mercies of the Lord. No curse rests on its shores as on those of the Dead Sea, but a hallowed calm and a majestic beauty irresistibly delightful. The fish it contains have a most delicious flavour, and are much the size and colour of a mullet. The boats used on it are in some seasons of the year much exposed to the sudden squalls of wind which issue from between the mountains. The water is perfectly sweet and clear. The Jordan is seen to enter it at its northern extremity, and its course is distinctly visible throughout the whole extent of the lake. The range of mountains forming its eastern shore is very lofty; their steep and rocky sides are barren. The western shore, where the town (of Tiberias) stands, is lower, but its picturesque hills, divided by sweet valleys, are covered with a rich carpet of verdure, yet almost destitute of trees. The side to the southern end of the lake is very pleasant where the Jordan flows out of it. An ancient bridge, the ruined and lofty arches of which still stand in the river, add much to the beauty of this scene. We bathed here in the Jordan, which issues out in a stream of about fifty feet wide, and flows down a rich and deserted valley, inclosed by bare and lofty mountains. The stream is here clear and shallow, but soon becomes deep and rapid. Yet, with all the charms of its situation, the air round the lake during the summer is close and sultry. Of all places in Palestine, however, a stranger would desire to fix his residence here, as a situation on any of the verdant hills would be exempt from the often impressive air on its banks."

Dr Clarke alleges that the Sea of Galilee almost equals in the grandeur of its appearance the Lake of Geneva. "It is by comparison alone,” he observes, " that Many due conception of the appearance it presents can be conveyed to the minds of those who have not seen it; and speaking of it comparatively, it may be described as longer and finer than any of our Cumberland and Westmoreland lakes, although perhaps it yields in majesty to

the stupendous features of Loch Lomond in Scotland. The Lake of Locarno in Italy comes nearest to it in point of picturesque beauty, although it is destitute. of anything similar to the islands by which that majestic piece of water is adorned. It is inferior in magnitude, and perhaps in the height of its surrounding mountains, to the Lake Asphaltites (from which it is distant seventy-five miles), but its broad and extended surface, covering the bottom of a profound valley, environed by lofty and precipitous eminences, added to the impression of a certain reverential awe under which every Christian pilgrim approaches it, give it a character of dignity unparalleled by any similar scenery."

It was on this Lake that the Apostles St Peter, St Andrew, St John, and St James, exercised their profession of fishermen; and it was on its shore that they were addressed by the Saviour of the world—“ Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." The voyages of Christ and his disciples across this Lake are vaguely described, and it is extremely difficult to understand them with accuracy. In ancient times the Sea of Galilee, or Lake of Gennesareth, was called the Sea of Chinnereth, from a city of that name situated on it belonging to the tribe of Naphtali, Josh. xix. 35; and the edge of this sea on the other side Jordan eastward was the western boundary of the Gadites, who occupied all the cities of Gilead. Gennesareth is evidently a corruption of Chinnereth. It was called the Sea of Galilee from its situation; and Tiberias, its modern name, was probably bestowed on it after that city was built by Herod. This last name both the lake and the town still retain under the Arabic form of Tabareeah; and it is said that the present inhabitants, like their predecessors, call it a sea, and reckon it and the Dead Sea to be the two largest known except the ocean. Fuller, in his " "Pisgahsight of Palestine," published in 1650, thus quaintly speaks of it:-" Called always a sea by three of the Evangelists, but generally a lake by St Luke. Indeed

amongst lakes it may be accounted a sea, such the greatness; amongst seas, reputed for a lake, such the sweetness and freshness of the water therein." Lamartine's reflections on beholding the lake are beautifully expressed:-" We mounted our horses to ride as far as the limit of the Sea of Tiberias, the sacred borders of the fine Lake of Gennesareth. On our left a chain of peaked hills, black, barren, hollowed in profound ravines, and spotted at various distances by immense isolated volcanic stones, extended the whole length of the western coast, and advancing in a sombre and naked promontory to nearly the middle of the sea, hid from us the city of Tiberias at the extremity of the Lake on the side of Lebanon. The Man Divine-Incarnate Divinity, had with his mortal eyes seen this Sea-these waves, these hills, these stones; or rather, this Sea, these hills, these stones, had seen him. He had trodden a hundred times that path on which I now respectfully walked; his feet had raised that same dust which mine now raised. During the three years of his Divine mission he went and came, without ceasing, from Nazareth to Tiberias, from Tiberias to Jerusalem. He had sailed in the barks of the fishermen of the Sea of Galilee. He calmed its tempests, he walked on its waves, giving his hand to the apostle of little faith, like me a celestial hand of which I had greater need than he had, in the tempest of opinion, and of thoughts more terrible! The great and mysterious scene of the Gospel passed, in fact, entirely on this lake, the borders of this lake, and the mountains which surround and overlook it. Behold Emmaus, where he chose at hazard his disciples amongst the meanest of mankind, to testify that the strength of his religion was in the doctrine itself, and not in its powerless organs. Behold Tiberias, where he appeared to St Peter-behold Capernaum-behold the mountain where he delivered the fine sermon on the mount-behold that on which, as God, he manifested the heavenly beatitudes-behold that on which

