To return to the valley "El Kasab," we were assured that in winter time
the whole breadth is sometimes inundated, and even after this has
subsided, the alluvial soil is dangerous for attempting to travel in, it
becomes a bog for animals of burden. Thus it is quite conceivable that
at the occurrence of a mighty storm, divinely and specially commissioned
to destroy, the host of Sisera and his chariots would be irretrievably
discomfited.
Where the scene opened upon the plain of Acre there was extensive
cultivation visible, and the town of Caiffa appeared with the grove of
palm-trees in its vicinity.
The view hence of the Caiffa bay reminds us of the prophetic blessing
pronounced by the patriarch Jacob. "Zebulon shall dwell at the _haven_
of the sea, and he shall be for a haven of ships." I am convinced that
this Hebrew root [Hebrew text] (English _haven_ and the German _hafen_)
is perpetuated not only in those words but in the modern appellation,
Caiffa, or as it may be more properly written _Hhaifa_. The Arabic
letter [Arabic letter] is the real equivalent for [Hebrew letter] in
Hebrew; by grammatical permutation the letter [Hebrew letter] rightly
becomes [Arabic letter] in Arabic, and this we have
[Picture: Arabic word]
Hhaifa which Europeans turn into Caiffa.
We then reached a low natural mound on which are ruined walls of great
thickness, the levelled surface on the summit had been probably all
occupied by one castle with its outworks, but we saw it yellow with a
ripe crop of barley. This place is _Hurbaj_, and the neighbourhood
abounds with destroyed villages, the natural consequence of being so near
to Acre, and being the _paloestra_ or wrestling ground of great nations
in successive ages.
We arrived at Acre in exactly twelve hours from Jeneen, and pitched the
tents outside upon a bank between two trenches of the fortification,
commanding extensive views in every direction, and were fanned by sea
breezes from the bay.
In conclusion, I may observe that the plain called by the Greeks
_Esdraelon_, as a corruption of Jezreel, is that named "Megiddo" in Old
Testament Scripture. In the New Testament it bears the prefix of the
Hebrew word _Har_ (mountain) minus the aspirate, being written in Greek,
and so becomes "Armageddon" in the book of Revelation.
For topographical reasons it is very likely that the city of Megiddo was
at Lejjoon. There is a village of _Mujaidel_ on the north side of the
plain, not far from Nazareth, but this is a diminutive of the Arabic
_Mejdal_, so common in Palestine as a variation from the Hebrew Migdol.
* * * * *
Besides the above journey I made an excursion in 1859 on the summit of
Carmel itself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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