basin of the Hûleh, and the country around the sources of the Jordan, our younger muleteer . . . proposed to take us to a spot about an hour north-east of the town, where he said we might have an extensive prospect . . . (viz. Benît). Here are the slight remains of a former village, situated directly on the brow of the mountains enclosing the Hûleh, and commanding a splendid view over the whole basin and the surrounding region. Almost directly at our feet lay the lake, separated from the mountain on which we stood only by a lower tract of uneven table-land . . . On the north, its waters are skirted by a marshy tract, covered with tall reeds and flags, into which our guide assured us neither man nor beast could penetrate . . . The marsh gradually passes off into a still more extensive and broader tract of fine meadow land, occupied by nomadic Arabs, whose main employment is the raising of cattle, chiefly buffaloes.

...

Still further north, the ground rises into a fertile plain, extending towards Bâniâs, on which grain is cultivated. But the whole region is given up to Bedawin and Ghawârineh.

"The town of Bâniâs . . . we could not here see, it being hidden behind some projections of the hills in its vicinity. But the ruined Saracenic castle, Kŭl'át Bâniâs standing upon a point of the eastern mountain, a spur which runs off from Jebel EshSheikh southwards, was distinctly visible. According to Burckhardt, the only traveller who has visited the spot, it is an hour and a quarter distant from Bâniâs ... 'it seems to have been erected during the period of the crusades, and must certainly have been a very strong hold to those who possessed it' . . Beyond it . towered the lofty summit of Jebel esh-Sheikh (Hermon), here seen in all its majesty, with its long narrow glaciers, like stripes of snow, extending down below its icy crown, and glittering in the sun The high tract of country (on the west) is thickly populated. It bore everywhere the marks of tillage; and many vil

lages were in sight, the names of which our guide did not know. One was mentioned, on the hills opposite the marshes, still bearing the name of Kedes; it is without doubt the ancient Kedesh of Naphtali, a city of refuge and of the Levites, the birth-place of Barak, situated twenty Roman miles from Tyre, and not far from Paneas. It was afterwards conquered by TiglathPileser. 2

1

"The view from Benît, the spot where we stood, was very extensive and magnificent. Before us rose Jebel esh-Sheikh in all his glory; while, more on the left, the ridges of Lebanon were visible to a great distance, terminated far in the north-east by the snowy peak of Jebel Sunnîn... We could distinctly trace the outline of the narrow valley of the Jordan, from the Hûleh to the Lake of Tiberias. A portion of that lake, the northeastern part, could also be perceived, like a separate lake, deep among the mountains; and beyond it the 'high hills' of Bashan presented their beautiful outline. Towards the south and west the view was shut out by the adjacent higher ground: but the place of the ancient Dan (see DAN or LAISH) was before us, and we thus had been permitted to behold the Promised Land in all its length,-from Dan even to Beersheba." -See ROBINSON's Researches, vol. iii. pp. 339, 342 -344, 355, 356.

SEA OF TIBERIAS.

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"AND when (Jesus) was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with waves; but he was asleep. And his disciples came to him and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, oh ye of

1 Josh. xix. 37, xx. 7, xxi. 32; Judges iv. 6. 2 1 Kings xv. 29.

little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.”—Matt. viii. 23.

"And it came to pass, that as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesareth, and saw two ships standing by the lake but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon, answering, said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. . . And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him."-Luke v. 1, &c.

"After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias. And a great multitude followed him . . . And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. (Read in following verses the account of the miracle of the feeding the five thousand). When Jesus perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a King, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. And when even was come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them,

now

And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship; and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one whereunto his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone .. when the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither ?"John vi. 1, &c.

"After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas . . . and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him. . . and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little

ship... dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three; and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? . . . Feed my lambs."-John xxi. 1, &c.

"We reached the brow of the height above Tiberias, where a view nearly of the whole sea opened at once upon us. It was a moment of no little interest; for who can look without interest upon a lake on whose shores the Saviour lived so long, and where he performed so many of his mighty works? Yet to me, I must confess, so long as we continued around the lake, the attraction lay more in these associations than in the scenery itself. The lake presented indeed a beautiful sheet of limpid water, in a deep depressed basin, from which the shores rise, in general, steeply and continuously all around, except where a ravine, or sometimes a deep wady, occasionally interrupts them. The hills are rounded and tame, with little of the picturesque in their form; they are decked by no shrubs nor forests... One interesting object greeted our eyes-a little boat, with a white sail, gliding over the waters; the only one, as we afterwards found, upon all the lake ...

"As we sat at evening in the door of our tent, looking out over the placid surface of the lake, its aspect was too inviting not to allure us to take a bath in its limpid waters. The clear and gravelly bottom shelves down in this part very gradually, and is strewed with many