led up to these last excavations, on the southeast side; and from these Dr Wilson reached the other caverns. At 8.50 we were at the end of the perpendicular cliffs; which here are twice as far apart as at the upper end of the chasm. At 9.10 Wady el-Hamâm opened out wide into the plain. Here were extensive fields of cucumbers. At 9.25 we were at the southeastern point of the last projecting hill on our left. Our guide spoke of a ruin on the hills to the west, called Nukb. Mejdel was now a mile distant, S. 15° E. situated just where the hills reach down to the lake. Here we struck again our path of 1838; and came at 9.30 to 'Ain el-Mudauwarah, "the Round Fountain," described in a former volume. Besides the many oleanders in full bloom, there was now an abundance of purple morning glories. Passing on along our former path, we came at 9.45 to Wady er-Rubŭdiyeh, the continuation of Wady Sellâmeh. A fine mill stream issues from it, which serves to water all the southern part of the plain; a portion of it being actually carried along the slope above the Round Fountain, and so to the tract beyond. -Further north the plain, which bears the name of el-Ghuweir, was at present without water. We now took a direct course to Khân Minyeh. At 10 o'clock a low Tell, called Serremân, was on our left, with a few black stones upon it. Five minutes later we crossed the dry bed of Wady el-'Amûd, the continuation of Wady et-Tawâhîn, coming from the region between Safed and Meirôn. We did not now notice the lone prostrate column; it being probably upon a different track. We came at 10.25 to Khân Minyeh; and passing on dismounted on the green carpet around 'Ain et-Tin. 3 The ruined Khân is situated close under the northern hill, just where the Damascus road ascends; some thirty or forty rods from the shore of the lake. The fountain, 'Ain et-Tîn, is a beautiful one, with an abundance of sweet and pleasant water, and not warm.5 The lake when full, as now, sets up nearly or quite to the fountain. Around the latter and along the shore was a tract of luxuriant clover, of a freshness and verdure such as I saw nowhere else in Palestine. It was a luxury to rest in it. Burckhardt testifies to the same fertility : "Near by are several other springs, which occasion a very 1 Vol. II. p. 400 sq. [iii. 283 sq.] This place is mentioned under the same name, Minyeh, by Bohaeddin in the eleventh century; p. 98 bis. A singular typographical error in relation to this fountain occurs in the German translation of Burckhardt, published under the name of Gesenius, p. 558. It is there spoken of as "eine Quelle heissen Wassers." The English original has: "a rivulet of sweet water;" p. 319. The translator (Dr Rienecke) doubtless wrote süsses; which in German chirography is not very unlike heisses. The error has never been corrected. Raumer makes it the basis of an argument; Paläst. p. 118. 3d edit. luxuriant herbage along the borders of the lake. The pastures of Minyeh are proverbial for their richness." We here took our lunch. Before leaving, I rode out upon the site of ruins lying south of the Khân, and extending down to the little bay along the shore. They were now covered with a field of wheat nearly ripe. The remains are strewed around in shapeless heaps; but are much more extensive and considerable than my former impression had led me to anticipate. Indeed, there are here remains enough not only to warrant, but to require the hypothesis of a large ancient place. That no definite traces of public edifices now appear, is readily accounted for by the neighbourhood of Tiberias, whither the stones may easily have been carried off by water; and also by the fact, that for centuries the place has been subjected to the plough.3 On the question, whether this is the probable site of ancient Capernaum, I shall have something more to say in the sequel. We now sent forward our muleteers to await us at the Khân Jubb Yûsuf; and setting off at 10.55, we struck up over the rocky and precipitous point of the hill above the fountain, towards the northeast. There is no passage along its base, which is washed by the waters of the lake; and therefore in our former journey, we had made a circuit on the Damascus road. A path has been cut in ancient times along the rock, some twenty feet above the water; and we found no difficulty in passing. One feature of the excavation surprised us; namely, that for most of the way there is a channel cut in the rock, about three feet deep and as many wide, which seemed evidently to have been an aqueduct once conveying water for irrigating the northern