DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0121
96 PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
their new homes from the ruins
of their old ones, and for more
than a century the site of the old
city, now called Haifa el 'Atikah,
served as a quarry of ready-
dressed stones. It is at the
present time almost covered
with gardens and drifting sand-
hills, but foundations of walls,
broken columns, and large por-
tions of tesselated pavement are
sometimes exposed, while the
shingly beach below is strewn
with fragments of granite por-
phyry, rosso antico, and ser-
pentine marble. The ruins of
a tower stand on the shore and
are washed by the sea. " Hidden
treasures " of more or less value
have been found occasionally
among the ruins. The most
important discovery was made
about thirty years ago, when a
workman digging for dressed
stones found a jar containing
one thousand gold coins of a
period anterior to Mohammedan
rule in Palestine.
Nearly midway between the
new town and these ruins (just
where the strip of land between
the slopes of Carmel and the
shore widens out into a plain
rather more than half a mile in
width) a small colony of German
Templists, chiefly of the agri-
cultural and artisan class, estab-
lished themselves several years
ago. Some of them have lived
their new homes from the ruins
of their old ones, and for more
than a century the site of the old
city, now called Haifa el 'Atikah,
served as a quarry of ready-
dressed stones. It is at the
present time almost covered
with gardens and drifting sand-
hills, but foundations of walls,
broken columns, and large por-
tions of tesselated pavement are
sometimes exposed, while the
shingly beach below is strewn
with fragments of granite por-
phyry, rosso antico, and ser-
pentine marble. The ruins of
a tower stand on the shore and
are washed by the sea. " Hidden
treasures " of more or less value
have been found occasionally
among the ruins. The most
important discovery was made
about thirty years ago, when a
workman digging for dressed
stones found a jar containing
one thousand gold coins of a
period anterior to Mohammedan
rule in Palestine.
Nearly midway between the
new town and these ruins (just
where the strip of land between
the slopes of Carmel and the
shore widens out into a plain
rather more than half a mile in
width) a small colony of German
Templists, chiefly of the agri-
cultural and artisan class, estab-
lished themselves several years
ago. Some of them have lived