DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0288
257
culty. It is plucked off with great nicety. Then each lamb is carefully examined lest there
be any blemish. The right forelegs and entrails are removed and burnt with the wool.
The lambs are rubbed with salt and spitted, and then forced into the glowing oven. A
wooden trellis is placed over the top and covered with damp turf to keep in all the heat.
In the meantime, unleavened cakes seasoned with bitter herbs are distributed by the chief
priest. Soon afterwards nearly every one present retires to rest, except the twelve white-
robed men, who return to their original station within the enclosed space, and continue
reciting and chanting by the light of the full moon until midnight, when the sleepers are
aroused, and in the presence of all the men of the community the lambs are withdrawn from
the oven and carried in new straw baskets to the enclosed space, where they are eaten " in
haste," each man having " his loins girt and a staff in his hand." There are slight variations
from year to year in the manner of celebrating this festival, but none of great importance.
The plateau on the summit of Gerizim is two thousand eight hundred and forty feet
above the level of the sea. It is crowned by a little Moslem wely which stands among the
ruins of a fortress built by Justinian in the sixth century to protect, from the fury of the
Samaritans, the church which had been erected there by Zeno. The foundations of this
church, octagonal in form, have been traced. This possibly marks the site of the temple ; but
the " Holy Place " of the Samaritans is shown near to the edge of the plateau on the south
side, and not far from it is a trough called the place of Abraham's sacrifice (see page 234).
But we must hasten onwards to Samaria. Leaving Nablus by its western gate (see
page 249), we follow the course of a mill stream which runs towards the west through
cultivated fields and gardens. Presently the road takes a north-westerly direction, winding
among rounded hills, many of which are terraced and crowned with villages. In less than
two hours we enter a large and fertile basin-shaped valley surrounded by high hills. Nearly
in the centre stands an isolated and less lofty hill, which, however, is one thousand four
hundred and fifty-four feet above the sea-level; it is united to the hills on the eastern side of
the basin by a low undulating ridge. Omri, King of Israel, bought this beautifully situated
hill, of Shemer, its owner, for two talents of silver, and the city he built upon it he called
Shemeron (Samaria), (1 Kings xvi. 24). After many vicissitudes it was given by the
Emperor Augustus to Herod the Great, who built a splendid city here, to which he gave
the name of Sebaste. The cities of Omri and Herod are now represented by an Unimportant
village called Sebustieh, which stands on the eastern side of the hill. The houses are rudely
constructed of ancient materials ; entablatures, fragments of columns, and massive stones being
used indiscriminately by the peasant builders. The only ancient structure standing is a
twelfth-century church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, now used as a mosque. The walls,
except on the south side, are very much dilapidated, and the roof has disappeared. Within
the spacious enclosure there is a Moslem sanctuary with a domed roof built over a crypt
hewn in the solid rock, to which we descend by twenty-one steep steps. Here the guardian
of the shrine shows a stone slab under which it is said the Neby Yahiha (John the Baptist)
34
culty. It is plucked off with great nicety. Then each lamb is carefully examined lest there
be any blemish. The right forelegs and entrails are removed and burnt with the wool.
The lambs are rubbed with salt and spitted, and then forced into the glowing oven. A
wooden trellis is placed over the top and covered with damp turf to keep in all the heat.
In the meantime, unleavened cakes seasoned with bitter herbs are distributed by the chief
priest. Soon afterwards nearly every one present retires to rest, except the twelve white-
robed men, who return to their original station within the enclosed space, and continue
reciting and chanting by the light of the full moon until midnight, when the sleepers are
aroused, and in the presence of all the men of the community the lambs are withdrawn from
the oven and carried in new straw baskets to the enclosed space, where they are eaten " in
haste," each man having " his loins girt and a staff in his hand." There are slight variations
from year to year in the manner of celebrating this festival, but none of great importance.
The plateau on the summit of Gerizim is two thousand eight hundred and forty feet
above the level of the sea. It is crowned by a little Moslem wely which stands among the
ruins of a fortress built by Justinian in the sixth century to protect, from the fury of the
Samaritans, the church which had been erected there by Zeno. The foundations of this
church, octagonal in form, have been traced. This possibly marks the site of the temple ; but
the " Holy Place " of the Samaritans is shown near to the edge of the plateau on the south
side, and not far from it is a trough called the place of Abraham's sacrifice (see page 234).
But we must hasten onwards to Samaria. Leaving Nablus by its western gate (see
page 249), we follow the course of a mill stream which runs towards the west through
cultivated fields and gardens. Presently the road takes a north-westerly direction, winding
among rounded hills, many of which are terraced and crowned with villages. In less than
two hours we enter a large and fertile basin-shaped valley surrounded by high hills. Nearly
in the centre stands an isolated and less lofty hill, which, however, is one thousand four
hundred and fifty-four feet above the sea-level; it is united to the hills on the eastern side of
the basin by a low undulating ridge. Omri, King of Israel, bought this beautifully situated
hill, of Shemer, its owner, for two talents of silver, and the city he built upon it he called
Shemeron (Samaria), (1 Kings xvi. 24). After many vicissitudes it was given by the
Emperor Augustus to Herod the Great, who built a splendid city here, to which he gave
the name of Sebaste. The cities of Omri and Herod are now represented by an Unimportant
village called Sebustieh, which stands on the eastern side of the hill. The houses are rudely
constructed of ancient materials ; entablatures, fragments of columns, and massive stones being
used indiscriminately by the peasant builders. The only ancient structure standing is a
twelfth-century church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, now used as a mosque. The walls,
except on the south side, are very much dilapidated, and the roof has disappeared. Within
the spacious enclosure there is a Moslem sanctuary with a domed roof built over a crypt
hewn in the solid rock, to which we descend by twenty-one steep steps. Here the guardian
of the shrine shows a stone slab under which it is said the Neby Yahiha (John the Baptist)
34