the rich loam by the Pharpar, and I chose 
 for my encampment a charming bend on the river. The 
 water ran smoothly round a low grassy bank, which was 
 warmed by a genial sun, and dotted with early flowers. 
 How peaceful it was for a moment ! But soon our long 
 string of mules came near. Boxes and bundles were 
 loosed from their backs, and quickly sprinkled the sward. 
 Men shouted, and horses neighed. As if by magic, two 
 snowy homes fluttered into being, and the wild plain 
 resounded with hammer knocks on tent pins. 
 
 Perfect method and order always ruled our camp. 
 Lax discipline gains no respect from the Moslem ; so, 
 when our red ensign was flung out to the breeze, I left 
 the men to their duties and paddled up the river. 
 The boys of Adalyeh were frantic with a new delight. 
 The women forgot even to cover their faces. The men 
 ran pell-mell to see the Shaktoor, doubtless the very 
 first boat they had ever seen in their lives, even in a 
 picture. Above the village is a curious aqueduct, and 
 beyond it a sort of dam with a waterfall. Here, as we 
 mount the stream, are the first trees on the Pharpar, 
 and from this spot I could just discern the fort of Hija- 
 neh, near which the river enters the lake. 
 
 After healthy exercise like this — riding half the day 
 and canoeing the rest — it is pleasant, indeed, to haul
 
 Chap. XI.] Sources. 1 79 
 
 up the Rob Roy on the velvet turf, and to enter one's 
 canvas citadel, sure to find every single article, great 
 and small, precisely in the same relative position they 
 occupied yesterday, and every day before. The thick 
 Turkey carpet, the tressel-bed, the wooden box, made 
 for me at Damascus twenty years before, the portman- 
 teau I had brought from America, the camp stools, with 
 the large tin basin on one, the cleanest of table-cloths 
 spread daintily, and the brightest of plate ; all these, 
 and every little nick-nack, are the same every day, and 
 not an instant is wasted about the furniture of our room, 
 but all attention may be riveted at once upon the 
 splendid prospect outside, seen as we recline in peace 
 and gaze delighted. 
 
 The Pharpar rises in Mount Hermon in two streams. 
 According to Porter, the north and principal branch has 
 its spring in fountains near Arny, and the second rises 
 from Beit Jenin, at the foot of- Hermon. These unite 
 after eight miles at Sasa, and form the Awaj," which 
 then runs about six miles south-east, and then eastwards 
 to Kesweh, five miles more, whence it soon falls over 
 the weir near Adalyeh, and so meanders quietly to its 
 noiseless end in the lake. 
 
 Reveries are sweetest when you are half tired ; but the 
 most romantic traveller must eat, if it be only as a dut}-. 
 The jingling of plates and glasses foretels that faithful 
 Hany has elaborated his memi and Sleman approaches 
 with a low reverence to say it is " hadir " (ready). The 
 tinkling of mule-bells shows the beasts have come from 
 their watering, the quiet outside shows that the men are 
 at rest, the soothing gurgle of the Nargilleh proclaims 
 
 7 Jebel Jar seems to form a portion of the dividing ridge, as the waters 
 flow to Pharpar on one side, and to the Varmuk on the other. It is near 
 Jebba, in lat. 33° 09' 36" N., and long. 35° 52' 34" E. (Wilson).
 
 1 8o Adalyeh. [Chap. XI. 
 
 that Latoof is in the height of enjoyment. Our long 
 chibouque, less vocal, is equally serene. Not one dis- 
 turbing thought or care jars on the mind, not even about 
 the waiter and the bill. This is luxury, a terrible 1 uxury 
 too, for if not earned by labour and energy, it cannot 
 be enjoyed by him who counts the hours that fly. 
 
 At least a hundred visitors formed a respectful circle 
 
 round our camp, all sitting on the grass, until the sun 
 
 sunk weary into Hermon's snowy lap. Then one by one 
 
 they left, the last one being a depository for all time to 
 
 come of all that the rest of them had heard or imagined 
 
 about the wonderful Frangi and his marvellous Shaktoor. 
 
 Next day she was launched again, and sped down the 
 
 river swiftly on a rapid stream. The whole course of 
 
 the Pharpar from this to the lake is dull and monotonous 
 
 to a degree, without any interest whatever, except as 
 
 a new lesson in canoeing. The excessive winding of 
 
 Pharpar can only be completely realised by following 
 
 its channel in a canoe. Of course, any other kind of 
 
 boat would very soon be unbearable in such a river as 
 
 this, unless the voyager could turn his face permanently 
 
 backwards. Though the stream ran from four to five 
 
 miles an hour, and my speed past the land must have 
 
 nearly doubled this in actual progress, yet the Rob Roy 
 
 was two hours in accomplishing a distance between two 
 
 points which the mules, at an easy walk (under three 
 
 miles an hour), finished in thirty minutes. Thus we may 
 
 estimate that the channel bends so much as to make 
 
 the river's length about seven or eight times as much as 
 
 the real interval measured upon a straight line. To 
 
 exhibit this more clearly, I have here copied my map 
 
 of half a mile of the Pharpar. 
 
 In all rivers we have a bend to right and left of a 
 general course. In some there is a " wind within a bend,"
 
 Chap. XL] Winding Pharpar. 1 8 1 
 
 but in this part of the Pharpar it will be seen that often 
 there is "a turn within a wind within a bend."* 
 
 Some of these gyrations were performed in so small a 
 
 Half a Mile of the Pharpar. 
 
 compass that Hany used to stand still on the bank and 
 converse with me Avhile the Rob Roy carried its crew 
 away from him, and then back again several times, but 
 yet seldom out of sight during the excursion. 
 
 It would have been waste of time to spend it on much 
 of this work ; so at the bridge where the " Hadj road " 
 takes the Mecca pilgrims over the river on their long 
 tiresome route to the air-hung coffin of the Prophet, the 
 canoe was brought ashore. 
 
 Here we part from the bare and bending Pharpar, so 
 slow, so silent, so solitary ; winding to the lake to die, 
 and yet in dying to rise again — a subtle vapour. There 
 in the sky it meets the rapid Abana, which has rushed 
 over rocks and through the ancient city, and then has 
 oozed into the marsh, and has melted into a cloud. We 
 leave these streams, that we may see their rivals in 
 Palestine, and so give an answer to the question of the 
 Syrian prince, "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of 
 Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel V (2 
 Kings V. 12.) 
 
 8 At Nejha, the river Berdy runs into the Pharpar, according to Van- 
 develde's map. In Porter's, no confluent is marked here. The stream at 
 Nejha appeared to me only a tiny canal, banked up behind the village, and 
 being but two feet wide in many places, it was not large enough to embark 
 upon. Unfortunately I forgot to notice accurately the junction of these 
 rivers, but my impression is that the water of the canalette was wholly 
 absorbed in irrigation.
 
 1 82 Damascus. [Chap. XL 
 
 On New Year's Day the Rob Roy returned to Da- 
 mascus. It is easy to lose count of the days of the week 
 while we are travelling among people whose mode of reck- 
 oning them is not ours. And one collateral benefit to the 
 traveller from the Sunday rest (besides its refreshment to 
 soul, and mind, and body) is the preciseness with which 
 it checks the computation of time's unnoticed flow.** 
 
 At Damascus again the Pasha came to see the canoe 
 with his suite. He spoke French, and asked very per- 
 tinent questions. He is an earnest Freemason, and a 
 clever agreeable man. His dress, semi-European, was 
 a bad compromise between the two kinds of costume — 
 theirs so loose and flowing, so bright and graceful, so 
 useless for action, so dreary in rain ; and ours, as a con- 
 trast, fitting our forms, dull in its colour, but perfection 
 for manly exertion, and exposure to sun and storm. 
 
 Damascus has never yet, I think, been well described, 
 and the reason may be that the traveller, who has 
 enough acuteness to paint a good word-picture of the 
 town, has sense enough to see that it is a sentimental 
 humbug. In vain he tries to feel an admiration which 
 he cannot support by the appearance of the place. It 
 may be the oldest, but, in wet weather, it surely is the 
 filthiest of towns. It may be rich, but the mud walls are 
 what you see, and not the wealth. Damascus is a dis- 
 appointment ; its situation is its chief beauty, and, once 
 inside it, you cannot realise that outside these dirty 
 
 ^ Some years ago, I entered Cairo on Christmas Day — tlie bursting of a 
 waterskin for the camels having deranged our set days for travel — and we 
 overtook a party of Englishmen, whom we had journeyed with some months 
 before. " We shall have our turkey together to-night," I said ; and they 
 enquired with surprise, " What turkey ?" " Why, of course, at our Christ- 
 mas dinner," I replied; and they answered, "Christmas? we have eaten 
 our Christmas pudding ten days ago ! " They had tried to gain time by 
 losing Sundays.
 
 Chap. XI.] Spur of Hermo7i. 183 
 
 lanes, tumble-down walls, gloomy shops, and crooked 
 bazaars, are the lovely groves, the gushing fountains, the 
 teeming gardens, and the glorious hills. For the fourth 
 time, then, I leave Damascus, and without the least 
 regret. 
 
 After a night at our old quarters in Dimes, and a 
 fight with the cats, we wended round the spur of Hermon 
 to Deir el Ashayeir, with its splendid temple."' 
 
 The mountain pass between this and Rukleh pre- 
 sented a totally new set of difficulties to the traveller 
 carrying a boat. In the marsh and quagmire of Ateibeh 
 it was for the horse that we had most to fear. In case of 
 his sinking, his legs might be easily broken ; but the 
 canoe in falling there would at least descend upon reeds 
 and rushes and water and from a diminished height. 
 But now we had a narrow, steep, and very crooked 
 path, at sharp angles, down, down amid slippery rocks, 
 projecting trees, loose stones, and deceitful mud, where 
 the two men could seldom hold the canoe steady as the 
 cold winter blast from the snow alongside us swayed 
 the lofty top-heavy burden this way and that with 
 unwonted violence. In some places the ice under our 
 feet gave way suddenly with a crash. In others the 
 gnarled trees blocked up all passage, or the sharp jut- 
 ting rocks made it impossible to get the boat through 
 
 " See the route on Map VIII. A curious incident is mentioned in the 
 remarks on this neighbourhood and its people in Murray's Handbook : — 
 
 "The Draseshere hke their neighbours of Halwy and Yuntah, have a 
 bad character, and deserve it. . . . They look upon the English as their 
 friends and protectors. On one occasion, some years ago, a Yunta chief 
 committed a most cold-blooded murder by night, in a house in Suk Wady 
 Barada ; but having learned the next day that the English Consul of 
 Damascus had been sleeping in an adjoining room, he sent him a polite 
 apology for having unconsciously disturbed his repose, and assured him 
 that had he knowTi the Consul was there, he would have postponed his 
 work to a more suitable time."
 
 184 Ice. [Chap. XL 
 
 between them. This is the sort of work that really 
 tries a dragoman by difificulties entirely new in his ex- 
 perience ; for whoever before carried a long delicate 
 boat on horseback over these rocks in winter .'' 
 
 Hany behaved splendidly in this business. A dozen 
 times we had to carry the canoe by hand, or to slide it 
 down cliffs, guiding it by the painter, until the horses, left 
 to themselves, could find their way down to meet us below. 
 
 Muscular strength and sheer pluck and endurance 
 were needed for this, combined with gentleness, caution, 
 and judgment, and backed by indomitable perseverance. 
 One slip of their feet on such rocks would have smashed 
 our best oak plank in a moment ; one sign of ill-temper 
 would have dissolved the allegiance of our muleteers, 
 who must have been sorely tried at times to put an end 
 to the cause of all this trouble and toil — that incom- 
 prehensibly useless Rob Roy, carried so far and so 
 tenderly for a purpose they could not possibly appre- 
 ciate, and requiring to be handled so softly while their 
 own limbs were bruised, their shoes and garments torn, 
 and their steps directed with peremptory exactness into 
 mud, or shingle, or ice-cold water, all for its sake. Yet 
 the men had learned to love the boat (who would not, 
 if he had any heart }), and when they did not like the 
 canoe, they feared it. They saw it do things impossible 
 to be done in any other way. They were promised 
 good payment for success ; they deserved this, and they 
 received it.
 
 Chap. XII.] Rukleh. 185 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 RUKLEH — BUST OF BX\L — MOUNT HERMOX — KEFR KUK — RASHEYA — 
 SEARCH FOR JORDAN — EARLIEST SPRING — JORDAN'S EYE — SAD 
 LOSS — LEECHES — THE HASBANY — WADY ET TEIM — HASBANY 
 SOURCE — FIRST BRIDGE — START ON JORDAN — COLOURED CASCADE 
 — PITCH PITS — JORDAN VALE — THE LITANY — STORM — DRIPPING 
 BED ROOM. 
 
 RUKLEH is a curious place, and not like any other. 
 Our tents were pitched there in a deep valley, 
 hemmed in by piles of the sharpest grey rocks tumbled 
 one upon another in extraordinary confusion. Climbing 
 these, you soon perceive that once, in time gone by, every 
 nook of the jagged heights had been occupied. Endless 
 whiding avenues ; gardens hanging upon steeps ; huge 
 walls girding amphitheatres where the slightest level 
 space admitted of any such expanse ; and ruins and 
 temples and altars harboured in rock clefts, all lone 
 and speechless now, but once, no doubt, sounding out a 
 busy life ; and tombs and sculptured caverns, the longer- 
 lasting records of ages of death — all these are crowded, 
 almost huddled, together in Rukleh. 
 
 To sit on a high peak and look upon it all is very 
 quaint. Some hours passed here richly rewarded the 
 steep clambering, and from a rugged edge, out of sight 
 of the camp, there were splendid glimpses of the dark 
 Damascus plain ; while sheer down below there gaped 
 two huge chasms just like the crater of Etna. 
 
 At the foot of the larger temple here is a large medal-
 
 i86 Bust of Baal. [Chap. XII. 
 
 Hon in stone, about four feet long, representing a human 
 face which stares out straight upon Hermon, while its 
 curly locks hang on both sides. Most likely this coun- 
 tenance is intended for the face of Baal himself 
 
 Wistful glances could not be restrained from eyeing 
 Hermon here for it is just above us, and it would be so 
 splendid a summit to gaze from on all the land of Israel. 
 The ascent is easy at a proper season ; but now, with 
 fresh snow every day in the cold of January, I came 
 reluctantly to the conclusion that the main object of the 
 tour must be kept to, and the water of lakes and rivers 
 was our proper field. 
 
 Yet it was impossible not to urge the plea that the 
 very source of the river we were now to examine was up 
 in that white shining snow which clad the high summit 
 above us, burying the temple there in its soft bosom, 
 and streaming down as the long folds of a robe to 
 cover the valleys beneath. Nay, that snow itself had, 
 no doubt, come up from the Jordan and the Pharpar, 
 and was only resting now for another devious journey 
 when once more melted from its cold sleep by the sum- 
 mer's sun. 
 
 Porter's description of the ascent of Hermon and the 
 view from the top must have incited many travellers to 
 enjoy the climb and the prospect. The general features 
 of this mountain are related so closely to the " water- 
 ways " to be traversed in the canoe, that 1 venture to 
 extract his account. 
 
 " The name Hermon was doubtless suggested by the 
 form of this mountain, ' a lofty conical peak,' con- 
 spicuous from every direction ; just as Lebanon was 
 suggested by the * white ' colour of its limestone strata. 
 Other names were likewise given to Hermon, also de- 
 scrijDtive of some striking feature. The Sidonians called
 
 Chap. XII.] Mount Hermon. 187 
 
 it Sirion, and the Amorites Shciiir, both signifying 
 * breastplate,' and suggested by its rounded glittering 
 top, when the sun's rays were reflected by the snow that 
 covers it (Deut. iii. 9; Cant. iv. 8; Ezek. xxvii. 5). It 
 was also named Sion, the ' elevated,' towering over all its 
 compeers (Deut. iv. 48 ; Psalm cxxxiii. 3). So now it 
 is called Jebcl csh-Sheikh, 'the chief mountain,' a name 
 it well deserves, and Jebel esh-Thelj, ' snowy mountain.' 
 When all the country is parched and blasted with the 
 summer sun, white lines of snow streak the head of 
 Hermon. This mountain was the landmark of the 
 Israelites. It was associated with their ideas of the 
 northern border almost as intimately as the sea was 
 with the west. They conquered all the land east of the 
 Jordan, 'from the river Arnon unto Mount Hermon' 
 (Deut. iii. 8 ; iv. 41 ; Joshua ix. 12). Baal-Gad, the an- 
 cient border city before Dan became historic, is described 
 as 'under Mount Hermon' (Joshua xiii. 5, xi. 17), and 
 the north-western boundary of Bashan was Hermon 
 (i Chron. v. 23). In one passage it would almost seem 
 to be used as a synonyme for ' north,' as the word Jatn 
 (' sea ') was for ' west,' and the word KiblcJi (the shrine 
 at Mekkah) is now for ' south ' — ' The north and the 
 south. Thou hast created them ; Tabor and Hcnnon 
 shall rejoice in Thy name' (Psalm Ixxxix. 12). The 
 reason of this is obvious. From whatever part of Pales- 
 tine the Israelite turned his eyes northward, Hermon 
 was there terminating the view. From the plain of the 
 coast, from the mountains of Samaria, from the Jordan 
 valley, from the heights of Moab and Gilead, and the 
 plateau of Bashan, that pale-blue snow-capped cone 
 forms the one feature on the northern horizon. The 
 ' dew of Hermon ' is once referred to in a passage which 
 has long been considered a geographical puzzle — 'As the
 
 1 88 Kefr Kuk. [Chap. XII. 
 
 dew of Hermon, tJie dew that descended on the moun- 
 tains of Zion ' (Psahii cxxxiii. 3). Zioii is probably used 
 for Sion, one of the old names of Hermon (Deut. iv. 48)," ^ 
 
 The little lake of Kefr Kuk soon attracted attention 
 in our journey from Rukleh to Rasheya, for the sur- 
 rounding hills were complicated in their watersheds, and 
 it was necessary to be on the qui vive for the very first 
 streams that enter the Jordan. The lake was full, and 
 waterfowl played upon it in merry whirling groups ; but 
 who could be astonished by these crowds of wild birds 
 after seeing the myriads circling on the bare lake of 
 Menzaleh, or rustling in the reeds of Hijaneh } 
 
 A hundred yards from the shore the water was three 
 feet deep, with soft sandy clay below and rapidly shelving, 
 
 ^ The snow on the summit of this mountain condenses the vapours that 
 float during summer in tlie higlier regions of the atmosphere, causing Hght 
 clouds to hover around it, and abundant dew to descend upon it, while 
 the whole country elsewhere is parched, and the whole heaven elsewhere 
 cloudless. 
 
 Hermon is the second mountain in Syria, ranking next to Lebanon, 
 and its elevation of Hermon is estimated by Captain Warren fA.D, i868) at 
 about 9000 feet. The whole body of the mountains is limestone, similar 
 to that which composes the main ridge of Lebanon. The central peak 
 rises up an obtuse truncated cone, from 2000 to 3000 feet above the ridges 
 that radiate from it, thus giving it a more commanding aspect than any 
 other mountain in Syria. This cone is entirely naked, destitute alike of 
 trees and vegetation. Here and there grey, thorny, cushion-shaped shrubs 
 dot the ground, but they can scarcely be said to give variety to the scene, 
 they are as dry-looking as the stones amid wliich they spring up. The 
 snow never disappears from its summit. In spring and early summer, it 
 is entirely covered, looking from some points of view like a great white 
 dome. As summer advances, the snow gradually melts on the tops of the 
 ridges, but remains in long streaks in the ravines that radiate from the 
 centre, looking in tlie distance like the white locks that scantily cover 
 the head of old age. Late in autumn only a few white lines are left, 
 round which the clouds cling until early in November, when the winter 
 raiment is renewed. Captain Warren forwarded a complete survey of the 
 top of Hermon to the Palestine Society in 1870. See ' Quarterly Statement,' 
 No. V.
 
 Chap. XII.] Rasheya. 189 
 
 Hany assured me that in summer this basin is often quite 
 dry. Its waters may percolate to Jordan, but I cannot 
 see how they could run there over-ground, so as to con- 
 stitute the lake a perennial source. 
 
 It was a charming day's journey over this district to 
 Rasheya, with weather perfect overhead, and clear, crisp, 
 silvery hoar-frost, melting into shining drops as the sun 
 rose warm. All this was singularly fortunate for allowing 
 the canoe horse to pass. 
 
 Yet we had to carry the Rob Roy by hand over many 
 obstructions, and amid much difficulty and delay. On 
 these occasions the operation of dismounting her had 
 to be carefully performed. First, Adoor held the horse's 
 head ; Hany and Latoof loosened the straps which 
 strapped the canoe to the frame ; then they bore her 
 each with one arm, the post of danger and responsi- 
 bility in every instance being that in the rear, where 
 it is harder to see one's footsteps and to advance or 
 retard the pace, or to raise or depress, or move the 
 boat sideways through or over rocks, stumps, or other 
 obstacles. 
 
 The horses followed, or found their own way. It w^as 
 play to them ; and to the mules the worst places seemed 
 alike with the best, always managed with patient intelli- 
 gence — indeed, they were often quite hilarious under 
 their heavy loads, and many a caper they cut with 
 redundant energy. Each of the animals had plainly a 
 distinct character and mode of thought, but each had 
 a high opinion of his own importance, and would fling 
 out his hoof at a neighbour with playful jealousy of 
 precedence, or a sort of rough humour if his rival 
 was a friend. The donkeys alone had always true 
 dignity in their gait, never stopping never prancing,
 
 190 Search for Jordan. [Chap. xii. 
 
 ever sure to find out their way somehow or other, and 
 often enduring many a needless thwack with stoical 
 indifference. 
 
 To get past Rasheya there is a cut in the rock, for 
 many hundred yards only about six or eight feet wide, 
 and the same in depth, with the roughest footing for 
 horses, and so narrow and slippery that we had to 
 carry the canoe all the distance, about half a mile, and 
 thence reached the pretty hamlet of Bekafyeh, where a 
 lovely meadow gave ample room for the camp ; and all 
 the villagers sat looking on in mute wonder until the 
 latest moment that the cold night wind could be braved. 
 In these altitudes day and night were as summer and 
 winter in the change. Sometimes I was cold even in 
 bed with five blankets over me and my thick cloak, 
 besides my day-clothes all kept on, though beneath the 
 sheets. It was not very easy to write up a journal with 
 fingers tingling, but in perfect health even a frost-nip is 
 enjoyable. 
 
 Early next day I went off alone to scour the country, 
 in eager hope of finding the first springings of the sacred 
 river. Even Vandevelde's map was at fault here, and no 
 wonder my way was soon lost entirely for the rest of the 
 day. But little mattered that, or any trifling hardship ; 
 with such an object for pursuit, one could readily pass 
 the night under the coldest loneliest rock. 
 
 From the hill north of Bekafyeh, and between that and 
 El Akalah, I found streams from a tiny spring forty feet 
 below the sheep-path, but on following it, these only sank 
 back into mother earth exhausted. From the same point 
 could be seen two pools on the west side of the valley, 
 and bearing W.N.W., but they appeared to be shut in 
 completely.
 
 Chap. XII.] 
 
 Earliest Spring. 
 
 191 
 
 Searching again very carefully — for now was the right 
 time to find the Jordan's source, when no rain had fallen 
 for weeks, and the cold hindered snow from melting — I 
 noticed a spring in a field, south-west from which a 
 
 Ain Rob Roy. 
 
 streamlet wandered past a house. This gradually in- 
 creased in definite direction and size, and at last ran 
 down the bare sides of the Wady et Teim, where was 
 the dry but ample bed of the Jordan channel full of 
 huge white stones and mountain-gravel, with steep sides, 
 the waterworn track of a powerful stream, which no 
 doubt runs deep with violence and great volume in stormy 
 times, though the river it forms then is only of surface 
 water. 
 
 My little streamlet tumbled into this dry bed, the
 
 192 yordans Eye. [Chap. XI 1. 
 
 earliest water I had seen actually on its way to the Dead 
 Sea. Dismounting, as the only way to investigate, I 
 forgot all about my horse in the excitement of the 
 enquiry. The rivulet fell in a pretty cascade over a 
 horizontal ledge of strongly stratified rock, about thirty 
 feet wide and five feet thick, with a deep grotto-like 
 cavern hollowed out beneath, and forming a beautiful 
 background to the water, which, after its fall, is gathered 
 together again as a clear brook, and runs down among 
 stones into the desert rocky sun-dried channel we have 
 before described. 
 
 About thirty feet to the north-west of this point is the 
 ruin of a little building, with only one pillar erect, and 
 two prostrate in the grass. Evidently this had been 
 built here to look upon the bright cascade, for no other 
 view is open. 
 
 Has this ever before been recognised as the youngest 
 babblings of Jordan } ^ May it not now be regarded as 
 the water farthest from the mouth } 
 
 The ojiposite bank is steep and rugged, and, as I 
 climbed the crags, one stone at the top looked rather 
 unnatural, and this on inspection proved to be the jamb 
 of a sculptured gate still erect, and about eight feet high. 
 Bekafyeh is not visible from this stone, but judging by 
 the smoke of the village, it bears E.S.E. Beside this 
 jamb lay (north and south) a well cut slab, the lintel 
 of the door, which must therefore have looked straight 
 upon Hermon splendidly rising in front, as some of 
 the other Baal temples do, from their posts round the 
 mother-mountain of the idol's cult. 
 
 Along both sides of the glen are many hewn stones, 
 
 * The stream that runs into the Hasbany Pool was remarked, in 1834, as 
 having " its origin to the W. or N.W. of Rasheya." 
 
 The pillars were sketched separately, and are more distant in reality from 
 the bed of the rivulet.
 
 Chap. XII.] Sad Loss. 193 
 
 so scattered and mingled Avith the natural rocks that 
 only a close inspection can detect the difference. A wall 
 lies near to the river's brink on the eastern side, a sort of 
 quay of huge stone blocks, but the water of our fountain, 
 once it has run into the channel, seems too soon satisfied 
 by asserting its claim to be Jordan's earliest rivulet, for 
 it dies away in the sand and gravel. Only a few pools 
 appear below this, though I followed the very precipitous 
 banks closely, and had to cross the dry bed of boulders 
 many times to get along. 
 
 Of course there was no road here, and, walking ni)-- 
 self, I drove my horse from point to point, where he 
 could be tethered to graze, while his rider clambered up 
 and down in the exciting search. Three gazelles pranced 
 out of the wild rocks gracefully, and I chased them on 
 horseback through many a turn, always keeping above 
 them, but in vain, for they were never within pistol-shot. 
 
 The position of the hills and villages on distant peaks 
 puzzled me now exceedingly. Vandevelde's map is cer- 
 tainly incorrect in this district, at any rate, in its names 
 for places. Wishing, therefore, to take bearings again, I 
 discovered that my compass was missing. Only one who 
 has beome fond of such a silent but self-moving thing like 
 this, his " intelligent " companion in months of happy 
 solitude, can tell how sad was such a loss. 
 
 How could this have happened 1 Surely in chasing the 
 gazelles. Shall I give it up as hopeless to find the com- 
 pass again .' But how can I survey the waters of Merom 
 and the Sea of Galilee without a compass .'' A minute's 
 weighing of doubts, and I resolved to go back and 
 trace all my devious zig-zag from where the compass 
 was last used upon the ruined temple slab. My poor 
 horse, already wearied, seemed to wonder at this back- 
 ward move. How much I wished to explain to the 
 
 O 
 
 ^i^
 
 194 Leeches. [Chap. XII. 
 
 faithful spirited beast that dire necessity imposed this 
 threefold traverse of one way ! 
 
 It was only when by long labour we arrived in sight of 
 the prostrate stone that I could see, and with delight, the 
 little brown box still lying on its surface, open to the sun 
 and telling its own tale silently, with the needle ever 
 true, and no one there to regard it. Thus three hours 
 were added to my wanderings, and at length I descended 
 to a mill very deep down, where a confluent from the 
 east brings in an ample stream by Es Sefiny — undoubt- 
 edly, then, the first continuous water of Jordan. 
 
 Three men were in this deep glen, and I begged for 
 bread, being very hungry. They laughed outright to see 
 me roll up their wafer-like scones and bolt them in a 
 moment. But they refused all payment, for they were 
 Druses,^ and I was an Englishman. One said he had 
 been at Beyrout, and liked the "* Ingleez," for they were 
 " Tyeb Keteer " (exceedingly good fellows). When he 
 had guided me over the hills, and would take no pay, I 
 got off my horse and shook both his hands, and we parted. 
 
 The country was now rough and stony, with deep de- 
 ceitful valleys, which seemed at first quite possible 
 to cross, but on trial were reluctantly acknowledged 
 to be impassable when one had got halfway down them 
 into the shade. After much of this work, and plunging 
 about in a deep morass, I forced my way to the western 
 road, and there found Hany overpowered with anxiety 
 and long waiting, but with the canoe reclining quite at 
 ease by a pretty stream, fit place for a wanderer's dinner. 
 It was under a steep rock, and in some of the clefts of 
 this we found several small leeches. How they came 
 
 ^ The name of this strange sect is derived from Derazy, their founder, in 
 the eleventh century, and their original centre was at Hasbeya, in this 
 neisrhbourhood.
 
 Chap. XIL] The Hasbany. 195 
 
 there was a mystery ; how they lived there without a 
 shred of moss in the stony holes, not two inches deep, 
 was still more wonderful, but there they were and lively 
 too. This is called Ain Alii, the " high fountain," 
 
 It was night when we crossed the first bridge which 
 spans the Jordan, a short distance below the highest re- 
 corded source, not far from the village of Hasbeya, which 
 is perched on a knoll encircled by hills, and gives its name 
 to the river itself, here called Hasbany, as if it were still 
 too small to be called Jordan, being only a babe among 
 streams, and not yet christened by its own great name. 
 
 The travellers who have camped here all speak with 
 favour of the lovely spot : the spring flowers and crocus 
 spangling the green grass, the deep shade of olives, the 
 graceful oleanders by the banks of the young and beau- 
 tiful river, cradled here in hills, and watched over by 
 great Hermon, stately and shining, the prince of them all. 
 
 It was a happy walk, on January the 7th, to wander up 
 the glen and rest by its deep crystal pools, listening with 
 rapture to the eloquent voice of solitude. But these waters, 
 we were assured by all who know them (and Vandevelde 
 had the same information *), are only winter rivulets. 
 
 The sketch given on p. 196 represents the outlines of 
 the country through which they flow. The Hasbany is 
 winding in the glens below, but it is hidden until it 
 sweeps round the foot of the hill where we stand, on the 
 top of a cairn marked C in the sketch, and which bears 
 about east from the bridge. 
 
 Young Jordan is like the prettiest tiny stream in Scot- 
 land, with white hollowed rocks and weird caverns, but 
 the gravel is prettier here than any in my own land ; 
 
 •* Vandevelde's ' Syria and Palestine,' vol. i. p. 128. The high fountains 
 of Jordan are described by Wortabet in 'Journal of Geog. Soc' vol. xxxii. 
 p. lOI.
 
 196 
 
 Wady et Teim. 
 
 [Chap. XII. 
 
 pebbles of yellow and bright blue banked in by fruitful 
 loam of a deep rich red, and all so silent and unaffected. 
 So it winds until steeper rocks gird the water, narrowing 
 where wild beasts' paws have marked the sand. 
 
 Further down a bold cliff dips into a pool of deepest 
 
 V 
 
 Wady ct Teim, north of Hasbcya. 
 
 green. Here I launched the Rob Roy, certainly the first 
 boat that ever floated on the pool. The few natives round 
 us stopped in wonder, sitting — that is their posture for lost 
 astonishment. They assured us this pool of Fuarr is 1000 
 feet deep,^ and being entirely unapproachable for sound- 
 ing from the cliff overhead, imagination has full sway to 
 fancy it fathomless. The cold matter-of-fact sounding- 
 
 * Newbnld says it "appeared to be of immense depth." In the ^lan, 
 on p. 197 the pool is mnrked at the right, and is seen again in the sketch at 
 p. 199 under the darkest cHff.
 
 Chap. XII.] 
 
 Hasbany Source. 
 
 197 
 
 line stopped short at eleven feet. I was astounded at 
 the illusion, for the water here looked any depth you 
 please. Of course the people did not believe my word 
 for it, but nevertheless it is a sturdy fact that less than 
 two fathoms measures this abyss. 
 
 CHANNEL. 
 
 SAtJD IZLAND . 
 
 SOURCES 
 
 - «>■?•« "'•'^' 
 
 ^--^ fit- 
 
 QLI VE CRO V EZ 
 
 First Source of the Jordan. 
 
 The plan here given was carefully sketched from the 
 hill above, and corrected from various other points, as 
 representing the true beginnings of Jordan. 
 
 Just opposite the cliff, and a few yards away, is a three- 
 cornered island of sand and small gravel, with many low 
 bushes on it, and luxuriant spotted clover, and under and 
 from out these there bubbles, gurgles, and ascends the 
 first undoubted subterranean source of Jordan." 
 
 There are about twenty of these very curious fountains 
 on this islet, and the water runs from them in all direc- 
 tions. That which pours out towards the north runs a 
 few feet up the stream, being at first a foot higher in level. 
 
 ''■ This, the Hasbany, was first noticed as a source of the Jordan by 
 FUrer von Hamendorf, in a.d. 1566 (p. 206, Niirnberg, 1646, see New- 
 bold's paper, 1856, p. 15). Next Seetzen did the same, then Burkhardt 
 and Buckingham.
 
 198 First Bridge. [Chap. xil. 
 
 The island and the rocks near it are formed into a weir, 
 for the terribly practical purpose of supplying a mill. 
 Perish all the mills and millstones that spoil the birth- 
 place of such a stream ! But the weir, happily, is moss- 
 grown, and delicate cascades tumble through its broken 
 edges, unite below in a narrow pool about 150 yards 
 long, under the fall of ten feet high, and then escape at 
 one end, just as in the great falls of the Zambesi, if these 
 could be scanned on a Lilliputian scale. 
 
 Camp struck and all things packed, we floated the 
 canoe again just below the falls, to begin our descent of 
 the river. In front was the bridge, with two pointed 
 arches about eighteen feet span, and sixteen feet high, 
 with a narrow roadway of twelve feet broad, and only 
 three or four small coping-stones left upon the edge. 
 Newbold gives the length of the bridge as 135 feet. 
 The stream was swift and shallow here, but it occupied 
 only one arch of the bridge. 
 
 It was thus on the loveliest of sunny days that we 
 shoved off from shore to begin the Jordan, and the iron 
 keel of the Rob Roy grated sharp on the pebbly beach 
 as she gladly rushed into the water, with a cordial but 
 faint and doubting cheer from the thin attendance on the 
 bank, every one of them certain that now, at any rate, 
 she must capsize." 
 
 I saw that the numerous rapids now to be encountered 
 would endanger my paddle, so a long pole was taken 
 aboard, and, as I might have to get out often, it was more 
 convenient to adopt the plan of sitting which was first 
 used at the Rheinfelden rapids on the cruise through 
 
 7 The sketch of the bridtje, and the weir and the island of springs 
 above it, I made before starting. A part of this sketch appeared 
 (a good deal grandified) in the front page of an April number of the 
 'Illustrated London News.' The village visible on a hill north of 
 the source is that called Mimes. The town of Hasbeya is not seen
 

 
 Chap. XII.] Start on jfordan. 201 
 
 Switzerland, and was always found very good for such 
 places. For this you sit, not in the " well " of the canoe, 
 but on the deck astern, with your bare legs in the water, 
 or tucked up in front, when you have learned to be very 
 steady. This action, of course, raises the bow of the 
 canoe entirely out of the water, and by depressing the 
 pole to the rocky bottom below, you can drag it hard 
 over stones and gravel, so as to retard the speed in a 
 powerful current, and, indeed, to stop altogether if this 
 be necessary, and if you do not mind the cold waves 
 invading your seat from behind. 
 
 As the stream bears the boat among rocks, you meet 
 them with one foot or the other in the water, balancing 
 carefully the while, and see that you do not meet the 
 rocks with botJi feet at once, or the canoe will instantly 
 pass away from under you altogether. If you are whirled 
 on to a shallow, the bow runs in so far that you can 
 stand on the ground and allow the boat to pass on 
 (keeping hold of the painter) until, in wading alongside 
 her, the w^ater gets too deep, when you spring on the 
 stern again, and so are charmingly ferried over. 
 
 After a little practice I found it not very difficult to 
 get out from the " well " to the deck of the canoe without 
 stopping the boat, even in rough Avater, and this saves a 
 great deal of time. Indeed, the variety of postures and 
 pranks that the canoeist can practise with advantage and 
 
 from the river, as it is perched on a hill, quite encircled by higher mountains. 
 Here 800 Christians were barbarously massacred in i860 ; but now they 
 have Missionary Bible Schools there — the time retribution of Christianity. 
 Rabbi Schwartz says of this (p. 65) : — "The Jewish inhabitants of the 
 town of Chaspeya carry their dead across the stream to Abel al Krum, 
 because they have a tradition that the river Chaspeya formed the boundary 
 line of Palestine, and they wish to inter the dead on the Holy Land. But 
 this boundary line was only so after the return from Babylon, as I have 
 shown at the proper place above." A tributary falls in fi-om the east near 
 the ford.
 
 202 Colotired Cascade. [Chap. XII. 
 
 pleasure in paddling, punting, poling, sailing, towing, 
 and dragging his faithful floating house over land and 
 water, soon makes him weary of the everlasting monoto- 
 nous swing of a row boat, where he goes into dangers 
 and beauties back foremost, gains no rest from a favour- 
 ing breeze, and smashes his oars, or his boat's hull, or his 
 own face, whenever there is a narrow among; rocks, or an 
 eddy among trees. 
 
 The river bends below the bridge with all the way- 
 wardness of a trout-stream in the Highlands. Thick trees 
 hang over its clear surging waters, and reeds fill the bays 
 twenty feet high, while rocks, and a thousand hanging 
 straggling creepers on them, tangle together over silent 
 pools. Who had seen these before the Rob Roy ? It 
 can scarcely be supposed that any other boat had been 
 here, from which a man could look upon these earliest 
 beauties of the hallowed stream, 
 
 I had often to get out of the canoe, and to drag her 
 over or round obstructions, and sometimes we went down 
 a mill-race for variety, until at last the white tents of my 
 camp shone homelike through the trees. The sketch 
 at p. 204 represents this part of the river. 
 
 Torrents of rain poured upon us all the night. The 
 last rain we had met was on December 17, so that the 
 Jordan had been seen at a time of drought (for winter), 
 which was exceedingly fortunate, both for an auspicious 
 beginning of the voyage and for a special examination of 
 the effect of rain upon the river. 
 
 Next day, therefore, I rode back to the waterfall, 
 and the flood pouring over it was now bright red and 
 resounding. But it was not all thus coloured. In the 
 middle, and where the stream from the subterranean 
 springs came over the fall, only the brightest, clearest, 
 limpid water came. It was a piebald cascade, red, white,
 
 Chap. XII.] Pitch Pits. 203 
 
 and red again, curious, though not more beautiful than if 
 no such phenomenon appeared. The full stream now 
 occupied both arches of the bridge, and ran wildly 
 careering over islets that had been warm and dry the day 
 before. The rain continued, and next day I came back 
 to look at the waterfall ; but there was the same crystal 
 gushing between two muddy torrents. Once more, and to 
 certify the fact, I returned early next morning, and still 
 it was the same — the unsullied waters from the deep-fed 
 fountain — protesting in unchanging purity against the 
 fitful upstart surface puddles of a passing storm. These 
 rain-flows had no right to mingle with the true source 
 born high in the snow of Hermon, and running below 
 through dark channels in clean rocks, far out of reach 
 of rain. 
 
 The current had doubled in force and volume, and its 
 ruddy waves welled high over the banks, and covered 
 the trees a yard deep, roaring in its anger, and by no 
 means inviting to paddle upon. So I climbed one hill 
 after another round the camp, and from each had a new 
 and splendid prospect. Then I visited the curious bitumen 
 pits. The people live beside them in very simple huts, and 
 they go down fifty feet into the earth to fill baskets with 
 the black shining treasure, which " grows," they say, how- 
 ever much they dig. 
 
 A climb up the highest hill on the west had shown me 
 clearly all the Hasbany vale. Looking north, one sees 
 on the left a hill range north and south bounding Wady 
 et Teim, and from it smaller white knolls are trending 
 always eastward. A parallel group of conical hills is to 
 the right of this, and again another larger one to the 
 east. Through this last the Hasbany cuts its way 
 steadily, meandering southwards, while eastward again 
 are wedge-like ridges and the long roots of Hermon,
 
 204 
 
 Jordaji Vale. 
 
 [Chap. XII. 
 
 but its head is in the clouds, sullen and dark. To 
 say the very least of this scene, it was at any rate 
 pretty. What it would seem if bereft of its holy asso- 
 ciations and the remembrance of a hundred armies 
 
 that came this Avay 
 from Babylon or Par- 
 thia to the battle- 
 ground of Judea, I 
 really cannot tell, hav- 
 ing failed (and will- 
 ingly) in every attempt 
 to look at the vale of 
 Jordan as a mere river's 
 banks. 
 
 Then I rode alone 
 over the hills to the 
 river Litany, where it 
 bursts through the cliffs 
 a thousand feet high, 
 and is crossed by the 
 bridge of Burghuz. This 
 is said to be the old 
 river Leontes. But Stanley remarks that Rittcr shows 
 this to be a mistake, and that the Litany had no ancient 
 name, except the " Tyrian river " (' S. and P.' p. 
 414. d). 
 
 The Litany rises not far from the Abana, and runs 
 south as if trying to find an exit that way. But the 
 hills rise into mountains on either side more im- 
 penetrable, until at last, as if with a desperate effort, 
 the torrent cuts straight through the western range in a 
 gorge of magnificent grandeur, and then it rushes out 
 to the sea, and so rightly earns its name Khasmych, ' the 
 divider.' 
 
 Vallev of Jordan. 

 
 Chap. XIL] The Litany. 205 
 
 I wandered long without road here, over many a 
 rugged and bleak mountain, and returning by the village 
 of Kaukaba, which clings to its perch aloft on the scarped 
 hill, I found our tents newly pitched on a fine grassy 
 mound ; in fact, the roof of an old deserted khan.^ 
 Nothing could look prettier than this for a place of 
 camping, yet it was a great mistake to pitch our tents 
 there. For at night there arose a furious storm of wind, 
 almost a hurricane. Each moment I feared the worst — 
 that the tent would fall — and then what to do } Of 
 course to get out from the ruins, if not already smashed 
 by the tent-pole ; but what next } The other tent and 
 my men were a long distance off, and between us were 
 several holes in the arched roof upon which our camp 
 stood. To fall down any of these would be instant 
 death, and in the dark it was impossible to see them, 
 because no lantern could live in the gale, nor, could we 
 recollect exactly where these holes were, in the din and 
 darkness, and confusion. 
 
 To care for the Rob Roy was, of course, my first 
 thought — the men being in a safe place, and the horses 
 and mules ensconced in strong quarters below. I lashed 
 the canoe to the earth, mooring her like an ironclad in a 
 cyclone, yet the wind still lifted the light little craft, and 
 a sad remembrance came into my mind of a gale in the 
 Baltic, where my canoe was so blown about on land that 
 in my efforts to hold her down I was upset several 
 
 ** This is marked K on p. 204, where B shows a bridge. Wlien a map is so 
 very good as Vandevelde's, it may be presumptuous to add to its informa- 
 tion, or even to correct. Still I venture to make three remarks : (i) There 
 is a good road to Khan from the Hasbany source on the west side, and 
 without passing the bridge (not marked on his map). (2) There is a road 
 from Khan to Burghuz, by the hill defile, without going to Kaukaba (not 
 marked). ,(3) " Zuk " is marked as the name of a village, for "Suk," 
 wliich indicates only the " fair" held at this place.
 
 2o6 Storm. [Chap. XII. 
 
 times myself, and was bruised and spattered all over 
 with mire. 
 
 The first strange thing one notices in a storm under 
 canvas on shore is that, however violent the wind, it is 
 the tent only that shakes under the pressure. The 
 strongest stone house vibrates even in the lower stories 
 in a gale, but unless your bed in a tent actually touches 
 the canvas walls, the sleeper is perfectly unmoved, while 
 the roof and walls of his tabernacle rattle and quiver as 
 if they never could hold out for a moment. And is it 
 not a good thing in the storms of life to have the living 
 soul, the real self, firmly set on the rock steadfast and 
 unshaken, though blasts do harry and shatter the frailer 
 tabernacle wherein we lodge .'' 
 
 As this was the first good honest storm of rain 
 and wind which this new square tent from England 
 had endured, I was careful to see how it stood the trial. 
 For resistance to the gale it was perfect. The excel- 
 lent ropes, the long iron tent pegs, the sturdy pole, and 
 the double laced sides, so well pegged down all round, 
 these sufficiently kept the wind from getting under the 
 canvas, and unless you can do this in a tent, the whole 
 structure gives way in an instant. 
 
 On a former tour a storm overtook us at Gaza, and 
 both our tents were overturned, when at once the wildest 
 confusion ensued. Water ran deep on the floor of 
 softest mud. Wet canvas caged us in. Camels and 
 horses entangled in the ropes, and screaming, fell in a 
 jumble together in the dark howling night, and all the 
 men roared and bellowed at each other to calm the 
 excitement, as in duty bound according to their light.^ 
 
 ^ In the great storm of 1839, in Britain, a small bell-tent, pitched on a 
 gentleman's lawn, near Belfast, was swept off by the wind, and was car- 
 ried a distance of nearly yf/?)/ miles.
 
 Chap. XII.] Dripping Bed Room. 207 
 
 As to wind, then, our English-built tent was secure, 
 but not as to water. The seams of the roof, instead of 
 being along the edges where the inclination is strongest, 
 and therefore the rain runs fastest away, were joined in 
 the middle or flattest part of each slope of the roof In 
 an hour or two, therefore, water worked through this, 
 and soon it came through the inner tent too, until at 
 length the rain fell sprinkling cold on my face in bed, 
 and tiicn methinks the laziest sleeper imtst get up. 
 
 But for just such times as these I had brought a piece 
 of sheet waterproof, seven feet long and five feet broad, 
 the cover of my cabin in the canoe, and this, secured 
 aloft over the bed, received the invading stream, and 
 conducted it in a continuous patter all to one corner, 
 where it could run off harmlessly, and with a sweet 
 harmonious lullaby that gendered sleep even in a 
 dripping bed-room.^° 
 
 Sunday came next, with morning bright and warm. 
 The grass was soon covered by our wet dismantled gar- 
 ments spread out to dry, and a half sleepy life began 
 after the sleepless night. The only pleasure was that 
 listless one of quiet, and a feeling as if one was having 
 one's hair cut by a dumb hair-cutter — the rarest case in 
 London. Still the neutral stagnant hours of such a 
 time are not altogether without benefit. Dreamy 
 tiredness has its slow-paced thoughts, and they may 
 not be brilliant or deep, but they are very pleasant. 
 These are breaks in the lines of life's story, but they 
 
 '" The ornamental dentellated "flaps" round a tent's rool make a 
 ceaseless disturbing chatter in high wind. This I could not put up with, 
 though not verj' nervous, but "silence for sleep" is a good maxim, so I 
 had these useless appendages sewed firmly down. The tent-maker who 
 would make a good tent ought to live in a tent in a storm to acquire ex- 
 perience.
 
 2o8 Wild Beast. [Chap. XII. 
 
 may give emphasis to the quicker action which comes 
 after. The compulsory rest of iUness is a different 
 pause, though it also has its benefits, some of them 
 inestimable ; but what I speak of now as pleasant and 
 profitable is that half-slumber of mind in a healthy but 
 unslept body, relaxed, not lazy, when peace and fine 
 weather are outside, no pain within, no particular 
 anxiety, no feeling that " it is all our own fault," and 
 when no doubt is felt that the very best thing to be done 
 (unless we mean to lose time) is to rest entirely all to-day. 
 Our more orthodox slumbers at night w^ere rudely 
 broken by loud shouts and bustle. Everybody seemed 
 to run everywhere and to knock down everybody, and 
 all this was only because a wild beast (species and genus 
 probably imaginary) had alarmed the horses. Hany im- 
 mediately fired four volleys into the universal darkness, 
 " to compose " us all.
 
 Chap. XIIL] 
 
 Across JoTclan. 
 
 209 
 
 CHAPTER XIII, 
 
 ACROSS JORDAN — BLOODY FRAY — BRITISH OFFICERS — OUR IGNORANCE 
 — JORDAN'S STREAMS — TELL EL KADY — DAN — LAISH — THE GOLDEN 
 IMAGE — SOUNDING THE SOURCE — JUSTICE AND MERCY — NAME OF 
 JORDAN — EL GHUJAR — HAZOR. 
 
 * I ''HE first valley of the Hasbany ends a little below 
 -■- Khan. Wady Sheba, a tributary, enters it on the 
 east, crossed by a two-arched bridge. Then the two ranges 
 of hills close in upon the river, which tumbles and foams 
 and hisses between them, a headlong torrent, quite im- 
 possible to put a boat upon for several miles. Therefore 
 we carried the Rob Roy across it here, and round or 
 over the mountains towards the next source of Jordan. 
 
 A Fish from the Hasbany. 
 
 A Greek priest, fishing in the river near the bridge, 
 brought me his whole bag as a present. It consisted of 
 two small fish, very like trout. A sketch (natural size) 
 of the smaller one is given here, but the flavour of it was 
 poor ; and, except in the sea of Galilee, the Jordan had 
 few good fish, perhaps even in ancient times, as Israel 
 once complained. " We remember the fish which we did 
 eat in Egypt freely." — Numbers xi. 5. 
 
 P
 
 2IO Bloody Fray. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 We are now on tcj'va finna, and so my tale must be 
 brief, for it is meant to be only a log of the waterways, 
 and the pen should be quiet when the paddle is ashore. 
 The bridle-path on the east side of Jordan was very 
 troublesome for the mules. Once and for the first time 
 the Rob Roy's horse fell on his knee over a broken stone. 
 I heard the shout behind me, and looked round stoically 
 prepared for a catastrophe, but nothing happened. 
 
 A very old bridge led us over a noisy torrent, has- 
 tening its tribute to the Hooleh plain. The canoe was 
 floated over, but at the same time there came a string of 
 asses, each bearing a huge load of fragile earthen jars 
 made at Hasbeya el Fokas, and now carried for sale into 
 Bashan. These were cleverly packed wath one great 
 pot in the centre, and the others grouped round it in 
 light matting. The sure-footed asses trod their ways 
 thus laden, when one single fall or one brush against the 
 jutting rocks on either side would have instantly smashed 
 the whole cargo. 
 
 The men joined us for company's sake, and our mid- 
 day meal was spread beside the beautiful stream. Later 
 in the afternoon, when suddenly rounding a rock, we 
 came upon a fray. One of the pottery merchants had 
 driven his ass near a field to avoid the mire and marsh 
 alongside, and the owner of the unmarked domain 
 instantly rushed at him and broke his ox-goad upon 
 the offender's head, which instantly streamed with blood, 
 while the unappeased assailant whipped out a long 
 curved dagger, and was just aiming a blow when we 
 appeared. Our muleteers closed upon the man in a 
 moment, seized the sharp dagger and pitched it into 
 the marsh, and then brought up the prisoner for judg- 
 ment. The sentence was that he must run the gauntlet 
 of our avenging muleteers, but at a suitable wink from me
 
 Chap. XIII.] British Officers. 211 
 
 he was let off a moment too soon for their preparations, 
 and T never saw a man run away faster than he did. 
 
 The district did not seem to be a peaceful one for 
 residence. A short time before, three dead men had 
 been found under a tree close by. Not far from this 
 Hany had once conducted a party of travellers, three 
 English officers. At night the Arabs came and stole all 
 the horses. Next day they had the impudence to send 
 for a sum of money, and then again for, at any rate, half 
 the sum. Hany waited until next morning early, and 
 found the Arabs all asleep in a mill, and the stolen 
 horses inside. The officers, each with a double-barrelled 
 gun, were quietly posted so as to command the sleeping 
 robbers, who were then awakened, and in sudden be- 
 wilderment of fear they allowed the horses to be quietly 
 recovered by their owners. Vigorous means were taken 
 to force the Turkish government to bring these men to 
 justice, and at length one and all of them were hunted 
 up and punished.^ 
 
 ' In a former journey in Asia Minor, I recollect two British officers of 
 the Guards were attacked by sixteen robbers, who stripped them of almost 
 every bit of dress, and even of their rings. Long, tedious "representations' 
 ended in nothing. 
 
 In 1849, while among the Greek islands, becalmed in a little schooner, I 
 heard the sharp rattle of musketry, and the big boom of cannon behind 
 a hill. To get at the cause of this, we entreated the captain to lend us the 
 boat. Pirates were at their work, and had murdered the crew of a brig. 
 This we told at Smyrna, and instantly an English war-steamer, then in 
 port, started in pursuit of the sailors' common enemy, the robbers of the 
 sea. The pirates were captured, and seven of them were hanged. 
 
 These instances are cited to show how much may be done for the repres- 
 sion of crime (which is the sad but dutiful prerogative of true humanity) by 
 the power and influence of the wiser and more powerful nations acting, 
 even in the Moslem's land of hot-blooded murderers. But since the "Mas- 
 sacre year" (i860), and the energetic action of England and France, the 
 peace of the high-roads and the security of the towns of Syria may be said 
 to havj become "tolerable," considering the people who rule there, and 
 the people who are ruled.
 
 212 Our Ignorance. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 All endeavours could not repress the increasing excite- 
 ment which this part of the journey stirred in my mind. 
 Now the Rob Roy is to enter on territory absolutely 
 unknown and yet world-wide in its interest, where new 
 discoveries are possible and likely, but only to the 
 traveller journeying thus. Some parts of the Danube, it 
 is true, are entirely inaccessible by land, and so these 
 were first seen when the Rob Roy wandered there four 
 years ago. Large portions of the rivers which she 
 descended in Norway were also first unveiled to her. 
 But what part of the Norse Vrangs or the Hohenzollern 
 Donau can compare in interest with the bends of holy 
 Jordan } Yet in the brief run of this venerated river, so 
 looked upon by mountains, so watched by ancient tribes, 
 and so often pencilled by travellers, there are actually 
 portions which no map delineates rightly, because no 
 observer has been privileged to see them. For ten 
 miles the course of Jordan is almost unknown, or its de- 
 scription at any rate is not published, and three miles of 
 this interval have most probably never been seen before. 
 
 Of Palestine itself, we are shamefully ignorant, 
 though the whole area of the country is not larger 
 than Wales. Jerusalem, in a sense the nietropolis of 
 the world, has still many nooks not even visited by 
 men who can use their eyes and pens, and yet all 
 that is left of that city would easily be contained in 
 Hyde Park. In full keeping with this unaccountable 
 ignorance of the Holy Land and the Holy City would 
 be our acquiescent permission for the Holy River to run 
 on with any portion of it still untraced. Jordan is the 
 sacred stream not only of the Jew who has " Moses 
 and the prophets," of the Christian who treasures the 
 memories of his Master's life upon earth, of the cast- 
 out Ishmaelite who has dipped his wandering bloody
 
 Chap. XIII.] Jordaris Streams. 213 
 
 foot in this river since the days of Hagar, but of the 
 Moslem faithful also, wide scattered over the world, 
 who deeply venerate the Jordan. No other river's name 
 is known so long ago and so far away as this, which 
 calls up a host of past memories from the Mahommedan 
 on the plains of India, from the latest Christian settler 
 in the Rocky Mountains of America, and from the Jew 
 in every part of the globe. Nor is it only of the past 
 that the name of Jordan tells, for in the more thought- 
 ful hours of not a few they hear it Avhispering to them 
 before strange shadowy truths of that future happier 
 land that lies over the cold stream of death. 
 
 Therefore, as our view of the wide plains under 
 Hermon opened southward, it was with an intense 
 impatient longing to reach such scenes of interest. 
 Step by step brought our caravan nearer to the waters 
 of Merom, and our gaze was soon riveted upon the 
 heavy silent morass that had so long guarded the un- 
 seen course of Jordan. 
 
 Meanwhile our horses plunged about in very wet 
 ground on the plateau above Hooleh, where there are 
 several ruins worth visiting, until, deserting the usual 
 track as almost impassable (in winter), we reached the 
 well known Tell el Kady by a way of our own. Here is 
 the ancient historic source of Jordan, and though the real 
 source is, as we have seen, a long way farther north j^et 
 this latter has only been acknowledged about three hun- 
 dred years, while the springs we have come to visit now 
 were known and reverenced ten times as long ago. 
 
 As the Jordan itself attracts us most, because of the 
 part it has played in history, rather than the course it 
 now runs as a river, so its ancient reputed source will 
 always command more attention than the actual origin of 
 its highest waters ; and we may enter somewhat minutely
 
 2 1 4 Tell el Kady. [Chap. XI 1 1. 
 
 into particulars here because the springs of this stream 
 so renowned are precisely what the Rob Roy came so 
 far to see. 
 
 Tell el Kady is situated on the east side of the Has- 
 bany, which runs crooked here and out of sight in a 
 ravine, roughly torn rather than cut by its furious waters. 
 About us is a ragged bleak jungle of stream-worn pla- 
 teau, shelving southwards gradually, then at a quicker 
 slope, some five hundred feet, down to " Ard el Hooleh," 
 a district low^ and level, about twelve miles long, and 
 five or six in width. This is bounded by the hills of 
 Naphthali on the right, and those of Bashan opposite, 
 until these two chains approach in the distant horizon, 
 and clasp the little lake of Merom glittering in the sun. 
 So sweeps the gaze of the eye until, satisfied, it rests 
 once more on the giant mountain, ever present in the 
 scene, but now, for the first time, behind us — 
 
 " That lifts its awful form, 
 Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm ; 
 Though round its breast the rolling clouds be spread, 
 Eternal sunshine settles on its head." 
 
 The Tell itself is a mound of great size, and its shape, 
 as will be seen by the opposite plan, is rectangular, with 
 rounded corners. Its length is about 300 yards, and the 
 breadth 250 yards.^ The space within is hollow, and 
 nearly flat, while the sides or walls are like those of a 
 railway viaduct, with an average height of thirty feet, but 
 much higher at the south-west end, and steep. 
 
 Ruins are at various parts visible all round, and within, 
 .'Uid upon the mound itself, w^hich seems to me to be 
 wholly artificial ; but it is said to be partly formed by a 
 volcanic crater. 
 
 2 Captain Wilson's estimate. It appeared somewhat larger to me. Other 
 travellers have strangely cut it down to half the size, even Vandevelde, 
 Porter, and Newbold.
 
 Chap. XIII.] 
 
 Dan. 
 
 21 
 
 At the south-west corner of the Tell is the reputed 
 spot where the idol was set up by King Jeroboam. This 
 is related in i Kings xii. 28-30 : — " Whereupon the king 
 took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto 
 them. It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem : 
 behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of 
 the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Beth-el, and 
 the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin : 
 for the people went to worship before the one, even unto 
 Dan." 
 
 Source of Jordan at Dan. 
 
 The word "Dan" in Hebrew means "Judge," and 
 " Kady " in Arabic has the same meaning ; and there 
 seems to be no doubt whatever that the town of Dan 
 once stood where now is Tell el Kady. But Dan itself 
 had formerly an older name, as we read in the Book of 
 Joshua (xix. 47), when he speaks of the various tribes 
 receiving their inheritance by lot : " And the coast of the 
 children of Dan went out too little for them : therefore
 
 2i6 Laish. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, 
 and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, 
 and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, 
 Dan, after the name of Dan their father." A more par- 
 ticular account of this incursion is given in the Book 
 of Judges, (chapters xvii. and xviii.) where we are told 
 that the Danites, feeling their border too narrow, sent five 
 men out to spy the land, and they came to Mount 
 Ephraim. Here dwelt Micah, a man who had stolen 
 some money set apart by his mother to make an idol with. 
 He had found a young Levite, whom he appointed as his 
 priest, with a salary of ten shekels a year and his board. 
 
 The five spies met the young priest, and talked with 
 him. Then they "came to Laish, and saw the people 
 that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the 
 manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure ; and there 
 was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to 
 shame in anything, and they were far from the Zidonians, 
 and had no business with any man. And they came 
 unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol : and their 
 brethren said unto them. What say ye } And they said, 
 Arise, that we may go up against them : for we have 
 seen the land, and behold, it is very good : and are ye 
 still 1 Be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the 
 land. When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, 
 and to a large land : for God hath given it into your 
 hands ; a place ^^'here there is no want of anything that 
 is in the earth." The Danites then set off and passed 
 Micah's house, and, after some parleying, they enticed 
 the Levite to come with them as priest to their band, 
 which numbered six hundred chosen men. 
 
 "And they took the things which Micah had made, 
 and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto 
 a people that were at quiet and secure : and they smote
 
 Chap. XIII.] The Golden Image. 2,17 
 
 them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the cit}' with 
 fire. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from 
 Zidon, and they had no business with any man ; and it 
 was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they 
 built a city, and dwelt therein. And they called the 
 name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, 
 who was born unto Israel : howbeit the name of the city 
 was Laish at the first. And the children of Dan set up 
 the graven image : and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the 
 son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe 
 of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And 
 they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, 
 all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh." 
 
 But Tell el Kady, besides its claim to attention as 
 being Dan, and farther back old Laish, is the spot where 
 the Jordan issues from the deeps of the earth in a noble 
 spring, said to be the largest single source in the world. 
 
 In the four-sided enclosure already described is a most 
 tangled thicket, quite impenetrable to man, and perhaps 
 almost to beasts. Round it is a low quadrangular raised 
 dais, and the remains of what once was evidently a 
 splendid amphitheatre, often, perhaps, thronged with 
 spectators of the idol's rites. 
 
 Scattered trees, still in some sort of order, dot the wide 
 space beyond, but the thorns of the brake itself, a dark 
 and thick screen even in mid-winter, must be ten times 
 more dense in spring, or in the luxuriance of summer 
 growth. These cover a hidden pool, which defies all 
 efforts to enter its retreat, but, under a pit half filled by 
 heaps of old grey stones, you can just hear the smothered 
 murmuring of pent-up secret waters, and on the west 
 side of the embankment, beneath a mass of fig-trees, 
 reeds, and strongest creepers, the water issues free into 
 the day, and filling up to the brim the circular basin a 
 hundred feet wide. Here the new-born Jordan turns
 
 21 8 Sounding the Source. [Chap, xi 1 1. 
 
 and bubbles, and seems to breathe for a while in the 
 light, and then it dashes off at once a river, with a noisy 
 burst, but soon hiding its foam and waves in another 
 thicket, and there its loud rushing is shrouded in dark- 
 ness as it hurries away to the mysterious plain. 
 
 In much less time than is required to read these lines, 
 the Rob Roy was dismounted and was floating on this 
 pool, while the muleteers stood round to see, but now quite 
 prepared for any wonder. After their recent experience 
 of the boat on the Abana, the Pharpar, the lakes of 
 Damascus, and the swift Hasbany, they thought that the 
 canoe could do anything she tried. 
 
 As before, so now, they told me this pool also was 
 bottomless, and, to be prepared for the strange current 
 gurgling from below and circling about in all ways right 
 and left with uncertain eddies, I sat upon the deck with 
 my legs in the water and a pole in my hands. 
 
 Behold the abyss of the Dan source of Jordan, it is 
 only five feet deep ! After a full examination of it all, 
 the canoe was carried to our tents, which were pitched 
 inside the enclosure, and almost hidden by the rich 
 foliage of the inner stream. This last has been led to 
 the south-west corner of the mound, and then through 
 that (broken down for the purpose) it rushes out to turn 
 a mill, which nestles among the brambles, and seems 
 half ashamed to drive its trade just under the old altar 
 of the golden calf ^ A splendid terebinth and a not less 
 
 ^ That all the water in both the confluent streams comes evidently from 
 the same source within the enclosure is, I think, quite clear on examination. 
 What is hid from the eye is plain enough to the ear, in the pile of stones. 
 These should be taken out by the Palestine Exploration Fund. Some- 
 thing worth finding is likely to be there. Josephus, when describing how 
 stones were heaped upon a dead body after a battle, plainly indicates that 
 the body was in a hollow, and so the heap would only fill up this to the 
 level of the ground about it, which would therefore be unnoticed in a few 
 hundred years.
 
