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Oaks — Wood of Ephraim.
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The Zerka, or Crocodile River.
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Road to Caesarea.
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Crocodiles.
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Remarkable kŭsr.
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Coast from Haifa to Cæsarea.
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Aqueduct.
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Athleet.
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Cæsarea — History.
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Tantûra.
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Remains.
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The Mufjûr.
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April 2nd.
Oaks
I have had a delightful ramble this morning in these grand old forests, and now understand perfectly how Absalom could be caught by the thick branches of an oak. The strong arms of these trees spread out so near the ground that one cannot walk erect beneath them; and on a frightened mule, such a head of hair as that vain and wicked son “polled every year” would certainly become inextricably entangled.
Woods of Ephraim
No doubt; and it is interesting to know that the region where that battle was fought is still covered with such forests — that “wood of Ephraim,” with thick oaks, and tangled bushes, and thorny creepers growing over rugged rocks, and ruinous precipices, down which the rebel army plunged in wild dismay, horses and men crushing each other to death in remediless ruin. Thus 20,000 men perished in that fatal wood, which “devoured more people that day than the sword devoured” (2 Sam. 18:7-87Where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men. 8For the battle was there scattered over the face of all the country: and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. (2 Samuel 18:7‑8)).
Heaps of Stones
The great heap of stones over the pit into which Absalom was thrown was not raised in honor of the king's son, but in detestation of the traitor's enormous crime; and you will find miniature heaps of the same kind and significance all over the country. It is a wide-spread custom for each one as he passes the spot where any notorious murderer has been buried, to cast a stone upon it. I have often seen this done, and, yielding to the popular indignation, have thrown my stone with the rest. I am reminded of all this by the conduct of my guide, who has actually dismounted to spit upon this heap, and add his pebble to the growing pile. He says the wretch who lies buried there was a notorious robber who infested this road, and committed many cruel murders; and he is using the incident to enforce his admonitions upon us to keep together in this part of our ride; which we will of course conform to as long as it suits our purpose.
Mornings in Mist
Yesterday I thought your description of this valley extravagant, but the criticism this morning. When the early light began to reveal the character of the scene around me, the country from north to south was buried under a dense, low-lying fog, which left the many-shaped hill-tops peering above it like green islets in the bosom of a placid lake. I was breathless with surprise and admiration. When the sun arose, this gray, silvery sea, as startled by some invisible spirit, became agitated in an extraordinary manner, and vast pyramids of shining vapor burst up from beneath, swelling higher and higher among the oaks, until it escaped through their thick boughs, and vanished away in the clear vault of heaven. All this commotion and gorgeous display, I found, was owing to a brisk breeze which came up the valley from the sea at Caesarea. Acting from below, and itself turned about by every bend and swell of the hills, it swayed and twisted the yielding waves of vapor according to its own eccentric will.
There was something of the kind in February last, and it is indeed singularly beautiful. Such fogs, however, are quite common on the great plains along the coast, as we shall see in the land of the Philistines. But let us follow our company down the valley, for we have a busy day, with just enough of danger to make it exciting. That village on our left is called Khŭbbaizy, the Arabic name for the malva, the Hebrew nearly for the rose; and both malvas and wild roses adorn this sweet vale. Many other hamlets repose in the bosom of these glorious woods, but we cannot load our memories with their obscure and ignoble names. Did you observe that the dew rolled off our tent this morning like rain? And now the early sunbeams “sow the earth with pearls and diamonds,” as Milton's muse describes these pendent drops that glitter and sparkle from every leaf in the forest and blade in the field.
If I remember correctly, this place on our right bears the ominous name of 'Ain Maiety (Dead Fountain); and the tell east of it is sit Leila, — a name more frequently heard in Arab song than any other. We now turn westward toward Caesarea, leaving the main road, which keeps on southward through the plain of Sharon to Lydd and Ramleh. The whole of this region is as fertile as beautiful; but most of it is uncultivated, and all infested with robbers. When at Sindiany last year, I wanted to send my baggage directly across to Tantûra, while I came round this way to Caesarea, and I had to hire a guard sufficiently large not merely to protect my muleteers in going, but also the men themselves in returning. The people could not then venture from village to village but in companies and well armed. It is not so bad now, and we shall send our tents on to the mills of Zerka, three miles north of Cæsarea, where alone we can pass the night in safety. Left to ourselves for the day, with our faithful guard to watch for us, we will ramble about ad libitum among these remains of antiquity.
