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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

BETHLEHEM.

THROUGH

BIBLE LANDS

NOTES OF TRAVEL

IN

EGYPT, THE DESERT, AND PALESTINE,

BY PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D.,
PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LEARNING IN THE UNION THEOL. SEMINARY, NEW YORK.

A

AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
I 50 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.

ScUl4-

COPYRIGHT, 1878,
BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY.

SACRED

TO THE MEMORY

MY DAUGHTER META,

WHOSE LAMENTED DEATH WAS THE OCCASION OF THIS BOOK.

PREFACE

These sketches of Bible Lands for Bible readers have grown out
of a series of familiar letters which I wrote from the banks of the
Nile, and from the tent in the Wilderness and in Palestine; remem
bering that those who enjoy the privilege of travelling abroad ought
to give to their friends at home the benefit of their experience. In
the process of reconstruction the letters have grown into chapters
and lost somewhat the freshness of first impressions, but gained, I
trust, in solidity and instructiveness. Bible Lands, like the Bible
itself, are of such universal and such perennial interest that they
will continually demand new books and new comments.
The object of the book is to give the general reader a clear idea
of the actual condition and prospects of the East by a simple nar
rative of what I saw and heard and felt on the spot. I am not an
explorer, like my honored predecessor and friend, Dr. Robinson,
whose Biblical Researches, though written forty years ago, are still
the highest authority in Biblical geography; neither am I gifted
with that genius for word-painting which imparts to Dean Stanley's
Sinai and Palestine the charm of a novel. But without entering
into learned discussions, I have given the results of the latest in
vestigations as far as I was able to verify them by personal obser
vation. I have also paid much attention to the missionary schools
and churches which represent the Orient of the future.
A domestic affliction was the sad occasion for this my first jour
ney to the East. I went with no intention to write a book, but to
gain relief, and fresh inspiration for Bible studies. I left New
York with my wife and only surviving daughter in December, [876,
1*

6 PREFACE.
passed rapidly through England, France, and Italy, and spent the
winter and spring in Egypt, the Sinaitic Wilderness, Palestine and
Syria. I then visited, during the Russian and Turkish war, Cyprus,
Smyrna, Constantinople, and Athens, and returned by way of
Trieste, Venice, Switzerland, Germany, England, and Scotland,
reaching New York again in August, 1877. While in Africa and
Asia I enjoyed almost perpetual sunshine. I was reported impris
oned and even massacred in the Great Desert, but not a hair of
my head has been hurt. I met kind Christian friends and brethren
everywhere. The shadows of death followed me, but the God of
Israel went before me in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of
fire by night.
I shall ever look back to this eastern journey with pleasure and
gratitude, and shall feel abundantly repaid if this unpretending
record of my experience will help the reader to a better under.
standing of the Book of books, and a deeper interest in the revival
of true Christianity in the land of its birth. PHILIP SCHAFF.
New York, October, 1878.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAP. I. Bible Lands  page ii
PART FIRST:
EGYPT.
CHAP. II. From New York to Alexandria  ¦  19
CHAP. III. Alexandria  ---  - 25
CHAP. IV. Cairo  31
CHAP. V. The Pyramids  39
CHAP. VI. Heliopolis   56
CHAP. VII. UptheNile --   62
CHAP. VIII. Luxor and Thebes   -  - 73
CHAP. IX. From Luxor to Phite  7§
CHAP. X. Egyptology and the Bible    82
CHAP. XI. Ancient and Modern Egypt Compared  -- 104
CHAP. XII. The Mohammedan Religion   no
CHAP. XIII. Christianity in Egypt   - l22

8 CONTENTS.
PART SECOND.
THE SINAITIC PENINSULA.
CHAP. XIV. Thirty Days on the Camel  '33
CHAP. XV. The Great Wilderness   '45
CHAP. XVI. 'Ayun Miisa and the Exodus --  >5°
CHAP. XVII. From 'Ayun Musa to Mount Sinai   163
CHAP. XVIII. Mount Sinai---  -   I7I
CHAP. XIX. The Convent of St. Catharine  --  184
CHAP. XX. From Mount Sinai to Gaza  196
? ¦ ¦  —
PART THIRD.
THE HOL Y LAND.
CHAP. XXI. Hebron  207
CHAP. XXII. Bethlehem  - 220
CHAP. XXIII. Jerusalem  -  232.
CHAP. XXIV. Religion in Jerusalem    240
CHAP. XXV. Mount Moriah, and the Dome of the Rock  253
CHAP. XXVI. Calvary, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre  259
CHAP. XXVII. Mount Olivet, and Bethany  271
CHAP. XXVIII. The Convent of Mar Saba  -  278
CHAP. XXIX. The Dead Sea  •--- 283

CONTENTS. 9
CHAP. XXX. The Jordan  -  296
CHAP. XXXI. Samaria   -  308
CHAP. XXXII. Nazareth--  320
CHAP. XXXIII. Tabor and Hermon   330
CHAP. XXXIV. The Lake of Galilee--.  337
CHAP. XXXV. Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin  343
CHAP. XXXVI. Cassaraa Philippi  355
CHAP. XXXVII. Damascus  361
CHAP. XXXVIII. Beirut   373
CHAP. XXXIX. Farewell to the Holy Land  383
CHAP. XL. The Regeneration of the Orient  391
Meaning of Arabic Words     4°7
Alphabetical Index  -  4°9

MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

Bethlehem  Frontispiece
Park in Cairo   -  page 31
Ascent of the Pyramid --    -  45
The Sphinx and a Pyramid  -  -  47
Luxor: from the Nile  -    73
Obelisk of On  -  -  73
Colossi of Memnon : Thebes  -  -- 81
Temple of Aboo Simbel  -  ---  - 81
Map of Egypt and the Sinaitic Peninsula  -   145
Camel-riding    -  - - r39
Mount Serbal    --181
Map of Palestine in the Time of Christ    207
Hebron   -    -   209
Mount Olivet and Gethsemane     209
Rachel's Tomb    218
Jerusalem: from the Mount of Olives   -  -  232
Pool of Hezekiah  -  ---237
Jaffa  - —  -  —  23S
Via Dolorosa   -  -  -  241
Mosque of Omar  -    -  255
Bethany   -  --273
Plain Er-Rahah, and Convent of St. Catharine  281
Convent of Mar-Sab a    -  281
Jericho and the Dead Sea    -  --298
Ruined Fountain at Jericho   305
Shechem--    314
Nazareth  --  -  314
Mount Tabor  -  -  330
Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee  339
Damascus  -    361
Tyre    37S

THROUGH
Bible Lands.

CHAPTER I.
Introductory — Egypt — The Desert — Palestine — Mode
of Travel in the East — Novelty of Scenes — Practi
cal Use.
Dear reader, I propose to take you on a flying visit
to Bible lands, and to give you in a few leisure hours
an outline of what I saw in five months. February is
the best season for Egypt, March for the wilderness,
April and May for Palestine and Syria, June for Greece
and Italy. In Egypt we sail on the Nile and ride on the
donkey, in the Desert we use the camel, in Palestine and
Syria the horse. But you may do all this on the swift
wings of your imagination, while sitting in your easy-
chair at home.
The progress of actual travel in the Orient is slow,
but not too slow for enjoyment and instruction. A whole
day is required for a distance which can be traversed by
railway in an hour. The mode of travelling in the
Desert, the Holy Land, and in parts of Egypt, is the
same as in the days of the patriarchs, more than three

12 BIBLE LANDS.
thousand years ago, and that is one of its peculiar
charms, which will be broken when modern civilization
shall have penetrated the East. We engage a dragoman,
who provides the outfit and acts as interpreter between
the traveller and the Arab servants. We take with us
a caravan of Bedawin, with tents, provision, and cook
ing apparatus. There are no turnpikes, no carriages, no
hotels, except a few in the large cities, kept by Euro
peans. The Arab inns or khans are forbidding and
destitute of all comforts required by civilized people. I
spent a night in the convent of Mar Saba, and another
in an inn at Jericho, kept by a Greek, but lost my sleep
by those unmentionable little creatures with which
Beelzebub tries the patience of man.
In the Orient all is primitive and novel to Europeans
and Americans. Their first impression is wonderment
at the strange sights of men and things which appear to
them like a masquerade or fancy-fair gotten up for their
special amusement. The Orientals, judged by Western
habits, do everything the wrong way : they eat with the
fingers ; they sit, not on chairs, but cross-legged on the
floor or the earth; they keep their women veiled and
out of public sight ; they write on their knees and from
right to left ; they take off their shoes in the mosque
and keep on their fez or turban. Any scrap of cotton,
or linen, or silk of any color, a blanket, a shawl, a sash,
a shirt, loosely thrown over the body, serves them as a
dress ; but they always look picturesque, and have a
native courtesy and dignity which contrast favorably
with their otherwise degraded and beggarly condition.

BENEFITS OF TRAVEL. 13
Modern civilization is monotonous, it has a tendency to
level distinctions and to impress a uniform type upon
men of all classes of society; it sets up the dumb idol of
fashion which rules supreme over crowned monarchs
and republican presidents. In the East there is much
more independence and variety; there the Arab, the
Turk, the Armenian, the Maronite, the Copt, the Jew,
the Nubian, the Bedawin, the dervish, the priest, the
official, the merchant, the mechanic, the barber, the
dragoman, the donkey-boy, the runner, the singer, the
serpent-charmer, the fruit-seller, the water-carrier, the
slave, the beggar — all appear in their distinct individ
uality and costume; each consults his own taste or
whim, and is never disturbed by the ever-changing fash
ions of Paris.
What is the use of travelling in the East? Does it
repay for all the time, the money, the fatigue, the vexa
tion and annoyance inseparable from it ? The benefit
of travel depends upon the disposition and preparation
of the traveller. Such preparation is especially neces
sary in the East. The more knowledge we carry with us,
the more we shall bring back. Multitudes of travellers
return as ignorant and empty as they start; while others,
from the study of books, may become as familiar with
foreign nations and countries as with their own. For
tunately it is not necessary for the majority of readers
to visit Bible lands in order to understand the Bible, any
more than it is to know Greek and Hebrew- Some of
the best Biblical scholars and commentators — Augus
tine, Luther, Calvin, Grotius, Matthew Henry, Bengel,
2

14 BIBLE LANDS.
Olshausen, Hengstenberg, Tholuck, Meyer, Ewald —
never visited the Holy Land. Dean Howson prepared
the geographical sections which gave the work on the
" Life and Epistles of St. Paul " such a wide popularity,
merely from books. Even the founder of the science
of comparative geography, Carl Ritter, never saw Pal
estine and the Sinaitic Peninsula which he so fully and
so accurately described.
But after all it is an inestimable advantage to see
with one's own eyes the birthplaces of the authors of the
Sacred Writings, and their surroundings, and to be able
to speak from personal observation and experience. Man
ners and' customs are so stationary in the East, that you
are transferred as by magic to the age of the apostles,
the prophets, and the patriarchs. A flood of light is
thrown on the meaning of innumerable passages which
appear strange at a distance, but quite natural on the
spot. A thoughtful traveller fills his memory with a
gallery of photographic pictures more valuable than any
number of books. Whenever he reads afterwards of the
visits of Abraham, Joseph and Jacob to Egypt, the mir
acles of Moses, the wanderings of the Israelites, of Hebron,
Bethlehem, Nazaceth, the Dead Sea, the river Jordan,
the Lake of Gennesaret, Mount Hermon, the cedars of
Lebanon, Jerusalem, Bethany, Gethsemane, and Mount
Olivet, the places and scenes rise up before his mental eye
with a vividness which they never had before. The
ruinous condition of those countries may diminish the
poetry, but the impression of the reality is deepened.
Palestine has not been inaptly termed "the fifth Gospel."

BENEFITS OF TRAVEL. 15
It is the framework in which the canonical Gospels are
set. I would advise every theological student who can
afford it, to complete his Biblical education by a visit to
the Holy Land. It will be of more practical use to him
in his pulpit labors than the lectures of the professors
in Oxford or Cambridge, in Berlin or Leipzig, valuable
as these may be. The best thing, of course, is to com
bine the most thorough theoretical study and personal
experience on the spot. A sound and correct histor
ical understanding of the Bible has gained much from
the researches of scholarly travellers, and will gain
still more in time to come. For the Holy Scriptures
have a human body as well as a divine soul ; they strike
their roots deep in the soil from which they sprang, while
their ideas soar to heaven ; they are thoroughly oriental,
and yet wonderfully adapted for all mankind in all ages
of the world.

FIRST PART
Egypt.

FIRST PAET,
Egypt.

CHAPTER II.
FROM NEW YORK TO ALEXANDRIA.
Egypt— From New York to Brindisi— Corfu— Crete-
Alexandria.
Let us begin with Egypt, the country of the Nile,
the land of pyramids and sphinxes, of temples and tombs,
of hieroglyphics and mummies, of sacred bulls and croco
diles, of despotic power and slavish degradation. There
the patriarchal -family found a hospitable home and grew
into a nation ; there Joseph rose from slavery into which
he was sold by his jealous brothers, to the highest posi
tion in the kingdom, and preserved the purity of his
faith and character amid surrounding idolatry and cor
ruption ; there Moses was born and educated in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians ; there he wrought his miracles
and became the leader of his people from bondage to
freedom, himself a pyramid among the great mer of
antiquity — held in veneration to this day by the followers
of three religions, the Christian, the Jewish, and the
Mohammedan. The land of Egypt is imbedded in the

2o BIBLE LANDS.
Decalogue as the house of bondage out of which the
Lord God brought his people. Egypt gave shelter to
the infant Jesus and his parents against the wrath of
Herod, and the venerable tree is still shown near Heli-
opolis under which Mary and Joseph are said to have
rested from the fatigue of their journey. In a double
sense it is true what was spoken by the Lord through
the prophet, " Out of Egypt have I called my son."
The chief attraction to the traveller are the ruins of
the oldest civilization which are scattered over the valley
of the Nile and make it the most wonderful valley in the '
world. Egypt is a green garden between two deserts,
watered by the noblest river, and consecrated by the
imperishable memorials of a history of five thousand
years. " I shall enlarge upon what concerns Egypt,"
says Herodotus, the father of history, "because it con
tains more wonders than any other country, and because
there is no other country where we may see so many
works which are admirable and beyond all expression."
After a rough winter passage over the stormy Atlantic
and the equally disagreeable English channel, we take
the railroad at Calais and rapidly pass through Paris,
Geneva, the "tunnel of Mount Cenis, Turin, Bologna,
Florence, Rome and Naples, and then, turning eastward,
we reach Brindisi on the southeastern shore of Italy, the
starting point for our voyage to the land of the Pha
raohs. I congratulate you that in this vicarious mode of
travelling you are spared the nasty experience of sea
sickness and the monotonous prison life on board a
crowded ship with its seventy perfumes, " separate, dis-

NEW YORK TO ALEXANDRIA. 21
tinct, and well defined," which I never smelled at Cologne,
but on many an ocean steamer. A Frenchman on pay
ing his tribute to Neptune, well remarked, " ¥ or plaisir I
cross the ocean ne-v-er!" Sea-sickness is nowhere better
described than in the good old Bible when speaking of
those who " reel to and fro," who " stagger like a drunken
man, abhor all manner of meat, are at their wit's end and
draw near unto .the gates of death.'' (Psa. 107.) But
we soon get over it when we land, and feel all the better
for the process of purification. The passage across the
European continent is a succession of pleasures even to
an old traveller, and is made doubly agreeable by meet
ing good friends everywhere.
We leave Brindisi in an Austrian steamer on Friday
night, January 26, for Corfu, in good company — mostly
English, Scotch, and American. Mr. Thomas Cook,
from London, the founder and head of the now famous
firm, " Thomas Cook & Son," is with us, hoping to get
rid of a troublesome cough in the milder climate of
Egypt. He is a plain, self-educated, enterprising and
energetic Englishman, now about seventy years of age.
He is a member of the Baptist church, and takes great
interest in the Baptist missions in Rome and Naples.
He has earned the gratitude of many travellers who find
it a great convenience to use his tickets, especially in
the East.
The weather is threatening and reminds us of the
stormy passage of Caesar from this port, and his stirring
words to the timid captain: "Be of good cheer! Thou
earnest Caesar and his fortunes!"

22 BIBLE LANDS.
We arrive on Saturday afternoon in Corfu, (Korkyra,)
and breathe the air of Greece, that wonderful little coun
try, which in the intellectual and artistic progress of the
world occupies as prominent a position as little Palestine
does in the history of religion. Corfu is a beautiful
island, with a fine climate and southern vegetation. In
1815 it came into the possession of the English, but in
1864 it was ceded to the kingdom of Greece, together
with the other Ionian Islands, Cephalonia and Zante.
This generous act is mainly due to the exertions of the
Hon. W. E. Gladstone, whose liberal statesmanship and
Homeric scholarship made him a friend of New Hellas.
The inhabitants, however, with all their Greek patriotism,
regret the loss of English sovereigns and commercial
prosperity since the annexation. Passing through the
street, we are pleasantly entertained by the Greek signs
on the houses and shops, and the picturesque costumes
of the Greeks, Albanians, and Montenegrins. We find
comfortable lodgings in the St. George's Hotel, on the
Promenade, opposite the royal castle, look in the Lon
don "Times" for the latest news, and enjoy the magnifi
cent view over the sea, the islands, and the mountains of
Albania. On Sunday we attend mass in the Greek church of
St. Spiridion, the patron-saint of the Ionian islands, once
Bishop of Cyprus, and a member of the council of Nicaea,
who even after his consecration remained a rustic shepherd.
From fear that he might disgrace the first oecumenical
assembly of Christendom by his ignorance, his brother
bishops cut off the heads of his two donkeys ; but Spiri-

NEW YORK TO ALEXANDRIA. 23
dion, the legend states, performed the amazing feat of
raising the donkeys to life, reached Nicsea in time and
voted on the orthodox side and for the condemnation of
Arius. We see the worshippers crowd around his silver
coffin. To kiss this coffin and the pictures of the Sav
iour and the Virgin seems to be the chief act of devotion
in Corfu. After mass the priest distributes pieces of
bread to the people who kiss his hand. This half-com
munion is a commemoration of the Agape or Love-feast
of the primitive church.
From the early Greek service we proceed at eleven
o'clock to the English Episcopal chapel, and listen to an
indifferent sermonette on natural religion, in which the
name of Christ is barely mentioned ; while the Greek
mass made me at least think of the cross and the atone
ment. I do not know to which party the officiating
clergyman belongs ; he may be high and dry, or low
and slow ; he may be attitudinarian or platitudinarian ;
but he is certainly neither broad nor deep. It would
of course be great injustice to take his dull essay for
a fair specimen of the sermons of Anglican chaplains
on the continent. I greatly honor the Church of
England for her active interest in the spiritual benefit
of travellers, and I often enjoy her services. If the
sermon is poor, the prayers of the Liturgy are always
good and edifying, and I never get tired of the Creed,
the Te Deum, and the Gloria in Excelsis.
On Monday morning we sail in the " Hungaria," an
Austrian Lloyd steamer, which came from Trieste, for
Egypt. We pass the Ionian Islands, Ithaca (not for-

24 BIBLE LANDS.
getting faithful Penelope and Ulysses' return), and
Crete, which brings vividly to mind the voyage and ship
wreck of St. Paul. The weather is only tolerable, and
some of us fare no better than on the Atlantic. As far
as the discomfort of this prison life at sea will permit, we
read Paul's Epistle to Titus, the last chapters of Acts,
sections from Stanley's " Sinai and Palestine," Murray's
"Egypt," Wallace's "Desert and the Holy Land," and
Mark Twain's " Innocents Abroad."
On Thursday, the ist of February, we come in sight
of Alexandria, and the vision of the Orient flashes over
our bewildered eyes.

ALEXANDRIA. 25
CHAPTER III.
ALEXANDRIA.
The Gate of Egypt— A Babel of Nationalities and
Tongues— The Donkey Boys— Old Alexandria—
The Column of Pompey, and the Needles of Cleo
patra — Modern Alexandria— Through the Delta
and to Cairo.
Alexandria is the gate of Egypt. As soon as we
arrive in the harbor we are surrounded by a mob of
swarthy and tumultuous Arabs, with a fleet of boats, most
anxious to seize the passengers and their baggage.
Cook's agent and boatmen, distinguished by red shirts
and Cook's flag, take charge of us, and bring us in a
short time through the custom-house to the Hotel de
l'Europe on the Place of Mohammed Ali.
The sight of Alexandria is a fit introduction to
Oriental lands. The Babel of nationalities and tongues,
the shouting and fighting of turbaned, bare-legged and
bare-footed boatmen and donkey-boys, the picturesque
dresses of all shapes and colors, the poverty and wretch
edness, the everlasting cry for " backsheesh," which here
greets us for the first time — all is novel and exciting.
The harbor and street life in Naples present a somewhat
similar scene.
The Arab donkey-boys are a characteristic institu
tion of Egypt, and we may as well make their acquain
tance at once. They are a jolly, good-natured, quick-

26 BIBLE LANDS.
witted and importunate set of vagabonds. They discern
the nationality of the traveller in a minute, and pick up
the broken fragments of half a dozen tongues, with a
decided preference for the English as the most profitable.
They recommend their long-eared animals to a German
as donkey " Bismarck," to a Frenchman as " Napoleon,"
or " Thiers," to an Englishman as " Gladstone," or " Tich-
borne," to an American as " Grant," " Minnehaha," or
"Yankee Doodle." "My donkey good donkey;" "My
donkey speak English." Nine-tenths of the travellers in
the East are English and Americans, and this accounts
for the rapid spread of the English language even among
the donkey-boys and the Bedawin at the Pyramids. It
is fast gaining on the Italian and French, which formerly
were the only medium of intercourse, besides the native
Arabic, which few foreigners acquire. The language of
Shakespeare and Milton is destined to be the cosmopolitan
tongue. It carries with it Christian civilization and
liberty and the richest literature in the world.
The modern city of Alexandria is of considerable
commercial importance, and numbers more than 200,000
inhabitants, including 50,000 Europeans. But the Suez
Canal and Port Said have injured its trade.
The city was founded by Alexander the Great, who
was buried there. Napoleon said that Alexander show
ed more genius in the selection of this spot than in his
victories, and that this city which could harbor all the
navies was destined to be the metropolis of the world.
It became the capital of Egypt, the residence of the
Ptolemies. It contained in the days of its glory over

ALEXANDRIA. 27
half a million of inhabitants. It was the centre of com
merce between the East and the West, and the chief seat
of heathen, Jewish, and Christian literature, with immense
libraries, one of which numbered 400,000 rolls. There
the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into the Greek by
seventy interpreters, (hence the name, " the Septuagint,")
two centuries before the Christian era. There arose
the Alexandrian Greek dialect, called the Hellenistic,
which, with its Hebrew coloring, became the organ of
early Christianity and still lives on the pages of the
New Testament. There Philo blended the Mosaic reli
gion with the Platonic philosophy, and dreamed of the
Logos who became flesh for our salvation. There St.
Mark founded a Christian church, which in the course of
time became one of the • patriarchal sees, outranking
Jerusalem and Antioch, though outranked afterward by
Constantinople and Rome. There flourished the first
theological seminary, under the name of the Catechetical
School, in which Clement and Origen expounded the
Scriptures and taught the Christian religion as the last
and best system of philosophy, as the true gnosis, in
opposition to the falsely so-called gnosis of the Gnostics
and New Platonists, who had their headquarters in tne
same city. There arose, in the fourth century, the Arian
heresy; but there also its chief opponent, Athanasius,
the "father of orthodoxy," who alone against the world,
{Athanasius versus mimdum) in his episcopal seat and in
exile, in the city and in the desert, defended the eternal
deity of our Lord as the corner-stone of the Christian
faith and hope.

28 BIBLE LANDS.
The founding of the rival city of Constantinople, the
violent theological controversies and schisms, the con
quest of Omar, the discovery of the sea-passage to India,
the misrule of the Turks, are among the chief causes of
the gradual decline of Alexandria from a splendid city
of half a million to a miserable village of five thousand,
surrounded by swamp and desert. The new era of
Alexandria dates from the wise and energetic though
despotic Mohammed Ali, and the construction of the
canal, in 1819, which connected it once more with the
Nile and the rest of Egypt, by the forced labor of 250,000
men and at a cost of seven and a half millions of francs.
Of old Alexandria, heathen and Christian, very little
remains. It disappeared like the famous library, which
the semi-barbarous Kalif Omar burnt. His plea for this
act of vandalism was the absolute sufficiency of the
Koran, which made every other book either superfluous
or injurious. The only monuments of old times are the
Catacombs, the miscalled column of Pompey, and the
Needles of Cleopatra. The column of Pompey is named,
not from the famous Pompey who, after his defeat at
Pharsalus, was murdered on the coast of Egypt; but
from a Roman prefect, who erected it to the honor of
the Emperor Diocletian. It stands on an elevation and
is surrounded by rubbish and filth. Close by is a Mo
hammedan cemetery with innumerable oven-like white
tombs, and a little farther off the Catacombs.
The Needles of Cleopatra on the seashore are two obe
lisks of red granite dating from the time of the Pharaohs.
They have nothing to do with that licentious queen who

ALEXANDRIA. 29
conquered her Roman conquerors and ended with suicide.
They were removed from Heliopolis under Tiberius.
One was long ago presented by Mohammed Ali to the
English government, but it was not thought worth the
cost of transportation, and lay in the sand and mud
until in the summer of 1877, when it was carried to Eng
land to adorn the new embankment of the Thames. The
other still stands erect. The Needles of Cleopatra, how
ever, are far inferior to the Obelisk of Luxor, which
since 1834 adorns the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Alexandria can easily be seen in a day. The Frank
quarter has some fine buildings and is fast improving.
The native quarters are full of filth and misery. Oph
thalmia prevails to a fearful extent all over Egypt, espe
cially among children, whose eyes are besieged with flies,
and the parents make no attempt to drive them away. I
had the first illustration of the Scriptures in the water-
carriers — men with water-skins on their shoulders and
women carrying huge water-jars gracefully on their
heads. The most interesting part is the picturesque
Oriental life in the streets, and the people sitting, work
ing, eating, smoking, and sleeping on the ground. But
this may be studied to better advantage in Cairo.
The journey from Alexandria to Cairo takes about
five hours by railway and is full of surprises. It is the
first railway that was built in the East (1855), and must
have struck the Arabs with amazement. The tickets are
marked with Arabic letters, which an Irishman compared
to a hen-scratch. The road passes through the rich
plains of the Delta, the old land of Goshen, and on the
3*

30 BIBLE LANDS.
right bank of the Nile. The country is as flat and as
fertile as a prairie of Illinois, and one need not wonder
that the children of Israel in the barren desert were
sighing for the flesh-pots, the onions and the garlic of
Egypt. Strange sights present themselves to the eye as
we advance — green fields of cotton, beans, wheat, and
barley ; the tamarisk, the stately palm-tree ; flocks of
wild ducks, white ibises, pelicans, and storks ; trains of
camels, loaded with sacks of grain and chicken-coops ;
officers prancing along on horses or donkeys ; fellaheen
ploughing with buffaloes or pumping water from the Nile
and the canals ; mud villages, mosques, and minarets ;
crowds of half-naked men, women, and children at every
station ; and in the far distance the yellow hills of the
desert and the lofty pyramids, at the sight of which a
thrill goes through the soul. In the afternoon we reach
the station at Cairo ; and, after escaping the confusion of
men, donkeys, camels, and cabs, we are comfortably
lodged in Shepheard's Hotel, one of the best in the East,
kept by a German, in the new part of the city.
"The climate is delightful. We are suddenly trans
planted from winter to spring, from clouds and rain to
perpetual sunshine. During our whole sojourn in Egypt
we saw rain but once, and that hardly sufficient for the
sprinkling of a lotus. Egypt is truly the land of the sun.

Il|r\fV ;, ..li
1 Vn, M I ¦HIM
¦ I »MSiT*

lH Pi' --

PARK IN CAIRO.

CAIRO. 3 1

CHAPTER IV.
CAIRO.
The Capital of Egypt— The Cosmopolis of the East —
The Street Life— The Bazaars— The Citadel— The
Mosques— The Old University El-Azhar— The New
University of the Khedive— The Library— The Mu
seum of Boulak — Old Cairo — Roda — The Palaces.
Cairo (Masr el-Kahira, the Victorious), the capital of
Egypt and of the Arab world, is also a capital of Moham
medanism and the East, second in importance only to
Constantinople. It is the counterpart of Paris, London,
and New York, the cosmopolitan cities of Christendom
and the West. It has a thoroughly Oriental character,
though not so exclusively as Damascus, but, like Con
stantinople, with a considerable infusion of European life
and civilization which are fast making inroads upon the
conservative East. The great mass of the 400,000 in
habitants are Egyptian Arabs, and followers of Islam.
The rest are Copts (or Egyptian Christians) ; Turks
(who are, of course, all Moslems) ; Bedawin (or Arabs of
the desert) ; Jews, Italians, Greeks, French, Germans,
English, and a few Americans. The last class occupy
' high positions in the army, or spend the winter there for
health and pleasure.
The greatest charm of Cairo is the street-life. It is
as amusing, exciting and bewildering as the " Arabian

32 BIBLE LANDS.
Nights" entertainments, and makes an indelible impres
sion upon the traveller. It is a moving panorama of all
nationalities, creeds, languages, and costumes, with a
strong preponderance of the Oriental and semi-barbarous
element. It is a perpetual carnival, which defies descrip
tion. The boulevards of Paris, London Bridge, and New
York Broadway, are tame compared with it. You may
enjoy this unique spectacle quietly sitting on the veran
dah of Shepheard's Hotel ; but still better in the old
town, especially the Muskee. The old houses are high
and narrow, with upper stories projecting. The streets
are covered with rafters and matting, to keep out the
glare of the sun, and are lined with open shops of every
variety. They are alive with gaudily-dressed and half-
dressed men and veiled women, water-carriers, pedlers
of all kinds of wares, braying donkeys, growling camels,
barking dogs, horses and carriages — all jostling against
each other in endless confusion. In Muskee the crowd
is so dense that it seems impossible to get through, and
the noise so loud that you cannot hear your own voice.
A German called it . a veritable Hollenscandal. Every
carriage and aristocratic donkey is preceded by one or
more fleet runners (sais), in short trowsers, bare legs,
and with a long staff to clear the way. The men wear
the red fez or turbans of all colors. The green color
marks a descendant of the Prophet or a pilgrim to Mecca.
Mohammed's banner was green, and hence, to unfold
the green banner of the Prophet means to declare a
religious war against the infidels. The women are im
prisoned in long veils of silk or muslin, white or black or

CAIRO. 33
blue, according to rank; the veil is divided about the
forehead, and fastened to a pin or cylinder of brass or
silver over the nose so as to leave the dark, restless, and
frightened eyes free to satisfy the curiosity. Many of the
lower women carry naked babies on their shoulders or in
baskets, and the eyes of the poor children are in undis
turbed possession of swarms of flies. Not many years ago
it would have been dangerous for a female to appear
unveiled on the street ; now you see plenty of Europeans
in their usual dress. The old fanaticism of Islam has
been hopelessly undermined under the liberal regime of
the present Khedive.
I will not attempt to describe the bazaars, in which
the ladies are specially interested. There are special
bazaars for gold and silver ornaments, for silks, for car
pets, for slippers, for pipes and tobacco, for antiquities
mostly of modern manufacture, for fez caps, for hardware
and all sorts of ware, Oriental and Occidental, genuine
and spurious. They are mostly in narrow lanes, half-
lighted and aglow with gorgeous colors. The merchant
sits cross-legged, smoking his long pipe, in the midst of
his goods, in all his Oriental dignity, I well remember
a patriarchal-looking Jew who calls himself " Far-away-
Moses," who treated us to a cup of Persian tea and per
suaded us to buy silks, covers and slippers for about half
the " fixed " prices he at first asked. I met him after
wards in Constantinople in the same business.
My first excursion was to the Citadel. It affords a
commanding view of the city, the Valley of the Nile, the
distant Pyramids, the sands and hills of the desertbeyond.

34 BIBLE LANDS.
It is one of the finest pictures in the world and can never
be forgotten. On this spot Mohammed Ali, by a treach
erous massacre, destroyed the power of the Mamelukes
(1811), whose chiefs he had invited to a military parade.
One only escaped death by a bold leap on horseback
over the wall.
Within the limits of the Citadel is the beautiful ala
baster Mosque of Mohammed Ali, with the tomb of this
great but unscrupulous tyrant, who died in insanity
(1849). ^ was completed in 1857. It is certainly one
of the noblest structures of that kind, and, being new, it
is exceptionally clean and elegant. The Mosque of Sultan
Hassan, at the foot of the Citadel, completed in 1359, is
called " the splendid ;" but it is neglected and in a state of
decay, like many other temples of Islam. Opposite to it
is the unfinished mosque of the mother of the Khedive.
The Moslem architecture grew out of the round form
of the tent, the habitation of the Bedawin, and combines
with it the cupola of the Byzantine churches. The
mosques are covered with carpets or rugs, for kneeling
and prostration, and a pulpit or reading-desk ; but they
have no seats, no benches, no altar, no pictures, and be
tray the iconoclastic character of Mohammedan worship.
One of the most instructive sights to me was the old
Moslem University, founded in 975, in the Mosque El-
Azhar. It is the largest in- the world and numbers over
10,000 pupils and 320 professors, from all Mohammedan
nations. Many, however, attend it to escape conscription
to the army, which in Egypt and Turkey is feared more
than death. It is the hot-bed of Mohammedan fanaticism.

CAIRO. 35
The Koran is the only text-book for grammar, logic, law,
and philosophy, as well as theology. The university has
the appearance of a huge Sunday-school. The students
sit cross-legged on the floor, in small groups, reading or
listening to the instruction of the teacher. There they
also eat, and sleep on a blanket or straw mat. They
support themselves, or are supported by the alms of the
faithful. The professors receive no salary, and are sup
ported by private instruction, copying books, and presents
from rich scholars. There are no benches, no chairs, no
beds, no comforts of any kind. The simplicity and self-
denial of this student-life is something marvellous. Our
theological students could not stand it a week. Attached
to the Mosque is a chapel for 300 blind scholars. I
visited the University twice, in company with Dr. Lansing,
of Cairo, and Dr. Hogg, of Osiout, who familiarly con
versed in Arabic ; but some scholars looked rather sus
piciously at us. We had first to get permission from the
headquarters of the police, and to wait nearly an hour
till the formalities were gone through. The head -of
police, formerly a Circassian slave, sat there in his digni
ty and politely treated us to a little cup of dark coffee
and a cigarette, the usual manifestation of Oriental hos
pitality. He wrote his orders to the many servants who
passed in and out, not on the table or the divan, but on
his knee. As long as El-Azhar is thronged with students,
> Islam will be a great power in Africa and Asia.
In striking contrast to this Old University is the New
University, founded by the Khedive and superintended
by Mr. Dor, the minister of public instruction, a Swiss

36 BIBLE LANDS.
by birth. I had a letter of introduction to him from my
friend Dr. Godet in Neuchatel, and I found him a very
intelligent and courteous gentleman, but in delicate
health. He gave me much information about the schools
ia Egypt, and complained of the want of funds. The
New University represents the modern system of secular
education, without religion, and affords instruction in all
modern languages ; while in the Old University the
Koran and the Arabic are the exclusive object and organ
of teaching. It numbers, however, only 300 pupils, and
is looked upon with suspicion by the genuine Moslems.
Time will show whether the new civilization is able to
conquer the old fanaticism.
Near the New University is the library of the Khedive,
founded in 1870. It numbers already over 25,000 vol
umes, mostly Arabic, Turkish, and French works. It is
especially rich in old copies of the Koran (musahif), col
lected from the various mosques of Cairo. They are of
large size, written with the greatest skill and care, well
bound, and present the finest specimens of Arab calli
graphy, equal to the best mediaeval manuscripts of the
Bible. The student of the Koran and its commentators
will scarcely find a more favorable opportunity to prose
cute his work than here. The obliging librarian, Dr.
Spitta, is an excellent Arabic scholar, a pupil of Profes
sor Fleischer, of Leipsic, and a son of the sweet German
singer, the author of " Psaltery and Harp." A brother
of his is a theologian and superintends the Tholuck
stipend at Halle.
No one interested in Egyptian history and antiquities

CAIRO. 37
will fail to visit the museum at Boulak, a suburb and
harbor of Cairo, on the right bank of the Nile. Although
of recent origin, it has already, by the indefatigable zeal
of its founder and superintendent, Mariette-Bey, become
one of the richest collections of Egyptian antiquities, and
can favorably compare with those of Turin, Berlin, the
Louvre, and the British Museum. The building is too
small, and a larger one is in course of preparation, on
the other side of the Nile. The original locality of all
the articles is known. A French catalogue, prepared by
Mariette-Bey, gives a full description. Badeker also, in
the first part of his Aigypten (1877), dwells on it at length
(pp. 313-324). Among the most interesting curiosities
is the wooden statue of a civil officer, of striking indi
viduality, which contrasts favorably with the petrified
stiffness of Egyptian art. Biblical scholars will be inter
ested in a statue of Rameses II. (the Pharaoh of Israel's
oppression), and the head of his son, Menephthah (the
Pharaoh of the Exodus).
We can barely mention other remarkable spots in the
neighborhood which will repay a visit. Old Cairo is the
Babylon of the Romans, and according to the local
Coptic tradition the Babylon from which St. Peter dated
his first Epistle, while most commentators decide in fa
vor of Babylon in Asia or possibly of the mystic Baby
lon, ancient Rome. In the crypt of the old Coptic
church Abu Serge, the Virgin Mary with the Holy child,
is said to have spent a month. Close by is the island
Roda with a celebrated Nilometre. Among the many
palaces, that of Gezire with a fine park and menagerie is

38 BIBLE LANDS.
the most beautiful. It was finished by a German archi
tect in 1868, and accommodated the Empress Eugenie, the
Emperor of Austria, and the Prince of Wales. I saw
nothing in it which could offend refined taste. The wild
animals, especially the lions, tigers, and hyenas, show in
this their native climate much more vitality and vigor
than in European menageries. The Kiosk, in the middle
of the garden, is considered the finest of the modern
Arab buildings in Egypt, and is ornamented in the style
of the Alhambra.

THE PYRAMIDS. ' 39

CHAPTER V.
THE PYRAMIDS.
The Pyramids and Sphinxes fit Symbols of Egypt-
Number and Design of the Pyramids — Royal
Sepulchres — Egyptian Belief in Immortality
and Resurrection — The Pyramids of Gheezeh —
The Great Pyramid — Ascent of the Pyramid — A
Unique Panorama — The King's and the Queen's
Chamber — The Great Sphinx — The Bedawin
Guides — Piazzi Smyth's Theory — A Miracle in
Stone — Allusions in the Bible— General Charac
ter of the Pyramids and Egyptian Monuments —
Despotism and Slavery — The Present Khedive —
The Future of Egypt.
A visit to the pyramids — "the memorials of the
world's youth " — is an event in a man's life. It is worth
a visit to Egypt. The pyramids and the sphinxes are
the fittest symbols, the best welcome, and the best fare
well to the land of the Pharaohs, who themselves rose
like pyramids, in solitary grandeur, far above the desert
plain of slavery around them. It is a remarkable fact,
that the grandest architectural achievements of men are
usually found in level countries — as the banks of the
Nile, the Euphrates, the Ganges, Lombardy, the Nether
lands — where they can display their vastness and maj
esty without fear of rivalry from the mightier works of
God. A pyramid or a cathedral in the Highlands of

40 BIBLE LANDS.
Berne, in Zermatt, or in Chamouni, would be overpeered
and overshadowed by the Jungfrau, the Matterhorn, or
Mont Blanc.
There were once more than seventy pyramids, repre
senting as many kings, in the valley of the Nile, on the
borders of the desert* Some have disappeared entirely,
the others are in a more or less ruined condition. The
word is probably derived from the Egyptian " Pi-Rama,"
the mountain. Pyramids are mountains of stone, built
for the same purpose as the rock-tombs, to hide a royal
mummy in perfect security. As soon as a king ascended
the throne, he began to build his monument and his
sepulchre. He wished to reign even after his death.
The size of the pyramid corresponded to the length of
the reign. f Each year added a new pile of limestone ;
higher and higher rose the structure the longer the mon
arch lived, until the top was reached, and the four trian
gles of the royal tomb were covered with polished granite.
Then the body of the dead monarch, carefully embalmed,
was deposited in the stone sarcophagus previously pre-
* Brugsch-Bey {Geschichte Aigyptens unter den Pharaonen, nach den
Denkmalern, Leipzig, 1877, p. 73) says : " Mehr ah siebenzig der Pyrami-
den erhoben einst sick an dem Rand der Wiiste, jtde einen Konig kundend,
der Grab und Denkmal sich gleichzeitig schuf." Other writers count forty-
five, or sixty-five, or as many as one hundred and thirty, including all sorts
of pyramidal structures, ancient and modern. Lepsius, the leader of the
Prussian expedition, 1842-44, discovered no less than thirty pyramids
which had escaped the attention of former travellers. Piazzi Smyth
(" Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramids," 1874, p. 3) reduces the num
ber of pyramids to thirty-eight, and gives a list of them, p. 412, sq.
t Lepsius and Brugsch think that additions could be made to the
upright sides of the stages at any time before the triangular spaces were
filled in. But Wilkinson dissents from this view. See Rawlinson's
" Herodotus," Vol. II., p. 173, note (Appleton's ed.).

THE PYRAMIDS. 41
pared in the interior of the building, and the access was
closed. The pyramids were thus the massive and impen
etrable casings of a royal mummy, without windows,
without doors and external opening, surrounded by a
vast necropolis of the priests, relations, and high officers
of the royal builders.
To account for this custom we must remember the
strong belief of the ancient Egyptians in the immortality
and migration of the soul and its ultimate return to the
body. For this reason the mummy must be preserved
with religious care. The scarabseus — the shining black
beetle which lays its eggs in small balls of dirt on the
Nile, rolls them along with its hind feet to the borders
of the desert and deposits them in holes for burial and
resurrection — was worshipped as an emblem of fertility
and immortality ; it was modelled in precious materials
with spread wings, worn in rings, carried as a charm,
used as a seal, and buried with the mummy. Scarabaei,
genuine and spurious, are among the most frequent an
tiques offered for sale. According to Herodotus (Book
II., chap. 124), the Egyptians were the first nation who
held the opinion that the soul of man is immortal, and
that when the body dies, it enters into the form of an
animal which is born at the moment, thence repassing on
from one animal into another, until it has circled through
all the creatures which tenant the earth, the water, and
the air, after which it enters again into a human frame
and is born anew. The whole period of the transmigra
tion is, they say three thousand years. He also relates
the singular custom that at the social banquets of the

4*

42 BIBLE LANDS.
rich a wooden skeleton in a coffin was carried round and
shown to the guests with the words, " Look on this, and
drink and be merry ; for when thou art dead, such shalt
thou be." The constant thought of death, retribution,
and the long migration of the lonely soul through tracts
unknown, imparted to them an air of melancholy sad
ness which was, however, relieved by the hope of resur
rection as symbolized in the myth of their chief divinity,
Osiris. The famous " Book of the Dead," or " Funeral
Ritual," of which several copies were found in the tombs,
is a guide or a sort of Pilgrim's Progress to the other
world, with hymns, prayers, rubrics, and directions.* It
gives a mystical account of the adventures of the soul
after death, its passage to Hades, and its judgment by
Osiris. The. great god is seated on his throne, his forty-
two assessors seated in two rows inquire into the forty-
two sins. Thoth weighs the heart in the balance ; if
found too light, the soul is doomed to the torments of
hell, or to migrations in the body of a pig or other ani
mal ; if the heart is found sufficiently heavy, the soul
ascends to the fields of bliss among the gods, while the
well-preserved mummy waits for its resurrection and re
union with the immortal spirit. The monuments fre
quently represent pictures of this judgment scene, inclu
ding the pig into which the wicked soul is sent. Pytha-
* Best editions by Lepsius, Das Todtenhtch der JEgypter, Leipzig, 1842
(from a Turin papyrus), and Allteste Texte des altagyptischen Todtenbuchs,
Berlin, 1867; by De Rouge, Rituel fun&raire, Paris, 1861-5; and by Birch
in the fifth volume of Bunsen's great work on Egypt, London, 1867. See
also Bunsen's Egypt, Vol. V., pp. 123, sqq., and Vigouroux La Bible et
les decouvertes modemcs en Egypt et en Assyrie, Paris, 1877, vol. 2, pp.
43!"435-

THE PYRAMIDS. 43
goras borrowed his notion of the metempsychosis, or
metensomatosis, from the Egyptians.
The largest pyramids are in the neighborhood of
Memphis, on the border of the Lybian desert, at Sakkara,
Aboosir, Dashoor, and Gheezeh. They were erected by
the Pharaohs of the Memphitic dynasties. The Pharaohs
of the Theban dynasties preferred the rock-tombs which
abound in Upper Egypt, and are like subterranean palaces.
The three pyramids of Gheezeh* are best preserved and
the most interesting of all. They were built by Chufu
(Sofo), Chafra, and Menkera, all of the fourth dynasty of
Memphis (b. c. 3091 to 3020). They lie ten miles west
of Cairo, and can now be easily reached by carriage in
two hours, but the Bedawin keep the end of the road in
a wretched condition that they may have a chance to
earn a few shillings by dragging the carriage through
the sand, and bearing feeble or timid passengers on their
shoulders. Among these three pyramids of Gheezeh, the Pyra
mid of Cheops or the " Great Pyramid," is by far the
most important, and worth all the rest. It is the pyra
mid, as the mysterious' sphinx at its base is the Sphinx.
It is probably the oldest and certainly the largest build
ing in the world, though but a pigmy of yesterday as
compared with God's own pyramids — the Alps: It was
one of the seven wonders of the Old World, and it is a
wonder and a puzzle to-day. Well might Napoleon fire
his soldiers by pointing them to that hoary monarch of
* The word is differently spelled, Gheezeh, Geezeh, Ghiseh, Gize,
Ieezeh, Jizeh, Djiza, Dsjise, Dschiseh, etc.

44 BIBLE LANDS.
buildings from which "forty centuries looked down upon
them." It was erected by Chufu (or Cheops, as Hero
dotus call him), more than two thousand, if not three
thousand, years before Christ.* It was old when Rome
was built, when Homer sang, when David reigned, when
Moses led the children of Israel from the land of bond
age, yea, when Abraham visited Pharaoh. Its base covers
thirteen acres, or an area of 61,835 (formerly 65,437)
square yards, and it rises to a perpendicular height of
460 (formerly 479) feet, the loftiest human structure
in the world. It is computed to have contained 6,848,000
tons of solid masonry. And yet we see it only in its
mutilated state. The vandalism of the Greeks, Romans,
and Saracens has robbed it of the polished red granite
casing, to enrich their palaces and mosques. It was
built in steps or successive stages by means of machines
formed of short wooden planks. The upper portion was
finished first, the lowest last. Herodotus (Book II., chs.
124, 125) was informed that 100,000 workmen, changing
every three ' months (360,000 according to Diodorus),
were constantly employed for ten years in making the
* Chufu reigned, according to Lepsius, Ebers, and others, B. C. 3091
to 3076. But the Egyptologists differ very widely in their chronology.
Mariette puts the building of the Great Pyramid back to B. C. 4235,
Brugsch to.B. c. 3733; while Piazzi Smyth puts it down to the age of
Abraham and Melchisedek, B.C. 2170. Chufu was the second Pharaoh
of the fourth dynasty, and reigned for some time together with his brother
Nou Chufu, and this accounts for the 50 years assigned to his reign by
Herodotus (Book II., ch. 127). He was followed by Chafra (the Chephren
of the Greeks), who built the second pyramid of Gheezeh (B. c. 3067 to
3043), and by Menkera (the Mykerinos of the Greeks), who built the third
and smallest (b. c. 3043 to 3020). According to Herodotus, Cheops and
Chephren were very despotic and unpopular, Mykerinos humane and just.

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ASCENT OF A PYRAMID.
THE PYRAMIDS. 45
causeway for the conveyance of the stones, and twenty
years more in building the Great Pyramid itself, at a
cost of 1,600 talents of silver (about $1,700,000, or over
seven millions of German marks).
We must not forget the dark side of the picture.
The pyramids, like the Tower of Babel, the Colosseum of
Rome, and similar monuments of pride and folly, tell in
silent eloquence a tale of tears and sorrow of a whole
people which groaned under the yoke of tyrants, and
cursed their memory. Even centuries after the death of
the builders, when Herodotus visited the pyramids, the
Egyptians remembered the sufferings and curses of their
forefathers, and refused to mention the names of the
kings who built the two largest pyramids (Chufu and
Chafra). He was told that their bodies which were to
be entombed there, were buried in unknown places from
fear that they might be stolen and torn to pieces. And
what did the 300,000 or more laborers get for their toil ?
Radish, onion, garlic, and nameless obscurity. For an in
scription on the outside mentioned the quantity of these
vegetables spent upon the laborers, and the amount of
money it cost.
We climb over the rugged blocks to the top of the
Great Pyramid, which is thirty feet square, and with the
help of the Arabs we reach it in a quarter of an hour.
Here we enjoy a panorama without a parallel in the
world. The green garden of the Nile and the yellow
desert, teeming life and boundless death bordering on
each other in startling contrast ! Towards the east we
see the fertile fields, the stately palms, the majestic

46 BIBLE LANDS.
river with dahabeahs and steamers bound for Nubia, the
city of Cairo with its citadel, mosques and minarets, and
beyond it the Mokattam hills ; towards the west an
ocean of drifting sand and barren rock; towards the
south the mysterious Sphinx, the neighboring pyramids
of Chafra and Menkera, and the more distant pyramids
of Aboosir, Sakkara, and Dashoor. The impression is
spiritualized by the historical associations which invol
untarily pass before the mind's- eye— Abraham, Joseph,
the patriarchal family, Moses, the Exodus; the Egypt
of the Pharaohs, of Cambyses and the Persians, of Alex
ander the Great and the Ptolemies, of the Romans and
the Byzantine Emperors, of the Mohammedans and Sara
cens, of the Turks, of the Mamelukes, of Napoleon, of
Mohammed Ali, and of the present Khedive. Never
did I feel so deeply the spell of antiquity. " All things
fear time, but time fears the pyramids,"
Having ascended to the top, we shall not shun the
severer task of examining the interior, where we must
literally stoop to conquer. With guides and torches we
crawl through the dark, narrow, and slippery passages,
first descending, then ascending to the Grand Gallery,
and into the heart of the structure, the King's Chamber.
This chamber is thirty-four feet long, seventeen broad,
and nineteen high, and contains the only furniture in the
building, an open and empty sarcophagus of polished
granite, which was intended to be the resting-place of
Cheops, but probably never contained his mummy. The
coffin has no trace of an inscription, but its size and po
sition have given rise to far-reaching speculations, which

THE SPHINX AND A PYRAMID.

THE PYRAMIDS. 47
we shall notice below. Returning through the Grand
Gallery, we pass through a horizontal passage into the
Queen's Chamber, so called, which is empty. Probably
the Great Pyramid was the work of two kings, as Colonel
Vyse discovered the names of two Chufu or Shufu (Che
ops and his brother) among the quarry marks on the
blocks ; and that they reigned together, is shown by the
number of years ascribed to their reigns. This circum
stance accounts for two chambers in this pyramid. The
impression produced in these dark passages is altogether
different from the one on the top ; we are overwhelmed
with the mystery of death and eternity. Perspiring and
covered with dust, we wind our way back, and are glad
to come out of this suffocating labyrinth of death into the
pure air and the golden light of the sun.
We next visit the colossal Sphinx who keeps sleep
less watch over the vast necropolis. He is cut out of the
solid rock, about six hundred steps from the second pyra
mid, and raises his mutilated human head and lion paws
out of the sand of the desert in which he was buried for
ages. The sphinxes, like all the Egyptian gods, are a
monstrous union of man and beast. They have always
the body of a lion, and either the head of a man (never
of a woman) or of a ram, as those which lead to the tem
ple of Karnak. The former are called Andros-Sphinxes,
the latter Krios-Sphinxes. The Assyrians provided their
sphinxes with wings, as an emblem of swiftness and the
power of elevation. The sphinxes are usually sup
posed to represent sovereign royalty — intellect combined
with physical strength ; but according to an inscription

48 BIBLE LANDS.
at Edfu, they originally symbolized the conflict of the
god Horiis (the son of Osiris and Isis) with the evil spirit
Typhon, when, in order to avenge the death of Osiris, he
assumed the shape of a lion with a human head, and slew
the enemy. Of all sphinxes, the one at Gheezeh is the
most imposing. He is supposed by modern Egyptolo
gists to be as old or even older than the pyramids. And
yet Herodotus makes no mention of him. The ruins of
a temple of the Sphinx were discovered a few steps from
the statue by Mariette in 1853. The Sphinx is merely a
ruin of what he was when sacrifices were offered on the
altar between his lion paws of fifty feet in length. And
yet he makes an overpowering impression as, with dreamy
eyes, he stares in majestic repose over the valley of the
ISlile and the vast wilderness towards the rising sun.
The Arabs call him " Abie I hoi" the Father of Terror or
Immensity. He reminds one of the impenetrable mys
teries of eternity. " We shall die, and Islam shall wither
away, and still that sleepless rock will be watching and
watching the works of a new, busy race with those same
sad, earnest eyes and the same tranquil mien everlast
ingly. You dare not mock at the Sphinx."
The visit of these monuments is made easy, vexing,
and funny, by an irrepressible rabble of semi-savage Bed
awin who live in miserable shanties close by, and claim a
sort of ownership over the pyramids and the Sphinx, and
swarm about the traveller like ravenous wolves ; but they
are only hungry for his money, not for his flesh. In
ascending the Great Pyramid, two of these swarthy Arabs
pull you in front by the hand, one or two push from be-

THE PYRAMIDS. 49
hind, and encourage you with broken fragments of half a
dozen languages : " I good guide, you good baksheesh —
Patienza signore — Allez doucement — Chi va piano va
sano e va lontano (the other half, ' chi va forte va alia
morte,' is omitted) — All serene — Go ahead — Half way
up — well done — I liky you — Good man — Dear doctor —
baksheesh." We would willingly give them a double
portion of the everlasting baksheesh, (although we have
paid it already to the sheikh,) if they only would leave us
for a few minutes on the top to enjoy the panorama of
life and death, and to muse over the boundless past. But
we cannot get rid of them ; neither sticks nor hard words
make any impression. One offers you a drink of water ;
another a chisel to engrave your name ; a third has an
tiques for sale as old as Memphis or as new as Birming
ham : still another is anxious to run down and to run up
the polished casing of the pyramid of Chafra in ten min
utes like a monkey, and he does it for a franc from each
traveller. By-and-by some enterprising Yankee will build
an elevator or lift (as they say in England) to the top of
the pyramid, and charge a dollar a head. In the mean
time we must put up with these human machines. There
is no use to get out of humor, the best way is to bear the
annoyance good-naturedly, and to play with these hungry
children of the desert, who are a necessity and an amuse
ment as well as a nuisance. Some are very handsome
and intelligent-looking fellows, and might be made useful
men by proper education.
We- must not leave the Great Pyramid without allu
ding to some curious recent speculations about its real
Bible Lands. 5

50 BIBLE LANDS.
design and value. Every visitor must be impressed with
its venerable age, colossal size, and unique surroundings.
But some regard it after all as a very plain, unproductive,
and useless building, in which nothing can be stored up
excepting a corpse.* In the opinion of others it is a very
miracle in stone, a petrifaction of divine wisdom, a pre
historic revelation of the mysteries of science, and a
prophecy of the first and second coming of Christ, f This
theory was prepared in part by the measurements of
Col. Howard Vyse (1837), the discoveries and conjec
tures of John Taylor of London (1859 and 1864), and
carried out with a great waste of learning and ingenuity
by Piazzi Smyth, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland
(1874). Smyth spent with his wife four months at the
Great Pyramid, and carefully examined its mechanical
features and mathematical proportions with a variety
of scientific instruments. He finds the proper solution
of the riddle of this pyramid, not in the hieroglyphic sci
ence of the Egyptologers, but in the mathematical and
physical science of our day. Its message is expressed,
not in any written or spoken language, but in scientific
facts and features now interpreted by science. Accord
ingly the pyramid is a prophetic parable in stone, con
structed on principles of science, to convey a new proof
to men in the present age of the existence of a personal
God, his supernatural interference in patriarchal times,
* Barham Zincke, "Egypt of the Pharaohs and of the Khedive"
(London, 1873), p. 61.
t Piazzi Smyth, in his elaborate books, "Life and Work at the Great
Pyramid in 1865 " (3 vols., Edinburgh), and " Our Inheritance in the Great
Pyramid" (London, 1874, 1 vol., 526 pp., with 17 explanatory plates).

THE PYRAMIDS. 51
and his revelations of the first and second advent of
Christ. The pyramid stands at the apex (or rather ten
miles south of the apex) of the Delta of the Nile, and in
the centre of the habitable globe, or the land surface of
the earth. It stands four-square on the thirtieth parallel
of latitude, its four sides facing exactly the four points of
the compass, north, south, east, and west. There are in
each side of the base just 365! cubits, which is the pre
cise number of days in the year, with the six hours addi
tion. Its chief corner-stone is not at the base, but at the
top, the apex, and symbolizes Christ, " the head corner
stone." Psa. 112:22. It has no trace of idolatry in
writing, painting, or sculpture. The lidless and empty
coffer in the King's Chamber was never intended for a
sarcophagus or royal tomb, but it is a metrological mon
ument or standard measure of capacity and weight for all
ages and nations, equivalent to the laver of the Hebrews
or four quarters of English measure. It accomplishes
the mathematical feat of squaring the circle, the height
being to the circumference of the base as the radius is
to the circumference of a circle. The very name of the
pyramid means "measure of wheat" (from m>p6c, wheat,
and jdrpov, measure). The Grand Gallery which leads to
the King's Chamber symbolizes the Christian dispensa
tion, and indicates in pyramid inches the thirty-three
years of the Saviour's earthly life. The first ascending
passage represents the Mosaic dispensation, the other
narrow passages mean lower religions. Such profound
design and wisdom can only be traced to divine revela
tion, like the building of the Tabernacle by Moses. The

52 BIBLE LANDS.
Great Pyramid, though in Egypt, was not of Egypt, but
stands in contrast to Egyptian idolatry and beast worship.
It was probably built by Melchisedek, the friend of Abra
ham, the worshipper of the only true God, the priest-king
who typified our Saviour. He was that mysterious stran
ger, the shepherd " Philitis," or " Philition," i. e., a Philis-
tian from Palestine, who, as Herodotus was informed, fed
his flocks at Gheezeh about the time when the Great
Pyramid was built, and took some part in it* Cheops
merely furnished the workmen and the material for his
royal sepulchre ; but Melchisedek executed his plan,
revealed to him from God, for a monument of the pure
faith in the midst of surrounding idolatry, and as a sign
and wonder for after ages.
This is the astounding theory which has been adopted
by several respectable English and American writers,
but is silently ignored by the first Egyptologists of the
age as unworthy of serious notice. I am unable to fol
low Piazzi Smyth into the intricacies of his scientific
* Herodotus was told by Egyptian priests that " Cheops, on ascending
the throne, plunged into all manner of wickedness. He closed the tem
ples and forbade the Egyptians to offer sacrifices, compelling them instead
to labor, one and all, in his service," viz., in building the Great Pyramid.
Book II., chap. 124 (Rawlinson's transl., Vol. II., p. 169). He states more
over (chap. 128) that " the Egyptians so detest the memory of these kings
[Cheops and Chephren] that they do not much like even to mention their
names. Hence they commonly call the pyramids [the first and second]
after Philition, a shepherd who at that time fed his flocks about the place."
This Philition is no doubt a confused and anachronistic allusion to the
Hyksos or shepherd kings (from Hyk, king, and sos, shepherd), who may
have invaded Egypt from Palestine or Philistia, and whose memory as
foreign conquerors was hated by the Egyptians. But their invasion took
place after the twelfth dynasty, or nearly one thousand years after
Cheops.

THE PYRAMIDS. 53
calculations, and measurements. I am quite ready to
admit, from general impressions, that the builder of this
monument was in possession of an astonishing amount
of mathematical and astronomical knowledge. But the
prophetic theology and Messianic symbolism of the pyra
mid seem to me to have no better foundation than the
conjecture of the famous mediaeval traveller Sir John
Mandeville, who thought that the pyramids were the
granaries of Joseph, built for the storage of grain for the
years of famine. He did not examine the interior, being
told that they were full of serpents. Piazzi Smyth has
examined the interior, and put into it a vast deal of his
own wisdom, after the eisegetical manner of those alle
gorical and typological exegetes who make the Scriptures
responsible for their own pious thoughts and fancies,
never dreamed of by the sacred writers. Why should the
Great Pyramid be an exception to all the rest ? If it is
free from" idolatrous inscriptions, so are the others which
contain only the cartouches of the royal builders. The
pyramid of Cheops, moreover, is surrounded by monu
ments of idolatry, as the temple of the Sphinx and the
Sphinx himself, to whom divine worship was offered. If
the Grand Gallery prophesies the life of Christ, it should
certainly lead to something more important than a me-
trological coffer. This would indeed be but one step
from the sublime to the ridiculous. And if the Great
Pyramid was intended for a divine sign and wonder, why
was its meaning hidden for forty or fifty centuries, and
revealed only in our day ? Why is there no mention
whatever of it in the Bible ? 5*

54 BIBLE LANDS.
We are indeed directed to Isa. 19 : 19, 20, where the
prophet speaks of "an altar" and a "pillar," which shall
be for " a sign and witness unto the Lord of hosts in the
land of Egypt ;" but this is predicted as a future event
by Isaiah, who lived many centuries after the building
of the Great Pyramid. Smyth quotes also Jer. 32 : 20,
where the prophet speaks of " signs and wonders," which
the Lord " has set in the land of Egypt, even unto this
day, and in Israel, and among other men ; and has made
him a name as at this day." But not to speak of the plu
ral which cannot refer to a single building, the very next
verse shows plainly that Jeremiah alludes to the miracles
of Moses : " And hast brought forth thy people Israel out
of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders, and
with a strong hand," etc. It is very evident that such
exegesis is a poor recommendation to the allegorical in
terpretation of the pyramid.
The Bible, as far as I know, alludes but once to the
pyramids, and then with a certain irony, namely, in Job's
fearful denunciation of the day of his birth (3 : 11-14) :
"Why at the birth did I not die-
When from the womb I came — and breathe my last ?
Why were the nursing knees prepared ?
And why the breasts that I should suck ?
For now in silence had I lain me down ;
Yea, I had slept and been at rest
With kings and legislators of the earth—
The men who built their pyramids —
Or princes once enriched with gold,
Their homes with treasure filled."
The Hebrew word charaboth (rVDirt), which in our
English version is mistranslated " desolate places," means

THE PYRAMIDS. 55
either ruins* or (as the context favors) mausoleums, pyr
amids.! * So Gesenius, Umbreit, Schlottmann ZOckler (in Lange). Tayler
Lewis, whose elegant translation (in Lange) I have otherwise given
above, renders the word by " mouldering monuments," i. e., mouldering
like the memory of those who built them.
t So some of the best Hebrew scholars and commentators, as Ewald,
Dillmann, Fiirst, Renan, Merx, Evans (in Lange). Fiirst gives as the
first meaning of T\T\T\ wilderness ; as the second meaning (in the plural
only) mausoleum, pyramid ; and adds, by way of comment, " The vain
kings of Egypt built pyramids as their palatial sepulchres, which they
filled with their treasures."

56 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER VI.
HELIOPOLIS.
Heliopolis— Significance of the Name— A City of
Priests and Scholars— Its Antiquity— The Patri
archs—Joseph's Marriage— Moses' Education-
Herodotus, Plato, Strabo— Jeremiah's Prophecy
— Present Ruins — Sphinxes — Obelisk — Vandalism
— The Virgin's Tree and the. Virgin's Fountain —
Amusing Ignorance of some. Travellers.
On a sunny afternoon, in March I made, in company
with several American, English, and Scotch fellow-trav
ellers, an excursion to the ruins of Heliopolis, the City of
the Sun, one of the most ancient cities of the world. It
lies about eight miles northeast of Cairo, and can be
reached by carriage or donkey over a good road, through
rich grain-fields, meadows, and vineyards.
Heliopolis is the Greek name for the Egyptian ei-n-re
(i. e., " the abode of the sun "), from which was derived
the Hebrew On or Aon (Gen. 41 : 45), translated Beth-
Shemesh (i. e„ the house of the sun, Jer. 43 : 13). It was
the Rome and Oxford of ancient Egypt, the capital of its
hierarchy and its university, the centre of its religion and
learning. Every Pharaoh brought his rich offerings to
this place, and bore the proud title, " Lord of Heliopolis."
Here was the sanctuary of the worship of Rah, or the
sun, and of the sacred bull Mnevis. Here arose the
legend of the wonder-bird Phoenix, which the early fathers

HELIOPOLIS. 57
employed to illustrate the doctrine of the resurrection.
Here Joseph the patriarch was married to Asenath, the
daughter of the priest Potipherah or Potiphar (i. e., dedi
cated to Rah, or priest of the Sun), and mother of Ma-
nasseh and Ephraim (Gen. 41:45, 50; 46:20). Here
(according to Josephus) the family of Jacob first resided
on their arrival in Egypt. Here Moses was instructed
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Here Herodotus,
" the father of history," acquired most of his knowledge
of that land laid down in his second book, where he calls
the Heliopolitans " the best skilled in history of all the
Egyptians." (II. 3.) Here Plato, the prince of Greek
philosophers, studied, and the house in which he spent
several years was still shown at the time of Strabo.
The marriage of Joseph has given rise to Jewish
legends and an apocryphal novel, which exists in Greek
and in Syriac under the title, " The Life and Confession
of Asenath, daughter of Pentephres (Potipherah) of He
liopolis ; a narrative of what happened when the beauti
ful Joseph took her to wife." Asenath, it is said, was a
proud beauty, living in great splendor with seven attend
ants, and disdaining all lovers except Pharaoh's oldest
son, who loved her, but was forbidden by his father to
marry her. When she saw Joseph from her window as
he entered Heliopolis to collect corn in the first year of
plenty, she was captivated by his beauty, ran down,
hailed him as " My lord, blessed of the most high God,"
and at her father's bidding made bold to kiss him. Jo
seph refused to kiss an idolatrous woman, but seeing her
tears, he laid his hand on her head, and prayed God to

58 BIBLE LANDS.
convert her to the true faith, and then departed. She
threw her idols out of the window, repented seven days,
saw an angel of comfort, and was married to Joseph by
Pharaoh with great pomp. This romance is in an Ethi-
opic list of canonical Scriptures between Judith and
Esther. The glory of Heliopolis has long since departed, as
Jeremiah (43:13) predicted: "He shall break the im
ages of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and
the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn
with fire." When Strabo visited the city twenty-four
years before Christ, it was already a heap of ruins.
Nothing remains now of Heliopolis but some traces of
the massive walls, fragments of sphinxes, and an obelisk
of red granite sixty-eight feet high, and bearing the
name of Usertesen I., the second king of the twelfth dy
nasty. It reminded me of the lines of Uhland :
" Noch eine hohe Saule zeugt von verschwund'ner Pracht,
Auch diese, schon geborsten, kann stiirzen iiber Nacht."
This obelisk is one of two which stood before the Tem
ple of the Sun at the inner end of an avenue of sphinxes.
It is, with the exception of a small obelisk which Lepsius
discovered in the Necropolis of Memphis, the oldest obe
lisk extant. There it has been standing for nearly four
thousand years, and there it still stands in solitary gran
deur and unbroken silence. Had it a mouth to speak, it
could tell of the visit of Abraham and Sarah, of the wis
dom and purity of Joseph, the inquisitiveness of Herod
otus, the sublime speculations of Plato, the mysteries of
Egyptian learning and idolatry, the rise and fall of ancient

HELIOPOLIS. 59
empires. The vandalism of travellers has hacked the
base of this hoary monument with a sledge-hammer to
steal some pieces. The bees have built their cells in the
hieroglyphics of two sides and made them illegible.
Heliopolis is called in hieroglyphic inscriptions " the
City of Obelisks," from the great number of these columns
which once adorned its temples. They represented the
rays of the sun, and were specially adapted to the wor
ship of the sun and the City of the Sun. The two obe
lisks of Alexandria which are inappropriately called " the
Needles of Cleopatra," stood originally in Heliopolis,
whence they were removed in the reign of Tiberius. One
of them has again been removed in our own days, and
stands now in London, a monument of the earliest civili
zation in the centre of the latest. The obelisks of the
Vatican, of the Lateran, and of the Porta del Popolo in
Rome, are from the same city.
Obelisks may be called attenuated pyramids. They
are square monolith columns of limestone, red granite or
basalt, with a pyramidical apex, and hieroglyphic inscrip
tions recording the titles and praises of the royal build
ers, and the deity to which they were dedicated. They
were erected in pairs before temples. The Egyptians
cut them out of the solid rock, floated them on rafts or
in boats down the Nile, and raised them by inclined
planes on the place of their destination. The old Ro-
? mans transported a number of them to Rome at an im
mense expense of labor.
About fifteen minutes' walk from Heliopolis is the
venerable sycamore which is called "the Tree of the

6c BIBLE LANDS.
Virgin," because Mary, according to the Coptic legend,
rested there with Jesus after her flight from the wrath of
Herod. It is certainly a most remarkable tree for its
size and its gnarled and jagged appearance. The Khedive
presented it, after the inauguration of the Suez Canal, to
the French Empress Eugenie, who had it surrounded by
an iron railing. The Roman-Catholics, however, assert
that the real tree of the Virgin died in 1665, and they
show its last fragments in their convent at Cairo. It is
one of those superstitious legends which nobody can
either prove or disprove.
Close by this tree is the so-called " Miraculous Foun
tain," which, according to the Coptic tradition, was once
salt, but turned sweet when the Virgin Mary bathed
the Holy Child in its waters. In the same region are the
gardens where once flourished the balsam-tree which
produced the famous Balm of Gilead. Now the cotton-
plant is cultivated there.
Heliopolis reminds me of an amusing specimen of
ignorance. A rich California gold-miner, who had some
confused recollections of his Sunday-school lessons in
early youth, and was travelling in Egypt with some
friends, when informed that in this place Joseph got his
wife, the daughter of a priest, was quite astonished, and
indignantly asked, " Was Mary Magdalene, that married
Joseph, the daughter of a priest ?" The same gentle
man, when crossing the Delta, remarked, " We shall soon
pass the Jordan!' " No," said his friend, " the Jordan is
a river in Palestine." " You are right," he replied, " it
was the Danube I meant !" I met this traveller in the

HELIOPOLIS. 61
Mediterranean Hotel in Jerusalem, when he gave the
company at the dinner-table the important piece of infor
mation that he had just visited Aceldama, "the famous
place which Judas sold for thirty pieces of silver !" I felt
quite ashamed of America, but was somewhat relieved
afterward when I asked an English traveller whether he
had passed through the Desert and visited Mount Sinai,
and was told that he really did not remember, and "must
first look up his journal !"

