olomon Elia, who had kindly shown me through the
Israelite Alliance School in Jerusalem. I reached Philadelphia the same
day the ship landed in New York, but was detained there with brethren
on account of a case of quinsy. I reached home on the fourteenth of
December, after an absence of five months and three days, in which
time I had seen something of fourteen foreign countries, having a very
enjoyable and profitable trip.

CHAPTER VIII.

GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE.

This section of country has been known by several names. It has been
called the "Land of Canaan," the "Land of Israel," the "Land of
Promise," the "Land of the Hebrews," and the "Holy Land." Canaan was
simply the country between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, extending
from Mt. Lebanon on the north to the Desert of Arabia on the south. Dan
was in the extreme northern part, and Beer-sheba lay in the southern end
of the country, one hundred and thirty-nine miles distant. The average
width of the land is about forty miles, and the total area is in the
neighborhood of six thousand miles. "It is not in size or physical
characteristics proportioned to its moral and historical position as the
theater of the most momentous events in the world's history." Palestine,
the land occupied by the twelve tribes, included the Land of Canaan and
a section of country east of the Jordan one hundred miles long and about
twenty-five miles wide, occupied by Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of
Manasseh. The Land of Promise was still more extensive, reaching
from "the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates,"
embracing about sixty thousand square miles, or a little less than
the five New England States. The country is easily divided into four
parallel strips. Beginning at the Mediterranean, we have the Maritime
Plain, the Mountain Region, the Jordan Valley, and the Eastern
Table-Land.

The long stretch of lowland known as the Maritime Plain is divided
into three sections. The portion lying north of Mt. Carmel was called
Phoenicia. It varies in width from half a mile in the north to eight
miles in the south. The ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon belonged to
this section. Directly east of Mt. Carmel is the Plain of Esdraelon,
physically a part of the Maritime Plain. It is an irregular triangle,
whose sides are fourteen, sixteen, and twenty-five miles respectively,
the longest side being next to Mt. Carmel. Here Barak defeated the army
of Sisera under Jabin