HAIFA
OR
LIFE IN MODERN PALESTINE
BY
LAURENCE OLIPHANT
AUTHOR OF ‘THE LAND OF GILEAD,’ ‘ALTIORA PETO,’
‘PICCADILLY,’ ETC.
SECOND EDITION
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCLXXXVII
PREFACE.
The expectations which have been excited in the minds of men by the prophecies contained in Scripture, and the hopes which have been roused by them, have ever invested Palestine with an exceptional interest to Biblical students; while its sacred conditions, historical associations, and existing remains prove an attraction to crowds of pilgrims and tourists, who annually flock to the Holy Land. As, however, the impressions of a resident and those of a visitor are apt to differ widely in regard to the conditions which actually exist there, and the former has opportunities of researches denied to the latter, I have ventured to think that a series of letters originally addressed to the New York ‘Sun,’ and extending over a period of three years passed in the country, might not be without interest to the general reader. Many of these will be found to deal chiefly with archæological subjects, which must, indeed, form the main subject of attraction to any one living in the country, and conversant with its history.
A flood of light has been thrown of recent years upon its topography, its ancient sites, and the extensive ruins which still exist to testify to its once teeming population, by the prolonged and valuable researches of the “Palestine Exploration Fund” of London.