[Tiberias.]
About ten miles W.S.W. from thence is Jen6n, or Ginea,
once a city of refuge, and, according to Josephus,1 situated
within the limits of Samaria. The present town contains
a copious fountain, and nearly 500 stone-built houses, surrounded
by gardens, and hedges of prickly pear.2
Northward is the small village of Zer-’in, containing a
sculptured sarcophagus, the fountain, and some other remains
of Jezreel ;3 and nearly ten miles beyond is En Nasirah, or
Nazareth. The town contains about 120 Muslim and 325
Christian families, or nearly 3000 Souls, and an extensive
Latin convent, in which is the gaudy church of the Annunciation.
The houses are of stone, well built, with flat roofs,
and are situated partly in an oblong mountain basin and
partly on the slope of a steep hill, overlooking its western side;
1 Ant., X^X., c. vi., s. l.
‘ Dr. Robinson’s Biblical Researches in Palestine, &c., p. 185.
[Nazareth.]
the hills on the other sides are lower. Besides the so-called
Mount of Precipitation, in its vicinity, .towards the south-east,
tradition has fixed many other remarkable localities, such as
the fountain of the Virgin, the workshop of Joseph, and the
stone on which Christ dined with his disciples.
On the northern crest of an arid ridge is an extensive
Gothic castle, with some circular towers, probably constructed
in the time of the Crusades: on its southern slope there is
another, of more modern date; and between both, on some
broken ground, fotming three separate shoulders, is the town
of Safet, or Japhet. This is about 20 miles north-eastward
of Nazareth, and is one of the four cities of Galilee so much
venerated by the Hebrews: from its proximity to Esdraelon,
as well as its singular position, it is probably also the site of
Bethuliah.1 It is neatly built, and contains about 700
houses, occupying the slopes in such a way that, in some
1 Judith, chap. IV., v. 6 ; chap. VI., v. 14.