SKETCHES OF PALESTINE. 399 



tier town of Samaria on the border of Galilee ; being situated at 

 the entrance of the great plain. It is mentioned by Josephus as 

 the scene of a battle between the Galileans, who were going up to 

 Jerusalem to the feast of tabernacles, and the natives. It is now a 

 mere village, containing about 800 inhabitants ; but there are evi- 

 dences of its having once been of much greater extent. There are 

 the remains of a Christian con vent on the outside of the walls, now 

 partly occupied by a Turkish cemetery. Within the town> Dr. 

 Clarke observed the ruins of a palace and a mosque, with marble 

 pillars, fountains, and even piazzas, some in a very perfect state. 

 An Arabic inscription over one of these buildings, purports that it 

 was erected by an individual of the name of Selim. As a fence to 

 the gardens, Dr. Clarke noticed the Indian Fig, growing to so enor- 

 mous a size, that the stem was larger than a man's body ; and its 

 gaudy blossoms made a most splendid show in the midst of its 

 bristly spines. 



The route from Jennin to Nazareth lies directly across the plain 

 of Esdraelon, a distance of seven hours, or twenty-one miles. Near- 

 ly in the middle of the plain is the line of separation between the 

 pashalics of Acre and of Damascus. The road to Tiberias, which 

 we are now to follow, proceeds eastward along this beautiful vale; 

 watered, in this part, by a fertilizing stream, which, says Dr. Rich- 

 ardson, ' we crossed and re-crossed several times in our march. In 

 four hours after leaving Jennia, we came to the source, where it is- 

 sues in a large current from the rock, and is called El Geleed or, the 

 cold. In two hours more we came to Bisan. The delightful vale of 

 Esdraelon is but thinly inhabited, and not half cultivated or stocked 

 with cattle. We did not pass a single village, and saw but few Be- 

 doween encampments till we came near to Bisan. As we ap- 

 proached this miserable village, we gradually withdrew from the 

 vale, and got upon an elevated rocky flat, covered with a thin and 

 meagre sprinkling of earth ; the vegetation which it bore was scan- 

 ty, and quite brown from the lack of moisture. The valley of the 

 Jordan began to open on our view, and, before we came up to 

 the village, we passed the remains of a Roman fortress and a Ro- 

 man theatre, with many vaults* and columns, on the left of our 

 route. The village itself is a collection of the most miserable hov- 

 els, containing about 200 inhabitants; and, on looking at their 

 wretched accommodation, and comparing it with a Bedoween en- 

 campment that was spread out at a little distance in the valley, we 

 were not surprised to hear that, in these countries, the dwellers in 

 tents look on the dwellers in towns as an inferior class of beings.' 



The young emir, or chief of the Arabs of Bisan, who waited on 

 Lord Belmore, arrayed in his black abba and yellow boots, is de- 

 scribed as a mild-tempered, intelligent youth ; but the rest of the in- 

 habitants had the most ruffian-like and depraved appearance. 



Bisan, the Bethsanor Bethshan of Scripture, f is the Scythopolis 



* Supposed to be the ruins of subterranean granaries. 



t Josh. xvii. 11 ; 1 Sam. xxxi. 12 ; 1 Kings iv. 12. It was one of the towns which Ma- 