 Chap. XIII.] y zis tic e and Mercy. 219 
 
 splendid oak droop over this little stream, and the soft 
 breeze of a dank evening waves the countless old rags 
 hung upon the branches in honour of some long dead 
 worthy of the Mahommedan sect. 
 
 A crowd of men came next day as a deputation 
 on the matter of the ass-driver's broken head. These 
 pleaded for our pardon. His bloody cheeks and gashed 
 forehead urged stern justice. After long parleying to 
 establish the enormity of their offence, I gave an Eng- 
 lishman's merciful sentence, and restored the dagger we 
 had captured in the fight. Then all of them went off 
 well pleased and — quite ready to do the same deed 
 again ! Not long ago it was a matter of risk to camp long 
 in such a place as this, even with guards. But here we 
 settled to stay and without any escort, and I roamed 
 the savage country round without any attendant what- 
 ever. No bravery is needed for this, but only quiet 
 attention to a few simple rules.^ 
 
 * One of these rules was not to heed one man at all, but if two were in 
 sight, and they seemed to be in concert, then to go straight up to one of 
 them when the other was sure to come too. I had my pistol then, not a 
 revolver, but a far more useful weapon, with only one barrel, and a bayonet 
 which jumps out when you touch a spring. This I have carried on such 
 occasions for twenty years, and find that, when people come near in out-of- 
 the-way places, and some of them are curioiis, an admirable effect is pro- 
 duced by asking them to ' look ' while the bayonet leaps out. Arabs 
 of this prowling sort all know the revolver well, and there is no excuse 
 for exhibiting it to them ; besides, they would ask to handle it too. But 
 the other pistol is a novelty, and one can offer to show it as such. The 
 moment the bayonet darts out, there is sure to be surprise, or even a start, 
 and while its unexpected power can be exhibited (and with the bayonet thus 
 fixed, you are a match for any man quite close), the show has the air of a 
 gratuitous favour, not a warlike challenge, though virtually it is a vivid 
 symptom that one party at least is ready for action. 
 
 With more than two men, a single traveller does wisely to rely on moral 
 means alone. If actually attacked by three armed Arabs, his chance 
 would be small indeed, and supposing that he was justified in killing two, 
 and able and willing to do it, the vengeance of their more distant comrades
 
 220 Name of Jordan. [Chap. xill. 
 
 We are now at the second source of Jordan, and 
 the stream that gushes forth here from Tell el Kady 
 is named the Leddan. Of the three several fountains 
 which form that wonderful river, the Hasbany may be 
 considered as the Arab source, the spring at Dan as the 
 Canaanitish source, and the fountain at Banias as the 
 Roman source. 
 
 Josephus speaks of Dan as at " the fountains of the 
 lesser Jordan," '" and an imaginary derivation was early 
 given ^ and long maintained for the very name of" Jordan," 
 as compounded of " Ghor " and " Dan." But the name 
 of Jordan occurs in the time of Abraham, five centuries 
 before the title Dan was given to the town of Laish. 
 
 The Jordan is never called in Scripture " the river " 
 or " brook," or by any other name than its own ; and it 
 may be considered as proved by Robinson and Stanley 
 that the word "Jordan" is only the word larden 
 of the Hebrew, which signifies " the Descender " — 
 rightly due both to the fast flow and the enormous 
 fall of the river, which also " descends " into the earth 
 lower than any other in the world." The Jordan is also 
 
 would be certain. With the whole tribe it might become a religious duty 
 to wipe out blood by blood. 
 
 Besides this, it is to be remembered that, while one man or two might 
 attack to rob and plunder, the united advance of more than this would 
 usually be made with the intent, not to murder or to rob, but to capture 
 and get a ransom. The first kind of attack is mere footpad's war ; it is 
 right to resist, even according to the laws of the wildest horde ; but for 
 the second — the endeavour to catch a European, who has not taken the 
 proper course of procuring a guard or escort — there is more tlian a shadow 
 of reason in favour of the aggressors, and one cannot forget that other trilies 
 than these have drawn their broadswords for blackmail. 
 
 * ' Ant. J.' book v. ch. iii. sec. i. ; and book viii. ch. viii. sec. iv. 
 
 ^ Even in Jerome's time (Robinson, vol. iii. p. 352) ; and in the 
 Talmud. 
 
 " Stanley says that only the Sacramento has so great a fall as Jordan 
 has from the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea (' S. and P.,' p. 284). The
 
 Chap. XIII.] El Ghiijar. ii\ 
 
 said to be the most winding of rivers, but the Pharpar 
 certainly winds more. 
 
 After examining the runlet of surface-water which 
 bears a muddy tribute into the clear pool of the source 
 at Dan, and being satisfied that this is only the drainage 
 of the morass behind, and is dried up entirely in summer, 
 I rode to the old Hasbany again, which had cut its 
 channel so deep as to have eluded our sight towards the 
 end of the day's journey. This ride was very difficult, 
 when so much rain had lately drenched the teeming 
 morass. For an hour Latoof and myself were struggling 
 through watercourses and thick bushes. In two of the 
 four larger streams the current almost carried us away. 
 Arrived at the river, we followed it for a mile down to 
 the bridge of El Ghujar,* which with three crooked old 
 arches, all of unequal spans, crosses the Hasbany as it 
 roars in a wild glen. The bridge itself is, of course, more 
 easy to reach, even on a dark winter's eve, as being in 
 some sort upon a thoroughfare ; but we then turned, 
 
 physical features of the river in general will be alluded to in a summary 
 farther on. 
 
 Captain Newbold's account differs in some particulars from those in my 
 notes. He says the mound at Dan is about 300 paces in circumference, and 
 that the volume of water is at least as much as from the Banias fountain. 
 He cites an Arab authority for the usual erroneous supposition that the 
 united stream enters the lake "nearer its eastern than its western angle." 
 He says Abulfeda called the Jordan "El Urdun." ('Journal of Asiatic 
 Society,' vol. xvi. pp. 12, 13.) He considers it highly probable that Banias 
 was Baal Gad (p. 27). He never mentions the papyrus, though a list 
 is gi\-en of the plants about Jordan. His paper is, however, the most full 
 description of Jordan's sources hitherto published. 
 
 ^ Finn says ('Byeways in Palestine,' p. 370) that his guide called the 
 river itself El Ghujar. Porter does not seem to mention this bridge as El 
 Ghujar. Wilson saw the water running through only the western arch, 
 but it filled all three channels during my visit. The bridge is 65 paces 
 long, and four paces broad ; two of the arches are slightly pointed, the third 
 being round. A rough sketch of the bridge I have inserted in Map V. The 
 Luisany enters near this as a tributary.
 
 222 Hazor. [Chap. XIII. 
 
 where no path leads, along the Hasbany to its latest 
 traverse of the high plateau before the torrent rolls over 
 headlong into the Hooleh marsh. 
 
 Latoof was thoroughly well versed in the intricate 
 waterways of this wold ; and unless he had been so, 
 it would certainly have been dangerous to make such a 
 circuit, with night approaching, and when every streamlet 
 was swollen into a red and angry torrent, and several 
 times so deep as to cause us to hark back and try to ford 
 elsewhere. 
 
 But for this toil there came reward in finding, for at 
 least a mile, huge blocks of stones laid out in circles and 
 squares, far too many and too big, and in a place too 
 wet, to be old Arab camps, but plainly, in my opinion, 
 the relics of a very ancient city. These stones extend 
 quite up to the river's bank, which here is very steep, 
 and their weatherworn aspect, their enormous size and 
 vast numbers, their strange aggregations, wherein form 
 and method were clearly visible, though amid such con- 
 fusion and wreck, impressed me very strongly with the 
 conviction that this might be the site of ancient Hazor. 
 Other travellers have been here, and usually not in 
 winter. In drier seasons they could, therefore, move 
 more easily amid these stone blocks by riding on harder 
 ground ; but their bare desolation in January was better 
 than the high rank undergrowth of summer for ex- 
 ploring, and it also enforced our attention by showing 
 great numbers of these stones at once, and giving to the 
 whole scene a wide significance. Careful examination of 
 some of the stones showed that a proportion, at least, of 
 them had been hewn. I looked for inscriptions in vain, 
 but the writing of old time was there without letters ; 
 and I would earnestly suggest that this district should 
 be far more diligently scrutinised than it appears to
 
 Chap. XIII.] Hazor. ii^i 
 
 have been from what is told about it in travellers' 
 books. 
 
 Subsequent examination of the texts in Scripture and 
 the Maccabees and the notices by ancient and modern 
 authorities upon the site of Hazor have convinced me 
 that De Saulcy is right in his supposition that Hazor 
 was here.^ In bis ' Journe}' round the Dead Sea and in 
 the Bible Lands' (1854), he describes a visit to this place, 
 and how he found the ruins of a vast building like to the 
 Temple in Gerizim in plan. His investigation seems to 
 have extended chiefly along the southern ledge, but 
 much farther north I found -the ruins quite as thickly 
 strewn. 
 
 Three venomous snakes from under the stones attacked 
 De Saulcy's party. This, and the utter devastation of the 
 scene, may well remind us of the prophecy of Jeremiah 
 (chapter xlix.) — "And Hazor shall be a dwelling for 
 dragons, and a desolation for ever : there shall no man 
 abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it." 
 
 ^ Thomson and others consider that the site was at Neby Yusha, south- 
 west of this.
 
 224 Banias. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BANIAS — C^SAREA PHILIPPI — CAVERN — JOSEPHUS — THREE STREAMS 
 OF JORDAN — PHIALE — OUR SAVIOUR'S VISIT — THE GREAT QUESTION 
 
 — PETER — CRUSADERS' KEEP -^ VIEW FROM SUBEIBEH — ANXIOUS — 
 MANSOURA — PARLIAMENT — CATECHISM — COSTUMES — NOSE-RINGS 
 
 — WATERWAYS — BRIGHT EYES — ENTER ARABS. 
 
 THE Rob Roy had now floated on two of the great 
 sources of Jordan ; but another and the most in- 
 teresting had yet to be seen.' This is at Banias, about an 
 hour's pleasant ride from Tell el Kady eastwards through 
 a well-wooded district and over springy turf Here Ave 
 are just within the bounds of the land of Israel, reaching 
 " from Dan to Beersheba ; " and here at once we come 
 upon a hallowed spot, for Jesus Himself had tarried in 
 the place, had wrought there miracles of mercy, had 
 spoken deep loving words of wisdom, and had mani- 
 fested forth His heavenly glory after a manner never 
 seen elsewhere. 
 
 ^ A fourth, but minor, tributary to the Jordan, not mentioned by the 
 ancients, is found in the springs of Esh Shir, 2J miles east by north of 
 Phiale Lake. They form a rivulet a yard broad, and a foot deep, which 
 runs by the north side of the lake, between it and Majdel, increased by 
 several springs in its course down the deep defile of Wady esh Shir, and, 
 passing close to the south of Banias, by Wady el Kid, joins the Banias River 
 in the basin of Hooleh. Captain Newbold "saw it in the month of May, 
 when no rain had fallen for many days ; it was then six yards wide, and twf> 
 feet deep, clear and rapid." The Arabs assured him it never dries up 
 ('Journal of the Asiatic Society,' 1856, vol. xvi. pp. 15, 16.)
 
 Chap. XIV.] Ccesarea PJiilippl. 225 
 
 For at this little village of Banias was once the town 
 of Caesarea Philippi. Like some other old places, it had 
 several different names. According to Robinson and 
 Rabbi Schwartz, the place was that called in the Bible 
 Baal Gad.^ Then the Greeks named it Paneas, and the 
 Romans Csesarea, while the Arabs, who have no letter 
 /, now call it Banias (as "Pasha" becomes "Basha"). 
 A long time might well be spent in examining the 
 curious relics here, and to describe them fully would 
 occupy some pages ; but this has been well done by 
 Porter with his usual clear succinctness, and our business 
 now is only with what concerns the source of Jordan here- 
 in riding up a gentle rise from the morass, we soon 
 meet the new river tumbling its young waters among 
 beautiful old ruins, bridges, walls, and fallen pillars, the 
 broken relics of grandeur and elegance, mingled with 
 trees and exuberant undergrowth. The hum of run- 
 lets underground and the louder dashing of cascades 
 
 2 Schwartz says (p. 6i) : " It was there that tlie image of the cock-idol 
 was worshipped by the Cutheans, in the town of Tarnegola, consecrated 
 to the god Nergal (2 Kings xvii. 30). . . . The more recent name of 
 the time of the Crusaders of ' Belias ' for ' Banias ' is founded upon the 
 original appellation of the same Baal-gad (Joshua xi. 17)." 
 
 Again (p. 80) : "It was there that the idol Baal -gad, already existing in 
 the time of Joshua, was worshipped as late as the days of Isaiah (ch. v. 11), 
 ' who set a table for the Gad'' (English version, ' for that troup,' which, how- 
 ever, hardly means anything ; whereas it is highly significant when taken 
 as the name of a heathen divinity)." 
 
 Stanley places Baal Gad at Baalbek. Thomson seems to think that 
 Rehob was at Banias ('Landandthe Book,' i. p. 392). Schwartz tells us (p. 
 202) that, " About three mill north of Banias, there is a mount, on which 
 there is an old building having several cupolas. There is a tradition that the 
 'covenant between the pieces' with Abraham (Gen. xv. 9) was made on this 
 spot ; the Aral:)s call it Meshhad al Tir, i. e. the covenant or testimony of 
 the bird (turtle-dove ? ), in reference to the 'bird' referred to, ibid. v. 10." 
 
 Banias had one more name given to it according to Josephus (' Ant. J.' 
 book XX. ch. ix. sec. iv.) : "... King Agrippa Ijuilt Cresai-ea Philippi larger 
 than it was before, and in honour of Nero named it Neronias." 
 
 O
 
 2 26 Cavern. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 above give animation to what else would be desolate. 
 The head of all is in front of a steep-faced cliff about 
 eighty feet high, of white and pink stone, much scathed 
 by weather and cut about by man. Niches aloft, but 
 empty, tell plainly of great statues and idols. Numerous 
 inscriptions upon the cliff speak even now of Pan, though 
 with a mutilated story. Above them is a locly, dedicated 
 to El KJmdr, the Moslem St. George ; and thus we have 
 grouped round this grotto the emblems that show it was 
 sacred to the Baalite, the Jew, the Greek, the Roman, 
 the Christian, and the Moslem, each in turn. A lofty 
 and wide cavern opens deep in the rock, and just in 
 front of this, outside, but apparently from at least the 
 level of the cavern's present floor, a copious flood of 
 sparkling water wells up and forward through rough 
 shingle, and in a few yards it hides its noisy dashings in 
 a dense jungle.^ 
 
 ^ Wilson mentions the stream that flows above ground to swell that 
 from the cave as formed from springs in a shallow valley, near Jebata 
 Khusseh, while on the other side of a ridge there the springs flow to the 
 Yarmuk. Newbold estimates the width of the front of shingle as 150 
 yards, but it appeared to me much less. The position of the fountain, as 
 given by Captain Wilson, is lat. 33° 14' 45" N., and long. 35° 38' 57" E 
 He says that in the cavern there is a large accumulation of rubbish, and 
 some little moisture, and that the spring appears to have issued directly 
 from it at one time, and there ^^'as probably a large pool, over which may 
 have been erected a temple, similar to that at Ain Fijeh, though on a more 
 extensive scale. The fountain issues from the limestone, just at its junc- 
 tion with the trap formation. In front of the wely the limestone has a dip 
 of 15°, and strike of 250°. The stream bridged in W. Zaareh, joining the 
 fountain stream, had (in January) about one-fourth of the volume of the 
 latter stream ; the W. Khoshabe has about one-twentieth of that volume, 
 and joins it a little higher up. The stream of Banias is crossed by a bridge 
 of one arch, very slightly pointed. Schwartz tell us (p. 203, note) : "In 
 ' Bereshoth Rabba,' ch. xxiii., it is said ' Three springs of Palestine and its 
 vicinity remained not closed up after the flood (Gen. viii. 2), the springs at 
 Tiberias, Abilene, and the one of the Jordan issuing from the cave at Paneas.' " 
 The Talmud says the same (Neubauer, 34, 37.) Pliny speaks only of the 
 fountain here as the source of Jordan ('Nat. Hist.' xv.).
 
 Chap. XIV.] 
 
 Josephus. 
 
 227 
 
 Josephus thus writes of this rock and cavern : — " So 
 Caesar bestowed his country, which was no small one, upon 
 Herod ; it lay between Trachon and Galilee, and contained 
 Ulatha (Hooleh } ) and Paneas, and the country round 
 
 SLOPE UP TO CAVERN 
 
 "''.)l/«o>i'>«>»j(;!'il(M''i:-;"^'^-' -'^ ■' 
 
 Banias Source ol Jordan. 
 
 about. .... So when he had conducted Caesar to the 
 sea, and was returned home, he built him a most beau- 
 tiful temple, of the whitest stone, in Zenodorus's country 
 near the place called Panium. This is a very fine cave 
 in a mountain, under which there is a great cavity in the 
 earth, and the cavern is abrupt and prodigiously deep, 
 and full of a still water ; over it hangs a vast mountain, 
 and under the caverns arise the springs of the river 
 Jordan. Herod adorned this place, which was already 
 a very remarkable one, still further by the erection of 
 this temple, which was dedicated to Caesar." ('J. W. 
 book XV. chap. x. sec. iii.) 
 
 In another passage (' J. W.' book i. chap. xxi. sec. iii.) 
 Josephus varies his account of the cavern and source, but 
 by combining the two versions, it appears to me that the 
 springs did always in old times, as now, issue from the
 
 Three Streams of Jordan. [Chap. xiv. 
 
 front outside the cave, and not from within. The cavern 
 
 was quite dry when I visited it. 
 
 Tlie plan of this place given above is merely a rough 
 map of the land and water in front of the cave. A 
 photograph of part of the springs is published by the 
 Palestine Exploration Fund, and several views about 
 Banias. This is the " greater source " of Jordan, that 
 longest recognised as a beginning of the river, but it is 
 not easy either to tell how much water comes from any 
 one of the three sources separately or to compare their 
 relative quantities when you are looking at one only, 
 and the other two, being distant, can only be reviewed 
 by memory. 
 
 On the whole, and after a careful examination of them 
 all, and a further inspection (to be described later) of the 
 Banias and the Hasbany at their point of junction, I 
 come to the conclusion that the Hasbany source is less 
 than that at Banias, though the former river is the larger 
 where the two unite, and that the source at Dan is larger 
 than that at Banias, though the Dan waters disperse 
 afterwards, and fail to reach the others in any one par- 
 ticular channel. 
 
 Josephus mentions^ that Philip the Tetrarch discovered 
 a still higher source of Jordan than Pan's Cave, in the 
 little cup-like lake of Phiale, four hours distant from 
 Banias. To test the matter, he put chaff into this pool, 
 and it came out at the rock of Banias after passing under- 
 ground. This is frequently referred to in travellers' 
 books. From Irby and Mangle's account (p. 288), it 
 seems to have been considered by them, and Robinson 
 agrees (vol. iii. p. 350), as well as Stanley ('S. and P.' 394), 
 that this discovery Of Philip was barren. One reason for 
 this conclusion is that the water could not pass under- 
 
 •* ' J. W.' book iii. ch. x. sec. vii.
 
 Chap. XIV.] Phiale. 229 
 
 ground from Phiale to Banias because it would have to 
 go beneath a certain streamlet described as lower than 
 the level of Phiale. Wilson says the lake (Phiale) lies 
 at the bottom of a cup-shaped basin, and has no outlet, 
 though there is no stream running directly into it ; the 
 lake appears to receive a great portion of the surface 
 drainage of the plain or sloping ground on the north- 
 east. Captain Newbold,^ who also examined the Birket er 
 Ram (Phiale) with care, says that the lake is 3000 paces 
 in circumference, the taste of the water " a little brackish 
 and flat," the temperature 75° Fahr. (air 78^ in shade). 
 The temperature of the Banias spring at the same time 
 was 58°, The lake abounds with leeches and frogs. 
 Then he says : " I repeated the experiment of Philip 
 the Tetrarch, but the straw thrown in remained motionless 
 on the surface. The loss by evaporation would be amply 
 sufficient to account for the lake's never overflowing." 
 A water-mark showed the lake had been six inches 
 higher in winter. 
 
 Though Captain Wilson sought for subterranean pas- 
 sages leading from the fountains of Banias, none could 
 be found. The impure water of Phiale is very different 
 from the sweet water of the fountain. The deep ravine 
 of Wady em Keib lies between Phiale and the fountain. 
 The cleft of W. Khoshabe cuts off communication be- 
 tween the fountain and the pool near Sheba, which some 
 supposed was a source of the river ; the rapid dip of the 
 strata westerly would not allow the water to run to the 
 fountain. The sheikh at Banias said straw had been 
 put in at Sheba and appeared at the Banias fountain. 
 
 * 'Journal of the Asiatic Society,' vol. xvi. (1856), p. 8. The small lake 
 south of Banias, and shown in my picture {post, p. 235), is also called 
 Birket er Ram. Thomson, in 'The Land and the Book,' qives woodcuts 
 representing the Banias rock and the Phiale pool.
 
 2,30 Our Saviour s Visit. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 This was most likely a fabrication, built upon accounts 
 of the other experiment already noticed. The amount 
 of water from the fountain was doubled after rain. It 
 may, therefore, be considered as quite settled that the 
 fountain of Banias is the first real source of Jordan in 
 that direction. 
 
 A little stone shanty beside the great rock served me 
 as a shelter from a shower of rain, as I came here 
 alone, and put my horse into Pan's Cavern, while I 
 heaped wood on the still warm embers of the deserted 
 fire, and made myself at home. This house of a trustful 
 shepherd had no door. He had left everything quite 
 open inside, so I was very soon comfortable, and greeted 
 the venerable proprietor when he returned, telling him 
 the one cardinal fact that I was an Englishman. 
 
 Caesarea Philippi would have been interesting enough 
 to see with what has been told already as its features — 
 the grand mountain views around it ; the worships of 
 Pagan, Turk, and Jew, each with their symbols ; the 
 Crusaders' ruined keep, and the fights of the Cross ; and, 
 oldest of all, yet ever fresh, the source of Jordan, 
 
 But a higher holiness was printed on this rock when 
 the foot of Christ came here, seeking for " the lost sheep 
 of the house of Israel," even on the outskirts of the 
 land where they wandered.^ 
 
 He had healed the blind man of Bethsaida. (Mark 
 viii. 22.) If this was the eastern town of that name, our 
 
 * The wely marked in Map V. as Neby Seid Yuda— the "tomb of the 
 Lord Judah " — may be (Thomson thinks — i. 384) what is aUuded to in 
 Joshua xix. 34, when he describes the borders of Naphtali as reaching "to 
 Judah upon Jordan toward the sunrising." So " He is gone to Kisrin'' 
 {i. e. Cossarea ; to express the farthest limit). — Neubauer, 238. Thomson 
 describes the vast number of scorpions found here in summer. The inhabit- 
 ants, to avoid these, build little booths on long poles to dwell in.
 
 Chap. XIV.] The Great Question. 23 1 
 
 Lord next went by the waters of Merom until He " came 
 into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi." " Then was that 
 searching question put, and that solemn pledge was 
 given, which is recorded in these verses : — 
 
 " He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say 
 that I the Son of man am } 
 
 "And they said, Some say that thou art John the 
 Baptist : some, Elias ; and others, Jeremias, or one of 
 the prophets. 
 
 " He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am .' 
 
 "And Simon Peter answered and said. Thou art the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God. 
 
 "And Jesus answered and said unto him. Blessed art 
 thou, Simon Bar-jona : for flesh and blood hath not 
 revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in 
 heaven. 
 
 "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and 
 upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of 
 hell shall not prevail against it. 
 
 " And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 
 of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall 
 be bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on 
 earth shall be loosed in heaven. 
 
 " Then charged He His disciples that they should tell 
 no man that He was Jesus the Christ. 
 
 " And ^ He began to teach them, that the Son of man 
 must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, 
 and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and 
 after three days rise again. 
 
 " But when He had turned about and looked on His 
 
 ' Matt. xvi. 13. The word "coasts" is expressive as describing "the 
 towns" (Mark viii. 27) on the edge of the wide watery plain. 
 ^ Mark viii. 31, 33.
 
 232, Peter. [Chap. XIV, 
 
 disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, 
 Satan : for thou savourest not the things that be of God, 
 but the things that be of men." ^ 
 
 Where this scene took place cannot be ascertained 
 now. Mark (viii. 27) says it was " by the way," but a 
 fond fancy would fix it dramatically under the rock at 
 Banias. 
 
 Then "after six days" our Saviour took His three 
 apostles " into a high mountain " to be transfigured, and 
 to speak with the prophet and the great lawgiver. He 
 had called Himself the " Son of Man " to the apostles ; 
 now He was proclaimed as " My beloved Son" by the 
 very voice of Jehovah. All this took place near Banias, 
 and much better is it that no one can say exactly where. 
 The words and deeds are glorious and thrilling, but they 
 are meant for the whole earth, and not for a single spot 
 to make its own. God seems to have withheld from 
 us precise knowledge as to the places of His most 
 wondrous deeds, that the lessons taught by them might 
 be for all people everywhere, and for all time — aye, for 
 eternity itself and every universe.^" From this farthest 
 point of His Avalk of mercy through Israel, the Saviour 
 turned back again to scenes of agony and death. He 
 had fortified His faithful ones by His king-like promise ; 
 He had been fortified Himself by His Father's voice 
 
 3 Too often the latter part of this conversation is omitted when the first 
 is given. At the same place and time, when Peter was called a " stone," 
 he ^^as called "Satan." We are content to be built in with Peter just 
 so long as Peter is a "living stone" on Christ, the "Rock of ages." 
 Let those who assemble under the dome of St. Peter's, encircled by the 
 promise given to the apostle, written there on a blue band above them, 
 think well whether the " lively stones " of Christ's Church are new doc- 
 trines invented by man, or new men converted to Christ. 
 
 "* Perhaps the spot most nearly known and quite undoubted is that where 
 the Great Preacher "sat thus on the well," and preached a full sermon to 
 the most empty of congregations, even to one fallen woman.
 
 Chap. XIV.] Crtisaders Keep. 233 
 
 out of the " bright cloud ; " and now and for the last 
 time " He set His face to go unto Jerusalem." 
 
 Near Banias is the splendid ruin of the castle of 
 Subeibeh, which stands proudly on a height guarded by 
 sheer cliff all round, except at the entrance gate ; and to 
 reach this — the only way in — the pilgrim must pass a 
 long narrow path, wholly open to the view of a defending 
 garrison, and completely at their mercy if he comes as 
 an enemy. Murray's Handbook almost entreats the 
 traveller not to miss this place. His words are not too 
 urgent, for it is, on the whole, the most magnificent relic 
 of such a fortress to be seen. Heidelberg is not so 
 large, nor has it anything like the view we have before 
 us here. Towers and bastions are round about, and huge 
 walls and courtyards fill the space within. A thousand 
 men here, more or less, would not crowd the visitors' 
 rooms, or weigh upon the grand old masonry. Built 
 by the Herods first, perhaps, or by Phoenician masons, 
 it was an outwork afterwards of the Holy Wars, when 
 nations were fired with frenzy for the Land of the Cross. 
 Now we can scarcely beg a few guineas from the world 
 to uncover the buried ruins of Palestine. 
 
 My rifle beside me, but no one in sight or hearing, 
 I had a fit of melancholy meditation here, deploring our 
 degenerate days that leave such a noble stronghold in 
 the hands of the feeble Turk — his, too, for the last seven 
 hundred years. But it was not to be moody I climbed 
 up to Subeibeh, nor, indeed, was it to see this old castle 
 with its cold grey stones. I came to scan from hence 
 how the Rob Roy could paddle through the marsh of 
 Hooleh ; to get, if possible, some little inkling of where 
 the Jordan spreads its lost waters, and how they are 
 gathered again into one before the last long leap of " the 
 Descender."
 
 234 View from Subeibeh. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 From this lonely perch, about 1500 feet above the 
 plain, the panorama is superb. The hills of Bashan are 
 cleft in front, and they frame the wide-spread picture. 
 To the left, and farthest off, are the gleaming waters of 
 Merom. In front is the Galilean chain, and on the right 
 is Hermon — 
 
 "like Teneriffe or Atlas iinremoved." 
 
 Down in the level hollow stretches the wide morass, of 
 dark and even colour, gloomy, but with pools and lakes 
 and strips of disjointed water shining in the sun like 
 the last snow-wreaths of spring on a half-melted lawn. 
 The most careful scrutiny could not detect any method 
 or sequence in these water-patches. They are inserted in 
 the drawing here as accurately as I could make them out ; 
 Thomson gives a sketch, but from a lower point of view. 
 Viewed as a mere landscape, one might fancy, indeed, 
 some possible channel between them ; but a more prac- 
 tical connection must be discerned before the canoeist can 
 trust his boat on such a network of water, without at least 
 some possible route determined. Often in Sweden I had 
 to climb high hills to spy out the way through the archi- 
 pelagoes on the great lakes, several of them eighty miles 
 long. But the grand difference there was that while the 
 canoe might be stranded a dozen times or lost altogether, 
 there would still be no danger to its crew from man or 
 beast like the risks that must be expected now. 
 
 It will be readily understood that after experience in 
 voyages alone, while dangers of one class get to be more 
 despised, and boldness increases as to one class of 
 difficulties, yet another kind of possibilities becomes 
 more realised as truly formidable, ^v^hich would never be 
 thought of at all at first starting on such cruises. How- 
 ever, after all the moralising about the morass had been
 
 Chap. XIV.] Anxioits. 237 
 
 done, it came to this in the end : that there was very 
 good reason for not trying to pass through Hooleh 
 marsh, and that there was much better reason for a 
 determined effort to do it now. 
 
 Next day, therefore, with Hany, I made a recon- 
 naissance from our head-quarters by the mound at 
 Dan, that we might find tlie best way, or any way, 
 by which to carry the Rob Roy into the soft green 
 plain. He was quite as anxious as myself to do this 
 well, and up to a certain point of perseverance a 
 good Eastern dragoman is as resolute as any English- 
 man. Where the Orientals break down (as seems to 
 me) is when the difficulty is an unknown one, and 
 has to be overcome in a way entirely new. It is just 
 then that is wanted the Saxon's positive resolve " It 
 sJiall be done." And this was needed now. To take 
 a horse down these rough rocks was easy. To steer a 
 mule, even a laden one, among the bogs and gushing 
 streamlets, and through hedges and reeds and thickets, 
 could be done by bearing bumps and bruises and duck- 
 ings in the mud. But we had to find a way for a tender 
 cargo to be carried here — the ever-precious Rob Roy ; 
 and this, so strong in waves and rapids, might be 
 smashed by a single fall of the horse, and then the 
 journey could not be begun again without long delay, 
 or, at best, would be continued with the enfeebling 
 sensation of paddling over a new and rapid river in a 
 crippled boat. Nevertheless, we found a way here even 
 in this winter season, and with all the ground flooded 
 by recent rain ; and we settled upon a house, the last 
 on the plain, where the Rob Roy might lodge the first 
 night, and there we bespoke for her the best bed-room 
 in a buffaloes' byre, the landlord, no doubt, being puzzled 
 out of his wits when he was gravely told that next
 
 238 Mansotira. [Chap. xiv. 
 
 day would come a " shaktoor." And come it did, on 
 January 4th, all safe, to Mansoura, after far less strug- 
 gling than was expected, and no hurt. 
 
 This place is at a clump of trees seen from Tell el 
 Kady. Two stone houses are by a little mound, and, 
 so far as I could make out, this is the ground of the 
 Difne Arabs, evidently connected by name with the 
 ancient Daphne,'' the longer way of saying Dan, What 
 in such sparsely peopled places may be called a crowd 
 was waiting to receive us, and indeed they were a rough- 
 looking set, but civil enough, and strongly reverencing 
 my double-barrel while they worshipped the canoe. 
 
 So great was the pressure about me that it was very 
 difficult to take compass-bearings here, but it was far 
 more difficult to obtain from the numerous Arabs peering 
 at us any one name of the villages in front — the clumps, 
 I mean, of straw mat huts, and Arab tents, and every 
 cross-breed compromise between the animal and vege- 
 table orders of architecture. 
 
 First, it was scarcely possible to point out these mere 
 knobs on the horizon, so that any two men beside me 
 should agree upon what they were asked to look at. 
 Then their arguments about the matter had to be filtered 
 through faithful Hany's rendering of the case. Next 
 the names had to be marked in pencil on my plan, and 
 lastly the whole list was found to be wrong. 
 
 This was the usual routine, and it happened so many 
 times, and after long periods of rest had been given to 
 cool down the conflicting geographers, and to allow some 
 consc/isiis of their versions to be precipitated for use, that 
 
 1 was driven to the reluctant conclusion, first, that the 
 
 " Another Daphne, near Antioch, is mentioned by Josephus, and in 
 
 2 Maccabees iv. 3. Schwartz (p. 47) places " Dafne" at Berim, or Riblah. 
 I observe that ahnost every writer of travels here has a Daphne of his own.
 
 Chap. XIV.] Parliament. 
 
 places had no names, and, second, that none of the men 
 knew the places. As this never happened thus before 
 to me, and as it must have been caused by one or other 
 of these reasons, I feel pretty sure that the maps of 
 Hooleh will never agree if we take the names from what 
 the people tell us, and that the time is come for some 
 inventive tourist to christen all the localities himself. 
 
 After a stormy session of this parliament in the grove 
 of Daphne, I peremptorily silenced all the self-elected 
 speakers, except a fine clear-eyed fellow, who seemed to 
 be the least garrulous and the most knowing man among 
 them ; and having overruled in my favour all points of 
 order, I noted down this man's version of the Hooleh 
 Domesday-Book as a comment in explanation of a 
 careful sketch made previously from a point 500 feet 
 above the plain. From this the few names are given in 
 Map v., and, perhaps, they are as likely to be right as 
 any other list. 
 
 The following catechism will show what had to be 
 digested into knowledge fit to record in a map, and in 
 the colloquy Q. is the English enquirer, and A. is the 
 answering Arab. 
 
 Q. — You see that little group of huts near the big 
 tree } 
 
 A. — Yes, where the water flows quiet ; that is Absees. 
 
 Q. — And the next huts to the left ? 
 
 A. — Tell el Schady. By the Prophet ! it's a fishing- 
 station. Great for fishing is the Ingleez ; but this is in 
 the reeds (" Rab "). 
 
 (Voice in the crowd :) " ' Dowana ' is the name." 
 
 Q. — What name did you say last .-' 
 
 (Voice :) " Zahmouda " — (which voice, after much 
 wrangle, turns out to be not the same that spoke first). 
 
 Q. — Which is Zahmouda .?
 
 240 Catechism. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 (Three people point in three directions, and instantly 
 begin a subsidiary debate.) 
 
 Q. — Look along my ramrod. Now, what's the name 
 of the hamlet it points to } 
 
 A. — Dowana. 
 
 Q. — Why, it's Avhat you said was Absees ? 
 
 A. — El Aksees the Howaja sees to the right of Zah- 
 mouda. 
 
 Q. — But where is Zahmouda .-* 
 
 (First voice, and a general chorus — the second voice 
 being stifled by cuffs :) " Next to Tell el Schady." 
 
 Then, with rough eagerness, the strongest of the 
 Dowana faction pushes his long forefinger forward, 
 pointing straight enough — but whither 1 and with a 
 volley of words ends "Ah — ah — a — a — a a — a." 
 
 This strange expression had long before puzzled me 
 when first heard from a shepherd in Bashan. I thought 
 the man was a stammerer, then that he was laughing at 
 me, then that he was crazy himself. But the simple 
 meaning of this long string of " all's " shortened and 
 quickened, and lowered in tone to the end, is merely 
 that the place pointed to is a " very great way off" 
 Nor is the plan a bad one for giving by words a long 
 perspective distance to the place we are pointing out. 
 
 The festival ending Ramadan happened to fall at 
 this time, so that all the people were idle, joyous, and 
 boisterous in their fashion, and they had donned their 
 gaudiest finery. A procession of children came over 
 the marsh with guns and flags, green boughs, long 
 sticks, and music of tom-toms and singing. When 
 they saw the Rob Roy on horseback, the ranks burst into 
 disorder, and rushed to our group with wild shouts. 
 They believed (said they) that the canoe had come to 
 honour their holiday show. Each one in turn came up
 
 Chap. XIV.] 
 
 Costumes. 
 
 241 
 
 to see my pith helmet, and the older men to gaze on my 
 compass. Their dress was the most various possible, 
 long and short, coloured and plain, scanty and ample, 
 of camel's hair of Damascus, silk of Lebanon, and Man- 
 
 Three Hooleh Heads. 
 
 Chester cotton. All the women had their faces stained 
 with blue patterns. Most of the men were tattooed, 
 and some not merely punctured, but gashed hideously 
 in diagrams on their cheeks. A good deal of jewellery 
 was displayed. Many of the men wore earrings. Nose- 
 rings were the fashion among the young. Heavy dirty 
 coins (kesh) chained together hung from their hair and 
 rattled on their cheeks. One had this chain of money 
 linked at one end to the ear, and at another to the nose. 
 The moment I tried to sketch any of these, the happy 
 
 R
 
 242 Nose-rings. [Chap. XIV. 
 
 subject of the pencil became at once grave, important, 
 and stiff, putting on his " best looks." and (as generally 
 in such cases) looking the most unlike himself. These 
 portraits were bespoken and eagerly received as presents, 
 and so I secured only three for my album, which are 
 given above. One of these dandies thus sketched had a 
 headdress with fur woven into his hair, and two long 
 sidelocks pendent, and another was the likeness of a 
 mischievous little scamp, very unlikely to be regular at 
 his ragged-school, with three tails on his head, and, 
 plainly, by his manners, a sprig of nobility, or, it may be, 
 a prince from a mud palace near, and, at any rate, 
 privileged in general as a " fliberty-gibet." The third 
 portrait represents the young fashionable with the chain 
 from nose to chin. I thought that the wearer was a 
 girl, and even then this ornament would be wonderful 
 enough, though what finery can be too extravagant for 
 feminine coquetry .-^ But my sketch-book shows that 
 the wearer of the parurc was a man ; nor is this warrior 
 of Hooleh the only man who, with a string of coins, can 
 be " led by the nose." 
 
 The name of this village, Mansoura, means " delight," 
 and there are many other places called by this name 
 besides the large town in the Delta already described in 
 our log. Fine oak-trees shade the green Tell here ; south 
 of it is the cow-house, where we docked the Rob Roy for 
 a night, and a corn-mill turned by a noisy sluice of water. 
 It will be seen by Map V. that the river on the east is the 
 Banias,'- which has wandered down here from the cave 
 
 '^ I cannot understand what Dr. Thomson says ('Land and the Book,' 
 i. 381), that, starting from Mansoura, and " crossing the Baniasy at Sheikh 
 Hazeih, we came to the main branch of the Leddan, and in ten minutes 
 more to another branch with the name of Buraij. Half a mile from this 
 all the streams unite with the Hasbany, a little north of Sheikh Vusuf, a 
 large Tell on the veiy edge of the marsh."
 
 Chap. XIV.] Waterways. 243 
 
 of Pan, while behind and around the Tell are several 
 streams complicated in their relations, but on a higher 
 level than the Banias, and apparently not always here 
 uniting with that river ; at all events, not when we saw 
 them. These upper streamlets are parts of the Leddan, 
 which has broken its channel into many pools and 
 brooks, soon after leaving the source at Dan, and is then 
 dispersed by canalettes over fields, and absorbed by 
 marshland, from which the waters again debouch, unite, 
 and branch out once more at half a mile from Tell el 
 Kady. One arm of this, I was told, reaches to the 
 Hasbany River, but, if so, it is a mere brook. It may 
 be safely said that the Leddan spreads generally into 
 Hooleh plain, but to follow up this network of streamlets 
 in a walk was not easy, for they were often too broad 
 to leap on foot, and their banks were too treacherous 
 to ride over. The exact geography could be better 
 deciphered in summer, but fever, ague, and plenty of 
 other ills would be, of course, rampant then upon the 
 marsh. 
 
 The crowd under the oaks had increased in number as 
 I returned from the rough survey of their amphibious 
 territory. In a large semi-circle they stood at the open 
 door of the house until the buffaloes were expelled, 
 protesting in loud bellows and angrily rushing through 
 the mud. 
 
 Our host was a dull, sad, and silent man. He had 
 come to the place a year before. Four of his children 
 had been slaughtered in the massacre — for he was a 
 Christian — and the only one left was a little girl of ten 
 years old. She was most beautiful in face and figure, 
 and with a happy angelic look, very winning to regard. 
 Her gentle kindness to her father, her graceful alacrity 
 in the household bustle of preparing for a Howaja, her
 
 244 Bright Eyes. Chap..xiv. 
 
 dignified restraint of the rude urchins about us delighted 
 me exceedingly. With tears the fond father held out 
 her little right hand to show me how it was gashed and 
 worthless for needlework, then he shook his head, sorrow- 
 fully weeping, and sympathy watered in my eyes. 
 
 He seemed too down-hearted and woe-begone to feel 
 the panting thirst of hot revenge for this Moslem's out- 
 rage, and in lack of other consolation he lighted his 
 chibouque. I gave the pretty child a ' British Work- 
 man ' with its cheerful pictures,^^ and an English knife 
 and other presents. Then to get peace, we closed the 
 few boards called a door, and which admitted plenty of 
 light, though there was no window. For company's 
 sake the man stopped the hours of evening by me. My 
 converse with him was by few signs and fewer words, 
 though they were all I knew of Arabic ; but even these 
 cheered him, for my hand pointed him upwards, and 
 he knew the meaning when that signal came from a 
 " Nussarene." 
 
 A heap of corn was in the room, and a steelyard to 
 weigh it, and some ox yokes. Not a single article of 
 furniture was there but the one straw mat, on which I 
 stretched out to sleep, with my boat-bag for a pillow. 
 Loud kickings at the door soon knocked in its feeble 
 fastening, and a dozen Arabs entered. They had come 
 to buy gunpowder from the Christian miller. After 
 much bargaining he pulled out the old canvas sack I 
 had been leaning upon for hours, and wherein was the 
 gunpowder perfectly loose, and we had been smoking 
 too, and now a man came in with a nargilleh (water- 
 pipe). The powder was weighed in handfuls. Each 
 of the Arabs flashed a pinch of it and then blew down 
 
 " Now we can give them the ' Children's Friend ' in Arabic, printed 
 in England, and with the Sultan's portrait gracing the book outside.
 
 Chap. XI V.J E^iter Arabs. 245 
 
 the mouth of his rusty gun. Some put their powder in 
 bits of paper in their belts, others carried it quite free 
 in a goatskin bag, others in their pockets, with a dozen 
 more things. Each man wrangled all the time of 
 weighing his portion, and he always got a spoonful more 
 thrown in extra to quiet his murmurings. They all 
 departed at last, and we were at peace. 
 
 But they all returned again with loud imperious mien 
 to say " their change was wrong." My wearied host only 
 sighed and gave half-farthings round, and I did not w^ish 
 to see any more of the miller's customers ; but to-morrow 
 will tell about that. The cats scampered over me all 
 night, no doubt they smelt the large pudding in my 
 bag. In dreamy struggles to explain how the eyes of 
 cats will glance bright like diamonds through black 
 darkness, sleep seized and overcame.
 
 246 River Banias. [Chap. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 RIVER BANIAS — STRANGE ROCK — AFLOAT ALONE — HIDING — "WALTZ- 
 ING" — MEETING OF THE WATERS — PURSUED — AT BAY — FIRED AT 
 — CAUGHT — CAI'TIVE'S APPEAL — CARRIED TO CAPTIVITY — BEFORE 
 THE COURT — SENTENCE — TAUNTS — REVENGE — ESCAPE. 
 
 DEFT little lassie, good morning ! Your bright 
 e}^es, how they sparkle ! your neat and modest 
 dress, how tidy ! Darling of your father — fair Christian 
 maid, good bye ! 
 
 Now, Hany, my lad, hoist up the Rob Roy, and be 
 careful, Latoof and Adoor. 
 
 We were taking the canoe as far as possible on horse- 
 back over the plain to save the time of floating on 
 the crooked river, and thus to gain a fine long daylight 
 for the voyage itself. The Banias makes long bends 
 here, keeping well eastwards to our left, and at intervals 
 I rode to its banks to inspect them. Near Mansoura it 
 passes a most curious obstacle, an oblong level rock, 
 probably the last rock in the plain. This projects from 
 the west bank, due eastwards. It is rectangular in shape, 
 about six feet thick, and three feet out of the water. 
 Against this barrier the river runs full tilt, and foams back, 
 turning on itself as if in anger. The swift current sways 
 to the left, and rushes quite round the end of the rock in 
 a narrow passage ; there must be rock on its other side 
 too, else it would soon sweep out a broad bay in the bank.
 
 Chap. XV.] 
 
 Stra7ige Rock. 
 
 247 
 
 strange Rock in Jordan. 
 
 Never having seen before a rock so placed in a river, 
 I made the sketch of it which is given below. 
 
 The banks of the Banias are 
 otherwise uninteresting here, and 
 about six feet high along the 
 plain. Shrubs line them at in- 
 tervals, but they are mostly bare 
 and gravelly. Buffaloes and 
 horses browse on the luscious 
 grass. All the horses appear 
 to be of one colour, for they 
 are thickly coated with mud. 
 Clover, I am sure, would readily 
 grow on their backs. As for 
 the buffaloes — the " bulls of 
 Bashan " — their favourite pas- 
 time is to stand, with outstretched gaping head, just up to 
 their stomachs in slush. A herdsman was out thus early 
 to drive this mixed flock somewhere. He rode a splendid 
 Arab without saddle or bridle, and perfectly naked him- 
 self With a long stick he dealt heavy blows on the 
 horses before him, and heavier upon the buffaloes. All 
 these plunged and scampered, and squealed, bellowed, 
 and kicked, with their tails in the air, a loud wild orgie 
 of savage animal life. 
 
 The few hamlets in the marsh are curiously various in 
 their architecture. After the stone house and flat roof 
 we had left, there is the mud wall with a round hump- 
 backed top of reed matting. Others have side mats for 
 walls, and the roof shaped like a pulpit cushion, of which 
 the tassels at the corners are heavy stones tied by straw 
 ropes to keep the light covers on ; black Arab tents 
 succeed, and with woven reeds at the sides, and then the 
 long tent pure and simple : all the varieties, in fact, of
 
 248 Afloat Alone. [Chap. XV. 
 
 tent and thatch, and mud and mat, combined. The 
 sketch at p. 265 will show these " Beit Shahr," the reed 
 demesnes of Hooleh. 
 
 We joined the Banias River where it runs between 
 the houses of Aksees, or Absees, or Abseeyieh, as it was 
 called by each of my instructors yesterday. The stream 
 was about 100 feet wide for a little, but narrowing and 
 expanding at every turn. The water was turbid and in 
 flood, with whirling eddies, the banks of reddish clay, 
 and thick reeds nestled in the bights. Nobody was 
 aroused in the village when we noiselessly launched the 
 Rob Roy to float on the third stream of Jordan, as it 
 had already floated on the other two. 
 
 Slowly we numbered each article that had to be 
 stowed away, so as to see that nothing was taken that 
 could possibly be left behind for lightness, and nothing 
 left that ought to be taken for safety. Hany was now 
 to return towards Dan, whence the mules and baggage 
 had already gone away, and he was to press on to 
 Mellaha, near the end of Hooleh Lake, where he was to 
 wait for me, and to watch night and day by relays until 
 I might arrive, " any time during the next forty-eight 
 hours." 
 
 It was bright sunshine above us, and the river-stream 
 looked hearty and strong below, but there was more 
 than usual pressure between our hands as the Rob Roy 
 glided off with my dragoman's earnest " God bless 
 you!" 
 
 Once more alone, the interest and excitement were 
 strung up to the highest pitch. It was not like the 
 Ateibeh morass, where my tent was on shore, and I had 
 only to get back to it. Here, on the Jordan, the stream 
 was far too powerful to think of returning against it ; 
 and where, indeed, could I come back to .''
 
 Chap. XV.] Hiding. 2,49 
 
 The interest arose from the hope of discovering the 
 real course of Jordan. 
 
 Suppose we had ten miles of the Thames still uncer- 
 tain in our maps, would it not be a reproach to English 
 boatmen } But Jordan was an old river before the 
 Thames was heard of, and the Thames will be forgotten 
 when Jordan will be remembered for ever. What an 
 honour, then, for the Rob Roy to trace even one new 
 bend of this ancient river ! 
 
 As the Hooleh Arabs seemed to be an ill-looking set, 
 and had but a poor certificate of character from the tales 
 of travellers, I tried to slip by them unperceived under 
 the high banks, and this was the first place in my 
 voyages where the natives were to be eluded. 
 
 On the Abana the difficult parts for the canoe were 
 in deep rocky defiles, where no man, friend or foe, could 
 come along the banks ; but here, on Jordan, the banks 
 were level and open to the prowling robbers. Moreover, 
 I was to meet them, if at all, without the constraining 
 pomp and presence of a retinue, and, once captured, I 
 would be lawful prize for a ransom. 
 
 No one caught sight of the canoe as she stole past 
 the mat houses of Absees under a few palm-trees. Then 
 the river wound very crookedly, but with steep banks 
 and jungle concealing me. The bends were so angular 
 and the current so swift that in the turns it was utterly 
 impossible not to run into the thick overhanging canes. 
 Then was invented a new way of getting round sharp 
 serpentine corners, and which I beg to commend very 
 warmly to canoeists. • 
 
 The diagram will show this manoeuvre. We are sup- 
 posed to be speeding fast round a bend shaped like the 
 letter S, and this is the way to manage it. 
 
 Run the bows of the canoe gently into the left bank
 
 2!;o 
 
 " Waltzing: 
 
 [Chap. XV. 
 
 at the first angle, and let the stern be swung by the 
 current until you can back into the right bank of the next 
 angle, and run the stern in there. Let the current again 
 swing the bow until }'ou can paddle ahead in freedom, 
 and so escape from the double bend. 
 
 It will be found 
 that the eddies are 
 all in favour of this 
 plan, and the jungle 
 in the bends is an 
 aid rather than 
 hindrance ; but the 
 operation requires 
 quiet attention and 
 good balancing, 
 e.specially when 
 steering back fore- 
 most ; and a good 
 look-out must be kept, lest in the narrow parts of the 
 stream both bow and stern might be caught at once, 
 when an upset would be a moral certainty. 
 
 This new pas in the canoe I called " waltzing," the 
 Rob Roy being my partner ; and as we were whirling 
 about in this dance without music, I saw a head gazing 
 over the reeds in amazement. His eyes opened large, 
 up went his hands, and he disappeared with a yell. 
 Soon I heard others shouting, and soon — too soon — they 
 all ran near to see. In a moment I noticed how very 
 different they w^ere in manner from any other spectators 
 that so often had run alongside me in Europe, Africa, 
 and America. They were dancing in frantic excitement 
 and shouting ferociously. The bounding current bore 
 me along too fast for their running, but while I had to 
 go round the long bends, they crossed by shorter routes, 
 
 " Waltzing.'
 
 Chap. XV.] Meeting of the Waters. 251 
 
 and saluted my approach with a volley of clods. All 
 these fell harmless, and at the next bend the Hasbany 
 River ran into the Banias ; so the men were left at the 
 point of junction, high on the steep bank, screaming 
 until I disappeared. 
 
 The Hasbany joins the Banias in a proper orthodox 
 way, each river yielding its tribute quietly to the united 
 whole, and now for the first time is formed the veritable 
 Jordan. Vandevelde marks this spot near Tell Sheikh 
 Yusuf, "the Mount of the lord Joseph;"' and he is 
 quite right, for there was the green hill close by the 
 shore, the junction of the geographical and the historic 
 streams of Jordan, the wedding of the line of largest 
 waters with the line of longest fame.^ 
 
 Each of the rivers here seems to be about seventy 
 feet wide, and seven or eight feet deep. The waters of 
 both were pale brown in colour, and their united stream 
 was about a hundred feet broad. Here I intended to 
 land and take bearings, but the banks were perfectly 
 steep. However, in the middle there was a beautiful 
 
 ' On the east is shown the place where Joseph was sold to the 
 Midianites. 
 
 ^ Robinson rode (with Thomson) from Tell el Kady to Sheikh Yusuf in 
 an hour and forty minutes {' Land and the Book,' i. 388). Josephus says : 
 " Now Jordan's visible stream arises from this cavern (Panium), and 
 divides the marshes and fens of the Lake Semechonitis : when it hath 
 run another hundred and seventy furlongs" ('J. W.' book iii. ch. x. sec. 
 vii.). The distance he mentions would be about fourteen English miles. 
 But the position of Tell Sheikh Yusuf is settled by the observations of 
 Captain Wilson, R.E., and Lieutenant Anderson, R.E., whose survey 
 reached to this spot, and from these the Tell is marked in our map, as 
 well as Mansoura, Banias, and Jisr Ghujar, fixed in relation to Tell Haroweh 
 (on the south-west of Map V.), where was an astronomical station. Thus 
 far the features of the district of Hooleh are now published for the first time 
 from proper data, and it will be seen that all previous maps are wrong. 
 The details nf Map V., and the whole of Map VI., are from my own 
 observation.
 
 252, Pursued. [Chap. XV. 
 
 island of small round black gravel, and I ran tlie boat 
 on that and got out to rest, to collect my thoughts as 
 to the new complexion things had taken. 
 
 I took out my pistol and cocked it, then a large rice 
 pudding and cocked that too, and began to settle whether 
 it was better to lie concealed for an hour, or to push on 
 swiftly and try to outrun the wave of excitement which 
 had evidently arisen, and which would quickly propagate 
 itself among the Arabs in the fields. 
 
 Launched again, the current bore us on delightfully. 
 The banks were from twelve to twenty feet high and 
 quite vertical, with grass upon the top, through which 
 two buffaloes looked at me, and soon their driver too. 
 I gave him a most polite " salaam ! " but he stared as 
 if he saw a ghost — a most terrible ghost, — and then he 
 ran away hallooing. 
 
 With all my might I pressed on now, but soon heard 
 the men behind me. In a straight reach, and with 
 a good current like this, they could not keep up 
 with the canoe.^ But here these pursuers cut across 
 the bends on shore, and so they overtook me in ten 
 minutes. Then a dozen of them were running high 
 above, and they speedily increased to fifty — men, women, 
 and children. 
 
 It was of no use now to paddle fast, but better to 
 reserve my strength and keep cool for A\'hat might come. 
 Suddenly every one of them disappeared, but I knew I 
 must meet them all round the next corner. There they 
 were, screaming, with that wild hoarseness only the 
 Arab can attain, " Al burra ! al burra ! " (To land ! 
 to land !) That was the chorus, and a royal salute of 
 missiles splashed in the water. I bowed to them quietly, 
 
 3 In the "long race" of our Canoe Club, the pace is 12 miles in 85 
 minutes in ' racers ' ; and in 98 minutes in ' Rob Roys ' — with tide.
 
 Chap. XV.] At bay. 253 
 
 and answered " Ingleez ;" but they ran still with me in 
 a tumultuous rabble, and seeing some of them drop their 
 scanty garments I knew what would follow — they jumped 
 into the water. They swam splendidly, and always with 
 right and left hand alternately in front ; but of course I 
 distanced the swimmers, who murmured deep, while the 
 others shouted and laughed. Every one of them had a 
 top-knot erect on his head — a sort of gentleman's chignon 
 (only it was his oivn hair). Then the naked ones got 
 out and ran along the bank again, and all disappeared 
 as before for another attack. 
 
 It was a crisis now ; but there was no shirkin"- it, and 
 the Rob Roy whirled round the next point beautifully. 
 Here the river was wide, and the rascals were waitinsf 
 in the water, all in a line across, about a score of them 
 wading to their middle. 
 
 For a moment I paused as to what ^\•as best to do. 
 In such times 'tis best to wait for events and not to make 
 them. All were silent, and stopped as I quietly floated 
 near one of the swimmers, then suddenly splashed him in 
 the face with my paddle, and instantly escaped through 
 the interval with a few vigorous strokes, while a shout of 
 general applause came from the bank ; and they all ran 
 on except one, who took a magnificent " header " into 
 the river, and came up exactly by the stern of the Rob 
 Roy, with his arm over her deck. But my paddle 
 was under his arm in an instant, and I gently levered 
 him off, saying, in my softest accents, " Katerhayrac ! " 
 (Thanks!), as if he had been rendering a service. 
 The shout renewed, and the best of them all retired dis- 
 comfited. 
 
 At this time we must have been quite near the village 
 of Salhyeh (a name I can never forget\ and the number 
 of people on the banks was now at the least a hundred-
 
 254 Fij'cd at. [Chap. XV. 
 
 Many of them had ox-goads, some had spears, the rest 
 had the long clubs with huge round knobs at the end, 
 peculiar to that northern district. Another shower of 
 missiles came, but not one of them hit the boat. Then 
 rose the cry, " Baroda ! baroda ! " (the gun ! the gun !). 
 
 I let my boat float quietly that the excitement might 
 cool down, and, looking at the mob quite close, I saw 
 several point their long guns at me ; one kneeled to do 
 so, yet none of them at first seemed really in earnest 
 to shoot, for they did not chip their flints. 
 
 But soon on a little point in front I noticed a man 
 posted methodically for a purpose. He trimmed his 
 priming, he cocked his hammer, and, as I came straight 
 up to him, every other person stopped to look, and not a 
 voice was heard. 
 
 I could not escape this man, and he knew that well. 
 Up went his gun to his shoulder : he was cool, and so 
 was I. The muzzle was not twenty feet from my face. 
 Three thoughts coursed through my brain : " Will hit 
 me in the mouth ; bad to lie wounded here." " Aimed 
 from his left shoulder ; how convenient to shoot on both 
 sides!" "No use 'bobbing' now— first time under fire 
 — Arabs respect courage." The clear round black of the 
 muzzle end followed me, covering accurately. I stared 
 right at the man's eyes, and, as his hand tugged at the 
 stiff trigger, I gave one powerful stroke ; at the same 
 moment he fired — fiz, bang! and a splash of the bullet 
 in the water .behind me. Loud shouts came out of the 
 smoke. I stopped, brandished my paddle, and shouted, 
 " Not fair to use a gun ! " In an instant the water 
 was full of naked swimmers straining towards me. 
 In vain I tried hard to avoid them. Suddenly my 
 canoe was wrenched down at one end. It was the same 
 black giant I had elbowed off before \ but now he came
 
 Chap. XV.] 
 
 Caught. 
 
 "SS 
 
 furiously, brandishing the white shank-bone of a buffalo. 
 I warded off that with my paddle, but another got 
 hold of the boat. I was captured now, and must 
 resort to tactics. The crowd yelled louder in triumph, 
 but I motioned ni}^ captors' to take the boat to the 
 
 Capture, 
 
 opposite shore. The man cried " Bakshish ! " — a word 
 I had somehow heard before ! I said, " Yes ; but to the 
 sheikh." The villain answered, " / am the sheikh ;" but 
 I knew he was not. His face was black, his cheeks were 
 deeply gashed and tattooed ; he had one big earring. 
 His topknot stood erect, and the water glistened on his 
 huge naked carcase as he roughly grasped my delicate 
 little paddle. My pistol lay between my knees full- 
 cocked, and my hand stole down to it. Better thoughts
 
 256 Captives Appeal. [Chap. XV. 
 
 came instantly. " Why should I shoot this poor savage .'' 
 it will not free me. Even if it does, it would be liberty 
 bought by blood." Still I parleyed with the man till he 
 softened down. I pointed to his bone weapon, and said 
 it was not fair to use it. He pointed to my paddle, and 
 said that was not fair. Poor fellow ! I felt for him ; his 
 vanity had been wounded by discomfiture before. Soon 
 we became good friends, chiefly by my smiles and 
 patting his wet shaven pate. 
 
 I kept him yet on the far side of the river, that the 
 others might sober a little, for the Arabs quiet into calm 
 as suddenly as they flash into rage. All the village was 
 out now on the banks, and many swam over to the Rob 
 Roy. I formally appointed my captor as my protector, 
 and he became proud instead of angry. Little as I knew 
 of the language, he could understand my meaning, — nay, 
 there is scarcely any idea oi facts that you cannot make 
 intelligible without words if you are at once calm and in 
 earnest.* Then we crossed — he swimming and holding on 
 with excruciating twists to the poor prisoned Rob Roy. 
 How frantic the people were ! Some pf them in the 
 crowd tumbled over into the water. They did not mind 
 that a bit. I commanded silence, and all obeyed. Then 
 was pronounced this eloquent oration. " I am English." 
 They replied, " Sowa, sowa " (friends), and then rubbed 
 their two forefingers together, the usual sign of amity. 
 Holding up one finger, I said, " Ingleez wahed " (one 
 Englishman), then holding up both hands, I said, 
 " Araby kooloo " (all the rest Arabs). At this the 
 crowd applauded, laughing, and so did I. A little girl 
 now took up a huge lump of red earth, and from the 
 bank, about eight feet above me, she hurled it down 
 
 •♦ It is quite another matter to understand the natives. They speak as if 
 you knew their language- -you gesticulate as if they don't know yours.
 
 Chap. XV.] Carried to Captivity. 257 
 
 with violence upon the canoe. This was the time 
 to be perfectly calm. If the quick spirit had seized 
 them then, the boat would have been smashed to 
 pieces in three seconds. Turning, therefore, slowly- 
 round, I pointed to the horrid mess the mud had made 
 on the clean white waterproof of the canoe, and looked 
 up in the faces of them all with a pleasant but beseech- 
 ing air. It was a crisis this. They looked at one 
 another for a moment silently, and then, as by a general 
 impulse, they rushed at the hapless girl, and as the 
 whole mob of them disappeared over the bank, I heard 
 her screams and the thumps of discipline that caused 
 them. In the confusion caused by this absence I had 
 almost escaped once more, when they angrily captured 
 me again. But they could not persuade me to get out 
 of the boat, and for this reason : my pistol was still 
 open and at full cock lying on the floor boards of the 
 canoe. If I got out, they would see it, and surely would 
 scramble for the prize. Every time I put my hand 
 inside to stow the pistol away out of sight, they tried 
 to wrench my paddle from the other hand. One 
 hand was, therefore, needed for the paddle, but the 
 other could not be spared from its duty of patting 
 their wet greasy heads, which affectionate caress seemed 
 to be an unwonted but most successful mode of pro- 
 pitiation. 
 
 The water mob of swimmers closed nearer and waxed 
 larger as more crossed the river. Their curiosity was 
 boundless, and every hand tried to undo my apron or 
 to get somehow under the deck. Their patience was on 
 the ebb, and while I considered what to do next, I felt 
 the Rob Roy heaving this way and that, and then 
 gradually, and despite all my smiling but earnest remon- 
 strance, the canoe began to rise out of the water 
 
 S
 
 258 Before the Court. [Chap. XV. 
 
 with all her crew. Loud shouts welcomed her ascent up 
 the bank as a dozen dark-skinned bearers lifted the 
 canoe and her captain, sitting inside, with all due dignity 
 graciously smiling, and so they carried her fairly up the 
 steep bank and over the smooth sward some hundred 
 yards towards the tent of their Arab sheikh. 
 
 See this strange progress depicted in the frontispiece 
 of our volume, and it may safely be said that no prisoner 
 before was ever thus taken into custody. 
 
 But it was an anxious journey this from river to tent. 
 The men were rough and boisterous. The boat heeled 
 and plunged as if in a terrible sea. I clasped the two 
 nearest bearers round their necks to steady these 
 surgings. Then they let the boat down while I clung 
 to their clammy cheeks and swarthy shoulders, and I 
 had soon to loose hold of these and descend to the 
 ground with the Rob Roy, for I would never desert her. 
 Up aloft again ! and laughing and shouting we waddled 
 along, while the crowd was denser than ever, until the 
 sheikh came slowly to meet us with a few of his ancient 
 councillors. 
 
 I insisted that the canoe should be placed in his tent. 
 After much resistance he suddenly allowed it, and then 
 I got out. But what to do next 1 The first thing to 
 recollect in this sort of adventure is that time is of no 
 consequence to such people, but that stage effect and 
 dignity are very important to your case. Therefore 
 I made long preliminaries, and ordered every person 
 out of the tent. The crowd obeyed, after some had 
 been beaten with sticks to convince them. The sheikh 
 seemed puzzled at the whole affair. I looked at him 
 carefully, and saw he was a second-rate man without 
 decision in his mien, and one who would like events to 
 happen under other orders than his own.
 