he said, I have compassion on the people, and multiplied the loaves and fishes, even as his word creates and multiplies life in the soul-behold the gulf of the miraculous fishing—behold, to conclude, the country that Christ preferred on earth -that which he has chosen for the exordium of his mysterious drama—that wherein, during his obscure life of thirty years, he had his parents and his friends according to the flesh-that wherein Nature, of which he had the key, appeared to him with the greatest charms—behold these mountains whence he saw, like us, the sun rise and set in revolutions which measured so rapidly his mortal days-here did he successively repose, meditate, pray, and cultivate love to God and benignity to man.”

GALLIM, who heap up, who cover, who roll, a village near Ekron according to Eusebius. Phalti, the son of Laish, to whom Saul gave his daughter Michal, David's wife, in marriage, belonged to Gallim, 1 Sam. xxv. 44. See also EG

LAIM.

GAMALA, a town situated beyond the Jordan, so called because it resembled a camel, being built on a mountain ridge. It was in the kingdom of Agrippa, but the inhabitants refused to submit to him, and they were besieged first by the troops of Agrippa and then by the Romans, who after a long siege took it and gave it up to plunder. It was afterwards fortified, and again taken by Vespasian, who put the inhabitants to death, causing many of them to be precipitated from the citadel. It is now a miserable place, but is different from Gamala east of the Sea of Galilee.

GAMMADIM, the inhabitants of Gammade in Phoenicia, Ezek. xxvii. 11. Others think that the word is Syriac, and merely signifies bold and courageous men.

GARAB, or GAREB, a hill near Jerusalem, Jer. xxxi. 39.

GATH, a press, also called GAZARA, a celebrated city of the Philistines, one of their five principalities, and the birthplace of their champion Goliath, was sie tuated about fourteen miles south of

of their countrymen in Cæsarea, which explains the expression of St Luke, who, in mentioning Gaza, observes that it was in his time "desert," Acts viii. 26. It was, however, rebuilt, as it existed in the time of Hadrian, who granted it some important privileges. These were enlarged by Constantine, who gave it the name of Constantia in honour of his son, and granted it the rank of a city, of which it was deprived by Julian the Apostate. St Jerome says that the town existing in his time was nearer the sea than the old The harbour of Gaza is called Maiumas, near the mouth of the Bezor. Gaza is designated Razza by the Arabs.

town.

A traveller who visited Gaza early in the sixteenth century describes it as a large place, containing more inhabitants than Jerusalem, but not fortified. He tells us gravely that the remains of the temple which Samson pulled down are still shown, consisting only of a few pillars, which were kept standing in memory of the event. The hill was pointed out to him to which Samson carried the gates of the city during the night, about a mile from the town; but the text says that he carried them "to the hill which is before Hebron," and Hebron is about twenty miles from Gaza. The remains of ancient Gaza, consisting of scattered pillars of grey granite, and fragments of old marble columns and statues, are considerable and numerous. The hill on which the city stands is about two miles in circumference at the base, and appears to have been wholly enclosed within the ancient fortifications. The town being surrounded by and interspersed with gardens and plantations of olive and date trees, has an agreeable appearance, aided by its numerous minarets raising their elegant forms from amid the trees; and as the buildings are mostly of stone, and the streets moderately broad, the interior is superior to many of the Syrian cities. The inhabitants amount to between 2000 and 3000. They have manufactures of cotton and soap, but derive their principal support from the commerce of Egypt and Syria, which must all pass that way.

They also traffic with Suez for Indian goods brought from Djidda, and send a caravan with supplies of provisions to the pilgrims on their way to Mecca. The Arabs, moreover, make it the mart for the sale of their plunder, and all these sources of prosperity combine to make Gaza a thriving place, considering the country in which it is situated. During the occupation of Gaza by the French they lost 500 men. Their invasion of Syria was marked by disasters of almost every description, not less than 12,000 of their best troops having, according to authentic accounts, perished either by the sword, disease, hunger, or fatigue.