62 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER VII.
UP THE NILE.
The Nile — The Dahabeah and the Steamer — Our
Company and Dragoman— • Memphis and the
broken Statue of Rameses II. — Sakkara — The Se-
rapeum— The Temple of Tin — Gebel el-Tayr —
Minieh and the Sugar-Factories — The Tombs of
Beni-Hassan — Pictures and Hieroglyphics — Osi-
out — Dr. Hogg and the American Mission — A
Mohammedan Saint — Abydos — The Tablet of
Abydos — The Grave of Osiris — The Temples of
Denderah.
The Nile voyage, whether on the old-fashioned daha
beah or on a modern steamer, is a perpetual enjoyment
and one of the best recreations for body and mind. It
is "a boating-trip and a donkey-ride interspersed with
ruins." There, better even than in Italy, you may enjoy
il dolce far niente. Egypt is the land of sunshine and
starlight, with a delicious climate. February and March
are as pleasant as our May and June ; and yet the sum
mer is less oppressive there than in New York.
The Nile is truly a river of life. It spreads fertility
and plenty east and west on its long course. No wonder
that it was worshipped as a god. Herodotus calls Egypt
" an acquired country and the gift of the Nile." This is
as true now as it was three thousand years ago. With
out this noble river the land would be as arid and barren

UP THE NILE. 63
as Arabia. In the middle of July the water begins to
rise, in consequence of the tropical rains and the melt
ing of the snows on the mountains of equatorial Africa;
in the early part of October it reaches its height, and
sends its blessings through innumerable canals over the
fields. The water has been called " the champagne of
waters." The Nile is the Eastern "father of waters,"
" the high priest of rivers," " Whose waves have cast
More riches round them, as the current rolled
Through many climes its solitary flood,
Than if they surged with gold."
Invalids and those who have abundance of time pre
fer the dahabeah, which depends upon the wind and may
require three months. But travellers who have but a few
weeks to spare take the steamer, which makes the voyage
from Cairo to theifirst Cataract and back in twenty days,
and to the second Cataract from Wady-Halfa (or Halfeh)
in twelve days more. The whole distance from Alexan-
andria to the second Cataract is 964! miles. The tourist
Cook has chartered the steamers from the Khedive, and
charges £47 ($235) for the twenty days' trip, and .£80
($400) for the thirty-two days' trip, including provisions
and donkey-rides. Every ton of coal has to be brought
from England. Some take the railroad as far as Osiout,
and thence either the dahabeah or the steamer, gaining
in this way nearly a week. But twenty days are not too
much for a voyage which is fraught with unusual interest
from beginning to end.
We start on the 6th of February and return on the

64 BIBLE LANDS.
26th. Our company consists of forty-seven persons,
English, Scotch, and Americans — clergymen, merchants,
manufacturers, colonels, captains, two lords, and five
ladies. We get along very pleasantly, though differing
widely in taste and occupation. The physician of the
ship is a Greek, and is more ornamental than useful ; he
left all his medicine behind, and his services are never
called for ; he takes part in every excursion, and tries to
learn a little English. Our dragoman, Mohammed Ale-
vah, a Moslem from Luxor, is intelligent, obliging, hu
morous, and amusing. He had in the same capacity
accompanied the celebrated Egyptologist, Professor Lep
sius of Berlin, Mr. Naville of Geneva, and many others.
He speaks English fluently, although he cannot read it.
Every morning at breakfast he unfolds the programme
for the day with the introductory remark, " I beg your
pardon, ladies and gentlemen, if you please." Some la
dies of our company had a curiosity to see his wife and
his bright boy, whom he intends to send to the old Uni
versity of Cairo, and he gratified them when we arrived
at Luxor. The steamer stops at every place of interest. As
soon as we arrive at a town, men, women, and children
flock to the shore and cry for backsheesh. It is amusing
to see them scramble and fight and dive into the Nile for
the coppers thrown among them by passengers. The
little donkeys with their big red saddles are ready to take
us to the scene of interest, and the fleet, barefooted boys
who have them in charge run in front or behind for miles
without getting exhausted. These donkey-rides are very

UP THE NILE. 65
exhilarating. The donkey is easily mounted ; sometimes
it stumbles and sends the rider gently over its head on
the sand, or it slips from under him, to the amusement
of his fellow-travellers.
The first excursion is made to Memphis, over fertile
fields and through stately palm-groves. The ancient
capital of Lower Egypt, founded by the first king, Menes,
is all desolation. Nothing is left of its temples, palaces,
and monuments, but a colossal statue of Rameses II.,
lying mutilated on the face in the mud. What a satire
on the great Sesostris, the conqueror of many lands, the
master-builder of Egypt and the oppressor of the chil
dren of Israel ! Thus the prophecy of Jeremiah (46 : 19)
was literally fulfilled : " Noph (Memphis) shall be waste
and desolate without an inhabitant."
About two miles farther in the desert is Sakkara, the
necropolis of Memphis, the subterranean Serapeum with
the colossal empty sarcophagi of the sacred bulls, eleven
small pyramids, and the temple of Tih, with most inter
esting and well-preserved frescoes that reveal in bright
colors as of yesterday the life of ancient Egypt and the
all-pervading power of kingcraft and priestcraft. An in
spection of the remains of Egyptian bull-worship explains
the ease with which the Israelites so soon after their de
parture took to the worship of the golden calf in the wil
derness. We resume the journey and pass the extensive lime
stone rock of Gebel el-Tayr, on the east bank of the
river, and in sight of the famous Coptic convent, or,
rather, village of priests and their wives, walled in against
6*

66 BIBLE LANDS.
the Bedawin. Descending from their precipice the
monks used to swim to the steamers and dahabeahs to
solicit alms on the ground of a common Christianity and
humanity. The Coptic patriarch has recently forbidden
this nuisance.
At Minieh, the next stopping-place and one of the
best-looking towns on the Nile, 156 miles from Cairo, we
inspect an extensive sugar-factory of the Khedive, which
looks almost like a profanation of old Egypt, but beto
kens a new epoch of material progress. The factories of
the Khedive, however, so far are said to have been far
from being profitable to him.
At Beni-Hassan, which is 171 miles from Cairo, we
inspect the famous rock tombs on a ridge of hills. They
are cut in the rock, and devoted to noble men and women
of the neighborhood from the age of the patriarchs. They
present a vast gallery of fresco-pictures, some defaced
and disfigured, some still fresh and setting forth in glow
ing colors the various scenes of ancient Egyptian life.
In these mansions of the dead you see " men and women
wrestling, fishing, ploughing and reaping, trapping birds,
giving dinner-parties, being flogged, cutting their toe
nails, treading the winepress, dancing, playing the harp,
weaving linen, playing at catchball, being shaved by the
barber, playing at draughts. Verily, there is nothing
new under the sun  The old, old story of human
life is there, told as in a picture-book. Though seen
through a gap of four thousand years, the eye moistens
over it still. Here are life's festive scenes and revels —
the winecup and the garland ; and here its scenes of sor-

UP THE NILE. 67
row — mourners are weeping over their dead. Nothing
is lacking. And so, by the mystic sympathy — that touch
of nature which links man with man — you reach out a
hand across the ages and feel the throbbings of a human
ity kindred with your own." Among these pictures is
the famous procession of Asiatics, which is supposed by
some to be the presentation of Joseph and his brethren
to Pharaoh, or possibly a deputation of Israelites after
their settlement in Goshen.
The hieroglyphic inscriptions tell of warlike expedi
tions, and are full of vain self-glorifications. Here is a
specimen from the German translation by Brugsch*
Ameni, who died in the year 43 of the reign of King
Usertesen I. (the builder of the Obelisk in Heliopolis),
relates the story of his life on the door of entrance : " In
honor of the governor of the province of Mah (here fol
low other titles), who has overcome (death). I accompa
nied my lord on his expedition to defeat the enemies of
the country  I entered the land Kasch (Kush of
the Bible) up the river, and came to the extreme border
of the country. I conducted the booty of my lord, and
my praise reached to heaven when his holiness happily
returned. He had defeated his enemies in the miserable
land Kasch  I was a kind lord, of mild disposition,
a prince who loved his city. I spent many a year as
prince in the province of Mah. All the labors for the
king's house were in my hands. The superintendents of
the temples of the gods in the province of Mah gave me
thousands of bulls and calves  The whole province
* Gesch. Mgyptens, pp. 128-130.

68 BIBLE LANDS.
labored for me. I oppressed no son of the poor, no
widow. I expelled no owner of land, no shepherd. No
one was unhappy in my time, no one hungry, not even in
the years of famine," etc. The last and some following
words seem to allude to the age of Joseph and the seven
years of famine. But there are other more unmistakable
allusions to Joseph and the famine in the tombs of El-
Kab, which Brugsch has recently brought to light*
On returning to the boat about fifty half-naked Arabs
surround us, screaming and scrambling for backsheesh;
the sheikh drives off the boys with dirt and catches the
coppers himself, but the crowd return again and again
like ravenous wolves, until the steamer sails at eleven
o'clock. We pass high cliffs with natural caves, in one
of which St. Athanasius is said to have hid himself in
his flight from Arian persecution.
The same night or next morning we reach Osiout
(or Asyoot, Sioot), the capital of Upper Egypt, with
about 30,000 inhabitants, and 250 miles from Cairo.
It lies a mile west of the river. We pass through the
Arab bazaar, and cannot ride nor walk through the curi
ous medley without touching men, camels, and donkeys
to the right and left. We visit the rock-tombs of the
sacred wolves which were worshipped here (hence the
ancient Greek name Lycopolis, i. e., Wolfstown), and
ascend the mountain behind the city, from which we en
joy a beautiful view over rich green fields and the yel
low sand of the Lybian desert. Between the city and
the mountain lies a large Arab cemetery, with shining
* Gesch. sEgyptens, p. 244, seq.

UP THE NILE. 69
white monuments, better looking than the city of the
living. But the most interesting sight in Osiout is to me
the large house and church of the American Presbyte
rian mission at the southern edge of the city. There we
find the Rev. Dr. Hogg, a Scotchman, with his wife,
Rev. Mr. Alexander of America, and two assistants, en
gaged in the noble and self-denying work of instructing
Coptic boys and girls in the elements of education and
the religion of the New Testament. The girls sing
hymns and recite geography with great ease and cheer
fulness. Dr. Hogg is a tall, intelligent, and energetic
missionary, and has an excellent library, including such
works as the American edition of Lange's Commentary,
Ueberweg's History of Philosophy, Van Oosterzee's Dog-'
matics. His Protestant church is already self-support
ing. He has also founded a theological school, where
half a dozen young Copts are preparing for missionary
work. This mission is a beaconlight of truth in the
midst of surrounding Mohammedan and Coptic darkness,
and a prophecy of a. better future that dawns over Egypt.
Proceeding on our journey, between Girgeh and Den-
dera we see a strange specimen of Mohammedan asceti
cism ; a reputed saint sitting in the sand on the banks of
the Nile, unclothed even to indecency, surrounded by a
dozen admirers. The sailors come up and kiss his hand.
He is sunburnt, has gray hair, looks stupid, and says
little. In this position he is said to have been for forty-
five years. He almost comes up to the glory of Simeon
Stylites, who in the fifth century spent six-and-thirty

70 BIBLE LANDS.
years on a pillar under the scorching Syrian sun, the
drenching rain, the howling storm, preaching, praying,
bowing, and vainly striving after superhuman perfection.
Alfred Tennyson has graphically described his experience
in a monologue to God.
By a donkey ride of six miles from Bellianeh, across
fertile fields of grain and beans to the border of the des
ert, we reach Abydos. It is remarkable for its temple
ruins, as the birthplace of Mena or Menes, the first Egyp
tian king, and as the burial place of Osiris, the chief
Egyptian divinity. It was once second only to Thebes
among the cities of that country. In the ruins of the
temple of Sethi I. (the father of Rameses II.), we tarry
before the magnificent pictures and sculptures, and the
famous new Tablet of Abydos, which was brought to
light by the excavation of Mariette-Bey in 1865, and of
which the old Tablet in the British Museum found in -the
neighboring temple of Rameses II. in 1 818, is an imper
fect copy. It presents Sethi the king, and Rameses the
prince, offering, the one five, the other two rolls of hymns
before the cartouches (shields or coats of arms enclosing
hieroglyphic signs of royal names) of seventy-six kings,
from Menes down to Sethi I. There are seventy-six
cartouches, besides that of Sethi, which is often repeated
in the lowest line. The historical value of this Tablet is
very great. Brugsch counts from Mena (4400 b. c.) to
Sethi I. of the nineteenth dynasty (1366 b. a), 3,034 vears.
But the Egyptian chronology, according to his own con
fession, is still far from being satisfactorily settled, and
may undergo serious modifications.

UP THE NILE. 71
In about five minutes from this temple ruin we reach
a mound of debris called Kom-es-Sultan, beneath which
is the supposed tomb of Osiris. Mariette-Bey hopes to
find it by excavation. It was to the ancient Egyptians
as sacred as the church of the Holy Sepulchre is to the
Greek and Latin Christians. Around it were myriads of
tombs of rich Egyptians who wished to be buried near
this chief god. Osiris was a mortal god who died and
rose again. He, his wife and sister Isis, and their son
and avenger Horus, the slayer of the evil spirit Ty-
phon, form a sort of trinity in unity.
The next place of interest is the temple of Dende-
rah (Tentyra), on the west bank of the Nile about sixty
miles above Abydos. We cross the river in miserable
boats, together with the donkeys. There are three tem
ples there in a pretty good state of preservation. The
great temple dedicated to Athor, the Egyptian Venus,
was completed under Nero, and shows the influence of
Greek and Roman art, but is nevertheless the most im
posing temple-ruin this side of Karnak, and gives a good
idea of an Egyptian sanctuary. The great hall has
twenty-four columns, crowned with the heads of Isis and
adorned with carvings and hieroglyphics. In the inte
rior there are several chapels and chambers for the king,
the priests, the treasury, the priestly vestments, the
sacred animals, the preparation for festivals and proces
sions. On the colossal pillars and walls there is a profu
sion of symbolical and astronomical representations, and
pictures of the gods, and of serpents, which appear in
every attitude, some walking on human legs, and offering

72 BIBLE LANDS.
strange offerings to the deities. On the ceiling of the
portico is a picture of the famous Zodiac, which was once
thought to be very ancient, but cannot be older than the
reign of Augustus. Outside on the wall is a statue of
the voluptuous Queen Cleopatra, and her son by Julius
Csesar. The view from the terraced roof extends over
Arab and Coptic houses, green fields, the Nile, and the
chain of hills beyond towards the Red Sea.

THE OBELISK OF ON.

te

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8FjjJE^a

ji„..r,:«[ii3H'' it:r'tai

LUXOR: FROM THE NILE.

LUXOR AND THEBES. 73
CHAPTER VIII.
LUXOR AND THEBES.
The Ancient Splendor of Thebes— The Temple and
Obelisk of Luxor— A Fantasia— The Temple Ruins
of Karnak— A Forest of Columns— The largest
Obelisk — Shishak's Victory over Rehoboam —
Thebes— The Temple of Koorneh— The Tombs of
the Kings— The Rameseum— The Temple of Ram
eses III.— The Two Colossi.
At Luxor the steamer stops three days, for here is
the culmination of interest.
Luxor, Karnak, Thebes, are the three names for
what was once the one city of Thebes (the Hekatompylos
Thebe of Homer, the Diospolis of the later Greeks, the
No or No-Ammon of the Old Testament), which in the
days of its glory (1600 to 800 b. c.) stretched about
thirty-three miles on both banks of the Nile. They are
now a vast field of ruins and miserable Arab mud villages.
The prediction of Jeremiah and Ezekiel that the city of
No shall be " cut off " and " rent asunder," has been lit
erally fulfilled. But the ruins which testify to her former
splendor are the most enormous and imposing in the
world, not excepting the ruins of Baalbek and the Col
osseum in Rome. Those temples and rock-tombs are
fully equal to the pyramids in the neighborhood of Mem
phis. The rock-tombs, intended for the same purpose of
royal sepulchres, are more complicated and interesting.
Land of ton Bible. 7

74 BIBLE LANDS.
At Thebes and Karnak you wander among the ruins of
god-like men and human gods, the mysteries of king
craft and priestcraft. We must admit that the old Egyp
tians were the masterbuilders of the world, and high
above all the Pharoahs rose Sethi I. and Rameses II.
Luxor lies close on the eastern bank. We see at
once, before we land, the lofty colonnade of a vast temple,
and the obelisk whose companion was transported to the
Place de la Concorde in Paris under the reign of Louis
Philippe. Our dragoman, who resides in Luxor, informs
us that he saw it removed when a boy (in 1833) by 2,000
Arabs under 400 French officers. In striking contrast
with these ruins are the wretched huts of the present
inhabitants, except the residences of the English, Amer
ican and German consuls. They are natives of the coun
try, and very polite to strangers. Having nothing else
to do, they show them the antiquities which they keep
for sale, and invite them to evening entertainments, con
sisting of smoking, wretched Arab music, and strange
dancing called a "fantasia."
An hour's ride from Luxor over a grassy plain brings
us to the temple ruins of Karnak, one of the greatest
wonders of this land of wonders. An avenue of two
hundred sphinxes, whose pedestals still remain, while the
ram-heads are all broken off but one, leads to the south
ern entrance of the temple ; similar avenues led to the
other five entrances. The temple itself is nearly two
miles in circumference, and is surrounded by walls of 80
feet height and 25 feet thickness. A magnificent portal
or propylon, 370 feet broad, 140 feet high, opens into a

LUXOR AND THEBES. 75
vast court, and there we are in a forest of 120 majestic
columns, 66 feet high, 36 feet in circumference, surmount
ed by capitals and adorned with pictures and hiero
glyphics. There too, surrounded by the Osiris pillars, is
the largest obelisk known, being 92 feet high and 8 feet
square, which (as we learn from an inscription) was once
gilded from top to bottom and surmounted by a small
pyramid of pure gold. One of the pictures on the walls is
a war-scene of Rameses II., and Shishak's victory over
the kings of more than thirty nations, including Reho-
boam the son of Solomon (971 b, a), which confirms the
account in 1 Kings 14 : 25, 26, and 2 Chron. 12 : 2-9 : " So
Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and
took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and
the treasures of the king's house ; he took all ; he car
ried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had
made." The figure of Rehoboam, which bears the in
scription "The King of Judah," has a strong Jewish
countenance. Thebes, on the western bank of the Nile, was the
necropolis of the whole city, and abounds in mummies
of men and sacred animals and in imposing monuments
which it would take many chapters to describe. There
is the Temple of Koorneh, reared by King Sethi to the
memory of his father Rameses I.
There are the Tombs of the kings of the eighteenth,
nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties, cut in the solid
limestone rocks of a desolate, mysterious valley, and full
of colored sculptures and fantastic paintings of strange
jackal-headed gods, serpents, monsters, good and evil

76 BIBLE LANDS.
spirits, dinner-parties, scenes of dancing, boating, fighting,
hunting, and every-day life, and the mysteries of death,
resurrection, and judgment. The tomb of Sethi I. reach
es back 470 feet into the mountain, with a descent of 180
feet. These royal sepulchres or catacombs correspond
in size, like the pyramids, to the length of the reign of
the builders ; but, unlike the pyramids, which have but
one chamber for the royal mummy, they represent, in
many apartments and halls, as in the galleries of a great
museum, the whole earthly life and surroundings of the
king, and his fate in the other world. At the end of the
galleries is his immense granite coffin, surrounded by rich
pictures on the walls and ceiling. It is supposed by
some that after the burial of the king, the tomb with its
treasures of gold and art was closed, and never intended
to be seen by mortal man, except the king himself at his
resurrection. And yet, in spite of these precautions, no
royal mummy has been discovered. Along the foot of
the hills is one vast necropolis for the priests, high offi
cers of state, and rich individuals. Nowhere out of Egypt
can such a cemetery be found. The catacombs of Rome
are poor and humble, like the early Christians in the times
of persecution. The Theban catacombs are a subterra
nean city of palaces, with spacious halls and apartments,
gorgeous decorations, and every sign of life that art can
represent in fresh colors as of yesterday ; but life itself
is gone, or turned into stone — hard, cold, yet silently
eloquent stone.
We next visit the Rameseum, or Memnonium, a truly
wonderful temple, built by Rameses II. (Sesostris) to

LUXOR AND THEBES. 77
perpetuate his conquests and glory. It is his autobiog
raphy in stones. His own granite statue is the most
gigantic extant, but was overthrown by some catastrophe
and mutilated by the Arabs, and represents the monarch
in majestic repose towering above gods and men.
Then we come to the Palace and Temple of Rame
ses III., with its labyrinth of columns, courts, statues, his
toric, military, and domestic pictures and inscriptions.
Finally we see the two Colossi, or immense statues,
before the propylon of the destroyed temple of Ameno
phis III., rising sixty feet above the sand. They are now
mutilated, but " still keep their untiring watch over the
lapse of ages and the eclipse of Egypt." One of them is
the vocal Memnon so celebrated for its musical sounds,
which it uttered when touched by the morning beams of
the rising sun as a salutation of Amenophis to his mother
Aurora. The mind is overwhelmed by these stupendous mon
uments of the ancient history and religion of Egypt, and
we gladly repair to the steamer for rest.

7*

78 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER IX.
FROM LUXOR TO PHIL^E.
The Temple of Edfou— Assouan— Elephantine— Phi-
lse— The First Cataract— Aboo Simbel— Return to
Cairo. After Karnak and Thebes we do not expect to see
anything so grand in architectural and sculptured ruins
and petrified history. And yet the remainder of the
voyage is full of interest.
We next visit the Temple of Edfou, the best pre
served and most complete in Egypt. It was built under
the Ptolemies, requiring a period of 180 years, 3 months,
and 14 days, from 237 to 57 b. c* It stands in the mid
dle of the village of that name, and was dug up from the
rubbish by Mariette in 1864 under the direction of the
Khedive. It is 450 feet long, the propylon 250 feet
broad ; the towers are 1 1 5 feet high, and can be ascend
ed by 250 steps. It is surrounded by walls covered with
hieroglyphic inscriptions. It affords the best idea of an
Egyptian temple. It was not a place for a public con
gregation, but a sanctuary or sort of sacristy for kings
and priests, a home for the gods, a depository of treasure
and sacred vestments, a place of preparation for festivals
and processions. The people were shut out.
Assouan, the ancient Syene, is 580 miles from Cairo,
* Brugsch, p. 258.

FROM LUXOR TO PHIL^E. 79
on the boundary between Egypt and Nubia. It is a very
interesting town with about 4,000 inhabitants of differ
ent races. The Nubians attract most attention : trfey
are almost naked, and as dark as our negroes, but better
formed, more intelligent-looking, tall and slender. The
women wear an apron decorated with shells, and, like
Mother Eve, are, " unadorned, adorned the most." The
bazaar presents a curious medley of races, with donkeys,
camels, and merchandise, such as elephants' teeth, skins,
ebony clubs, spears, lances, arrows, straw-baskets, coins,
stuffed crocodiles, and ostrich feathers and eggs. Miss
Martineau relates that a girl offered her an English half
penny for sale, and that her ear-trumpet was examined'
with quick curiosity and taken to be a pipe with an enor
mous bowl !
In the neighborhood of Assouan are the famous quar
ries which furnished materials for the statues, temples,
pyramids, and palaces of the Pharaohs. " Islands, quar
ries, crags along the river side," says Dean Stanley, " all
seem either like grotesque colossal figures, sitting with
their grim features carved out against the sky, their vast
limbs often smoothed by the inundations of successive
ages, or else, like the same statues, broken to shivers.
One can quite imagine how, in the days when power was
will and will was power, Rameses, returning from his
Ethiopian conquests, should say, ' Here is the stone, hard
and glittering, from which my statue shall be hewn, and
here is the model after which it shall be fashioned.' "
We must not miss seeing the famous obelisk in the
quarry, half-finished and half-imbedded in the rock. It

80 BIBLE LANDS.
is the youngest, as that of Heliopolis is the oldest, of the
obelisks, and it will never be removed from its birthplace.
We wonder at the mechanical powers with which such
immense blocks of stone could be detached, dressed,
lifted, and carried down the river, and then erected some
hundreds of miles away from home.
The island of Elephantine, opposite Assouan and
extending to the foot of the cataract, is no more an " Isl
and of Flowers," but half-covered with rubbish, broken
pottery, and a few ruins of a temple. The most inter
esting object there is a Nilometre to indicate the rise
and fall of the divine river Nilus.
We leave Assouan by camel or donkey through the
desert for Phil.e and the First Cataract. This was
the southern limit of the journey of Herodotus.
Philse is a beautiful, flowery island of palm-trees and
temple ruins above the cataract. By a judicious expense
of capital and labor it might be made an Isola Bella or
Isola Madre, with a delightful climate in winter. Ruins
of temples of Osiris and Horus, with sculptures describing
the death, burial, resurrection, and enthronement of Osi
ris, attract our attention. They date from the period of
the Greek Ptolemies who restored the old Egyptian idol
atry. Paganism lingered in this remote island many
years after the edict of Theodosius.
A steamer is waiting to take a few passengers farther
up the Nile through Nubia to the Second Cataract, to
see the wonderful temple of Aboo Simbel, or Ipsambool
(170 miles south of Philse), cut in the solid rock, with four
statues of Rameses II., so colossal that his ear, mouth,

THE TEMPLE-FRONT OF ABOO SIMBEL.

FROM LUXOR TO PHIL^E. 8i
nose, and every limb of his body has the size and weight
of a separate statue. But we must forego this pleasure,
and advise the reader to peruse the graphic description
of Miss Amelia B. Edwards, who spent several days
there* We return on the western side of the First Cataract.
The Nile here widens into a lake with many islands of
various fantastic formations and colors, and rushes foam
ing and roaring over the rocks of porphyry and granite.
Naked Nubians shoot down the Cataract on blocks of
wood for a few shillings. The passage down the river is
made in a few days with few and short stoppages.
We have drunk from the Nile, feasted on ruins of
temples and tombs, and communed with Rameses the
Great, and with the greater Moses, his younger contem
porary and antagonist ; and we arrive in Cairo enriched
with a photographic gallery of the wonders of old Egypt.
* A Thousand Miles Up the Nile. Being a yourney through Egypt and
Nubia to the Second Cataract. London, 1877.

82 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER X.
E G YPTOL OGY AND THE BIBLE.
"And Jesus answered and said, I tell you that, if these shall hold their
peace, the stones will cry out." LUKE 19 : 40.
Sources of Knowledge of Ancient Egypt— The Pen
tateuch, Manetho, Herodotus— The Monuments
and Hieroglyphic Inscriptions — The Papyri—
Champollion, Young, Brugsch, Birch— Egypt and
the Pentateuch — The Works of Hengstenberg,
Ebers, Vigouroux — Egyptian and Biblical Chro
nology — Abraham's Visit — Joseph in Egypt — Mo
ses and Pharaoh — Rameses II., the Pharaoh of
the Oppression — Menephtha I., the Pharaoh of
the Exodus— General Results— Egyptian History
and Bible History.
Till quite recently, our knowledge of ancient Egypt
was confined to three scanty sources.
1. The Pentateuch, and occasional allusions in later
books of the Old Testament.
2. The remains of Manetho, a priest under the reign
of the first two Ptolemies (between 300 and 250 b. a),
who wrote in Greek a history of the Pharaohs from the
sacred records of Heliopolis. Some fragments of it and
a catalogue of thirty royal dynasties from Menes down
to Nectanebo, 343 b. c, have been preserved through
Josephus ("against Apion"), Julius Africanus (" Chro-
nographia," A. d. 220, indirectly through Syncellus, a. d.
800), and Eusebius (" Chronicon.")*
* The remains of Manetho and other ancient authorities are conve
niently printed in the first volume of Chevalier Bunsen's Egypt's Place in

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 83
3. The accounts of Greek travellers, who visited
Egypt, Herodotus (b. c. 454), Diodorus Siculus (b. c. 58),
and Strabo (about B. c. 30). Herodotus was not a criti
cal historian, but a story-teller, who believed and told
what he saw and heard with the simplicity of a child,
without raising the question of veracity. Yet he was no
holiday traveller ; he had an intense curiosity, and gath
ered a vast* deal of information, which has been partly
verified by modern research. The information of Plu
tarch and the elder Pliny on Egyptian matters is derived
from secondary sources, but the former gives an instruc
tive account of the worship of Isis and Osiris.
These sources of information have been greatly en
larged in the present century, by the study of monu
mental inscriptions and papyrus rolls. Napoleon's expe
dition to Egypt had a similar effect upon Europe as
Alexander's victories had upon Asia; both brought the
East and the West into closer contact, enlarged the
sphere of knowledge, and stimulated progress. The
Egyptians were most industrious scribes, and their liter
ature, though far behind the Greek and Roman in ge
nius and general interest, is very extensive in theology,
government, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and poe
try, except the drama.
The hieroglyphic, the shorter hieratic, and the popu
lar demotic inscriptions on temple walls, tombs, and
pyramids, in pictures and sculptures, were a sealed book
Universal History, translated from the German by Cottrell (London, 1848),
pp. 605-731, and in the Synoptical Tablets appended to the K onigsbuch
of Prof. Lepsius (Berlin, 1858).

34

BIBLE LANDS.

till the accidental discovery of the famous Rosetta stone
(1799), thirty-six miles east of Alexandria, by a French
officer of artillery. It is an oblong square slab of black
syenitic basalt, nowin possession of the British Museum,
and contains a,triple inscription, namely, a decree of the
priests in honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes, in the Egyptian
language (both in hieroglyphic and demotic characters),'
together with a Greek translation. By means of this
translation, and with the aid of the Coptic or old Egyp
tian language, it was possible to construct the hiero
glyphic alphabet and to interpret the inscription. The
name of King Ptolemy, which, like all the royal names, is
enclosed in an elliptical frame or cartouch, gave the first
clew to the alphabet. Another bilingual inscription, with
the cartouch of Cleopatra (which has five sounds in com
mon with Ptolemaios) was afterwards discovered on a
small obelisk at Philae. The cartouch of Alexander aid
ed in a similar manner.

" PTOLEMAIOS.

"CLEOPATRA,"

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 85

'ALEXANDER."

The hieoroglyphic signs are partly ideographic or pic
torial, partly phonetic. A French Egyptologist, Jean
Francois Champollion (b. 1790, d. 1832), and a learned
English physician, Thomas Young (1816), independently
and almost simultaneously led the way in the deciphering
of the hieroglyphic inscriptions. The results are summed
up in a complete hieroglyphic and demotic dictionary and
grammar by the English Egyptologist, Samuel Birch
(in the 5 th volume of Bunsen's Egypt's Place in History,
PP- 335—716), and by the German Egyptologist, H.
Brugsch (1867).
The Papyrus rolls were discovered in tombs and
mummies, and transferred to the Egyptian museums in
Boulak, Turin, London, Paris, Berlin, Leyden. The
most important are the Turin Papyrus (published by
Lepsius 1842 and 1858) ; the list of kings from the Tem
ple of Abydos (published by De Rouge" and Mariette,
1864); the Papyrus Rollin (edited by Pleyte, 1868); the
Papyrus Ebers (1873), of the seventeenth century before
Christ, and the Papyrus Harris, published by Birch,
which contains the chief contribution to the history of
Rameses III.
From all these sources modern French, German, and

86 BIBLE LANDS.
English scholars have endeavored to construct a consec
utive chronological history of ancient Egypt*
The history of Egypt is not an unbroken current. It
is a monotonous, dreary waste, like the desert, with a
few prominent kings and events. The hieroglyphic in
scriptions are filled with figures of kings worshipping
animal gods, strange names, high-sounding titles, and
eulogies of kings and governors, their victories and meri
torious deeds. The people are simply a mass of name
less slaves, used as machines in war and in peace.
The readers of this book will feel a special interest
in the bearings of the latest Egyptological researches
upon Bible history.
The relation of Egypt and the Pentateuch has been
chiefly discussed by two Protestant scholars — the late Dr.
Hengstenberg of Berlin, in his book, Die Biicher Moses
und ALgypten (1841), and Dr. Ebers of Leipzig, in his
JEgypten und die Biicher Moses (Vol. I., i868).f The
titles are characteristic. Hengstenberg, the theologian,
writing in the apologetic interest, puts the Pentateuch
* We mention especially the elaborate works of Samuel Sharpe
(Early History of Egypt, London, 1836, 2 vols.), Bunsen (Egypt's Place
in Universal History, 5 vols., first in German, then in English, London,
1848 to 1867), Prof. Lepsius (Chronologie der Atgypter, Berlin, 1849;
Denkmaler aus Aigypten und Aithiopien, 1856; Das Konigsbuch, 1858;
Das Todtenbuch, etc.), and Dr. Brugsch-Bey (Histoire d'Egypte,- Leipzig,
1859, and his more recent Geschichte ALgyptens unter den Pharaonen, Leip
zig, 1877, which is based almost entirely on the dismembered monumental
records). t The second volume has not yet appeared, but his work Durch Go-
sen zum Sinai, Leipzig, 1872, may be regarded in part as a continuation,
as it discusses the period of the oppression and of the Exodus of the Is
raelites.

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 87
first, and treats the Egyptian ' historian Manetho with
contempt ; Ebers, the Egyptologist, with a purely histor
ical aim in view, puts Egypt first, and regards the Pen
tateuch from the Egyptian point of view, allowing due
credit to Manetho; yet both come substantially to the
same conclusion as to the genuine egypticity of the
Bible records on Egypt, in opposition to the older Ra
tionalists. " The history of Joseph," says Ebers, " even
in its details, is thoroughly consistent with the true rela
tions of ancient Egypt" (Preface, p. 12). Still more re
cently a Roman-catholic scholar, F. Vigouroux, has
attempted a complete vindication of the Bible history
from the modern Egyptian and Assyrian discoveries,
beginning with the account of Creation and ending with
the Exodus, and a discussion of the Hebrew doctrine of
immortality.* There are four- points of contact between the history
of ancient Egypt and the Bible history of Israel : the
chronology, the visit of Abraham, the history of Joseph,
and the Exodus under Moses. After the Exodus Egypt
is not mentioned in the Bible till the time of Solomon,
who married a daughter of Pharaoh and brought her into
the city of David (1 Kings 37: 19).
* La Bible et les dhouvertes modernes en Egypte et en Assyrie. Par F.
Vigouroux, prUre de SaintSulpice. Paris, 1877, 2 vols. This is a learned
and valuable work, but is disfigured by an attack on Protestantism, which
the author makes responsible for rationalism and infidelity. He begins
a preliminary history of German rationalism with the unjust remark, " Le
rationalisme biblique est le fils de Luther " (p. 7). The defence of the
supernatural revelation of the Bible should be the common task of Cath
olics and Protestants, and in fact Vigouroux draws his best material for
defence from Protestant scholars of Germany.

88 BIBLE LANDS.
I. THE CHRONOLOGY.
The chronology of Egypt seems irreconcilable with
the traditional views on the chronology of the Bible.
But both chronologies are still in a state of confusion,
and cannot be satisfactorily settled with our present
means of information.
The Egyptians, like the Babylonians, Indians, and
Chinese, were extravagant in their claim to antiquity.
The priests who informed Herodotus four hundred and
fifty years before Christ, claimed at that time an age of
341 generations, or more than 11,000 years, for their na
tion, from their first King Menes to Sethos (Sethi), du
ring which "no god had ever appeared in a human form"
(II., 142) ; and beyond this Menes are the mythical ages
of the gods. Some take Menes himself to be a mythical
being, a personification of the two Misrs (the Hebrew
Mizraim), or provinces of Upper and Lower Egypt. The
Egyptians themselves never had any chronology, and
only numbered the years of each reign of a king. The
dynastic lists and figures of Manetho have come down
to us in a fragmentary and mutilated state, and in two
widely-different recensions, through Eusebius and Af-
ricanus (as given by Syncellus, who lived in the age
of Charlemagne). They differ again from a chronolo
gical fragment of Eratosthenes, to which Bunsen gives
the preference as far as it goes. They are partly con
firmed, but also partly proved worthless (as Brugsch as
serts) by monumental records. Manetho's reigns and
even his dynasties cannot all be successive, but some of

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 89
them must be synchronous, in accordance with certain
monumental inscriptions and with the natural division of
the country into Upper and Lower Egypt. Manetho
himself speaks of contemporary " kings of Thebais and
of the other provinces of Egypt," and the monuments
represent one king meeting another, and mention the
years of one king's reign corresponding with those of
another. This fact at once greatly reduces the five thou
sand or more years which the champions of successive
dynasties suppose to have elapsed between Menes and
Alexander the Great. Besides, it is impossible on either
theory to ascertain the precise length of the several
reigns. In the first eighteen dynasties not one solitary
date has been fixed with certainty. Brugsch allows to
each Pharaoh an average of thirty-three years, or- only
three reigns in a century; while others, with greater
probability, diminish the average length of reigns one-
half. Accordingly the Egyptologists vary in their esti
mates over 3,000 years.
The first Pharaoh, Menes, or Mena, began to reign,
According to Bceckh  B. c. 5702.
" Unger   •  " 5613.
" " Mariette and Lenormant   " 5004.
" " Brugsch I.  -  " 4455.
" " Brugsch II.   -  " 4400.
" " Chabas  " 4000.
" " Lepsius and Ebers  " 3892.
" " Bunsen (earlier view)  " 3623.
" " Bunsen (later view)  " 3039.
" " Birch  " 3000.
" " Poole  " 2700.
" " Wilkinson  " 2691.
" " G. Kawlinson  " 2450.
8*

90 BLBLE LANDS.
The latest writers on the subject, who widely differ
in their views, frankly admit that Egyptian chronology
is still utterly uncertain and needs reconstruction.* We
must therefore wait for further light and a better agree
ment among Egyptologists.
And as to the Bible chronology, theologians are still
divided between the long system of the Septuagint,
which would put the creation of man 5400 years before
Christ (Hales 5400, Jackson 5426), and the short system
of the Hebrew text, which brings it down fourteen hun
dred years later (Usher 4004 b. c, Petavius 3983 b. a).
There is no agreement till we come down to the age of
Solomon (1000 b. a).
Fortunately religion and the authority of the Bible
do not depend on chronology, any more than on astron
omy or geology or any other science.
II. ABRAHAM'S VISIT TO EGYPT (Gen. 12:10-20).
This visit was brief and occasioned by a famine. The
friendly reception of Abraham, a Semitic nomade, and
the use of camels (ver. 16), which do not appear on the
early monuments of Egypt, suggest that the visit took
place under the reign of one of the Hyksos or Semitic
Shepherd kings (fourteenth, to seventeenth dynasty), but
* Brugsch, in the Preface to his Geschichte ALg. unter den Pharaonen,
and R. Stuart Poole, in the Art. Egypt in the 7th vol. of the Encycl. Brit.,
9th ed. Canon Rawlinson (The Origin of Nations, Lond. 1878, pp. 17-31)
puts the establishment of a settled Egyptian monarchy and civilization
between b. C. 2450 and B. c. 2250. This would make it quite compatible
with the Septuagint chronology, which dates the Deluge anterior to B c
3000.

EG YP TOL OG Y AND THE BIBLE. a i
some put it earlier, in the beginning of the twelfth dy
nasty. In this record we first meet the name of Pha
raoh, which is used in the Scriptures and on the monu
ments as a generic name for king, as we use "Czar" for
the emperor of Russia, and the " Sublime Porte" for the
government of the Sultan.*
The brief description of the visit of Abraham agrees
well with all that is known of the age of the Pharaohs in
that remote period. The objection of Von Bohlen that
no horses are mentioned among the presents of Pharaoh
to Abraham (ver. 12, 16), is turned into an argument for
the historicity of the account by the fact that no horse
appears on monuments prior to the period of the Hyksos,
while at a later period the Bible often mentions Egyptian
horses (Gen. 47 : 17 ; Exod. 9:3; Deut. 17:16; 1 Kings
10 : 28). The fear of Abraham lest he be deprived of
Sarah by Pharaoh and be slain for her sake, derives con
firmation from several documents which show that the
despots of Egypt were capable of such conduct even in
the time of their highest civilization. According to the
story of " The Two Brothers " — the earliest Egyptian fic
tion extant from the age of Rameses II., found in the
Papyrus d'Orbiney in the British Museum — the Pha
raoh of the time sent two armies to capture a beautiful
woman and to murder her husband. In another ancient
* The word Pharaoh, Pi-rao, was formerly derived from the Egyptian
article Pi or Ph, and the Coptic Ouro, i. e., king (Jablonski) ; or from Pi
and Ra, the Sun-god, whom the king of Egypt represented (Rosselini,
Lepsius, etc.); but according to the latest view it means "the Great
House," and is equivalent to the Turkish designation, "the Sublime
Porte " (De Rouge, Brugsch, Ebers). See Ebers, pp. 263-265 ; Brugsch,
p. 582.

92 BIBLE LANDS.
papyrus of the twelfth dynasty, preserved in Berlin, it is
stated that the wife and children of a foreigner were con
fiscated by the king as a matter of course. The favora
ble reception of Abraham is illustrated by the picture in
one of the tombs of Beni Hassan, which represents the
arrival and distinguished reception of a Semitic nomad
chief with his family and dependants seeking the protec
tion of the governor of the province under Usertesen II.
III. JOSEPH IN EGYPT. Gen. 37—50.
The whole inimitable story of Joseph, as related in
the last chapters of Genesis, his sale as a slave, his temp
tation by the unfaithful wife of Potiphar, his imprison
ment on a false charge, the dreams of the butler and ba
ker, the two dreams of Pharaoh and their interpretation,
the subsequent elevation of the patriarch and his family,
are shown by Ebers to be thoroughly Egyptian. It
might have been written by Joseph himself, and incor
porated with many other documents by the author or
compiler of Genesis.
Many inscriptions speak of weighty dreams of the
Pharaohs, which were traced to the inspiration of the
gods. The occupations of butler and baker are pictured
on monuments. Seven was a sacred number with the
Egyptians, as well as the Hebrews, and often appears in
the Book of the Dead, the Papyrus Harris, and other
documents. The cow is the symbol of Athor, the god
dess of fertility (Venus Genetrix), who is represented
with a cow's head. Fertility and sterility, plenty and
famine, depended then as now upon the rise of the Nile,

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 93
from which the seven cows of the dream of Pharaoh
ascend. One of the oldest papyri translated by Goodwin,
relates the story of a foreigner raised to the highest
rank at the court of Pharaoh. Brugsch (p. 246) discov
ered an inscription in the tombs of Baba at El-Kab from
the age of Joseph, and finds an unmistakable allusion to
the seven years of famine in these words: "I gathered
grain, a friend of the god of harvest. I was watchful at
the seed-time. And when a famine arose through many
years, I distributed the grain through the town in every
famine." Brugsch thinks that there cannot be the least
doubt that the " many years " refer to the historical fact
of the seven years' famine at the time of Joseph, the
only one of such a long duration recorded in history.*
These and similar coincidences are independent of
the age to which we assign Joseph.
IV. THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES.
We need not be surprised that the monuments of
Egypt are silent concerning the miracles of Moses and
the national calamity and humiliation which overtook
the king and his army in pursuit of a despised race.
They mention the victories, but rarely any defeat of the
Egyptians.! The Hebrews, however, are mentioned in
* Ebers, in his article Egypten in Riehm's Handworterbuch des Bib-
lischen Alterthums (1876), p. 330, seq., is not so positive about this refer
ence, but deems it very probable.
t " II n' est pas a penser," says De Rouge (as quoted by Vigouroux, II.,
p. 297), "que les Egyptiens aient jamais consigni ni le souvenir des plates,
ni celui de la catastrophe terrible de la Mer Rouge ; car leurs monuments ne
consacrent que bien rarement le souvenir de leurs difaites."

94

BIBLE LANDS.

Egyptian papyri under the name of "Aperiu," or are
included under the name of "foreigners" or "lepers."
There remain also pictures and inscriptions which repre
sent Jews as making and piling bricks under the threat
ening lash of Egyptian taskmasters, in confirmation of
Exod. i : 14. Dr. Ebers relates that he saw in Goshen,
at Mashuta, near a monument of granite bearing the
name of Rameses II., bricks made by Hebrews, some
with straw, and some without (Exod. 5 : 7.).*
Josephus, the church fathers and older divines, as
sumed that the Hyksos or Shepherd kings, who, accord
ing to Manetho, ruled 511 years over Egypt,f were the
Israelites, and that their expulsion by the first sovereign
of the eighteenth dynasty was the Egyptian version of
the Exodus. But this view is now mostly given up as
untenable. For the vain-glorious Egyptians would never
have admitted, without necessity, their dependence upon
a despised race of foreigners. The Bible knows nothing
of a Jewish dynasty of rulers over Egypt ; even Joseph
was only the chief servant of Pharaoh, and his descend
ants were held in bondage. The Hyksos and the Israel
ites, though of the same Semitic race, must be distin
guished, and the Exodus be put after the expulsion of
the former. Zoan (Tanis, the Arabic San), the capital
of the Shepherd kings, in the northeastern section of
Egypt, was built seven years after Hebron (Num. 13 :22),
* Durch Gosen zum Sinai, p. 75, seq., 520, seq. Some of these bricks
are in the Berlin Museum.
t But the estimates of the length of the Shepherd domination vary
from 260 to 953 years. See Rawlinson, The Origin of Nations, pp. 27
and 31.

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 95
that is, before the time of Abraham. Manetho carica
tures the Exodus of the Israelites as an expulsion of
lepers and rebels, and distinguishes it from the expulsion
of the Hyksos.
Who then was the new king of Egypt who " knew not
Joseph " (Exod. 1 : 8), who inflicted heavy burdens upon
the Israelites, and commanded them to build "for Pha
raoh treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses " (Exod. 1 : 11)?
And who was the Pharaoh who perished with his army
in the Red Sea (ch. 14) ? In other words, who was the
Pharaoh of the oppression under whom Moses was born
and educated ; and who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus
under whom Moses, being then eighty years old, received
his divine commission and delivered his people from
bondage ? On this question the Egyptologists are divi
ded between two opinions, some putting the events un
der consideration in the eighteenth, others in the nine
teenth dynasty.
1. Amosis, or Aahmes I., the first sovereign of the
eighteenth dynasty (b. c. 1706, or, according to others,
1525), is the Pharaoh of the oppression; Thothmes or
Tutmes II., about a century later, is the Pharaoh of the
Exodus. This is the view advocated by Canon Cook*
and formerly by Reginald Stuart Poole.f
Amosis captured Zoan, expelled the Hyksos, and
united the country under one crown of Upper and Lower
Egypt. He would therefore be likely to oppress and
# In the first excursus to the " Speaker's Commentary " on Exodus,
p. 443, seq.
t In Article Egypt in the 8th edition of the "Encycl. Brit.," Vol. VII. ;
but in the 9th edition, Vol. VII. (1877), p. 740, Poole gives up this view.

96 BIBLE LANDS.
enslave the Israelites who lived in that most fertile dis
trict. But why did he not drive them out together with
the Hyksos, who were of the same race and ruled in the
same district ?
The reign of Thothmes II. was short and inglorious,
and his death was followed by a general revolt of the
confederated nations which had been conquered by his
father (Thothmes I.). He was married to his more ener
getic sister Hatasou, who succeeded him as Queen Reg
nant. No attempt was made to recover the lost ascen
dancy of Egypt until her younger brother, Thothmes III.,
in the latter part of his long reign of forty-six .years
(1510 to 1556 b. a), completely subdued Syria and Meso
potamia to the banks of the Tigris, shortly before the
date when, according to this hypothesis, the Israelites
entered the land of promise.
But would this conqueror, in his march to and from
Syria, not have attacked the hated Israelites in the wil
derness ? And would he have allowed them to occupy
Canaan ? Is the great prosperity of Egypt and its su
premacy in Western Asia, which followed the reign of
Thothmes III., compatible with the permanent possession
of Canaan by the Israelites ? Would such a king as
Rameses II., had he lived after the Exodus, have left
Palestine untouched in his irresistible march of conquest
over the continent of Asia ? And would he not have
erected there, as elsewhere, his monumental pillars" of
victory, some of which Herodotus saw " still standing in
the part of Syria called Palestine" ?* Canon Cook has
* Book II., ch. 106.

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 97
done his best to answer some of these questions, but with
out success ; and Poole has recently changed his view in
favor of the Rameses theory.
2. Rameses II., the third sovereign of the nineteenth
dynasty, is the Pharaoh of the oppression, and his son
Mernephthah, or Menephthah, is the Pharaoh of the
Exodus. This is the view adopted by the majority of
recent Egyptologists — De Rouge, Chabas, Lenormant,
Vigouroux, among the French ; Bunsen, Lepsius, Ebers,
Brugsch, among the Germans* It brings down the Exo
dus to about b. c. 13 17.
Rameses II. is the Sesostris of the Greeks, who blend
ed him into one person with his father Sethi I.f He
* Brugsch (in his last work, p. 549) speaks very confidently : " The
new Pharaoh, who knew nothing of Joseph, who founded and adorned the
capital of the district of Tanis, and the city of Pi-tum, the capital of the
district afterwards called Sethroi'tes, with temples, is no other, can be no
other than Rameses II., of whose buildings at Zoan the monuments and
papyrus-rolls speak in perfect harmony  He is the Pharaoh of the
oppression, the father of that unnamed royal daughter who found the
child Moses on the banks of the river." Vigouroux is equally confident,
1. c, pp. 204, seq.
t Wilkinson, in commenting on Herod. II. 102 (in Rawlinson's His
tory of Herodotus, II. 144), remarks: "The original Sesostris was the first
king of the twelfth dynasty, Osirtasen, or Sesortasen I., who was the first
great Egyptian conqueror; but wnen Osirei, or Sethi (Sethos), and his son
Rameses II. surpassed the exploits of their predecessor, the name of Se
sostris became confounded with Sethos, and the Conquests of that king
and his still greater son were ascribed to the original Sesostris. This ex
plains the assertion of Dicsearchus, that Sesostris was the successor of
Horus, mistaken for the god, but really the last king of the eighteenth
dynasty. For those two kings did succeed Horus (the reign of Rameses
L, the father of Sethi, being so short as to be overlooked), and their union
under one name, Sesostris, is accounted for by Rameses II. having ruled
conjointly with his father during the early and principal part of his reign.
Mr. Poole very properly suggests that Manetho's ' 2ei9a? 6 not 'Vt\izaarir^
Bible Lands. u

98 BIBLE LANDS.
ruled sixty-seven years (b. c, 1388 to 1322*), at first as co-
regent with his father, whose name he afterwards erased
from the monuments. He had many wives and concu
bines, and one hundred and nineteen children (fifty-nine
sons and sixty daughters), whose pictures and names are
preserved on a temple-wall at Abydos. He represents
the highest power and glory of ancient Egypt. He was
the great conqueror and builder who spread himself all
over his empire, and covered it with monuments of self-
glorification.f He was among the Pharaohs what Louis
XIV. and Napoleon were among the rulers of France.
He is the central figure that meets us in the colossal
statues and innumerable cartouches and bas-reliefs
among the ruins of Tanis, Memphis, Abydos, Thebes,
Luxor, Karnak, Aboo Simbel, in the Syenite torso of the
British Museum, and in the obelisk of the Place de la
Concorde in Paris. There is scarcely a ruin in Egypt
and Nubia that does not record the memory of his con
quests and his insatiable passion for building. " His
name," says Dr. Ebers, " may be read to-day on a hun
dred monuments in Goshen." He is called on the mon-
should be * 2 . . Kal 'P . .' This is required also by the length of their reigns
(that of the second Rameses being from sixty-three to sixty-six years), and
by the age of Rameses ; and the sculptures at Karnak show that he accom
panied his father in his early campaigns. It seems too that in the first
Sesostris two kings, Osirtasen I. and III., were comprehended ; as several
were under the name of Mceris."
* The Egyptologists differ. Lepsius dates his reign from B. c. 1388,
Brugsch from 1407, Mariette from 1405, Bunsen from 1352, Poole from
1283. t Maspero (Hist. Ancienne, p. 225) calls him ' le roi constructeur par
excellence," Zincke (Egypt of the Pharaohs and of the Khedive, p. 125), "the
most magnificent and prolific architect the world has ever seen."

EG YP TOL OGY AND THE BIBLE. 99
uments " the bull powerful against Ethiopia, the griffin
furious against the negroes." He fought a single-handed
fight against overwhelming odds in the presence of both
armies. " He traversed," says Herodotus (II. 102 and
103), "the whole continent of Asia, and conquered every
people which fell in his way." He also, according to the
same authority, proceeded in a fleet of ships of war from
the Arabian gulf to the mouths of the Indus. Crossing
to Europe, he subdued Scythia and Thrace, erecting
everywhere pillars of victory with his own name. We
cannot think without horror of the immense sacrifice of
human life which these conquests and buildings required.
Almost every stone was reared with blood. And all this
to gratify the pride and vanity of an absolute despot !
The pride of Rameses towered to the height of the gods.
His statues have superhuman proportions, his face more
than Egyptian beauty. All his works are self-glorifica
tions. His courtiers and wives are represented as per
forming acts of adoration before him.
Among his many structures mentioned on the monu
ments and in papyri, are fortifications along the canal
from Goshen to the Red Sea, and especially at Pi-Tum
and Pi-Rameses, or Pi-Ramessu. These must be the
same with " the treasure cities Pithom and Raamses,"
which the Israelites built or enlarged for Pharaoh, ac
cording to Exod. 1 : 1 1. For "treasure cities" (inische-
notli) are magazines or depots of ammunition and provis
ion. The city of Rameses, Pi-Rameses, named for him,
was perhaps only a new name for the old city of Tanis — the
biblical and hieroglyphic Zoan (the modern Arabic San), on

ioo BIBLE LANDS.
a branch of the Nile, where Moses was probably born and
where he certainly performed his miracles (compare Psa.
78 : 12, 43).* It was the capital of a rich district and a
frequent residence of King Rameses, where he held a
magnificent court, reviewed his army, and from which he
started on his victorious expeditions against the nations
of Western Asia. Recent excavations at San or Zoan
have brought to light many monumental inscriptions,
ruins of brick houses, and an immense temple with
twelve obelisks, also a colossal statue of Rameses II.,
seated between two gods, which has been transferred to
the museum at Boulak.
What is more natural than that such a powerful des
pot and passionate builder should employ the Hebrews
on the borders of his empire in hard work to make them
harmless during his absence ? It is expressly stated,
Exod. 1 : 10, that Pharaoh was afraid the Hebrews might
join his enemies and fight against him. But we have
more direct proof. The Hebrews are mentioned under
the Egyptian name Aperiu (or Apuriu) in several official
reports (on the Leyden papyri), two of which are cer
tainly from the reign of Rameses II. They are described
there as persons who, together with the soldiers, were
employed in drawing stones for the fortified enclosure of
* Brugsch identifies Rameses with Tanis. See his Address before
the International Congress of Orientalists in London, L'exode et les monu
ments igyptiens (Leipzig, 1875), pp. 22-24. Poole adopts this view in Art.
Egypt in Encycl. Brit, vol. VII. (9th ed.). Ebers (Durch Gosen zum
Sinai, 1872, pp. 5oo, seq.) distinguishes two cities of that name, Rame-
ses-Tunis, and Rameses-Machuta, the latter being situated farther south
on the old canal of the Pharaohs.

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 101
Pi-Rameses, and to whom their rations of corn were de
livered.* Brugsch (p. 563) mentions also as a remarka
ble fact that one hundred years after his death, under the
reign of his nephew Rameses III., the name J-en-Mosche,
i. e., " the island of Moshe," or " the bank of Moshe,"
occurs among the towns of Middle Egypt. And among
the daughters of Rameses II. is one called Meri, probably
the same with Princess Merris, who, according to Jewish
tradition and Eusebius, saved Moses. f
Menephthah \.% was the thirteenth son of Rameses
and began to rule probably b. c. 1325 or 1322. He marks
a period of decline, in which the conquests of his two
great predecessors were gradually and ingloriously lost.
Few monuments were erected in his reign, and even his
father's tomb was left unfinished. This is just what we
would expect after the catastrophe in the Red Sea. He
was buried in his tomb at Biban-el-Moluk, but this may
have been a mock burial. § It is also mentioned that
Menephthah lost a son who is named on a monument of
Tanis, and Brugsch connects this fact with the death of
the first-born ; but on this not much stress can be laid.
* See a translation of these reports in Ebers, 1. c, p. 502.
t She is also called Thermutis. Ebers thinks that she was a daugh
ter of Sethi I. and the sister and wife of Rameses II. Durch Gosen, etc.,
pp. 83 and 525.
J Ebers spells the name Mernephtah. The copyists of Manetho differ ;
the usual form is Menephthes, or Menephthah. See Ebers, Durch Gosen,
etc., p. 522.
§ The Mosaic narrative does not expressly say that Pharaoh himself
perished in the sea, but this is almost necessarily implied in the words
•' not one of them remained " (Ex. 14 : 28), and is asserted in Psa. 106 : 1 1.
The Egyptian monuments always represent the king at the head of his
army. 9*

102 BIBLE LANDS.
Of more importance is another fact. Herodotus tells us
(II. c. in), that the son and successor of Sesostris whom
he calls Pheron (probably the famous Pharaoh of the
Hebrew record at the time of the Exodus) undertook no
warlike expeditions, and was smitten with blindness for
ten years because "he impiously hurled his spear into
the overflowing waves of the river which a sudden wind
caused to rise to an extraordinary height." This reads
like a confused reminiscence of the disaster in the Red
Sea. I am surprised that this striking confirmation from
the Greek historian seems to have escaped the attention
of the writers whom I have consulted.
The only serious difficulty in this view is the chron
ological. For if Menephthah's reign began b. c. 1325,
we have less than 3 1 5 years between the Exodus and the
building of Solomon's temple (b. c. ioio). From these
must be deducted 40 years for the sojourn in the wilder
ness, 25 years for the period of Joshua, 40 for the reign
of Saul and 40 for that of David, which leaves us not
more than about 170 years (instead of 330) for the period
of the Judges. But the uncertainties of Egyptian and
Hebrew chronologies deprive the objection of decisive
weight. Whatever view we take of the Pharaohs of the age of
Moses, it must be admitted that the latest Egyptological
discoveries and researches are not in conflict, but can be
harmonized with the Mosaic accounts, and even confirm
and illustrate .them in all their allusions to the country
and people of ancient Egypt. This confirmation is all
the more convincing because it is incidental and unde-

EGYPTOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. 103
signed. The Bible has nothing to fear from Egyptology.
And as to the history of the Pharaohs and the history of
Israel there can be no comparison. The one is a barren
desert, with some lofty peaks and brackish fountains, the
other a garden full of unfading flowers and ripe fruit for
the enjoyment and use of all nations and ages.

104

BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPER XI.
ANCIENT AND MODERN EGYPT COMPARED.
Egypt the Old House of Bondage under New Mas
ters—The Pharaohs and the People— Character of
Egyptian Art compared with that of Ancient
Greece— Mohammed Ali and Isma il Pasha-
Present Condition of the People— Reform and
.Ruin— Annexation to England— The Cross and the
Crescent.The Bible calls Egypt " the house of bondage." This
is as true now as it was in the time of Moses. Its ancient
ruins and the present condition of the people alike con
firm it. Kingcraft and priestcraft in possession of all
intelligence and power used the people as beasts of bur
den and mechanical tools in the times of the Pharaohs,
and so use them under the present Khedive. Modern
Egypt is simply " the old house of bondage under new
masters." Temples and tombs meet the traveller day after day
on the banks of the Nile. It is a valley of sepulchres
and mummies, of animal gods and animal men. The
traveller is kept vacillating between admiration for the
grandeur of the monuments, and contempt for the absurd
ity of the idolatry which inspired their erection. It
seems inconceivable that a nation possessed of such skill
in all the arts of design could be devoted to the worship
of beasts and reptiles. St. Paul had them in view when

ANCIENT AND MODERN EGYPT. 105
he speaks of wise fools who changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image of corruptible man and
birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things. In the
days of Herodotus it was easier to find a god on the Nile
than a man ; and in honor of these gods, half men, half
beasts, or all beasts, the Egyptians constructed their
greatest works of art. They built as magnificent tombs
and sarcophagi for their sacred bulls at Sakkara as for
their kings of Thebes. If the worshippers of beetles and
cats, of bulls and crocodiles could do so much, how much
more should the worshippers of the true God be able and
willing to do ? But the noblest monuments of the Chris
tian faith are constructed of better material than granite
and marble. A single church, or university, or orphan-
house, does more good to the bodies and souls of men
than all the temples of Egypt. These were only intended
for kings and. priests, and were closed by their outer
walls against the multitude.
The stupendous proportions and the hoary antiquity of
ihe temples, pyramids, and rock-tombs, constitute their
chief attraction. The ruins of Gheezeh, Karnak, Luxor,
Thebes, Denderah, Edfou, and Aboo Simbel, defy our
notions of strength and sublimity, and excite our amaze
ment at the mechanical skill which could remove from
the quarries of Syene, transport and pile up such enor
mous masses of stone. Only absolute command over
unlimited time and unlimited labor could do it. The
explanation is a sad comment on despotic power. The
Pharaohs forced thousands and millions of human beings,
subjects and captives of war, like so many camels and

106 BIBLE LANDS.
donkeys, into the service of their vanity and folly, without
any reward for their toil and labor.
Moreover, grand and imposing as is the design, and
admirable as is the execution, there is after all no real
beauty and grace in the Egyptian works of architecture,
sculpture, and painting, if we compare them with those of
Greece. The gods are disfigured by animal heads and
attributes, the men look like machines, stiff, stolid,
monotonous. The Egyptian mind was kept in bondage
by the dark powers of nature ; the Greek mind was
emancipated and breathed the air of freedom and man
hood. Phidias and Socrates have done more for civiliza
tion than all the Pharaohs and Ptolemies.
In the course of time Egypt, from the most power
ful of empires, became " the basest of kingdoms." And
from this condition it has not yet risen. It is true, a new
era of reform began with Mohammed Ali (died 1849),
the Napoleon of Egypt. His grandson, Isma il Pasha,
the present Khedive or Viceroy (since 1863), is following
his steps, and seems to have taken the imperial charla
tan, Napoleon III., " the nephew of the uncle," for his
model. He is undoubtedly an intelligent, enterprising,
and energetic ruler, and has all the varnish of modern
French civilization ; but he builds from the top down
ward, instead of building from the foundation upward—
and the natural result is bankruptcy. He constructs, by
forced labor, railroads and canals, palace after palace for
himself and his wives and concubines, hotels, theatres,
and sugar factories ; he owns large sugar and cotton
plantations, and all the steamers on the Nile; and he

ANCIENT AND MODERN EGYPT. 107
grinds his people to the very dust by taxation. Every
acre of land and every fruit-tree in Egypt is heavily
taxed. His officials are corrupt and notoriously open to
bribes ; he had to send for an Englishman to sift the bot
tom facts of his embarrassment and to straighten his
finances. There is no administration of real justice ex
cept in the three international courts recently established,
to which England, France, Germany, Austria, Russia, and
the United States send representatives.
A more degraded, abject, and beggarly people than
the modern Egyptians it would be difficult to find within
the limits of the civilized world. "Backsheesh" is the
first word they learn, and the last they forget. You hear
it everywhere from morning till night, from old and young,
as if it were "the chief end of man." It opens the key
to everything worth seeing in the East except the harems
and the cave of Machpelah at Hebron. It indicates the
all-prevailing poverty and misery. The villages of Egypt
look like shapeless heaps of ruins. The houses in the
country, and even in some quarters of Alexandria and
Cairo, are miserable mud-huts, without roofs, without
beds, without furniture, and not much better than Indian
wigwams. Men, women, and children are huddled togeth
er on the bare floor. They have but one garment, or a
few rags. They live in the same enclosure and on terms
of ultra-democratic equality with their donkeys, buffaloes,
cows, goats, sheep, and chickens ; only the doves have a
separate household in the pure air above, and send down
their contributions to the dirt of the family. The women
work in the field and carry all the water in heavy jars, but

108 BIBLE LANDS.
have little else to do — no stockings to darn, no beds to
make, no linen to mend, no plates and cups to clean ;
their highest idea of happiness is to sit on the river bank
gossiping and catching fleas. The children are naked,
and seldom if ever washed; even the flies which encamp
around their eyes are left undisturbed. Ophthalmia and
blindness prevail to a fearful extent. Reading and wri
ting are unknown among the common people ; they are
so ignorant that they rarely know even their own age.
Birth, marriage, and death are the only events in their
monotonous animal existence.
And yet these Egyptians are not without noble qual
ities. They are a submissive, gentle, harmless, and by
no means unintelligent race. They have bright dark
eyes, white teeth, fine figures, and any amount of physi
cal endurance. Many of the men are very handsome
and quick-witted ; the women are as straight as the
palm-trees, and carry their burdens skilfully and grace
fully on their heads or shoulders. Even the Nubians,
though darker than our negroes, and far beneath them
in knowledge, surpass them in physical appearance and
seeming capacity for higher attainments. Like other
Mohammedans, the Egyptians are temperate in meat and
drink, and can live on bread, lentils, beans, dates, sour
milk, and water. Mohammedanism is a great total absti
nence society. Our Arab dragoman from Luxor and the
captain on the Nile indignantly refused wine or beer
which some less scrupulous Christian passengers injudi
ciously offered them. I often thought how difficult it
must be for these simple-minded and contented Orientals

ANCIENT AND MODERN EGPYT. 109
to be convinced of the superiority of the Christian reli
gion and civilization, if judged by the luxurious extrava
gance and intemperance of many English and American
travellers. Is there any hope for such a people ? Undoubtedly
there is, in God's own good time and way. Great politi
cal changes must precede. It is not impossible that
Egypt, the highway to British India, will before long be
annexed to England. The most intelligent men in Egypt,
not interested in the present reign of the Khedive, desire
it ; knowing that England has a strong and honest gov
ernment, would throw a vast amount of capital into the
country, and promote liberty, education, and industry
among the people. An English protectorate over Egypt
would be a part of the solution of the Eastern question.
It would prepare the way for a still higher solution, the
triumph of the Cross over the Crescent. "The Egyp
tians shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors,
and he shall send them a Saviour, and a great one, and
he shall deliver them. And the Lord shall be known to
Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord." (Isa.
19: 20, 21.)