That large building some two miles to the northwest of us is the kŭsr we heard so much about from our friends at Sindiany; and to reach it we must pick our way through these bushes and tall reeds, over a country not a little infested with bottomless mud. Ignorant of these treacherous bogs, on my first visit I struck directly across the plain for the kŭsr, and was soon floundering in unsubstantial mire up to the belly of my horse, and was glad to get safely out again on the same side by which I entered. Here we are at one of these brooks, sluggish and black as ink, but the bottom is not very distant, and we can easily pass over.
Where does this stream come from? There was no water in the wady down which we have traveled this morning.
It is the joint contribution of many springs which rise out of this spongy plain in all directions, and we shall soon see more of them. Between this and the kŭsr are immense fountains, now called Miamās, the water of which was collected in a large pool, and then carried by an aqueduct to Caesarea. These works are of course broken, and we must pass round them on the north in order to find a practicable path to the kŭsr.
Remarkable KŭSr
There seem to have been many substantial buildings hereabout; and, indeed, we are floundering over the grass-covered ruins of a considerable city. The lam itself must have been an immense affair, and in a style of architecture quite peculiar.
ILLUSTRATION
A Theater
It was doubtless one of Caesarea's theaters, and the plan of a Roman theater, which I brought along for the purpose, will enable you to comprehend at once the details of the edifice. It is semicircular, and the chord is a hundred and sixty-six feet. The seats are all gone, and the caves much changed, but the vomitories and vaults beneath are in good preservation, and are now used for stables and granaries by the peasants. This tower on the southeastern corner, and these huts inside, are comparatively modern, and were erected probably when the building was turned into a Moslem castle. The prospect over the wooded hills of Samaria and the far-spreading plain of Sharon is very beautiful, and hither flocked the laughter-loving Greeks of Caesarea to enjoy the excitement of theatrical games and the pleasures of the open country at the same time. The topography of the place is decidedly interesting. Directly north of the kŭsr terminate the last spurs of Carmel in a bold promontory called Khŭshm en Nazûr. South of it is the great marsh Ez Zoar, fading out into the sandy downs and brushy slopes of the Upper Sharon. The ruined villages of Em el' Alŭk and Muallŭkah (both names suggestive of the “horse-leech,” which greatly abounds in this marsh of Zoar) appear on the northern ridge; and Bureikîeh, three miles distant in the same direction, is inhabited by the peasants who cultivate the land around these fountains of Miamās. The fountain near Sŭbbarîn, which I pointed out to you yesterday, was in former times led down by Bureikîeh to the kŭsr, where it was associated with the stream from Miamās, and the two united were carried along the perpendicular base of Mount Khŭshm, across the swamp of Zoar, to the shore, and thence southward to the city. This was a remarkable work, and most of it is still quite perfect. Our road is now upon, or rather, within this aqueduct until we get over the various brooks which, passing beneath it, are lost in the general marsh.
This is, indeed, a narrow and somewhat nervous pathway, especially as one sees on either side of him bogs of bottomless mud.
An Aqueduct
There is some danger, no doubt, but with nerves sufficiently steady we might follow on the top of this double aqueduct quite to the western side of the marsh; for, if I remember aright, there is not a broken arch in the entire line. I, however, have no fancy for such high ways, and the ground south of it is here sufficiently solid to justify the attempt to reach the sandy plain beyond. Safely through! Look back now at the long file of arches on columns which span the entire width of the Zoar. But the difficulties of our position are not yet ended here is a very suspicious-looking stream soaking its way through tall reeds and flags, and beyond it is a second and a third, all pouring their blackish water into the marsh. The largest of these brooks, called Shukeîŭk and Shŭkkauk, is said to rise in Wady Sŭfsâfy, about two hours to the southeast. All these streams run northward into the swamp, and not to the sea, in consequence of that low rocky ridge which extends parallel to the coast and about half a mile from it. This formation is the same fossiliferous sandy limestone as that out of which nearly all the cities on the seaboard are built; and it has been hewn and cut up by quarriers in the most extraordinary manner; indeed the cuttings and quarrying are more extensive than those of any other city on this coast. I once spent several hours searching among them for inscriptions, but found none; and the only important discovery was, that such enormous quarryings were newer made by the short-lived city of Caesarea, and that this was merely the Roman name for a more ancient city.
