I have myself known villages on the Plain of Esdraelon to be alternately inhabited or abandoned. At one time Fooleh was a heap of ruins, while its neighbour Afooleh had its residents; on my next visit it was Fooleh rebuilt, and the other a heap of overthrown stones, or next time both of them lying in utter silence and desertion. The same with Mekebleh, sometimes inhabited, but more frequently a pile of broken-down houses, with some remains of antique sculpture lying on the surface of its hill; and the same occasionally, though not so frequent in vicissitude, with Iksal.
From this exposure to invasion of royal armies or of nomad tribes, (“children of the East,” Judges vi. 33,) it has always been the case that no towns were built in the central parts of this plain; and even when the kings of Israel had their country residence at Jezreel, that situation was selected because it was nestled close to the hills, and had ravines on two sides of it, serving as fortifying trenches made by nature.
At the present time there are no trees upon that broad expanse, not even olives, to furnish lights for dwelling, either of villages or tents. The wretched people grow castor-oil plants instead for that purpose, sown afresh every year, because these afford no temptation to the hostile Arabs.
That year, however, of 1851, and probably for some time previous, the plain (Merj ibn Amer is its Arabic name,) had been at peace, unmolested by
strangers; consequently I saw large crops of wheat there, and fields of barley waving in the breeze. These were mostly the property of a Turkomân tribe, who, like the Kenites of old, reside there in tents, neither building houses nor planting vineyards, though to some extent they sow seed. They have been long upon that ground, but move their tents about, according to the exigencies of pasture for their flocks and herds. I believe, however, that they pay “khooweh” (brotherhood,) i.e. tribute and military aid, to the Sukoor Arabs for protection and peace under common 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]