We here quitted the shores of the lake of Tiberias; and in respect to the general impression made upon us by the scenery of its coasts, I have nothing to add to what I have already said, upon our first approach. The form of its basin is not unlike an oval; but the regular and almost unbroken heights which enclose it, bear no comparison, as to vivid and powerful effect, with the wild and stern magnificence of the mountains around the caldron of the Dead Sea. On the southern part of the lake, and along its whole eastern coast, the mountain-wall may be estimated as elevated eight hundred or a thousand feet above the water, steep, but not precipitous. On the East the mountains spread off into the high uneven table-land of Jaulân (Gaulonitis), and on the West into the large plain north of Tabor; rising indeed very slightly, if at all, above these high plains. Along the N. W. part of the lake, beyond Mejdel, the hills are lower, and the country back of them more broken; they rise with a gradual ascent from the shore, and cannot at first well be more than from three to five hundred feet in height. Such is the tract of broken table-land, occupying the space between the two lakes of Tiberias and Hûleh; though more in the N. W. it has perhaps an elevation of eight hundred feet. Still further in the N. W. the higher mountains of Safed rise abruptly from this table-land, and reach at length an elevation not much less than two thousand five hundred feet above the lake. The position of this lake, embosomed deep in the midst of higher tracts of country, exposes it, as a matter of course, to gusts of wind, and in winter to tempests. One such storm is recorded during the course of our Lord's ministry. But in order to ac 1) See above, pp. 252, 253. 2) Matt. viii. 23, seq. Mark iv. 35, seq. Luke viii. 22, seq. -In the other instance, where count for this, it is surely not necessary to assume, (as is sometimes done,) any peculiarly tempestuous character in the lake itself; nor does it appear, either from the testimony of the ancients or of the present inhabitants, that storms are more frequent within the basin, than in the region round about.1 The volcanic nature of the basin of this lake, and of the surrounding country, is not to be mistaken. The hot springs near Tiberias and at Um Keis S. E. of the lake, as also the lukewarm fountains along the western shore; the frequent and violent earthquakes; and the black basaltic stones, which thickly strew the ground; all leave no room for doubt on this point. Although the main formation is limestone, yet the basalt continues to appear, more or less, quite through the basin of the Hûleh as far as to Bâniâs; the bridge between the lakes, as also the adjacent Khân, is built of basaltic stones; and the wild and dreary region on the East, between that bridge and the lower lake, consists wholly of basalt.2 Other traces of volcanic action exist, as we shall see, in the N. W. of Safed. The extent of the lake has sometimes been greatly overrated. We had now travelled along its western shore for nearly its whole length; and the results afford a means of forming an estimate approaching more nearly to the truth. The distances are as fol lows: Jesus followed his disciples, 40 1) Jac. de Vitr. c. 53. p. 1075. Mariti Voyages II. p. 168. Neuw. 1791. Clarke's Travels in the Holy Land, 4to. p. 474. Rosenmüller Bibl. Geogr. II. ii. p. 180. 2) Seetzen in Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVIII. pp. 345, 346. Schubert Reise III. p. 260. Burckhardt p. 319. This distance of six hours is equivalent to about fourteen and a half geographical miles along the western coast. But as the latter forms a deep curve at Mejdel, the distance in a straight line from the entrance of the Jordan on the North, to its exit in the South, cannot be more than eleven or twelve geographical miles; and the same result is also obtained from the construction of the map. The greatest breadth, opposite to Mejdel, is about half the length, or not far from six geographical miles; while the breadth opposite Tiberias is about five miles.2 Thursday, June 21st. We rose early, and I rejoiced to find myself better and able to proceed. Abstinence and quiet rest had done a good work. Our neighbours, the Ghawârineh, were already busied with their herds, milking and sending them off to pasture. At the side of the reed-huts, the females plied their cares with the dairy; one was churning in 1) The distance No. 1, is from Pococke and Fisk; see above p. 263. That along the shore from Mejdel to Khân Minyeh is from Burckhardt, p. 320. The rest are from our own observations. 2) Josephus gives the breadth of the lake at 40 stadia or 5 Roman miles; the length at 140 stadia or 17 Roman miles; which if reckoned along the shore, accords very nearly with our result of about 6 hours. Joseph. B. J. III. 10. 7. Probably such was the intention of Josephus; but his account has usually been understood of the absolute length of the lake. the manner we had often seen, having the milk in a large goat-skin suspended in a slight frame of sticks; the skin being then moved to and fro with a jerk.' The morning was bright and balmy; the scene was enlivened by the moving herds; and I watched them with some interest, especially the buffaloes, as they descended into the Jordan, swam through its tide with only their noses above water, and again emerged slowly and awkwardly upon the other side. We set off at 5h 50' for Safed. The usual path leads directly up the somewhat steep hill on the West of the Jordan-valley, and is considerably travelled by persons coming to trade with the Ghawârineh of this tract. But our younger muleteer, who was a native of Safed and well acquainted with the ground, chose to avoid the steep ascent, by taking us back for some distance along the shore on our path of yesterday, and then striking up the more gradual rise without a path, in order to regain the direct road. A large pelican was swimming on the smooth waters of the lake. At 6 o'clock we reached the proper Safed road, nearly upon the high table-land; having lost by the detour about fifteen minutes. Our course was now not far from W. N. W. verging perhaps more towards the N. W. and affording noble views of the lake in all its extent. This region of table-land is less elevated than the plain south of Tell Hattîn, and far more undulating and uneven. It is also exceedingly stony, being thickly strewed with the black volcanic stones already described, which are here larger, and so numerous, that the path is often obstructed. At 8h 10' we passed the broad and shallow beginning of a Wady which runs down to the lake east of Tell Hûm; in it at 1) See Vol. II. p. 180. this point are several scanty wells called 'Ayûn el'Abbasy. At 8h 40′ we crossed the great Damascus road, which comes up from Khân Minyeh, and here passes along the eastern base of the higher Safed hills, now just before us. Further on, this road bends more towards the N. E. to the bridge over the Jordan; while a less frequented branch keeps along the western side of the Hûleh, and proceeds up Wady et-Teim by Hâsbeiya and Râsheiya, and so to Damascus. On this road, about fifteen minutes south of the point where we crossed, lies Khân Jubb Yûsuf, the Khân of Joseph's Pit, so called because of a well connected with it, which has long passed with Christians and Muslims, for the pit or cistern into which Joseph was thrown by his brethren. This is another of the large Khâns which mark the Damascus road; it is falling to ruin, although still partially kept in repair as a resting place for caravans. There is a well within the walls, and near by is a large tank for water. We learned at Safed, that a caravan was soon to leave 'Akka for Damascus; and the governor of Safed had received orders, to furnish a supply of provisions and necessaries for it at this Khân. The reputed pit of Joseph is in a court by the side the Khân, and is described by Burckhardt as three feet in diameter and at least thirty feet deep; the bottom is said to be hewn in the rock, and the water never to fail; the sides are built up with masonry. The Christian tradition, which makes this the place of Joseph's abduction, fixes here also as a matter of course Dothaim; and the whole legend was probably at first connected with the hypothesis, that the adjacent fortress of Safed was the Bethulia of Judith. 1) Burckhardt p. 318. |