THE ITINERARY OF BENJAMIN OF TUDELA

 CRITICAL TEXT, TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY BY MARCUS NATHAN ADLER, M. A. 

 PHILIPP FELDHEIM, INC THE HOUSE OF THE JEWISH BOOK NEW YORK

 FIRST EDITION: LONDON 1907

 _published by_ PHILIPP FELDHEIM, Inc. 96 East Broadway New York, N. Y. 10002

 PRINTED IN JERUSALEM ISRAEL BY S. MONSON

 DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MORITZ STEINSCHNEIDER

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

 Map showing Benjamin's route . .. To face title page

 INTRODUCTION

 I. Islam in the Middle Ages

 II. The Object of Benjamin's Journey

 III. Bibliography . .. Xiii

 THE ITINERARY

 Translation of Hebrew Introduction

 _EUROPE_. 

 Saragossa, Barcelona, Narbonne

 Beziers, Montpellier, Lunel

 Posquières, Bourg de St. Gilles, Arles, Marseilles

 Genoa, Pisa, Lucca

 Rome. 

 Naples, Sorrento, Salerno

 Amalfi, Benevento, Melfi, Ascoli, Trani, Taranto, Brindisi

 Corfu, Arta, Patras, Lepanto, Crissa, Corinth, Thebes

 Wallachia, Armylo, Vissena, Salonica, Abydos. 

 Constantinople

 Rhaedestus, Gallipoli, Chios, Samos, Rhodes

 _ASIA_. 

 Cyprus, Curicus, Malmistras, Antioch

 Antioch, Ladikiya, Gebela, the Hashishim

 Kadmus, Tarabulus (Tripolis), Gubail (Byblus)

 Beirut, Sidon, the Druses, Tyre

 Acre, Haifa, Carmel. 

 Caesarea, Ludd, Samaria, Nablous. 

 The Samaritans

 Jerusalem

 Bethlehem, Hebron

 Beit Jibrin, Shiloh, Ramah

 Gibeah, Nob, Ramleh, Jaffa

 Askelon, Jezreel, Sepphoris, Tiberias

 Meron, Kedesh Naphtali, Banias

 Damascus

 Galid, Salchah

 Baalbec, Tadmor, Emesa, Hatnath

 Sheizar, Aleppo, Kalat Jabar, Rakka

 Harr[=a]n, Ras-el-Ain, Geziret Ibn Omar

 Mosul

 Rahbah, Karkisiya, El-Anbar

 Hadara, Okbara

 Bagdad

 Gazigan, Babylon

 Hillah, Tower of Babel, Kaphri

 Sepulchre of Ezekiel

 Kotsonath, Kefar Al-Keram, Kufa, Sura

 Shafjathib, El-Anbar, Hillah

 Kheibar, Teima, Tilmas and Tanai in Arabia

 Basra, Khuzistan, Shushan

 Sepulchre of Daniel

 Rudbar, Nihawand, Mulahid

 Amadia, History of David Alroy

 Hamadan, Tabaristan

 Ispahan, Shiraz, Ghaznah

 Samarkand, Tibet, Naisabur

 Expedition of Sinjar against the Ghuz

 Khuzistan, Island of Kish

 Katifa, Khulam (Quilon), India

 Ibrig

 China, Sea of Nikpa

 Al-Gingaleh, Zebid, Aden

 _AFRICA_. 

 Abyssinia and Nubia, Egypt

 Gana, Desert of Sahara, Fayum, Heluan

 Cairo

 Alexandria

 Damietta, Sunbat, Mount Sinai, Tur Sinai, Tanis

 _EUROPE_. 

 Island of Sicily, Messina, Palermo, Italy

 Germany

 Bohemia, Slavonia

 Russia, France, Paris

 ENGLISH INDEX

 * * * * *

 HEBREW TEXT, with prefatory note . .. .. .. [Hebrew] List of emendations of Text . .. .. .. . [Hebrew] HEBREW INDEX . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. [Hebrew]

 * * * * *

INTRODUCTION

I. ISLAM IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 

The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela throws a flashlight upon one ofthe most interesting stages in the development of nations. 

