piO clarke’s travels. 
Genesis, and the book of Judges, it would be written Sckemen* 
Josephus says that the natives called it Mabarlha ; > but by 
others it was commonly named Neapolis .f Its modern appella¬ 
tion is Napoiose* To the traditions concerning its antiquities, 
all writers bear testimony; and since even a sceptic has re¬ 
marked,;); that the Christians of Palestine fixed, by unques¬ 
tionable tradition, the scene of each memorable event,” we 
may surely regard them with interest. But the history of Sichem, 
referring to events long prior to the Christian dispensation, di¬ 
rects us to antiquities which owe nothing of their celebrity to any 
traditionary aid. The traveller, directing his footsteps toward its 
ancient sepulchres, as everlasting as the rocks wherein they are 
hewn, is permitted, upon the authority of sacred and indelible 
record,.§ to contemplate the spot where the remains of 
Joseph j| of Eleazar,** and of Joshua,If were severally deposit¬ 
ed. If any thing connected with the memory of past ages be cal¬ 
culated to waken local enthusiasm, the land around the city is 
pre-eminently entitled to consideration. The sacred story of 
events transacted in the fields of Sichem,from our earliest 
years is remembered with-delight; but with the territory be¬ 
fore our eyes ..where those events took place, and in the view 
of objects existing as they were described above three thou- 
sand years ago, the grateful impression kindles into ecstacy* 
Along the valley, we beheld “ a company of Ishmeelites, 
coming from Gilead,”§.§ as in the days of lleuben and Judah, 
66 with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh,” 
who would gladly have purchased another Joseph of his 
brethren, and conveyed him, as a slave, to some Potiphar in 
gypt.||jj Upon the hills around, flocks and herds were feed¬ 
ing, as of old nor in the simple garb of the shepherd^ of 
i ibid. 
f Josephus, lib. v. Be Bell. Jud. c. 4. ed. IIaver camp Amst. fee. 1726. 
t See Gibbon. Hist. fee. chap. 23. vob IV. p. 83. Lond. 1807. Monsieur Chateau¬ 
briand has referred to the same observation of Gibbon. (See Introduce, to Travels in 
Greece , fee. vol. I. p. 70. Lond. 1811.) An English commentator may perhaps suspect 
the historian of irony. 
§ See the Book of Joshua, c. xxiv. 
|j “ And the bones of Joseph, which the Children of Israel brought out of Egypt, 
buried they in Sheehem;” Josh. xxiv. 32. 
“ And -Eleazar, the son of Aaron, died ; and they buried him in a hill that, per¬ 
tained to Phinehashis son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim.” Ibid. ver. 33. 
ft ” Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died. ..... Apd they buri¬ 
ed him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in Mount Ephraim, 
on the north side of the hill of Gaash.” Ibid. ver. 29, 30. 
It See Genesis, xxxvii. 
"§.§ ” And behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead, with their camek 
bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.” Ibid. v. 25, 
jj|| Ibid- ver. 36. 
fpt “ And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock m She- 
ehete ‘1” ibid, v, 13. 
