The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fourth: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Egypt and the Holy LandKnox, Thomas Wallace
General
The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fourth: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Egypt and the Holy Land
Knox, Thomas Wallace
Egypt -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature; Palestine -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
"He sent his soldiers to attack them, but the position of the robbers
was so strong that they repelled every assault. Finally he ordered some
strong boxes to be made, and suspended over the face of the cliff by
means of iron chains, and when all was ready he filled the boxes with
soldiers, and lowered them down in front of the caves.
[Illustration: BATTLE WITH THE ROBBERS.]
"The robbers were taken by surprise, but they quickly came to their
senses, and made a desperate resistance. The soldiers were victorious;
and the robbers that escaped death by the spear, or being thrown over
the cliff, were soon made prisoners, and their business was broken up.
At the present time the caves are unoccupied, except by a few beggars,
who live upon what they get from visitors.
"Back of the caverns are the ruins of the ancient city of Arbela, which
is doubtless the Beth-Arbel mentioned in Hosea x. 14. The ruins are
overgrown with reeds and vines, and are not worth the time and trouble
of visiting them."
From Magdala the boat made a straight course for the mouth of the
Jordan, and was carried rapidly forward by a strong breeze from the
south. The dragoman said that the lake was liable to be swept by sudden
winds, like the majority of inland waters surrounded by mountains, and
he predicted that the favoring breeze they had just caught might leave
them altogether by the time they reached the point for which they were
heading. Sure enough it did so; and as they entered the mouth of the
river there was not enough to carry them against the current. The
boatmen took to their oars, and in a little while they were a couple of
miles from the lake and in front of the ruins of Bethsaida.
The ground for quite a distance is covered with the remains of
dwellings, the most of them so overgrown with weeds and bushes that
they must be sought for in order to be found. Bethsaida means "house of
fish," or "fish-marke;" and there was another village of the same name
near Capernaum, so that much confusion has arisen concerning them. It
was probably near the Bethsaida on the Jordan, where we now are, that
the miracle of feeding the multitude was performed, as described in the
ninth chapter of Luke, while it was to the other Bethsaida that Christ
sent away his disciples, and went up into the mountain to pray.
As the boat descended the river to reach the lake again Doctor Bronson
read from the Bible the account of the stilling of the tempest, and the
events connected with it. All were agreed that the miracle must have
been performed near the western shore, and close by Capernaum, and the
scriptural description seemed to tally exactly with the configuration of
the land and lake. It was easy to imagine the scene, especially as the
wind by which they had been blown from Magdala had ceased entirely, and
"there was a great calm." By steady rowing the boat was brought to Tell
Hum a little before sunset, and the voyage around the Sea of Galilee was
at an end.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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