CHAPTER II. 



(1.) The Sea of Galilee. Tiberias —(2 ) Condition of the Jews. Eastern Wo- 

 men. — (3 ) The Jordan. — (4.) Descent of the River. Passing the Rapids. — 

 (5.) Character of the Adjacent Country. Inhabitants. — (6.) Pilgrim's Ford. 

 Anniversary of the Saviour's Baptism. — (T.) Embouchure into the Dead 

 Sea. 



( L) How great changes have taken place, what various inci- 

 dents have transpired, on the shoresof the Lakeof Genesareth,* 

 since the galleys of the Jew and the Roman contended upon 

 its placid waters for the mastery ! The flourishing cities 

 that once adorned its borders lie crumbling in ruins, or have 

 disappeared forever. Tiberias still remains — the wreck of its 

 former greatness : but the doom pronounced against Caper- 

 naum the proud, against Chorazin and Bethsaida, has boon 

 fulfilled.! The original possessor of the soil has been driven 

 forth by the Gentile, or lingers amid the scenes around 

 which cluster so many bright and dear recollections of by- 

 gone days, to be the victim of oppression, or the object of the 

 scoffing gibes and contemptuous sneers of the stranger who 

 has deprived him of his inheritance. The snowy peaks of 

 " breezy Hermon" yet bound the vision on the north : on the 

 east, the barren hills and precipitous ravines of Anti-Libanus 

 wear the same dreary and desert aspect as in days of yore; 

 and on the west, the cultivated slopes are still adorned with 

 waving corn, with fragrant groves, and "radiant fields of 

 asphodel." But all beside is changed. The towns and cities 

 are no longer the same, and a new people have established 

 themselves in the land. The victorious banners of Tancred 



* The Sea of Galilee is also called the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake of Ge- 

 nesareth. (Gennezareth. Genesnr, Chinnpreth, or Cinneroth.) 

 t Matthew xi. 20 " 