The history of the civilized world from the downfall of the RomanEmpire to the present day may be summarized as the struggle betweenCross and Crescent. This struggle is characterized by a persistent ebband flow. Mohammed in 622 A. D. Transformed, as if by magic, a clusterof Bedouin tribes into a warlike people. An Arabian Empire was formed, which reached from the Ebro to the Indus. Its further advance wasstemmed in the year 732, just a hundred years after Mohammed's death, by Charles Martel, in the seven days' battle of Tours. 

The progress of the culture of the Arabs was as rapid as had been thatof their arms. Great cities such as Cairo and Bagdad were built. Commerce and manufactures flourished. The Jews, who enjoyed protectionunder the benign rule of the Caliphs, transmitted to the Arabs thelearning and science of the Greeks. Schools and universities arose inall parts of the Empire. The dark age of Christendom proved to be thegolden age of literature for Jew and Arab. 

By the eleventh century, however, the Arabs had lost much of theirmartial spirit. Islam might have lost its ascendancy in the East hadnot the warlike Seljuk Turks, coming from the highlands of CentralAsia, possessed themselves of the countries which, in days of old, constituted the Persian Empire under Darius. The Seljuks became readyconverts to Islam, and upheld the failing strength of the Arabs. 

It was the ill-treatment by the Seljuks of the Christian pilgrims toPalestine which aroused Christian Europe and led to the First Crusade. The feudal system adopted by the Seljuks caused endless dissensionamong their petty sovereigns, called "Atabegs", all of whom werenominally vassals of the Caliph at Bagdad. Thus it came about thatIslamism, divided against itself, offered but a poor resistance to theadvance of the Christians. The Crusaders had little difficulty inmaking their way to Palestine. They captured Jerusalem, andestablished the Latin kingdom there. 

By the middle of the twelfth century Mohammedan power had shrunk tosmaller dimensions. Not only did the Franks hold Palestine and all theimportant posts on the Syrian coast, but, by the capture of LesserArmenia, Antioch, and Edessa, they had driven a wedge into Syria, andextended their conquests even beyond the Euphrates. 

At length there came a pause in the decline of Islam. Zengi, apowerful Seljuk Atabeg, in 1144 captured Edessa, the outpost ofChristendom, and the Second Crusade, led by the Emperor Conrad ofGermany and by King Louis VII of France, failed to effect therecapture of the fortress. Nureddin, the far-sighted son and successorof Zengi, and later on Saladin, a Kurd, trained at his court, discovered how to restore the fallen might of Islam and expel theFranks from Asia. A necessary preliminary step was to put an end tothe dissensions of the Atabeg rulers. Nureddin did this effectually byhimself annexing their dominions. His next step was to gain possessionof Egypt, and thereby isolate the Latin Kingdom. Genoa, Pisa, andVenice, the three Italian republics who between them had command ofthe sea, were too selfish and too intent upon their commercialinterests to interfere with the designs of the Saracens. The Latinking Amalric had for some years sought to gain a foothold in Egypt. InNovember, 1168, he led the Christian army as far as the Nile, and wasabout to seize Fostat, the old unfortified Arab metropolis of Egypt. The inhabitants, however, preferred to set fire to the city ratherthan that it should fall into the hands of the Christians. To thisvery day many traces may be seen in the neighbourhood of Cairo of thisconflagration. Nureddin's army, in which Saladin held a subordinatecommand, by a timely arrival on the scene forced the Franks toretreat, and the Saracens were acclaimed as deliverers. 

The nominal ruler of Egypt at that time was El-Adid, the FatimiteCaliph, and he made Saladin his Vizier, little thinking that thatmodest officer would soon supplant him. So efficiently did Saladinadminister the country that in a few months it had regained itsprosperity, despite the five years' devastating war which hadpreceded. 

