Philistines, in which Saul and Jonathan were slain on Mount Gilboa. This valley, in the lower part of which is Bethsan, or Scythopolis, whither the body of Jonathan was conveyed after the battle of Gilboa, furnishes a direct and easy passage from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. We know also, from Scripture, that Deborah and Barak, descending with their forces from Mount Tabor, discomfited the host of Sisera with his "nine hundred chariots of iron," and drove them from Endor to Taanach and Megiddo, where the Kishon swept them away. It was likewise in the plain, not far from Aphek, that Ahab and the Israelites obtained a miraculous victory over the Syrians under Benhadad; while near Megiddo, King Josiah, attacking the Egyptian host in spite of the warnings of their monarch, perished in the conflict.

If, as Dean Stanley says, no better test of Dr. Robinson's high geographical powers can be given than an ocular comparison of his description of the plain of Esdraelon, with its actual localities, certainly no better test of the Reverend Dean of Westminster's powers of associating human interests with natural features can be given than in the chapter which he devotes to the great battle-field of Jewish history. None of the combats which secured the conquest of Palestine to the Israelites were, however, fought in this field. Being inferior in cavalry, they selected their own element, the mountains and the mountain-passes, whenever they could choose their arena. The battles of Esdraelon were almost all forced upon them by adverse or invading armies; and though some of their chief victories were won here, yet this plain is associated to the mind of an Israelite with mournful, at least as much as joyous, recollections: two kings perished on its soil; and the two saddest dirges of the Jewish nation were evoked by the defeats of Gilboa and Megiddo. The battle of the Kishon, the victory of the Midianites, the battle of Jezreel, that of Bethbarah, the defeat of Saul, the battle of Mount Gilboa, the defeat of Josiah, and the battle of Megiddo, are brought out in "Sinai and Palestine" with all the picturesque and graphic force that can be imparted by local colouring assisted by archæological detail. Our predecessors even the great masters of art-of olden times, had, indeed, no such advantages of a correct study of the topography and archæology of the Bible Lands as are possessed in the present days by the labours of successful explorers. It is only now and then that the aberrations of individual minds-as Dr. Robinson's scepticism with regard to the sites of Cana, of Capernaum, and of other of the chief scenes of our Lord's ministrations; Mr. Ferguson's crotchet, that because some of the materials of the Byzantine monuments, erected on the "place called Golgotha," were removed by the early Muhammadans to their mosque on Moriah, that our Saviour was buried beneath the sacrificial altar of the Temple of the Jews; and Dr. Beke's still more extravagant theories, that Aramnaharaim-the Aram of the two rivers (Euphrates and Tigris)—is the region between the two rivers of the plain of Damascus, necessitating not only the removal of Harran, but of all the sites of Biblical history from Mesopotamia to the plain of Damascus-that for a time throw us back into the darkness of the middle ages. But new explorations are daily being effected, new facts are daily brought to light, and truth must ultimately shine forth with lustre undimmed by the vagaries of individuals. It is characteristic of the times we live in, that whilst Napoleon the Great combated the Turks on the plain of Esdraelon and at the foot of

Mount Tabor, the pious empress of the third Napoleon should be exerting herself in interesting other crowned heads in the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Of what avail would such expenditure be, if the traditions of the Church are to be set aside, and the burialplace of the Saviour sought for within those very precincts, the destruction of which He foretold; beyond whose courts no Gentile or Galilean was allowed to penetrate, where the disciples of Christ and his Apostles were insulted and maltreated, whence Peter and John were put forth and imprisoned for healing the lame at the Beautiful gate, and whence Stephen was taken and stoned to death? Is it at all credible that the Saviour should have been entombed in the very heart of the Holy of Holies of those who denied him and put him to death?

Every traveller has remarked on the richness of the soil of the plain of Esdraelon, and the exuberance of its crops. Once more the palm appears, waving its stately tresses over the village enclosures. The park-like aspect of the hills between Shechem and Samaria breaks out again in this fertile district. The same luxuriant character which had rendered this whole region the favourite haunt of the four northern tribes, rendered it also the favourite resort of the later kings of Israel. Of all the numerous villages that now rise out of the plain on the gentle swells which break its level surface, the most commanding in situation is that which, in its modern name of Zerin, retains the ancient name of Jezreel. As Baasha had chosen Tirzah, as Omri had chosen Samaria, so Ahab chose Jezreel as his regal residence; and its natural features still illustrate the most striking incidents in the scenes in which it appears in the sacred history, of the overthrow of the house of Ahab. We see how up the valley from the Jordan Jehu's troop might be seen advancing; how in Naboth's "field" the two sovereigns met the relentless soldier; how, whilst Joram died on the spot, Ahaziah drove down the westward plain towards the mountain-pass, by the beautiful village of En-Gannim (the spring of the gardens), but was overtaken in the ascent, and died of his wounds at Megiddo; how in the open place, which, as usual in Eastern towns, lay before the gates of Jezreel, the body of the queen was trampled under the hoofs of Jehu's horses; how the dogs gathered round it, as even to this day, in the wretched village now seated on the ruins of the once splendid city of Jezreel, they prowl on the mounds without the walls for the offal and carrion thrown out to them to consume.

