for the blessings and curses which God commanded to be pronounced from thence upon the children of Israel. Upon Gerizim, which was appointed for the blessings, were to stand the tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin; and upon Ebal, where the curses were to be delivered, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. An altar was likewise to be erected on Mount Ebal (or Gerizim, according to the Samaritan pentateuch) of unhewn stones covered over with plaister and inscribed with the body of the Jewish law; and here they were commanded to offer sacrifices, and to make great rejoicing before the Lord; all which was punctually performed in the time of Joshuat. The Samaritans affirm that Gerizim was the place appointed by God for his worship and sacrifice, and pretend that the Jews have maliciously corrupted the text, and substituted Ebal instead of Gerizim, merely because the Samaritans worshipped in the last mentioned mountain. In confirmation of this, they plead, that as Gerizim was confessedly the mountain of blessing, and Ebal the mountain of cursing, by God's own appointment, it is most probable that the former was also appointed for the sacrifices and religious festivals which the Israelites were commanded to observe. If of the great stones, made use of by Joshua in building the altar, were to be found upon Mount Gerizim, it would determine the question on the side of the Samaritans; but as no such evidence can be produced, I leave the controversy to be decided by the learned. The town of Naplósa, or Sychem, has reason to boast of its great antiquity, for it seems to have * Deut. ix. 29, and xxvii. 12, 13. Joshua viii. 30-35.

any

been of considerable note in the time of Jacob.. Its inhabitants however were slain, and the city plundered, by the sons of Jacob, to revenge the rape of their sister Dinah, committed by Shechem the son of Hamor, who was the prince of that country*. Abimelech destroyed the inhabitants, and levelled the city with the ground; but it was rebuilt by Jeroboamt, and again ruined by the kings of Damascus. Vespasian settled a colony in this town, and called it Flavia Cæsarea; from whom sprung Justin Martyr, a faithful champion for the cause of Christianity. It was likewise formerly called Neapolis, to which its modern name bears some resemblance. The Samaritans had once a temple on Mount Gerizim, which seemed to rival that of Jerusalem; but in the time of the Maccabees it was destroyed by Hyrcanus.

Having made some stay at Naplosa, and paid our caphar, we continued our journey along the same narrow valley, and on the right hand, just without the city, we observed a mosque, formerly a Christian church, said to stand exactly over the sepulchre of Jacob, in the piece of ground that he purchased, of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem||. It is usually called Joseph's sepulchre, his bones having been here interred after they were brought out of Egypt by the children of Israel§.

About a mile from Naplosa, we came to Jacob's well, famous on account of its ancient master, but more so for the memorable conference held there between our blessed Saviour and the woman of Samaria. Some have questioned whether this be really the well that it is pretended to be, as thinking it too *Gen. xxxiv. throughout. † Judges ix. 45. ‡ 1 Kings xii. 25. Gen. xxiii. 19. Joshua xxiv. 32.

remote from Sýchar for women to come thither to draw water; especially as the present town is so well supplied with that element, that the inhabitants. have no necessity to fetch it at such a distance. But for my part, I have no doubt of its being actually.. the well which the scripture means, since it is highly probable, that Sychar, in our Saviour's time, was of much greater extent than the present Naplosa; as may be conjectured from some remains of a thick wall, which are still to be seen not far from the well itself. That devout patroness of the Holy Land, the empress Helena, formerly caused a large church to be erected over this well; but the malice of the Turks, and the destroying hand of time, have left nothing of it remaining, except some parts of the foundation. The well is arched over with stone, but there is a narrow passage left to go down into the vault, where, by removing a flat stone, we discover the mouth of the well itself; which is dug out of a firm rock, it is three yards in diameter, and five or six and thirty in depth, with above two fathom water in it: so false is that story which the country people impose upon travellers, that the well is dry all the year round, except on the anniversary of the day when our Saviour discoursed with the Samaritan woman, but that then it bubbles up abundantly.

Here is the end of the narrow valley of Sychem, which at this well opens itself into a spacious field, supposed to be part of the parcel of ground that was given to Joseph by his father Jacob*. It is watered by a fine rivulet, which renders it fertile and delight. ful; but from hence our road led us to the South-, ward, along another valley much wider than the

*John iv. 5.

former. Having passed by two or three small villages on our right, we arrived in the evening at a a kane or inn called Leban, and there took up our quarters. This kane is situated on the east side of a pleasant valley, and opposite to it stands a village of the same name, which may possibly have been the Lebonah mentioned Judges xxi. 19. if we may conjecture from the likeness of its name and situa

tion.

The 31st in the morning we had no sooner got on horse-back, but we found ourselves engaged in a difficult task, that of climbing a steep a steep and craggy mountain. We mastered it however in less than an hour, and having left a village called Cinga at some distance on our right, in one hour more we entered a narrow valley, at the farther end of which we came to the ruins of a monastery, as they appeared to be, and of a considerable village. Hereabouts was Jacob's Bethel, where he took up his lodging in the open air*, with the sky for his canopy, and a

* The place where Jacob took up his lodging was near Luz, which signifies an almond, and might very likely have its name from the many groves of almond-trees thereabouts, under some of which it is not unlikely that Jacob might repose himself; as they would afford him no incommodious shelter from the weather. On account of the vision which Jacob had here, he called the place Bethel; and the Israelites, when they conquered Canaan in remembrance of the thing, continued the name. It lay to the North of Jerusalem, and the West of Hai, on the confines of the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin: So that, upon the revolt of the ten tribes, it belonged to the kingdom of Israel, and was one of the cities where Jeroboam set up his golden calves; whence the prophet Hosea, chap. iv. 15. alluding to the name given it by Jacob, calls it Beth-aven, instead of Beth-el, i. e. the House of Vanity or Idols, instead of the House of God.

stone for his pillow, which however was made easy to him by the vision of God and of the angels ascending and descending on a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and by the comfortable promises he then received from the Almighty, that he should have the land of Canaan for his inheritance, that his posterity should be numerous, that the Messiah should descend from his family, that he should return safe to his native country, and that throughout his journey he should experience the divine protection and preservation. Near this place were the limits between the tribes of Ephraim and Benja

min*.

From hence our road lay through several large olive-yards, leaving two or three Arab villages on our right, till we came to a rocky precipice, over which a way has been cut with incredible labour. An hour afterwards we arrived at Beer, the place whither Jotham fled from his brother Abimelecht. The town is pleasantly situated on an easy declivity facing the South, and at the bottom of the hill there is a plentiful spring of excellent water. In the upper part of the town we see the remains of an old church, built by the empress Helena, on the very place, as they tell you, where the Blessed Virgin sat herself down to bewail the loss of her dear son Jesus, whom she could not find amongst the company, as she expected; and therefore returned to Jerusalem in search of him, where she was agreeably surprised to find him in the temple disputing with the doctorst.

Leaving Beer, we proceeded, as we had done the greatest part of the way from our last night's lodg *Joshua xviii. 23. † Judges ix. 21.

Luke ii. 43-58.