An Ancient City
I had read this before, but I was convinced that the original name could not have been Strato's Tower, for that was Latin, and these quarries were opened long before they ever appeared in Syria. This primitive ' city, I suppose, was the frontier town in this direction of the Phoenicians, and I leave to the lovers of antiquarian research the discovery of its name and history.
And there lie the ruins of all your three cities together, directly in front of us. What could have induced Herod to select this place for a harbor, as it is an open coast, without projecting headland or protection of any kind?
Harbor of Cæsarea
The rich country back of it to Samaria and Nablûs probably furnishes the explanation. It is also in the center of a long reach of coast entirely destitute of harbors, and this offers another reason; and, moreover, it is not quite true that there is no natural protection to serve as the basis for an artificial harbor. Several ledges of rock run out into the sea from the shore, and the king took advantage of two, between which the water was deepest, and there constructed great moles, enclosing a space larger than the Pirœus. Josephus says so, not I. It never could have been sufficiently long to protect a single first-class Boston clipper.
Historical Associations of Cæsarea Cornelius
Cæsarea has always been invested with a peculiar interest to my mind, not so much for its own eventful history, nor because it was the capital of Palestine, but chiefly on account of its honorable and most important connection with the Apostolic Church.
Peter
It was here that the good Cornelius fasted, prayed, and gave alms, which came up before God as a memorial, until an angel of the Lord appeared, and directed him to “send unto Joppa for Simon, whose surname is Peter.” There another vision revealed to that apostle the great fact “that God is no respecter of persons; but that in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (Acts 10:34-3534Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: 35But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. (Acts 10:34‑35)); and thereby prepared this bearer of the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” to unlock the door to the Gentile world. Here the “apostle of the circumcision” first learned that he must “not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:2828And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. (Acts 10:28)); here the Holy Ghost was first granted to the heathen; and here took place the first Gentile baptism. Certainly we Gentiles have abundant reason to cherish the memory of Cæsarea.
Paul
Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles and greatest of foreign missionaries, often visited it, and was here held prisoner for two whole years. Standing in chains where some of these ruins now lie, he made his noble speeches before Felix, and Festus and Drusilla, Agrippa, and Bernice, characters somewhat famous, and most of them not a little infamous in their day.
Eusebius and Origen
Eusebius the historian was born and lived in Cæsarea, and here Origen studied and wrote commentaries. But we need not prolong the list of her honors. They do but exaggerate her present utter desolation.
These ruins remain precisely as they were twenty-five years ago, upon my first visit. The area enclosed by the wall extends along the shore about the fourth of a mile, and is some forty rods wide from east to west. The wall was built of small but well-cut stones, was strengthened by sixteen square towers, and protected by a broad ditch; but still it could not have been a place of much strength, nor is it celebrated for any great military events.
Its Populousness
We are not to suppose that its vast population, stated as high as 200,000, was confined within these narrow limits. On the contrary, there are abundant traces of suburbs scattered all over the plain, and the enclosed area was little more than the acropolis of the city. The harbor was at the southwest corner of this citadel, and we can trace its whole extent by the existing remains.
Exaggeration of Josephus
Look at them, and then turn to Josephus (Ant. 15, 9, 6), and see if you can discover any resemblance. Beyond all doubt, much of that description is magniloquent Josephian hyperbole. Who can read of the mole, two hundred feet broad, built of stones more than fifty feet long, eighteen wide, and nine deep, without a smile? Why, the whole harbor enclosed by it is not much broader.
