Palestine and Syria:  Handbook for Travelers

Palestine and Syria:  Handbook for Travelers

Jerusalem, to most travellers, is a place of overwhelming interest, but, at first sight, many will he sadly disappointed in the dirty modern town, with its crooked and badly paved lanes. It would seem, at first, as though little were left of the ancient city of Zion and Moriah , the far-famed capital of the Jewish empire.

Palestine and Syria:  Handbook for Travelers

1. From Nâbulus to Sebastîyeh (2 hrs.).

The direct route to Jênin, usually taken by the baggage muleteers, leads past the village of Bêt Imrin to Jeba' (p. 261).

Palestine and Syria:  Handbook for Travelers (page 251)

We left Jacob’s Well and traveled till eight in the evening, but rather slowly, for we had been in the saddle nineteen hours, and the horses were cruelly tired. We got so far ahead of the tents that we had to camp in an Arab village, and sleep on the ground. We could have slept in the largest of the houses; but there were some little drawbacks: it was populous with vermin, it had a dirt floor, it was in no respect cleanly, and there was a family of goats in the only bedroom, and two donkeys in the parlor.

The narrow canon in which Nablous, or Shechem, is situated, is under high cultivation, and the soil is exceedingly black and fertile. It is well watered, and its affluent vegetation gains effect by contrast with the barren hills that tower on either side.

Palestine and Syria:  Handbook for Travelers

Presently we came to a ruinous old town on a hill, the same being the ancient Jezreel.

We went back to the valley, and rode to the Fountain of Ain Jelud. They call it the Fountain of Jezreel, usually. It is a pond about one hundred feet square and four feet deep, with a stream of water trickling into it from under an overhanging ledge of rocks. It is in the midst of a great solitude.

We camped at Jenin before night, and got up and started again at one o’clock in the morning.

See Bædeker From Jênin to Nazareth

We descended to the Plain again, and halted a moment at a well—of Abraham’s time, no doubt. It was in a desert place. It was walled three feet above ground with squared and heavy blocks of stone, after the manner of Bible pictures. Around it some camels stood, and others knelt. There was a group of sober little donkeys with naked, dusky children clambering about them, or sitting astride their rumps, or pulling their tails.

In an hour, we reached Nain, where Christ raised the widow’s son to life. Nain is Magdala on a small scale. It has no population of any consequence. Within a hundred yards of it is the original graveyard, for aught I know; the tombstones lie flat on the ground, which is Jewish fashion in Syria. I believe the Moslems do not allow them to have upright tombstones. A Moslem grave is usually roughly plastered over and whitewashed, and has at one end an upright projection which is shaped into exceedingly rude attempts at ornamentation.