§4^ MAUKDRELL^i Travels Book Hi 
Prince, wliereby they vitjight be ftrong enough to fhake 
off the ^urkift) Yoke ^ for in thefe Difcords Strangers 
are fure to fuffer, being a Frey to each Party. 
13. The 2 2d, we fet out early from Acra^ having 
Somo. 'Turkijh Soldiers for dur Convoy.' And firft we 
pafs’d by a fmall River, which we took to be Bdus^ fa- 
mous for its Sand, of which Glafs is made. Here we 
declin’d from the Sea-coaft to the Eaft, and crofling 
over the Plain, we arrived at its further Side, where it 
is bounded by Mount Carmel -s and here we found a 
narrow Valley, which led us out of the Plain of Acra 
into that of Efdraelon. About this Place is the End of 
the Tribe of AJher, and the Beginning of that of Ze- 
hulon^ as their Borders are defcribed, JoJJo, xix. 26. 
Pairing through the faid narrow Valley, we arrived 
in two Hours at the River Kifhon^ which cuts its Way 
down the Middle of the Plain of Efdraelon, and then 
continuing his Courfe by the Side of Mount Carmel^ 
falls into the Sea at a Place called Caypha, We fiw it 
when it was low, but we difcern’d many Torrents hilling 
into it from the Mountains, which muft make it fwell, as 
it did at the Deftrudion of SiferaU Hoft, Jadg. v. 21. 
In three Hours and half from Kijhon, we came to an old 
Village and good Kane called Legune, near to which 
w.e lodged that Night. 
From this Place we viewed the Plain of Efdraelon, 
which is very large and fertile, and about fix Hours Di- 
fiance flood within View Nazareth, and the two Mounts 
Tabor and Herman ; and here we felt the Dew of Her- 
man, as the Pfalmifl calls it, our Tents being as wet 
with it as if it had rained all Night. About a Mile’s 
Diftance from us was encamped Chihly, Emir of the 
Arabs, with his People and Cattle ; and below, upon 
the Brook Kifloon, \'xy another Chnoi i\\Q Arabs, being 
the adverfe Party to Chibly ; and it was little to our Sa- 
tisfadtion, that we were feated in the Midft between 
two fuch bad Neighbours. 
The 23d. Leaving this Lodging, we went to the Emir’s 
Tents, to whom we paid two Caphars, one of La- 
gune, and the other of Jeneen, and whatever elfe he 
was pleafed todemand. He very civilly eas’d usoffome 
of our Coats, which begun now, by reafon of the Heat, 
to be troublefome. Getting quit of Chibly, we return’d 
out of the Plain of Efdraelon, and entred into the Pre- 
cin6fs of the half I'ribe of ManaJJes. From hence our 
Road lay, for four Hours, through narrow Valleys, 
pleafanriy wooded on both Sides, and we lodg’d at 
Caphar Arab. 
On the 24th, having paid our Caphar, we fet out 
very early the next Morning and leaving firft 
Arab, and then Rama, on their Right-hand, we came 
to Selee and Sehajia, where we leave the Borders of the 
Half Tribe of Manaffes, and enter info thofe of the 
TYiht oi Ephraim. Sebajla is 2.nQ.\tnX. Samaria, the 
Imperial City of the Ten Tribes after their Revolt from 
the Houfe of David, and being railed by Herod the 
Great to a magnificent State, was by him, in Honour 
of Atiguftus, call’d Sebajla. 
It is fituate on a long Mount of an oval Figure, and 
is now wholly converted into Gardens, having no other 
Remains of fuch a Place, but on the North-fide a large 
fquare Piazza, encompafs’d with Pillars, and on the 
Eaft fome Ruins of a great Church, faid to be built by 
Helena, over the Place where John the Baptiji was im- 
prifon’d and beheaded. In the Body of the Church 
you go down a Stair- cafe into the Dungeon where that 
Blood was fhed. The Turks hold that Prifon in great 
Veneration, and over it have erefted a fmall Mofque ; 
but for a little Piece of Money they fuffer any one to 
go into it. 
Leaving SebaEa we pafs’d by Sherack and Barfeba, and 
then entring into a Valley, we arrived in an Hour at 
Naplofa, which is the ancient Sychem or Sychar, as it is 
call’d in the New Testament. It ftands in a narrow Val- 
ley between Mount Gerizim on the South, and Ebal on 
the North. From Mount Gerizim God commanded 
the Bleffings to be pronounced upon the Children of 
Ifrael, and from Mount Ebal the Curfes, Deut. xi. 29. 
