seen above, only the western and southern parts of Tabor send their waters to the Mediterranean.1 It appears, then, that the Kishon in this part of the plain, is not now a permanent stream; but usually flows only during the season of rain, and for a short time afterwards. Yet the river, as it enters the sea at the foot of Carmel, never becomes dry; and we must therefore seek for its perennial sources along the base of that mountain. Whether the brook at Lejjûn reaches the bed of the Kishon during the summer, we are not informed; but the main sources appear to be lower down, in the valley by which the channel issues from the plain. When Maundrell crossed the Kishon here on the 22d of March, three and a half hours from Lejjûn, the water was low and inconsiderable. Shaw is the only traveller who appears to have noticed the sources of the permanent stream. "In travelling under the eastern brow of Carmel," he says, "I had an opportunity of seeing the sources of the river Kishon, three or four of which lie within less than a furlong of each other. These alone, without the lesser contributions nearer the sea, discharge water enough to form a river half as big as the Isis." as the Isis." The length of the stream from these sources to the sea, he estimates at seven miles, or about two and a half hours. It was probably somewhere along this permanent stream, that Elijah slew the prophets of Baal. The quantity of water in the Mukutta' as it passes through the lower plain to the sea, is not inconsiderable. Schubert forded it in May in travelling directly from Nazareth to Haifa, and found it scarcely forty feet in breadth, and three or four feet deep; the water coming half way up the bodies of the mules." Monro crossed the river near its mouth, at the southeast nook of the bay of 'Akka, in a boat; he describes the stream as about thirty yards in width, and deep; so that the asses with their heads tied to the boat, were compelled to swim. Yet Shaw relates, that the Kishon when not swollen by the rains, "never falls into the sea in a full stream, but insensibly perco 1 See above, p. 356. ? We crossed the Mukŭtta' in the plain in 1852; see Vol. III. Sect. III, under Apr. 21st. Shaw's Travels 4to. p. 274. Shaw says these fountains are called "Ras elKishon," which cannot be true as to the Arabs, because the name Kishon is here unknown. They would more probably bear the name of Rás el-Mukŭtta'; and such it would seem from D'Arvieux is actually the case; Mémoires II. p. 294. Paris, 1735. The ponds of which Shaw speaks, four miles northeast of these fountains, do not exist. 4 1 Kings 18, 40. From this slaughter of the prophets of Baal, some travellers are disposed to derive the modern name of the river el-Mukutta', following the meaning secuit, excidit, of the Arabic verb. So D'Arvieux, Mém. II. p. 294. Berggren Reisen, II. p. 230. But among the common people the name signifies merely the ford,' from another meaning of the same verb, trajecit flumen. See Freytag's Lex. Arab. III p. 465. D'Arvieux learnedly refers the name Kishon (French Cison) to the same slaughter; it being, he says, derived from the Latin cædere. Reise III. p. 206. • Summer Ramble I. p. 56. lates through a bank of sand, which the north winds throw up against the mouth of it;" thus he found it in the middle of April A. D. 1722, when he passed it.' Such were, in general, the results of our observations and inquiries respecting the noble plain of Esdraelon and the objects around it. We took leave of it from the summit of Mount Tabor, as it lay extended before us, quiet and peaceful, in the brilliant light of an oriental morning; so tranquil indeed, that it was difficult to connect with it the idea of battles and bloodshed, of which for a long succession of ages it has been the chosen scene. Here Deborah and Barak, descending with their forces from Mount Tabor, attacked and discomfited the host of Sisera with his "nine hundred chariots of iron," from Endor to Taanach and Megiddo, where the Kishon swept them away." In and adjacent to the plain, Gideon achieved his triumph over the Midianites; and here too the glory of Israel was darkened for a time, by the fall of Saul and Jonathan upon Gilboa. It was also adjacent to Aphek in the plain, that Ahab and the Israelites obtained a miraculous victory over the Syrians under Benhadad; while at Megiddo, the pious Josiah fell in battle against the Egyptian monarch. Then came the times of the Romans, with battles under Gabinius and Vespasian." The period of the crusades furnishes likewise its account of contests in and around the plain; and almost in our day the battle of Mount Tabor was one of the triumphs of Napoleon." From Mount Tabor the view took in also, on the one side, the region of Hattin, where the renown of the crusaders sunk before the star of Saladin; while, not far distant, on the other side, the name of 'Akka or Ptolemais recalls many a deadly struggle of the same epoch. There too Napoleon was baffled and driven back from Syria; and in our own day, torrents of blood have flowed within and around its walls, during the long siege and subsequent capture of the city by the Egyptian army in A. D. 1832. The ink with which these lines were penned, was hardly 'Shaw's Travels 4to. p. 274. See