©larke’s travels. 
2M 
&nd power than any pacha in (he giand signior's dominions. 
Tiie delightful plain of Zabulon appeared every where cover¬ 
ed with spontaneous vegetation, flourishing in the wildest exu¬ 
berance. The same proof of its fertility is given by other tra- 
Tellers*. As we proceeded across this plain, a castle, once the 
acropolis of the city of SapphtiraJ appeared upon a hill, dis¬ 
tant from Shef-tamer about seven miles. Its name is still pre¬ 
served, in the appellation of a miserable village, called Sephou- 
v y. An ancient aqueduct, which conveyed water to the city, 
now serves to supply several small mills. We were told, that 
the French had been quartered in all these villages; that their 
conduct had rendered the name of a Frenchman, once odious, 
very popular among the Arabs; that they paid punctually for 
every thing they required; and left behind them notions, con¬ 
cerning the despotic tyranny of the Turks, which the govern¬ 
ment of that country will not find it easy to eradicate. We as¬ 
cended the hill to the village; and found the sun’s rays, even 
at this early hour of the morning, almost insupportable. If we 
had not adopted the precaution of carrying umbrellas, it would 
have been impossible to continue the journey. The cactus fir 
cus indicus , or prickly pear, which glows to a prodigious size 
in the Holy Land, as in Egypt, where it is used as a fence for 
the hedges of enclosures, sprouted luxuriantly among the rocks, 
displaying its gaudy yellow blossoms, amidst thorns defying all 
human approach.^ We afterward saw this plant, with a stem, 
or trunk, as large as the mainmast of a frigate. It produces a 
delicious cooling fruit, which becomes ripe toward the end of 
July, and is then sold in all the markets of the country. 
Particularly by Pococke, Description of the East , vol ii. part i. Load. 1745. 
tin the enumeration of the cities of Judjah, (Joshua, xv. 55.) this place is. men¬ 
tion ed with Carmel , under the name of Zip* And David is said to have hid himself 
with the Zipkilcs , in strong holds in the Hill of Hachilah, (1 Sam. xxiii. 19 ) Harduin, 
(Nutn Antiq. illust. p. 450. Paris, 1684.) upon the subject of its appellation, says. 
More porro Hebraeo Scfforin dicimus, quanquam in scribendo Graeci aeque atque 
Latini, Ejfftpwptv et Scppkorin scribant.” Cellarius writes it Sepphoris , from Josephus, 
()ib. iii. De Bell. cap. 3,) XiTrtpwpis psyteTD OvacL im TaKihcLlas voKis. Brocardus, 
(Theat. Terr Sanct.) as from the Greek, Sephoron , and Sephorum ; also Sephor , under 
which name it occurs in the writings of some authors. It is, according to Cellarius, 
the Z ippor or Zippori, of the Rabbins. In the Codex FiJalinus of Ptolemy, (lib. v, 
cap. 16.) the name however occurs so nearly according to the manner in which it is 
now pronounced in the country. (E&7r(poupa), that this ancient reading may be pre¬ 
ferred to any other. A curious etymology of Zipporis is noticed by Cellarius, (lib. 
iii. c. 13^ Lips. 1705.) “ Judaais est VlfSX, Zipporis , ut in. Talmud. Megill. fol. 6,. col. 
1. aiunt, quia hionti insidet. si cut avis.” 
t It is applied to the same use in the West Indies. Baron de Tott notices its im¬ 
portance, as a fenced in the Holy Land. “ The Indian fig tree, of which the hedges 
are formed, serves as an insurmountable barrier for the security of the fields.” (Me¬ 
moirs, vol. ji. p. 313. Lon'd. 1785.) It might, in certain latitudes, answer temporary 
purposes, as an outwork of fortification. Artillery has no effect upon it; fire will not 
act upon it; pioneers cannot approach it; and neither cavalry nor infantry call tra v - 
verge it. 
