262 THE HOLY LAND. 
CH AP. the Cactus Ficus Tndicus, growing to such enornio us 
size, that the stem of each plant was larger 
than a man's body. The wood of it is fibrous, 
and unfit for any other use than as fuel. The 
wounds which its almost imperceptible thorns 
inflict upon those who venture too near it, 
are terrible in this climate ; they are even 
dangerous to Europeans. Its gaudy blossoms 
made a most splendid show, in the midst of the 
weapons that surrounded them. The ruins of 
a palace and of a mosque in Jennin seem to prove 
that it was once a place of more importance than 
it is at present. Marble pillars, fountains, and 
even piazzas, still remain in a very perfect 
state. An inscription over one of these build- 
ings, in Arabic, purported that it was erected 
by a person of the name of Selim. This place 
is the GiN^A of antient authors. Under this 
name it occurs in the description given of 
Samaria by Josephus ' ; deriving then, as it does 
now, the circumstance of its notoriety from its 
situation as a frontier village. It was the 
northern boundary of that province '. Adrichomius 
(1) Lib. iii. de Bell. c. 2. 
(2) " Vivccla. Vicus qui Samarltin a septentrione terminat, in canipo 
situs, ita legit Rufinus : nam in Grreco est h (nyaXa mViui Ulic 
loci situs est hodieque vicus Zjennin, vel, ut alii scribunt, Jennin dictus, 
et transeunt ilium qui Ptolcma'idc Samariam, atque ita Hierosolymas, 
teadunt." Rdand. PaleesU lib. iii. torn. II. p. 812, Utrecht, 1714, 