These characteristics of the plain-perhaps the most secular in sacred history-are not the only or the highest associations with which its natural features are connected. Two mountains, the glory of the tribe of Issachar, stand out among the bare and rugged hills of Palestine, remarkable for the verdure which climbs-a rare sight in the scenery of the Holy Land-to their very summits. One of these is Tabor. This strange and beautiful mountain-the fortress and the sanctuary of the northern tribes-is distinguished alike in form and in character from all around it. The second great historical mountain of Esdraelon is Carmel -the scene of Elijah's sacrifice-its protracted range of eighteen miles in length, bounding the whole of the southern corner of Esdraelon and of the maritime plain, is marked out from the surrounding scenery by its garden-like aspect. Rocky dells, with deep jungle of copse, are found there alone in Palestine. And though to European eyes it presents a forest-beauty only of an inferior order, there is no wonder that to an

Israelite it seemed "the park" of his country; that the tresses of the bride's head should be compared to its woods (Cant. vii. 5); that its "ornaments" or "excellency" (Isa. xxxv. 2) should be regarded as the type of natural beauty; that the withering of its fruits should be considered as the type of national desolation. (Amos i. 2; Isaiah xxxiii. 9; Nahum i. 4.)

South of Esdraelon is the beautiful little plain of Dothan, where Joseph's brethren were feeding their father's flocks when Joseph visited them, and was sold by them to the Midianites, and carried into slavery in Egypt. East of the fortress of Sanur is also a little oval plain, in which the waters collect to form a lake in winter. It is called Merj el Ghuruk, or the "Drowned Meadow."

The fine plain known as the Mukna extends along the eastern base of the mountains Ebal and Gerizim. Jacob's Well, where our Lord talked with the Samaritan woman, is still seen in the mouth of the valley of Nabulus, and around it is "the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." A fine plain extends north and west of Gibeon, having a fertile and productive soil, and where the battle was probably fought in which Joshua discomfited the five kings. (Josh. x.) The plain or valley of Rephaim, or "The Giants," is situated to the south-west of Jerusalem, on the border between Judah and Benjamin. It is a broad valley or plain, separated from the valley of Hinnom only by a swell of rocky ground. Here David fought a great battle with the Philistines.

In speaking of King Uzziah's husbandry, it is said "he had much cattle both in the low country and in the 'plains.' (2 Chron. xxvi. 10.) The plains here alluded to would seem to refer to the level tracts in the higher hill country of Judah. In the English version we read of the plains of Moreh and the plain of the Magicians (Meonenim) near Shechem; also the plain of Tabor, near Jerusalem, and the plain of Mamre, near Hebron. But the Hebrew word thus rendered "plains" refers to "oaks," and is so rendered by all the ancient interpreters. The above passages ought therefore to be read: the oak of the Magicians, of Tabor, and the oaks of Moreh, of Mamre.

The whole of the Ghōr, or valley of the Jordan, is strictly a plain between two ranges of mountains, having, however, other local expanses within itself, among which the most remarkable are the plain of Huleh, the plains on the sea of Galilee, and the plain of Jericho.

East of the Sea of Galilee lies the great plain of Hauran, now called En Nukrah, which extends from the river A'waj (Pharpar) in the north, to the Desert in the south. The whole plain is volcanic, but in general fertile, and arable throughout. It is, indeed, regarded as the granary of Damascus. It was all comprised in the Bashan of the Hebrews, and belonged to Manasseh. The elevated plateau, which extends along the summit of the mountains which border the Dead Sea upon the east, is called the plain of the Belka, and was given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. While the plain of Hauran is only some 2500 feet above the level of the Mediterranean, the Belka, like it, between 40 and 50 miles in extent, cannot be well less than 3000 feet above the Mediterranean, and 4300 feet above the Dead Sea. In Genesis it is related that Chedorlaomer, and the kings with him, "smote the Emims in the plain of Kiriathaim." The plain in question was, probably, at the eastern base of the Jebel 'Attārūs, east of the Dead Sea.

The central limestone district of the Holy Land-the range of hill country and mountains-which extends between the maritime plains and the valley of the Jordan, starts from the Lebanon south to beyond the limits of the country and into the desert of Arabia, being only interrupted once throughout its course by the broken plain of Esdraelon. Lebanon closes the Land of Promise on the north, as the peninsula of Sinai does on the south; but with this difference, that Lebanon, though beyond the boundaries of Palestine, is almost always within view. From the moment that the traveller reaches the plain of Shechem in the interior, nay, even from the depths of the Jordan valley by the Dead Sea, the snowy heights of Hermon-the loftiest mountain and the most prominent feature in the landscape of the Holy Land-are visible. So long as its snowy tops were seen there was never wanting to the Hebrew poetry the image of unearthly grandeur, which nothing else but perpetual snow can give; especially as seen in the summer, when "the firmament around it seems to be on fire." (Clarke's Travels, iv. 203.) In the longings of the Hebrew lawgiver, as Dean Stanley also remarks, the one distinct image which blended with the general hope of seeing "the good land beyond Jordan,” was of "the good mountain, even Lebanon." And deep within the recesses of the mountain, beneath its crest of ice and snow, was the sacred forest of cedars, famous, even to those who had never seen them, for their gigantic magnificence, endeared to the heart of the nation by the treasures thence supplied to the Temple and the Palace of Jerusalem. But, beyond this general impression on the imagination of the people of Israel, there is no connexion between Lebanon and the history of the Old Testament; and with the one uncertain exception of the Transfiguration, none with the history of the New.

