"Some consider it," says the Jewish historian, "as a vein of the Nile, because it brings forth fishes resembling the coracinus of the Alexandrian lake."*

That Capernaum was a place of some wealth and consequence in the time of our Saviour may be inferred from the expostulation addressed to it, when he upbraided the other cities wherein most of his mighty works were done :-"Wo unto thee, Chorazin! Wo unto thee, Bethsaida! And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell." But the history of all the towns on the lake of Genesareth has been covered with a cloud which it is now impossible to penetrate; and nothing, accordingly, is more difficult than to determine the situations occupied, even during the latter period of the Roman ascendency, by some of the principal places on which the emperors lavished their wealth and taste. Bethsaida was converted by Herod from an insignificant village into the dignity and grandeur of a city, named Julias, in compliment to the daughter of Augustus. At the present moment, however, no traces remain to point out the line of its walls or the foundations of its palaces. Genesareth has in like manner disappeared; or if there be any relics of the town which once gave its name to the inland sea whose shore it adorned, they are so indistinct and ambiguous as not to merit the notice of the traveller. Tarachea is represented by the hamlet of Sumuk, and the ruins of Chorazin are imagined to meet the eye somewhere on the opposite coast; but, upon the whole, the denunciation uttered against the unbelieving cities of Galilee has been literally fulfilled, as they are now brought down to the lowest pitch of obscurity and oblivion.†

Tiberias is the only place on the Sea of Galilee which retains any marks of its ancient importance. It is understood to cover the ground formerly occupied by a town of a much remoter age, and of which some traces can still be distinguished on the beach, a little to the southward of the

*Joseph. lib. iii. De Bell Jud. Hasselquist, p. 157. Clarke, iv. p. 227. Travels in Palestine, vol. ii. p. 359.-"Quæ urbes, quod ipse servator iis prædixerat, hodie in ruinis jacent."-Cluverius, lib. v. cap. 20. "Capernaum was visited in the sixth century by Antoninus the Martyr, an extract from whose Itinerary is preserved by Reland, who speaks of a church erected upon the spot where St. Peter's dwelling once stood."— Clarke's Travels vol. iv. p. 211.

present walls. History relates that it was built by Herod the Tetrarch, and dedicated to the Emperor Tiberius, his patron, although there prevails, at the same time, an obscure tradition, that the new city owed its foundation entirely to the imperial pleasure, and was named by him who commanded it to be erected. Josephus notices the additional circumstance, which of itself gives great probability to the opinion of its being established on the ruins of an older town, that, as many sepulchres were removed in order to make room for the Roman structures, the Jews could hardly be induced to occupy houses which, according to their notions, were legally impure. Adrichomius considers Tiberias to be the Chinneroth of the Hebrews, and says, that it was captured by Benhadad, king of Syria, who destroyed it, and was in after-ages restored by Herod, who surrounded it with walls, and adorned it with magnificent buildings. The old Jewish city, whatever was its name, probably owed its existence to the fame of its hot baths,-an origin to which many temples, and even the cities belonging to them, may be traced.

The present town of Tabaria, as it is now called, is in the form of an irregular crescent, and is enclosed towards the land by a wall flanked with circular towers. It lies nearly north and south along the edge of the lake, and has its eastern front so close to the water, on the brink of which it stands, that some of the houses are washed by the sea. The whole does not appear more than a mile in circuit, and cannot, from the manner in which they are placed, contain above 500 separate dwellings. There are two gates visible from without, one near the southern and the other in the western wall; there are appearances also of the town having been surrounded by a ditch, but this is now filled up and used for gardens.

The interior presents but few subjects of interest, among which are a mosque with a dome and minaret, and two Jewish synagogues. There is a Christian place of worship called the House of Peter, which is thought by some to be the oldest building used for that purpose in any part of Palestine. It is a vaulted room, thirty feet long by fifteen broad, and perhaps fifteen in height, standing nearly east and west, with its door of entrance at the western front, and its altar immediately opposite in a shallow recess. Over

the door is one small window, and on each side four others, all arched and open. The structure is of a very ordinary kind, both in workmanship and material; the pavement within is similar to that used for streets in this country; and the walls are entirely devoid of sculpture or any other architectural ornament. But it derives no small interest from the popular belief that it is the very house which Peter inhabited at the time of his being called from his boat to follow the Messias. It is manifest, notwithstanding, that, it must have been originally constructed for a place of divine worship, and probably at a period much later than the days of the apostle whose name it bears, although there is no good ground for questioning the tradition which places it on the very spot long venerated as the site of his more humble habitation. Here too it was, say the dwellers in Tiberias, that he pushed off his boat into the lake when about to have his faith rewarded by the miraculous draught of fishes.*

Besides the public buildings already specified are the house of the aga, on the rising ground near the northern quarter of the town, a small bazaar, and two or three coffeesheds; the ordinary dwellings of the inhabitants are such as are commonly seen in eastern villages, but are marked by a peculiarity which Mr. Buckingham witnessed there for the first time. On the terrace of almost every house stands a small square enclosure of reeds, loosely covered with leaves; to which, he learned, heads of families are wont to resort during the summer months, when, from the low situation of the town and the absence of cooling breezes, the heat of the nights is literally intolerable.†

* Buckingham, vol. ii. p. 366.

"Within two hours and a half of Tiberias, we looked down on a fine cultivated plain, quite bare of trees; beyond which, at a much lower level, lay the narrow Valley of the Jordan. This plain was pastured over by horses from the town, for the keepers of which white tents were scattered about in all directions. We now came in sight of the Sea of Galilee we only saw the northern half, and its size disappointed us* but the dark blue still water, the green hills around covered with bushes, and the high snowy ridge of Djibbel el Sheik made a very delightful landscape. Tiberias, with its high-feudal citadel, its walls and towers, now forms a remarkable feature in the view; and the steep hills, which descend at once to the lake on the east, attract attention from their strangely-channelled sides, diversified with dark green bushes and white chalky soil. The lake at the town may be six or eight miles broad. We could see no stream formed by the Jordan through it. Before it was