At this juncture the traveller Rabbi Benjamin came to Egypt. Somethree years earlier he had left his native place--Tudela, on the Ebroin the north of Spain. After passing through the prosperous townswhich lie on the Gulf of Lyons, he visited Rome and South Italy. FromOtranto he crossed over to Corfu, traversed Greece, and then came toConstantinople, of which he gives an interesting account. Verytelling, for example, are the words: "They hire from amongst allnations warriors called Barbarians to fight with the Sultan of theSeljuks; for the natives are not warlike, but are as women who have nostrength to fight. " After visiting the Islands of the Aegean, as wellas Rhodes and Cyprus, he passed on to Antioch, and followed thewell-known southern route skirting the Mediterranean, visiting theimportant cities along the coast, all of which were then in the handsof the Franks. 

Having regard to the strained relations between the Christians andSaracens, and to the fights and forays of the Latin knights, we canunderstand that Benjamin had to follow a very circuitous way to enablehim to visit all the places of note in Palestine. From Damascus, whichwas then the capital of Nureddin's empire, he travelled along withsafety until he reached Bagdad, the city of the Caliph, of whom he hasmuch to tell. 

It is unlikely that he went far into Persia, which at that time was ina chaotic state, and where the Jews were much oppressed. From Basra, at the mouth of the Tigris, he probably visited the island of Kish inthe Persian Gulf, which in the Middle Ages was a great emporium ofcommerce, and thence proceeded to Egypt by way of Aden and Assuan. 

Benjamin gives us a vivid sketch of the Egypt of his day. Peace andplenty seemed to prevail in the country. This happy state of thingswas entirely due to the wise measures taken by Saladin, who, however, kept himself so studiously in the background, that not even his nameis mentioned in the Itinerary. The deposition of the Fatimite Caliphon Friday, September 10, 1171, and his subsequent death, caused littlestir. Saladin continued to govern Egypt as Nureddin's lieutenant. Indue course he made himself master of Barca and Tripoli; then heconquered Arabia Felix and the Soudan, and after Nureddin's death hehad no difficulty in annexing his old master's dominions. TheChristian nations viewed his rapidly growing power with natural alarm. 

About that time news had reached Europe that a powerful Christian kingnamed Prester John, who reigned over a people coming from CentralAsia, had invaded Western Asia and inflicted a crushing defeat upon aMoslem army. Pope Alexander III conceived the hope that a useful allycould be found in this priest-king, who would support and uphold theChristian dominion in Asia. He accordingly dispatched his physicianPhilip on a mission to this mysterious potentate to secure his helpagainst the Mohammedans. The envoy never returned. 

Benjamin is one of the very few writers of the Middle Ages who givesus an account of these subjects of Prester John. They were no otherthan the infidels, the sons of Ghuz, or Kofar-al-Turak, the wildflat-nosed Mongol hordes from the Tartary Steppes, who, in Benjamin'squaint language, "worship the wind and live in the wilderness, who eatno bread and drink no wine, but feed on uncooked meat. They have nonoses--in lieu thereof they have two small holes through which theybreathe. "

These were not men likely to help the Christians. On the contrary, asis so fully described in Benjamin's Itinerary, they broke the power ofSultan Sinjar, the mighty Shah of Persia, who, had he been spared bythe men of Ghuz, would have proved a serious menace to Saladin. 

It took Saladin some years to consolidate his empire. 

In 1187 he felt himself in a position to engage the Franks in adecisive conflict. At the battle of Tiberias, Guy, the Latin king, wasdefeated and taken prisoner. The Knights-Templars and Hospitalers, ofwhose doings at Jerusalem Benjamin gives us particulars, either sharedthe fate of the king or were slain in action. Jerusalem fell soonafterwards. Pope Alexander III roused the conscience of Europe, andinduced the pick of chivalry to embark upon the Third Crusade in 1189. But the prowess of the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa, the gallantry ofRichard I of England, the astuteness of Philip Augustus of France, were of no avail. The Fourth and Fifth Crusades were equallyunsuccessful, and the tide of Islam's success rose high. 

