DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0281
25°
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
The chief trade of Nablus is in wool, cotton, olive oil, and soap of excellent quality. There
are no less than twenty soap factories in the city. A native of Nablus will sometimes offer a
present of soap to a friend living in a less favoured district, saying, " I bring you soap made of
the purest olive oil that your face may shine upon me ; " or, " I bring you some soap that your
heart may be clean towards me." At Nablus goat-skins in great numbers are converted into
khirbehs for carrying water. Sometimes the floor of this khan may be seen half covered
with the inflated skins laid out for seasoning. Returning to the arcade, we pursue our way
westward through narrow bazaars, where smiths, carpenters, weavers, tailors, and shoemakers
may be seen at work; then, turning southward, we traverse tortuous lanes and gloomy streets,
arched at intervals and built over in many places, till we reach a passage which leads us out of
the town just opposite to the terraced gardens on the slopes of Gerizim, where flourish all
"the precious fruits brought forth by the sun" (see Deut. xxxiii. 14). Oranges, lemons,
figs, apricots, pomegranates, mulberries, walnuts, grapes, and almonds follow each other in due
season, and hedges of cactus afford the cooling fruit commonly called prickly pear. On one
of these garden terraces Jotham, perhaps, stood when he cried, " Hearken unto me, ye men of
Shechem," and spoke his parable of the fruit-trees and the bramble, with olive, fig-trees, and
vines around him, and thorns and brambles overgrowing the garden landmarks (Judges ix.
7—21). From a certain point in these gardens, looking towards the north-east, an excellent
general view is obtained of the city, a faithful representation of which is given on page 249.
From nearly the same standpoint, turning towards the north-west, we see the outline of the
western heights of Ebal, and in the foreground the tall square tower (remarkably like the
White Tower of Ramleh) which adjoins the Mosque El Khadra, the Green Mosque, another
appropriated church of the Crusaders (see page 247). In the front of this tower a slab is
fixed, on which there is a Samaritan inscription. The Samaritans state that they once had a
synagogue on this spot, which is popularly known as the Mukam Hizn Yakub, that is, " The
Place of the Mourning of Jacob," for, according to local tradition, it was here that Jacob
stood when the coat of his beloved son Joseph was brought to him, and where, believing
him to be dead, " he mourned for him many days." A very old mulberry-tree stands in the
court of the mosque, the representative of one which is said to have withered when the
death of Joseph was reported, and became green again when he was found to be living. Not
far from the summit of the mountain peak which appears in the illustration behind the tower,
there stands a Moslem mukam called 'Amad ed Din (the Pillar of Faith), which gives its
name to this part of the mountain range. It has been suggested that this may mark the site
of the altar erected by Joshua on Mount Ebal; it is, however, locally regarded as the resting-
place of a Moslem saint so named, said to have lived about four hundred years ago. On the
slope of the nearer hill, there is a greatly revered shrine of a Moslem female saint named
Sitti Eslamiyeh, the Lady of Eslam ; from her Mount Ebal derives its present name, Jebel
Eslamiyeh. The highest point of the mountain, which is three thousand and thirty-two feet
above the level of the sea, is more easterly, and not shown in the illustration. Turning away
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
The chief trade of Nablus is in wool, cotton, olive oil, and soap of excellent quality. There
are no less than twenty soap factories in the city. A native of Nablus will sometimes offer a
present of soap to a friend living in a less favoured district, saying, " I bring you soap made of
the purest olive oil that your face may shine upon me ; " or, " I bring you some soap that your
heart may be clean towards me." At Nablus goat-skins in great numbers are converted into
khirbehs for carrying water. Sometimes the floor of this khan may be seen half covered
with the inflated skins laid out for seasoning. Returning to the arcade, we pursue our way
westward through narrow bazaars, where smiths, carpenters, weavers, tailors, and shoemakers
may be seen at work; then, turning southward, we traverse tortuous lanes and gloomy streets,
arched at intervals and built over in many places, till we reach a passage which leads us out of
the town just opposite to the terraced gardens on the slopes of Gerizim, where flourish all
"the precious fruits brought forth by the sun" (see Deut. xxxiii. 14). Oranges, lemons,
figs, apricots, pomegranates, mulberries, walnuts, grapes, and almonds follow each other in due
season, and hedges of cactus afford the cooling fruit commonly called prickly pear. On one
of these garden terraces Jotham, perhaps, stood when he cried, " Hearken unto me, ye men of
Shechem," and spoke his parable of the fruit-trees and the bramble, with olive, fig-trees, and
vines around him, and thorns and brambles overgrowing the garden landmarks (Judges ix.
7—21). From a certain point in these gardens, looking towards the north-east, an excellent
general view is obtained of the city, a faithful representation of which is given on page 249.
From nearly the same standpoint, turning towards the north-west, we see the outline of the
western heights of Ebal, and in the foreground the tall square tower (remarkably like the
White Tower of Ramleh) which adjoins the Mosque El Khadra, the Green Mosque, another
appropriated church of the Crusaders (see page 247). In the front of this tower a slab is
fixed, on which there is a Samaritan inscription. The Samaritans state that they once had a
synagogue on this spot, which is popularly known as the Mukam Hizn Yakub, that is, " The
Place of the Mourning of Jacob," for, according to local tradition, it was here that Jacob
stood when the coat of his beloved son Joseph was brought to him, and where, believing
him to be dead, " he mourned for him many days." A very old mulberry-tree stands in the
court of the mosque, the representative of one which is said to have withered when the
death of Joseph was reported, and became green again when he was found to be living. Not
far from the summit of the mountain peak which appears in the illustration behind the tower,
there stands a Moslem mukam called 'Amad ed Din (the Pillar of Faith), which gives its
name to this part of the mountain range. It has been suggested that this may mark the site
of the altar erected by Joshua on Mount Ebal; it is, however, locally regarded as the resting-
place of a Moslem saint so named, said to have lived about four hundred years ago. On the
slope of the nearer hill, there is a greatly revered shrine of a Moslem female saint named
Sitti Eslamiyeh, the Lady of Eslam ; from her Mount Ebal derives its present name, Jebel
Eslamiyeh. The highest point of the mountain, which is three thousand and thirty-two feet
above the level of the sea, is more easterly, and not shown in the illustration. Turning away