part of the plain el-Ghuweir. There was no mistaking the nature and object of this channel; and yet no waters were near, which could be thus conveyed, except from the fountains of et-Tâbighah. Descending and crossing the mouth of an open Wady, we reached the latter place at 11.10. Here are the immense brackish fountains, and the mills, formerly described; as also the Tannûr Eyüb. The fountains issue from under the hill, just back of the village. We went thither, and found built up solidly around the main fountain an octagonal Roman reservoir, now in ruins. Like those at Râs el'Ain near Tyre, it was obviously built in order to raise the water 1 Trav. in Syr. p. 319. Quaresmius in speaking of Khân Minyeh (which he writes Menich), says: "in illius situ multæ ruinæ cernuntur." Vol. II. p. 868.-Lieut. Lynch, speaking of 'Ain et-Tin, says: "Upon the cliff above Dr R. places the site of Capernaum!" He sought there for ruins; and of course found none. Narrative, p. 468. For a fuller description of the plain, and the tract around Khân Minyeh, see in Vol. II. pp. 400-403. [iii. 282-288.] See Vol. II. p. 405 sq. [iii. 296 sq.] to a certain height for an aqueduct. The head of water was sufficient to carry it to the channel around the point of the opposite hill into the plain el-Ghuweir; but whether this was done by a canal around the sides of the valley, or by a temporary aqueduct direct, or whether even it was done at all, there are now no further traces from which to form a judgment. The water has a saltish taste, but is not unpalatable. Setting off again at 11.15, we soon had on our right an encampment of Arab tents upon the shore. The naked and half-naked children came out to gaze upon the Franks, and the women did the same from their doors. At 11.50 we came to Tell Hum. At the time of our former visit the site was comparatively clear from obstructions, and some excavations had been made; so that access was feasible to all parts of the ruins. Now however the heaps of desolation, and indeed the whole site, were overgrown with tall grass and a luxuriant crop of thistles; so that we made our way with difficulty to the principal ruin, which had puzzled us so much on our former visit, and which had never yet been explained." 3 Indeed, it was mainly on account of this structure, that we had again come to Tell Hum. Ever since we had seen the Jewish remains at Kefr Bir'im and Meirôn, and now again at Irbid, the idea had arisen in our minds, that very probably we had found the key to the structure at Tell Hum. And so it proved. It needed but a glance to show us, that we had before us here a building of the same kind, though of far greater dimensions; exhibiting the same profusion of like sculptured ornaments, the same double columns on a single block, and indeed the same general architectural features throughout. The portal and some of the friezes were entirely covered with such sculptures. The edifice therefore was once a Jewish synagogue, apparently of unusual size and magnificence; surpassing everything of the kind, which we saw elsewhere; though some of the structures at Kedes equalled it perhaps in splendour. Our Sheikh had told us last evening of a site of ruins not far from Tell Hûm, called Kerâzeh; and a main object of his accompanying us to-day was to conduct us to that place. Accordingly we now turned our horses' heads that way; and at 11.55 began to follow up a shallow Wady, which comes down from the northwest just beyond the ruins. A path scarcely perceptible led up the valley, crossing and recrossing the water-bed, and often lost among the large volcanic stones and rank grass. As we were slowly picking our way, the guide being in advance, 1 Our attention had been drawn to this See Vol. II. pp. 406-408. [iii. 298reservoir by the Rev. W. M. Thomson, who 300.] had visited it. "See above, pp. 70, 74, 342. a man met us and began to demand bakhshish. No notice being taken of him, he suddenly seized hold of the bridle of Dr Smith's horse. This drew down upon him the wrath of Rashid, under which he slunk away. After about forty minutes the valley bent more to the left; and we ascended obliquely the northern slope on the same course as before. Here was no path, and our progress among the volcanic stones was more difficult than ever. On the hills around were seen clusters of larger black volcanic rocks; which, at a distance, bore a striking resemblance to sites of ruined towns. We reached at length the top of the ascent, and looked down before us into a shallow side valley descending southwest to the main Wady. In this side