After Saladin's death his empire gradually crumbled to pieces, andunder Ghenghis Khan an invasion took place of hordes of Mongols andTartars, of whom the Ghuz had been merely the precursors. They overranChina and Russia, Persia, and parts of Western Asia. The effeteCaliphate at Bagdad was overthrown, but to Islam itself fresh life wasimparted. The rapid decline of the Mongol power at the end of thethirteenth century gave free scope to the rise of the Ottoman Turks, who had been driven from their haunts east of the Caspian Sea. Liketheir kinsmen the Seljuks they settled in Asia Minor, and embraced theMohammedan faith, an example which many Mongols followed. The convertsproved trusty warriors to fight the cause of Islam, which graduallyattained the zenith of success. On May 29, 1453, Constantinople wascaptured by the Turks, and an end was made of the Byzantine Empire. Eastern Europe was subsequently overrun by them, and it was not untilJohn Sobieski defeated the Turks under the walls of Vienna in 1683that their victorious career was checked. 

Then at last the tide of Islam turned, and its fortunes have beenebbing ever since. At the present day little territory remains to themin Europe. India and Egypt are now subject to England; Russia hasannexed Central Asia; France rules Algiers and Tunis. One wonderswhether there will be a pause in this steady decline of Islam, andwhether the prophetic words of Scripture will continue to hold good:"He will be a wild man, his hand will be against every man, and everyman's hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all hisbrethren. "

This brief consideration of the struggle between Cross and Crescentmay serve to indicate the importance of the revival of Islam, whichtook place between the Second and Third Crusades, at the time whenBenjamin wrote his Itinerary. 

II. THE OBJECT OF BENJAMIN'S JOURNEY. 

We may ask what induced Benjamin to undertake his travels? What objector mission was he carrying out?

It must be explained that the Jew in the Middle Ages was much given totravel. He was the Wandering Jew, who kept up communications betweenone country and another. He had a natural aptitude for trade andtravel. His people were scattered to the four corners of the earth. Aswe can see from Benjamin's Itinerary, there was scarcely a city ofimportance where Jews could not be found. In the sacred tongue theypossessed a common language, and wherever they went they could relyupon a hospitable reception from their co-religionists. Travellingwas, therefore, to them comparatively easy, and the bond of commoninterest always supplied a motive. Like Joseph, the traveller would bedispatched with the injunction: "I pray thee see whether it be wellwith thy brethren, and bring me word again. "

If this was the case in times when toleration and protection wereextended to the Jews, how much stronger must have grown the desire forintercommunication at the time of the Crusades. The most prosperouscommunities in Germany and the Jewish congregations that lay along theroute to Palestine had been exterminated or dispersed, and even inSpain, where the Jews had enjoyed complete security for centuries, they were being pitilessly persecuted in the Moorish kingdom ofCordova. 

It is not unlikely, therefore, that Benjamin may have undertaken hisjourney with the object of finding out where his expatriated brethrenmight find an asylum. It will be noted that Benjamin seems to useevery effort to trace and to afford particulars of independentcommunities of Jews, who had chiefs of their own, and owed noallegiance to the foreigner. 

He may have had trade and mercantile operations in view. He certainlydwells on matters of commercial interest with considerable detail. Probably he was actuated by both motives, coupled with the pious wishof making a pilgrimage to the land of his fathers. 

Whatever his intentions may have been, we owe Benjamin no small debtof gratitude for handing to posterity records that form a uniquecontribution to our knowledge of geography and ethnology in the MiddleAges. 

III. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

"The Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, " prepared and published byA. Asher, is the best edition of the diary of that traveller. Thefirst volume appeared in 1840, and contained a carefully compiledHebrew text with vowel points, together with an English translationand a bibliographical account. A second volume appeared in 1841containing elaborate notes by Asher himself and by such eminentscholars as Zunz and Rapoport, together with a valuable essay by theformer on the Geographical Literature of the Jews and on the Geographyof Palestine, also an Essay by Lebrecht on the Caliphate of Bagdad. 

In addition to twenty-three several reprints and translationsenumerated by Asher, various others have since appeared from time totime, but all of them are based upon the two editions of the text fromwhich he compiled his work. These were the Editio Princeps, printed byEliezer ben Gershon at Constantinople, 1543, and the Ferrara Editionof 1556, printed by Abraham Usque, the editor of the famous "Jews"Bible in Spanish. 