10

1 10 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER XII.
THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION.
General Character— The Koran and the Bible Com
pared—The Fundamental Dogma— Monotheism
—Fatalism — Islam— Paradise— Hell— Other Arti
cles of Belief— Mohammedan Ethics- Moham
medan Worship — Friday — Hours of Prayer-
Dancing and Howling Dervishes— Islam a Reli
gion of Men, not of Women— Degradation of
Woman— Mohammed and his Successors.
The Mohammedan religion is a compound of Jewish
monotheism, heathen sensuality, and apocryphal pseudo-
Christianity, pervaded by devotion to Mohammed, the
poet and prophet of Arabia. It may be called a bastard
Judaism, as the Arabs are Ishmaelites, or children of the
bastard son of Abraham.
The Koran is the Bible of the Moslems, who believe
it to be literally inspired, infallible, and a universal guide
in religion, morals, grammar, philosophy, and govern
ment. It is too sacred to be translated or printed, but
has often been translated by Christians from Arabic into
.nodern languages.
The Koran is unquestionably one of the great books
of the world. It has left its impress upon ages. It feeds
the devotions and regulates the lives of more than a hun
dred millions of human beings. It has many passages
of poetic beauty, religious fervor, and wise counsel, but
mixed with absurdities, bombast, unmeaning images, and

THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION. 1 1 1
low sensuality. It abounds in repetitions and contradic
tions which are not removed by the convenient theory of
abrogation. It alternately attracts and repels, and is a
most wearisome book to read. Gibbon says, "The Koran
is a glorious testimony to the unity of God ;" but he calls
it also very properly an " endless, incoherent rhapsody of
fable and precept and declamations, which seldom excites
a sentiment or idea, which sometimes crawls in the dust,
and is sometimes lost in the clouds." Reiske denounces
it as the most absurd book, and a scourge to a reader of
sound common sense. Goethe characterizes the style as
severe, great, terrible, and at times truly sublime. Car-
lyle calls the book "the confused ferment of a great, rude
human soul, fervent, earnest, sincere in all senses." But
this is too much praise.
Of all books, not excluding theVedas, the Koran is
the most powerful rival of the Bible, but falls infinitely
below it in contents and form. Both are thoroughly ori
ental in style and imagery, and born under similar condi
tions of soil, climate, and habits of life. Both contain the
moral and religious code of the nations which own them ;
the Koran, like the Old Testament, is also a civil code,
for in Mohammedan countries the civil and ecclesiastical
governments are one. Both have the freshness of occa
sional composition growing out of a definite historical
situation and specific wants. But the Bible is the genu
ine revelation of the only true God in Christ ; the Koran
is a mock revelation, without Christ and without atone
ment. The Bible is historical, and embodies the noblest
aspirations of the human race in all ages to the final con-

112 BIBLE LANDS.
summation ; the Koran begins and stops with Moham
med. The Bible combines endless variety with unity,
universal applicability with local adaptation ; the Koran
is uniform and monotonous, confined to one country, one
state of society, and one class of minds. The Bible is
the book of the world, and is constantly travelling to the
ends of the earth, carrying spiritual food to all classes of
the people ; the Koran • stays at home, and is insipid to
all who have once fully tasted the true Word of the liv
ing God. Even the poetry of the Koran never rises to
the grandeur and sublimity of Job or Isaiah, the lyric
beauty of the Psalms, the sweetness and loveliness of the
Song of Solomon, the sententious wisdom of the Prov
erbs and Ecclesiastes.
A few instances must suffice.
The first Sura, called " the Sura of Praise and Pray
er," which is recited by the Mussulmans in each of the
five daily devotions, fills for them the place of the Lord's
Prayer, and contains the same number of petitions. We
give it in a literal translation :
"i. In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
2. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds !
3. The Compassionate, the Merciful,
4. King on the day of reckoning !
5. Thee only do we worship, and to thee do we cry for help.
6. Guide thou us on the straight path,
7. The path of those to whom thou hast been gracious —
With whom thou art not angry,
And who go not astray. Amen."
As this Sura invites a comparison with the Lord's
Prayer infinitely to the advantage of the latter, so do the

THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION. 1 1 3
Koran's descriptions of paradise when contrasted with
John's vision of the heavenly Jerusalem :
" Joyous on that day shall be the inmates of Paradise in their em
ploy;
In shades, on bridal couches reclining, they and their spouses.
Therein shall they have fruits, and whatever they require.
' Peace !' shall be the word on the part of a merciful Lord,
' But be ye separated this day, O ye sinners !'
******The sincere servants of God,
A stated banquet shall they have
Of fruits, and honored shall they be
In the gardens of delight,
Upon couches face to face.
A cup shall be borne round among them from a fountain,
Limpid, delicious to those who drink ;
It shall not oppress the sense, nor shall they therewith be
drunken,
And with them are the large-eyed ones with modest refraining
glance, fair like the sheltered egg."
The fundamental dogma of Islam is contained in the
ever-repeated phrase, "There is no deity but Allah, and
Mohammed is his apostle." (La. ilaha ill' allah, wa
Muhammeda rrasula' llah.J The first clause is true, and
borrowed from the Old Testament (Deut. 6:4); the sec
ond clause is an error which corrupts the truth. The
source of its power and the secret of its success lie in
the intense and fanatical monotheism of Islam. Its his
torical mission consists in the destruction of heathen
idolatry. But this monotheism, like the Jewish and the
Unitarian monotheism, is abstract and monotonous. It
excludes the fulness of life and the inner-trinitarian rela
tions as well as outer-trinitarian manifestations of the
10*

ii4 BIBLE LANDS.
Deity. It is hostile to the divinity of Christ and of the
Holy Spirit. It absurdly reasons from the pseudo-Chris
tian Mariolatry of the Eastern churches, that God has no
wife, and therefore he can have no Son ! The Mohamme
dan God is not a loving father of trustful children, but a
despotic sovereign of trembling subjects and slaves. He
has from eternity foreordained all things, evil as well as
good. The Mohammedan doctrine of predestination is
not Calvinistic, but fatalistic. It breeds a fierce fanati
cism in the propagation of religion, and a stolid submis
sion to unalterable fate. Islam — that is, unconditional
resignation to the unchangeable will of Allah — is the chief
virtue. He who dies fighting for his faith is sure to be
saved. The Mohammedan paradise is in the seventh heaven,
and is the abode of perpetual youth and sensual delight
for the faithful. Hell (Iahennerri— Gehenna) is beneath
the lowest earth and seas of darkness, and is a place of
everlasting punishment for all infidels, with seven stages
for as many classes, viz., wicked Mohammedans, Chris
tians, Jews, Sabians, Magians, idolaters, hypocrites. The
bridge over hell is finer than a hair and sharper than the
edge of a sword; the pious pass over it in a moment, the
wicked fall from it into, the abyss. The Moslems be
lieve also in pure angels, good and evil geriii, and devils
whose chief is Iblees or Satan. They believe in prophets
and apostles, among whom Adam, Noah, Abraham, Mo
ses, Jesus, and Mohammed, are the greatest. Jesus ex
cels all, except Mohammed, of whom he himself prophe
sied, when he promised that "other Paraclete" (Com-

THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION. 1 1 5
forter), who should lead his disciples into the whole truth.
Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, and free from sin,
but a mere man. He will return again, and with Mo
hammed judge the whole world.
The principal duties enjoined by the Koran are prayer,
almsgiving, fasting (during the month of Ramadan), and
pilgrimage to Mecca and Mount Arafat at least once in
a man's life, if possible. . The less important duties and
rites are abstinence from unclean animal food, from wine
and all intoxicating liquor, from gambling and usury;
also veracity (except in a few cases), probity, charity,
cleanliness, decent attire, circumcision. The law allows
a man to have four wives (though most have only one or
two), and as many concubine slaves as he pleases. Pashas,
Khalifs, and Sultans are not restricted in polygamy. Di
vorce is made easy. Sons inherit equal shares, but the
share of a daughter is only half that of a son.
The Mohammedan worship consists simply of prayers,
with preparatory ablutions, and occasional preaching
from the Koran. It is iconoclastic and puritanic. It
resembles the Jewish and the Protestant worship, rather
than the Roman or Greek Catholic. There is an entire
absence of symbolical representations, which might dis
tract the mind from the one and only object of worship.
The prohibition in the second commandment is literally
carried out. The Koran has no idea of an atonement,
and hence no room for sacrifice, except the commemora
tion of Ishmael's (Isaac's) sacrifice by Abraham. Allah
is indeed " all merciful," and forgives sins, but arbitrarily,
without satisfaction of his justice. In this respect, as

ri6 BIBLE LANDS.
also in the doctrine of the abstract unity of the godhead,
Islam resembles Socinianism and Unitarianism. It may
be called the great Unitarian heresy of the East. " In
the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful," is
the phrase used at the beginning of every chapter of the
Koran (except one), and of every other book, as also be
fore every lawful and important act. The two words are
from the same root, and have nearly the same meaning,
with the distinction, according to the Ulama (the profes
sors of religion and law), that " compassionate '' means
" merciful in great things," the other " merciful in small
things." But E. W. Lane (the author of that most in
structive and reliable book " The Modern Egyptians,"
and translator of "The Thousand and One Nights")
says that "the first expresses an occasional sensation,
the second a constant quality."
Friday is observed as Sabbath, because on Friday
Adam was created and died, and on Friday the world
will be judged. On that day the Dancing and Howling
Dervishes perform their unique exercises, of which I
shall speak afterwards. But the observance of Friday is
not nearly as strict as the Jewish observance of the
Sabbath. On the other hand, worship is not confined
to that day. The mosques, like the Roman-Catholic
churches, are always open and frequented by worship
pers, who perform their devotions either in groups or
alone. The devotions of the pious Moslem are impressive,
and put many Christians to shame. He says his prayers
and goes through his bowings and prostrations regularly

THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION 1 1 7
and punctually five times a day, in the mosque, or at
home, or on board a ship, or in the street, or wherever
he may be, regardless of his surroundings, being alone
with his God in the midst of the crowd, his face turned
toward Mecca, his" hands raised to heaven, then laid on
the lap, his knees bent, his forehead touching the ground.
His usual prayer is the first Sura of the Koran, which
serves him the same purpose as the Lord's Prayer does
the Christian. Sometimes a few other verses are added,
and the ninety-nine beautiful names of Allah which form
the Mohammedan rosary. There are five stated hours
of prayer : between daybreak and sunrise, a little after
noonday, in the afternoon, four minutes after sunset, and
at nightfall. The Prophet fixed the seasons of prayer in
this way to avoid the appearance of sun and star-wor
ship, which he had to contend with in Arabia. The
mueddin or muezzin (crier) announces the time of prayer
from the minaret of each mosque, by chanting the
" Adan," or call to prayer, in these or similar words :
" God is most great. I testify that there is no deity but
God. I testify that Mohammed is God's apostle. Come
to prayer ! Come to security ! Prayer is better than
sleeping. God is most great. There is no deity but
God." Among the most curious features of Mohammedan
worship are the exercises of the Dancing and Howling
Dervishes, which I witnessed both at Cairo and at Con
stantinople (in Pera and Scutari) on Friday and Tuesday
afternoon. The dervishes are the Moslem monks. They
perform their astounding feats of asceticism once a week

118 BIBLE LANDS.
in their mosques, and strangers are admitted on the pay
ment of backsheesh. They carry certain forms of ascet
icism as far as the old Christian Anchorets or the Fakirs
of India. The Dancing Dervishes, after the preliminary exer
cises of prayer and prostration, whirl around on their
toes, ring within ring without touching each other, for
about an hour until they are utterly exhausted. I saw
thirteen of them, all dressed in white flowing gowns and
with high white hats of stiff woollen stuff ; their hands
were stretched out or raised to heaven, their eyes half
closed ; their mind was apparently absorbed in the con
templation of Allah. The performance consisted of four
different acts, and I counted forty to fifty turnings in
one minute. The spectacle is very exciting, and the
dexterity and elasticity of their bodies are astonishing.
The faces betrayed fanatical devotion. But to my great
amazement I saw the next day one of these very dervish
es in a state of beastly intoxication reeling to and fro on
the large bridge of the Golden Horn without observing
anybody. This was a strange commentary on Moham
medan temperance. The higher classes, I understand,
and it would seem from this exceptional example even
dervishes, freely indulge in the use of strong brandy and
champagne. The Howling Dervishes swing their heads up and
down, crying incessantly with all their might, La, ilaha
ill' Allah, and some other phrases, until they are stopped
from sheer exhaustion. The spectacle in Scutari lasted
with the preliminary prayers and songs nearly two hours;

THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION. 1 19
but it did not impress me as much as the one in Cairo a
few months before, the charm of novelty was gone. In
Scutari the monks formed a line, in Cairo a ring, holding
each other by the hand and throwing their long hair
backward and forward so as to present a unique picture.
In entering a mosque, we may keep on the hat or
turban, but must take off the shoes, or cover them with
socks, or put on slippers, in commemoration of the divine
command to Moses, " Put off thy shoes from off thy feet,
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."
Slippers or sandals of straw are usually provided at the
entrance of the mosques, and must be paid for. There
are always half a dozen claimants for backsheesh.
Women are seldom seen in the mosques. The Koran
does not command them to pray, and some Mohammedan
philosophers doubt whether women have souls. Yet
they are necessary for the bliss of Paradise, where the
humblest believer is allowed 80,000 slaves and 72 wives
besides those he had in this life, if he chooses to keep
them. Islam is a religion of men, while Christianity has
more followers among women. The one keeps woman
in a state of slavery and ignorance ; the other raises her
to true dignity and equality with man. In nothing is
the superiority of Christian civilization over Mohammed
anism so manifest as in the position of woman and in the
home-life. Polygamy reduces woman to a mere slave
and plaything, and is a fruitful source of domestic and
social misery. Mohammed was comparatively temperate,
but grew more sensual and cruel as he advanced in life

120 BIBLE LANDS.
and power. He" was first married to a rich widow much
older than himself (Chadijah), who bore him four daugh
ters and two sons ; two months after her death he mar
ried Sawda, another widow, and was betrothed at the
same time to a mere girl of six or seven years, Ayesha,
whose jealous hatred of Fatima (his only surviving daugh
ter from Chadijah) became the cause of perpetual dis
cords and schisms. He had in all fifteen regular wives
and many concubines. He despised a throne and a
diadem, he mended his own clothes, he pegged his own
shoes, he lived on dates and water, in a poor cottage,
surrounded by the cottages of his wives and slaves. His
successors drink champagne, live in luxury, and have
dozens of palaces and harems filled with eunuchs and
women who know nothing beyond the vanities of etiquette
and dress. It is painful to add that the American Mo
hammed, Brigham Young, who died in September, 1877,
had nineteen wives and over fifty children, and left an
immense fortune.
Mohammed and the savage sons of the desert, by a
fanatical faith, extreme simplicity and temperance, and
fierce bravery, conquered the fairest portions of the
East, plundering, enslaving, and destroying wherever
they went, and reducing the lands of the Bible to a dreary
ruin. His successors at the present day have to live at
the mercy of Christian Europe. They have shamefully
wasted their opportunities, and the time of reckoning has
come. The Mohammedan religion is indeed neither dead
nor dying ; a visit to its old University in Cairo, with
ten thousand pupils, and its progress among the savage

THE MOHAMMEDAN RELIGION. 121
races in Africa, are sufficient to prove its vitality ; but it
has ceased to be a terror and insult to Europe ; it must
retreat to Asia, it is gradually undermined by inevi
table changes in its own strongholds, and before long it
will have to open the door for the messengers of a purer
Christianity than that which it so easily conquered, not
by argument and persuasion, but by the brute force of
the sword, which by the slow but sure Nemesis of history
is now turned against it.

11

122 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER XIII.
CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT.
Early Christianity in Egypt— St. Mark— The Cate
chetical School in Alexandria— Clement and Ori-
gen — Athanasius the Great — St. Anthony and
Monastieism— Cyril of Alexandria — The Decay of
Christianity — The Triumph of Islam — The Cop-
tie Church — A Coptic Wedding — Protestant Mis
sions among the Copts — Drs. Lansing and Hogg
— The United Presbyterian Mission — English and
German Churches — The Mission Schools of Miss
Whately — Statistics.
Will Egypt ever be Christianized again ? Once
the gospel dispelled Egyptian darkness, and overthrew
one of the basest forms of civilized superstition and idol
atry, which worshipped beasts and reptiles, and built
magnificent tombs for sacred bulls and wolves and croc
odiles. The land which sheltered Joseph and the patri
archal family and the infant Jesus, accepted the message
of St. Mark ; and Alexandria, its capital, soon rose to be
one of the patriarchal sees of Christendom. In the sec
ond century the same city boasted of a flourishing cate
chetical school, in which Clement and Origen expounded
the Scriptures, silenced the heathen assailants, confound
ed the heretics, and introduced Platonic philosophy into
Christian theology. There Athanasius, the father of or
thodoxy, fought his life-long battle against Arianism, and

CHRISTIANITY IN EG YPT. 123
saved the fundamental doctrine of Christianity — the eter
nal divinity of Christ.
In Egypt also arose the system of Christian anchoret-
ism and monasticisrci, which reflected in the moral sphere
the startling contrast between the solemn, barren desert
and the smiling garden of the Nile. In the tombs and
caves of the Libyan desert St. Anthony became the pa
triarch of hermits, and St. Pachomius the patriarch of
monks — both childless, and yet " the fathers of an innu
merable generation." A mania for the voluntary martyr
dom of ascetic life spread with such rapidity in the fourth
century, that in Egypt the number of anchorites and cen-
obites in the deserts was supposed to be equal to the
population of the cities. " It was," says Montalembert,
" a kind of emigration of towns to the desert, of civiliza
tion to simplicity, of noise to silence, of corruption to
innocence. The current once begun, floods of men, of
women and of children, threw themselves into it, and
flowed thither during a century with irresistible force."
The great Athanasius wrote the life of St. Anthony (al
though this has been recently questioned), and often
found shelter from persecution in the mountain caves of
the hermits. Even the first of the Latin fathers, Jerome
and Augustine, were mightily attracted by this abnormal
method of Christian holiness, which sought perfection
and salvation in flight from the world, rather than in vic
tory over the world.
We must not suppose, however, that Egypt was ever
thoroughly Christianized. Such men as Origen, Athana
sius, and Dionysius, rose, like the Colossi of Thebes or

124 BIBLE LANDS.
the Pyramids of Gheezeh, far above the sandy plain of
popular ignorance and superstition. Anchoretism and
monasticism were at best but abnormal and morbid
forms of Christian life, and grew out of heathen forms of
asceticism in the neighborhood of Memphis, as much as
of the Christian spirit of self-denial. Long after the edict
of Theodosius had prohibited heathenism, the worship of
Osiris, Isis, and Horus, flourished on the beautiful island
of Philae, above the First Cataract, where the imposing
ruins of their temples still remain. The great mass of
the people simply exchanged a gross for a refined idola
try. They ceased to worship and mummify bulls and
crocodiles, beetles and snakes, but they idolized dead
men, and built shrines for their bones. What Egyptian
Christianity was in the fifth century we see in Cyril of
Alexandria, a zealot for orthodoxy and a despotic ruffian.
His character is well described in Kingsley's " Hypatia."
Subtle metaphysical controversies absorbed charity and
took the place of vital, practical Christianity. The sub
stance was lost, the empty forms remained. The Church
of Christ was mummified and buried in the tombs.
Hence Islam had an easy conquest. It triumphed by
the sword and the moral force of its monotheism. But,
as everywhere else, it made no real progress, and has
seen its best days. The Mohammedan population, which
forms the great majority of the five millions of Egyp
tians, will not be accessible to Christian missionaries
until the power of the Turks is broken and the Eastern
question settled in favor of full religious liberty.
But there ii still in Egypt a considerable number of

CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT. 125
Copts (some statements say 500,000), who represent both
the old Egyptian nationality and Christianity. To this
they adhere with traditional tenacity, though otherwise
they are much assimilated to the Arabs, or the Arabs to
them. They belong to the Eastern schismatics, since
they reject the orthodox dogma of the two natures of
Christ, and adhere to the Monophysite heresy. They
are superior in talent and education to the Arabs, and
furnish most of the scribes and government clerks.
Their Christianity is petrified, and consists of empty cer
emonies. They do not understand their own Coptic lan
guage, which is the language of the hieroglyphics.
I attended a Coptic wedding in a wealthy family of
Cairo. It was performed by the patriarch, a bishop, sev
eral priests and choristers, and lasted three mortal hours ;
for marriage, next to birth and death, is the one impor
tant event in the life of an Egyptian, and excites the
greatest interest. The ceremony consisted of the me
chanical reading of Coptic and Arabic prayers and Scrip
ture sections from a manuscript book, and of discordant
chanting, or hallooing, such as I never heard before. The
patriarch looked tired, the bishop stupid, the bridegroom
indifferent ; the bride, a girl of fifteen, in white dress
richly adorned, was veiled all over ; the choristers laugh
ed ; the dense- crowd of friends chatted in the different
rooms and courts below, or listened to the barbaric mu
sic. I asked myself, Is this the Christianity of St. Atha
nasius and St. Mark ? Or is it Christianity at all ?
And yet among these Copts a remarkable mission
work has been going on for the last twenty years, under
11*

126 BIBLE LANDS.
the care of the United Presbyterian Church of America,
and by the self-denying labors of Drs. Lansing and Hogg
and their male and female assistants.
The first attempt at Protestant missions in Egypt
was made about a hundred years ago by the Moravians,
in the fervor of their first enthusiasm for Christ ; but it
failed, because it was begun in the wrong time. The
second attempt was made by the English Church Mis
sionary Society about fifty years ago, but failed, because
it was conducted in the wrong method, in the delusive
hope that the praying corpse of the Coptic Church could
be galvanized into a living body.
About twenty-three years ago the missionaries of the
United Presbyterian Church began their work among
the Copts. During the first ten years (185 5-1 865) it
was confined to Cairo and Alexandria. Since then it has
extended to Middle and Upper Egypt. It began with
the education of the young during the week, and preach
ing on Sunday to small but gradually-increasing audi
ences of Copts, Levantine Greeks, and Armenians. Per
secution by the clergy, and obstructions and discourage
ments of all kinds, were not wanting ; but the work stead
ily progressed, souls were converted, schools multiplied,
and native self-supporting churches organized ; even a
college and theological seminary were established in Osi-
out, the capital of Upper Egypt, for the training of a
native clergy. In Cairo and Osiout the mission has
acquired valuable property and erected suitable build
ings, which contrast most favorably with the mud-houses
of the native Egyptians.

CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT. 127
I examined these fields of labor, attended the services
in the churches and schools, and became convinced of
the solid and hopeful character of this mission among
the Copts, who are naturally intelligent and shrewd. Dr.
Lansing (in Cairo) and Dr. Hogg (in Osiout) — the for
mer an American, the latter a Scotchman — are men of
superior talent and education, as well as devoted Chris
tian character. They have the right spirit, and are full
of faith and hope. They have mastered the Arabic, and
preach it with fluency. They have good libraries, filled
with the latest works of English and American theology.
The theological students whom I saw seemed to be zeal
ous for evangelistic work among their countrymen. The
day-schools are attended even by Arab children, and
extend a good influence beyond the mission. It is an
encouraging fact that the Protestant Copts in Osiout,
and in some new stations, show much spirit in building
churches, and supporting them by their own contribu
tions, instead of relying on the Missionary Board. The
Khedive has, from interest in education, aided the Mis
sion of Cairo by the grant of a valuable lot in the best
part of the new city, opposite Shepheard's Hotel and
near the New Hotel, for the erection of a spacious build
ing, which is to accommodate the church and the board
ing-school, and to be a depository of Bibles and Christian
literature. Besides the Arabic service, there is also
English service there every Sunday during the winter for
the benefit of travellers. Thus seed is cast upon the fer
tilizing waters of the Nile, which in due time will sprout
and bear fruit for the great harvest.

128 BIBLE LANDS.
Presbyterianism is the only form of Protestantism
which has taken root among the natives of Egypt. It
is the evangelical pioneer church. But there are a few
English and German churches in Alexandria and Cairo,
for the foreign population in these large cities.
An admirable educational work of an unsectarian
missionary character is carried on in Cairo under the
care of Miss M. L. Whately, the daughter of the late Arch
bishop of Dublin. She has been devoting the last fifteen
years to this noble and self-denying charity. Her schools
are near the railroad station, and number at present 150
girls and 250 boys, divided into half a dozen classes. They
are taught the elementary branches in Arabic ; some learn
also English, French, and Italian. The Scriptures are
read and explained, and it seems Mohaemmdan parents
do not object to it. Miss Whately told me, however,
that none of her pupils would dare to profess Christian
ity and submit to baptism, which would at once provoke
persecution. She looks more for indirect than direct
results of her work. I saw the schools in active opera
tion, and was very favorably impressed. Among the
donations for the year 1876, the largest ($1,000) was
from a wealthy and liberal lady of the Episcopal church
in New York. The whole sum received was ^950, or
$4,750. The building is large and commodious. The
schools are independent of ecclesiastical and episcopal
control, but receive some support from the English
Church Missionary Society, and may be brought at some
future time under the patronage of the Anglo-Prussian
Bishopric of Jerusalem.

CHRISTIANITY IN EGYPT. 129
During my sojourn in Cairo, the Protestant clergymen
and missionaries of Egypt met in the new mission church
of Dr. Lansing, to form an Egyptian branch of the Evan
gelical Alliance, for mutual protection and encourage
ment in their work. The meeting was large and inter
esting, and lasted three hours. It embraced a number of
clergymen from England, Scotland, and America. The
proceedings were conducted in Arabic, English, and Ger
man. I explained the object and aim of the Evangelical
Alliance, after which addresses were made by Drs. Yule
(President of the Branch), Lansing, Hogg, Troutvetter,
Waddington, Ewing, and Watson. Some recent cases
of persecution of converted Copts were fully discussed.
The organization opened with considerable zeal and
energy. I add the latest statistics of the American mission
work in the dominions of the Khedive, 1877, as kindly
furnished to me by Dr. Hogg of Osiout :
Mission Stations occupied by foreign missionaries :
3 in the Delta (Alexandria, Monsura, Cairo) ; 1 in Mid
dle Egypt (Fayoom) ; 1 in Upper Egypt (Osiout).- To
tal, 5.
Organized Congregations : 4 supplied by missiona
ries ; 4 supplied by native pastors, 1 self-supporting, 3
partly self-supporting. Total, 8.
Evangelistic Centres, or Out-stations, where
converts have been gathered to the number of from 3 to
50 : 1 1 supplied by preachers or evangelists ; 5 worked
by native converts. Total, 16.

130 BIBLE LANDS.
Preachers and Evangelists : Foreign missionaries
in Egypt, 7, absent, 3, making 10; trained natives, 13.
Totals 23.
Schools: Supported by the Mission, 12, supported
by native churches, 17, making 29. Students of theol
ogy, 8 ; students of Osiout Training Academy, 70.

SECOND PART.

THE

Sinaitic Peninsula.

SECOND P^lRT.
The Sinaitic Peninsula.

CHAPTER XIV.
THIRTY DA YS ON THE CAMEL.
The Great Desert — Its Significance in Sacred His
tory — The Company — The Dragoman — The Wait
er and Cook — The Bedawin — The Camel — The
Daily Programme — Benefit of the Journey.
We now travel with the people of Israel under their
divinely-called commander through " the great and terri
ble wilderness " of the Sinaitic Peninsula. What a con
trast between the life and noise of Cairo, and the death
and silence of the Desert !
And yet the Desert has its peculiar charms and his
toric interest. It was the school and playground of
Israel, as Egypt was its cradle. In the Sinaitic Penin
sula the Hebrew theocracy was established ; here a semi-
barbarous horde of slaves was trained to be the chosen
people of God ; here a code of morals was proclaimed
which still rules among the followers of the three mono
theistic religions ; here some of the sublimist literary
Bltilc LnndB. 1^

134 BIBLE LANDS.
works were composed, the Pentateuch, the ninetieth
Psalm, and the poem of Job, which will live as long as
the human race. St. Paul spent three years in Arabia
preparing himself for his great work. The Koran, too,
is a product of the burning sand, and keeps alive the
fanaticism of the followers of Mohammed. The Desert
stimulates deep and serious meditation. Its immensity
and silence suggest grand and solemn thoughts. It
makes you feel, as you can feel nowhere else, the pres
ence and power of God, and the need of his constant
protection and care.
A dragoman, a waiter, a cook, sixteen Bedawin and
sixteen camels loaded with baggage, chicken and turkey
coops, water-barrels, tents, bedding, all sorts of provis
ions, and a cooking apparatus, form the caravan for four
passengers. The journey lasts thirty days from Suez to
Gaza or Hebron, via Sinai and Nakhl, and costs each
passenger a little over two pounds ($10) per day. Some
go only to Mount Sinai and back again to Suez, which
takes three weeks. Others take the route to Akabah,
Petra, and the Dead Sea, which is more interesting, but
requires from forty to forty-five days, and an extra back
sheesh of ten pounds per person for permission of the
Bedawin to pass through Petra. We could not take this
route because of war among the Bedawin tribes, and thus
missed the pleasure of seeing the Gulf of Akabah, the
wonderful rock-hewn city of Petra, and ascending Mount
Hor, where Aaron died.
Let me first make you acquainted with our company.
It consists of two American clergymen and two English

THIRTY DAYS ON THE CAMEL. 135
laymen. The former are unarmed, the latter carry pis
tols. One of the Americans is a teetotaller, a vegetarian,
and an enthusiastic botanist, always in pursuit of rare
plants ; and although he touches no wine, no meat, no
butter, he keeps well and never complains of his diet.
One of the Englishmen, formerly an officer of the Royal
Engineers, is silent and somewhat absent-minded, but
well posted in geography and geology, kind, courteous,
and amiable. The other Englishman, who is hardly out
of his teens, takes special delight in natural history, and
would like above all things to see a live hyena and jackal.
He keeps the Bedawin busy hunting and bottling snakes,
scorpions, chameleons, and lizards, which he generously
intended to present to the museum of his native town ;
but unfortunately his camel broke the bottles after carry
ing them safely to the gates of Gaza. He barely saved
the horns of an ibex which the Bedawin shot on Mount
Sinai. Upon the whole, the company is congenial, and
gets along without a family quarrel, which is so apt to
break up a miscellaneous party of travellers in the East.
Our dragoman is the general provider, guide, and
interpreter, as the word indicates.* He is an indispensa
ble necessity in the East since the days of Herodotus,
who employed one in Egypt. We have no reason to
complain of Joseph Tanous. He is a Maronite Christian
from Lebanon, intelligent, courteous, and sober, and
behaved well till he got to Jerusalem. — He speaks Ara
bic, French, and Italian, but not a word of English or
* From the Chaldee, targum, i. e., explanation, and targem, to ex
plain.

136 BIBLE LANDS.
German. The waiter, Ibrahim, is likewise a Maronite,
but was brought up in the Protestant school of Bishop
Gobat, at Jerusalem. He is the only one in the party
with whom we can converse in English. The cook is an
Italian, and understands his art as well as a Frenchman.
He provides us with good meals, well prepared, at short
notice. The Bedawin of the wilderness are a semi-barbarous
race, without a history, without a political and social
organization, independent, wild, and warlike, real Ishma
elites, whose hands are against every man and every
man's hands against them. (Gen. 16 : 12.) They have made
no progress since the days of Ishmael. They are broken
up into various tribes, and the tribes into several divis
ions. A sheikh acts as civil and military chief, but his
authority is not much respected. They have strong and
healthy constitutions, and a certain native courtesy and
dignity. The tribes are frequently at war with each
other, and this makes travelling sometimes unsafe. The
Bedawin of the east and northeast of the Peninsula, espe
cially the Alawin, have the reputation of being profes
sional thieves. Travellers must hire a band of these
robbers to protect them against their fellow-robbers.
Being the lords of the wilderness, they claim the right to
levy tribute on foreigners passing through their territory
and enjoying their protection. Sometimes, especially at
Petra, they ask exorbitant sums. But they are by no
means all thieves. Homicide is rare among them, owing
to the ancient habit of blood-revenge, which requires the
nearest male relative of the slain to kill the murderer at

THIRTY DAYS ON THE CAMEL. 137
the first opportunity. An adulterer is shot by the injured
husband as soon as he is found.
The Towarah tribe, with which we had to do, are per
haps the best among the Bedawin. They seem to be
free from the lawless and predatory instincts of their
brethren, owing probably to their contact with .foreign
travellers and with a settled government in their neigh
borhood. They are partly in the employ of the convent
of Mount Sinai, and accompany the travellers from Cairo
and back. We found them honest, contented, and peace
able, and not without noble traits of character. We be
came quite attached to them, and they to us. Some cried
like children when we parted at Gaza. The Towarah are
very poor ; they have no shoes, but rude sandals made
of fish-skin, and generally walk barefooted. They wear
a white shirt, with long open sleeves (which contain their
valuables), a long robe of goats' or camels' hair, and a
turban. They live on barley-bread, manna, beans, and
water ; a cup of coffee and a pipe are great luxuries.
Occasionally they slaughter a sheep for a feast or for
sacrifice. They carry long muskets and swords or dag
gers, which look more formidable than they really are.
They have their summer and winter camping-grounds,
watch their camels, goats, and sheep, and cultivate a few
patches of ground. They sleep in tents made of goats-
hair, or in caves ; but when travelling they sleep in the
open air with their cloaks wrapped around them. Women
are seldom seen ; they are closely veiled, grind the mill,
and watch the flocks. They marry early, and are bought
by their husbands from the father for camels. We were
12*

138 BIBLE LANDS,
told that the bride is generally away in the mountains
during the negotiation ; when she first sees her lover she
treats him to stones, but soon surrenders and is carried
captive to his tent. The birth of a male child is hailed
with great joy; but "girls," they say, "are good foi
nothing." The religion of the Bedawin amounts to very little
They are nominally Mohammedans and polygamists, and
practise circumcision with great festivities, but are ex
tremely ignorant and superstitious. They have no forms
of worship except sacrifices at the tombs of their saints
and on the top of Jebel Musa. They do not even pray,
or very seldom. When I asked my guide Musa why he
never prayed, like other devout Moslems, he excused
himself by the want of water to wash the hands, which
is necessary before praying. When I told him that the
Koran allows sand in the desert as a substitute for water,
he seemed surprised, as if he had never heard of it. I
saw him, however, do homage to the memory of a Moslem
saint and kiss his stony monument. His opinion about
Jesus was that he may have been a prophet, but Moham
med certainly was one, and Allah was the only God.
Palmer relates that the Bedawin, on awaking in the
morning, believe that the Spirit of God sits upon their
right shoulder, and the devil on their left, sprinkle them
selves and repeat the exorcising formula, " I seek refuge
in God from Satan accursed with stones." At sunset
the same formula is repeated.* I never witnessed this.
Their highest idea of human happiness is to possess a
* 77(i? Desert of the Exodus, p. 96

CAMEL-RIDING.

THIRTY DAYS ON THE CAMEL. 139
Morocco sword, a pretty wife, one or more camels, and
plenty of tobacco.
What shall be done with these children of the desert?
I asked the monks of the Convent of St. Catharine why
they never made an attempt to convert them, or — since
Mohammedan law forbids this — at least to civilize them.
The answer was, " They are a set of camels, and care for
nothing but their daily food." But they have immortal
souls, and are redeemed by the blood of Christ. As ne
groes and Indians have been civilized, why not they?
The time will come when the saving arm of Christian
love will be stretched out to the descendants of Ish-
mael. From the Bedawin we proceed to their favorite animal
which carries us through the desert. The camel is an
awkward, ugly, unclean, stupid, and ill-tempered animal,
and looks like personified misery and discontent. But it
is truly " the ship of the desert," and admirably adapted
for its use on the boundless ocean of sand from the Nile
to the Euphrates. It has needed no repair since the
days of Abraham, and could not be improved by any in
vention in navigation. No horse or donkey would answer
the purpose. The camel has the reputation of patient
endurance and passive submission, which some, however,
deny, or regard as mere stupidity. It carries the heav
iest burdens on its single or double hump, which is its
natural pack-saddle.* Its very name means burden-
* The double-humped Bactrian camel of Central Asia and Tartary is
rarely seen in Egypt and the Desert. I only rode the one-humped drom
edary.

140 BIBLE LANDS.
bearer. It can travel five (some say nine or even fifteen)
days in scorching heat without water, and resort to its
inside tank or cistern, which, at the sacrifice of its own
life, has saved the life of many a traveller. It lives on
barley, dry beans, and chopped straw while in camp, and
on the prickly thistles and thorns of the wilderness,
which, much to the annoyance of the rider, it snatches
from the wayside and leisurely chews as a positive lux
ury. It supplies its master with milk, fuel, sandals, and
garments ; and having done its duty, it leaves its bleach
ed skeleton in the arid waste as a landmark to future
travellers. With peculiar gurgling growls or sighs of
protest, unlike the sounds of any other animal, the camel
goes down on its knees in four distinct motions, till it
lies on its belly ; growling it receives its burden ; growl
ing it gets up by several jerks, first on the hind-legs,
then on the front-legs, so that the rider is violently
pitched forward and then as violently jerked backward,
and must hold fast to the saddle or be thrown down on
the sand. Once started, the beast moves with long
strides on its soft, spongy feet steadily and noiselessly
forward as under a painful sense of duty, but without the
least interest in the rider. A primitive wooden frame
serves as saddle, and the mattress or pillow on which we
sleep at night is thrown over it as a seat. The swinging
motion high in the air is disagreeable and makes us a
little seasick, but we gradually get used to it. To break
the monotony and the fatigue we change our position,
now riding as on horseback, now crossing the legs like
the Arabs, now sitting on one side and then on the other.

THIRTY DAYS ON THE CAMEL. 141
I parted with the "Djemel" at Gaza not without a cer
tain admiration and respect, and yet I was glad to ex
change it for the noble, spirited, and dashing horse. The
Bible mentions the camel only incidentally, though in a
way that implies its great usefulness ; while the horse is
described with glowing colors and honored with eloquent
eulogy (Job-39: 19-25).*
* Miss Harriet Martineau was unfortunate in her experience with the
camel. " Nothing can be uglier," she says, " unless it be the ostrich,
which is ludicrously like the camel in form, gait, and expression of face.
The patience of the camel, so celebrated in books, is what I never had
the pleasure of seeing. So impatient a beast I do not know — growling,
groaning, and fretting whenever asked to do or bear anything, looking as
if it longed to bite, if only it dared. Its malignant expression of face is
lost in pictures, but it may be seen whenever one looks for it. The min
gled expression of spite, fear, and hopelessness, in the face of the camel
always gave me the impression of its being, or feeling itself, a damned
animal. I wonder some of the old painters of hell did not put a camel
into their foreground, and make a traditional emblem of it. It is true the
Arab loves his own camel, kisses its lips, hugs its neck, calls it his darling
and his jewel, and declares he loves it exactly as he loves his eldest son ;
but it does not appear that any man's affection extends beyond his own
particular camel, which is truly for its services an inestimable treasure to
him. He is moved to kick and curse at any but the domestic member of
the species, as he would be by the perverseness and spite of any other
ill-tempered creature. The one virtue of the camel is its ability to work
without water; but, out of the Desert, I hardly think that any rider would
exchange the willing, intelligent, and proud service of the horse for that
of the camel, which objects to everything, and will do no service but under
the compulsion of its own fears." Eastern Life, new ed., London, p. 5.
Palgrave, in his yourney through Central and Eastern Arabia (London,
1873, p. 25), is equally severe on the camel, and makes stupidity, indiffer
ence, and passion for revenge its prominent characteristics. He relates
that a camel having been beaten by a boy, a few days afterwards, when
nobody was in sight, seized his head, lifted him up in the air, and flung
him down again on the earth with the upper part of his skull completely
torn off and his brains scattered on the ground. Having thus satisfied its
revenge, the brute quietly resumed its pace as though nothing were the
matter. "The camel," he says, "is from first to last an undomesticated

142 BIBLE LANDS.
The programme of travel is the same for thirty or
forty days. Before sunrise the camels begin to growl
and the Bedawin to quarrel about the baggage. We
get up ; offer our prayers, eat our breakfast, consisting
of coffee, bread and butter, and omelette or boiled eggs,
while the tents are taken down, and the camels loaded
amid much noise and clamor ; we take a morning walk
or at once mount our beast. At noon we stop for lunch
and enjoy an hour's rest, lying under the shadow of a
rock or the umbrella, or like Elijah under a juniper-bush,
or a tree of shittim-wood — of which the ark was built. If
there is no natural shelter within reach, the dragoman
spreads a small tent to protect us against the scorching
heat. Then another ride of two or three hours till in
the distance we see the white tents which have been
erected by the Bedawin in charge of the baggage camels,
two for the four passengers, one for the dragoman and
cook. It is a delightful sight, after a weary ride of seven
or eight hours over a distance of twenty-five miles of sand
and rock.
Then begins the enjoyable part of the day. We
throw ourselves down upon the iron bedstead, for it is
the only place where we can stretch our limbs and rest
our backs. In about half an hour the bell rings for din
ner, and it tastes as good as on any table d'hote in Europe.
Hunger is the best cook. We get soup, two courses of
meat, eggs, potatoes, rice and beans, nuts, and an ever-
and savage animal, rendered serviceable by stupidity alone, without much
skill on his master's part or any cooperation on his own, save that of an
extreme passiveness. Neither attachment nor even habit impresses him;
never tame, though not wide awake enough to be exactly wild."

THIRTY DAYS ON THE CAMEL. 143
welcome orange for dessert, with a cup of tea. But the
bread becomes stale, the water insipid, the orange dry,
and the chickens and eggs give out as we approach the
end of the journey. After dinner we fill up our journal,
study the map, read the Bible and guide-book, and then
go to bed. The Bedawin with the camels lie a few yards
from us encamped on the ground around a fire and watch
our tents. They smoke and chat and quarrel till all fall
asleep under the bright stars.
A journey through the wilderness is no pleasure trip.
It costs more for discomforts than we pay for comforts in
civilized lands. The romance of camp-life among the wild
Bedawin lies in anticipation and reminiscence, rather
than actual experience. The intense heat, the vile in
sects, the growling of camels, the barbarous habits of the
Arabs, the occasional sand-storms, and the many inevita
ble inconveniences, take away the rainbow color from the
poetry. The journey is a weariness to the flesh from
beginning to end, and ought not to be attempted except
by persons of vigorous constitution.
And yet it impresses itself more deeply on the mem
ory than most parts of an Eastern journey. It is instruc
tive to the geologist, the botanist, the archaeologist, and
the Biblical student. It is a great satisfaction to pass over
the route of the Israelites on their way to the land of
promise, and to ascend the mount from which God made
his greatest revelation before the coming of Christ. It
brings the early Bible history nearer and makes it clearer
to us. It imparts a life and reality to the books of Exo
dus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which they

144 BIBLE LANDS.
never had before. It enables us to understand and ap
preciate the trials and sufferings, the murmurings and
ingratitude of the Israelites, and the greatness, the pa
tience and endurance of Moses. Many objections of
modern skeptics against the truthfulness of the Penta
teuch are at once removed by a knowledge of the geog
raphy and the mode of life among the present Arabs.
The frequent Scripture allusions to the refreshing foun
tains of the Desert, the palm-tree, the shadow of a rock,
the manna, receive new force. No man can encamp at
'Ayun-Musa, Wady Ghurundel, and Wady Taiyibeh, with
out reading with a peculiar sensation even the simple
words, "And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells
of water and threescore and ten palm-trees; and they
encamped there by the waters." Ex. 15 : 27.
And what is Christian life, after all, but a repetition on
a higher key of the story of Israel : a deliverance from
the bondage of sin and death, and a passage through the
desert and over the Jordan to our heavenly home of rest
and peace.

THE GREAT WILDERNESS. 145
CHAPTER XV.
THE GREAT WILDERNESS.
Shape and Extent of the Peninsula — Its Mineral
Wealth — Job's Allusion to the Mines — Dreary As
pect of the Desert — An Ocean of Sand and Gravel
—Oases — Wadys — The Mountain Ranges — The
Alps of the Desert — The Former and the Present
Condition of the Desert.
The Sinaitic Peninsula is a triangle bordered by the
Mediterranean Sea and the two arms of the Red Sea, the
Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of 'Akabah. It covers an area
of 11,600 square miles; the base measuring nearly 150
miles, and the sides of the triangle 190 and 130 miles
respectively.* It consists of broad, undulating plains, narrow valleys,
dry river-beds, isolated mountains, and precipitous rocks
of limestone and granite, with fantastic shapes and gor
geous coloring. It is rich in mineral wealth of iron, cop
per, and turquoise, so that the Egyptians called it " Maf-
kat," i. e., Land of Copper or Turquoise. These mines
are now neglected, but were once worked on a large scale
by the ancient Egyptians, especially in the neighborhood
of Serabit el Khadim and Magharah, where hieroglyphic
tablets still record the names and titles of the kings.f
* E. H. Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus, p. 17.
t See Dr. Brugsch, Wanderung nach den Tilrkisminen der Sinai-Halb-
insel, Leipzig, 1868. Also the graphic description of Dr. Ebers, in Uarda,
Bible J.ands. 13

146 BIBLE LANDS.
The Bible also contains an allusion to these mines in
the highly poetic description of Job (ch. 28 : 1-11) :
" Yes, truly, for the silver there 's a vein,
A place for gold which they refine.
The iron from the dust is brought,
And copper from the molten ore.
To (nature's) darkness man is setting bounds ;
Unto the end he searcheth everything—
The stones of darkness and the shade of death.
Breaks from the settler's view the deep ravine;
And there, forgotten of the foot-worn path,
They let them down — from men they roam afar.
Earth's surface (they explore) whence comes forth bread —
Its lowest depths, where it seems turned to fire ;
Its stones the place of sapphire gems,
Where lie the glebes of gold.
A path the bird of prey hath never known,
Nor on it glanced the vulture's piercing sight,
Where the wild beast hath never trod,
Nor roaring jackal ever passed it by.
Against the granite sends he forth his hand;
He overturns the mountains from their base.
He cutteth channels in the rocks;
His eye beholdeth every precious thing.
From weeping bindeth he the streams,
The deeply hidden brings he forth to light."*
The general aspect of the Peninsula is barren, deso
late, and dreary. It is an ocean of sand, hard gravel,
and rock, but covered more or less with thorns and fra
grant herbs, on which the camels feed, and broken here
and there by oases, romantic valleys, and lofty moun-
A Romance of Ancient Egypt, ch. 34 (Engl, translation, ed. Tauchnitz,
Vol. II., p. 156).
* Translation by Tayler Lewis, in the American edition of Lange, p.
116.

THE GREAT WILDERNESS. 147
tains. Every now and then you see a few camels, a herd
of goats, a rude tent, and some roaming Bedawin, but.
no village, no sign of civilization, and no dwelling fit to
live in except the convent of Mount Sinai.
The Wadys — a name of constant occurrence in the
Desert — are dry water-courses, sometimes very broad,
which in the rainy season receive the torrents from the
mountains, and carry them to the sea (compare Psalm
68 : 7-9). But the rainfall is rare, and evaporation so
rapid, that in a few minutes the ground is dry and thirsty
again. During the whole month of March I saw not a
drop of rain, while other travellers in the same season
were overtaken by thunderstorms on Mount Sinai. We
may travel for days without a drop of water from the
sky above or the earth beneath ; but occasionally we are
surprised by fountains and little rivulets, and alongside
of them are small tracts of tropical vegetation, with
palm-trees, acacias, tamarisks, juniper-trees, and shittim-
wood. These oases are most delightful and refreshing to the
weary traveller. They are found chiefly in the granite
region, in the neighborhood of Serbal and Sinai. The
narrow Wady Feiran, where water and vegetation abound,
is the most beautiful and attractive oasis in the wilder
ness. The monks of St. Catharine avail themselves of
every little stream to plant gardens of vegetables, olive-
trees, peach, and apricot.
The principal mountain groups are (1) the northwest
ern cluster above Wady Feiran, with Serbal as its king ;
(2) the eastern or central cluster, of which Mount Catha-

148 BIBLE LANDS
rine is the highest, but Mount Sinai the most remarkable
in the whole Peninsula ; the southeastern cluster, com
manded by Umm Schomer. Mount Sinai is most famil
iar and most frequently ascended. Mount Serbal is very
difficult of ascent, and rarely ascended. Umm Schomer
has only been once or twice ascended, first by Burckhardt
(though only in part), and a few years ago (1869) by the
party of the English Ordnance-Survey Expedition. It
was formerly regarded as the highest mountain of the
Desert, but according to the measurements of the Ord
nance Survey it is lower than Mount Catharine.
The mountains of the Desert are "the Alps un
clothed," or the naked Alps. They are less varied and
attractive than the Swiss Alps, being denuded of ver
dure, forest, meadows, snow, and glaciers ; but in terri
ble grandeur and sublimity they equal Mont Blanc, the
Matterhorn, and the Jungfrau. Their isolation makes
them appear greater than they are. "Nature seems here
to show," says Professor E. H. Palmer, " that in her most
barren and uninviting moods she can be exquisitely beau
tiful still."
In the time of the Exodus, when the Peninsula con
tained a considerable population and large colonies of
Egyptian miners, it was no doubt better supplied with
water, wood, and vegetation than now. This lessens the
difficulty connected with the forty years' wanderings of
the Israelites. Yet, considering their large number, it
is quite necessary to take into account the supernatural
supply of food and water as recorded in the sacred narra
tive. At present the Peninsula is utterly neglected and

THE GREAT WILDERNESS. 149
barely able to support a few thousand roaming Bedawin,
with their camels, sheep, and goats. But the time may
come when railroads will connect Egypt with Syria, and
when, under a good government and with an industrious
population, parts of the Desert may be made to " bloom
like a garden."

.13'

150 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER XVI.
'AYUN MUSA AND THE EXODUS.
In the Wilderness — A Restful Day — Ayun Musa—
'Twixt Two Continents — Date-Palms and Tam
arisks — A Noted Spot— The Exodus and Route of
the Israelites— Three Theories — The Traditional
Theory — Robinson's Theory — Brugseh's Theory —
The Hebrew Te Deum.
Ayun Musa, or the Wells of Moses, about seven
miles southeast of Suez, is the first station in the wilder
ness on the route to Sinai. We reach the city of Suez
by railroad from Cairo, through the land of Goshen, via
Zigazig and Ismailia, in a day's journey, and there we
meet our dragoman and the caravan which started two
days before directly through the Egyptian desert. We
spend a night and half a day at Suez in a large hotel,
served by silent Indian waiters ; we watch the East
India ships and the strong tide ; we chat with some Eng
lish officers ; we wander on the shore and through the
town, and then bid farewell to Egypt and Africa. Our
first and last thought in this lonely place, which is sim
ply a halfway house to India, is of the Exodus of the
Israelites. We leave Suez by boat (on Saturday noon, March 3)
for the Asiatic shore, while the camels and luggage are
sent on the longer land route, round the head of the
2;ulf. We are carried over the shallow waters on the

AYUN MUSA AND THE EXODUS. 151
shoulders of stout Arabs, mount the ship of the desert
ready to receive its burden, and after a ride of about two
hours we reach the tents before dark, to rest for the
night and for the following day, our first Sabbath in the
wilderness. And oh how welcome the sweet day of rest in the
unbroken silence of the great wilderness ! And doubly
welcome was every one of the four that followed, after a
week's weary ride over the arid sand, under the scorch
ing sun of Arabia. I thought I was sound on the Sab
bath question, but I confess, never before did I feel so
deeply the benevolent design of this primitive institu
tion,' which, like the family, dates from Paradise, and was
proclaimed anew from Mount Sinai among the ten fun
damental commandments, for the physical and spiritual
benefit of man. Our whole party looked forward to the
day of rest as a necessity and a blessing for man and
beast. The camels need it, and man needs it to rest his
body and to refresh his soul. And what can be more
refreshing than to meditate on things invisible and eter
nal, to commune with God, to read the good Book, and
to sing the sweet songs of Zion in the lonely tent or un
der the canopy of heaven ? I find that Dr. Robinson had
the same experience of the peculiar charm of a Sabbath
in the desert.
Ayun Musa is a green oasis in the sandy desert and
a most interesting and welcome place of rest and medita
tion. Here is the boundary between two continents,
which confront each other' like two giants in majestic
repose. Two miles off is the river-like sea so famous in

152 BIBLE LANDS.
nistory, and beyond it, on African soil, towers the silvery
mountain of Atakah. There are at Ayun Musa five
vegetable gardens, with a dozen or more springs of water
(Robinson counted seven, Porter mentions more than
twelve, Stanley seventeen), a few Arab huts, lofty date-
palms, and tamarisks. We are strongly reminded of
Elim (Exod. 15:27); but this must be farther off, as Moses
wandered three days after crossing till he reached Elim
(ver. 22). Close by the oasis is a sand-hill, with a soli
tary palm-tree and a fountain of brackish water. We
walked along the seashore, gathered rare and beautiful
shells, took a refreshing bath, and mused over the potent
memories of the past. The color of the water is bluish-
green, and the " Red " Sea has its name from the red
sand on the shore. The Hebrews and Egyptians called
it the Sea of Weeds or the Sea of Reeds. " Every step,"
we say with Ebers, " reminds us here of the Bible, and
we understand it better and better."
In this neighborhood is the traditional locality of one
of the greatest events in ancient history, which left its
mark upon all subsequent ages. Here Moses refreshed
and rested his people after crossing the Red Sea. Here
he sung with Miriam and the children of Israel the Song
of Deliverance (Exod. 15 : 1-19).
THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES.
The Scripture data about the Exodus are as follows :
The Israelites started from Rameses and proceeded
to Succoth (Exod. 12:37); thence to Etham "in the
edge of the wilderness" (13:20); here they were to

AYUN MUSA AND THE EXODUS. 153

" turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol
and the sea, over against Baal-Zephon" (14:2). With
these notices must be compared the list of camping sta
tions which Moses wrote down by the commandment of
the Lord, Num. 33:2-10: "These are their journeys
according to their goings out. And they journeyed from
Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the
first month  And the children of Israel journeyed
from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth. And they
journeyed from Succoth, and pitched in Etham, which is
in the edge of the wilderness. And they journeyed from
Etham, and turned back unto Pi-hahiroth, which is before
Baal-Zephon : and they pitched before Migdol. And
they journeyed from before Hahiroth (or, from Peneha-

154 BIBLE LANDS.
hiroth), and passed through the midst of the sea into the
wilderness ; and they went three days' journey in the
wilderness of Etham, and pitched in Marah. And they
journeyed from Marah and came unto Elim : and in Elim
were twelve fountains of water, and threescore and ten
palm-trees : and they pitched there. And they journeyed
from Elim and pitched by the Red Sea."
When the Egyptians came upon the track of the
Israelites they said, " They are entangled in the land, the
wilderness hath shut them in" (Ex. 14:3), or rather,
" the wilderness is closed against them," i. e., the Israel
ites have no egress from Egypt ; they must either return
or cross the sea. Moses intended to go by the way of
the wilderness, but when he turned southward by Divine
command, he was shut in by the waters of the Red Sea
which then probably extended farther north to the
Bitter Lakes. This indicates the general locality of the
Exodus and seems conclusive against Brugsch's theory.
(See below.)
As to the particular locality of these stations before
the arrival of the Israelites at the Red Sea there is con
siderable uncertainty. Rameses, the place of general
rendezvous — where the Israelites must have been very
numerous, since they built or enlarged that city — may be
identified, as Dr. Brugsch does, with Zoan (Tanis), where
Moses performed his miracles, or be placed farther south
on the old canal which connected the Nile with the Red
Sea. Succoth must have been halfway between Rameses
and Etham. It is usually derived from the Hebrew word
which means booths, shepherd's camp; but Ebers con-

AYUN MUSA AND THE EXODUS. 155
nects it with an Egyptian town Sechet (Fields).* Etham
was probably the same with Pithom (Pi-tum), and the
frontier city towards the wilderness, between Lake
Timsah and the Bitter Lakes, where the route to Pales
tine branches off. Pi-hahiroth, an Egyptian word, is
usually identified with Ajrud or Agrud, a fortress on the
way from Etham to Suez. Migdol, i. e., Tower or Fort,
is supposed to be Bir Suweis, about two miles from Suez.
Baal-Zephon must have been likewise near Suez or
Kolzum, perhaps it is identical with Mount Atakah.f
Baal was the chief deity of the Phoenicians, who had at
a very ancient period a settlement in lower Egypt.
The miraculous passage itself is thus recorded in
Exodus 14:21, 22: "And Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea ; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by
a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry
land, and the waters were divided. And the children of
Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry
ground : and the waters were a wall unto them on their
right hand and on their left."
There are three or four theories about the locality
and mode of the Exodus :
1. The Arab tradition locates the Exodus several
miles south of Suez, between the promontory of Atakah
and the opposite shore of Ayun Musa, where the Red
Sea is about ten miles (Robinson says twelve miles,
* Durch Gosen zum Sinai, p. 506.
t This is the view of Dr. Ebers (p. 510, sq.) who assumes that there
was a sanctuary of Baal on the top of Atakah. Dr. Brugsch on the con
trary identifies Baal-Zephon with Mount Casius on the shore of the Med
iterranean. (See below.)

156 BLBLE LANDS.
Porter seven miles) broad. This view seems to accord
best with a literal meaning of the narrative, that the
waters were divided and stood up like a wall or like
entrenchments on both sides of the passing army. But
it is impossible that 600,000 armed men with women and
children, and their herds of cattle, could have crossed
such a distance in one night, without a prodigious accu
mulation of miracles. And would the Egyptians have
dared to follow the Israelites through the deep sea, and
in view of such an amazing and overpowering interposi
tion of God ? Could the east wind or any wind have such
an effect on the sea so wide as it is here ? And if not,
why is it mentioned at all as an agent?
2. That the event occurred at the head of the gulf, near
or some distance north of Suez. The gulf has the shape
of a horn, and is a shallow channel less than a mile wide
and about four miles long, running from north to south.
In it are several small islands and sandbanks, bare when
the water is low. (See J. L. Porter's Handbook.) It
may have extended as a reedy marsh considerably farther
north, perhaps as far as the Bitter Lakes. The crossing
took place during the time of an extraordinary ebb, which
was hastened and extended by a continuous night storm
blowing from the east (northeast) against the water,
and laid bare the whole ford for the passage of the Israel
ites; after which the sea, in its reflux, returned with
double the usual power of the flood tide, and overwhelm
ed Pharaoh's army. In ordinary times, many a caravan
crossed the ford at the head of the gulf at low ebb before
the Suez Canal was built; and Napoleon, deceived by

AYUN MUSA AND THE EXODUS. 157
the tidal wave, attempted to cross it on returning from
Ayun Musa in 1799, and nearly met the fate of Pharaoh.
But an army of 600,000 could, of course, never have
crossed it without a miracle. The question is only
whether the miracle was immediate or mediate; in other
words, whether God suspended the laws of nature, or
whether he used them as agencies both for the salvation
of his people and for the overthrow of his enemies. The
express mention of the "strong east wind" which Jeho
vah caused to blow " all the night " decidedly favors the
latter view, which is also supported by an examination of
the spot. The tide at Suez, which I watched from the
top of the Suez Hotel, is very strong and rapid, especially
under the action of the northeast wind.* This wind often
prevails there and acts powerfully on the ebb tide, dri
ving out the waters from the small arm of the sea which
runs up by Suez, while the more northern part of the
arm would still remain covered with water, so that the
waters on both sides served as walls of defence or en
trenchments to the passing army of Israel. In no other
part of the gulf would the east wind have the effect of
driving out the water. Dr. Robinson calls the miracle
a "miraculous adaptation of the laws of nature to pro
duce a required result." The same view is adopted
by other modern scholars. It does not diminish the
miracle, but only adapts it to the locality and the natural
* Dr. Ebers says (p. 101), " Bei einem starke?i Nordostwinde, der nicht
selten weht, werden die Wellen nach Siiden zu in den schmalen Meerbusen
geradezu hineingepeitscht, so zwar, dass die in horizontaler Linie nordlich von
Suez sich hinstreckenden vier Inseln nur durch Lachen getrennt zu sein
soheinen, jedoch thatsachlich durch tiefe Wassergraben von dem Festlande
und von einander geschieden sind."
Bible Lands. 14

158 BIBLE LANDS.
agency which is expressly mentioned by the Bible
narrative.* 3. The least satisfactory theory is that recently elab
orated by Dr. Brugsch. He locates the Exodus farther
north, on the usual route from Egypt to Syria, between
the Mediterranean Sea and the Sirbonian Lake, east of
Port Said. This lake was a long and narrow sheet of
water, now filled with sand, but well known to the ancients,
and is described by Diodorus as being overgrown with
seaweeds and papyrus, so as to deceive travellers, who
might easily mistake the surface for dry land, and perish
in it. The Israelites passed safely over the narrow strip
of land between the waters of the sea and the waters of
the lake, and then suddenly turned, by divine command,
southward, and arrived in three days at Marah — i. e., the

* I will also quote from Prof. E. H. Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus
(1871), Vol. I., p. 36: " From the narrative in Exodus 14, it would seem
that the Egyptians came upon them before they had rounded the head of
the Gulf, so as to compel them either to take to the water or fall into
their enemies' hands, equally fatal alternatives, from which nothing but a
miracle, such as that recorded, could have saved them. But natural
agencies, miraculously accelerated, are mentioned as the means employed
by God in working out this signal deliverance, and we need not, therefore,
suppose anything so contrary to the laws of nature as that the children of
Israel crossed between two vertical walls of water in the midst of the
deep sea, according to the popular mode of depicting the scene. Some
writers have imagined that a great change has taken place in the level of
the sea since the time of the Exodus, but recent examination does not at
all confirm this hypothesis, while there is abundant evidence that the
northern end of the Gulf of Suez has been gradually silted up, and that in
consequence the shore-line has steadily advanced farther and farther
southwards. It follows from this that, if, according to the view held by
many modern authorities, the passage took place at the head of the Gulf
as it existed at the time of the Exodus, the Israelites must have crossed
at a point several miles north of its present limits."

AYUN MUSA AND THE EXODUS. 159
Bitter Lakes of the Isthmus ; while the Egyptians, on
their hot pursuit, were overtaken by a sand-storm, lost
their way into the Sirbonian Lake and perished there.
Dr. Brugsch supports his theory by the alleged
identity of the Hebrew camping-stations with supposed
old Egyptian localities. He identifies Rameses, whence
the Israelites started, with Tanis or Zoan ; locates
Pi-hahiroth on the western end of the Sirbonian Lake,
and Baal-Zephon at the eastern end of it ; he identifies
the Sea of Weeds (which in our version is always trans
lated the Red Sea) with the Sirbonian Lake, Marah with
the Bitter Lakes, and Elim with Aalim (Fishtown) or
Heroopolis, northeast of Suez.*
But these identifications are mere conjectures, and
the whole theory is inconsistent with the Mosaic narra
tive, which assumes a direct route to the mount of God.
It is expressly said that "God led them, not through the
way of the land of the Philistines, although that was
near" (that is the usual route through the little desert to
Gaza), "but through the way of the wilderness of the
Red Sea." (Ex. 13:17, 18.) Dr. Brugsch dislocates the
whole itinerary of the Israelites before and after the
Exodus, and does away with the miracle altogether, or
resolves it into a mere providence.!
The choice lies, therefore, between the first two views.
We prefer the second. But the precise spot can, of
* See his address before the International Society of Orientalists in
London, ISexode et les monuments (gyptiens, Leipzig 1865 (35 pages), ac
companied by a map.
t He says himself (p. 32) : " Le miracle, il est vrai, cesse d'etre un mira
cle ; mais la Providence divine maintient toujour s sa place et son autoritt."

160 BIBLE LANDS.
course, not be identified. It is not likely that any of Pha
raoh's chariots will ever come to light, or that any monu
mental record of the Egyptians will confess their disgrace.
Possibly some papyrus may be found with a private
account of the great event. Till then we must here as
in other disputed localities be satisfied with the identifi
cation of the general locality.
After crossing the Red Sea the Israelites, like all
modern travellers, would naturally make Ayun Musa their
first station, where they found an ample supply of water.
On this memorable spot we read, as we never read
before, that wonderful patriotic ode of liberty which
Moses composed and sung with the children of Israel ;
chorus answering to chorus, and the maidens playing on
the timbrels. It is the national anthem, the Te Deum,
the Nun danket alle Gott, of the Hebrews. It is altogether
worthy of the historic event which inspired it. It sounds
through the psalms of Israel, through the thanksgiving
hymns of the Christian church, through the touching
songs of liberated slaves, and it will swell the harmony
of the hymns of saints in heaven, when they celebrate the
final triumph of redemption in "the song of Moses the
servant of God, and the song of the Lamb."
I will sing unto Jehovah,
For he hath triumphed gloriously:
The horse and his rider
Hath he thrown into the sea.
Jehovah is my strength and song,
And he is become my salvation.
This is my God, and I will praise him;
My father's God, and I will exalt him.

A YUN MUSA AND THE EXODUS. 161
Jehovah is a man of war ;
Jehovah is his name.
Pharaoh's chariots and his hosts
Hath he cast into the sea:
And his chosen captains
Are sunk in the Red Sea.
The depths cover them.
They went down to the bottom like a stone.
Thy right hand, O Jehovah, glorious in power,
Thy right hand, O Jehovah, dasheth in pieces the enemy.
And in the greatness of thy majesty
Thou overturnest them that rise up against thee :
Thou sendest forth thy wrath,
It consumeth them like stubble.
And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were piled up ;
The floods stood upright as a heap.
The depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil,
My soul shall be satisfied upon them ;
I will draw my sword,
My hand shall destroy them.
Thou didst blow with thy wind,
The sea covered them:
They sank as lead in the mighty waters.
Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods ?
Who is like thee, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders ?
Thou didst stretch out thy right hand,
The earth swallowed them.
Thou in thy mercy didst lead the people
Which thou hast redeemed.
Thou didst guide them in thy strength
To thy holy habitation. 14*

1 62 BIBLE LANDS
The peoples have heard, they tremble :
Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
Then were the chiefs of Edom dismayed.
The mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them.
All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away ;
Terror and dread fall upon them.
By the greatness of thine arm they are as still as a stone ;
Till thy people pass over, O Jehovah,
Till the people pass over
Which thou hast purchased.
Thou shalt bring them in,
And plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance,
The place, O Jehovah, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in,
The sanctuary, O Jehovah, which thou hast established.
Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever.

FROM 'A YUN MUSA TO MT. SINAI. 163

CHAPTERXVII.
FROM 'AYUN MUSA TO MOUNT SINAI.
Hawarah, the Bitter Water— Wady Ghurundel (Elim)
— Wady Useit — Wady Taiyibeh — Encamped by the
Red Sea— The Hot Baths of Pharaoh— The Mines
of Maghara — Wady Mokatteb and the Sinaitic In
scriptions — Wady Feiran — Rephidim — Mount Ser
bal— The Pass of the Wind— First Sight of Er
Rahah, the Convent and Mount Sinai.
We leave 'Ayun Musa early on Monday and ride for
two days over a dead level of sand and gravel without
seeing a house or a man or an animal or a tree, only
every now and then the skeleton of a camel which marks
the track. In this region Dean Stanley was overtaken
by a roaring and driving sand-storm, which lasted a
whole day and explained to him the term "howling"
wilderness. The whole air, he says, was filled with a
tempest of sand driving in your face like sleet ; the
Bedawin rode with their shawls thrown over their heads,
and half of the riders sat backwards ; while the camels
moved painfully onwards, seriously impeded by their
saddle-bags which act like sails, and stretching from time
to time their long necks sideways to avoid the blast.
We had a similar experience in crossing the Et Tih.
On the third day we reach Ain Hawarah,* a solita-
* " Fountain of Destruction," according to the usual interpretation.
But Mr. Palmer spells the word with double w (Hawwarah) and explains
it to mean " a small pool."

164 BIBLE LANDS.
ry dilapidated spring of bitter water on an elevation, six
teen hours' camel ride from 'Ayfin Musa. It is usually
identified with Marah (Bitterness), mentioned Exod.
15:22, 23 (comp. Num. 33:8, 9): "So Moses brought
Israel from the Red Sea (the Sea of Weeds), and they
went out into the wilderness of Shur ; and they went
three days in the wilderness and found no water. And
when they came to Marah they could not drink of the
waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the
name of it was called Marah." Moses then threw a tree
or aromatic shrub into the water and made it sweet. It
seems impossible, however, that a single fountain like
that could have quenched the thirst of two millions, who
it is supposed would require 33,000 buckets of water in
one day. Probably there were more springs at that time,
A ride of two hours brings us to Wady Ghurundel
(or Gharandel), which is usually identified with the elim
of the Scripture (Ex. 15 127; Num. 33 :o,); while others
locate Elim farther south in Wady Useit or Wady Taiyi-
beh. It certainly must have been in this neighborhood.
Ghurundel is the first pleasant spot we meet with in the
wilderness. It might easily be turned into a garden. It
has a running brook with sweet fresh water, fringed with
feathery tamarisks, wild acacias (or shittim-wood), a few
palm-trees and plenty of shrubs and grass.
" Oh ! I bless the gracious Giver
For the fountain and the river!
Bless him for this cool retreat,
So reviving and so sweet !

FROM 'AYUN MUSA TO MT. SINAI. 165
Bless him for this short recess
From my toil and weariness,
And for this delicious cup
From the well that cometh up !"
On the next day after a ride of two hours and a half
we come to Wady Useit, which rivals Ghurundel in abun
dance of water and vegetation. In the afternoon of the
same day we encamp, under the shadow of a beautiful
rock and alongside of a stream, in Wady Taiyibeh (or
Tayabeh) which is the third claimant to the title of Elim.
From this spot we enjoy a delightful morning walk
through a wild romantic valley enclosed on both sides by
high granite rocks of fantastic formation and gorgeous
coloring,. red, black, and yellow, to the Gulf, and take a
most- refreshing bath in the blue waters of the sea.
Here no doubt the Israelites, a month after their depar
ture from Egypt, "encamped by the Red Sea" (Num.
33 : 10), and looked over once more to the distant shores
of Egypt, before they entered the wilderness of Sin
"which is between Elim and Sinai" (Ex. 16: 1). In the
neighborhood are the hot baths of Pharaoh, where the
persecutor of Israel literally breathed his last and is still
boiling in punishment of his sin. This local tradition
contradicts the other that he was drowned near 'Ayfin
Musa ; but the contradiction does not trouble the minds
of the Arabs, who believe that what is far distant on
earth is very near with Allah. Mohammed rode in one
night on his steed from Mecca to Jerusalem, up to Para
dise, and back again to Mecca !
We now pass through a succession of dry valleys

1 66 BIBLE LANDS.
with magnificent rocks and mountains, to the region of
the turquois mines at Maghara (Wady Igne) which were
worked by the ancient Egyptians at intervals for about
seventeen hundred years. Hieroglyphic inscriptions
mention the names of Pharaohs from Cheops (Chufu), of
the fourth dynasty, down to Rameses II. ; but the name
of his successor Menephthah is not to be found, and this
may be used as another incidental proof that he is the
Pharaoh of the Exodus (see Chap. X., p. 101). Some years
ago an enterprising Scotchman, Major Macdonald, whose
hospitality Dr. Brugsch praises, reopened these mines,
but without much success, and died in poverty. The
ruins of his house on a hill are all that remains.
The next place of interest is Wady Mokatteb, so
called from the famous Sinaitic inscriptions on the rocks.
They consist principally of proper names of pilgrims,
traders, carriers, written mostly in Nabathean, some in
Coptic, Aramaic, Arabic, and Greek characters, with rude
figures of men, camels, horses, lizards, shields, arrows,
crosses. They are found all around Mount Serbal, but
especially here. Cosmas Indicopleustes, who visited the
Peninsula a. d. 535, supposed them to be the work of
the ancient Israelites, miraculously preserved as testimo
nies to the truth of the Mosaic narrative ; but they seem
to be mostly of post-Christian origin, from the second to
the fourth century. Lenormant traces them to early
Christians ; Sharpe to Jews from Egypt before and after
Christ ; Ebers partly to Christians, partly to Nabatheans
who worshipped the sun and the stars on Serbal and
other high mountains. The language is understood by

FROM A YUN MUSA TO MT. SINAI. 167
some to be Aramaic, by others Arabic. The inscrip
tions afford an inviting field for the exercise of linguistic
and palasographic skill. They have been carefully exam
ined by some German and English scholars, especially by
Beer (1840),* Ebers (i872),fand Sharpe (1875)4 wno de-
ciphered the alphabet, but in a different way. Sharpe
(the author of " the History of Egypt ") finds in them the
frequent occurrence of the name "Jao" (Jehovah), the
words "memorial" and "peace-offering," and lamenta
tions over the ruined city of Jerusalem and the scattered
people of God.§ But most of the inscriptions seem to be

c=i

SPECIMENS OF THE LETTERS AND FIGURES.
* Lnscriptiones veteres, liiteris et lingua hucusque incognitis ad Montcm
Sinai magno numero servata. Lips., 1840.
t Durch Gosen zum Sinai, pp. 165 seq. ; 554 seq.
{ Hebrew Inscriptions, from the Valleys between Egypt and Mount Si
nai, in their Original Characters. With Twenty Plates. London, 1875.
§ Here are some specimens :
"A peace-offering to the city. Accept her that is made to wander, 0
Jehovah."
"A peace-offering for her that is trodden to the ground."
" Lengthen the broken city, the cast-off nation."

