Modern Tiberias is a village of about two thousand inhabitants. A large proportion of these are Jews, who regard it as one of their holy places and have here a rabbinical school. It is filthy and squalid beyond even the average of eastern towns. From the swarms of vermin with which it is infested the Arabs have a proverb that “the king of the fleas lives at Tiberias.” Wilson says that on spending a night here he was literally covered with them and plucked them from his coat by handfuls. In common with other places in the valley of the Jordan it suffers severely from earthquakes. In the great shock of January, 1837, the Turkish walls which surround the town were shattered, and in many places laid prostrate. As under the present government nothing is ever repaired, the fortifications remain in the dilapidated condition in which they were left nearly forty years ago. [Illustration: THE TOWN OF TIBERIAS.] Northward from Tiberias the hills on the western side slope gently down nearly to the edge of the lake. The strip of shore is of extraordinary fertility. Though now uninhabited and uncultivated, it is easy to believe that the glowing descriptions of Josephus were in no degree exaggerated. In about an hour after leaving Tiberias we find the hills gradually recede, leaving a broad open plain—that of Gennesareth. The only sign of human habitation is a cluster of mud hovels near the water’s edge. There are a few remains of other buildings, one of which seems to have been a watch-tower (_Migdol_). A palm-tree rises from the centre of the village and a few thorn bushes cluster round it. The modern name Mejdel reminds us that this was MAGDALA, the place where our Lord came ashore after feeding the multitude on the opposite bank,[258] and the home of Mary Magdalene.[259] Into the disputed questions as to her history we do not enter here. We know how great a debt of gratitude she owed to her Lord, who had delivered her from demoniacal possession in its most aggravated form; and how fondly and devotedly she attached herself to His service, ministering to Him of her substance, waiting at His cross, present at His entombment, watching at His sepulchre, and first to welcome her risen Lord when He had burst “the bonds of death” and “led captivity captive.” As we stand amongst these crumbling ruins and squalid hovels we cannot but reflect upon the fact that through her the name of this spot has passed into all the languages of Christendom, is commemorated in the noblest ecclesiastical edifice of modern France, and holds a conspicuous place in our military history as that of the almost impregnable stronghold of a bloodthirsty Abyssinian tyrant. [Illustration: MAGDALA. _From a Sketch by T. Jenner, Esq._ ]