Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-15
LEEIN MoDERN PALESTINE


teen much exercised in their minds, says
a HALIFAX letter to the New York Sun, as
q The Identification of the ruins on the
northwest shore Of the Sea of Galilee,
which indicate the site of the once famous
city Of Capernaum, and have applied not
shfy great amount of antiquarian re-
search and of time in the way of minute
fOeal examination and literary labor in
TIE hope Of definitely settling this knotty
point; bit there is another upon which
iRey have no less anxiOuSly expended
their ingenuity. This is 10 solve the
Vszed question as to whether there were,
in the time of Christ, two Bethsaidas or
csc. This question would never have
arisen had it not been for the confusion
introduced into the Scriptural narrative
oy the puzZling accounts gwen in all the
feuf gospels OF the miracle Of the feeding
Of she multitude with five lOaVes and two
kshes, the scene Of which the four evan
Eehsts are unanimous in describing as
having been in a desert spot which must
have been on the eastern side of the lake.
for Immediately afterwards ''they crossed
ever 81 the other side" arriving at Ca
beFRaum, which was on the western side.
kat according to one (Luke) this desert
place ION the eastern side) belonged to
elg called Bethsaid2, and according to
another Mark Christ, after the miracle,
constrained his disciples to get into the
ship and 90 to the other Cor western side
ssSsre, unto Bethsaida, while he sent away
the people" Hence the confusion: start
i1z from the western side they take ship,
cross over to desert place belonging 70
Ratk,a da; the miracle is performed there
and the disc pies are constrained by their
Master to take ship and cross the lake
back again TO what must be another Beth
. H.
70 them on the waters and they finally
reach Capernaum in safety.
Roland, the learned geOgrapher of the
last century, was the first to invent the
second Bethsaida on the western side,
which is not mentioned by either JOsephus
OF PknY. the latter Of whom distinctly
puts it on the eastern side; and | have
set been able exactly to discover upon
what authority Roland hit upon this easy
solution OF the problem. The only his
toFicai Beth saida Of which we have any
ssrbain record Was place at the north
eastern extremity. originally a village,
Est rebuilt and adorned BY Philip the Te-
tTaT, h, and raised 10 the dignity of town
EnGSr the name Of Julias, after the daugh-
Ter Of the Emperor. Here, in a magnifi-
cent tomb, Philip was himself buried. On
tse ether hand, we have indications of
ne existence Of another Betnsaida in the
asAtiOn of a BethsaIda which was the
aiTtA place Of Peter and Andrew and Phil
70. which Mark tells US was lin the land
y Genesareth," and therefore on the west
shore Of the lake. Surprising Tell Hum
70 be Capernaum and the western Beth
sRiea to be on the site usually assigned TO
IL this hypothesis would give US TWO
bethsaIdas only six miles apart, not
very probable suppOsItiOn; or else we
have 20 suppose that the land of Genesa-
rein extended across the Jordan to the
east sid, which we know TO have had an-
ether name and 10 have been in another
VroYiace; or TO suppose, as DR.. Thomson,
Whe resolutely refuses To have two Beth
ssidas- does, that half the town was on
sne aide Of the Jordan and half on the
ether, and that the half on the west side
VIVA called Bethsalda IN the land OF Ge-
sasareth, though the plain Of that name
- i've miles distant. Moreover, there are
no ruins conveniently placed to support
the presumption, which Is very strained.
ERs1.spther the subject is one which has
puEKled every Biblical geOsrapher NTH
zrta. and alter careful examination OF
Al taelr arguments ! ind myself Just as
much IN the dark about it as WLeu en-
tered upon the investigation. AS, thtre-
lore. after visiting all the disputed local.
ties, do not te any the more competent
TO enIighten your readers, 1 will conhne
gnvs.It to describing the different places
whlah have been suggested as the SITES OF
tRes.s cities, as well as OF others which L
visited IN this section Of country, some OF
which l was the first to discover, and
none Of which have been positively Iden-
tilted.
Meantime. the scene, which the tradi-
eiOn Of many centuries located erOne-
eUsly as the spot upon which the miracle
took place. IS exactly above Us as we wind
;loRg a rocky path cut in the preclplce
which Overhangs the Sea OF Galllee. ms
huge impending crag Is crowned by an
arnaclaI plateau, which is 2OO feet long
~ 100 broad, and in the northwest angle
are the remains of a wall and the ruins of
a building, probably a fortress OF some
seyt This spot WAS known in the middle
aoes "a the Mensa Christi or Table OF
Christ. In olden time the great Damas-
eus nigh road ran just below, and the fort
shove doubtless commanded TINS pass:
ma il has become impossible and the
eath now follows the channel OF an aque'
duot hewn out of the living rock. Fol
sbDut 200 Yards we find ourselves riding
along the narrow floor of this ancient
warehouse. On our left the smooth rOcB
rists precipitously and on our right II
FERNS 3 wall from three to four feet high,
over which we could drop stone prrpen
dicNlarly into the waters of the lake. The
aTseduct which thus forms our singular
FftGlN eAN Is dDOAb eAACC ACCb 0AOOg CAASA
RiBg from il. after we turn the angle o.
Fhs rOck, we find ourselves overlooking 8
little bay, into which rushes a brawling
torrent the largest which enters the lake
excepting the Jordan, and which here
turns a mill. 1t is, however, only few
yaEds long, as il bursts from the ground
n great force, in what is by far the mos
peWerful spring in GaliIee, and is, without
GsubL the celebrated Fountain of Caper
paum mentioned by JOSEF us as watering
the plain of Genesareth. This IL did by
means Of abe aqueduct which we had al
ready traversed, the distance from tht
fountain TO the plain not being above {
nile Besides the principal fountain
which is estimated as being more thar
half the size OF the celebrated source o
the Jordan at BRnias, there are fOu
smaller fountains, all more or less brack
ish, and varying IN temperature from q
to 50 degrees.
eSns Of the special subjects of interes
ssppected with these fountains is th'
presence In them Of the remarkable fist
called the coTacinus. The only known
habitats of this fish in the world are il
the Nile, in fountain which l have Rls(
visited in the plain of Genesareth called
Eudawara, and in this spring. Josephul
accounts for its existence here, as we'll al
IN the Nile, by a hypothetical subterra
Mean water communication with the grea
river Of Egypt. Modern biologists p0ln
to 10 as an evidence of the fact that in
come long bygOne period Palestine NIGH
haVe been included in great Ethiopian
basin. However the circumstance is K
bs accounted for, it is most remarkable
and was doubted until Canon Tristram
verified it twenty years ago by some
what singular experience. Crossing the
little stream which issues from the foun
tain OF MudaWara and flows into the
lake, and which happened to be very low
at the time, he was surprised to observe
quantity Of fish wriggling along In single
lie and so elise together that the mouth
Of one touched the tail OF the one before
il. In places there was so little water that
they had 10 fOp across intervals of almost
dry land, here he caught them easily with
he hand, and, as many averaged three
feet in length, he was not long in making
= good bag. What surprised him most,
however, was TO find that as soon as he
laid hold of one it began Kissing and
screaming like a cat. Making bag out
Of HE cloak, he carried them of in tri-
uEpA to his camp, which was three hours
distant, and could hear them Kissing and
catsrWauling in il all the way. He de-
scribes them as being most delicious hSh
- eat, something like an eel in flavor ana
possessed Of extraordinary vitality, as
some Of them were still living after they
had been two days out OF the water. The