1 68 BIBLE LANDS.
as worthless as the inscriptions of modern scribblers and
tourists who wish to immortalize their obscurity by dis
figuring the works of God or the monuments of man.
The whole subject needs further investigation.
Wady Feiran is the most beautiful and interesting
valley of the Peninsula. It is several miles long with
many windings, and ends in a natural gate of rocks of
nature's primitive foundry. It is enclosed by rugged
cliffs rising over a thousand feet. It contains a large
and fertile oasis with a fresh fountain and running brook,
an abundance of date-palms, tamarisks, and thorn-apples,
small plots of wheat and barley. Several hundred Arabs
assemble there in harvest. Stanley says that he never
looked on " scenery at once so grand and so strange,"
and cannot conceive of " a more interesting country for
a geologist." Feiran was once an episcopal see (the an
cient Pharan or Paran) and thickly populated by her
mits. The ruins of a church and convent and village, and
a few Arab huts are still standing. Innumerable tombs
and cells on the hills remain as the silent witnesses of
ancient asceticism. On a monastic tradition of this re
gion Professor Ebers has constructed his latest eastern
novel, Homo stim (1878), which shows that human na
ture cannot be entirely destroyed by ascetic self-mortifi
cation, and is exposed to the temptation of the devil in
the lonely desert, as well as in the crowded city. The
monks embraced the Monophysite and Monothelite her
esy, and were rebuked by the orthodox synods and empe
rors. Feiran went down as the convent of St. Catharine

FROM 'AYUN MUSA TO MT. SINAI. 169
went up, and Serbal was thrown into the shade by
Sinai. Lepsius, Ebers, Stanley, and all the members of the
Ordnance Survey Expedition (with the exception of F.
W. Holland) identify Feiran with Rephidim, where Israel
fought the Amalekites (Exod. 17:8-16; Num. 33 : 14, 15),
because they would naturally occupy and defend so fer
tile a district against invaders* But there are two
objections to this view: 1, that at Rephidim there was
"no water for the people to drink" (Exod. 17: 1), while
Feiran has an abundance of water ; 2, that it was only a
day's journey from Sinai (19 : 1 : " the same day they came
into the wilderness of Sinai ") ; while Feiran is nearly two
days' march from it. Rephidim must therefore be farther
southeast and nearer Sinai, unless we regard (with Lep
sius and Ebers) Serbal as the true Sinai. Mr. Holland
places Rephidim twelve miles from Mount Sinai, in a
gorge. El Watiyeh, in the Wady esh Sheikh, where the
Arabs show a detached rock not unlike an arm-chair in
shape, as "the Seat of Nebi Miisa" (the Prophet Moses),
which Moses may have occupied during the battle with
the Amakelites.f
From Wady Feiran the ascent of Mount Serbal is
made ; it is a hard day's work, but the view from its lofty
peaks pays for the fatigue; it is the most extensive in
the Peninsula. The question whether Serbal or Sinai is
* Lepsius, Reise nach der Halbinsel des Sinai; W. Palmer, The
Desert, etc., pp. 158 seq., and p. 49; Ebers in Badeker's Unter-JEgypten,
pp. 519, 520. But Lepsius and Ebers differ from Stanley and Palmer on
the Serbal-Sinai question. See Chap. XVIII.
t The Recovery of yerusalem, p. 421
Bible Lands. lo

170 BIBLE LANDS.
the true Mount of God, will be discussed in the next
chapter. We now proceed to the Wady Solaf and Wady esh
Sheikh and encamp at the foot of Nugb Hawa near a
fountain. Here we are glad to enjoy the rest of the
second Sabbath in the wilderness and read in the Psalter,
in the books of Exodus and Numbers, and the descrip
tions of Mount Sinai in our guide books.
The Nugb Hawa or Pass of the Wind, is one of the
most rugged, precipitous and sublime mountain passes,
and forms a magnificent portal or propylon to " the Mount
of God." It is impassable for the baggage-camels, which
are sent on a detour of six or eight miles through the
Wady esh Sheikh. It reminded me of St. Gotthard and
other Alpine passes of Switzerland.
After severe climbing over granite rocks to the sum
mit of this Alpine pass of the desert, the vast Wady Er
Rahah (Valley of Rest), the fortlike convent of St. Cath
arine, and Mount Sinai in all its awful majesty, burst
upon our sight, and we seem to feel the immediate pres
ence of the infinite Jehovah, and to witness one of the
greatest events in the history of mankind. " Whatever,"
says Dean Stanley, " may have been the scene of the events
in Exodus, I cannot imagine that any human being could
pass up that plain and not feel that he was entering a
place above all others suited for the most august of the
sights of earth."

MOUNT SINAI. 171
CHAPTER XVIII.
MOUNT SINAI.
Mount Sinai and the Mount of Beatitudes— The Ter
rors of the Law and the Promises of the Gospel-
Impressions— J etael Musa and Ras Sufsafeh— The
True Mount of God— The Claims of Serbal.
Mount Sinai, or Horeb,* is the chief object of inter
est in the Sinaitic Peninsula. A visit to it is an ample
reward for all the trouble and fatigue of the journey
through the wilderness.
From the throne of the Mount of God the purest and
sublimest code of laws was proclaimed for all ages of the
world. The Decalogue is a moral miracle greater than
the physical miracles wrought in Egypt, and is the best
evidence of the divine legation of Moses — that mighty
man of God who towers high above ancient and modern
legislators. But there is One greater than Moses ; and
the Sermon on the Mount, which contains the Magna
Charta of Christ's kingdom, is better, as it goes deeper
and aims higher, than the Ten Commandments. There
is a poetic fitness in the correspondence between these
two codes and their locality. Mount Sinai in the frown
ing wilderness is the appropriate pulpit for the procla
mation of the law which threatens death and damnation
* The two names are identical. (Compare Exod. 3:1; 18 : 5 ; Deut.
1:6; 5:2; 1 Kings 19 : 8.) The one probably designates the whole
range, the other a particular mountain, as they do at the present day.

172 BIBLE LANDS.
to the transgressor; the Mount of Beatitudes on the
smiling lakeshore of Galilee is the best pulpit for the gos
pel of freedom, which promises life and salvation to the
humble and penitent that hunger and thirst after right
eousness. Sinai looks like "a huge altar" of incense. There it
stands in solemn silence and solitary grandeur, surrounded
by death and desolation, and reflecting the terrible maj
esty and holiness of God. In ascending Jebel Musa and
Ras Sufsafeh, where Moses communed with the infinite
Jehovah as no other mortal ever did, I was overwhelmed
with this idea. Such a sight of terrific grandeur and
awful majesty I never saw before, nor expect to see again
in this world.
At the same time I felt more than ever before the
contrast between the old and new dispensations : the
severity and terror of the law, and the sweetness and
loveliness of the gospel. Blessed be God that we " are
not come unto the mount that might be touched and that
burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and
tempest, and the sound of the trumpet  but unto
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and church of the first
born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to
Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood
of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of
Abel." (Heb. 12:18-24.)
"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth

MOUNT SINAI. 173
came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). Sinai is in bondage
with her children ; Jerusalem above is free (Gal. 4 : 22-
26). But the law was the schoolmaster to lead us to
Christ by bringing us to a knowledge of sin and a sense
of the need of redemption. It contained, under a hard
shell, the sweet kernel of the gospel. God could not
command his poor fallen creatures to do his will without
intending to give them the ability and showing them the
way of salvation from the curse of the law. On the same
Mount Sinai Jehovah appeared to Elijah, not in the
raging storm, not in the earthquake, not in the consu
ming fire, but in the still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11,
seq.) ; thus foreshadowing the higher revelation of love
and mercy in the gospel. Moses and Elijah, the two
prophets connected with Horeb, were permitted to meet,
as the representatives of the covenant of law and prom
ise, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and there to behold
the greater glory of Him who came to fulfil the law and
the prophets, and to speak with him of that greatest of
themes — the death which he should suffer at Jerusalem
for the sins of the world.
Mount Sinai lies in the midst of a group of moun
tains,* but is surrounded by valleys. It rises up precip
itously from the bottom of the plain of sand and hard
gravel to a height of over 2,000 feet, or over 7,000 feet
from the level of the sea, and covers about two miles in
length from north to south and one mile in breadth.f It
* Exod. 30 : 12 : "to slay them in the mountains ;" i Kings 19: 11 :
"a great and strong wind rent the mountains and brake in pieces the
rocks before the Lord."
t According to the measurements of the English Ordnance Survey,
15*

174 BIBLE LANDS.
can be " touched," and the people of Israel could stand
" at the nether part of the mount " (in Wady Er R&hah)
and listen to the voice of God speaking to them from the
northern summit.* It consists of two peaks ; the south
ern peak is called Jebel Musa, or " the Mount of Moses ;"
the northern peakRas Sufsafeh, or " the Peak of the Wil
low" (probably so called from an old willow-tree beneath
the summit at the small chapel of the Virgin Mary). The
former is the traditional, the latter, as I take it, the real spot
of the giving of the law ; but both together must be inclu
ded in " the Mount of God," and witnessed the grand and
overwhelming theophany described by Moses. "There
were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the
mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; so
that all the people that were in the camp trembled ; and
Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the
Lord descended upon it in fire : and the smoke thereof
ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount
quaked greatly" (Exod. 19:16, 18). Then it was that
"Jehovah talked with Israel face to face in the mount out
of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick
darkness, with a great voice," and that Moses stood be
tween Jehovah and the people to show them the Ten
Words of Jehovah, and received them on the two tables
of stone (Deut. 5 : 2, 4, 5, 22). It was then that the heads
of the tribes and the elders said unto Moses ; " Behold,
Jehovah our God hath showed us his glory and his great-
the Convent of St. Catharine is 5,020, Jebel Musa 7,359, Jebel Catharine
8,526 (Jebel Serbal 6,734) feet above the sea.
* Compare Exod. ig<: 12, 17; Deut. 4: 11, 12.

MOUNT SINAI. 175
ness, and we have, heard his voice out of the midst of the
fire : we have seen this day that God doth talk with man,
and he liveth. Now, therefore, why should we die ? for
this great fire will consume us : if we hear the voice of
Jehovah any more, then we shall die. For who is there
of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living God
speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and
lived !" (Deut. 5 : 24-26.).
Guided by a monk of the convent of St. Catharine
and accompanied by a few Arabs, we first ascend Jebel
Musa, partly by camel, partly on foot over rough granite
steps cut by the monks for pilgrims between vast rocks
of the wildest description. The ascent is comparatively
easy and takes three hours. From the lofty peak of Je
bel Musa the eye looks over the fearful precipice to the
desolate and narrow Wady Sebaiyeh below,* then to the
two conical peaks of St. Catharine (which, being higher,
obstructs the view to the south), and the Gulf of Suez
and Gulf of 'Akabah in the far distance. No lake, no
brook, no waterfall, no meadow, no forest meets the
eye, as from the Swiss mountains ; no sound breaks the
stillness, unless it be the voice of storm and thunder,
when heavy clouds gather around the peak and the
lightning flashes leap down into the darkness. Each
rock stands out in its rugged outline and distinctive
shape and color, now yellow, now purple, now black, in
* i. e. "the Keeper's Valley," in allusion to Moses as "the keeper"
of Jethro's flocks. But Palmer (Vol. I., p. 137) makes it to mean " the
valley of the Brave Youth." The monks inconsistently locate the battle
of Rephidim in this valley. But Rephidim was a day's journey from the
wilderness of Sinai (Ex. 19 : 1, 2).

176 BIBLE LANDS.
the dazzling brightness of the sunlight. A chapel of the
Holy Trinity, which contains some Greek and Russian
service-books, is erected on the top ; the ruins of a
mosque and several spots memorable in the history of
Moses and Mohammed are shown ; for the place is alike
sacred to the Christians, the Jews and the Mohamme
dans. Here on the plateau of Jebel Musa, as already re
marked, the monastic tradition locates the scene of legis
lation, and it is very natural that it should select the
highest summit as the throne of God from which he
spoke to Israel. Ritter (who never was there, but care
fully examined all reports of travellers), Tischendorf (who
visited Sinai three times, 1844, 1854, and 1859, but was
much more interested in the library of the convent than
in the topography), Laborde and others defend the tradi
tion and claim that Wady Sebaiyeh, at the foot of Jebel
Musa, was sufficiently large to accommodate the army of
Israel and to enable them to witness the theophany,
But it did not strike me so as seen from the mountain
top. Sebaiyeh is narrow, broken, and uneven, and does
not run up close to the foot of Jebel Musa so that this
might be touched and surrounded by the people. If
therefore we can find a better locality in the same Sinai
group, we need not hesitate to give it the preference and
to exercise our judgment in discriminating between the
general truth of the tradition and the error in its minor
details. This superior locality we find on the northern
peak of Sinai.
Coming down from Jebel Musa, we lunch at the

MOUNT SINAI. 177
double chapel of Moses and Elijah* It lies on a plateau
surrounded by high walls of rock, which afford shelter,
while the neighboring " Fountain of Elijah" supplies wa
ter. Around it are plots of green grass and some tall
cypresses. Here the two prophets' may have rested and
refreshed themselves during their forty days' retreat.
Behind the chapel we enter the cave in which Elijah
lodged and God appeared to him in " a still small voice ''
(1 Kings 19 : 9, seq.). Whether this vision occurred in this
particular spot or not, it is. one of the most remarkable
in the history of revelation. Then we descend to " the
Fountain of Elijah," and wind our way through wild ra
vines and gorges till we come to a rude chapel dedicated
to the " Holy Zone of the Virgin Mary," and an old wil
low-tree which gave the name to the peak, and from
which Moses is said to have cut the miraculous rod with
which he smote the rock of Horeb.
Then we climb with difficulty and some danger over
granite blocks to the giddy height of Ras Sufsafeh.
Here on a projecting rock we rest an hour, looking down
on the vast plain of Er Rahah and the adjoining Wadys
of esh Sheikh and Leja, and looking beyond to the am
phitheatre of mountains which wall them in, and medita
ting over the past which here assumes the character of a
present overpowering reality. We are lost in amazement
at the panorama of terrible sublimity of nature, and the
immeasurable significance of that historic event which b
* This is the true name of the chapel (instead of the usual designa
tion, " the Chapel of Elijah and Elisha," as given by Palmer, Badeker and
others). So the guiding monk informed me and directed me to the pic
tures of Moses and Elijah. Elisha had nothing to do with Horeb.

178 BIBLE LANDS.
felt to this day all over the world as far as the Ten Com
mandments are known and read. It is difficult to im
agine a more solemn and impressive sight.
We then descend a steep ravine (imagining that we
follow the track of Moses, Exod. 32:17, 19), over con
fused heaps of rocks to the valley Er Rahah, and re
turn to our camp near the convent. It was the most
fatiguing as well as the most interesting day's work of
mountain climbing I can remember.
I fully satisfied my mind that Ras Sufsafeh is the
platform from which the Law was proclaimed. Here all
the conditions required by the Scripture narrative are
combined. Moses may have received the Law on the
higher Jebel Musa, but it must have been proclaimed to
the people from Ras Sufsafeh, which can be seen from
every part of the plain below* For Er Rahah is a smooth
and gigantic camping ground protected by surround
ing mountains, and contains — as has been ascertained
by actual measurement — two millions of square yards,
so that the whole people of Israel could find ample room
and plainly see and hear the man of God on the rocky
pulpit above.f Dean Stanley relates that "from the
* Such a distinction between a higher and lower summit of Sinai
seems to be indicated in the passage Exodus 19 : 20 seq. : "And Jehovah
came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and Jehovah
called Moses up to the top of the mount, and Moses went up. And Je
hovah said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people  So Moses
went down unto the people and spake unto them. And God spake all
these words, saying," etc.
t " A calculation made by Captain Palmer, from the actual measure
ments taken on the spot, proves that the space extending from the base
of the mountain to the watershed or crest of the plain is large enough to
have accommodated the entire host of the Israelites, estimated at two

MOUNT SINAI. 179
highest point of Ris Sufsafeh to its lower peak, a dis
tance of about sixty feet, the page of a book, distinctly
but not loudly read, was perfectly audible; and every
remark of the various groups of travellers rose clearly to
those immediately above them." Descending from that
mount through a ravine between two peaks, Moses and
Joshua might have first heard the shouts of the people
before they saw them dancing round the golden calf.
(Exod. 32 : 17, 19.) In one word, there is the most com
plete adaptation of this locality to all the circumstances
of the Sinaitic legislation as described by Moses. Tra
dition is for Jebel Musa, the Bible for Ras Sufsafeh. But
after all they form but one mountain (as do the five peaks
of Serbal), and tradition in this case is at least very near
the truth.
The same conclusion was reached by Dr. Robinson,
who first ascended Ras Sufsafeh (on his visit in 1838),
and who first pointed out this spot as the true locality,*
million souls, with an allowance of about a square yard for each individ
ual." The Desert of the Exodus, Vol. I., p. 117. Robinson likewise meas
ured Er Rahah and found it to be two geographical miles long and from
one-third to two-thirds of a mile broad, or equivalent to a surface of at
least one square mile. This space is nearly doubled by the recess on the
west and by the broad and level area of "Wady esh Sheikh on the east,
which issues at right angles to the plain. Researches, Vol. I., p. 95 (ed. of
1856). * See Biblical Researches, Vol. I., pp. 106, 107 : " While the monks
were here employed in lighting tapers and burning incense, we deter
mined to scale the almost inaccessible peak of es-Sufsafeh before us, in
order to look out upon the plain, and judge for ourselves as to the adapt-
edness of this part of the mount to the circumstances of the Scriptural his
tory. This cliff rises some five hundred feet above the basin ; and the
distance to the summit is more than half a mile. We first attempted to
climb the side in a direct course, but found the rock so smooth and pre-

180 BIBLE LANDS.
by Dean Stanley, who was there in 1852,* Dr. J. L. Por
ter,! and by all the members of the English Ordnance
Survey Expedition of 1868-1869, under the lead of Cap
tains Wilson and Palmer of the Royal Engineers. :£
cipitous, that after some falls and more exposures, we were obliged to give
it up, and clamber upwards along a steep ravine by a more northern and
circuitous course. From the head of this ravine we were able to climb
around the face of the northern precipice and reach the top, along the
deep hollows worn in the granite by the weather during the lapse of ages,
which give to this part, as seen from below, the appearance of architectu
ral ornament." The extreme difficulty and even danger of the ascent was well
rewarded by the prospect that now Opened before us. The whole plain
Er Rahah lay spread out beneath our feet, with the adjacent wadys and
mountains; while Wady esh Sheikh on the right, and the recess on the
left, both connected with and opening broadly from Er Rahah, presented
an area which serves nearly to double that of the plain. Our conviction
was strengthened, that here, or on some one of the adjacent cliffs, was the
spot where the Lord ' descended in fire ' and proclaimed the law. Here
lay the plain where the whole congregation might be assembled ; here was
the mount that could be approached and touched, if not forbidden ; and
here the mountain brow, where alone the lightnings and the thick cloud
would be visible, and the thunders and the voice of the trump be heard,
when the Lord ' came down in the sight of all the people upon Mount
Sinai.' We gave ourselves up to the impressions of the awful scene, and
read, with a feeling that will never be forgotten, the sublime account of the
transaction, and the commandments there promulgated, in the original
words as recorded by the great Hebrew legislator. Exod. 19:9-25;.
20 : 1-21."
* Sinai and Palestine, p. 76 (Am. ed.) : "I am sure that if the monks
of Justinian had fixed the traditional scene on the Ras Sufsafeh, no one
would for an instant have doubted that this only could be the spot."
t Handbook for Travellers in Sinai and Palestine, p. 71 (ed. of 1875) :
" The mountain, the plain, the streamlet, and the whole topography cor
respond in every respect to the historical narrative of Moses."
% See the report of Rev. F. W. Holland, in Recovery of yerusalem
(London and New York, 1871), p. 412, and Professor E. H. Palmer's Des
ert of the Exodus (Cambridge and New York, 1871), Part I., pp. 112 seq.
Holland visited Sinai four times, and Palmer travelled on foot over the
Sinaitic Peninsula for eleven months. Holland says : " The members of

i

,  _..  js^SS^
MOUNT SERBAL.

MOUNT SINAI. 181
On the other hand, some distinguished scholars still
plead for Serbal as the Mount of God, especially Lep
sius,* Ebers.f and Sharpe.ij: Let us consider their argu
ments. i. Serbal was early regarded as a sacred mountain,
and is identified with Sinai by Eusebius, Jerome, and the
monk Cosmas, who was there himself in the sixth cen
tury. But the tradition of Jebel Musa is stronger, and
from the age of Justinian well-nigh unanimous. §
2. The Sinaitic inscriptions even to the top of Ser
bal. If these were really of Hebrew origin, according to
the theory of Samuel Sharpe, they would indeed prove
that Serbal was a place of pilgrimage for Jews, though
by no means from the time of Moses, for the 179 inscrip
tions which he translates make no allusion to the legisla
tion and the wanderings, and imply the destruction of Je
rusalem. || Other scholars trace the inscriptions in Wady
Mokatteb and its neighborhood mostly to Nabathean or
our Expedition were as unanimous in their conviction that the Law was
given from Ras Sufsafeh to the Israelites assembled in the plain of Er
Rahah, as they had been unanimous in rejecting Serbal as the mount of
giving the Law."
* Brief e aus Aigypten, etc., 1852; and Reise nach der Halbinsel des
Sinai, 1876.
t Durch Gosen zum Sinai, Leipzig, 1872, pp. 380-426. See also Bade-
ker's AZgypten, 1877* Vol. I., p. 522, where Ebers defends the same view.
He accounts for the transfer of the sacred tradition from Serbal to Jebel
Musa by the bad repute of Pharan for heresy in the fifth century.
% Hebrew Inscriptions from the Valleys between Egypt and Mount Sinai,
London, 1875, p. 4.
§ Palmer came to the conclusion (p. 5) "that the claims of Serbal are
comparatively modern, and that tradition points to the neighborhood of
that mountain rather as a site of Rephidim than of Sinai, and that the
true traditional Sinai is Jebel Musa."
|| See above p. 166.
Bible Landfl. lO

1 82 BIBLE LANDS.
heathen origin. It is quite likely that Serbal was sacred
to the old heathen inhabitants of the desert, as Ritter*
assumes. In any case, those inscriptions are not conclu
sive, as they are found also in Nugb Hawa, round Jebel
Musa, in the valley Leja, and in remote wadys of the
Peninsula. 3. Serbal attracted at an early date a large number
of Christian pilgrims and anchorites. But this may be
accounted for by the fertility of Wady Feiran, and the
large number of caves in the surrounding rocks.
4. It seems strange that Serbal, if it be not the Mount
of God, should not be mentioned in the Exodus, since
the Israelites reached it first. But the omission of any
mention of the Sinai group would be equally strange.
5. Wady Feiran, in the immediate neighborhood of
Serbal, has the requisite water and pasturage for a long
sojourn of a large army. But the same is true of the
Sinaitic group, where there are several streams of run
ning water and fruitful gardens planted by monks.
6. Serbal equals Jebel Musa " in massive ruggedness,
in boldness of feature and outline ;" and although falling
625 feet beneath the height of Sinai — being only 6,734
feet above the level of the sea — it looks more imposing
at a distance. But its five magnificent peaks can be
seen at once only from one of the neighboring hills, and
in part from a few spots in Wady Feiran.
7. The battle of Israel against the Amalekites at-
Rephidim (Exod. 17:8) must have been fought in the
* Palestine and the Sinaitic Peninsula, Vol. I., p. 316 seq. (Gage's
condensed translation.)

MOUNT SINAI. 183
Wady Feiran, because the Amalekites would not have
surrendered so fertile an oasis to an invading army with
out a struggle ; and Rephidim was near " Horeb," where
Jethro visited Moses, his son-in-law, after the battle
(Exod. 17:6 ; 18:5; comp. 19: 1, 2 and Numb. 33 : 15) ;
while the traditional Sinai is two days' journey from Fei
ran. But, on the other hand, Serbal is only two miles
from Wady Feiran, too near for a day's journey ; and
Rephidim, where there was " no water for the people to
drink" (Exod. 17:1), so that Moses smote the rock of
Horeb (ver. 6), cannot have been in Wady Feiran with
its fountains and running streams, and must be sought
somewhere else between Serbal and Sinai.* But even if
we locate it in Feiran, it is not impossible that the chiefs
of Israel might have reached the wilderness of Sinai in
one day by the shorter route over Nugb Hawa, while the
host took the easier route through Wady esh Sheikh.
The most conclusive argument, however, against Ser
bal as the Mount of God is the entire absence of an open
and sufficient space where the people could assemble so
as to stand " under the mountain" and to touch its "neth
er part." This indispensable geographical condition is
met fully, and met only, in Wady Er Rahah, beneath the
northern peak of Mount Sinai. However well suited
Serbal may have been for receiving the law, it was un-
suited for the giving of the law within the hearing of the
people ; while Ras Sufsafeh was equally suited for both.
* See Chap. XVII., p. 168.

1 84 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE.
Foundation of the Convent— St. Catharine— Hospi
tality— The Church and the Mosque— The Chapel
of the Burning Bush— The Chamber of Skulls—
The Library— The Codex Sinaiticus— Dr. Tisehen-
dorf— The Monks and the Arabs— Jebel ed-Deir—
Excursion to Wady Leja.
Next to Mount Sinai itself, the Convent of St. Cath
arine, at its base, is the most remarkable object of inter
est in the Peninsula. It has recently arrested the atten
tion of scholars in connection with the most important
literary discovery of the age, which has proved of great
service in settling the original text of the New Testament.*
The Convent of Mount Sinai dates from the Byzan
tine Emperor Justinian, the famous legislator and build
er, (a. d. 527-565), who reared the magnificent church of
St. Sophia in Constantinople. He fortified and endowed
the little church of St. Helena, the mother of Constan-
tine, " on the spot where God spake with Moses." It was
at first dedicated to the Transfiguration, but afterwards
* The best accounts of the Convent before the discovery of the Codex
Sinaiticus we owe to Pococke, Burckhardt, Robinson, and Ritter. Since
the discovery, Tischendorf (in his Reise in den Orient, Leipz., 1846, and
Die Sinaibibel; i,h,re Entdeckung, Herausgabe und Erwerbung, 1871), E. H.
Balmer (The Desert of the Exodus, 187 1, Part I., pp. 56-78), and Ebers
(Durch Gosen zum Sinai, 1872, pp. 250-309), have given us the fullest and
most authentic information.

THE CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 185
to St. Catharine (Katharina), a famous saint of the Greek
and Russian Church, the patroness of Christian learning
and philosophy, after whom several Russian empresses
were named. According to tradition, based in part on
Eusebius (who, however, does not mention her name),
she was a virgin of noble birth, great wealth, and rare
scholarship in Alexandria, and suffered martyrdom under
the persecution of Maximinus (Nov. 25, 313), after resist
ing the beastly lusts of the tyrant. The legend adds that
she was first put upon an engine made of four wheels
with sharp spikes, but the engine was broken by the
invisible power of an angel (hence " St. Catharine's
Wheels "). About five hundred years after her death the
Christians in Egypt, then groaning under the yoke of
the Saracens, discovered her remains. Angels trans
ported the body (or at least the head) through the air
from Alexandria to the top of Jebel Catharine; there
some pious monks discovered it, and carried it to its
final resting-place in the Convent. The more intelligent
Greeks say that " angelic " monks carried her bones from
Alexandria to the Convent of Sinai, that they might en
rich it with such an invaluable treasure; and Alban But
ler* adopts this interpretation, adding that monks, "on
account of their heavenly purity and functions, were an
ciently called 'angels.'" The legend of St. Catharine
has its antecedents in the Egyptian myth of the transfer
of the corpse of Osiris from the banks of the Nile to
Mount Lebanon, and in other heathen fables.f It is the
Greek pendent to the Latin legend of the miraculous
* Lives of Saints, sub. Nov. 25. t See Ebers, p. 281 seq.
16-

1 86 BIBLE LANDS.
transportation of the house of the Virgin Mary from Naz
areth to Loretto, in Italy. A skeptical Protestant may
take comfort from the fact that, in rejecting the Eastern
miracle he is supported by the Latins, and in rejecting
the Western miracle he is supported by the Greeks.
If the system of monasticism commends itself as a
benevolent institution anywhere, it is on the Alpine pass
es of the Great St. Bernard, the St. Gotthard, and the
Simplon, and in this " great and terrible wilderness,"
where human enterprise and skill find no inducement
and reward, and where Christian charity alone can pro
vide the necessary shelter and comfort to the weary trav
eller. Unlike the monks of Mar Saba, those of St. Cath
arine are not " too holy to exercise hospitality," and even
to admit ladies. Formerly, when they were exposed to
constant attacks from the wandering Arabs, they drew
strangers in a basket to the window at the top of the
wall ; now, since they are under the protection of Russia,
they admit them through the gate on presentation of a
permit from the patriarch in Cairo. The reception-room
is large, and provided with a table, three divans, and a
bed. The monks at once offer simple refreshments, cool
ing water, dark bread, dates, or coffee, and date brandy
('araki), also little bottles of manna, as a memorial of the
miraculous food of the Israelites. They have no fixed
prices, but expect a liberal reward, and after you have
paid them in solid gold, they demand, before departure, a
contribution " for the poor Arabs " whom they have to
support, and they hope to receive backsheesh in addition.
I could not but smile when I read in their record of vis-

THE CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 187
itors the high commendations of travellers, and then
good-naturedly added my own acknowledgment of hospi
tality dearly rewarded. But in such a place and under
such circumstances the money is cheerfully paid and
usefully employed. It is only once in a man's lifetime
that he visits Mount Sinai. It would be unreasonable to
expect the attention of monks for nothing. They must
live, as well as other people, and no one is more indebted
to them than travellers who find shelter under their roof.
I was glad to find in the book the names of American
friends — Drs. Chambers, Strong, Ridgaway, and Bart
lett — who visited Sinai in 1874, and others. Those of
Drs. Hitchcock, Smith, and Park, who were there in 1870,
I looked for in vain. We did not lodge in the Convent,
but in our tent a little distance below, and had the pleas
ure of spending an evening over the tea-table with two
heroic English ladies (Miss Brocklehurst and Miss Booth),
whom we also met the next day on the top of Jebel
Musa. The Convent of Mount Sinai is a real oasis in the
desert, by the traditional sites of the Well of Jethro and
the Burning Bush. Its gardens — about twenty in num
ber, within a circumference of five or ten miles — produce
vines and vegetables and excellent fruit-trees (apricot,
peach, fig, pomegranate, olive, pear). The building is
both a monastery and a fort, encompassed by thick and
lofty granite walls, with some towers and a variety of
structures of different ages and styles of architecture,
without unity and symmetry. It is a curious labyrinth.
It includes a Byzantine, gorgeously over-decorated church,

1 88 BIBLE LANDS.
where Greek mass is said four times a day ; the Chapel
of the Burning Bush, where Jehovah appeared to Moses
(the bush is gone, the memorial light is kept burning) ; a
subterranean chamber, containing three thousand skulls
and bones of departed monks (a horrible sight) ; the cells
and workshops of the monks ; little courts ; a reception-
hall and adjoining rooms for travellers and pilgrims ; a
library ; and, strange to say, a little mosque, with a min
aret, to conciliate the good-will of the surrounding Arabs.
The monks say that they once possessed a charter from
Mohammed, signed with the impression of his own hand,
promising them perpetual protection and immunity. The
church contains a beautiful mosaic picture of the Trans
figuration, the portraits of the Emperor Justinian and
his wife Theodora, and the relics of St. Catharine, in
a costly sarcophagus presented by the Czar of Russia.
It is at this shrine and in the Chapel of the Burning Bush
that pious pilgrims, especially from Russia, are absorbed
in devotion, and feel amply rewarded for their weary
marches over the burning sand of the desert.
The library of the convent has considerable interest
for scholars, It is little used, but put in better order
since Tischendorf's last visit, in 1859. ^ contains several
hundred written and printed volumes, mostly in the
Greek, some in the Arabic, some in the Russian lan
guage, many of them worm-eaten, soiled, and torn*
* Tischendorf counted five hundred manuscripts. Ebers sought in
vain for Coptic manuscripts, but thinks that some books in the old sacred
Slavonic dialect are worthy of examination for comparative philology.
Palmer began to make a catalogue of the Arabic manuscripts, but was
not allowed to finish it.

THE CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 189
Those I hastily examined are ascetic and homiletic trea
tises of Greek fathers. The Codex Aureus, an Evange
listary, once in the archbishop's room, is now in the
church. It is one of the most beautiful copies of the
Four Gospels, written in gold uncial letters, in double
columns, with illuminated pictures of the Saviour, the
Virgin, and the four evangelists. It is assigned to the
eighth century, and hence not of much critical value.
Of modern books, I saw in the library a copy of the fac
simile edition, in four volumes, of the Codex Sinaiticus,
presented by the Emperor of Russia, Champollion's Pic
torial Egypt (a gift of the French government), and a
copy of Tischendorf's edition of the Septuagint (probably
presented by him). A bust of the present Khedive of
Egypt and a collection of photographic views were also
on a table.
Twenty years ago this library contained a literary
treasure of inestimable value, the most complete and
probably the most ancient copy of the whole Greek
Bible, with some other valuable documents (the Greek
Epistle of Barnabas and a fragment of the Greek Her-
mas). It is written on parchment in large uncial letters,
in four columns, and dates from the middle of the fourth
century. The monks were ignorant of its very existence.
It took a German scholar to find it out and to rescue it
from probable ruin. Dr. Tischendorf has told the roman
tic story of his discovery of the " Codex Sinaiticus," on
three successive visits : first in 1844, when he found, in a
basket full of papers destined for the oven of the convent,
forty-three leaves of the Septuagint ; then in 1853, when

190 BIBLE LANDS.
he accomplished nothing; and finally, in February, 1859,
when, under the patronage of the Russian Czar, the pro
tector of the Eastern Church, he obtained the priceless
treasure. He was permitted to carry it to Cairo, and to
copy it there (working day and night, with the help of
Coptic scribes) ; and ultimately secured it as a tribute of
duty and gratitude to the Czar Alexander II. I heard
the story twice from his own lips, in his study at Leipzig,
and when we spent a few days together at Friedrichs-
hafen. He was the happiest theologian I ever knew.
He never got over the intense satisfaction and delight
of the discovery which would immortalize a man of far
less learning and merit than Tischendorf. His indom
itable perseverance in the search and subsequent publi
cation (in three forms) is almost without a parallel in the
history of literature. He lived long enough (till 1874) to
utilize this and all other important sources of the text in
the critical apparatus of the eighth edition of his large
Greek Testament, in two volumes ; but the Prolegomena,
which were to form a separate volume, are left to a young
American scholar in Leipzig (Dr. Gregory) to elaborate
from his materials and other contributions.
The Sinai Bible is now in possession of the Imperial
Library at St. Petersburg. Thus, the Russo-Greek
Church possesses Codex Aleph (Sinaiticus) ; the Roman
Church, Codex B (Vaticanus) ; the French Church, Co
dex C (of Ephraem the Syrian) ; the Anglican Church,
Codex A (Alexandrinus, in the British Museum) and
Codex D (in Cambridge) ; while Protestant Germany has
none of the most famous and valuable uncial manu-

THE CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 191
scripts, but has done more than any other nation towards
utilizing all of them for the cause of Biblical learning.
The monks feel very sore at the loss of this their
greatest literary treasure. They positively assert that
it was only loaned to Tischendorf, to copy it, in Cairo,
and that it was finally stolen from them. They deny
that the emperor of Russia ever paid them a copper for
it. On my remonstrance the prior admitted that the
emperor offered to pay, but that they refused it, and de
manded the manuscript instead, though in vain. I dis
tinctly recollect that Prof. Tischendorf, as he informed
me, recommended to the Czar to give the Convent a
very large sum for the book, besides the new costly
shrine for the bones of St. Catharine ; and it seems in
credible that no reparation should have been made for
such a loss, which was a great gain to the Christian
world ; for these ignorant monks could never have made
use of it, and Biblical scholars could not travel to Mount
Sinai to examine it. Moreover, Tischendorf showed me
two Greek letters of the Archbishop Calistratos, full of
Oriental compliments and expressions of gratitude to the
German professor, and stating that the Codex Sinaiticus
was presented to his majesty the Czar, the Autocrat of
all the Russians, as. a testimony of eternal devotion*
It is not impossible that patient research in the library
may result in some other literary discovery, although
¦ of far inferior importance. It would be worth while for
* 7) mpitjw/ioc amy (HIBTloc: idup^Sii sic evdei^iv tt/c uiSiov qftuv Kal tov
Stvu evyvajwavvris. See extracts from these letters in Ebers, pp. 375,
376-

1 92 BIBLE LANDS.
a Biblical and patristic scholar to spend some weeks in
the Convent for the purpose. But their experience with
Tischendorf has made the monks very cautious and sus
picious. There are at present only thirty monks at the Con
vent, which is said to be very wealthy. They seem to
enjoy good health in this pure, dry, desert air, and attain
to an old age. They lead a simple, temperate, idle, mo
notonous, and stupid life. They are vegetarians, and
drink no wine, but are said to indulge occasionally in
date-brandy, which is distilled behind the kitchen. They
speak Arabic and Greek. One only spoke Italian. He
is an intelligent and friendly person, who guided us round
and acted as interpreter with the others. He hails from
Corinth. Another conducted us on our ascent to Jebel
Musa and Ras Sufsafeh, and in the excursion to Wady
Leja ; he was kind and good-natured, but as he spoke
only Greek and Arabic, we could not easily converse with
him. He seemed delighted when we repeated the beat
itudes from the Sermon on the Mount. The other monks
make no favorable impression as to intelligence or knowl
edge. Some are sent there for punishment. Dean Stan
ley and Professor Palmer censure them for not having
converted a single Arab, or made a single contribution to
the knowledge of the geography, the geology, or the his
tory of a country which has been committed to their
charge for thirteen centuries. I asked a monk why they
did not at least attempt to educate and civilize the Arabs,
who are their serfs, if they dare not Christianize them,
under the Turkish government. He replied : " These

THE CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 193
Arabs are camels, who only care for the bread of the
Convent." Still, we should never ungratefully forget that
the Convent of St. Catharine has preserved for the Chris
tian world the only complete uncial manuscript of the
Holy Scriptures.
Before we leave Mount Sinai we will add a brief notice
of the surroundings. They are replete with silly legends
which disturb the gravity of a Protestant traveller, and
yet show the deep local impression of the Mosaic events.
The Convent lies between Jebel Musa and Jebel ed
Deir, or " the Mount of the Convent." Dean Stanley
ascended it, and found there on the highest level a natu
ral basin thickly covered with shrubs of myrrh, which he
thought best suited for the feeding of Jethro's flocks in
the seclusion of the mountain.
Farther north lies Jebel Sona, or Seneh, which retains
the old Scripture name, and looks right into Er Rahah
and Wady esh Sheikh, and might set up a plausible rival
claim against Ras Sufsafeh, but it is far less impo
sing. We spent half a day in an excursion to Wady Leja
and Deir el-Arba'in, i. e., " the Convent of the Forty,"
namely, " Martyrs." Starting from our camp below the
Convent, we pass the Hill of Aaron, an elevation on
which the golden calf was erected ; then a hole in the
rock on the plain, which is pointed out as the Mould of
the Calf, although it has no more resemblance to a calf
than to any other animal ; next a piece of rock where the
Tables of the Law were broken, and a hole in which they
were buried. Then we turn from Er Rahah into the
Bible Lsids. 17

194 BIBLE LANDS.
narrow Wady Leja.* It has an abundance of water, and
was once filled with hermits. Many Sinaitic inscriptions
are found on the rocks. We soon come to " the Rock of
Horeb" which Moses smote with his rod and made a
fountain to refresh the murmuring Israelites (Exod.
17:6). The Arabs call it Hagar Musa, "the Stone of
Moses."f It is an isolated block of red granite, with
twelve crevices on each side, as so many fountains for
the twelve tribes, but yields not a drop of water now. It
followed the Israelites through the wilderness and re
turned to its place ! It is thus identified with " the spir
itual rock" spoken of by Paul, who means Christ (1 Cor.
10:4). So the credulous Greek monk informed us with
out an apparent doubt. The place is also shown where
the earth opened its mouth to swallow up Korah, Da-
than, and Abiram, for their rebellion against Moses and
Aaron (Numb. 16: 31-33). This is a palpable anachro
nism, for the rebellion of Korah occurred in Kadesh in
the wilderness of Paran, long after the departure of Is
rael from Sinai (Numb. 13 : 26).
About twenty minutes farther south is the convent el-
Arba'in (or, as our guide called it, the TeooapdKovra /idprvpec).
It is dedicated to the forty monks who were cruelly mur
dered by a robber band of heathen Arabs in the year
373 or 4004 In the chapel are pictures of Christ, the
* Probably from the Arab tradition which mentions Safuzijah (Zip-
pora) and Liga as the two daughters of Jethro. Ebers, pp. 336 and 580.
t See a picture of it in De Laborde's Voyage de I 'Arable Pitrie, p.
68, and a description, in Ebers, p. 337.
% The tradition rests on good foundation, the reports of Amonius
and Nilus as eye-witnesses. See the extract fronvNilus in Ebers, p.
345-

THE CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 195
Virgin, St. Michael, and the Forty Martyrs. The build
ing is now deserted, but undergoing repairs by an Ital
ian, who kindly offered us coffee. In the neighborhood
are five orchards and olive-groves, with an abundance
of fresh water. The fruit of the trees is said to be
excellent. From Wady Leja the ascent of Mount Cath
arine, the highest in the Peninsula (8,526 feet), is made ;
it is toilsome, but is amply rewarded by a grand panora
ma over this world of desolation.

196 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER XX.
FROM MOUNT SINAI TO HEBRON.
The Testimony of the Wilderness to the Truth of
the Bible— The Itinerary of the Israelites — The
Desert of the Wanderings — The Wady esh Sheikh
—A Mohammedan Saint— Last Sight of Serbal—
Crossing Jebel Et Tih — Nakhl— A Bedawin Fight
— Approaching the Holy Land — Gaza — Samson —
The Greek Church — Protestant Mission Schools
— From Gaza to Hebron.
A visit to the Sinaitic Peninsula goes far to strength
en one's faith in the truthfulness of the Mosaic narrative
against the attacks of skeptical critics who have never
been there. A recent explorer, who accompanied the
English Ordnance Survey Expedition, closes his account
with the statement that "not a single member of the
expedition returned home without feeling more firmly
convinced than ever of the truth of that sacred history
which he found illustrated and confirmed by the natural
features of the Desert. The mountains and valleys, the
very rocks, barren and sun-scorched as they now are,
seem to furnish evidences which none who behold them
can gainsay, that this was ' that great and terrible wil
derness' through which Moses, under God's direction,
led his people."*
From 'Ayiin Musa to Mount Sinai we can verify the
account of Exodus and the invaluable itinerary of the
* Rev. T. W. Holland, in The Recmery of yerusalem, p. 429.

FROM MT. SINAI TO HEBRON. 197
thirty-third chapter of Numbers in every essential fea
ture. We find support and illustration in the striking
correspondence of the present localities with the Biblical
descriptions and the character of the events which took
place there. The wild Arab traditions, too, are full of
recollections of the great Nebi Musa, and testify to the
indelible impression which the leader of Israel made on
the inhabitants of the Peninsula and their descendants
to this day*
We can go a little farther, to Hazeroth, the second
permanent encampment beyond Sinai. It may without
difficulty be identified with 'Ain Hudherah. Professor
von Schubert, and afterwards Dean Stanley, saw, before
arriving at Hudherah, in the evening and morning, the
flight of innumerable large, red-legged cranes three feet
high, with black and white wings, literally darkening
the sky, in striking confirmation of the incident men
tioned in Numb. 11:31: " And there went forth a wind
from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea and let
them fall by the camp." We can also follow the Israelites
at the end of their journey when they moved southward
towards the Gulf of 'Akabah. We can identify Ezion-
Geber (i. e., the giant's backbone), Mount Hor, Edom,
and Moab. As to Kadesh, where Israel " abode many
days" (Deut. 1 146), where Miriam died (Numb. 20: 1),
and whence the spies were sent to Canaan (Numb. 13:3,
26; 32:8), there is a difference of opinion; Robinson
and Porter locate it in 'Ain el Weibeh in the neighbor-
* On the Mohammedan history of the Exodus, compare the Appen
dix of Palmer, II., pp. 533 seq. 17*

198 BIBLE LANDS.
hood of the passes of Sufkah and Figreh, immediately
below the southern border of Palestine ; Stanley in or
near Petra ; Rowlands and Palmer at 'Ain Gadis on the
border of the Negeb in the desert of Et Tih, about fifty
miles south of Beersheba and forty miles west of 'Ain el
Weibeh. The thirty-eight years which lie between the first and
the last years of Israel's sojourn in the Peninsula are
devoid of mighty events such as took place in the begin
ning and the end. It was a period of punishment and
uncertain wanderings, a record of murmurings and sor
rows. The rebellion of Korah, the death of Miriam, the
second miracle of striking the rock, and the sin of Moses
which excluded even him and Aaron from the promised
land, are almost the only incidents during this meagre
period. It is impossible as yet to identify all the camp
ing-stations mentioned in Numb. 33 : 17-35, ar>d again in
ver. 41-48, except Mount Hor, Edom, and Moab. Rit-
ter, who mastered every source of information down tc
his time, says that the course of the Israelites, after they
had received the law, is to us terra incognita. Stanley
speaks in a similar way.
Since that time E. H. Palmer, accompanied by C. F.
Tyrwhitt Drake, in behalf of the Palestine Exploration
Fund, has wandered on foot over the greater portion of
the Desert Et Tih, Idumsea, and Moab (1869-1870), and
published the results of his researches, with valuable
maps and illustrations, in the second part of The Desert
of the Exodus. He lays much stress on his identification
of Kadesh with 'Ain Gadis, as forming the key to the

FROM MT SINAI TO HEBRON. 199
movements of the Israelites during their wanderings.
But Kadesh must be sought on the " uttermost (i. e. the
western) border" of Edom (Num. 20: 14, 16) and not very
far from Mount Hor (ver. 22; 33:37), unless we distin
guish (with Reland) two places of that name, one near
Edom, in the wilderness of Zin, and one with the affix
"Barnea" (Numb. 32:8; Deut. 2 : 14), in the northern
plateau of Et Tih.
The Badiet Et Tih, i. e., " the Desert of the Wander
ings," indicates by its name that it was the scene of the
wanderings of Israel, and identical with " the wilderness
of Paran" (Num. 10:12; 12:26; Deut. 1 : 1). It is em
phatically " that great and tei rible wilderness " of which
Moses speaks, Deut. 1 : 19. Its dreary monotony corre
sponds to the comparative emptiness of that long period of
punishment, when the whole generation of those who had
emigrated from Egypt and witnessed the great miracle's
in the western and southern part of the Peninsula, died
away ; as we read in the Prayer of Moses : " We are con
sumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins
in the light of thy countenance. For all our days are
passed away in thy wrath : we spend our years as a tale
that is told " (Psa. 90 : 7-9).
The Desert Et Tih is a vast and irregular limestone
plateau, which extends along the southern boundary of
Palestine from Gaza and the Mediterranean in the west
to the Dead Sea in the east, and projects southward like
a wedge into the Sinaitic Peninsula, as this itself projects
into the Red Sea. It borders in the north on what is

200 BIBLE LANDS.
called the " Negeb," or " South Country " of the Bible
(i. e., the country south of Palestine), with the pastures
of Gerar (Gen. 10:19; 20 : 1), where the patriarchs pas
tured their flocks. It is walled in on the south by a
chain of mountains of the same name. The Desert Et
Tih is dry and barren, but covered more or less with
parched herbage. It is a pasture-land, as distinguished
from an agricultural country, and becomes more fertile
as it approaches Palestine. It has no traces of former
habitation and cultivation, like the Serbal and Sinai re
gion, but occasional sepulchral stone circles, which re
semble the Druid monuments in England and Scotland.
It was no doubt in a far better condition at the time of
the patriarchs and Moses than ever since.
We shall now briefly describe our northern route
from Sinai to Nakhl and Hebron through this dreary
desert. It would be far more interesting to take the
longer route to 'Akabah and Petra if the war among the
Bedawin would allow it.
We leave the camp below the Convent of Sinai, and
pass through the long Wady esh Sheikh, the king of the
Wadys, covered with shrubs and stunted trees. It is
called after the Sheikh Salih (Nebi Salih), a Mohamme
dan saint mentioned in the Koran as a venerable and
eloquent patriarch. A rude monument, or Weli, is erected
to him at the dividing line of the road to 'Akabah. Here
the Towarah Bedawin, who revere him as their ancestor,
perform their devotions. In May they keep a festival,
which is the great national event of the year, and con
sists of dromedary races, the sacrifice of sheep, and feast-

. FROM MT SINAI TO HEBRON. 201
ing, and winds up with an ascent of Jebel Musa and an
offering to the Prophet Moses.*
On the next day we come once more in sight of the
majestic Serbal. In crossing Nukber-Rakineh, a high
and rugged pass of Jebel Et Tih, we had to march against
a fearful hurricane, which several times blew down the
poor baggage-camels. We found no shelter or resting-
place, and wondered how we got to the other side of the
mountain to the fountain Abu Nuteighineh and into the
Wady El Arish.
About half way from Sinai to Gaza and half way be
tween Suez and 'Akabah is Nakhl (or Nukhl), an Egyp
tian fort, manned by about thirty savage-looking soldiers,
for the protection of the Mecca pilgrims. It is provided
with a large cistern, and surrounded by a number of
Arab huts for the wives and children of the soldiers.
The governor received us very politely, took us over the
fort, and treated us to figs, raisins, and the inevitable
coffee and cigarette. His best room is furnished with
carpets, two chairs, and a few cushions. As soon as we
entered, his wife ran out as fast as she could. It is diffi
cult to imagine a more dreary place for residence than
on this dead level of sand and gravel, without an object
for the eye to rest upon.
At Nakhl the territory of the Towarah Bedawin
ceases, and that of the more savage Teyahah begins.
Palmer represents them from his experience as a set of
robbers, who pursue plundering with a profound feeling
* See an account in Palmer's The Desert of the Exodus ; I., 202-204,
and Biideker's ALgypten, I., 544.

202 BIBLE LANDS.
of conscious rectitude and respectability, like those Chal
deans who fell upon the camels of Job, carried them
away, and slew his servants with the edge of the sword
(Job i : 17). They were at war with the neighboring
tribes of the Terabin and Haiwat, and two hundred were
reported to have been killed or wounded on both sides.
These petty fights were of far greater interest to the peo
ple in the desert than the impending war between Russia
and Turkey. The sheikh, a commanding-looking man,
diverted us from our intended route to Beersheba and
Hebron (although we were willing to run the risk of
danger), and made us pay an extravagant sum {£17, or
$85) for permission to pass through his territory with
out him. The governor, who listened to our negotia
tions over the supper-table, made many polite bows, but
did nothing whatever to protect us against the imposi
tion. Perhaps he had a share in the plunder. We
learned that on the previous day a larger party of Eng
lish travellers, consisting of Messrs. Jansen of Chistle-
hurst, Murray Anderson, Rev. Mr. Selwyn, and others,
were imposed upon in the same way. It is but due,
however, to Mr. Cook, under whose protection we trav
elled, to say that his agent in Jerusalem (Mr. Floyd) read
ily refunded the money.
After five days of weary marches from Nakhl we en
camped on the rich domain of the Philistines, within a
few miles from Gaza, and spent there our last Sabbath
in the wilderness. The dragoman in the mean time rode
to Gaza and telegraphed to Jerusalem for horses. To be
even within the reach of a telegraph is like passing from

FROM AIT. SINAI TO HEBRON. 203
midnight to the light of day ; but it is almost the only
sign of modern civilization in Turkish dominions. We
were agreeably surprised in camp by a visit from some
of the English party above alluded to, who met our drag
oman at Gaza and returned with him. They informed
us of their adventures in the wilderness, their disappoint
ment in not seeing Petra, although they had paid a por
tion of the extra backsheesh, and of their indignation at
the conduct of the sheikh at Nakhl. They told us, to
our surprise, that they and we were reported to be killed
or imprisoned by the Bedawin, and that Mr. Cook's agent
had requested the Pasha of Jerusalem to send a force
after us. These false reports arose from the wars among
various tribes at the time. But all we saw of the war
was some armed Bedawin going to and returning from
the scene of action.
We are now on the very borders of the Holy Land,
which once was flowing with milk and honey. The
heart beats higher and higher in anxious expectation,
and we greet with joy the multiplying indications of
fertility and industry. We part with regret from our
faithful Towarah Arabs who had accompanied us on the
whole journey from Suez, but we feel happy and thank
ful for our deliverance from the barren desert.
Gaza is an Arab town of about 15,000 inhabitants.
It lies in a very fertile region, two miles from the sea
shore. It is the place where Samson, the Hercules of
Jewish history, took his last revenge on the Philistines.
Two pillars of granite, which he is said to have pulled
down, destroying himself and 3,000 enemies assembled

204 BIBLE LANDS.
at a feast, are still shown. The Moslems are proud of
him, and claim him as one of their own faith, although
he lived two thousand years before Mohammed. We saw
the mosque, which is an old Christian church, the Greek
church and school, and — what interested us most — three
Protestant schools for boys and girls, which Mr. W.
Pritchett, an aged and palsied Englishman, established
from pure Christian benevolence. The old gentleman
could not speak a word without trembling all over, and
yet he kept no servant. His teachers are two ladies
from the schools of the late Mrs. Thomson in' Beirut, and
Salih Nassar, a pupil of the noble Dr. Calhoun of Mt. Leb
anon, who died in America in Dec, 1876; he spoke of
his teacher in most grateful terms, and was moved to tears
when I informed him of his death. The Arab children
delighted us with singing " Rock of ages cleft for me."
At Gaza we also saw, in the telegraph-office kept by an
Englishman, the "Weekly London Times," which was
quite a luxury after a month's hunger for news.
As soon as our horses and mules arrived we started
for Beit Jibrin (the ancient Eleutheropolis), where we
again met with our English friends in a pleasant evening
chat, and on the next day for Hebron. We were obliged
to make a detour to avoid the warring Bedawin. We
passed over rolling wheat-fields and stony hills, and saw
ploughs worked by cows and camels. The hill-country
between Beit Jibrin and Hebron is naturally very beau
tiful and fertile, but needs running brooks and trees. A
ride of two days brought us from Gaza to Hebron.

THIRD PART

THE

Holy Land,

13

THIRD P»A.RT.
The Holy Land

CHAPTER XXI.
HEBRON.
First Impressions of Palestine — Scripture Remi
niscences — Abraham's Oak — Hebron, the City of
Abraham and David — The Great Mosque — The
Machpelah — Recent Disclosures — Mussulman
Fanaticism— An Assault and a Satisfaction— The
Hills of Judah— Solomon's Pools— From Hebron
to Jerusalem.
Coming from a forty years' wandering in the wilder
ness, Palestine was indeed to the Israelites a land of
promise flowing with milk and honey. Though fearfully
desolate and neglected now, we can even yet everywhere
see the traces of its former prosperity and its capacities
for a future resurrection under a better government and
with a better population. Its climate and natural fertil
ity are unsurpassed ; its hills and valleys make it a beau
tiful country, a sort of Switzerland or Wales of the East ;
while its historical significance, as the classical soil of
revelation and the birthplace of the only true and universal

208 BIBLE LANDS.
religion, raises it above the most highly favored coun
tries of the globe. The disproportion of its small size to
its historical greatness reminds one of Greece. Its length
from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north is only
about one hundred and eighty miles, its breadth from the
Jordan to the sea not much more than fifty miles ; and
yet this little country has done more for the religious and
moral, as Greece has done more for the intellectual, prog
ress of mankind than the vast empires of Assyria, Babylo
nia, Persia, and Rome. The isolation of Palestine from
idolatrous countries by sea and desert was favorable to
the development of the pure monotheistic religion ; while
its central location between three continents looked to
the universal destination and spread of the gospel which
was born there.
My first impressions in reaching Palestine from the
Desert and in travelling on its southern border from
Gaza to Hebron may be briefly summed up in these
points : (i) the natural beauty and fertility of the country ;
(2) the Swiss-like character of the landscape ;* (3) the
abundance of variegated wild flowers and of grain fields ;
(4) the absence of rivers and trees ; (5) the want of roads,
carriages, wagons, wheelbarrows, and every trace of a
good government and enterprising population ; (6) the
semi-barbarous character and condition of the inhabitants,
both Moslems and nominal Christians ; (7) the richness of
Scripture reminiscences and illustrations, which multiply
* Miss Martineau and Dean Stanley, hailing from England, were
struck " by the Western, almost the English, character of the scenery,"
and were reminded of the Lowlands of Scotland and Wales.

HEBRON: THE MOSQUE AND PART OF THE TOWN.

A*d£i

GETHSEMANE, AND MOUNT OF OLIVES.

HEBRON. 209
as we proceed. The ruins of cities on the hills remind
us of the " city that is set on a hill and cannot be hid "
(Matt. 5 : 14). The luxuriant vineyards and fig-trees at
Hebron recall the grapes, pomegranates, and figs which
the spies brought from Hebron and the valley or the
brook of Eshcol to the camp of Israel in Kadesh-Bar-
nea (Numb. 13 : 22-25) > and as we see the walls around
the vineyards and the watch-towers in the corner for the
guard, we have a striking illustration of the parable of
the vineyard (Matt. 21 : 33). The Land is a commentary
on the Book.
Before we reach Hebron coming from Gaza, we turn
off the main road to see the famous Oak (or Terebinth)
of Abraham, about two miles west of the city. It has
often been photographed. It is a truly majestic and ven
erable tree, more venerable than any in the world except
the olive-trees of Gethsemane. Its trunk measures thirty-
two feet in circumference. Its crown divides into four
colossal branches spread out like wings. It is now sur
rounded by a stone wall and owned by the Russians, who
bought the surrounding field and built a fine hospice on
the hill above. Already in the time of Josephus there
was shown, six furlongs from the city, " a very large turpen
tine-tree, which has continued ever since the creation of
the world."* Here "in the plains" (or rather, "the oaks")
" of Mamre " father Abraham courteously received and
hospitably entertained the three mysterious visitors " un
der the tree," in front of the tent, and was informed of
* See Bella yud. Book IV., chap. 9, § 7. Josephus, however, does not
connect it expressly with Abraham. 18*

210 BIBLE LANDS.
the future birth of Isaac, the son of promise (Genesis
1 8 : 2-9). From here he accompanied the strangers to a
hill from which he could look upon Sodom and Gomor
rah, and interceded with the Lord for the doomed cities,
but in vain, because not even ten righteous persons could
be found there (23-33). And early in the morning, coming
to the place where he stood before the Lord, "he looked
toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of
the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country
went up as the smoke of a furnace " (Gen. 19 : 27, 28).
Hebron is mentioned about forty times in the Old
Testament, but nowhere in the New. Like Damascus,
it carries us back to the days of Abraham, as one of the
most ancient cities of the world. It was built seven years
before Zoan or Tanis, the capital of the Shepherd Kings
in Egypt (Numb. 13:22). It is the city of Abraham,
" the friend of God " (J as. 2 : 23), and in honor of him the
Arabs call it El Khulil i.e., "the Friend" (of Allah). Here
he built an altar unto the Lord, and walked and com
muned with him (Gen. 13:18). Here he bought from
Ephron the Hittite the cave and field of Machpelah, as
the final resting-place for his family. Here the patri
archs spent a large part of their lives. Here David
reigned over Judah seven years and six months before he
became sovereign of the whole land and removed his res
idence to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5 : 5). Here is the pool over
which he hanged up the murderers of his rival Ishbo-
sheth (2 Sam. 4: 12). Here he no doubt composed some
of his psalms which still kindle the devotions of the peo
ple of God all over the world. Hebron is one of the four

HEBRON. 211
holy cities of Islam (with Mecca, Medinah, and Jerusa
lem) and of Judaism (with Jerusalem, Safed, and Tibe
rias). It is situated at the foot of a hill in a well-watered
and fertile valley, usually supposed to be the Valley of
Eshcol (the Valley of Grapes), unless this is to be sought
further south near Beersheba.* It is surrounded by vine
yards, olive groves, almond, apricot, and fig trees. It lies
3,029 feet above the sea, about twenty miles or seven
hours' ride south of Jerusalem. It passed into the pos
session of Islam in the seventh century. During the
Crusades it was for a short time (1167 to 1187) the seat
of a Latin bishopric, but after the disastrous defeat of the
Crusaders at Tiberias in 11 87 it fell into the hands of
Saladin, and has since been a hot-bed of Mohammedan
insolence and fanaticism. Its eight or ten thousand in
habitants are all Moslems, with the exception of five hun
dred Jews. There is not a single Christian family there.
The inhabitants manufacture water-skins from goats'
hides, lamps, and colored glass rings for female orna
ments. As the Mohammedans drink no wine, they dry
the grapes and sell large quantities of raisins, or they boil
the juice into debs, a kind of thick grape molasses, which
* See Numb. 13:22-25; 32:9; Deut. i : 24. It is uncertain whether
the valley and the brook of Eshcol (53©N, a bunch, a cluster, especially of
grapes) derived the name from Eshcol, the brother of Mamre the Amo-
rite, and one of the four chieftains who accompanied Abraham in his pur
suit of the four robber-kings (Gen. 14 : 13, 14), or whether he derived it
from the valley. It certainly is in the neighborhood of Hebron. Rob
inson says, " This valley is generally assumed to be the Eshcol of the Old
Testament, whence the spies brought back the cluster of grapes to Kadesh;
and apparently not without reason. The character of its fruit still corre
sponds to its ancient celebrity, and pomegranates and figs, as well as apri
cots, quinces, and the like, still grow there in abundance."

212 BIBLE LANDS.
is often mentioned in the Bible under the kindred name
of debash. The houses are built of stone, and many have
domes as at Jerusalem.
The most important building is the Great Mosque
(Haram), a massive and imposing but gloomy structure,
about 200 feet long by 150 (according to Tristram, 115)
feet wide, and upwards of 50 feet high, with two minarets.
It is surrounded by the dwellings of dervishes and the
forty hereditary guardians of the mosque. The high wall
is supposed to date from the time of David or Solomon.
The mosque itself was probably a Byzantine church, like
the Great Mosque of Damascus, the Mosque of Omar in
Jerusalem, and St. Sophia in Constantinople. It owns
some of the best lands in Philistia and in the plains of
Sharon. But the object of greatest interest in this mosque
is concealed beneath its pavement. It is " the double
cave," or Machpelah, the oldest known burial-place in
the world. Here the three patriarchs and their wives
(except Rachel, who is buried beneath a little white
mosque near Bethlehem) sleep till the morning of the
resurrection. Joseph's body, too, is said to have been
removed thither from Shechem, near Jacob's well, where
his tomb is still shown. There never has been any doubt
about the identity of the spot. Such caves are as ever
lasting as the hills to which they belong. The story of
Machpelah is singularly touching. With what solemnity
and carefulness did father Abraham acquire this his only
property in the Holy Land from his heathen friend
Ephron, and make it sure for ever by that first legal con-

SKETCH PLAN OF THE GREAT MOSQUE AT HEBRON.
Deep black lines mark the ancient Jewish Wall. Shaded parts unknown.
I.
2.3-
4-k7-

Shrine of Abraham.
" " Sarah.
" " Isaac.
" " Rebekah.
" " Jacob.
" " Leah.
" " Joseph.
" " two Moslem saints.
9. Fountain.
10. Raised platform.
n. Mihrab.
12. Platform for the muezzin.
13. Aperture leading to Cave.
14. Minbar (of pulpit).

Steps leading to outer door.
Long narrow passage of easy
steps, bounded on the left by
ancient Jewish wall.

C. Fountain.
D. Here shoes are left.
E. Passage chamber.
F. Mosque, containing two Shrines.
G. Outer court.
H. Cloister of arches, with domed
roof. The Outer Narthex.
K. Inner Narthex.
L. Nave of Byzantine church.
M. Room, leading to two Chambers
containing Shrines of Jacob
and Leah.
N. Do. to that containing Shrine
of Joseph.
O. Minaret.
P. Windows.
Q. Minaret.
R. The Jawaliyeh Mosque.

214 BIBLE LANDS.
tract recorded in history (Gen. 23 : 3-20). The scene
comes back to us in all its circumstantial details, as Dr.
Thomson shows so graphically from his own experience
of bargaining among the Orientals of the present day*
How simple and impressive is the record of the succes
sive interments of the patriarchal families, and the burial
of enmities between brothers over the graves of their
fathers : first Sarah was buried (Gen. 23 : 19), then Abra
ham by Isaac and Ishmael (25 :g, 10), then Isaac by his
sons Esau and Jacob (35 : 27-29) ; and last we read the
dying request of Jacob in Egypt : " And he charged them
and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people :
bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field
of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burial-place.
There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife ; there
they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and there I
buried Leah" (49:29-31). How much of history, how
many family joys and family griefs, what bright hopes of
immortality and resurrection were gathered in that spot !
How strange that no allusion should be made to it in the
later books of the Bible. But Josephus mentions beauti
ful marble monuments of Abraham and his sons in He
bron, and Machpelah was always regarded as one of the
most sacred places on earth.
From the time of its permanent Mussulman occupa
tion in 1 187 to 1862, the mosque was most jealously
closed to all but Mohammedans, and the Machpelah is
closed still. Previous to that year we had but three brief
and confused accounts of stealthy visits, especially by a
* The Land and the Book, Vol. II„ p. 381 seq.

HEBRON. 21 5
Spanish renegade, Ali Bey. Even the Mosque of Omar
and the Mosque of Damascus were opened to foreigners
before that of Hebron. At last, by a special firman of
the Sultan, and after a great deal of trouble, the Prince of
Wales was admitted to the interior in January, 1 862, the
Marquis of Bute in 1 866, and the crown prince of Prussia
in 1869. Dean Stanley, who, together with the Prussian Con
sul, Dr. Rosen, a learned archaeologist, accompanied the
Prince of Wales, has given us a very interesting account
of this visit* From it we learn that the patriarchs and
their wives have separate shrines, enclosed with gates or
railings, but they are empty cenotaphs or monuments in
honor of the dead who lie beneath. The shrines of
Abraham and Jacob were shown to the visitors, but
not those of their wives. When the gate to the shrine
of Abraham was thrown open, the guardians groaned
aloud, and their chief remarked, "The princes of any
other nation should have passed over my dead body soon
er than enter. But to the eldest son of Queen Victoria
we are willing to accord even this privilege." Then he
offered an ejaculatory prayer to Abraham : " O friend of
God, forgive this intrusion." Isaac's shrine they were
not permitted to enter, for the singular reason that, while
Abraham, who interceded for the wicked inhabitants of
t In the second Appendix to his Lectures on the History of the yewish
Chtirch, Vol. I., p. 535 seq. (New York, 1863). He also gives the ground
plan of the map, drawn by Hon. R. H. Meade and Dr. Rosen immediately
after the visit to the mosque. We have reproduced it on a smaller scale.
Ferguson's account is contained in " The Holy Sepulchre and the Temple
at Jerusalem." London, 1865.

