1846.] Castle of Hûnîn. 201 cannot be much less than 2500 feet. The path for some time leads up the valley which forms part of the district of Merj 'Ayûn; then climbs the precipitous declivity of the mountain under a frightful ledge of rocks several hundred feet high; and lands the weary traveller at last on one of the most commanding platforms in the country. We reached Hûnîn at sunset, having spent another delightful and exciting day. The extent of the lake and marsh far exceeded our expectation. Taken together, they cover a larger area than the lake of Tiberias. The whole was probably at one time covered with water, and the northern part has been gradually filled by detritus from the mountains and plains. Even now, in the rainy season, it must be mostly submerged. There was a second shore a few rods from the edge of the lake, where we saw it; up to which the water evidently extends during the wet months; and the lake thus swollen would cover much of the marsh. Several years ago a company of men in Hasbeiya obtained permission from Ibrahim Pasha, to remove some rocks which choked up the outlet of the lake; by which means a large tract of most fertile land was laid dry, and luxuriant crops were gathered from it for two or three years; until a fresh fall of rocks again filled up the channel, and restored the lake to its former dimensions. I have been assured, by one of the persons engaged in that enterprise, that the whole lake and marsh might be drained without difficulty, and at a moderate expense. Castle of Hûnîn.-Sept. 22nd. This fortress is the most conspicuous object on the western mountains. It stands out in bold relief, from Banias almost due west,1 and has been in full view during all our rides for the last two days. The castle is an oblong quadrangle, rounded at the south end, and is about 900 feet long by 300 wide. It overhangs the very brow of the precipice, which on the east side falls sheer down to a great depth, towards the plain. On the north and west sides it is protected by a trench, hewn in the solid rock forty feet wide and fifteen or twenty deep. The southern and south-western parts are defended by six round towers, and a double wall. There are also three round towers on the eastern wall. The large area within was formerly covered with houses and magazines, and undermined by numerous cisterns. The village has no fountain, but depends entirely upon these cisterns; and the water at this dry season is very scarce and alive with animalcules. There is a fountain about a mile below the castle, near which I noticed foundations of ancient buldings. Probably the village was located there in former times. Insecurity has, however, obliged the people to settle 1 The exact bearing of Hunin from Bâniâs, by compass, as afterwards taken by Rev. E. Smith, is S. 83° W.-E. R. around this feudal castle. The village is small and inhabited by Metâwileh. Most of the works existing at present are quite modern; probably Saracenic or even Turkish. But the northern part bears undoubted marks of extreme antiquity. It is about 300 feet square, and surrounded on all sides by a ditch hewn in the solid rock, as described above. A few specimens of the original wall are still to be seen, and show that the whole was constructed of large bevelled stones bound together by iron clamps, bearing a close resemblance to works of Jewish or Phenician origin which I have seen at Jerusalem, and on the island Ruad, the ancient Aradus. May not this old castle mark the site of Hazor? We know that Hazor was a city of Naphtali, somewhere in the neighborhood of Kedesh, Abel, and Ijon.1 And if, as Josephus says,2 Hazor was on a high mountain above the Hûleh, this site accords well with his account; for it occupies precisely such a position, commanding a noble view of the plain, marsh and lake. It was, moreover, evidently built to command the passage round the north-western border of the marsh. There are there indications which seem to point out this place as being at least in the neighborhood of Hazor. When Tiglath Pileser attacked Pekah, king of Israel, he took Ijon, Abel, Kedesh, and Hazor. Now Ijon is Merj 'Ayûn; and Abel is the modern Abil, directly north of Hûnîn; and Kedesh lies not far south of it. Hazor, therefore, must be either Hûnîn itself, or some place near it. In Joshua also Kedesh and Hazor are coupled together as two feudal or walled cities given to Naphtali.3 This much then is certain, that Hazor was a walled city, somewhere in this vicinity; and until it is farther identified, Hûnîn may stand for its site. And this is countenanced by the earliest mention we have of Hazor. Jabin, king of Hazor, hearing that Joshua had conquered all the south of Palestine, gathered a vast army from