The suburbs of Gaza are composed of wretched mud huts, but all travellers agree in admiring the richness and variety of the vegetable productions in the neighbourhood. "The environs of Gaza,” says Dr Wittman, "are rendered infinitely agreeable by a number of large gardens, cultivated with the nicest care, which lie in a direction north and south of the town, while others of the same description run to a considerable distance westward. These on our arrival were overspread with flowers, the variegated colours of which displayed every tint and every hue. Among these were the chrysanthemum, scarlet ranunculus, lupin, pheasant eye, tulip, china aster, dwarf iris, lentil, daisy, &c. all of them growing wild and abundantly with the exception of the lupin, which was cultivated in patches regularly ploughed and sowed, with a view to collect the seeds, which the inhabitants employ at their meals, more especially to thicken their ragouts. The few corn fields which lay at a distance displayed the promise of a rich golden harvest, and the view of the sea, distant about a league, tended to diversify still more the animated features of this luxuriant scene. The delightful gardens of Gaza are very extensive. They are filled with a great variety of choice fruit trees, such as the fig, the mulberry, the pomegranate, the apricot, the peach, and the almond, together with a few lemon and orange trees. There are also large spots

set aside for the cultivation of tobacco. 'The enclosures for the cultivation of this plant were fenced in with the prickly pear tree. The Pharaoh fig-tree, a species of sycamore, the fruit of which the inhabitants eat when ripe, was also cultivated. We saw large flocks of quails, which are very abundant in this part of Syria, as are also the jackals, by whose lamentable howling we were nightly infested in the camp. Probably these were the animals Samson made use of to destroy the harvests of the Philistines."

GAZA, or ADASA, 1 Macc. vii. 45, a place so named in the allotment of the tribe of Ephraim, 1 Chron. vii. 28.

GEBA, a hill or cup, or GABA, a town belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, and Levitical, Josh. xviii. 24; xxi. 17.

GEBAL, bound or limit, mentioned in the 83d Psalm, is located in Phoenicia near Tyre by some, and by others in the mountainous parts beyond Jordan. Josephus mentions the Gebilites to the south of Palestine, and Stephanus notices the Gebaleni in Arabia, which is the same country as Amalek in Arabia Petræà. In the Chaldee and Samaritan versions Gebal is read for Mount Seir.

GEBIM, grasshoppers, also, height, mentioned by the Prophet Isaiah (x. 31), the situation of which is unknown. It is thought to be a general name for hills.

is significantly and appropriately known as the Apostle of the Gentiles.

GERAR, a royal city and country of which Abimelech was king, situated not far from the angle where the south and west sides of Palestine meet. The territory to which it gave the name extended into Arabia Petræa.

GERGESENES. See GADARENES and GIRGASHITES.

GERIZIM, cutters, a celebrated mountain near Shechem in Samaria, and opposite Mount Ebal, on which the Samaritans in the time of Sanballat built a temple, which was in existence in our Saviour's days. By corrupting the original text, which reads Ebal instead of Gerizim, and by thus maintaining that this was the mountain on which God chiefly desired to be worshipped, the Samaritans greatly exasperated the Jews, who held their opinions and pretensions in the greatest abhorrence. The Israelites, after passing the Jordan, were commanded to go to the mountains Gerizim and Ebal, and six of the tribes were ordered to be stationed on Mount Gerizim, the other six being opposite them on Mount Ebal, and the former were to pronounce blessings on those who observed the Law, while the latter were to denounce cursings on its violators. The Samaritans maintained that Abraham and Jacob erected altars on Gerizim-that it was on this mountain the former prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac-that God required the blessings to be given from Mount Gerizim,

GENESARET, or GENNESARETH, the garden of the prince; otherwise, protection of the prince, or of him that governs, evidently a corruption of Chinnereth, is a name applied by St Luke to the Sea of Galilee, which was so called from a small district on its shores called Gennesareth. See GALILEE.

GENTILES, in Hebrew GoIIM, a name specially applied by St Paul to the Greeks and Romans, and a scriptural designation for all the nations who were not descended from Abraham. St Pau!

altar is in existence on Gerizim to this day-and that this mountain, on account of its beauty and fertility, was specially chosen as the scene of blessing. Maun.. drell observes that neither of these mountains has much to boast of in point of pleasantness, but that Gerizim has a more verdant aspect than Ebal. When Benjamin of Tudela visited this spot, he says that Mount Garizim was full of fountains and gardens, while Ghebal, as he writes it, was arid and rocky. "My own impression," says Mr Buckingham, 'from seeing both these hills from several

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