mon circumstances.

We had frequently to cross small streams issuing from the ranges of
hills, along the base of which our road lay; but they accomplished only
short courses, for they were soon absorbed into the ground or settled
into morasses, which emitted strong miasma under the influence of the
sun. Some petty springs were seen rising from the ground itself, and
near each of these were sure to be met some relics of antiquity, such as
good squared building stones, or door-posts, or broken olive presses, or
fragments of sarcophagi, while the adjacent hills exhibited the hewn
lines in the form of steps, remaining from ancient quarrying. The deep
alluvium of the plain furnishes no stone whatever for such purposes.

In forty minutes from Ta'annuk, we came to the small mills of _Lejjoon_,
(the Roman _Legio_, named from a military station there.) At that time
of the year the body of water was not considerable, and there is no
village there.

In fifty minutes more we crossed a rivulet named _Menzel el Basha_, (the
Pasha's halting-place,) and in twenty minutes more, the _'Ain Kaimoon_
with abundance of water. This is at the foot of a hill which has on its
summit the vestiges of the large ancient town _Kaimoon_.

This hill is long, narrow, and curved like a cucumber, lying at the
south-east end of Mount Carmel, and having the Kishon river on its outer
or north-eastern side. Here, therefore, we come distinctly upon the
western geography of the Zebulon tribe. In Joshua xix. 11, the border of
Zebulon is given as reaching "to the river that is before Jokneam." I do
not doubt that this river is the Kishon, or that Jokneam is the "Jokneam
of Carmel," in chapter xii. 22, which was given to the Levites "out of
the tribe of Zebulon, Jokneam with her suburbs," (chap. xxi. 34.) This
place, Kaimoon or Yokneam, must have been one of particular value in a
military point of view, commanding as it did the pass of the Kishon
valley on one side, and the _Wadi Mel'hh_ on the other. Such a post
would be in good hands, when intrusted to the bold and warlike tribe of
Levi. In the same way several other defensible posts were committed to
their charge all over the country. {230}

On my present journey I passed round the outer line of Tell Kaimoon,
having Kishon on the right. In so doing we crossed various tributary
streams--the first one, in quarter of an hour from 'Ain Kaimoon, was in
_Wadi el Kasab_, (valley of reeds or canes)--the