baptism of the eunuch.[403] But Ashdod is conspicuous in profane history for having withstood a siege of twenty-nine years, when invested by Psammetichus, king of Egypt, which is the longest siege on record. Illustration: ASHDOD. Twenty miles to the north, situated on the coast, is ancient Joppa. From Ashdod thither the route lies through one of the richest sections of the Plain of Philistia. It is a gentle depression coming down from the east, three miles wide, through the centre of which runs a deep, winding torrent bed. The soil is loamy, and yields the finest grain raised in Syria. Among the large and prosperous villages that dot its fertile sides are Batâneah and El-Burka; but beyond this oasis the land is stony and barren, and the wretched hovels of which the towns are composed, together with the squalidity of the peasants, recall the prophetic denunciation, “A bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.”[404] Passing through Yebna, the Jabneh of the Bible,[405] and leaving Ekron,[406] five miles to the east the road crosses diagonally the great Wady Surâr, which drains the western section of the Judean Hills from Hebron to Bethel. Less than two miles from the sea are the remains of a Roman bridge which once spanned the torrent, and from this ruin the path declines westward to the coast, when, turning northward, it follows the beach to Yâfa. Standing upon a rock whose western base is washed by the Mediterranean, Joppa is one of the oldest cities in the world. Though its authentic history begins with the partitioning of Palestine into tribal possessions, yet, according to Pliny, it existed prior to the Flood. Called by Joshua Japho,[407] by Luke Joppa,[408] by the Arabs Yâfa, and by the Franks Jaffa, it was originally allotted to the tribe of Dan,[409] but remained in comparative obscurity till the reign of Solomon, when it became the chief maritime city of his kingdom. Being the nearest harbor to Jerusalem, the floats of pine and cedar from Lebanon for the building of the first and second temples were landed here,[410] and hence transported to the Holy City on the back of camels. Centuries later, Jonah here embarked for Tarshish,[411] and in our own era here lived the benevolent Tabitha, whom Peter restored to life,[412] and here was the home of Simon, with whom the apostle lodged.[413]