a great many neighboring cities, amongst which Hûnîn would be nearly the centre. With this host he took possession of the waters of Merom; that is, as I suppose, of the narrow passage between the marshes of the Hûleh and the mountain, below this very Hûnîn and near the great fountains of Derakit and el-Mellâhah. But Joshua fell upon them suddenly, overthrew and chased them to old Sidon, etc. Being routed, the host would necessarily rush along the narrow tract between the marsh and the mountains, up the rising plain of Merj 'Ayûn, under Hûnîn, and passing by Abel, would cross the Litany below Kŭlat esh-Shŭkif, the only practicable point on the way to Sidon. From this ford the road is direct and plain by Nebâtîyeh, Hab 1 Josh. 19: 36-38. 2 K. 15:29. 3 Josh. 19: 36, 37. Joseph. Ant. V. 5. 1. 4 Josh. 11: 1. sq. 1846.] Castle of Hûnîn. 203 bush, Deir Zahrany, Zifty(?) and the sea-shore to Sidon. Joshua having chased them to this city, turned back, the narration says, and took Hazor and burnt it with fire. This was the only city that he burnt; and it is further said that Hazor was the head of all the surrounding kingdoms. The position of Hûnîn seems to meet all the intimation contained in this narrative. Subsequently we hear frequently of this Hazor, of its being rebuilt and repeatedly conquered. Josephus says that in the days of Deborah this Hazor had in pay 300,000 footmen, 10,000 horsemen, and 3,000 chariots;1 a story quite beyond the ne plus of my credulity. Hazor being by far the most powerful and celebrated of all the cities in this region, it becomes a question of interest to determine its location.2 Hunin belongs to Belàd Besharah; and a branch of the ruling family formerly resided here. But since the great earthquake of June 1837, no part of the castle has been habitable; and these feudal chiefs have all settled in and around Tibnin. Kedes, the ancient Kedesh Naphtali, lies on the same mountain ridge, a few miles further south. We regretted our inability to visit it.3 As the sun rose this morning, I ascended one of the eastern towers to take bearings, and enjoy another view of this magnificent prospect. The N. E. corner of the lake itself bore S. S. E. And in the extreme distance south, a little west, the mountains towards the Dead Sea are visible. Tell el-Kady is east a little north, and Bàniàs in the same line. The summit of Mount Hermon bears N. E. and the highest peak of Lebanon, north a little east; while the verdant carpet of Coelo-Syria lies spread out between the two. I envy not the man who can gaze on such a scene unmoved. Whatever is lovely in mountain, plain, marsh, and lake, is before the eye, and with surprising distinctness. Old Jebel eshSheikh, like a venerable Turk, with his head wrapped in a snowy turban, sits yonder on his throne in the sky, surveying with imperturbable dignity the fair lands below; and all around, east, west, north, south, mountain meets mountain to guard and gaze upon the lovely vale of the Hûleh. -What a constellation of venerable names! Lebanon and Hermon, Bashan and Gilead, Moab and Judah, Samaria and Galilee! There too is the vast plain of Coelo-Syria, upper and lower, studded with trees, clothed with flocks, and dotted with Arab tents; and there the charming Hüleh with its hundred streams, glittering like silver lace on robes of green, and its thousand pools sparkling in the morning sun. Venerable and beautiful vale of the Hûleb, farewell! Region North of Hûnin. From Hûnîn, we set out to visit the castle of 1 Joseph. Ant. V. 5.1. 2 See Notes at the end of the Article.-E. R. * Kedes was visited in 1844 by the Rev. Eli Smith, who has a full account of it in manuscript.-E. R. Belad esh-Shukif. For the first half hour the road led along the summit of the mountain ridge, over soft cretaceous rocks, and through thick groves of oak and other forest trees. One of the hills was covered with female camels, their young ones amongst them, a scene which I had never before met with in the country. They belonged to a tribe of Arabs encamped on the mountain north of Hûnîn. After a sharp descent of a few minutes, we crossed the boundary between Belâd Beshârah and Merj 'Ayun, leaving 'Adeiseb (?) on the west, and Âbil on the east, some hundred feet below, near the plain of the Merj. This is a considerable Christian village, and so celebrated for its wheat as to be called Âbil el-Kamh. It probably marks the site of the Abel-Beth-Maachah mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, in connection with Ijon, the Scripture name to which the form 'Ayûn corresponds. Indeed, the Hebrew radicals of Ijon would be more correctly pronounced 'Ayûn; and the word Merj (meadow) has been prefixed to denote the nature of the place, viz. a well watered