Asher himself more than once deplores the fact that he had not asingle MS. To resort to when confronted by doubtful or divergentreadings in the texts before him. 

I have, however, been fortunate enough to be able to trace and examinethree complete MSS. Of Benjamin's Travels, as well as large fragmentsbelonging to two other MSS. , and these I have embodied in my presentcollation. The following is a brief description of the MSS. :--

I. BM, a MS. In the British Museum (No. 27, 089). It is bound up withsome of Maimonides' works, several Midrashic tracts, a commentary onthe Hagadah by Joseph Gikatilia, and an extract from Abarbanel'scommentary on Isaiah; it forms part of the Almanzi collection, whichcuriously enough was purchased by the British Museum from Asher & Co. In October, 1865, some twenty years after Asher's death. 

Photographs of three pages of this MS. Will be found with the Hebrewtext. With regard to the date of the MS. , some competent judges whohave seen it assign it to the thirteenth century, and this view hassome support from Professor S. D. Luzzatto, who, in Steinschneider's_Hammazkir_ (vol. V, fo. 105, xvii) makes the following comment uponit:--

[HEBREW: Masaot R. Binyamin y''g dafim k'tivah ashkenazit k'domahyoter:]

This MS. Is the groundwork of the text I have adopted. 

2. R, or the Roman MS. , in the Casanatense library at Rome, andnumbered No. 216 in the Catalogue Sacerdote. This MS. Occupies thefirst twenty-seven leaves of Codex 3097, which contains fifteen othertreatises, among them a text of Eldad Hadani, all written by the samescribe, Isaac of Pisa, in 5189 A. M. , which corresponds with 1429-1430(see Colophon at the end of the Hebrew text, page [HEBREW: ayn-nun]). Under my direction Dr. Grünhut, of Jerusalem, proceeded to Rome, andmade a copy. Subsequently I obtained a collation of it made by thelate Dr. Neubauer; both have been used in preparing the notes to thetext. Later on, after the Hebrew text had already been printed, Ivisited Rome, and on examining the MS. I found that a few variants hadbeen overlooked. I had facsimiles made of several pages, which will befound with the Hebrew text. 

3. E, a MS. Now in the possession of Herr Epstein of Vienna, whoacquired it from Halberstamm's collection. The only reliable clue asto the date of this MS. Is the license of the censor: "visto per mefra Luigi da Bologna Juglio 1599. " Herr Epstein considers it to havebeen written at the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenthcentury. The MS. Is on paper and in "Italian" handwriting. It containsseventy-four quarto pages of from 19-20 lines each. Speaking generallyit is analogous to the edition of Ferrara, 1556, which was used byAshor as the groundwork of his text (Asher, p. 3), but the spelling ofpersons and places in E often differs from that in the text of Asher. 

4. O, in the Oppenheim collection of the Bodleian Library (MS. Opp. Add. 8° 36; ff. 58-63; Neubauer 2425), is a fragment. Its first threeleaves are continuous, beginning at p. 61 of Asher's edition andending at p. 73. After this there is a _lacuna_ of four leaves, andthe fragment, which recommences at p. 98 of Asher's edition, is thencontinuous to the end of the book. The volume in which it is boundcontains various other treatises written by the same scribe, andincludes a fragment on Maimonides, whose death is mentioned asoccurring in 1202, and also part of a controversy of Nachmanides whichtook place in 1263. 

The MS. Is in Spanish Rabbinic characters, and would appear to havebeen written in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. For the collationof this and the following fragment I am indebted to the kindness of myfriend Mr. A. Cowley, of Oxford. Photographs of pages of both MSS. Will be found with the Hebrew text. 

5. B, also in the Oppenheim collection of the Bodleian Library (MS. Opp. Add. 8°, 58; fol. 57; Neubauer 2580). This fragment begins at p. 50 of Asher's edition. The date of this fragment is probably muchlater than that of O, and may well be as late as the eighteenthcentury. It appears to be written in an oriental hand. 

