Of mount

Jordan.

But befides this mount Gilead on the east of the half CHAP. V. tribe of Manaffeh and the tribe of Gad, beyond Jordan, there is mention made (Judg. vii. 3.) of a mount Gilead, 37. as lying weft of Jordan in the lot of the children of Jo-Gilead on feph. And Brocard the monk, in his Defcription of the the weft of Holy Land, chap. vii. makes mention of a mount Gilead, lying towards Jezreel, and fo towards the mountains of Gilboa, which agrees well enough with the history of Gideon; in reference to which hiftory, we shall speak more of this mount Gilead, fuppofed to lie on the weft of Jordan.

38.

mountains

In the fouth part of the country beyond Jordan lie the mountains, called in Scripture the mountains of Abarim; On the part whereof was distinguished by the names of mount of the fouth Nebo and Pisgah: and of these I have spoken enough al- coaft of the Holy Land. ready; as alfo of mount Seir, lying to the fouth of Canaan, and inhabited by the pofterity of Efau, or Edom. Beyond mount Seir weftward runs a ridge of mountains, which part Canaan from Arabia, and which feems to be denoted in Scripture by the name of the mountain of the Amorites; some spurs or branches whereof run up north

ward to Hebron.

Carmel.

On the western coaft of the Holy Land, the only re- 39. markable mountain is that of mount Carmel, lying on the of mount fea-coaft at the fouth end of the tribe of Afher, and frequently mentioned in Scripture. Mount Carmel is, as Thevenot tells us, ten miles from Acre, or Ptolemais. At the foot of it stands the village Cayphas, which was formerly a town. Here is a convent of bare-footed Carmelites, a fort of monks fo named. Thevenot found here two French fathers, and an Italian brother, who had been twenty years there. They obferve a very fevere rule; for befide that they are removed from all worldly conversation, they neither eat flesh nor drink wine; and if they need it, they must go to another place. Nor do they suffer pilgrims to eat flesh in their convent; only they allow them to drink wine. This convent is not on the top of

the

PART II. the mount, (where was once a very fine monastery, before the Christians loft the Holy Land, the ruins whereof are ftill to be feen); but it is a very little one, somewhat lower, and needs no more than three monks to fill it; who would have much ado to fubfist, if they had not some alms given them by the French merchants of Acre, that often go thither to their devotions. They have poffeffed this place thirty years, fays Thevenot, fince the time they were driven out of it, after that the Christians lost the Holy Land. It is the place where the prophet Elijah lived, and their church is the very grot, where some time he abode, which is very neatly cut out of the rock. From this convent they have an excellent profpect, especially towards the fea, where there are no bounds to their fight. About their convent they have a pretty hermitage, very well cultivated by the Italian brother, who has brought thither all the earth that is in it. And indeed it is very pleasant to see flowers and fruits growing upon a hill that is nothing but rock. Though the convent be very little, yet they have made a fmall, commodious, and very neat apartment for to lodge pilgrims; but they must not exceed the number of fix. At a good league's distance from the convent is a well that the prophet Elijah is faid to make spring out of the ground; and a little over it is another, faid to be no less miraculous: the waters of both are very pleasant and good. The Arabs fay, that all the while the monks were absent, after they had been driven hence, these wells yielded no water. Close by the last fountain are stately ruins of the convent of St. Brocard, who was fent thither by St. Albert, patriarch of Jerufalem, to reform the hermits that lived there without rule or community.

40.

Of the

ftone-me lons.

Not far from thence is the garden of the one-melons, concerning which they tell you, that Elijah paffing that way, defired a melon from a man that was gathering. fome; who in contempt answered the Prophet, that they were ftones, and not melons; whereupon all the melons

were

were immediately turned into ftones. Le Bruyn has ob- CHAP. V. liged us with the figure of these melons in two forms, one melon being represented whole, the other opened in the middle. Le Bruyn tells us withal, that these stone-inelons have the same shape on the outside as the true ones; and if one opens them, there are the fame cavities as in the true ones: they have also some smell, which is pretty pleasant. There are also to be seen (adds the fame writer) capotonde, as the Italians call them, or ftone-oyfters; and alfo ftone-olives."

41.

particulars

mel.

Near to the convent are fhewn the grots of the prophets Elijah and Elisha; there is also a third, but it is of other walled up. Lower down towards the foot of the moun- about tain is the cave where the prophet Elijah inftructed the mount Carpeople. It is all cut very smooth in the rock, both above and below; it is about twenty paces in length, fifteen in breadth, and very high; and I think, fays Thevenot, that it is one of the finest grots that can be feen. The Turks have made a little mofque there. Mount Carmel, and all the country thereabouts, is commanded by a prince named Emir Tharabee, fays Thevenot, who pays yearly to the Grand Seignior a tribute of twelve horfes.

other

42.

As for mount Tabor, and the mount of the Beatitudes, and some other lying in the Holy Land, they have been of the already spoken of in my Geography of the New Teftament. mountains And as for mount Gilboah, I shall speak of it in the hif- or hills of the Holy tory of Saul; and fo what other mountains are worth Land. taking notice of lying in the Holy Land, I shall speak of them, as they come in my way, following the series of the facred history.

43.

clufion.

And thus I have in this chapter laid before the reader what I judged proper to take notice of to him, concern- The coning the divifion of the land of Canaan, and the country beyond Jordan, among the twelve tribes of Ifrael; as alfo concerning the Levitical cities, and the cities of refuge; and lastly, concerning the mountains or hills lying round

or

PART II. or within the Holy Land. And hereby I have brought the series of this my geographical undertaking as far as to the end of the book of Joshua. I fhall now proceed to the geography of that part of the facred history which is contained in the book of Judges.

CHAP.

CHAP. VI.

Of the remarkable Places mentioned in the Book of Judges, and not before Spoken of.

1.

AFTER the death of Joshua, by the direction of God the men of Judah went up against the Canaanites, and Of Bezek flew of them in Bezek ten thousand men. Here they found Adonibezek, whofe thumbs and great toes they cut off, he having treated (as himself confeffes) threefcore and ten kings after that barbarous manner; after which being brought to Jerufalem, there he died. Judg. i. 1—7. There is likewise mention made of Bezek, 1 Sam. xi. 8. as the place where Saul mustered the army, wherewith he gave the Ammonites a fignal overthrow there related. These are the only two places of Scripture where Bezek is mentioned. And fince Eufebius and Jerom tell us, that there were in their days two towns fo called, and near one another, and distant seventeen miles from Neapolis or Sichem, as one goes down to Scythopolis or Bethfhan; and fince either of these places (which perhaps were both but one city in former times) was well enough fituated for the army of Saul to mufter at, in order to march to the fuccour of the men of Jabefh-Gilead; hence it may be probably enough thought, that the Bezek mentioned 1 Sam. xi. 8. ftood here; and I fee nothing of moment to hinder, but that the fame might be the Bezek taken by the men of Judah in Judg. i. without fuppofing another Bezek to lie within the tribe of Judah.

In the remaining part of Judg. i. we have several places mentioned; but either fuch as are spoken of already, or will more fitly be spoken of hereafter, when we come to the paffages of the facred hiftory, which have rendered them remarkable; or else are barely mentioned, and not memorable on any particular account, and so not worth the mentioning here. The fecond chapter begins with inform

2.

Of Bochim