Byeways in Palestine

Byeways in Palestine, by James
Finn

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Title: Byeways in Palestine
Author: James Finn

Release Date: July 18, 2007 [eBook #22097]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BYEWAYS
IN PALESTINE***
Transcribed from the 1868 James Nisbet and Co. edition by Les
Bowler.
[Picture: Frontispiece]

BYEWAYS IN PALESTINE
BY JAMES FINN, M.R.A.S., AND MEMBER OF THE ASIATIC
SOCIETY OF FRANCE, LATE HER MAJESTY'S CONSUL FOR
JERUSALEM AND PALESTINE.
"The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good
land."--NUMB. xiv. 7.
LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.
MDCCCLXVIII.
To His Excellency Right Hon. Francis Lord Napier, K.T., etc. etc. etc.,
Governor of the Presidency of Madras, This little Volume is inscribed,
in grateful acknowledgment of kindness received in Jerusalem and
elsewhere,
BY THE AUTHOR.
London, 1867.

PREFACE.
These papers on "Byeways in Palestine" are compiled from notes of
certain journeys made during many years' residence in that country;
omitting the journeys made upon beaten roads, and through the
principal towns, for the mere reason that they were such.
Just what met the eye and ear was jotted down and is now revised after
a lapse of time, without indulging much in meditation or reflection;
these are rather suggested by the occurrences, that they may be
followed out by the reader. Inasmuch, however, as the incidents relate
to out-of-the-way places, and various seasons of the year, they may be
found to contain an interest peculiar to themselves, and the account of
them may not interfere with any other book on Palestine.
I may state that, not being a professed investigator, I carried with me no

scientific instruments, except sometimes a common thermometer: I had
no leisure for making excavations, for taking angles with a theodolite,
or attending to the delicate care of any kind of barometer, being
employed on my proper business.
Riding by night or by day, in the heat of Syrian summer, or through
snows and piercing winds of winter on the mountains, I enjoyed the
pure climate for its own sake. Moreover, I lived among the people,
holding intercourse with peasants in villages, with Bedaween in deserts,
and with Turkish governors in towns, or dignified Druses in the
Lebanon, and slept in native dwellings of all qualities, as well as in
convents of different sects: in the open air at the foot of a tree, or in a
village mosque--in a cavern by the highway side, or beneath cliffs near
the Dead Sea: although more commonly within my own tent,
accompanied by native servants with a small canteen.
Sad cogitations would arise while traversing, hour after hour, the
neglected soil, or passing by desolated villages which bear names of
immense antiquity, and which stand as memorials of miraculous events
which took place for our instruction and for that of all succeeding ages;
and then, even while looking forward to a better time to come, the heart
would sigh as the expression was uttered, "How long?"
These notices will show that the land is one of remarkable fertility
wherever cultivated, even in a slight degree--witness the vast
wheat-plains of the south; and is one of extreme beauty--witness the
green hill-country of the north; although such qualities are by no means
confined to those districts. Thus it is not necessary, it is not just, that
believers in the Bible, in order to hold fast their confidence in its
predictions for the future, should rush into the extreme of pronouncing
the Holy Land to be cursed in its present capabilities. It is verily and
indeed cursed in its government and in its want of population; but still
the soil is that of "a land which the Lord thy God careth for." There is a
deep meaning in the words, "The earth is the Lord's," when applied to
that peculiar country; for it is a reserved property, an estate in abeyance,
and not even in a subordinate sense can it be the fief of the men whom
it eats up. (Numb. xiii. 32, and Ezek. xxxvi. 13, 14.) I have seen enough

to convince me that astonishing will be the amount of its produce, and
the rapidity also, when the obstacles now existing are removed.
With respect to antiquarian researches, let me express my deep interest
in the works now undertaken under the Palestine Exploration Fund. My
happiness, while residing in the country, would have been much
augmented had such operations been at that time, i.e., between