388 SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 



the name of Beer Samareta, or the Well of Samaria.' It is not a lit- 

 tle singular, that this traveller should not, so far as appears, have 

 visited what now bears the name of Jacob's Well. That name 

 may have been arbitrarily or ignorantly given to it by the Turks j 

 otherwise, it would be highly deserving of attention. It is plain, 

 from the narrative of St. John, that Jacob's Well, where our Lord 

 rested while the disciples went forward into the city to by meat, 

 was at some short distance from Sychur ; and consequently, the 

 Beer el Yakoab, if absolutely within the town, can hardly be enti- 

 tled to the appellation. Mr. Buckingham notices, however, a third 

 well, * not far from the Well of Samaria, ' called the, Beer Yusef, or 

 Joseph's Well, over which there is a modern building ; and ' it is 

 said to be even at this day frequented for water from Nablous.' 

 The well of Samaria might, therefore, he remarks, also have been 

 so from Sy char. But if this third well derives its name from the 

 patriarch Joseph, to whom Jacob gave the parcel of ground con- 

 taining the place of sepulchre 'before the city,' it is very possible 

 that this Beer Yousef may be the well on which our Lord sat : it 

 would be correctly referred to as Jacob's Well by the evangelist, 

 although it bore the name of his son. It must be left to future 

 travellers to decide on the probabilities of the case. In the mean 

 time, we return to the account given us of the 'Well of Samaria.' 

 Having procured a Christian boy for a guide, Mr. Buckingham 

 left Nablous by the eastern gate, and after passing along the valley 

 for about a quarter of an hour, he arrived at the spot where the 

 pass opens into a more extensive vale, the mountains on the other 

 side of the Jordan being in sight on the left. Here he had on each 

 side grottoes and tombs, which we shall presently notice ; and from 

 hence, in another quarter of an hour, he reached the Well of Sa- 

 maria. 'It stands,' he says, ' at the commencement of the round 

 vale which is thought to be the parcel of ground bought by Jacob, 

 and which, like the narrow valley west of Nablous, is rich and fer- 

 tile. The mouth of the well itself had an arched or vaulted build- 

 ing over it ; and the only passage down to it at this moment is by a 

 small hole in the roof, scarcely large enough for a moderate-sized 

 person to work himself through.' Taking off his large Turkish 

 clothes, our traveller descended with a lighted taper, but even then 

 did not get down without bruising himself against the sides. ' Nor 

 was I,' he says, 'at all rewarded for such an inconvenience by the 

 sight below. Landing on a heap of dirt and rubbish, we saw a 

 large, flat, oblong stone, which lay almost on its edge across the 

 mouth of the well, and left barely space enough to see that there 

 was an opening below. We could not ascertain its diameter, but, 

 by the time of a stone's descent.it was evident that it was of con- 

 siderable depth, as well as that it was perfectly dry at this season 

 (Feb.), the fall of the stone giving forth a dead and hard sound. ' 

 Maundrell removed the ' broad flat stone ' which lay on the mouth, 

 and examined the well more minutely. ' It is,' he says, 'dug in a 

 firm rock, and contains about three yards in diameter and thirty- 

 five in depth ; Jive of which we found full of water. 1 This was the 



