The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-08-05

Athens. May 1S-The boat schedules
and they cannot be ignored on the
Palestine coast-compelled us to reserve
Galtlee for the conclusion OF our tour,
and IL was not an inappropriate ending,
for while Jerusalem was the scene OF
the crucifixion and ascension, the great
CT part of Christ's life was spent In
Galilee, and 1T was there that most
Of his mighty works were done" Nor
is its history confined to the New Tes-
lament, for it has its Carmel, associat-
ed with the life of Elijah, and Mount
Tabor where Deborah's victory was
won. Haifa, the seaport of Galilee, is
built along the front of Carmel on the
edge OF a bay (which the mountain
helps to form, for Carmel instead of be-
ing a peak, is really q long ridge, but a
few hundred feet in height, Jutting out
into the sea at this point and extending
several miles to the southeast. A RO-
man Catholic monastery is erected over
a cave overlooking the Mediterranean,
where Elijah is said to have lived.
To the north of Carmel lies the plain
of Esdraelon. through which the Kish-
on river flows The road to Nazareth
follows the south side of this valley to
a point some seven miles from the shore
where the hills of Galilee approach so
row pass for the river. Here the road
crosses over to the north side of the
valley, and for the remainder of the
distance winds upward over the hills,
giving a commanding view of Esdrae-
lon.
The upper part of the plain is as
beautiful a country as can be imagined
we'll watered, fertile and thoroughly
cultivated. The land is not held in sew
crafty as in America, but by commun-
ties. The cultivatOrs live i'm villages
built at intervals around the edge of
the valley, and the land is apportiOned
each year by the village chief, no one
receiving the same tract two years in
succession, AS we looked down upon
the valley we could distinguish the
different allotments as they lay in long
strips of equal width. Wheat is the
chief product of the valley, although
there are few olive orchards. and the
mulberry tree is being planted. Oxen
are the animals usually employed in
cultivation. but we saw horse and an
OK together or a camel and an OK, and
once a camel and a donkey.
Jezreel is on this plain, al the foot
of Mount Gilboa, where the middle plain
connects with the plain leading down
20 the Jordan between GilbOa and Little
Hermon. This is historic ground, for
II was here at a great spring which
flows out from under Gilboa that Gid
con selected his gallant band.
The village of Nazareth, nesting
among the hills OF Galilee, must always
be a place of supreme interest to the
Christian. Its location was probably
determined by the presence here of an
unfailing spring. now known as Mary's
fountain. DR.. George Adam Smith IN
his Historical Geography OF the Holy
Land" points out the relation between
the springs and the routes Of travel
and emphasizes the prominence of NaZ-
areth in the Bible times. Christ's boy
hood and young manhood were spent
near a great highway, for the old Ro-
man road from Damascus to Egypt ran
through the town. Caravans passed 10
and fro laden with the riches of the
Euphrates and the Nile; princes passed
that way on their royal journeys, and
in time OF war it was on the route Of
armies. From a high hill just outside
the town Christ could look to the west
and see the surf line on the shore of
the Mediterranean, to the east he could
survey the walls of the chasm in which
lay the Sea of Galilee, while to the
northeast rose HeTmon, the pride Of the
mountains. Several Of his parallels fit
quite naturally INTO the scenes upon
which he looked, and those parallels
were the more effective because they
were taken from the everyday life of
the people The stony ground, the
rocky roadways and the narrow strips
of fertile soil were woven into the par
able of the sower, and some acquain-
lance OF his youth, following the mer-
chantmen into Egypt or Mesopotamia,
may have been the original of the prod
igal son.
Rev. Selah Merrill our consul at Je-
rusalem, has Tefuted the statement so
frequently made that the NaZarenes
were held I'm contempt. He shows that
there is no just foundation for the as
pensions cast on this section of Galilee.
Mr.. MerriIrs book "Galilee in the Time
of Christ" is, 1 may add, very useful
preparation for trip through this part
of Palestine.
Chapels have been erected to mark
the home Of Joseph and Mary, the car
penter shop and the rock where Christ
met his disciples after the resurrection,
but one never feels certain about the
Identification of places selected so long
after the death of Christ and having no
permanent physical marks.
A few miles to the east OF Nazareth
is a village called Cana, which claims
to be the Cana of Galilee" where the
first ff1ircale was performed, and a
church has been erected over well