 Chap. XV.] Sentence. 259 
 
 Having now a fair stage scene around the central 
 figures, I came forward slowly, hat in hand, and bowed 
 to the sheikh very low, and shook hands with him 
 heartily, and told him I was a wandering Briton on my 
 way to the lake, and I would rest at his tent until the 
 sun was cooler. 
 
 The crowd was attentive and silent. Men in the rear 
 beat off the boys, and the women went behind the tent 
 and peered through the matting, so that a whole 
 regiment of feminine noses was ranged over the little 
 Rob Roy, now reclining safe on a carpet. The sheikh 
 retired to consult with his Cabinet. I asked for two 
 men to keep order, and he gave them, and desperately 
 tyrannical they were upon the mob. After an hour, 
 about mid-day, the chief and his ministry came back, 
 and ordered " silence," and said, " You cannot go to the 
 lake." I said, " I must." He answered it was " impos- 
 sible." I said I must go to see that. He gave me the 
 very smallest wink that could be given by a man's eye, 
 and I answered by one a little smaller. Then I knew 
 he could be convinced — /. c. bribed, and so finally, at 
 any rate, I would have my own way. 
 
 The tent was cleared again. About twenty women 
 came forward in a group, and the sheikh's wife, quite 
 refined in manner and very intelligent. I behaved to 
 her as if she were an English lady. She was lost in 
 amazement when I exhibited my bed, my lamp, the 
 compass, and cuisine. She listened with kind and 
 feminine interest to my plaint that I was losing all 
 the fine sunshine of the day a prisoner alone among 
 strangers. She fetched her husband by himself, and, 
 under cover of showing him the inside of the canoe, I 
 managed to let him see a gold napoleon in my open 
 hand, and with a nudge to his elbow for emphasis to the
 
 26o Taunts. [Chap. XV. 
 
 sight. He whispered, " Shwei, shwei " (softly, quietly), 
 and it was evident he was now bought. 
 
 The " council of ancients " came with their final de- 
 cision, "You cannot go to-day,. but must have a horse 
 to-morrow. There are reeds (Rab) quite impassable." I 
 explained how the canoe went through reeds in the lake of 
 Hijaneh. "Yes," they answered, "but there is water in 
 Hijaneh, now here the reeds are so," and they placed a 
 sort of hedge of sticks at the bow of my canoe to explain. 
 
 I then began to amuse them by making sketches of 
 men and horses, next I gave a lesson in geography by 
 placing nutshells at various points to represent " Sham " 
 (Damascus), Musr (Cairo), El Khuds (Jerusalem), and 
 Bahr (the lake of Hooleh), and at last placed one little 
 shell at the extreme end of the tent to represent England 
 so far away. They exclaimed loudly in astonishment at 
 my long journey to see them. At intervals several of 
 these men kept boring me for "bakshish." One was 
 an old deaf cunning fellow, Avho whispered the word in 
 my ear. Another, a sharp lad, who said he had seen the 
 " Ingleez " at Bey rout, spoke incessantly to me by signs 
 only, and he did it admirably, the clever variations 
 of his noiseless pictures always culminating in the 
 same subject, " bakshish." A third applicant used no 
 such delicate coyness in the matter, but merely roared 
 out the hateful word before all, and louder every time. 
 
 No one had as yet offered me any food. This gross 
 neglect (never without meaning among the Arabs) I 
 determined now to expose, and so to test their real 
 intentions. My cuisine was soon rigged up for cooking, 
 and I asked for cold water. In two minutes afterwards 
 the brave little lamp was steaming away at high pressure 
 with its merry hissing sound. Every one came to see 
 this. I cut thin slices of the preserved beef soup, and,
 
 Chap. XV.] Reve7ige. 261 
 
 while they were boiling, I opened my salt-cellar. This 
 is a snuff-box, and from it I offered a pinch to the 
 Sheikh. He had never before seen salt so white (the 
 Arab salt is like our black pepper), and therefore, think- 
 ing it was sugar, he willingly took some from my hand 
 and put it to his tongue. Instantly I ate up the rest of 
 the salt, and with a loud, laughing shout, I administered 
 to the astonished outwitted sheikh a manifest thump on 
 the back. 
 
 " What is it ? " all asked from him. " Is it sukker ? " 
 He answered demurely, " La ! meleh !" (No, it's salt !) 
 Even his Home Secretary laughed at his chief We 
 had now eaten salt together, and in his own tent, and 
 so he was bound by the strongest tie, and he knew it. 
 
 The soup was now ready and boiling hot. They all 
 examined my little metal spoon, and my carving-knife 
 went round (it never came back). I gave every one of 
 them seated in a circle about me one spoonful of the 
 boiling soup, which, of course, scalded each man's mouth, 
 and made him wince bitterly, yet without telling the 
 next victim. Now they had all partaken of food with 
 their prisoner. How much they relished it, I don't know. 
 All went out, and I took this opportunity to stand near 
 the sheikh, and try to slip the napoleon into his hand. 
 He was quite uncertain what to do when the gold 
 tickled his palm. It was utterly against their code of 
 chief and people for him to take this secret personal 
 gift from a stranger, yet he could not resist the tempta- 
 tion. His hand pushed mine away, but with a very 
 gentle indignation. Soon his fingers played among mine 
 as the yellow coin kept turning about, half held by each 
 of us, unseen behind our backs. Two of the sheikh's 
 fingers were pushing it away, but then the other three 
 fingers were pulling it in. Finally I felt the coin had
 
 262 Escape. [Chap. XV. 
 
 left me, and I knew now the sheikh was not only- 
 bought h\x\. paid for. With face abashed, he slunk away. 
 An hour more of palaver was spent by the seniors, during 
 which time I ate my luncheon heartily and read the 
 ' Times.' Then all came back except the chief, and the 
 women were rustling behind the mat screens, and a 
 great bustle seemed to say that the verdict was agreed 
 upon. The " foreman " briefly told it — " You are to go 
 to-morrow." 
 
 This would never do — but how to reverse the sentence .-* 
 I was seated on the ground at the time, and I rose very 
 slowly and gravely, until, standing on a little eminence 
 in the tent, and drawing myself up besides as tall as 
 could be, and stretching up my hand as high as possible 
 (and utterly undetermined what I was going to say, and 
 exceedingly tempted to burst into laughter), I exclaimed 
 with my loudest voice only three words, Bokra .'' — La ! 
 — Ingleez ! (To-morrow i* — No ! — I am English !) and 
 then the orator sunk calmly down and went on reading 
 his paper again. In five minutes more a man came to 
 say I might leave at once. But I was not to be shoved 
 oft' in this way, so I insisted that they must carry my 
 canoe back to the river. The procession, therefore, 
 formed again, with the Rob Roy in the centre, and her 
 captain walking behind, while boys and girls, and 
 especially the people who had not already seen her 
 on the water, all rushed in a crowd to the bank with 
 the same hoarse shouts they had given before, and 
 which we were now more accustomed to hear. All 
 parties pledged their friendship in deep " salaams " of 
 adieu, and we paddled off", rejoicing.
 
 Chap. XVI.] Chase resumed. 263 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CHASE RESUMED — A RASCAL — THE RIVER — BUFFALOES — SNAKES — 
 THE BARRIER — HOW TO EAT — PRISON FARE — THE RASCAL AGAIN 
 
 — VOICE OF THE NIGHT — HURRAH! — RIDING HIGH HORSE — FREE 
 
 — DUTY — CHEAP. 
 
 BUT once out of sight of the huts, and when I had 
 just begun a Httle song of lonely triumph, the 
 crowd came running in pursuit, calling for " bakshish," 
 and very urgent too. I chose out four men of the 
 company, and promised to pay them as a body-guard. 
 In a moment they emerged from their clothes, dashed 
 into the stream, and then ran along the opposite bank. 
 This was to keep me to themselves. 
 
 The two parties accompanying me, on different sides 
 of the river, and having different objects, soon quarrelled. 
 The four men on the west bank, who were naked and 
 could swim the numerous lagoons that now branched 
 around the river, called out to me, " Sook ! sook!" that 
 is " Pull ! pull ! " so as to make me go faster on, and thus 
 enable them to return before the sun set. They wished 
 to earn their payment as soon as they could. The 
 others, however, on the east bank, who were delayed by 
 carrying their clothes and clubs and ox-goads — some of 
 them also being girls — commanded me to go slower, by
 
 264 A Rascal. [Chap, xvl 
 
 an unceasing cry of " Awash-awash-awashawash ! " (no 
 doubt a continuous form of " Shweieh.") They wished 
 to delay my progress and to extract money the while. 
 This disturbance was an unlooked-for trouble and diffi- 
 culty. It prevented me from making careful notes of 
 the river's course in this interesting part of its channel, 
 unseen by any other traveller, or, at all events, un- 
 described. 
 
 It was evident, too, that I was still not free, yet I 
 determined to press on, resolved, if I could only get rid 
 of the men, I would cheerfully sleep in the wildest part 
 of the marsh, trusting for better times to-morrow. 
 
 The men on the east bank were more angry and 
 insolent as the current ran swifter. Baroda ! again was 
 the cry, and two of them pointed their guns at me as be- 
 fore. One of these men, whose weapon was as tall as 
 himself, did this at least twenty times in succession, 
 and always called out "Bakshish!" while he brought up 
 his gun to his clieek. 
 
 Now my purse was already empty, except of about a 
 shilling, and though they wanted my watch I determined 
 that at any rate for that my pistol might fairly be used 
 in defence, because an Arab who would rob a traveller 
 of his watch would have no scruple about putting " out 
 of the way " the only witness against him who would be 
 certain to compel the robber to deliver back the booty 
 through the Pasha. 
 
 The man's repeated menace and pointing of the gun 
 became so common a thing that I speedily got used to 
 the action, and at last, on one occasion, when the muzzle 
 of the long barrel was very close, I moved it aside with 
 my paddle.^ After this he stopped, and all on his side 
 
 ' It is not very difficult to understand how a soldier becomes used to 
 bullets in the battle. I do not think that courage is either increased or
 
 Chap. XVI.] 
 
 The River. 
 
 i6s 
 
 with him. Luckily they had come to where a deep 
 lagoon intercepted their progress, and with clothes or 
 guns they could not well swim across this, so I was now 
 more free to observe the river. 
 
 Here it was level with the marsh, and much of its volume 
 was lost by flooding aside into branches. The main 
 branch turned and twisted exceedingly, and was now 
 only twenty feet wide at the little group of huts called 
 Zweer/ out of which another set of men rushed forth, 
 
 diminished by experience, but that it is entirely congenital in kind and 
 degree. Daring or boldness may be called forth by frequent use of them 
 with immunity, or coolness by finding its extreme value, or by desire to 
 sustain reputation, or these maybe lessened by experience enforcing caution ; 
 but that seems to be because experience enables one man to dare more 
 as he finds the danger less, and forces another to dare less when he finds 
 that the danger is more than he thought at first. A man can learn -what 
 to fear most, but to fear is bom in him. A poodle and a mastiff are dif- 
 ferent even from their puppyhood. 
 ^ This is evidently the last dwelling in the marsh. Thomson states that
 
 266 Buffaloes. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 and several of them with guns. However my four nude 
 aides-de-camp talked to these neighbours, and they 
 allowed us to go on, and half a dozen of the new comers 
 swam with the others and easily kept pace with the boat. 
 The swimmers raised a long sharp cry together, 
 calling over and over a word I could not make out, but 
 which was evidently meant as a warning. Yamoos ! 
 Yamoos ! they shouted, pointing to a dangerous sweep 
 of the stream where six or seven large buffaloes were 
 immersed in the water, and only their heads appeared, 
 and horns and round staring eyes 
 
 In my first canoe voyage, when the Rob Roy and the 
 ' Rothion ' ^ began the river Meuse, we met a large herd 
 of bullocks swimming across the stream, and at first 
 sight they looked formidable, but it was soon perceived 
 that they were far more afraid of our canoes than we 
 need be of their horns. Still these were not wild oxen, 
 and we had allowed them room to retreat, whereas the 
 buffaloes in the Jordan were come of a turbulent stock 
 . not famed for politeness, and perhaps now they might 
 decline to give way, or they might even attack. 
 
 At any rate the men were unaccountably careful to 
 keep off. I ordered them all to stop perfectly quiet, and 
 then the Rob Roy floated gently through the group of 
 horns and eyes, and not one of the buffaloes did any- 
 thing worse than to stare.^ 
 
 he had a list of thirty-two villages in the plain, but they were all movable 
 huts, and there was not a " house " in any of them. 
 
 3 In this canoe the late Earl of Aberdeen went for a week with the 
 Rob Roy on her voyage to the Danube. The Rothion afterwards crossed 
 the English Channel at night (being the first canoe to perform that feat), 
 under the management of the late Hon. J. Gordon, one of the best oarsmen, 
 best rifle-shots, best canoeists, and best of Christians. 
 
 * St. Willibald, in the eighth century, speaks of the buffaloes of liooleh, 
 as " wonderful herds, with long backs, short legs, and large horns ; all of
 
 Chap. XVI.] Snakes. 267 
 
 The river forked out now into six different channels. 
 The guides disputed as to which was best, but every one 
 was hopelessly bad, and with all our care — the men 
 working splendidly to help me — the Rob Roy became 
 firmly entangled in a maze of bushes eight feet high. 
 The men bravely pulled us through, but only to get 
 her fixed again in the thickset stumps and reeds and 
 thorny branches which studded the marsh exactly as 
 they had been represented to me so graphically in the 
 tent. 
 
 To the utmost possible limit of this I hauled and 
 pushed and punted the Rob Roy, but at last there was 
 an end to further progress except by getting out. The 
 men standing round, and up to their middles in the 
 water, were amazed to see me also jump into the river. 
 
 Immediately there was a sharp twinge at my leg, like 
 the cut of a lancet, and only then I recollected what I 
 had been warned of so often — water snakes.^ But it was 
 merely a leech. There are thousands of these in a pond 
 above Banias, and men catch them for sale by dipping 
 their limbs in the water. It is evident now that there 
 are leeches also in Jordan. 
 
 Upon a deliberate survey of the little horizon around 
 me, it was perfectly clear that no boat, or even a reed 
 raft, or a plank, could get through the dense barrier 
 
 them are of one colour," and that they immersed themselves in the 
 marshes except their heads (Robinson, vol. iii. p. 342, note). Thomson 
 (vol. i. p. 384) seems to consider that the "behemoth" of Job meant the 
 buffalo, and that the land of Uz may be reasonably supposed to be that 
 east of Hooleli, the name of which might be derived from Hul, the brother 
 of Uz. 
 
 ' May not these be alluded to in the words of Moses — " Dan shall be a 
 serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that 
 his rider shall fall backward" (Gen. xlix. 17) ? One of the mounds in the 
 morass is called Tell Hay, the "hill of snakes."
 
 268 The Barrier. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 before me. I much question whether a duck, or at any 
 rate a fat one, could go far hito it, and only a fish would 
 be safe, as will be better seen when the other side of the 
 barrier is described in our next chapter. 
 
 In one sense it was satisfactory to find the obstacle 
 thus definite and beyond attempt. Had it been other- 
 wise, or with the faintest chance for an entrance, I might 
 have spent hours in vain, and the men would have left 
 me as hopeless and mad, and still there would have been 
 before me miles of impassable jungle, nor can any one 
 say how the venture would have ended. 
 
 Now that their words were proved true, I frankly 
 confessed it was so, saying, " Mafeesh derb ! " my Arabic 
 for " No road." So from the point marked N, in Map 
 v., we began our journey back. It was a hard fight to 
 retreat against current and snag. The men helped 
 to their utmost, but all of us were already tired. Some- 
 times they insisted upon towing the boat, but that was 
 soon found to be useless. Indeed, towing a light boat 
 in a winding river is one of the most dangerous of aquatic 
 performances. If you tow it down stream, it is nearly 
 sure to run ashore. If you try to tow it up stream, it is 
 most likely to get upset at the corners, u'hen its head is 
 not free, and, in such a case, the contents of the capsized 
 boat float away in a moment, and if you lose hold of 
 your craft, it may be impossible to regain it by swimming. 
 
 After a tedious travel back, then, we reached the 
 village, and the Rob Roy was carried into another tent — 
 that of the whispering senator, not that of the sheikh. 
 I was %et and weary, and though I put on more clothes 
 and thick carpets, and lighted a fire, the cold night air 
 blew round me shivering rolled up like a ball on the floor. 
 
 I noticed a man with a horse, and in secret urged him to 
 start ofl" at once to my dragoman at Mellaha. He said,
 
 Chap. XVI.] Hozv to eat. 269 
 
 "To-morrow," but I firmly replied, "To-night much pay 
 — to-morrow no pay at all," then he asked me for a 
 "writing" to give my dragoman. I knew that Hany 
 could not read English, and that I could not write 
 Arabic, but I sketched upon a bit of paper my canoe 
 fixed in a tree, and this the man put into his belt. 
 Of course I felt sure that he would not — could not — 
 start over the marsh in the dark. 
 
 The tent was soon filled by fifty men sitting closely 
 together. The sheikh came too, but with a face of most 
 hang-dog cheerfulness. He and the host and myself sat 
 cross-legged near the canoe, and on the other side of the 
 bright crackling fire were the visitors. In came a huge 
 wooden bowl of smoking " kusskoosoo," a kind of small 
 bean porridge uncommonly good to eat. Three little 
 black saucers of buffalo cream were set by us, the 
 magnates, and three wooden spoons. Water was brought 
 for our hands, then the chief shewed me the manner to 
 eat my supper. Taking a spoonful of the cream he put 
 it in his part of the general bowl and mixed it as he 
 pleased, while I did the same at my side, and the other 
 dark Arab at his. The people in front dipped their 
 hands in the public dish as often as possible, and rolling 
 up a ball of the contents in three fingers, each man 
 cleverly whipped the food into his mouth. When we at 
 the top had finished the bowl was passed among the 
 rest until every man had his supper. We all drank out of 
 one narrow-necked water jar. New comers dropped in, 
 and each of them bowed to the sheikh and saluted the 
 company. They all behaved with excellent propriety 
 and good breeding, and yet without any constraint. 
 
 Their whole talk was about our day's adventures, 
 especially the lesson in geography — not that in the 
 canoe, but by means of the nutshells — so I had to repeat
 
 270 Prison Fare. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 it, and on a much larger scale. Then I told them by signs 
 a long story about steamboats which I had acted to 
 another Arab tribe many years before at the Dead Sea. 
 Some old dirty figs were produced as dessert, and I re- 
 solved to give them a treat from the " caboose " of the 
 Rob Roy. Roast fowl came forth, therefore, and rice pud- 
 ding, fine white bread, dates, excellent almonds and raisins, 
 sugar, pepper, eggs, and the best black tea from old Eng- 
 land. The raisins they seemed not to know, for they 
 passed them from hand to hand. The tea, too, was quite 
 a novelty, but by far the most prized was the pudding. 
 
 Pipes were soon puffing. Every man of them pressed 
 me to smoke his, and a youngster next but one to me 
 was my greatest favourite from his lively laugh and 
 eyes like diamonds, and his quick perception of all I 
 explained. In a whisper I was told an hour after that 
 this was the identical hero who had aimed at me so 
 often with his gun until I knocked it away with my 
 paddle." I did not noAV alter my bearing towards him, 
 
 '' He smoked the "sebeel," a curious short pipe from Bagdad, without 
 any stem. An Arab usually carries his chibouque thrust down his back, 
 with the bowl uppermost, near his turban. If he loses his pipe, or forgets 
 to bring it, he is in desperation, almost as bad as a lady who has mislaid 
 her reticule. Once, in Egypt, the man who took us to some caves had left 
 his pipe behind. When we came out, he had rolled up a large tliick brown 
 paper, in which we brought the candles, and out of them he maile a ciga- 
 rette twelve inches long and an inch thick. My muleteer, Latoof, was the 
 most inveterate smoker of our party on the tour, and by far the strongest 
 man, but it was the nargilleh he affected, and not the chibouque. At Kerak, 
 on the Sea of Galilee, his nargilleh was lost, and we were too far away 
 from a village to buy another. In this difficult strait, Latoof went mooning 
 about for an hour or two, but to solace his bereavement, he got a glass 
 bottle, and two reeds, and some clay, and long grass, and a bit of wood, 
 and with great ingenuity he managed to construe a new nargilleh, whereat 
 Adoor, our laureate, had to compose a special song, and the old chorus 
 was soon heard again in the gurgling of the hubblebubble. In the ruins of 
 Jerusalem numerous clay pipes have been lately discovered, fifty feet below 
 the surface.
 
 Chap. XVI.] The Rascal again. 271 
 
 for it would have been difficult to explain why. Perhaps 
 it would have been difficult for this young rascal to 
 explain why he aimed at me so often, though one can 
 easily understand why the other one had fired the shot 
 before. For consider that, while these people had never 
 seen nor heard of a boat, they had all heard about 
 ghosts and water sprites, and so when they suddenly 
 saw a thing with a man's face, but all the rest of it 
 unlike a man — a long brown double-ended body joined 
 by grey skin to a grey pot-shaped head, and waving 
 about two blue hands (the paddle-blades) — which of 
 them could refrain from taking a shot at such a creature } 
 Would you or I, walking with a loaded gun and a finger 
 on the trigger, and eager for an excuse to fire, if we saw 
 for the first time a thing in the air unknown before and 
 yet plainly living, could we resist the desire to fire at it 
 instantly t Not I, certainly ; so my assailant might well 
 be forgiven. 
 
 It was late when I was left with the old Arab only. 
 After one look out on the bright moon, the starry night, 
 and the palm-tree in front of us, I piled wood upon the 
 fire, and carpets upon myself, and matting against 
 the wide-chinked walls of our camel's hair lodg-ing-- 
 Behind a division in the tent, and within a foot of my 
 ear, was a poor woman groaning all night in the distress 
 of illness. '^ I pitied her sadly in the dark, that she was 
 suffering while I was so happy and well ; but I could 
 not speak to her — that would have been felony at the 
 least. 
 
 The Arab snored beside the dying embers. Fitful 
 thoughts sped dreamily through my brain, for I had 
 
 '' The expression in Genesis xviii. lo, "And Sarah heard it in the tent 
 door which was behind him," is supposed to mean that she was then on the 
 women's side of the division or screen across the tent.
 
 272 Voice of the Night. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 resolved to slip out unperceived when all were asleep 
 and to cross the river, and then drag my canoe into a 
 hiding-place until morning, and so to scramble somehow 
 over the marsh, and then conceal the canoe and walk 
 on to the camp at Mcllaha. But after all attempts to 
 devise a plan, I could not find any method of paying 
 the men who had been my guides, and of course it would 
 never do to leave them unpaid. 
 
 In the gentle slumbering of playful dreams that 
 followed, a faint far voice seemed to flutter in the mid- 
 night. Again I heard it — wakened, and then heard it 
 again distinctly, though so distant, calling out clearly 
 
 a long drawn " Rob Roy ! " The thrill that 
 
 nerved me in an instant started me up erect, and with 
 the loudest longest hail I ever gave in my life, I shouted 
 " Rob Roy ! " in return. It was indeed the faithful 
 Hany who was calling to mc through the dark morass. 
 Up rose the Arab, and clutched my feet convulsively. 
 He thought I was raving, but it was only joy. I 
 told him, " My dragoman is coming, hurrah ! " but we 
 listened long again, and yet no answer came to my 
 hails, for Hany was now fording the Jordan, a perilous 
 feat in the dark, and in fear of treachery. 
 
 My messenger had, in fact, reached the camp at Mellaha, 
 and had found Hany just arriving after eleven hours on 
 horseback. Yet not for a moment did Hany hesitate 
 what to do — to rest, or to rescue the Rob Roy. The mes- 
 senger then told him he had brought a letter from me, but 
 searching for it, no letter could be found. I le had lost it 
 in the marsh, and I have got it now (all stained by his 
 red sash), having found the letter myself in the water. 
 Hany then suspected some plot of the Arabs to capture 
 both dragoman and master. Yet the brave fellow^ started, 
 and traversed this desolate wold.
 
 Chap. XVI.] Hurrah ! 273 
 
 And now the sound of near hoofs reached me, and a 
 loud long nearer hail, which was answered by the Eng- 
 lishman's authorised formula, "All right!" Up trotted 
 Hany on his tight little Arab quite as game yet as it had 
 been at sunrise. Latoof came on my horse, and Adoor 
 on the horse for the canoe. 
 
 All was changed round us in a moment by this 
 arrival. The news spread fast, and the sleepers were 
 roused in the huts. " Leave it all now to me, Sir," said 
 Hany ; so I sank into a mere spectator of a real drama 
 in life, and the play of character seen for the next half- 
 hour was far beyond the fancies of the hired fictitious 
 stage. Hany stirred up the old host to extreme activity, 
 and then piled up a blazing fire, sent for the Arabs all 
 round, and rated them soundly with caustic effrontery. 
 One Arab dared to half mutter a protest, but Hany 
 spurned him to the floor ; he launched out thus against 
 even our friends, and abused Latoof for not quickly 
 cleaning my boots — saying (aside) to me, in English, 
 " Don't mind. Sir ! Latoof and I have arranged all this 
 before." Hany was abject to me in manner — respectful 
 is not the word — but contemptuous to the wild Hoo- 
 lehites, and all this was as much as to say to them, 
 " See how you are like grasshoppers before mc — yet I am 
 but the slave of Howaja, and Ids height above you 
 how measureless — him you have dared to insult ! " 
 
 I ventured to suggest, though timidly, " Hany, all this 
 is but humbug," His answer was instant and final, 
 " Without humbug, master, we could never manage these 
 men." Candles, and a sumptuous feast, and a brilliant 
 teapot, came quickly out of his saddle-bags. I had to 
 sit in state, and to eat with feigned hunger, while the 
 Arabs could only gaze with awe. 
 
 It was difficult not to smile at their altered bearing, 
 
 T
 
 2 74 Riding High Horse. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 but I paid all of them well that had worked for me, and 
 managed to get a few compass bearings by the pale light 
 of dawn. Amid the loud rebukes and feeble answers at 
 our parting, there was an amusing conversation in an 
 undertone, and which we may render thus, wherein H. 
 is my indignant dragoman, and A. is the Arab least 
 abashed in reply : — 
 
 H. Who was it fired on my master .'' 
 
 A. He was a Druse — a stranger. 
 
 H. When did he come, and where did he go } 
 
 A. He came two hours before, and left at once. 
 
 H. Why did you not catch him } Why did he fire } 
 
 A. Because the boat was so low the Howaja was sure 
 to be drowned, and because, if he went on, he was sure to 
 lose his way. 
 
 H. And so to save him from drowning, or being lost, 
 you thought it best to shoot him .'' Ah ! dogs, brutes, 
 pigs, Jews ! ^ 
 
 H. After Howaja paid you, why did one of your own 
 men aim at him ? 
 
 A. Only to frighten Howaja. 
 
 H. Did it frighten him .^ 
 
 A. Why— no. 
 
 H. Do you think a great English prince will be 
 frightened by your wretched guns } (Hany had his 
 double-barrelled English rifle and his Colt's revolver 
 
 s Men in Palestine call their fellows "Jew," as the very lowest of all 
 possible words of abuse. When we recollect that the Jews in this very land, 
 their own, were once the choice people of the world ; that now, through 
 the whole earth, among the richest, the bravest, the cleverest, the fairest, 
 the best at music and song, at poetry and painting, at art, and science, and 
 literature, at education, philanthropy, statesmanship, war, commerce, and 
 finance, in every sphere of life, are Jews - we may well remember the 
 word of prophecy which told us long ago that the name of Jew would be 
 a "by-word and a reproach," even in the Jews' own land.
 
 Chap. XVI.] Free. 275 
 
 dangling about most ostentatiously all this time.) Did 
 
 you ever hear of Abyssinia .'' 
 
 A. Oh yes! we know all about the Ingleez at " Ha- 
 bash." And so on. 
 
 We soon forded Jordan — the Rob Roy carrying me. 
 The journey over the plain, in a direction N.W., was 
 difficult ; but what must it have been last night for Hany 
 and the jaded horses .'' Often the Rob Roy had to be 
 carried by hand, or floated on the pools, while the horses 
 scrambled through. Once the sturdy Latoof went down 
 completely overhead in a treacherous hole. 
 
 At another place the canoe horse sunk down until his 
 head was buried in soft mud, even above his eyes, yet he 
 flinched not at all. I never saw so steady a nag. Other 
 parts of this journey, or voyage, were so much of land 
 and water mixed that I towed the Rob Roy along the 
 surface by tying her painter to my waist in the saddle. 
 One of three larger streams we forded was called by the 
 Arabs "Ain Messieh," the "spring of Christ." Another 
 was Ain Bellata, a " fountain of big stones." Our route 
 along these is marked on Map V. The two guides who 
 accompanied us from Salhyeh being handsomely paid, 
 we trudged along easily under the mountains for the rest 
 of our road, but Hany, still furious at the whole trans- 
 action of these two days, was urgent that I should write 
 upon it to the English Consul at Damascus. 
 
 It is a traveller's duty to think of the others that 
 may follow his route, and to remedy abuses, and 
 to punish extortions, and to abstain from doubtful 
 actions, lest others may suffer, even if he is not injured. 
 No person can be more sensible of this duty than one 
 who has been so much benefited by the good conduct of 
 other travellers as I have been ; and it would not be
 
 276 Duty. [Chap. XVI. 
 
 from carelessness or a forgetful content with my own 
 good fortune that I should by weakness, or lavish giving, 
 or by niggard pay, or winking at wrong, do anything to 
 spoil a good road for future tourists. But, after mature 
 reflection on this incident in Hooleh marsh, I felt it was 
 not one to complain of to our Consul. The custom, well 
 settled all over the East, is that the traveller must either 
 come guarded by the local ruling power with an escort 
 of adequate force ; or he must contract with an Arab tribe, 
 in Avhich case the " ghufr," or protection payment, makes 
 the receiver of it responsible ; or, thirdly, the traveller 
 may go at his own risk, but then he must abide the 
 usual consequences, and cannot fairly complain either to 
 his own Government at home or to that of the Sultan.^ 
 
 Now, the canoe could not have a Turkish guard, 
 for it paddled where even Arabs could scarcely swim. 
 Then its crew could not contract for " ghufr " because 
 no tribe would answer for a man's safety unless their 
 sheikh or his soldiers could go with him. Having chosen 
 the third of these plans — that of travelling alone — I had 
 to deal with the Hooleh Arabs only as between indi- 
 viduals ; and, after all, they had done me no harm, and 
 had not injured the boat. They extorted money, in- 
 deed, but that is not uncommon in Europe. They fired 
 at me point-blank, but then it was because the thing 
 they fired at was unlike anything they had ever seen 
 before, with a voice coming out of it singing in an out- 
 landish tongue. 
 
 " A Yankee sailor once shared my tent for some days, and being impa- 
 tient of the slow travel, he took one of om* muleteers, and set off by himself. 
 He wore a " chimney-pot " hat and black coat, just as if he was in a European 
 town. In a week he was robbed of all but his hat and coat. He got 
 fitted out again by his Consul, and in ten days more all his money was 
 stolen again. Meanwhile I plodded on, and saw far more, and spent 
 far less.
 
 Chap. XVI.] Cheap. 277 
 
 Nor were these Arabs very rapacious when they 
 found that the ghost was a man. The Arabs of Hooleh 
 do not go to the great centres of Eastern commerce such 
 as Damascus, Aleppo, or Jerusalem, where they would 
 meet Europeans. They still have " no business with any 
 man," and there is still " no magistrate in the land," as was 
 said of the people of this very place in the Book of Judges. 
 Their trade is carried on by wandering Druses, who 
 act as middlemen, while the natives stick fast in their 
 primitive mud. Again, travellers do not stray to the 
 suburbs of Zweer, and therefore, happily, the natives did 
 not know what a ransom they might have demanded — 
 at least 100/. — as the proper price for an Englishman ; 
 and I really cannot complain of their terms of compro- 
 mise when I had a feast, and a lodging, and porters, and 
 protection, and excellent fun, and all for the very reduced 
 tariff of \6s. ^d. sterling. 
 
 The whole transaction was harmless after all, and it 
 was an interesting comment upon the prediction of what 
 Ishmael was to be — " his hand shall be against every 
 man, and every man's hand against him."
 
 278 Mellaha. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MELI.AHA — WATERS OF MEROM — THE LAKE — RAFT OF BULRUSHES 
 
 — FROM ABOVE — PUZZLE — KEDESH — START — ARABS AGAIN — 
 PELICAN HUNT — GRAND DISCOVERY — NEW MOUTH — THUNDER 
 — ^ INNER LAKE — LILIES — ROYAL SALUTE — BREADTH OF BARRIER 
 
 — SIXTEEN SWANS — PAPYRUS — ITS USE — HOW IT GROWS — BENT 
 BY CURRENT. 
 
 AS I rode on in front, my grey helmet was seen over 
 the hill by our men at the camp near Mellaha, 
 and shouts soon told how glad they were. After a little 
 paddle on the lake and a bath, the remainder of the 
 day was not too long to spend in rest upon my comfort- 
 able sofa-bed. The change from prison to freedom, from 
 uncouth strangers to my own contented, well-behaved 
 retinue, with the Rob Roy now released and sleeping 
 all safe in the sun, and Hany telling his story, and 
 melodious Adoor singing it again, while a dim picture 
 of its best scenes kept moving by in day-dream — this 
 was an enjoyment which only the lone traveller can feel. 
 
 This great morass of Hooleh, or the lake at the end 
 of it (shewn in Map VI.), is spoken of once in the Bible 
 as "the waters of Merom " (Joshua xi. 5). It is called 
 by Josephus Samachonitis, and by Talmudists Sibechean 
 Sea and Lake of Cobebo (Lightfoot). 
 
 The name of Hooleh, as applied to the vicinity, is at 
 least as old as the Christian era, and from the time of 
 the Crusades the lake has been called Hooleh, which
 
 Chap. XVII.] Waters of Merom. 279 
 
 may be derived from Hul, or Chul, one of the sons of 
 Aram (Gen. x. 23). 
 
 Some of the Arabs in the neighbourhood call the Lake 
 Bahr Banias, or Bahr Hait, others call it El-Mellahah. 
 
 The name " Meleha " (" the salt ") is applied by 
 William of Tyre to the whole of the lake (' Will. Tyre.' 
 xviii. 13), "circa lacum Meleha." Burkhardt says {vol. i. 
 p. 316): "The south-west shore bears the name of 
 Mellaha, from the ground being covered with a saline 
 crust ;" but I did not observe anything of a deposit 
 there except a greyish clay where the water quite close 
 to the; bank is deep.' Another salt-lake near Carmel is 
 noticed {poet p. 443). 
 
 The Arabs give the name "Ain Mellaha" to the spring 
 
 ^ As to these names I\Ierom, Samachon, and Hooleh, we note that the 
 name Merom is from the Hebrew, "high lal<;e." "This explanation of 
 Merom is undoubted" (Stanley, ' S. and P.' 391, note) ; and the place is 
 also called " Kaldayeh," " the high." 
 
 The name Samachon (Josephus, ' W. J.' book iii. ch. x. sec. vii. ; and 
 book iv. ch. i. sec. i.) has three explanations : — 
 
 (i) From the Arabic Samak, "high." 
 
 (2) From the Chaldaic Samak, "red;" which may well allude to the 
 red clay banks of the Jordan, already noticed, or to the very dark water in 
 the lake itself. 
 
 (3) From the Arabic Samach, " a fish." It is called Samac in the Jeru- 
 salem Talmud. The name Sabac, "a thorn," given to it in the Babylonian 
 Talmud, it is said, "may allude to the thorny jungle round it," but I saw 
 very few " thorns " and all of them on the east shore. 
 
 There is a tomb of Sitteh Hooleh, the " Lady Hooleh," near Baalbec. 
 Robinson (vol. iii. Appendix, pp. 135, 137) speaks of the other Hooleh 
 in the government of Hanes ; and Finn mentions a village of the name 
 east of Tibneen ('Byeways of Palestine,' pp. 257, 386). In Smith's 
 Dictionary ( " Merom " ), it is said that the word Hooleh seems in Arabic 
 and in Hebrew to mean "depression." (" Hul " is so used in Cornwall.) 
 This may well explain how the term Hooleh is first applied to the district 
 " Ard Hooleh," as a "hollow " among the hills, while " Merom " indicates 
 the lake, as "high" among the' waters. Burkhardt says: "The lake of 
 Houleh or Samachonitis is inhabited only on the eastern borders " (vol. 
 i. p. 316). I have used the spelling "Hooleh" instead of the usual one 
 " Huleh," as the latter is apt to be pronounced " Heuleh."
 
 2 8o Hooleh Lake. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 running in at the north-west angle of the lake. Schwartz 
 speaks of it as Ain Malka (p. 29), " Spring of the King," 
 which may allude to Joshua's battle ; for we find Neby 
 Yusha (Tomb of Joshua) on the hill to the west of the 
 centre of the marsh, and on the east is said to be the 
 Tell Farash the Arab name of Joshua.- 
 
 The wide level tract on the south-west verge of the 
 lake is called " Ard el-Hait," or " Belad el-Hait." This 
 level ground is richly cultivated, justifying the name, for 
 " hait " means " wheat." Pocock places Harosheth here 
 (' Pinkerton's Voyages,' x. 463), and many authors con- 
 sider that Joshua's battle with Jabin was on this plain. 
 A very beautiful lily flourishes here, renowned as the 
 " Lily of Hooleh," and which Thomson thinks is the plant 
 referred to by our Saviour when He compares Solomon 
 with the lilies (Luke xii. 27). 
 
 From Map VL it will be seen that Mellaha, where we 
 are resting for Sunday, is at the north-west corner of 
 the Hooleh, Lake on the pleasant sward beside a quiet 
 lagoon. In the shallows there I found a man afloat 
 on a bundle of reeds, which he punted along, while his 
 spear was stuck up like a mast. His delight and surprise 
 amused me much, when the Rob Roy glided alongside, 
 and then darted away to the depths where he could 
 not follow. From this, as head-quarters, it was my pur- 
 pose to thoroughly examine these curious upland waters, 
 because the few references to them in travellers' books 
 are exceedingly meagre ; and yet great decisive battles 
 had been fought upon these shores, and the steps of our 
 Blessed Lord had hallowed their eastern verge. 
 
 It is impossible to examine the upper part of this 
 
 ^ Stanley, 'S and P.' p. 393, note. The " Wady Farash " is also marked 
 in Vandevelde's map (as I have inserted it in mine), but though I asked 
 the Arabs for it frequently, they never seemed to agree as to the exact 
 spot ; nevertheless the name was evidently known.
 
 Chap. XVI I .] Raft of Bulrushes. 2 8 1 
 
 lake except from a boat, for the boundary there is 
 entirely composed of tall papyrus plant {sqq post p. 297), 
 perfectly impenetrable by man on account of its extremely 
 close growth, and therefore this has never before been 
 visited by any one who has told us what is there. 
 
 ^mmM 
 
 Reed Raft. 
 
 Great additional interest was imparted to this voyage 
 by the fact I had just proved, that the Jordan cannot be 
 follow^ed all the way from its source, and that it eludes 
 our sight by diving into jungle, where it defies all search 
 from the north side as to where its waters roll into this 
 lake of Merom, so that it became important to go from 
 the lake itself upwards along any channel containing the 
 river, and as far as the barrier which had stopped us in 
 descending, in order to see how broad that barrier is. 
 
 The result of the next few days' work upon the pro- 
 blem Avas an ample reward for all the trouble incurred 
 in the complete and novel discovery of the hitherto 
 unknown channel of Jordan, as will speedily be seen.
 
 282 From above. [Chap, XVI I. 
 
 First, in order to scan the district from above, I 
 ascended several of the hills nearest Mellaha. There 
 were ruins upon each of them, but we cannot stop to 
 consider these, or the remains of Kedesh in a valley near, 
 for our eye is fixed upon the wider features of the plain, 
 and specially upon the lake itself seen just below us, 
 bounded on the east by the hills of Bashan, forming 
 a high plateau, behind which one sees the tops of another 
 distant range. Westwards of the lake, on the wide green 
 level, a few Tells rise by the water's side, and little groups 
 of dwellings. The dwellers here must be hardened to 
 fever and frogs, wild boars, snakes, and ague half the 
 year. They have many buffaloes and horses, but their 
 trade is done by others, for the natives seem to revel in 
 their marshy home and cultivate their red rice still,'^ while 
 the big world outside them is left to roll on as it can. 
 
 In different seasons and in different years the whole 
 appearance of this lake and its shores must be alto- 
 gether different. Thus, thirty years ago, Mr. Smith, twice 
 travelling here, " had been able to get from the road 
 only one or two glimpses of the water." ^ But when I 
 
 * Schwartz says (p. 47) : — " Many canes also grow here, among which 
 wild beasts, &c., find shelter, especially serpents and wild boars. Not far 
 from the village Malcha, situated on its northern shore, the Jordan enters 
 this lake. The inhabitants of the village just named cultivate the rice-plant 
 in this vicinity, which is the only place in Palestine where this plant grows. 
 This rice, which is sent to the otiier towns, is quite singular in its colour 
 and flavour ; it is red in appearance, and swells in cooking to an vmusual 
 degree." Mr. Hooker, of Kew, informs me that several varieties of this red 
 rice are grown in India, all of them " Poonas," or early crops. 
 
 *■ Robinson, vol. iii. sec. xv. p. 341, note. Stanley's description of this 
 district is not so accurate as his other pictures in words of what he saw him- 
 self. " In the centre of this plain, half morass, half tarn, lies the uppermost 
 lake of the Jordan, about seven miles long, and in its greatest width six miles 
 broad, the mountains slightly compressing it at either extremity, surrounded 
 by an almost impenetrable jungle of reeds, abounding in wild fowl" ('S. 
 and P.' p. 390). According to my observation the size of the lake is not 
 one-fourth of the area given here, the reeds are thin and easily entered, and
 
 Chap. XVII.] Puzzle. 283 
 
 saw it, the banks of the lake were quite bare except on 
 the north side, where stands, as a savage border to the 
 open water, the densest jungle ever man can see. This is 
 nearly three miles across and perfectly flat, with a sombre 
 colour, and is marked with shading on Map VI. The 
 outline of the lake is irregular, but distinct. The marsh 
 above it has a few still darker lines winding through the 
 level, evidently the deeper shades of narrow hollows like 
 canals, bounded by the jungle which hems in these silent, 
 stagnant streams. Further to the north are patches of 
 water,^ with islets plainly visible, and then the prospect 
 shades away to greener hues until the eye rests on 
 the trees at Dan, far off, and the lofty heights of 
 Banias. 
 
 Dr. Thomson speaks of this lake as a peculiar " pet " 
 of his, and says it is of " unrivalled beauty." One is 
 allowed to say this about a " pet lake," but I do not yet 
 feel that enthusiasm. 
 
 Between the marsh itself and the western shore — which 
 we had skirted by the path under the hills — an irregular 
 edging of water lies in disjointed shreds. I agree with 
 Robinson, who says this is an artificial canal. He also 
 states that it is led off from the Hasbany (vol. viii. sec. 
 XV. p. 342), which is not known to be the case. The water 
 in this edge is often several feet deep, and I had paddled 
 my canoe upon it in various places ; nor would it be diffi- 
 cult, I think, to come all the way by water from the upper 
 plain quite down to the lake. But in this bordering 
 edge there is no perceptible current, though it receives 
 
 in the junj^Ie of papyrus, which is impenetrable, there are veiy few water- 
 fowl, while the " lake," whether that means the whole morass, or the open 
 water, is not by any means in the centre of the plain. 
 
 * The largest of these, near the centre, and which we visited afterwards, 
 may have been that alluded to by Buckingham, as another lake north of 
 Hooleh. See Robinson, vol. iii. sec. xv. p. 340, note.
 
 2-84 Plans. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 a {q.\\ rills from springs near the margin. At any rate, 
 to take a boat along this fringe of puddles would not be 
 to follow the Jordan. 
 
 Then where does the Jordan run to when it hides its 
 dark stream after Zweer } Vandevelde's map boldly 
 marks it on the east of the marsh, and most other maps 
 do the same. Dr. Tristram, the traveller who has written 
 of it after dwelling longest here, says that Jordan's 
 course can be clearly distinguished on the east. Smith's 
 ' Dictionary of the Bible ' also tells us the Jordan " enters 
 the lake close to the eastern end of the upper side." 
 More cautious myself, perhap.s, in tracing rivers than 
 those who have not to get a boat through the imagined 
 channel, I could not discern any sign of a stream on the 
 east part of Hooleh, and for this good reason, as was 
 afterwards proved, that no river at all goes there. 
 
 Having made careful plans of the marsh by bird's-eye 
 views of it from several hills, I started from Mellaha, 
 ardent and rejoicing, to begin this most interesting voyage 
 of discovery. The weather was very propitious for such 
 an occasion : a cloudy day, with no wind, and a general 
 mildness. I had, of course, arranged a regular plan of 
 investigation, so as to measure the distances by count- 
 ing my paddle-strokes, checked by the time on my 
 watch ; to take the angles by my compass ; and to 
 sound the depth by a 20-fathom line. To do these four 
 different things accurately, and to note the results in my 
 log-book, gave full employment to mind and body, while 
 anything to spare of energy was devoted to look out for 
 curious sights, birds, fishes, animals, plants, and stones, to 
 scan the shores for hostile Arabs, and to note the character 
 of the hills aloft and the beaches by the waterside. 
 
 The first " course " for the canoe was to be straight 
 across the lake at the northern end, where the water is
 
 Chap. XVII.] Start. 285 
 
 widest, and then to inspect the supposed mouth of the 
 Jordan in the east. Next I intended to embark a 
 stone from the Bashan shore, wherewith to commence 
 soundings at regular intervals on the return voyage. 
 But after 800 double paddle-strokes, that is, about two 
 miles and a half due east, I observed an Arab with a 
 gun descending the slope of the rugged mountains 
 straight in front of me. I turned to the right, and he 
 followed. The Rob Roy went the other way, until she 
 was hid behind the jungle ; but standing up in the boat I 
 could see through the reed tops that the man was lying 
 under a shady tree on a beautiful green Tell close by 
 the water side. Now, whether the man had shooting 
 intentions or not, it would evidently have been unwise 
 for me to turn up a channel leaving him in command of 
 its mouth to intercept my return. Therefore, as he would 
 not depart or com.e out of his hiding-place, I turned 
 south along the eastern shore, and he followed running, 
 and half a dozen more soon clambered down from the 
 rocks shouting all in chorus. But in open water I could 
 laugh at their humble efforts to keep up with the Rob 
 Roy as they struggled through thickets and round deep 
 bays, while she had a smooth lake to paddle on. How- 
 ever, it being absolutely necessary for me to land to get 
 a stone for sounding, I made a feint as if to reach a 
 point jutting out, and when they were all in full cry for 
 this, I coolly turned to another promontory, leaving a 
 bay between us, and then the Rob Roy ran into the 
 bank below some shady trees. 
 
 Very soon I could hear the Arabs splashing through 
 the shallow edge of the bight, and breaking down the 
 jungle canes in an eager rush to my new landing-place. 
 But after choosing and taking on board three stones, we 
 slipped away in good time, and when they arrived, all
 
 286 Arabs again. [Chap. xvil. 
 
 hot and hasty, the Rob Roy was quietly floating in deep 
 water 250 yards from the shore. This was the distance 
 Hany told me would be safe, as an Arab would not risk 
 his bullet for a longer shot. All their efforts to per- 
 suade me to land were futile, and I " chaffed " them un- 
 ceremoniously, but then they had roared at me till they 
 were hoarse. 
 
 The process of sounding now proceeded methodically, 
 and the entries of time, distance, depth, &c., soon 
 occupied all my attention. Some beautiful Arab horses 
 were grazing under the trees. Little covies of wild 
 ducks bobbed about on the sunny wavelets, or the 
 shy ones dived, or the ^^■ary took wing. Now and then 
 pelicans sailed by on the air in solemn silence, and sea- 
 gulls skimmed the edges of scattered isles. But after 
 the myriads of ducks on Hijaneh, and the clouds of pink 
 flamingoes, and swans and pelicans, on Lake Menzaleh, 
 one is spoiled for any wonderment at a few hundred 
 birds on the water. 
 
 However, at one pretty bay on the deep green papyrus 
 margin I came upon a group of six pelicans together, 
 swimming very near me. The desire to bring back a 
 pelican from Hooleh seized me irresistibly, but how to 
 do it, with only a small pocket-pistol t I cautiously 
 " stalked " them round reeds and tiny islets, until I could 
 fire with good hopes of hitting. At the shot five birds 
 rose majestically, but the sixth remained floating there. 
 His struggles to rise were vigorous, but in vain, for he 
 had only one wing to beat the air, so he always fell 
 sideways again on the water. Quickly m}' pistol was 
 reloaded, but with my last bullet, and I must not throw 
 this away. I knew it would be a difficult piece of busi- 
 ness to kill this powerful bird. His struggles with me
 
 Chap. XVII.] Pelican Hunt. 287 
 
 might overset the Rob Roy, or with his strong beak he 
 might smash her cedar deck or her captain's face. Then 
 what to do with him when dead .'' He was far too large 
 and awkward as a cargo to carry two miles in comfort, 
 and cutting off his head would be a troublesome opera- 
 tion. So I resolved to make him carry his own big body 
 all the way to the camp by chasing him towards it while 
 he swam. 
 
 We both prepared for the chase. He began by dis- 
 gorging a volley of small fish from his beak, but I took 
 a different plan, for, as it was now full time for luncheon, 
 I ate it luxuriously at intervals from the deck before 
 me, while I chased the poor pelican for an hour and a 
 half He soon saw what were my tactics, and he swerved 
 right and left to get back into the coverts ; but I headed 
 him always like a greyhound coursing a hare, and yet 
 never came within a few feet of his beak lest he might be 
 driven to attack in desperation. 
 
 Our camp had been moved down to Almanyeh, and 
 our men there wondered to see the Rob Roy coming 
 slowly from afar and very crooked in her course, with a 
 white something in front of her bow, which seemed in 
 the distance to be a foaming wave. When near the 
 camp, I rushed in quickly to get the double-barrel, and 
 then went off again to the pelican, who meantime was 
 far on his way to some reedy home. There was only 
 small shot in the gun, and that could not penetrate his 
 feathers ; but at length I chased him ashore, and he was 
 soon enveloped in an Arab cloak, fighting bravely all 
 the time. His wing measured four feet six inches, which 
 (allowing for the body) would give about ten feet of 
 .stretch between the two tips. His head I brought home, 
 but the great black feet which it was thought would dry
 
 Grand Discovery. [Chap. XVI I. 
 
 into a sort of imperishable leather were soon dissolved 
 into a mass of black meaningless jelly.'' 
 
 Next day was devoted to a strict examination of the 
 northern side of Merom, and very soon on turning into 
 one of the deep bays in the papyrus, I noticed a sensible 
 current in the water. In a moment every sense was on 
 the qui vivc, and with quick-beating heart and earnest 
 paddle-strokes I entered what proved to be the inoiitJi of 
 Jordan. 
 
 At this place the papyrus is of the richest green, and 
 upright as two walls on either hand, and so close is 
 its forest of stems and dark recurving hair-like tops 
 above that no bird can fly into it, and the very few 
 ducks that I found had wandered in by swimming 
 through the chinks below, were powerless to get wing for 
 rising, so while their flappings agitated the jungle, and 
 their cackling shrieks told loudly how much they wished 
 to escape from the intruder, the birds themselves were 
 entirely invisible, though only a few yards from me all 
 the time. But they were safe enough from any stranger, 
 for in no part could I ever get the point of the Rob Roy 
 to enter three feet into the dense hedge of this wonderful 
 floating forest. 
 
 The Jordan's mouth here is a hundred feet wide, and it 
 is entirely concealed from both shores by a bend it makes 
 to the east. The river thus enters the lake at the ejid of 
 a promontory of papyrus, and one can understand that 
 
 * The captured head, which has curly feathers, was shown (with other 
 curiosities of this voyage) at the Exhibition held in the Egyptian Hall by the 
 Exploration Fund, as remarkable on account of its size, the manner of its 
 capture, and the place where it was taken The Arabs call the pelican 
 "Mjah," and sometimes " Jemel el Bahr," that is, "sea camel," which 
 well describes its manner of canying the head with the neck in a double 
 arch. Besides those that fly by the sea, and the Nile, and the Lake Merom, 
 the pelican is found upon other lonely ponds. Finn states that one was 
 killed in Solomon's Pools, near Jerusalem.
 
 Chap. XVII.] New Mouth. 291 
 
 this projection is caused by the plants growing better" 
 where the water runs than in the still parts, so that the 
 walls or banks of green are prolonged by the current 
 itself. Once round the corner, and entering the actual river, 
 it is a wonderful sight indeed as the graceful channel winds 
 in ample sweeps or long straight reaches in perfect repose 
 and loneliness with a soft silent beauty all its own 
 
 Recovering from the first excitement of this important 
 discovery, I set about recording all its features in a me- 
 thodical way. First, of course, by counting paddle- 
 strokes, as we slowly mounted the stream, then by noting 
 the bends right and deft in my book, and the few tribu- 
 taries that entered on this side and that. On the west, 
 one joined which might have been easily mistaken 
 for the true channel, but happily recollecting that in 
 my sketch made from the mountain this arm from the 
 west ends in nothing, I went steadily up the other 
 Presently a strange noise came out of the foliage, and, 
 approaching cautiously, I found two great falcons or 
 water-eagles feeding on something in their nest on an 
 islet. The Rob Roy at once " beat to quarters," but 
 when her crew attempted to "board," out rushed the 
 male bird, and screamed and whirled about me so 
 defiant that "discretion was the better part of valour," 
 and the nest was left alone. 
 
 A few tiny sparrow-like birds hovered here and there 
 on the papyrus tops, and two or three divers swam a 
 yard or so in the open, and then rose and went out of 
 sight ; but the solitary silence of the place was almost 
 painful, and it begot a feeling of awe when nothing but 
 green jungle was present on every side, and yet I was 
 glad no other man was there — not from churlish jealousy, 
 but for his own sake too, who might w^ish to enjoy this
 
 'i()2 Thunder. [Chap. xvil. 
 
 scene — let him come also, but free from me, and at some 
 other time. The paddle in new places is best enjoyed 
 alone, just as the fishing-rod or the exciting tale. 
 
 The channel narrowed at 8oo double strokes (about 
 4000 yards), and the current sharpened, too, and I confess 
 that here I was almost about to return, from some vague 
 unaccountable fear, or weariness, or presentiment that I 
 was to be lost in the maze of green ; it seemed then so far 
 to have gone away from life and light outside, and in so 
 short a time. Very often since have I rejoiced that 
 more bravery came, and the resolve at least to rest 
 and think, before returning. So the Rob Roy clung 
 to the shady side of the channel, and then a long and 
 glorious peal of thunder rolled athwart the sky. 
 
 I have listened to that deep-toned voice when standing 
 on a volcano's crater — when gazing at night on the falls 
 of Niagara — and when sailing alone in the hurtlings of a 
 midnight storm on the breakers at Beachy Head. These 
 were, indeed, splendid times and places for hearing in 
 the depths of one's mind the loud speaking that comes 
 out of the unseen. But none of them was so perfectly 
 new and strange as this one single roar from heaven, 
 shaking the vast quiet of Hooleh. 
 
 An immediate effect of it was to awaken energy and 
 to nerve me to go on, so as at least to accomplish the 
 round sum of 1000 double paddle-strokes. But before 
 doing so, an old newspaper I had cast on the river, and 
 which now floated along, suggested the idea of measuring 
 the speed of the current. For this I cut a long papyrus 
 stem into pieces of a few inches, and carefully scattered 
 them across the channel and marked the time by my 
 watch, so as to see how long would elapse before they 
 were overtaken afterwards in our descent of the stream.
 
 Chap. XVII.] Inner Lake. 293 
 
 This plan, however, though carefully worked, was futile, 
 for I never saw one of my floats again." 
 
 At 960 strokes, suddenly rounding a corner, I entered 
 a beautiful little lake, just one you would picture in fancy. 
 The general contour of it was round, but the edges were 
 curved into deep bays, with dark alleys and bright pro- 
 jecting corners, while islets dotted the middle. Every 
 single part of the boundary about me was green papyrus 
 — not ragged and straggling, but upright and sharply de- 
 fined. The breadth of this lake east and west was esti- 
 mated at half a mile. Seen from the mountain, it appears 
 certainly wider than that, but I have followed the MS. 
 notes, entered at the time in my log. 
 
 Extreme caution was instantly prescribed by this 
 novel scene, for without coolness and clear noting cf 
 the course, it might be difficult or impossible to find 
 again the narrow entrance which must be passed through 
 for return. Therefore, I bent down some of the tall 
 green stems and tied them together, and placed upon 
 them for a warning flag large slips of "the Supplement." 
 Then carefully noting the compass bearings, I advanced 
 to the next group of islands, and did the same again, 
 always placing the beacons upon the right hand, so as 
 to show the way out in returning. The lake was perfectly 
 still — not " calm as a millpond," which expression often 
 includes a shivering ruffle on the water, but with a 
 smoothness like glass itself, and the water below was 
 clear and without the slightest current. The lake was 
 shallowed to five feet, but all the bottom was a soft carpet 
 
 ' After much considei^ation, and as it was better to overrate the current 
 than to overstate my advance into the papyrus, it appeared right to esti- 
 mate the distance traversed by each double stroke of the paddle here at 
 four yards instead of five and a half, and this part of the map, therefore, is 
 constructed upon that reduced scale.
 
 294 Lilies. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 of delicate water- moss, patterned in pretty green net- 
 work. Large yellow lilies floated on the surface in gay- 
 coloured bouquets. I had seen many of these lilies 
 along the north shore of the lake, but their stems were 
 so thick and multitudinous below that, whenever I tried 
 to drag up the very roots of them — if, indeed, they have 
 any roots in the earth at all — the weight became quite 
 unmanageable. However, I cut and brought home some 
 portions of the complicated mass. 
 
 In the very centre of the lake, the canoe " hove to " 
 for compass bearings. The sun was now very hot, but 
 the air was cleared by the thunder. The view, so much 
 contracted before by the high papyrus walls, now opened 
 on all sides, for there was space about me. 
 
 To the north was the rounded head of splendid 
 glittering Hermon, and to its left the far-off snow on 
 the sharp indented Sunnin, chief of the Lebanon range. 
 High on a lonely crag to the west was Neby Yusha, 
 " Joshua's Tomb," ^ and the eastern shore was girt by the 
 "hill of Bashan."« 
 
 * Finn well reminds us that the welies may often be intended to honour 
 Moslem "saints," who had Scripture names. 
 
 * In our sketch at p. 289, the two snow mountains are depicted. This 
 sight of Senir and Lebanon, and the hills of Bashan, all at one time, and 
 from a boat, reminds one of the beautiful verses in Ezekiel (ch. xxvii.), 
 where the rich grandeur of Tyre is painted in language so magnificent, 
 and the mountains now before us have a place : — 
 
 "Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect 
 beauty. " Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have 
 perfected thy beauty. " They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees 
 of Senir : they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. 
 ' ' Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars ; the company of the 
 Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of 
 Chittim. 
 
 " Fine linen with broidered work from Egj'pt was that which thou 
 spreadest forth to be thy sail ; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah 
 w.as that which covered thee. "The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were
 
 Chap. XVII.] Royal Salute. 295 
 
 In the middle of all, and evidently as yet unconscious 
 of my nearness, was one of the most graceful of living 
 objects — a pure-white swan, floating upon the lovely lake, 
 that mirrored his image again below. It never entered 
 into my head to shoot him, pretty creature — that would 
 have been sheer sacrilege : his tameness was quite 
 shocking. But, just to waken up the echoes around us, 
 and to give vent to the emotions of my mind, so long 
 pent up in absolute silence, I fired a volley, and gave 
 three cheers. 
 
 It was a very difficult thing to make quite sure that 
 this little lake was a termination of the journey upwards; 
 that it was not merely an enlargement of a stream 
 which I had now resolved to follow up, conte que contc, 
 to the end. But a careful circuit of its labyrinthine 
 borders satisfied me that this is the earliest floio of 
 Jordan as one river after it dives into the barrier whither 
 I had traced it some days before. The north end of this 
 lake was at 1 1 30 double paddle-strokes from the mouth 
 of the channel : that is, 6000 yards, or less than three 
 miles and a half; and, allowing for current, it may be 
 well averred that the Jordan aggregates its waters in 
 this inner lake at the head of a channel which winds 
 along nearly three miles before it enters the larger lake 
 of Hooleh. 
 
 The interesting question as to the breadth of the 
 impassable barrier could be settled only by a com- 
 parison between the observations made in my journey 
 down the river in Map V. and those made now in 
 this central lake, the northern end of which is marked 
 
 thy marineis : thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. 
 " The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers : 
 all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy 
 merchandise.'
 
 296 Breadth of the Barrier. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 P in Map VI. By a point in each map given in the MS. 
 survey of Captain Wilson, already noticed, we were able 
 toi place them so that it may be seen that the interval 
 between N and P — that is, the breadth of the barrier — • 
 is about half a mile.'" 
 
 The journey back along the new channel was pleasant 
 and easy, and lasted less than an hour. My various 
 beacons all were spied, and, to guide the next canoeist, 
 they were left there ; but with the keenest look-out, I could 
 not discover any one of the current-floats which had been 
 so carefully strewn for the purpose, and only the floating 
 newspaper could be discerned on the gliding stream. 
 This, however, did not help me to estimate the current, 
 because the time and place of its starting had not been 
 noted. As a rough guess, I should say that Jordan's 
 current here is, at the most, about a mile in an hour. 
 
 At the mouth again, all safe, the Rob Roy was moored 
 for luncheon in the shade, and never was a roast fowl 
 eaten with a heartier relish than after such a morning's 
 work. 
 
 Next she entered a bay farther eastwards, but this 
 quickly narrowed and ran up into a cut dc sac at 2000 
 yards, until I could pass only through a narrow gap into 
 deep gloomy waterways, without any stream, and where 
 the tall papyrus stems were tangled over my head. 
 Still I followed this up to its positive termination, and 
 with all the precautions (as to beacons and guide-marks) 
 so useful before ; and again the canoe came back into the 
 light, where, in the green circuit of the bay once more, I 
 
 '* For obsei-vations as to latitude, I was dependent entirely on one 
 bearing of Neby V'usha, seen irom point r, but the distance estimate from 
 paddle-strokes may well be considered to transfer the measurement to the 
 inoulh of the river in the lake, and so to connect it with the survey of the 
 lake itself.
 
 CiiAP. X\'ll.] Sixteen Sivans. 297 
 
 found, in one group of graceful elegance, sixteen wild 
 swans swimming together. Beautiful as they were, it 
 was well to have seen that one swan first before meeting 
 so many. Again a salute from the pistol stunned the 
 air, and all the white beauties rose up in terror or high 
 dudgeon ; their wavy circlings above me cleft the sky 
 with bright gleaming tracks for a moment, and they 
 passed away like a vision. 
 
 As the Rob Roy neared the open lake, it was felt that 
 the wind had risen very suddenly, and this soon ex- 
 plained a most curious hissing, grinding, bustling sound, 
 that was heard like waves upon a shingly beach. For, in 
 delighted surprise, I found that the margin of the lake 
 about me was waving up and down, and the papyrus 
 stems were rubbing against each other as they nodded 
 out and in. It was plain in a moment that the whole 
 jungle of papyrus w^lS floating upon the zvater, and so the 
 waves now raised by the breeze were rocking the heavy 
 green curtain to and fro. 
 
 My soundings had shown the depth in Jordan's channel 
 to be almost uniform, at from twelve to ten feet, all the 
 way up ; and at first it seemed strange that there should 
 be any special current in one part, when the water had 
 apparently a wide way to run through underneath the 
 floating field. But the reason of this is soon apparent 
 when we know how the papyrus grows ; and as the vast 
 area of it now before us is believed to be the largest 
 mass of papyrus in the world, it may be a proper time 
 to look at this strange plant here. 
 
 The papyrus plant is called " Babir " by the Arabs of 
 Hooleh, which is as near the Latin word as can be, con- 
 sidering that the Arabs use b for/. In Arabic its name 
 is Berdi, and in Hebrew Gome, a word used four times 
 in the Bible. In the Septuagint the word iTairvpo<; is
 
 298 
 
 Papyrus. 
 
