The evening was passed in reading about the battles that had taken place in the neighborhood, and in studying the map of the Plain of Esdraelon. When they left the wretched village the next morning, and looked upon the beautiful plain spread below them, the boys were full of enthusiasm about the region they were traversing, and showed an excellent knowledge of the positions indicated on the map. "That must be Taanach," said Frank, pointing to a rounded hill on the left, as they looked down the valley. "Yes," replied the Doctor, "that is Taanach, and beyond it is Megiddo, which you readily perceive is a strong point for an army to occupy." "That's what we read about last night," said Fred. "Taanach was one of the points where Joash was held back in his attacks on the Canaanites, and it was afterward the head-quarters of Sisera, who also held Megiddo. Megiddo was where Joash was killed in a battle with the Egyptians, as we read in 2 Chronicles, chap. xxv., and back of it are the hills of Manasseh." The road from Jenin passed near the base of Mount Gilboa, and as our friends followed the ridge on which their track lay they found themselves on the water-shed between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. They passed the village of Zerin, the ancient Jezreel, where Jezebel was thrown to the dogs, and where Ahab's palace is supposed to have stood. To the east of the village is the spring of Harod and the fountain of Jezreel, where Saul's army made its last camp. It is on the slope of Mount Gilboa, and directly in front of the position where the Philistines were posted before the battle. By going still farther to the north we come to Endor, where Saul had his interview with the witch. Most of these points lay too far from the road to allow time for a visit, but they were visible from the high points of the route, or their positions were easily indicated. [Illustration: MAP OF THE VALLEY OF ESDRAELON.] Other battles than those of the Bible were recalled by this ride over the plain, and among the hills that bordered it. The guide pointed out the spot where Saladin defeated the Hospitallers and Templars when he conquered Palestine, and also where Napoleon Bonaparte and Kleber defeated a Turkish army much larger than their own. The Doctor said they were not far from where Nebuchadnezzar's army was encamped when Judith cut off the head of Holofernes, and a little farther away was the scene of the defeat of the Jews by the army of Vespasian. "No wonder it is called the battle-field of Palestine," said he, "when it has been the scene of so much warfare. No other part of the country has been traversed by so many armies as this, and in no other place have so many historic battles been fought. There is hardly an acre of the Plain of Esdraelon that has not been moistened by the blood of the victims of war. The soil is fertile, or would be if it were well cultivated, but it has shared the fate of other parts of Palestine, and is suffering from neglect."