and Gerizim is Nabulus, the capital of Samaria,1 the Neapolis
of the Romans, and Sichem or Sycliar of Scripture.8 The city
is long and narrow, and has but two streets; it contains about
2000 Muslim inhabitants, some Christians and Jews, with a
few Samaritans ;s and it is prettily situated amidst orchards,
streams, and vegetable gardens. The houses are of stone,
lofty, and well built, particularly in the Samaritan quarter.
A little northward of the town, at the foot of Mount Ebal,
there are many sepulchral excavations, and on its summit are
other ruins ; but it has lately been ascertained4 that the remains
on Jebel-el-Tur or Gerizim are sufficiently extensive to
represent the towers and temple which once occupied the
summit of this mountain.5 At the eastern extremity of the
valley is the' tomb of Joseph, the field of Jacob, and the well
of the Samaritan woman; the last is now dry. Ancient
Gerizim6 is richer than Ebal, and is the more distant of the
two ;7 and the southern part of the intervening space contains
the remnant of the Cutheans,8 who were brought thither by
Shalmanasar. They have in their possession a copy of the
Pentateuch 3460 years old, which, they say, was found in a
hole on the top of Gerizim.9
On the coast westward of Nabulus, about the estuary of the
Nahr-el-Hadhr, are the remains of Arsuf, once Apollonia ;10
and about 15 miles S.S.W. from thence is Joppa, now called
1 Edrisi, tome V., p. 339, Recneil de Voyages, &c. 1 John, IV., v. 5.
’ This is said to be the only place in which the ancient Sabeans are now to
be found.—Edrisi, p. 339, tome V., Recueil, &c; there are, however, some in
Mesopotamia; see above, pp. I l l and 112.
* M.S. Notes of Lieut.-Col. M'Niven.
s Dent. chap. XXVII.; according to the Samaritan version. Jos., Atit., lib.
XII., chap. viii., sec. 6 and ^ ; also lib. V., cap. i., s. 19. The Samaritans
offered sacrifices and bumt-offerings in their synagogue on Mount Gerizim.—
Benjamin of Tudela. By A. Asher, vol. I., p. 66.
* Notes by Lieut.-Col. M‘Niven.
7 Ibid.; see also Plate No. XXIV., Ndbulus.
’ Called Samaritans, Benjamin of Tudela; vol. I., p. 66.
* Lieut.-CoL M‘Niven, M.S. Notes. Also compare Irby and Mangles’
Travels, p. 339, with Maundrell’s Journey, p. 54 (Rivington, London, 1832) ;
and Jos., Ant., lib. V., cap. i., s. 19.
“ Reland Pal., p. 573, and Dr. Robinson’s Biblical Researches, &c.; vol.
I I I ., p. 46.