226 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



town, on the east and south, the ascent is only about 

 60 feet from the Plain of El Hamma, and we easily 

 found the traditional spot where the Sermon on the 

 Mount was preached. It is to the north, and is a 

 wonderfully convenient place to address a multitude. 

 There is a natural platform which looks like an old 

 filled-in crater which slants in every direction towards 

 the slopes of the highest point on Hattin, and this plat- 

 form would naturally be arrived at on coming up the 

 pass through the valley of the Doves from the Plain of 

 Gennesaret. If our Lord had preceded the multitude 

 with His disciples it would be easy to fancy Him address- 

 ing them from the platform (which would hold thousands) 

 that falls down from the summit some 30 or 40 feet, the 

 lie of the rocks round would act as a sounding board, 

 and the slant of the platform would enable all to see 

 and hear Him. Trench read the entire sermon on the 

 spot aloud. We went then down to Tiberias, which is 

 about 1000 feet below the Plain of Hattin or El 

 Hamma, and 607 feet below the sea. The camp 

 was pitched close to the lake near the hot baths, and 

 after dinner I smoked my cigar in the cool of the 

 evening at the door of my tent, looking at the full 

 moon hanging over the still water and the Big Bear 

 pointing to the north star up towards the entrance of 

 the Jordan. 



Here is the lovely lake, with the balmy soft air 

 playing over it. Its banks surrounded by richly 

 covered slopes and plains, corn growing in profusion a 

 little inland, and the actual banks clad with flowering 

 oleander which gives the effect of masses of rhododen- 

 drons, towering reeds, and flowering plants of all 

 descriptions. Behind the immediate surroundings of 

 the lake are the wild and really beautiful Galilean 

 highlands, and at the head of the lake rises grand old 