216 BIBLE LANDS.
Sodom and Gomorrah, was full of kindness and would
overlook an affront, Isaac was proverbially jealous, and
might resent the insult.
The most sacred and interesting part of the mosque,
the dark subterranean cave itself, which contains the
remains' of the patriarchs, was closed to the distinguished
visitors, and could only bexseen through a small hole in
the pavement. It is uncertain whether even the Mos
lems enter the Machpelah. Once, they say, twenty-five
hundred years ago, a servant of a great king entered,
but returned " blind, deaf, withered, and crippled." Since
then the entrance was closed, and only the aperture left
open, that the holy air may come up and a lamp be let
down by a chain upon the grave. Stanley suggests as
the reason why neither the Mussulmans nor the Chris
tians have ever explored the cave, that it was no place
of pilgrimage. But may it not have been the supersti
tious fear of fatal consequences ?
The mystery which still hangs over Macphelah will
be solved at no distant day, when perhaps the embalmed
body of Jacob will be brought to light.
As we approached the mosque and looked through
the crevices of the dark, huge wall of enclosure, we had a
taste of Moslem fanaticism which might have led to seri
ous consequences. Some dervishes and other devotees
were just coming down the steep flight of the exterior
staircase, and, supposing that we were going to enter the
sanctuary, looked very fiercely at us ; one of them pushed
me back with a violent thrust on the breast, but I quietly
stood my ground and asked the dragoman to inform the

HEBRON. 217
governor of the fact. We walked up to the hill behind
the mosque pursued by the fanatic, and amid the curses
and insults of the children we made our way to our tent
near the Egyptian quarantine building. About an hour
afterwards, as we sat down to dinner, the governor's sec
retary, a tall, commanding Turk, appeared with an officer
and three soldiers, to make an apology for the violence
committed and to offer us his protection. He assured us
that he had put the offender in chains, and would keep
him in prison as long as we desired. We asked him to
let him run the next morning with a sound warning. He
informed us that he had, at the direction of the Pasha of
Jerusalem, sent ten soldiers into the wilderness to deliver
us from the Bedawin. When we told him that we were
Americans and Englishmen, he was delighted, and, signif
icantly rubbing his forefingers, he exclaimed, " The Turks
and the English are one." A strange compliment. He
had fought with the English against the Russians in the
Crimean war, and was sure of their help in the conflict
which was then daily expected to break out. He left the
three soldiers to watch our tent all night (for backsheesh),
and, after a long smoke, he took leave with the profound-
est bows. Had we thought of it, we might perhaps have
obtained permission to visit the interior of the mosque at
which the offence was committed. This would have been
the best reward for the trouble. We broke camp early
next morning without further disturbance, except a little
skirmish of our high-spirited and well-armed dragoman
with a few insolent Moslems on camels.
From Hebron to Jerusalem is a good day's journey
Bible Unas. 19

2i 8 BIBLE LANDS.
(seven or eight hours) on horseback. The road is rocky
and rugged, and impassable for wheeled vehicles, till you
reach Bethlehem. We ride over the barren but beautiful
"hill country of Judaea" (Luke 1 139, 65), where David wan
dered in the days of his persecution, where Mary visited
her cousin Elisabeth and sung the "Magnificat," the
last psalm of the Old Testament, the first hymn of the
New. The first resting-place, after a ride of three or four
hours, is " Solomon's Pools," three large reservoirs which
supplied Bethlehem and Jerusalem with water, and do so
still to some extent, although the aqueducts, like every
thing else in Palestine, are in a deplorable state of dilapi
dation. I was informed that a rich and benevolent Eng
lish lady offered a large sum for their repair, but the offer
was refused by the stupid Turkish government. Beside
the upper pool is a castle and khan of Saracenic origin,
now occupied by the guardian. The lowest and finest
pool (582 feet long, 207 broad, 50 deep, according to Por
ter) is partly hewn in the rock and partly lined with ma
sonry. A stony staircase leads down to the water, in
which we took a refreshing bath. The name is derived
from the book of Ecclesiastes (2:5, 6), where Solomon,
among the vanities of pleasure, mentions " gardens and
orchards " which he planted, and "pools of water " which
he made "to water therewith the wood that bringeth
forth trees."
An hour's ride brings us to Bethlehem ; next we pass
Rachel's Tomb ; then the Convent of Mar Elias. Here
we get the first glimpse of Jerusalem, and the expecta-

RACHEL'S TOMB.

HEBRON. 219
tion rises higher and higher as we approach the holiest
city on earth. But we must stop a few hours in Beth
lehem, the first place in Judea where the reminiscences
of the Old and New Testaments are blended. Our Sav
iour, so far as we know, never was south of Bethlehem,
the city of his birth, except in the Flight to Egypt
during his infancy.

220 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER XXII.
BETHLEHEM.
Bethlehem Ephratah — Rachel's Tomb — Ruth and
Boaz — David the Shepherd King— Mieah's Proph
ecy — The Incarnation — The Shepherds of Bethle-
lem and the Wise Men from the East— The Gloria
in Excelsis — The First Martyrs — Modern Bethle
hem—The Latin Convent — The Church of the
Nativity — The Holy Crypt— The Chapel of the
Manger— The Chapel of the Innocents — The Study
of Jerome— The Latin Bible— The Grotto of the
Shepherds— Protestant Schools— Bethlehem and
Golgotha.
" Bethlehem ! of noblest cities,
None can once with thee compare ;
Thou alone the Lord from heaven
Didst for us incarnate bear !" prudentius.
Bethlehem (House of Bread) is as familiar to us
from childhood-days as our own home. At every Christ
mas, that festival of the renewal of humanity, the hearts
of Christendom are gratefully turned to the birthplace
of our Lord, and old men rejoice with little children over
the Gift of gifts, the Bread of Life from heaven.
Bethlehem is one of the oldest towns in Palestine.
It was known to Jacob under the name of 'Ephrath or
Ephratah (the fruitful). A short distance from the place
on the road to Jerusalem, his beloved Rachel gave birth
to Benoni, the son of her sorrow, and her death was the
first consecration of Bethlehem for all future ages (Gen.
35:16-20; 48:7). He erected a pillar on her grave,

BETHLEHEM. 221
which is still sacredly guarded by the Mohammedans in
a little white mosque on a hill, from which can be seen
the town and the surrounding country. Her sorrow was
typical of greater sorrows at the birth of the Man of
Sorrows (Matt. 2:18). Bethlehem next appears in the
charming idyl of Ruth, that model of filial affection and
devotion, who became the ancestress of David and of
our Lord. Even now women and children may be seen
gleaning after the reapers in the grain-fields of the fer
tile valley as she did in the field of Boaz. In Bethlehem
the poet-king and hero of Israel was born, and tended
his father's flock. Here he was anointed by Samuel ;
here he may have composed that inimitable psalm, which
represents Jehovah as the Good Shepherd feeding his
people on green pastures, and leading them beside the
still waters. Travellers still refresh their thirst at " Da
vid's Well," a deep cistern hewn in the rock, half a mile
north of the town. When in the cave of Adullam,
David longed and said, "Oh, that one would give me
drink from the waters of the well of Bethlehem that is
at the gate!" (I Chron. 11:15-19.) To Bethlehem
Ephratah the prophet pointed as the birthplace of the
Messiah, who shall be a ruler in Israel (Micah 5 : 2).
But what shall we say of that amazing event which
forms the turning point in the history of mankind, clo
sing the era of night and death, and ushering in the era
of light and life ? Jacob and Rachel, Ruth and Boaz,
ard David himself disappear before Him who was David's
son, and yet David's Lord. With unlettered shepherds
of the field and the learned sages from the far East who
10*

222 BIBLE LANDS.
followed the Star of Bethlehem, we bow in childlike faith
before the miracle of miracles, " the great mystery of
godliness, God manifest in the flesh."
" Was kein Verstand der Verstandigen sieht,
Das glaubet in Einfalt ein kindlich Gemiith !"
"What a mighty influence for good," says Dr. Robin
son, who seldom gives vent to his emotions, " has gone
forth from this little spot upon the human race both for
time and eternity ! It is impossible to approach the
place without a feeling of deep emotion, springing out
of these high and holy associations. The legends and
puerilities of monastic tradition may safely be disre
garded ; it is enough to know that this is Bethlehem,
where Jesus the Redeemer was born. Generation after
generation has indeed since that time passed away, and
their places now know them no more. For eighteen
hundred seasons the earth has now renewed her carpet
of verdure, and seen it again decay. Yet the skies and
the fields, the rocks and the hills and the valleys around,
remain unchanged, and are still the same as when the
glory of the Lord shone about the shepherds, and the
song of a multitude of the heavenly host resounded
among the hills, proclaiming ' Glory to God in the high
est, and on earth peace, good-will to men.' "
With all these sacred associations crowding upon the
memory, and with beating hearts we approach modern
Bethlehem (Beit-lahm), over a ridge of terraced vineyards
and gardens with evergreen olives and luxuriant fig-trees,
and alight before the stately Latin monastery, which
looks like a mediaeval fortress. We are not disappointed

BETHLEHEM. 223
in our expectations. The scenes of nature harmonize
better than the people with our faith, and yet they con
trast favorably with their Moslem neighbors. We are
saluted with smiles, and not with scowls, as in fanatical
Hebron. Bright children run up to hold our horses
and offer us crucifixes, beads, bracelets, and sacred pic
tures for sale. A kind-hearted cowled Franciscan from
Venice politely places the spacious reception-hall at our
disposal, treats us to some simple refreshments, then
shows us the church of the Nativity and the subterra
nean chapels, and dismisses us with his blessing.
The town, like Jerusalem and most towns in southern
Palestine, is built on a hill. It has an air of industry,
thrift, and comfort which are very rare in the East,
though not equal, of course, to a town of the same size
in Europe or the United States. German industry has
of late greatly stimulated the natural fertility of the soil.
The wine of Bethlehem is considered better than that of
Jerusalem. The flat-roofed houses are built of white
limestone, and partly cut in the rock, The inhabitants
number about 5,000, and are nearly all Christians of the
Greek Church. The Moslem quarter was destroyed by
Ibrahim Pasha after the rebellion in 1834. The people
are engaged in agriculture, gardening, and the manufac
ture of relics and sacred ornaments made of olive, moth
er-of-pearl and Dead-Sea wood. They have a restless
and rebellious temper, and formerly lived in frequent
strife with their neighbors in Hebron and Jerusalem.
The women of Bethlehem have the reputation of supe
rior beauty, and rival in this respect their sisters in Naz-

224 BIBLE LANDS.
areth. Theirs is the Syrian type of beauty : dark eyes,
bright faces, noble figures and graceful carriage. Some
of them may have crusaders' blood in their veins. It is
a remarkable fact that the birthplace of Christ, and the
home of his childhood and youth, though dilapidated
and groaning under Turkish misrule, should bear witness
to the superiority of Christian women over all other
women. " To this day the fields of Bethlehem illustrate many
an incident in the book of Ruth, The very salutation,
' The Lord be with you !' and the reply, ' The Lord bless
thee !' may be heard as the farmer goes up to his labor
ers. The supper of the reapers, when the day's work is
done, is still the parched corn eaten on the spot — a few
bunches of fresh ears, singed in a fire kindled for the
purpose, and then rubbed and roughly winnowed by the
hand. The large cotton or linen cloth, 'the veil,' which
binds down the headdress of the Bethlehemite woman,
is very distinct from the female dress elsewhere, and is
still, like Ruth's, large enough to hold six measures of
barley; and still the owner sleeps by his cornheaps at
night, generally with all his family, till the harvest is
finished."* Let us now visit the traditional holy sites which are
here crowded together in one spot.
"The Church of the Nativity," or of St. Mary, the
oldest in Christendom, was erected by Helena, the moth
er of Constantine, A. d., 327, on the site of a khan or
* From Canon Tristram's Bible Places, p. 74. Compare also Thom
son, The Land and the Book, II., p. 509 seq.

BETHLEHEM. 225
inn in which Christ is believed to have been born. It is
the common property of the Greeks, Latins, and Arme
nians, who have each a stately convent adjoining it. The
four rows of Corinthian marble columns (said to have
been taken from the temple of Jerusalem), the faded
mosaics on the wall, and the roof of cedar-wood from
Lebanon, betray its ancient splendor. Unfortunately
the jealousy of the rival sects disgraces the building, and
a Turkish guard must keep them from open hostility.
In the early ages of persecution the heathen were forced
to exclaim, "How these Christians love one another!"
Now they have reason to say, How these Christians hate
one another ! Even our saintly monk could not refrain
from heaping abuses on the Greeks, to whom he denied
every claim to the sacred edifice. The monkish quarrels
over the Holy Crypt and the Holy Sepulchre kindled
the flame of the Crimean war, and give the Eastern
question a European significance. There is little pros
pect of converting the Moslems before Christians make
peace among themselves and approach them with the
power of a united faith and a conquering love.
We descend on one of the two spiral staircases to
the " Holy Crypt," a cave in the solid rock twenty feet
under the great choir. It is the holy of holies, and lighted
by ever-burning lamps. We look with reverence on the
marble slab with a silver star encircled by the simple but
pregnant inscription,
" Hie de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est."
It is by no means impossible that this grotto was the

226 BIBLE LANDS.
very spot of the Nativity. It seems to have been known
already two hundred years before Helena built the church
over it. There was no doubt only one inn or khan in
the little town, and Joseph and Mary, unable to find room
in the overcrowded tavern, sought temporary refuge in
the adjoining stable in the cave and laid the child in a
manger. We say temporary shelter; for they received
the visit of the Magi in a house (Matt. 2:11). In the
East the house and the stable are often under the same
roof, and men and cattle not strictly separated. There
are many natural caves in Palestine, which afford easy
shelter to cattle, and are used as stables.*
We try to enter into the feelings of " the Wedded
Maid and Virgin Mother," and to realize the contrast
between the " Mater gaudiosa " at the cradle of the infant
Jesus and the " Mater dolorosa " at the cross of the
dying Saviour. " Stabat Mater speciosa
Juxta fcenum gaudiosa,
Dum jacebat parvulus —
Cujus animam gaudentem,
Laetabundam ac ferventem
Pertransivit jubilus."
* St Luke (2 :y, 12, 16), speaks only of "a manger" in which Mary
laid her first-horn son, "because there was no room for them in the inn."
But already in the middle of the second century Justin Martyr (Dial, cum
Tryphone yud., 78), who was a native of Palestine, mentions that Christ was
born "in a grotto (Iv oxrfXaiq nvi) near Bethlehem," and Origen in the third
century (Contra Celsum I. 51) speaks of this as publicly known, so that
even the heathen regarded it as the birthplace of Christ. Dr. Robinson,
as usual, is skeptical, but W. Hepworth Dixon (The Holy Land, 1865, ch.
14), ingeniously pleads for the traditional cave, and tries to prove, also,
that the inn of the Nativity was the patrimony of Boaz and the home of
David.

BETHLEHEM. 227
We are also shown the chapel of the Prassepium or
Manger (the original manger was long ago carried to
Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome), the station of the
Magi, the chapel of Joseph, and the chapel of the Inno
cents slain by the wrath of Herod. A massive column
marks the spot where 20,000 martyred innocents were
buried. This is, of course, an absurd exaggeration, like
most of the monkish legends. But I thought of Matthew's
simple narrative, and the hymn of Prudentius, " Salvete,
flores martyrum !" Those infant martyrs unconsciously
bore their bloody testimony to the fact of the incarnation,
and are now leading the countless choir of saved infants
in heaven. " Hail, infant martyrs ! new-born victims, hail !
Hail, earliest flowerets of the Christian spring!
O'er whom, like rosebuds scattered by the gale,
The cruel sword such havoc dared to fling.
The Lord's first votive offerings of blood,
First tender lambs upon the altar laid,
Around in fearless innocence they stood,
And sported gayly with the murderous blade."
Whatever be the claim to the identity of these partic
ular spots and the rubbish of superstition which has
accumulated over them, it is impossible not to be im
pressed afresh with the power and beauty of the simple
Scripture account of that Christ-child who has been
described by a poetic commentator as '¦' the moving centre
of the world setting everything in motion ;" attracting all
that is genial, repelling all that is hostile ; concealed, yet
well known ; hated and feared by the bad, yet longed for

228 BIBLE LANDS.
and loved by the good ; despised, yet marvellously honor
ed ; beset with danger, yet kept in perfect safety.
" Welcome to our wondering sight,
Eternity shut in a span !
Summer in winter ! day in night !
Heaven in earth ! and God in man !
Great little One, whose glorious birth
Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth."
About one place beneath the same church there can
be no historical doubt : it is the chapel, once the study,
of St. Jerome. This great scholar divided his life between
the East and the West, his enthusiasm between the
Roman classics and the holy Scriptures, and achieved the
double crown of a monastic saint and a church father.
He was, even after his famous dream, a Ciceronian as
well as a Christian, and a spicy, ill-tempered polemic as
well as a humble recluse. He is fitly represented as a
penitent in a reading or writing posture, with a lion and
a skull. Everybody knows Domenichino's masterpiece,
"The Communion of St. Jerome," in the Vatican. In
the subterranean cavern, close by the cradle of the infant
Saviour, he spent thirty years till his death (a. d., 419).
Here he completed his monumental work which, far
more than his monkish piety and all his other books,
entitles him to the lasting gratitude of the Church. His
improved Latin version of the Bible, called the Vulgate,
gave to Western Europe in the dark ages when Hebrew
was unknown and Greek forgotten, nearly all its scanty
knowledge of the Word of God, and is still the standard
Bible of the Roman Church, ft was of inestimable value

BETHLEHEM. 229
also to the Reformers and Protestant translators of the
Bible into the vernacular tongues, whereby it has ceased
to be merely a manual of the clergy and become what it
was intended to be, a book for the common people, for all
sorts and conditions of men. Our English Bible, if we
are to judge from the innumerable cases where the defi
nite article is disregarded, seems to have been made from
the Latin Vulgate rather than from the original Greek
and Hebrew. Even for the Biblical scholarship of the
present day Jerome retains an important place among
the indirect witnesses for the oldest text of the Greek
Testament. In the fertile plain below, about a mile east from the
convent, on a green slope is a group of ruins and the
grotto surrounded by olive-trees, where the angel of the
Lord is said to have appeared to the shepherds with the
glad tidings of great joy. Over those fields the heavenly
host sung the first Christmas carol which was to resound
through all ages in all lands of Christendom :
" Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men of his good pleasure." *
The holy family spent about two months in Bethle
hem ; for the presentation in the temple, which took place
forty days after the birth, and the adoration of the Magi
who probably arrived soon afterwards, must have occurred
before the flight to Egypt, where they remained till the
* Or, "among men with whom he is well pleased." This is the old
est and best-supported reading of Luke 2 : 14. There are two clauses
each containing three ideas, which correspond to each other : glory 
peace ; to God — among men ; in the highest (in heaven) — on earth.
Bible Lands. 20

230 BIBLE LANDS.
death of Herod, and then returned directly to Nazareth,
their proper home (Matt 2 : 22, 23).
The evangelical missionary zeal, which nearly forty
years ago founded the Anglo- Prussian bishopric in Jeru
salem, has reached Bethlehem. A flourishing school,
now under the direction of a pious German (Mr. Miiller
from Wiirttemberg), has been established, and a fine
building erected in 1864 by the Jerusalems- Verein of Ber
lin. I found there eighteen pupils, some of them bright
and promising and well versed in Bible history. Two
other schools for boys and girls are connected with this
institution. They are the humble cradles of a better
future for this ever-memorable spot.
Bethlehem is only six miles or an easy two hours' ride
south of Jerusalem. The birthplace of our Lord almost
within sight of Calvary ! So birth and death, joy and
grief are ever near each other. Bethlehem and Golgotha,
the two most sacred spots on earth, yet more sacred the
great facts and eternal truths which they symbolize !
Happy he who has seen them with his eyes, far happier
he who has them enshrined in his heart, in whom Christ
is born, and who in Christ is crucified to the world and
alive to God !
" In Bethlehem the Lord of glory,
Who brought us life, first drew his breath ;
On Golgotha, O bloody story !
By death he broke the power of death.
From western shores, all danger scorning,
I travelled through the lands of morning;
And greater spots I nowhere saw
Than Bethlehem and Golgotha.

BETHLEHEM. 231
" Where are the seven works of wonder
The ancient world beheld with pride ?
They all have fallen, sinking under
The splendor of the Crucified !
I saw them, as I wandered spying,
Amid their ruins crumbled, lying ;
None stand in quiet gloria
Like Bethlehem and Golgotha.
" Away, ye pyramids, whose bases
Lie shrouded in Egyptian gloom.
Eternal graves ! no resting-places,
Where hope immortal gilds the tomb.
Ye sphinxes, vain was your endeavor
To solve life's riddle, dark for ever,
Until the answer came with awe
From Bethlehem and Golgotha.
" O heart ! what profits all thy kneeling,
Where once He laid His infant head,
To view with an enraptured feeling
His grave, long empty of its dead ?
To have him born in thee with power,
To die to earth and sin each hour,
And live to Him, this only, ah !
Is Bethlehem and Golgotha."

* From the German of Friedrich Riickert.

232

BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER XXIII.
JERUSALEM.
Conflicting Impressions— Sadly disappointed, yet
deeply impressed— Jerusalem seen from Mount
Olivet— Jerusalem Pastand Present— Population-
Its Cosmopolitan Character in the Easter Season—
The Study of Ruins— The Sights of the City.
" Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the proph
ets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a
hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye
would not ! Behold your house is left unto you desolate."
This was my first, this my last impression of Jeru
salem. I can understand the traveller who said, " I am
sadly disappointed, yet deeply impressed ;" sadly dis
appointed as to the present condition of Jerusalem, deep
ly impressed as to its sacred associations. My low ex
pectations of the former and my high expectations of the
latter have been fully met.
No city in the world excites such opposite feelings.
It is the most holy and the most unholy, or I should say,
the most desecrated spot in the world. " Beautiful for
situation," sings the Psalmist, " the joy of the whole earth,
is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the
great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge 
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."

^¦ii-in':

JERUSALEM : FROM MOUNT OLIVET.

JERUSALEM. 233
(Psa. 48 : 2, 3 ; 50 : 2.) " How doth the city sit solitary
that was full of people !" laments the prophet in his
funeral dirge, " how is she become a widow ! she that was
great among the nations, and princess among the prov
inces, how is she become tributary!" (Lam. 1:1.)
The Moslems, who look down with ignorant and stupid
contempt upon Christians and their religion, rule and
ruin the land and occupy the temple area, Mount Olivet,
and Bethany; while other sacred places, as the church
of the Holy Sepulchre, are guarded by their soldiers.
The native churches unfortunately have but the empty
shell of the religion they profess, and present a spectacle
not unlike the Jewish synagogue at the time of Christ
and the apostles. We approach Jerusalem with rever
ence and awe, and are overwhelmed with the memories
of the stupendous events which here took place; but we
are pained and shocked by the base superstition and
empty formalism which meet us everywhere. Here the
Saviour died and rose again for the salvation of mankind ;
and here his religion is turned into a shame and reproach.
We are charmed with the beautiful situation and the
hills that surround the city of David ; but we are disgust
ed with the wretched interior, the ill-paved, narrow and
dirty streets, the ignorance, poverty, and misery of the
inhabitants. We seek a fair type of
"Jerusalem the golden, with milk and honey blest;"
and we find instead
Jerusalem the stony, with dirt and rubbish cursed.
We desire to come nearer to Christ on the spots which
20*

234 BIBLE LANDS.
he touched, like the Crusaders of old ; but we are told
that he is not here, he is risen and ascended to heaven.
And yet after all, no city, not even Rome, can be
more interesting to a Christian than Jerusalem ; and the
interest increases the more we study its ruins of a glori
ous past. The poetry is marred, but the reality is deep
ened. And while we are filled with mingled feelings of
pity and indignation at the melancholy condition of the
native population and religion under the corrupt despot
ism of the Turks, we are inspired with the hope of a new
Jerusalem that is gradually springing up by the pious
and benevolent efforts of foreigners, who labor for the
revival of Bible Christianity in this Bible land. The time
may come again when
" Glorious things of thee are spoken,
Zion, city of our God."
Whoever approaches Jerusalem from the west, the
north, or even from the south, will be disappointed. But
viewed from Mount Olivet, on the east, Jerusalem pre
sents a beautiful and imposing sight, and justifies all the
praises lavished upon her by the singers of Israel. For
tunately God's mountains and God's nature cannot be
destroyed by the vandalism of man. From Mount Oli
vet Jerusalem should be seen first and seen last. That
sight can never be forgotten. It is the spot from which
the Saviour looked upon the temple and wept over the
unbelief and approaching doom of the ungrateful city.
It is the spot from which he ascended to heaven to take
possession of his throne as the King of the Church.
The history of Jerusalem is full of romantic and tragic

JERUSALEM. 235
interest. It has seen about twenty sieges and destruc
tions. There is a Jerusalem of the Jebusites, a Jerusa
lem of David and Solomon, a Jerusalem of Ezra and Ne
hemiah, a Jerusalem of the Ptolemies, a Jerusalem of
the Maccabees, a Jerusalem of Herod, a Jerusalem of
the Romans, a Jerusalem of the Christian emperors, a
Jerusalem of the Saracens, a Jerusalem of the Crusaders,
and a Jerusalem of the Turks. Throughout all these
changes it has been claimed as a holy city by Jews,
Christians, and Mohammedans.
The Jerusalem of our Saviour and the apostles lies
buried from twenty to eighty feet under the ruins and
rubbish of centuries. The prophecy of Jeremiah (30: 18)
that " the city shall be builded upon her own heap," has
been fulfilled many times. There is no street left which
our Saviour trod, and no house which he saw. This
makes it very difficult to identify any of the old sites.
The internal relations of the city are "a mass of topo
graphical controversy, unequalled for its extent, for its
confusion, and for its bitterness." It is only quite re
cently that by the noble exertions of the Palestine Explo
ration Society, continued for three years (1867-1870),
parts of the subterranean city have been brought to the
knowledge of the world.* But these labors were inter
rupted and the shafts closed up, so that little or nothing
* The results of the Palestine Exploration Society are summed up
in the following works: The Recovery of yerusalem, London, 187 1. Our
Work in Palestine : Being an Account of the Different Expeditions sent out
to the Holy Land by the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, Lon
don, 1873. Capt. Charles Warren, Underground yerusalem, London,
1876. Dr. Carl Zimmermann, Karten und Plane zur Topographie des
alien yerusalem, Basel, 1876.

236 BIBLE LANDS.
can be seen now. The superstitious inhabitants fear that
their houses will fall down if the work should go on. At
present the topography of Jerusalem is more confused,
by new theories and speculations, than ever. The course
of the ancient walls, on which depends the solution of
the problem of the traditional site of the Holy Sepulchre,
is still undetermined. The only place within the city
about which there is a general agreement among scholars
is Mount Moriah, and even there the exact site of the
ancient temple is under dispute. It is to be hoped that
before long the excavations will be resumed on a larger
scale and under the protection of a better government.
In the first century Jerusalem contained a very large
population, although the figures of Josephus seem to be
greatly exaggerated.* He states that the number of
paschal lambs slain on a passover during the governor
ship of Cestiusunder Nero amounted to 256,500 ; which,
upon an allowance of ten to a party, would imply over
two millions and a half actually present in the city
during that festival. He also states that at the destruc
tion of Jerusalem (a. d. 70) eleven hundred thousand
Jews perished, and ninety seven thousand were sold into
slavery. This includes about 600,000 strangers who,
from fanaticism and fear of the Romans, had crowded
into the doomed city before the siege ; but even if we
deduct them we would still have more than half a million
of inhabitants in the last days of ancient Jerusalem.
The present number of inhabitants is stated by Ba-
deker to be 24,000, among whom 13,000 are Moslems,
* Bell. Jud., book VI., ch. 9, § 3.

=^¥r1^

mm

£P»1

POOL OF HEZEKIAH.

JERUSALEM. 237
7,000 Christians, and 4,000 Jews. But Dr. Bernhard
Neumann, a Jewish physician who resided fifteen years
in Jerusalem, estimates the total number of inhabitants
at 36,000, namely : 1 5,000 Mohammedans, 1 3,000 Jews,
and 8,000 Christians (including 5,000 Franks).*
In the Easter season Jerusalem has quite a cosmo
politan aspect, and besides the vernacular Arabic you
may hear about a dozen languages spoken. The number
of pilgrims sometimes amounts to 10,000 and more. In
other seasons Jerusalem must be an exceedingly dull
place. There are no amusements of any kind. There
is not even a newspaper published there except in the
Hebrew language. The only periodicals you see in the
hotels (the Mediterranean and the Damascus) come from
abroad and are addressed to visitors. There is no reg
ular mail but once a week or a fortnight, brought by the
steamer from Jaffa.
Jerusalem is the place for the study of ruins. The
whole city is a venerable ruin.
I spent nearly two weeks in Jerusalem, including
Greek and Latin Easter — long enough for deep and last
ing impressions, though not for careful investigation. I
walked around the walls, which can be done in an hour.
I visited the places of interest in and around the city,
the Christian churches, monasteries, and hospices, the
synagogues, the mosques, the citadel, the ccenaculum, the
tomb of David, the Via Dolorosa, the cemeteries, the
Valley of the Kedron, the tombs of Absalom, St. James,
and Zachariah, St. Mary's Well, the Pool of Siloam, Job's
* Die heilige Siadt und deren Bewohner, Hamburg, 1877, p. 216.

238 BIBLE LANDS.
Well, Aceldama, the Valley of Hinnom, the Tombs of
the Kings, the Tombs of the Judges, the quarries of the
the temple, etc. I attended the public services, the
schools and hospitals. I went twice to Gethsemane,
Mount Olivet, Mount Scopus, and Bethany. I made an
excursion to Nebi Samwil, the highest mountain near
Jerusalem, and enjoyed a magnificent view over the plain
of Sharon as far as Ramleh and Jaffa, the battle-field of
Joshua (Josh. 10 : 10), Gibeon, Mizpeh, and the distant
mountains of Moab. I did not neglect to visit the archae
ological and literary curiosity-shop of Mr. Shapira (a con
verted German Jew) and his disputed Moab antiquities,
and the instructive models of Jerusalem, the Tabernacle,
and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, made by Conrad
Schick, who kindly explained them to me. I became ac
quainted with Bishop Gobat and family, Rev. Messrs.
Heffter, Friedlander, Klein, and Reinke, Dr. Chaplin,
Mr. Frutiger, and other Protestant residents who are en
gaged in Christian work, and enabled me to learn more
in a few days than I could otherwise in as many weeks.
I stayed in the Mediterranean Hotel near the Jaffa gate,
kept by a converted Jew (Moses Hornstein), and from
the top of it I looked every morning over the dome-
shaped roofs of the houses to Mount Olivet and into the
Pool of Hezekiah. I met around the table every day the
German consul (Baron von Miinchhausen), the late
American consul (Dr. De Hass), and an interesting va
riety of strangers from England, Scotland, America, Ger
many, and Holland, Catholics, Presbyterians, Episcopa
lians, Methodists, Baptists, and Lutherans.

GtU mm

<*-*-. /

JAFFA.

JERUSALEM. 239
From the multiplicity of objects which engaged my
attention during this sojourn, I can only select a few for
special description. The number of works on Jerusalem,
ancient and modern, is so large that almost any new de
scription is a work of supererogation. Let us first turn
our attention to the present state of religion in the city
as far as it came under my observation.

240 BIBLE LANDS.

CHAPTER XXIV.
RELIGION IN JERUSALEM.
The Easter Festivities— The Wooden Christ— Seven
Sermons in Seven Languages— Feet-washing—
The Greek Fire— The Greek Church— The Latin
Church— Oriental Sects — The Protestant Church
es and Institutions  The Anglo- Prussian Bish
opric—Bishop Gotaat— The Jewish Missionary So
ciety—The German Colony — Chrisehona and Kai-
serswerth— Talitha Kumi— The Jews.
EASTER FESTIVITIES.
I witnessed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
the solemnities of the Latin and Greek Easter festivals,
which in 1877 were divided by one week, the former
falling on April 1, the latter on April 8. I saw none of
the disgraceful fights between the rival communions
which are said sometimes to dishonor the Christian name
on the very spot of the Crucifixion, and to call for the
intervention of the Mohammedan soldiers who are pres
ent in large force and look on with stolid indifference
and sovereign contempt.
I cannot say that I have been favorably impressed.
I would gladly recognize piety and devotion to Christ
even under the crude and distorted forms of supersti
tion. But I could not restrain the feeling that this is
not the worship "in spirit and in truth" which our Sav-

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RELIGION IN JERUSALEM. 241
iour demands. In point of taste and art the solemni
ties of the holy week are far inferior to those of St. Pe
ter's in Rome, and not to be compared with the Passion
play at Ober-Ammergau, which I witnessed in 1871.
The singing is miserable, and the only good music I
heard in Jerusalem was in the Russian church and in the
Protestant service. The Orientals seem to have no idea
of music. The crowd in the Church of the Holy Sepul
chre is almost crushing during the services. I saw a
wooden Christ carried about and embalmed, on the Latin
Good Friday, and heard seven sermons, good, bad, and
indifferent, in as many languages. I saw the feet-wash
ing on Greek Maundy Thursday, and the wild struggle
of the people for the branches of the olive-tree, which are
thrown among them at the close of the ceremony. I wit
nessed, on the Greek Easter eve, the scandalous fraud of
the Holy Fire, and the tumultuous eagerness with which
the superstitious people light their tapers at the sacred
flame — said to be miraculously sent from heaven, but in
fact kindled by the priests within the chapel of the Holy
Sepulchre. It seems to have been originally a symboli
cal representation of the light of the Resurrection or the
Pentecostal fire. On Good Friday all the lamps were ex
tinguished ; on Easter they were relighted. But in the
course of time the innocent symbol was turned into a
lying miracle to feed the superstition of the ignorant
people and to fill the pockets of the priests. The La
tins, who formerly shared in it, now denounce it without
mercy. Even the Armenian patriarch is said to have
preached against this pious humbug, and yet he coun-
Bible Lands. 2i\

242 BIBLE LANDS.
tenances it in practice together with the orthodox
Greeks. Before I left for the East, Dean Stanley, with his
characteristic broad church charity, told me that he
found it very beautiful to see the various Christian sects
uniting in the worship of Christ under the same roof.
But Protestants are excluded, and the old sects hate each
other more than they do the Protestants. The jealousy
and rivalry between the Greeks and Latins, though it
may not break out openly, is as great as ever, and is one
of the saddest aspects of Eastern Christianity.
THE OLD CHURCHES.
The Greek Church is the strongest in Jerusalem as
to number, wealth, and influence, and is backed by the
power of Russia. Its native members are Arabs, and
speak Arabic ; its clergy are mostly foreigners from the
Greek islands, and speak modern Greek. It owns several
monasteries. The " Great Greek Monastery," or Patriar-
cheion, near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is the
residence of the patriarch, and has a valuable library.
The " Monastery of St. John the Baptist " can accommo
date five hundred pilgrims at Easter. A rich Greek
priest built a beautiful summerhouse on the road to
Jaffa, with a garden abounding in trees and flowers.
The Russians erected, from 1 860 to i 864, several im
posing and conspicuous buildings on an eminence west
of the Jaffa gate. They consist of a consular residence,
two hospices, one for men, one for women, and a beau
tiful church. The orthodox Church of Russia is un-

RELIGION IN JERUSALEM. 243
doubtedly the most vital and hopeful part of the Orien
tal Church, but is regarded with some jealousy by the
Greeks. The Latin communion, though smaller, is more active,
and derives its chief support from France and Italy. It
is governed by a rival patriarch. It numbers several con
vents (called the Terra Santa convents), schools, and
charitable institutions. The Casa Nuova of the Francis
cans is a commodious and exceptionally clean hospice
near the Jaffa Gate, and affords accommodation to trav
ellers for a very reasonable sum (five francs a day, while
the hotels charge twelve francs or more). Protestants
are freely admitted as well as Catholics, and find hospi
table treatment.
Both the Greek and Latin churches have been lately
stirred up to new zeal by the educational labors of the
Protestants. The Oriental Schismatics are likewise represented in
Jerusalem. The Armenians have a fine church, dedicated
to St. James, a convent, and a hospice, near Mount Zion,
and look intelligent and prosperous. Their spiritual ruler
is called Patriarch of Jerusalem. The Copts and Abys-
sinians are poor and insignificant.
THE PROTESTANT INSTITUTIONS.
The Protestants form the smallest of the Christian
communities, but are growing in influence, and seem to
be respected by the Mohammedans, who abhor the other
Christians as idolaters.
The Church of England and the Evangelical Church

244 BIBLE LANDS.
of Prussia have been at work here for the last thirty or
forty years. They are aided by the Crischona Institute
of Basle, and the Deaconesses' Institute at Kaiserswerth.
There are now three Protestant congregations in Jerusa
lem, an English, a German, and a native Arab, all in
nominal connection with the bishopric of St. James ; but
the English congregation, which consists mostly of Jew
ish proselytes, is under the direction of the London Jew
ish Missionary Society, the Arab congregation under the
care of the English Church Missionary Society, and the
German congregation under the care of the Prussian
Oberkirchenrath. The Anglo-German, or rather the Prusso-Anglican
bishopric of St. James, was projected in 1841 by the
pious zeal of King Frederick William IV. (the brother of
the Emperor of Germany) and his friend Chevalier Bun
sen, both equally distinguished for sincere piety, brilliant
genius, literary and artistic culture, love of mediaeval
romance, and sanguine hope of Christian union on the
basis of the primitive Church. The king gave one half
of the episcopal endowment fund (^15,000), England the
other half. The novel scheme encouraged sanguine hopes,
and provoked ridicule and opposition. Some dreamed the
sweet dream of an approaching reunion of all Christen
dom, with Jerusalem as its centre ; while two theological
professors at Berne (Schneckenburger and Hundesha-
gen) hurled at the founders an anonymous pamphlet,
with the characteristic motto, "Will a wise man fill his
belly with East wind ?" German Christians care little
for episcopacy and the Anglican liturgy, but help to sup-

RELIGION IN JERUSALEM. 245
port the benevolent institutions. The English Church is
divided on the Jerusalem mission. The Low church or
evangelical party favors it, but the High church party is
opposed to an alliance with a non-episcopal sect, although
the king of Prussia unwisely conceded the reordination
of German ministers, and the right of a veto of the arch
bishop of Canterbury with respect to the bishop alter
nately to be nominated by the crown of Prussia. The
Tractarians and Ritualists even abhor the Jerusalem
episcopate as an impudent interference with the jurisdic
tion of the Greek sister Church.
Nevertheless the bishopric has done good, and will
live. The first bishop, Dr. Solomon Alexander, a con
verted Jew, was appointed by England, and labored from
1 84 1 to 1845. The second bishop, Dr. Samuel Gobat, a
Swiss by birth, and formerly a .missionary in Abyssinia;
trained in the mission institute at Basle, a good Arabic
scholar, was appointed by Prussia, and consecrated in
1846. He is now eighty years old, and feeble, but has
been very active in his day, and established several use
ful schools in Jerusalem and other places. He has re
cently committed them to the care of the English Church
Missionary Society, with the exception of the Orphan
House on Mount Zion. I heard him preach, on Easter
morning, an evangelical sermon (with which a ritualist
clergyman of England was greatly displeased) in the
English church on Mount Zion, a few steps from his
residence. In the afternoon I preached a German resur
rection sermon in the same church, and during the week
I made an English address at a prayer-meeting in the
21*

246 BIBLE LANDS.
adjoining chapel. The late Bishop Marvin, of the South
ern Methodist church, preached an eloquent sermon in
the chapel, at which Gobat was present. The services
were well attended, but mostly by foreigners. Worship
is also conducted in the Hebrew language for Jewish
proselytes, after the order of the Book of Common Prayer.
The church is a substantial and beautiful edifice, with a
good parsonage for the rector, a chapel, a valuable libra
ry, and schoolhouses for boys and girls. It was erected
in 1847, not from the Episcopal fund, but by the "Lon
don Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews,"
which controls it still, so that the bishop has little to
say. This Society, which dates from 1808, is the pioneer
of Protestantism in Jerusalem. It began operations
among the Jews in Palestine in 1823, by sending a med
ical missionary, Dr. Dalton (who died in 1826), and then
the Rev. J. Nicolayson (who continued till 1839) to Jeru
salem, and after several years of apparent failure it con
verted a number of persons, two-thirds of them Jews.
The Society founded also a hospital for Jews with fifty
beds, a house of industry, in which the converts learn
a trade, and schools for children of Jewish prose
lytes. The new Episcopal church for the Arabs was erected
in 1864 by the English Church Missionary Society. It
is a very fine building, with a commodious parsonage,
outside of the Jaffa gate, near the Russian property. It
is at present in charge of Rev. Mr. Klein, who first found
the famous Moabite stone.

RELIGION IN JERUSALEM. 247
The German congregation formerly worshipped in the
church on Mount Zion, but has now a new church in
the building of the Knights of St. John, with a pastor
who is appointed by the highest council (the Oberkir-
chenrath) of the Evangelical United Church of Prussia.
A Prussian hospice is connected with it, and affords a
pleasant home to Protestant travellers at a reasonable
price. A society in Berlin, called the " Jerusalems-Ve-
rein," founded in 1852, collects funds for the support of
the German church and schools in Jerusalem and Beth
lehem. The resident Germans in Jerusalem are a very worthy
and useful colony. Many of them were sent here as lay
missionaries, teachers, and catechists, from the Chris-
chona, near Basle, an institution founded by a pious and
liberal layman, Mr. Spittler. Since 1868 a new German
sect, called the Friends of the Temple, under the lead of
Dr. Hoffmann of Wurtemberg, has established flourish
ing colonies at Jaffa, Haifa, and Jerusalem.
The German Deaconesses also are doing an excellent
work in Jerusalem. They manage a hospital and a Prot
estant female school called Talitha Kumi, two noble
Christian institutions. The teachers and nurses are re
fined and devoted ladies, trained at Kaiserswerth on the
Rhine, the mother-house of the Deaconesses, or Protes
tant Sisters of Charity. No traveller interested in Chris
tian education and philanthropy should neglect to visit
Talitha Kumi. It is not far from the Jaffa Gate on a
hill, a shining light for the neglected female children
of Jerusalem, It is delightful to see the cleanliness and

248 BIBLE LANDS.
politeness of the girls brought up in this school, as con
trasted with the filth and ignorance from which they
have been raised.
We must also favorably mention the Lepers' Home.
It was established by a pious German baroness Von Kef-
fenbrinck, in 1867, and has been sustained so far almost
exclusively by funds collected in Germany. It is under
the charge of a worthy and self-denying couple, Mr. and
Mrs. Tappe, formerly Moravian missionaries in Labrador.
There are at present eighteen inmates, all Mohammedans.
When I saw the victims of this fearful and incurable dis
ease, which distorts the whole human frame, and deliv
ers all its members, one by one, to fatal putrefaction, I
thanked God for such an institution, which is an honor
to the Christian name. Outside of the Jaffa Gate some
of these unfortunate creatures may be seen showing their
disfigured and half-decayed limbs, and piteously begging
alms, but there is no Saviour now on earth to heal them.
Thank God, there are Christians who can at least alle
viate their sufferings.
The Protestants enjoy full toleration for these benev
olent operations. The Turkish government cares for
nothing but tribute from the people, and is afraid of
offending Christian governments.
I cannot conclude without directing attention to the
fact that America, which has done so much for the ex
ploration of Palestine through Dr. Robinson and others,
has done little for reviving primitive Christianity in
this city, from which we received the greatest blessings.
While the American Presbyterians have flourishing mis-

RELIGION IN JERUSALEM. 249
sions in Syria, and the Congregationalists in Turkey,
there is not a single American mission church or mission
school in all Palestine. It would indeed be wrong for
any denomination to interfere with the good work of the
Anglican Church, the Evangelical Church of Prussia, the
Chrischona of Basle and the Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth.
But the usefulness of their churches and schools already
established might be largely increased by the aid and
cooperation of American contributions and laborers.
THE JEWS.
A word about the Jews. They have four holy cities
in Palestine : Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron.
They still look forward to the restoration of their race
and country. Their number in Jerusalem is growing
rapidly and amounts fully to one third of the whole popu
lation. They are divided into three sects — the Sephar-
dim, of Spanish and Portuguese origin, the Askenazim,
from Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Russia, and a small
number of Karaites, who adhere strictly to the letter of
the written law and discard the rabbinical traditions.
There are no reform Jews or rationalists in Jerusalem.
They are all orthodox, but mostly poor and dependent on
the charity of their brethren in Europe. Many come to
be buried on holy ground, and outside of the Eastern
wall on the slopes of the valley of the Kedron, which are
covered with tombstones. The Jewish quarter is squalid
and forbidding. It ought to be burned down and built
anew. The Polish Jews look dirty and shabby, and wear
curls, which give them an effeminate appearance. The

250 BIBLE LANDS.
Hebrew language is used in Jerusalem as a conversational
language, and there only. The Spanish and Portuguese
Jews, whose ancestors emigrated after their expulsion
from Spain under Isabella I. (1497), still speak a Spanish
patois. The German, Austrian, Polish, and Russian Jews
speak a corrupt German. Baron Rothschild and Sir
Moses Montefiore have done much for them by building
hospitals and lodginghouses. They ought to buy Pales
tine and administer it on principles of civil and religious
liberty. Every traveller ought to visit the " Wailing Place of
the Jews " at the Cyclopean foundation wall of the tem
ple, just outside the enclosure of the mosque El Aska
and near " Robinson's Arch." There the Jews assemble
every Friday afternoon and on festivals to bewail the
downfall of the holy city. I saw on Good Friday a large
number, old and young, male and female, venerable rabbis
with patriarchal beards and young men kissing the stone
wall and watering it with their tears. They repeat from
their well-worn Hebrew Bibles and Prayer-books, the
Lamentations of Jeremiah and suitable Psalms (the 76th
and 79th). " O God, the heathen are come into thine inher
itance ; thy holy temple have they defiled ; they have laid
Jerusalem on heaps. . . . We are become a reproach to
our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are
round about us." Dr. Tobler gives the following speci
men of responsive laments from the litanies of the Kara
ites :"*
* Topographic von yerusalem, Vol. I., page 629. Similar litanies see
in Dr. Potter's " The Gates of the East," (New York, 1876), page 245 seq,

RELIGION IN JER U SALEM, 25 1
For the palace that lies desolate,
R. We sit in solitude a7id mourn.
For the walls that are overthrown,
R. We sit in solitude and mourn.
For our majesty that is departed,
R. We sit in solilitde and mourn.
For the priests who have stumbled,
R. We sit in solitude and mourn.
For our kings who have despised Him,
R. We sit in solitude and mourn.
Another prayer:
We pray thee, have mercy upon Zion,
R. Gather the children of Jerusalem.
Make haste, make haste, Redeemer of Zion,
R. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.
May beauty and majesty surround Zion,
R. Incline merciftdly toward Jerusalem.
May the kingly rule over Zion soon appear,
R. Comfort those that mourn over Jerusalem.
May peace and delight enter Zion,
R. And may the branch sprout in Jerusalem.
The keynote of all these laments and prayers was
struck by Jeremiah, the most pathetic and tender-hearted
of prophets, in the Lamentations — that funeral dirge of
, Jerusalem and the theocracy. This elegy, written with
sighs and tears, has done its work most effectually in
Tobler (page 626) gives an interesting account of the celebration of the
destruction of Jerusalem, in the synagogue, on the 9th of the month of
Ab.

252 BIBLE LANDS.
great public calamities, and is doing it every year on
the ninth of the month of Ab (July), when it is read
with loud weeping in all the synagogues of the Jews, and
especially at Jerusalem. It keeps alive the memory of
their deepest humiliation and guilt, and the hope of final
deliverance. The scene at the Wailing Place was to me
touching and pregnant with meaning. God has no doubt
reserved this remarkable people, which, like the burning
bush, is never consumed, for some great purpose before
the final coming of our Lord.

MOUNT MORIAH. 253

CHAPTER XXV.
MOUNT MORIAH, AND THE DOME OF THE
ROCK.
The Prophecy of Christ— The Noble Sanctuary— The
Mosque of Omar— The Wonderful Rock — The
Dream of Mohammed — The Final Judgment.
"Verily, I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone
upon another, that shall not be thrown, down."
This prophecy of our Lord (Matt. 24 : 1, 2) has been
literally and fearfully verified. The Jewish temple has
disappeared, and the massive and venerable substructions
still remaining only tell the sad tale of its former site
and glory. The Roman conquerors would naturally
throw down the stones from the upper parts, and these
stones accumulating would protect the lower parts from
utter demolition.
Mount Moriah, or, as the Moslems call it, "the Haram
esh-Sherif," that is, "the Noble Sanctuary," is the pride
of Jerusalem ancient and modern, and (as Badeker says)
"one of the most profoundly interesting spots in the
world." It is to Jerusalem what the Acropolis is to
Athens. Jews and Mohammedans regard it with equal
reverence. The Jews deplore its loss and desecration,
and lament and weep every Friday outside of the sacred
enclosure ; the Moslems glory in its possession, and till
Bible Lauds. 22

254 BIBLE LANDS.
after the Crimean war strictly excluded all foreigners
from its precincts. For three hundred years, from Con-
stantine to the conquest of Omar (637), and during the
reign of the Crusaders (1099 till 1187), it was occupied
by the Christians.
The Haram area is an artificial oblong plateau, paved
with marble, ornamented with fountains, cypresses and
other trees, and enclosed by supporting walls, which are
built up from the declivities of the hill on three sides
(the east, the south, and the west), and give it the apr
pearance of a gigantic fortress. The masonry of the
walls is of different periods, Solomonic, Herodian, Sara
cenic, and modern. Recent excavations have brought
to light masons' marks on the foundation stones in
Phoenician letters, which illustrate the fact that Hiram,
king of Tyre, furnished Solomon with cunning workmen
for the Temple (1 Kings 5 ; 2 Chron. 2). The eastern
wall, toward the Valley of Jehoshaphat, is 1,530 feet
long, and between the Golden Gate and the southeast
angle there are 1,018 feet. The "Golden Gate" is a
double portal with semicircular arches profusely orna
mented. It is not the " Beautiful Gate,"* for this was
probably in the inner fore-court of the temple. It may
correspond to the " closed gate " of Ezek. 44 : 1-3, but
in its present shape it seems to be of Byzantine origin.
The gate is closed, but the Mohammedans believe that
the Christians will "finally pass through it. Both Jews
and Mohammedans localize here the scene of the last
judgment, and it may be that our Lord, standing on the
* Acts 3 ; 2, iMpa apaia, which was mistranslated into the Latin aurea.

MOSQU

THE DOME OF THE ROCK. 255
slope of Mount Olivet opposite this gate, described the
gathering of all nations before his judgment-seat. The
immense subterranean vaults in the southeast corner, of
uncertain workmanship, are called " the Stables of Sol
omon," and in the masonry of the piers are still seen the
rings by which the Crusading kings and the knight tem
plars fastened their horses. There may possibly be some
foundation for the name, as Solomon's palace is supposed
to have stood on the south side of the temple area.
The excavations of Captains Wilson and Warren
have shown that Moriah is honeycombed by a vast sys
tem of caverns, wells, and reservoirs, so that Jerusalem,
even during the longest siege, was in no want of water.
We are reminded of the prophetic visions of the pure
waters of life which shall flow from the temple of God
to water the earth (Ezek. 47:1-12; Zech. 13:1; 14:8;
Rev. 22 : 1), and of the Psalmist's perennial river, the
streams whereof make glad the City of God (Psa. 46 : 4).
On this beautiful platform once stood the Temple of
Solomon in all its glory ; then the humbler Temple of
Zerubbabel ; and last the Temple of Herod, which was
in progress of construction at the time of Christ, and
was destroyed by the Roman army A. d. 70. An attempt
to rebuild the Jewish temple under Julian the Apostate,
who hoped thereby to refute the prediction of Christ,
proved a disastrous failure.
In its place rises now." the Mosque of Omar," or the
" Dome of the Rock " (Kubbet es Sakhra), as gracefully
as St. Sophia in Constantinople ot St. Peter's in Rome.
It is the most prominent, as well as the most beautiful

256 BIBLE LANDS.
building in the whole city. It stands out conspicuously
in every picture of Jerusalem. It can be seen best from
the Kedron Valley and Mount Olivet. It is the second
mosque of Islam, inferior only to that of Mecca, as Jeru
salem is its second sacred city, and called "The Holy"
(El Kuds). It stands on an irregular base of ten feet in
height, and is approached by three flights of steps which
terminate in elegant arcades called Scales (Mawazin), be
cause, according to the tradition, the scales of judgment
are to be suspended here. The mosque is an octagonal
building, each side measuring 67 feet, and is surmounted
by a lofty dome with a gilt crescent. The whole structure,
including the platform, is 170 feet high. The interior
has two cloisters separated by an octagonal course of
piers and columns. The dome is supported by a circle
of four great piers, aud twelve Corinthian columns. In
scriptions from the Koran ornament the walls. The
building is of uncertain origin ; some trace it to Omar,
some to Justinian ; James Ferguson, the famous histo
rian of architecture, identifies it with the church of Con-
stantine, and the rock beneath with the tomb of Christ ;
he also locates Mount Zion on Mount Moriah instead of
the western hill. But in this novel and startling view
he has had few, if any, followers. During the Crusades
the building was used as a Christian cathedral.
The most interesting object in the Mosque of Omar
is the naked, grayish limestone Rock (Sakhra) over which
it is built and from which it has its name. It is the cen
tral peak of the rugged hill. It stands right beneath the
dome, is 57 feet long, 43 feet wide, and rises from one to

THE DOME OF THE ROCK. 257
five or six feet above the mosaic marble pavement, It
is enclosed by an iron railing with arrow-headed points
and metallic candlesticks. It is nowhere mentioned in
the Bible, but first in the Talmud. It marks, according
to Jewish tradition, the centre of the earth. Here Mel-
chizedek offered sacrifice. Here Abraham was ready to
slay his son Isaac. Here was the altar of burnt-offering,
or, according to others, the place of the Ark of the Cov
enant in the Holy of Holies. Here David and Solomon
prayed. On this Rock was inscribed the unspeakable
name of God (the " Shemhamphorash "), which Jesus
was able to read and from which he derived his power of
performing miracles.
The Mohammedans have adopted these Jewish fables
and improved on them. They make as much of the
Rock on Mount Moriah as of the Black Stone in Mecca.
They believe that it descended from heaven and is sus
pended in the air ; and that it attempted to follow the
prophet on his ascension to Paradise, but was kept back
from its native quarry by the angel Gabriel, who left his
large hand-prints as a memorial of the miracle! Moham
med himself, in the twelfth year of his mission, spread
the absurd story that he made a night-journey from
Mecca to Jerusalem.* Tradition adds that from Jerusa
lem he ascended on his miraculous steed El-Borak, ac
companied by Gabriel, through the seven heavens to the
throne of God, and was brought back again to Mecca the
* Koran, Sura 17 (Arabic text), entitled the "Night Journey:"
"Glory be to Him who carried his servant by night from the sacred tem
ple of Mecca to the temple that is more remote, whose precinct we have
blessed, that we might show him of our signs."
22*

258 BIBLE LANDS.
same night. It was probably a mere dream of Moham
med, but Abu Bekr vouched for its reality, and it in
creased the prophet's credit as having conferred with
God himself, like Moses, and contributed much to his
success. Absurd and incredible as many of the Chris
tian legends are, the Talmudic and Mohammedan legends
are far more absurd and incredible. Mohammed declared
that one prayer at the Sakhra is better than a thousand
elsewhere. Beneath it is " the Well of Souls " (Bir el-
Arwah) and the gate to Hades. At the last day the
Black Stone of Mecca will come to the gray Rock of Je
rusalem, and then the blast of the trumpet will sound
from here to summon all mankind in the Valley of Je-
hoshaphat. Mohammed, assisted by Jesus, will take his
seat on a round projecting porphyry column, which is
shown in the east wall of the Haram, to execute judg
ment. God will then erect his throne on the Rock.
Before these Mohammedan dreams are fulfilled the
crescent will once more be replaced by the cross, and the
Mosque of Omar and the neighboring Mosque el-Aksa
will be turned into Christian churches.

CALVARY. 259

CHAPTER XXVI.
CALVARY AND THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY
SEPULCHRE.
Calvary — The Evangelists on the Site of the Cruci
fixion — The Epistles and the Ante-Nicene Wri
ters — The Discovery of the Traditional Site by
Constantine or Helena — The Church of the Holy
Sepulchre — A Museum of sacred Curiosities — Un
certainty of the Tradition— Different Views— The
probable Site— The true Calvary Omnipresent in
the Church.
" And bearing the cross for himself, he went out into the place
called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha :
where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side
one, and Jesus in the midst." John 19 : 17, 18.
Calvary, or Golgotha, is the most sacred spot in Je
rusalem and in the world. Who would not like to touch
the place of the crucifixion, the burial, and the resurrec
tion of the Son of God ! But is it really under the roof
of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, or anywhere else
in Jerusalem ? or has it been buried and hidden from
profanation and idolatry ?
From the accounts of the Evangelists we learn the
following particulars, which must control this contro
versy : The place of the crucifixion was, 1, outside of the
limits of the city (John 19:17; Matt. 28:11; Mark
15 : 20, 21 ; Luke 23 : 26; comp. Heb. 13 : 12) ;* 2, near
* Even now, as in the days of the Romans, all executions take place
outside of the gate, though not in any particular locality. Captain War-

260 BIBLE LANDS.
the city (John 19 : 20) ; 3, near a thoroughfare and ex
posed to the gaze of the multitude (Matt. 27 : 39 ; Mark
15 :29; John 19:20) ; 4, on a conical or globular eleva
tion (hence the name, " Place of a Skull," or Calvary,
Matt. 27:33; Mark 15 : 22 ; John 19: 17; Luke 23 133),
though not on a mountain or hill (as the monastic desig
nation "Mount Calvary" would imply) ; 5, near a garden
and a sepulchre hewn in a rock, where Christ was buried
(Matt. 27:60; John 19:38-42). The close proximity,
therefore, of Golgotha and the Sepulchre in the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre is no objection to its authenticity.
In the Epistles of the New Testament there is no allu
sion to the locality of the crucifixion, except the inci
dental notice that it took place "outside of the gate"
(Heb. 13 : 12). The apostles evidently fixed their eyes
of faith and love upon the great facts themselves, and on
the ever-living Christ in heaven.
It is natural to assume that the early Christians
resorted to those places for meditation and prayer, but
there is no trace of any church or altar there during the
first three centuries. Jerusalem was totally destroyed by
Titus a. d. 70 ; the Christians had fled before to Pella ;
the Jews were killed or sold into slavery ; and heathen
idolatry for some time took the place of Jewish fanati
cism. Hadrian, after the insurrection of Bar-cochba
(137), razed again every trace of Judaism, and built on
the ruins a heathen city under the name of ^Elia Capito-
lina. It is also reported by Eusebius and Jerome, who,
ren (Underground yerusalem, p. 353) witnessed a most barbarous execu
tion of a Bedawin murderer near the Jaffa Gate.

CALVARY. 261
however, lived two hundred years later, and who do
not quite agree, that Hadrian erected a temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus on the vacant spot of the temple, and his own
statue on the place of the Holy of Holies, and a statue of
Venus on the site of Calvary (as in cruel mockery of the
Divine Love that died for the sins of mankind). This
report does not necessarily mean that the spot of the
crucifixion was known to Hadrian, but simply that it
was believed to be such by the writers after its discov
ery ; otherwise Eusebius would contradict himself.*
Eusebius traces the discovery of the site of the cru
cifixion, which, he says, "had for so long a time been
hidden beneath the earth," to Constantine, in conse
quence of " a miracle beyond the capacity of man suf
ficiently to celebrate or even to comprehend." After
removing the profane obstructions of the heathen, the
emperor erected on the sacred spot a church as a me
morial of the victory of Christianity. It was solemnly
dedicated a. d. 335, in the presence of a great council of
bishops, among whom was Eusebius himself.f The his
torian here makes no mention whatever of the discovery
of the cross, nor of the agency of St. Helena, the mother
of Constantine, although he ascribes to her the erection
of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and the
Church of the Ascension on Mount Olivet. But The-
odoret, Socrates, Sozomen, and other writers of the fifth
century, unanimously ascribe the discovery, or, as it is
* Prof. Krafft (Topographic yerusalems, p. 236) solves the contradic
tion by a distinction between the general locality and the particular spot
of the sepulchre ; the former was known, the latter discovered by a miracle.
But Eusebius makes no such distinction. t Vita Const., III., 25-40.

262 BIBLE LANDS.
characteristically called, the "invention" of the cross
and the sepulchre to this pious lady, who, at the age of
nearly eighty years (a. d. 326), visited Palestine. After
a difficult search, she found three crosses, and, separated
from them, the tablet bearing the inscription of Pilate.
The true cross of Christ was ascertained, at the sugges
tion of Bishop Macarius, by a miracle of healing which
its touch produced on a noble lady of Jerusalem lying
sick of an incurable disease ; whereupon Helena caused
a splendid church to be erected over the spot where the
crosses were found.
The conflicting accounts may perhaps be adjusted by
the assumption that Constantine carried out the wishes
of his mother. But at all events the traditional site of
Calvary rests on a double miracle, which is in keeping
with the credulity of that age, but can hardly stand the
test of sober criticism. Eusebius and his continuators
are by no means either very accurate or very scrupulous
or impartial historians.
Since that time the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
which was no doubt first built either by Helena or her
son, but has undergone several destructions and recon
structions, has been generally regarded as the place of
Christ's crucifixion and burial. And whether its claims
be well founded or not, we cannot approach it without
profound interest and a certain religious awe. It is for
Catholic Christians what the temple on Mount Moriah
was for the Jews, and what the Dome of the Rock is for
the Mohammedans. Genuine or not, it has been for
many centuries a centre of devotion, the very holy of

CAL VAR Y. 263
holies of the largest portion of Christendom. But if the
old temple under the guardianship of the Jewish hier
archy was turned from a house of God into a " house of
merchandise " (John 2 : 16) and a "den of thieves " (Matt.
21 : 13), we need not be surprised if this sanctuary also
has been grossly perverted. Before we enter the church
we meet a multitude of profane traffickers selling all
sorts of eatables and religious wares. Armed Turkish
guards stand at the gate and in the vestibule, at the
request of the Latin Christians, to protect them against
the violence of their Greek fellow-Christians. The rival
churches and sects which jointly own the property (the
orthodox Greeks own the largest and richest chapel, the
Copts the smallest and poorest) jealously guard their
spots, and vie with each other in outward zeal for their
common Lord, while they would gladly expel their breth
ren. We would not forget the divisions in the Protes
tant camp, nor the unavoidable dangers of family quar
rels under the same roof, but the impression nevertheless
is very humiliating, and dampens the zeal of devotion.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a collection of
chapels and altars of different ages, and a unique muse
um of religious curiosities from Adam to Christ. It is
lit up with innumerable lamps, and pervaded with the
perfume of incense. In the centre of the rotunda, be
neath the dome, is the small marble Chapel of the
Holy Sepulchre (at Easter lit with some forty gold
and silver lamps), where pilgrims from every land in a
ceaseless stream are going in and out, offering candles
and kneeling before and kissing the empty tomb of

264 BIBLE LANDS.
Christ. In front of it is the Angel's Chapel (the vesti
bule to the Sepulchre), with the piece of marble which
the angel removed from the sepulchre, and on which he
sat. A few steps from it is the Stone of Anointment,
a broad marble slab honored with innumerable kisses.
We are also shown the place from which the women
witnessed the anointing of the Saviour. Twenty steps
higher is the Chapel of Golgotha or Mount Calvary.
There they show us three holes, only five feet apart from
each other, in which the crosses of Christ and the two
robbers were inserted, and the cleft in the rock made by
the earthquake (Matt. 27:51). Close by is the Chapel
of the Agony of Mary bearing her Son on her knees.
The Chapel of the Finding of the Cross by St. Helena,
three hundred years after the event, lies deeper ; so also
the Chapel of the Raising of the Cross. Almost every
incident in the history of the passion and resurrection is
commemorated by chapels, altars, or crosses, up stairs
and down stairs, in nooks and corners, and everywhere.
The very spots are pointed out where Christ was bound ;
where he was scourged ; where his friends stood afar off
during the crucifixion ; where his garments were parted ;
where he appeared to his mother after the resurrection,
and to Mary Magdalene as the gardener. Not only so,
but in the same church are contained the subterranean
rock-tombs of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, the
tombs of Adam (Eve is ignored), Melchisedek, John the
Baptist, and "the centre of the world !"*
* Jerusalem is actually, though not geographically, the centre of Pal
estine. Rabbinical writers compare the world to an eye, the ocean to the

CALVARY. 265
It is an amazing tax on our credulity that we should
believe in the identity of these sites. The whole thing is
overdone and thus almost undone. To be sure, millions of
Catholics, Greek and Roman, have no more doubt about
the genuineness of these localities than they have about
the crucifixion and resurrection itself, and deem it pro
fane to call in question a tradition so old, venerable, and
general. But a Protestant who puts his Bible above all
the traditions of men, and the worship of God in spirit
and in truth above all forms and ceremonies, has certain
ly a right to demand good reasons for all this. The
Church has never claimed geographical and topographical
infallibility, and it is no heresy to dissent from any of
the monkish traditions concerning the holy places in
Palestine. The one great, we may say the only argu
ment in favor of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the
true Calvary or Golgotha, is the unbroken tradition which
certainly runs back to the age of Constantine without a
dissenting voice. This argument has been eloquently
stated by Chateaubriand and repeated over and over by
Catholic and Protestant writers. It seems impossible
that the Christians of Jerusalem should ever have for
gotten or lost sight of the place where their blessed Lord
and Saviour died for our sins and rose for our justification.
But this assumption is weakened by the absence of any
definite information about the locality in the New Testa
ment and the writers before Constantine, by the utter
white of the eye, Palestine to the pupil, the temple to the image in the
pupil of the eye. This idea passed into the Church. Jerome calls Jerusa
lem " the navel of the earth " (umbilicus terra).

266 BIBLE LANDS.
demolition and desecration of the city under Titus and
again under Hadrian, and by the fact that the discovery
of the site of Calvary is ascribed by all ecclesiastical
writers of the Nicene and post-Nicene age to a stupen
dous miracle, which was entirely unnecessary if the site
was known before.
But admitting the miracle of the discovery, there is an
almost insurmountable topographical objection against
the traditional site. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
lies within the present wall of the city ; while the cruci
fixion, according to infallible authority, took place outside
of the old city. The old city was much larger and more
densely inhabited than the present, and consequently
more likely to include the site of that church than to ex
clude it. This is the antecedent probability. The cham
pions of the tradition therefore are bound to prove that
the location of the city has greatly changed, and that the
second wall of Josephus (which ran circuitously from the
Gate Gennath, i. e., the Garden Gate, near the tower of
Hippicus to the fortress Antonia on the north of the Tem
ple-area) excluded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre*
This has not been proved. It is possible, but very im
probable. Diligent search for wall foundations has failed
* All that Josephus says of the second wall is this (Bell. yud. V. 4, 2) :
" The second wall had its beginning from the gate called Gennath, which
belonged to the first wall ; and, encircling only the northern quarter of
the city, it extended as far as the tower Antonia." All three walls (as de
scribed by Josephus in the same chapter of the fifth book) began at the
tower of Hippicus, near the present Jaffa Gate. The second wall proba
bly ran northward from the citadel to the Latin Convent and to the Da
mascus Gate, where traces of an ancient wall were found. See Robinson's
Later Researches (1856), page 219.

CAL VAR Y. 267
so far* And even if the sepulchre could be shown to
have been outside of the second wall of the ancient city,
it is certainly far within the third wall which was built
by Herod Agrippa only ten or eleven years after the
crucifixion, to enclose a large suburb (twice as large as
the old city) that had gradually extended beyond the
second wall. The words "without the gate" (Heb.
13:12) and " nigh to the city " (John 1 9 : 20), could scarce
ly mean "within the suburbs."
The first who ventured to question the traditional
site was a German bookseller, Jonas Korte, who visited
Jerusalem in 1738. A hundred years later Dr. Robinson
of New York subjected the matter to a calm critical ex
amination and came reluctantly to the conclusion, mostly
from topographical considerations, that the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre cannot be genuine, f His view was
adopted by Dr. Titus Tobler (an indefatigable Swiss
investigator who was four times in Palestine, in 1835,
1845, 1857, and 1865), Herm. Hupfeld (1861), Fr. Arnold
(1864), John Wilson, Barclay, Bonar, Fergusson,, Porter,
Meyer, Ewald and other Protestant scholars. On the
other hand, the old tradition has found learned and able
advocates not only among Roman Catholics as De Vogue\
De Saulcy and Sepp, but also among Protestants, espe-
* The ruins near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which have been
supposed by G. Williams and others to be fragments of the second wall,
have proved to be portions of a church; and the old arch called the Gate
Gennath is a comparatively recent building. See Recovery of yerusalem,
pages 9 and 208.
f See his argument in " Biblical Researches," Vol. I. 407-418 ; III.
254-263 (Boston ed. of 1856), and in "Bibliotheca Sacra" for August and
November, 1847,

268 BIBLE LANDS.
daily Rev. George Williams (for many years chaplain of
the Anglican Bishop Alexander in Jerusalem),* Prof.
William Krafft, of Bonn (1845), Ritter (1852), the Prus
sian Consuls in Jerusalem, Drs. Shultz (1845) and Ro
sen (1863), by Von Schubert, Raumer, Furrer, F. A.
Strauss, Olin, Lewin, and others. The argument has
been pretty well exhausted on both sides by Robinson
and Williams. The excavations of the Palestine Explo
ration Fund have thrown no new light on the subject, and
unless some new excavation should determine the course
of the second wall of the ancient city, opinions will con
tinue to be divided on the question of the Holy Sepul
chre. The opponents of the traditional site have so far
the best of the topographical argument, but labor under
the disadvantage of being unable to point definitely to
another locality ; for Fergusson's view,f which locates
Calvary on Mount Moriah, is untenable, because Moriah
must have been within the city limits.
Were I to look for the site of the true Calvary in the
present Jerusalem, untrammelled by ecclesiastical tradi
tion and controversy, I would find it on a skull-shaped,
rocky, isolated elevation, a few minutes' walk north of
the Damascus Gate, not far from the Grotto of Jeremiah,
where the prophet, according to tradition, is said to have
written his Lamentations. This elevation is about half a
mile from the site of the fortress Antonia (Pilate's judg
ment-hall), and the same distance from Mount Zion (Her-
* See his "The Holy City," London, second edition, 1849, 2 v°ls-
He is the chief opponent of Robinson, and apologizes in the preface to
the second edition, for bis unnecessary severity.
t See his article yerusalem in Smith's "Bible Dictionary."