In addition to the critical text, I give a translation of the BritishMuseum MS. , and add brief notes thereto. I have purposely confined thelatter to small dimensions in view of the fact that Asher's notes, theJewish Encyclopaedia, and the works of such writers as Graetz andothers, will enable the reader to acquire further information on thevarious incidents, personages, and places referred to by Benjamin. Iwould, however, especially mention a work by Mr. C. Raymond Beazleyentitled "The Dawn of Modern Geography, " particularly his secondvolume, published in 1901. The frank and friendly manner in which thewriter does justice to the merits of the Jewish traveller contrastsfavourably with the petty and malignant comments of certain non-Jewishcommentators, of which Asher repeatedly complains. 

It is not out of place to mention that soon after the publication in1841 of the work on Benjamin by A. Asher, there appeared a reviewthereof in consecutive numbers of the Jewish periodical _Der Orient_. The articles bore the signature _Sider_, but the author proved to beDr. Steinschneider. They were among the first literary contributionsby which he became known. Although written sixty-five years ago hisreview has a freshness and a value which renders it well worth readingat the present day. The ninetieth birthday of the Nestor of Semiticliterature was celebrated on March 30 of last year, and it afforded nolittle gratification to the writer that Dr. Steinschneider on thatoccasion accepted the dedication to him of this the latestcontribution to the "Benjamin Literature. " The savant passed away onthe 23rd of January last, and I humbly dedicate my modest work to hismemory. 

I have the pleasure of expressing my thanks to the editors of the_Jewish Quarterly Review_, who have permitted me to reprint myarticles; also to Dr. Berlin and other friends for their co-operation;and to the Delegates of the Oxford University Press for allowing me tomake use of the map of Western Asia in the twelfth century, which wasdesigned by Professor S. Lane-Poole. 

Marcus N. Adler. _May 27, 1907. _

 * * * * *

THE ITINERARY OF BENJAMIN OF TUDELA. 

HEBREW INTRODUCTION. 

This is the book of travels, which was compiled by Rabbi Benjamin, theson of Jonah, of the land of Navarre--his repose be in Paradise. 

The said Rabbi Benjamin set forth from Tudela, his native city, andpassed through many remote countries, as is related in his book. Inevery place which he entered, he made a record of all that he saw, orwas told of by trustworthy persons--matters not previously heard of inthe land of Sepharad[1]. Also he mentions some of the sages andillustrious men residing in each place. He brought this book with himon his return to the country of Castile, in the year 4933 (C. E. 1173)[2]. The said Rabbi Benjamin is a wise and understanding man, learned in the Law and the Halacha, and wherever we have tested hisstatements we have found them accurate, true to fact and consistent;for he is a trustworthy man. 

[p. 1]

His book commences as follows:--I journeyed first from my native townto the city of Saragossa[3], and thence by way of the River Ebro toTortosa. From there I went a journey of two days to the ancient cityof Tarragona with its Cyclopean and Greek buildings[4]. The likethereof is not found among any of the buildings in the country ofSepharad. It is situated by the sea, and two days' journey from thecity of Barcelona, where there is a holy congregation, includingsages, wise and illustrious men, such as R. Shesheth[5], R. Shealtiel, R. Solomon, and R. Abraham, son of Chisdai. This is a small city andbeautiful, lying upon the sea-coast. 

[p. 2]

Merchants come thither from all quarters with their wares, fromGreece, from Pisa, Genoa, Sicily, Alexandria in Egypt, Palestine, Africa and all its coasts. Thence it is a day and a half to Gerona, inwhich there is a small congregation of Jews[6]. A three days'journeytakes one to Narbonne, which is a city pre-eminent for learning;thence the Torah (Law) goes forth to all countries. Sages, and greatand illustrious men abide here. At their head is R. Kalonymos, the sonof the great and illustrious R. Todros of the seed of David, whosepedigree is established. He possesses hereditaments and lands givenhim by the ruler of the city, of which no man can forcibly dispossesshim[7]. Prominent in the community is R Abraham[8], head of theAcademy: also R. Machir and R. Judah, and many other distinguishedscholars. At the present day 300 Jews are there. 