 [Chap. XVII. 
 
 used. The name Papyrus still survives in the English 
 name of the material upon which these words are printed. 
 For reeds in general the Hebrew term is Kaneh. 
 
 The papyrus stem is three-cornered ; in this feature 
 it is one of a limited number of plants. The thicker and 
 taller stems are not at the edge, 
 but about five or six feet inwards ; 
 therefore I was unable to get at 
 them without incurring great 
 danger. Also, as I meant to 
 bring out the largest possible spe- 
 cimen, the endeavour was often 
 put off until finally the oppor- 
 tunity had passed. The sketch 
 given here shows the manner of 
 growth of this plant. There is 
 first a lateral trunk, A, lying on the 
 water, and half-submerged.'^ This 
 is often as thick as a man's body, 
 and from its lower side hang 
 innumerable string-like roots from 
 three to five feet long and of a 
 deep purple colour. It is these 
 pendent roots that retard so much 
 of the surface-current where the 
 papyrus grows, as noticed above for explanation. On 
 the upper surface of the trunks the stems grow alter- 
 
 " The woodcut in Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible' represents the 
 stalks as under water, but the natural free growth of Ihe plant seems to me 
 from a floating trunk, and this would only be submerged exceptionally. 
 The small flowerets on the haiiy threads of the thyrsus top in Smith's 
 sketch are not seen in winter. The sketch of papyrus given by Dr. Thomson 
 does not show its multitude of tall stems. The papynis represented by 
 a steel engraving in * Brace's Travels ' is very accurate. See also ante, p. 78, 
 note. 
 
 Papyrus.
 
 Chap. XVII.] Us Use. 
 
 299 
 
 nately in oblique rows ; their thickness at the junc- 
 tion is often four inches, and their height fifteen feet, 
 gracefully tapering until at the top is a little round knob, 
 with long, thin, brown, wire-like hairs eighteen inches 
 long, which rise and then, recurving, hang about it in 
 a thyrsus-shaped head. The stem, when dead, becomes 
 dark brown in colour, and when dry, it is extremely 
 light ; indeed, for its strength and texture, it is the lightest 
 substance I know of. 
 
 The papyrus was used for writing upon by the 
 Egyptians, and was prepared for this purpose by cutting 
 it into thin slips. These were laid side by side, and 
 upon them others in a cross direction, and both Avere 
 j|)ined by cement and then pressed into a continuous 
 sheet. It is obvious that by this means the length, and 
 to a certain extent the breadth, of a papyrus roll might be 
 made according to pleasure. 
 
 The Ethiopians made boats of papyrus. Ludolf says 
 that these boats are used in the Tzamic Lake, and 
 Moses was hid in a vessel made of this.'^' I have seen 
 a woman put her baby on a bundle of reeds and swim 
 across the Nile while she pushed it along. The plant is 
 mentioned in a beautiful passage of Isaiah (chap. xxxv. 
 7), and in Job it is asked, " Can the papyrus grow up with- 
 out mire.''" (chap. viii. 11). Herodotus says that the 
 papyrus was eaten after being stewed. This Papyrus 
 antiqiioriini is not now found in Egypt, nor anywhere in 
 Asia except in Syria. But it grows 7° from the Equator 
 in Nubia, on the White Nile. This singular plant is 
 traced along the Jordan only a short distance (post 
 
 ^^ Dr. Thomson (' Land and the Book,' p. 337) says the process described 
 in Exodus ii. 3, may mean that the ark was "bitumed" by the mixture, so 
 as to resemble a coffin, and thereby to enable the mother to take her child ' 
 out of the house.
 
 300 Hoiu it groius. [Chap. XVII. 
 
 p. 306), and then it reappears at Ain et Tin, on the Sea 
 of Galilee, and is also said to be found on the River 
 Aujeh, near Jaffa ; but I did not observe it in the part 
 I examined of that river. Another kind {Papyrus 
 syriacus) is cultivated in our botanical gardens, and is 
 found wild on the plain of Sharon.'^ 
 
 It is not difficult to understand how the papyrus grove 
 is so very thick just at its boundary edge, whereas reeds, 
 or rushes, or other aquatic plants, usually get sparse and 
 stunted or broken down all round the borders of a marsh, 
 or where it merges into open water. 
 
 This peculiarity, which gives to the papyrus plain of 
 Hooleh its most remarkable feature of upright wall-like 
 sides — and that, too, on deep water — is caused, I think, 
 by the manner of the plant's growth. Such of the 
 lateral stems as shoot out into open water become bent 
 or broken by waves, and so they bind in the rest, and 
 the outer stems have too much wind and rough weather 
 to flourish as well as the others do inside, which are well 
 protected. This may be noticed even more distinctly 
 when the papyrus grows in running water, as in that part 
 of the marsh through which the Jordan flows. But while 
 we remark that the plant seems to thrive best where 
 the water is not stagnant, and so the largest stems 
 are near the channel of the river, it may be asked 
 why they do not spread across the actual channel. The 
 sketch annexed will explain this at once. It is a bird's- 
 eye view of several of the lateral trunks, which are re- 
 presented as being turned by the force of the current all 
 in one direction — that of the arrow, S— and so, gradually 
 bending round to the positions R, T, u, they at last fold 
 
 '* Dr. Tristram, in the 'Leisure Hour,' 1S66, p. 553. Tliomson pro- 
 l^ably alludes to the latter kind when he mentions papyrus in the river 
 Fulej, near the Aujeh (' Land and the Book,' p. 512).
 
 Chap. XVI I.] 
 
 Bent by Current. 
 
 301 
 
 upon, encircle, and strangle their neighbours, and seriously 
 
 hinder their growth. The width of 
 
 the clear channel is therefore kept at 
 
 a uniform relation to the speed of the 
 
 current ; for if that is slow, it allows 
 
 the trunks to spread and to cover the 
 
 surface, and with their roots to narrow 
 
 the channel until the speed of the 
 
 stream is thereby increased, and the 
 
 trunks are by it curved, stunted, and 
 
 thus worn off, and so a just balance 
 
 is regained. 
 
 The amount of water exhaled by 
 the evaporation from millions of these 
 stems, presenting so large an area of 
 surface above, must be prodigious, 
 although, on the other hand, the shade 
 of their thick darkness keeps the direct rays of the sun 
 from striking into the water itself So much for the 
 papyrus. 
 
 The Rob Roy then entered every little bight along 
 the indented edge, to make perfectly sure that no other 
 open channel was to be discovered, until at length she 
 came to the eastern coast of the lake. Here I peeped 
 round the cape, but no Arab was in sight at the mo- 
 ment, for they don't like wind ; but I was too tired with 
 work and the excitement of discovery to venture upon a 
 longer journey here, so our bows turned back across the 
 open water to the hovels of Mataryeh, whither our camp 
 had been ordered to move. 
 
 Papyrus.
 
 302 On Hooleh. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ON HOOLEH — CUTTING A CAPE — CANOE CHASE — HOOLEH LAKE — 
 JACOB'S BRIDGE — WHO CROSSED IT — TEMPLARS' KEEP — GRAND 
 VIEW — Jew's LAMENT — TEM MILES OF TORRENT — HARD TIMES — 
 A SET OF RUFFIANS — THE WORST — AT LAST — ALL RIGHT ! — NOTE 
 ON THE RIVERS. 
 
 THE Rob Roy was eager next morning for one 
 more day of search, and to scan especially the 
 eastern border of the lake. 
 
 It was not without misgivings that I paddled again 
 to that same mysterious corner where the Arab, like 
 a spider in his web, had full command of the 
 approaches, and might wait in ambush for his prey.' 
 But this point had to be examined before our survey 
 could be called complete ; and, as it must be done, 
 we had best do it at once, and thoroughly. 
 
 1 To aid the fishing venture on Lake Hooleh, a boat had actually been 
 built of boards carried there from Tiberias. I went to see this wreck, 
 which foundered at her launch, they said, and was now lying under water 
 in a deep bend of the western shore. For travellers, however, and espe- 
 cially for those who wish to visit the charming central lake we have 
 spoken of, or to gather the ferns, and papyrus, and lilies on the water, 
 or to fish, it is well to know of this sunken craft, which a few nails would 
 doubtless soon make quite seaworthy ; but oars must be brought, for there 
 were none to be found, and there is no wood to make them of.
 
 Chap. XVIII.] Cutting a Cape. 303 
 
 I did not steer a straight course to the spot, but first 
 
 across the lake to the wall of papyrus, and then along 
 that, entirely hidden, until we came close to its eastern 
 end. Here a new plan of action was devised, namely, 
 to cut the cape in two, instead of " doubling " it, and 
 thus to come stealthily opposite the little Tell, and so 
 spy out the land while invisible myself. A break in 
 the boundary favoured this design, for there were only 
 canes here, and thick white reeds. Stowing my paddle 
 below deck then, I dragged my boat in by hauling on 
 these canes with a hand on each side. 
 
 But the water shallowed, and rf an Arab saw me now, 
 he could wade out and catch the Rob Roy fixed in 
 this dense jungle. After much reflection, therefore, I 
 went into the jungle of reeds, stern foremost, so that in 
 the event of an alarm I might be in the most favour- 
 able position for running away ! Yes, there is a time to 
 prepare for a safe retreat as well as one to get ready for 
 a bold attack. 
 
 The Rob Roy now " advanced backwards " through 
 the reeds, and soon came at last into the open water 
 of the bay on the east side, where the maps indicate 
 the Jordan as issuing from the marsh. It was a fine 
 open bay, and the green Tell and the large shady tree 
 were there on the land, but no human being was visible, 
 nor even a horse. The dashing of an unseen cascade 
 was the only sound, but none of the maps mark a 
 stream here, and I forgot to ask its name. 
 
 With hurried strokes the Rob Roy ran up northwards, 
 impatient to finish the problem which could only be 
 considered half solved until it had been proved that 
 here no stream comes forth. For although the regular 
 river had been met and followed up for three miles in
 
 304 Canoe Chase. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 its new-found course on the west, still there might possibly 
 be another branch of it here. 
 
 Well, there is no stream at all in this eastern bay, 
 but the water has distinct bounds all about its circuit. 
 
 And now being fully satisfied of this important 
 fact, it was wise to get out of the cnl de sac, and to 
 set off at a good pace, happy with the work we had 
 accomplished. It was quite easy then to paddle along 
 the eastern shore, and to sound the depth of water. 
 But though the Arabs were high up in the hills with 
 their tents and flocks, they very soon noticed the little 
 boat, the only speck on the lake below them. The 
 clear air which they looked through — with that clear 
 eye which only an Arab or an English sailor possesses, 
 carried also to my ear the shouts from the shepherds 
 standing amazed on the rocky peaks, " Shaktoorah ! 
 shaktoorah!" as they rushed down, impetuous to get 
 near. In vain, of course, for they could not catch the 
 canoe either by running through the dense jungle on 
 shore or by swimming in the water, and I only laughed 
 at them gaily, and waved the paddle in defiance. 
 
 The lake lies quite close to the hills on the Bashan side, 
 but, strangely enough, the water is not so deep there as 
 on the west, near the plain of Mellaha. To test this, I ran 
 in oblique lines and sounded every fifty strokes (and 
 sometimes twice as often), though it was a tiresome pro- 
 cess, because the canoe had always to be stopped for each 
 sounding, but then the result was satisfactory. Though 
 done for the first time, it was done thoroughly, and the 
 depth of the "Avaters of Merom " is now ascertained for 
 ever. The result may be stated generally that Hooleh 
 Lake has an average depth (in the winter time) of 
 about eleven feet. By Jordan's mouth, on the northern
 
 Chap. XVI 1 1.] Hooleh Lake. 305 
 
 edge, it is twelve feet, and for some way up the chan- 
 nel. In a few places (and these principally close 
 to the west bank) the depth is fifteen feet, once it 
 is seventeen feet deep, but in no part of the whole lake 
 did I find three fathoms of water. On Map VI. (next 
 page) the soundings of principal places are marked in 
 feet. But there were many other soundings taken 
 besides these. 
 
 Near the south end there is a bay with fine trees on 
 the banks and steep rocks above, among which upon the 
 slope is a ruin, and here the canoe paused a long time, 
 carefully scrutinising the square strong building, which 
 we were assured afterwards is only a mill, though it looks 
 very different from that. 
 
 Below Tuleil, where the bank was of greyish clay, and 
 very cohesive, we carefully sounded and " compassed " 
 the narrowing end of the pear-shaped lake, until between 
 islets of papyrus and tall canes the water closed into a 
 regular channel once more, which, by graceful winding, 
 narrowed to a hundred feet across, with a good current 
 going, for it was now a decided river. This is the first 
 unquestionable Jordan that can be approached from 
 shore, the true river formed of its three wonderful streams 
 that are born from the rock, gush out at Hasbeya, Dan, 
 and Banias, pour down into the marsh of Hooleh, there 
 combine, and thence rushing on to the Sea of Galilee, 
 and through that onward, winding fast, they hurry into 
 the Dead Sea.^ 
 
 After the Jordan has run with a broad sweep round 
 the Tell Beit Yacob ; and at the point marked in Map 
 
 ^ I think that by a cutting 400 yards long, and twenty feet deep, at the end 
 of Hooleh Lake, the whole of the marsh and lake would be made dry 
 in a year, and an enormous tract of land would become productive and 
 salubrious. 
 
 X
 
 o6 Jacob's Bridge. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 o 
 
 VI., I recorded in my note-book " last papyrus here." 
 It was interesting to observe afterwards, while reading 
 Bruce's narrative (written some eighty years ago), that 
 he in his journey had remarked the papyrus at this 
 identical spot.^ 
 
 Our camp was near the bridge of black basalt depicted 
 in the sketch at the corner of our map, and which is 
 the first bridge over the complete Jordan. From the end 
 of the lake this bridge was distant 650 paddle-strokes, 
 that is, 3523 yards, or three yards over two miles, which is 
 the measure on shore given in Murray. Thomson gives a 
 sketch of this bridge as seen from the north. Schwartz 
 calls it " Jisr Abni Jacob," Bridge of Jacob's Sons. The 
 bridge is about sixty feet long, has three arches, and no 
 parapet. Robinson states that it " has four pointed 
 arches, and is sixty paces long " (vol. iii. p. 363) ; but he 
 does not appear to have visited it. 
 
 At the west end is an ugly round tower, and a khan 
 is over the river. The current is very trifling until 
 quite close to the bridge. A few unkempt soldiers were 
 in mat huts near the bridge, and their horses dreadfully 
 dirty, but good nevertheless. These men take toll from 
 passengers. Gumpenberg, in A.D. 1454, seems to have 
 paid toll here, but the usual route for caravans before 
 that was to cross the Jordan below Tiberias. The bridge 
 tself has been most likely built since the Crusades 
 
 ^ 'Bruce's Travels,' A.D. 1790, vol. v. Appendix, p. 3. This great tra- 
 veller seems to have always had his wits about him, and almost all the 
 observations of his that have been reviewed since are found to be accurate, 
 even when he said that in Abyssinia men cut beefsteaks out of their living 
 oxen as they travel, though the doubts cast upon the statement by his con- 
 temporaries went far to break his honest but sensitive heart. 
 
 The river Hendaj is marked as running into Jordan from the west, above 
 this bridge, in Vandevelde and in Petermann, and near Almanyeh in 
 Porter's map. I did not observe any river enter as thus represented.
 
 A pwUcn of' f'/iiA Map ts r-t»eaffiJ 
 
 }dap 
 
 LARK OF HOOLEH 
 
 I Mtlj: tc the luilfmrh 
 
 ■ -cia-'jl Ifi l^jpyrii.'^ iji\ 
 
 J.,/chs "hridgc
 
 Chap. XVI 1 1.] Who crossed it. 307 
 
 (Schwartz says in 1112, by Baldwin IV.), but the spot 
 selected at once suggests that a ford was here, for it 
 is just where the deep water ends, and before the high 
 banks of the torrent begin, and no other place would 
 be suitable for twelve miles north or eight miles south 
 of this ford. 
 
 Robinson (vol. iii. 362) states that the writers before 
 and in the Crusade era mention this only as a ford of 
 Jacob. Abulfeda calls the ford " El Ajran," and the spot 
 Beit Yacob (House of Jacob), as others did, probably 
 referring to the Tell with ruins on it a little farther 
 north. 
 
 As to the name which seems to connect this place 
 with "Jacob's daughters," it seems almost clear that 
 Jacob himself did not cross to meet Esau here, but 
 *' passed over the ford Jabbok,"'' on the occasion which 
 is marked by his wrestling with " a man," when he called 
 the place Penuel. Naaman, the prince of a pagan race, 
 may have gone this way to the prophet ; and the zealous 
 Saul may have crossed here " breathing out slaughter " 
 going to Damascus, or the Apostle Paul returning. Our 
 Saviour Himself may have passed over this to Csesarea. 
 
 Much against the best advice I now determined to 
 follow the river close by its verge all the way to Galilee ; 
 not, of course, in the channel, for that was utterly im- 
 possible, as it soon becomes a mere torrent-bed, wherein 
 a white-foamed bursting rush of water hurries between 
 
 •• Gen. xxxii. 3-22. The subsequent route of Jacob, as described in this 
 and the following chapters, it is not easy to follow, unless the words " passed 
 over " refers sometimes to fording the Jordan and sometimes to the Jabbok 
 or Zerka River ; and it may be that the name "Bridge of Jacob's Daughters" 
 means the ford used by them, or with regard to them, as distinct from the 
 particular journey of their father, Thomson says that the oaks of Ha- 
 zury, near Banias, are said to be inhabited by " Benat Yacoub," or "Jan." 
 a genus of spirits (' Land and the Book,' p. 372).
 
 3o8 The Templars Keep. [Chap, XVI 1 1. 
 
 rocks thick set with oleanders, Avhich often meet across 
 the stream not a dozen feet in width. 
 
 Before the river settles down into a thorough-going 
 mill-race speed, it makes a sweep or two to right and 
 left, as if with a struggle to get free, and its stream is 
 divided by islands and large rocks. About a mile below 
 the bridge are several imposing ruins of some building 
 put here to command this important ford. It was, in 
 fact, a castle built 700 years ago, and was given to the 
 Templars, who then held this road (Robinson, vol. iii. 
 p. 363). But Saladin took the fortress, and razed its proud 
 battlements. Now it is only a disappointing wreck. 
 
 Our evening was spent until dark in a long ride by this 
 channel and over the stony hills to see if it were possible 
 to carry the canoe on these dizzy precipices, where not 
 one single inhabitant is found for miles, and not even an 
 Arab's tent was to be seen all day. Few travellers have 
 had the same strong reason for going by this route, the 
 desire to continue what had been as yet adhered to as a 
 rule, that I should actually sec the bed of the Jordan 
 from its very beginning right on to its end. Hany was 
 against the plan, though he had learned to doubt his 
 own doubts as to what could be done with a canoe, but 
 he never once opposed himself entirely to any distinct 
 resolve of his master, and therefore we rode on, my horse 
 being frisky enough for any mountain climbing, until a 
 most interesting point was reached, the only one, perhaps, 
 in this curious gorge from whence you can see both the 
 lake Hooleh with the Jordan coming out and the lake of 
 Gennesareth, into which the river flows. The distance 
 between these lakes is not more than ten miles in a 
 straight line, and the river has only a few long bends be- 
 tween them, which probably add not more than three miles
 
 Chap. XVIII.] A Jews Lament. 309 
 
 to its course by winding. Yet the descent of "the 
 Descender" is very rapid here, for it falls in these 
 ten miles about 700 feet. During the whole course of 
 the Jordan from source to end there does not seem 
 to be one notable cascade or regular " fall." ^ 
 
 While thoughts of Jordan recall past wonders to the 
 Christian, and a glorious future too, there is sadness in 
 the reverie upon this river penned by an Israelite'' thus : — 
 
 " My God ! how is my soul bowed down within me, 
 when I remember thee in this land of Jordan (Fsalm 
 xlii. 7). Is not this whole district of the Jordan abun- 
 dantly watered, fruitful, and blessed, like a garden of the 
 Lord } (Gen. xiii. 10). And still it is scarcely trod 
 by the foot of a traveller, it is not inhabited, and the 
 Arab pitches not there his tents, and the shepherds do 
 not cause the flocks to lie down there (Isaiah xiii. 20). 
 Still, thus speaketh the Lord Zebaoth, There shall yet 
 be in this place, which is waste, without man and cattle, 
 again a dwelling for shepherds, causing their flocks to 
 lie down. In those days shall Judah be redeemed, and 
 Jerusalem shall be inhabited in security. And this is 
 the name it shall be called, THE LoRD our Righteous- 
 ness (Jer. xxxiii. 12,16)." 
 
 The point we have reached is a good one to pause at, 
 for several boundaries meet here, and the passage from 
 one to another of these is sudden and distinct. Behind 
 us are the threefold springs of the river's birth. In 
 front we have the bright lake, whose shores and waters 
 
 * In the first five days of the Danube fi-om its source, the canoe had 
 descended about 1500 feet, but then there was more water to float in, 
 several weirs, and a few cascades, and yet the current was as fast as one 
 would wish to see, but it was nothing to the speed of Jordan here. 
 
 « Rabbi Schwartz (p. 81).
 
 3IO Grand View. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 had teemed with Hfe all fed from Jordan ; beyond that 
 lake, and dim to the eye far off, is the river dead in 
 Sodom's Sea. 
 
 The bridge behind us marks a new chapter in the 
 history of our Lord. Already we have lingered where 
 Christ had visited a high mountain, and the Law and the 
 Prophets had met the Gospel each by its noblest repre- 
 sentative, to discourse of the great event which is the 
 centre of God's dealings with mankind, the offering of 
 His Son. But now we are looking to where He lived 
 most among men. 
 
 On that mount that is now behind us, Peter would 
 have made three tabernacles, but the visitors came not to 
 abide in the cloud, however glorious, nor is the Master yet 
 ready to ascend. The Lord is to dwell with sinners still, 
 and the fisherman is to return to his nets by the sea. 
 
 Behold then here the front of that grand stage on which 
 so great a drama was enacted, where the Teacher taught 
 longest, the Healer cured most, the Prophet first gave 
 warning, the Saviour gathered His people, the Light of the 
 World shone brightest, " Galilee of the Gentiles." 
 
 The sketch given opposite is an outline, north and 
 south, from the hill we have mentioned. Before us we see 
 the lower end of Hooleh Lake with the Jordan running 
 out of it towards us, and if we turn the book round, 
 and look from the same central mount, but now facing 
 southwards, we see the Jordan running from us, until it 
 enters the Sea of Tiberias. The two projecting points 
 to the left in this view are the Wady Semakh and Wady 
 Fik,' while the southern shore at Kerak is seen to 
 bound the lake in the far distance about twenty miles 
 from our point of view. An intervening hill on the right 
 hides the land of Gennesareth ; and the actual entrance 
 
 ' Both of these are shown in the coloured picture in Chapter XXIII.
 
 Chap. XVI 1 1.] Te7i Miles of Torrent. 
 
 1 1 
 
 of Jordan into that lake is not visible, I think, from our 
 
 present standpoint, being shut out by a hill to the 
 
 right. How great the 
 
 descent of Jordan is, we 
 
 can see pretty plainly 
 
 here by a glance, first 
 
 at Hooleh above, and 
 
 then at Tiberias below, 
 
 comparing their levels 
 
 by the eye, while the 
 
 loud noise of the river 
 
 foaming at our feet 
 
 tells also to the ear 
 
 how fast the Jordan 
 
 flows. 
 
 Our camp was astir 
 early to follow the 
 route we had thus re- 
 connoitred. For horses 
 and mules there was 
 nothing to make the 
 way difficult, but the 
 danger we feared most 
 for the canoe was that 
 which came from the 
 wind. In the high gusts of a breeze it was always found 
 necessary to put two men behind the Rob Roy to 
 prevent the little horse that bore her from being actually 
 capsized when the storm pressed hard against the long 
 flat side of the boat perched high upon the cautious 
 creature's back. Now the path was much too narrow 
 here to allow even one man to keep near so as to help 
 the Rob Roy thus, and especially in the most awkward 
 
 Ten Miles of Jordan.
 
 312 Hard Times. [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 places of the road, where it wound along the edges of 
 deep precipices, and where the footing was worst, and the 
 wind was strongest. In such places an upset, or even a 
 false step in staggering against the blasts, would instantly 
 hurl the horse and its burden into the torrent below. 
 
 Often we had to dismount the canoe, and to carry her 
 by hand past sloping edges or crooked rocks. Some- 
 times even to carry her thus was difficult, when the 
 mountain gusts blew strong, and when one man could 
 not hear the other's voice for direction. Patience and 
 perseverance triumphed here once more, and the route 
 began to descend rapidly, with a splendid view of the 
 Sea of Galilee ever cheering us on. 
 
 I had now such full confidence in Hany (like that 
 which a mother feels in a well-tried nurse) that he 
 could be left alone to take care of "the young lady ;"^ 
 and indeed he begged me to go out of sight at the worst 
 places, so that he might have only one anxiety at a 
 time. To stifle anxiety by hard exercise, I climbed the 
 heights about us, and always had some new beauties to 
 see from the top. At last, having gone far ahead, riding 
 alone, I selected a place for luncheon where a crystal 
 stream rushed past in headlong race for the Jordan, and 
 lovely anemones spangled the turf under shady trees. 
 
 The instant I dismounted, a man's head appeared 
 over a rock beside me, and then another opposite, and 
 a third behind. In such a case, alone and outnumbered, 
 one has only to be cool and stand firm. Presently seven 
 or eight men, all armed with guns, closed in upon me. 
 
 A half-policy here would be of no use, so I quietly 
 slipped off my horse's bridle, loosened his girths, and 
 spread my large cloak under the tree, and, having 
 
 * Not decked in dead folks' hair is she, Her ribs not cramped in steel, 
 No draggle-tail, for you and nie To tread on, dangling at distorted heel.
 
 Chap. XVI II.] A Set of Ruffians. 3 1 3 
 
 haltered my horse's leg, I lay down in the most con- 
 fiding way that traveller could behave. My visitors 
 were not Arabs : they were the veriest set of ruffians to 
 look at that any one could set eyes upon. They stood 
 round and nodded, and I had a free chat with them all ; 
 but they began it. " Who are you 1 " " Ingleez." " Where 
 are you going ? " " Tiberya." " What have you to 
 sell ? " " Nothing." " Are you here alone ? " " Oh, no ! 
 there is a shaktoor coming soon, and you will see it." 
 " A shaktoor } Did you say a boat ? " So I told them 
 of the canoe on the Nile, and the Red Sea, and the 
 Barada, and the Hasbany ; but when I spoke of sailing 
 her upon Lake Hooleh, they burst out into derisive jeers. 
 One of them seemed to be a Greek, but the leader was 
 more like the men one meets in the Balearic Islands ; 
 so I tried him with a sentence of the peculiar Spanish 
 patois there (with the words chopped off at their 
 ends) and, sure enough, he turned out to be a renegade 
 from the mild sway of the motherly Isabella, Father 
 Claret, and the Bleeding Nun. He was amazed at such 
 a rencontre, and so was I. All the others were silent, 
 but soon they retired for consultation and came again 
 for " backshish," when, just at the proper moment, the 
 bow of the Rob Roy appeared over a distant hill, nod- 
 ding, nodding, as the horse stepped carefully bearing it. 
 I pointed to that. The men were bewildered at the 
 sight. The mule-bells tinkled in our approaching cara- 
 van, and they saw I was not quite a lone wayfarer fit 
 for these cowards to rob. 
 
 Hany coming up saw it all at a glance. The only 
 time I ever saw him frightened was then. 
 
 " Get away. Sir ! get away from this place as fast as 
 possible ! Cross the stream ! These are a pack of regular 
 robbers. We cannot stop here for one moment."
 
 314 The Worst, [Chap. XVIII. 
 
 So the palaver was put an end to, and my friend from 
 Majorca moved off, saying they were " only looking out 
 for game to shoot ;" and, indeed, just before they came 
 up, I had noticed two otters (as it seemed), or they may 
 have been conies, wandering among the rocky clefts of 
 the stream, and observing my movements ^vith great 
 keenness and sagacity. 
 
 The view a little farther on from our bivouac was truly 
 magnificent, as the whole lake of Gennesareth opened 
 wide beneath us. Years before I had gazed on these 
 waters, but not from this end of the lake, and with only 
 that tantalising look which a limited hour's visit to such 
 a scene causes to be a mixture of joy to see it so pretty 
 and sorrow to leave it so soon. 
 
 But now I gazed upon this lake as the haven of a 
 long voyage, the chiefest purpose of a charming journey, 
 the delightful waters where I was to stop, to see, to see 
 thoroughly, to have unbounded enjoyment upon for 
 many days, if only my boat could get safely there ; 
 and it was so. 
 
 Yet the part of the road now to be done was by far 
 the most trying of the whole travel. Hany had pre- 
 dicted this, and I had alternately confuted his logic, and 
 rallied him on his fears. These were not causeless, 
 and how we ever got a canoe through that last mile 
 of stones and marsh and sliding precipice, one can 
 only wonder still ; and most earnestly would I warn any 
 other person against it who intends to come here with 
 a boat. 
 
 Marsh we had learned to plunge through, stones and 
 rocks we knew how to manage, for at the worst the 
 canoe could be carried then by hand. But here the deep 
 morass was full of large round boulders, so that the 
 horse's feet might be ever so sure in their hold, yet just
 
 Chap. XVIII.] At last. 315 
 
 at the critical moment the stone he was standing upon 
 gave way. The mules — these clever and amusing com- 
 panions, if you will but learn their fun — were completely 
 puzzled here. Wandering right and left, and refusing 
 for once to follow the little black donkeys who could 
 lead best of all, they staggered and fell with a loud crash 
 of crockery and the shouts of the men who were wading 
 over the bog. Hany and Latoof carried the Rob Roy 
 for a quarter of a mile at a time. I admired their pluck 
 and patience, while I mourned for their falls and bruises. 
 It was hard enough to get on without any load, and I 
 was quite wet through while leading my puzzled horse 
 and jumping from island to island among the pools. 
 But that mattered nothing, of course. Indeed, we all 
 felt that no one must spare himself now. It was the 
 very last time we had to be anxious about, for once 
 the Rob Roy was in the Sea of Galilee, she would be 
 well able to meet any dangers there. Water we can 
 deal with in a boat, or, if she founders, it is a legitimate 
 end ; but to perish by a fall in a quagmire, tJiat would 
 indeed be inglorious for a travelled canoe. After about 
 eight hours spent over as many miles of journey, the 
 bottom of the hill was reached at last.^ 
 
 The Jordan has come down the narrow gorge much 
 faster than we have scrambled through it ; and now the 
 river, tired with its foaming, spreads as if resting on a 
 sort of delta, which is gradually wider to the shores of 
 the lake. This fertile land is beautifully green, with 
 bushy trees and level sward. Numerous side-currents 
 from the main stream meander here, and flocks of buf- 
 
 ^ It must be remembered that this was midwinter, and that we were 
 directing our course to an unusual point, where the canoe could be again 
 launched upon the river. The road is a bad one, but for usual travelling it 
 s tolerable, and the scenery along it is a full reward for any trouble.
 
 3 1 6 All righl ! [Chap. XVI 1 1 
 
 faloes, horses, and goats, are scattered over the plain. 
 Other parts of it are cultivated, and the tents of an Arab 
 tribe dot the green landscape Avith their quaint black 
 hamlets. I had ridden among these very slowly, until 
 the mule-bells sounded near behind me coming on, yet 
 for a long, long time there was no sign of Hany, and 
 none of the canoe. 
 
 The Arab horses, browsing free and frisky, trotted 
 up to gaze upon us. The Arabs themselves must have 
 wondered why the Howaja kept riding on while his face 
 was always turned behind in anxious expectation. At 
 length, through the copse of brushwood, the Avell-known 
 bows of the Rob Roy were seen aloft, and a hail from 
 Hany, shouted aloud, " All right !" 
 
 Glad hour that ends our fears and ushers in bright 
 happy days of life upon the Lake of Galilee! 
 
 And here, before launching on the most interesting 
 water in the world, we may give a parting glance to the 
 rivers we have left. 
 
 Note on the Three Rivers. 
 
 As we are leaving Jordan here, it seems a fit time for a brief 
 general survey of some of its principal features, as compared 
 with those of the Abana and the Pharpar. 
 
 From the Hasbeya source to the Dead Sea, the direct dis- 
 tance is about 1 20 miles. I estimate the addition to be made 
 for winding of the channel from the source to the end of the 
 Sea of Galilee as 20 per cent, and for the rest as 100 per 
 cent, (judging from Warren's outline of that part). 
 
 This would make the water in the first part to be 60 miles 
 long; and in the second part 140 miles, or in all 200 miles 
 of channel, from the source to the Dead Sea. 
 
 The Hasbeya source is 1700 feet above the Mediterranean, 
 and the Dead Sea is 1300 feet below the Mediterranean, so
 
 Chap, XVIII.] Note on the Rivers. 317 
 
 that the total fall of Jordan is 3000 feet, which would be 
 1 5 feet per mile of its channel, or 2 5 feet per mile of its direct 
 distance. 
 
 If we subtract the lake of Gennesareth, and the lake 
 and marsh of Hooleh- — 20 miles together — the fall in the 
 remaining 100 miles of direct distance is 30 feet per mile. 
 
 The level of Hooleh morass is estimated at 150 feet above the 
 Mediterranean, so that about 1500 feet, or half the total fall of 
 Jordan, is descended before the river reaches the barrier in 
 Hooleh,'° and the Jordan comes to the level of the Mediter- 
 ranean about 2 miles below Jacob's Bridge. Thence it pours 
 down its waters into the heart of the earth, and if the Medi- 
 terranean Sea were to be admitted to the interior of Palestine, 
 it would rise nearly to the ruin of the Templars' keep at Jacob's 
 Bridge. 
 
 The surface of the lake of Tiberias is 653 feet below the 
 ordinary sea-level (its greatest depth is 165 feet). From Kerak, 
 at its southern end, the river descends about 650 feet into 
 the Dead Sea. 
 
 As a general outline, then, it may be said that the Jordan 
 runs 20 miles, falling 1400 feet, into a basin 12 miles long • 
 then runs 10 miles, falling 700 feet, into another basin 14 miles 
 long; then runs 65 miles, falling 700 feet, into a basin 50 
 miles long and 1800 feet deep. Here, the waters of Jordan 
 being fresh, and therefore lighter than the highly saturated salt 
 water of the Dead Sea, they most probably disperse over the 
 upper surface only, and so, being evaporated before they mingle 
 much with the brine that lies heavy and deep below, they are 
 wafted by the south wind in clouds once more to Hermon, and, 
 condensed into snow-flakes, with water from the Abana and 
 Pharpar, also borne up to Hermon, they trickle down again 
 to run along old Jordan's bed, their endless round. ^' 
 
 ^^ The fall from Hooleh Lake to the Jisr Benat Yacob is given at 90 feet 
 (Wildenbrach), but I consider this estimate to be at least 70 feet too much. 
 
 " In the 'Journal of the Geographical Society,' vol. xviii., are two 
 papers by Dr. E. Robinson, of New York, and by Petermann, the well- 
 known geographer, from which the following notes may be inserted upon 
 the comparative "fall" of rivers ; but the value of these for comparison
 
 Note 071 the Rivers. [Chap. XVI 1 1. 
 
 The Abana falls 1442 feet from the mill 5 miles below 
 Zebedany to Damascus, about 20 miles, or 70 feet per mile ; 
 but the fall afterwards, until it is lost in the lake, is trifling^ — 
 say, 100 feet, or 5 feet per mile. The Pharpar seems to fall 
 about 25 feet per mile at first, and 5 feet afterwards. 
 
 Thus we have reviewed some of the principal characteristics 
 of the chiefest of those " waters of Israel " which Naaman would 
 not compare with the " Abana and Pharpar rivers of Damascus." 
 True, these Syrian streams gave more fertility than the deep-cut 
 Jordan, but they could not wash away his blot of leprosy. 
 God had appointed for that the river He chose to bless as a 
 means ; and for our hearts, sick with sin, He has also pointed 
 out a healing stream. Morality is good, but powerless for this 
 deadly stain, "There is a fountain filled with blood." 
 
 depends upon the degree of accuracy with which the "lengths" are mea- 
 sured along the general course, or the actual windings of all the channel. 
 
 The Dee, of Aberdeenshire, ranks in size with the Jordan. From the 
 Linn of Dee (after its cascades as a torrent) to the sea, it runs 72"2 miles, 
 and descends 1190 feet, or i6"5 feet per mile. 
 
 The Tweed runs 96'4 miles, and falls 15CX) feet ; average about 16 feet 
 per mile. 
 
 The descent for the Severn is 265 inches, and for the Shannon 9 
 inches, per mile. 
 
 The Clyde runs 98 miles, and falls 1400 feet, about 14 feet per mile. 
 
 The Thames runs 215 miles, and descends 376 feet, or about a foot and 
 a half per mile. 
 
 The mighty Amazon falls only 12 feet in the last 700 miles of its course, 
 or only one-fifth of an inch per mile. 
 
 Baalbec is 3726 feet above the sea (Vandevelde). Dr. E. Robinson says 
 the Litany runs 55 miles to the sea. This would give a fall of 67 feet per 
 mile, or if we take the latter part of the river, after it has cut through the 
 rock, 50 feet per mile. But the Report of Mr. Palmer (presented Oct. 
 1870) questions former observations as to the watershed of the Litany. 
 
 Robinson makes Jordan fall I4'3 feet per statute mile, and says the 
 Rhine in its most rapid portion, and including the fall of Schaffliausen, has 
 but one-half the average descent of the Jordan, which in the 984 feet of its 
 descent in 60 miles has room for three cataracts, each equal in height to 
 Niagara, and still leaving an average fall' equal to the swiftest portion of 
 the Rhine, including the cataract at Schaffhausen.
 
 Chap. XIX.] " On deep Galileer 319 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 "on deep GALILEE" — BANK — NAMES OF THE LAKE — SHORES — 
 SUBMERGED RUIN — NAKED STRANGER — LAGOONS — PORTS — 
 BETHSAIDA JULIAS — OOZING STREAMS — RIVER SEMAKH — GERGESA 
 
 — A PAUSE — TELL HOOM — KERASEH — FETE — SEARCH FOR PIERS 
 
 — SUBMERGED REMAINS — BREEZE — STORM — SEARCHING BELOW 
 
 — CURIOUS STONES — NO PORT — TABIGA — BETHSAIDA BAY — FLOCKS 
 AND SHOALS — GENNESARETH. 
 
 NEXT morning opened gloriously with sunshine on 
 the lake. Thick grass, browsed short by the 
 flocks, was a carpet for the Arabs squatting in a circle 
 about our tents, the occupation they so dearly love and 
 will always work so hard at — looking on. Merriness 
 filled our camp. Our perils were done. Nobody could be 
 anxious now. The horses neighed, the mules even gam- 
 bolled, and Adoor sung out his blithest lay. Climbing be- 
 hind the hills of Bashan, the sun poured over their edges 
 into the deep bosom of the lake, a lucent flood of morning, 
 and the shadowy mists of the night gat them in haste 
 away. 
 
 The Rob Roy's deck was still glistening with dew- 
 drops as we carried her before the sightseers straight to 
 the banks of Jordan. The river is noisy here, but with 
 a pleasant harmless chatty sound, and sweeping in wide 
 bends among white boulders and clean gravel. Then it 
 enters a quieter channel, skirted by stiff banks of clay, 
 well clothed by grass and the red branches of oleander. 
 A few strokes in such an onward current soon tcok us 
 away from the Arabs, who stood on a point in a won-
 
 320 
 
 Bank. 
 
 [Chap. XIX. 
 
 dering group, e\nd their deep-toned " Ullah!" was scarcely 
 heard. 
 
 Now we are to enter the Sea of Galilee, and in the 
 most enlivening of all ways, entirely alone. By gentle 
 curves the Jordan softly closes here to the western shore, 
 and passes two large flat buildings near its mouth, one 
 of them is marked K in the plan below. For the last 
 200 yards the river enlarges suddenly, and for twice 
 that distance back the current is almost nothing, Avhich 
 shows that the level of the lake extends some way up 
 the river's channel, and this being so when the water was 
 low, it is likely that when the lake is full, the current 
 must nearly cease a long way back from the present 
 mouth. 
 
 The actual junction of Jordan with the lake is remark- 
 able. A long point of fine black gravel, almost like sand, 
 and full of shells, juts out westwards from the eastern 
 bank, and in the bay formed by this I rested to survey 
 the lovely scene while buffaloes gradually assembled to 
 o-aze, with their necks outstretched. This peculiar form 
 of bank (nearly crossing 
 the river's mouth from one 
 side) is a marked feature 
 of the streams at the north 
 of the lake, and the same 
 elegance of curve, regularity 
 of slope, and neatness and 
 purity of the gravel on the 
 bank, were also invariably seen all round the shores, and 
 more easily now, because the water was low. The mouth 
 of Jordan is narrowed to 70 feet by the curved neck of fine 
 black grit and white shells mingled, and the stream is 
 chiefly on the west, as may be seen from the soundings 
 eiven in feet in our sketch. 
 
 Mouth of Jordan, Sea ol Galilee.
 
 Chap, XIX.] Naples of the Lake. 321 
 
 Soon after the river has emerged, it forms a " bar," the 
 usual outwork of a swift stream when suddenly arrested 
 by the water of a lake or sea, for the matter in suspen- 
 sion then subsides. High short waves bristled here, but 
 not caused by wind, and after a splash or two from these 
 as a welcome to the Rob Roy, she floated in peace on 
 the Lake of Gennesareth. In low lake the Avater is 
 fordable at the bar, and the depth is about three feet, 
 except for a short interval, but the more usual ford is 
 nearly a mile and a half up the stream, where I saw men 
 wading over in four feet of water, while each of them 
 carried his clothes on the top of his head. Fords in 
 some rivers shift suddenly, but not such a one as this, so 
 that it is likely that the people crossed here when they 
 followed our Lord, who went over the lake in a ship. 
 
 The Map VIL {post, p. '^'^6), represents the lake, being 
 reduced by pantagraph to a half inch scale, from part of 
 a photograph of the unpublished Ordnance Survey Map, 
 made by Captain Wilson, R.E., and Lieutenant Ander- 
 son, R.E., in 1866, and which was kindly presented to 
 me for use on the voyage. It is now inserted in my log 
 as the first correct map yet published of the Sea of 
 Galilee. The soundings are in feet from V^andevelde, 
 taken from Lynch. 
 
 This lake or sea has had four names, Chinnereth, 
 Gennesareth, Galilee, Tiberias. All these are inserted 
 together in the old map of W. Wey (see post, p. 391, 
 note). The name " Tarichion " (from Tarichea, now 
 Kerak) was also sometimes given (Pliny, lib. v. ch. xv.). 
 
 The lake is called " Chinneroth " ^ in the Old Testa- 
 
 ' Stanley ('S. and P.' pp. 373-4), referring to Numbers xxxiv. II ; Josh. 
 xii. 3 ; xiii. 27 ; xix. 35. The Talmud says it was called Cinnereth because 
 its fruits were sweet, like the sound of a harp (Neubauer, 'Geog. Talm.' 
 p. 215). 
 
 Y
 
 32'2 Shores. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 uient, either from " Chinnereth," one of the fenced cities, 
 or from the district, or perhaps from the oval harp-Hke 
 form of its basin. Now that the real shape of the lake 
 can be seen in our map, the word "oval" does not apply, 
 but the form is more than ever seen to be harp-like. De 
 Saulcy (' Journey to the Dead Sea,' &c., vol. ii. p. 43 1) says 
 that in Joshua xi. 2, the Hebrew text has "south of Chin- 
 nereth," and the Chaldaic text has " south of Gennesar." 
 
 It was called Gennesareth from a place on the shore. 
 
 When the lake is called by John (vi. i) "the Sea of 
 Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias" (" the Sea of Galilee, 
 of Tiberias "), it may be to distinguish this lake from that 
 other sea of Galilee, Lake Hooleh. The earlier Evange- 
 lists call it the Lake of Gennesareth, for Tiberias was 
 then a new and unimportant town ; but John, who wrote 
 later, calls the lake by the name of the town which had 
 by that time become important." 
 
 To make a complete examination of the Holy Lake 
 along its shore was the purpose of my voyage during the 
 next two weeks, and by method and system we at once 
 began with, the northern shore. On the west of the river's 
 mouth the beach of this lake has the appearance of tan- 
 dust or peat, very soft and yielding, nearly black at the 
 water's edge, and brown where it is dry. A fine tree here 
 
 - The name "Gennesar" may be from Ga7ii, "garden," and Sar, 
 "prince," the "Gardens of Princes," alkiding, as the Rabbis allege, to 
 the princes of Nephtali (' S. and P.' p. 375, quoting Lightfoot). Neubauer 
 (p. 215), besides this derivation, cites "rich garden" as a meaning. In the 
 Midrasch, Chinnereth is identified with Sennabris and Beth Yerah. 
 
 The name Galilee in Joshua xx. 7, is in Hebrew Galil, and in 2 Kings 
 XV. 29, it is Na-Galilah. It came to signify an entrance or bound (as in archi- 
 tecture now " the Galilee " or porch of the cathedral). Galilee is interpreted 
 as Gilgal in the Macabees and the Talmud (Liglitfoot, vol. ii. p. 80). Twenty 
 of the cities of the district were annexed by Solomon to the kingdom of 
 Tyre, and formed the " boundaiy " or "oflscouring" ("Gebul," or 
 "Cabul"), afterwards the "coasts," of Tyre (see 'S and P.' p, 363).
 
 Chap. XIX.] Submerged R2Lin. 323 
 
 at Abu Zany grows just by the lake, the only one close 
 to the water all round the Avestern side. It is 500 yards 
 west of Jordan mouth. Turning east again, we soon 
 come to a few palm-trees^ about fifty yards inland, and 
 near them is a small shapeless ruin. Here is a wall of 
 hewn stone five feet under water, and about ten feet 
 long, extending to twenty feet from shore. The beach 
 there is of black gritty basalt particles mingled with sand 
 and multitudes of shells. The shore shelves rapidly, so 
 that at twenty feet from the edge there is seven feet 
 of water. The land is flat and swamp}-, in a level plain 
 called Butaiah, as marked on Map VII. 
 
 The canoe had skirted slowly along this shore, keeping 
 just far enough from the edge to enable my eye to see 
 anything like large stones or buildings under water 
 between me and the bank, and this was the general 
 course pursued all round the lake. For seven hours 
 a day during seven days my sight was half below and 
 half above the surface, scanning every object with eager 
 interest, and few searches are more exhaustive of time, 
 patience, and energy, than this, if it be done carefully. 
 On five other days I kept to land work only, so as 
 to be refreshed by variety. To do this in any other 
 lake might be wearisome enough, but here on these 
 blessed shores it was indeed a labour of love. 
 
 Thus eyeing the deep, I began to examine the ruined 
 
 ^ These palm-trees are often spoken of as if they were exactly at Jordan's 
 mouth by writers who have not actually seen the place closely. \'ancle- 
 velde marks this as Bethsaida el Mesadyeh. Thomson seems to regard it 
 as the eastern part of Bethsaida, built, as he supposes, on both sides of 
 Jordan. The three sets of palm-trees on the north-eastern shore are depicted 
 in our outline sketch, post, p. 359. 
 
 When the Ordnance sui-vey of the lake was made, a long storm of rain 
 had filled its waters, but my visit, though at the same time of the year (in 
 January), was after a long drought had made its suiface level low, and the 
 contour of the lake was, therefore, slightly diiferent from that in the ma] 1,
 
 324 Naked Stranger. [Chap. xix. 
 
 wall, and to probe with my paddle. Now, at least thought 
 I, no robber can be near, and the sight below can be 
 scanned in peace. Certainly the shores for some way 
 inland were perfectly clear when the search began ; yet 
 just as my eye was close to the calm water, and every 
 sound was hushed that I might drink in the pleasures of 
 sight, a loud shout was heard close beside me, " Ya 
 walud !" (Holloah ! you there !) and I looked up just in 
 time to see the dark brown body of a naked man in the 
 very act of " taking a header " as he dashed in from 
 the shore towards me. But my paddle was instantly in 
 action, and when his wet head came up at my bows, the 
 Rob Roy was backing astern full speed, and my new 
 friend was full half a moment too late to catch hold of 
 her, while he received an ample splashing of water from 
 my blade in his eyes. Splendidly the fellow swam, but 
 I merely played with him and laughed at his frantic 
 efforts and wild shouts. He paused and stared — quite 
 at home in deep water — spouting at me a loud and 
 voluble, indignant, address, and then he retired in de- 
 feat, while I neared the shore again. There he stood 
 erect and gleaming with moisture, and redundant life 
 playing through his brawny muscles, a most strange 
 object to behold. 
 
 Now that man must have been not a little brave to 
 dash in thus, in order that he might seize the " sheitan ' 
 (spirit) at once and unarmed ; but invincible is the desire 
 of man to get hold of what is unknown. Waiting did not 
 get rid of him, so to lose no more time I had to go on 
 without a proper examination of the ruin below water, 
 and this, I think, is the only subaqueous novelty all round 
 the lake that was not investigated well. 
 
 The entrance of the crooked lagoon (marked A on 
 Map VII.) is twelve feet deep, and no doubt there was a
 
 Chap. XIX.] 
 
 Lagoons. 
 
 :25 
 
 port inside, but I did not enter there on account of the 
 naked Arab. 
 
 The margin a little further on has small bushes growing 
 on it, some of them oleander. There the sand pre- 
 dominates, and large round boulders are in the deeper 
 parts. We are still coasting along the level plain, which 
 curves round the north-east edge of the lake. Several 
 travellers have ridden across parts of this, but the notices 
 of its nature and contents are extremely meagre. Yet 
 here must have been many villages, if not towns, in the 
 days of our Lord, for the Tells and other signs of former 
 habitation are thickly scattered, and several inlets from the 
 lake run through the shore to the level country behind. 
 
 We next paddled on to a lagoon near C in the map, 
 and shown here in our sketch. Near the mouth is one 
 hewn stone under three feet of water, and a wooden 
 stake one foot long, under 
 two feet of water. This is 
 an inch and a half thick, and 
 is round and upright, and 
 in a line with the submerged 
 causeway. The post looked 
 quite black and very old, 
 but it was too firmly fixed to 
 be pulled up, though I tried 
 hard for a long time. The entrance of this lagoon is 
 between two low narrow points of fine black sand, 
 one of them curiously turned round (see another of 
 this kind, p. 330). The part at D on our plan is 
 only three inches above water, and twenty feet wide. 
 From point B where the boundary is above water, the 
 palm-tree near Jordan bears X.W. by N. The channel 
 (entrance seventy feet wide) runs in E.S.E., and after 
 400 }-ards, it turns at right angles towards a Tell with 
 
 Lagoon and Port, But;iia PLiin.
 
 326 
 
 Ports. 
 
 [Chap. XIX. 
 
 Lagoon 2. 
 
 ruins, and here is the second clump of palms. On the 
 north side of the channel is a row of rush tufts, half sub- 
 merged with two or three feet water, and close alongside 
 them all the way it is five and six feet deep. A channel, 
 six feet deep, runs out fifty yards into the lake. 
 
 Farther along the coast, near D on the map, there are 
 oleanders, and from this the large 
 pI terebinth in the plain bears N.E. 
 Here we find is another gap in the 
 beach with a channel four feet deep, 
 which winds up to a palm-tree, 
 as shown in our plan 2 alongside. 
 
 Farther east there is a port with 
 a channel to another palm-tree, but 
 the bar is closed. Going still south, we come to Kefr 
 Argib or Argob. In Vandevelde's map it is called Duka- 
 There is a rocky Tell projecting, and a few huts upon it, 
 and large stones of ruins. On going near, I found none 
 but women there. The ruins upon it, when examined by 
 Wilson, did not reveal anything of importance. In the 
 bays about this, there are very large boulders under water, 
 and it is a dangerous place for ships. The bottom is 
 stony for some distance northwards, but the stones are 
 not so large. The same character prevails southwards, 
 until we reach the delta of Wady Semakh, where the 
 bottom is of stiff clay. 
 
 No Arabs approached within sight during my cruise 
 about these latter places, and I landed and walked right 
 and left, but always within a run of the boat. Yet the 
 survey was not so leisurely effected as it might have 
 been had we hired a guard to ride on the bank Avhilc the 
 Rob Roy pored over the water. The Arabs of this plain 
 have not a bad repute, but they are inquisitive, and 
 might injure the boat without intending harm, and at all
 
 Chap. XIX.] Bethsaida y^dias. 32; 
 
 times on the shores of Bashan they might have captured 
 me for a ransom, which would have caused a loss of 
 precious time. 
 
 The hills after Kefr Argib and the Wady Shukayah 
 come so near to the shore, and the coast seems to be so 
 little adapted for a port (and without appearance outside 
 of any channel inwards), that we may well suppose the 
 usual point of embarkation from, the north-eastern coasts 
 must have been one of the ports along the strip of beach 
 already described. This is an interesting reflection ; for 
 our Saviour often crossed to this side, and when He came 
 over to Bethsaida Julias to feed the five thousand, and 
 before He walked upon the sea at night, it must have 
 been at one of these ports He landed, and from one of 
 them the apostles embarked.* 
 
 The sensation of being in such a neighbourhood — and 
 that, too, in one's own little boat and quite alone — was 
 peculiarly impressive. In other places, once made holy 
 by His presence, it was the ground, and not the water, 
 that claimed regard. But now a new element attracts 
 our interest, and not the less so because the water itself 
 had changed : for the precise position of an event on 
 sea, or lake, or river, seems to be unmoved while the 
 actual tide may shift or the current roll along. 
 
 Our course still trended south, and the terebinth 
 marked in the map under the last letter A of the word 
 Butaia, and which had long seemed to be close to the 
 water's edge, was now left behind in the plain. 
 
 A respectable-looking Arab came to the door of a 
 neat little tent here, and his wife took leave of him 
 
 '' It has even been urged by able writers that the plain of Butaia is the 
 land of Gennesareth (Stanley, ' S. and P.' p. 3S6, note). As to the special 
 bearing of some of the features of this shore in relation to the site of 
 Capernaum, we shall return to the subject farther on.
 
 328 The Swine. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 aftcctionately as he mounted his well-fed donkey and 
 went along the path with a friend. The Rob Roy 
 approached, and we had a most pleasant talk about 
 things in general. It was very remarkable how distinctly 
 every word was heard, even at 300 yards off ; and it was 
 very easy to comprehend how, in this clear air, a preacher 
 sitting in a boat could easily be heard by a vast multitude 
 standing upon the shore. 
 
 Bethsaida Julias was behind us now, if it stood where 
 that green mound (Et Tell in our map) shines fertile in 
 the sun.^ The Bashan hills are on our left, but still the 
 water is not much deeper near that side. My present 
 inspection of this shore in front, and the hills overhanging 
 it, was chiefly to find where — for it is supposed to have 
 been near this — the herd of swine ran into the sea, as 
 related in the eighth chapter of St. Matthew. After most 
 scrutinising search I could not perceive any one locality 
 which might be pointed to as the " steep place " in ques- 
 tion ; and at this there was no small disappointment,'' 
 though all difficulty about the matter was entirely removed 
 on a subsequent occasion at another part of the coast. 
 At only one spot of the shore from Jordan, round by the 
 cast and south, to near Tiberias do the cliffs approach the 
 water, and then it is not abruptly but I had not yet 
 reached that particular spot. 
 
 '" It will be observed that this Tell in Vandevelde's map is far too distant 
 from the shore. Wilson does not consider that Et Tell is proved to be Julias. 
 Josephus clearly places Julias on the east side (' W. J.' book iv. ch. viii. 
 sec. ii.), and marks the other eastern boundary of Palestine on the south, at 
 Somorrhon (Gomorrha ?). 
 
 •^ In a notice of the first edition of this book, the ' Saturday Review ' 
 exults at the failure recorded in this part of Che sentence above, but e.x\- 
 •iweXy forgets (let us say) to make the slightest allusion to the second part of 
 the sentence which recounts the success.
 
 Chap. XIX.] Oozing Streams. 329 
 
 The underwood now thickens on the verge of the 
 sea. The gravel bank is redder in colour, and of larger 
 pebbles and fewer shells. The streams flowing in here 
 are numerous, but nearly all of them enter the lake in 
 a remarkable way by forming a narrow strip of lagoon 
 along the land side of the high gravel beach, and inside 
 of this the water from each rivulet seemed to filter 
 silently and invisibly through the clean pebbly barrier 
 without any break in the shore. Wady Sulam, Wady 
 Tellahyeh, and Wady Jermaiah, or {if Vandevelde be 
 right) Jernaiah, all enter the lake in this way, being quite 
 invisible from the water. 
 
 From a wide glen on our left there projects into the 
 lake a tongue-shaped promontory about half a mile broad 
 at its eastern base, and covered with thick bushes of many 
 different kinds. Some of these are twenty and thirty 
 feet high, and the flood-mark is distinct upon them all 
 from three to four feet above the present level of the 
 lake, while the roots of many dip into the water, and 
 their thin polished branches wave over the surface. 
 Several palm-trees are growing here, with their roots in 
 five feet of water, which seems a very unusual position. 
 There are palm-trees at the north, south, east, and west 
 sides of the lake. To skim along in the calm silence 
 under the trees was delicious. The towers of Tiberias, 
 on the other side of the lake, have long white reflections 
 on the w^ater, and the smooth slopes rise behind where 
 once was poured forth to refresh the whole world that 
 sermon of texts, beginning with " Blessed are the poor in 
 spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 The cleft in the chain of hills above me is the Wady 
 Semakh, and, according to the marking in the map, I 
 expected to reach the mouth of the river there before
 
 2>3^ 
 
 River Seniakh. 
 
 [Chap. XIX. 
 
 BOO VARDS. 
 
 arriving at the end of its gravel tongue. It was with 
 some surprise, then, that this mouth was found to be 
 not at one side of the tongue, but precisely at its end. 
 This deviation of the map from the present coast-line 
 was, however, readily explained by perceiving that the 
 ground near the river is lower on the north shore than on 
 the south, and that this part was submerged at the time 
 the map was made. From this point west to the shore 
 near Magdala is the greatest breadth of the lake, 6J miles. 
 The mouth of this river, Semakh, is about sixty feet 
 wide, and the curious scroll of 
 sand at the extremity of the south- 
 ern bank of it (like what we have 
 noticed in the other inlets) is here 
 intensified, and has a second inte- 
 rior scroll slightly less regular. 
 These scrolls are shown in our 
 sketch. The gravel here is minute 
 The water gurgles with the tiniest 
 ripples in the delicate angles of the gracefully curved 
 figure which the sand has been worked into. The top of 
 this little sand scroll is not two inches above the surface ; 
 and the wonder is how so fragile an ornament can stand 
 the wash of a single wave, and as to what becomes of the 
 whole when the lake swells deeper, some four feet over 
 its present verge. 
 
 We paddled up the river eastwards until, at about 
 200 yards, it was only two and three feet deep, with 
 thick undergrowth on both sides, and numerous boulders 
 in the channel Pushing farther in, there was only four 
 inches of water, and beyond this the canoe could not 
 well float, being heavy with the materials for camping 
 out and four days' food. Here I could see the ruins de- 
 
 Semakh River, near Gergesa. 
 
 and absolutely clean.
 
 Chap. XIX.] Gergesa. 331 
 
 scribed by former travellers as the ancient Gergesa," now 
 called Khersa, and some of which are on each side of 
 the river, and are close to the water. 
 
 If Arabs had come at this time, they could have 
 caught the Ingleez very readily ; but I had made up my 
 mind to risk it, being now thoroughly interested in the 
 voyage and determined not to forego any important 
 investigation at such a point. Therefore I landed and 
 penetrated the thick jungle of canes, a wild and savage 
 lair for any beast to live in. Many of these canes had 
 evidently been cut down by the Arabs for thatching, 
 or .some other use. One of the tallest that I cut with my 
 knife was exactly thirty-two feet high. Aromatic canes 
 by the lake are mentioned in Strabo ('Lib. Geog.' 16.) 
 
 It was now time to cross the lake, steering for a 
 point whither the camp had been ordered to go at 
 Tell Hoom. As it is pronounced thus, I see no good reason 
 why it should be spelt " Tell Hum," which is so likely to 
 be called " Tell Humm." The water was perfectly calm, 
 and I could see no sign of the Jordan flowing in the 
 mid-lake, as has been sometimes reported ; but this will 
 be noticed when we go farther south. The lake water 
 was clear, but not very clear — not nearly so translucent 
 as that of the Red Sea ; in fact, the bottom was never 
 visible in depths beyond thirty feet.® 
 
 A few — that is, a few hundred — waterfowl were in 
 
 " As to this name, see post. Chapter XXIIl. The inhabitants of the 
 place attacked and seized Lieutenant Anderson when he was found alone. 
 
 8 The water of the Jordan from three miles above the mouth is dull in 
 colour, not exactly muddy, but with very fine matter in suspension. This 
 colour it had also from below the first bridge on the Hasbany, being varied 
 in the north part of the Hooleh by a redder tinge of the Banias River, and 
 a colour nearly black in Hooleh Lake, and then again purifying itself in its 
 rapid nm over rock after Jacob's Bridge, but again absorbing earthy matter 
 in the Butaia plain.
 
 33^ A PaJisc. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 the middle of the lake : ducks, grebes, and gulls, also a 
 bird like a cormorant, and one or two very shy pelicans. 
 Halfway across to the land of Gennesareth, the Rob 
 Roy paused for one of those luscious draughts of plea- 
 sure which such a panorama yielded every time it was 
 looked upon. On such occasions I could recline at ease 
 in the boat — you would no more roll out of the canoe 
 than out of a comfortable sofa — and then my little pocket 
 copy of St. John's Gospel was always the most vivid hand- 
 book of the scenery around. Open the sixth chapter, and 
 as you read verse by verse, the very places mentioned 
 in them are on all sides in view, and frame the page. 
 
 From that pure strand He " went over the sea," and 
 along that plain " a great multitude followed Him." 
 Among those hills He "went up into a mountain, and 
 there He sat with His disciples," and fed the faint thou- 
 sands with miraculous bread, and gave forth words of 
 life for the millions of all hearers to the end of time. 
 It was upon those heights He lingered on " a mountain 
 Himself, alone," till in the dark and in the storm, and 
 somewhere close to the spot where I am now reading, 
 they saw the same " Jesus walking on the sea." 
 
 Faith is not, indeed, begotten by this vividness of 
 places. Faith is of loftier birth than sight ; but faith 
 may be nourished, if not engendered, by things that are 
 seen, and a verse of the Bible which you have traced out 
 thus is graven anew in the memory, with the earth and 
 water round it for a visible framing to the nobler spiritual 
 picture. The setting can never be worthy of the gem, 
 still it may help our clumsy hands to hold the jewel. 
 
 Christ's is a religion that came from heaven, but is 
 meant for all places in the world, and for all people, not 
 for temples only, or shrines, or priests, or hermits, but 
 for the breezy hill-side, and the work-day town, and the
 
 Chap. XIX.] Tell Hoom, 333 
 
 collier in the mine, and the sailor in the boat. All these 
 need His love ; without that the richest man is needy, 
 but with that the poorest has pardon and peace and a 
 wealth laid up of glory. 
 
 The ensign at our camp was waving languidly in 
 the sun, and the white tents stood out in contrast on the 
 green grass by the deep black shore at Tell Hoom 
 The beach here is all of basalt stones, rounded by tum- 
 bling waves, but never smoothed. A fringe of oleanders, 
 growing in the water, screens the shore for fifty feet 
 outwards. In no part about this point is there any 
 proper place for boats. The land is too rocky to beach 
 them ; the water is two shallow to moor them ; the bottom 
 is too stony to anchor them. There is no protection 
 here from the worst winds, no pier, no harbour ; and 
 where you can neither beach, nor moor, nor anchor a 
 boat in safety, how can that be the port of a large 
 town .' 
 
