JAFFA. 
Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, and now called by the Arabs Yafa, rose into early importance, as 
the chief harbour of Judasa. The modern town stands on a promontory rising to a height 
of 150 feet above the sea, and bearing to the North-west of Jerusalem, at a distance of 
about forty-five miles. From its commanding position, Jaffa has a striking aspect on 
the sea-side; and its land view is bold and extensive. On the South, it overlooks a 
wide and rich succession of plains spreading to Gaza; on the North, its horizon is the 
noble ridge of Mount Carmel; on the East, the hills of Judah exhibit every form of 
mountain magnificence; on the West, lies the boundless beauty of the Mediterranean. 
The interior, like that of all Eastern Cities, disappoints the eye. Narrow streets, 
loaded with mire in winter, and choked with dust in summer; a struggling population 
of five thousand, compressed into hovels, which seem the natural nests of disease, and 
where the pestilence has made many a fearful ravage ; a Greek, a Latin, and an Armenian 
Convent, all meanly built and feebly maintained; constitute the town and the people. 1 
But the historical distinctions of Jaffa are of a high order. As Joppa it becomes 
known so early as the division of the Promised Land, where it was in the portion of the 
Tribe of Dan. 2 It was the port to which the cedars hewn in Lebanon were brought 
for the building of the first Temple. 3 From Joppa the Prophet Jonah embarked, when 
he was sent to preach to the Ninevites. 4 In Christian history, it had the distinction 
of the miracle wrought by St. Peter, in restoring Tabitha to life; 5 and here the great 
Apostle dwelt in the house of Simon the Tanner. 6 In the war which extinguished Judah, 
the town was garrisoned by a strong Jewish force; but it was finally stormed by the 
Roman troops, with a slaughter of twelve thousand of its unhappy defenders. 
After a sleep of a thousand years, Joppa became again the subject of history. Its 
value, as the nearest port to the Holy City, attracted the enterprise of the Crusaders; 
and the most gallant achievement of Coeur de Lion was performed in defeating the Saracen 
army under its walls. But it paid dearly for the Christian triumphs, in the return of 
the enemy in irresistible force, and its storm, with the massacre of twenty thousand 
lives. The ruined walls were rebuilt by Louis IX. of France (a.d. 1250); but in 
the general exhaustion of the Crusades it sank into decay once more, and was lost 
to European recollection. 
The long interval of five hundred years elapsed, when its name was revived in the 
Egyptian invasion of Napoleon. The brilliant but reckless ambition of that pre-eminent 
soldier conceived the idea of overthrowing the West by the weight of the East; and 
the conquest of Syria was to be the first step to the universal throne. Advancing 
1 Roberts’s Journal. Richardson’s Travels, ii. 208. Clarke, iv. 441, &c. 2 Josh. xix. 46. 
3 2 Chron. ii. 16. 4 Jonah, i. 3. 5 Acts, ix. 36, &c. 6 Acts, x. 6. 