ILLUSTRATION
But it is useless to criticize this extraordinary piece of exaggeration; I cannot refrain, however, from remarking that the historian must have forgotten that there is no appreciable tide at the head of the Mediterranean, when he says, “The sea itself, upon the flux of the tide from without, came into the city and washed it all clean!”There is enough here, however, besides the name, to convince us that the historian is actually speaking of this place, though the exaggeration is so egregious that one seems to be walking in his sleep. It was doubtless this southwestern mole which Harod named Procymatia — “ wave-breaker.” Where exactly the Tower of Drusus stood, I am at a loss to decide.
Remains of Cæsarea
In one respect, these remains of the first century of our era are extremely interesting and important. They present the best criterion by which to judge architecturally of other ruins, and show conclusively that many of them are far more ancient. A moment's examination will also prove that Herod built with materials furnished to his hands by ruins of a city older, and, I believe, much more magnificent than his own. This immense number of granite columns built into his moles speaks of an antecedent and wealthy metropolis, with splendid temples, which had been overthrown long before Herod began his work. Nor do I believe that Strato's Tower (as the place was then called, and which he changed to Cæsarea) was the original name. That is of foreign derivation, given by the Romans, while these columns and other relics speak of Greek or Phoenician times and architects. Josephus says that Herod built a temple on this southern mole, and a splendid theater near the harbor; and without the city, on the south side, an amphitheater capable of holding a vast multitude of people. All have disappeared. These tall buttresses, which make the most show of any part of the present ruins, evidently belonged to a Christian church, possibly of Crusader times. Caesarea has the misfortune to be inseparably associated with the incipient causes and first outbreaks of that dreadful war in which Jerusalem, the Temple, and the Jewish nation were destroyed. Herod, by erecting heathen temples and theaters, and placing idol statues in the city, greatly displeased the Jews, and the disputes between them and their idolatrous fellow-citizens finally became so bitter and exasperated that they rushed blindly into open revolt. One of the first acts of the bloody tragedy was the massacre of 20,000 Jews in this city by the Greeks. The whole Jewish nation then flew to arms, and ceased to fight only when they ceased to be a people.
Its Forsaken State
How comes it that Caesarea has for many ages been utterly deserted? It is the only considerable city on the coast that has been thus absolutely forsaken.
Several things have conspired to work out this result. The mole being overthrown, the harbor became utterly unsafe. Not a single ship could ride securely in it. This destroyed her commerce. The aqueducts broken, there was no longer an adequate supply of water; and this gone, the surrounding country relapsed into its natural state of a barren desert, and the sand, constantly accumulating from the sea, buried up every green thing. Thus solitary in itself, it early became infested with robbers, so that no one could live here in safety; and thus it continues to this hour; nor is there much reason to hope that it will again become an important city, for it has not a single natural advantage.
But it is time to seek our tent at Towahîn ez Zerka, an hour to the northeast of us. Let us follow the line of these lofty canals — two in one — by which we shall obtain a better idea of the ancient suburbs, and likewise observe the great size of the aqueducts, which were carried along parallel to the shore for about two miles. They served as a defense against the sands of the sea, and the whole space on the east of them seems to have been occupied with buildings.
Canals
We can see into the covered canals in many places; and the stories of the natives, that a man could pass inside of them on horseback from the city to the mills of Zerka, do not seem to be incredible fables. They are in such preservation that it would not cost a large sum to clear them of the sand, and again bring the water to the harbor. It is not true, however, as some travelers assert, that ships frequently put in here to obtain water from these aqueducts, for they have been broken for many centuries. Boats often call in summer to load with stones from the ruins, and much of the recent building in Jaffa and Acre is constructed out of them. I once spent a day here while my boat was thus being freighted for Jaffa; and this is the only trade carried on with this ancient capital of Palestine. Shepherds, who water their flocks from the well near the southern gate, visit it by day, and robbers by night lie in wait to plunder any unprotected traveler who may chance to pass, which, however, is of rare occurrence. Comparatively few now follow this desolate coast, and none venture alone if they can in any way avoid it.