CAL VAR Y. 269
od's palace). It is on the highway to Damascus ; it is
encircled by rock caverns and tombs. It thus answers
all the requirements of the gospel narrative better than
any other locality I have seen around the city. It is be
lieved to be the site of the true Calvary by Bishop Go-
bat (as I was informed), and by Mr. Conrad Schick (who
kindly conducted me over a large part of the city). Mr.
Schick (from Wurtemberg), an architect and superinten
dent of an industrial missionary school, is from long res
idence thoroughly posted in Jerusalem topography, and
several times honorably mentioned in the reports of the
English Exploration Fund, and in Badeker's Handbook.
He has constructed the best models of Jerusalem, of the
Holy Sepulchre, and of the Tabernacle. He holds his
view of the site of Calvary with becoming modesty. For
in the absence of all tradition, and in view of the many
changes which the surface of the city has undergone, it
would be presumptuous to venture on categorical asser
tions.* Perhaps it is all the better that we should not know
the precise spot. God buried Moses out of the sight of
men and out of the reach of idolatry. The earthly Calvary
may be hidden from our view, that, instead of cleaving to
earth, we may look to heaven where Christ is enthroned
in glory. There is a better Calvary, which, like the man
ger of the Nativity and the spot of the Ascension, has a
spiritual omnipresence in Christendom, and is imbedded
* A similar view was, independently, defended by the late Fisher
Howe of Brooklyn, who, however, locates Calvary a little farther east on
the Grotto of Jeremiah. See his pamphlet, "The True Site of Calvary,"
New York (Randolph's), 1871. 23*

270 BIBLE LANDS.
in the memory and affection of every believer.. The true
cross is not the piece of wood found or " invented " by
St. Helena and fraudulently multiplied a hundredfold all
over Christendom, but that spiritual tree of life which
bears healing fruit to every age and country, and to which
the beautiful lines of Venantius Fortunatus apply :
" Faithful cross ! above all other
One and only noble tree !
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peers may be.
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron,
Sweetest weight is hung on thee."

MOUNT OLIVET. 271
CHAPTER XXVII.
MOUNT OLIVET.
Jerusalem built on Hills and surrounded by Hills-
Olivet in the Gospels — Crossing the Kedron —
Gethsemane — The Spot of the Ascension — Beth
any — Martha and Mary — The Resurrection of
Lazarus — Farewell to Bethany.
There are "mountains round about Jerusalem."
Like Rome, Jerusalem is built on hills and surrounded
by hills. It is 2,500 feet above the Mediterranean, and
3,700 feet above the Dead Sea. From the east and from
the west there is a steady ascent to it ; hence the phrase
"to go up to Jerusalem." It stands on the mountain
ridge which runs from north to south and forms the
backbone of Palestine. It is built upon Mount Zion in
the southwest and the lower Mount Moriah in the east.
These two hills are separated by the Tyropceon or Cheese
mongers' Valley (which is nearly filled up with rubbish).
Both are surrounded by ravines, which unite with the
Tyropceon in the south, Zion by the valley of Hinnom,
Moriah by the valley of the Kedron or Jehoshaphat. The
best place from which to study the panorama for orienta
tion is Mount Olivet, with the Bible in the right hand
and Josephus in the left. There you see the holy city in
her lonely melancholy grandeur, with her walls and towers,
her churches, mosques, and dome-roofed houses. It is the
saddest, and yet the most impressive view in the world.

272 BIBLE LANDS.
Mount Olivet, or the Mount of Olives (called by the
Arabs "Jebel et-Tiir"), is separated from Jerusalem by
the deep 'and narrow valley of the Kedron. It over
tops the Temple hill by 300 feet, and rises 2,724 feet
above the Mediterranean Sea. Whatever doubt may
attach to Christ's presence in any of the man-made
streets of modern Jerusalem, which lies on the ruins of
older Jerusalems, we are sure of the locality of this God-
made mountain, which has indeed been denuded of its
forests and verdure, and looks barren and neglected, yet
has not lost its identity, and cannot be changed in its
essential features. It is very prominent in the closing
scenes of our Saviour's ministry. In Bethany, on the
eastern slope of Olivet, he had his most intimate friends,
Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, and performed his last and
greatest miracle ;* from Mount Olivet he made his tri
umphal entry into Jerusalem ;f here he spent the nights
intervening between the entry and his passion, and re
turned every morning to teach in the temple ;% descend
ing from this mountain, he wept over the ungrateful city
and foretold her fearful doom ;§ to it he repaired in the
night of his betrayal ;|| from it he ascended to heaven to
take possession of his throne.^" And there he reigns
ever since, at the right hand of the Father, corporeally
absent, but, according to his solemn promise** spiritually
* John n : 1 ; 12:1 seq. ; comp. Luke 10 : 38-42.
t Matt. 21 : 1 ; Mark 11 : 1 ; Luke 19 : 29-38.
X Luke 21 : 37.
§ Luke 21 141-44; comp. ver. 37.
II John 18 : 1 ; Matt. 26 : 36 ; Mark 14:22; Luke 22 : 39.
1 Luke 24 : 50 ; Acts 1:12. ** Matt. 28 : 20.

-'9f I

MOUNT OLIVET. 273
and dynamically omnipresent in his Church, which is "his
body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all,"* until
he shall visibly descend from heaven, even as he ascend
ed.! When Jesus passed out of St. Stephen's Gate (the
ancient Fish-gate) down the ravine, and crossed that
black winter torrent called Kedron (i. e., the Black
Brook), which is formed by the winter rains, but is entire
ly dry in summer (even in April as far as my experience
goes), it was far more than Caesar's crossing the Rubicon
for the military conquest of the world ; it was the pas
sage which decided the moral and eternal redemption of
the world. David, betrayed by Ahithophel, one of his
body-guard, took the same course in his flight from his
rebellious son Absalom^: — a remarkable parallel, the typi
cal import of which Jesus himself pointed out.§ In the
garden of Gethsemane (i. e., Oil-press), at the foot of
the Mount of Olives, he was overwhelmed with sorrow
and anguish, and endured the mysterious agony with all
the powers of darkness, in the stead and in behalf of a
fallen race. Here he was betrayed by the Judas-kiss,
which he anticipated and made meaningless. Here the
heathen garrison and the Jewish temple guard combined
under the lead of the traitor, against the one unarmed
Jesus ; and yet, made cowards by conscience and over
awed by the superhuman majesty of Jesus, like the pro
fane traffickers in the temple, they fell to the ground
before his " I am He!" The same words which cheered
his trembling disciples on the stormy lake and after the
* Eph. 1 : 23. t Acts 1 : 11. X 2 Sam. 15 : 23. § John 13 : 18.

274 BIBLE LANDS.
resurrection, are here words of terror to his enemies, and
will be on the day of judgment.
There is no evidence to prove, but no good reason to
deny, the identity of the spot now shown as Gethsem
ane. Some think it is too near the city and the thorough
fare for a place of retirement in that dangerous and dis
mal night. We reach it by an easy walk through St.
Stephen's Gate over the dry bed of the Kedron. It lies
on the slope of Mount Olivet, and is in the possession of
the Franciscans, It is a garden with seven or eight ma
jestic olive-trees, which are perhaps the oldest and cer
tainly the most venerable trees in the world, though of
course not of the time of our Lord — for Titus cut down
all the trees round the city during the siege. But they
may have sprouted from the roots of the original trees.
The garden is enclosed by a new wall, and kept in very
good order. A kind old Franciscan monk gave us olive
leaves and flowers from this ever-memorable spot. The
Greek Gethsemane is a short distance north of the Latin,
and marked by a rude chapel in the rock. The two tra
ditions may be reconciled by supposing that the Geth
semane of the Greek Church was the interior part of the
garden, to which the Saviour retired for prayer.
From Gethsemane we ascend in a few minutes to the
height of Mount Olivet, so famous for the crowning
scene in the earthly life of our Lord. St. Helena built
the Church of the Ascension on one of the three sum
mits. Other churches and convents were built by the
Crusaders to memorialize particular events. The moun
tain is now barren and neglected, in the hands of the

MOUNT OLIVET. 275
Moslems. A few scattered olive-trees only are left to
justify its name. A little care and cultivation would
make it very attractive. It affords the finest view of
Jerusalem and Mount Moriah, while in the east the
mountains of Moab, parts of the Dead Sea, and the
Jordan are clearly seen. Here and on the neighboring
Mount Scopus the Roman army was encamped during
the siege.
Tradition fixes the Ascension on the middle summit,
in full sight of Jerusalem, but in plain contradiction to
the narrative of Luke, who locates it near Bethany, on the
retired eastern slope of the mountain.* No importance,
of course, can be attached to the mark of the foot of the
ascending Jesus, pointed out in the Mohammedan mosque,
but the mosque is well worth ascending on account of
the magnificent view it affords over the most historic of
all the historic regions on earth. A short distance from
it a Russian lady erected a fine dwellinghouse. A little
south of it the French Princesse Latour d' Auvergne, a
relative of Napoleon III., built, in 1868, a church in the
style of a campo santo over the spot where Christ is said
to have taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer, and caused
this Prayer of prayers to be inscribed on thirty-one slabs
in as many different languages, as a symbol of the unity
and universality of Christian devotion. A monument in
white marble perpetuates her memory. West of this
* Luke 24 : 50 : " And he led them out as far as to (lag el;) Bethany,"
or, according to the true reading, "over against or towards Bethany"
(ewe Ttpdg ttjv Brjdaviav). In Acts 1, Luke says nothing of the locality, but
presupposes his previous statement. Mark (16:19) likewise is silent
about the locality of the ascension.

276 BIBLE LANDS.
church we visited the chapel commemorating the com
position of the Apostles' Creed, according to a tradition
not older than the fourth century, and long since disproved
as untenable. This Creed of creeds is apostolic indeed
in spirit and power, but not in form, and gradually grew
up from the inner life of the ancient Church.
From the top of Mount Olivet it is an easy descent
to Bethany on its southeastern declivity. It can also be
reached by the road to Jericho which leads round the
mountain. It is only two miles* from Jerusalem. It is
now a miserable village of about forty hovels, inhabited
by beggarly Mohammedans. They call it, in honor of
Lazarus, " El-Azariyeh," and show the house of Martha
and Mary, the house of Simon the leper, the tower of Laz
arus, and his reputed sepulchre, a wretched cavern in the
limestone rock, like a cellar, with about twenty-five steps,
to which we descend by the dim light of a taper. There
is no probability of the genuineness of these particular
localities ; on the contrary, the grave of Lazarus was some
distance from the village.
Bethany is pleasantly located, has good water, and
is surrounded by cultivated spots and numerous fig,
olive, almond, and carob trees. It was once a home of
peace, inhabited by three children of peace and visited
by the Prince of peace. It was the sacred spot of the
friendship of Jesus. Here he revealed more of his hu
man nature than elsewhere. Here he enjoyed the hos
pitality of Martha, the practical housekeeper, and allowed
her contemplative sister Mary to sit at his feet and to
* Fifteen furlongs, John n : 18. A furlong or stadium is 125 paces.

MOUNT OLIVET. 277
perform, in the foreboding presentiment of his death,
that touching service of devoted love for which she will
be commemorated to the end of time. Here he wept tears
of friendship over the grave of Lazarus " whom he loved."
The eternal Son of God dissolved in tears ! How far
more natural, lovely, and attractive is a weeping, sympa
thizing Saviour, than a cold, heartless stoic ! How near
these tears bring him to every child of sorrow and grief !
But here also he revealed himself as the Resurrection
and the Life, and wrought the greatest of miracles by the
creative words, " Lazarus, come forth !" This act is a seal
of his divinity and a pledge of our future resurrection.
There is no escape from the plain, circumstantial narra
tive of John, one of the eyewitnesses. We must admit
the truth, or resort to the disgraceful hypothesis of impos
ture, which explains nothing, but perverts the supernatu
ral miracle into an unnatural monstrosity. Spinoza said
to his friends, if he could believe the resurrection of Laz
arus, he would dash to pieces his entire system of phi
losophy, and embrace without repugnance the common
faith of Christians. This is sound reasoning. If Christ
could raise the dead to life, he could easily perform the
lesser miracles of healing, and must truly have been the
eternal Son of God.
We left Bethany as we left other spots in Palestine,
for ever consecrated to memory. It is a melancholy
shadow of the past, but it may again become, at some
future day, a delightful suburban retreat of domestic
happiness and peace.
Bible Lands. Ji-%.

278 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE CONVENT OF MAR SABA.
From Jerusalem to the Dead Sea — The Convent of
Mar Saba — A -wonderful Building Perched on
the Rocky Precipice — The Curiosities — The Li
brary — St. Sabas and St. John of Damascus —
Mar Saba and Mount Sinai — The Monks.
On a beautiful April day after Easter we leave Jeru
salem on an expedition to the Dead Sea. We pass
through the Via Dolorosa and St. Stephen's Gate into
the dry valley of the Kedron, and ride over rocky hills to
the Convent of Mar Saba, which we reach in three hours.
The valley of the Kedron is barren and desolate, wild and
romantic. Our new dragoman, Mr. M. Ward, is an intel
ligent, self-educated American, who came in early youth
with the unfortunate colony of Rev. Mr. Adams to Jaffa,
and remained with Mr. Rolla Floyd after the colony
broke up. They are, from their intelligence and familiar
ity with the Bible, the very best dragomen in Palestine.
Mar Saba is a fortified Convent in the desert of Ju
daea, built on the side of a rocky precipice, 590 feet above
the ravine of the Kedron. It is the most curious struc
ture in all Palestine. Walls, towers, buttresses, chapels,
and chambers, are perched upon rock terraces, like
eagles' nests. On the opposite cliffs we see a number
of caves, once the abode of hermits, now of jackals, bats,
and owls. The whole has a singularly wild and roman-

THE CONVENT OF MAR SABA. 279
tic, but utterly desolate aspect. This strange labyrinth
encloses St. Saba's sepulchre in the centre of a paved
court beneath a dome-shaped mausoleum (but without
his body, which has been removed to Venice), his cave-
dwelling (once a lion's den), the tomb of St. John of Da
mascus, a church, chapels, and cells, a grotto filled with
skulls of martyred monks, and small gardens in the
courts, with a few olive and fig trees.
The convent has considerable historical interest. It
was founded in the fifth century by St. Sabas, one of the
greatest saints of the Greek Church, whose empty tomb
and cave-dwelling are still the chief objects of devotion.
It was the residence of St. John of Damascus, who in the
eighth century wrote here his great work on the Ortho
dox Faith, as St. Jerome wrote his Vulgate in a cell in
the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. John of Da
mascus is the standard divine, we may say the Thomas
Aquinas, of the Greek Church, and his views on the sin
gle procession of the Holy Spirit were embodied in the
compromise of the Old Catholic Bonn Conference of
1875. Of this, however, the monk who showed us his
humble study and tomb knew nothing at all. He could
not even tell whether his books were in the convent.
Through the happy reproductions of John Mason Neale
some of the resurrection odes of this great divine have
been naturalized in our churches :
'"Tis the day of resurrection !
Earth, tell it out abroad,"
and,

280 BIBLE LANDS.
" Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Of triumphant gladness."
The library is said to be very valuable ; and the
monks, since they found this out, after a visit of Prof.
Tischendorf, are very reluctant to show it, and yet they
are too ignorant to make any use of it. Although I had
a special permit from the Greek patriarch at Jerusalem, I
had some difficulty to get access to it. The usual printed
order "for the inspection of the sacred laura of St. Saba"
was accompanied by a postscript from the hand of the pa
triarch, or his secretary, " to admit us also into the library."
The library is locked up in a little dark room, with one
grated window, above the chapel, and contains about five
hundred bound manuscript volumes in Greek, mostly pa
tristic works and copies of the Gospels. Some books are
beautifully written on parchment. I had too little time
to examine them ; but a biblical and patristic scholar
who could spend a few weeks here, or could secure the
loan of the books, through the patriarch of Jerusalem,
might find valuable treasures, if we are to judge from the
good fortune of Dr. Tischendorf at the Convent of Mount
Sinai. There are there several copies of the Greek Gos
pels and Epistles as reported by Scholz and Coxe,* which
may reward a careful examination. Coxe saw twenty
copies of the Gospels, four of them being of the tenth
century, five copies of the Epistles of Paul, and one of
the Apocalypse (Schok: mentions two).
* See Rev. H. O. Coxe's Report to Her Majesty's Government of the
Greek Manuscripts yet remaining in the Libraries of the Levant, 1858, and
Scrivener's Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, 2d edition,
pp. 20S, 209, 236, 249.

PLAIN ER-RAHAH, AND CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE.

JE;- HP

MAR SABA CONVENT, AND THE DEAD SEA.

THE CONVENT OF MAR SABA. 281
Mar Saba and the Convent of Mount Sinai resemble
each other. Both belong to the Orthodox Greek Church ;
both lie in a barren wilderness ; both are forts, as well as
convents, and passed through many vicissitudes during
the struggles between Christianity and Mohammedan
ism. But in ignorance and stupidity the monks of
Mar Saba (now sixty in number) excel even those of
Mount Sinai. It would be unfair, of course, to judge
the Greek Church from these convents, which seem to
be used in part as penal establishments for refractory
monks. But my general impression is that the Greek
clergy and monks are more ignorant and superstitious
than those of the Latin Church. I met on the road an
accomplished Anglican clergyman, of ritualistic tendency,
and longing for union with the venerable Greek sister
Church. But the witnessing of the disgraceful fraud of
the holy fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the
Greek Easter eve, and his visit to Mar Saba, seemed to
have cooled his zeal. On being asked how he liked this
famous convent, he shrugged his shoulders and com
plained bitterly that he was not admitted to the library.
The monks gave us cistern-water, which we could hardly
drink, and sour bread and sour soup, which we could not
eat. Murray's " Handbook" says that Mar Saba is one of
the richest convents in Palestine ; but the monks told us
that they are very poor, especially since the Russians
have withdrawn their support. They are all vegetarians,
and forbidden to taste any meat. No woman has ever
been admitted to this sacred enclosure. It would be a
sin to do so. In this respect the convent of Sinai is
24*

282 BIBLE LANDS.
more liberal and civilized. I could converse only with two
monks. One spoke broken French, another Greek. The
latter read a little Greek pamphlet, printed in Athens,
which contained a pretended " Letter of Christ, found in
Gethsemane, on the grave of the Holy Mother of God."
It is, of course, a pious fraud. On asking him why he
did not rather read the Gospel, which contained the gen
uine words of Christ, I was told that this tract was shorter
and just as edifying. Among other things, he told me
that the greatest fault of the English and Americans was
that they did not worship the Virgin Mary, who was next
to God. I said, in reply, that Christ, not Mary, was our
Saviour, and that faith in Christ alone could save us ; to
which he reluctantly consented.
We spent a night in the convent in a humble room,
sleeping on the floor and disturbed by vermin, though
no more than in Jerusalem and Jericho. Cleanliness is
no part of monastic holiness, and the proverb, " Cleanli
ness is next to godliness," did not originate in the East.
We attended the chapel service at 4 a. m., and saw the
monks taking the daily communion. They had an ear
lier service at 2 A. M. It consists of reading prayers and
chanting. If perfect isolation from the world and all the
comforts and refinements of life could save a soul, these
monks would go to heaven. But there is a surer and a
better way.

THE DEAD SEA. 283
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE DEAD SEA.
From Mar Saba to the Dead Sea— A Salt Bath— A
Sea of Death — Description by Lieut. Lynch —
Physical Features — Sodom and Gomorrah — Lo
cation of the Vale of Siddim— The Pillar of Salt
— Comparison of the Dead Sea with the Salt
Lake in Utah — Asiatic Stagnation and Ameri
can Progress — Modern Researches of the Dead
Sea. Leaving Mar Saba at five in the morning, after at
tending the service of the monks, we ride over sterile
hills and ravines, and reach at ten o'clock the Dead Sea,
or, as it is called in the Bible, the Salt Sea.*
Our minds look back to the destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah, and forward to the still more terrible fu
ture judgment of those cities of Galilee which witnessed
the miracles of the Son of God, and refused to believe.
We remember Lot's wife, who, looking back to the burn
ing cities, in disobedience to the Divine command, was
turned into a pillar of salt.f
* Genesis 14 : 3 (17 ftukaoaa t&v alCrv in the Sept., mare salis in the
Vulg.). It is also called the Eastern Sea, Ezek. 47 : 18 ; Zech. 14 : 8, in
distinction from the Mediterranean, and the Sea of the Plain, Deut.
4 : 49. Josephus calls it the Asphaltic Lake, the Arabs Bahr Ldt.
i. e., the Sea of Lot. The name Dead Sea (Sakaaaa veKpa) originated
with Greek writers, from exaggerated notions of its deadly climate, and
became current in the Church since Eusebius and Jerome. In the New
Testament it is nowhere alluded to, though Sodom and Gomorrah are
mentioned. t Gen. 18 and 19; Deut. 29:23; comp. Matt. 11:24; 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 7.

284 BIBLE LANDS.
As soon as we have rested ourselves a little on a log
of wood — for there is no human habitation nor any kind
of shelter on the shore — we undress ourselves and take
a bath in the lake. We can sit, lie, and swim on the sur
face of the heavy water without difficulty. At first we
feel refreshed after the hot ride ; but the spray soon be
comes painful to the eye and irritating to the skin, and
we feel the unpleasant sensation till we wash off the
pungent crust of salt by another bath in the fresh waters
of the Jordan.
The Dead Sea, as viewed from a distance, is not so
forbidding as one would suppose. It presents rather a
mournful picturesqueness. Its surface is calm and
glassy, blue and transparent, and reflects the hills of _
Moab, with their brown and red rocks, broken clefts and
ravines. Nor is it a region of absolute death, as was for
merly believed. Swallows, partridges, storks, and ducks
have been seen flying over it, and at a little distance
from the shore are found fresh fountains and streams,
shrubs, jungles of reeds, stunted acacias, and palms.
There are even some traces of former cultivation, which
explain the Biblical allusion to " vineyards of Engedi"* —
the wilderness on the western shore where David sought
refuge from the persecution of Saul. Jewish Essenes
and Christian hermits once lived in that region. The
table-lands on the mountains of Moab, which extend
along the eastern shore, are well watered, fertile, and
* Cant, i : 14, "As a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi."
Camphire is the Alhenna of the Arabs, a whitish, fragrant flower, hang
ing in clusters like grapes.

THE DEAD SEA. 285
productive. " Although the soil is badly tended," says
Professor Palmer from personal exploration, " by the few
and scattered Arab tribes, who inhabit it, large tracts of
pasture-lands and extensive cornfields [grainfields] meet
the eye at every turn. Ruined villages and towns, bro
ken walls that once enclosed gardens and vineyards, re
mains of ancient roads — everything in Moab tells of the
immense wealth and population which that country must
have once enjoyed."*
But, with these qualifications, the Salt Sea is truly a
sea of death and an accursed lake. No fish can live in
it ; no tree grows on its banks ; its air is like the blast
of a furnace ; its water is offensive : " Water, water ev
erywhere, but not a drop to drink." The shores are bar
ren and scorched, and incrusted with a thin coating of
salt, in which horse and man sink at every step. Some
dead driftwood, carried down by the Jordan, lies scat
tered on the shore. It would be difficult to find a more
desolate and God-forsaken region on the earth. Even
the wilderness of Sinai has some redeeming features in
its grandeur and occasional oases :
" But here, above, around, below,
In mountain or in glen,
Nor tree, nor plant, nor shrub, nor flower,
Nor aught of vegetation power,
The wearied eye may ken ;
But all its rocks at random thrown,
Salt waves, bare crags, and banks of stone."
In this judgment all travellers agree. Lieutenant
Lynch calls more particularly the southern shore, where
* The Desert of the Exodus, Part IL, p. 473, seq.

286 BIBLE LANDS.
the catastrophe of the cities of the plain is usually loca
ted, "a scene of unmitigated desolation. On one side,
rugged and worn, was the salt mountain of Usdum, with
its conspicuous pillar, which reminded us at least of the
catastrophe of the plain ; on the other were the lofty and
barren cliffs of Moab, in one of the caves of which the
fugitive Lot found shelter. To the south was an exten
sive flat intersected by sluggish drains, with the high
hills of Edom semi-girdling the salt plain where the Is
raelites repeatedly overthrew their enemies ; and to the
north was the calm and motionless sea, curtained with a
purple mist, while many fathoms deep in the slimy mud
beneath it lay imbedded the ruins of the ill-fated cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah. The glare of light was blind
ing to the eye, and the atmosphere difficult of respira
tion. No bird fanned with its wings the attenuated air
through which the sun poured his scorching rays upon
the mysterious element on which we floated, and which
alone, of all the works of its Maker, contains no living
thing within it."*
Aside from its forbidding character and hostility to
the life of man and animal, the Dead Sea is a most re
markable phenomenon. It is the lowest depression on
the face of the earth. It lies about 1,300 feet beneath
the Mediterranean Sea; it receives the waters of the
Jordan six miles south of Jericho, and has no outlet, and
can have none, as the ground rises on its southern shore;
the evaporation is sufficient to carry off the supply of
* Narrative of the U. S. Expedition to the River yordan and the Dead
Sea, p. 310.

THE DEAD SEA. 287
water from without. It forms an oval, and measures
about forty miles in length and nine in breadth. It is
nearly the size of the Lake of Geneva, but differs from
it as a lake of Gehenna from a lake of Paradise. Its
lowest depth is 1,308 feet. The water is heavily charged
with salt ; its specific gravity is greater than that of any
other water known. The body floats on the surface like a
log of wood. The ordinary sea-water has about four per
cent, of salt ; the Dead Sea water more than twenty-six
per cent.
The formation of the lake basin is supposed by some
modern writers to be wholly due to the action of the
water. It seems to be a pool left by the ocean on its
retreat. This is not in conflict with the narrative in Genesis,
ch. 19, for this ascribes the overthrow of Sodom and Go
morrah, not to volcanic action of the earth, but to the
raining of brimstone and fire " out of heaven." Nor is it
anywhere stated in the Bible that the Dead Sea is the
result of this catastrophe, as the popular view supposes.
The lake is no doubt older than those cities, and was
also smaller than at present, extending perhaps only to
the peninsula El Lisan, but by some convulsion of na
ture it was made to overflow its former limits. Dr. Rob
inson supposes that a conflagration and earthquake, or
volcanic action combined, consumed and scooped out the
surface of the plain itself, so that the waters of the lake
rushing in, spread themselves out over the once fertile
tract. The location of the vale of Siddim, or the cities of

283 BIBLE LANDS.
the plain, is a matter of dispute. The traditional view,
which is advocated by Dr. Robinson and Lieut. Lynch,
places them at the southern end of the lake, while some
modern writers remove them to the northern end on the
east of the Jordan.
The former view dates from Josephus and Jerome,
who speak of Zoar, to which Lot fled and which was near
Sodom (Gen. 19:20), as being at the southern extremity
of the present lake (probably in the mouth of the Wady
Kerak).* It is supported by the following arguments :
1. Abraham saw the rising smoke of the doomed cities
from Mamre, or a hill-top near Hebron (Gen. 19:27, 28).
This was impossible if the cities were on the northern
border. 2. The Bible informs us (Gen. 14 : 10) that the vale of
Siddim near the Salt Sea was full of " slime-pits," that is,
wells of bitumen or asphaltum, which burns like oil. On
the south shore, and there only, masses of bitumen
encrusted with sulphur have been found.f Perhaps the
houses of those doomed cities were built of bituminous
* The traditional site of Zoar is at the ruins of Dra'a, some little dis
tance from the lake, on the road to Kerak, in a spot abounding with palm-
trees. It was an Episcopal see under the archbishop of Petra, and was
represented in the Council of Chalcedon (451).
t " After the earthquake of 1834, a large quantity of asphaltum was cast
upon the shore near 'the southwest part of the lake, of which one tribe of
Arabs brought about sixty kuntars (cwt.) to market, and a large amount
was purchased by the Frank merchants of Beirut. Again, after the great
earthquake of January, 1837, which destroyed Safed, a large mass of bitu
men (one said like an island, another like a house) was discovered floating
in the sea, and was driven aground on the west side, not far from Jebel
Usdum. The neighboring Arabs swam off around it, and cut it up with
axes, so as to bring it ashore." Robinson, Physical Geography of the Holy
Land, pp. 220, 221.

THE DEAD SEA. 2*89
limestone and cemented with bitumen, so that when igni
ted by lightning from heaven they would burn like " a
furnace " (Gen. 19 : 27, 28).
3. Recent explorations have shown the southern part
of the lake to be shallow, and nowhere more than twelve
or thirteen feet deep, while the northern part has a depth
of over 1,300 feet.
On the other hand, Canon Tristram pleads for the
northern site, especially on the ground of his alleged but
doubtful identification of the Biblical Zoar with the ruins
of the Arab village Zi'ara, on the brow of a spur of Mount
Nebo, at the head of the Dead Sea. He maintains that
the " plain," must have been in the " ciccar " (circle) or
"ghor" of the Jordan, as that region, when selected by
Lot, was well watered, " even as the garden of the Lord,
like the land of Egypt" (Gen. 13 : 10-12).* But this may
have applied just as well to the southern shore. " Even at
the present day," says Dr. Robinson, " more living streams
flow into the south end of the sea than are to be found
so near together in all Palestine ; and the tract, although
now mostly a desert, is still better watered through these
streams and by the many fountains, than any other dis
trict throughout the whole country."
We adhere therefore to the traditional view. The
Arab legend of the catastrophe of the vale of Siddim,
* The Land of Moab pp. 343, seq. The same view was advocated by
Grove in Smith's Bible Diet, (in articles Sodom and Zoar), by Captain
Wilson (in Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund, No. 4),
and Professor Palmer (The Desert of the Exodus, Part II., p. 480).
Grove's articles are ably disputed by Dr. Samuel Wolcott in Haskett and
Abbot's edition of Smith's Bible Diet.
Bible Lauds. JtO

290 BIBLE LANDS.
which agrees substantially with the Biblical narrative,
likewise locates Usdum (Sodom) and the pillar of salt at
the southern extremity. The Arabs call thjs pillar " Bint
Sheikh Lot," i. e., " Lot's Wife." " Bint," says Palmer,
properly means "daughter," but in Moab it is used for
" wife," perhaps in lingering reminiscence of the crime
of Lot's daughters (Gen. 19 : 30-38). Josephus professes
to have seen such a pillar in his day. Lieut. Lynch
claims to have discovered it in 1848 at Usdum, on the
southern shore, and thus describes it :* " Soon after, to
our astonishment, we saw on the eastern side of Usdum,
one-third the distance from its northern extreme, a lofty
round pillar, standing apparently detached from the gen
eral mass, at the head of a deep, narrow, and abrupt
chasm. We immediately pulled in for the shore, and Dr.
Anderson and I went up and examined it. The beach
was a soft, slimy mud encrusted with salt, and a short
distance from the water, covered with saline fragments
and flakes of bitumen. We found the pillar to be of solid
salt, capped with carbonate of lime, cylindrical in front
and pyramidical behind. The upper or rounded part is
about forty feet high, resting on a kind of oval pedestal,
from forty to sixty feet above the level of the sea. It
slightly decreases in size upward, crumbles at the top,
and is one entire mass of crystallization. A prop or
buttress connects it with the mountain behind, and the
whole is covered with debris of a light stone color. Its
peculiar shape is doubtless attributable to the action of
* Narrative of the United States Expedition, p. 307. See the picture
of the Pillar of Salt, p. 308.

THE DEAD SEA. 291
the winter rains. The Arabs had told us in vague terms
that there was to be found a pillar somewhere upon the
shores of the sea." F. de Saulcy saw in the same local
ity several vast, disconnected, pyramidical columns of
salt, and supposes that Lot's wife was crushed and cov
ered by one of them* But this is hardly consistent with
the plain" meaning of the narrative. Canon Tristram, on
his second visit, found a considerable change which the
short period of eight years had made ; several isolated
fragments of salt, or "Lot's wives," had been washed
away, and other pinnacles had been detached by the
rains to take their places. He describes that region as
"the most desolate and dreary corner of that desolate
shore, without one trace of vegetable life, not even a stray
salsola or salicornia to relieve the flat sand-beds. "f Pal
mer locates the Bint Sheikh Lot farther north on the
eastern shore, above the projecting promontory El Lisan
(The Tongue), and describes it as " a tall isolated needle
of rock, which does really bear a curious resemblance to
an Arab woman with a child upon her shoulders," and
made him almost believe that he had seen the prophet's
wife peering sadly after her perished home in the un
known depths of that accursed sea. J
These curious salt pillars served to keep alive for so
many ages the local tradition of the disastrous event.
The Dead Sea is not the only inland sheet of salt
water. In Utah Territory which I recently visited (June,
* Narrative of a yonrney round the Dead Sea in 1850 and 1851. Lon
don, 1853. Vol. II., p. 269.
t The Land of Moab. New York, 1873. Pp. 52-54.
% The Desert of the Exodus, Part II., pp. 478-480.

292 BIBLE LANDS.
1878), there is likewise a " Salt Lake," without an outlet,
and connected with a sweet water lake, " Lake Utah,"
by a turbid and rapid stream which the Mormons bap
tized " Jordan." An analysis of the waters of both gives
the same results. A bath in the Salt Lake has the same
effect, but is facilitated by an hotel and a bath-house on
" Lake Point;" while on the Dead Sea there is no conve
nience of any kind. The contrasts are remarkable. The
Salt Lake is much larger, has several mountainous islands,
and lies 4,200 feet above the sea level, while the Dead Sea
lies 1,300 feet beneath the Mediterranean. The elevation
of Lake Utah is 4,482 feet, the depression of the surface
of the Lake of Galilee 653 feet. The Jordan of Pales
tine flows southward, the Jordan of Utah Territory flows
northward, and supplies water for irrigating the numer
ous farms in its valley.
The greatest difference is the change produced by the
industry of men. The shores of the Dead Sea and the
Jordan are a dreary desert, and the roaming Bedawin,
like the wild Indians of America, disdain agricultural
labor, preferring to live like animals. When the Mor
mons, fleeing from the persecution of their fellow-Amer
icans over the unbroken prairies of the West, settled in
Utah Territory, as their land of promise, thirty-one years
ago (July, 1847), before its annexation to the United
States, they found it a desert as wild as Judaea, inhabited
by bears and savage men ; but in a few years they trans
formed it, by irrigation and cultivation, into a fruitful
garden. A few miles from Salt Lake they built Salt
Lake City, laid out in wide regular streets, ornamented

THE DEAD SEA. 293
by shade-trees, and refreshed by running streams of clear
water from the mountain. They erected in the midst of
it a tabernacle of worship which can accommodate ten
thousand persons, and they are now erecting another
tabernacle for winter use, and a magnificent temple for
the performance of baptisms, ordinations, and other ordi
nances. They made the surrounding country, after wash
ing the alkali out of the soil by irrigation, yield excellent
wheat, oats, pasture, apricots, apples, pears, plums, and
vegetables in abundance. They sent out apostles and
evangelists to foreign countries, and are still attracting
large numbers of poor and hard-working emigrants from
England, Wales, Scandinavia, Germany, and Switzerland,
who desire to improve their temporal condition and to
become independent producers. Salt Lake City numbers
already about 25,000 inhabitants (including about 2,000
"Gentiles," so called as distinct from the Mormon
" Saints"), and the whole territory of Utah perhaps over
125,000, far more than sufficient to make it a sovereign
State in the Union, if it were not for the peculiar institu
tion of polygamy, which is utterly incompatible with our
Western civilization and the dignity and happiness of
our home-life.
The short history of this Mormon settlement proves
what religious fanaticism, combined with industry, per
severance, and artisan skill, can accomplish in spite of
all difficulties. Mormonism is a modern American edi
tion of Mohammedanism ; but Mohammedan fanaticism
works only destruction, and the Turkish government
ruins the countries over which it rules. The Mormons
25*

294 BIBLE LANDS.
would do a good service both to America and to Turkey
if they were to emigrate to the Sinaitic Peninsula and
the shores of the Dead Sea, and teach their Ishmaelite
cousins a lesson of American industry and thrift.
But Mormonism deserves no more credit than Amer
ican energy and enterprise in the great new West be
tween the banks of the Missouri and the Sierra Nevada.
Denver in Colorado is younger and more flourishing than
Salt Lake City. The whole " American Desert," which
stretches north and south of the Union and Central Pa
cific railroads over the Rocky Mountains through hun
dreds of miles from Nebraska to the boundaries of Cali
fornia, is diminishing every year, and wherever water can
be had from the mountain or the river, the sage-brush and
buffalo-grass are giving way to villages, cultivated farms,
and gardens.
The Dead Sea has for the first time been partially explored by
Seetzen in 1807 ; then by Costigan, July, 1835 ; by G. H. Moore
and W. G. Beke, March, 1837; by Lieut. Molyneux, Sept., 1847,
but with very little result.
The first thorough navigation and exploration was made in 1848
by W. F. Lynch, of the United States Navy. His Narrative* is,
next to the Biblical Researches of Dr. Robinson, and The Land
and the Book of Dr. Thomson, the most important American con
tribution to the Palestine literature. Lieutenant Lynch, in com
mand of an expedition fitted out at the expense of the United
States government, sailed with two metallic boats of great strength
and buoyancy, one of copper and one of galvanized iron, which had
to be transported with great labor from the shore of the Mediter
ranean to the Lake of Tiberias, down the innumerable windings
and dangerous rapids of the Jordan to the Dead Sea, and spent
* Narrative of the United States Expedition to the River yordan and the
Dead Sea, Philadelphia, 1849, E"nth ed., 1853. See also his Official yournal of
the U. S. Expedition to Explore the Dead Sea and the River yordan, 1852.

THE DEAD SEA. 295
there full three weeks (from April 18 to May 10, 1848), exploring
its length, breadth, and depth, at the risk of health. One of his
companions, Lieutenant Dale, lost his life. Science, as well as re
ligion, has it heroes and martyrs.
In 1850 and 1851 F. de Saulcy, a member of the French In
stitute, visited the region of the Dead Sea, and published a narra
tive which appeared in an English translation at London, 1853, in
two vols.Lieut. Van de Velde of Holland followed in 1852, and pro
duced one of the best maps of the Holy Land.
In 1864 the French duke De Luynes, and in 1865 the Wiir-
temberg geologist, Dr. Oskar Fraas, explored the Dead Sea.
Fraas disputes the theory of the formation of the lake by volcanic
convulsions, and traces it to the power of the mountain torrents,
but he admits the possibility of the Biblical account of the destruc
tion of populous cities in the plain.
Professor E. H. Palmer and Tyrwhitt Drake completed
their desert journey, under the auspices of the Palestine Explora
tion Fund, in 1870, by passing through the land of Moab to the
northeast end of the Dead Sea, where they crossed the Jordan.
In 1872 Canon Tristram explored the comparatively unknown
land of Moab, and claims, among the results of his journey, the re
covery of several ancient sites. He says : " The careful verifica
tion of Machaerus, the scene of John the Baptist's imprisonment
and martyrdom; the very interesting discovery of Zoar(?), with the
valuable illustration it affords of the careful accuracy of the Scrip
tural narrative in the minutest details ; the finding of a palace of
Chosroes, with its sumptuous architecture, and the ray of light it
casts upon one of the most obscure periods of later Roman his
tory—these certainly were enough to reward the most sanguine ex
plorer. Even apart from these principal discoveries, there is
scarcely a passage in Holy Writ, in which Moab is mentioned,
which was not in some degree illustrated during the journey ; and
the glowing prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the allusions of
Amos and Zephaniah, the story of the wars of Sihon, of Jephthah,
and of Joab, must ever be read with deepened interest by those
who have noted their marvellous coincidences with the state of the
country as we now see it."*
* The Land of Moab, New York (Harper's), 1873, Preface.

296 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER XXX.
THE JORDAN.
From the Dead Sea to the Pilgrim's Bathing-Place
— A Bath in the Jordan— Character of the Jordan
—Its Navigation— Rota Roy— The Historic Associ
ations—The Bathing of the Pilgrims— The Moun
tains of Moab— The Death of Moses— Jericho —
The Fountain of Elisha — Quarantania, the Mount
of Temptation — Arrival at Bethel — Three Com
panies of Tourists.
A fatiguing ride of an hour and a half in the trop
ical sun over a barren plain brings us from the Dead Sea
to the river Jordan at the bathing-place of the pilgrims,
the traditional site of Christ's baptism. The river is
here 80 feet broad and 9 feet deep. The banks are cov
ered with oleanders, tamarisks, willows, and balsam-wood.
The water is muddy, the current very swift. There are
no conveniences for bathing' except a strong rope tied to
the trees. Holding on to this rope, I took a most re
freshing bath beneath the shadow of the trees. After
the salt bath in the lake of death it was like a bath of
regeneration. I immersed myself ten times, and felt so
comfortable that I almost imagined I was miraculously
delivered from rheumatism. I have plunged into many
a river and many a lake, and into the waves of the ocean,
but of all the baths that in the Jordan will linger longest
in my memory.
After a light lunch I rested a couple of hours on the
western bank, while my companions crossed over to the

THE JORDAN. 297
soil of Moab. My thoughts were lost in the historic
associations of the sacred stream.
The Jordan is the chief and the only important river
of Palestine, as the Nile is the one river of Egypt. It
traverses the whole length of the country from north
to south, as the Nile traverses Egypt in the opposite
direction ; but with the exception of the luxuriant jun
gle of shrub and wood on the narrow banks, where
lions and other wild beasts from the desert formerly
sought shelter, it has no effect upon the surrounding
desolate country, while the Nile spreads life and fer
tility for miles to the right and the left. It receives
no tributaries of any importance except the Yarmuk
(Hieromax) and the Jabbok from the east. The for
mer is not mentioned in the Bible; the latter is con
nected with Jacob's mysterious conflict of prayer on his
return to Canaan* Taking its rise in three or more pe
rennial fountains at the base of Mount Hermon, the Jor
dan passes through the rich plain of Huleh into the
waters of Merom, and flows twelve miles farther on into
the Lake of Tiberias ; emerging from this, it plunges in
twenty-seven rapids down a fall of 1,000 feet, and at last
empties its turbid yellow waters, which resemble those
of the Tiber, into the Dead Sea, where it finds its grave.
For the old idea that it flows into the Red Sea is a
physical impossibility, and has long since been aban
doned. It traverses at least 200 miles from the Hasbei-
yah source to the Dead Sea, while the direct distance is
only 115 or 120 miles. It is the most tortuous and also
* Gen. 33 : 22-32.

298 BIBLE LANDS.
the most rapid river in the world. Its rapidity gives
force to its name, " the Flowing," or " the Descender."*
Its total fall is 3,000 feet, or 15 feet per mile of its chan
nel, 25 feet per mile of its direct distance. The Rhine
in its most rapid course has but one half of the average
descent of the Jordan. The width of the river varies
from 60 to 160 feet, its depth from 5 to 12 feet. It is
never navigated for traffic, nor resorted to for fishing.
There are no bridges or boats mentioned in the Bible.
The river was crossed at fords.f It seems at present to
be of no use at all except as a watering-place for the
Bedawin, and as a bathing-place for Christian travellers
and pilgrims. The valley of the lower Jordan, called by
the Arabs El-Ghor, i, e., the Hollow, is a broad depressed
plain shut in between two ranges of mountains. Geolo
gists suppose that the Ghor was the basin of a vast in
land lake.
The middle and lower Jordan, from the Lake of Gal
ilee to the Salt Lake, has been three times navigated in
a boat, first by an Irishman, Costigan, in 1835, who caught
a fever and died in the Latin convent at Jerusalem, with
out leaving any notes ; then by an English lieutenant,
Molyneux, in 1847; and last, with richer scientific re
sults, by Lieutenant Lynch, of the United States Navy,
* 1*1"P> 'lopdavrj;, from tv>, to go down, to flow. In the original it is
always used with the article, except in two passages, while King James'
Version, contrary to English usage, strangely omits it. The Arabs call
the river el-Urdun, but more frequently esh-Sheriah, "the Watering-
Place." In like manner the German Rhine comes from rinnen, toflow.
t I Sam. 13:7; 2 Sam. 10:17. The "ferry-boat" of the English
Version, 2 Sam. 19 : 18, was only a raft to carry over David's household.

JERICHO AND THE DEAD SEA.

THE JORDAN. 299
in 1848. The upper Jordan has been navigated by Mr.
J. Macgregor, of London, in his famous canoe Rob Roy,
in 1869. The sight of the Jordan is rather disappointing. It
bears no comparison in majesty and beauty to the great
rivers of Europe and America. Naaman thought the
clear rivers of his native Damascus far superior ; yet the
Abana and Pharpar could not wash away his leprosy. Its
chief importance is historic. In this respect the Jordan
surpasses the Hudson and Mississippi, the Rhine and the
Danube, and even the Nile. It marks the termination of
the wanderings of the children of Israel from the banks
of the Nile, and the beginning of their history as an in
dependent nation in their own home. It blends the mem
ories of the Old and New Covenants, as the culmination
of John's testimony and the inauguration of Christ's king
dom. " Surely," says Macgregor in the charming ac
count of his unique cruise, " the Jordan is by far the most
wonderful stream on the face of the earth, and the mem
ories of its history will not be forgotten in heaven."*
Here the people of Israel, after their weary pilgrim
age, crossed into the land of promise on dry ground by
a miracle as great as that of the passage of the Red Sea.f
Here Elijah and Elisha, coming from Jericho, crossed by
another miracle, the former to ascend on a "chariot of
fire and horses of fire by a whirlwind into heaven," the
other to receive the mantle of the greatest prophet in
Israel.^ Here Naaman of Syria, "dipping himself seven
* Rob Roy on the yordan (London and New York), p. 406.
t Josh. 3 : 1-17. X 2 Kings 2 : 8-14.

300 BIBLE LANDS.
times," recovered from his leprosy, and "his flesh came
again, like unto the flesh of a little child."* Here John
the Baptist, the new Elijah, clothed in raiment of camels'
hair, with a leathern girdle round his loins, baptized the
people with the water-baptism of repentance, and pointed
to that higher One who was to baptize them " with the
Holy Ghost and with fire."f Here Jesus himself was
baptized by his forerunner and inaugurated into his pub
lic ministry. Here the heavens were opened, and the
Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove, and the
voice of the Father proclaimed him the beloved Son
with whom he was well pleased.^
Since that time, bathing in the waters of the Jordan
has been esteemed a special privilege. The emperor
Constantine desired it, but died before he could enjoy it.
Thousands of pilgrims, especially of the Greek Church, at
the Easter season hope to find in the Jordan ablution of
their sins, relying more on the magic virtue of the water
than the cleansing power of the blood of atonement
through a living faith ; while many others fill their bot
tles with the sacred water to use it for baptism, innocent
ly or superstitiously, in their distant homes. No scene
reminds us so forcibly of the multitudinous baptisms of
John, when "from Jerusalem and all Judaea and all the
region round about the Jordan" the people "came to
him confessing their sins," as the bathing of the pil
grims. I did not witness it, as Easter Monday had
passed, but I will copy the description of Lieutenant
Lynch, who was there in April, 1848 :
* 2 Kings 5:14. t Matt. 3:11. f Matt. 3 : 13-17 ; John 1 : 32, 33.

THE JORDAN. 301
" In all the wild haste of a disorderly rout, Copts and
Russians, Poles, Armenians, Greeks, and Syrians, from
all parts of Asia, from Europe, from Africa, and from
far-distant America, on they came, men, women, and
children, of every age and hue, and in every variety of
costume ; talking, screaming, shouting, in almost every
known language under the sun. Mounted as variously
as those who had preceded them, many of the women
and children were suspended in baskets or confined in
cages ; and with their eyes strained towards the river,
heedless of all intervening obstacles, they hurried eager
ly forward, and, dismounting in haste and disrobing with
precipitation, rushed down the bank and threw them
selves into the stream. They seemed to be absorbed by
one impulsive feeling, and perfectly regardless of the
observation of others. Each one plunged himself, or
was dipped by another, three times below the surface, in
honor of the Trinity, and then filled a bottle, or some
other utensil, from the river. The bathing-dress of
many of the pilgrims was a white gown with a black
cross upon it. Most of them, as soon as they dressed,
cut branches either of the agnus castus, or willow, and
dipping them in the consecrated stream, bore them away
as memorials of their visit  The pageant disap
peared as rapidly as it had approached, and left to us
once more the silence and the solitude of the wilderness.
It was like a dream. An immense crowd of human be
ings, said to be 8,000, but I thought not so many, had
passed and repassed before our tents and left not a ves
tige behind them. Every one bathed, a few Franks ex-
Hil.Ic Lands, 26

302 BIBLE LANDS.
cepted ; the greater number in a quiet and reverential
manner, but some, I am sorry to say, displayed an ill-
timed levity."*
Dean Stanley likewise gives a graphic account from
his recollections, and was struck with the apparent ab
sence of emotion and enthusiasm, with the decorum, grav
ity, and deliberate business aspect of the transaction.
Beyond the southeastern banks of the Jordan arise
the blue hills of Moab, which I first saw from the top of
Mount Olivet. They are intimately connected with the
history of Israel and the last days of that wonderful man
of God who had brought his people through the wilder
ness to the borders of the promised land, but was not
permitted to enter it. The meanest of the Israelites
could cross the Jordan, but the great leader and law
giver was excluded for a single offence — the want of
faith on one trying occasion.f He was shown from
Mount Nebo " all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all
Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and
all the land of Judah, unto the hinder sea, and the south,
and the Plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm-
trees, unto Zoar."J But as the earthly Canaan faded
from his view, the heavenly Canaan, with brighter skies
and better soil and nobler rivers and loftier mountains,
greeted him from afar. Jehovah laid him gently down
in the sleep of death, and buried him out of sight and
* Narrative of the Uuitcd States Expedition, etc., pp. 261, 262.
t Numb. 20:12; 27:14; Deut. 1:37; 3:26, 27.
X Deut. 34 : 1-6.

THE JORDAN 303
out of the reach of idolatry, near the land of promise, on
the border of the wilderness which is his battlefield and
his monument. There, " in a valley of the land of Moab,
over against Beth-Peor," his mortal remains repose, "but
no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."* His
death on earth was the beginning of his life in heaven.
We must all pass the river of death, but if we die in faith,
we shall enter into the rest which is reserved for the peo
ple of God. " By Nebo's lonely mountain,
East of the Jordan's wave,
In a vale in the land of Moab,
There lies a lonely grave.
And no man knows that sepulchre,
And no man saw it e'er,
For the angels of God upturned the sod,
And laid the dead man there.
" That was the grandest funeral
That ever passed on earth;
But no man heard the trampling,
Or saw the train go forth :
Noiselessly as the daylight
Comes back when night is done,
And the crimson streak on ocean's cheek
Grows into the great sun.

* The Mohammedan tradition, which locates the grave of Moses
between the Dead Sea and Mar Saba, is in plain contradiction to the
Scripture account of this providential concealment of his tomb. It is
marked by the Mosque of Neby Musa, and is a great resort of Moslem
pilgrims at the Easter season. I saw a vast picturesque procession
passing through St. Stephen's gate in Jerusalem to the valley of the Ke
dron and the tomb of the prophet Musa.

304 BIBLE LANDS.
" This was the truest warrior
That ever buckled sword,
This the most gifted poet
That ever breathed a word.
And never earth's philosopher
Traced with his golden pen,
On the deathless page, truths half so sage
As he wrote down for men.
" And had he not high honor ?
The hillside for a pall,
To lie in state while angels wait,
With stars for tapers tall,
And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes,
Over his bier to wave,
And God's own hand, in that lonely land,
To lay him in the grave ?
" In that strange grave without a name,
Whence his uncoffined clay
Shall break again — O wondrous thought ! —
Before the judgment-day,
And stand with glory wrapt around
On the hills he never trod,
And speak of the strife that won our life
With the incarnate Son of God.
" O lonely grave in Moab's land !
O dark Beth-Peor's hill !
Speak to these curious hearts of ours,
And teach them to be still.
God has his mysteries of grace,
Ways that we cannot tell ;
He hides them deep, like the hidden sleep
Of him He loved, so well." MRS. C F. ALEXANDER.
In riding from the Jordan over the once rich and
most fertile plain of Jericho we nearly fell among rob
bers, like the man in the parable of the good Samaritan ;

RUINED FOUNTAIN AT JERICHO.

THE JORDAN. 305
there was a fight going on between the roaming Beda
win and the peasants, two of whom were killed, but we
safely escaped.
Ancient Jericho was once " the city of palm-trees,"
a stronghold of ancient Canaan, so famous in the con
quest of Joshua, then again in the history of Elijah and
Elisha. It was the winter residence of Herod, who died
there. In this city Christ brought salvation to the house
of Zacchaeus and restored sight to blind Bartimseus. It
has long since disappeared, and a few mounds of ruins
only mark its former site. The beautiful gardens of bal
sam which Antony gave to Cleopatra, and which Herod
bought, are no more. One solitary relic of the magnifi
cent palm-forest was still standing in 1838, but down
on the Dead Sea petrified palm-trunks, preserved by the
salt, may be seen floating as dead memorials of the past.
Modern Jericho (" Riha" or " Eriha"), some distance
from the ruins of the old city, is a squalid Arab village.
A half -ruined tower, occupied by a Turkish garrison, is
pointed out as the house of Zacchaeus. We took supper
and lodged in the inn of a Greek Christian, who speaks
a little English and keeps a fruitful, irrigated garden ; but
we regretted that we had not slept in the tent, where we
might have been less disturbed by vermin.
About thirty minutes from the place is Elisha's
Fountain, which the prophet healed with salt.* The
Arabs call it " Ain-es-Sultan," the Sultan's Spring.
From there we pass the next day by the traditional
Mount of Temptation, called, in commemoration of the
* 2 Kings 2 : 19-22.
26*

306 BIBLE LANDS.
Forty Days' Fast, Quarantania by the Crusaders, " Ka-
rantel" by the Arabs. Some Abyssinian hermits inhabit
the caverns in the white rocks and drag out a dull and
stupid existence. The Evangelists give us no clew to
the locality of that mysterious, threefold conflict with
Satan. Christ may, like Moses and Elijah, have gone
to the Sinaitic wilderness after his baptism in the Jor
dan. But Quarantania is sufficiently dreary, desolate,
and wild for the event. The second Adam had to stand
a trial and probation in the wilderness for the whole race,
as the first Adam did in the garden of innocence, but
with opposite effect, coming out as a conqueror over the
prince of darkness, and restoring righteousness and
life. After a rough ride of five or six hours we arrive at
Bethel (i. e., House of God), now called " Beitin." It is
nearly the same distance north of Jerusalem, by way of
Anathoth (Jeremiah's birthplace), Geba, and Michmash.
It consists of about two dozen Moslem hovels, the ruins
of a Greek church, a very large cistern, and wild rocks.
But the spot is hallowed by Jacob's dream of a ladder
which reached from earth to heaven. " How dreadful is
this place ; this is none other than the house of God, and
this is the gate of heaven."* What the patriarch, then
a homeless wanderer, saw in a vision, is now fully real
ized for every child of God since the incarnation, which
established a constant intercourse between earth and
heaven, with the angels of God ascending and descend
ing.! We rest on a stony pillow, and sing
* Gen. 28 : 10-17. t John 1 : 51.

THE JORDAN. 307
" Though like the wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone,
Yet in my dreams I 'd be
Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee !"
At Bethel we joined a larger company of Cook's
"personally-conducted" tourists, and travelled with them
for the remainder of our tour through Palestine, Syria,
Constantinople, and Athens, and parted with sincere re
gret at Venice. It was a very genial and harmonious
party, with sufficient variety of culture and taste to make
it interesting. We had an American Congregational
and two Irish Presbyterian clergymen, a student of the
Free Church of Scotland, an English cavalry officer, an
engineer from Brighton, a graduate from Cambridge, and
two accomplished ladies from the South of England, who
could ride on horseback as well as any of the gentlemen.
During the greater part of the journey we met also every
evening in neighboring tents, two independent parties,
the one consisting of an English clergyman with his fam
ily, the other of a bishop of the Southern Methodist
Church (the late Dr. E. M. Marvin of St. Louis), and two
American ministers. Long shall I remember the de
lightful evenings we spent together in the tents, com
paring notes on the experiences of the day and uniting
in prayer and praise.

308 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER XXXI.
SAMARIA.
The District of Samaria— Its Fertility— Its History—
The Samaritans and the Jews — Shiloh — Jacob's
Well — Mount Gerizim and the Paschal Sacrifice
— Nabulus — The Samaritan Pentateuch — The
Ruins of the City of Samaria — The Church and
Tomb of John the Baptist — Dothan and Joseph
—The Plain of Esdraelon, Israel's Battlefield—
Ahab and Jezebel — Shunem and the Shunamite.
Samaria, the central district of Palestine, presents,
with its abundance of fresh fountains and rills, green
pastures and grain-fields, a favorable contrast to the
rocky and barren soil of Judaea. It was the portion of
the land assigned to Jacob's best and most beloved son,
and his children Ephraim and Manasseh. "Joseph is a
fruitful bough," prophesied the patriarch on his death
bed, " even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches
run over the wall."* " Blessed of the Lord," said Moses
of Joseph, "be his land, for the precious things of heav
en, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath,
and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun."f
While the strength of Judah is characterized by the lion-
of the desert, the strength of Ephraim and the sister
tribe of Manasseh is typified by the bullock and buffalo^:
of the pasture and forest.
* Gen. 49:22-26. t Deut. 33:13-17.
J In the English Version "the unicorn," Deut. 33 : 17.

SAMARIA. 309
Samaria appears first in the history of the patriarchs.
Abraham, after leaving his home and kindred in Chal-
dsea by divine command, and crossing the Jordan, pitched
his tent and built the first altar to Jehovah at Shechem
before he journeyed southward to Bethel and Hebron.*
And when Jacob returned from the east with his two
bands, he bought, with prudent foresight, from the chil
dren of Hamor, Shechem's father, "a parcel of a field
where he had spread his tent, for a hundred pieces of
money."! Here he sunk, according to tradition, J his
famous well, which Jesus transformed into a type of liv
ing water, and which remains to this day. He was nat
urally unwilling to use the neighboring fountains still in
the possession of the hostile and depraved Canaanites.
Here Joseph spent the days of his youth, and here, in
the parcel of ground his father had purchased, his em
balmed remains, which the children of Israel had brought
up out of Egypt at his dying request, were buried.§ A
white Mussulman chapel near the Well of Jacob still
marks the tomb of Joseph, and has recently been re
stored by Mr. Rogers, the English consul at Damascus,
in 1868. Gerizim is an older sanctuary than Jerusalem,
and bears to it a similar relation as Moscow does to St.
Petersburg. It has been plausibly argued by some that
Mount Gerizim, and not Mount Moriah, is the place
where Abraham encountered Melchizedek, the mysteri-

*Gen.l2:6,7. t Gen. 33:19. iJohn4:i2.
§ Josh. 24:32; compare Gen. 50:25, 26; Exod. 13:19; Acts 7 : 16.
The Mohammedans claim the body of Josephus in the Machpelah at He
bron, and say that it was transported from Shechem.

310 BIBLE LANDS.
ous priest-king, and where he was about to offer the sac
rifice of Isaac, the son of promise. Soon after the con
quest, according to the command of Moses, Joshua built
an altar to Jehovah on Mount Ebal, and read to the peo
ple the blessings of the law from Gerizim, and the curses
from Ebal.* The two mountains are so close together
that they form a natural sounding-board, and persons
upon them might easily be heard from one to the other
over the deep valley below, which is not more than five
or six hundred yards wide. The truth of the Scripture
statement has often been tested. Three of my fellow-
travellers actually made the experiment, one ascending
Gerizim, the other Ebal, and the third standing in the
valley between, and audibly conversed with each other.
At Shechem Joshua delivered his farewell address to the
assembled children of Israel, and asked them to choose
whom they would serve, declaring for himself, " As for
me and my house, we will serve the Lord."f At Shiloh
he set up the tabernacle and the ark, which remained
there during the stormy period of the Judges till the
death of Eli. J
Thus Gerizim became a second Sinai, and Shiloh a
national sanctuary. The Samaritans in their controver
sies with the Jews utilized these facts in support of their
schism, just as the Mohammedans claim the benefit of
the patriarchal and Mosaic traditions.
* Josh. 8 : 30-35; comp. Deut. 11 : 29; 27 : 11-13. There is no good
reason to assume, with Jerome, that two other mountains of that name
near Jericho were meant in these passages.
t Josh. 24; 1, 15, 25. " x Josh. 18:1; 19:51, etc.

SAMARIA. 311
But David and Solomon made Jerusalem the politi
cal and religious centre of the holy land. When the
kingdom was divided under Rehoboam, Samaria became
the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. After the Captivity the
two kingdoms were united again for a brief period under
Herod the Great.
In the New Testament Samaria is subordinate to Ju
daea and Galilee. Since the exile a mixed race with a
mixed creed had taken the place of the Ephraimites ;
the descendants of Joseph and Rachel who had re
mained or who returned from exile, intermarried with
Greek and Syrian colonists. Henceforward the Samar
itans were hated and abhorred as semi-heathen here
tics and schismatics by the Jews of pure blood, and they
hated them in turn. Christ broke through the national
prejudice, held up a despised Samaritan as an example of
true charity, revealed to a poor Samaritan woman of quick
wit and light heart, the nature of spiritual and universal
worship ; and in view of the ripening grain around Jacob's
Well he predicted a large harvest of converts, which was
reaped by the apostles* But it was in Samaria also that
Simon Magus, the patriarch of Christian heretics, arose
and substituted a chaos of Jewish, pagan, and Christian
notions and practices for the pure gospel of Christ.f
Let us now briefly sketch the places in Samaria
which we visited.
First we come to the few ruins of Shiloh (now called
* Luke 10 : 33 ; John 4 : 7, seq. ; Acts 8 : 5, seq.
t Acts 8 : 9, seq.

312 BIBLE LANDS.
" Seilun") by turning a little to the right of the road from
Bethel to Shechem. It is often mentioned in the Old
Testament, but nowhere in the New. It lies on a slight
eminence, and seems to have been selected for the seat
of the national sanctuary on account of its central situa
tion and seclusion. The place is not worth the half
hour's detour except for its former significance, which it
lost after the capture of the ark of the covenant by the
Philistines and the death of Eli and his sons, when his
daughter-in-law exclaimed, " The glory is departed from
Israel : for the ark of God is taken."*
Far more interesting, for its New Testament associa
tions, is the next place of historic importance, Jacob's
Well. Here our Saviour sat weary from travelling,
hungry and thirsty for the salvation of souls.
" Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
Redemisti, crucem passus :
Tantus labor non sit cassus."
Here he delivered that marvellous discourse with the
Samaritan woman, which no thoughtful traveller will omit
to read and to ponder on the spot. The patriarchal mem
ories are absorbed in the memories of Him who is greater
than " our father Jacob," and who is himself and alone
the never-failing fountain of life eternal. There is no
reasonable doubt as to the identity of the well.f Jews,
* I Sam. 4 : 3-22.
t The objection repeated in Badeker's Handbook (p. 328), that a
woman of Shechem (Nabulus), where water is abundant, had no need to
come so far to draw water, is frivolous, for she may have lived in the vi
cinity ; and, if not, the very fact of its being Jacob's Well was sufficient
for a superstitious woman to bring her twice the distance. "Of all the

SAMARIA. 313
Samaritans, Mohammedans, and Christians are here
agreed. The tradition is supported by the landscape,
which is a living illustration of the narrative of John.
The well is a natural resting-place on the highroad from
Jerusalem to Galilee, over which Christ travelled, in the
grain-field which Jacob bought, and which was then, as
now, whitening to the harvest, near Joseph's tomb and
the town of Shechem, and in full view of Mount Geri
zim, to which the woman pointed as the true place of wor
ship, as the Samaritans of the present day still do. The
well is sunk in the living rock, 75 feet deep, but covered
with rubbish and surrounded by the ruins of a Christian
church, which is mentioned by Jerome, and was destroy
ed during the Crusades. The Palestine Exploration Fund
has recently been furnished with money to restore the
Well and to make it comfortably accessible alike to Prot
estants, Greeks, and Roman Catholics.
Jacob's Well is only half an hour's distance from
Nabulus, but before we enter the city we ascend with
out difficulty the top of Gerizim, the Mount of Bless
ing, the Samaritan rival of Mount Moriah. It rises, like
its neighbor Ebal, in steep, rocky precipices, directly from
the narrow valley, 2,700 feet above the Mediterranean,
and about 800 above Nabulus. Ebal is a little higher.
Both are naked and sterile, but Gerizim has a "small
ravine which is full of fountains, fruit-trees, and ver
dure."* Both command a fine view over the fertile and
special localities of our Lord's life in Palestine," says Stanley, " this is
almost the only one absolutely undisputed."
* Robinson, Physical Geography of the Holy Land, p. 37.
27

314 BIBLE LANDS.
well-cultivated valley and plain below, the mountains of
Gilead in the east, Mount Carmel in the west, and the
snow-capped Hermon in the north. The summit of Ge
rizim is a large plateau, and is the most sacred spot, of
the Samaritan sect. There the law of Moses was pro
claimed a second time, and there the Samaritan temple
was built, about b. c. 330, in which an apostate Jewish
priest was made high-priest* It was destroyed in the
reign of Justinian, about a. d. 529, who built there a for
tress and a Christian church. The massive ruins still
remain. On that summit the Samaritans always put off
their shoes, towards it they always turn their faces in
prayer, and to it they come three times a year in solemn
procession to celebrate the great Jewish festivals — the
Passover, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles.
It is the only spot on earth where the Jewish paschal
sacrifice is perpetuated in the primitive fashion pre
scribed in the twelfth chapter of Exodus. Tents are
erected around a circular pit, where the fire is kindled ;
five or six lambs without blemish are killed, roasted, and
eaten in haste, with the fingers ; the bones are then
burnt, t
Nabulus or Nablous (a corruption of Neapolis or
Flavia Neapolis, so called to commemorate its restoration
* Josephus, Antiq., XI. 7, 2; comp. Nehem. 13:28; Robinson, Re
searches, III., p. 117.
t For a full description of this unique festival from personal obser
vation, see Mills' Nablous and tke Modern Samaritans, London, 1864. It
is quoted by Dr. Norman Macleod in Eastward, and in Cook's Palestine
and Syria, pp. 257-261. Dean Stanley also witnessed the ceremony on
his visit with the Prince of Wales, and points out the striking resemblance
to the Mosaic prescription.

SHECHEM AND MT. GERIZIM: FROM THE NORTH W

EST

MODERN NAZARETH : FROM THE EAST.

SAMARIA. 515
by Flavius Vespasianus) occupies the place of ancient
Shechem, the capital of Jeroboam. It is the birthplace
of Justin Martyr, the first Christian philosopher. It lies
between the mountains of Gerizim and Ebal, in a small
but exceedingly fertile valley, enlivened by fresh foun
tains and rills, carpeted with green verdure, olive-groves,
and gardens, and musical with birds. Stanley calls it
" the most beautiful, perhaps the only very beautiful, spot
in central Palestine." But the inside of the town, as usual
in the East, is by no means attractive, though curious
and interesting. The chief building is the great mosque,
once a church of the Crusaders, dedicated to St. John.
The town numbers from. 13,000 to 15,000 inhabitants,
including about 600 Christians, mostly of the Greek
Church, 140 Samaritans, and 100 Jews, the rest are Mos
lems* There is a Protestant Baptist missionary in the
place, El Cary, a native of Nabulus, but educated in
England, and a German catechist, Mr. Falscher, who
keeps an Arabic school in connection with the Anglican
bishopric of Jerusalem. The Samaritans occupy a sep
arate quarter of the city, and have a small, whitewashed
synagogue, to which Mr. Falscher kindly conducted me
through a labyrinth of streets. The high-priest, a very
handsome man, in the prime of life, brought from behind
the veil and showed us for baksheesh the famous Samar
itan Pentateuch, the somewhat defaced original as well
as a fine copy. There seem to be several copies extant.
Professor Peterson procured one. The Codex is written
in Samaritan characters on rolls of parchment, and wrap-
* These statistics were gathered on the spot, but vary much in books.

316 BIBLE LANDS.
ped in a scarf of crimson satin. Though not the work of
a grandson of Aaron, as they claim, it is undoubtedly
very old, and one of the greatest bibliographical curiosi
ties. It has been minutely described by travellers and
discussed by Biblical scholars, especially in its relation to
the Hebrew text* The Pentateuch is the Bible of the
Samaritans, who are monotheists and believers in the
future advent of the Messiah, but reject the later books
of the Old Testament. They are a remarkable example
of the amazing tenacity of Eastern tradition. They are
the smallest and oldest sect, consisting of about forty
families, and perpetuating a schism of more than two
thousand years. But, after all, they illustrate only on a
small scale and in a single spot, what the Jews do in all
lands — the burning bush which is not consumed.
The ruins of Samaria or Sebaste (Sebastiyeh) are
two hours' ride (eight miles) from Nabulus. The path
leads over the most cultivated valley in Palestine. The
modern Moslem village Sebastiyeh is on the slope of
a hill. The ancient city was beautifully located on the
top of a round hill, surrounded by a picturesque amphi
theatre of hills and fertile valleys, but it had no sacred'
traditions to rest on. The bad King Omri built Sama
ria for his pleasure as a second capital of the kingdom of
the Ten Tribes,f a sort of Versailles or Potsdam. His
worse son Ahab made it the headquarters of idolatry by
building an altar for Baal (the chief deity of his wife Jez
ebel, a daughter of the king of Sidon), and " did more to
* See a series of articles on the Samaritan Pentateuch by Pick in the
Bibliotheca Sacra for 1877 and 1878. t 1 Kings 16 : 24.