 The shore of Tell Hoom Cape slopes steep to a height 
 of twenty feet. Behind that there is flatter ground, all 
 strewed Avith rough black stones. These are often 
 grouped in mounds, as if once they had been walls ; but, 
 after a diligent examination of them, the conclusion we 
 arrived at was that most of these grouped stones were 
 mere enclosure-dykes, exactly like those near the cities 
 of Bashan, and where flocks and produce were kept, and 
 are now kept in Brak, as we have before described. 
 Even if these rounded stones were once in the w-alls of 
 houses, the thickness of such walls would be very great, 
 else the stones would not stand, and thus a small house 
 might leave large ruins. The fertile ground behind Tell 
 Hoom would need many folds and store-places ; and 
 though there are small ruins of hewn stone here and 
 there among the vast masses of shapeless boulders, their
 
 334 Keraseh. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 number and position and dimensions do not (I think) 
 indicate that any large village or town was here. 
 
 But excavation has unearthed at this place the splendid 
 sculptured stones of what has been supposed to be a 
 synagogue.'' One would wish that this place may prove 
 to be Capernaum, and that the building may be the syna- 
 gogue where our Lord so often taught ; but the evidence 
 against this particular site (to be adduced farther on) 
 seems too strong to leave any such hope ; and it is much 
 easier to marshal the objections against each suggested 
 site in such a case, than to produce cogent evidence in 
 favour of any one of them. 
 
 A deep-set ravine from the mountains west of the 
 sea winds down here, enclosing a considerable stream 
 which rolls the round boulders when the torrent is in 
 flood. By this I mounted on and on, until the crags 
 aloft were seen to be crowned by the massive ruins of 
 Keraseh. Captain Wilson and Lieutenant Anderson first 
 described this place ; but if this be indeed Chorazin, it 
 must surely be by a stretch of expression that we can 
 say that town was " upon the lake." For a great part of 
 the lake is hidden from Keraseh, and its distance from 
 the lake is at least two miles and a half by the present 
 path, and only a mile less if measured in a straight line. 
 The basaltic relics at Keraseh are shown in the photo- 
 graphs of the Palestine Exploration Fund (query Society). 
 and they include some beautiful niches of pecten shape, 
 delicately chiselled out of the rough black stone.'" 
 
 " Careful and minute descriptions of these and photographs are pubhshed 
 by the Palestine Exploration Fund. The building is not yet proved to be 
 ancient and its entrance does not face the south as in the case of all other 
 synagogues found (Warren, Wilson, 1870). The woodcut at p. 344 of 
 ' Buckingham's Travels ' represents an octagonal building, which is not now 
 to be seen, nor does he describe it. 
 
 '" Thomson does not appear to have seen these beautiful sculptured
 
 Chap. XIX.] Search for Piers. 335 
 
 Gushing streams water these high-perched precipices, 
 and under one of the few trees was a camel resting, and 
 an Arab. Farther down, the tents of other Ishmaehtes 
 nestled in sheltered nooks, and men and women ran out 
 to inspect the lonely visitor with loud but not rude 
 pressure for the hateful "backshish." We rambled long 
 upon the hills, but as these may be described by land 
 travellers, let us hasten back to the shore, where we find 
 our tents all gay with special decorations, festoons of 
 oleander, hedges of bright yellow shrubs new-planted 
 at the doors, huge bouquets of wild flowers grouped upon 
 the table, singing, shouting, firing of guns, and a general 
 .hubbub of fete and gala, all improvised since the morning 
 because it happened to be the voyager's birthday, January 
 24. A huge roast turkey and plum-pudding graced the 
 board, and opposite the door was a frame, with forty-four 
 wax tapers burning when the sun sank, and the muleteers 
 whined their unmeasurable song until night enveloped 
 the " fantasia," and the sea, too, went asleep. 
 
 The shore-line of the bays north of Tell Hoom had next 
 to be examined up to the mouth of Jordan before we 
 could leave that part to turn southwards. It is difficult 
 to estimate the relative breadth and the indentation of 
 a bay when viewed from either of its projecting bounda- 
 ries or from a height in-shore.'^ Perhaps it is on this 
 
 ruins, but only some boulders in the neighbourhood, which he styles "the 
 shapeless heaps of Chorazin " ('L. and B.' p. 359). De Saulcy says that St. 
 Jerome tells us Chorazin was two miles from Capernaum, but "in littore 
 maris." Wey's map, in a.d. 1442, puts it east of Jordan, and so does 
 Hondius, in a.d. 1624. See also/^^j/p. 392, note ". Cruden says "Cho- 
 razin" means " the secret," or "here is a mystery." In the Talmud Kefr 
 Ahim is noticed with Chorazin, also Tanhoum, Tanhoumin, Tehoumin, 
 (Neubauer, ' Geog. Talm.' 221), 
 
 " If you look along the course of a river, the bend seems to be more 
 sudden than when you look across, for the divergence right and left from 
 the medium line of the stream is seen in full breadth by looking endways,
 
 ;^^6 Submerged Remains. [Chap. XIX, 
 
 account that the bays all round this lake appeared to 
 me deeper in their indentation than they are marked on 
 the Ordnance Map. In one or two instances, indeed, I 
 found by actual bearings that the coast is more indented 
 than is shown. 
 
 A very careful search was made for any semblance 
 of a pier or breakwater near Tell Hoom. To use the 
 place for boats, it can scarcely be supposed that some 
 sort of pier was not absolutely necessary, and it could 
 have been made very easily, for the stones are near at 
 hand, and so many of them are round that they might 
 easily be rolled down into the water, though they would 
 form but a clumsy wall on land. Once submerged, they 
 would never have been displaced. They could not be 
 raised again from eight or ten feet under water. Their 
 shape binding them between the rounded rocks at the 
 bottom would prevent the waves from dislodging them, 
 and if they are not to be seen there now, it is most 
 probably because they never have been there. The 
 search was somewhat difficult, because the wand was 
 south, and the swell made it dangerous to lean much 
 over the side of the canoe to put my eye close to the 
 surface. However, the care bestowed was enough, I 
 believe, to ensure that no ruins near the edge under 
 water were unnoticed. 
 
 Clear indications of a pier were found at the pro- 
 
 wheieas the length of the cun'es is foreshortened, and the further half, at 
 any rate, is sure to seem more sharply crooked than it is in truth. When 
 you look at Westminster Bridge from Southwark Bridge, the bend of the 
 Thames appears twice as sudden as it does when viewed from the bridge 
 at Charing Cross, and one can generally tell whether a traveller has judged 
 of a lake's size from its side or its end, by observing whether he makes it 
 too long or too broad. The sketch of the Sea of Galilee, seen from the 
 north (and given rtw/t", p. 311), represents how much the size is foreshortened 
 looking from north to south.
 
 Chap. XIX.] A Breeze. 337 
 
 montory marked B in the rough diagram of coast {post, 
 p. 340) bearing E.N.E. \ E. from our camp (near C), 
 and N. of Wady Keraeh. These rehcs are shown along- 
 side on a larger scale. The soundings are in feet. The 
 quay begins on shore, and part 
 of it is above water, though 
 in the lake. Beyond that the 
 dotted part is submerged two ■-^Ky^- 
 
 or three feet, and ten feet broad. * W^^-^^§^ 
 At A in the middle of the wall ,*^,^|iF^^ "^ "^^ 
 
 (which is about four feet thick) sea op calilee 
 
 there is one large stone reaching ^"''" ^"''^^'''' ""' '^'^^ """'"• 
 Avithin six inches of the surface, and inside of this the 
 water v.-as calm, being sheltered. P'arther on we shall 
 notice a few more traces. 
 
 For a time the search had to be suspended, as a brisk 
 breeze from Bashan had freshened while we paddled 
 along these bays, and the short "choppy" waves at 
 Jordan's mouth were angry enough to require attention 
 while crossing there. I ascended the Jordan again to 
 wait for a calm, but instead of that, the sea rose more 
 and more, and at last heavy clouds in the east burst into 
 a regular gale. Fortunately my canoe Avas in her lightest 
 trim to-day, but the waves on the lee- shore were 
 exactly upon her beam, which is always the most 
 awkward direction for the canoeist when the wind 
 catches the tiny craft just on the thin crest of a 
 breaker. For some time I hesitated to start, knowing 
 well that once in the middle of it there would be no 
 place to take shelter at until we could reach Tell Koom. 
 about two miles away, and then it A\-ould be very 
 doubtful how one could land upon that rough shore 
 with such a sea. Hunger (the only plague of strong 
 health) forced me at last to the journey, and having 
 
 z
 
 338 
 
 Storm. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 tightly braced up everything to the task, the Rob Roy 
 launched on the Jordan and dashed over the bar, having 
 there received one good ducking to start with, so that no 
 fear remained that anything up to my shoulders could 
 get more wet than it was. 
 
 It was well known that the waves far out from land 
 are longer and more regular than in shore, so our course 
 was in oblique lines, giving a very wide berth to each 
 headland, and as this was the first occasion on which our 
 present canoe had to stem a really bad sea (for in the 
 Red Sea we had been running before the breeze), it was 
 with great satisfaction I found that her full floor near 
 each end made her extremely buoyant and safe in her 
 plunges.'- The wind whistled now, and sea-gulls screamed 
 as they were borne on the scud. Thick and ragged clouds 
 drifted fast over the water, which became almost green 
 
 '- One of ihe numerous advantages which a canoe has beyond what can 
 ever be had in a rowing-boat is the power of using the paddle just at the 
 critical moment, on the top of a wave, when two entirely opposite dangers 
 have to be encountered. For on the one hand, if, when rising on a billow, 
 you incline the deck to windward too soon, a drenching sea from the wave- 
 crest will, of course, be received heavily, and stagger the whole fabric for 
 several seconds. On the other hand, if, to avoid that danger, you delay 
 to lean up to the wind as you mount the sloping side of a wave, the 
 full force of the crest-water is thrown against the bottom of the boat on 
 the weather-side, and just at the moment when the wind also catches the 
 hull (and your own body) with its greatest force, so as to make every 
 possible provision for a complete capsize. In an open boat, of course, 
 both these two pleasant alternatives may come together, for while the bow 
 of the boat is pressed by the wind, just as it tops the wave-crest, the full 
 body of curving green water descends into the stern, and rushes at once to 
 the lee-side, to help the poor vessel to roll over. 
 
 The canoe-man meets this double danger with the enormous advantage 
 of looking it in the face, and with the addition of a long and powerful 
 hand, the broad end of his paddle, to which he can apply the entire force 
 of both his arms, while he reaches the blade deep down on the lee-side of 
 his quivering craft, and so applies from forty to fifty pounds of pressure 
 only for a second or two, but just long enough to lift her gallantly over 
 the foan-i.
 
 Chap. XIX.] 
 
 Storm. 
 
 339 
 
 in colour, as if it were on the salt sea, and the illusion 
 was heightened by the complete obscurity of the dis- 
 tance, for the other side of the lake was quite invisible. 
 The wind shifted about as the Rob Roy came to the 
 
 
 offing at Tell Hoom, and she " hove to " then, for it was 
 not safe to turn her round in such a cross sea. The tents 
 were flapping and fluttering, and straining at their strong- 
 cords. The ensign crackled sharply in the gusts that 
 drove its free end upwards, as the wind current was 
 deflected aloft by the sloping shore below. Hany and 
 his men stood picturesquely on high points, shouting all 
 sorts of excellent advice, only it was quite unheard, and 
 the waves burst in upon the oleanders, and broke high 
 and noisy against the rugged rocks. 
 
 After consideration, it seemed to be a clear case for the 
 last resort in landing- at such a place, so I jumped out and
 
 34° Search. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 we floated safe ashore, the boat being all right, of course, 
 the moment my feet found the bottom, when I could 
 shove the Rob Roy light upon the beach to be grasped 
 by Hany, who said he had been at this place a hundred 
 times, but never saw so severe a storm upon the lake. 
 
 The storm lasted next day, and I spent the hours on 
 shore, but on January 26 it was calm, and again I 
 returned to the bays north of Tell Hoom, because 
 although nothing had seemed to indicate there any 
 harbour in water deep enough for a port, yet the waves 
 had prevented careful sounding, and sometimes even 
 made it dangerous to approach the shore, where rocks 
 just concealed by the water, when at rest, were bared in 
 the trough of each wave, and showed their pointed tops 
 quite hard enough to stove in a boat if cast upon them. 
 Besides the pier described at p. 336, and which is at B 
 on the sketch given below, there is a line of big stones 
 forming a sort of wall about twenty feet long and ten 
 feet broad at C, projecting N.E., also fainter relics at A. 
 
 Going south - west past Tell 
 Hoom again, we find at D some 
 traces of several large dressed 
 stones in three and four feet water 
 near tne old tower at E, but 
 they are not laid regularly, and 
 there are many smaller ones on 
 shore just on the verge, so that 
 it seems as if all are fallen from 
 the ruins above. One stone, a cube of two feet, looks 
 a little like part of a pier, and two others not far off 
 resemble it. None of these structures, however, all the 
 way hither from Jordan mouth, could protect even one 
 fishing-boat in wind. 
 
 A remarkable stone pictured below was noticed at F.
 
 Chap. XIX.] Cui^ioiis Stones. 341 
 
 It was on the verge of the water, and half submerged. 
 In times of full lake it would be unnoticed, but a Avave 
 receding happened to reveal it as we passed. The 
 shape is an oval, about four feet long and two feet 
 broad (not so smooth as in this drawing). In the 
 middle is a deep cut a foot broad, and from two 
 to six inches deep, leaving a sort of neck between 
 two bulging ends. At first this seemed to be a stone 
 for an anchor, but I think it would be too heavy for 
 that. For a mooring it would be too light, and the 
 sharply defined indentation 
 
 would not be required for /k_ ^!>^^^^g^^^^ c 
 either of these purposes. \ '■, ; 
 
 The waves were too high 
 
 to allow me to examine it ''""'^ '" ^'" ''''''"="■ " '^''' "'"'"• 
 better. It remains for the next land traveller to bring 
 this relic to our Palestine Collection at South Kensington. 
 Not far off and south of it is another stone hammer-faced, 
 and both of them are of black basalt like the rest. 
 
 Farther west there are several small capes or natural 
 piers, but not one artificial group longer than twenty 
 feet, and these usually with only four or five feet of 
 water alongside. Some of the small bays here that seem 
 best for boats are found to be quite shallow, and studded 
 with dangerous rocks only two feet under water. The 
 islet past the old tower, which looks like the remains of a 
 landing-place, has very little water round it. Two curious 
 clumps or bunches of thick canes stand out in bold relief 
 in this bay as islets. The first has five feet and the 
 second six feet of water alongside. It appeared to me 
 not unlikely that these plants may have originally grown 
 out of the wrecks of boats, and they would thus accumu- 
 late earth about their roots for a permanent hold. I have 
 never observed anything like these before in any lake.
 
 342 A^O Port. [Chap. XIX. 
 
 Pocock (vol. ii. p. 72, fol.) speaks of seeing (most pro- 
 bably here) " a round port for small boats." Other persons 
 have noticed the same appearance, and undoubtedly the 
 semblance of a little harbour is presented by the points 
 of rocks and detached stone projecting above water 
 when the lake is low. But my visit to this spot entirely 
 dispelled any such illusion. The points belong to a 
 few of the highest of a thousand enormous rocks and 
 detached boulders dotted over the whole surface below. 
 There is no room whatever for boats to pass in here, 
 much less to lie at peace protected. These rocks are of 
 all irregular shapes, but very many have sharp edges, 
 and not a few are whitish in colour. They are in water 
 of all depths, even to twenty feet, and their summits 
 rise to a few inches above the surface, and to every less 
 height, without any appearance of regular design, except 
 what may perchance seem formal in shape when a few 
 are associated by accident together. Thus, what might 
 be called a " port " from the shore is, in fact, a most 
 treacherous reef, and the whole of the area about it for a 
 quarter of a mile square is, perhaps, the most dangerous 
 part of the lake — and certainly is '' statio malcfida 
 carinis." So much for Tell Hoom as a port. 
 
 The first beach of sand and gravel Avest from Tell 
 Hoom seems from the shore to be a good one, but that 
 bay is full of sunken rocks most awkwardly placed. 
 
 In the next much smaller bay is the first soft strand 
 where fishing-boats could venture to beach, and it is 
 protected from wind by a natural breakwater.'^ The 
 beach itself is a pretty bit of sand, with white pebbles 
 and shells, and the shore was still perfectly clean from 
 drift-wood or debris, although a whole day's gale had 
 
 " Vandevelde was evidently ignorant of this beach and others near it 
 (' Syria and Palestine,' vol. ii. p. 399).
 
 Chap. XIX.] Tabiga. 343 
 
 been blowing right into it until this morning. Rain and 
 mist came mildly down now, and I drifted along \\ith my 
 white umbrella hoisted in a most lubberly fashion, but 
 very comfortable. 
 
 Rounding again the next point close upon Tabiga 
 (Bethsaida), we find great rocks projecting from the 
 shore into the waves, while verdure most profuse teems 
 over them, and long streamers of " maiden's hair," and 
 richest grasses, and ferns, briars, and moss, wave pendent 
 in the breeze or trail upon the water. This part of 
 the coast is entirely different from any other round the 
 lake. The water is five and six feet deep right up to 
 the rocks. The rocks are thickly encrusted with a moist 
 trickling petrified grey substance, and this stalagmite 
 projects so far over the edge that the Rob Roy easily 
 went beneath the rocks, where the clear water had 
 hollowed out caverns, and was sounding within them a 
 deep-toned note as every swell of the sea beat upwards 
 in the dark recesses. 
 
 Grey steam-like vapour rises from the surface here 
 and exhales from the streaming rocks above us, for 
 the water is hot, and bursts from the ground a little 
 way off, and bears in solution to the lake a saturated 
 current of limestone, which deposits its crust as the 
 stream is cooled, and irrigates the rich vegetation 
 with a tepid gush, a powerful stimulant to the rank 
 tangled herbage. The rocks thus groiv horizontally by 
 accretions from this stream, and roots, leaves, and stalks, 
 stand out petrified while their neighbours sprout above, 
 being forced into excessive life. One can readily under- 
 stand how the warm weaves of the lake wear away the 
 lower parts of these rocks, while the upper edges are 
 growing sideways, so that I could thrust in my paddle 
 its full length of seven feet under these table-like struc-
 
 ;44 Bethsaida Bay. [Chap, xix. 
 
 tures, while above Avater some three or four feet thickness 
 of a calcareous plateau was supported by thin pillars, 
 and just lapped by the wavelets beneath. 
 
 Here it was well to stop, and no more charming spot 
 could be chosen for our well-earned luncheon. This 
 surely is Bethsaida, the " house of food, or hunters, or 
 snares," according to Cruden's derivation, and in all three 
 renderings plainly meaning the " fisherman's home." 
 
 Tabiga is the Arab name for the mills and the few 
 houses and huts that mark the spot. We are not in 
 view of these just now, but the sound of rivulets and 
 cascades, and the musical dripping of water from the 
 long-pointed stalactites in the caverns beside us, and the 
 low rumbling, splashing, tremulous beat of the mill- 
 wheels working unseen, blend a mixed harmony round 
 the sunny little cove where the Rob Roy rests on 
 the rushes, while her captain reclines at ease with limbs 
 outstretched on deck and every muscle lax. One or two 
 quiet-looking natives soon found out the canoe, and 
 sat in silence smiling through the long grass, gazing 
 intently at our floating feast. It gave them pleasure 
 to look on, and it did no harm to me. 
 
 The place soon asserted its right to the name Bethsaida 
 by the exceeding abundance of the fish we saw tumbling 
 in the water.''* The hot springs flowing in here over 
 these rocks, and a little farther on in larger volume 
 over a clean brown sand, warm all the ambient shallows 
 
 *■* Vandevelde, however, considers that Bethsaida lies at Khan Minyeh 
 (voh ii. p. 395), but he is almost unsupported in this ; and Thomson places 
 it on the Jordan mouth. The latter supposition I find to be so entirely 
 irreconcilable with the directions and distances of the apostles' voyages 
 (considered afterwards) that I have omitted it altogether. Thomson derives 
 Tabiga from " Dabbaga," the Arabic for "tannery," and says the water 
 is " precisely the kind best adapted for that business." As to the name and 
 the water, stefost, p. 370 (note) ; as to position, /c^j/, pp. 375, 395.
 
 Chap. XIX.] Flocks and Shoals. 345 
 
 for a hundred feet from shore, and bring with them 
 much vegetable matter, and probably also insects 
 which have fallen in, so that all these dainties are half 
 cooked when they enter the lake. Evidently the fish 
 agree to dine on these hot joints, and, therefore, in a 
 large semicircle, they crowd the water by myriads round 
 the warm river-mouth. Yet they keep out of the hot 
 water of the springs and the cold water of the lake in 
 winter, so their line marks the tepid fringe between the 
 two. Their backs are above the surface as they bask or 
 tumble and jostle in a crowd. They gambol and splash 
 in the calm sea, under a reeking cloud of vapour, and 
 beyond this living finny belt a long row of cormorants 
 are feeding on the half-boiled fish as the fish have fed on 
 insects underdone. White gulls poise in flocks behind 
 the grebes or cormorants, and beyond these again ducks 
 bustle about on the water or whirl in the air. The whole 
 is a most curious scene, and probably it has been thus 
 from day to day for many thousand years. The copy of 
 my picture of it (p. 371) appeared first in the 'Sunday 
 School Teacher,' an excellent periodical of the Sunday 
 School Union. 
 
 I paddled along the curved line of fishes' backs and 
 flashing tails. Some leaped into the air, others struck 
 my boat or my paddle. Dense shoals moved in brigades 
 as if by concert or command. But the hubbub around 
 in the water, and the feathered mob in the sky, were all 
 unheeded now, for we had come in full view of the 
 land of Gennesareth.
 
 546 Bethsaida Beach. [Chap. XX. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 KETHSAIDA BEACH — OF OLD — EVIDENCE -- BIAS — SERMON AFLOAT — 
 STONES — FISHERMEN — -SHIPS AND BOATS — DISTINCTION — AN EX- 
 PLANATION — PRESENT BOATS — THE " PILLOW " — SAILING-BOAT — 
 FISH — NETS — HOOKS — CLIFF — "SCORPION ROCK" — " CAPHAR- 
 NAOUM" AIN ET TIN — OTHER STREAMS — THE CORACINUS — OTHER 
 FISH — THE HOT SPRINGS — THE AQUEDUCT — JOSEPHUS' FOUNTAIN 
 — AT TABIGA. 
 
 THE land of Gennesareth — for the voyager who 
 comes over the sacred lake to this hallowed 
 strand, it is a new and strong thrill of delight even to 
 gaze at the shore. 
 
 Bethsaida beach recalled bright pictures of our Saviour's 
 life. For here it was that dwelt those men to whom the 
 first and shortest sermon of Christianity was preached, 
 "Behold the Lamb of God" (John i.). The hearers were 
 but two, and both of them heard to purpose ; and of these 
 Andrew found next day his "own brother Simon," whom 
 Jesus christened Cephas (a "stone" — not "the Rock") ; 
 and after him He "findeth Philip," who "was of Beth- 
 saida the city of Andrew and Peter ;" and Philip " findeth 
 Nathanael," and brought him with the invitation " Come 
 and see." Here was the cradle of Christianity, and 
 years afterwards it was here " the third time that Jesus 
 showed Himself to His disciples after that He was risen 
 from the dead." ^ 
 
 Almost the same persons were that time again on the 
 shore : Peter, and Thomas, and Nathanel, and James, 
 
 1 John xxi. It is only by this Evangelist, who was present, that this 
 scene is related.
 
 Chap. XX.] Of old. 347 
 
 and John; but only "that disciple whom Jesus loved" 
 could at first recognise his Lord. Peter, who had before 
 cast himself into the same sea to go to Jesus, now did 
 so again ; but the Lord now thrice called him " Simon," 
 as if the unstable one had by his threefold denial lost 
 his better title. On the shore were coals, and food 
 thereon. " The banquet is prepared. Shall He issue 
 the invitation, ' Come, all things are ready ' 1 Nay, some- 
 thing still is wanting ! The Almighty Provider has yet 
 some element of bliss to add ere the feast is complete. 
 ' Bring,' He says, ' of the fish yc have caught.' " ^ 
 
 The central figure of this group was a new one in 
 history — the risen Saviour. Do we believe that He rose 
 again .'' Our estimate of the rest of the Gospel scheme as 
 a fact or a fiction is wrapped up in our answer Yes, or No. 
 
 If indeed He rose, the narrative of His life becomes 
 consistent and credible, and the sanction of His teaching 
 is from on high ; but " if Christ be not raised, your faith 
 is vain." 
 
 The evidence for the resurrection is more tangible, 
 general, and distinct, than that for any other miracle, and 
 a belief in this cardinal fact of history was the main thing 
 written upon and preached most constantly and most 
 urgently by the apostles.^ 
 
 The evidence for the resurrection of Christ was pre- 
 cisely that which common men could best know at the 
 
 "^ ' Memories of Gennesaret,' by the Rev. Dr. Macduff (19th thousand, 
 1868), p. 255 — a book full of beautiful descriptions of the Gospel scenes 
 upon this lake and its shores. 
 
 ' Though a regular attendant at church, the writer has heard only one 
 sermon upon this subject. This was a powerful sermon by the Dean of 
 Canterbury, in the Cathedral there, to a very large congregation, chiefly of 
 Volunteers assembling for the Dover i^eview. 
 
 If barristers were to omit their best evidence in addressing a jury as 
 ministers do in addressing their people, they would get few clients and no 
 verdicts.
 
 34^ Evidence. [Chap. XX. 
 
 time as witnesses, and common men now can best un- 
 derstand as testimony. Did Christ evidently die ? Did 
 Christ evidently live again ? Surely no questions could 
 be more plain for those who knew Him to decide. 
 
 In an argument on this subject with an unbeliever, after 
 other evidence had been discussed, a Christian read as 
 follows : — " He was seen of above five hundred brethren 
 at once, of whom some remain unto this present ; but 
 the greater part are fallen asleep." The unbeliever 
 quickly interposed — " Yes, it was very convenient that 
 most of the alleged witnesses were dead. If it had been 
 stated publicly that most of them were then alive, the evi- 
 dence of the fact would have been very powerful." Then 
 the Christian read the words correctly, as Paul wrote 
 them (I Cor. xv. 6) — "After that He was seen by above 
 five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part 
 remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." 
 
 This truth before the world for so many hundred 
 years, how little it has spread ! Yes ; and the truth 
 that " honesty is the best policy " has been much 
 longer asserted ; but it has progressed just as little, 
 though no one denies the maxim on logical grounds, 
 A score of sanitary maxims in like manner are made 
 perfectly evident to our reason, but a love of present 
 pleasure keeps our will from acting on the firmest 
 previous convictions of our reason. 
 
 The Holy Spirit of God must intervene here — 
 
 " Neither would they be persuaded, though one rose 
 from the dead."* 
 
 ■* It is well said in the 'Spectator' (Oct. i6, 1869) : — "It seems to us 
 that the constraint to believe which the study of Christ's life produces is 
 hardly an intellectual constraint, even where it is most strongly felt — that, 
 judging by the intellectual state of the argument solely, if that were possible, 
 men may be strictly reasonable who pronounce the evidence insufficient as 
 well as those who pronounce it adequate, and that the real force of the
 
 Chap. XX.] Bias. 349 
 
 In an age or community where many profess to be 
 " believers," there is at least distinction to be gained, if 
 not satisfaction, by believing little and distrusting m.uch. 
 There is dignity in asserting independence, and you can 
 be piquant if you are not orthodox. On the other hand, 
 it is a pleasant excitement to believe in unseen facts, if 
 we are thereby associated with the unseen, the mys- 
 terious, and the unknown, which may be, and probably 
 is, so much more sublime than every-day life. An emo- 
 tional bias warps our reason when we try to use that 
 upon propositions which must affect our whole standard 
 of life and determine the centre of gravity of our system. 
 If the devout man forgets to allow that this bias may 
 warp him towards credulity and superstition, he will soon 
 be reminded of the fact by his sceptical friend, and he 
 ought not to ignore the tendency. But may we not also 
 tell the cold schoolman that he too has a most powerful 
 emotion warping his deductions when his logic deals with 
 arguments that may convict him of pride, foolishness, and 
 ingratitude, and which would force him to submit his will 
 to a Being whom he has always put far off } 
 
 Feeling this want of some cidtiis — if not some Pope — 
 he has set up for worship that impalpable thing called 
 Truth, which is the pretty name given to the idol that 
 clever men have been carving at (or paring away) for 
 thousands of years, and which is shapeless for them still ; 
 nor can they ever agree as to how many heads it has, 
 though the noise of their work goes on — the noise of 
 the crowbar and the pickaxe, rather than of the hammer 
 and the trowel. 
 
 In short, the religious man confesses that he must 
 
 belief depends upon ari undefinable personal impression produced by Christ 
 on the spirit which can never be adequately translated into an intellectual 
 form."
 
 35o Scnnoii afioaf. [Chap. XX. 
 
 beware of believing in what he wishes may be true, 
 but the philosopher somehow forgets to confess that he 
 has the prejudice of pride, the superstition that kneels 
 before human intellect, and a carnal heart, which per- 
 suades us to doubt what it dislikes. 
 
 Another scene in the Holy Life which probably hap- 
 pened on this beach is related by Luke (chap, v.) where, 
 when the multitude pressed upon the Great Preacher 
 "to hear the word of God," He entered into one of 
 " two ships standing by the lake." This ship, we are told, 
 "was Simon's," and Christ " prayed him that he would 
 thrust out a little from the land, and he sat down and 
 taught the people out of the ship." Then followed the 
 miraculous draught of fishes. As the ship was Simon's, 
 and his house was at Bethsaida, and as his partners 
 were gone out of the ships, " and were washing their 
 nets," we are at once brought close to this very spot 
 where the fishermen now do the very same thing ; and 
 only a few yards away are the shoals of fish we have 
 seen by the hot springs. The fishermen told me that, 
 though fish are in other parts of the lake, they are always 
 most plentiful here. Just here, too, the beach rises 
 rapidly, and there is deep water within a {^\n yards of 
 the shore, while at the same time a multitude of hearers 
 could place themselves so as to see the Saviour in the 
 boat, and there is no such natural church by the lake 
 on any other part of its shore. 
 
 On another occasion the Lord again taught the people 
 out of a ship, while " the whole multitude stood on the 
 shore ;"^ and often in other ways did He manifest forth His 
 glory when floating on the water both in storm and calm. 
 
 * Matt. xiii. ; Mark iv. In this sermon were the parables, beginnini; 
 with that of the sower ; and there are corn-fields still visible from this very 
 place. As to the size of ship used, %&q post, p. 354.
 
 Chap. XX.] Stones. 351 
 
 Continuing my voyage, I could discern just in front, 
 and under a looming cliff (almost the only one all round 
 the lake which rises sheer out of the water) my tents 
 now pitched at Gennesareth, and the ensign drooping 
 with no wind. But we need not hasten to our camp, so 
 let us linger on the way. 
 
 The beautiful white beach of Bethsaida is gracefully 
 bent round its pretty little cove in a gentle slope of 
 gravel, shells, and purest sand. No footstep this morning 
 has marked the tender surface smoothed and laved once 
 more by yesterday's waves. " The beach on which 
 the limpid waters still gently ripple retains the same 
 pearly margin on which was spent the childhood of the 
 young fishermen of Bethsaida." ® The bay is admirably 
 suited for boats. It shelves gradually ; the anchorage is 
 good, and boats can be safely beached. Rocks project 
 at the south-west end about fifty yafds beyond those 
 seen above water. These would form a good protection 
 to the harbour, but there appears to be no jetty. The 
 water is deep, and almost free from boulders until near 
 the south-west end. Evidently the Jews and Romans, 
 who successively owned these coasts for many years, 
 thought more about building palaces on shore than 
 about removing rocks 
 from the water. Here 
 also we noticed a few 
 large stones, arranged 
 
 as in the sketch. These , , „ 
 
 are in two feet of water , , , ., 
 
 Under \\ ater, near Bethsaida. 
 
 (even when the lake is 
 
 low), and though arranged in the manner of " fish-traps," 
 they could scarcely be used for these unless the water 
 was much lower. 
 
 ^ ' Memories of Gennesaret,' Preface.
 
 S5'^ Fishermen. [Chap. XX. 
 
 On the east edge of Bethsaida bay, and close to the 
 water upon a smooth hard bank of grass, very near 
 the gushings of the clear hot stream, a fishing-boat was 
 drawn up on land beside two fishers' huts, made entirely 
 of reed matting, and not unlike the huts in Hooleh, but 
 smaller, neater, and more clean. About a dozen fisher- 
 men instantly came out. Their delight and amazement 
 as to what this canoe could be, and what was I, had a 
 spice of superstitious doubt in their stare, yet we speedily 
 became good friends, and I invited them to visit me at 
 the camp in the evening. 
 
 The subject of fishing and fishers' boats was, of 
 course, of great interest in connection with this beautiful 
 lake, where, in old times, among the fishers, were those 
 men whose faithful pens have wTitten what goes to our 
 hearts and gives us the marrow of life. 
 
 When the Sea of Galilee was fringed by towns and 
 villas, trees and cornfields, then the water was covered 
 by little vessels sailing about in hundreds. It was then 
 a very populous district, and, as Stanley says, might be 
 regarded as the " manufacturing districts " are spoken of 
 by us in England. The number of vessels employed then 
 on the lake will be shown very well from the following 
 curious narrative related by Josephus, of what occurred 
 when he was occupied busily in keeping quiet the district 
 along its shore. At that time Taricheae and Tiberias 
 were in frequent content-ion, and one of the revolts of 
 the latter city was quelled by a stratagem of Josephus. 
 He was then at Taricheae, and without soldiers ; but he 
 ordered a large fleet of ships, 230 in number, to sail, 
 each with four men for a crew.'' These he kept so far 
 
 '' Josephus, ' W. J.' book ii. cli xxi. sec. viii. Whiston remarks that 
 these vessels are constantly called "NTjey, riAoja, and 2«:a(/)7j, ?'.t'. plainly 
 ships" ('Life of Josephus,' sect, xxxiv. note), lii another place Josephus
 
 Chap. XX.] Ships and Boats. 2)S?} 
 
 from Tiberias that the people there thought the vessels 
 were full of armed men, and so they surrendered to him 
 all their 600 Senators, who were sent over the lake, while 
 Josephus demanded the chief instigator of the revolt, 
 one Clitus. He commanded his own lieutenant, Levins, 
 to cut off this man's hand ; and, as he hesitated to do 
 this alone, Josephus, enraged, prepared to go ashore 
 himself to do it, and only relented so far as to leave the 
 poor fellow his right hand if with that he would cut off 
 his left, which feat of arms he did at once with his own 
 sword, and the people were thus awed into obedience. 
 
 When Taricheae was besieged by land, the inhabitants 
 retired aboard ships, by which also they were able to 
 attack from the sea the Romans then on the shore. 
 Finally, the ships fled, and Josephus ® tells us that Titus 
 quickly got ready vessels wherein to pursue, being able 
 to do this " because there was great plenty of materials 
 and a great number of artificers also ;" and the descrip- 
 tion of the battle on the lake is then given, which coloured 
 the water with blood, and strewed the shore with corpses. 
 
 It is not easy to ascertain what was the size of the largest 
 of these vessels ; but probably, as the distances were short, 
 and the ports were shallow, the boats were not larger than 
 they are now, say about thirty feet long and seven feet 
 beam. Two words are employed in the New Testa- 
 quotes Menander as relating an expedition at sea, when the Phcenicians 
 suppHed sixty ships {vavs), and 800 men to row them, or about ten oars for 
 each (' Ant. J.' book ix. ch. xiv. sec. ii.), so that even on the salt sea mere 
 barges were employed as fleets of war. 
 
 * ' W. J.' book iii. ch. ix. and x. It seems to be stated that Titus and 
 Trajan, Vespasian and Agrippa, were present at this fight ; and Clarke 
 says Vespasian was on board the fleet, but I do not gather that from 
 Josephus. However, this naval fight was prolonged for some time, and 
 was probably the last great display of ships upon this lake. Now-a-days 
 one single Armstrong gun at Gamala would command the whole Sea of 
 Tiberias, 
 
 2 A
 
 354 Ships and Boats. [Chap. XX. 
 
 ment {ifKoiov, ploion) for the " ship," or larger vessel, and 
 (TrXoidpiov, ploiarion) for the smaller one, or "boat." 
 Thus the " ship " from which Christ taught the people 
 on shore (Mark iv. i) was ttXocov ; and, evidently re- 
 ferring to the same vessel, verse 36 says, " and they 
 took him even as he was in the ship " (ttKolov) ; " and 
 there were also with him other little ships " {ifkoidpLov).^ 
 Again, when " He spake to His disciples that a small 
 ship should wait on Him," it was irXocdptov (Mark iii. 9) ; 
 and after His resurrection, when the disciples " entered 
 into a ship," ttXoiov is used (John xxi. 3) ; but those 
 who dragged the full net to shore " came in a little ship," 
 ifKoidpiov (verse 8). 
 
 In the several accounts of the voyage in which our 
 Lord was seen walking on the sea, the ship used by the 
 apostles is called irXoiov fourteen times ;^° but in John, 
 vi. 22, we read, " The day following, when the people 
 which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there 
 was none other boat there save that one whereunto the 
 disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with His 
 disciples into the boat, but that His disciples were gone 
 away alone," here the word irXoidpiov is twice used for 
 the " boat " into which the disciples had entered. 
 
 At first sight there thus appears to be a confusion 
 between the words for " boat " and " ship ;" and if it 
 could not be otherwise explained, we might suggest 
 
 ' Griesbach, however, seems to retain here the term tKolov in both 
 instances, also in John vi. 22. As the pronunciation of these words may 
 interest some readers, it has been given in common letters, following the 
 good example set by the present Premier in his last book. 
 
 1" Matthew xiv. 13, 22, 24, 32, 33 ; Mark vi. 32, 45, 47, 51, 54 ; John 
 vi. 17, 19, 21. Luke, who was an accurate writer about ship matters (see 
 note, p. 374) uses trKoiov for the general word always, except in Acts xxvii. 
 41, when he uses vavs (naus). The ship's boat (ver. 36), he calls aKacptj 
 (skaffe). The other incidents of the Apostles' voyage (John vi.) are dis- 
 cussed in our next chapter.
 
 Chap. XX.] Distinction. ^S5 
 
 that the application of both words to the same vessel 
 does not show that their technical meanings were not 
 distinct ; for among ourselves, even in so nautical a 
 country as England, landfolk use the words a "ship," a 
 "barque," and even a "cutter" and a "boat," for the 
 same thing seen upon the water, while each of these 
 words, used technically, has a distinct meaning to the 
 sailor, who, if he desires to speak of the floating thing 
 in general, will call it a " vessel," or " sail," or " craft," 
 but never a "sloop" or a "barque." 
 
 Stanley (' S. and P.' p. 379, note) seems to consider this 
 double use of the words shows they were not so different 
 in meaning, and he remarks that it is the tendency of 
 modern Greek to substitute diminutives everywhere. 
 But I venture to suggest an explanation which may not 
 only clear up the difficulty but throw light also upon 
 other parts of the narrative, and vindicate once more 
 the extreme accuracy of the New Testament even in 
 minute particulars. In John's account of the trans- 
 action, he says the disciples went down unto the sea, and 
 entered into a "ship," and went over the sea towards 
 Capernaum ; " and it was now dark, and Jesus was not 
 come to them " (verse 17). Now, this last expression 
 seems to show that they expected Jesus to co7nc to than ; 
 probably, therefore, they waited in their " ship " before 
 or even after they had weighed anchor, expecting their 
 Master to come ; and for this He would be expected to 
 use a small "boat," whereby to reach the "ship," as in 
 a rising sea the ship could not easily come to shore. 
 
 Entirely consistent with this is the expression that 
 next day " the people saw that there was no boat there 
 save that one whereunto His disciples were entered, and 
 that Jesus went not with His disciples into the boaty For 
 if by the "boat" was meant the "ship" that had gone
 
 ^^6 An Explanation. [Chap. XX. 
 
 away the day before, the people could not see " that one'' 
 the " next day." This tells us, then, that the disciples 
 themselves used a "boat," no doubt, to go out to 
 the "ship" (which would be more likely left at anchor 
 than on shore, or even in port, for they had all left 
 it), while it says that the people saw that Christ did 
 not go into the " boat " with them, and that " none other 
 boat " was there by which He could have gone on 
 board the ship unperceived. Still further, this use 
 of both boat and ship on the occasion shows the 
 reason why the Evangelist considered it necessary to 
 state afterwards that " other boats " {rrXotdpia) came 
 from Tiberias (probably running into shelter before the 
 same gale which was for the apostles' ship " contrary "), 
 to show how it was that enough " boats " were now there 
 to put the people on board when " they took shipping " 
 (ships, ifkoia), then still at anchor off the shore.'^ 
 
 " For it is not said that the apostles' was the only "ship" there, but 
 that the boat they used was the only " boat" then available, and it does 
 not mention the arrival of " ships," but of " boats," from Tiberias. The 
 recent publication of Tauchnitz's loooth volume, the New Testament in 
 our Authorised version, with the readings of the three MSS., more 
 ancient than those available to our translators, is a very great boon to all 
 readers of the Bible, and it is enhanced by the excellent preface of Tischen- 
 dorf. Applying this new comment to our text, we find that the passage 
 John vi. 22-24, is given by the Sinai MS. as follows : — "The day following, 
 when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there 
 was none other boat there save that whereinto the disciples of Jesus were 
 entered, and that Jesus went not with them into the boat, but that His 
 disciples were gone away alone. When therefore the boats came from 
 Tiberias, which was nigh unto where they did also eat bread, after that the 
 Lord had given thanks, and when they saw that Jesus was not there, 
 neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, 
 seeking for Jesus." [The Alexandrine MS. omits the first "when" of 
 our version, and the Vatican and Alexandrine MSS. have "save one" 
 instead of "save that one," and omit the words "whereunto . . . entered."] 
 This reading does not render our explanation of the word " boat," as 
 used in both versions, less probable, although it seems to point to another 
 place, if not to another time, for a miraculous feeding of a multitude.
 
 Chap. XX.] Present Boats. 357 
 
 Turning now to the lake and its boats, as seen in the 
 present days, how great is the falling off in the number, 
 when for a long series of years there was not even one 
 boat on the lake ! From inspection, I came to the con- 
 clusion that in 1869 there are three fishing-boats and two 
 at the ferry, or five in all, besides the ferry-boat at Semakh.'^ 
 It is the absurdly prohibitive tax upon boats which 
 alone prevents these from multiplying. Nominally, the 
 rent the fishers pay for the right to fish at Bethsaida 
 is 100/. per annum. The revenue guard I noticed in a 
 tent on a wild cliff, with a little flag, like a coloured rag, 
 hanging over it. His rapacious hands carry away 20, 
 40, even 60 per cent, of the fishers' hard-earned gains ; 
 and who can bear up against such extortion } 
 
 The boats now used in the lake by the fishers are all 
 about the same size, rowing five oars, but very clumsy 
 ones, and with a very slow stroke. Generally only three 
 oars were in use, and I much regret that I failed to 
 remark whether there was a rudder, but I think there 
 was none. Their build is not on bad lines, and rather 
 " ship-shape," with a flat floor, likely to be a good sea- 
 boat, sharp and rising at both ends, somewhat resembling 
 the Maltese. The timbers are close and in short pieces, 
 the planks " carvel built," and daubed with plenty of 
 
 '- The following shows the state of the navy of this sea in various years, 
 according to travellers' statements : — 
 
 In A.D. 1738, Pococke found one boat on the lake of Gennesareth. 
 In A.D. 1806, Seetzen saw one boat, but it was useless ; 1812, Burk- 
 hardt, the only boat had fallen to pieces in 181 1 ; 1817, Richardson, two 
 boats ; 181 8, Irby and Mangles, " no boat whatever ;" 1822, Berggren, no 
 boat ; 1822, Buckingham, "not a boat nor a raft large nor small ;" 1S29, 
 Prokesch, no boat ; 1834, 1835, Smith, one boat ; 1838, Robinson, one 
 boat ; 1852, Vandevelde, one ; 1856, Newbold, one ; 1857, Thomson, no 
 boat, once only in his other visits he saw a sail ; 1869, MacGregor, six 
 boats besides the Rob Roy.
 
 35^ The " Pillowr [Chap. XX. 
 
 bitumen, for that is readily obtained here." The upper 
 streak of the boat is covered with coarse canvas, which 
 adheres to the bitumen, and keeps it from sticking to the 
 crew when they lean upon it. The waist is deep, and 
 there are no stern sheets, but a sort of stage aft. As 
 there appears to be no reason to suppose that the Turks 
 should have altered, or at any rate improved, the Jewish 
 boat on the lake, it is impossible not to regard the 
 modern fishers' boat of Galilee with great interest, and to 
 people it at once with an Apostolic crew. But the part 
 of the boat at the stern has a special and stronger at- 
 traction to our gaze, for the Bible tells us that He who 
 " never slumbers nor sleeps " was once in a ship on this 
 lake " asleep on a pillow." ^^ The raised platform already 
 mentioned would most probably be the place where our 
 Lord in the weakness and weariness of His humanity 
 was thus resting, and the word " pillow " was perhaps 
 the best one available for the translators when they 
 sought to describe that His rest was settled not acci- 
 dental, and that, when He was on the water, some softer 
 
 '•' The wicker boats on the Euphrates are mere baskets, an inch tliick 
 with pilch. Noah's ark was probably made of interwoven trees cased thus 
 with bitumen "within and without," and a most serviceable plan this is 
 when mere flotation is the purpose, without the strain from masts or engines, 
 or heavy seas, and when the vessel is to be grounded only once after being 
 launched by the rising of the water around it. 
 
 '■* Mark iv. 38, eTr: to ixpa<yKi<pi.\aiov (proskephalaion), evidently a regular 
 part of the boat's equipment, from the use of the definite article " the 
 pillow." Smith's ' Dictionary ' mentions another term used, but that this 
 was its equivalent, and renders it "boatmen's cushion." All the ver- 
 sions in Bagster's 'Hexapla' use this word "pillow." The stern in 
 ancient ships was much higher than the prow, and this form continued 
 even to the last century in England, while it is still the fashion in 
 Egypt. It was on this account that they could anchor from the stern (as in 
 the case of Paul's shipwreck), and the high stern made a safe and sloping 
 place, where our Saviour slept in the storm.
 
 Chap. XX.] 
 
 Sailinor-boat. 
 
 359 
 
 thing was found for the repose of Him who, when on the 
 land, though all His own, had not "where to lay His 
 head." 
 
 During twelve days of constant gazing upon this Lake 
 of Galilee, I never saw a fishing-boat moving upon it by 
 
 Galilee Fishing-boat. 
 
 daylight, except one morning, when a boat sailed past, 
 and perhaps her crew had "toiled all the night." The 
 sketch represents this boat, and the outlines of the back- 
 ground as seen from Tell Hoom. These comprise the 
 whole of the Butaia plain in front, with the large tree on 
 the right as a boundary, the two clumps of palm-trees 
 and the hills of Bashan behind. This and the coloured 
 picture of Bashan (page 424), exhibit nearly the whole 
 eastern shore. The boat carries the ordinary lateen of 
 the Mediterranean, not that of the Nile, or the Levant, 
 or the Lake of Geneva. Nothing could be more miser- 
 able to the eye of a sailor than to behold this sad 
 distortion of the sailor's art. Nevertheless he made the 
 sketch of her abominable rig, and as he put his pocket- 
 book away, the sketching sailor sighed. 
 
 I cannot find anything in Josephus about the fish in 
 the lake, except in the two passages in his ' Wars of 
 the Jews ' (Book iii. ch. x. sees. vii. and viii.) : — " Now 
 this lake of Gennesareth is so called from the country
 
 360 Fis/i. [Chap. XX. 
 
 adjoining to it. Its breadth is forty furlongs, and its 
 length one hundred and forty ; its waters are sweet, and 
 very agreeable for drinking, for they are finer than the 
 thick waters of other fens ; the lake is also pure, and on 
 every side ends directly at the shores, and at the sand ; 
 it is also of a temperate nature when you draw it up, 
 and of a more gentle nature than river or fountain water, 
 and yet always cooler than one could expect in so diffuse 
 a place as this is ; now when this w^ater is kept in the 
 open air, it is as cold as that snow which the country 
 people are accustomed to make by night in the summer. 
 There are several kinds of fish in it, different both to the 
 taste and the sight from those elsewhere. It is divided 
 into two parts by the river Jordan. 
 
 " The country also that lies over against this lake hath 
 the same name of Gennesareth ; its nature is wonderful, 
 as well as its beauty ; its soil is so fruitful that all sorts 
 of trees can grow upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly 
 plant all sorts of trees there ; for the temper of the air is 
 so well mixed that it agrees very well with those several 
 sorts, particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, 
 flourish there in vast plenty ; there are palm-trees also, 
 which grow best in hot air ; fig-trees also, and olives also, 
 grow near them, which yet require an air that is more 
 temperate. One may call this place the ambition of 
 nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally 
 enemies to one another to agree together ; it is a happy 
 contention of the seasons, as if every one of them laid 
 claim to this country, for it not only nourishes different 
 sorts of autumnal fruit beyond men's expectation but 
 preserves them a great while ; it supplies men with the 
 principal fruits, with grapes and figs continually, during 
 ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits, as they
 
 Chap. XX.] Nets. 361 
 
 become ripe together, through the whole year ; for besides 
 the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from 
 a most fertile fountain. The people of the country call 
 it Capharnaoum ; some have thought it to be a vein of 
 the Nile, because it produces the Coracin fish, as well as 
 that lake does which is near to Alexandria. The length 
 of this country extends itself along the banks of this 
 lake that bears the same name, for thirty furlongs, and 
 is in breadth twenty, and this is the nature of that 
 place." 
 
 Josephus does not appear to tell us anything as to the 
 regulations of the fishing in this lake, though these must 
 have been very distinct when so large and valuable a 
 commerce had to be provided for. Nor does he seem to 
 mention any of the particular modes of fishing wdiich 
 were used. The Talmud says that Joshua enacted 
 that the fishing with a hook on the Sea of Galilee 
 should be open to all the world (Neubauer, p. 25), 
 and once our Lord bid Peter use a hook. The most 
 usual method of catching fish was by the casting net, 
 SiKTuov (dictuon). Matt. iv. 20, 21 ; Mark i. 18, 19 ; 
 Luke V. 2 ; John xxi. 6 : the afi(^ij3\r}aTpov (amphi- 
 bleestron), Matt. iv. 18 ; Mark i. 16;'^ probably like that 
 used in Egypt : also aa<yrjvr] (sageeneh). Matt. xiii. 47, 
 which was larger, and required a boat with men on shore 
 to haul it in. Probably our word " sein " for a net of 
 this kind may be derived from the Greek. The use of 
 a weir or fence of reeds within which the fish were 
 caught was forbidden on the Sea of Galilee, because 
 the stakes of it damaged the boats, but the small traps 
 
 '^ The Sinai and the Vatican MSS. have it " casting tiefs here and there 
 into the sea ; " the Alexandrine, " casting a net here and tliere into the 
 sea ;" and in verse i8, the Sinai and the Vatican MSS. have it " forsook 
 the nets."
 
 362 Hooks. [Chap. XX. 
 
 of stones I have noticed at p. 351 may be an old 
 mode of fishing, and the plan is used at present. The 
 hook was called by a Hebrew word showing that it 
 resembled a thorn, Amos iv. 2 ; wyiaarpov (ankistron). 
 Matt. xvii. 27. The rod is not mentioned in the Bible. 
 Another mode was by the " barbed iron " or trident, or 
 the spear, as practised in Egypt for the crocodile, Job. xli. 
 7, or hippopotamus. The hook referred to in Job. xli. 2, 
 refers to the practice of putting a ring or " thorn " into a 
 fish's gills to tether him to a stake by a rope of reeds 
 (A. V. " hook ") that he might be kept alive. 
 
 Having thus examined the boats and nets, we may 
 resume the paddle in our own trim craft, and skirt the 
 pretty white strand which lies north of Gennesareth. 
 The water is a perfect glassy calm, and it is easy there- 
 fore to make a careful examination of all the little bights 
 and coves which show in this part of the shore more 
 variety of outline and character than is met with else- 
 where. Although I willingly gave to this the most 
 thorough exploration under water, so far as it could 
 be done by peering down and by sounding and probing 
 with the paddle, yet the place where we might have 
 expected that something worth looking for was sure to 
 be found did not contain one single evidence of building 
 or of hewn stone, either placed in the water designedly 
 or fallen from the cliff hanging over us from above. 
 Nor is there much here on shore, for Wilson says the 
 only shaft of a column seen in this neighbourhood was a 
 small basaltic one five inches in diameter, standing in the 
 lake near the point where the Ain et Tin flows in. 
 Notwithstanding this dearth of visible remains, it is upon 
 that cliff which surmounts Khan Minyeh, and which is the 
 sudden barrier of the land of Gennesareth on the north, 
 that Capernaum may have stood, until it was thence into
 
 Chap. XX.] Cliff. 0^6^, 
 
 that deep below " thrust down." The cHff is vertical for 
 about fifty feet at one place, and round it the rocks are 
 bold, scarped, bare, and jagged, of various bright tints 
 by weather blasts, and from their clefts spring weird- 
 looking trees, which dangle their farthest branches in the 
 water, so that it is even difficult to approach the actual 
 verge, and the trees and underwood almost conceal the 
 junction of rock with water in some parts."^ Large 
 fragments of many hundred tons in weight have evi- 
 dently fallen into the lake from above, and some stick 
 out as islets, others lurk just below as breakers. 
 The water about them is clearer than that 
 north of Tell Hoom, both because the Jordan 
 does not sully it in these quieter bays, and 
 because the rock and gravel here yield less 
 matter for suspension. Perhaps also the warm 
 solutions at Bethsaida combine with ingre- 
 dients from other fountains, or from Jordan 
 and those of the lake, and so precipitate what 
 would be again stirred up only by powerful 
 gales. Of the several rocks appearing above 
 the surface close to this cliff, one is particularly remark- 
 able, which is at A in our sketch, and is depicted in 
 two views below. This consists of a level flat sum- 
 mit, seven feet long by four feet wide, and about two 
 feet thick, of which three-fourths are above the surface 
 of the lake. This upper portion is supported by a stalk, 
 very thin compared with the head above, and divided 
 into three parallel columns with vertical slits between 
 them. One of these subordinate pillars has been thinned 
 
 1'' The rock descends here in some places into the lake without a beach 
 between. It does this also south of Magdala, and south of Tiberias, as well 
 as at Bethsaida. It is, therefore, not strictly accurate to say that " there is a 
 beach all round the lake."
 
 364 " Scorpion RockT [Chap. XX. 
 
 and broken near the bottom, where also the other two 
 are attenuated for a space, but they thicken again below 
 and spread into a solid foot at a depth of seven feet 
 from the surface. The form will be understood by the 
 end and side views in the sketch. When the lake is full, 
 this rock is doubtless entirely covered, but situated as 
 
 it is between Bethsaida 
 and the fountain at Khan 
 Minyeh called "Ain et 
 Tin," a curiosity of this 
 striking character would 
 "Scorpion Rock.- surely be well known in 
 
 ancient times. Now Josephus mentions somewhere the 
 " Scorpion Rock " as known in the lake, and as this 
 remarkable perforated stone which we have described 
 seems to be the only one of abnormal appearance all 
 round the shores of this sea, perhaps he alludes to that 
 
 Perhaps the head and lobster-like claws of the scor- 
 pion resemble the upper part of the rock, while the 
 body is like the narrower stalk below, and the tail is like 
 the root. 
 
 GlidiuCT then, over the sea, we touch the quiet shore 
 of Gennesareth. 
 
 The beach is very low and sloping gently, with a 
 thick fringe of oleanders skirting the deep brown 
 sand. Our tents are almost hid in the foliage, and 
 the soft carpet of grass is patterned bright with wild 
 flowers. 
 
 With such a simple boundary curving inwards to the 
 land, the plain is bent into a crescent form, just three 
 miles long by one in breadth, and rising gradually in- 
 land to the west. About this amphitheatre the moun- 
 tains close. Streams and rills from these, and two fine
 
 Chap. XX.] " CapharnaoiL77ir 365 
 
 fountains in the plain, bless this favoured region with 
 lasting fertility. Surely, this is one of the memorial 
 places of the past kept waiting for the return of Israel. 
 
 Now, the fountain mentioned by Josephus as called 
 " Capharnaoum " is evidently of great importance with 
 relation to the site of Capernaum, concerning which so 
 much controversy has arisen ; and with diffidence we 
 shall venture to have a word on the subject, because a 
 look at the question from a sailor's eye has not yet been 
 noted. At first our interest in the respective claims of 
 the three localities asserted by different writers to be 
 Capernaum was less than languid. But, even as a prob- 
 lem, the question rapidly became absorbing when the rival 
 places themselves had each been examined. They are 
 all so near together, and in such well-traversed ground 
 — certainty as to which is the true site would impart 
 such new attractions to the spot, and the idea seems 
 so strange that a place could be entirely forgotten 
 where Christ did more of His works than in any other 
 village — that we gradually become enlisted in the de- 
 bate, though the point in dispute is not of vital 
 moment.^'^ 
 
 Three principal places are maintained by different 
 groups of authors to be the site of Capernaum. A few 
 others are advanced by isolated authorities, but they 
 may with fairness be left aside as unsupported. 
 
 The usual but not very ancient tradition is that 
 Capernaum was at Khan Minyeh, and, as our camp is 
 now within a few yards of this place, we can give it a 
 brief description. Under the high cliff, already mentioned 
 as at the northern end of the land of Gennesareth, is the 
 
 ''' It is stated that Christ "left Nazareth and dwelt at Capernaum," and 
 thus the frequent expression afterwards, "the house," in relation to this 
 place, meant, no doubt, the dwelling in which He resided there, during 
 intervals long and short.
 
 ^66 Am et Tin. [Chap. xx. 
 
 ruin of an old khan, or resting-house, frequented by 
 pilgrims and caravans passing by this way from Jeru- 
 salem on the regular route to Damascus. The building 
 is not very old, and excavations close to it, and even 
 within a somewhat wide range of the place, have failed 
 to bring evidence out of the ground. 
 
 A few yards from it, and near the bottom of the cliff, 
 a clear perennial fountain pours out from the rock, about 
 eight feet higher than the lake ; and, as it is shaded by 
 an old fig-tree, the name it goes by is " Ain et Tin," the 
 " Fount of the Fig-tree." The water descends into a 
 long marshy lagoon, half choked by flags and reeds 
 and papyrus.'* From the lake I paddled the Rob Roy 
 through the channel into this jungled pool, and carefully 
 searched every nook and cranny in it which could be 
 reached in my canoe or on horseback, but with not the 
 least trace detected of any sort of building. 
 
 Most of the land of Gennesareth is above the level of 
 this fountain's head, and though the amount of water in 
 it now may be less than before (by the action of the 
 earthquake thirty years ago), it is evident that "Ain et 
 
 '^ Stanley (' .S. and P.' p. 375) says the papyrus is also "found on the 
 shores of the lake, between the plain of Gennesareth and Tiberias." This 
 I did not see, though passing along the place. The name Ain et Tin 
 is by no means distinctive, for many fountains in this and other districts 
 rise under fig-trees. Wilson says that Ain et Tin has two heads, a 
 large and a small one. From old water-marks on the cliff, it appears 
 that the lake at times rises into the fountain. The water is slightly 
 brackish, though less so than at the Tabiga fountain. The inmates of the 
 khan always use the lake water, and say the water of the fountain is un- 
 healthy. The volume was estimated at one-eighth or one-tenth that of 
 Banias. The temperature on January 25, 1866, he gives as follows : — 
 
 Temperature of the air 
 
 ... 6278 Fahrenheit. 
 
 lake 
 
 ... 60-44 
 
 ,, small spring ... 
 
 - 72-32 
 
 „ large spring ... 
 
 - 77-36
 
 Chap. XX.] Other Streams. 367 
 
 Tin " could not water the plain, as is described by 
 Josephus to be a feature of the fountain called " Caper- 
 naum." Much of the plain is at present well cultivated, 
 and the water for its irrigation comes from several 
 streams (marked in Map VII.) entering on the west, and 
 which would seem to be capable of use over at least twice 
 as much area when the land was fully tilled. One of these, 
 Ain el Amud, comes from the south along the "Wady 
 Hamam," or "Vale of Doves ;" and after being diverted at 
 a high level, and pouring a genial rivulet through many a 
 fruitful acre of good soil, it falls into the lake. Up this 
 stream the Rob Roy penetrated a long way, but without 
 any discovery of art employed, or even of much masonry, 
 and on horseback I followed it closely for several miles. 
 
 Another stream, called Wady Rubbadyeh, flows into 
 the lake more northerly ; and I paddled also upon that, 
 ascending in like manner from the shore, but with a 
 precisely similar absence of result. Between these two, 
 and near the base of a projecting hill, is a fountain 
 proper, called "Ain Mudawara," which quietly mounts 
 from the earth below into a large round reservoir, and, 
 escaping thence, the portion of it not used for irrigation 
 (very little at present) finds its way to the lake. By the 
 channel the Rob Roy entered again, though scarcely float- 
 ing, and then for a short distance worked her way into the 
 marshy plain. On horseback I examined the interior and 
 neighbourhood of this fountain, and entering the walled 
 enclosure, which is about 100 feet wide, and in depth from 
 three feet to a few inches, I traversed it in all directions, 
 and at different times.'^ This careful search was made to 
 
 ^3 Wilson estimates the volume of water at about the same as at Ain et 
 Tin. It is sweet and good. Temperature 73° Fahr., when the air was 
 64°. More water flows down Wady Rubbadyeh and Wadv Amud than 
 in Wady Hamam.
 
 368 TJie Corachms. [Chap. XX. 
 
 see whether I could observe in it a specimen of the cora- 
 ciwis, or " cat-fish," which Dr. Tristram had found 
 plentifully in this fountain a few years ago (but not in 
 winter), and which seemed to be evidence that this was 
 the fountain indicated by Josephus. 
 
 Various ruins are found not far from the fountain, 
 and, though not distinct, these might be the remains of 
 Capernaum. However, the town need not have been 
 quite close to the fountain ; although, if both had the 
 same name, it is likely, either that they were close 
 together, or that, if apart, the town was of considerable 
 size. In default of any other proper claimant, and if 
 possessed of the fish as an exclusive feature, the round 
 reservoir at Mudawara would undoubtedly be entitled 
 to the highest probability of being the fountain which 
 Josephus alludes to. But (i) its peculiar claim in respect 
 of the fish is no longer tenable as exclusive ; and (2) 
 another claimant, formidable on other grounds, is also 
 asserted to possess the fish. 
 
 The question as to what fish^*^ inhabit the lake has 
 assumed special interest because of the fish " Coracinus." 
 
 Haselquist the naturalist says : — " We afterwards went 
 out to the shore of the sea Tiberias, and had some fish 
 brought us by the fishermen. I thought it remarkable 
 that the same kind of fish should here be met with as 
 in the Nile, Charmuth, Silurus, Baenni, Mulfil, and Sparus 
 Galil^us. The water in the river is sweet, but not 
 very cold, though wholesome."^^ This was in May 175 1, 
 
 20 Haselquist, ' Travels in the East' (London, 1766), p. 158. Petherick's 
 narrative (1S69) gives Harmouth as the name of a Siluroid fish in the Nile. 
 Dr. Tristram, in his 'Land of Israel,' gives recent information as to the 
 various fish of Palestine, and a complete list of them is given by Gunther, 
 in the 'Student' for July, 1869 (Groombridge). A vertebra from a very 
 large fish, picked up on the shore of the Dead Sea, by Mr. Sandbach, 
 was shown to me at Liverpool, on October 4, 1S69.
 
 Chap. XX.] Other Fish. 369 
 
 and the last clause seems to refer to a stream, but its 
 name is omitted. 
 
 Burkhardt says that the most common species of 
 fish are the Binni, or carp, and the Mcsht, which is about 
 a foot long and five inches broad, with a flat body, and 
 like the sole.^^ What is here called the Mesht, and by 
 Haselquist Charmtith, is probably what was called 
 Bar boot or Burboot to me by the fishermen themselves, 
 and meant the cat-fish or Coracinus, which they and my 
 dragoman alleged was found plentifully in the lake, and 
 was exported by thousands to Damascus and Beyrout." 
 A dead one was said to be on the ground near our camp. 
 
