OTHER REVERED SITES.
“As we rode toward the sea of Tiberias, the guides pointed to a sloping spot from the hights upon our right, whence we had descended, as the place where the miracle was accomplished by which our Saviour fed the multitude: it is therefore called the Multiplication of Bread; as the mount above, where the sermon was preached to his disciples, is called the Mountain of Beatitudes, from the expressions used in the beginning of that discourse. The lake now continued in view upon our left. The wind rendered its surface rough, and called to mind the situation of our Saviour’s disciples, when, in one of the small vessels which traverse these waters, they were tossed in a storm, and saw Jesus in the fourth watch of the night, walking to them upon the waves. Often as this subject has been painted, combining a number of circumstances adapted for the representation of sublimity, no artist has been aware of the uncommon grandeur of the scenery, memorable on account of the transaction. The lake of Genesareth is surrounded by objects well calculated to highten the solemn impression made by such a picture; and, independent of the local feelings likely to be excited in its contemplation, affords one of the most striking prospects in the Holy Land. Along the borders of this lake may still be seen the remains of those ancient tombs, hewn by the earliest inhabitants of Galilee, in the rocks which face the water. Similar works were before noticed among the ruins of Telmessus. They were deserted in the time of our Saviour, and had become the resort of wretched men, afflicted by diseases, and made outcasts of society; for in the account of the cure performed by our Saviour upon a maniac in the country of the Gadarenes, these tombs are particularly alluded to; and their existence to this day, (although they have been neither noticed by priests nor pilgrims, and have escaped the ravages of the empress Helena, who would undoubtedly have shaped them into churches,) offers strong internal evidence of the accuracy of the evangelist who has recorded the transaction: ‘There met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs.’”