Consecrated by an event so remarkable, Carmel subsequently became the abode of Elisha. It was while looking down, one afternoon, upon this same great plain he saw the “woman of Shunem” coming in behalf of her only son. He sent Gehazi to inquire the object of her visit; but she passed him by, and, pressing up this hill, laid her complaint before him. Descending from his mountain retreat, he hastened to her home of sorrow and restored her child to life.[520]
In after years Carmel was regarded with a superstitious veneration even by the learned heathen. Here Pythagoras passed some time in solitary meditations, and hither Vespasian came to consult the oracle which became so famous.
Plains of Palestine. ―― No Farm-houses. ―― Great Plain of Esdraelon. ―― Its Fertility. ―― Topography. ―― River Kishon. ―― World’s Battle-field. ―― Waters of Megiddo. ―― Deborah and her Victory. ―― Jeneen. ―― Bethshean. ―― Encampment. ―― Modern Sheikhs and ancient Patriarchs. ―― City of Ruins. ―― Jabesh Gilead. ―― Pella. ―― Gideon’s Fountain. ―― Mount Gilboa. ―― Battles. ―― Jezreel. ―― Napoleon and the Turks. ―― Shunem. ―― Nain. ―― Endor. ―― Witch’s Cave. ―― Saul and Samuel. ―― Witches. ―― Mount Tabor. ―― Its Form. ―― Woods. ―― View. ―― Misnomer. ―― Transfiguration. ―― It occurred at Night. ―― Argument. ―― Benighted Party.
THERE are two classes of plains in Palestine――those upon the sea-board, as the Plains of Philistia, Sharon, and Phœnicia, and those of the interior, as the Plains of Rephaim, Jericho, El-Mukhna, the Bukâ’a, and Esdraelon. They differ from each other chiefly in location, the former being maritime, and consequently more or less affected by the action of the sea; the latter being inland, and subject to the influences of the lofty mountains by which they are encompassed. Though equally beautiful, fertile, and historically important, yet at present those upon the coast are less cultivated and less inhabited than the others, as the wild Bedouins, dreading the sea, prefer to pitch their tents in the interior. Nothing evinces the degeneracy of the Syrian Arabs more than the neglect of these vast garden-plains. Perhaps it is not so much a proof of their degeneracy, as the Turk in Syria has never been otherwise than what he now is――indolent as he is overbearing, the enemy of all improvements, and the destroyer of whatever is elegant in architecture or beneficial in good government. The proverbial richness of the soil of Palestine is evinced by the abundance of grain annually raised at the expense of the least possible labor. Without ever receiving, the land is ever giving. The superficial process of plowing resembles our mode of dragging, and the application of mineral and other kinds of manure is a thing unknown. One often and heartily desires to see an American farmer occupying these noble plains, with his enlightened views of agriculture and his improved implements of husbandry. What golden harvests, in more senses than one, would repay his toil! He would realize the prophetic blessings pronounced on Asher, “His bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.”