SAMARIA. 317
provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of
Israel that were before him."* This apostasy called forth
the rebuke of the prophet Elijah, and his famous sacrifice
and defeat of the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal
on Mount Carmel.f Hosea and Micah prophesied that
" Samaria shall become desolate as a heap of the field." J
Isaiah pronounced " Woe to the crown of pride, to the
drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading
flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them
that are overcome with wine."§ Soon afterwards the
city was taken and destroyed, after a siege of three years,
by the Assyrians, b. c. 722, || and again by Hyrcanus.
But it was rebuilt under the Maccabees. Herod the
Great fortified and beautified it under the Greek name
Sebaste, in honor of his master, the emperor Augustus.
He built a temple of Augustus and a magnificent double
colonnade around the topmost terrace of the hill. About
a hundred decapitated and broken or half-buried pillars
still remain.
Philip the evangelist preached the gospel with great
success in Samaria. ^[ It became afterwards an Episcopal
see, and in the twelfth century the Crusaders built below
the hill a large Gothic church of St. John the Baptist,
who, according to a tradition dating from the fourth cen
tury, was beheaded and buried here.** It is now a pic
turesque ruin, and used as a mosque. John's prison and
tomb are shown in a crypt much older than the church.
* 1 Kings 16 : 32, 33. t 1 Kings 18 : 20, seq. X Hos. 13 : 16; Mic. 1 : 6.
§ Isa. 28 : 1. || 2 Kings 18 : 10, 11. f Acts 8 : 5-8.
** Josephus (Antiquities, XVIII. 5, 2) and Eusebius locate the prison
and martyrdom of John in the castle of Machaems, east of the Dead Sea.
27*

318 BIBLE LANDS.
About twelve miles north of Samaria, and west of the
road to Galilee, is Dothan, still bearing the ancient
name, on a rich but uninhabited pasture-ground, which
recalls the first chapter in the romantic history of Jo
seph, so full of striking providential surprises and over-
rulings, beginning in slavery and exile, and ending with
the rulership over Egypt, as a reward for unspotted
purity of character in the midst of temptation and cor
ruption.* Joseph and Daniel, two shining lights of truth
and piety in heathen darkness, who can measure the
influence of their example upon young men !
At Jenin (the ancient Levitical city Engannim)f the
second camping station on the northern journey from
Jerusalem, we enter the celebrated plain of Esdraelon,
or Jezreel, also called the Plain of Megiddo, the inherit
ance of Issachar, whom Jacob described as "a strong
ass, crouching down between two burdens." It is an
irregular triangle, and, next to the Plain of Sharon, the
most fertile district of Palestine, looking in spring like a
green velvet carpet, but almost uninhabited, sadly neg
lected, and exposed to the ravages of the wild Bedawin,
who from time to time make raids, pitch their black
tents, kill the peasants, plunder the crops, and then ride
back with their booty on camels and horses to their lairs
in the Hauran. They are as bad as a ."warm of locusts,
and the Turkish government is powerless. Esdraelon is
* Gen. 37 : 17 : " And Joseph went after his brethren and found them
in Dothan." Dothan or Dothain means the two wells. The prophet
Elisha resided there for a while, and was providentially delivered from
the hands of the Syrians. 2 Kings 6 : 8-23.
t Josh. r9: 21 ; 21 : 29.

SAMARIA. 319
the classic soil of battles, where Barak and Gideon tri
umphed ; where Deborah sung her stirring war-song ;*
where (on the neighboring Mount Gilboa) Saul and Jon
athan fell, and called forth the lament of David, as re
markable for its sentiments of generosity and friendship
as for its poetic beauty ;f where good King Josiah,
exposing himself in his chariot, was mortally wounded
by the Egyptian archers.J These reminiscences fur
nished the author of the Apocalypse the mystic name for
the final battlefield " on the great day of God Almighty."§
In the battle of Mount Tabor, Napoleon with 3,000
Frenchmen gained a fruitless victory over 30,000 Turks.
The miserable hamlet Zerin, on a low spur which
projects westward from Gilboa, about seven miles north
of Jenin, represents the ancient Jezreel, the capital of
Ahab.and Jezebel, and the scene of a series of bloody
crimes and tragedies, in fearful punishment of their idola
try and wickedness, rebuked by the stern prophet Elijah.[|
At Shunem (Sulem), a village surrounded by gardens
with cactus hedges and by rich grain fields, about five
miles farther north, we remember the story of the Shu-
namite and her son, whom Elisha raised from the dead.^T
But we look in vain for the good woman and the proph
et's chamber, and for the fair Shulamite of the Canti
cles, and ride on to Nain and Nazareth.
* Judg. chaps. 4-7. t I Sam. 31 :2, seq. ; 2 Sam. 1:17, seq.
X 2 Chron. 35 : 20-25. See the graphic description of these battles by
Stanley in Chap. IX.
§ "Armageddon," the city or mountain of Megiddo. Rev. 16:14-16;
19 : 19. II I Kings 21 and 22. If 2 Kings 4 :8~37.

320 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER XXXII.
NAZARETH.
Importance of Nazareth— The Education of our
Lord— Approach to the Town— A Question of
Skepticism and the Answer of Faith— Ancient
and Modern Nazareth— The Beautiful View—
The Women of Nazareth— The Virgin's Foun
tain—The Population— The Traditional Sights—
A Female Orphanage— Mathilda Dickson— The
Protestant Mission Church— Rev. Messrs. Zeller
and Bellamy and Mr. Huber— A Christian Hos
pital— Dr. Vartan. April 15.
Here we are in this retired mountain village where
the Saviour of mankind spent the greater part of his
life on earth ! In Bethlehem we feel the joy of his birth,
in Jerusalem the awe and anguish of his crucifixion, but
also the glory of his resurrection ; in Nazareth we look
at the humble abode of his youth and early manhood.
Talent and character are matured in quiet seclusion for
the great battle of public life.
Nazareth is not even named in the Old Testament,
except by an indirect allusion of prophecy,* but " Jesus
of Nazareth" has made it a household word. Here he
grew up in the obscurity of a carpenter-shop, with no
other means of education than the Hebrew Scriptures,
which in prophecy and type foretold his own character
and mission, and the book of nature which, from the sum
mit of the hill, spread before his eyes the fertile plain of
' Matt. 2 : 23.

NAZARETH. 321
Jezreel in the south, the mountains of Tabor and Gilboa
in the east, the lofty Hermon in the north, and Carmel
with the shores of the Mediterranean sea in the west —
that future highway of the gospel of peace to all mankind.
The beautiful surroundings, laden with the memories of
David and Jonathan, Elijah and Elisha, and many a battle
of Israel, afforded educational advantages even to Him
who, like other men, " grew and waxed strong in spirit "
and " increased in wisdom and stature." Yet they can
in no way explain the astounding result. He was neither
school-taught nor self-taught nor inspired for a season
like the prophets ; he came directly from God, and taught
the world as one who owed nothing to its books, its
schools, its history, its society, its favor; he was the
Light of the world and the Truth itself. Explain it as
you may, the astounding fact is there, Jesus of Naza
reth is the central miracle of history.
A journey of three days brings us from Jerusalem to
Nazareth, after spending the first night at the Robbers'
Fountain, the second at Jenin. Coming from the ruins
of Nain, where Christ raised the only son of a widow
from death to life, and in full view of Tabor, the tradi
tional Mount of Transfiguration, we ride swiftly over the
Plain of Esdraelon — the historic battlefield of Israel — and
slowly ascend the rocks and hills to En-Nasirah. We
cannot see it till we are quite near. It is not perched on
the hill-top, like Bethlehem and the cities of Judah and
Benjamin, but in a basin on a steep slope of the hill to
which it clings like an amphitheatre. Its modest retire
ment may account for its proverbial obscurity. We en-

322 BIBLE LANDS.
camp a little distance east of the town, close by " the Vir
gin's Fountain," from which Christ and his mother must
have drawn their daily supply of water, as the people do
now; for there is no other fountain within convenient
reach. It is the only certain relic of the days of Jesus
in this home of his youth*
As we walk through the narrow, crooked, and dirty
streets of the town, passing now a dead dog in a putres
cent state, now an immense dung-heap which has been
allowed to accumulate for years to spread disease, and as
we look into the houses or holes where men, camels, and
donkeys live together on terms of equality, we are tempt
ed to ask, Is it possible that the eternal Son of God,
through whom the worlds were made, should have spent
thirty years, all his boyhood, youth, and early manhood
in such a place and amid such surroundings, among
brethren who did not believe in him,f and neighbors
who attempted to cast him down headlong from the brow
of the hill for preaching the acceptable year of the
Lord 1% Reason doubts, but faith adores the amazing
condescension of God. " Can any good thing come out
of Nazareth ?" was Nathanael's question when he first
heard from Philip of the son of Joseph. But when he
* The fountain is also called "Ain Mariam," "Fons Maria;," "Ga
briel's Spring," "the Fountain of the Annunciation." It is not mentioned
in the New Testament, but in the apocryphal Gospel of St. James, and the
tradition is supported by inherent probability. " Es kann nicht zweifel-
haft sein," says Tobler (Nazareth, p. 214), "dass Maria und yesus zu die-
sem Brunnen gingen und aus diesem Brunnen tranken." Tobler's Naza
reth (Berlin, 1868, 344 pages), with a topographical map by Kev. J. Zeller,
gives the fullest and most accurate description of the town.
t John 7:5. J Luke 4: 29.

NAZARETH. 323
came and saw with his own eyes, he exclaimed, " Rabbi,
thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel."
The title " Nazarene " was applied to Christ and his fol
lowers in derision and contempt, but it is significant of
that humiliation and outward lowliness which is at all
times the way to exaltation and glory. Via crucis via
lucis. The town as well as the whole country was in a more
prosperous condition at the time of Christ, although the
people were no better, perhaps worse, than now. The
despotic and stupid Turkish government discourages
every form of industry, and taxes every fruit-tree whether
it bears or not. Many farmers cut down their trees to
escape taxation, except the indispensable olive and fig.
A few years ago the neighboring Mount Tabor was cov
ered with oaks, but now it is almost bare on the southern
slope. But some fine buildings have recently been put up by
foreigners, and compared with other towns of this un
happy and down-trodden land of Palestine, Nazareth im
proves upon acquaintance. It is better built, has more
decent houses, and shows more industry and thrift than
any of the miserable villages I have passed through since
I left Jerusalem, with the exception of Nabulus. It is
the chief commercial town of Galilee and the mart of
exchange between the merchants of Acre and Haifa, and
the Bedawin. Viewed from the top of the hill, to which
in all probability it formerly extended, it presents a pleas
ing appearance, while the view from that hill is one of
the most extensive and charming I have seen in the East,

324 BIBLE LANDS.
Lieutenant Lynch preferred Nazareth even to Bethlehem,
and calls it " the prettiest place in Palestine." Renan, in
his " Life of Jesus," says that no place in the world was
so well adapted to "dreams of absolute happiness."
The Christian women of Nazareth are more beautiful
in person, more cleanly in attire, and more courteous in
manner than any in Palestine, with the exception of their ,
sisters in Bethlehem, where nearly the whole population
is Christian. They certainly contrast favorably with the
ignorance and degradation of women in purely Moham
medan villages. Catholics trace the exceptional supe
riority of the women of these two places to the influence
of the Virgin Mary, who is to them the perfection of
physical as well as moral beauty and grace. But we pre
fer to go to the primary source of the Christian religion
which everywhere develops true womanhood. The Naz
arene females wear around their forehead and face a roll
of silver coins (called "semedi"), to which our Saviour
alludes in the parable of the lost piece of silver.* They
walk the streets unveiled and mostly barefooted, and
gather every morning and evening around the marble
trough of the "Virgin's Fountain," gossiping and quar
relling, and filling their large water-jars, which they
carry gracefully on their heads. I was touched by a
beautiful little girl that took me by the hand and im
ploringly looked up to me as if she had lost her father
or mother. The fountain is fed by waters from the hills, and
* Luke 15:8. The ten pieces of silver here spoken of are drachmas,
worth 17 cents each, though relatively worth ten times as much then.

NAZARETH. 325
never fails. It is in a better condition than the foun
tains of Jerusalem and Jacob's Well ; yet the ground
before the fountain is very muddy, and even the muddy
water is used. It marks the spot where the angel, ac
cording to the Greek tradition, first appeared to the Vir
gin mother with his astounding message. The Greek
Church of the Annunciation stands near the fountain,
but is closed, and looks rude and gloomy as compared
with its Franciscan rival in the town.
The population of Nazareth is variously estimated
from 4,000 to 10,000. A well-informed resident fixes
the number at 8,000. The Orthodox Greeks are the
most numerous ; next come the Moslems, then the Lat
ins, United Greeks, Maronites, and Protestants. The
Latins have a fine convent and hospice, the Casa Nuova
Foresteria, where one may lodge at ten francs a day.
The Protestants number not more than one hundred,
but represent the hope of the future. I found among
them some intelligent and enterprising members of the
Hoffman colony of Haifa at the foot of Mount Carmel.
The traditional sights of Nazareth, besides the Vir
gin's Fountain already described, are the two Churches of
the Annunciation (one Latin and one Greek),* the Kitch
en of the Virgin Mary (her house was transferred by an
gels to Loretto centuries ago !), the suspended column
(above the spot where Mary received the angel's mes-
* On the marble altar of the crypt below the Latin Church of the
Annunciation is the inscription : " Hie Verbum caro factum est" the pen
dent to the inscription beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem :
" Hie de Virgine Maria yesus Christus natus est.1'
Bible Lands. AO

326 BIBLE LANDS.
sage), the Workshop of Joseph and Jesus, the stone Table
at which Christ often dined with his disciples before and
after the resurrection, the Synagogue in which he taught,
and the Rock or Mount of Precipitation from which the
Nazarenes attempted to cast him down. These traditions
are utterly worthless, the creatures of superstition and pi
ous fraud. The rival claims of the Latins and the Greeks
to the possession of the spot of the Annunciation neutral
ize each other, not to speak of the Casa Santa at Loretto,
which in no way fits into the locality of her alleged home
in Nazareth. In no place are local traditions of holy
places so palpably wrong and irreconcilable. " At Naz
areth," says Stanley, " there are three counter-theories —
each irreconcilable with the other — in relation to the
special scene which has been selected for peculiar rever
ence." He then enters into an examination of that most
incredible of legends, the miraculous removal of Mary's
house by angels through the air, first to Greece and then
to Italy, and shows that its architecture contradicts that
of the local tradition. He calls that legend (which is first
mentioned in a bull of Leo X., 15 18) the petrifaction of
the last sigh of the Crusaders.*
The traditional Mount of Precipitation is two miles
off from the town, and cannot be the brow of the hill
" on which the city was built." The steep rock behind
the Maronite church would have answered the purpose
* See his plans of the House of Loretto and the Grotto of Nazareth
in the new edition of Sinai and Palestine, London, 186S, p. 436. The plans
were drawn from actual measurement by a Roman-catholic priest of the
Oratory, the late W. II. Hutchison.

NAZARETH. 327
much better, and agrees with the description of Luke
(chap. 4 : 29). I examined the spot with Mr. Huber, the
resident German missionary, and came to the conclusion
that this is in all probability the real rock of precipi
tation. But let me now turn to the signs of a better future,
which most travellers pass by. As I approached Naza
reth, my attention was arrested by an imposing white
building situated below the brow of the hill, and com
manding the whole town. I did not fail to visit it, and
learned that it was an orphanage, established in 1874 by
the English " Ladies' Society for Promoting Female Ed
ucation in the East." It is the handsomest building of
the kind in all Palestine, and is kept as neat and clean
as any schoolhouse in Europe or America. The princi
pal, Miss Mathilda Dickson, with whom I had a long and
interesting conversation, is a highly-accomplished and
devoted lady, and reminded me, by her zeal for mission
work and the elevation of the female sex, of the late Mrs.
Doremus, whose praise is in all the churches, and whose
memory will never fade. The orphanage has thirty-four
boarders (mostly of Greek, some of Protestant, a few of
Mohammedan parentage), who are here washed and
dressed, and taught the elements of domestic and social
education, Bible history, and Christian hymns. It is
hoped that their influence will tell upon their future hus
bands and children, and indirectly prepare the way for
evangelical Christianity. It must be confessed, however,
that the work is very difficult; for girls in the East are
married very young, that is, they are bought and sold

328 BIBLE LANDS.
into a state of slavery. The institution owns the hill,
from which the finest view is enjoyed. It is undenomi
national, but works in connection with the Episcopal
Church, the only Protestant church in Nazareth. One of
its good effects is that it has stimulated the zeal of the
Greek bishop, who started a rival school for girls in 1876.
The Protestant church is a beautiful building in the
heart of the town. It was founded by the English Church
Missionary Society, and stands in connection with the
Anglo-Prussian bishopric of Jerusalem. The gospel is
preached here in Arabic to about sixty hearers, and a large
number of children are taught in the Sabbath-school. The
first minister was Rev. J. Zeller, whose wife — a daughter
of Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem — wrote a charming book
on the flowers of Palestine. He was followed by the
Rev. Franklin Bellamy (formerly of the Royal English
Navy), an accomplished and liberal clergyman. He in
vited me to preach ; and when I told him that I was not
an Episcopalian, he said that it made no difference, as
the canons did not apply to missionary stations. He is
assisted by a catechist, Mr. Jacob Huber, who was edu
cated in the Mission House at Basle, and has labored
here many years most faithfully. I found him an intel
ligent, experienced, and obliging gentleman. He spoke
in high terms of the Presbyterian Mission in Beirut, to
which the Episcopal mission schools are indebted for
Christian literature in the Arabic language.
Finally, I must mention a Christian hospital which
was founded by the Edinburgh Medical Missionary So
ciety (undenominational, but chiefly Presbyterian). It

NAZARETH. 329
is very ably and successfully managed by Dr. Vatian, an
Armenian educated in Scotland. His medical skill is a
great aid to the Protestant Mission.
" O Thou great Friend to all the sons of men,
Who once appeared in humblest guise below,
Sin to rebuke, to break the captive's chain,
And call thy brethren forth from want and woe,
" We look to Thee ! Thy truth is still the Light
Which guides the nations groping on their way,
Stumbling and falling in disastrous night,
Yet hoping ever for the perfect day.
"Yes ; Thou art still the Life, Thou art the Way
The holiest know ; Light, Life, the Way of heaven !
And they who dearest hope and deepest pray
Toil by the Light, Life, Way, which Thou has given."

28*

330 BIBLE LANDS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
TABOR AND HERMON.
Mount Tabor — Its Central Situation and Beautiful
Shape — The View from the Summit — Mount
Hermon — Its Majesty and Grandeur — The
Transfiguration — Dispute about the Locality —
Arguments for Hermon — Import of the Event —
Raphael's Crowning Work.
Mount Tabor is the Rigi, Mount Hermon the Mont
Blanc, of Palestine. They are the two representative
mountains of that country, the one for its gracefulness,
the other for its loftiness. They are not mentioned in
the New Testament, but repeatedly in the Old. They
are associated together by the Psalmist when he says,
" Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name."* Some
of the greatest events in the history of Revelation, from
the legislation of Moses to the Ascension of Christ, took
place on mountains. Tabor or Hermon, probably the
latter, is the Mount of Transfiguration.
Mount TaborI lies right in the centre of the Holy
Land, about six or eight miles east of Nazareth, from
which it can be reached in two hours. It is wholly of
limestone. It rises isolated and alone in its glory from
* Psa. 89 : 12 : comp. Jer. 46 : 18 : " As Tabor is among the mountains,
and as Carmel by the sea." Hos. 5:1: " A net spread upon Tabor."
t 'Irapipiov in the Septuagint. The Arabs call it by the same name as
Mount Olivet, " Jebel et-TClr."

TABOR AND HERMON. 331
the plain of Esdraelon to a height of 1,400 feet from the
base, or 1,900 from the level of the sea. Owing to its
isolation, it appears twice as large as it really is. It can
easily be ascended from every side in an hour, on foot or
on horseback. It would have been, according to a rab
binical saying, the best site by nature for the national
sanctuary, if a special revelation had not determined the
location of the temple on Mount Moriah.
Tabor has a rare symmetrical beauty of shape, and
commands one of the finest views in all Palestine. It is
rounded off like a hemisphere, and clothed with grass
and a forest of oaks, except on the southern slope, where
modern vandalism has destroyed the growth of nature.
The top is a flattened platform, from which the eye can
wander over some of the* most classical spots on earth.
It is not indeed a panorama of romantic lakes, winding
rivers, flourishing towns, snow-capped Alps such as you
may enjoy from Rigi-Kulm — yet a panorama lovely and
beautiful, and pregnant with associations more important
than Kiissnacht, Griitli, Morgarten, and Goldau. Tow
ards the west you see the hills of Nazareth, and farther
on Mount Carmel and the Mediterranean ; towards the
north the Lake of Tiberias, the mountains of Naphtali,
and the snow-peaks of Hermon ; in the south the ruins
of Nain and Endor, the Little Hermon, and Mount Gil
boa, where Jonathan fell ; in the east and beyond the
Jordan, the mountains of Bashan and Gilead.
Mount Hermon is less graceful, but more imposing
and sublime. It is called "Jebel esh-Sheikh" by the
Arabs, i. e., the chief mountain. It rises on the northern

332 BIBLE LANDS.
extremity of Galilee to a height of 10,000 feet above the
Mediterranean, and presents three lofty peaks. It is
covered with eternal snow, which gives it a glistening
appearance. It can be seen from every direction far
and wide, from Gerizim and Tabor in the south, from
Damascus in the east, from the northern heights of the
Antilebanon and Lebanon, and from the plains of Ccele-
syria. Moses saw it from the top of Pisgah in Moab,
when " the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto
Dan." At its southern base lies Banias or Csesarea
Philippi, one of the most romantic spots in Palestine.
Here the river Jordan gushes out from the rocks. Here,
on the boundary line between the Jews and the Gentiles,
our Saviour spent several days before he entered on his
last journey to Jerusalem. Here he elicited from Peter
that famous confession, from which, as from a spiritual
rock, have sprung the Christian confessions and creeds
of subsequent ages. Here he prophesied the founding
of his indestructible Church, his passion and resurrec
tion. Tabor and Hermon are the two claimants for the
honor of being the Mount of Transfiguration, or " the
holy mount," as Peter calls it* It was certainly " a
high mountain," according to the Evangelists, and the
choice lies between these two. Both are in themselves
equally well fitted for the event, Tabor rather than Her
mon, on account of its central location in Palestine, only
a few miles from Nazareth and the Lake of Gennesaret,
* Matt. 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36; comp. 2 Peter
1 : 16-18.

TABOR AND HERMON. 333
where our Saviour spent the greater part of his life on
earth. Tabor has in its favor the monastic tradition, which
goes back to St. Jerome in the fourth century, and which
gave rise to a number of buildings on the summit. There
is a Latin convent ; a little farther down, a Greek con
vent, inhabited by a few lonely monks, who offer shelter
and refreshment to pilgrims and travellers. Each claims
to be built on or very near the spot where the Transfig
uration took place. The Latin monk, an Italian Francis
can, gave us lemonade and showed us the ruins of three
churches of the Crusaders. They were to correspond to
the three tents which Peter in his dreamy state, " not
knowing what he said," desired to build, one for his
Lord, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, being content
for himself and his two fellow-disciples to watch out
side. In the Greek Church the festival of the Transfig
uration is called after the mountain " the Taborion."*
But two arguments are against Tabor and in favor of
Hermon. (1.) The fact that the summit of Tabor was occupied
by a city of the tribe of Zebulon,f and was employed
without intermission between the times of Antiochus the
Great, 2 1 8 b. c, to the destruction of Jerusalem, a. d. 70,
as a fortification, and hence unfit for quiet seclusion and
meditation.^ * rb ¦dafiupiov.
t 1 Chron. 6 : 77 : " Tabor with her suburbs."
X See Polybius V. 70, 6; yosephus, Ant. XIV. 6, 3; Bell. yud. I. 8, 7 ;
II. 20, 6 ; IV. 1, 8.

334 BIBLE LANDS,
(2.) More conclusive than this local objection is the
succession of events and the short interval between them.
The transfiguration took place " six days " after Peter's
confession in Csesarea Philippi, at the foot of Mount Her
mon,* and was followed by a journey to Capernaum, and
thence to Jerusalem.! This is all plain if we locate the
transfiguration on Hermon ; but it would have been a
waste of time if Jesus should have travelled from Caesa-
rea Philippi to Mount Tabor, passing Capernaum on the
way, and gone back from Mount Tabor to Capernaum,
then to proceed again southward to Jerusalem. More
over, " it is exceedingly improbable that Christ should so
suddenly have left his retreat in the highlands of Gaula-
nitis, and transferred the scene of one of his most secret
revelations to Galilee, where he was everywhere perse
cuted."^: On Mount Hermon there are several retired plat
forms where Christ and his disciples might have been
"apart by themselves," and met their heavenly visitors
without fear of disturbance from any quarter. It is very
significant that the transfiguration, as well as the prece
ding confession of Peter, should have occurred on this
border region between the Jews and the Gentiles, as if in
anticipation of the triumph of the gospel in the heathen
world. The transfiguration of Christ took place shortly be-
* ueVi/uepac ff, Matt. 17:1; Mark 9 : 2 ; or more indefinitely Cad huepai
oktu, Luke 9 : 28.
t Matt. 17:24; Mark 9: 33.
X Lange on Matt. 17 : 1 (p. 306, Am. ed.). Ritter, Robinson, Stanley,
and Tristram likewise decide against Tabor.

TABOR AND HERMON. 335
fore his passion and in anticipation of his final glorifica
tion, before the representatives of the Old Dispensation,
Moses the lawgiver, and Elijah the mighty prophet, who
had mysteriously disappeared from earth, and now ap
peared again from the spirit-world to do homage to the
Fulfiller of the law and the promise, and to consign to
him their expiring authority ; and before the representa
tive apostles of the New Dispensation, Peter, James, and
John, who were here fortified against the severe trial of
their faith at the approaching crucifixion. It was a visi
ble manifestation and effulgence of the hidden glory of
Christ's person, accompanied by an audible voice from
heaven declaring him, as on the day of baptism, the Son
of God, on whom the Father had fixed his delight. It
was a sure pledge of his own exaltation and of the future
glory of his people, when our mortal bodies shall put on
immortality and see him as he is. It furnishes a stri
king proof of the immortality of the soul, the intercom
munion between heaven and earth, and the harmony of
the two Dispensations, which meet in the divine-human
person and atoning work of Christ. After the scene the
disciples saw no one but Jesus alone. Moses and Elijah
disappeared again, the types and shadows departed, the
substance remained : Christ all in all.
Every one knows the picture of the Transfiguration
in the Vatican, which represents the Saviour soaring
above the earth and floating in glory, Moses and Elijah
bowing in adoration before him, the disciples overpow
ered by the dazzling light, and below, in startling con
trast to this scene of celestial peace, the misery of the

336 BIBLE LANDS.
lunatic whose healing follows in the gospel narrative. It
is one of the sublimest conceptions of human genius, and
yet but an imperfect reflection of the reality. It was the
last work of Raphael, and accompanied his coffin to the
grave in the Pantheon. He died of the transfiguration,
in the prime of manhood ; but his picture, multiplied in
ten thousand copies all over the earth, will continue to
preach to admiring beholders the best sermon on this
supernatural event.

THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 337
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE LAKE OF GALILEE.
Biblical Associations — The Scene of our Lord's
Teaching and Miracles — Ride from Nazareth to
the Lake of Galilee — The Horns of Hattin, the
Mount of Beatitudes — The disastrous Battle of
the Crusaders and the Loss of Palestine — The
City of Tiberias — Magdala — The Lake of Galilee
in the First and in the Nineteenth Century-
Description of Josephus — Present Condition.
Next to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, no part
of Palestine has greater interest to the reader of the
Bible than the Sea of Galilee, or, as it is now called,
"Bahr Ttibariyeh."* In that region of country our Sav
iour spent a great part of his public life. There he called
Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John, to follow him
and to become fishers of men. There he proclaimed from
the Mount of Beatitudes the Magna Charta of his heav
enly kingdom — the counterpart of the Mosaic legislation
from the mount of terror that " burned with fire." There
he spoke, from the ship on the seashore, most of those
incomparable parables of the kingdom, its beginning,~its
outer and inner growth, its value, its conflict with the
world, and its final triumph. There he wrought his mir
acles of power and mercy. There he made the winds
* It is also called the Sea of Chinnereth or Chinneroth (the Hebrew
name for Gennesaret), the Lake of Gennesaret or Gennesar, the Lake (or
Sea) of Tiberias.
Bible Lauds. 29

338 BIBLE LANDS.
and the sea obey him. There he went about teaching
in the synagogues, preaching the good tidings, healing
all manner of disease and sickness, and doing good to
the bodies and souls of men. Capernaum was his resi
dence after the Nazarenes had blindly rejected him. And
after his resurrection he manifested himself to the disci
ples on the shores of the lake.
We reached Tiberias in an easy and delightful day's
ride from Nazareth, crossing Mount Tabor, which eccle
siastical tradition associates with the Transfiguration, and
passing the Horns of Hattin (Kurun Hattin), which the
Latin tradition points out as the Mount of Beatitudes.
It is easy of access from all sides, and has a double plat
form — one higher, one lower — well suited for the gather
ing of a smaller circle of disciples and of a large multi
tude, to whom the Sermon on the Mount was delivered*
But this tradition must be left in doubt, since the Evan
gelists do not name the mountain, and since " there are,"
as Dr. Robinson says, " in the vicinity of the lake per
haps a dozen other mountains which would answer just
as well to the circumstances of the history." In this
region the last and fatal battle of the Crusaders, called
the battle of Hattin, was fought on the fourth or fifth of
July, 1 187, when the flower of the Christian chivalry was
nearly annihilated by Sultan Saladin. It was immedi
ately followed by the subjugation of Jerusalem and all
Palestine to the yoke of the Moslems, under which they
are still groaning.
* Comp. Matt. 5 : , ¦ Mark 4:7.8: Luke 6:17; and Lange's commen
taries in loc.

THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 339
We arrived in camp before sunset, half a mile south
of the city of Tiberias, and took at once a most refreshing
bath in the lake, as we did twice on the day following.
Tiberias (Tilbariyeh), built by Herod Antipas, a. d.
20, was once a famous seat of rabbinical learning, and is
still one of the two holy cities of the Jews in Galilee —
Safed being the other — as Jerusalem and Hebron are
their holy cities in Judasa. It is now a miserable, dirty
place, inhabited by Jews and Moslems, and subject to
earthquakes, in one of which (1837) half of the popula
tion perished, and the walls were thrown down. It seemed
to me to be the very headquarters of Beelzebub ; for as
soon as we lighted our candles in the tent the table was
literally covered with flies, so that we had to extinguish
the lights and sit in darkness. And yet Tiberias is the
most important town, in fact the only town deserving of
the name, on this whole lake. This is a fair specimen of
the startling contrast between the Galilee of the first and
the Galilee of the nineteenth century. The only other
place is Mejdel, the ancient Magdala, in the plain of
Gennesaret, containing about a dozen of wretched Mos
lem hovels, but recalling the memory of Mary Magdalene,
" The sweet fragrance of whose ointment
All the earth is filling now,
And whose tears are turned to jewels
For a crown upon her brow."
During the public life of our Lord the shores of the
lake were the most densely populated and the most flour
ishing part of Palestine ; now it is the most deserted.
Then nine cities teeming with life adorned the shores ;

34o BIBLE LANDS.
now you see nothing but Tiberias, Magdala, and a few
shapeless ruins. Then the lake was covered with sails
of ships passing from shore to shore ; now there are only
about three rough fishing-boats to be seen.
Josephus relates a victorious naval battle which Ves
pasian fought on the lake against the Jews before the
destruction of Jerusalem, and gives a glowing account of
that country in his day. " The waters of the lake," he
says in substance, "are sweet, and extremely pleasant to
drink ; fish found here differ from others in flavor and
species ; the surrounding country is admirable for its
quality and beauty. Such is the fertility of the soil that
it rejects no plant, and so genial is the climate that it
suits every variety ; the walnut, which delights in a win
try climate, grows here luxuriantly, together with the
palm-tree which is nourished by heat, and near to those
are figs and olives to which a milder atmosphere has
been assigned. One might style this an ambitious effort
of nature, doing violence to herself in bringing together
plants of discordant habits, and an amiable rivalry of the
seasons, each as it were asserting its right to the soil ;
for it not only possesses the extraordinary virtue of nour
ishing fruits of opposite climes, but also maintains a con
tinual supply of them. Thus it produces those most
royal of all, the grape and the fig, during ten months,
without intermission, while the other varieties ripen the
year round ; for besides being favored by the genial tem
perature of the air, it is irrigated by a highly fertilizing
spring, called Capharnaum by the people of the country."*
* Bell. ytid. III. 10, 8.

TIBERIAS AND THE SEA OF GALILEE.

THE LAKE OF GALILEE. 341
This description reads like irony when compared
with the present condition. No roads, no houses, no
gardens, no cultivated farms meet the eye along the
shore, but wild grass, briers, and thistles in abundance.
And yet nature in its beauty is still there, notwith
standing the vandalism of men. There is the lake with
its clear blue waters ; there the hills in the light of the
sun ; there the plain of Gennesaret with its tropical fer
tility. The bright red magnolias grow luxuriantly among
thistles and thorns, and occasionally even the fig, the
olive, the pomegranate, the date-palm, the sugar-cane may
still be found there. The lake district presents a beautiful
picture, not indeed so grand and sublime as the lakes of
Switzerland, nor so lovely and charming as the lakes of
Northern Italy, but with a richer history, a warmer cli
mate, and a better soil. It might be made an earthly par
adise under a good government and with an industrious
people. If it were not for the utter absence of conven
ience and comfort, such as every traveller from the West
now looks for, one might delightfully spend weeks on
those shores consecrated by the life and example of the
wisest of the wise and the purest of the pure that ever
trod this earth.
The lake forms a triangular oval or pear shape, with
the broad end towards the north. It almost resembles"
a harp. It is over 12 (Badeker says 16.1) miles long, 6
miles broad, 160 feet deep. It lies 60 miles northeast of
Jerusalem, and 27 miles east of the Mediterranean. It
is on an average 660 (the Dead Sea is 1,292) feet be
low the Mediterranean. It abounds in fish. Its water
20*

342 BIBLE LANDS.
is slightly saline, but pure and wholesome. The Jordan
enters in from the north. All the towns which supplied
the names of the lake were situated on the western shore.
On the northwestern shore is the plain of Gennesa
ret (El-Ghuweir), about three miles long and one mile
broad. The surrounding hills are of limestone capped
with basalt, and are small and bare. There are hot
springs near Tiberias, but neglected. Earthquakes and
violent storms are not infrequent. Dr. Thomson, Cap
tain Wilson, and others witnessed sudden thunderstorms
not unlike that which frightened the disciples, till the
Lord rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, " Peace,
be still !"

CAPERNAUM, ETC. 343
CHAPTER XXXV.
CAPERNAUM, BETHSAIDA, AND CHORAZIN.
The Prophecy of Christ on the Cities of Galilee and
its Literal Fulfilment— Capernaum— Bethsaida—
Chorazin— A Boat Row from Tiberias— The Plain
of Gennesaret— Magdala— Gergesa and the Herd
of Swine — Khan Minyeh — Et-Tabighah — Tell
Hum — Kerazeh — The Capernaum Controversy.
" Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his
mighty works were done, because they repented not. Woe unto
thee, Chorazin ! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida ! For if the mighty
works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I
say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the
day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou
be exalted unto heaven ? Nay, thou shalt be brought down unto
hades : for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which
were done in thee, it would have remained until this day. But I
say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in
the day of judgment, than for thee."*
This solemn prophecy of the Son of Man has been
fearfully fulfilled to the letter. Capernaum, Bethsaida,
and Chorazin, once flourishing towns on the western
shore of the Lake of Galilee, have long since disappeared
from the face of the earth, "leaving no wreck behind."
Once raised to the heaven of gospel privileges, they have
* Matt. 11 : 20-24. The correct reading in ver. 23 is a question an
ticipating a negative answer. Hades (mistranslated " hell " in our Eng
lish Version) is not the place of eternal punishment, but the realm of the
dead, and is used here as a figure of death and desolation, which that re
gion presents to-day.

344 BIBLE LANDS.
sunk down to the hades of oblivion. The ruins of the
heathen cities of Tyre and Sidon on the shores of the
Mediterranean are well known, but the site of those
ancient towns of Galilee is still a matter of doubt and
controversy. Yet the glorious truths and solemn warn
ings to which they listened with deaf ears, and the mira
cles of mercy which they witnessed and traced to Satanic
agency, have shaken thrones and converted nations, and
will be preached from ten thousand pulpits for weal or
woe to the end of time.
Capernaum (the town of Nahum), the most important
and the most guilty of those cities (hence mentioned last
in the rising climax of woe), is not mentioned in the Old
Testament, but frequently in the Gospels.* It was the
home of our Lord after he left Nazareth, and is therefore
called " his own city."f It was the residence of Peter and
his mother-in-law,:}: and probably also of Matthew, who
was called from the customhouse to the apostolate, and
consecrated his experience in bookkeeping to the orderly
topical arrangement of the works and words of his divine
Master.§ It lay on the northwestern shore of the Sea
of Galilee, hence called " the maritime," and in the bor
ders of Zebulun and Naphtali. || The town was large
enough to be called a city. It had a flourishing com
merce, a customhouse,^]" and a large synagogue built by
that God-fearing and benevolent Roman centurion whose

* Matt. 4:13; 8:5; 11:23; 17 = 24; Mark 1:21; 2:1; 9:33; Luke
4:23, 31; 7:1; 10: 15: John 2: 12; 4:46; 6: 17, 24, 59.
t Matt. 4:13; 9:1 (etc ri/v Uiav ttoAiv). J Luke 4 : 38-41.
§ Matt. 9:9. || Matt. 4:13. 1[ Matt. 9:9-11.

CAPERNAUM, ETC. 345
servant Christ healed and whose rare faith he commend
ed.* Its site is found either at Khan Minyeh at the
northern end of the plain of Gennesaret, or more proba
bly at Tell Hum.
Bethsaida (The House of Fish, Fishtown) was the
native place of Peter, Andrew, Philip, James, and John,
those illiterate fishermen who became fishers of men and
the spiritual guides of nations.f It is usually distin
guished as Bethsaida of Galilee from Bethsaida Julias, and
then variously located at Khan Minyeh, or at Tabighah,
or at Tell Hum. But according to a recent and more
probable theory, the two Bethsaidas are only the two
parts of one and the same town on both banks of the
Jordan near its entrance into the lake ; for it is extremely
improbable_ that two towns in so close neighborhood
should have borne the same name.
Chorazin is only mentioned twice,! and must be
identical with the ruins of Kerazeh.
Let us now pass up the western shore of the lake
and see what is left of these places so full of precious
reminiscences from the days of our childhood.
We leave Tiberias early in the morning and embark
in a coarse fishing-boat. After a delightful row of an
hour, we mount our horses and ride over the Land of
Gennesar, or Gennesaret,§ now called " El-Ghuweir ;"
* Luke 7 : i-io.
t Matt. 9:21; Mark 6:4, 5; 8:22; Luke 9: 10; 10:13; Iohn x :44;
I2 . 21. X Matt. 11 : 21 ; Luke 10 : 13.
§ Matt. 14:34; Mark 6:53. Gennesar is probably derived from
gani and sar, and means the paradise of the prince.

346 BIBLE LANDS.
that is, the Little Ghor, or Plain. It is a triangular plain
extending three miles along the shore and more than a
mile back towards the hills. The southern half is well
watered by several springs ; the northern portion was
formerly irrigated from 'Ain Tabighah through an aque
duct now in ruins. It was once, as the name suggests,
a rich garden which supplied Jerusalem with choice fruit.
Though greatly neglected, it still produces excellent
wheat, melons, cucumbers, olives, and figs. To this plain
emphatically applies the glowing description of Josephus
which we have quoted in the preceding chapter.
The only village left in the plain, at its southern end,
is a cluster of wretched hovels called Mejdel, the an
cient Magdala (Migdal El, the Tower of God), and birth
place of Mary Magdalene. On the top of the huts are
little sleeping-places, to which the inhabitants retire in
summer to escape the scorpions, lizards, and vermin,
which abound below.
Nearly opposite Mejdel, on the eastern shore of the
lake, are the ruins of Chersa, or Khersa, on the slope
of a hill in Wady Semakh, within forty feet of the water's
edge. The walls can still be traced all around. This place
has been recently identified* with the Biblical Gergesa,
where Christ cast out the fierce demons and permitted
them to enter a herd of swine ; whereupon these other
wise so stubborn creatures, urged by a preternatural im
pulse and seized by a sudden panic, rushed down pell-
mell the steep precipice and perished in the lake. The
narrative of the Evangelists corresponds precisely with
* By Dr. Thomson, The Land and the Book, II. 34-38,

CAPERNAUM, ETC. 347
the nature of the locality as described by Thomson and
Macgregor. Wild-hogs still abound there, ploughing the
ground in search of esculent roots.*
We stretch our tent for the night at the northern end
of the plain, below a cliff, near the shore and the Foun
tain of the Fig-tree ('Ain et Tin). The place is called
Khan Minyeh, from the ruins of a large Arab khan, or
caravansary, built in the time of Saladin for the conven
ience of travellers to Damascus. The name Minyeh is
said (by Sepp) to be derived from Minim, or Minseans, a
rabbinical designation of heretics. Consequently Khan
Minyeh would mean "the Inn of Heretics," and Kefr
Minyeh " the Village of Heretics," i. e., probably Jewish
Christians who may have resided there. We carefully
hunt for ruins which might justify its claim to be the
site of ancient Capernaum, but can find only stones and
broken pottery. Dr. Robinson accounts for the absence
of ruins by the vicinity of Tiberias, to which they may have
been transported by water. But Tiberias was already
built when Capernaum was in its prosperity ; and ruins
of a large town, such as Capernaum must have been, in
cluding a synagogue and customhouse, are not so easily
transported. The excavations of the English Explora-

* Matt. 8 : 28-34 ; Mark 5:1-17; Luke 8 : 26-37. The Greek man
uscripts vary between Gadarenes, Gerasenes, and Gergesenes. The common
view locates the scene at Gadara (now called " Omkeis," or " Urn Keis "),
which was the capital of Persea, and probably inhabited by heathen. But
this lies two hours southeast of the southern end of the lake, too far to
account for the simultaneous and direct rush of the herd into the lake.
In this case topographical discovery may aid in determining the true
reading.

34S BIBLE LANDS.
tion Fund in 1866 brought nothing to light except some
fragments of comparatively modern masonry and pottery.
Lieut. Kitchener and Dr. Merrill claim to have seen more
important remains in 1877, but we must wait for a more
thorough search. In the evening we take a refreshing
bath in the lake near the Fountain of the Fig-tree.
From Khan Minyeh we pass through the remains of
an aqueduct cut through the cliff along the shore, and
now used as a horse-path, to Et-Tabighah, and thence to
Tell-Hum and Kerazeh. Here every step is full of inter
est to the Biblical student.
Et-Tabighah is a charming little bay and a tract of
land abounding in fresh streams and fountains and rank
vegetation. The largest of the fountains, probably the
fountain of Capharnaum mentioned by Josephus as water
ing the plain of Gennesaret, is half as large as the source
of the Jordan at Banias, and rises with great force to the
surface, at a temperature of %6\° ; it is enclosed in an oc
tagonal reservoir, and some of its water is carried off in an
aqueduct to one of five mills which were built by Dhaher
el Omer, a Bedawin chief and benefactor. " Connected
with this fountain are the remains of some remarkable
works, which at one time raised its waters to a high level
and conveyed them bodily into the plain of Gennesaret
for the purposes of irrigation."* Some identify Et-Ta
bighah with Western Bethsaida, but it was probably the
manufacturing suburb and harbor of Capernaum.
We next reach Tell Hum, i. e., the Hill of Nahum. Its
name and ruins form a strong double argument for its iden-
* Captain Wilson.

CAPERNAUM, ETC. 349
tity with ancient Capernaum.* It lies on elevated rocky
ground half a mile west of the lake shore, about midway
between Khan Minyeh and the mouth of the Jordan at
its entrance into the lake. There is not even a horse
path leading to it, and we must force our way for half an
hour through dense tangles of tall briers and thistles.
The ruins which have been described by Dr. Robinson,
and more fully from careful examination (in 1866) by
Captain Wilson,f are certainly the most remarkable in
that whole region, and betray the presence of a large
town. They cover a tract of about half a mile long and
a quarter broad, and lie in confusion beneath the surface
of the soil. They consist of foundations and walls of
houses, and the broken columns, Corinthian capitals, and
friezes of a synagogue built of white limestone, and hence
called " the white synagogue." On a large block is a pot
of manna engraved in commemoration of the manna in
the wilderness, which typified the true manna from heav
en. If Tell Hum be Capernaum, as we are strongly in
clined to believe, then this synagogue must have been the
same which the good Roman centurion built,:": and in
which our Lord frequently taught, and delivered his won
derful discourse on the bread of life.§
* The Greek Kafapvaoi/j. corresponds to the Hebrew eTIj "1C2> tne
village of Nahum (not the village of* Consolation, xuPLOV napcufflioeag, as
Origen and Jerome explain it). Kefr, or Kafr, means a village, and when
destroyed it becomes a Tell, i. e., a hill or mound of stone and rubbish.
The Jews locate at Tell Hum both the tomb of the prophet Nahum and
that of Rabbi Tanchum.
t The Recovery of yerusalem, p. 268.
X Luke 7 : 18 ; Matt. 8:8.
§ Mark 1 : 21 ; Luke 4 : 33, 38 ; John 6 : 59.
Bible Lands. 30

3 so BIBLE LANDS.
Kerazeh is one hour's journey (two miles) north of
Tell Hum, and equals it in the extent of ruins. They
comprise the remains of a synagogue of black basalt with
Corinthian capitals, and dwellinghouses in a tolerably
perfect state, the walls being in some cases six feet high.
Captain Wilson discovered also traces of a paved road,
which connected the place with the great caravan road
to Damascus* If Tell Hum be Capernaum,' then Kera
zeh must be the ancient Chorazin. Both the name and
the ruins favor this view.
We return to our tent in Khan Minyeh with an over
whelming sense of the contrast between the past and the
present, and the fearful guilt of neglecting the day of
merciful visitation.
Note. — We cannot close this chapter without some additional
remarks on the hotly-contested question of the site of Capernaum.
We have been strongly impressed on the spot in favor of the iden
tity of Tell Hum with Capernaum, and of Kerazeh with Chorazin ;
yet we would hold ourselves open to new light which a more thor
ough exploration by means of excavations may throw on the prob
lem.* Biblical archaeologists and commentators are almost equally
divided between Khan Minyeh and Tell Hum as the two chief
claimants to the site of Capernaum. J A third theory, which locates
* Recovery of yerusalem, p. 270.
t The English Palestine Exploration Fund proposes to send out a
special expedition to Galilee to determine the site of Capernaum, Beth
saida, and Chorazin.
X For Khan Minyeh are Quaresmius (1639), Robinson (1838), Mac
gregor (reasoning at length from a sailor's standpoint, 1869), Porter (1875),
Sepp, and quite recently Lieutenant Kitchener, of the English Exploration
Fund, and Dr. Selah Merrill, of the American Exploration Society (1877).
Among scholars who never visited Palestine, Keim, in his Geschichte jfesu
von Nazara, vol. I., pp. 607, seq., strongly pleads for Khan Minyeh. For

CAPERNAUM, ETC. 351
it at 'Ain Mudawarah, or the Round Fountain, near the south end
of the Plain of Gennesaret, a mile and a half from the lake, has
been given up again by its chief advocate*
The following are the points to be considered in this contra
versy :
1. The Biblical argument turns chiefly on the question whether
the Evangelists locate Capernaum in the plain of Gennesaret, in
which case it must have been in the neighborhood of Khan Minyeh,
the northern end of that plain, assuming its identity with the pres
ent El-Ghuweir. This is nowhere expressly stated, but it is inferred
from the fact that Capernaum lay on the seashore (Matt. 4 : 13), and
that Jesus, after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, which
occurred in a desert place near the northeastern extremity of the lake,
and after the storm on the lake, landed in Gennesaret (Matt. 14:34;
Mark 6 : 53) ;f while John says more specifically that he came to
Capernaum (6:17, 24, 59). But, on the other hand, it is stated that,
before the miracle, the people, starting from Capernaum and other
towns, reached the desert place on the opposite shore sooner by
land than Jesus and his disciples by sea (Mark 6:33), which was
quite possible if they came from the nearer Tell Hum, but is diffi
cult to explain if they started from Khan Minyeh, two or three
miles farther south. It seems, then, that Jesus, early in the morn
ing after the miracle, arrived at Gennesaret (Matthew and Mark)
and then proceeded to his proper home in Capernaum (John), where
the returning multitude naturally sought him, and where he explain-:
ed in the synagogue the spiritual meaning of the miracle of the
loaves and fishes. Mark's account (6 : 56) suggests that our Lord
passed through several places in Gennesaret on his way to Caper
naum.
Tell Hum are Pococke (1737), Burckhardt, Ritter, John Wilson, Thom
son, Hepworth Dixon, Renan, Captain Wilson, Stanley (in Preface to The
Recovery of yerusalem, 1871), Furrer, Badeker, and among commentators
Ebrard, Ewald, and Plumptre. Alford, Meyer, and Lange are undecided,
but lean to Tell Hum.
* Canon Tristram. See his Bible Places, new ed. (1875), P- 2^2-
t The best authorities in Matthew read, "they came to the land unto
Gennesaret " (instead of " into the land of Gennesaret "), and in Mark,
"passing over to the land, they came to Gennesaret and moored there,"
i. e., came to anchor.

352 BIBLE LANDS.
2. Josephus, the Jewish historian of the apostolic age, who was
very familiar with Galilee, decidedly favors the Tell Hum theory in
the only two places where he alludes specifically to the place. He
relates in his Life that, having been bruised by a fall from his
horse at the mouth of the Jordan, he was first brought to the village
" Kepharnome,"*and thence in the same night removed to Taricheas,
at the southern end of the lake. Now it is much more natural to sup
pose that in his disabled condition he should have stopped at the near
est inhabited place, which was Tell Hum, than in the more distant
Khan Minyeh. In his History of the Jewish War he speaks of a
copious spring of " Kapharnaum" which watered the Plain of Gen
nesaret and abounded in lake-fish. f This is undoubtedly the 'Ain
Tabighah, near Tell Hum ; for it is very copious, abounds in fish,
including the coracinus mentioned by Josephus, and is surrounded
by tanks and the ruins of an aqueduct through which the water was
carried down along the hillside on the shore to the northern head
of the plain of Gennesaret.J Dr. Robinson (though evidently with
some misgiving) sought the spring of Josephus in the Fountain of
the Fig-tree ('Ain et Tin) on the shore below Khan Minyeh ; but
this has no fish and-is too small, and lies too low to be made avail
able for irrigating the plain. Tristram formerly sought the spring
of Josephus in 'Ain Mudawarah, the Round Fountain, which is very
abundant and helps to water the southern part of the plain, but is
too far off from the lake.
3. The Jewish and Arab tradition points invariably to Tell
Hum.§ 4. The ecclesiastical tradition, otherwise so busy in fixing sa
cred localities, is here vague, uncertain, and contradictory.
5. The geographical argument is rather in favor of Khan Min
yeh, as being close by the seashore and admirably located for a
commercial town and custom-station on the present highroad to
Damascus ; but this is more than counterbalanced by the archao-
* Vita, § 72 : «? K-wp,7jv KeQapvuftriv teyov/iivriv. It is the Greek form
of the name.
t Bell Jud., III. 10, 8.
\ See Captain Wilson, in The Recovery of yerusalem, p. 271, and Tris
tram, Bible Places, p. 264.
§ See Furrer, art. Kapernaum in Schenkel's Bibel Lexicon, Vol. III.,
p. 495, and Thomson, I., p. 546.

CAPERNAUM, ETC. 353
logical argument, namely: the absence of ruins in Khan Minyeh
and the presence of large ruins at Tell Hum, which has the addi
tional advantage of the identity of name, and was likewise connect
ed by roads with Chorazin and Damascus.
The site of Bethsaida and Chorazin is somewhat dependent on
that of Capernaum, but not altogether.
The advocates of Khan Minyeh usually identify Bethsaida
with Et-Tabighah, and Chorazin with Tell Hum. But what be
comes, then, of the ruins of Kerazeh ? They cannot be ignored,
and form a strong objection to this view. Others locate Bethsaida
at Khan Minyeh. If we must distinguish two Bethsaidas, we would
rather locate the western Bethsaida at Et-Tabighah, and Caperna
um at Tell Hum.
But the whole assumption of two distinct Bethsaidas in close
neighborhood is very questionable. It is much more probable, as
already intimated, that they were but parts of one and the same
town on both banks of the Jordan near its entrance into the lake,
the eastern part in Gaulanitis being called Bethsaida Julias, the
western part in Galilee being called Bethsaida of Galilee* About
the site of the former there is no dispute. Philip the Tetrarch en
larged and beautified it and called it Julias in honor of the prin
cess Julia, the daughter of Augustus, about the same time when his
brother, Herod the younger, built Tiberias, and named it so after
the emperor Tiberius. A few ruins still remain of eastern Beth
saida, where Philip died and was buried in a costly tomb. The
Evangelists mean always the western Bethsaida of Galilee, which,
as the home of some of the chief apostles, was of far more conse
quence to them and to the world than the other.
Returning to the woe of our Saviour over these three cities,
we suppose that they are mentioned in the order of their guilt,
Chorazin being named first and Capernaum last and with the
greatest severity. That woe will ever be fulfilled, according to the
measure of privilege and guilt, on all those who turn a deaf ear to
the teaching of the Son of God ; while on the other hand, his words
* John 12 : 21 : "Philip who was of Bethsaida of Galilee;" compare
I : 44 : " Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter." In
all other places it is simply called Bethsaida, as Mark 6 : 45; 8 : 22; Luke
9:10. Comp. Thomson, The Land and the Book, II., 31.
30*

354 BIBLE LANDS.
of wisdom spoken in those places, wherever they were, will contiuue
to guide the Church in the way of life. His " Peace, be still !" will
calm many a storm ; his " Lovest thou me ?" will search many a
heart ; and his " Follow thou me !" will be obeyed by many a dis
ciple even to a martyr's death.
" No fable old, no mythic lore,
Nor dream of bards and seers,
No dead fact stranded on the shore
Of the oblivious years ;
But warm, sweet, tender even yet
A present help is He;
And faith hath still its Olivet,
And love its Galilee."

C^ESAR^EA PHILIPPI. 355

CHAPTER XXXVI.
CAZSARsEA PHILIPPI.
From Khan Minyeh to Banias— The Waters of Me-
rom — Dan — Cassarasa Philippi — Beautiful Sce
nery — The Source of the Jordan — Peter's Confes
sion — The Rock of Ages — The Ruins of the Castle
of Shubeibeh.
" When Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked
his disciples, saying, Who do men say that the Son of man is ?
And they said, Some say, John the Baptist : some, Elijah ; and oth
ers, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But
who 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 also say unto thee, that thou art Peter (Petros),
and upon this Rock (Petra) I will build my church ; and the gates
of Hades shall riot prevail against it." Matt. 16 : i3— 18.
From Khan Minyeh we travel in two days to Banias,
stopping over night at 'Ain Mellahah, which abounds in
fresh water and vegetation. We were unable to visit
Safed, which has no Biblical interest, but is one of the
four sacred cities of the rabbinical Jews. It was visited
by a fearful earthquake, January 1, 1837, which is best
described by Dr. Thomson, who visited the scene of
destruction a few days after the calamity.*
* The Land and the Book, I. 427-432.

356 BIBLE LANDS.
We pass over the rough remains of an old Roman
caravan road from Egypt to Damascus, take a last look
at the shores of the Lake of Galilee, and turn our eyes
towards the mountains of Lebanon.
On the second day we come in sight of the Waters
of Merom, now called Lake Huleh, which has been
fully explored and described by Rob Roy. It is a trian
gular sheet of water, about four miles long and three and
a half miles broad, the apex being towards the south,
where the Jordan issues from it. With the exception of
the lake Phiala (Birket er-Ram), which has no outlet or
inlet, it is the smallest of the lakes of Palestine, which
increase in size from north to south. Near the waters
of Merom Joshua utterly defeated King Hazor and his
confederate kings, who assembled to attack him with a
vast multitude, with horses and chariots.* It was the
third and last decisive victory over the heathen Canaan-
ites, and secured Galilee to Israel. Our attention is
arrested by a caravan of fifty camels on their way from
Damascus to Jerusalem, and by a Bedawin village of
black tents, exhibiting the strange life of these wild chil
dren of nature.
The second place of interest is Dan and the lower
source of the Jordan. Scarcely any ruins mark the place,
but it still lives in the Arab name, Tell el Kady, i. e.,
the Hill of the Judge.f We rest there an hour under a
majestic oak, which has been compared to the venerable
*¦ Josh. 11 : 1-14.
t Kady corresponds to the Hebrew Dan, and to the former Phoenician
name Laish. Judg. 18 : 29.

CsESARHiA PHILIPPI. 357
oak of Mamre at Hebron, and listen to the murmur of
the famous river as it pours its fresh and abundant waters
through jungles of rank vegetation down to the rich plain
of Huleh. Dan is the northern boundary, as Beersheba
the southern boundary, of Palestine proper ; hence the
proverbial expression, "from Dan even to Beersheba,"
which from the time of the Judges has been in use to
this day, both in its literal and figurative sense.*
A delightful ride of an hour over a "park-like ver
dure, which casts a strangely beautiful interest over this
last recess of Palestine," brings us to Banias or C^esa-
RiEA Philippi. This is the best camping station before
crossing the Hermon to Damascus. It is the most
charming landscape in all Palestine, adorned with tropi
cal vegetation of flowers and trees, and musical with the
murmur of rivulets and cascades. It lies at the foot of
the monarch of Syrian mountains, which is seated
" On a throne of rocks in a robe of clouds,
With a diadem of snow."
Stanley calls Banias, for its situation, its exuberance of
water, its olive groves, and its view over the distant plain,
" a Syrian Tivoli." Here is the most picturesque of the
three sources of the Jordan. Here that sacred stream
gushes forth from the limestone rocks under an over
hanging cliff in several streams of clear, sparkling water,
to unite four miles below with the source at Dan, and,
after passing two lakes and the whole land of Palestine,
to find its grave in the Dead Sea — a type of our human
life, from the fresh hopes and aspirations of childhood
* Judg. 20 : 1 ; 1 Sam. 3 : 20 ; 2 Sam. 3:10; 17:11.

358 BIBLE LANDS.
and youth, through the bustling scenes, rapids, and wind
ings of manhood, to its termination in the mystery of
death, yet with pledges of the forgiveness of sins, of
regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and a resurrection to
life everlasting.
Banias blends the memories of many centuries and
several religions. It is the northernmost boundary of
Palestine, and the dividing line between the land of Israel
and the region of the Gentiles. It is probably the same
with Baal-Gad, included in Joshua's victories, who " took
all the land, even from the Mount of Halak that goeth up
to Seir, even unto Baal-Gad in the valley of Lebanon
under Mount Hermon."* It has its ancient Greek and
modern Arabic name from a sanctuary of Pan (Paneion,
Paneas), which still survives in a large cave with several
votive niches in the rocks. Philip the Tetrarch beautified
it with temples, villas, and palaces, and called it " Caesa-
rsea Philippi " in honor of Caesar Augustus and in dis
tinction from Caesarsea on the Mediterranean, where
Paul spent two years in prison. Under this Herodian
Roman designation it appears in the New Testament,
but it was afterwards changed into Caesaraea Paneas, and
back again into Banias.
The chief interest of the place is derived from the
visit of our Lord, the confession of Peter, the prophecy
concerning the Church, and the scene of transfiguration
which took place six days afterwards, probably on Mount
Hermon.f It was in view of the fountain of the Jordan
* Josh. II : 17 ; comp. 12:7 ; 13 : 5.
t See Chap. XXXIII.

C^ESARyEA PHILIPPI. 359
and of the immovable rocks of Mount Hermon, it was
on this boundary line between the Jews and the Gentiles,
that our Lord elicited the fundamental confession of the
Christian faith, and announced the building of his Church
universal, against which the gates of Hades shall never
prevail. His word to Peter is the exegetical rock of the
papacy, and has been more frequently quoted by popes,
from Leo I. to Leo XIII., than any other passage of the
Bible ; but they forget that soon afterwards Christ called
him " Satan " for minding " not the things of God but the
things of men."* Peter still entertained at that time car
nal views of the kingdom of God, as -if it were a kingdom
of this world. And what is the papacy but a carnal
anticipation of the kingdom of glory, when Christ shall
rule King of nations as he now rules King of saints in
his Church ? It is very significant that Mark, who wrote
under the inspiration of Peter, omitted the praise, but
recorded the censure ; and that Peter himself in his first
Epistle, as in prophetic foresight of the abuse of that pas
sage by his would-be successors, warns more earnestly
than any other apostle against hierarchical pride and
assumption. The eternal divinity of our Lord, as con
fessed by Peter in the name of the other apostles and of
the whole company of the faithful, is the immovable rock
of ages on which the Church is built.
The modern Arab village of Banias has about fifty or
sixty houses, built in part from old Roman ruins. A
rough bridge of antique pillars leads over the Jordan.
The Moslem inhabitants have a bad reputation ; two par-
* Matt. 16 : 23.

360 BIBLE LANDS.
ties of tourists, one preceding and one following us, were
robbed of watches and other valuables.
We must not omit to ascend to the Castle of Shu-
beibeh on the hill a little more than an hour from the
village. It is the most extensive architectural ruin in Pal
estine, as large as the Castle of Heidelberg, and affords
a magnificent view over the town, the hills of Bashan and
Galilee, and the upper valley of the Jordan. Its origin
and early history are unknown. It seems to combine
Phoenician, Roman, and Saracenic architecture. It was
taken and retaken during the Crusades. The Arab in
scriptions are from the thirteenth century.

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DAMASCUS. 361
CHAPTER XXXVII.
DAMASCUS.
Approach to Damascus— The Conversion of Paul
and. his wonderful Character— The Street called
Straight— Other Reminiscences— The Beauty and
Fertility of Damascus— The Inside of the City—
The House of a Jewish Banker — The Slave-
Market— The Great Mosque — Mohammedan Fa
naticism—The Massacre of I860 and its Result
— Abd el Kader— Protestant Missions in Damas
cus.
" I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things
contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this I also did
in Jerusalem : and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, hav
ing received authority from the chief priests ; and when they were
put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them
oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme ; and be
ing exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto
foreign cities. Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority
and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw
on the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me and them that journeyed with me. And
when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto
roe, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me ? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said,
Who art thou, Lord ? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou perse
cutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet : for I have appeared
unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness
both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in
which I will appear unto thee ; delivering thee from the people,
and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Bible LaudH. 3 1

362 BIBLE LANDS.
Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heav
enly vision: but showed first unto them of Damascus," and at Jeru
salem, and throughout all the country of Judsea, and then to the
Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works
worthy of repentance.'' Acts 26 : 9-20.
Damascus bursts upon the traveller from the desert
like an enchanting vision. It is an Eden of life and
beauty surrounded by death and desolation. The white
city is a diamond set in the dark green of fruitful gar
dens. No wonder that the Mohammedans regard it as
the earthly reflection of Paradise.
" This region surely is not of the earth ;
Was it not dropped from heaven ?"
As we approach this remarkable city, the uppermost
thought in our mind is the conversion of St. Paul, the
greatest man in the history of the Church. For it was
near Damascus, as he came from Jerusalem " breathing
out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of
the Lord," that the event took place which formed a turn
ing-point not only in his own life, but in the history of
the world. Here the most dangerous enemy of Chris
tianity was converted into its most powerful promoter ;
here the proud rabbi became a humble pupil of Jesus of
Nazareth, the zealot for the law a herald of the gospel,
the advocate of the letter that killeth a preacher of the
life-giving spirit. Laying his learning, his influence, his
prospects, his all, at the foot of the cross, he went forth,
lonely by land and lonely by sea, without money, without
friends, without family, but with the irresistible power of
a sublime faith and a holy life, sailing serenely like the

DAMASCUS. 363
sun above the clouds of trial and persecution, one against
the world and for the world, a conqueror of Jews and
Gentiles, of Greeks and barbarians, turning them from
the service of sin to the service of the living God. " In
journeyings often, in perils of water, in perils of rob
bers, in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by the
heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ; in
weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness;"
with "the care of all the churches" resting upon his
sympathizing heart; "troubled on every side, yet not
distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,
but not forsaken ; cast down, but not destroyed ; always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus ;"
satisfied. with the all-sufficient grace of God, his "strength
being made perfect in weakness," he fought "the good
fight," he "finished his course," he "kept the faith," and
carried away the unfading "crown of righteousness."* Was
there ever a moral hero more pure, more unselfish, more
devoted, more useful, more self-consistent, from his con
version in Damascus to his martyrdom in Rome ? Next
to Christ himself, St. Paul is perhaps the best personal
evidence and recommendation of the religion he preach
ed. His character and conduct are fireproof against
every assault, while his Epistles reveal one of the pro-
foundest and clearest thinkers that ever lived. The most
learned of modern skeptics (Dr. Baur pf Tubingen) con
fessed at the close of his life that he cquld not account
* 2 Cor. II : 26-28; 4:8-10; 12 : 9, 10; 2 Tim. 6:7, 8.

364 BIBLE LANDS.
for the conversion of Paul without the miracle of the
resurrection. A most significant concession. Here the
rationalistic, the mythical, and the legendary theories
utterly fail. The resurrection and personal appearance
of Christ are the only rational explanation of such a stub
born fact as the life and work of Paul, and his ever-ex
panding influence on the history of mankind.
An old tradition locates the conversion of the Jewish
rabbi at a distance of about five miles from the city,* at
a point where the direct road from Jerusalem crosses the
one from Banias and Kefr Hauwar, near an oasis and a
fountain, in view of the minarets of the city, the majestic
Hermon, and the bare ridge of the Antilebanon.
In the city itself the house of Ananias and the house
of Judas are still shown. " The street which is called
Straight," where Ananias was to inquire after Saul of
Tarsus, still bears that name. The window in the wall
is also pointed out through which Paul was let down in
a basket.f Considering the many changes which Da
mascus has undergone, it is of course impossible to rely
on these traditions, but there can be no doubt about the
general locality. -
The memory of Naaman, too, is perpetuated on the
* Dr. J. L. Porter says, ten miles southwest of the city, near a vil
lage called Kaukab. I made many inquiries on the spot, but the infor
mation was vague and confused. The tradition may not go beyond the
time of the Crusades, and has of course no critical value.
t 2 Cor. 11:32, 33: "In Damascus the governor under Aretas the
king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to appre
hend me: and through a .window in a basket was I let down by the wall,
and escaped liis hands."

DAMASCUS. 365
banks of the Abana in a leper hospital which occupies
the site of his house, " I have often visited it," says Dr.
Porter,* " and when looking on its miserable inmates all
disfigured and mutilated by their loathsome disease, I
could not wonder that the heart of the little Jewish cap
tive was moved by her master's sufferings."
Damascus is perhaps the oldest city in the world, and
has maintained its proud position as "the head of Syria"!
through the horrors of pillage and conflagration under
Syrian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Arab, and Turkish des
pots. It lay within the land of promise, which in its
widest sense extended " from the river of Egypt to the
river Euphrates ;" and David subjected it to his sceptre,
but only for a short period. £ It existed already nineteen
hundred years before the Christian era, in the days of
Abraham, whose trusted friend Eliezer hailed from there.§
Josephus traces its origin to Uz, the son of Aram, and
grandson of Shem.
But more remarkable than even its age is the beauty
of its situation. Damascus is called by its own poets
"The Pearl of the East," and "The Eye of the Desert."
It answers the Koran's description of Paradise, as an
orchard bearing delicious fruit ever ready to drop into
the mouth. The Damascenes believe that the Garden
of Eden was located here, and that the clay of which
Adam was formed was taken from the banks of the Aba-
* The Giant Cities of Bashan, p. 344. t Isaiah 7 :8.
X Gen. 15 : 18 (but comp. Numb. 34 : 7, 8; Josh. 13:5); 2 Sam. 8 : 5,
6; 1 Chron. 18 : 6; 1 Kings 11 : 24.
§ Gen. 15:2; compare 14:15. 31*

366 • BIBLE LANDS.
na. Fifteen miles north of Damascus, on a lofty cliff,
the reputed tomb of Abel, which measures thirty feet in
length, is shown !
The main source of the beauty and fertility of Da
mascus is the Barada (the Amana or Abana of the Scrip
tures, the Chrysorrhoas or Gold River of the Greeks), a
broad and deep stream which rushes down from the An-
tilebanon and along the north wall of the city, distributes
its blessings through innumerable channels to the gar
dens and houses, and then hides itself in a desert lake.
It is the life of Damascus, as the desert is its fortifica
tion. Well might Naaman the Syrian ask the messen
ger of Elisha, "Are not Abana (or Amana) and Pharpar
(A'waj), rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of
Israel ? May I not wash in them, and be clean ?"* This
river of life calls forth a luxuriant vegetation around the
city. The eye feasts upon the gardens of olives, walnuts,
apricots, pomegranates, poplars, cypresses, and palms,
arrayed in a rich variety of colors, the dark green, the
purple red, the silvery white.
The best view in the city itself can be obtained from
the minaret of the Great Mosque, and a more command
ing one from the barren hill Kasiun. Here Mohammed,
then a mere camel-driver from Mecca, stood in amaze
ment at the scene below, and turning away, without en
tering the city, he said, " Man can have but one paradise,
and my paradise is fixed above !" The guide of the
prophet exclaimed, " Here let me die !" A mosque called
" Kubbet en-Nilsr" is built on this hill in memory of the
* 2 Kings 5:12.