Upon the former the Samaritans, whofe chief Refidence 
is at Sychem, have a fmall Temple, to which they are 
ftill wont to repair for Religious Worfliip : But that 
their Religion confifts in worfhipping a Calf, as the 
Jjws fay, feems to have more of Spight than Truth 
in it. ' 
Upon one of thefe Mountains alfo it was, that God 
commanded the Children of Ifrael to fet up great Stones 
plaifter’d over and infcribed with the Body of the Law* 
and to ereft an Altar, and offer Sacrifices, Feaftinw 
and Rejoycing, before the Lord, Deut. xxvii. 4. But 
whether Gerizim, dr Ebal, was the Place appointed for 
this Solemnity, there is fome Caufe to doubt % for the 
Hebrew Pentateuch and ours, from it affign Mount 
Ebal for this Ufe ; but the Samaritan afferts it was Geri- 
zim. Our Company halting a little at Naplofa, I had 
an Opportunity to vifit the chief Prieft of the Sama- 
ritans, and to difcourfe with him about this and other 
Difficulties. 
And firft, as to the Difference between the Hebrew 
and Samaritan Copy, Deut. xxvii. 4. the Prieft pretend- 
ed, that the Jews had malicioufly alter’d their Text out 
of Odium to the Samaritans, putting for Gerizim, Ebal, 
becaufe the Samaritans worfhipped in the former, which, 
for that Realon, they would not have to be the true 
Place appointed by God for his Worfhip. To confirm 
this, he alledg’d, that Ebal was the Mountain of Cur- 
fing, Deut. XI. 29. and an unpleafant Place ; whereas 
Gerizim was fertile and pleafmt, and the Mountain of 
Bleffing •, and therefore it was more probable, that this 
was the Mountain appointed for Religious Worfhip, 
and not Ebal. But he could not fay that any of thofe 
great Stones, which God dire6led Jofhua' to fet up, were 
now to be feen mGerizim, which would have determin’d 
the Queftion clearly on this Side, 
I enquired alfo, what thofe Selava were wherewith the 
Children of Ifrael were fo long fed in the Wildernefs, 
Numb. xi. he anfwer’d, They were a Sort of Fowls, 
which by his Defcription appear’d to be Quails. Then 
I ask’d him, what Sort of Plant or Fruit thQ Dudaim 
or Mandrakes were, which Leah gave to Rachel for the 
Purchafe of her Husband’s Embraces ? He anfwer’d. 
They were Plants of a large Leaf, bearing a Fruit like 
an Apple, ripe in Harveft, but of an ill Savour and 
Linwholefome, and that the Virtue of them was to help 
Conception, being laid under the genial Bed ; to which 
Purpofe they are often made Ufe of by Women at 
this Day. 
Of thefe Plants I faw feveral in the Way to Jerufa- 
lem 5 and if they were as common in Mefopotamia as 
here, we muft conclude, that either thefe were not the 
true Mandrakes, or elfe it is hard to give a Reafon 
why Rachel fhould purchafe fuch common Things at fo 
beloved a Price. Naplofa is at prefent in a very mean 
Condition to what it has been anciently ; it confifts of 
two Streets lying parallel under Mount Gerizim, but is 
full of People. Having paid our Caphar here, we 
proceeded in the fame narrow Valley between Gerizim 
and Ebal j and juft v/ithout the City we faw a fmall 
Mofque, faid to be built over the Sepulchre purchafed 
by Jacob of Emmor, Father of Shechem, Gen.xxyim. 19, 
It goes by the Name of JofepDs Sepulchre, his Bones 
being inter’d here, Joth. xxiv 32. About a Quarter of 
an Hour from Naplofa we came to Jacob’s Well, famous 
not only for its Author, but for the Conference it had 
there with the Woman of Samaria, Joh. iv. Over the 
Well there flood formerly a large Church erecfted by 
Helena, of which remains nothing now but fome Foun- 
dations. The Well is cover’d at prefent with a Stone 
Vault, into which you are let down through a very 
ftraight Hole ; and then removing a broad Stone, you 
difcover the Mouth of the Well. It is dug in a firm 
Rock, and is about three Yards in Diameter, and thir- 
ty-five deep, five of which we found full of Water. 
At this Well the narrow Valley of Sychem ends, open- 
ing into a wide Field, very pleafant and fruitful, which 
is probably Part of that Parcel of Ground given by Ja- 
cob to his Son Jofeph, Joh. iv. 5. From Jacob’s Well 
we went through a large Valley, and having pafs’d 
by two Villages on the Right-hand, called Howar and 
Sawee, we came in four Hour’s to Kane Leban, near a 
Village of the fame Name, one of which is fuppofed to 
