Haifa; or, Life in modern PalestineOliphant, Laurence
History
Haifa; or, Life in modern Palestine
Oliphant, Laurence
Palestine -- Description and travel
The sheik insisted upon accompanying us himself as guide to a place
called Singil, which we had fixed upon as our night quarters. Our way
led us through a small, depressed plain. After passing some remains of
no special interest we reached a very remarkable ruin, called El-Habs.
It is a tower on a rocky scarp, with walls built partly of masonry,
partly of rock, which measure about sixty feet by thirty. The stones of
which these walls are composed are of immense size, measuring from
twelve feet up to eighteen feet in length, with a height of from three
to four feet each. The masonry is thus quite equal to the average size
of the temple stones in Jerusalem. The tower has two entrances. Near it
are the remains of another large building of about one hundred feet
square outside measurement, and with walls six feet thick. Its interior
is divided into four parallel chambers, running east and west, of
various breadth. One of the partition walls has archways through it,
with piers between. All round these buildings are the foundations of
ancient walls and houses and bell-mouthed cisterns. The whole place
bears the marks of extreme antiquity. It has been examined by the
officers of the Palestine Survey, but is not mentioned in any
guide-book, and I am unable to form any conjecture in regard to it.
Our road now lay through a fertile plain, called The Meadow of the
Feast, possibly in some connection with the yearly feast which used to
be held by the Jews in old times at Shiloh, from which historical site
we were not far distant. It is a comfort now and then to come upon a
Biblical site about the identity of which there is not the slightest
doubt, and such is the case with Seilun, the modern name for Shiloh. It
stands in an extremely retired valley, and on our way to it we put up
the third batch of gazelles we had started in one day. This was the spot
where the Tabernacle was first permanently set up in Canaan, and where
the Israelites assembled to allot the Promised Land. They were probably
encamped hard by on The Meadow of the Feast, across which we had just
been riding, and it was probably on this meadow, while the maidens were
dancing at the festival in honour of the ark, that the remnant of the
Benjamites concealed themselves among the vineyards on the hillsides and
carried off two hundred maidens. At present it is impossible to be
certain whether any of the remains now visible existed at the time when
the Tabernacle was there. The ruins which first strike the eye on the
hillside are evidently those of a comparatively modern village, with
here and there fragments of masonry which may date back to Crusading
times. Then there is a low, square building supported by two rows of
columns, which has been used as a mosque, but in early times may have
been a Christian church; but the most remarkable monument is a square
building of which only the walls remain. It is apparently of three
architectural periods, and it is just possible that the oldest may have
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account