DAMASCUS. 367
visit of Mohammed, and contains the grave of his guide.
The English historian, Henry Thomas Buckle, who died
in Damascus, May 29, 1862, said, "This is indeed worth
all the toil and danger it has cost me to come here."
Dean Stanley writes, " There may be other views in the
world more beautiful; there can hardly be another at
once so beautiful and so instructive."
But the inside of Damascus is anything but a para
dise. In this case truly " distance lends enchantment to
the view," while "familiarity breeds contempt." The city
is a labyrinth of narrow, crooked, ill-paved, dirty streets,
where men, camels, donkeys, and dogs are crowding each
other and huddled together in inextricable confusion. I
saw a new-born donkey in the middle of the street. Car
avans come and go from Bagdad and Mecca. Merchants
sit and smoke and sip coffee in front of their shops and
bazaars. The women, veiled all over, move shyly along
like ghosts, wrapped up in a winding-sheet, and walking
on two feet encased in yellow shoes. The miscellaneous
mass of humanity in all kinds of picturesque costumes is
a striking and interesting sight, though it has lost its
novelty to one coming from Cairo, which, as a city, is
more cosmopolitan, as it is also three or four times larger.
The bazaars are famous for their treasures of silk, car
pets, saddles, silver and gold ornaments, turbans, slip
pers, blades, swords, and recall the words of Ezekiel ad
dressed to Tyre : " Damascus was thy merchant in the
multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude
of all riches."* There is but one good hotel in Damas-
* Ezekiel 27 : 18.

368 BIBLE LANDS.
cus, once kept by a Greek, Demetri, now by his widow,
near the starting-place of the French diligence. It is a
thoroughly Oriental house, with a refreshing fountain,
flowers, lemon and orange trees in the marble-paved
court, and is visited in the evening by venders of curios
ities, among whom a patriarchal-looking crafty Mussul
man attracted my attention. There are costly houses of
rich Moslems and Jews in Damascus, but the outside
is very forbidding, and you have to enter into the in
terior court through a dirty lane, sometimes through a
stable. I was admitted to the house of a wealthy Jewish
banker, who takes pleasure in showing his marble-paved
court and fountain and his luxuriously-furnished rooms
to strangers. When I read and translated the Hebrew
inscription on the door, and repeated some passages from
the Hebrew Psalter, he and his father and wife were
greatly delighted, and showed me every attention ; but
when, in answer to a question on the Eastern problem, I
said that my sympathies were with the oppressed Chris
tians, his countenance fell, and he exclaimed piteously,
" And such Christians !" He thought that the Ameri
cans ought to help the Jews in regaining Palestine. I
replied that their own Rothschild could buy the whole
country and not feel it. I learned afterwards that he
lent the Turkish government .£40,000, but can get no
interest, and will never see the principal.
A painfully interesting sight is the slave-market in
an old khan ; I saw, however, only one Nubian slave-
woman, shut up in a dark room and apparently anxious

DAMASCUS. 369
that we should buy her. Slavery and polygamy are twin
children of barbarism, and Mohammedanism has neither
the power nor the disposition to abolish them.
Damascus is said to contain 248 mosques and Mos
lem schools. By far the most interesting is the Great
Mosque, one of the four chief sanctuaries of Islam,
next to those of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. It
was first a temple of Jupiter, then a Christian basilica
dedicated to John the Baptist. It is said to contain his
head, and also the tomb of Saladin in strange combina
tion. It is a very imposing building, but poorly kept and
inferior in beauty to the new Mosque of Mohammed Ali
in Cairo. One of its four minarets is called Minaret of
Isa (lesus), and is believed to be the spot from which
Christ will judge the world. The Arab historian of Da
mascus, Ibn Asaker, says, "When Jesus comes to judge
the world, he will descend here and assemble in the
mosque Moslems, Christians, and Jews. Then the names
of the believers will be read from the great book of God,
and the Christians and Jews will learn to their amaze
ment that only Moslems are inscribed in the book of
life." But the same event is also to take place, accord
ing to another Mohammedan tradition, from the temple
area in Jerusalem over the valley of Jehoshaphat, where
all mankind shall be assembled before Jesus and Moham
med. This tribute to the dignity of Christ is remarkable.
Another curious fact is that on the outside of a wall
of the Great Mosque still stands over an ancient arch
the inscription in large Greek letters : " Thy kingdom,
O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion

370 BIBLE LANDS.
endureth throughout all generations."* The inscription
is a standing protest against Mohammedan usurpation
and a prophecy of the ultimate destiny of the building.
It is, however, not easy -of access. We had to reach it
over the Silversmith's Bazaar by means of a ladder, and
had to pay extra backsheesh for the trouble.
Damascus is the hotbed of Mohammedan fanaticism.
The white-turbaned and long-bearded Moslems mingle
curses on the Christian dogs with their prayers to Allah.
The burning hatred may break out at any time if not re
strained by fear of the consequences. Every Christian here
remembers the frightful massacre of July, i860, when at
least 2,500 adult male Christians were murdered in cold
blood without provocation. Abd el Kader, the Algerian ex-
chief, who still lives here in honorable exile, a vigorous old
man of seventy years, and who was visited by some of our
party, behaved nobly on that occasion, and with his Moor
ish retinue saved the lives of many hundreds, while the pa
sha and the Turkish officials did not move a hand. When
his own life was threatened,- the hero coolly mounted his
horse, drew his sword, and charged into the crowd of fu
rious fanatics, exclaiming, " Wretches ! Is this the way
you honor the Prophet ? May his curses be upon you !
Shame upon you, shame ! You will yet live to repent.
You think you may do as you please with the Christians,
but the day of retribution will come. The Franks will
vet turn your mosques into churches." The venerable
* 7} fiaoikua gov, Xpiore, fiaaiXeia ttuvtuv t<ji> aldvav, Teat 7 deonoTeia gov
iv irday yeveq. k.o.1 yeved. Psa. 145 : 13, Sept. ; the word Xpiare is an inter
polation.

DAMASCUS. 371
Rev. S. Robson, of the Irish Protestant mission, who was
here during those days of terror, and is here again filling
the place of Mr. Wright, gave me a description of the
infernal tragedy* His colleague, Rev. William Graham,
was treacherously murdered while attempting to save
another, and Mr. Robson himself was only spared by be
ing in the house of a Mohammedan. The Christian quar
ter still bears traces of the terrible destruction to which
it was then exposed. It is an honor to France that she
sent a corps of 10,000 men to Syria in the interest of hu
manity and Christianity. Since then the admirable road
from Beirut to Damascus was built by a French com
pany, and a daily diligence established. Since then a
Christian governor was secured for the Lebanon district,
to the great advantage of the people. Thus " the wrath
of man" was overruled for good.
It seems a hopeless task to plant Protestant Chris
tianity in such a place as Damascus. Nevertheless, the
thing has been done, and not altogether without result.
Since 1843 tne United Presbyterian Church of America
and the Presbyterian Church of Ireland have maintained
jointly a mission, with a church for converts from Jews
and Greek Christians, and with schools. The buildings
were burned during the massacre of i860, but have been
substantially rebuilt, chiefly by the munificence of an
English lady, Miss Eliza Bromfield. The Protestant
' community, was scattered, but is now larger than before
* See the accounts by Col. Churchill, and in Dr. Porter's Giant Cities
of Bashan, pp. 350 and 361. The lowest estimate there given of the num
ber of adult male Christians massacred in the villages of Damascus, Her
mon, and Antilebanon, in June and July, i860, is six thousand.

372 BIBLE LANDS.
the massacre. Worship is conducted twice every Sunday
in Arabic, and occasionally also in English for the bene
fit of travellers. The present missionaries are Mr. Craw
ford of America, and (temporarily) Mr. Robson of Ire
land. Mr. Crawford informed me that the Greeks have
been stirred up to greater zeal for education, and buy
many New Testaments in the Arabic version of Dr. Van
Dyck from the Protestant missionaries. Many of their
children and also a few Mohammedans visit their schools.
Besides this Presbyterian mission, there is an Episco
pal mission and chapel built by the London Society for
the Conversion of the Jews, the same which built Christ
Church in Jerusalem and several schools in Palestine. I
attended the English service (the last in the season), con
ducted by a converted German Jew. Among the hear
ers was the eccentric English Lady Ellenborough, who,
after trying two or three civilized Christian husbands,
married a Bedawin sheikh, with whom she is said to have
lived happily for twenty years. She owns a fine house
and garden in the city, but in former years she preferred
tent-life in the desert.
Adjoining the Episcopal chapel are several fine school
rooms, where boys and girls receive a Christian educa
tion. These schools were founded by the late Mrs. Thomp
son of Beirut, who has done so much good for the rising
generation of Syria.
These are small beginnings, but the time is riot far
distant when, as Abd el Kader prophesied, " the mosques
of Damascus will be turned into Christian churches."

BEIRUT. 373

¦CHAPTER XXXVIII.
BEIRUT.
Beauty, Prosperity, and Prospects of Beirut— Prog
ress since I860 — Influence of American and
English Missionaries — The Syrian Protestant
College — Presbyterian Missions— British Mission
Schools of Mrs. Thompson and Mrs. Mott —
Scotch Mission School — The Sisters of Kaisers-
werth — The Jesuits — Educational Statistics of
Beirut and Syria.
Beirut is the most — not to say the only — civilized
and prosperous city in Syria and Palestine. It is beau
tifully situated at the foot of the goodly Mount Lebanon,
which like an eternal wall protects it on the east, and
on the shore of the Mediterranean, which connects it
with all parts of the world. The rosy tint of the former
and the deep blue of the latter, form a picturesque con
trast. The scenery resembles that of Naples and Pa
lermo. The approach from the harbor, or from the
mountain over the Damascus road, is grand and impo-
ing. Old Lebanon looks like " an august monarch with
a diadem of stars around his snowy turban, with his head
in heaven and his feet upon the sea." The climate is
healthy, semi-tropical, and moderated by the sea-breeze.
The harbor is the best on the Syrian coast. Fifty years
ago the population did not exceed 5,000 ; now it amounts
to 80,000, of whom the majority are Christians, divided
into half-a-dozen sects — Orthodox Greeks, Papal Greeks,

374 BIBLE LANDS.
Maronites, Armenians, Protestants, etc. Then there was
hardly a decent house outside of the walls, and the mar
kets and shops depended for supplies on Sidon; now
two-thirds of the people reside in comfortable dwellings
and gardens in the charming suburbs, and Sidon is
wholly dependent on Beirut. The usual scenes of
Oriental beggary, misery, and filth, are not wanting;
but there is more energy, enterprise, and thrift here
than anywhere between Jerusalem and Damascus, not
excluding these cities. No city in Turkey has grown so
fast, and nothing can stop her further growth, especially
if she should be connected with the projected railroad to
the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf.
After the frightful massacre of i860, the Lebanon
district was placed under a Christian governor. Since
then, various improvements have been introduced. A
diligence road was built to Damascus by a French com
pany ; carriages came into use ; the British and Foreign
Water and Gas Works Company was organized, and
supplies the town with good water from the Dog river
(opened May, 1875). There are several printing-offices
(the American Protestant and the Jesuit are the largest),
Arabic newspapers, a bookstore, and two photographic
establishments. Mr. B. Bistanys, a convert of the Amer
ican Mission, and elder of the church (originally a Mar-
onite), whom I visited in his large and comfortable
house, has also a printing establishment, edits two jour
nals, semi-weekly and fortnightly, and has begun the
publication of an Arabic Universal Cyclopaedia, in six
teen volumes, based in part on Appleton's, with a sub-

BEIRUT. 375
scription list of from twelve to thirteen hundred. All
this speaks of progress in the stagnant East.
Ruskin calls Tyre, Venice, and England, the three
thrones which men have erected, beyond all others, to
mark their dominion over the sea. Of Tyre only the
memory remains; of Venice, the ruins; England " which
inherits their greatness, if it forget their example, may
be led through prouder eminence to less pitied destruc
tion."* But the day of England's downfall is yet afar
off, and Macaulay's New-Zealander, who, from a broken
shaft of London Bridge, is to sketch the ruins of St.
Paul's, is not yet born, and I hope he may never be
born. England's mission in the East has only begun.
May not Beirut through English and American influ
ence become a second and a better Tyre ? Its history goes
far back into antiquity, but its importance lies chiefly in
the future. The Berytus of the Phoenicians, Greeks, and
Romans, the Saracens and the Turks, will be far out
stripped by the Christian Beirut of the next generation.
Though "not mentioned in the Bible, or mentioned but
once,f it is already one of the missionary centres for
the revival of Bible Christianity in Bible Lands.
Among the chief instrumentalities for the develop-
* Stones of Venice, ch. I.
t Perhaps under the name Berothai, 2 Sam. 8 : 8. After the conquest
of Damascus David may have crossed over the Lebanon to her seaport.
The identity with Berothah, mentioned in Ezek. 47 : 16, as a northern
boundary of the land of Israel, is more doubtful. Some think that Baal-
berith, Judg. 8 : 33, was the god Baal of Beirut. Thomson is disposed to
derive the name from beer or well, " the City of Wells." Almost every
house in Beirut has a well. On the history of Beirut see Thomson, I.,
42, seq.

376 BIBLE LANDS.
ment of this city are the benevolent and literary institu
tions founded by foreign missionary zeal. They have
already done not a little towards the commercial growth
and secular prosperity of the place, and are destined to
do a great deal more.
First among them are the American Protestant insti
tutions under the care of the Presbyterian Board of For
eign Missions in New York. They are manned by a
noble band of Christian scholars, mostly graduates of
the Union and Princeton Theological Seminaries, who
would do honor to any church in any country. I knew
them before, and spent most of my time with them while
in Beirut. Dr. H. H. Jessup, Dr. Daniel Bliss, Dr. C. V
A. Van Dyck, Dr. George E. Post, Prof. James S. Den
nis, Prof. Edwin R. Lewis, and Prof. Hall are in good
health and spirits, and looking hopefully to a great fu
ture which is dawning on the East. The venerable Dr.
W. M. Thomson has returned to his native America, and
is preparing a new edition of his well-known work on
"The Land and the Book," with superior illustrations.
I heard Dr. Jessup preach an Arabic sermon (which I
did not understand) to a large and attentive native con
gregation, in the beautiful mission church built, by his
energy and zeal. A new mission chapel, with a native
pastor, has just been opened in the eastern part of the
city. I examined the adjoining American Female
Seminary, and the Printing Press and Bible Depository,
which sent forth in 1876 no less than 38,450 volumes
(or 13,786,980 pages) of Bibles, tracts, and other books,
including a series of text-books and juvenile works.

I E

' '\\i\ IT

^^ff'i

BEIRUT. 377
I visited " the Syrian Protestant College," which is
independent of the Mission, but grew out of it, and pro
motes its interest. It numbers over one hundred pupils
of different creeds and nationalities. Proselytism is not
attempted, but the Christian spirit and example of the
teachers tend to educate liberal Christian gentlemen.
The funds were collected in America and England. I
was delighted with the substantial buildings, which are
located on a prominence in the best part of the city, the
west end, and can be seen from afar. The college em
braces, besides the literary department, a Medical school,
an Observatory, a library, and a museum of natural
curiosities. The medical department, under the manage
ment of Dr. Post, commends itself to citizens of all
classes. Dr. Post, who is an. excellent practitioner as
well as teacher of the healing art, and a preacher of the
gospel, went to Constantinople in the same steamer with
us to secure government recognition of the status of the
Medical College, and its diplomas. He had the highest
recommendations to the Turkish Government from the
Governor of the Lebanon, whom he laid under obliga
tion by a successful surgical operation. Just then there
was great need of good physicians and surgeons for the
army. The Observatory is managed by Dr. Van Dyck,
who is an astronomer and physician, as well as an Arabic
Bible translator, and sends daily by telegraph meteo
rological observations to the Observatory of Constanti
nople.* * The faculty of this important and hopeful institution consists at
present of the following gentlemen, all Americans : Rev. Daniel Bliss,
32*

373 BIBLE LANDS.
At the time of my visit the Russo-Turkish war then
going on was the chief topic of conversation. The
American missionaries took a correct view of the East
ern problem, and expected good results from the war,
though they were not without anxiety as to its immediate
consequences, which might possibly compel them to sus
pend their labors for a season. They see that the ulti
mate mission field in the East are the Mohammedans,
and not the old Christian Churches, which ought to help
themselves ; and that the Mohammedans will not be
accessible till the downfall of the political power of the
Turks and of the supremacy of the Koran*
Beirut is the best base of operations for Eastern mis
sions. The entire Syrian Mission of the American Pres
byterian Board embraces according to the statistics of
1877, 29 American missionaries (12 men and 17 women),
135 native Syrian laborers, 68 preaching stations, 83
schools, 619 communicants, 3,925 Sabbath-school schol
ars. The principal stations outside of Beirut are Tripoli,
Abeih, Sidon, and Zahleh. I saw Rev. Rev. G. F. Dale
and Fred. W. March, graduates of Princeton, who labor
D. D., President, Rev. C. V. Van Dyck, M. D., D. D., Rev. George E.
Post, M. D., Rev. D. Stuart Dodge, M. A., Rev. John Wortabet, M. D.,
Rev. Edwin R. Lewis, M. D., Harvey Porter, B. A., with a corps of na
tive tutors.
* In this connection it may be proper to refer to the testimony of the
Earl of Beaconsfield who, in a dinner speech in the London Mansion-
House, given to the British Plenipotentiaries at the Berlin Congress,
called the American missionaries in the Turkish Empire, "men of the
highest principles, of even a sublime character, men who devoted their
lives to the benefit of their fellow-creatures, and sought no reward but the
approval of their own consciences." A testimony equally favorable was
borne to them several years ago by Lord Shaftesbury.

BEIRUT. 379
at the last-named place with youthful enthusiasm, and
feel greatly encouraged.
Besides these flourishing Presbyterian institutions,
the schools of Mrs. Mott, Miss Taylor, and the Deacon
esses of Kaiserswerth deserve most honorable mention.
Mrs, Mentor Mott, a very wealthy and accomplished
English lady, who built and occupies the finest house in
all Syria, on an elevated spot in a garden with a magnifi
cent view over the city, the sea, and the mountain, has
assumed the care and management of the " British Syrian
Schools and Bible Missions," which were founded by the
late Mrs. Bowen Thompson in i860, immediately after
the massacre of the Christians in Lebanon and Damas
cus. She kindly conducted me through these schools.
I was especially pleased with the singing of the pupils,
and with the reading of the English Scriptures by the
blind girls. The number of her schools in Beirut is
twelve, and of pupils about 1,500. They are supported
by voluntary contributions, and are independent of eccle
siastical control. Mrs. Mott is an Episcopalian, but
attends with her teachers and pupils the Presbyterian
Mission church of Dr. Jessup.
A Scotch lady, Miss Jessie Taylor, conducts a Board
ing and Day School for Moslem girls, which I was una
ble to visit, but heard well spoken of.
The Prussian Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth conduct
a female Boarding-school and Orphanage of about 200
pupils with admirable tact and zeal, and have also the
spiritual care of the Hospital of the (Prussian) Order of
the Knights of St. John. I was present at their May

3 So BIBLE LANDS.
festival which was celebrated with characteristic German
heartiness. The pupils and orphans represented nearly
all the races, sects, and colors of the East, and looked
contented and happy. I visited afterwards the school of
the Deaconesses at Smyrna and found it likewise a
model of cleanliness, order and devotion.
The Jesuits are also very active in Beirut in the in
terest of the Roman-Catholic church. They have re
ceived large reinforcements from Germany since their
expulsion from that country. They are just now issuing
a new Arabic translation of the Bible, evidently in oppo
sition to Dr. Van Dyck's translation, which is widely
circulated in the East. The Jesuit translation is a sig
nificant tribute to the value of the Protestant work. I
am told that it is made in the high Arabic, while Dr.
Van Dyck's is in the middle Arabic, which is more pop
ular and intelligible. No doubt it follows the Latin
Vulgate, to which every Roman-Catholic version of the
Scriptures must be conformed. It is illustrated by
pictures, and is too dear for general circulation : for in
the Roman Church the Bible is at best a book for the
clergy, but not for the people.
I leave Beirut with a hopeful view of the future.
The Presbyterian Board of Missions could not have
selected a better spot for its work in the East. Jerusa
lem, of course, is much nearer and dearer to the heart of
Christians, but is a more difficult field, and is already oc
cupied by the Church of England. There is an amicable
understanding between the Presbyterian and the Epis
copalian missionaries, that the former should labor in

BEIRUT.

38i

Syria, the latter in Palestine. The supporters of the
Palestine missions are largely interested in the conver
sion and restoration of the Jews, and wish to be near at
hand when the millennial kingdom shall be established.
There is an abundance of work for both, and they de
serve alike the sympathy and support of all Protestant
Christians. To give the reader an idea of the educational mission
work carried on in Beirut and neighborhood, we append
the statistics kindly furnished to me by Dr. Jessup.

BEIRUT SCHOOLS AT THE CLOSE OF 1877.

pq

Protestant schools, American, English, )
German, and native  J
Orthodox Greek --  
Papal (United) Greek 
Maronite (Roman-Catholic) -- 
Syriac   —
Jewish     
Jesuit   -  -- 
Sisters of Charity (Roman-Catholic) 
Sisters of Nazareth -  -  
Mohammedan  
Total 

15 3
10 1
3
14 4

116 33 11
25 2
7
29 18
23

761928 227
S20 80
125
1,024

S05

2,281 4^5

1,110 34o

3.042 1.353 227
820 80
I2S
1,024I,IIO 340
fc'05

93

295

4,770 4,156 8,926

STATISTICS OF GENERAL PROTESTANT AND EVANGELICAL WORK IN SYRIA AT
THE CLOSE OF 1877.

CO 00

NAMES OF SOCIETIES.

£; o

J3 O

E re

ba hi§

American Presbyterian Mission--  
Syrian Protestant College 
British Syrian Schools   
Church of Scotland Mission to the Jews 
Miss Taylor's Moslem Girls' schools 
Native Protestant School (Eastern quarter) 
Lebanon Schools of the Free Church of Scotland -- 
Anglo-American Friends' Society (Quaker)   
Society for Promoting Female Education in the East (English)
Mrs. Watson's School   -  
Mr. B. Bistany's National College 
Mr. Suleeby's School  - 
Prussian Deaconesses   
Irish Presbyterian Mission    
Church of England Mission to the Jews (in Damascus) 
Church Missionary Society (in the Hauran)  •
Reformed Presbyterian Mission (Latakiah) 
Total  - 

7S

135 7
75 9 5
2
33 15 22

33°

2,838 619
100

4060
130120

20
250

15°

15

2192 5°

39i 3.9°8l 794

83 3.925 i°3
2,844 624 196 60
1,024 345 63 2240
no

4
27 22 1
23 12 1 11
4 2
10 4 7

20T
4 200
400

1841 10,585

FAREWELL TO THE HOLY LAND, 383
CHAPTER XXXIX.
FAREWELL TO THE HOLY LAND.
General Impression — The Harmony between the
Land and the Book— Recapitulation of What I
Saw — Contrast between the Past and the Pres
ent—The whole Land a venerable Ruin— Pros
pects of a better Future— Farewell to Palestine.
" Those fields,
Over whose acres walked those blessed feet
Which, eighteen centuries ago, were nailed,
For our advantage, on the bitter cross.'' SHAKESPEARE.
At last I have fulfilled a long-cherished desire to see
with my own eyes and to tread with my own feet the
most sacred and the most classical land in the world.
My only regret is that I could not visit it twenty or
thirty years ago, to make earlier use of the experience
for Bible studies.
I have been neither favorably nor unfavorably disap
pointed. I found the country and the people pretty
much as I expected, but I trust I understand both better
than before. My faith in the Bible has not been shaken,
but confirmed. Many facts and scenes, which seem to
float ghost-like in the clouds to a distant reader, assume
flesh and blood in the land of their birth. There is a
marvellous correspondence between the Land and the
Book. The Bible is the best handbook for the Holy

3 S4 BIBLE LANDS.
Land, and the Holy Land is the best commentary on
the Bible*
We began our journey with Egypt, the cradle of the
people of Israel, and we found it still a " land of bond
age " under new masters, a smiling garden and a dreary
desert, covered with the colossal ruins of the Pharaohs.
We crossed the Red Sea, and got a better idea of the
miraculous passage of the Israelites. We followed their
course through " the great and terrible wilderness,'' and
learned to appreciate their trials, and the benefits of this
long training-school for their manhood. We stood on
Mount Sinai, the pulpit of Moses proclaiming the law of
God for all ages, and we were indelibly impressed with" the
adaptation of the awfully sublime scenery to the event
which took place there. We sat under the venerable oak
of Mamre, where the father of the faithful entertained his
celestial visitors, and we approached, not without some
danger from Moslem fanaticism, the threshold of the
Machpelah which conceals the mortal remains of the
patriarchs. We descended to the cave of Bethlehem
where the Saviour of the world was born, and we walked
over the fields where the shepherds heard the music of
angels singing, Glory to God and peace on earth. We
spent, with mingled feelings of joy and sadness, the Latin
and Greek Easter at Jerusalem, the queen of holy cities,
still enthroned on her hills, but a lonely widow, " with
dust on her forehead and chains at her feet." We walk-
* " L 'accord frappant des textes et des lieux, la merveilleuse harmonie
de Videal fvangtlique avec le paysage qui lui servit de cadre furent pour moi
comme une rive'lation.'" Renan.

FAREWELL TO THE HOLY LAND. 385
ed about Sion, we marked her bulwarks, we considered
her palaces, and we found her still " beautiful for situa
tion, the joy of the whole earth" on account of the won
derful things said and done and suffered there for the
benefit of mankind. We wept in Gethsemane, where
Jesus, overwhelmed with the load of the sins of the world,
was " exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ;" and we re
joiced on Mount Olivet, where he ascended to his throne
of ever-present and all-sufficient grace. We wandered
through the ruins of Bethany, where Lazarus and the
sisters entertained their divine Lord and witnessed his
power over death and the grave. We looked from the
heights of Neby Samwil over the battlefield of Gibeon
and Beth-horon, the Plain of Sharon, and the orange-
groves of Jaffa. We floated on the salt waters of the
Dead Sea, in full view of the mountains of Moab, where
Jehovah " kissed Moses to death," after showing him the
beauties of the Land of Promise. We took a refreshing
bath in the swift-flowing waters of the Jordan at the tra
ditional site of the baptism of Christ. We spent a night
at Jericho, and barely escaped " falling among robbers."
We rested on a stony bed at Bethel, dreaming the dream
of Jacob, and seeing the shining staircase of prayer and
faith that leads even from the humblest spot on earth to
the throne of grace. We saw the ruins of Shiloh, which
once sheltered the Ark of the Covenant. We sat on Ja
cob's Well, where our Lord, weary of travel, but not of
his work, offered to a poor woman the water of life, which
has since quenched the thirst of innumerable souls. We
ascended the ruins of the temple on Mount Gerizim,
Bi'. le Lanus. bu

386 BIBLE LANDS.
where the paschal sacrifice is still offered from year to year,
according to the letter of the Mosaic law, by the small
remnant of the Samaritan sect. We rode over the fruitful
fields and hills of Samaria through which Jesus passed on
his annual visits to Jerusalem, scattering flowers of holy
thoughts and deeds on the way. Our eyes feasted on
the Plain of Esdraelon, so often reddened with blood, and
spread out like a green carpet of waving grainfields. We
drank from the Fountain of Gideon, and heard his battle-
cry ringing through the air, " The sword of the Lord and
of Gideon." We lamented, in view of Mount Gilboa, with
David the death of Jonathan, whose love to him was
" wonderful, passing the love of women." We lunched
at Nain, where our Lord comforted a widow by raising
her only son from the dead. We spent a memorable
Sabbath in Nazareth, where the Saviour of the world
lived thirty years in quiet waiting and preparation for his
work, misunderstood by his own townsmen and kindred.
We ascended the lovely Tabor, and the lofty Hermon,
where Christ revealed his glory to Moses and Elijah and
his beloved disciples. We rode on the lonely banks and
sailed on the blue waters of the Lake of Gennesaret, so
beautiful even in its desolation, so hallowed by the foot
steps of the Master,
" Most human and yet most divine,
The flower of man and God."
We made our way through thistles and briers to the ru
ins of Tell Hum, and saw the broken columns of the syn
agogue once resounding with words that will never die.
We camped at Caesaraga Philippi, and confessed with Pe-

FAREWELL TO THE HOLY LAND. 387
ter, " Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words
of eternal life. And we know and are sure that thou art
the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Palestine is a library of revelation engraved on stones.
The mountains and hills, the lakes and rivers, the caves
and rocks are alive with Biblical stories. The meanest
spot records some deep thought or noble deed that in
spires the best of men to this day. It is still the old Ca
naan, " In all the imploring beauty of decay."
But in no country is the contrast between the gloria
ous past and the miserable present so startling and sad.
Take away the ideal element, and the charm is gone.
The whole land is a venerable ruin. It is hardly worth
visiting except for its reminiscences. Yet even in these
ruins it confirms the truth of prophecy. "I beheld, and
lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities
thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord,
and by his fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said,
The whole land shall be desolate ; yet will I not make a
full end."* " Upon the land of my people shall come up
thorns and briers  until the Spirit be poured upon us
from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field."!
When shall the Lord " bring again the captivity of
Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places" ?
When will the holy city again be " budded upon her own
heap"? When will "the voice of joy, and the voice of
gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of
the bride" again be heard in her palaces, singing, " Praise
* Jer. 4 : 26, 27. t Isaiah 32 : 13, 15.

388 BIBLE LANDS.
the Lord of hosts ; for the Lord is good and his mercy
endureth for ever" ? When shall " the wilderness and
the solitary place be glad, and the desert rejoice and
blossom as a rose" ? When shall "waters break out in
the wilderness and streams in the desert" ? When will
" the ransomed of the Lord return, and come to Zion
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads" ?
" The mills of God grind slowly, but surely and won
derfully fine." Deus habet suas horas et moras. But a
thousand years for him are as one day. And his promise
can never fail.
Palestine needs for its regeneration a good govern
ment, an industrious population, capital, and a better re
ligion, even the religion of the Bible, which sprung from
its own soil and is now almost unknown. The Turkish
government does not even fulfil the first duty of all gov
ernment — the protection of life and property. It is no
government at all, but a system of heartless oppression
and incurable corruption. There is no justice and hon
esty in officials, no encouragement to till the soil, to build
houses, to construct roads, to carry on commerce, to es
tablish manufactories. The country is systematically
impoverished, the people drained of its best men by con
scription, kept in utter ignorance, and ground down by
taxation till every vestige of manhood and every hope of
improvement are crushed .out of them.
But nature cannot be destroyed. The plains of Phi-
listia, of Sharon, of Esdraelon, of Gennesaret, and the
Hauran, though overgrown with weeds and overrun by
the wild Bedawin, are still there as fertile as ever. The

FARE WELL TO THE HOL Y LAND. 389
lakes and the rivers and the fountains are there as abun
dant as ever. The hills and mountains, though denuded
of forests, are there as lofty as ever. The same abun
dance of flowers adorns the earth in spring as when the
Saviour drew lessons from the lilies of the field. And
what the indolent Turks will never do, the industry and
zeal of foreigners will do, and make Palestine once more
a land of promise " flowing with milk and honey," where
every man may " sit under his own vine and fig-tree."
The process of regeneration has already begun. We
see the small but hopeful tokens of a better future in the
carriage-road from Jaffa to Jerusalem (the only one so
far in Palestine), in the orange and olive groves of recent
planting, in the German colonies of Jaffa, Haifa, and Je
rusalem, in the fine houses, gardens, chdrches, schools,
and orphanages which the missionary zeal of foreign
Protestants has established in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and
Nazareth. Nor ought we to overlook the significant fact
of the increasing immigration of the Jews, which was
stimulated by the liberal benefactions of Rothschild and
Montefiore, and will be still more encouraged by the
coup d'etat of one of their own blood who sits at the
helm of Queen Victoria's government. The Turkish
misrule is approaching its downfall, and will give way to
a new order of things. The old ruins need not be swept
away by the tide of civilization, but should be carefully
kept and restored, like the English and Scotch abbeys
and cathedrals which perpetuate the memory of the ven
erable past amid the fresh life of the present.
With these hopes of a brighter future we bid fare-
33*

39°

BIBLE LANDS.

well to the Holy Land, and board the Austrian steamer
in the beautiful harbor of Beirut on our homeward course
to Europe and America.
" Thou land of Judaea ! thrice hallowed of song,
Where the holiest of memories pilgrim-like throng ;
In the shade of thy palms, by the shores of thy sea,
On the hills of thy beauty, my heart is with thee.
" With the eye of a spirit I look on that shore,
Where pilgrim and prophet have lingered before ;
With the glide of a spirit I traverse the sod
Made bright by the steps of the angels of God.
" I tread where the Twelve in their wayfaring trod;
I stand where they stood with the Chosen of God,
Where his blessing was heard and his lessons were taught,
Where the blind was restored and the healing was wrought.
" Oh, here with his flock the sad Wanderer came ;
These hills he toiled over in grief are the same ;
The founts where he. drank by the wayside still flow,
And the same airs are blowing which breathed on his brow !

'But wherefore this dream of the earthly abode
Of Humanity clothed in the brightness of God ?
Were my spirit but turned from the outward and dim,
It would gaze, even now, on the presence of Him !
" Beloved of the Father, thy Spirit is near
To the meek and the lowly and penitent here ;
And the voice of thy love is the same even now
As at Bethany's tomb or on Olivet's brow.
" Oh, the outward hath gone ! but in glory and power
The spirit surviveth the things of an hour;
Unchanged, undecaying, its Pentecost flame
On the heart's secret altar is burning the same !" WHITTIER.

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 39!
CHAPTER XL.
THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST.
The East a Vast Mission-field for the "West— A Mys
tery of Providence — The Rise and Fall of Mo
hammedanism — The Crusades — Moral Regener
ation of Bible Lands — Missionary Churches and
Schools — The Labors of the American Board in
Turkey — The Bible-House, Female Seminary,
and Robert College in Constantinople — The
Christianization of Moslems — The Berlin Con
gress and Anglo-Turkish Convention — Prospects
of the Future.
The lands of the Bible are a vast mission-field, which
must be conquered with spiritual weapons for Christ and
Christian civilization by the Western nations, in dis
charge of a debt of gratitude for the blessings received
from them. Providence has prepared the way for this
moral regeneration by a series of political changes, as
the first introduction of Christianity was preceded by
Greek letters, the conquests of Alexander, and the laws
of the Roman Empire. Once Europe called upon Asia,
"Come over and help us!" Now the same cry comes
from Asia and Africa to Europe and America.
It is one of the great mysteries of Providence that
the fairest portions of the earth, the native lands of clas
sical literature and the Christian religion, should have
fallen under the ruinous sway of a semi-barbarous race.

392 BIBLE LANDS.
Mohammed must have been far more than an ignorant
camel-driver and common impostor, to become the ruler
of a hundred and sixty millions of consciences, and to
supplant the cross by the crescent in Africa, Asia, and
even a large part of Europe. He had the providential
mission to destroy the gross idolatry of heathen nations,
and to punish the refined idolatry of Christian churches
which had practically forgotten the first and second com
mandments. The fundamental truth that God alone is
great and worthy of the worship of his creatures, under
lies the fanaticism of the Moslems, and was the moral
factor of their success. This intensely earnest monothe
ism, combined with fatalism, sensualism, and fearless
bravery, was confronted with a Church weakened by un
fruitful disputes and torn by internal dissensions. The
Turk would never have struck his tent in Europe but for
the hierarchical rivalry between the Pope of Rome — who
would rather see the progress of Islam than the triumph
of the Greek schism — and the Patriarch of Constantinople,
who cared more for the metaphysical procession than the
practical work of the Holy Spirit, and abhorred the Latin
Filioque as the worst of heresies and an unpardonable
sin. This unhappy quarrel turned the mediaeval Crusades
into a magnificent failure, a waste of blood and treasure,
of bravery and chivalry, of devotion and enthusiasm. The
Crusaders sought Christ on earth and among the dead,
and, imitating their enemies, endeavored to accomplish
by the sword what can be accomplished only by the
spirit. If the East is to be regenerated and the Mohamme-

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 393
dans are to be converted, it must be done, as in the be
ginning, by the might of truth, by doctrine and example,
by a republication of the gospel of Christ. This process
is slow but sure. " For truth is truth, since God is God,
And truth the day must win ;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin."
It is a remarkable fact that the first impulse to this
spiritual and bloodless crusade of faithful preaching and
holy living came from the farthest West which has no
political interest in the East. The pioneers of moral
reform in the Turkish Empire are a noble band of Amer
ican scholars and missionaries, of whom the Earl of
Shaftesbury said in i860: "I do not believe that in the
whole history of missions — I do not believe that in the
history of diplomacy, or in the history of any negotiation
carried on between man and man — we can find anything
to equal the wisdom, the soundness, and the pure evan
gelical truth of the men who constitute the American
mission. I have said it twenty times before, and I will
say it again — for the expression appropriately conveys
my meaning — that they are a marvellous combination of
common sense and piety."
The missionary work in the East began very nearly
fifty years ago among the old Oriental sects of the Arme
nians, Nestorians, and Copts, which have been providen
tially preserved in a petrified state through trials and
persecutions of centuries. From them it gradually ex
tended to the Orthodox Greeks, the United or Papal

394

BIBLE LANDS.

Greeks, the Maronites (who are Papists but with a mar
ried priesthood and a Syriac liturgy), and the Bulgarians
(who occupy an independent position between the Greek
and Roman Churches). The Latin Catholics are least
accessible, because they have more vitality and western
support, and are closely watched by the Franciscans and
Jesuits, who display their usual zeal in all the holy places
and wherever there is an opening for them.
The mission work is amicably divided (since 1843)
among three leading Protestant denominations, differ
ing in church polity, but agreed in the same faith. The
Presbyterians labor in Egypt, Syria, and Persia, among
Copts, Armenians, Greeks, Maronites, and Nestorians ;
the Church of England, in Palestine, among Jews and
Greeks ; the Congregationalists, in Turkey proper,
among Armenians, Bulgarians, and — as far as possible —
also among Turks. Besides these Anglo-American mis
sions, the cause of evangelical Christianity is promoted
by the Chrischona Brethren of Basle, the "Jerusalems-
Verein " of Berlin, and the Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth,
who administer comfort to the sick of all nationalities
and creeds, and devote special attention to the training of
orphans. At first the object of the American missionaries was
to reform the native churches from within on their own
historic basis, beginning with the priesthood. But expe
rience forced them to change their policy. The hostility
of the priesthood expelled the converts, as the Jewish
synagogue had expelled the apostles, and the Romish
hierarchy the reformers. Nevertheless the Prostestant

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 395
missions have indirectly benefited those old churches by
stimulating them to greater zeal for education and reli^
gion. The flourishing schools of the venerable Dr. and
Mrs. Hill in Athens (American Episcopalians), which
are still conducted on the conservative principle of non
interference with the Greek Church, are working as a
wholesome leaven within that Church. But no Protestant
churches could be organized on this principle within
another church of a different creed and discipline. Since
the separation, the number of Protestant congregations
of native converts and their offspring has been steadily
on the increase.
Of equal, and even of greater importance, are the
missionary schools and seminaries of learning which train
up a new generation, and are accessible to all nationali
ties and creeds. Of course, no direct attempt at conver
sion can be made in these schools, but it is hoped that
the good principles and example of the teachers will tell
upon the life of the pupils.
We have spoken of the Presbyterian and Episcopal
missions in former chapters, but must add a few words
on the equally important and equally flourishing missions
of the American Congregationalists, under the direc
tion of the American Board of Commissioners of For
eign Missions in Boston. They have achieved great suc
cess among the Armenians — the Yankees of the East —
who are specially adapted to a simple, intelligent, enter
prising, self-supporting, and self-governing type of evan
gelical Protestantism, similar to that of New England.
The centre of the Congregational missions is Constanti-

395 BIBLE LANDS.
nople, as Beirut and Cairo are the centres of the Presby
terian, and Jerusalem is the centre of the Episcopal mis
sions. From that centre the operations extend westward
in European Turkey, and eastward in Asia Minor. There
is scarcely an important town in Turkey without a Prot
estant community, which exerts a healthful influence
upon the surroundings. The American Board has spent
from the start till 1878 about five million dollars on the
mission work in Turkey. It has sent out and commis
sioned in all 384 American ordained and native mission
aries ; 116 are now in the field, including 28 women
devoted to the elevation of their own sex. The number
of organized churches is 86, of preaching stations 275,
with an average attendance on the Sabbath of 25,000;
the communicant membership amounts to over 5,000.
The most prominent among the missionaries who have
been trained in Andover, Yale, Union, and other Ameri
can seminaries, and labored or are still laboring in Tur
key, are Goodell, Hamlin, Schauffler, Schneider, Dwight,
Riggs, the brothers Bliss, Wood, Powers, Pratt, Wheeler,
Washburn, Trowbridge, and others. The missionaries
preach, teach, translate the Bible into the popular tongues
of the East, and issue newspapers and illustrated month
lies for children and adults, in the Armenian, the Armeno-
Turkish, Graeco-Turkish, and Bulgarian languages. The
Bulgarian newspaper has more subscribers (3,000) than
any newspaper in Constantinople.
Besides these church missions, we must mention the
educational institutions, which are independent of the
Board, but have grown out of its labors, and afford the

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 397
greatest indirect help to the mission. Most prominent
among them are three noble institutions in Constantino
ple : the Bible-House in Stamboul, the Female Seminary
in Scutari, and Robert College in Bebek on the Bosphorus.
What strikes the visitor at once is the admirable selection
of location, in which the Congregationalists have shown
as much tact and taste as the Presbyterians in Beirut,
and the Anglicans on Mount Sion. A prominent and
convenient location is a perennial attraction and the best
advertisement. A battery in a good position may do
great execution, while in a bad position it will only waste
ammunition. This the Jesuits and Roman Catholics
know well, and they act accordingly wherever they ad
vance and take a prominent foothold.
The Bible-House is located in the busiest portion of
Stamboul, not far from the lower bridge over the Golden
Horn, and is a substantial and convenient building, from
which are issued Bibles, religious tracts, and religious
and educational works in all the languages used in Tur
key. It forms the headquarters of the missionaries and
their friends. I attended a very solemn communion ser
vice held in an upper room at the anniversary meeting of
the Bulgarian missionaries, who are doing a noble work
among that interesting people. Several ministers from
America and Ireland were present, and made brief
addresses. The Female Seminary, under the direction of Mrs.
Williams, lies on a commanding height above the Arme
nian church in Scutari, and affords a thorough Christian
education for a reasonable price.
niw.a Landa 0±

393 BIBLE LANDS.
Robert College, so called after its generous found
er in New York, stands on a commanding height at
Bebek, about an hour from Constantinople, with a mag
nificent view over the European and Asiatic shores of
the Bosphorus. It was a master-stroke of policy to select
this spot, and it required all the shrewdness, ingenuity,
energy, and perseverance of Dr. Hamlin, its first Presi
dent, and the backing of Admiral Farragut with the
American fleet, to secure it. The house, built under Dr.
Hamlin's direction, is fire-proof, and admirably adapted
for its use. It can accommodate about 250 pupils. The
Board of Instruction embraces fifteen teachers, chiefly
Americans. Dr. George Washburn is the Director, Dr.
Albert L. Long (formerly a Methodist missionary in Bul
garia), Professor of Natural Sciences. Besides the usual
branches of a college course, no less than eight langua
ges are taught — English, Latin, Armenian, Bulgarian,
French, German, Greek, and Turkish. The number of
students which formerly reached 220, has diminished, in
consequence of the war and the hard times, to 115, but
will no doubt soon rise again. They come from all parts
of Turkey, and represent all its nationalities and reli
gions. Care is taken to avoid sectarian teaching, but the
Bible is read every morning, and explained every Sunday.
It was my privilege, with Bishop Marvin of the Southern
Methodist Church, to address the students after the reli
gious exercises, and I scarcely ever heard more hearty
responses to what was said about the importance of a
good Christian education. Robert College is worthy of
all confidence. It affords the best English education

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 399
that can be obtained in Turkey, and is destined to exert
a growing influence on the future destinies of that em
pire. It will, no doubt, gradually expand into a complete
Bosphorus University.
Great as the result of the mission work in Turkey has
been, considering the difficulties, discouragements, and
persecutions, it is but the beginning of a much greater
work of the future. The Protestant congregations of
converts from older Christian churches and sects are the
entering wedge for the conversion of the Mohamme
dans who are the true ultimate mission field of. the
East. It is not probable that the Moslems will ever become
Greek or Roman Catholic, whom they abhor as semi-
idolaters on account of their Mariolatry, saint-worship,
and image-worship, and whom they have kept in a state
of degrading servitude for so many centuries. The Ori
ental sects are out of the question, for they have no vital
ity, no missionary zeal. But there is a strong probabil
ity that a large number of Moslems will embrace the
Protestant faith, with such modifications, of course, as
are inevitable from the radical difference of nationality
and deep-seated habits. Protestantism exhibits to them
a new and more congenial type of Christianity, a simpler
and more spiritual mode of worship, and a higher educa
tion than either the Greek or Latin Church ; and it ap
proaches them from England and America in the distant
west without the hateful traditions of bloody wars and
crusades. It is an encouraging and significant sign that

4oo BIBLE LANDS.
the Protestant missionaries and schools are highly es
teemed by them, and to some extent even patronized for
their secular advantages, and that the sale of Arabic and
Turkish Bibles is steadily increasing among them.
If once brought under the humanizing and sanctify
ing power of the pure gospel the Moslems may become as
good Christians as most other nations. The Arabs and
Turks — different in race but united in religion — are now
ignorant, fanatical, sensual, polygamous, and ferocious
semi-barbarians, but not without the redeeming qualities
of bravery, simplicity, temperance, truthfulness, cour
tesy, and hospitality, to which may be added a singular
kindness to their favorite animals — -the horse, the camel,
and the dove. Their noble physique is worthy to be the
tent of a noble spirit. Conversion to Christianity would
emancipate them from their vices and strengthen their
virtues by associating them with the higher Christian
graces. Heretofore no Mohammedan has been allowed to
change his religion without incurring the death penalty,
which the Koran enjoins upon all apostates. The liberty
granted to foreign missionaries was only liberty to prose
lyte among their fellow-Christians, on the principle divide
et impera, but not from any conception of the liberty of
conscience as an inherent right of man for which he is
responsible to God alone. The Hatti Humayoun (Impe
rial Edict, also called Hatti Shenf "or Sacred Edict)
which was wrested from the Sultan by his Christian
allies after the Crimean war in 1856, abolished the death
penalty, but was a dead letter, at least outside of Con-

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 401
stantinople. A few dozen Turks were secretly baptized,
but an open profession of Christianity brought on per
secution and exile. Real liberty of conscience and open
access to the faith of the Moslems can only be secured
by such a humiliation of the Turkish power as will sub
ject it completely to the mercy of Christian Europe, and
break down the supremacy of the Koran.
This has been done by recent events, and will ulti
mately prove the greatest blessing to the Arabs and
Turks themselves. For nothing does a proud nation, as
a proud individual, so much good as a thorough humilia
tion, which compels it to reflect, to repent, and to reform.
Russia, under the sense of a providential rnission, as well
as with a natural desire for more territory on the Dan
ube and the Black Sea, undertook to punish the " un
speakable" Turk for his late shocking atrocities against
Christian men, women and children, and the accumulated
guilt of centuries, and victoriously approached the very
gates of Constantinople, when England, always jealous
of the progress of Russia, and afraid of her supposed de
signs upon British India, interposed with her powerful
navy, and threatened war for the protection of the Sul
tan, or rather for British interests. But counsels of mod
eration fortunately prevailed, and a Congress of states
men finished in peace the bloody work of war, and saved
the contending nations a waste of millions of treasure
and armies of men.
The Berlin Congress of July, 1878, marks an im
portant epoch in the affairs of Turkey. Its international
treaty is the greatest triumph of modern diplomacy and
34*

402 BIBLE LANDS.
perhaps the best settlement of the intricate Eastern prob
lem which the political wisdom of Europe, under the presi
ding genius of Prince Bismarck, could make at this time.
It is a vast improvement on the Paris Treaty of 1856
and the London Treaty of 1871. We may regret the
division of Bulgaria and the neglect of the claims of
Greece to the adjoining Hellenic provinces and the isl
and of Crete. We may regret that the Congress did not
make clean work of European Turkey, and place the
whole of it under native Christian self-government, or
divide it among the adjoining European powers. Euro
pean Turkey had been fairly conquered by Russia, and
the Turk had long lost all claim over territories which
he ruled only to ruin. It is a just retribution of history
that he who conquers by the sword shall in turn be con
quered by the sword. But, considering the complication
of interests and the jealousies of governments, which,
though Christian in name, are all selfish in fact, and un
fortunately controlled by their pockets, rather than their
conscience, we must overlook minor defects in view of
the great substantial gain.
The principle of religious liberty achieved a remark
able triumph in the Berlin Treaty. It is expressly se
cured to the several newly-organized provinces, and espe
cially also to the subjects of the remaining dominions of
the Sultan, in Article 62, which reads as follows :
" The Sublime Porte, having expressed the wish to maintain the
principle of religious liberty, and give it the widest scope, the con
tracting parties take note of this spontaneous declaration. In no
part of the Ottoman Empire shall differences of religion be alleged

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 403
against an individual as a ground for exclusion or incapacity as
regards the discharge of civil and political rights, admission to the
public service, functions, and honors, or the exercise of the differ
ent professions and industries. All persons shall be admitted, with
out distinction of religion, to give evidence before the tribunals.
Liberty and the outward exercise of all forms of worship are assured
to all, and no hindrance shall be offered, either to the hierarchical
organization of the various communions, or to their relations with
their spiritual chiefs. Ecclesiastics, pilgrims, and monks of all
nationalities travelling in Turkey in Europe or Turkey in Asia shall
enjoy the same rights, advantages, and privileges. The right of
official protection by the diplomatic and consular agents of the
Powers in Turkey is recognized both as regards the above-mention
ed persons, and their religious, charitable, and other establishments
in the holy places and elsewhere. The rights possessed by France
are expressly reserved, and it is well understood that no alterations
shall be made in the status quo in the holy places. The monks of
Mount Athos, of whatever country they may be natives, shall be
maintained in their former possessions and advantages, and shall
enjoy, without an exception, complete equality of rights and pre
rogatives." This is all that the American missionaries and the
American branch of the Evangelical Alliance have peti^
tioned for, and all that Christian missionaries of any sect
can reasonably desire. Liberty is substituted for mere
toleration, and liberty is solemnly guaranteed by treaty.
It is true the individual right to change one's religion
with impunity, and the right of missionary propaganda
by peaceful moral agencies (without which Christian
ity itself would never have made much progress), is
not mentioned, but it seems to be implied in " the prin
ciple of religious liberty in the widest scope'.' Yet here
is just the point where great wisdom and caution will be
necessary for some time, until a change in public senti-

404 BIBLE LANDS.
ment will force the Turkish authorities to give the phrase
this liberal construction.
The Anglo-Turkish Treaty, though no work of the
Berlin Congress, but a secret side-stroke of policy in
the interest of England as a protection against Russia, is
the most important part of the recent settlement as re
gards Asiatic Turkey, which is thereby placed under the
protectorate of England, with the island of Cyprus (the
home of Barnabas and of Sergius Paulus, the first Chris-
ian ruler), as a base of operations. I would rather see
the Czar on the throne of Constantinople than the Sul
tan, for he represents a progressive and civilizing power
whose superiority is well typified by the contrast between
young Petersburg, risen from the swamp in a forbidding
climate to the position of one of the finest capitals of
Europe, and old Constantinople mouldering on the smi
ling shores of the Bosphorus between two continents and
two seas. Alexander II. must be counted among the
best of Russian sovereigns, and, as the emancipator of
twenty-three millions of serfs and protector of the Greek
Church, he would have brought liberty at least to the vast
majority of Christians in Turkey.* But I greatly prefer
the constitutional sceptre of England to the despotic
government of Russia, which tolerates or persecutes Ro-
* I may remark here incidentally that Prince Gortchakoff emphati
cally assured the international deputation of the Evangelical Alliance at
Friedrichshafen, in 187 1, and authorized the spokesman of the deputation
to publish it to the world, that his " august master and himself are cor
dially in favor of religious liberty, and will do all in their power to pro
mote it as far as practicable in Russian dominions." See the Report of
the American Alliance Deputation to Russia. New York, 187 1.

THE REGENERATION OF THE EAST. 405
man Catholics and Protestants as the interests of the
State and of the Greek Church may seem to require.
England is everywhere, at home and abroad, the friend
and protector of civil and religious liberty, as well as
material progress, and allows fair play to missionary ac
tivities, without distinction of sect. She has moreover
shown a wonderful skill and success in planting colonies
and ruling heathen and Mohammedan races. Her rule
in India, no matter how acquired, has been a blessing to
the Hindoos, giving them peace and prosperity, and with
out interfering with their religion, has opened the way
for the orderly introduction of Christianity. Her mo
tives in concluding the secret convention with Turkey
may have been purely selfish ; but it is an undoubted
fact that the interests of England are identical with the
interests of constitutional freedom and an enlightened
civilization. Wherever the British flag waves, there is
security of life and property and the rights of men, there
is freedom of speech and of the press, there is vigorous
and honest administration of justice, there is commercial
prosperity, there is the literature cf Shakespeare and
Milton, there we find an open Bible and a free pulpit,
the purity and dignity of woman, and the blessings of a
Christian home.
Viewed from this point of view, the English protecto
rate of Turkey, which may result sooner or later in an
nexation, promises to be in the end as great a benefit to
the Turks and Arabs as England's reign in India has been
to the Hindoos. She has indeed assumed an enormous
responsibility and a most difficult task. It will tax all her

406 BIBLE LANDS.
capital and energy to lift Turkey out of the chaotic
confusion and bankruptcy in which she is left after an
exhaustive war. But she is better fitted for the task
than any other government on earth, and she will have
the hearty sympathy and cooperation of all true friends
of those classic lands now fearfully prostrated, but des
tined to see a day of resurrection to new life.
It may be doubted indeed whether the Turk can be
truly reformed without ceasing to be a Mohammedan.
In the transforming process he must become either an
infidel or a Christian. We hope and pray that before
long he will transfer his allegiance from the false prophet
of Mecca to the true Prophet of Nazareth.

MEANING OF ARABIC WORDS.

Abu  -  Father.
'Ain (Hebrew En), plural 'Ayun  Fountain.
Allah  --  -  God.
Amerikani, Amelikani  American.
'Arabi —  —   Arabic.
Bab   -  --Door, gate.
Badiye  Desert.
Bahr    Sea.
Bakshish  Gift, present.
Bedawy (or Bedouin), pi. Bedawin — Dweller in the Desert.
Beit (Hebrew Beth)  House.
Bint, pi. benath  Daughter.
Bir  -  Well.
Deir      Convent.
Emir  Prince.
Eransuwi   French (European).
Humar, pi. hamir  Ass.
Ibrahim  -"---  -  Abraham.
Ibu, pi. beni    Son.
Inglizi   -  English.
Isj,- -   Jesus. Submission (Ihe Mohammedan re-

IMm  ------, lig.on)^
Jebel, p\.jibal   --Mountain.
yemel, -pl.jimul  -  -  Camel.
yisr  r  --Bridge.
Kady (Hebrew Dan)   Judge.
Kawwas    - -Consul's servant (gensdarme).
Kefr  --    Village.

408 MEANING OF ARABIC WORDS.
Khan  —  Inn.
, , ( Gentleman (European or American
Khow.ja (.it. " the respected ")  j traveller).
KuFcet, or Kulah, or Kast  Castle.
La ilaha ill Allah, wa Muhamme- ) j There is no god but God, and Mo-
du-rrasul- Allah   --) ( hammed is the prophet of God.
Ma (vulgar moi)   -  --Water.
Mar (Syrian)   Christian saint.
Maryam  Mary.
Masr    Egypt.
Meri   - - Plain, meadew.
Moskbwi    Russian.
Mueddin  -  Caller to prayer.
Mukuri (Mukr)  -  Muleteer.
Mursal   Missionary.
Musa  -  -  Moses.
Muslim, or Moslem  .<¦  Mohammedan.
Mussulman, pi. Mussulmans  do.
Nahr  -  River.
Neby --  -  -  Prophet.
Nukb   ---  pass.
Nusrani (Nazarene), pi. Nasara  Christian.
R<*s   Head, cape.
Rasul (applied to Mohammed)  Prophet.
Sheikh, pi. Shuyukh  ---Chief, elder.
ShZla   Turban.
Suleiman  -   Solomon.
Tarbush  -  Fez, cap.
Tell, pi. Tulul  --  Hill, mound.
Tur  -  -  Mountain.
T"rki  Turkish.
Umm  -  Mother.
Wady   Valley, watercourse.
Weiy-  Tomb of a Mohammedan saint.
Yehudi    jew
Yilsef  Joseph.

ALPHABETICAL INDEX.

Abraham  pages 90, 209, 214
Aboo Simbel --  80
Abydos  --  70
Alexander, Bishop  ¦ 245
Alexander the Great  26, 85
Alexander II.  190,404
Alexander, Mrs.  •- 303
Alexandria   25, 122
Alliance, Evangelical, in Egypt 129
'Ain, Et-Tin--347, 352; Gadis,
19S ; Hawarah, 163; Hud
herah, 197; Mudawarah, 351;
Tabighah   348
American Missionaries  378, 393
Amosis (Aahmes) I. —  95
Anchoretism  -  123
Anglo-Prussian Bishopric in
Jerusalem   244
Anglo-Turkish Treaty  404
Anthony, St.   123
Aperiu  94, 100
Armageddon  -  319
Armenians  395
Asenath  -  57
Assouan —  -  — 78
Asyoot---  -  68, 127
Athanasius —  27, 122
'Ayun Musa   150
Baal Zephon   -  155
Badeker  37, 177, 181, 312, 3151
Backsheesh    107
Banias -  332, 355
Barada -  366
Baths of Pharaoh  165
Baur    363
Beaconsfield   37S, 3§9
Bedawin   136

Beer  -  167
Beirut  373
Beit Jibrin- -   420
Bellamy, Rev. Franklin  32S
Beni-Hassan  -  66
Berlin Congress  401
Bethany-   272, 276
Bethel  -  306
Bethlehem-  220
Bethlehem and Golgotha  230
Bethsaida  345, 353
Beth-Shemesh  56, 58
Bible House in Constantino-
Ple"-  397
Birch, Samuel  -- 85
Bistany, B.  -  376
Bliss, Rev. Dr.  376
Bonk of the Dead  - 42
Boulak   37
Brugsch-Bey--40, 67, 68, 70, 86, 89,
90, 97, 100, 101, 145, 155, 158
Bunsen---42, 82, 85, 86, 89, 97, 244
Caesarjea Philippi  -_332> 355
Cairo  31
Calvary   - 259
Camel    139
Capernaum  343, 350
Cataract of the Nile  81
Catharine, St.  185, 188
Convent of   184
Mount  — 195
Chabas --  97
Champollion   85
Chateaubriand  -  265
Cheops  -  43, 44, 52
Chersa  346
Chorazin  350, 353

410

BIBLE LANDS.

Chronology of Egypt and of
the Bible    88
Chufu   43. 44, 52
Church of the Nativity  224
of the Holy Sepulchre  259
Cleopatra  -"72> 84
Cleopatra's Needles  28, 59
Constantine the Great  224, 261
Cook, Canon  -95, 96
Cook, Tourist-- -21, 25, 63, 202, 307
Copts  -  -- 125
Corfu  22
Crawford, Rev. Mr.  372
Cyprus  --  -  404
Cyril of Alexandria  -- 124
Dale, Rev. C. F.  378
Damascus  -- 361
Dan  -  356
David   — 210,221
Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth,
in Jerusalem  247
in Beirut —  -- 379
Dead Sea  --  283
Deir el-Arba'in   193
Delta  -  -- 29
Dendera  — 71
Dervishes, dancing and howl
ing   -  --- 118
Desert  133, 145
Dickson, Miss Mathilda  327
Dixon, Hepworth N.  226
Dome of the Rock  255
Donkey-boys  -  25
Dor-Bey-  — 35
Dragoman   135
Drake--  -- 295
Easter, Greek and Latin, in
Jerusalem  240
Ebal   ¦  310
Ebers, Dr.  44. 86, 89, 94, 97,9s,
100, 101, 145, 152, 155, 166, 168,
169, 181, 191
Edfu   78
Edwards, Miss Amelia B.  81
Egypt   19, 104
Egyptians, Modern  107
Egyptology  -   82
El-Azhar   - 34

Elephantine   80
Elijah  -  173
Elim--   152,164
Elisha's Fountain ¦   305
Er-Raha  170, 177, 178, 180
Esdraelon   318
Eschol    211
Eusebius  - 261
Exodus -  -   93, 152
Falscher   -  -- 315
Feiran  -147,168
Ferguson, James  256, 268
Fraas-  295
Furrer -  268, 352
Frederick William IV.  244
Galilee, Lake of--  337
Gaza  203
Gennesaret   345, 351
Gergesa  -  346
Gerizim   309, 310, 313
Gethsemane  273, 274
Gheezeh   -  43
Ghurundel  — ¦-- 164
Gilboa   -  -- 319
Gladstone  -  22
Gobat, Bishop  245
Golden Gate   254
Golgotha  259
Graham, Rev. W.  -- 371
Gregory-    190
Hagar Musa  194
Hamlin, Rev. Dr.   39S
Hazeroth    . — 197
Hawarah   -- 153
Hasbeiyah  -- 297
Hebron--   210
Helena   -- 226, 261, 264
Heliopolis    - 56
Hengsteuberg  86
Hermon  -  330
Herodotus ---20, 41, 44, 45, 52, 57,
83, 96, 99, 102
Hieroglyphics  83, 166
Hill, Rev. Dr.  •-  395
Hoffmann Colony - -  247, 389
Hogg, Dr.  "- -69, 126, 127, 129
Holland, Rev. F. YV.--169, 180, 196

ALPHABETICAL INDEX.

411

Horeb  171, 194
Horus   -  43
Howe, Fisher- --   269
Huber, Rev. Jacob  328
Huleh, Lake and Plain of  556
Hyksos   -  --90, 94
Innocents    227
Isis   48
Islam   100
Jabbok  -  297
Jacob---2i2, 216, 297, 306, 309, 312
Jacob'sWell   312
Jaffa   219, 238
Jebel Musa  171
Jenin   - 318
Jeremiah  351
Grottoof  268
Jericho     304
Jerome, St.   228
Jerusalem   232, 27 1
Jessup, Rev. Dr. —  376, 381
Jesuits in Beirut   380
Jezreel    319
Jews in Jerusalem   249
John of Damascus  279
Jordan  --296, 357
Joseph  19, 57, 68, 92, 212, 308
Tomb of  309
Josephus  g4, 209, 214, 236, 266,
340, 352
Justin Martyr  —  -- 226
Kadesh  197
Kaiserswerth  247, 379
Karnak  74
Kedron  273
Keim  351
Kerazeh   350, 353
Khan Minyeh  347
Khedive of Egypt  33, 104, 106
Kitchener, Lieut.  348,350
Klein, Rev. Mr.   246
Koran   -  36> II0
Korte, Jonas   -  267
Krafft, Prof. William  261, 268

Lane, E. W. 
Lansing, Rev. Dr.-
Lazarus 

-126, 127,

116 129
277

Lebanon   37^
Leja, Wady  194
Lenormant   97, 166
Lepers' Home in Jerusalem -- 24S
Lepsius, Dr.  40, 42, 44, 86, 89,
97, 98, :6g, 181
Lot's Wife  290
Luxor 
Lynch, Lieut.  286,

--- 74
294, 301

Macgregor (Rob Roy) -299, 347,350
Machpelah  212
Magdala  -339, 346
Maghara  --  166
Manetho---  82,88, 89
Mar Saba  278
Mara  -  --- 164
March, Rev. F. W.  --378
Mariette-Bey --37, 48, 70, 71, 85, 89
Martineau, Miss Harriet — 7g, 140
Martha  -   273
Marvin, Bishop  -• 246, 307
Mary of Bethany  273
Mary Magdalene  — 339, 346
Maspero   9S
Mejdel  -'  339, 346
Memnon --  •  77
Memnonium  -- 76
Memphis  — 65
Mena or Menes  70, 85
Menephthah  97, 101, 166
Merrill, Dr. Selah  348, 350
Minieh —  --  66
Missions, Presbyterian in Egypt 126
Episcopal in Palestine  244
Presbyterian in Syria — 371,376
Congregational in Constanti
nople and Turkey  395
Moab  -  -  - 302
Mohammed and Mohamme
danism    100, 399
Mohammed's Night Journey-- 257
Mohammed Alewah  64
Mohammed Ali  34, 106
Mokateb  166
Montalembert  — 123
Moriah-  253
Mormons   292
Mosesig, 57, 152, 155, 160, 172, ig7
Burial of   303

412

BIBLE LANDS.

Moslem Fanaticism  — 216
Mosque of Damascus  369
El-Azhar-  34
of Hebron  -- 211
of Mohammed Ali  34
of Omar  --  254
Mott, Mrs. Mentor  379
Musa, see Moses.
Naaman  365, 366
Nabulus (Neapolis)  -- 314
Nakhl  201
Napoleon  26,43, 83, 156
Nazareth  320
Nebi Samwil   238
Nebo  -  302
Negeb  -  - 200
Neumann, Bernhard —  237
Nile  62, 297
Nugb Hawa  170
Obelisk   -"59, 79
Olivet    271
On  -  -- 56
Oriental Habits  12
Osiout  68, 127
Osiris  42, 48, 71, 80, 124
Osirtasen  — 67, 97
Palestine   -207, 383
Palgrave  -  141
Palmer, E. H.---138, 145, 148, 158,
178, 1S0, 181, 192, 198, 201, 285, 295
Paul  362
Peter  -- 358
Pharaoh  -  - 91
Phila;  80
Pilgrims' Bathing-place — 296, 301
Pi-Ramessu  -  99
Pi-Tum     g9
Plato  57
Poole, R. Stuart  89, 90, 95, 97
Porter, Dr. J. L.  152, 156, 180,
197, 35°, 3^4, 365, 37i
Post, Dr.  -  - 377
Pritchett, W.  - - 204
Prudentius  -  --220, 227
Pyramids    39
Quarantania  -- 306

Quaresmius

35°

Rameseum   76
Rameses II.  37, 65, 75, 77, 80,
97, 100
Rameses III.  77
Ras Sufsafeh  --I74, 177
Rachel's Tomb  220
Rawlinson  -  -40, 89, 90
Red Sea   152
Religious Liberty in Turkey-- 402
Rephidim  169, 183
Ritter  176, 268, 351
Robert College   398
Robinson, Dr. Edward  152, 157,
179, 197, 222, 267, 287, 288, 289,
294, 3'3, 347, 35°, 352
Robson, Rev. S.   -- 371
Rosen, Consul  --215, 268
Rosetta Stone  86
Rouge, De -  42, 85, 97
Ruckert, Friedrich   230
Ruskin  375
Ruth   221
Sabas, St.   279
Sakkara    -- 65
Salt Lake in Utah   292
Salt Sea   283
Samaria     308
Samaria, City of   316
Samaritans   314
Samaritan Pentateuch -  315
Saulcy, De   267, 291, 295
Scarabaeus   41
Sebaste   316

serapeum

65

Serbal  169, 1S1
Sesostris, see Rameses II.
Sethi I.  70,76,97
Shaftesbury    393
Sharpe  -  167, 180
Shechem —  --309, 315
Shiloh    311
Shishak   -- 75
Shubeibeh    360
Shunem-   319
Simon Magus  -  311
Sinai, Mt.   171
Sinai, Convent of Mt.  — 184

ALPHABETICAL INDEX.

4i3

Sinaitic Bible Codex  189
Sinaitic Inscriptions  166, 181
Sinaitic Peninsula   145
Smyth, Piazzi   50
Solomon's Pools  - 218
Solomon, Temple of  254
Sona    - 193
Sphinx   -- 47
Spinoza   -- 277
Spiridion, St.   22
Stanley, Dean  24, 79, 163, 169,
170, 178, 180, 192, 193, 197, 215,
242, 302> 3I2> 326> 351, 357, 3°7
Suez  --   150
Tabighah  348
Tabor   330
Taiyibeh  165
Talitha Kumi  247
Tappe, Mr. and Mrs.  248
Taylor, Miss Jesse   37g
Tell Hum  -  348
Teyaha Bedawin   201
Thebes--  75
Thompson, Mrs. Bowen  37g
Thomson, Dr. W. M.  214, 294,
346, 375, 376
Thothmes   -  95, 96
Tiberias  - 339
Tih, Desert of  199
Tih, Temple of   65
Tischendorf  176, 189, 191
Tobler, Titus  250, 267, 322
Towarah Bedawin  -- 137

Transfiguration--  332, 335
Tristram, Canon  289, 295, 351
Troutvetter    129
Turquoise Mines in the Sina
itic Peninsula   145
T>'re  375
Useit  165
Usertesen I.  67,97
Vale of Siddim   2S7
Van Dyck, Rev. Dr.  376, 380
Vartan, Dr.  329
Vigoroux  42, 87, 97
Wady  147
W ailing-place of the Jews  250
Warren, Capt.   _235> 254
Washburn, Rev. Dr.  398
Waters of Merom   356
Whately, Miss M. L.  128
Whittier   390
Wilderness  133, 145
Wilkinson-  89, 97
Williams, Rev. George  268
Wilson, Capt. 180. 254, 342, 349, 351
Young    85
Yule, Dr.  129
Zeller, Rev. J.  328
Zimmermann, Carl  235
Zincke, Barham  50, 78
Zoan    94, 99

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