After Semwan we strayed from the right road and got to Shemuâta, where we procured a guide to conduct us in the direction of Carmel; he undertook to conduct us as far as Abu ’Atabeh, from which Carmel would be visible, and the distance equal either to Acre or to Caiffa. From the heights we descended to Ekwikât, and there found ourselves too tired to get further that night.
In the morning we passed the Bahhjah, which had been the luxurious summer residence of Abdallah Pasha, but was in a ruinous condition, and came to Abu ’Atabeh, which is not a village but a collection of a few houses, perhaps formerly some outlying dwellings belonging to the Bahhjah. Here was a fountain, and a small aqueduct for conveying water to gardens.
Crossed the Naamàn river, anciently named the Belus, on the banks of which, according to Pliny, the primitive idea of glass-making was discovered by accident. Along the beach we came to the Mokatta’ or Kishon, found it deep for fording, but
got over to Caiffa, and mounted to the Convent of Carmel.
2. NAZARETH TOWARDS ACRE.
Oct. 1849.
Passing Sefoorieh, (the Sepphoris so often mentioned in Josephus) with a distant view of Carmel on the left, like a huge rampart of dark blue, we came to the ruined Khan with a fountain called the ’Ain el Bedaweeyeh, then through delightful wooded glades, on issuing from which we saw Shefa ’Amer, a handsome-looking place, with which I made better acquaintance in after years.
On the plain of Acre I picked up a cannon ball, probably a twelve pounder.
(This journey was repeated in March 1852, and in March 1859.)