SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 389 



latter end of March. 'This confutes a story,' he adds, 'commonly 

 told to travellers, who do not take the pains to examine the well, viz. 

 that it is dry all the year round, except on the anniversary of that 

 day on which our hlessed Saviour sat upon it, but then bubbles up 

 with abundance of water.' One would imagine,- that the ' old stone 

 vault' built over the spot was designed to protect the legend, rather 

 than the well, by concealing it from examination. If this were 

 really the well to which the inhabitants of Sychar were accustomed 

 to resort, it would be difficult to account for its having been thus 

 abandoned. 



Nablous (as it is pronounced by the Turks and Arabs, or Naplosa, 

 as the Christians who speak Italian call it a corruption of Neapo- 

 lis, or New Town) is one of the few places in the Holy Land, the 

 ancient name of which appears to be superseded by that which it has 

 received from its foreign conquerors. Its position identifies the 

 site, beyond all question, with the Shechern of the Old Testament* 

 and the Sychar (or Sichem, as Jerome contends it should be) of the 

 New, the ancient capital of Samaria. Josephus says that the na- 

 tives called it Mabartha, but by others it was commonly called 

 Neapolis. Few places exceed it in the romantic beauty of its po- 

 sition. It is situated in ft narrow valley between Mount Ebal and 

 Mount Gerizim, having the former on the north, and the latter on 

 the south ; but it is correctly described by Maundrell as lying under 

 Mount Gerizim, being built at the acclivity on the southern side of 

 the valley. It was from Mount Gerizim that God commanded the 

 blessings to be pronounced upon the children of Israel, and from 

 Mount Ebal the curses, respectively annexed to obedience and dis- 

 obedience, on their entering the promised land by way of Jericho 

 and Ai : half of the tribes were to be encamped over against the one 

 hill, and half against the other, f The modern town consists of two 

 long streets, running through the centre of the valley, and intersect- 

 ed by several smaller ones, mostly crossing them at righ!; angles. 

 At the present time it is populous and flourishing, and the environs 

 bear the marks of opulence and industry, being adorned with small 

 gardens that skirt the banks of the stream by which the valley is 

 watered. ' We passed.' says Dr. Richardson, ' its scarcely moisten- 

 ed bed, and a little above the town saw an ancient bridge with 

 twelve arches, which were still capable of maintaining the com- 

 munication between the two sides of the valley.' Dr. Clarke, in 

 approaching it from Jennin, was struck with its flourishing appear- 

 ance. 'There is nothng in the Holy Land finer,' he affirms, ' than 

 the view of Napolose from the heights around it. As the traveller 

 descends towards it from the hills, it appears luxuriantly embosom- 

 ed in the most delightful and fragrant bowers, half concealed by rich 

 gardens, and by stately trees collected into groves all around the 

 bold and beautiful valley in which it stands.' ' Within the town are 



* Gen. xxxiii. 18 , xxxvii. 13 : Josh. xxiv. 32 : Judges ix. f Deut. xi. 39 j xxvii. 



.'13!, 13 } Josh. viii. 33. 



34* 