Mills
Here are the mills; and, by the advice of the miller, I daresay our tent is pitched in a very good position for defense. There is no disguising the fact that we must pass the night surrounded by robbers, and for once it will be necessary to keep a strict guard. We have time enough before sunset to examine this extraordinary locality. It appears that the river Zerka, whose various branches we crossed in the morning, had here broken through the low, rocky ridge which runs parallel to the shore, and in some remote age this opening was shut up by this powerful wall, thus raising the water twenty-five feet high. This wall is two hundred and thirty paces long and twenty feet thick, and the road still passes along its top — the grandest mill-dam I have ever seen. The water falls directly from the top on the wheels below. There are some eight or ten mills now in motion, and many are in ruins, and at least twenty might be ranged side by side below the wall. It is this dam that causes the marsh of Zoar, the whole of which would be effectually drained by simply breaking it down, and many thousand acres of the richest land would thus be regained to cultivation.
The Zerka or Crocodile River. Crocodiles
This Zerka is undoubtedly the Crocodile River of the ancients, and you will be surprised to hear that there are now living crocodiles in the marsh at our side: but such is the fact. These millers say they have seen them often; and the government agent, a respectable Christian, assures me that they recently killed one eighteen spans long, and as thick as his body. I suspect that, long ages ago, some Egyptians, accustomed to worship this ugly creature, settled here, and brought their gods with them. Once here, they would not easily be exterminated; for no better place could be desired by them than this vast jungle and impracticable swamp. I was delighted, on my first visit, many years since, to find these creatures still on hand to confirm the assertions of Greek and Roman geographers. The historians of the Crusades speak of this marsh, which they call a lake, and also say that there were crocodiles in it in their day. If the locality would admit, I should identify this Zerka with the Shihor-libnath of Joshua 19:2626And Alammelech, and Amad, and Misheal; and reacheth to Carmel westward, and to Shihor-libnath; (Joshua 19:26), for Shihor is one of the names of the Nile, the very home of the crocodile; but the river in question was given to Ashur, and is probably the Naaman (the Belus of ancient geographers), and the marshes at its source are as suitable for this ugly beast as these of Zoar.
Coast From Haifa to Cæsarea
By taking the interior route on the east and south of Carmel, we have missed a long stretch of the coast. Is there anything of interest on the shore from Haifa to Caesarea?
The best answer is to pass it in review; and it is about as profitable, and far more pleasant to traverse this nine hours in imagination than to ride them on horseback. By way of introduction, listen to some remarks on the general character of the Syrian seaboard.
Headlands
From Carmel and northward there are numerous headlands, with bays on the north of them more or less deep, by which the line of the coast falls back to the east, as it were, by successive steps. Carmel itself; with the Bay of Acre, is not only the first, but one of the most striking. North of Acre is the Ladder of Tyre, which consists of three such capes, el Musheirifeh, en Nakûrah, and el Bŭyăd. Between Tyre and Sidon is the low headland of Sarafend, and from Sidon to Beirut are three rocky Nakûrahs, with the retreating coves of Rumeîleh, Neby Yûnus, and Daman Then comes the projecting cape Ras Beirut, with its Bay of St. George falling back to the deeper cove of Jim. The next salient point is the Theoprosopon of the ancients, north of Bŭtrûn; beyond which, by successive steps, at Cape Enfeh and the mina of Tripoli, the coast enters far eastward into the plain of Akkar. With lesser indentations at Ruad and Balinas, we come to the long, low promontory of Ladakîyeh. Finally, stretching across the open sea at the so-called Bay of Antioch, we pass Ras el Khanzîr, and enter the Bay of Scandaroon. Such is the configuration of the northern half of this coast; but from Carmel southward it runs in a direct line a little west of south, in long unvaried reaches, far as the eye can see, and further too, past Athleet, past Tantûra, Caesarea, Jaffa, Askelon, Gaza, and quite on round to Egypt.
Athleet
After this rapid survey, we will begin again at the point of Carmel. It is three hours thence to Athleet, with no important villages or ruins intervening. Athleet, however, presents the greatest historic and architectural puzzle found at the head of this sea. I cannot identify it with any ancient site whatever. Neither the Bible, nor Josephus, nor any profane historian or geographer mentions it, nor does its name appear in the old itineraries; and yet the remains of antiquity at it are more numerous, more striking, and in better preservation than at any other city of Phœnicia. The exterior wall, built of great stones, and protected by a ditch, cut through the solid rock where necessary, enclosed a large quadrangular space reaching quite across the headland on which the city stood. Most of this wall has been carried away to build those of Acre during the long centuries of the past. The acropolis was at the extremity of the cape, cut off from the outer city by a wall prodigiously strong, whose heavy stones are beveled after the purest Phoenician style. Large sections of it remain entire, and just as they were first put up. There is no patch-work, no broken columns or other fragments, as in the oldest Greek and Roman structures in Syria. It is pure, unmixed Phoenician.
