Haifa; or, Life in modern PalestineOliphant, Laurence
History
Haifa; or, Life in modern Palestine
Oliphant, Laurence
Palestine -- Description and travel
My next attempt was made with a friend who knew the way, and who led me
along a corresponding ledge upon the opposite side of the valley, into a
side gorge, which we followed past a wall of rock, in which were two or
three small caverns, which I entered, the largest not more than twelve
or fourteen feet square, and showing no signs of having been inhabited.
A huge rock detached from the mountain-side, and hollowed into a sort of
gallery, is so celebrated among the natives that it has a name of its
own. Just behind it we turned to scramble almost straight up the
mountain-side, covered with a scrub composed of camelthorn, odoriferous
thyme, sage, marjoram, and arbutus, and then found we were at the foot
of seven clearly defined terraces, completely encircling the rounded
hill, upon the top of which stood the crumbling walls of an old fort,
and which formed portions of its defences. On one of these stood a
shepherd's hut, and inside the enclosure made of bushes was the entrance
to a cavern, about thirty yards long, four feet high, and twenty or
thirty feet across. In it, when they were not out feeding, the shepherd
kept his flock of long-eared goats.
Ascending to the ruin, I found it to consist of the remains of what had
evidently been a fort, the walls of which, enclosing a space of about
sixty yards long by forty broad, were standing to a height of eight or
ten feet, and were composed of blocks of limestone. At one angle a
portion of the fortress had at a later period been converted into a
church, the apse, with its arches, being in a tolerable state of
preservation. The name of this ruin is Rushmea, and according to the
most reliable sources of information to which I have had access, it was
used by Saladin to watch the progress of the siege of Acre when that
place was held by the crusaders. Prior to the crusades and the formation
of the order of the Carmelite monks, the mountain was inhabited by
anchorites, some of whom claimed to have inherited the sacred character
of Elijah and Elisha. For some time seven of them seem to have divided
the claim between them, and one of them is reported to have lived in a
cave at Rushmea, which is said to contain carving and inscriptions. It
was for this cave I was especially in search; but though I have visited
the locality three times in all, twice with guides, and have found some
seven or eight caves, one of which had a carved limestone entrance, none
of them seemed of sufficient importance to answer the traditional
description. A magnificent view is obtained from the ruin over the Bay
of Acre, with the town in the distance and the plain of Kishon beneath,
and plainly visible the famous well for the possession of which Saladin
and Richard Cœur de Lion fought. I have visited this celebrated source,
with its massive masonry and crumbling cistern, in the centre of which
there is now a flourishing fig-tree. During the siege which Haifa then
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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