 After a diligent search in all the streams and fount- 
 ains of Gennesareth, and a total failure to discover 
 any of the coracinus fish there, I made particular en- 
 quiries from the five fishermen who came to my camp 
 in their boat by invitation, and were most courteous 
 and intelligent in their talk.^^ These men told me — and 
 not in reply to any leading questions, but to the most 
 formal and strict examination which a Templar could 
 give to such witnesses — that the coracinus fish is found 
 in summertime (after the month of April) in the fountain 
 of Mudawara, but also in that of Ain et Tin ; and that 
 it ascends to both of these from the lake, where it is 
 
 ^' ' Travels in Syria and the Holy Land ' (1822), p. 316. 
 
 ^' Rabbi Schwartz thus alludes to this (p. 302) : — " There is found also 
 in the Sea of Chinnereth a very fat fish, 'al Barbud,' which has no scales, 
 wherefore it is not eaten by Jews ; I consider it to be a species of the eel.'' 
 This fish may be one alluded to in the words " they cast the bad away." 
 
 ^* All wore the same kind of dress, a cloak, or scarf (the " fisher's coat "), 
 and below it a short kilt. When a man had only this latter garment on, he 
 was said to be " naked." This explains the expression used when Peter 
 went into the sea to go to Christ — he girt his short loose dress about him 
 with his Zummar (girdle). 
 
 Many useful remarks and valuable suggestions are given in ' Lessons on 
 the Life of our Lord,' by E. Stock, vol. i. (1870), Church of England 
 Sunday School Institute. 
 
 2 B
 
 370 The Hot Springs. [Chap. xx. 
 
 akvays found, but in the colder months only beside the 
 hot springs of Bethsaida. Thither I rode at once to see 
 further into this matter, and spent some hours on horse- 
 back, splashing among the tepid streams. At last in 
 the lake itself, and just at the spot the men indicated 
 — that is, where the waters are warmed by the heated 
 rivulet — I noticed one of the fish in question darting out 
 of the shallows of the warm sand, and a few yards off 
 burrowing until its body and even its long tail were 
 hidden again. Now, as this fish was seen in the lake, 
 and as the Rob Roy floated from the lake both up the 
 stream of Ain et Tin and of Mudawara, it is plain that 
 the coracinus could also ascend to these fountains ; and 
 though only seen as yet in one of them by a tourist who 
 could record it, the fish may very likely be found in 
 both fountains, as the fishermen assert is the case ; and 
 so the feature noticed by Josephus need not be peculiar 
 to one fountain more than to aiiother. 
 
 But now that we are again at Bethsaida and on 
 shore, let us see whence the gushing brooks arise which 
 we have dipped our hands in by the fishers' huts, and 
 have seen from afar dimmed by a beautiful white cloud 
 like finest smoke, as their vapour cooled in the evening 
 air while the mill-wheel splashed their waters. 
 
 Behind these mills/^ and far higher above the lake 
 
 ^^ There are buildings for five mills, but only one was in use. Captain 
 Wilson says there are five springs ; the water is more or less brackish. 
 The main spring issues west of the foot of the octagonal reservoir, and has 
 a volume a little more than half of that of Banias fountain. This turns the 
 mill (on a vertical shaft). The octagon reservoir is of irregular shape, part 
 of it on the east is cut in the rock. By this the spring would be raised to 
 a height of about twenty feet, and was then carried by the aqueduct to the 
 Ghuweir (Gennesareth). The Arabs called the fountain Ain Dhabur, and 
 the wady running into the plain Wady Jamoos. At Tabiga the limestone 
 crops out through the basalt (dip 20°, strike 315°). The temperature of the 
 main spring was 86° Fahr., and apparently increased inside the rubbish.
 
 Chap. XX.] 
 
 Bethsaida Beach. 
 
 31^ 
 
 than Ain et Tin and Mudawara, a perennial stream at 
 Bethsaida comes from a great round fountain, also girded 
 by walls which are at least twenty feet high. Some part 
 
 ^i' 
 
 Bethsaida Beach. 
 
 of the masonry is very ancient, and fig-trees, bursting 
 through it, clamber down the sides, and hang their 
 
 This is the hottest fountain on the lake. The aqueduct had ah-eady been 
 observed by Thomson ('L. and B.' p. 354). De Berlon speaks of "some 
 ancient aqueducts from under the hill (at Khan Minyeh) carrying the 
 water which supplies the mills at Taibiga," which seems a dim notion of 
 their purpose, though in a wrong direction. De Saulcy suggests that 
 Josephus did not mean that the name of the fountain was Capharnaum (for 
 Kefr would not be inserted in a town's name), but that it was named from 
 Capharnaum, and^may have had another title. He mentions also having 
 passed a stream, Tabrah, in going north-east from Nahr Rubadyeh ; may 
 this have been a lingering of the name of Tabiga aqueduct when that 
 had gone to decav ?
 
 37-i yosepJms Fountain. [Chap. XX. 
 
 ■white-barked hoary limbs over a hot sullen pool below. 
 Steps reach partly down to this, but I could not find a 
 practicable way by which to descend without a rope, 
 and though I do not mind a ducking, I object, on the 
 whole, to be boiled. 
 
 Now, why has this fountain, so near the sea, been 
 walled so high and at great expense .'' Not to supply 
 drinking water to any town at Bethsaida — a much smaller 
 reservoir would suffice for that. Not to drive the mills, 
 for there is plenty of fall to do that Avithout so much 
 artificial elevation. Then where did the water run to 
 from so high a head } This is what has been most 
 satisfactorily answered by the happy keenness of an 
 intelligent observer. Captain Wilson, who traced the 
 remains of an ancient aqueduct leading from this 
 round fountain at Tabiga by a sure but winding route 
 all the way to the rocky cliff we have so often men- 
 tioned at the edge of the land of Gennesareth. We 
 easily follow it thither. Then we ride up the cliff, and 
 find the level water-way has come there too. But to 
 take it over that cliff was impossible, and to tunnel 
 through it would be needless ; so the channel is cut 
 round the rocky slope, and we go inside the old dry 
 aqueduct, long used as a riding-path, but now plainly 
 seen to be a way for water by its section like an in- 
 verted horseshoe : the very least convenient form for a 
 road, and the very best for a channel. A photograph of 
 this, published by the Palestine Exploration Fund, shows 
 very clearly to the eye the facts mentioned here in words. 
 Can this fountain at Tabiga be that named in Josephus ? 
 Fish could come to it from the lake. Perhaps not at 
 present into the reservoir, but to the mill-dam, where the 
 miller said they are found, and then, when the water in 
 the reservoir was low, they could go to that. As the
 
 Chap. XX.] At TadiQ-a. 
 
 o I D 
 
 coracinus lives at the bottom, it might not be noticed 
 in the reservoir unless the water was shallow. Water 
 brought from it to the cliff might well be said to come 
 from a fountain named after the most considerable vil- 
 lage upon its course ; and if Capernaum was near this 
 hill- — or, as I think, partly at least upon the cliff itself — 
 then the fountain, little more than half a mile distant, 
 might well be called by the same name as the town. 
 From this elevation it could readily irrigate all the 
 plain, and the aqueduct leading it for this purpose b}' 
 the north-west horn of the crescent garden has been 
 also traced by Wilson quite far enough to show that this 
 was done. Thus the description of Josephus would be 
 entirely explained as to the fish in the fountain and the 
 fountain watering the plain. 
 
 It may well be supposed that, as the very existence 
 of this aqueduct has been only lately ascertained, no 
 record has been found of when its functions ceased. 
 However, it appears to me that this may have been the 
 "channel of Jordan " alluded to in an old but distinct 
 account ^^ of what was once at Khan Minyeh. Coming 
 from so high a level, the stream might readily be mis- 
 taken for a canalette from the river, like those Ave have 
 described in connection with the Abana, and indeed 
 quite similar to these both in purpose and in construction, 
 cutting through the rock, while to any other stream in 
 Galilee the description seems to be inapplicable. 
 
 -^ This is what Saunderson says, writing, a.d. i6oi : — " After leaving 
 Tiberias, we came to Ahnenia" (the sound of the word very much resembling 
 that of Khan Minyeh), "which hatli been a gi-eat citie, also 7 or 8 miles 
 off, close built by the sea side, along through which runneth a channel 
 of Jordan, this undoubtedly is Capernaum, for that is over the point of 
 land;" but with respect to the name he allows that " the Jewes, neither 
 the Turkes, could directly advise me which it was" (Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' 
 vol. ii. p. 1635).
 
 374 The Apostles Voyage. [Chap. xxi. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE apostles' VOYAGE — THE " DESERT PLACE" — THE EMBARKATION — 
 DIRECTION — POSITION OF THE SHIP — THE WEATHER AND WAVES 
 — APPROACH OF CHRIST — ACTION OF PETER — ARRIVAL OF THE 
 SHIP — OTHER INCIDENTS — OTHER EVIDENCE -^ " EXALTED TO 
 HEAVEN " — JOSEPHUS — WOUNDED — DIMENSIONS — TESTIMONY — 
 THANKS — MAPS. 
 
 THERE is no adventure of our travel in this chapter 
 but we devote it to a look at the site of Caper- 
 naum from a nautical point of view. In the New 
 Testament this city is mentioned on one occasion, v.'hich 
 seems to deserve our attention here, as the sole instance 
 where its position is indicated in relation to other places, 
 and a distance on the water is given. These are found 
 in the narrative of the dark and stormy voyage of the 
 twelve apostles, related by three of the Evangelists, each 
 of them recording features or incidents which must all be 
 considered together if we would view the description as a 
 whole. Let us endeavour to combine in consecutive narra- 
 tion the three separate accounts ^ of this voyage contained 
 in Matt. xiv. 13-34 ; Mark vi. 30-53 ; and John vi. 1-25. 
 Our Lord having been told of the death of John 
 
 ' St. Luke (ix. 10-17) naiTates only the first portion of the events of that 
 day. The " beloved physician " who here recounts the cure of the sick could 
 have well described the voyage afterwards, for there is great distinctness 
 and power in his account of Paul's voyage to Rome, and especially of the 
 shipwreck, wherein he gives more information about the ships of the time 
 than is found in any other author, or, perhaps, in all other authors together.
 
 Chap. XXI.] The '' Desert Placer 2)15 
 
 the Baptist, the twelve apostles "gathered themselves 
 together" unto Him, and "He took them" and "de- 
 parted thence by ship," "and went aside privately" "into 
 a desert place." So far the authorised versions of the four 
 Evangelists agree with the versions in Tauchnitz's. But 
 in Luke ix. lo, whereas after the word " privately," our 
 version reads " into a desert place belonging to the city 
 called Bethsaida," the Vatican MS. reads " into the 
 city called Bethsaida," while the Sinai M.S., being without 
 these words originally, has them inserted in correction. 
 The name Bethsaida is mentioned here in only one 
 Gospel, and being styled " the city called Bethsaida," 
 (not a city), we might suppose that the Bethsaida on the 
 west of the lake, " the city of Andrew and Peter," is 
 meant. But it is generally considered that the other 
 Bethsaida, called Julias, and on the east of Jordan, 
 is the place indicated, because after the miracle Christ 
 directed the apostles to get into a ship " and to go 
 to the other side, before unto Bethsaida" (Mark vi. 45). 
 This was the Bethsaida on the west, which is always 
 styled simply " Bethsaida," ^ as if it was well known, 
 
 ^ Dr. Thomson supposes that there was one Bethsaida which was built on 
 both sides of the Jordan. While deference may be paid to this opinion of 
 a scholai", long resident in Palestine, and acquainted with the locality, 
 we may remark that his description of the voyage of the apostles is by no 
 means satisfactory to a sailor. He supposes the boat to " set sail" from a 
 point in the Butaia plain, and to be "driven past" Tell Hoom, to near 
 the plain of Gennesareth. Now this presumes that the wind was at least 
 north of west, and in such a case (i) there would be few waves at first, and 
 much less as they went on ; (2) they could easily keep close to shore, as 
 their proper course ; and (3) they would not be "in the midst of the sea ;" 
 and after rowing "25 or 30 furlongs" they would not be "toiling in 
 rowing," but in calm, and, indeed, would then be actually on shore. 
 Thomson also says : — " I do not believe that another instance can be 
 found of two cities of the same name close together on the same part of a 
 small lake" (' L. and B.' p. 375). Yet he himself mentions the Wady 
 Semak above Khersa, and the village Semak, farther south, on the same
 
 2)']^ The Apostles Voyage. [Chap. xxi. 
 
 while the other on the east is "the city called Beth- 
 saida." 
 
 " The people saw them departing, and many knew 
 Him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent 
 them and came together unto Him ;" "and He received 
 them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and 
 healed them that had need of healing." That the people 
 were able to come " afoot " to the place before the boat 
 shows probably that there was not a favourable wind, 
 or that the boat went slowly. The greater the distance 
 between the starting-point and the place they came to 
 the less easy would it be for people to walk round to it 
 faster than the boat went across the curve, and this 
 makes it less likel}^ that the boat went far south on the 
 Butaia plain. The 5000 were then fed, and twelve 
 baskets were filled with the fragments.^ " And straight- 
 way He constrained the disciples to get into the ship,'' 
 and to go to the other side'^ before unto Bethsaida," ntpo^ 
 
 eastern shore of the lake (but nearer to the other than the two Bethsaidas 
 were). These places have the same modern name, because it was appli- 
 cable to them both (meaning " fish ") ; and, for the same reason, two cities 
 may have been called "Bethsaida," "the fishermen's home." It maybe 
 also observed that a city placed some way up the river's channel would be 
 a veiy inconvenient place for fishers' boats plying on the lake, although it 
 might well be a place for catching the fish that ascended the river. 
 
 ■^ Sitting in 50 ranks, of 100 in each rank, the men would exactly 
 number 5000. Baskets were carried by the Jews when travelling in the 
 Passover time, for their food and other things, lest they should be defiled. 
 
 •1 Mark vi. 45. The Sinai MS. has "a ship." In Matt. xiv. 22, where 
 it is " a ship," the Sinai MS. reads "the ship." 
 
 '•' The words ejs to irepav, translated "to the other side," need not, 
 perhaps, mean to the opposite side of the lake, east or west of the Jordan. 
 Josephus, departing from Tiberias, says he "sailed over to Taricheje," 
 SLiTrepaiwBef ('Life,' sec. lix.), while Tiberias and Taricheas were on the 
 same, western, side of Jordan, and without any deeply indented bay between 
 them. Lightfoot cites Biddulph (a.d. 1600) for the same view. Several 
 of the texts involving this subject are cited by Robinson. The name of the
 
 Chap.'xxi.] The Embarkation. ^ill 
 
 'B'qOa-alSap, " over against Bethsaida " (Griesbach). While 
 the apostles went to obey the directions of Christ, 
 He sent the multitude away, and departed into a moun- 
 tain "to pray." The day had passed, and two things 
 are next mentioned, each with the same time noted. 
 "When the evening was come. He was there alone" 
 (Matthew). " When even was now come. His disciples 
 went down unto the sea " (John). 
 
 There is no indication of the exact spot from which 
 this embarkation was made. We have already described 
 several ports and channels on the north-east shore, at 
 any one of which the apostles may have left "the ship," 
 and it appears to have been the same vessel that they 
 nov.' embarked in. For the sake of clearness, therefore, 
 it will be necessary to consider the midnight voyage 
 both on the hypothesis that it began from the north end 
 of the Butaia plain near the point A on Map VH., and 
 on the hypothesis that it began near the south-east end of 
 the plain at the point E on that map. The intermediate 
 cases, that is, of embarkation from some port between 
 A and E, may be worked out by those who are suffi- 
 ciently interested in the question. 
 
 They embarked, however, "and went over the sea 
 towards Capernaum," rjp')(ovTo irepav rrj^; 6d\daa-'t]<; eh 
 KaTrepvaov/u,, " were going," we might say [Sinai MS. " and 
 came over the sea towards Capharnaum "]. But Mark has 
 told us that the Lord bid them go " unto Bethsaida," 
 and Ave may well suppose that they went in the direction 
 He had ordered. 
 
 Matthew says, " and when they were gone over, they 
 
 district Perrea comes from ir^pav. Many questions would have to be opened 
 anew if the meaning of this word does not always involve a passage over 
 the lake east or west, yet possibly some difficulties now unexplained would 
 yield to better enquiry on this point.
 
 378 Direction. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 came into the land of Gennesareth " [Sin. and Vat. MSS., 
 "they came to land unto Gennesaret "]. Mark says the 
 same, adding "and drew to the shore," while John tells us 
 that, when they had received Him into the ship, " imme- 
 diately the ship was at the land whither they went " [Sin. 
 MS., "whither it went"], and that next day "the people 
 came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus." We may surely 
 deduce from these specific statements that the place to 
 which Christ bid the apostles go (Bethsaida), the place the 
 apostles were going to, and which next day the people 
 went to in search of Him (Capernaum), and the place they 
 arrived at (Gennesareth), were all in the same direction. 
 
 We have now to apply the foregoing conclusions to test 
 some of the claims of the two rival sites, the one at Tell 
 Hoom (which we shall call T), and the other at Khan 
 Minyeh (which we shall call k). and we shall do this by 
 considering seven main features of the narrative, including 
 the preparation for the voyage, the events during the 
 voyage, and the events on shore next day. The con- 
 clusions will be drawn separately, under the hypothesis 
 that A or that E was the port of starting. 
 
 I. As to the Direction or bearings of the course laid 
 down at starting. 
 
 (i) If the ship started from A, the direction would be 
 the same for T, for K, for Bethsaida, and for the land of 
 Gennesareth. Nothing, then, can be decided from this 
 case. 
 
 (2) If the ship started from E. Now Bethsaida bears 
 W. by N. from E, and the land of Gennesareth W. \ N. 
 And as T bears W.N.W., while K bears W. \ N., it is 
 plain that the bearings would have only half a point 
 difference if the ship was going to Khan Minyeh, but 
 would have three times as much if she was going to 
 Tell Hoom, so that this is in favour of Khan Minyeh.
 
 Chap. XXL] Position of the Ship. 379 
 
 II. As to the Position of the ship when Christ was 
 seen. The ship had started, and Matthew says it was 
 now "in the midst of the sea" [Vatican MS., "many 
 furlongs distant from the land "]. Mark says the same. 
 John says, " So when they had rowed about five and 
 twenty or thirty furlongs,"*' the great event occurred 
 which all of them recount. We may reckon the furlong 
 or stadion (by the best authorised computation) at 202 
 yards, so that twenty-seven furlongs and a half, the 
 mean of the distances given, would be about three 
 miles. 
 
 (3) If she started from A, whether for K or T, the 
 ship's course would never be five furlongs from the land, 
 for if the wind was from anywhere in W.N.W. to W.S.W., 
 she would "hug the shore," and if it were from W.S.W. 
 to S.S.E., she would not be driven from the land. This, 
 of course, seems against the supposition that the start 
 was made from A. If, however, the ship started from 
 A to go to T, the distance rowed would bring her on the 
 shore, for Tell Hoom is only two miles from A ; but if 
 she was going to K, she would still be nine furlongs 
 distant. This again is in favour of Khan Minyeh. 
 
 (4) If she started from E, and rowed the distance men- 
 tioned, then if going to T, she would not now be four 
 furlongs from land, but, if going to K, she would still 
 be double that distance — which is in favour of Khan 
 Minyeh. 
 
 III. As to the zvcatJicr and waves. Matthew says the 
 ship was " tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary." 
 
 * He says also, " And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to 
 them " [Sinai MS., " And the darkness overtook them, and Jesus was not 
 yet come to them "]. This remark, showing that Christ was probably 
 expected, and therefore waited for, is considered in another place {ante, p. 
 355), but it does not bear upon the reasoning as to the claims of K or t to 
 be Capernaum.
 
 380 The Weather and Waves. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 Mark says that the men were " toiling with rowing, for 
 the wind was contrary unto them." John says, "the sea 
 arose (StT^yet'/oeTo " was rising ") by reason of a great wind 
 that blew." 
 
 (5) Starting from A, either to T or K, the "contrary" 
 Avind might be the same. 
 
 (6) If she started from E for T, she would now be five 
 furlongs distant. In this case the wind, to be "contrary," 
 must be from north-east, round by west to south-west ; 
 and if it blew from north of their course (W.N.W.), the 
 sea would be almost calm near the spot the ship has now 
 come to. Again, if it blew from south of their course, 
 the ship could not be drifted to the land of Gennesareth, 
 But if she started from E going to K, she would now be 
 nearly twenty furlongs distant from K (almost midway 
 on her voyage), and the wind, being contrary (from the 
 west), would come out of the high gorge of the Vale of 
 Doves and across the land of Gennesareth, with a sweep 
 of nearly eight miles, without shelter from the hills ; so 
 that not only would the sea be high at starting, but the 
 force of the wind would be felt to the very end of the 
 voyage, because there the beach is low and the hills 
 recede ; whereas at T the land is quite different in this 
 respect. This is strongly in favour of Khan Minyeh. 
 
 We have thus used the narrative of the apostles' 
 voyage to test the claims of Tell Hoom and Khan 
 Minyeh by supposing one and then the other of them 
 to be Capernaum, and have regarded it under the heads 
 of — I. The direction or bearings at starting ; II. The 
 position of the ship in the lake ; III. The weather 
 and waves. Three wonderful events next signalise this 
 voyage : IV. The approach of Christ ; V. The action 
 of Peter; VI. The arrival of the ship. After these there 
 is, VII. The search next day. We shall consider the
 
 Cha'p. XXL] Approach of Christ. 381 
 
 incidents solely with relation to the question of the site 
 of Capernaum. For other purposes, the minds of the 
 most profound and devout men have studied the subject, 
 and the ablest pens have written. 
 
 IV. The Approach of Christ. — It was at the "fourth 
 watch of the night " that this happened — not earlier 
 than three o'clock of the succeeding morn ; and the 
 apostles had left Him on land at least six hours before. 
 Now they saw Him "walking on the sea."" Mark says 
 of the apostles, "they all saw him." In Matthew it is 
 written, " He went to them." Mark says, " He cometh 
 unto them ; " and John describes Him as " drawing nigh 
 unto the ship ; " so that He was not standing, but 
 moving, and the direction of His progress seems to be 
 indicated by Mark, when he adds that "the Lord would 
 have passed by them." There is no room left to suppose 
 that He who "plants ?Hs footsteps in the sea" was 
 standing upon some point of land, or went along some 
 shallow, which, at all events now, does not, I am certain, 
 exist in or near either place, K or T. The narrative states 
 distinctly that He went on the sea after them, came to 
 them from behind, but on one side, and so overtook the 
 ship while it was in deep water, and before it " drew to 
 the land." 
 
 V. Peter is now forward to be called into danger. 
 He requests, he is bidden to " come ; " he walks, doubts, 
 {" If it be Thou "), fears, sinks, calls for help, and this is 
 given, and with it the title "thou of little faith," in 
 presence of them all. This Peter, who at another time 
 
 '' eVl T7)$ daXdacrris. Alford considers that this expression clearly means 
 "upon the sea." Matthew, after using the word like the others (ver. 25), 
 uses also inl rriv 6a\acraav (ver. 26), which form is used by John (ver. 16), 
 when stating the embarkation of the apostles. When Peter " walked on 
 the water," it is e'lri to. vSutu (Matt. xiv. 28, 29).
 
 382 Action of Pder. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 leaped into the water to go to Jesus, would have surely 
 done so now without fear, had ^the wind been calm, or 
 the waves less boisterous, or the water shallow, or the 
 land near, 
 
 (7) All these features in the incidents of Christ's 
 approach and Peter's conduct seem to harmonise well 
 with the supposition that the ship was away from the 
 shore, and that the sea was yet rough ; and thus they 
 favour the view that the ship had not gone towards Tell 
 Hoom. 
 
 Still more is this shown by the next words, " And He 
 went up unto them into the ship ;" "Then they willingly 
 received [Sinai MS., "came to receive"] Him into the 
 ship;" for we can see no reason why He should then 
 go on board, and take Peter there also, if the ship was 
 already at its destination, or was even near to the place. 
 
 VI. Quickly, however, there follows the remarkable 
 expression, both in Matthew and Mark, "the wind 
 ceased ;" while John tells us "and immediately (eu^ew?) 
 the ship was at the land whither they went" [Sinai MS., 
 " it went "]. 
 
 (8) Now, Bethsaida was "whither they went;" and 
 whether this was (as Thomson places it) at Jordan's 
 mouth, or was near K (and no other position for Beth- 
 saida seems suggested), it was in each case several miles 
 from T. This last consideration seems sufficient to 
 dispose of the claims of Tell Hoom as the site of 
 Capernaum. But we are told distinctly by John that, 
 " when they were gone over, they came into the land of 
 Gennesaret" [Sin. and Vat. MSS. even more definitely 
 read, " they came unto land to Gennesaret "]. This 
 land is more than forty furlongs distant from any part 
 of the north-east plain, except that just near the Jordan 
 from which it is about thirty-nine furlongs, and as the
 
 Chap. XXL] Arrival of the Ship. 383 
 
 apostles' estimate of twenty-five or thirty furlongs from 
 the point of their embarkation is not likely to be incor- 
 rect or hap-hazard, for they were fishermen in their 
 own boat, and homeward bound, we may, therefore, 
 believe that the vessel was now at least a mile from 
 the shore. 
 
 A distinguished expositor of the New Testament 
 seems to intimate, in his note on this subject, that the 
 speedy arrival of the ship was not necessarily miracu- 
 lous. Doubtless, the question turns a good deal upon 
 whether the word " immediately " does or does not allow 
 sufficient interval of time to bring the ship from " the 
 midst of the sea," and one mile over the water, to the 
 land itself, say at the least a quarter of an hour. But 
 as we have had already in the narrative a succession of 
 miracles — Christ walking on the sea, Peter walking on 
 the water, and the calming of the \\ind — so now, perhaps, 
 we have another — the quick arrival of the ship. 
 
 Some persons feel it difficult to believe that an}- 
 miracle has ever occurred, because, they say, it would be 
 a " breach of the laws of Nature." I do not believe 
 that any " breach of the laws of Nature " has ever 
 occurred, but that these laws have been always observed, 
 and that one of the laws He ordained (though we did 
 not know it, beino; ignorant) is that He can do, has done, 
 and will do, whatever is His will and pleasure, at all 
 times, in all places. 
 
 Vn. The Action of tiie People next day. — They "took 
 shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus." 
 
 (9) Insomuch as this indicates that Capernaum was 
 distant enough to make it advisable to go by sea, it is 
 in favour of k as the site rather than T. (The difficult 
 passage, John vi. 22-25, we have considered already, at 
 p. 355, and it does not affect our present question.)
 
 384 Other Incidents. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 We have thus endeavoured fairly to apply the whole 
 narrative of this voyage as a test of the rival sites of 
 Capernaum. The difficulty of doing so satisfactorily is 
 enhanced by the fact that, while direction and distance 
 are given, the starting-point is uncertain from which our 
 direction is indicated, and from which our distance is 
 measured. The starting-point has, therefore, been re- 
 garded in its two extreme positions on the plain. Doubt- 
 less, it may have been between these, and not either at 
 A or E ; and an attentive consideration of the preceding 
 argument will probably convince the reader that the 
 starting-point was nearer to E than to A. He will also 
 perceive that, wherever the starting-point really was, 
 while the site at Tell Hoom would be violently incon- 
 sistent with the narrative in one or another group of im- 
 portant particulars, the site of Khan Minyeh for Caper- 
 naum fulfils easily every one of the conditions under the 
 seven heads we have considered, and supports the whole 
 narrative as to the direction, distance, weather, the 
 transactions on the sea, and the conduct of the people 
 on the shore. 
 
 Some remarks may here be added upon other passages 
 of the New Testament where Capernaum is mentioned, 
 applying the reliable information now first available as 
 to the contour of the shore, the distances between the 
 several points, and the form of the hills and valleys 
 on land, and our knowledge, in addition, of the bays, 
 beaches, harbours, and the winds. 
 
 (10) After our Lord had called His disciples from their 
 nets and Zebedee's ship, it is stated (Mark i. 21), "And 
 they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the 
 Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue and taught " 
 (probably at the beginning of the Sabbath in the evening, 
 for the fishermen would not be employed at their nets
 
 Chap. XXL] Other Evidence. 385 
 
 on the Sabbath) ; " And forthwith when they were come 
 out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of 
 Simon and Andrew with James and John." This and 
 Luke iv. 38, as well as numerous other passages, show 
 that Capernaum was near to Bethsaida, so that whatever 
 force there is in our arguments from the sea and the 
 shore in favour of Bethsaida being at Tabiga will apply 
 to show that Capernaum was at Khan Minyeh. 
 
 (ii) "And in the morning, rising up a great while 
 before day, He went out and departed into a solitary 
 place and there prayed." The rough hills behind Khan 
 Minyeh, but not far off, seem to provide more naturally 
 for this than the cultivated ground about Tell Hoom. 
 
 (12) In Matt. V. we are told that Christ "went up into 
 a mountain." After the long Sermon on the Mount, 
 related in that and the next two chapters,® He came 
 down, the leper was cured, " And ^^■hen Jesus was 
 entered into Capernaum" (Matt. viii. 5, and Luke vii. i), 
 the centurion came about his servant, and then the cure 
 of " the great fever " of Simon's wife's mother is related.^ 
 So that, whether this was done immediately after the 
 calling of the fishermen, or after the Sermon on the 
 Mount, the position of Capernaum as close to Bethsaida 
 seems implied ; and as in the former case we bring 
 Bethsaida near to Tabiga, because of the shore, and the 
 sea, and the fish, so in the latter case we are led to place 
 Capernaum on the way to Bethsaida from the " Mount," 
 
 ^ The floor of a boat-house in Ireland appeared to me so remarkably 
 good that I asked of what it was made, and the reply was ' ' of refuse 
 salt." This illustrates verse 13 in the Sermon, where the salt that has lost 
 its savour is " trodden under foot of men." 
 
 '^ It is remarked that the plain of Gennesareth and the parts adjacent are 
 now very subject to fever, and probably were so of old, but I think that 
 this, though it might be corroborative of a detail, is not an important 
 fact in the evidence. 
 
 2 C
 
 386 '' Exalted to Heaven!" [Chap. XXI. 
 
 otherwise the route of our Lord on this occasion, and 
 after such long proceedings, would be very circuitous ; 
 and as the " Mount " has usually been placed south of 
 Gennesareth, we shall find Capernaum south of Bethsaida, 
 i.e. at Khan Minyeh. 
 
 (13) In Luke x. 15, Christ uses the expression "exalted 
 to heaven " in relation to Capernaum. Whether this 
 refers to the actual situation of the buildings, or is only 
 metaphorical, it deserves to be noticed. No other city 
 all" round the lake had a hill on the shore w^hich could 
 be built upon so high'° as that at Khan Minyeh. If 
 the houses were on this hill (as well as below) the couch 
 of the paralytic (Mark ii. 4) could more readily be 
 carried to the roof from the terrace above than by the 
 usual outside stairs to the roof, which would have their 
 entrance on a level with the floor, and therefore be less 
 accessible on account of the crowd. 
 
 (14) We may also ask how it was that, if Capernaum 
 
 •"^ The projecting cliff is Tell Lareyne (see a sketch of it, post, p. 429). 
 Wilson estimates the height of the hill as from 200 to 300 feet. 
 
 De Saulcy (vol. ii. p. 428) cites a remarkable passage from Adumnan, 
 in the seventh century, who says ('De Locis Sanctis,' lib. ii.), writing of 
 Capernaum — "qua; ut Arculfus refert qui eam de monte vicino prospexit 
 murum non habens angusto inter montem et stagnum coartata spatio, per 
 illam maritimam oram longo tramite protenditm-, montem ab aquilonali 
 plaga, locum vero ab australi habens, ab occasu in ortum extensa dirigitur." 
 
 (De Saulcy, indeed, to force this to agree with him, turns all the bearings 
 through an angle of about 45° ; but, whenever it was required to support 
 his own theory, this lively French traveller turned maps, and pictures, and 
 other testimony through even iSo° Avithout any ceremony.) 
 
 Benjamin of Tudela says : — " Caphar Nahhum is foure leagues distant 
 from thence (Carmel), retayning the ancient name, a very high place, 
 which exceedeth Carmel in prospect" (Purchas' ' Pilgrims,' vol. ii. p. 1444). 
 Tabor, if that was meant by "Carmel," is about four leagues from Khan 
 Minyeh. This extract is cited, not as to the geographical position, but the 
 elevation of the town. Saunderson also, in a.d. 1601, may allude to this 
 elevation of the place when he says it "is over the point of land " (see 
 the passage, a;it;, p. 373).
 
 / lihU tv (he hal/^ inch 
 The So^<77£iint;s art-, m /ht
 
 Chap. XXL] Josephus. 387 
 
 was not there, no other city or building seems to have 
 been placed on this clifif, the most commanding site of 
 any round the lake, with a good harbour below, with 
 water accessible in the aqueduct above, and with the 
 richest ground alongside. That no name should have 
 lingered here, and no relics is easily understood, if we 
 consider that this was the place to which Christ's words 
 applied, " And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to 
 heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell" (Luke x. 15)." 
 On the other hand, with such a fate denounced upon 
 Capernaum, it would be strange that (if Tell Hoom be 
 the site) not only has the name survived, but chief amongst 
 the ruins there — the best preserved of any round the lake, 
 and the finest of their kind in Palestine — should be those 
 of the very synagogue where our Lord was most rejected, 
 and which would incur the deepest woe.'" 
 
 (15) There are three passages in Josephus wherein 
 Capernaum is mentioned. In one of these he speaks of 
 the fountain, and this we have already discussed. Another 
 is in the narrative of his own life (sec. Ixxii.), where 
 he relates several skirmishes and battles in the Butaia 
 plain, '^ and close to Julias, after one of which he says : — 
 " And I had performed great things that day if a certain 
 fate had not been my hindrance, for the horse on which 
 I rode, and upon whose back I fought, fell into a quag- 
 mire and threw me on the ground, and I was bruised on 
 
 " In the Sinai and the Vatican MSS., "and thou, Capernaum, shalt 
 thou be exalted to heaven ? Thou shalt be thrust down to hell." 
 
 *^ The name "Keraseh" and the ruins there are subject to the same 
 remark if that place can be considered to represent Chorazin. Bethsaida, 
 however, has not preserved its name, and no ruins remain in situ. 
 
 " Insec.lxxiii.it is distinctly said that Sylla's ambush was "beyond 
 Jordan." The details given in sec. Ixxi. appear to be equally applicable to 
 either side of Jordan, and not to determine the position of Julias, which, 
 however, from other notices, we may conclude was on the east.
 
 vD 
 
 88 Wotmded. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 my wrist and carried into a village named Capharnome.''' 
 ... I therefore sent for the physicians, and while I was 
 under their hand, I continued feverish that day, and as 
 the physicians directed, I was that night removed to 
 Taricheae." From this "quagmire," wherever it was,'^ 
 the wounded general was carried {eKoixlo-Or^v) to Caper- 
 naum. Now Josephus had at this time 200 ships at 
 Taricheae. His party had complete command of the 
 water, for next day, after another fight, " when they 
 (the Romans) heard that some armed men were sailed 
 from Taricheae to Julias, they were afraid and retired " 
 (sec. Ixxiii.), so that no doubt Josephus had boats near 
 the battle-field, and to go by water would be the most 
 natural, the most easy, and the safest, shortest, and 
 surest for a wounded man. The port they reached on 
 their way to his home at Taricheae would be Capernaum. 
 There the physicians consulted, and as he was feverish, 
 and as the fight, the wound, the sending for the doctors, 
 and the time under their hands were all in one day, it 
 must have been late when he set out again for Taricheae, 
 to which he was taken (" carried over," ixeTeKoiMia-Orjv) 
 that night. 
 
 Now if he was taken by land from Tell Hoom to 
 Taricheae (Kerak), it would be over fifteen miles of road, 
 occupying at least eight hours (a sick man travelling at 
 nio-ht), but if he went by water from Khan Minyeh to 
 
 i"* In Whiston's translation is inserted here, " or Capernaum," but this 
 is not in the Greek of Dindorf 's version (Paris, 1845), which has only the 
 words els Kd3(i.7]v Kecpapv'JotMTjv \fyofj.ev7]v, and it may be noticed here that 
 this is not exactly the same word as that used by Josephus when speaking 
 of the fountain, Kacpapvaovij. {' W. J.' book iii. ch. x. sec. viii.). 
 
 •' It may have been upcn either side of Jordan, so far as the nature of the 
 ground indicates. For on the east side is the marshy Butaia, and on the 
 west is the treacherous morass described already as most difficult to ride 
 over (see an(t; p. 315).
 
 Chap. XXL] Dimensions. 389 
 
 Taricheae, which is about ten miles and a half, he could be 
 rowed as fast as possible, at all events, in three hours. It 
 is, therefore, most probable that Josephus embarked for 
 Tariche?e at once when he was wounded, and that he 
 stopped at Capernaum to consult the physicians of his 
 army (then in the neighbourhood), and so his narrative 
 does not show that Capernaum was close to Jordan. 
 
 (16) One more passage in Josephus seems to bear 
 upon the site of Capernaum, although with only negative 
 evidence against the claim of Tell Hoom. He says 
 (* W. J.' book iii. ch. iii. sec. i.) of Lower Galilee — " Its 
 breadth'* is also from Meroth to Thella, a village nearest 
 to Jordan," where the name Thella has much the sound 
 of Tell Hoom,'" yet here we see that Josephus mentions 
 it without any reference to Capernaum.'^ 
 
 ^^ /iriKvveTai, latitudo (Dindorf) ; but Whiston translates it "length;" 
 and ye'iTovos, proximo (Dindorf), he translates "near." 
 
 1' "Thella is undoubtedly the ancient Tellum, now Cherbath Tilhim, 
 situated on the north-west shore of the lake of Tiberias " (Schwartz, 
 p. 70). 
 
 '^ The accuracy of Josephus in his descriptions seems to be more clearly 
 brought out in proportion as recent researches have uncovered the evidence 
 long buried under ruins. While we read this author's books for information 
 as to the places made notable in the Bible, it may be allowed, perhaps, to 
 mention the following allusions made by him to some of the principal 
 persons of the New Testament. 
 
 In his ' Antiquities of the Jews ' (book xviii. ch. iii. sec. iii.) he says : — 
 " Now there was about this time, Jesus a wise man, if it be lawful to call 
 him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men 
 as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the 
 Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was (the) Christ. And when Pilate, 
 at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to 
 the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him ; for he 
 appeared to them alive again on the third day ; as the divine prophets had 
 foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. 
 And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this 
 day." (See also a note to ' W. J.' book ii. ch. ix. sec. i.) 
 
 Pontius Pilate is mentioned in ' Ant. J.' ■(book xviii. ch. ii. sec. ii.) ; and 
 Josephus mentions that "John that was called the Baptist" was slain by
 
 390 Testimony. [Chap. xxi. 
 
 The question as to whether Khan Minyeh or Tell 
 Hoom has most right to be regarded as the site of Caper- 
 naum from what has been written since the Bible and after 
 Josephus, and from the opinions of modern travellers, 
 opens a very large and interesting discussion quite 
 beyond the limits of the Rob Roy's cruise. My opinion 
 on this general question has no particular weight, but 
 the new and special data here supplied from the water 
 and the map may be useful to those who have the 
 ability, diligence, and scholarship necessary to give im- 
 portance to their decisions. Such men have already in- 
 vestigated the question w^ith the knowledge available when 
 each one wrote. To them for their facts, and their argu- 
 ments, their reflections, or their stirring words, or their 
 bright descriptions, each new traveller owes a debt that 
 cannot be paid, and is only imperfectly acknowledged by 
 
 Herod at Rlacherus (' Ant. J.' book xviii. ch. v. sec. ii.), and that "the 
 brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James," was 
 stoned (book xx. ch. ix. sec. i.). 
 
 An interesting comment is also supplied by another fact which Josephus 
 relates. When the appeal of Paul forced King A grippa to say, "Almost 
 thou persuadest me to be a Christian," the prisoner answered that he 
 wished all who heard him were not only almost but altogether as himself, 
 "except these bonds," and he raised up his hands fettered by a chain. The 
 king must have felt this gesture specially above all, for he himself had been 
 bound at Rome with an iron chain, and when he was pardoned, the Em- 
 peror "changed his iron chain for a golden one of equal weight," which 
 Agrippa afterwards brought to Jerusalem, and "hung it up within the 
 limits of the Temple over the Treasury, that it might be a memorial of 
 the severe fate he had lain under, and a testimony of his change for the 
 better" (Josephus, ' Ant. J.' book xviii. ch. vi. sec. x. ; and book xix. ch. vi. 
 sec. i.). 
 
 Such notices of the leading personages in Christian history will be 
 received by some readers not only with interest, but with special attention, 
 because the author of them occupied the peculiar position of apparent 
 neutrality. If a pagan writer tells distinctly the same facts as the Bible, 
 people are sure to ask, " Why did he not believe them ?" — and yet, if he 
 did believe them, and so became a professed Christian, they immediately 
 exclaim, " He is a partial witness."
 
 Chap. XXI.] Tha7iks. 391 
 
 scrupulously citing each name when its special authority 
 is used. This willing tribute is given in these pages to 
 Robinson, Stanley, Tristram, Thomson, Porter, Wilson. 
 Alford, Finn, Schwartz, Newbold, Smith, &c., besides the 
 classic authors who are now beyond our thanks. 
 
 The argument in favour of Tell Hoom as the site 
 of Capernaum appears to me to rest chiefly upon its 
 name, which is supposed to have been altered from 
 Kefr Nahum (the village of Nahum) to Tell Nahum (the 
 hill or ruin of Nahum) when the place had become 
 deserted. But while we find the name Kefr Nahum 
 applied by authors to various other places, I do not see 
 it applied to the place now called Tell Hoom in any 
 ancient writer, and though Wey's map^^ (A.D. 1462) 
 places it near Jordan yet the definite distances he gives 
 in his list do not favour this position. On the whole, 
 
 '^ As we have inserted in this chapter the newest map of the Sea of 
 Galilee, it may be interesting to notice some of the older maps. The 
 oldest map relating to Palestine we have been able to find is that called 
 " Mappa Mmidi," in Hereford Cathedral, a MS. of the date about A.D. 1310, 
 very elaborate in its outlines, being symbolical and almost romantic. It 
 shows the Abana and "Farfar" running into the Euphrates. Jordan has 
 three streams — "Fons Jor," "Fons Dan," and "Fons Torrens." On the 
 east of where is now Port Said, there is marked " Sirbonis " (the " Sirbonian 
 bog"), and other curious points are noted. Another and more useful map of 
 Palestine, 400 years old, is in the library of the Royal Geographical Society. 
 It is about seven feet long, and carefully made, but probably without visit- 
 ing all the localities. Distances between important places are given in a list, 
 and in the book of which the title is ' The Itineraries of William Wey, 
 Fellow of Eton College, to Jerusalem, A.D. 145S, and a.d. 1462.' From 
 the original manuscript in the Bodleian Library, printed for the Roxburgh 
 Club (London, 1S57). 
 
 At p. 138, is the following list of distances in Roman miles : — 
 
 Milliario 40 a Bethsayda est Coroazym. 
 
 2° a Coroazim est Cedar. 
 
 2" a Capharnaum est descensus mentis in quo dominus predi- 
 
 cabat turbis.* 
 
 * After this entry is inserted in the similar list on the map — Milliario p" a descensu est 
 locus in ([uo dominus pavit V millia hominum ex V panibus et duobus pfscibus.
 
 392 Maps. [Chap. XXI. 
 
 then, the evidence seems to be much in favour of Khan 
 Minyeh from (i) Scripture, (2) Josephus, (3) old authors, 
 (4) modern travellers. So, having now delivered the 
 verdict of her crew, the Rob Roy may be hauled ashore, 
 and safe among the bushes, tired, but not weary, we 
 welcome the sweet rest of night, that link of peace in the 
 chain of pleasant days. 
 
 Milliario 2° a Genesaret est Magdalum castrum.* 
 
 2° a Magdalo Castro est Tyberiadis.i* 
 
 16" a Xazareth contra Mare Galilee est Genazareth vicus in 
 
 quo Christus misit legionem demonum in porcos. 
 
 From Dan to Beersheba, 160 milliaria. From Joppa to Jordan, 60 
 milliaria. 
 
 The map represents the Sea of Galilee as a long narrow lake, with 
 large fish in it. (In the Dead Sea several buildings are depicted under 
 water), and among other features we notice that on the east of Jordan are 
 Chorazin, Godera, and Gcdaremics. Capharnaum is at the north-west, and 
 Magdala close to it, with a stream between. Bethsaida is farther west 
 up this stream, and on the same side as Capernaum. To the south of 
 Magdala is Bethsaida, and then Genereth, and west of that is Tabor. 
 Kades is at the south-west of the lake, and west of that is Carmel ; to the 
 north of which is Caipha, on a stream. The relative apparent distances 
 between the towns on the map do not at all correspond with those stated 
 in the list. 
 
 In " Hondius his Map of Terra Sancta," printed in a.d. 1624 (Purchas' 
 ' Pilgrims,' vol. v. p. 91), the position of the towns is as follows : — West of 
 Jordan we have Capernaum at the north end, then a stream, and south of 
 that Bethsaida, Magdala, Tarichere, a stream, Tiberias, and then Jordan ; 
 east of Jordan we have Chorazin, and Julias at the north end ; then Gadara 
 (in the centre of the east shore), a stream. Hippos, and Jordan. 
 
 Lightfoot's map (a.d. 1684) — but, like the others, from hearsay — puts 
 Bethsaida near Hippos, on the south-east. 
 
 In D'Amville's map (a.d. 1794), Capernaum is on the north-west shore 
 of the lake. From Gilboa the Kishon flows, and a river running to the 
 Sea of Galilee. Mageda is marked south of Phiale, Gadera on the east 
 of the lake at Khersa. 
 
 * In the map list this is "oppidum," but on the face of the map it is " castrum." 
 t In the map this is — Milliario 1° a Magdalo Genereth vei Tiberias; (and then follows 
 this) Milliario 4" a Tyberiade Bethuliaci.
 
 Chap. XXII.] Sca of Galilee. 393 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SE.A. OF GALILEE — MAGDALA — DALMANUTHA — AIN BAREIDEH — TIBE- 
 RLA.S — THE JEWS — FAST TRAVELLERS — AMERICAN CONFESSIONS — 
 HOW TO SEE ENGLAND — A RAINY DAY — EARTHQUAKE — SHORE 
 SOUTH OF TIBERIAS — HOT SWIMMERS — SOUTH-WEST SHORE — 
 NIGHT — JOYOUS — SIZE OF THE LAKE — KERAK — RUINS — EXIT OF 
 JORDAN — DOWN STREAM — MOLYNEUX AND LYNCH — FAREWELL. 
 
 " As when in heaven the stars about the moon 
 Look beautiful, when all the winds are laid, 
 And every height comes out and jutting peak 
 And valle)', and the immeasurable heavens 
 Break open to the highest, and the stars 
 Shine, and the shepherd gladdens in his heart." 
 
 THE silence on this shore of Gennesareth is perfect — 
 almost startling, but in the dark stillness there 
 comes a muffled sound, with regular beat, yet as from 
 afar. Let us look through this chink in the tent on the 
 beautiful picture of the night, seen by old Homer, and 
 told in Greek, which the Laureate of England has ren- 
 dered as we give it above. The sound we hear is the 
 plash of oars in that little fishing-boat gliding past like 
 a vision. She is coming back after a night of toil, 
 and the chant of her crew gives the time to their oars, 
 and the music floats over the lake to the Rob Roy, 
 listening awake in her oleander-bed. 
 
 Next day our camp moved to Tiberias. We have 
 already described what we saw in the canoe and on 
 horseback along the shore until Magdala is reached at 
 the southern end. The place is called Mijdel now, and
 
 394 Magdala. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 is only a poor village, without beauty or cleanliness, at 
 once the only pollution of the lake by its slovenly 
 disorder, and the only old town all round the shores 
 retaining the name it had before. 
 
 In Mark xiv. we are told how Christ was anointed by 
 " the woman that was a sinner," and the promise of our 
 Lord that, " Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached 
 throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done 
 shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." It is remark- 
 able that, while the deed is thus embalmed in universal 
 memory, the name of the woman is not mentioned here, 
 but if it was indeed the Mary of Magdala then the name 
 of her town has been for some good reason still preserved 
 by the Arabs of Asia, while with same meaning it 
 belongs also to the great fortress of Theodore in Africa. 
 
 Citing Jewish authorities for details, the Rabbi Schwartz 
 says (p. 189) that Migdal is the village Medjdl. "This 
 town is also called by the Christians Magdelenia," and 
 is alluded to in the Talmud. "Migdal Nunia is one 
 mile from Tiberias." ^ The identity of this Mijdel and 
 Magdala is also stated by Ouaresmius. In Mark viii. 10, 
 
 ^ Magdala may be the Migdal el of Joshua xix. 38 (Stanley). In Matt. 
 XV. 21, is stated the incident of the woman in the coasts of Tyre, to whom 
 the Saviour said, "O woman, great is thy faith." After this He came " nigh 
 unto the Sea of Galilee," and fed the 4000 upon " a mountain." Then " He 
 took ship, and came unto the coasts of Magdala." All the MSS. read " the 
 ship " in Matt. xv. and the Sinai and Vatican do so also in Mark viii. 10 (the 
 parallel passage), showing, perhaps, that it was the vessel regularly em- 
 ployed, as would be consistent with the rest of the story. It will be seen 
 from Map VH. that Magdala is three miles from Tiberias on a straight course 
 by water, and a little farther going by the path on shore. IN'eubauer 
 ('Geog. Talm.' p. 217) mentions Migdal Nunia (tower of fishers) as a 
 different place from Magdala, and the Talmud says this latter was destroyed 
 because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. 
 
 The name, Magdala, in the above passage from Matthew, has long been 
 supposed to be inserted for some other name. The Sinai and the Vatican 
 MSS. read "Magadan" instead of "Magdala," and Magedan may have 
 been on the eastern side. It is so marked in Hondius' map in 1624.
 
 Chap. XXII.] Dalmanutha. 395 
 
 the place called Magdala by Matthew is styled "the 
 parts of Dalmanutha" (Vatican MS. " Dalmanun- 
 tha "), and Madegada in a MS. cited by Lightfoot 
 (vol. ii. p. 309). If the word in Mark means Magada, 
 which may have been on the east side of the lake, 
 then Dalmanutha may be the Dalhamia (or Dalma- 
 mia) mentioned by Thomson as on the Jordan below 
 Kerak (' L. and B.' p. 393), and which would accord well 
 with Christ's route (Mark vii. 31), " from the coasts of Tyre 
 and Sidon unto the Sea of Galilee through the coasts of 
 Decapolis," — or as the Sinai and Vatican MSS. have it, 
 " from the coasts of Tyre, He came through Sidon unto 
 the Sea of Galilee." This explanation would appear to 
 place the miracle of the " four thousand " on the east 
 shore,^ and thus the Bethsaida they came to afterwards 
 (Mark viii. 22) would be that on the west coast, which 
 would be a likely place for them to go to for the bread 
 which they had forgotten. 
 
 Just behind Magdala the hills again rise abruptly to 
 the height, as Wilson estimates, of 1000 feet. From this 
 point, all the way to Tiberias, I found an inhospitable 
 shore bristling with breakers, sunk rocks, and treacherous 
 reefs. Some few of these look like islands. One is only 
 about an inch under water, though 100 yards from shore, 
 and on the whole we may regard this to be the most 
 dangerous coast of the whole circuit. 
 
 The Wady el Ammas sends a hot spring into the cool 
 water about a mile from Magdala. The little triangular 
 plain at Fuliyeh (just overhanging the lake) corresponds 
 to the particulars given in Matthew xv., as Wilson also 
 considers, who describes three springs here giving together 
 a little more water than the round fountain at Ain et 
 Tin. The centre spring is open, and the water runs 
 
 - See also Robinson (vol. iii. p. 278).
 
 396 Aiji Bareideh. [Chap. XXII, 
 
 down to the lake. The two others are enclosed, probably 
 for mill purposes, and the structures may be the circular 
 Roman baths noticed by Irby and Mangles. Though 
 warm, the water of these fountains is sweet to the taste. 
 They are called "Ain Bareideh," "cold fountain."^ The 
 stream from these (and I think also from another lower 
 fountain) gushes into the lake, where the heated water 
 remains so distinct from the rest that you 
 can put one hand on each side of the boat 
 with about 20^ difference in the warmth of 
 the water. To the south of the two build- 
 ings over the hot springs, there are re- 
 structure in mains of a building in the water not likely 
 
 Water near i i r 11 1 '-r'l 
 
 Bareideh. to bc remarked from the land. Ihe sketch 
 shows a plan of this, which stands in four feet water, 
 and has walls of rubble masonry four feet thick, and 
 much eaten away by the waves. These walls appear to 
 have encircled a pool, in which there is now a hot spring. 
 The cliff seems to cut it off from the nearer of the two 
 others. The detached part has at B, between it and 
 ^gB^^^^-^s. the rest, a passage from 
 
 Lj^'ftyJMJfe^^^^^^r three to four feet deep, 
 
 j[1r*Tp about a foot broad, and 
 
 ^ >^4^^ covered by hammered 
 
 Covered Passage in Sea-wall. StOnCS, aS rCprCSCUted in 
 
 the sketch alongside. The dotted line shows the water- 
 level. Several of the stones are in situ, but others have 
 
 ^ Thomson says that the Arabs do not apply this name to them. Possibly 
 their temperature may have been altered by the earthquake, and then the 
 name. On Jan. 29, 1866, Wilson found the temperature of these as 
 follows : — 
 
 :mperature of the air 
 
 ... 6476 F: 
 
 ihrenheit. 
 
 ,, north spring ... 
 
 ... 8476 
 
 ,, 
 
 , , central spring . . . 
 
 ... 8o-6 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, south spring ... 
 
 ... 85-46 
 
 )»
 
 Chap. XXII.] Tiberias. 397 
 
 fallen down. The passage looks like a water channel, 
 and the enclosure resembles a bath rather than part of 
 a mill. 
 
 The Rob Roy next arrived at Tiberias, where a crowd 
 gathered soon on the shore, and pressed so close upon 
 me that it was with more difficulty than usual the canoe 
 could be shouldered and carried through the narrow 
 lanes to the locanda, a guest house, doing half duty for 
 an hotel, when occasionally travellers are unwise enough 
 to leave canvas homes for stone prisons. In the great 
 arched room, whose walls were ten feet thick and scarcely 
 lighted, the canoe lay stretched upon the floor, and her 
 captain on a divan. Part of my tent was hung across 
 the room to screen it a little from the women folks who 
 came in and out, night and day, and who could now see 
 the boat to great advantage by peeping over and under 
 the very feeble barrier we had placed to guard our 
 privacy. Poor bodies, they did their best in civilit}^ and 
 activity, and so did their other permanent lodgers, whose 
 diminutive size was made up for by their myriads of 
 numbers, so that long before midnight I had pronounced 
 all houses to be wretched everywhere, and this one 
 detestable, in comparison with the cleanly comfort of a 
 tent. When Toorieh, the pretty girl of this hospice, 
 brought the "Visitors' Book" for my name to be in- 
 scribed, she evidently was in happy ignorance of the 
 comments made in every page of it by each traveller 
 who had survived his stay. In charity and truth com- 
 bined, I could only write that the Rob Roy and myself 
 had stopped there two nights, and that the canoe was 
 not devoured. 
 
 The town of Tiberias is chiefly remarkable for the 
 exceeding filthiness of most of its streets, and espe- 
 cially in the Jews' quarter. How any civilised Euro-
 
 398 The Jews. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 pean Jew can see his people degraded as they are in 
 Tiberias, and then come back to his own gilded home 
 in the west, and leave his brethren to wallow in such a 
 mess beside that lovely lake, is beyond conception. 
 
 Jews amongst us Gentiles in England have refine- 
 ment, cleanliness, luxury, and elegance — why don't they 
 send to the Rabbis of Galilee, at any rate, besoms 
 and soap 1 * 
 
 Our attack upon the people's nastiness in this city is not 
 too severe, nor is it made by an enemy, but by a friend 
 of the "nation scattered and peeled" — one who reveres 
 their name, their past and their future ; who admires their 
 patience and pluck, their learning, science, and art, their 
 musical talent, their military prowess, their schools and 
 asylums, their fitness for every post, premier, banker, 
 and senior wrangler, anything perhaps that men can be 
 (except a sailor) ; but who wonders how with all their 
 love of their people and their land they leave it to us 
 Christians to search for their records among their ruins 
 — how they never ask the world for what the world 
 would give them free, their own beloved Palestine, while 
 as voluntary outcasts they whine in isolation, and cling 
 to a hopeless hope. 
 
 Let us leave this filthy town, and hie to the moun- 
 tain brow with its slopes of smiling green mid sweet 
 perfumes of the flowery grass, and painted glittering 
 flies that dance in warm sunlight and buzz their short 
 hour of life, and so we rise to the highest hill from 
 which the lake is seen outspread below. It is a precious 
 hour, the contemplation of so grand a scene, grand, I 
 mean, not by bigness of mass in mountains, or by other 
 
 ■• While stopping the night amid the fihh of Tiberias I read in the 
 ' Times,' of millions of gold left by Rothschild's will.
 
 Chap. XXII.] Fast Travellers. 399 
 
 mere earthly features, but because each snowy peak, 
 each jutting point, each swelHng mound, each trickHng 
 stream before us, is the centre of a hundred thoughts 
 within about things that are grandest of all in the 
 universe — the deeds of God made Man, the message of 
 the Ambassador of Peace to a rebel world, the promises 
 of the King of Heaven to the poor lost sinners of earth. 
 Surely it does not need a fanciful or even an imaginative 
 mind to feel that there can be character and almost soul 
 in scenery. The face of a hero we gaze upon with 
 admiration, though his eye is only a lens, anci his brain 
 is but phosphorus, and his bones are lime. Palestine is 
 the visible embodiment of the most wonderful and holy 
 deeds and thoughts that have lived upon this world. 
 The lineaments of what is noble and righteous and wise 
 are shining here, though the lake is only water, and the 
 hills are only stone. We are rhapsodising on this moun- 
 tain, let us get down again to the mud. 
 
 On the slope below^, we found an American in his tent. 
 Next morning he was gone. These cousins of ours do do 
 their sight-seeing so uncommon quick. About thirty of 
 them I met at various times in this voyage, but not a word 
 or look from any one that meant appreciation or enjoy- 
 ment of the wondrous land they had scurried through. 
 If this vice of foolish swiftness in a country which you 
 cannot " skim " (for the cream of it is not at the top) were 
 incurable as well as inherent in these people, it would be 
 cruel to notice it ; but it is the vice of a few, and it is 
 curable. Yet all Americans incur the blame for it. 
 They are sensitive to public outcry against their coun- 
 trymen, though they are far more meek under censure 
 than John Bull, and, no doubt, once sufficiently stirred 
 up by friendly plainness upon this point, the Americans
 
 400 Americmi [Chap. xxil. 
 
 will surely organise a " caucus " on such a national 
 stigma and will rub it off, or hold a " convention " and 
 put it down. At any rate, now it is the most rabid 
 nuisance in the East.' Some of the very best Oriental 
 travellers are Americans ; need we cite Dr. Robinson's 
 name, or Dr. Thomson's .■' But nine out of ten of those 
 who come from "the States" to see the world pass 
 through it, and over it, and see almost nothing. This is 
 partly because they allow, say, a year for the grand tour, 
 and few minds can travel for a year in different countries 
 with any proper zest and purpose all the time. Partly, 
 too, it is owing to the fact that in America you can see 
 nearly all as you move by rail or steamer over the wide 
 continent, for the towns there are uninteresting, architec- 
 turally. Partly, it is because men, badly educated, but 
 rapidly rich, often try to cram knowledge by running 
 after it over the world. Partly, again, it is because the 
 love of ancient things needs to be fostered young, and 
 Americans, therefore, do not and cannot appreciate ruins 
 or antiquities ; and, lastly, the unfortunate lack of sen- 
 timent, romance, or quiet enjoyment of the dreamy past, 
 is made stronger, if not perpetuated, by the speed of 
 
 * Here, for instance, is the conversation, almost verbatim, of two tourists 
 at an hotel. The words can be written down, but the suffering and pity which 
 other travellers feel for the hapless wights who are such slaves of speed, 
 and whose gloomy careworn restlessness tells of their dreary task, can 
 never be described. 
 
 ' Been to Jurden, Sir ? 
 
 "Yes, Sir ; come back 4.35 this afternoon. 
 
 " Road— how's that? 
 
 " Wal, Sir, it's rough, that's so — nothin' particular to see but scalded hills. 
 
 Came back Ijy Marsaba, and Neby (Jane, what do they call it?) 
 
 You goin' to Jurden ? take my word the Dead Sea is only a dull-like place, 
 Sir." 
 
 And this man had been looking on the most sacred river in the world, 
 and peeping into the deepest hollow to be seen on earth.
 
 Chap. XXII.] Confessio7is. 401 
 
 afifairs, the unhappy " dollarism," the unceasing bustle, 
 change, and excitement of an American's daily life in 
 the dreary crowds of a huge hotel — the climate of his 
 country being too vif for rest and peace, and the food he 
 lives upon and the habits of his life heating body and 
 mind to impatient hurry, even in the most captivating 
 scenes, which cannot be grasped in a glance, and which 
 refuse to yield their precious sweets to a passing 
 squeeze. 
 
 The better travellers from America deplore this sad 
 defect in many of their countrymen, and it is to support 
 these in protesting against this absurd sort of travelling, 
 and to remedy the evil, that I venture to dwell upon the 
 subject here, because our cousins know full well that our 
 mutual criticisms are useful to both countries — whether 
 they touch yachts, or boat crews, or travellers' ways — 
 and that both Englishmen and Americans are sensible 
 enough to bear even a sharp word or two upon our 
 special frailties. 
 
 Once an American traveller entered Nazareth with me 
 at eight o'clock in the evening. At half past four next 
 morning he had left. In America he could say he had 
 seen Nazareth. Another, who had journeyed in Syria, 
 had omitted to visit Damascus. He could not bear this 
 when talking with others, and he came back all the way 
 to Beyrout with me, and rode to Damascus and back 
 and embarked again. Another, being in quarantine 
 with me, confessed that whole pages from ' Murray ' 
 were sent home as her journal, and that she inserted in 
 the "towns visited" all the stations on the London and 
 Brighton Railway, which she had traversed once by 
 train. Such travellers cannot really enjoy any one 
 place, but are always speaking of the next place to be 
 " done," and of the shortest time to do it in. 
 
 2 D
 
 402 How to see England. [Chap. xxii. 
 
 The great mistake they make is to go to many spots, 
 and over many miles, rather than to see some places 
 well. The East, above all, must be seen deliberately. 
 To run over it is exactly like looking at bright pictures 
 in a book without reading a page of its print. The man 
 who stops two days in one neighbourhood, and who thus 
 imbibes the air of the place, knows more of the whole 
 land of Israel than if he had passed through five other 
 places in the same day without resting, thinking, and 
 pondering over what is around him. A young American 
 told me lately he intended not to go to Palestine. He 
 said, "All our Yankee tourists *do' the Holy Land. 
 One of our cleverest girls in New York said to a learned 
 minister who had just returned from his foreign tour, 
 ' Well, did you go to Palestine .'' ' He replied (half 
 ashamed), ' No, I did not.' ' Ah ! ' she said, ' I am so 
 glad ; for I have been so much bored lately by all my 
 friends who have come back from Palestine, and have 
 been at Samaria, and at Bethlehem, and up Mount 
 Tabor, and dozvn to Jordan, and not one of them seems 
 to know as much of the realities of the Holy Land as I 
 can read in a school-book ; so I am quite delighted to 
 meet a traveller who has not been to Palestine.' " An 
 American who had come to see Europe asked me in 
 London, after having bestowed two days upon seeing 
 the largest city in the world, " Can you tell me if I can 
 go and see Birmingham, and Warwick Castle, and Kenil- 
 worth, and then Oxford, and go on to Southampton, all 
 in one day } " I answered that he could sa- a great deal 
 more than that in one day, and it was a pity not to do 
 as much as possible in the time ; and, as for his method 
 of travelling, daylight was of no consequence, the best 
 way would be to take a return ticket to Edinburgh, and 
 start by the night mail, for then he could say that he
 
 Chap. XXI I.] A Rainy Day. 403 
 
 had been at York Minster, and a whole host of EngHsh 
 towns. 
 
