As the home of Samson, and the scene of many a romantic story, Philistia has a history of thrilling interest. It was therefore with no ordinary delight that we left the Holy City to explore a region where have occurred so many grand historic events. Skirting the northern border of the Plain of Rephaim, we were soon under the shadow of the Convent of the Cross. Turning to the right, we entered the Valley of Roses, called by the Arabs Wady el-Werd. For more than half a mile the bottom of the glen is covered with rose-bushes, cultivated for the manufacture of rose-water, which is used in the East in large quantities. Descending Wady el-Werd, we soon reached Philip’s Fountain, where, according to a recent tradition, the Evangelist baptized the Ethiopian eunuch.[376] ’Ain Hanîyeh is a pretty fountain gushing out from a semicircular apse, ornamented with pilasters, and is situated in a wild glen by the wayside, on the ancient road to Gaza. On the summit of a neighboring hill to the north stands the quiet hamlet of ’Ain Kârim, the birthplace of John the Baptist. It is in the “hill country of Judea,” and is the scene of the meeting of those pious cousins, the destined mothers of the Messiah and his harbinger.[377] High up on a wild ridge to the south is the city of Bether, where the pretended Christ, called Bar-cochba, the “Son of a Star,” made his last and fatal stand against the Romans under Adrian. It was then a Jewish city of wealth and learning, and, after a siege of three and a half years, was forced to surrender. Eighty thousand of its unfortunate citizens fell beneath the conqueror’s sword; and such was the dreadful slaughter, that, according to the historian, the horses waded in blood up to their bridles.