The whole hilly district between Lebanon and the plain of Esdraelon is spoken of in Scripture collectively, as Mount Naphthali. (Jos. xx. 7.) The hills are in part broken and varied, and here and there are perched castles of crusading celebrity, but mostly without any ancient interest. Amongst them modern research has identified Kedesh Naphthali, the birthplace of Barak-the sanctuary, as its name implies, of the great tribe of Naphthali, by which the whole of this range was occupied. All these places partake of the same general character, standing on rocky spurs or ridges, above green, peaceful basins, high among the hills. Among them Safed stands pre-eminent, west of the Upper Jordan, being conspicuous from every quarter, at an elevation, according to Symonds, of 2775 feet above the sea. Farther west is a still higher tract of mountains, the culminating point of which, Jebel Jermuk, is the highest peak in Galilee, rising not less than 4000 feet above the sea.

While the tribe of Naphthali occupied the northern hills, that of Zebulon possessed the more southerly, commanding the territories of the two others of the four northern tribes, Asher on the maritime plain, and Issachar on Esdraelon. Van de Velde (Syria and Palestine, vol. i. p. 374) describes the Belad-Besharah, as the region is now called, as scantily populated, but rich in beauty and fertility; a thick wood of oaks and other trees continued for a considerable way, now over the heights, again through valleys, but everywhere characterised by a luxuriance of verdure by which you can recognise at once the fertility of Naphthali's inheritance and the demolition of the cities, and this distinction of scenery, Dean Stanley remarks, with the natural separation of the hills of the north

from those to the south, contains the main explanation of the history of the northern tribes. All the four tribes of the north alike kept aloof from the great historical movements of Israel. With the exceptions when the pressure of northern invaders rallied them first round Barak and then round Gideon, they hardly ever appear in the events of Jewish history. They were content with their rich mountain valleys and their maritime coast.

From a very early period their joint territory acquired the name which it bore under a slightly altered form in the distribution of the country into a Roman province-Galil, Galilah, Galilæa—a name significative, as was also that of "Galilee of the Gentiles" (Isa. ix. 1; Matt. iv. 15), of a region or district separated from the more regularly organised tribes or kingdoms of Samaria and Judæa, and situated between them and the outer world.

This isolation, which renders the history of Galilee an almost entire blank in the Old Testament, is the cause of its sudden glory in the New. It was at Nazareth, a place secured within the natural barriers of its fifteen gently-rounded hills, north of the plain of Esdraelon, unknown and unnamed in the Old Testament, that was passed that youth, of which the most remarkable characteristic is its absolute obscurity. Its wild character high up in the Galilean hills may account both for the roughness of its population, unable to appreciate their own Prophet, and for the evil reputation which it had acquired even in the neighbouring villages, one of whose inhabitants, Nathaniel of Cana, said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Thence also came the name of Nazarene, used of old by the Jews, and used still by Mussulmans, as the appellation of that despised sect which has now embraced the civilised world. The spring at which the blessed Mary drew water, and the limestone rock down which the rude inhabitants were about to precipitate the Saviour, are still there, the one in the green open space at the north-west extremity, the other located (after no little discussion) over the Maronite convent at the south-west corner of the town. In this case, as in many others, two natural features have remained when all that is of mortal origin has disappeared, to be connected, the one by tradition, the other by the Gospel narrative, with the events which have made Nazareth immortal. Nain, where the young man was delivered back to his mother (Luke vii. 11-15), is at two or three hours' distance, on the plain of Esdraelon; Cana, the scene of Our Lord's first miracle, was at Kefr Kenna, on the highway to Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee, passing the Mount of Beatitudes.

South of the plain of Esdraelon are the mountains of Ephraim," the central mass of the hills of Palestine, and in which the rocky soil of the hills of Judah and Benjamin, though still continued to a great extent, is broken up into wide plains in the heart of the mountains, and diversified both in hill and valley by streams of running water and by continuous tracts of verdure and vegetation. It was this central tract and this "good land" that was allotted to the powerful house of Joseph in the first division of the country. For more than four hundred years, Ephraim, with its two dependent tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, exercised undisputed pre-eminence. Joshua, the first conqueror, Gideon, the greatest of the judges, whose brothers were "as the children of kings," and whose children all but established hereditary monarchy in