FUCM ACHE TO. NAZARETH. 241 
also by an equestrian sport, resembling a game called “ prison¬ 
er’s base” in England. In the plain near Acre we passed a 
small conical hill, whereon we observed a ruin and several ca* 
verns: this answers to the situation assigned by Josephus for 
the sepulchre of Mem non.* \?fe.crossed the sandy bed of the 
river Belus, near its mouth, where the stream is shallow enough 
to allow of its being forded on horseback; here, it is said, Her¬ 
cules found the plant colocasia, which effected the cure of his 
wounds. According to Pliny, the discovery of the art of mak¬ 
ing glass Was made by some mariners who were boiling a ket¬ 
tle upon the sand of this river; f it continued for ages to 
supply not only the manufactories of Sidoo,;); but all other 
places, with materials for that purpose.§ Vessels from 
Italy continued to remove it, for the glass houses of Ve¬ 
nice and Genoa, so late as the middle of the seventeenth centu¬ 
ry. || It seemed to us to be muddy, and mixed with various 
impurities: we afterward regretted that we did not collect a 
portion, in order to examine whether it naturally contains an 
alkali. There is an air of something strained in the addition 
made to the story, concerning the Pbtenidan mariners, of the 
blocks of nitre used as props for their caldron. Pliny may 
have added this himself, by way of accounting for the acci¬ 
dent that followed. Farther toward the south, in the east cor¬ 
ner of the bay. of Acre, flows that ancient river , the river Kish* 
on”** a more considerable stream than this of Belus. .Nothing 
else was observed in this afternoon’s journey,.excepting a 
well, where the Arabs insisted upon halting, to prepare their 
coffee. Shepherds appealed in the plain, wide numerous droves 
of cattle; consisting of oxen, sheep and goats. As evening 
drew on, we reached the foot of a hill, where the village of 
Shefhamerfl is situated. It is visible in the prospect, from Acre, 
^nd stands upon the western declivity of a ridge of eminences, 
rising one above another, in a continuous series, from Libanus 
Arabic word signifies the branch of a paint tree stripped nfitshaves. Sometimes canes 
or reeds, or common sticks, are employed for the same purpose. A .representation 
of this sport is given in Niebuhr’s description 'of Arabia, tom. i. tab. xv. Copenh, 
1773. 
* Joseph De Bell. Jud. lib. if, G. 9. 
| Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvi. c. 26. 
X Strabo says, it was carried to Sidon, to be made ready for fusion.' Strab. GeogtV 
lib? xvi. p 1077. ed. Oxon. 
Idque tantum multa per secula gignendo fuit vitro.” Ibid. L-Bat. 1635.; 
|j Doubdan relates, that even in his time vessels from Italy came to be freighted 
with that sand. “ Qye!qites-fois, quoy one fort rarement , qnctques vdisticaux if hplie hi 
ant charge pour cel effect ” Voy. de la Terre Sainte, p. 599. 
** See the sublime song of Deborah, (Judges, v. 20,21.) “ They fought from heaven; 
the stars in their course fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away* 
that ancient river, the river Kishon.” 
ft Written Shafa Avirc by d’AnviJle, in his Carle de la Phccnide , published at Paris, 
in_1780. In Egmont and Heyman’s Travels (yol. ii. p. 15.) the same village is called 
C/iafamora- t and in the journal of one of the party who was v.ith the author, he finda 
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