344 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
Mukeberteh, a filthy and miserable village, inhabited by the 
most ragged and scowling set of vagabands we had yet seen. 
Saw in the distance beyond Little Hermon, the ruined castle 
of Bizan. It stands upon an elevation in the valley of Jezreel, 
which is a part of the great plain of Esdraelon. This is cel¬ 
ebrated in scriptural history as the spot where Saul’s body 
was hanged by the Philistines, after his defeat and death. 
Saw Mount Carmel on the left; also Gilboa, noted in scriptu¬ 
ral history as the place where the battle took place in which 
the Israelites were defeated and Saul slain. This spot is also 
famous as the scene of a sanguinary battle between Saladin 
and the Crusaders. 
Late in the afternoon, after a ride of six hours from Naz¬ 
areth, we arrived at Djenin, the ancient Ginea, a town of con¬ 
siderable size, handsomely situated at the base of a range of 
mountains on the south side of the plain. 
We found it somewhat difficult to obtain lodgings here, in 
consequence of the hostile feeling of the inhabitants toward 
Christian travelers. Djenin is one of those places occasionally 
found in Palestine where this religious intolerance has been 
in full force for centuries, and still remains unchanged, not¬ 
withstanding the progress of a more liberal and enlightened 
state of feeling throughout Syria and the East. A few days 
before our arrival two English travelers, who had encamped 
outside the town in their tent, were beset during the night 
by a heavy storm, which blew down their tent. It was so 
dark and cold, and the rain poured down so heavily, that they 
were obliged to give up all hope of erecting it again, and they 
proceeded to the town with their dragoman, to try and find 
shelter till morning. For some time they walked about 
through the dark and filthy streets, applying for lodgings at 
every door, but as soon as it was found that they were Franks 
they were driven away with abusive and insulting language, 
and sometimes threatened with violence if they did not at 
once get away out of the town. Wet and cold as it was, 
they were forced to return to their wreck of a tent, pack up 
their baggage as well as they could in the dark, and proceed 
pn their journey in the midst of the storm. 
