Haifa; or, Life in modern PalestineOliphant, Laurence
History
Haifa; or, Life in modern Palestine
Oliphant, Laurence
Palestine -- Description and travel
Haifa, March 15.—There is no part of ancient Palestine which offers a
more fertile field for antiquarian research than that portion lying to
the east of the Jordan, which fell to the share of the half-tribe of
Manasseh. In Biblical times a part of it was called Golan, and its
modern name of Jaulan is almost identical with its ancient appellation.
It is to this day the finest grazing land in all Palestine, as it was in
the days of old, when Job fed his vast flocks and herds upon its more
eastern pastures, but it is now very sparsely inhabited. The sedentary
population has all been driven away by the wandering tribes of Bedouins
who have appropriated the country; the very few villages that remain are
squalid and miserable, and the inhabitants live in terror for their
lives, for they never know what day, or rather night, the Arabs may not
be down upon them, and carry off their stock. They surround their
houses, therefore, with large yards enclosed by stone walls, and it was
in one of these that I found a lodging on the night that I had so nearly
been obliged to spend in the wilds of the Wady Samak. Attached to these
yards are large stone vaults, capable of containing great herds of
cattle, and some of them apparently of great antiquity. In the one in
which I staked my horses I found, on examining it in the morning, part
of a Corinthian column, still _in situ_, standing to a height of about
six feet. I failed to discover any more, but the vault was so dark that
my examination was carried on with difficulty, and I had no time to
spend over it. The sheik's house in which I lodged, and to which this
vault belonged, was evidently, however, built on the site of what had
formerly been a building of some importance, for in the yard, to my
surprise and delight, I came upon a prostrate statue of a woman, life
size. The head was severed from the body, and the feet had been broken
off at the ankles, but it was a fine specimen of Greek statuary. Both
the features and the drapery were beautifully executed. The feet I found
_in situ_, the ankles just appearing on a level with the ground. On
clearing this away I laid bare the feet, which were still firmly fixed
on the original pedestal, which it would have required a great deal of
labour to disinter. It is not improbable that the pedestal is covered
with carving in _basso-rilievo_, and I promise myself at some future
time to dig it up. In the meantime both feet and pedestal cannot be
safer than where they are, more especially as my companions secured the
head. This the sheik was induced to part with for $3. The body was too
cumbersome to carry away now, as a camel would have been needed for its
transport, and, as it is not of much value without the head, it may be
considered secured by the possession of that portion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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