The Boy Travellers in the Far East, Part Fourth / Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to Egypt and the Holy Land

by Thomas Wallace Knox

"As we rode down the hills we had a full view of the sea or lake of Tiberias, which is also called the Sea of Galilee, and the sea or lake of Gennesaret, and known to the Arabs as Bahr Tabariyeh. It is smaller than you might suppose from its importance in history; it is thirteen miles long and less than seven in width, and in the midst of a region with very few inhabitants. As we looked at it, it seemed little more than a pond, and the hills beyond it were bare and desolate. The fertility of the region must be far less now than it was in the time of our Saviour, and it is the general opinion that the country has undergone many changes. We passed the ruins of several villages and towns, and for nearly all the time of our journey the evidences were all around us that a great many people once lived here.

"The most populous town on the banks of the lake is Tiberias, but it has not more than two thousand inhabitants, and the majority of them have a poverty-stricken appearance. Like all the people of Palestine, they begged persistently for backsheesh, and would not leave us till we threatened to appeal to the Governor and ask for a guard to protect us. We noticed that a great number of them were Jews, and several spoke to us in German; this roused our curiosity, and we asked the Doctor what it all meant. He explained it to us in this way:

"'Tiberias is like Jerusalem in one respect—it is a sacred place with the Jews, many of whom believe that the Messiah will rise from the waters of the lake and establish his throne on one of the hills back of the little town. For this reason many Jews of Poland and Germany make pilgrimages to Tiberias, and some of them remain to pass their lives in the sacred spot. They are generally a worthless and lazy lot, and are supported by the charity of visitors and by money sent by wealthy Jews of Europe.'

"More than half the inhabitants of Tiberias are Jews; the rest are Moslems and Christians in about equal proportions. The Latins and Greeks have churches here; one of them is dedicated to St. Peter, and the miracle of the draught of the fishes is said to have taken place in front of the town. There was a terrible earthquake here in 1837, which threw down large parts of the walls and killed great numbers of the people. There has been no attempt to repair the damages, and it would be easy to ride into Tiberias without taking the trouble to enter by the gates.

"Our tents were pitched on a little cleared space outside the walls and close to the lake, and after it became dark we indulged in a swim in the waters of Galilee. The next morning we went to the warm baths for which Tiberias was once celebrated, and tried them for a little while; but the smell of sulphur was so strong that we did not much enjoy our visit. These baths were famous among the Romans, and were believed to possess many curative qualities; the water is very salt and bitter to the taste, and is certainly disagreeable enough to be good for invalids, provided they can stand it. We put a thermometer into the water, and found its temperature 144° Fahrenheit. There are four springs altogether, and there is a building over the largest of them. The baths are taken almost entirely by strangers, as the residents of Tiberias have an antipathy for water except for drinking purposes: they never bathe except when they tumble into the lake accidentally, or are thrown there by the visitors whom they annoy.

"We spent an hour among the ruins of the ancient Tiberias, which covered a much larger area than its modern successor. The city was founded by Herod near the beginning of the Christian era, and he called it Tiberias in honor of the Roman emperor of that name. It had a palace and a race-course, and, if we may judge by the extent of its ruins, it was a place of no ordinary importance. It was captured several times in the wars that devastated the country, but has never ceased to be regarded with special veneration by the Jews. Many pious Jews come here to die: the location is unhealthy on account of fevers and other diseases, and consequently the mortality is great, and the town is exactly suited to their wants."

Of course the whole party was desirous of taking a voyage on the lake, and they sent Ali to engage a boat with that object in view. According to the biblical account there were many vessels there during our Saviour's time, but at present there are only three boats, and rarely more than two of these are afloat at once. The lake abounds in fish, and, if there was a sufficient population to buy and pay for the proceeds of the work, a dozen or a hundred fishermen could do a good business. But with nobody to eat them it would be idle to catch the fish; and as the natives do not understand sport for its own sake, the finny inhabitants are not seriously disturbed.

Ali secured a boat for the excursion, and it was arranged that the rest of the day should be spent on the lake. The saddle-horses were to go with the baggage-animals to Tell Hum, where the camp would be formed for the night. Everybody was delighted with this arrangement, and the youths could hardly restrain their impatience to be off on the voyage over the Sea of Galilee.

The boat was of the Oriental pattern, and without any deck or awning to protect the travellers from the sun, which generally beats down on the waters with a good deal of energy. Umbrellas were brought into requisition, and thus equipped, and with provisions to satisfy their hunger when the hour came for the mid-day meal, the six strangers and their dragoman took seats in the stern of the boat and pushed away from land.