 These men have Httle time to spend. This is their mis- 
 fortune, and for that they have no blame ; but we com- 
 plain that, having little time, they waste it by trying to 
 stretch it over what it will not cover ; and thus they lose 
 the benefits of a proper tour, they get little profit or plea- 
 sure themselves, and they are bores to other travellers 
 here ; they are unworthy representatives of their great and 
 wonderful people, and thus they do wrong to themselves, 
 to their nation, and to us. Against such I most earnestly 
 protest, at least for Palestine and Egypt. If a man has 
 only half an hour to read Longfellow's poems, he had 
 far better read one or two of the best pieces right through 
 than read half a line on every page. 
 
 At length there is a rainy day for the Rob Roy, and 
 all day, too. This was the only day in the tour that I 
 could not walk, or ride, or boat ; but every hour of it 
 was agreeably filled up, and not a moment hung heavy 
 on my hands. Murray's ' Handbook for Syria' is, of 
 itself, a most interesting work to peruse. In my opinion, 
 it is the best of all Murray's Guides for Travellers. It 
 gives just what you want to know, and in plain but 
 pleasant style, with full explanation of Scripture allu- 
 sions, and a devout spirit pervading the whole, as ought 
 surely to be the case when it tells of the Holy Land.'^ 
 
 When the Rob Roy launched again from Tiberias, all 
 the walls and house-roofs were covered with people 
 come out to see ; so she turned about also to look at the 
 sight on shore. 
 
 The town juts out to deep water. Ugly circular towers, 
 built lately and badly, lean here and there, with cracks 
 
 •■ No doubt Dr. Porter will take care that in future editions his letter- 
 press is accompanied by a- better map.
 
 404 Earthquake. [Chap, XXII. 
 
 through their toppHng sides. The earthquake which 
 occurred on New Year's Day in 1837 had its centre at 
 Jish, but, in its wide revelry, it shook these bastions of 
 Tiberias, and one would wish that it had levelled them 
 entirely." 
 
 One relic of the more solid past remains — a wall of 
 blackened bevelled stone, that just tops the water for 
 100 yards, and still proudly testifies to the better 
 masons of better days gone by. The south end of this 
 wall seemed to be a little lower than the other. This 
 might be because more stone was left upon the north ; 
 but a nearer examination showed me that three courses 
 of stones were above the water at the north end, and 
 only two at the south, while the line of the bevel course 
 was inclined ; so that the whole wall, unbroken, almost 
 unshaken, had sunk down in one grand mass obliquely 
 towards the south ; while the other rude white towers 
 built yesterday — only a few hundred years ago— have 
 staggered, jostling one against the other, broken into 
 melancholy wreck. Until my arrival in England, the 
 importance of this observation had not occurred to me, 
 otherwise the exact length of the base, and the depth of 
 the depression at one end, would have been easily mea- 
 sured. This can, of course, be done by any traveller, 
 for there is usually a fishing-boat at Tiberias. 
 
 On the shore, at the north end of the sea wall, are 
 numerous squared stones, detached and in the water, 
 but nothing attracting particular attention until we reach 
 the southern end of the wall. Open arches yawn above 
 
 ' Tiberias is mentioned only once (John vi. 23), except as part of the 
 name of the lake. Our Loi-d does not appear to have entered Tiberias on any 
 occasion. The reasons suggested for this are that ( i ) it was full of foreigners, 
 while He came first " to the lost sheep of the house of Israel ; " and (2) Tibe- 
 rias was built partly upon ground occupied by ancient sepulchres, and to 
 enter this place would have made Him ceremonially " unclean."
 
 Chap. XXII.] Deep and Hot. 405 
 
 this place ; under one of these I thrust in the canoe, and 
 so inspected a fishing-boat which was beached inside. 
 The remarkable sinking down of the south end of Tiberias 
 is soon explained when we paddle farther south along 
 the shore. For, there, about a mile only from the town, 
 is the famous warm bath, always supplied from the heat 
 of Vulcan's forges, deep in the earth, and from whence 
 has flowed for ages a hot sulphurous stream. We must 
 recollect that the Sea of Galilee itself is in a great hollow, 
 depressed 650 feet into the crust of the earth. The 
 surface of the water of the lake is so low that, if St. Paul's 
 Cathedral were set upon the shore, and Westminster 
 Abbey on the top of the dome, the summit of this pile 
 would still be lower than the Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 The earth's cuticle, then, above its interior fire is con- 
 stitutionally thin in Galilee ; and hence it is that, when 
 you stand upon one of the flat-roofed houses that over- 
 hang the lake, you can see to the left hot vapour rising 
 from the boiling stream of Tabiga ; while again, close 
 on your right, the self-acting, self-heated warm bath of 
 Emmaus is ready always for the weary traveller, or the 
 soft idler, or the dirty public in general, to soothe and to 
 please and to cleanse them under its dark dome. Hot 
 water pouring out thus for thousands of years has, no 
 doubt, still further thinned the skin of earth at this place ; 
 so, when the earthquake came, probably the crazy arch 
 of rock gave way, and giants' halls below were crushed 
 together, and the wall of Tiberias sunk towards that side. 
 
 Questions suggest themselves by the dozen about 
 this — for the geologist, not for me. Has the wall, in- 
 deed, simk at one end, or has it been raised at the 
 other .'' Has the very shore of the lake sunk too } Has 
 this sinking to the south operated along the rest of the
 
 4o6 Under the Wave. [Chap. xxii. 
 
 lake and the river ? If so, we shall find the lake 
 shorter at the north, and Jordan issuing lower and 
 perhaps deeper now than it was of old ; but let us go 
 and see. 
 
 Glorious sunny weather soon brightened the water as 
 the Rob Roy paddled on this errand, close by the 
 pebbly shore, which here is of beautiful white. My 
 camp was leisurely moving to Kerak, at the south end 
 of the lake, and so there was plenty of time for a slow 
 and careful survey of the coast under water. The ragged 
 ones of Tiberias all rushed out to see the canoe so close ; 
 therefore, to shake them off, and to have peace for my 
 pleasant work, I went out to sea, and lolled the time 
 away until their short patience was exhausted ; then we 
 came back to the survey. 
 
 There are numerous ruins farther inland. Pillars stand, 
 or lean, or lie quite flat, in the long grass. Massive walls 
 attest the remains of grand buildings here. The caves 
 hollowed in the cliffs behind were, perhaps, the grottoes 
 of country seats, when the lovely lake was admired from 
 many a Roman villa, and shrined by temples of design 
 most chaste, when here Josephus lived, and Titus led 
 his admirable legions, and the fleet of Vespasian sailed 
 with the sun upon bright Roman shields, and Palestine 
 was just giving up its last shred of liberty, but with a 
 brave, hopeless struggle ; for the day of reproach had 
 come, and long desolation for the people. 
 
 Very much as might have been anticipated, on ap- 
 proaching shore again, we soon found there were pillars 
 and buildings quite visible under the clear waves, and 
 which, before the earth sank here, must have been on the 
 vero-e, " awash," if not perfectly dry on the beach. There 
 was a little swell, but not too much to prevent me 
 sketching these and measuring their depth under water.
 
 Chap. XXII.] SJiore South of Tiberias. 
 
 407 
 
 a, larsre rubble wall. 
 
 Submerged Remaixs. 
 
 ..'"V </;- V '^ * 30 feet, a c io feet; 
 V ' '•; O if"^''- (-1 Xi. 3 ''^'^' "f water over 6, 
 >',' ''Oa^i'^-" Ci' "' ''' 5 feet over c. 
 
 
 Small thick wall. 
 
 Nothing more to be 
 seen in this direction. 
 
 Hilars on shore, one 
 inclining. 
 
 White pillars and pe- 
 destal ; d 2 feet under 
 water, e 5 feet. 
 
 Two pillars on the 
 verge. 
 
 White pillar awash. 
 
 White pillar awash. 
 
 Four black pillars in 
 situ, 2 feet under 
 water; 2 feet diameter 
 in depth of 4 feet ; 
 pillars about 7 feet 
 apart. 
 
 Submerged Ruins along the Shore South of Tiberias.
 
 4o8 Hot Siuivnners. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 From the sketches and notes then made we have com- 
 piled our plan, which represents this part of the coast 
 and the ruins submerged.^ 
 
 In the hot baths I found a number of naked and 
 moist negroes, not very inviting to bathe among. One 
 of them was playing a flute in the water. These 
 baths have been a hundred times described.^ They are 
 rightly within our province, too, for a word or so, being 
 water ; but Ave turn with more pleasant feelings to the 
 cooler sparkling wavelets of the lake itself. Nothing 
 was found under the surface here but a number of 
 detached squared stones. A little farther on, bold cliffs 
 descend into the water, and the road winds over their 
 shoulders. Huge rocks, too, are in the lake just under 
 the cliffs, and the Rob Roy had threaded among these ; 
 but nothing seemed to be there that might not be found 
 in any other lake. 
 
 ^ The \\'all marked a will be easily recognised by any traveller, for it is 
 a prominent object on the beach, and the ruins on shore are those indicated 
 in Map VII. The dotted parts are under water. An hour was spent in 
 examining this short piece of coast, going backwards and forwards several 
 times, so as to have the sun in front and behind, as we worked in parallel 
 strips ; we may, therefore, hope that no object has been unobserved. 
 
 " Thomson says the temperature of the baths had varied during twenty 
 years from 136° to 140° (Fahr.). The springs were more copious for a 
 time during the earthquake. He considers that the word "mules" in 
 Genesis xxxvi. 24, means "warm waters." 
 
 Not very far from our own prosaic Temple (that in the City of London, 
 E.G., not in Judsea), w^e have the "Hummums" in Covent Garden, the 
 same Arabic word meaning " Bath ; " and in the Strand, close to Somerset 
 House, is a splendid old Roman bath in excellent preservation, and with 
 purest water running into it from the "Holy well," at the comer of a 
 street called (almost in derision) by that name. Such a bath, with water 
 in it, and so preserved, you cannot find in Italy. If it were there, all 
 travellers would be ashamed not to have seen it, but being in London, 
 like many other most interesting Roman relics of our great capital, not one 
 man in ten thousand even hears of its existence, though a great notice 
 board proclaims to all who walk upon the pavement, "To the Old 
 Roman Bath."
 
 Chap. XXI I.] South-iucst Shore. 409 
 
 The bays along this part are, therefore, all bad for 
 boats, until the last bay, on the south-west in Map VIL, 
 near the mound of Kerak, where an excellent beach shelves 
 quickly to good anchorage in flat sandy gravel. There 
 are remains of a pier at the place, and the north-west 
 wind is powerless in this bay. 
 
 The lake narrows at its southern end, and a charming 
 slope of green, with gentle knolls enlivening its outlines, 
 shows where the desperate fight took place bet\\'een 
 the Jews at Taricheae and the heavy-mailed cohorts of 
 Rome. Now the place looks peaceful enough — with 
 the peace of desolation. Bright anemones wave in the 
 evening breeze ; red is the most frequent colour, but 
 white ones are scattered too. In other localities there 
 are blue anemones ; and in one spot by Jordan I noticed 
 a red, a blue, and a white anemone, all three together. 
 This conjunction is regarded as singular. 
 
 There is some traffic along the bridle-path by the 
 lake. You meet somebody almost every quarter of an 
 hour. My muleteers had a palaver with each of these 
 wayfarers, and showed off the Rob Roy as part of t/ici?' 
 property, while they praised her exploits in florid story. 
 Then she drew to the shelving beach near Kerak, wdiere 
 we can lie on the shore in the sun for rest and refresh- 
 ment. Here the lake banks are of red clay, and the 
 water is shallow along a shore of black sand, curved and 
 indented by lagoons ; for here again will Jordan once 
 more lay hold of the waters, and hurry them away still 
 down with the " Descender," down to the dull Dead Sea. 
 
 Our camp grows up in the evening air like mushrooms 
 in the grass, and the canoe reclines among the oleanders, 
 and her crew under the palm-tree by our tent. This is 
 quite away from all intruders, and no dwelling is in 
 sight but our own ; so Kerak is the place for a quiet
 
 41 Night. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 Sunday, when the beautiful lake is beside the Sacred 
 Book, for now, indeed, we can read a pictorial Bible.^" 
 
 What a relief to be out of that house at Tiberias ! 
 What a delightful change to be again in a tent by the 
 sea ! Instead of the dark draughty room, with no view, 
 no comfort, no privacy, now there is the fairest green 
 prospect facing me as I recline ; the sweetest air around, 
 the light of heaven above, and the sentiment and ro- 
 mance of a wandering life for a quiet undercurrent of 
 delicious enjoyment. 
 
 That squalling child, too, in that Jews' barrack we 
 have left ; how inhuman the mother was to let it cry all 
 day and most of the night ! Once I went in and told 
 her so. She stopped it, and the little creature was quite 
 pleased. Instead of this wretched music, we hear now 
 the gentle plash of waves on the clean and sparkling 
 beach, the soft breathing of the evening breeze, the 
 tinkling of the mules' bells as they graze to their full in 
 richest clover, and the merry laugh from the other tent, 
 or the chop of a hatchet as the men gather wood for 
 the fire. The mountains of Bashan have sunk into a 
 sombre outline of deep shade, and the twinkling stars 
 are about us ; but just before me they seem to be paler, 
 while the dark of the sky is tinted by a faint unusual 
 light. See, this gets stronger now, and at last, in silent 
 inexpressible beauty, slowly rises the bright full moon, 
 and in a moment the Sea of Galilee is changed into 
 silver, with ten thousand sparkles from the opposite 
 shore in a blazoned path right up to the very waves at 
 my feet. Yes ; it is better here than in any house of 
 stone. 
 
 Spring had fairly begun, with all its fresh beauties, 
 
 ^^ The Talmud speaks of the fishers in their lioHdays resting by the 
 lake (Neubauer, p. 213).
 
 Chap. XXII.] Joyous. 411 
 
 on this 29th of January. The herbage was profuse about 
 us, and the mules rolled over and over in its soft luxu- 
 rious coolness. Fancy rolling upon one's food, and 
 eating up one's mattress ! 
 
 Hany and his men and his beasts were as merry as 
 could be. None of us had a frown or a care, or the least 
 bit of anxiety. Architects, be they never so clever, cannot 
 build us a house half so pleasant as the tent. In front 
 is my boat, too, a span from the water, all ready for 
 launching in a moment ; while my horse is tugging at 
 his halter, and ready for a ride if that is better than a 
 sail. The wish and a word is enough to start either of 
 these ; but our mountain boots are clamorous for a 
 climb. On with them, then : and in the balmy day- 
 break we wander away alone, gradually mounting, ex- 
 panding the prospect, watching the great silent clouds 
 that veil the hot sun, but with no threatening gloom, 
 the far-off patches on the water like roughened glass 
 under the "cat's-paws" on the lake ; the Jordan, marked 
 for thirty miles, as it pours out upon its last quick 
 journey to the vale of death;" the distant Bethsaida ; 
 the green tenantless Gennesareth ; the dumb shattered 
 towers of Tiberias, only bearable among the beauties of 
 nature, because anything looks pretty when reflected in 
 the lake ; the hills of Bashan opposite, with Gamala 
 unbuilt again since its last terrible destruction ; the 
 meadows of the Gadarenes in blue distance, scene of 
 the story read so long ago ; the hill of the five thousand 
 beneath ; and behind us Mount Tabor, and the groves of 
 Deborah, and that great, wide level, outstretched away, 
 away to dimness on the horizon, the rich mysterious 
 
 '^ The valley of Jordan has been from an early period an almost unpro- 
 ductive desert. ' ' The curse which rests upon it seems to date with the 
 destruction of Sodom" (Newbold, 'J. As. Soc' xvi. 24).
 
 412 Size of the Lake. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 plain of Jezreel. Who would not go to Palestine to see 
 a sight like this, and for such a Sunday walk, which a 
 lifetime of weekdays cannot wear out from our memory ? 
 
 A mere speck now is my tent by the shore, but still 
 we feel it is our home. From this high point we have 
 the best land view of the lake from the west ; but the 
 prettiest view from the water we have yet to see. 
 
 From north to south the lake is \2\ miles long. 
 Across the widest part from Magdala is 6j miles. 
 Soundings show its depth to be less than 200 feet in 
 any part.'^ 
 
 Kerak is the ancient Taricheae, a name well known in 
 the writings of Josephus, who places it thirty stadia south 
 of Tiberias (' W. J.') book iii. ch. x. sec. i.) Its position at 
 the end of the lake is shown by the plan given opposite, and 
 you can readily see how it was made a strong fortress, and 
 for many ages. It was built on a triangular mound, about 
 fifty feet high and 400 yards in length, which was made 
 into an island by the water led round it. Though bits of 
 masonry, almost hidden in tall grass, were once strong 
 walls about this hill, the Jordan forms a fosse on one 
 side, while the lake guards another, and an artificial 
 
 '- The length of the lake given by Josephus is 140 stadia, or sixteen 
 miles, which is much too large, unless he means the distance by land, 
 which would then be nearly correct. He gives the breadth as forty stadia, 
 or about four miles and a half, which, again, is much too small, unless he 
 reckons it from opposite Tiberias, where it is only about four miles and 
 three-quarters. 
 
 Abulfeda gives the length as twelve miles, and the breadth six (Bucking- 
 ham, p. 345 )• All modern travellers, except Robinson, have erred in 
 their estimates, and usually make them too large, but Buckingham gives 
 eight miles long, and six miles broad, and says the plain on the north 
 is ten miles square. 
 
 If the Jordan could be dammed up at the Hooleh, it would form a lake 
 there of nearly the same size, shape, and depth as the Sea of Galilee,
 
 Chap. XXII.] 
 
 Kerak, 
 
 413 
 
 lagoon is towards the mainland. The remains of a 
 causeway westwards from the mound show how it was 
 approached when insulated. The Ordnance Map, sur- 
 veyed, no doubt, when the lake was high, shows water all 
 round. We have ventured to alter this because we 
 
 Jordan's Exit from the Lake. 
 
 found it dry. We have also placed the name Hippos on 
 Map VII. When Titus and Vespasian finally subdued 
 other towns of Palestine just before the grand catastrophe 
 of the doomed capital, they came at last to Tarichefe, 
 and Josephus tells us of the siege, (' W. J.' book iii. ch. ix. 
 sec. X.) He speaks of prisoners taken there, and sent to 
 " the Isthmus." Was this to work upon the Roman canal .? 
 The desolate mound so silent now was once a great 
 city teeming with people and sounding with the shouts of 
 the brave and the din of batterino- rams. In front of this
 
 414 Ruins. [Chap. XXI l. 
 
 beach was fought the only sea battle between the Jews 
 and the Romans (see ante, p. 353). The plain to the 
 west is called Ard el Mellaha, by Seetzen. The north 
 front has a long beach with oleanders, and the water 
 is very clear and not deep. In paddling over it we 
 could see every object for twenty feet below, yet not 
 one large stone could be detected along this point — 
 only a few flat slabs and soft mossy banks of weed. 
 But on shore it was very different. Kerak has a 
 mine of relics to be dug out when benevolent con- 
 tributors will pay the diggers, whom our Palestine 
 Exploration Society is about to send there to dig. In 
 the steep sides of the clay cliff, and buried by upright 
 masses piled twenty feet above them, are fine Roman 
 pavements with patterns of tesser?e, which stick out even 
 now in section on the face of the hill, and you may poke 
 them down by hundreds with your cane, for the debris is 
 soft, and the relics are on a level with your eye as you are 
 standing on the beach. This beach, too, is one mass of 
 curiosities, but most of them are much worn by the 
 water and the grinding of the gravel. One relic among 
 many I got here was exhibited lately at the Egyptian 
 Hall and in Liverpool, where it deservedly attracted 
 attention, not from its excellence as a work of art, but 
 from its homely and quaint appearance. It is the figure 
 of a little donkey with water jars, wrought in terra cotta 
 (for which this town was famous), but the waves of 
 twenty centuries have worn the donkey's legs to stumps, 
 have washed off one of the jars from his back, and have 
 scrubbed his long ears so short that they seem only the 
 size of a cat's. Near it I picked up some gypsum, and 
 this substance also is mentioned as found near Taricheae.^^ 
 
 '^ The Sultan has recently given strict command that no antiquities shall 
 be removed from Turkey. He is forming a museum at Constantinople,
 
 Chap. XXII.] Exit of J or dan. 415 
 
 Some huts at the end of the great mound are concealed 
 until you come just above them, and here is the ferry- 
 boat, for which the ferrymen live in those little straw 
 mansions among the bushes. 
 
 Our next pleasant voyage was along this shore at 
 Kerak, but as it was then windy and therefore too 
 muddy to see well under water, the Rob Roy turned 
 south at the end and went into the Jordan. An able 
 and interesting writer says of this place, "The Jordan 
 leaves the lake in an ordinary manner." Now, the plan 
 already given of this part was sketched from the high 
 hill above, and corrected from Kerak mound, and again 
 on the water, and we appeal to all dispassionate readers. 
 Can this way of leaving a lake be called an "ordinary 
 manner ?" The Jordan, indeed, glides into the Sea of 
 Galilee quietly enough, but its exit is very strange. The 
 east point of Kerak is high, and below it there juts out a 
 promontory, with thick trees growing in the water. The 
 stream runs fast through these, and the canoe cut across 
 this leafy cape and then swept round the bay just in 
 front of the ferrymen, who ran out uproariously shouting, 
 but they were soon distanced as the powerful current 
 hurried us along. 
 
 Here the river is more than 100 feet wide, and probably 
 about four feet deep. The east bank is twenty feet high 
 and quite steep, except at one place, where some ruins 
 look like the piers of a bridge at first, but not so much 
 when better examined. When Kerak was Taricheae, there 
 might have been a bridge here, but the foundations, I 
 
 A Greek there, who has a museum, encourages the scheme, because he can 
 thus recruit his own collection. If this order is carried out, real mummies 
 will rise in price in Egypt. Sham ones are constantly sold. Not long 
 ago the man who made sham antique idols at Cairo brought for sale to 
 an Englishman the brass mould for casting the counterfeit images !
 
 41 6 Down Sti^eam. [Chap. XXII. 
 
 think, would be unsteady. Behind Kerak the river 
 bends west and then east under high cliffs, and it has 
 canes and reeds though the current is merr}' enough. 
 So it winds right and left until we reach an Arab camp. 
 From this the people rushed out en viassc, but the Rob 
 Roy was too fast to be caught, and after a mile or so 
 we came to the ruins of the old bridge, Em el Kanater 
 (mother of arches), of which nine or ten piers still stand 
 in the stream, which is here about a hundred yards 
 broad. 
 
 My reason for spending a little time on this lower 
 Jordan was not with the intention of cruising along 
 that. Twice already it has been descended in a boat, 
 first by an Englishman, Lieutenant Molyneux, in 1847, 
 and then by the American, Lynch, in 1848. All that 
 they here saw can be well seen from the shore, and these 
 two difficult and troublesome voyages did not add any- 
 thing to our knowledge of Jordan's stream that might 
 not be noticed on horseback. The Rob Roy had gone 
 rather to what could only be seen from a boat, and what 
 no boat had done before, and whether in the Abana, 
 the Pharpar, the lakes of Damascus, Hooleh, and Gen- 
 nesareth, or afterwards also in the Kishon and the Belus, 
 our aim was to hit upon new ground and new water, or 
 to examine the old ways in a new manner, so as to add 
 new facts rather than to reiterate.''* But it was interest- 
 
 " The Jordan seems never to have been navigable for traffic. If any 
 boat went down the lower part before Molyneux, or the upper part liefore 
 the Rob Roy, it must have been for exploration. There is, however, an 
 obscure paragraph from the Talmud writers mentioned by Lighifoot (' Chor. 
 Cent.' chap. Ixxi. ) about the boat of Jordan being " unclean because they fill 
 it with fruit, and sail with it down from the sea unto the dry land, and 
 from the dry land unto the sea." Josephus mentions ships in the Dead 
 Sea (' W. J.' book iv. ch. viii. sec. iv.), where he tells us the sailors 
 in them used to gather the bitumen floating on the water. He also 
 speaks of the Ammonites as having passed over the Dead Sea to attack
 
 Chap. XXII.] Molyneux and LyncJi. 417 
 
 ing to run down this upper end of the lower Jordan, 
 just to see the few first rapids that caused Mr. Lynch so 
 many hours of work, but which, with the canoe, were 
 passed in a few minutes. Lynch had two boats, one of 
 them made of copper, and he had sixteen men. No 
 wonder then that with such a fleet to float he speaks of 
 " twenty-seven dangerous rapids " on the lower Jordan. 
 Molyneux had one boat (a ship's dinghy), and he found 
 the passage easier, though his voyage ended in trouble 
 and in death. We have given a short notice of it in the 
 Appendix. 
 
 To descend all the way in a canoe would have been 
 easy enough, but cui bono ? The banks are high. There 
 is no view to see, and nothing but heat and gravel 
 and Arabs to meet with, wasting much time, muscle, 
 and money, but without even the prospect of any 
 new knowledge to be gained. Therefore, as it was 
 wise to use the convenient portability of the canoe to 
 take her to rivers hitherto untraversed, I resolved 
 to haul up after a few miles on the Jordan's lower 
 stream, and to take her to untried waters, a resolution 
 amply rewarded, as will be seen farther on. We brought 
 her back to camp on horseback, and the vocal Adoor 
 
 Engedi, in Jehoshaphat's time. Yet is it clear that the Greek words " T-qv 
 Kifjivfiv SLa&avres " are rightly translated by " superato lacu," and " passed 
 over the lake," so as to imply the use of boats ? (Josephus, ' Ant. J.' book ix. 
 ch. i. sec. ii.) Newbold says (' As. Soc. J.' vol. xvi. p. 23) " that we hear 
 no mention of boats or bridges in the different passages of the Israelites." 
 Ferryboats, however, seem to have been established very early ; we hear 
 of one for Jordan in 2 Samuel xix. 18. 
 
 About six miles from the lake, the Yarniuk enters from the east, having 
 had its sources not far from those of the Pharpar. The Arabs call the 
 Yarmuk and the Jabbok or Zerka " Shereea," meaning a watering place. 
 They apply this name, too, to Jordan, but adding the title " Great." 
 Below this there is the first bridge now practicable, the Jisr Mejaama, 
 so called because it is at a "meeting of the waters," after another set 
 of islands had divided them. 
 
 2 E
 
 41 8 Fareivcll to Jordaii. [Chap. xxil. 
 
 improvised his (carefully prepared) song of the " Shak- 
 toorah done with Galilee." ^^ 
 
 Then in the calm watches of the night, when all was 
 quiet beside, a low sweet murmuring from the river 
 seemed to float as a whisper in my tent. 
 
 So had it been for how many thousand years, ever 
 streaming on its fluent story. 
 
 Sleep's curtain gently folds us now in dreamland 
 where the soft music melts into a liquid shadowy picture 
 of great things and people mingled in long procession, 
 and the river tells us over again the wonders of its source, 
 the swiftness of its fall, and the silence of its end — the 
 events that happened by its banks, the miracles wrought 
 upon its waters, the mysteries about its lakes, the glory 
 shining on it from our Saviour at His baptism. His 
 transfiguration, and His appearance after He rose again. 
 
 Surely the Jordan is by far the most wonderful stream 
 on the face of the earth, and the memories of its history 
 will not be forgotten in Heaven. 
 
 1' While the Rob Roy voyages have delighted her crew, the log of them 
 has been useful to many good causes ashore. Told from the platform last 
 winter, it produced 3500/. for the funds of churches, schools, hospitals, 
 refuges, and other charities, fifty in number, and about half as much more 
 is expected soon from the same source. 
 
 Meanwhile the Rob Roy has been pleasantly tossed on the waves of the 
 coast of Cornwall and Devonshire, and the Isles of Scilly, when ' Rob,' 
 the " mate," a smart little terrier, barked at the seals as he sat on the deck 
 astern. For the repose of winter she has been hauled up through a window, 
 and hangs on the wall of her bed-room in the Temple.
 
 Chap. XXIII.] In the Lake. 419 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IN THE LAKE — STRANGE SWELL — A STORM — SUBMERGED RUINS — THE 
 "HERD OF swine" — SEMAKH VILLAGE — HIPPOS — HIGH SEA — 
 VALE OF DOVES — LONG LAST LOOK — CANA — NAZARETH — OLD 
 SIGHTS- — SIGHTS UNSEEN — PLAIN WORDS. 
 
 " Full many a glorious morning have I seen 
 
 Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye, 
 Kissing with glowing face the meadows green, 
 Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy." 
 
 IT was just such a morning now as Shakespeare thus 
 describes. The grey veil of hoar frost melted on 
 the face of day, and the crisp air softened into a warm 
 dalliance, gently beguiling the Rab Roy to linger about 
 in languid laziness. 
 
 Cease, pleasant dawdling ! Our crew is piped to work, 
 and with steady stroke to reach again the farthest point 
 we had touched on our first day's course ; for now we 
 must complete our tour of the shore all round the sea. 
 
 In traversing the centre of the lake, I came rather sud- 
 denly upon a novel sight. The smooth surface of the 
 water was undulated in short sharp swells, without any 
 wind whatever, and none for hours before. These v.-aves 
 were exactly east and west in the ridges, and of the form 
 and size of "steamboat waves " upon the Thames. They 
 had a uniform width of fifteen feet, and my bow often 
 dipped deep in one as my stern left the other. Perhaps 
 the cause of this is some volcanic perturbation either of 
 the water or of its bed below. Molyneux noticed some-
 
 420 Strange Swell. [[Chap. XXIII. 
 
 thing of the same kind in the Dead Sea, and precisely in 
 the same direction, north and south. On the very deep 
 part of the Rhine also, as it issues from Lake Constance, 
 I observed a similar appearance, but never elsewhere, 
 when afloat.^ 
 
 The wind soon brought the ordinary waves upon the 
 lake, and these confused the previous distinctness of 
 this ground swell. When I was near the middle of the 
 lake, on another occasion, the water was not calm, and 
 so the phenomenon was not observed. It is not unlikely 
 that the assertion is correct that Jordan does, in fact, run 
 through the lake, not mingling much with the other 
 waters ; and I remark that some persons who deny this 
 have passed but few hours upon the Sea of Galilee, and 
 a longer stay is needed for evidence in such a question. 
 
 Great heat soon poured down from the fierce sun, 
 and ' something,' we thought, must come of this bril- 
 liant glare. Gentle zephyrs breathed from behind me ; 
 then they lulled ; then other little airs fanned my cheek 
 on the right, and then these, too, quite waned away to 
 calm. Patches of the smooth mirror again were ruffled 
 on our left by squalls from the north-Avest right ahead. 
 But the sun killed them one after the other, and I steadily 
 advanced — yet all the time aware that this sort of weather 
 was not to be trusted. 
 
 Just as the Rob Roy passed below Wady Fik, a 
 strange distant hissing sounded ahead, where we could 
 see that a violent storm was raging. Instantly all hands 
 were on the alert to meet it. The waves had not time to 
 rise. The gusts had come down upon calm water, and 
 
 ' Just below the whirlpool at Niagara also, the eddies curl like this. 
 But both these cases are in currents, and I could not detect the slightest 
 current here in Gennesareth. Neubauer ('Geog. Talm.' p. 31) says the 
 Talmud mentions the phenomenon on Jordan. But the Talmud also 
 says that Jordan runs into the Mediterranean Sea !
 
 Chap. XXIII.] A Storm. 421 
 
 they whisked up long wreaths of it into the sky. The 
 sea-birds sailed with the roaring blast, which rushed on 
 with foam and fury, but it found the Rob Roy all ataunto. 
 This torrent of heavy cold air was pouring over the moun- 
 tain crests into the deep cauldron of the lake below, a 
 headlong flood of wind, like a waterfall into the hollow ; 
 just as is said in Luke (viii. 23) — "there came doivn a 
 storm of wind upon the lake." 
 
 The peculiar effects of squalls among mountains are 
 known to all who have boated much on lakes, but on the 
 Sea of Galilee the wind has a singular force and sudden- 
 ness ; and this is, no doubt, because the sea is so deep in 
 the world that the sun rarifies the air in it enormously, 
 and the wind, speeding swift above a long and level 
 plateau, gathers much force as it sweeps through flat 
 deserts, until suddenly it meets this huge gap in the way, 
 and it tumbles down here irresistible. 
 
 With my best efforts I could scarcely stem the force of 
 this head-wind, though my crew was in excellent training, 
 and my canoe in her lightest trim. But every moment 
 lost now in getting to the cliffs for shelter would make the 
 work afterwards ten times harder, when the sea had time 
 to rise. By pressing onwards, then, with every nerve, 
 and with more exertion than at any time during the 
 cruise, we gained at last the windward shore, and here we 
 could look with safe amazement at the scud of the gale, 
 careering across the lake, and twisting the foam in the air 
 as if tied in knots of spray, which sparkled in the sun like 
 ten thousand diamonds, while the sea-birds still flew help- 
 lessly down wind. 
 
 The reward of exertion in pure fresh air like this is to 
 find our craft snugly nestling under thick trees in perfect 
 calm, and safe from all the bobbery. This luxurious rest 
 was enjoyed at the very same spot of the Wady Semakh,
 
 422 Submerged Ruins. [Chap, xxill. 
 
 where the Rob Roy had rested on our first day's cruise, 
 and yet how long a time it seemed since then ! So many 
 pleasant things had been thought, and done, and said, 
 and sung, and read, and written. Just so, but now we 
 are entitled to lunch. 
 
 Swift as the tempest had come down, it vanished away 
 as swiftly, and when we turned our bow to sea again, there 
 was only a fine fresh breeze and common waves to meet. 
 
 South of the Tell that stands near the mouth of the 
 river by Khersa, is some heavy rubble masonry, of which 
 part has fallen into deeper water. A few cut stones are sub- 
 merged, but no other remains of interest were to be seen, 
 for the pile of large stones at the next point seemed to 
 be not artificial, after I had examined them closely. Our 
 gaze was, therefore, directed with eagerness and care to 
 the hills above and the plain below, for much interest 
 must always be felt in looking at this spot as the most 
 likely place for that strange, indeed unique, miracle where 
 the "Legion" entered into the herd of swine.^ Other tra- 
 vellers, more or less hurried in their examination of this 
 place, have given their impressions after seeing it from 
 the shore. I shall venture to record what was noticed 
 from the water during some hours of leisure, and from 
 notes written at the time.'^ 
 
 Between Wady Semakh and Wady Fik there are at 
 least four distinct localities where every feature in the 
 Scripture account of this incident may be found in com- 
 bination. Above there are rocks with caves in them, 
 
 - Matt. viii. ; Marl< v. ; Luke viii. 
 
 3 Thomson states incorrectly that " Everywhere along the north-east 
 and east shores, a smooth beach declines gently down to the water " (' L. 
 and B.' p. 377), but his assigned locality for the miracle coincides with one 
 to be mentioned presently. The place where the herd was feeding is 
 stated in Scripture to be "a good way off from them," i.e. from where 
 the demoniac met our Saviour "immediately" after " He came out of the 
 ship."
 
 Chap. XXI 1 1.] The " Herd of Szuiner 423 
 
 very suitable for tombs/ and farther down there is ample 
 space for tombs built on sloping ground — a form of 
 sepulture far more prevalent in Scripture times than we 
 are apt to suppose. A verdant sward is here, with many, 
 bulbous roots which swine might feed upon. And on 
 this I observed — what is an unusual sight — a very large 
 herd of oxen, horses, camels, sheep, asses, and goats, all 
 feeding together. It was evident that the pasturage was 
 various, and enough for all — a likely place for " a herd of 
 swine feeding on the mountain." 
 
 Khersa, near this, in ruins, was probably the Gergesa 
 of old, and, as has been observed repeatedly by authors, 
 this might well be in the "country of the Gadarenes," 
 though a considerable distance from the town of 
 Gadara.^ We are told that "the whole herd of swine 
 ran violently down a steep place." It does not say 
 that it was a ''high" place, but "steep," KpijfMvov, and 
 that they " ran " (not, they " fell ") down this " into 
 the sea." There are several steeps near the sea here, but 
 only one so close to the water as to make it sure that, 
 if a herd " ran violently down," they Avould go " into the 
 
 ■• Wilson appears to have found tombs here, and another traveller states 
 that he saw a mad beggar running about, who lived in a cave. 
 
 * The incident of the demoniacs is related as having taken place in the 
 "country of the Gergesenes," Matt. viii. 28 [Sinai MS. (corrected) 
 reads Gazarenes ; Vatican MS. Gadarenes], In Mark v. i, it is " Gada- 
 renes" [Sinai MS. and Vatican MS. Gerasenes, but again corrected in the 
 Sinai MS. to Gergesenes], In Luke viii. 26, it is " Gadarenes " [Sinai MS. 
 Gergesenes ; Vatican MS. Gerasenes] ; so that there are four readings, which 
 differ not much in sound. Way's map (in a.d. 1462) puts Cedar and 
 Godara near this, and " Hondius his Map," in 1624, places Gadara by 
 the river. Damville's map, 1794, has Gadera at Khersa. 
 
 The name Wady Fik is derived from the ancient village of Aphek 
 near it (Aphaka is the Phrenician Venus worship). The ruins one sees on 
 the top of the camel-like ridge are those of Gamala, (" Gumel " " camel ") 
 perhaps the Gebal and Gammadims of Ezekiel (ch. xxvii.). Gamala was 
 the last town taken by the Romans in this direction, and Josephus tells how 
 hard a fight the Jews made there against the brave old legions.
 
 4^4 The " Herd of SwineV [Chap. XXI 1 1. 
 
 sea."'^ But the place which I regard as most hkely for 
 the site of this event is at the end of the short plain 
 under some rocks, and near the green plateau, where 
 the swine could feed. Here, for a full half-mile, the 
 beach is of a form different from any other round the 
 lake, and from any I have noticed in any lake or sea 
 before. It is flat until close to the edge. There a hedge 
 of oleanders fringes the end of the plain, and immediately 
 below these is a gravel beach, inclined so steep that, 
 A\hen my boat was at the shore I could not see over the 
 top even by standing up ; while the- water alongside is so 
 deep that it covered my paddle (seven feet long) when 
 dipped in vertically a few feet from the shore. Now, if 
 the swine rushed along this short plain towards this 
 hedge of underwood {and in the delta of Semakh, their 
 usual feeding-place would be often among thick brush- 
 wood of that kind), they would instantly pass through 
 the shrubs, and then down the steep gravel beyond into 
 deep water, where they would surely be drowned. 
 
 The picture given opposite is a faithful copy of a sketch 
 I made next morning from Kerak. The sun was then just 
 rising behind the hills of Bashan, and therefore each cliff 
 in the mountains had a deep shade, as shown in the 
 picture. The shore under Wady Fik was five miles dis- 
 tant from where I sketched, and, as my eye was near the 
 water-level, the low beach along the base of the hills was 
 beneath the horizon, and therefore invisible ; but the 
 extreme clearness of the early morning air made it easy 
 to mark each feature of the picture so illumined. The 
 
 ^ This is shown on Map VII., at p. 386, by the shaded portion of a cliff 
 touching the shore. It was very satisfactory to me, after making these notes, 
 independently of other travellers' views, to find that Captain Wilson agrees 
 in considering that the coast south of Semakh is the most suitable for the 
 occurrence we are discussing. This and many other deeply interesting 
 points of inquiry will, it is hoped, be investigated by the new expedition to 
 the Lake which the Palestine Society has resolved upon (1870).
 
 Mi
 
 Chap. XXIII.] The ''Herd of Swincr 425 
 
 letter s, near the edge of the picture, is above the south 
 end of the Wady Semakh, and a Httle to its right below 
 would be the ruins of Khersa. The letter P is ^bove 
 the spot where the large open plain was covered by a 
 flock. Behind this are the rocks and caves, and, possibly, 
 tombs. Before it is the curious beach already described 
 as a " steep place." The letter G is over the ruins of 
 Gamala, marked as little spots on the hill. This picture 
 and the outline given at p. 359, ante, nearly complete the 
 contour of the east side of the lake." 
 
 The Rob Roy now runs close to shore between two trees 
 in the water, and she moors there, with her bows towards 
 land — an attitude the most suitable in a place when visitors 
 may call without sending up their cards. " El asher hadir," 
 " Dinner ready ! " and we attack the contents of our bag. 
 
 The beach south of Wady Fik is generally steep, and 
 there are some clumps of stones by the water, one of 
 them looking at first like a ruin, but, on close inspection, 
 no remains were visible to indicate ports, piers, or quays, 
 along this part. So our course was homeward bound. 
 
 Our camp broke up to return to the land of Genne- 
 sareth, and by diligent search I discovered a plausible 
 excuse for not leaving the entrancing lake this day, 
 namely, that I had still to examine one little bit of the 
 southern shore. The muleteers left me, therefore, to 
 follow on the lake, and the Rob Roy skimmed away 
 by Kerak ; but, although it was clear in the Avater and 
 calm above, yet not one single thing could be seen under 
 the surface that needs a word of comment. 
 
 ' Here we feel it a pleasing duly to mention that the faithful representa- 
 tion of the original sketches to illustrate this volume has been effected 
 by the artistic skill of Captain May, R.N., under the able and experienced 
 direction of JNIr. James Cooper, who has superintended the preparation of 
 the illustrations in this book, and in the three other records of the Rob 
 Roy's rovings.
 
 426 Semakh Village. [Chap, xxiii. 
 
 The water here is only about twelve feet deep, for 
 fifty yards out, and flat stones are scattered on it even 
 so far from shore. Crossing Jordan's mouth, we arrive 
 at Semakh village ; the southern village, not the wady 
 we visited yesterday. This place seemed to be entirely 
 untenanted ; it stands, close to the water, upon a cliff of 
 stiff clay, almost indurated into rock, and its appearance 
 is most singular. The houses do not look very decrepit 
 or forlorn. Some of the fifty or sixty dwellings huddled 
 together are of three stories high, and are built of black 
 cut stone, and the roofs are there, and yet nobody is 
 inside.® Then the bareness of the place : no foliage 
 about it, no vale, no mound, no feature of strength or 
 beauty, but just a well-built Arab town, deserted with- 
 out any seeming cause. A pure and spotless beach is 
 below the cliffs. I landed here, for it was not possible 
 to resist so inviting a shore ; and the air was quiet, 
 and the sea, and yet it was sheer waste of time to stop 
 now in these silent shady coves. Nevertheless, about six 
 months might well be spent on this lake, with plenty of 
 variety, in place, or weather, or scene, or incident every 
 day, even if no time were devoted merely to quiet reverie. 
 
 Reluctantly embarking, and then coasting along, I 
 diligently spied below, but could detect nothing here 
 on the clean level bottom of the lake. When the boats 
 on the Sea of Galilee were counted once by hundreds, 
 surely there must have been numerous wrecks and 
 founderings ; and, as the lazy Turks would never re- 
 
 ^ So I was informed. Dr. Thomson speaks of 200 houses here, and that 
 it was inhabited in 1858. He marks Hippos here in his map. Robinson 
 states the houses at about one-tenth of that number. The name Semakh 
 may be derived from the old name Samaia, mentioned by Josephus ('W. 
 J.' book i. ch. ii. sec. vi.). In the Talmud the name "Jordan" is not 
 given to the river until it has issued from the lake after passing Beth 
 Yerak and Sennabris, wliich may be Kerak and Semakh. Susitha (from a 
 word meaning "horse") maybe Hippos ('Geog. Talm.' pp. 31, 216, 291).
 
 Chap. XXI 1 1. ] Hippos. 427 
 
 move these, one might well expect to see some relics 
 of them still, but there was nothing until we approached 
 the little Tell, now called Sumrah, which is believed to 
 be the ancient Hippos,^ If the town was called by this 
 Greek name because of what it means (a " horse "), there 
 is a show of reason for the title, since near it, on the 
 plain, is a splendid pasture for steeds, and not far off I 
 noticed many of them. It is likely, too, that their owners 
 noticed me, and, being now on the eastern shore, some 
 caution was advisable, for the tribes there would gladly 
 capture a Feringhee, and they know his proper ransom 
 price. I searched about here with all diligence, but 
 could find only some cut stones in the lake under water 
 near the Tell, and south of it a large mass of masonry 
 partly submerged, which seems not only to have tumbled 
 down but to be inverted. The finest view of the lake in 
 panorama is from a point about half a mile west of 
 Hippos. Here we can see snowy Hermon and the white 
 peaks of Antilebanon, closing in the northern end, Avhile 
 Tiberias is visible to the left, and Gennesareth beyond. 
 No person who wishes to see the lake of Galilee well 
 should omit to come here for the centre of his panorama. 
 The wind rose suddenly after I left Hippos to cross 
 the lake. The waves were sharp and high, and in several 
 directions at once, when our course led us into the 
 middle, where the peculiar swell had been noticed before. 
 In ten minutes the sea had risen from sullen calm to 
 anger, and it was necessary to be careful, even in a 
 canoe. Worse it got, and worse, and finally so very bad 
 that I had to " heave to," the only time the Rob Roy 
 was forced to do this during any cruise."-" 
 
 3 Josephus ('Life,' sec. Ixv.) mentions the country of Justus (evidently 
 Tiberias ; sec. Ixx.) as being thirty stadia from Hippos, sixty from Gadara, 
 and 120 from Scythopolis. 
 
 '" When a boat is made to " lie to," her bows are slanted to the wind and
 
 4^8 High Sea. [Chap, xxill. 
 
 In an hour or so the wind had calmed down enth'ely. 
 The surface of the water became glassy, but was bent in 
 graceful curves by a long swell. Passing Tiberias about 
 two miles off, I heard every word the people said as 
 they stood on their house-tops in rows, and shouted 
 all kinds of messages to the canoe, but chiefly ending 
 in "Taly, taly, taly heny ! " (Come here !) 
 
 The Rob Roy then insensibly floated once more to 
 Bethsaida, for it was impossible not to pay one parting 
 visit to these pleasant fishermen. The hot steam now 
 rose from the lake itself, outside the thermal fountains, 
 and the fishes' backs, by thousands, roughened the water. 
 After a long day's work, however pleasant, there must 
 come an end, and so I paddled for the last time along 
 the strand of Gennesareth, and hauled the Rob Roy into 
 the oleanders near Magdala. 
 
 Our camp was here, and next morning the regretful 
 feeling assumed full sway that at last, on this 2nd of 
 February, there was no more excuse to linger on the 
 charming lake, and yet with the consolation that to return 
 there with long weeks to spend will be a happy hope. 
 
 On tcj'ra firnia now again, it is my turn to carry the 
 Rob Roy, as she has so w^ell and so long carried me. 
 And for the reader, our turn comes to be very brief; for 
 he can find what is seen on the land well told by better 
 scribes who ride and do not paddle. Any one who goes 
 up the rocky gorge of the Vale of Doves, and in winter, 
 will be surprised to hear that we carried the canoe 
 through that rough pass in a heavy storm of wind. 
 Eagles soared about us, circling in the gale. Long years 
 
 sea, and her progress is moderated, so as to Ije almost nil. By this means 
 the breaking of the waves upon her is harmless, and she rises and falls, and 
 pitches and rolls, with ease, and, indeed, with delight ; but much time is 
 lost, and there is the humiliation felt of being thwarted all the time.
 
 Chap. XXIII.] 
 
 Vale of Doves. 
 
 429 
 
 ago, in those dark caves above the upright cHffs, a 
 terrible band of robbers Hved, and preyed, and multi- 
 
 -,,^-i^-sa^.aS 
 
 Last View of Gennesareth. 
 
 plied, until at last bold Herod was sent to deal with 
 them, and Josephus tells us how he managed.^' 
 
 '^ "Now these caves were in the precipices of craggy mountains, and 
 could not be come at from any side, since they had only some winding 
 pathways, very narrow, by which they got up to them ; but the rock that
 
 430 Long Last Look. [Chap, xxill. 
 
 On the plain above this " Vale of Doves," we come 
 to where Salad in routed the Crusaders with terrific 
 slaughter, and finished their proud sway in the East. 
 But just before we tread this vast swamp of Hattin, there 
 is one long, last, lingering look behind : a farewell gaze at 
 the much-loved lake, so far below, now left, but not for 
 ever. With a melancholy pencil we sketched the picture, 
 and though only the northern end of the lake is here 
 visible, in a small compass much is seen. Right and left 
 are the rocks of the robbers caves. In the foreground of 
 the distant lake is the land of Gennesareth. On its 
 left edge is Ain et Tin ; then the clift" at Capernaum, 
 and behind that Bethsaida, and farther on, Tell Hoom. 
 The mouth of Jordan is beyond, and the western end 
 of the Butaia plain. In the far-away background Bashan 
 
 lay on their front had beneath it valleys of a vast depth, and of an almost 
 perpendicular declivity ; insomuch that the king was doubtful for a long 
 time what to do, by reason of a kind of impossibility there was of attacking 
 the place. Yet did he at length make use of a contrivance that was subject 
 to the utmost hazard ; for he let down the most hardy of his men in chests, 
 and set them at the mouths of the dens. Now these men slew the robbers 
 and their families, and when they made resistance, they sent in fire upon 
 them (and burnt them) ; and as Herod was desirous of saving some of 
 them, he had proclamation made that they should come and deliver them- 
 selves up to him ; but not one of them came willingly to him, and of those 
 that v/ere compelled to come, many preferred death to captivity. And 
 here a certain old man, the father of seven children, whose children, to- 
 gether with their mother, desired him to give them leave to go out, upon the 
 assurance and right hand that was offered them, slew them after the 
 following manner : He ordered every one of them to go out, while he 
 stood himself at the cave's mouth, and slew that son of his perpetually who 
 went out. Herod was near enough to see this sight, and his bowels of 
 compassion were moved at it, and he stretched out his right hand to the 
 old man, and besought him to spare his children ; yet did not he relent at 
 all upon what he said, but over and above reproached Herod on the lowness 
 of his descent, and slew his wife as well as his children ; and when he had 
 thrown their dead bodies down the precipice, he at last threw himself down 
 after them." (' W. J.' book i. ch. xvi. sec. iv.) The stoiy is repeated with 
 variations in ' Ant. J.'
 
 Chap. XXIII.] Caiia. 431 
 
 shoAvs those flat-edged hills which thus close in our little 
 picture.^- 
 
 Kefr Cana ^^ was our halting-place, and next day the 
 Rob Roy stopped at Nazareth. Twenty years before I 
 had spent ten days here, and then the old doctor-monk, 
 " Fra Joachim," used to come to my bedside and pre- 
 scribe for me with gravity and produce homoeopathic 
 herbs out of his ample sleeve, while he puffed his 
 cigarette with smiles. We paid a visit to this ancient 
 now. For forty years he has been away from Spain, 
 his native land, so he seemed to care little about 
 " Cosas d'Espagna." His laboratory is like a drug- 
 gist's shop in a conjuror's cave, and the only draughts 
 he ventured to order this time for my health seemed 
 undoubtedly vinous, and they were speedily drunk off — 
 by him. 
 
 Well, he is a worthy fellow ; and if all the monks were 
 as little of monks as he is, they would never have been 
 expelled, as they have been almost everywhere, while 
 only England is calling them back to her bosom. The ex- 
 cellent missionary, the Rev. J. Zeller, showed me the Pro- 
 testant schools of Nazareth, and the new English church 
 now building here, and of which we present a sketch. 
 It is in a most picturesque position, but to pay for it 
 funds are needed still, and who could refuse to place a 
 
 '• To obtain this bijou prospect, (on page 429) I went north of the usual 
 road, and tried several points of view, until at last there could be 
 included the largest portion possible of the Sea of Galilee. One of the photo- 
 graphs of the Palestine Exploration Fund represents a part of this scene, 
 but it is taken from a point farther east and south, and, therefore, it has 
 less of the lake itself. 
 
 *' Full and recent reliable information as to this village, which was the 
 scene of our Lord's first miracle, will be found in an interesting paper by 
 the Rev, J. Zeller, published in the Quarterly Statement No. III. of the 
 Palestine Exploration Fund for October, 1869.
 
 43^ 
 
 Nazareth. 
 
 [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 stone in the walls of a church at Nazareth } The town 
 is vastly changed in these last twenty years. It is larger, 
 cleaner, more populous, better built, and better taught, 
 
 The New rrotestant Church at Nazareth. 
 
 for the active catechists are working here with vigour. 
 Things arc advancing in the East, though the advance 
 is very slow. Mr. Zeller also showed me a very great 
 curiosity, which had an important bearing upon an 
 incident we shall soon have to relate. This was the 
 skeleton of a crocodile, about ten feet long, which a 
 person known to Mr. Zeller had killed, some time 
 before, in the river Zerka, which flows into the Mediter- 
 ranean not far from Caesarea. Old authors have called 
 that the " Crocodile River," and near it are the ruins of 
 the " City of Crocodiles." Arabs of the vicinity have 
 long persisted in stating that the " Timsah " is still found 
 there ; and recent authors have written that they had
 
 Chap. XXIII.] Old Sights. 433 
 
 " seen men who had seen crocodiles in the Zerka." But 
 here we had the actual specimen itself, so all doubt is 
 now removed.^* 
 
 If it is sometimes pleasant to come a second time 
 into a foreign town, when you have already seen all the 
 " stock sights " there, and may therefore now omit them, 
 it is especially agreeable, in a second tour in Palestine, 
 to escape long stories about the Popish paint with which 
 so many grand and solemn holy places have been 
 daubed. In Bethlehem, we had long ago seen the glass- 
 case containing "the tongues of the infants slain by 
 Herod ; " and we had seen the scandalous impostures in 
 other towns, for which every Romish bishop in England 
 (though he smiles at it) is responsible, for his Church 
 claims to be "one and infallible." We had seen the 
 Saint's blood in Italy, and the pagan crosses for the 
 Indians in Romish America ; and the priests, after mass 
 on Sunday in Spain, buying tickets at the lottery, and 
 going off with their whole congregation to the bull-fight. 
 We had seen the " Madiai " imprisoned in Tuscany, for 
 teaching the Bible to their servant-girl ; and we had 
 visited an English lady in Lucca, imprisoned for giving 
 one tract to a woman. We had seen the " paternal 
 government " that found these writings were " too hard " 
 for the people ; while the most stupid nonsense of false 
 saints, with pictures, was publicly sold in their churches, 
 as easy to be understood by the people (and exalting 
 the priests). We had read the book of the Romish 
 
 " Mr. Zeller brought it to England, and it was exhibited in October, 
 1869, at the Free Museum and Library in Liverpool, and the promise was 
 made to present this unique specimea to the Museum of the Palestine 
 Exploration Fund. If other travellers also would keep their faculties 
 alive by collecting articles for the same purpose, they would be doing 
 good service, and would feel too that the fruits of their travels are more 
 widely enjoyed in a public museum than in any private cabinet. 
 
 2 F
 
 434 Sights Unseen. [Chap. XXIII. 
 
 Bishop of Birmingham, proclaiming the recent miracle 
 of "La Salettc',' in France, where the Virgin appeared 
 to two children, and talked to them in patois about 
 potatoes ; and which tale, he assured us, was approved 
 by the Pope, and therefore he invited us all to visit the 
 place. We had visited the said mountain near Grenoble, 
 and had seen the donkeys' panniers, bringing down bottles 
 full of water from the holy fountain, while a wily priest 
 at the bottom started a private pump of his own. We 
 had seen the original of the protest against this im- 
 posture, signed by fifty priests, who complained that the 
 Virgin came down upon " all the hills around." We had 
 bought, on the spot, the official report of the trial by 
 the highest court, convicting the priests of imposture, 
 and the woman herself who had been dressed as " the 
 Virgin ;" and we had seen the ' Tablet ' newspaper, in 
 England, loudly advancing the trick, and then — silent ^^ 
 — and the Bishop's book withdrawn. But we have never 
 yet seen the retractation by any of these people — Pope, 
 bishop, priests, or editors — of the proved falsehoods they 
 had so freely advocated, worse than the war lies at Tours. 
 
 Having seen these things, and many others like them, 
 we placed no faith in what could be shown us now by 
 the monks at Nazareth ; and therefore the Rob Roy 
 went past them all, to commune rather with the brooks, 
 and trees, and everlasting hills, which, happily, even the 
 Syllabus cannot suppress. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the plans of the priests will be 
 speedily ripe in England, and that they may open fire 
 along the whole line before our vigour is sapped and our 
 manliness utterly gone. The hard fight — physical fight — 
 that is coming must come soon, or it will find us without 
 
 15 Yet again, last year, warmly espousing another "apparition " in the 
 Pyrenees.
 
 Chap. XXIII.] Plain Words. 435 
 
 heart or sinews. Even if it comes at once, it will find us, 
 poor " swaddlers," half-ashamed to be " Protestants," 
 trembling before the sarcasm scribbled in some anony- 
 mous garret, as if it were law and gospel because it is 
 printed. Do we really know what Popery has been of 
 old, what it is even now, what it tells us positively it must 
 and will be here and soon and always — " dominant V 
 Could you or I be true Papists and yet loyal to England ? 
 To the future England that is to serve the Pope we 
 might be loyal, but loyal to the England that as yet is 
 free — never. These truths are too true to be told. It 
 is a vast indiscretion to tell them here. But I have seen 
 too much of these things to be ignorant, and I fear too 
 little and too much to be silent. For money, free trade, 
 railways, anything you please that is earthly, you may 
 hold meetings, write books, fight battles, make any din 
 you like, and be " earnest," and speak plain. But for 
 the free Bible — the right to tell what Popery was, is, and 
 wants to be — you must hush to a whisper any voice you 
 have, and still be reckoned even then a monomaniac. 
 We must be "charitable" — yes, and for whom our 
 charity 1 Not for our women, our children, our herds 
 of ignorant and weak who are beguiled — but for the 
 army of foreign priests who stream over the land, and 
 raise an alien name above our Queen's. Is it not just 
 possible that our wondrous delicacy in this matter is not 
 from love, but fear } Rather, perhaps, it is because that 
 sort of tone pays best in general popularity — nobody 
 is so sure of approval as the man who is " fiercely 
 moderate." 
 
 If you want to screen those people here whom the 
 Romish Bishop of Cracow (who ought to know them 
 best) calls " furies, not women," to keep English girls 
 in their prisons under the "moral" restraint of cha-
 
 436 Plain Words. [Chap, xxiii. 
 
 racter lost by escape ; if you want to justify disloyalty, 
 to hand over to a narrow celibate clique of alien 
 hopes and sympathies the teaching of our nation, to 
 flout the nobles of England cringing to the " Prince " 
 last made by an old bachelor abroad, to stifle free 
 speech, to buy short peace by bribes, ever larger, never 
 enough, to fasten on us again the fangs that sucked 
 England's best blood once, and to shame our nation 
 in presence of the others who have writhed out from 
 under intolerable coils ; if you will fear a huge system 
 for its power, and succour it because it is weak — wonder 
 at its wealth, yet pay it because it is poor — bow down to 
 it as divine, yet laugh at it as only a ghost ; if you will 
 enthrone error, and put fetters upon truth — bind heavier 
 " them that are fast bound in misery and iron," and set 
 the oppressor free — put priests for our lawgivers and a 
 gigantic imposture for our faith, drown truth in fables 
 and shut our open Bible : if you want to do these 
 things with impunity, nay, to be called " liberal " while 
 you do them — only say it is in the name of " religion " 
 and at the bidding of the " priests," and mind you say 
 " the priests of Rome," for to do these things at the 
 bidding of any others would convict you of " bigotry," 
 or treason, or of craven fear.
 
 Chap. XXIV.] Source of Kishon. 437 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SOURCE OF KISHON — MEGIDDO — FORDS OF KISHON — KISHON'S BANKS 
 — SISERA'S steeds — LAUNCH IN A STORM — UP THE MELCHI — 
 MEETING A CROCODILE — WHAT TO DO — FEELING A CROCODILE — 
 FLIGHT — • EVIDENCE — START ON THE BELUS — RIVER AUJEH — 
 FAREWELL TO JORDAN — ACROSS THE BAY OF ACRE — ' ARIADNE ' — 
 PRAISE. 
 
 NEXT night, sleeping at Malhoolah, seemed to me 
 the coldest of any in the journey. No doubt this 
 was caused by our " going up " from the deep chasm of 
 Galilee, where the temperature in winter is delicious, to 
 the higher ground on the hills that encircle Nazareth. 
 
 Now we are in sight of Mount Carmel, and the Rob 
 Roy is carried over the plain of Esdraelon. Here we 
 come to a river again, and as our paddle is to be 
 unloosed, our pen may be set free. 
 
 The source of the Kishon seems to be at Jeneen, the 
 old En-gannim (" fountain of gardens"), given to Issachar 
 by Joshua (xxi. 29). I regret not having examined -this 
 fountain during a former visit to Jeneen. But east of 
 this there are earlier streams of Kishon, at least in winter, 
 and Dr. Thomson proves that the watershed of the 
 Jordan and the Kishon is in a line from Ksalis to Endor, 
 and that the Kishon and the Jalud overlap one another 
 for several miles.^ The Kishon is called Mokatta (ford) 
 by the Arabs, and its valley, El Kasab, from the spring, 
 
 ' ' L. and B.' p. 434. Schwartz says (p. 166) that the Arabs call the 
 village south-east of Tabor, near which the sources of Kishon are, .Sheich 
 Abrik (chief Barak), in allusion to Barak (Judges iv. 6). In i Chronicles 
 vi. 37, among the Levitical cities, the village is called Kedesh, and this 
 may be the Kedes marked in Wey's old map.
 
 438 Megiddo. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 while their name for the plain of Esdraelon is JSIcrj ibn 
 Anicr. We are here on the regular field of battle for 
 the centre of Palestine, while the Bukaa we had traversed 
 towards Damascus was the battle plain for the north. 
 A hundred other points of interest are round us on 
 Esdraelon, but we must keep to a few that are fairly 
 subjects for our log. 
 
 There is euphony in that name for the streams of 
 Kishon, "the waters of Megiddo." This town^Avasfor 
 years left under the power of the Canaanites. Barak 
 and Sisera, "the kings, came and fought" here (Judges 
 V. 19), and Deborah sang of the victory. The place 
 was well chosen as a battle-field to contest both the 
 road and the river. The Israelites assembled at Tabor 
 could reach it in six hours if the upper streams of Kishon 
 were dry, but it is not easy to see how Sisera could 
 bring hither his " nine hundred chariots " from Harosheth, 
 if that was near Hazor, "above" the waters of Merom.-'^ 
 
 * If Megiddo was the Roman station "Legio" (now "Lejun" of the 
 Arab), it is south-east of Carmel on the road to Jenin, and in full view of 
 Jezreel, looking west. Farther south, on the same highway, was Taanach, 
 also a Canaanitish town (Judges i. 27), and now called Tannuk. Vande- 
 velde, in his ' Syria and Palestine ' (1S54, vol. i. p. 364), gives an interesting 
 explanation of how it was that Pharaoh-nechoh was met here and fought 
 by Josiah (2 Kings xxiii.). 
 
 The "Armageddon" in Rev. xvi. 16, may mean either the "fortified 
 city" or the " mountain " of Megiddo (Stanley, ' S. and P.' p. 338). 
 
 Rabbi Schwartz (p. 165) thus explains the apparent difficulty in under- 
 standing I Kings xxi. 19 : " On the spot where the dogs have licked up the 
 blood of Naboth shall the dogs lick up thy blood also ;" in conjunction 
 with I Kings xxii. 38 : "And they washed out the chariot in the pool of 
 .Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood." Naboth was stoned to death 
 in Jezreel, and still it is said, as if in fulfilment of the prophecy, that Ahab's 
 blood was licked up in Samaria. He says that the Hebrew word translated 
 "on the spot" should be rendered "in place of," in punishment for; so 
 the same word in Hosea ii. i, "And it shall come to pass that instead of 
 people's saying of them." 
 
 ^ Thomson (' L. and B.' p. 437) places Harosheth at the large double
 
 Chap. XXIV.] Fords of Kishon. 439 
 
 As Barak began the battle, a storm of rain, hail, and 
 wind swept over the plain (Josephus, ' Ant. J.' book v. 
 ch. V. sec. iv.), " the stars in their courses fought against 
 Sisera," and "the river of Kishon swept them away — 
 that ancient river, the river Kishon." 
 
 The treacherous nature of the Kishon exceeds that of 
 any river I have seen. Not only are there i&w fords in 
 the lower part, but they are all difificult of access, even 
 in fine weather, and the depth of water in them varies 
 extremely even without any assignable cause. 
 