Interior Remains
Just within this wall stands a portion of a gigantic building, whose character it is difficult to comprehend. It was erected on vaults of very great strength, and the fragment of the east wall towers up at least eighty feet high. There it stands in its loneliness, unbroken by a hundred earthquakes, the first object that strikes the eye of the traveler either up or down the coast. Near the top, on the interior, so high that it strains the neck to look at them, are the flying buttresses (finished off below with the heads of men and beasts) from which sprung the arches of the great dome. It must have been superb — sublime. Now, who erected this magnificent temple, and when? The only history we have of Athleet begins with the Crusaders, who call it Castellum Peregrinorum (Pilgrims' Castle), because they used to land there when Acre was in the hands of the Saracens. But they built none of these edifices. There are also other remarkable indications of extreme antiquity about Athleet. This low, rocky ridge on which we are encamped, and which occasions this marsh of Zoar, begins a little to the north of Athleet, and in front of the city it rises to a considerable elevation, and is there cut up in a singular manner by old quarries. Directly east of the city, a broad road was hewn through the ridge, which is still the common highway for the surrounding country, and well-worn tracks of chariot-wheels are still to be seen along this remarkable passage. Mr. Van de Velde supposes that these were for railroad cars, and makes some further guesses on the subject, which must have required a good deal of nerve to pen and publish.
Mystery of Athleet
Now the question returns, What is Athleet, either by this or any other name? I have no answer. The Hebrew writers may have had no occasion to mention it, because that part of the coast was not in their possession. The Roman and Greek writers and travelers generally passed round on the east of Caesarea, as I believe, and did not visit it. Strabo says, “After Acre is the Tower of Strato, having a station for ships. Between them is Mount Carmel, and names of cities, but nothing besides; the City of Sycamenon, Bucolon, and the City of Crocodiles.” The ruins of this last town are here at the month of this River Zerka. This silence of Strabo with regard to both Athleet and Dor favors the idea that the Roman road passed on the east of Carmel. Sycamenon is probably Caimon. The Bible repeatedly mentions Tantûra and her towns by the name of Dor; and Athleet may have been one of her “towns,” though it was immensely superior to Dor. But enough about Athleet, except that her people are great villains; and so are those of Et Tirêh, at the foot of Carmel, northeast of it. En Haud, on the brow of the mountain, may possibly mark the site of En Haddah, given to Issachar. It is nearly three hours from Athleet to Tantûra, and the two villages, Kefr Lam and Sarafend, both apparently ancient, are between them. Further inland are Yebla and 'Ain Gazzal. The name Yebla resembles Ibleam, which was assigned to Manasseh, though belonging to the lot of Issachar.
Tantûra merits very little attention. It is a sad and sickly hamlet of wretched huts, on a naked sea-beach, with a marshy flat between it and the base of the eastern hills. The sheikh's palace and the public menzûl for travelers are the only respectable houses. Dor never could have been a large city, for there are no remains. The artificial tell, with a fragment of the kŭsr standing like a column upon it, was probably the most ancient site. In front of the present village are five small islets, by the aid of which an artificial harbor could easily be constructed, the entrance to which would be by the inlet at the foot of the kŭsr; and should “Dor and her towns” ever rise again into wealth and importance, such a harbor will assuredly be made.
Twenty minutes south of Tantûra, a considerable stream, called Mufjûr, enters the sea. It descends from Belad er Roha, and is probably the same as Wady Dalia. The beach is thickly strewn with pretty shells, and the sand is solid enough to make the ride along the rippling surf delightful. It is two hours to the mouth of the River Zerka, where are the remains of the old City of Crocodiles; and thus we have reached our camp-ground, and the hour when wearied travelers seek repose.