Thence it is four parasangs[9] to the city of Beziers, where there isa congregation of learned men. At their head is R. Solomon Chalafta, RJoseph, and R. Nethanel. Thence it is two days to Har Gaash which iscalled Montpellier. This is a place well situated for commerce. 

[p. 3]

It is about a parasang from the sea, and men come for business therefrom all quarters, from Edom, Ishmael, the land of Algarve[10], Lombardy, the dominion of Rome the Great, from all the land of Egypt, Palestine, Greece, France, Asia and England. People of all nations arefound there doing business through the medium of the Genoese andPisans. In the city there are scholars of great eminence, at theirhead being R. Reuben, son of Todros, R. Nathan, son of Zechariah, andR. Samuel, their chief rabbi, also R. Solomon and R. Mordecai. Theyhave among them houses of learning devoted to the study of the Talmud. Among the community are men both rich and charitable, who lend ahelping hand to all that come to them. 

From Montpellier it is four parasangs to Lunel, in which there is acongregation of Israelites, who study the Law day and night. Herelived Rabbenu Meshullam the great rabbi, since deceased, and his fivesons, who are wise, great and wealthy, namely: R. Joseph, R. Isaac, R. Jacob, R. Aaron, and R. Asher, the recluse, who dwells apart from theworld; he pores over his books day and night, fasts periodically andabstains from all meat[11]. 

[p. 4]

He is a great scholar of the Talmud. At Lunel live also theirbrother-in-law R. Moses, the chief rabbi, R. Samuel the elder[12], R. Ulsarnu, R. Solomon Hacohen, and R. Judah the Physician, the son ofTibbon, the Sephardi. The students that come from distant lands tolearn the Law are taught, boarded, lodged and clothed by thecongregation, so long as they attend the house of study. The communityhas wise, understanding and saintly men of great benevolence, who lenda helping hand to all their brethren both far and near. Thecongregation consists of about 300 Jews--may the Lord preserve them. 

From there it is two parasangs to Posquières, which is a large placecontaining about forty Jews, with an Academy under the auspices of thegreat Rabbi, R. Abraham, son of David, of blessed memory, an energeticand wise man, great as a talmudical authority[13]. People come to himfrom a distance to learn the Law at his lips, and they find rest inhis house, and he teaches them. Of those who are without means he alsopays the expenses, for he is very rich. 

[p. 5]

The munificent R. Joseph, son of Menachem, also dwells here, and R. Benveniste, R. Benjamin, R. Abraham and R. Isaac, son of R. Meir ofblessed memory. Thence it is four parasangs to the suburb (Ghetto?)Bourg de St. Gilles, in which place there are about a hundred Jews. Wise men abide there; at their head being R. Isaac, son of Jacob, R. Abraham, son of Judah, R. Eleazar, R. Jacob, R. Isaac, R. Moses and R. Jacob, son of rabbi Levi of blessed memory. This is a place ofpilgrimage of the Gentiles who come hither from the ends of the earth. It is only three miles from the sea, and is situated upon the greatRiver Rhone, which flows through the whole land of Provence. Heredwells the illustrious R. Abba Mari, son of the late R. Isaac; he isthe bailiff of Count Raymond[14]. 

[p. 6]

Thence it is three parasangs to the city of Arles, which has about 200Israelites, at their head being R. Moses, R. Tobias, R. Isaiah, R. Solomon, the chief rabbi R. Nathan, and R. Abba Mari, sincedeceased[15]. 

From there it is two days' journey to Marseilles[16], which is a cityof princely and wise citizens, possessing two congregations with about300 Jews. One congregation dwells below on the shore by the sea, theother is in the castle above. They form a great academy of learnedmen, amongst them being R. Simeon, R. Solomon, R. Isaac, son of AbbaMari[17], R. Simeon, son of Antoli, and R. Jacob his brother; also R. Libero. These persons are at the head of the upper academy. At thehead of the congregation below are R. Jacob Purpis[18], a wealthy man, and R. Abraham, son of R. Meir, his son-in-law, and R. Isaac, son ofthe late R. Meir. It is a very busy city upon the sea-coast. 