also Judg. 4, 12-15. vs. 19-21. Ps. 83, between one hundred and fifty knights, P. See above, p. 328 n. dry, when the coasts of Syria were again visited by war; and 'Akka became the closing scene of the struggle, between the allied English and Austrian fleets and the forces of Muhammed 'Aly. On the third day of November 1840, 'Akka was bombarded for several hours; until the explosion of a magazine destroyed the garrison, and laid the town in ruins. iii. 234 SECTION XV. FROM MOUNT TABOR BY THE LAKE OF TIBERIAS TO SAFED. Tuesday, June 19th, 1838. The sun rose gloriously upon us as we sat at the door of our tent, upon the summit of Tabor. A very heavy dew had fallen during the night; so that the tent was wet as with rain. After the sun had been up about half an hour, a fog came on and veiled everything below from our view. We now prepared to depart; but three of our mules had strayed away during the night, and this detained us for an hour. Meanwhile the fog cleared away, and we had again the glorious prospect of yesterday, now still more distinct and maplike. The summit of Tabor is subject to such morning fogs, which hang around it like a fleecy crown. We set off at length at 7.35 from the top of the mountain, going down the same way we had come up. The view towards the northwest over the hills of Nazareth was charming, covered as they are with orchards of oaks; which, standing singly, have much the appearance of apple trees. Our path led through similar glades along the flank of Tabor. We came to the bottom of the main descent at 8 o'clock; and then kept more to the right along high ground to gain the Damascus road, which we struck at 8.40, on the top of the low connecting ridge, between Tabor and the northwestern hills. After a stop of ten minutes to adjust the loads, we proceeded along this road to the Khân. The descent here from the ridge just mentioned, is hardly perceptible, in comparison with the ascent on the other side; this eastern plain being higher than that on the southwest of Tabor. At 9 o'clock there was a well on our left; and ten minutes afterwards we reached Khân et-Tujjâr, in a shallow Wady of some breadth, running off southwards through the plain. The Khân itself lies in the Wady, and is much broken down; though a few people still house among its ruins. Close by on the left of the path, on the gentle acclivity which forms the side of the Wady, stands another quadrangular building of about the same size and appearance, but in better preservation. This may have been another Khân, though it has more the appearance of a castle, like that of 'Akabah. Both were once important structures, having towers at the corners; and were erected for the accommodation and protection of caravans, passing upon this great high road between Damascus and Égypt. In the Khan is a spring of water; but the chief fountain, whose little stream we had seen from Tabor, flowing off through Wady el-Bireh to the Jordan, rises some five or ten minutes further south in the Wady.'-At this Khân a weekly fair, Sûk el-Khân, is held every Monday, which is frequented by the people of Tiberias, Nazareth, and all the adjacent villages. It had yesterday drawn away from home a large portion of the people of Nazareth. From the Khân, the Damascus road proceeds to Kefr Sabt, and descends to the shore of the lake beyond Tiberias. We followed a path lying more to the left, towards Lubieh. At 10 o'clock, we came to a broad low tract of land, running from west to east, a flat of fine fertile soil, drained off towards the right by a narrow Wady to the larger basin beyond Kefr Sabt; which place was now about half an hour distant on our right, on somewhat higher ground. The basin here mentioned is a broad and deeper fertile tract, beginning on the east of Lûbieh, and extending S. S. E. between the higher plain on the edge of which Kefr Sabt stands, and the ridge along the lake south of Tiberias. At the southern end, it breaks down through this ridge by a narrow Wady to the Jordan, just below where the latter issues from the lake. This basin is called by Burckhardt Ard el-Hamma. Besides Kefr Sabt, lying on the high ground on its southwestern side, the ruined villages Dâmeh and Bessum are seen further south along the foot of the same acclivity. There was now no water visible in this whole tract; though Burckhardt speaks of a fountain 'Ain Dâmeh half an hour distant from Kefr Sabt, probably near the ruin of the same name. On the north of the low flat above described, our path led up a rocky acclivity, to a more elevated tract, on which stands the village of Lubieh. Half an hour before reaching that village, we had on our left the beginning of the fine plain which runs off westward between the hills, having on its northern side the large village of Tur'ân, and near its southwest corner the village of Kefr Kenna; both of which were here in sight. This plain is fertile and beautiful; its waters run off at the northwest corner to the large parallel plain el-Buttauf, near which Seffûrieh is situthe name Ard el-Ahmar; see Vol. III. Sect. VIII, under May 18th. 1 According to Prokesch, Kaukab elHawa bears from the Khân S. 38° E. Reise ins heil. Land, p. 137. 'Travels p. 333. We afterwards heard 'For Kefr Kenna see above, p. 346 sq. |