MAP OF THE SEA OF GALILEE.
It was the plan of the party to make the circuit of the lake, and visit points of interest whenever the wind favored and it was safe to do so. Ali told them that as they had no escort, and had no arrangements for paying backsheesh, for the plain reason that there was no one at Tiberias with whom they could negotiate, it would not be judicious to land on the eastern shore. The country is in possession of the Bedouins, who have no hesitation at plundering the traveller of all that he has about him, and then demanding a heavy backsheesh to let him go. On this statement of affairs it was unanimously agreed that nobody cared to land on the eastern shore.
The boat followed the coast to the vicinity of Kerak, which is close to the exit of the Jordan, and then turned to the north and east in the direction of Kalat el-Hosn. On the maps this place is generally laid down as Gamala; it is a heap of ruins, and has been without inhabitants since the city of Gamala was destroyed by Vespasian, and the surrounding region of Gamalatis passed under his control.
Then they went northward past the ruins of Kersa, or Kheusa, situated in a narrow valley. A steep bank comes down to the lake close by Kersa, and some authorities have endeavored to identify it as the place where the herd of swine ran down to the sea. There is no other point where there is so steep a bank as this coming down to the water. The theory of its identity is based entirely on its being the most convenient spot for a herd of swine to commit suicide.
MAGDALA AND PLAIN OF GENNESARET.
From Kersa they crossed the lake to Magdala, or Mejdel, whose chief claim to distinction arises from its having been the birthplace of Mary Magdalene. The town is principally in ruins, and there are only a few huts there occupied by miserable Arabs, whose chief occupation is to beg for backsheesh. The region around is, or might be, fertile, but Magdala is the only inhabited spot in the Plain of Gennesaret, and nobody cares to engage in agriculture of any sort. That the ground is fertile is proven by the abundance of thistles, weeds, and bushes with which it is covered, and the thickets of oleander and other trees, together with occasional clusters of palms. One of the boys said it seemed as though a curse rested on the land. Doctor Bronson assented to this view, and added that the Turkish Government had a great deal to do with the matter, as its exorbitant taxes on all kinds of industry was an effectual barrier to anything like honest work.
As they sailed northward from Magdala, Doctor Bronson pointed out a valley leading from the Plain of Gennesaret, and asked the guide what it was.