TABOK
155
TABOR
Mouui i\iboi, tioiu the West. (Fiom jl photogiaph.)
B| vvliere the harvest is beginning to ripen or is already ripe; and others green, being covered with grass or springing grain. As they are contiguous to each other, or intermixed, these parti -colored plots present, as looked down upon from above, an appearance ot gay checkered work which is MMgularly beautiful. The top of
I ibor consists of an irregular plat- form, half a mile long by three ipiarters wide, embracing a circuit I I half an hour's walk and com- nunding wide views of the sub-
I icent [ilain from end to end. A ( ppious dew falls here during the \\ irm months. Travellers who liive spent the night there have t und their tents as wet in the morning as if they had been ilrenched with rain.
It is the universal judgment o( those who have stood on the spot, that the panorama sjiread
)i fore them as they look from
1 ibor includes as great a variety of objects of natural beauty and o( sacred and historic interest as
my one to be seen from any posi- tion in the Holy Land. On the (ast the waters of the Sea of Ti- berias, not less than fifteen miles
1. Description. — Mount Tabor rises abruptly from the north-eastern arm of the plain of Esdraelon, and stands entirely insulated, except on the west, where a narrow ridge connects it with the hills of Nazareth. It ])re- sents to the eye, as seen from a distance, a beautiful appearance, being so symmetrical in its proportions, and rounded off like a hemisphere or the segment of a cir- cle, yet varying somewhat as viewed from different di- rections, being more conical when seen from the east or west. The bodj' of the mountain consists of the pecul- iar limestone of the country. It is studded with a com- paratively dense forest of oaks, pistacias, and other trees and bushes, with the exception of an occasional open- ing on the sides and a small uneven tract on the sum- mit. The coverts afford at present a shelter for wolves, wild boars, lynxes, and various reptiles. Its height is estimated at 1300 feet from the base, and 1865 from the sea-level (Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 498). Its ancient name, as already suggested, indicates its elevation, though it does not rise much, if at all, above some of the other summits in the vicinity. It is now called Jehel et-Tiir, a name which some have tried to identify with Tabor, as if it were a contraction. But -lebel et- Tiir means simply the " fort-hill," and is used to desig- nate the Alount of Olives and Gerizim, as well as Tabor. It lies about six or eight miles almost due east from Nazareth. The ascent is usually made on the west side, near the little village of Debiirieh, probably the ancient Daberath (Josh, xix, 12), thougii it can be made with entire ease in other places. It requires three quarters of an hour or an hour to reach the top. The path is circuitous and at times steep, but not so much so as to render it difficult to ride the entire way. The trees and bushes are generally so thick as to intercept the prospect ; but now and then the traveller as he ascends comes to an open spot which reveals to him a magnif- icent view of the plain. One of the most pleasing as- ]5ects of the landscape, as seen from such points, in the season of the early harvest, is that presented in the di- versified appearance of the tields. The different plots of ground exhibit various colors, according to the state of cultivation at the time. Some of them are red, where the land has been newly ploughed up, owing to the natural properties of the soil; others yellow or white,
distant, are seen glittering through the clear atmosphere in the deep bed where tiiey repose so quietly. Though but a small portion of the surface of the lake can be dis- tinguished, the entire outline of its basin can be traced on everv side. In the same direction the eye follows the course of the Jordan for many miles, while still farther east it rests upon a boundless perspective of hills and val- leys, embracing the modern Hauran, and farther south the mountains of the ancient Gilead and Bashan. The dark line which skirts the hfirizon on the west is the JNIediterranean ; the rich plains of Galilee till up the in- termediate space as far as the foot of Tabor. The ridge ofCarmel lifts its head in the north-west, though the por- tion which lies directly on the sea is not distinctly visible. On the north and north-east we behold the last ranges of Lebanon as they rise into the hills about Safed, overtop- ped in the rear by the snow-capped Hermon, and still nearer to us the Horns of Hattin, the reputed Mount of the Beatitudes. On the south are seen, first the summits of Gilboa, which David's touching elegy on Saul and Jonathan has fixed forever in the memory of mankind, and farther onward a confused view of the mountains and valleys which occupy the central part of Palestine. Over the heads of Piihy and Gilboa the spectator looks into the valley of the Jordan in the neighborhood of Beisan (itself not within sight), the ancient Bethshean, on whose walls the Philistines hung up the headless trunk of Saul, after their victory over Israel. Looking across a branch of the jilain of Esdraelon, we behold En- dor, the abode of the sf)rceress whom the king consulted on the night before his fatal battle. Another little vil- lage clings to the hill-side of another ridge, on which we gaze with still deeper interest. It is Nain, the vil- lage of that name in the New Test., where the Saviour touched the bier and restored to life the widow's son. The Saviour must have often passed at the foot of this mount in the course of his journeys in different parts of Galilee. It is not surprising that the Hebrews looked up with so much admiration to this glorious work of the Creator's hand. The same beauty rests upon its brow to-day, the same richness of verdure refreshes the eye, in contrast with the bald aspect of so many of the adjacent mountains. The Christian traveller yields spontaneously to the impression of wonder and devo-