There were on the littoral, to the north of Gaza, two large walled towns, Ascalon and Joppa, in whose roadsteads merchant vessels were accustomed to take hasty refuge in tempestuous weather.* There were to be found on the plains also, and on the lower slopes of the mountains, a number of similar fortresses and villages, such as Iurza, Migdol, Lachish, Ajalon, Shocho, Adora, Aphukin, Keilah, Gezer, and Ono; and, in the neighbourhood of the roads which led to the fords of the Jordan, Gibeah, Beth-Anoth, and finally Urusalim, our Jerusalem.** A tolerably dense population of active and industrious husbandmen maintained themselves upon the soil. * Ascalon was not actually on the sea. Its port, "Maiumas Ascalonis," was probably merely a narrow bay or creek, now, for a long period, filled up by the sand. Neither the site nor the remains of the port have been discovered. The name of the town is always spelled in Egyptian with an "s "-- Askaluna, which gives us the pronunciation of the time. The name of Joppa is written Yapu, Yaphu, and the gardens which then surrounded the town are mentioned in the _Anastasi Papyrus I_. ** Urusalim is mentioned only in the Tel el-Amarna tablets, alongside of Kilti or Keilah, Ajalon, and Lachish. The remaining towns are noticed in the great lists of Thutmosis III. [Illustration: 191.jpg Page image] The plough which they employed was like that used by the Egyptians and Babylonians, being nothing but a large hoe to which a couple of oxen were harnessed.* The scarcity of rain, except in certain seasons, and the tendency of the rivers to run low, contributed to make the cultivators of the soil experts in irrigation and agriculture. Almost the only remains of these people which have come down ti us consist of indestructible wells and cisterns, or wine and oil presses hollowed out of the rock.** * This is the form of plough still employed by the Syrians in some places. ** Monuments of this kind are encountered at every step in Judaea, but it is very difficult to date them. The aqueduct of Siloam, which goes back perhaps to the time of Hezekiah. Fields of wheat and barley extended along the flats of the valleys, broken in upon here and there by orchards, in which the white and pink almond, the apple, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive flourished side by side. [Illustration: 192.jpg AMPHITHEATRE OF HILLS] Drawn by Boudier, from a plate in Chesney.