At the distance of eight or nine miles from the promontory, the ridge called Carmel suddenly sinks down, and gives place to a wide-spread plain. Near the south end of the mountain, they point out on the shore the site of the famous city Cesarea, which is often mentioned in the New Testament—the place where Paul was detained a prisoner many years, and made his admirable defence before Agrippa and Festus. It was once a place of considerable importance, rose suddenly to much celebrity, and almost as suddenly declined, and for a long period has been in a state of utter desolation. I saw a few pillars standing, and some other remains of departed greatness. The plain which begins at the southern end of Carmel, is the celebrated plain of Sharon.
We reached Jaffa about the middle of the afternoon, having had a most expeditious sail from Sidon. The wind had served us a good turn, in bringing us so soon to Jaffa, but we now experienced another consequence not so pleasant; it still blew hard, and made the sea so rough that we could not land. The harbour of Jaffa is not good, or rather there is no harbour worth the name. We had to anchor some miles out at sea, where there was a tremendous swell; there was no help, we had to bear it as we could. We landed the next morning, and were most kindly received by the American consul. He did all in his power to render us comfortable.
Jaffa stands on a sandy point, which projects a little distance into the sea. The ground at the point is more elevated than farther back. It is a walled town, with a double wall and fosse in some places, all, however, much out of repair. We saw but a few cannon on the part of the wall which we examined, and those small and in bad order. We passed a number of soldiers in our walks about the town, and found a strong guard at the gate. Most of the houses have a very old appearance, few of them are good; the streets are narrow, crooked, and filthy, as in almost all the Turkish towns I have visited. The houses are much crowded together, and cover a very small space, considering their number. This is the case with most of the Turkish towns in the East, especially their walled towns on the coast. We visited the Latin and Greek convents, and were kindly received, and had coffee and sweetmeats handed us. The bazaars and shops appeared exceedingly poor, and to be scantily supplied with articles of merchandise.
Jaffa is a place of interest, chiefly, as being the sea-port nearest Jerusalem, and the landing-place of a large number of pilgrims that annually resort, by thousands, to visit the holy places in and about Jerusalem. It has also, in the noble plain of Sharon, a most admirable back country. But what avails a country, however good, if there be not people to cultivate it, and if the government be so unwise and oppressive as to hold out no inducement for industry among the people?
While looking at the city, we went without the walls as far as the grave-yard. I had noticed on the shore, and in the street, great quantities of a small but beautiful sea-shell, and at the grave-yard I found them very abundant, and put to a singular use. They were laid on the graves in great numbers, often forming quite a little mound on the top of the grave, and in many cases, a newly-formed stone, which is found at certain places on the shore, and which is in great part made up of these shells, was set up at the head and foot of the graves. It had a tasteful and pretty appearance.
The place was pointed out to us at a distance, where Bonaparte is said to have shot several thousand prisoners. He has been much blamed for it, and probably not without some cause. If, however, his own account, as I have seen it given, be true, that they had before been his prisoners, and had been set at large on parole, under engagement not again to take up arms against him; that they had broken parole and were again captured while fighting against him; if this were the case, he is, according to the laws of war, less to blame than many have supposed. Not that I would justify him, but bad as he was, his opponents did not give him credit for the good he did, and made the most of his bad actions. Had he lived until the present time, on the throne of France, the state of Europe would probably have been twenty if not forty years in advance of what it now is, in knowledge and arts, in civil and religious liberty. Those who have succeeded to the now divided power, which his powerful arm wielded, have laboured and still labour to hold the people back—to repress the spirit of enterprise and improvement, and especially repress and root out the spirit of freedom.
[LETTER XI.]
October 5th, 1836.
We left Jaffa in the afternoon for Rumla, which lies about half way from Jaffa to the commencement of the hill country, on the road to Jerusalem—leaving the gate of Jaffa, (and I may add, there is only one gate on the land side,) we took a north-east direction. The point of land on which Jaffa stands, a kind of sandy knoll, is higher than the country back of it. We of course made a small descent, and for a considerable distance passed through gardens, enclosed lots and fields, many of them well filled with trees, as fig, orange, lemon, pomegranate, palm. The Indian fig was much used for forming enclosures, and generally planted on a ridge of sand. It makes a very good fence, as the prickles with which it abounds prevent man or beast from coming much in contact with it. Some of these gardens had wells and water-wheels, many of which were at work, mostly with oxen, raising water for the benefit of the trees and vegetables. There is much sand on the district that borders the coast, and in many places directly on the coast the sand has fairly taken possession—nothing is seen but fields of white sand.