NAZARETH,

THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON, the great battle-field of Palestine, on which we have now entered, requires a few words of general description before we proceed to visit the many places of interest situated upon it. The main body of the plain is an irregular triangle, its base to the E. extending from Jenîn to the foot of the mountains below Nazareth, about 15 m.; one side formed by the hills of Galilee, and measuring about 12 m.; the other—some 18 m. in length—running along the northern foot of the Samaria range. The apex is a narrow pass not more than 1/2  m.

 SAMARIA, SEBASTE, SEBUSTIEH. The situation of this royal city, if less beautiful, is more commanding than that of its sister Shechem. Nearly in the centre of a basin, about 5 m. in diameter, rises a flattish, oval-shaped hill, to the height of some 300 feet. On the summit is a long and nearly level plateau, which breaks down at the sides, 100 feet or more, to an irregular terrace or belt of level land; below this the roots of the hill spread off more gradually into the surrounding valleys.