pasturage. The Merj is a small, but elevated and very beautiful plain, sub-circular or oval, and so well watered as to appear quite green even in September. Tiglath Pileser took Ijon and Abel; and these are coupled with Kedesh Naphtali and Hazor; which sufficiently marks their neighborhood. This Abil must not be confounded with another Âbil, or îbl el-Hawa, which we passed one night, as we went from Hasbeiya to Bâniâs. Leaving a large village of Druzes on our right, called Mutŭlleh, and descending gradually for forty-five minutes from Abil, we came to Kufeir Kely. The water from this village flows off into the Lîtâny, and so falls into the Mediterranean; while that from the Merj runs into the Hûleh, and is finally lost in the Dead Sea. The two lie side by side, so nearly on a level, aud so closely joined, that it is difficult to discover the line of demarkation. The plain of Kufeir Kely appears to join itself to the mountain of Kŭl'at el-Shŭkîf; nor will the traveller imagine that the Lîtâny flows between them, until he reaches the very precipice which overhangs it, and is almost within gun-shot of the castle itself; when he will be surprised to see the river far below him, rushing along its rocky channel, but so deep and distant, that its angry roar can scarcely reach his ear. By a very winding path we reached the bridge in one hour and a half from Kufeir Kely and three hours from Hûnîn; the direction being north a little west. This bridge is called Jisr el-Khurdela, has pointed arches, appears to be quite ancient, and was formerly defended by a tower on the west end; which is now nearly in ruins. The river Lîtâny is in itself a great curiosity. Rising near Ba'albek at 1 2 K. 15: 29.-See Note at the end of the Article.-E. R. 1846.] Region north of Hûnîn. 205 an elevation above the sea of about 4,000 feet, it creeps sluggishly through the Bŭkâ'a, until, after a thousand serpentine meanderings, and doublings upon its track, it reaches the S. W. extremity of the plain. There it immediately engages in a difficult and romantic contest with the everlasting pillars of Lebanon, for a free passage down to the Mediterranean. In the struggle, a deep crevice is effected through the solid strata of the mountain, down which the torrent launches its whole force with headlong fury. So narrow is the rent, that only here and there is there room along the stream for a foot path, and the high and perpendicular cliffs approach so near, and frown so darkly, in many places, that a bird will scarcely venture to fly between them. Near the Jisr Bürghŭr, the branches of the trees from either side meet and interlock, forming a verdant canopy which entirely screens the current below from the noonday sun. Every few hundred rods it appears to rush directly against a perpendicular cliff of great height, thrown across the channel as if on purpose to bar all further progress; but wheeling sharply to the right or left, it leaps furiously down its rocky road, until again brought up as suddenly by some other cliff, when it finds or forces a passage in quite another direction. Thus it struggles with opposing mountains for many miles in a course not far from south-west. Having passed Kŭl'at eshShûkîf, it turns due west, and in about five hours, falls into the sea, a few miles north of Tyre. This deep rent in the mountain range is without an example of its kind. There is a long rampart, drawn from the gulf of 'Akabah to Antioch, and not a drop of water from this vast Ghor finds its way into the Mediterranean, except what is carried down by this solitary stream. No other fountain, or river breaks over this western wall; but all are lost in the bitter waters of the Dead Sea, swallowed up by the sands of the desert, or fall into the gulf of 'Akabah. The fact is singular, and not to have been expected, considering the structure of the plains and mountains. And it is not improbable that the geology of the region, carefully studied, will point to a period when this, like every other stream which rises within this long valley, flowed south, and either swelled the dimensions of the Dead Sea, or was carried with all the rest, onward to the gulf of 'Akabah. There is reason to believe, that the valley of the Buka'a was, at some remote period of geological chronology, a large lake. This is not the place for the discussion of such a question, but the proofs appear sufficient. And the same convulsion which depressed so greatly the valley of the Dead Sea, may have rent open this new outlet for the waters of the Bŭka'a, by which the lake was entirely drained, and its waters carried into the Mediterranean, instead of the Dead Sea. The idea is a little exciting, but not improbable. Even now the river VOL. III No. 9. 18 |