Tabor and the river Kishon form such prominent features* ; or of those Jews, of whom ten thousand were slain in a battle with Gabinius, near to Mount Tabor, during the Roman wars here. †

This village of Eksall is probably that of Xaloth, which is made one of the boundaries of the Lower Galilee, and whose name it still very nearly retains. In his description of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea, the Jewish historian says, "As for that Galilee which is called the Lower, it extends, in length, from Tiberias to Zabulon, and, of the maritime places, Ptolemais is its neighbour: its breadth is from the village called Xaloth, which lies in the Great Plain, as far as Bersabe, from which beginning also is taken the breadth of the Upper Galilee, as far as the village Baca, which divides the land of the Tyrians from it; its length is also from Meroth to Thellah, a village near to Jordan. ‡

The situation of this village of Eksall, on the edge of the great plain of Esdraelon, corresponds very accurately with that given to Xaloth, and its name may be traced, with but little variation beyond that which is common to names passing from one language to another; while the sepulchres here described sufficiently indicate it to be a place of great antiquity. §

From this village of Eksall, which is about an hour's distance from the foot of Tabor north-westerly, we began to ascend the rugged hills which form the eastern boundary of Esdraelon on our right; and from the steepness of the ascent, and the rocky nature of the path, it took us a full hour to gain the summit: all our party alighting from their horses except myself, who could not place my wounded foot on the ground.

When we had reached the top of the hill, which we computed to be about seven hundred feet above the level of the plain below, we found ourselves on the brink of an extensive hollow, like a

Judges, iv. 13, 14.

Wars of the Jews, b. iii. c. 3. s. 1.

+ Jewish Wars, b. i. c. 8. s. 7.

§ Reland de Palæstinæ nominibus, situ, terminis, partitione, &c. l. 1. c. 55. p. 367.; and lib. iii. de urbibus et vicis Palæstinæ, in voce Eaλú, p. 1062.

shallow bason, or the crater of a volcano, in shape, and the town of Nazareth before us in this hollow, to the north-east, seated on the southern side of a steep hill, and hemmed in on all sides by rising ground. Our descent from hence was gentle; and in half an hour, after passing through cultivated land and some green turf for pasture, we entered the town, which now appeared to us large, respectable, opulent, and well peopled, after the many smaller villages we had recently passed through on our way.

Our reception at the convent was full of kindness and respectful attention, though the superior himself was absent on a visit to Acre. I was lifted from my horse, and borne up stairs by the servants; and after passing an hour with the friars in mutual enquiry, had a medical application prepared for my wound, and gladly retired to my chamber for repose.

11th. For the whole of the last week I had been confined to the convent, the state of my foot rendering it impossible for me to proceed on my journey; and my time, during this interval, was chiefly employed in arranging the notes of our journey from Geraza to this place, and in prosecuting my studies of the vulgar Arabic from aids furnished me by the Padré Curator of the convent.

Mr. Bankes quitted us this morning, on an excursion to Acre, Mount Carmel, and Cesarea, and I was therefore left quite alone. As a first exercise, however, I ventured to mount my horse to-day, and took a short ride to the Mountain of the Precipitation, as it is called, from a belief that it is the one from which the enraged Nazareens sought to precipitate our Saviour.

The road towards it lies over a tolerably level space for nearly a mile, in a southern direction, and it then becomes necessary to dismount and go on foot over a very rugged road, descending into a deep ravine, between two hills. After a quarter of an hour's scramble we turned up on the right, and ascending the southern point of the hill, we came first to an altar in a recess hewn out of the rock. This was held sacred, as being the spot where Jesus dined with his disciples. There are, close by this, two large cir

cular cisterns for preserving rain-water, each well stuccoed on the inside; and, besides these, there are several portions of buildings, all said to be the remains of a religious establishment founded there by Santa Helena.

Immediately over this spot, and on the edge of a precipice about thirty feet in height, are two large flat stones, set up on their edges close to the brink. In the centre, and scattered over different parts of one of them, are several round marks, like the deep imprint of fingers in wax, and these are insisted on to be the marks of Christ's grasp when he clung to the stone, and thereby escaped being thrown headlong down.

This is among one of the most bungling of the absurd traditions which prevail in this land of miracles. St. Luke represents the Jews as thrusting Jesus out of the synagogue in which he taught, and leading him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong; but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. Nothing is more inconsistent, therefore, than to fix on this spot, miles distant from the synagogue which they present town, is almost inaccessible from the steep and rocky nature of the road, and is decidedly not on a hill on which Nazareth could ever have been built; nor is the statement of Christ's clinging to a stone for safety, more in harmony with the sentence which describes his escape.

as it is nearly two still shew in the

But this variance with the very scriptures on which they profess to found all their faith, might easily pass among a people who seldom read them, were it not that the ten great marks reckoned up in different parts of the stone as the impression of the ten fingers of the Messiah, are so disposed that they could not have been made at once by any possible position of the human hand, and are too clumsily executed and arranged to deceive even the most superficial observer.

St. Luke, iv. 28. to 30.

The view from this precipice commands the whole breadth of the plain of Esdraelon to the south, and while it shows the range of Carmel in the distance toward the sea-shore, it looks over also upon Hermon, at the foot of which is the village of Nain, where Jesus raised the widow's son. Mount Tabor and the sepulchres of Eksall are not visible from hence, being shut in by the eastern hills; but a number of small settlements are seen scattered over the plain.

On our return, I felt refreshed by the air and occupation of the ride; but I found my foot still to otender to be used without extreme caution, and suffered even from the slight exercise of this excursion.

I was determined, however, to prosecute my journey with all possible speed, and began, accordingly, to prepare for my departure to-morrow. From the best information which I could collect, the road by Tiberias to Damascus was recommended as the safest and shortest, and this, therefore, I proposed to pursue, taking only the precaution to provide myself with a person acquainted with the bye-paths and high-ways, and leaving the rest to fortune.

FEBRUARY 12th. Under the conduct of a guide from the town, we quitted Nazareth at an early hour, and ascended the hills to the eastward of it. Our road was stoney and rugged for the first two hours, when we were chiefly on hilly ground, and in the early part of it, we had a commanding view of the plain of Esdraelon and Mount Tabor, with the village of Eksall appearing through an opening in the hills.

At nine we passed under the village of Ain Mahhil, leaving it