a$4 Clarke’s TRAVELS, 
In the plain of Esdraelon, or, according to the language of the 
prophet, “ as the mourning of Hadadncnmon in the valley of 
Megiddon” Josephus often mentions this very remarkable part 
of the Holy Land,* and always under the appellation of “the 
great plain” f The supplies that Vespasian sent to the people 
of Sepphoris, are^aid to have been reviewed in the great plain, 
prior to their distribution into two divisions ; the infantry being 
quartered within the city, and the cavalry encamped upon the 
plain. Under the same name it Is also mentioned by Eusebius,! 
and by St. Jeron?r§ It has been a chosen place for encamp¬ 
ment in every contest carried on in this country from the days 
of Nabuchodonosor, king of the Assyrians, (in the history of 
whose war with Arphaxad, it is mentioned as the great plain 
of Esdrelom, ||) until the disastrous march of Napoleon Buona¬ 
parte from Egypt into Syria. Jews, Gentiles, Saracens, Chris* 
iian Crusaders, and Anti Christian Frenchmen, Egyptians, Per¬ 
sians, Druses, Ttuks, and Arabs, warriors out of “ every nation 
which is under heaven,” have pitched their tents upon the 
plain of Esdraelon, and have beheld the various banners of 
their nations wet with the dews of Thabor and of Hermon.** 
It has not often been noticed in books of travels, because it does 
not occur in the ordinary route pursued by pilgrims in their 
journeys to Jerusalem. These men have generally landed at 
Jaffa; and have returned thither, after completing their pil¬ 
grimage :jf in consequence of this, we seldom meet with ac¬ 
counts of Galilee, or of Samaria, in their writings.!! Even 
# Josephus, lib. iii. de Bell. c. 2 & 3. Id. lib, v. Anfaq. c. l.Lib. viii. Antiq. c. 2Z 
he. Src. 
f To yitya irtSidy: 
; L Eusebius ad voc. ’[fcrpariX. Id. ad. voe ’Applet. Et ad voc. BaiecnaS, &£ 
Hieronymus, lib. de Sit. et Nom. Locorum Rebraicorum. 
j| It is so written from the original, ITf&'ov Iliya ’Ecr5pnXc6ji. Vid Judith, c.i. 8.— 
And, according to our Version, “ Nabuchodonosor, king of the Assyrians, sent unto 
all that dwelt in Persia, and to all that dwelt westward, and to those that-dwelt pi Ci¬ 
licia, and Damascus, and Libanus, and Anti-Libanus, and to all that dwelt updn the 
'sea coast, and to those among the nations that were of Carmel, and Galaad, and the 
higher Galilee, and the great Plain of Esdrelom .” 
“ We were sufficiently instructed, by experience, what the holy psalmist means 
bv the dero of Hermon , our tents being as wet with it as if it had rained all night’* 
MnundreWs Journeyi p. 57. Oxf. 1721. 
ft Of which fact the reader may find amusing evidence in an extract from a $TS?« 
poem of the*Cottonian Library. The last line will not easily be paralleled. 
<“ At port Jaff begynn wee, 
“ And so frothe from grd to gre, 
41 At port Jaff ther is a place, 
61 Wher Petur reised tbrugh goddes grace, 
44 From dede to lit to Tabitane, 
c 4 He was a woman that was her name.” 
See Purchas, lib. viii. c. 15. p. 1238. Lond. 1624. 
n Ttds plan has- sc tomizufiy been aeK^wd by persons resorting to the Holy Land, 