 As we approached the river, after a long spell of fair 
 weather, Hany was exceedingly anxious to ford it at 
 once, for a few hours' rain might render a passage 
 impossible. On one of the thirty visits he had made to 
 this river, he was kept thus a whole week without being 
 able to pass. Therefore we pressed on with wearied 
 mules to the upper ford, said then to be the best ; but on 
 approaching it I observed about twenty mounted Arabs 
 on the other bank, who tried in vain to cross there, and 
 so we retired and struggled on to the next ford. 
 
 To save time I went half a mile in advance, through 
 the reeds ; and, descending the steep bank, my horse 
 entered the river, which is there about fifty feet broad ; 
 but we had not advanced two yards into the channel 
 before the water came up to my knees sitting in the 
 saddle, and all endeavours to cross there were futile. 
 Our horses could have swum, but not the pack mules. 
 
 Again we retreated, and went still down the stream 
 to the last ford (except that at the mouth), and which 
 had the worst reputation of all. To our great astonish- 
 ment, there was actually not three inches of water at this 
 spot, and the Rob Roy could scarcely float across. 
 
 mound opposite Carmel, now called Harothieh, and he lucidly explains the 
 incidents of this battle.
 
 440 Kishons Banks. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 This remarkable uncertainty of the fords is caused by 
 the soft sand and mud at the bottom of the river being 
 moved bodily from one place to another, so that no man 
 can tell where it may be hollowed out one day or heaped 
 up in a bank the next. It is readily understood, then, 
 how Sisera's army might have easily crossed the Kishon 
 before a storm, and yet be "swept away" in the very 
 same place after rain had flooded the river. This also 
 explains how Elijah told Ahab to hasten lest the rain 
 should stop him. 
 
 Another peculiarity of the plain is that, on certain 
 tracts of its surface, there is strong adhesive mud, and 
 this alone enables the banks of the Kishon to maintain 
 their remarkable upright form, even when they are 
 t\\enty feet high. Now when horses and mules pass 
 over such places, they are often unable to pull out 
 their feet. The struggles of the mules when they felt 
 this were violent, and the loads of those that stuck fast 
 had to be removed. One of our donkeys, falling into 
 this clay, which is far stiffer than the loam, succumbed 
 without an eflbrt, l}ing upon his side as if hopeless, deep 
 sunk in the mire, and patiently waiting half an hour 
 until the other animals had been recovered, and he 
 could be released. 
 
 I noticed also that the form of the mule's hoof, being 
 sharp and pointed, allows it to sink much deeper than 
 the flat hoof of a horse ; but then the mule can, for the 
 same reason, draw his foot out more easily. If a horse's 
 foot is buried in the mud long enough to allow the 
 clay to close over it from above, he finds it extremely 
 difficult to draw his leg out again, and he instantly 
 changes his gait to a series of plunges, with rapid, short, 
 and jerky steps, snorting and groaning the ^\■hile with
 
 Chap. XXIV.] Siserda Steeds. 441 
 
 terror, and panting and steaming in the wildest excite- 
 ment. 
 
 Therefore it was that in this battle of Megiddo the 
 war-steeds of Sisera were " discomfited," flying before 
 Israel, "so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot," and 
 Deborah could sing in her hymn of triumph, " Then 
 were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the 
 pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones." 
 
 We were now at the foot of Mount Carmel, which 
 is about fifteen miles in length, broad and lofty at the 
 inland end, and narrowing to a lower point that juts out 
 seaward. Having formerly spent a wxek in the Convent 
 here, I was well acquainted with the northern end of 
 Carmel, but now I scaled the heights remote from the 
 sea, to examine and to admire the place where Elijah 
 met the priests of Baal. Stanley has described this 
 grand theatre, and the sacred tragedy that was enacted 
 there of old. The well whence the water was drawn 
 three times to flood the sacrifice I found quite full 
 to thirteen feet,* and the channel of Kishon bends round 
 close to Carmel just below this spot ; and deep in its 
 sands there is buried no doubt the golden dust of idols 
 calcined and stamped to pieces by him who was zealous 
 for Jehovah. Then the old river trends away into the 
 marsh again, silently meandering slowly to the sea. 
 
 Torrents of rain descended on our camp at night, 
 
 ^ The depth of water in this well, when noted at all by travellers, is 
 often different, but it is never mentioned as positively dry, Thomson's 
 suggestion that the water for the sacrifice was obtained from a fountain 
 near the channel seems to me untenable. He cites an interesting passage 
 from Tacitus, describing the worship on Mount Carmel (' L. and B.' p. 483). 
 Just below the sacrifice place, Moharrakah, which means "burning," is 
 Tell el Kasees (hill of the priests). Finn, however, thinks this name alludes 
 to some hermit of later times (' Byeways,' p. 233).
 
 442- Launch in a Storm. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 and the flat morass glistened with rain drops, which 
 warned both man and beast not to traverse it now, 
 and justified our prudent haste in passing it while dry. 
 
 At the beginning of our tour I would not have dared 
 to carry the Rob Roy over this terrible bog, but now, 
 fully trusting the horse, we set off to float her again on 
 the Kishon. The rain beat cold in our faces, and the 
 winter blast was rushing down the crags. It was an 
 anxious time, crossing this dreary swamp in such a 
 storm ; and as my horse plunged knee-deep, and strug- 
 gled, he groaned aloud with rage. 
 
 " Suppose he sticks here, what shall I do .-' " was the 
 question, and it seemed to be best then to throw off my 
 broad cloak on the marsh and to jump into it, and there 
 to lie down at full length to prevent sinking ; but the 
 next part of the process I never could prearrange, and it 
 was just one of those dangers one cannot prepare for, 
 and must only be blind to until they occur. After much 
 difficulty the canoe was launched down the deep bank, 
 and, once all snug in the Rob Roy, I was sheltered of 
 course from the pitiless rain. Then they left me with a 
 Moslem's blessing, and I was soon out of sight of man- 
 kind. 
 
 High vertical banks here shut in the Kishon, as it 
 flows moodily dark and deep in a bending channel about 
 sixty feet wide. A curious ledge of hard clay projects 
 at each verge about three inches under the surface, 
 and then it is steep again to six feet below, within a 
 yard or two from the shore. I tried in vain to find 
 even one single stone with which to sound the middle, 
 and I hesitated to use my pistol for this, not knowing 
 what might be met to require its aid as a firearm. 
 
 Rank grass waved on each hand at the top, and 
 wild ducks flew down the wind, and a grey heron and a
 
 Chap. XXIV.] Up the Melchi. 443 
 
 white one, but neither man nor beast was to be seen. It 
 was evident that the Kishon once begun, we could hope 
 for no landing-place even for a minute's rest, but must 
 e'en go right on to the sea. 
 
 Soon there flowed in a tributary stream from the 
 north, and to this I turned off in hopes of adventure or 
 discovery. This is the stream Nahr el Melchi,^ or el 
 Malek, and its mouth is twenty feet wide, with a con- 
 siderable current, in about six feet of depth. The banks 
 are from twelve to twenty feet high, and very steep, 
 with oleanders on the sides and canes. The course is 
 winding, and the channel soon narrows, while it bends 
 abruptly amid broken islets. Still I pushed upwards, 
 being anxious to reach the Tell marked in the map, 
 where there might be ruins to reward a search. At length 
 it became impossible to use the paddle, the river was 
 so narrow, and when it was choked by reeds, the Rob 
 Roy had to come back, stern foremost, for there was not 
 room to turn her round. 
 
 Once more in the Kishon, we had open water, and the 
 weather suddenly cleared up with bright sunshine at 
 noon. It was time now to breakfast, so my bag was 
 drawn out, and the viands spread on deck, while the 
 canoe floated gently about twenty feet from the southern 
 bank. Here an event happened which was totally un- 
 expected, and exceedingly interesting. My paddle was 
 at the time across the deck, and I was lolling in the 
 " well " as if on a couch, for it was found quite impossible 
 to land on any part of Kishon's banks. I was dipping a 
 little tin drinking-can, with my hand dabbling in the 
 
 * SchwarU (pp. 191, 192) suggests that this stream, flowing south of 
 Shafamer, is named after the ancient Alammelech, which stood on its banks. 
 The plain here may be the " Wady el Meleh," for a salt marsh so near the 
 sea is natural enough. Finn also notices this.
 
 444 Meeting a Crocodile. [Chap. xxiv. 
 
 water, when a strange sound was heard quite near — a 
 measured breathing, gurgling, hissing sound. After 
 this had been repeated, I turned quietly round to look. 
 Within a foot of my paddle, and close to my boat, and 
 just by my hand, I saw the nose and mouth of — a 
 crocodile ! 
 
 For a second or two my eyes were fixed on this ex- 
 traordinary apparition as if spell-bound by a serpent's 
 gaze. The nose was dark grey in colour, smooth 
 and rounded, and it stuck out above water. The 
 mouth was open, and the water gurgled out and in. 
 Not the slightest doubt had I that this was the face of a 
 crocodile, though from its position behind me in the 
 muddy water, and because my head was low, I did not 
 see its eyes. A crocodile's head had long ago been 
 familiar to me, for I had seen, quite near, at least fifty of 
 them on the Upper Nile, and for twenty years the face 
 of one of those I shot has been resting exactly opposite 
 to the seat where this is written. The manner of swim- 
 ming also, with the nose out of water, and the mouth 
 opened towards the flowing stream, was precisely what 
 is so often noticed on the Nile, and the very first 
 crocodile I had met in Egypt was exactly in the same 
 position,*^ having come to the surface like this one here 
 
 " This was just above Minych, which was then the limit north for 
 crocodiles. More lately they have been driven far away by the steamboats, 
 so that when the Commodore of the Canoe Club ascended the Nile last 
 year, but one crocodile fell to the gun of his Rqyal Highness. But they 
 iised to come lower; so when I saw the crocodile near Minyeh, I descended 
 the bank, and held on by one hand to a clump of palm leaves, while with the 
 other I placed my pistol within a yard of the crocodile's head. Straining 
 then at the trigger to fire it, I found the pistol was only at half-cock, and 
 when I brought it back to the other hand to cock it, the palm leaves gave 
 way, and I tumbled into the river, but ^managed to get to land without 
 having lost the pistol, the same weapon used in this canoe cruise. 
 
 One night in the Nile a crocodile fell from the bank into the middle of 
 my "dahabeeh." He must have been asleep, and the end of the lateen
 
 Chap. XXIV.] 
 
 What to do. 
 
 445 
 
 to bask in the sun. Hastily rising from my lounge, I 
 grasped the paddle, but was doubtful what to do with 
 
 The Crocodile on the Kishon. 
 
 it. If I struck at the animal, he might lash his tail and 
 injure the boat. If I dipped the paddle gently, it would 
 
 yard may have struck him. Aroused in my cabin, I found all the crew 
 had jumped over, and w^ere clinging to the gunwale, while they screeched 
 most vigorously. At Siout, in 1849, I saw what was said to be the largest 
 crocodile ever killed in the neighbourhood. His death was not accom- 
 plished until he killed two men by swings of his tail. His body was hung 
 up over the gate of the town, and I estimated its length as twenty-six feet, 
 but others called it thirty feet. One of the crocodiles I killed had a quarter 
 of a pint of pebbles in his stomach, and the bullet of an Arab gun, 
 much corroded. P'ourteen hours after his death, and when his stomach was 
 removed, and the skin was being stripped from his back, he moved his 
 tail so vigorously that we had to place the "pipe-boy" sitting on it, to 
 keep the body still. Warburton, on the Nile, found a lad ciying beside a 
 dead crocodile, which had eaten his grandmother. He sold the crocodile 
 for Js. 6d., with the old lady inside.
 
 44^ Feelmg a Crocodile. [Chap, xxiv 
 
 bring my hand quite close to his mouth, and an un- 
 sophisticated crocodile like this would very probably 
 snap at such a tempting" morsel, though those more 
 knowing ones on the Nile are shy, because they learn 
 from experience that men mean guns, and guns mean 
 bullets, and though bullets do not always mean death, 
 or even wounds to the crocodile, yet they sometimes 
 scratch his sleepy scales. 
 
 Cautiously, then, I dipped the blue paddle-blade, and 
 the nose and mouth went down, and the Rob Roy 
 dashed out to the middle of the river, for there it would 
 be safer, as the crocodile prefers to attack near the 
 .shore. 
 
 Then the thought came powerfully, " How important 
 a discovery is this, and yet how indistinct are its details ! 
 How wrong it was not to get out my pistol — how cul- 
 pable now if I do not sift the matter further!" So the 
 canoe came close to the bank to examine the muddy 
 shores, which were in patches, and in the most favour- 
 able condition for inspection, because for a long time there 
 had been no rain until last night, and the river had not 
 yet been swollen much. There we found numerous 
 footprints, which seemed to be those of crocodiles. 
 Many of the footmarks were in little bights, entirely cut 
 off from the land above by banks quite vertical, so that 
 no ox or other cattle would go there, especially as at the 
 flat mud banks farther down there are regular places for 
 cattle to drink at. The footprint of the crocodile is very 
 like the impression made by the human hand if you strike 
 that into mud, with the wrist lowered and the fingers 
 bent. These were what I saw, but to make more sure, I 
 very slowly ran the canoe upon one of the banks, where 
 her bow touched the shore and her stern swung slowly 
 round in the stream. Just as I began to lean over to
 
 Chap. XXIV.] Flight. 447 
 
 take a sketch of the footprints, I felt something hard 
 under the boat's bottom, which began behind me (not 
 floating with the stream), and it went bump, bump, all 
 along, exactly under my seat. 
 
 For four years I had been well accustomed to sit on 
 the floor of the canoe (never using a cushion or even a 
 mat), and was well able at once to apprehend the various 
 knocks, and vibrations, and grazings received, which are 
 quite distinguishable as the boat passes over rocks, boul- 
 ders, shingle, gravel, sand, mud, or weeds. This feeling oi 
 the object outside, through the thin oak plank (not an inch 
 from your body), is almost as easy as by the hand itself, 
 and therefore I knew in a moment that some hard, smooth, 
 heavy substance was knocking below against my boat, 
 and moving forward. The most likely of all things was 
 that this was a crocodile, who had seen the large object 
 above him — a total novelty here — and being an animal 
 of curious mind, he had risen underneath it to examine 
 what was shading the light from his eyes. In much less 
 time than has been necessary to put all this on paper 
 the Rob Roy fled from the spot at the top of her speed, 
 and we went on steadily until we came in sight of the 
 Mediterranean Sea. 
 
 The Kishon widens for the last two miles, and there 
 are large bushes on its banks, but mostly on the north 
 shore. I brought a branch from one of these as a trophy 
 from a point just a little below the Nahr el Melcha. 
 Bustards and hawks were numerous, and I saw one white 
 ibis and one dead fish. The channel turns suddenly to 
 the north for a quarter of a mile, when its waters reach 
 the sea sand, and are there a little brackish. Numerous 
 palm-trees are alongside, and a long lagoon of marsh. 
 It is plain that the mouth of Kishon has been gradu- 
 ally pushed on northwards, by the constant current
 
 448 Evidence. [Chap. xxiv. 
 
 along the coast, which silts up the southern bank of 
 the river. We noticed the same at the mouth of the 
 Belus. 
 
 Some travellers had come to ford the Kishon at its 
 mouth, and I went up at once and told them I had seen 
 a crocodile, had seen the footprints of others, and had felt 
 below my boat what seemed to be one more. One of 
 the party thus met was a foreign Consul. He said that 
 none of the people there had ever seen a crocodile in that 
 river. But had they gone up high enough to see one } 
 It will be perfectly easy to take a boat up the Kishon so 
 as to test the discovery, and I only regret that this was 
 not done at the time, and that there is left to some other 
 traveller the satisfaction of bringing home one of the 
 crocodiles I met in the Kishon on February 6, last year. 
 
 It may well be supposed that when this discovery was 
 published in a letter to the ' Times,' much interest Avas 
 excited among naturalists in various countries. From 
 Germany I received letters of urgent enquiry, and many 
 from England and America. The Austrian Consul at 
 Jerusalem took great pains to look up the old writers 
 upon the subject, and the learned Dr. Sandreczki sent me 
 excerpts from different authors. As for the statements 
 that the crocodile lived in the Zerka, it seems quite un- 
 necessary to refer to old writers upon this point, because, 
 as we have narrated, there are now in England the bones 
 of a crocodile killed in that river. But it being indis- 
 putable that the crocodile exists in the Zerka, we are 
 more readily prepared to find it in the rivei: Kishon, 
 which is only about twenty miles north of the Zerka ; 
 and indeed the higher tributaries of these two rivers are 
 not five miles apart." 
 
 '' Dr. Thomson says (' L. and B.' p. 497) : — "I suspect that long ages 
 ago, some Egyptians accustomed to worship this ugly creature settled here
 
 Chap. XXIV.] Evidence. 449 
 
 The Austrian Consul and the Rev. J. Zeller enquired 
 of the monks at Carmel, and the hunters at Caipha, but 
 none of these knew of a crocodile in the Kishon, The 
 only distinct assertion I can find in modern books of 
 the fact that the crocodile lived in that river is the fol- 
 lowing, by Rabbi Schwartz(p. 301) : — "The crocodile, Al 
 Buda, is met with on the shore of the Mediterranean, 
 near Cheifa and Cassarea, but it is not above two feet in 
 length." The specimen brought home is five times this 
 size. Dr. Sandreczki said the nzxcL^ Al Buda is unknown 
 
 (Cassarea), 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. . . . 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 Asher, and is probably the Naaman 
 (the Belus of ancient geographers), and the marshes at its source are as suit- 
 able for this ugly beast as those of Zoar." It is presumed that this is meant 
 for Zoan, although crocodiles are not found in the Delta of Egypt now. These 
 marshes of the Belus may be the Talmud Hiltha (Xeubauer, ' Geog. Talm.' 
 p. 24), or the lake Cendevia (Lightfoot, ' Chor. Cent.,' ch. Ixiii.). They are only 
 a few miles north of the marshes of the Kishon, which are in every way as suit- 
 able for the crocodile to inhabit ; and when we find that Kishon is between two 
 rivers, one of them now containing crocodiles, and the other having a name 
 which may indicate its relation or similarity to the Nile, and that the ports at 
 the mouth of all three rivers were visited constantly by ships from Egypt, it 
 appears highly probable that the animal may have been either indigenous 
 in all thx-ee streams or brought by Egyptians for their worship, or by 
 Romans for their games. In ' Delitzsch on Job ' (Clarke's, ii. p. 366), 
 is as follows: — "Herodotus was acquainted with this name (xo/ii^ai^ 
 KpoKoSfiAoi) ; thus is the crocodile called also in Palestine, where (as Tobler 
 and J. Roth have shown) it occurs especially in the river Damur, near 
 Tantiira." But the Damur is north of Sidon, and Tantura or Dor is by 
 the Zerka, so that some latent error is here, and the reference is illusory. 
 
 As to the subject generally, av ' Jerusalem und das Heilige Land,' by 
 Dr. Sepp (Schaffhausen, 1863), vol. ii. p. 476. The ' Saturday Review ' 
 (Jan. 22, 1870) writes loftily on the subject, but misses the point, while it 
 jumbles the geography. 
 
 2 G
 
 45 o Start on the Belies. [Chap. XXIV, 
 
 to him. However, the above passage plainly refers to the 
 Kishon as well as the Zerka, for Haifa is close to Kishon's 
 mouth. 
 
 After a day or two at Haifa we carried the canoe along 
 the white sand of the bay of Acre to the marsh where the 
 Belus rises. This Shihor Libnath {i. e. " white " or " glass " 
 Shihor, or the "Nile of glass ") is the present Numan of the 
 Arabs, or the Ramie Abiatz, where, it is said, the pro- 
 duction of glass was first discovered accidentally by men 
 who lighted a fire and found glass in the embers. The 
 expression in Deuteronomy {xxxiii. 19), " The treasure 
 hid in the sand," is probably in reference to this, and 
 Josephus mentions the stream.* 
 
 In a strong breeze I launched here and traversed the 
 marshes until it was plain there was nothing to see except 
 water and long reeds, for I did not then know that croco- 
 diles might possibly be in this river also. There is a 
 strange savageness about these marshes of the Belus, while 
 palms grow on the edge, and a few gardens are enclosed 
 from the wild desert, through which two beautiful gazelles 
 gave me a long chase on horseback, following their tracks 
 on the sand. 
 
 As no one but Hany was present when we launched 
 
 ^ ' W. J.' book ii. ch. x. sec. ii. " The very small river Belus runs by 
 it [Acre] at the distance of two furlongs ; near which there is Memnon's 
 monument, and hath near it a place no larger than a hundred cubits, which 
 deserves admiration ; for the place is round and hollow, and affords such 
 sand as glass is made of, which place, when it hath been emptied by the 
 many ships there loaded, it is filled again by the winds, which bring into 
 it, as it were on purpose, the sand which lay remote, and was no more 
 than bare common sand, while this mine presently turns it into glassy sand. 
 And what is to me still more wonderful, that glassy sand which is super- 
 iluous, and is once removed out of the place, becomes bare common sand 
 again. And this is the nature of the place we are speaking of." 
 
 The sand has been employed for making glass in later times by the Vene- 
 tians (Kenrick's 'Phenicia'). It is white and pure and beautiful.
 
 Chap. XXIV,] River Auj eh. 451 
 
 on the Belus, it may well be supposed how astonished the 
 natives were to see the Rob Roy come out at the river's 
 mouth, and looking all the time as if this was the common 
 thing to do. We had found nothing there, though it 
 seemed just the place for the Timsah to live in, but then 
 the wind was so stirring that crocodiles would not be 
 readily seen in the fens and marshes. The Belus then is 
 commended to the search of some future traveller. 
 
 Here it may be right to mention — for it could not 
 otherwise come into our log (being only a landlubber's 
 business, and managed without the canoe) — that I made 
 a diligent search along the shores and in the stream of 
 the river Aujeh, which runs into the sea a little north of 
 Jaffa, seeking for evidence of the crocodile there. As this 
 river is between the Zerka and the Nile, and is the longest 
 constant river in Palestine next to Jordan, perhaps it 
 also might have been the residence of the scaly monster ; 
 but there was no trace of the crocodile noticed on the 
 banks of the Aujeh (the " crooked river"). Yet the place 
 was suitable for its habitat, and one cannot rashly pro- 
 nounce a negative decision in such a case. 
 
 When the question had been still further pressed upon 
 attention by the kind enquiries of learned men at Jeru- 
 salem, it seemed to me not improbable that even in old 
 Jordan, too, there might .still be found a crocodile. 
 Reports reached me that the animal had actually been 
 seen, long ago, in Jordan.^ Dr. Barclay, the missionary 
 
 " The following is from Lightfoot ('Chor. Dec.,' vol. ii. p. 220, 
 Oxford), citing De Salignac Itin. (a.d. 1525), book ix. ch. vi. : — "Here, 
 therefore, all we pilgrims went unto the holy river (Jordan), and washed 
 om- bodies and our souls ; those from filth, and these from sin ; a matter 
 of very great joy and health, had not an unhappy accident disturbed our 
 joys. For a certain physician of our company, a Frenchman, an honest 
 man, going somewhat further into the river, zvas caught with a crocodile 
 (whether one should call it a dragon or a beast it is uncertain) and 
 swalloiued him up, not without the common grief of our bretheren."
 
 452 Farewell to yordan. [Chap. xxiv. 
 
 in Jerusalem, informed me that a few years ago one of 
 his congregation came back from Jordan mourning the 
 sudden death of a fellow traveller, who, he said, was 
 carried away before his eyes by some animal in the 
 water. Again, there was the verse in Job xl. 23, which 
 says of " behemoth," " he trusteth that he can draw up 
 Jordan into his mouth," although Stanley's explanation 
 of that verse seems to turn its bearing entirely from 
 " the " specific Jordan, and it seems plain that another 
 animal is meant by bchemotJi, the "river ox." However, 
 it could do no harm to search even Jordan for the 
 crocodile, and therefore, on a fourth visit to the Dead 
 Sea, I made a close inspection of the last two miles 
 of the river, with only this one object in view. Captain 
 Warren also went over the same ground in the oppo- 
 site direction, and perhaps with less hopeful eye, but 
 neither of us, at the day's end, had discerned the least 
 trace of the crocodile here.^** 
 
 Yet a day is not lost that is spent by the banks of 
 the Jordan, and we cannot have one too many visits to 
 such a stream. How lonely it looked ! To think of the 
 millions of people, and thousands of years, that have 
 had this river in their history, and yet not a single house, 
 or tent, or booth, or even hermit's cell, is here to mark 
 where the Son of Man was proclaimed the Son of God. 
 
 '" The river was then high, and any foot-prints on the bank would be 
 most likely washed away. The Arabs whom we met during our ride 
 seemed in no way surprised that we were "looking out for a Timsah? 
 A search may yet be successful even here, if it is made when the 
 water is low, and along the part of the Jordan from the last ford to 
 the Dead Sea — a portion of the river very difficult to approach closely, 
 quite devoid of any other interest, and, thei-efore, scarcely ever visited by 
 travellers, while it has at the same time every feature in banks, and weeds, 
 and sandy bays, which would fit it for the habitation of the gi-eat reptile of 
 the Nile.
 
 Chap. XXIV.] Ac?'0ss the Bay of Acre. 453 
 
 Farewell to Jordan, but in hope of coming here again. 
 
 Best known of waters in the whole world, you have had 
 no ports for commerce, no cities on your banks, no green 
 meads watered, no traffic on your waves. But the foot 
 of the patriarch has rested there, and the prophet and 
 the prince have dwelt beside you, and battles have 
 sounded loud, and hosts have crossed over you dried up 
 by the finger of God. If for ten thousand years your 
 waters had rolled on unused and unseen, there would be 
 reason enough for all their flowing when they at last 
 became the font of our Saviour's baptism, and shone back 
 the light from a Trinity revealed to man. 
 
 Smoothly gliding out of the river Belus, the Rob Roy 
 once more floated upon the salt waves of the Mediter- 
 ranean. Bright sunshine gleamed on them, and a lively 
 breeze curled over each billow top as it plashed upon 
 the shore. Through the weaves we crossed this end of 
 the bay of Acre, and soon reached the outlying ruins, 
 which had guarded Ptolemais. So strong was the wind 
 that nobody appeared on the walls or at the sally-port 
 seawards, until the canoe had come quite close — cer- 
 tainly the smallest vessel that ever came to St. Jean 
 d'Acre. But the first man who descried her soon brought 
 the rest by his shouting, and the battlements were 
 speedily crowded, and the shore was lined by sightseers. 
 Among the busy group, when I landed, one said to me 
 in good English, " Come and have coffee with me." It 
 was just the very thing I wanted — a cup of hot coffee — 
 so I went, nothing loth, and on the way he said, " I wish 
 to show you my young wife." This seemed odd enough, 
 but I was ready for anything that might turn up. 
 
 The lady was a clever Lancashire lass, who had been 
 six years in this funny little town of Acre, and now she
 
 454 ''Ariadne^. [Chap. XXIV. 
 
 prattled Arabic like a Turk, and sat cross-legged on a 
 divan, while her nargilleh gurgled its blue cloud. I 
 stayed two da}'s, delighted with this kind Jewish family. 
 Here was a little negro boy, a slave, who had run away 
 from his master, and got safely to the house of the 
 English Consul. And so at once a name was given 
 him, " Farraj " (Free), and he put on a pair of trousers, 
 while a broad grin of happiness spread over his sable 
 cheeks, all gashed by the slave stealer's knife. He has 
 lately sent me his " love " by letter. 
 
 Then the canoe went again to Beyrout, and plied her 
 azure sail in the harbour as before, and was welcomed 
 by many friends. And here a long gap occurs in our 
 log, about weeks on dry land, or under the earth, in the 
 shafts at Jerusalem, during a delightful stay at the 
 Holy City. To summarise that happy visit, or to give 
 in detail all the climbs up above, and dives down below, 
 the rides, and talks, and sights, and thoughts, of that 
 pleasant month, would need another volume quite as 
 large as this. Farewell to you also, glorious Jerusalem. 
 
 At Alexandria once more we launched the Rob Roy 
 to embark her on board the ' Delta,' bound for home. 
 Farther out, and tossing in a gallant breeze, was the 
 'Ariadne' frigate, the sea home of our Commodore, and 
 of that fair Princess who has won from all Englishmen 
 the hardest thing to win, our affectionate regard. 
 
 The waves tossed angry and boisterous as the Rob 
 Roy ran out among the sharks to salute the Royal Yacht. 
 
 The crew clustered thick in the rigging of the stately 
 frigate, and cheered the tiny consort with goodwill. 
 •' Turn round before the wind," they cried, " and show 
 how you can go."
 
 Chap. XXIV.] 
 
 Praise. 
 
 455 
 
 It was a moment both of pride and of fear to me : 
 
 pride in the craft that could finish such a voyage, fear 
 lest the finish was to be in a capsize. 
 
 A Cheer from ' Ariadne.* 
 
 But the Rob Roy blithely turned upon a wave top 
 and flew along' the foam, and carried safe throug-h all 
 her little flag, and a heart that beat high with grateful 
 praise to Him who had vouchsafed to me thus to enjoy 
 the happiest days of a very happy life.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 The Canoe. 
 
 Xj^OR readers who are interested in canoes, it is unnecessary 
 here to repeat the notes and hints and descriptions already 
 given in my three previous logs of lone voyages. The more re- 
 cent addenda are given in the appendix to the sixth edition of 
 'A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe' (1870; price 
 2S. 6d.) ; while the form and dimensions of the best type of 
 Rob Roy for rough work and pleasant foreign cruises, is 
 described in 'The Rob Roy on the Baltic' (2nd edition), and 
 numerous useful items may be learned from ' The Canoeist,' 
 Nos. I., II., III., published by the club. 
 
 In designing the last Rob Roy for the Eastern voyage, a new 
 and difficult problem had to be solved, because this was to be a 
 boat in which one could not only travel. but sleep comfortably. 
 Much consideration was given for months before the design 
 was determined, and we shall now explain minutely the con- 
 struction of what is in fact a little yacht, in which you can 
 cruise over sea and land for a week without getting supplies.' 
 
 It is a question still whether on the whole a light tent is not 
 better than the boat to sleep in. However, we resolved to make 
 the boat itself our comfortable bed, and for this it is absolutely 
 
 ^ Although some hundred canoes have been built within the last four 
 years, I do not know one builder who will build a canoe reasonably com- 
 plete, without constant personal supervision.
 
 45 8 T^fi<^ Caiioe. [App. 
 
 necessary — (i) to have a space of 6 feet 6 inches in length clear 
 on the floor ; (2) to remove enough of the deck to give ample 
 room for the knees in " turning " at night ; (3) to place the 
 timbers of the boat so that they do not gall the shoulders, 
 elbows, hips, knees, or heels ; (4) to have width enough at the 
 end of your bed for the feet inclined sideways Avith both heels 
 on the floor. 
 
 This Rob Roy was therefore built round me lying down, as 
 the others had been built about me sitting. Her length on 
 deck is 14 feet. Her floor is prolonged by lessening the rake 
 of stem and stern (which are more upright than in the drawing, 
 post^ p. 60). Her greatest beam, 26 inches, is at 6 inches aft 
 of midships not on deck, but 3 inches below, so that her upper 
 streak " topples in " amidships, but elsewhere is vertical. 
 " Everybody " said this would look ugly, but " nobody " now 
 could find out the difference, unless by measurement. The 
 lines thus altered made the canoe stow more, sail better, and 
 rise to her seas more lively. On the other hand, she is 
 harder to work than the Baltic boat in rapids and crooked 
 water, and to drag on land or to beach. Her garboard 
 streaks at midships are so that on a flat shore their seams are 
 nearly as low as the keel, which projects less than an inch 
 outside. 
 
 The burdens or floor boards are in four pieces, so made as 
 to form a floor of 6 feet long, and thus support the whole body 
 of the sleeper. They may also be placed above the well, 
 as a round arched cover, exactly filling it up when the canoe 
 has to be carried far. The dotted lines in the woodcut at 
 p. r3i show the well thus enclosed. It is 6 inches longer 
 than for merely sitting in. The fore part of it is half of a 
 hexagon, each side of which is one foot long. The weight of 
 the Rob Roy with paddle, masts, and sails, is 7 2 lbs. 
 
 The " apron " is of course the most difficult of all canoe 
 matters to settle satisfactorily. I tried every feasible plan 
 suggested by others or by myself, and finally resolved upon 
 that which has borne without injury the wear and tear of 
 a whole year's work. The apron of the Rob Roy is of
 
 App.] The Canoe. 459 
 
 light white waterproof, a present from a " clerical canoeist," 
 who has lately been paddling with a monkey on board, until 
 jacko went up the mast and upset the canoe and drowned 
 himself^ The apron is kept up by a bit of cane arched over the 
 knees. When this is removed (in two seconds), the apron lies 
 flat for portage. There is no combing, except at the front, and 
 the edges of the apron are fastened at each side by a single 
 button-hole to a round stud 3 inches bcloto deck outside the 
 gunwale. This has never cut nor worn out, but it would 
 instantly burst if an upset required all hands to debark. 
 
 The after edge of the apron is threaded on an elastic band, 
 an excellent plan, devised by the Rev. J. Macdonna, of the 
 (^ C, and thus it lies close to one's chest, and is yet easy and 
 slack, being supported on a breast button of my coat. The 
 painter is fast at each end to the cleat on deck near each knee, 
 and is rove through the stern-post — not the stem. In heavy 
 weather, by putting the painter under the apron stud, and over 
 the edge of the apron, but lower down than the beading of the 
 upper streak, the apron is bound close to the gunwale, and 
 no water can come in. This plan, invented in the Red Sea, 
 worked admirably ever since. A short wooden arch near the 
 breast has since been adopted, and is an improvement. 
 
 The sail is the same in size and shape as in the Baltic 
 Rob Roy. In our last Club sailing-match, a simple lug- 
 sail won the prize from all fancy rigs. The boom goes into 
 a hem as well as the yard. A cord-loop at the end of 
 the boom hooks on a long brass hook at the foot of the 
 mast, so that the sail can be entirely detached, and stowed away 
 without leaving your seat in the well. The stretcher is upon a 
 new plan, very simple and successful. Instead of a board across, 
 supported at each side, there are two flat thin boards, one for 
 each foot which abut on the garboard streak below, and against 
 a carline of the deck above. Thus they have strong support, 
 
 ^ Of the human members of our Canoe CUib, 200 in number, not one 
 has been drowned in the many long canoe voyages over Europe, Asia, Africa, 
 America, India, China, Japan, and Australia. 
 
 The Office of the Club is at 9, Adelphi Terrace.
 
 460 
 
 TJie Canoe. 
 
 [App. 
 
 but are themselves very light, and there is a clear space 
 between them for a large bag to be passed in forwards, and 
 its neck can always be reached while sitting in the boat. 
 My heels rest on the bare garboard streaks, thus gaining at 
 least an inch more of inclination for the shin bones, which 
 adds much to comfort when you sit for eight hours at a 
 time. 
 
 The Rob Rov Cabin. 
 
 Large waterproof pockets are on each side near the knees. 
 The luggage consists of one cylindrical "post-office bag" 
 (Fig. 3, p. 462), 2 feet long, one foot in diameter, very light, 
 with an interior " flap mouth," and so made that, when closed, 
 it may be pitched overboard, and nothing will get damp inside. 
 The bag acts also as buoyant cargo. The other rectangular 
 bag, 12 inches on each side, and 6 inches broad, holds pro- 
 visions and things less injured by water, and this is stowed just 
 aft of the sitter, so that it can be readily reached. On either 
 side of the well are stowed pistol and ammunition, brandy 
 bottle and books, large waterproof sheet and coat, the Inver- 
 ness cape for sleeping in (weighing 53 lbs.), a water bottle of 
 macintosh, carrying 5 .^ lbs. (Fig. 4, p. 462; Silver has now a 
 better ebonite one), spare shoes, cork seat, topmast (part 
 of fishing-rod), topsail, sponge in tin baler, musquito curtain, 
 towel, fishing-net, hooks and lines, sounding cord, small stores, 
 matches, &c., and the apparatus for the cabin, which we shall 
 next describe.
 
 App.] The Canoe. 461 
 
 To open a light boat of this sort for 6 feet 6 inches of its 
 length, and at the part where there is most strain, was a novel 
 proposal, and the builder doubted much, as I did myself, whether 
 she could possibly bear such a mutilation without getting 
 " hogged " or " screwed," or something worse. Careful manage- 
 ment, however, overcame the difficulty, and by the following 
 means. 
 
 Three feet of the deck aft of the back board is in a separate 
 piece from the rest, and movable. The fore end of this has 
 on it a strong, curved carline, to receive the whole strain of the 
 back board, and two other lighter carlines support the rest, and 
 are screwed to this shifting deck, but all these carlines are 
 quite separate from the gunwale. The fore carline of this 
 movable deck has at its ends strong flat hooks of iron, which 
 go outside the gimwales, and so brace the boat together when 
 the deck is in its place. The surface of the deck is flush with 
 the gunwales, its edge being inside, and the pressure keeps 
 them in firm. That this deck should have kept perfectly 
 sound, unwarped, and unbroken, through so many trials, is 
 wonderful, but the piece of seasoned cedar was well chosen 
 for its duties. 
 
 It is always best that the boat should be drawn up on 
 shore for sleeping, and in lawless countries an island or 
 some solitary place should be selected, as you have no guard. 
 So, to rig up our cabin for the night, we haul the Rob Roy on 
 shore, and work her backwards and forwards in the ground 
 until she is firmly bedded for a good night's rest. Next we 
 remove the two flat pieces from the sides of the well, and set 
 them upright near the fore part of the well, as shown at 
 a h in the drawing, p. 460, which is on the scale of a quarter 
 of an inch to the foot. A light bamboo cane is tied across 
 these near the top. On this we lay the paddle, and its other 
 blade rests on the solid piece of deck astern, and so forms our 
 roof-tree. Next, the movable deck is placed on the paddle, so 
 that its wider end projects forward to cover the sleeper's head. 
 Over all, the waterproof sheet is thrown (shown in dotted lines), 
 and tucked in between the canoe and the ground, or is
 
 462 The Canoe. [App, 
 
 weighted with stones, or tied down on the windward side if the 
 night is not cahn. 
 
 Aft of the backboard and above the movable deck, when 
 afloat, there is a loose sheet of waterproof made fast along its 
 edges by the beading below the gunwale outside, and which 
 generally lies folded on the deck and covers it neatly, being 
 kept in shape by the top joint of the fishing-rod that lies along 
 one of its folds. For the night the paddle, being inside of this 
 macintosh covering, supports it with an inclined roof on each side, 
 represented by dotted lines, while the edges are perfectly secure.* 
 The musquito net has now to be inserted, and then we light 
 the little reading lamp — which bijou it would take too long to 
 describe accurately — and fasten it on the starboard upright, 
 so as to be 6 inches from my left ear when reclining, and 
 thus to throw a good light in front for reading. Our pillow 
 is, of course, the clothes-bag, and for a bed there is an 
 air cushion, shown in our sketch, 3 feet long and 14 inches 
 
 broad, with ribs across it so 
 '^ made that it will not collapse. 
 •^. This bed is particularly com- 
 fortable, and we have explained 
 in our log that it answers also 
 for several other purposes. Its 
 diminutive size has been ridiculed, but if you tr}^, you will 
 find that, when the shoulders and hips are supported, the 
 rest of the body needs no bed at all, except the head, which 
 has a pillow, and the heels which can rest on a roll of the 
 topsail. 
 
 "VMieels are useful at home, where the canoe has to be fre- 
 
 ■• This plan may be improved upon, and I think that one waterproof 
 sheet would do for the whole roof, while the deck aft might have a pro- 
 jecting ledge above the gunwale, to cover the joint, which, however, at 
 worst, would let in only a little water. 
 
 The paddle has been often iised in two pieces, with a ferrule to unit€ 
 them. This is convenient, especially for sailing, but I grudge the additional 
 weight even of an ounce. Letters and "patents" about paddle-blades 
 set at right angles have come often to me during the last five years.
 
 App.] 
 
 Cooking. 
 
 463 
 
 Canoe Wheels 
 
 quently taken across some beaten path — as when it is kept in a 
 house near a river or lake, and the wheels can be left at an 
 assigned place. But in my journeys I had found that out of each 
 thousand miles not one mile would have been helped by wheels. 
 However, as the use of them was strongly urged, and possibly it 
 might help on this tour, I made a number of experiments, and 
 finally reduced the size and weight so as to be very small, as 
 represented in the sketch alongside. These wheels are conical, 
 made of wood, hollowed at 
 the centres, and with light 
 brass tyres, and fixed on a 
 steel axle, which turns in a 
 strong brass piece (b). Above 
 this is a grooved piece of wood, 
 4 inches long, into which the 
 keel {a) will fit, and without any 
 tying or fastening. The dia- 
 meter of the wheels is4T inches, 
 and the whole weighs 2 lbs. The plan answered well on trial, 
 and I carried the wheels all the way round, and never had one 
 single occasion for using them ! The fact is, that in j-eal canoe- 
 ing, in wild and unknown lands, you find no smooth roads to 
 wheel a boat upon, or if there are roads, you can always get 
 a man to help in carrying the boat; while on rocks, shingle, 
 and jungle, no wheels would help you, and on grass, or earth, 
 or sand, the boat can be dragged along. 
 
 Before going to bed in our cabin, our supper has to be cooked 
 by the " Canoe cuisine," which has been fully described, with 
 diagrams, in ' The Voyage Alone in the Rob Roy Yawl ' (Low, 
 Fleet Street) ; and as this invaluable " paddler's kitchen " may 
 be had at Hepburn's, 93, Chancery Lane, London, I need not 
 further explain its manifold virtues here. Nor is it possible, I 
 regret, to answer letters on the subject from enquiring strangers, 
 or to satisfy those who will not keep to the simple rules for its 
 proper use. 
 
 In the East one can often manage to get fowls cooked before 
 starting, and even eggs, so that with " Liebig's extract of meat,"
 
 4()4 Dress. [App. 
 
 the essence of beef-soup (Morell's, Piccadilly), and dried fruits 
 there is always a sumptuous meal, besides tea for breakfast and 
 a tablespoonful of brandy to kill the protoplasms in the water for 
 dinner. Bread, however, is the important item in travelling, 
 and especially that it should keep well in cold, heat, or damp. 
 I have still some bread got in Norway ten years ago, other 
 bread from Africa eight years old, biscuit from Sweden 
 five years old, and neat little loaves, an inch on each side, 
 brought from Damascus twenty years ago. This last kind 
 of bread was the best of all for carrying, because it is 
 portable and good. You dip the loaves in water, and they 
 soften and expand. 
 
 II. 
 
 Dress. 
 
 In all canoe cruises it is important to have convenient dress. 
 You are exposed to heat and cold, wind and rain, to sudden 
 chills by the splash of waves and wet of leakage, b)' working 
 hard and then sitting still for sailing or for rest, or to cook and 
 eat. The dress must be comfortable, light, strong, easily 
 carried, washed, dried, mended, donned and doflfed, increased 
 or diminished. Four long voyages in different climates having 
 given some experience in these matters, a {q^n brief notes 
 are inserted here for the benefit of canoeists who may paddle 
 in hot countries. 
 
 A straw hat is quite enough for the sun of France at its hottest, 
 but it is too thin for the more tropical rays of Africa ; therefore 
 the straw hat was soon discarded, and riding, walking, and boat- 
 ing, I wore the Tress helmet already described. The neckshade 
 of this is longer than the front peak, and so, when the sun is on 
 the face, by reversing the hat, more shade is obtained for the 
 eyes. This hat bore every accident well — rain, spray, snow, 
 and heat, and frequent floatings when knocked off in thick
 
 App.] Dress. 465 
 
 jungles. On some occasions a "puggery" was added. A wet 
 towel falling down on the shoulders and bound over the top 
 of the head answers well in a breeze, but it is close and heating 
 in calm sun. 
 
 " Flannel always and everywhere, and all flannel," is a 
 maxim for health. Take two " Norfolk jackets " of fine grey 
 flannel; one can go over the other for a great coat. They 
 last so well that one of these has been through all my four 
 cruises. No wonder the tailors said, " Tliat will be good 
 for your business, and bad for ours." When it was de- 
 sirable to be easily seen at a great distance, I wore a white 
 nightshirt or a red jersey outside. 
 
 The paddler must put up with wet elbows for his coat ; but the 
 inside jersey ought to have short arms, so as to be dry. A woven 
 sleeveless vest is useful, as you can slip it on when saihng. 
 A silk Syrian scarf, of the largest size, was always wrapt about 
 my loins. This is invaluable as preserving the heat of tlie l^ody. 
 It can be loosened in the boat and in the tent, but it should 
 never be put off out of doors if once it is habitually worn. On 
 the passage home it can be cautiously replaced by flannel, which 
 may be gradually reduced each week. Trowsers very long at 
 the feet (and turned up usually) allow you to tie them over 
 your shoes when dozing on the shore in midday hours, and so 
 to puzzle the flies, who think it great fun to bite through socks, 
 however thick. Gloves are also useful for the same occasions, 
 and a long piece of gauze net, six feet square, tied over the face, 
 made the luxury of pleasant sleep just possible on the grass or 
 the sand of an island. 
 
 Boots worn outside the trowsers are well enough for riding, 
 but are too hot for the canoe. They should be very roomy, 
 but then they will not do for walking. The pleasant freedom 
 of light easy shoes or slippers, when aboard your boat, amply 
 repays the weight and the bother of carrying them. Strong 
 shoes, however, must be ready for shingle or jungle, or for a 
 long trudge and towing the boat. The new seamless india- 
 rubber half-boots were found most useful in wet grass or 
 swampy shores. A nightcap is necessary for sleeping in, as 
 there are draughts in our "state cabin;" for it will not do 
 
 2 H
 
 466 Dress. [App. 
 
 to close it entirely. My sou'wester was useful as a bag, be- 
 sides being the head-gear in rain and in steamboats, &c. 
 
 A waterproof white sheet, six feet by five, the cover of my 
 cabin, was very useful to spread on wet sand for a couch, O'" 
 when tied round the waist to cover the legs on horseback, or 
 stretched inside the tent to cover my bed in furious rain. 
 
 For rain, either afloat or ashore, I found the best protector 
 was a long indiarubber coat, white in colour, which is of 
 better stuft' than black. Yet all such coats with sleeves are 
 too hot to paddle in, unless very slowly, and a useful plan 
 was a cape, short near the arms, and buttoned before or 
 behind, according as the wind was from aft or ahead. The 
 arms of the canoeist up to the elbow can only be kept dry by 
 detachable waterproof sleeves. 
 
 For warmth I had a large soft thick dark hooded Inverness 
 cape, made 18 inches larger than the "largest size," so as to 
 touch my shoes. . The comfort and benefit of this could not be 
 overrated. When riding in the cutting breeze over snow, it 
 covered all down to the stirrups ; sitting in the raw air of dawn, 
 it kept all draught from one's limbs ; lying in the canoe at night, 
 it was sheet, blanket, and counterpane ; reclining on sand or 
 grass by day, or sitting to sail in cool evening breezes, it kept out 
 the sun, and dew, and cold ; and in the tent it was a comfortable 
 dressing-gown to write in, again reclining, for to sit upright in 
 the East is absurd, and the bed becomes an easy-chair. After 
 all, this useful garment served as an addition to the bedclothes 
 during sleep, and next morning it was rolled up, like a soldier's 
 greatcoat, and strapped on my saddle. 
 
 At Jerusalem, Damascus, and Cairo, one collar and ribbon 
 was quite enough, and the rest could be left oft" after the voyage 
 out. At Alexandria you can get all such miserable furniture 
 again for the return voyage. 
 
 An umbrella, with a white cover to it, may almost be included 
 among " dress," at least for the hot months. The French 
 officers at Port Said had adopted a hat like a parasol, the top 
 being distant from the head of the wearer several inches all 
 round, and connected by three wires to a leather ring, which 
 goes on the temples. Spectacles of neutral tint (large size
 
 App.j Canoe Gear and Stores, 467 
 
 the best) give comfort to the eyes in the sun, and when 
 you remove them, say at 4 p.m., the dayhght seems to begin 
 again, being about the same as it looked at noon, when seen 
 through the glasses. 
 
 III. 
 
 Canoe Gear and Stores. 
 
 Gear, <s^c. — Masts, Sails, Wheels, Canoe cuisine. Com- 
 pass, Cork seat, Painter, Air bed, Musquito curtains. Pistol and 
 charges, Lamp, Canoe bag, Rob Roy bag. Waterproof sheets. 
 Water bottle, Fishing things. Net, rod, flies, Hooks and lines, 
 Flag, Sponge, Baler, Spare paddle-rings, Plug, Lens, Long knife, 
 Cane, Blocks, Wax-end, Tools, Nails, Screws, Wire, Spare rope 
 and cord, Marine glue, Putty, Filter. 
 
 Dress. — Pith hat. Woven cap, Norfolk jacket (2), Woven 
 vest. Silk scarf. Socks (2), Flannel trowsers (2), Flannel shirts 
 (2), Under vests (2), Cape and hood. Sou'wester, Shoes, 
 Macintosh coat. Waterproof boots. Slippers, Brushes and comb, 
 Scissors, Needle, pins, and thread. Umbrella. 
 
 Food, &=€. — Liebig's extract (2), Arrowroot, Tea, Beef 
 essence, Methylated spirits, James's powder, Lisect powder, 
 Bread, Eggs, Fowls, Pudding, Figs, Oranges, Quinine, Gregory's 
 mixture, Lmt, Brandy, Plaister, Wax matches, Fuzees, Chi- 
 bouque. 
 
 Cargo. — Books, Maps, Papers, Guidebook, Album, Note- 
 book, Ink, Pencils, Penknife, Magnesium wire, Drawing things, 
 Presents, Money. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Voyage of Molyneux on Jordan in 1847. 
 
 Although the Rob Roy is the first traveller's boat recorded 
 as having navigated the Upper Jordan, there were two previous
 
 468 Voyage of Molymeiix, [App. 
 
 boat expeditions upon the Sea of Galilee and the Lower Jordan 
 and Dead Sea. 
 
 The first of these was by Lieutenant Molyneux, of H.M.S. 
 ' Spartan,' in 1847, ^"^ the other by Lieutenant Lynch, of the 
 LTnited States Navy, in 1848, who wrote a careful and interesting 
 report, which is published and well known. 
 
 The voyage of Molyneux was narrated in a paper read 
 before the Geographical Society on March 28, 1848, and 
 printed in their Journal, vol. xviii. p, 104. This tells us 
 how he transported the ship's " dingy " (a small boat) 
 from Beyrout to Tiberias by camels, and from thence he 
 started on August 23, 1847, with five men, two of them English. 
 They did not examine the lake, but passed at once southwards 
 to begin the Jordan. We have condensed the following brief 
 notes of their voyage : — 
 
 Molyneux judged the size of the lake to be eighteen miles 
 long and eight or nine wide. He found the hot springs at 
 Tiberias about 130° F. For seven hours after the "broken 
 bridge " (a mile from the lake), they " scarcely ever had sufficient 
 water to swim the boat for a hundred yards together." On the 
 26th he had to carry the boat on camels alongside the river 
 before reaching the Jisr Mejamia, and after that for a great part 
 of the time he was on the bank and frequently out of sight of 
 the boat, which had four men to pull her and one to steer. 
 On the 30th, just below the junction with the Zerka, she was 
 attacked by fifty Arabs, who fired shots and then captured her, 
 and took the men away. 
 
 Two Arabs brought the boat on to Jericho. On the 3rd of 
 September Molyneux embarked in her on the Dead Sea with 
 "Toby" (a guide from Tiberias), and a Greek from Jerusalem. 
 He sailed south from 6 p.m. until 2.30 a.m. on the 4th, and, after 
 sailing about continually, landed at noon on the 5th. They 
 shot some birds standing in the water, and saw others flying 
 overhead when in the middle of the sea. They noticed a strip 
 of foam north and south, beginning west of Jordan's mouth 
 and extending the whole length of the sea. " constantly bubbling 
 and in motion like a stream that runs rai)idly through a lake of 
 still water, while nearly over this white track, during both the
 
 App.] oil y or dan in 1847. 4^9 
 
 nights that we were on the water, we observed in the sky a white 
 streak, hke a cloud, extending also in a straight hne from north 
 to south, and as far as the eye could reach. On the 8th the 
 boat arrived at Jerusalem." 
 
 Mr. Finn, then Consul at Jerusalem, kindly aided Molyneux, 
 and he tells us the rest of the story in ' Under the Crown ' for 
 May, 1869, The end of it was as follows : — " At my farewell 
 greeting I congratulated him on being so much recovered in 
 health. He answered, 'This is temporary, during the excite- 
 ment ; wait till I get on board, then I shall catch it ' — a pro- 
 phecy, alas ! too true. They arrived at Jaffa with the boat, as 
 sound as ever, and the crew set up three cheers on her mounting 
 the deck, and vowed she would never be washed again, but keep 
 her slime of the Dead Sea as a memorial. They rejoined the 
 ' Spartan ' on September 8. On reaching the station at Beyroot 
 fever seized its noble victim, and on the 3rd of October Moly- 
 neux died.'' 
 
 Note. — In the miracle of the passage of the Jordan by the 
 Israelites the southern waters seem to have flowed away while 
 the other part was held back. As to the passage of the Red 
 Sea by the Israelites, Dr. Pratt argues that the east wind (or 
 south-east wind) had the effect of deepening the northern 
 waters through which the passage was miraculously made, 
 while the southern portion was held up by the same wind 
 "as a wall." Diodorus Siculus refers to the great event. 
 (Bib. iii. c. 39.) Josephus does not mention the east wind. 
 'Ant. J.' ii. 16.3. (Tract by I. Pratt, reprinted from 'Journal 
 of Sacred Literature and Biblical Record,' July, 1865.)
 
 470 
 
 Altitudes 
 
 [App. 
 
 V. 
 
 Altitudes according to Authorities relied upon r,v 
 Vandevelde. 
 
 I. — Those in Connection with the Jordan. 
 
 Kefr Kuk (basin north of Wady et 
 
 Lake Phiale 
 
 Hasbeya town 
 
 (i) Hasbeya source of Jordan 
 
 Ford below 
 
 Khan below 
 
 (2) Banias source of Jordan 
 
 (3) Dan source of Jordan 
 
 Jisr el Ghujar (Roth) 
 
 Am Belata (by estimation) 
 
 Hooleh marsh 
 
 Jisr Benat Vacoub 
 
 reim) 
 
 Feet 
 above the Sea-level. 
 
 ■■• 3500 
 
 ■ 3304 
 
 ... 2160 
 
 ... 1700 
 
 ... 1654 
 
 1619 
 
 1200 
 
 ... 647 
 
 ... 346 
 
 220 
 
 ... 180 
 
 90 
 
 Feet 
 below the Sea-level. 
 
 Templars' keep near Jordan [estimated by J. M.] ... o 
 
 Lake of Gennesareth (Lynch), (greatest depth 160 ft.) 653 
 
 Dead Sea 1292 
 
 Dead Sea, greatest depth (Lynch, 130S ; Moore and 
 
 Eeke, 1800) 3092 
 
 II. — Other Rivers. 
 
 Aba mi River. 
 
 Sources near Zebedany (Porter) 
 Fall at Suk Barada (Russegger) 
 Damascus (mean of 6) 
 
 Pharpar. 
 
 Sasa (Schubert) 
 
 Kishoii. 
 Plain of Esdraelon (where drained) 
 
 Feet 
 above the Sea-level. 
 
 ... 3608 
 
 - 3566 
 
 . . . 2400 
 
 2973
 
 App.] Schools and Missions. 47 1 
 
 III.— Mountains and other Places mentkxned in the Book. 
 
 Feet 
 al)ove the Sea-level. 
 
 Lebanon, Jebel el Meskyeh 1006 1 
 
 Hermon (Warren, A.D. 1869) 9053 
 
 Lebanon, Jebel Sinnin 8 162 
 
 Dimes (Allen) .*. ... 3S25 
 
 Zahleh (Russegger) 3090 
 
 Jerusalem 2642 
 
 Damascus 2400 
 
 Highest between Jordan and Litany (De Forest) ... 2300 
 
 Banias (Subeibeh Castle), by estimation 2200 
 
 Tell et Hara 219S 
 
 Mount Tabor (Mansell) 2017 
 
 Carmel (highest point) 1S61 
 
 Nazareth (Roth) 1265 
 
 Kurn Hattin ... ugi 
 
 Jisr Burghuz 11S6 
 
 Gamala ruins 
 Kades 
 
 1170 
 500 
 
 VI. 
 
 Schools and Mission.s. 
 
 Besides the institutions referred to already, the follownig may 
 be noticed : — 
 
 At Jaffa there is a very interesting little school, conducted by 
 a young lady, aided by friends in England. Several visits to the 
 institution made me admire it more and more each time. The 
 children of Jaffa are in a horrid dirty poky hole of a town, and 
 it must be charming for them to go to a schoolroom (new in 
 1870) where bright smiles await them, and the happy teaching of 
 a loving heart. Jews, Turks, and Franks, all partake of this 
 blessing in the very place where Peter was taught that the 
 Gospel was meant for us all. The children are delighted to see 
 a visitor, and as very many travellers pass through Jaffa, it may 
 be a new pleasure to them to look in at the Jaffa school. 
 
 The following information has been recently published re- 
 garding a most important and extensive educational work : — ■
 
 472' Schools and Missions. [App. 
 
 Society for Pronioting Female Education in the East. 
 
 For thirty-six years this Society has pursued the special object 
 with vakiable results. In a large field of labour, with an income 
 of about 3000/. a year, it supplies 800/. in salaries to its own mis- 
 sionary teachers at Hong Kong, Singapore, Calcutta, Cuttack, 
 Piplee, Secundra, Sierra Leone, Shemlan (on Mount Lebanon), 
 Sidon, and Nazareth; also grants and school materials over the 
 field of Protestant missions in the East. The estimated value of 
 ladies' work and clothing sent abroad for sale during the year is 
 more than 5000/. Twenty-one additional schools are needed ; 
 twenty-seven additional native teachers are ready for employment. 
 Two ladies are leaving England for Zenana work in India. 
 
 Further information will be gladly supphed by Miss Webb, 
 267, Vauxhall Bridge Road, London. 
 
 Extracts from a Speech of the Bishop of Jerusalem 
 at a Meeting in Loftdon in July, 1869. 
 
 " I first visited Palestine about forty years ago, when there 
 was no Bible to be found either among the Jews or the Chris- 
 tians, or the Mohammedans — the deepest ignorance, darkness, 
 superstition, and vice characterised all the inhabitants of that 
 land at that period. With respect to the Jews, 160 adults have 
 been baptised in Jerusalem, whilst a number of the younger 
 Jews have received the first germs of the truth of the Gospel, 
 and been sent away from Jerusalem by their friends and the 
 rabbis, to remove them from the influence of the missionaries. 
 There are now very few Jewish families in Jerusalem who do 
 not possess a copy of the Old Testament, at least, and a great 
 number have the New Testament, which they read amongst 
 their friends. Whilst forty-two years ago the Jews, taught from 
 the Talmud, believed it to be their duty, whenever the name of 
 the Lord Jesus of Nazareth was mentioned, to curse that name 
 and blaspheme, there are now very few who would do so. We 
 every day meet with some who confess that Jesus was a good 
 and righteous man, and that their forefathers were wrong in per- 
 secuting Him. In Jerusalem and the places around, our mis- 
 sionaries in the course of a few weeks dispose of large numbers
 
 App.] Schools and Missions. 473 
 
 of copies of the Scriptures. With respect to Roman Catholics, 
 Armenians, Copts, and others, forty-two years ago the priests 
 and laity were ignorant of the Christian religion. There was 
 not a single Christian school belonging to any denomination in 
 the whole of Palestine. We now have twenty-four Protestant 
 schools, containing about 1000 children — Druses, Moham- 
 medans, and Jews — who are taught the Word of God. Of these 
 twenty-four schools, fourteen are under my charge. The people 
 are not able to pay for the education, even Avere they willing ; 
 but they are becoming willing. After the Roman priests had 
 endeavoured to prevent the parents from sending their children 
 to our schools, the Greek Patriarch gave us a Bible school. 
 Finding their excommunication unsuccessful, they began to 
 open schools wherever I had succeeded in opening one, so that 
 for every one of our schools there are two others. They do not 
 teach the Bible, yet when the children begin to read, we give 
 them the pure Word of God. When the children repeat pas- 
 sages, their parents often request them to read out of the Word 
 of God. Almost everywhere there are more children in my one 
 school than in the Greek and Roman Catholic schools put 
 together. In Abyssinia about 6000 copies of the Scriptures 
 have been given away ; a number of the Jews and others are 
 reading the Bible there. When I first went to Jerusalem, there 
 was only one native Protestant ; Ave have now many congrega- 
 tions of people. They obtain no temporal benefit Avhatever 
 from becoming Protestants : on the contraiy, they have every- 
 thing against them." 
 
 Information receiA'ed in 1870 shoAvs that the JeAVs' boarding- 
 house in Jerusalem is steadily succeeding in its object. In 
 many synagogues, there the Rabbis received me very kindly — a 
 very great change from tAventy years before. On the other hand, 
 it is to be noticed, that in a letter to the ' Times ' of October 31, 
 1870, Mr. Palmer and Mr, T. Drake state that the Jcavs of 
 Damascus in many instances aided the Turks to slaughter the 
 Christians in i860, and that recently an intended massacre of 
 Christians had been prevented only by the prompt interference 
 of the English consul. This accusation Avas controverted in a 
 letter to the ' Times' of November 2, by Sir Moses Montefiori. 
 
 2 I
 
 UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 474 Itinerary. 
 
 [App. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Itinerary in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt — from 
 October, 1868, to April, 1869. 
 
 The dates denote where the Rob Roy stopped each night. 
 October 9, Southampton; 10-22, ' Tanj ore' steamer. 
 
 'October 23-26, Alexandria; 27, Steamer 'Tage'; 28, 29, 
 Port Said ; 30, Ras el Esh ; 31, November i, 2, Kantara ; 
 3, El Guisr ; 4, Ismailia ; 5, Lake Timsah ; 6, Ismailia ; 
 7, 8, Rameses ; 9, Serapeion ; 10, Zag-a-Zig ; 11, Cha- 
 louf ; 12-15, Suez ; 16, 17, Ain Moosa ; 18, Suez ; 19, 20, 
 Cairo ; 21-23, Boulak ; 24, Barrage ; 25, an island ; 26, 
 Benha ; 27, Zifteh ; 28, 29, Mansourah ; 30, Berimbal ; 
 December i, Menzaleh ; 2, Mushra ; 3, Zoan ; 4-7, Port 
 Said ; 8, 9, Steamer ' Tibre.' 
 
 /December 10-13, Beyrout ; 14, Lebanon ; 15, Mejdel ; 16, 
 
 Egypt 
 
 / 
 
 Syrl\ 
 
 El Hameh ; 17, 18, Doomar ; 19-21, Damascus; 22, 
 Jisrin ; 23, El Keisa ; 24, 25, Abana mouth ; 26-28, 
 Hijaneh ; 29, Nejha ; 30, Brak ; 31, Adalyeh ; January 
 
 I, Damascus ; 2, 3, Dimes ; 4, Rukleh ; 5, Bekafyeh ; 
 6, Jordan source ; 7, 8, Ford ; 9, lo, Khan. 
 
 January 11-13, Tell el Kady ; 14, Mansourah ; 15, Salhyeh 
 tent; 16, 17, Melaha ; 18, Almanyeh ; 19, Matarieh ; 20, 
 Jisr Yacob ; 21, Julias plain ; 22-25, Tell Hoom ; 26, 
 Ain et Tin ; 27, 28, Tiberias ; 29-31, Kerak ; February 1, 
 Palestine Magdala ; 2, Kefr Kenna ; 3, Maloolah ; 4, Kishon ; 5, 
 Jelami ; 6, 7, Haifa ; 8, Acre ; 9, Russian steamer ; 10, 
 
 II, Beyrout; 12, Austrian steamer; 13, 14, Joppa ; 15, 
 Ramleh ; February 16 to March 17, Jerusalem [four days 
 Dead Sea] ; March 18-21, Joppa ; 22-24, French steamer. 
 
 Egypt . . March 25-26, Alexandria. 
 
 March 27 to April 8, Steamer 'Delta' ; 9, Southampton. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 AND CHARING CROSS.
 
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