valley, in a little basin, we came at one o'clock to a small fountain of bad water, called Bir Kerâzeh. The ruins we had been told of lie on the west side of this same valley, a quarter of a mile southwest, near its entrance into the main Wady. They consist simply of a few foundations of black stones; the remains evidently of a poor and inconsiderable village. They are known as Khirbet Kerâzeh. We did not go to them, as there was no path; and because they were in full view. Their distance from Tell Hum must be reckoned at about three miles. We had come to this spot, because the name Kerâzeh bears a degree of resemblance to the Chorazin of the New Testament; and we hoped to find, in the ruins or the situation, something which might determine the position of that ancient place. In this we felt ourselves disappointed. The remains are too trivial to have ever belonged to a place of any importance. Chorazin, too, according to Jerome, lay upon the shore of the lake;1 but this site is an hour distant, shut in among the hills, without any view of the lake, and remote from any public road whether ancient or modern." Here we parted from our Sheikh, who returned to his home; while we proceeded on our way. Having thus completed our re-examination of the western shore of the lake, let us pause for a few moments, to consider how far the facts and circumstances, as also the historical notices, aid us in determining the position of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and 1 Hieron. Comm. in Esa. ix. 1. p. 83 ed. Mart. "Lacum Genesareth, in cujus litore Capernaum et Tiberias et Bethsaida et Chorozaim sitæ sint." 'Pococke, inquiring for Chorazin, seems to have heard the name Kerâzeh, which he writes Gerasi; Vol. II. i. p. 72. The place was visited in 1843 by the Rev. Mr Keyes, then one of the American missionaries at Beirût. Chorazin. Of these Capernaum was the most important, and demands our chief attention. It is worthy of remark, how rarely the Evangelists connect the narrative of our Lord's life and actions with the mention of any definite place; except generally Galilee and Jerusalem. In the interior of Galilee only Nazareth, Cana, and Nain, are named; the former as the place where Jesus was brought up, and the two latter as the scenes of special miracles. On the shore of the lake, we hear only of Capernaum, where Jesus dwelt; of Bethsaida and Chorazin, where many of his mighty works were done; of Magdala, as the residence of Mary Magdalen; and incidentally of Tiberias, which only just then had been built up by Herod Antipas, and was beginning to rise into importance and notice.1 It was doubtless for this reason, that other towns along the lake became more conspicuous than Tiberias, for the frequent presence, the teaching, and the miracles of our Lord. CAPERNAUM. In a former volume, after an attentive consideration of the subject, I expressed the opinion, that the site of Capernaum was most probably near to Khân Minyeh. This opinion has been controverted by Dr Wilson, who fixes Capernaum at Tell Hûm. In this he has been followed by Ritter. In reviewing the subject, I have endeavoured, for years, to hold my mind open to conviction, whatever might seem to be the balance of evidence. But after a further examination of the ground, and a careful weighing of the historical notices, I see no valid reason for recalling my former judgment. On the contrary, that judgment appears to me to be strengthened by several considerations not formerly taken into the account. Let me be permitted to give here a brief statement of the evidence, in the form of a few propositions. 5 I. The land of Gennesaret, so called, was, in the days of our Lord and Josephus, a definite and well known district. From the New Testament we learn only that this tract was on the west side of the lake. Josephus describes it as extending along the lake, and as being of wonderful fertility. It had all kinds of trees, as walnuts, fig trees, olives, and also palm trees. It likewise produced the principal fruits all the year round, and grapes and figs during ten months of the year." Making all due allowance for a touch of exaggeration in this description, no one has ever questioned the identity of this Gennesaret with the present plain el-Ghuweir. According to the latest observations, the level of the lake is at least six or 1 See Vol. II. p. 389. [iii. 266.] 2 See Vol. II. p. 403 sq. [iii. 288 sq.] Lands of the Bible, II. p. 143 sq. Erdk. XV. p. 339 sq. • Gr. † yû Tevvnoapér, Matt. 14, 34. Mark 6, 53. • Matt. 1. c. Mark. 1. c. comp. John 6, 24. B. J. 3. 10. 8. |