FROM TIBERIAS TO NAPOLOSE, 305 
Doabdan,* whose work, full of. the most valuable information, 
hi&y be considered as the foundation of every recent elucida¬ 
tion of the Holy Land, contents himself with the view afforded 
of this plain from Mount Thabor.f Not that he has, on this 
account, omitted any interesting circumstance of its history,. 
He has given us a lively picture of the different encampments 
he observed from the summit. “We had the pleasure , 95 says 
hb,| “ to view from the top of that mountain, Arabs encamped 
by thousands ; tents and pavillions of all colours; green, red, 
and yellow; with so great a number of horses arid camels, that 
it seemed like a vast army, or a city besieged : and to the end 
that each party might recognize its peculiar banner, and its 
tribe, the horses and camels were fastened round the tents, 
some in square battalions, others in circular troops, and others 
again in lines A not only were Arabs thus encamped, but also 
Turks and Druses, who maintain abundance of horses, camels, 
mules, and asses, for the use of the caravans coming from or 
going to Damascus, Aleppo, Mecca, and Egypt .’ 9 
Being provided with an addition to our escort of ten well- 
mounted and well-accoutred Arabs in the service of Djezzar, 
we took leave of the general at three o’clock p. m. and having 
mounted our horses, continued our journey across the plain, to¬ 
ward Jennin. A tolerably accurate notion of its extent, in this 
direction, may be obtained from a statement of the time we 
spent in crossing it. We were exactly seven hours§ thus em¬ 
ployed ; proceeding at the rate of three miles in each hour. 
Its breadth, therefore, may be considered as equal to twenty- 
one miles. The people of the country told us it was two days’ 
that, in the very recent instance of the visit paid to that, country by Chateaubriand, 
(whose interesting travels were published while this sheet was preparing for the press) 
his journey extends only from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem back again to 
Jaffa. (See Trav, in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Bctrbary , during the years 1806 and 
I8Q7, by F. A. Chateaubriand, English edit. Lond. 1811.) It is, however, the best 
work which lias yet appeared on the subject. The French, edition could not be had 
when this volume was printing. 
# 'Mobs. Chateaubriand pleasantly-styles,.him “honest Daub dan.” (Ibid. vol. II. p 
111.) justly extolling, upon other occasions, his perspicuity, accuracy, erudition, and, 
above -all, hisi.simplicity. . ' 
f f' Or pendant que Vious sommes encore sur le faiste de cette sajnete montagne, 11 
nous la faut horizon ter etjetter la veue avec plaisir sur tous les lieux considerables 
qu’on ydescouvre, a limitation de lagrande Sancte Faule, laquelle, comme dit Sainete 
•Jerosme (hron,. Epl. 27. ad Euslo,) montant sur le Thabor,ou,le fils dedieu s’est trans¬ 
figure, elje contemploit les montagnes d’Hermon, et Herinonim, les grandes campagnes 
de Galilee,” &c. Voyage de Id Terre Sainde, p. 577. Far. 1657. 
\ Ibid. p. 579. •. . , : 
$ It is a curious fact, which may show how regularly computed distances, in this 
p?<rt of Asia, correspond with the time employed by travellers in passing them, that 
when the author compared^ this note in his journal with the diary of Maundrell, he 
found that traveller had performed the same journeyprecisely in the same space of 
time. . He left Jennia at midnight, travelled all night., and in seven hours reached the 
opposite side, near Nazareth. Seep. 112. Journ.frQm Alepp: etc. Oxf. 172L 
2 f 2 
