On leaving Tiberias, we find at first steep rocks, like a mountain which seems to roll into the sea. Then the mountains gradually recede; a plain (_El Ghoueir_) opens almost at the level of the lake. It is a delightful copse of rich verdure, furrowed by abundant streams which proceed partly from a great round basin of ancient construction (_Ain-Medawara_). At the entrance of this plain, which is, properly speaking, the country of Gennesareth, there is the miserable village of _Medjdel_. At the other extremity of the plain (always following the sea), we come to the site of a town (_Khan-Minyeh_), with very beautiful streams (_Ain-et-Tin_), a pretty road, narrow and deep, cut out of the rock, which Jesus often traversed, and which serves as a passage between the plain of Gennesareth and the northern slopes of the lake. A quarter of an hour's journey from this place, we cross a stream of salt water (_Ain-Tabiga_), issuing from the earth by several large springs at a little distance from the lake, and entering it in the midst of a dense mass of verdure. At last, after a journey of forty minutes further, upon the arid declivity which extends from Ain-Tabiga to the mouth of the Jordan, we find a few huts and a collection of monumental ruins, called _Tell-Houm_. Five small towns, the names of which mankind will remember as long as those of Rome and Athens, were, in the time of Jesus, scattered in the space which extends from the village of Medjdel to Tell-Houm. Of these five towns, Magdala, Dalmanutha, Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin,[1] the first alone can be found at the present time with any certainty. The repulsive village of Medjdel has no doubt preserved the name and the place of the little town which gave to Jesus his most faithful female friend.[2] Dalmanutha[3] was probably near there. It is possible that Chorazin was a little more inland, on the northern side.[4] As to Bethsaida and Capernaum, it is in truth almost at hazard that they have been placed at Tell-Houm, Ain-et-Tin, Khan-Minyeh, and Ain-Medawara.[5] We might say that in topography, as well as in history, a profound design has wished to conceal the traces of the great founder. It is doubtful whether we shall ever be able, upon this extensively devastated soil, to ascertain the places where mankind would gladly come to kiss the imprint of his feet. [Footnote 1: The ancient Kinnereth had disappeared or changed its name.] [Footnote 2: We know in fact that it was very near Tiberias.--Talmud of Jerusalem, _Maasaroth_, iii. 1; _Shebiit_, ix. 1; _Erubin_, v. 7.] [Footnote 3: Mark viii. 10. Comp. Matt. xv. 39.] [Footnote 4: In the place named _Khorazi_ or _Bir-kerazeh_, above Tell-Houm.]