Palestine or the Holy Land | Page 4

Richard Coeur de Lion; Siege and Capture of Acre; Plans of Richard; His Return to Europe; Death of Saladin; Fourth Crusade; Battle of Jaffa; Fifth Crusade; Fall of Constantinople; Sixth Crusade; Damietta taken; Reverses; Frederick the Second made King of Jerusalem; Seventh Crusade; Christians admitted into the Holy City; Inroad of Karismians; Eighth Crusade under Louis IX.; He takes Damietta; His Losses and Return to Europe; Ninth Crusade; Louis IX. and Edward I; Death of Louis; Successes of Edward; Treaty with Sultan; Final Discomfiture of the Franks in Palestine, and Loss of Acre; State of Palestine under the Turks; Increased Toleration; Bonaparte invades Syria; Siege of Acre and Defeat of French; Actual State of the Holy Land; Number, Condition, and Character of the Jews.
CHAPTER IX
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THE NATURAL HISTORY OF PALESTINE.
Travellers too much neglect Natural History--Maundrell; Hasselquist, Clarke. GEOLOGY--Syrian Chain; Libanus; Calcareous Rocks; Granite; Trap; Volcanic Remains; Chalk; Marine Exuviae; Precious Stones. METEOROLOGY--Climate of Palestine; Winds; Thunder; Clouds; Waterspouts; Ignis Fatuus. ZOOLOGY--Scripture Animals; The Hart; The Roebuck; Fallow-Deer; Wild Goat; Pygarg; Wild Ox; Chamois; Unicorn; Wild Ass; Wild Goats of the Rock; Saphan, or Coney; Mouse; Porcupine; Jerboa; Mole; Bat. BIRDS--Eagle; Ossifrage; Ospray; Vulture; Kite; Raven; Owl; Nighthawk; Cuckoo; Hawk; Little Owl; Cormorant; Great Owl; Swan; Pelican; Gier Eagle; Stork; Heron; Lapwing; Hoopoe. AMPHIBIA AND REPTILES--Serpents known to the Hebrews; Ephe; Chephir; Acshub; Pethen; Tzeboa; Tzimmaon; Tzepho; Kippos; Shephiphon; Shachal; Seraph, the Flying Serpent; Cockatrice' Eggs; The Scorpion; Sea-monsters, or Seals. FRUITS AND PLANTS--Vegetable Productions of Palestine; The Fig-tree; Palm; Olive; Cedars of Libanus; Wild Grapes; Balsam of Aaron; Thorn of Christ.
ENGRAVINGS.
Map of Palestine Vignette--Part of Jerusalem, with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre View of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives Fountain of Siloam Tomb of Absalom Village of Bethany, and Dead Sea Subterranean Church of Bethlehem River Jabbok, and Hilts of Bashan Sea of Galilee, Town of Tiberias, and Baths of Emmaus Mount Tabor

CHAPTER I
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Introductory Observations.
Interest attached to the History of Palestine; Remarkable Character of the Hebrew People; Their small Beginning and astonishing Increase; The Variety of Fortune they underwent; Their constant Attachment to the Promised Land; The Subject presents an interesting Problem to the Historian and Politician; The Connexion with Christianity; Effect of this Religion on the Progress of Society; Importance of the Subject to the pious Reader; Holy Places; Pilgrims; Grounds for believing the ancient Traditions on this Head; Constantine and the Empress Helena; Relics; Natural Scenery; Extent of Canaan; Fertility; Geographical Distribution; Countries eastward of the Jordan; Galilee; Bethlehem; Samaria; Jericho; The Dead Sea; Table representing the Possessions of the Twelve Tribes.
The country to which the name of Palestine is given by moderns is that portion of the Turkish empire in Asia which is comprehended within the 31st and 34th degrees north latitude, and extends from the Mediterranean to the Syrian Desert, eastward of the river Jordan and the Dead Sea. Whether viewed as the source of our religions faith; or as the most ancient fountain of our historical knowledge, this singular spot of earth has at all times been regarded with feelings of the deepest interest and curiosity. Inhabited for many ages by a people entitled above all others to the distinction of peculiar, it presents a record of events such as have not come to pass in any other land, monuments of a belief denied to all other nations, hopes not elsewhere cherished, but which, nevertheless, are connected with the destiny of the whole human race, and stretch forward to the consummation of all terrestrial things.
To the eye of mere philosophy nothing can appear more striking than the events produced upon the world at large by the opinions and events which originated among the Jewish people. A pastoral family, neither so numerous, so warlike, nor so well instructed in the arts of civilized life as many others in the same quarter of the globe, gradually increased into a powerful community, became distinguished by a system of doctrines and usages different from those of all the surrounding tribes; retaining it, too, amid the numerous changes of fortune to which they were subjected, and finally impressing its leading principles upon the most enlightened nations of Asia and of Europe. At a remote era Abraham crosses the Euphrates, a solitary traveller, not knowing whither he went, but obeying a divine voice, which called him from among idolaters to become the father of a new people and of a purer faith, at a distance from his native country. His grandson Jacob, a "Syrian ready to perish," goes down into Egypt with a few individuals, where his descendants, although evil entreated and afflicted, became a "nation, great, mighty, and populous," and whence they were delivered by the special interposition of Heaven. In prosperity and adversity they are still the objects of the same vigilant Providence which reserved them for a