The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-07-01
At the Sea of Galilee.
Special Correspondence of the Evening Post.
On the Coast of the Sea of Galilee,
March 80, 1869,

March 80, 1863,
The waters that ripple at our feet whis-
per the sweet story of our Lord. Along
the billy coast we clambered down yes
terday from Nazareth, and upon the broad
spread basin, now shimmering in thelight
of morning beneath us, the Saviour did
most of His mighty works, won most OF
His renown, and in company of faithful
disciples passed the gentlest days OF his
active career. His sermon, His parallels
His miracles, make the pilgrims stay by
the Sea of Galilee fullest of instruction
and delight. When gust swept down
the mountain ravines of Gilead, lasteVe-
ming, and quickly agitated the calm sea,
we thought of the storm when Jesus was
asleep in the hold of the ship, and stliled
# at His command Boatmen laboring
long to land, udfnally compelled to leap
into the water and draw in the vessel to
shore, represent wildly the toilsome row
ing of the fishermen disciples, when He
walked on the waves to reach them, and
Immediately brought them to land; and
while we are eating barley loaVes, and
small fish broiled on the Goals, at morning
near Capernaum, the simple but miracu-
lous food of the multitude of five thousand
seems more real, and the little group of
disciples clustering in the early morning
with their risen Lord, about the fire OF
Goals which He had prepared, dining and
communing with him for the last time,
might have heard His familiar call, obey
ed His summons, and drawn the large
netful of fish to shore, near the gravel
lined cove In which we ourselves had
left our vessels. I wonder whether you
could not take picture of that curving
coast line, girdling hills, opening ravines,
and single plain around the Sea of Galilee
from the precious negative on my mind.
The sea is oblong, but not regular; the
southern hills that bury their feet in its
bosom descend to it by steep ravines, but
northward, about half way up the west.
ern shore, the land of Genesareth inter
venes between the sea and the receeding
heights At the commencement of this
plain little hamlet called Migdiel sug-
gests the name and site of Scriptural
Magdala, the home of Mary Magdalene
On the opposite side the hills are not thus
broken off though they gradually descend
northward to the green slopes where the
multitude were fed. There is, however
a narrow gorge over against Magdala,
whose sides sink precipitously into the
sea. This site so well responds to Mat
thews account of the healing of the two
possessed with devils, in the country of
the Gels aseue, and of the violent loss OF
the herd Of swine, that we. hardly care to
know the similarity OF the name of the
modern town, Gersa, to that of Gergasa
From the ravine, northward, run the de-
sert mountains, where Jesus was wont to
pray. They must always have been as
dreary as they are to-day, because of their
unclad and unacceptable rocks. have
seen many such hills elsewhere, which
sheperds seldom visit, and where one
might mediate, adj 66ituna, without dis
turbance Four stalwart Arabs rowed
us from our camping ground northward,
along the western shore of calm green
lake Tiberas, named after Roman
Emperor, and still called by the Arabs
Tabarieh, is the only considerable town
we see on all the coast, which was once
thickly peopled. TWAS so we'll known
in Johns time that the Evangelist gives
its name to the lake on which it lay. The
Jewish Sanhedrim removed here after the
sacking of Jerusalum, and the Talmud of
the Captivity, with the Mansora of the
Old Testrment, destined to preserve ex-
actness in the reading and writing or the
Scriptures, emanated from the Rabbis of
this school. History records its capture
by the Crusaders, and recapture by the
Turks. The last event that made it known
is the earthquake of 1887 which shook
and severed the round towers, and left
numerous breaches in the stout walls,
through which we could enter, disregar-
ding the single city gate. The modern
town is small, largely Jewish, and nestles
much insidethe boundary line of the walls.
After an hours rowing the plain of
Genesareth heaves in sight, and on its
coast, asI have mentioned, We quit our