FROM SHECHEM TO JOPPA (JAFFA), AND THENCE

TO JERUSALEM.

JAFFA, 10th March.

My not sending you this from Shechem is in consequence of my unexpected return from thence the morning of the day before yesterday. Certain it is that I would wish to have passed some days in that important town, in order to obtain a thorough understanding of all the occurrences connected with it which are mentioned in Scripture. I wished to visit Ebal and Gerizim also; but all this is now deferred. It was no place to tarry in long, at a time when one could not leave the house. Monday morning had a threatening look at daybreak. Thick clouds were seen advancing from the west; and as I could not foresee how long the rain would last, I thought the safest course was not to wait for its coming, but to hasten with all speed to Jaffa, and there seek shelter from the spring rains. Hereafter, I trust, my journey will take me back to Shechem, and what I miss now I will then have an opportunity of being able to make amends for.

When I set off, it was still fair. The rain came somewhat later, about noon, first in flying showers, afterwards more continuously; no small disappointment for my surveys; all the more, as the way from Shechem to Jaffa lies out of the course of ordinary tours, and hence it was well worth my while to make some accurate

surveys there. I believe, however, I have not neglected much that is of importance. I send you here, in a few words, what is most worth relating.

Our path went along the foot of Mount Gerizim, over a broad projecting spur at the side of Jacob's well; it then threaded round south-westwards, always along the south-western prolongation of that mountain, past the hainlet of Kefr-Kelîn, and a half hour farther on past the ruins of 'Ain-Mokhna, which gives its name to the plain of el-Mokhna. That plain I have already said something to you about, and we passed along it as it lay on our left. The reasons of the importance of this Mokhna, which was sufficient to have had that large vale called after it, have not, so far as I know, been discovered. As one proceeds, there are to be seen successively the villages 'Awertah, Azeir, and Sbûba, on the other side of the vale. According to the Jewish travellers collected together in the work of E. Carmoly, Awertah contains the graves of Ithamar and Eleazar, the sons of Aaron, of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,* and of the seventy elders of Israel spoken of in the Talmudic writings.† The two last villages on the western side of the vale of Mokhna are Hawarah and 'Ain-'Abûs; at the latter of these, which is two hours distant from Jacob's well, the valley is shut in by a moderately high hill that takes you by a zig-zag path to the Jerusalem road, but at the same time leaves a narrow glen open on the west, and by that glen you can ascend another high range of hills lying to the west of the highway to Jerusalem. Through this narrow glen we advanced until we reached

* Exod. vi. 22-24; Josh. xxiv. 33.

† See E. Carmoly, pp. 386, 387, 445, &c.

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ROAD FROM SHECHEM TO JAFFA.

a very high point, from which we had an excellent view of the sea and the surrounding country. This mountain ridge lies two and a half hours south-south-west of Jacob's well. The ground then begins gradually to slope downwards again. Here I was much struck with a tomb of very ancient construction, under the shade of a clump of olive-trees on the left of our path; but my guide could tell me nothing about it, and could not give me even its name. Hard by stands Jemâ'in, a considerable village, with many ancient remains. The road threads along, making a bend towards the west, through well cultivated olive-gardens; in the midst of which, at only a quarter of an hour's distance from Jemâ'in, lies the village of Zeita, which again has lying over against it two other villages, Hârith and Kefr-Hârith. These stand, each on its respective elevation, on the south side of a shallow stony glen, which is all that separates them from Zeita. The population of the Shechem mountains now begins to grow thin, and the country passes into a desolate stony region, with but few villages and very little cultivation. Rocky, however, as is the nature of the soil, still it has qualities that make it admirably adapted to the cultivation of the olive, and it may plainly be seen from the ruins of garden-walls and watch-houses, and from the short knotty olive stumps, probably the last relics of better days, that this district was at one time covered with luxuriant olivegroves. Nowhere else throughout the country have I observed such an extensive cultivation of the olive; but neither have I anywhere seen such a desolate state of things. The very trunks of the olive-trees seemed here to bespeak a greater antiquity than elsewhere. In about

five hours we reached Kerawa, which was the object of our journey for that day. It stands nearly an hour beyond Deir-Istia, the only village met with after Zeita. Deir-Istia and Zeita both bear traces of the ancient Israelitish epoch. At Deir-Istia there are to be seen cut out of the solid rock large tanks and caves that have served for human habitations. How pleased

should I have been to have travelled all round this seldom or never visited district during a few days of fine weather!

Abû Monsûr rode some way ahead, in order to have matters so far prepared for my arrival. On reaching Kerawa I saw a number of men standing round him, still busily occupied in listening to the letter-that of instructions from the Metzellim of Jenîn-which he was reading aloud to them. Well it was that the people here showed great readiness to give effect to it, for Kerawa lies far beyond the territory of Jenîn; and at Nablous (Shechem), to whose jurisdiction it properly belongs, I had neglected to ask for a letter from the governor to his subordinate shechs. But here my reception was particularly cordial; after having seated myself high and dry in an upper chamber of Shech Halil, and the firman had been brought out and read, the people seemed not to know how they might best shew their hospitality. A large fire was kindled, while outside a storm began to rage; but the enjoyment of warmth was accompanied with the discomfort of smoke. According to Eastern custom, the chiefs of the village soon appeared with their pipes. Shech Halil had coffee beans roasted, pounded, and prepared, according to the usual method of having coffee served to a guest; but

whereas, in general, there is a certain frugality shown in a reception of this kind, Shech Halil strove to keep the servant that brought the coffee busy the whole evening with his little copper coffee-pot. The firman, he said, enjoined him to give me no mere half welcome a point that seemed to press more heavily on his heart than on that of any other shech or governor that had as yet perused that document. He would not even allow me to depart on the following morning until I had first given him a certificate, testifying to his anxiety to give effect to the commands of his high master, the Sultan. Here I again found myself in one of those remote spots where one meets with mankind in their primitive simplicity. My night's quarters were filthy and bad, as could not but be expected in one of the poorest villages of the country; but where we see around us on all sides friendly looks and kindness, much is made amends for, and much is forgiven.

Kerawa must have been in earlier times a noble place. At present it is in a great measure in ruins. "What is the cause," I asked Shech Halil, "of your being here in such a state of decline?" "War and earthquakes," said he, "have desolated this village for years past, and have at the same time deprived us of the means required for the restoration of what has been thrown down.

"Nobody cares a fig for us," he added; "our affairs are a matter of concern to no one. Would you like to buy Kerawa? I will willingly make you a present of it."

His lamentations over the decline of Kerawa were excessive. But when I wished to shew that there was