THE ROCK PARTRIDGE.
Everybody was out of bed before daylight, and prepared for an early start. Before the sun was up the tents had been folded and packed, and the travellers were in the saddle and riding away from Tell Hum. From the summit of a hill they looked back upon Gennesaret, which lay far below them, with its waters sparkling in the sunlight, and its surface undisturbed by a single boat. Then they rode on again. Around them were the rugged hills of Palestine, and every few minutes they disturbed the partridges that have their homes among the rocks. Frank recalled to memory the passage in Samuel, "as one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains." The guide said that in some parts of the country these birds are so abundant that they do a great deal of damage; they dig up and devour the freshly-sown wheat, and when the crops are ripening they feed upon the grain, and are often to be seen in large flocks.
The road was rough and steep, and led steadily upward. Frank thought that when the engineers laid it out they selected the worst places they could find, and Fred replied that he did not believe it had any engineers at all. "Even the mules and horses would have done better," Fred continued. "You know it is said in America that the buffaloes were the first road-makers, as it has been found that the buffalo trails in the Rocky Mountains are always through the lowest passes, and avoid the roughest places. Now if the beasts of burden in this country had laid out the roads they would have done better than the men who undertook the work."
It was a weary ride along this road, and frequently the travellers dismounted, partly out of compassion for their horses, and partly because riding was dangerous where the rocks were worn smooth or moistened by recent rains. Ruins of towns and villages were seen in several places, and some of the cliffs were pierced with caverns that formerly gave shelter to robbers or were the homes of hermits. Three hours of climbing brought them to Safed, which is one of the holy cities of the Jews, and has a population of three or four thousand.
The town is on a mountain, and commanded by a castle that is said to have been built in the time of the Crusades, but is now sadly in ruins. Down to the beginning of 1837 it was in good condition, and so were the houses where the people dwelt; the earthquake, on the first day of that year, wrought terrible destruction to Safed, as it overthrew nearly all the buildings, and killed, according to the estimates, five thousand of the inhabitants. The town was divided into the Christian, Moslem, and Jewish quarters; the Jewish quarter suffered most, and it is said that four-fifths of those killed by the earthquake belonged to the religion of King Solomon. Mr. Thomson, who visited Safed soon after the earthquake, says not a single Jewish house remained when the shocks were ended, and several persons were saved from the rubbish two or three days after the occurrence; they had been unable to extricate themselves, and suffered greatly from hunger and thirst. Others were less fortunate, and perished of hunger beneath the fallen débris of the houses where they had resided.
There was nothing of special interest in Safed, as the town is nearly all modern, having been rebuilt since the earthquake. Some authorities think Safed was the "city set on a hill" which was referred to by Christ in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. v. 14). Certainly the position would seem to justify such a belief, as it is visible for quite a distance from nearly all directions, and the view from it is a wide one.
Our friends halted briefly for a contemplation of the scene, which includes the Lebanon and Hermon ranges of mountains, the countries of Samaria, Carmel, and Galilee to the sea-coast, the Valley of the Jordan, the land of Gilead, Moab and Bashan, and the whole area of rugged hills in which the Sea of Tiberias is enclosed. They were reminded of the view from Tabor, especially as they looked downward nearly three thousand feet before their vision reached the waters of deep Galilee. The guide indicated many points of historic interest, and the list became so long that the attempt to remember everything was soon abandoned.