316 GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND DISCOVERIES IN' 



ducted principally by the officers detailed by 

 the English Palestine Exploration Fund, and 

 during the past year, oast of the Jordan, by 

 the American Palestine Exploration Society, 

 that region having been assigned to them 

 by the English Society. Other explorers in 

 private parties, and particularly Rev. II. B. 

 Tristram, and Messrs. Palmer, Tyrwhitt, and 

 Drake, accomplished English explorers and 

 geographers, Mr. Johnson, late Syrian consul, 

 and several American missionaries, have added 

 to the volume of discoveries of the past year. 

 The officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund 

 have been at work for three or four years, and 

 reference has been made to them in previous 

 volumes of the ANNUAL CTOLOP.SDIA. Their 

 work has been of two kinds : they have ex- 

 cavated at various points in and around Je- 

 rusalem, and have made many discoveries, 

 though none which absolutely settle the ques- 

 tion of the exact site of some points of great- 

 est scriptural interest; and partly previous 

 to these excavations and partly since they 

 have been in progress, one of the divisions 

 of their exploring corps made a reconnais- 

 sance survey from Beirout to Damascus; 

 thence to the Sea of Galilee, and thence south 

 through Galilee to Jerusalem, and subsequent- 

 ly to Philistia and to Gaza. The Peninsula of 

 Sinai was afterward surveyed under the direc- 

 tion of the British Ordnance Survey, by Messrs. 

 Palmer and Drake. Mr. Tristram and his party 

 also explored with considerable thoroughness 

 the ancient country of Moab east of the Dead 

 Sea and the Lower Jordan, and found there 

 the site and remains of the ancient tower of 

 Magdalo, the fortress of Machierus in which 

 John the Baptist was imprisoned, and where 

 he was beheaded by Herod's order ; and the 

 magnificent ruins of the Persian palace of 

 ICaihita, erected by Chosroes, one of the 

 Sassanian kings, about A. n. 700. These various 

 reconnaissances have established the site of 

 some important places both of BiMica! and pro- 

 fane history, while others are still left in doubt. 

 Among those discovered may be said to bo 

 Laisha, the Dan of the historic books of the 

 Bible ; Kedes, the Kedesh or Kadesh Naphthali 

 of Scripture, one of the ancient cities of r 

 and the identification of Jebel Jermak as the 

 highest of the Galilean mountains. There are 

 still conflicts of opinion as to the site of Caper- 

 naum ; and Gerar, where Isaac lived, is yet 

 one of the lost cities. The results of the sur- 

 vey of the Sinaitic peninsula have been thrown 

 into some doubt by the elaborate exploration 

 and essay of Dr. Beke, who claims that Jebel 

 M-M i is not Sinai, but that the true Sinai is nt 

 considerable distance from it in another part 

 of the peninsula, and that this new mountain 

 answers in full all the requirements of the Si- 

 nai of the Pentateuch, while Jebel Mnsa does 

 not. The first American expedition of the 

 Palestine Exploration Society, under com- 

 mand of Lieutenant Steever, U. 8. A., set out 

 in the autumn of 1872, and spent about five 



months in exploring east of the Jordan. 

 Ahoiit 000 square miles were surveyed, a line 

 map prepared, and many places of in: 

 identified. The explorations were in Kilom 

 and Moab. Various sites have 1 

 factorily identified, and the position of Mounts 

 Nebo and Pisgah determined. The levels of 

 many important spots were taken, a number 

 of ruins in Moub examined, and interest in:: in- 

 scriptions copied. Meantime, mainly through 

 the active efforts of the Rev. BosweD I >. Hitch- 

 cock, 1>. D., the Exploration Society was more 

 thoroughly organized, and provision ma<' 

 extending the surveys of the region cast of 

 the Jordan over five years; the preparation of 

 complete and accurate maps or series of maps 

 of the whole region, on a very large scale ; 

 and the thorough investigation of all ruin 

 sites of towns, etc., there, which can throw 

 light on matters of sacred and profane history. 

 For this purpose it was estimated that about 

 $160,000 would be needed during the live 

 years, and that amount has been nearly all 

 subscribed. A second expedition, in which a 

 number of eminent Biblical scholars took |>art, 

 left New York about Christmas, 1873, and are 

 now engaged in active exploration. 



There is frequent mention in the Bible of 

 Gezer, in the land of Canaan, a very ancient 

 city which was in existence before the Israel- 

 ites entered Egypt. During the past year 

 Mr. 0. Ganneau, to whom the world is mainly 

 indebted for securing the fragments of the. 

 Moabite Stone, has succeeded, through a refer- 

 ence in an Arab chronicle, in discovering its 

 site. The ruins show a large and ancient city, 

 occupying a vast plateau on the summit of Job 

 Azar, which is about half-way between Jeru- 

 salem and the Mediterranean. The Rev. Sam- 

 uel Jessup, an American missionary, ]i-.,< re- 

 cently given an account of the ruins of llusn 

 SuK-yman. They lie in a secluded spot in the 

 heart of tho Xusairoeyeh Mountains in Syria, 

 two days' journey from Tarabnlus, or Tripoli, 

 on tho Mediterranean, of which hitherto but 

 little has been known. The name denotes 

 the stronghold of Solomon, but the principal 

 inclosure has not the situation or appearance 

 of a fortress ; it may have been a summer pal- 

 ace of some forgotten Syrian ruler, or a sacred 

 inclosure erected in this secluded mountain- 

 top for the worship of the sun. Mr. Jcssup's 

 article, with engravings of the ruins, is pub- 

 lished in the second statement of the Ameri- 

 can Palestine Exploration Society. Mr. .1. 

 Augustus Johnson has recently visited the 

 people who dwell in tho mountains which con- 

 nect tho Taurus with the Lebanon range, and 

 lie along the Syrian coast. This strange peo- 

 ple, he thinks, are the descendants of the an- 

 cient Canaanitcs, who, driven by succv 

 conquerors from their former homos, found .1 

 secure refuge in these dark mountains. Their 

 religion isamixtnre of the worship of Baal, of 

 Astarte, the Phoenician Venus, of (ire. of tho 

 heavenly bodies, and of Mohammedanism and 



