river Kishon, we know that the scene of battle was at any rate not far from the Kishon. Megiddo, too, gave its name to the adjacent valley or low plain along the Kishon.' Maundrell visited the place, and speaks of it as an old village near a brook, from whence he could overlook the plain of Esdraelon. There was then at Lejjûn a khân in good repair."-See ROBINSON'S Researches, vol. iii. pp. 156, 157, 178-180.

PLAIN OF ESDRAELON.

(EL MUKUTTA'.)

THE plain of Esdraelon, or Jezreel, does not occur by name in Scripture. It is mentioned in the book of Judith, in the Apocrypha, chap. i. 8.

12 Chron. xxxv. 22; Zech. xii. 11.

SCRIPTURE NOTICES.

"And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand... And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon."-Judges iv. 7, 13.

"The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon."-Judges v. 21.

"And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there."-1 Kings xviii. 40.

:

"Do unto them as to Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook of Kishon: which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.”—Psalms lxxxiii. 9.

[Josh. xxi. 28.]

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The plain of Esdraelon (so called from a place of that name situate in it1) is one of the most fertile and beautiful districts in Palestine. The soil is rich and fine, as rich," observes Mr. Paxton, as soil can be," and would be most productive, if properly cultivated. Speaking of part of it, Dr. Robinson says, "The prospect was charming for its rich fertility and beauty. Yellow fields of grain, with green patches of cotton and millet interspersed, chequered the landscape like a carpet." And in another place he mentions, that "the fields in many parts were still covered with a rich crop of wheat, long ready, and waiting for the sickle." Mr. Paxton says, that in many places the weeds were nearly as high as a man's head-a proof of the rich luxuriance

1 The ancient name of Jezreel was Esdraela, and thence the great plain around it took the name of Esdraelon. The valley of Jezreel formed part of this plain, the whole of which is consequently often spoken of (though erroneously) under the name of " the Valley of Jezreel."

of the soil. But this noble plain belongs to the government, and is only partially cultivated. It is almost without villages. When ascending to Nazareth, Dr. Robinson writes: "The plain in this part is rich and fertile, but lay mostly untilled; here and there only were a few patches of grain intermingled with the far greater portions now let run to waste." And in more general terms, he says of the great body of the plain, that it is "everywhere a tract of fertile, though now neglected soil."

ANCIENT SARCOPHAGI ON THE PLAIN OF ESDRAELON.

"Through the plain of Esdraelon, the 'ancient river' Kishon is of old represented as pouring its waters in such abundance, as to 'sweep away' the troops of Sisera during the battle of Deborah and Barak; and we still find the same river a considerable stream, under the name of El-Mukutta', flowing along the base of Carmel into the bay of 'Akka

"Not improbably in ancient times, when the country

was perhaps more wooded, there may have been permanent streams throughout the whole plain, like that which still runs eastward along the middle arm; and even now, in ordinary seasons, during the winter and spring, there is an abundance of water on the plain, flowing westwards to form the Kishon. The large fountains all along the southern border furnish more powerful streams; and all the water-courses from the hills and along the plain are full and overflowing. During the battle of Mount Tabor, between the French and Arabs, April 16th, 1799, many of the latter are expressly said to have been drowned in the stream coming from Debûrieh,' which then inundated a part of the plain. Monro, in crossing the arm of the plain from Solam to Nazareth, on the first or second of May, describes himself as passing in half an hour from Sôlama considerable brook from the eastward, and afterwards some others, which flow into a small lake on the northern side of the plain, and eventually contribute to swell the Kishon' In April, 1829, Prokesch, in travelling directly from Ramleh to Nazareth, entered the plain of Esdraelon at or near Lejjûn ; here he came upon the Kishon, flowing in a deep bed through marshy ground; and after wandering about for some time to find the way through the morass, was at length set right by an Arab, who pointed out the proper ford. All these considerations, and especially these marshes in the region of Lejjûn or Megiddo, fully bear out the sacred writer, in affirming that the forces of Sisera were swept away by the Kishon; swollen as the stream probably was by the tempest and rain, with which the Lord interfered in behalf of the Israelites."

1 The village of Debûrieh is small and unimportant, lying on the side of a ledge of rocks just at the base of Tabor. It is said to have once had a Christian church, the ruins of which are still visible. This would seem not improbably to be the Daberath of the Old Testament, belonging to Issachar, but assigned to the Levites. Joshua xxi. 28.

2 Judges v. 20, 21; compare v. 4.

"... The Kishon of the plain is not now a permanent stream; but usually flows only during the season of rain, and for a short time afterwards. Yet the river, as it enters the sea at the foot of Carmel, never becomes dry; and we must therefore seek for its perennial sources along the base of that mountain. In travelling under the eastern brow of Carmel,' writes Dr. Shaw, I had an opportunity of seeing the sources of the river Kishon, three or four of which lie

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within less than a furlong of each other. These alone, without the lesser contributions nearer the sea, discharge water enough to form a river half as big as the Isis.' The length of the stream from the sources to

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