15. From Jerusalem to Jericho, the Ford of Jordan,the Dead Sea, and back to Jerusalem via Mar Saba.

ROUTE 8. EXCURSION TO BETHANY.

Every one who can by any possibility walk 3 m. should make this excursion on foot. Half the pleasure is lost if it be hurried over. Every step is “holy ground,” trodden by prophets and apostles, and ONE greater than them all. We thus often feel constrained to sit down, and calmly contemplate scenes unsurpassed on earth for sacred interest.

Route 7.—Jerusalem

1, PRELIMINARY INFORMATION,

§1, Hotels, — § 2. Money, Letters, &c. — § 3. The Consulate. — § 4. The English Church.

2. TOPOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS OF MODERN JERUSALEM.

Jerusalem to ’Anâta, Anathoth
Jeb’a, Geba 
Mukhmâs, Michmash 
Site of Ai
  Rummôn, Rimmon 
  Taiyibeh, Ophrah
  Beitîn, Bethel 
Beitîn, Bethel
Bîreh, Beeroth 
Ram Allah 
Beit Uniah
Beit 'Ur, Beth-horon
El-Jîb, Gibeon
Neby Samwîl, Mizpeh
Jerusalem 

 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.

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.

SAFED is situated on an isolated peak, which rises steeply from the southern brow of the mountain-range. A deep glen sweeps round its northern and western sides, and a shallower one, after skirting the eastern side, falls into the former a few miles to the S. Beyond these, on the N.E., N., and W. are higher hills, but on the S. the view is unimpeded. The old castle crowns the peak; the Jewish quarter of the town clings to the steep western side considerably below the summit, the rows of houses looking at a distance like stairs.

Nâbulus to Sebustieh, Samaria 

Excursion to TIRZAH and THEBEZ, One day.
Jeba’, Geba
Sânûr

DOTHAN—its site and plain.
Kubâtîyeh
Jenîn, Enganním

Plain of ESDRAELON.
Zera`in, JEZREEL

Excursion to BETHSHEAN, or Scythopolis.
Ain Jâlûd, “Fountain of Jezreel”
Sôlem, Shunem
Nein, Nain 
Endôr, Endor
NAZARETH

NAZARETH,

Like Jerusalem, Tiberias is regarded as a “holy place” by both Christian and Jew. To the Christian it has been rendered sacred by the presence of Christ, when he dwelt by the lake and taught along its shores. To the Jew it is rendered sacred by the rabbinical belief that the Messiah will rise from the waters of the lake, land in this city, and establish his throne at Safed. The steep hills which hem in the lake here retire a little, leaving a strip of undulating ground about ¼ m. wide and 2 m. long.