Palestine or the Holy Land | Page 4

Trajan;
Barcochab; Adrian repairs Jerusalem; Schools at Babylon and Tiberias;
Attempt of Julian to rebuild the Temple; Invasion of Chosroes; Sack of
Jerusalem; Rise of Islamism; Wars of the Califs; First Crusade;
Jerusalem delivered; Policy of Crusades; Victory at Ascalon; Baldwin
King; Second Crusade; Saladin; His Success at Tiberias; He recovers
Jerusalem; The Third Crusade; Richard Coeur de Lion; Siege and
Capture of Acre; Plans of Richard; His Return to Europe; Death of
Saladin; Fourth Crusade; Battle of Jaffa; Fifth Crusade; Fall of
Constantinople; Sixth Crusade; Damietta taken; Reverses; Frederick
the Second made King of Jerusalem; Seventh Crusade; Christians
admitted into the Holy City; Inroad of Karismians; Eighth Crusade
under Louis IX.; He takes Damietta; His Losses and Return to Europe;
Ninth Crusade; Louis IX. and Edward I; Death of Louis; Successes of
Edward; Treaty with Sultan; Final Discomfiture of the Franks in
Palestine, and Loss of Acre; State of Palestine under the Turks;
Increased Toleration; Bonaparte invades Syria; Siege of Acre and
Defeat of French; Actual State of the Holy Land; Number, Condition,
and Character of the Jews.
CHAPTER IX
.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF PALESTINE.
Travellers too much neglect Natural History--Maundrell; Hasselquist,
Clarke. GEOLOGY--Syrian Chain; Libanus; Calcareous Rocks;
Granite; Trap; Volcanic Remains; Chalk; Marine Exuviae; Precious
Stones. METEOROLOGY--Climate of Palestine; Winds; Thunder;
Clouds; Waterspouts; Ignis Fatuus. ZOOLOGY--Scripture Animals;
The Hart; The Roebuck; Fallow-Deer; Wild Goat; Pygarg; Wild Ox;
Chamois; Unicorn; Wild Ass; Wild Goats of the Rock; Saphan, or
Coney; Mouse; Porcupine; Jerboa; Mole; Bat. BIRDS--Eagle;
Ossifrage; Ospray; Vulture; Kite; Raven; Owl; Nighthawk; Cuckoo;
Hawk; Little Owl; Cormorant; Great Owl; Swan; Pelican; Gier Eagle;
Stork; Heron; Lapwing; Hoopoe. AMPHIBIA AND
REPTILES--Serpents known to the Hebrews; Ephe; Chephir; Acshub;

Pethen; Tzeboa; Tzimmaon; Tzepho; Kippos; Shephiphon; Shachal;
Seraph, the Flying Serpent; Cockatrice' Eggs; The Scorpion;
Sea-monsters, or Seals. FRUITS AND PLANTS--Vegetable
Productions of Palestine; The Fig-tree; Palm; Olive; Cedars of Libanus;
Wild Grapes; Balsam of Aaron; Thorn of Christ.
ENGRAVINGS.
Map of Palestine Vignette--Part of Jerusalem, with the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre View of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives Fountain
of Siloam Tomb of Absalom Village of Bethany, and Dead Sea
Subterranean Church of Bethlehem River Jabbok, and Hilts of Bashan
Sea of Galilee, Town of Tiberias, and Baths of Emmaus Mount Tabor

CHAPTER I
.
Introductory Observations.
Interest attached to the History of Palestine; Remarkable Character of
the Hebrew People; Their small Beginning and astonishing Increase;
The Variety of Fortune they underwent; Their constant Attachment to
the Promised Land; The Subject presents an interesting Problem to the
Historian and Politician; The Connexion with Christianity; Effect of
this Religion on the Progress of Society; Importance of the Subject to
the pious Reader; Holy Places; Pilgrims; Grounds for believing the
ancient Traditions on this Head; Constantine and the Empress Helena;
Relics; Natural Scenery; Extent of Canaan; Fertility; Geographical
Distribution; Countries eastward of the Jordan; Galilee; Bethlehem;
Samaria; Jericho; The Dead Sea; Table representing the Possessions of
the Twelve Tribes.
The country to which the name of Palestine is given by moderns is that
portion of the Turkish empire in Asia which is comprehended within
the 31st and 34th degrees north latitude, and extends from the
Mediterranean to the Syrian Desert, eastward of the river Jordan and
the Dead Sea. Whether viewed as the source of our religions faith; or as
the most ancient fountain of our historical knowledge, this singular spot
of earth has at all times been regarded with feelings of the deepest

interest and curiosity. Inhabited for many ages by a people entitled
above all others to the distinction of peculiar, it presents a record of
events such as have not come to pass in any other land, monuments of a
belief denied to all other nations, hopes not elsewhere cherished, but
which, nevertheless, are connected with the destiny of the whole human
race, and stretch forward to the consummation of all terrestrial things.
To the eye of mere philosophy nothing can appear more striking than
the events produced upon the world at large by the opinions and events
which originated among the Jewish people. A pastoral family, neither
so numerous, so warlike, nor so well instructed in the arts of civilized
life as many others in the same quarter of the globe, gradually increased
into a powerful community, became distinguished by a system of
doctrines and usages different from those of all the surrounding tribes;
retaining it, too, amid the numerous changes of fortune to which they
were subjected, and finally impressing its leading principles upon the
most enlightened nations of Asia and of Europe. At a remote era
Abraham crosses the Euphrates, a solitary traveller, not knowing
whither he went, but obeying a divine voice, which called him from
among idolaters to become the father of a new people and of a purer
faith, at a