[p. 7]

From Marseilles one can take ship and in four days reach Genoa, whichis also upon the sea. Here live two Jews, R. Samuel, son of Salim, andhis brother, from the city of Ceuta, both of them good men. The cityis surrounded by a wall, and the inhabitants are not governed by anyking, but by judges whom they appoint at their pleasure. Eachhouseholder has a tower to his house, and at times of strife theyfight from the tops of the towers with each other. They have commandof the sea. They build ships which they call galleys, and makepredatory attacks upon Edom and Ishmael[19] and the land of Greece asfar as Sicily, and they bring back to Genoa spoils from all theseplaces. They are constantly at war with the men of Pisa. Between themand the Pisans there is a distance of two days' journey. 

Pisa is a very great city, with about 10, 000 turreted houses forbattle at times of strife. All its inhabitants are mighty men. Theypossess neither king nor prince to govern them, but only the judgesappointed by themselves. In this city are about twenty Jews, at theirhead being R. Moses, R. Chayim, and R. Joseph. The city is notsurrounded by a wall. It is about six miles from the sea; the riverwhich flows through the city provides it with ingress and egress forships. 

From Pisa it is four parasangs to the city of Lucca, which is thebeginning of the frontier of Lombardy. In the city of Lucca are aboutforty Jews. It is a large place, and at the head of the Jews are R. David, R. Samuel, and R. Jacob. 

[p. 8]

Thence it is six days' journey to the great city of Rome. Rome is thehead of the kingdoms of Christendom, and contains about 200 Jews, whooccupy an honourable position and pay no tribute, and amongst them areofficials of the Pope Alexander, the spiritual head of allChristendom. Great scholars reside here, at the head of them being R. Daniel, the chief rabbi, and R. Jechiel, an official of the Pope[20]. He is a handsome young man of intelligence and wisdom, and he has theentry of the Pope's palace; for he is the steward of his house and ofall that he has. He is a grandson of R. Nathan, who composed theAruch[21] and its commentaries. Other scholars are R. Joab, son of thechief rabbi R. Solomon, R. Menachem, head of the academy, R. Jechiel, who lives in Trastevere, and R. Benjamin, son of R. Shabbethai ofblessed memory. Rome is divided into two parts by the River Tiber. Inthe one part is the great church which they call St. Peter's of Rome. The great Palace of Julius Caesar was also in Rome[22]. 

[p. 9]

There are many wonderful structures in the city, different from anyothers in the world. Including both its inhabited and ruined parts, Rome is about twenty-four miles in circumference. In the midstthereof[23] there are eighty palaces belonging to eighty kings wholived there, each called Imperator, commencing from King Tarquiniusdown to Nero and Tiberius, who lived at the time of Jesus theNazarene, ending with Pepin, who freed the land of Sepharad fromIslam, and was father of Charlemagne. 

There is a palace outside Rome (said to be of Titus). The Consul andhis 300 Senators treated him with disfavour, because he failed to takeJerusalem till after three years, though they had bidden him tocapture it within two[24]. 

In Rome is also the palace of Vespasianus, a great and very strongbuilding; also the Colosseum[25], in which edifice there are 365sections, according to the days of the solar year; and thecircumference of these palaces is three miles. There were battlesfought here in olden times, and in the palace more than 100, 000 menwere slain, and there their bones remain piled up to the present day. 

[p. 10]

The king caused to be engraved a representation of the battle and ofthe forces on either side facing one another, both warriors andhorses, all in marble, to exhibit to the world the war of the days ofold. 

In Rome there is a cave which runs underground, and catacombs of KingTarmal Galsin and his royal consort who are to be found there, seatedupon their thrones, and with them about a hundred royal personages. They are all embalmed and preserved to this day. In the church of St. John in the Lateran there are two bronze columns taken from theTemple, the handiwork of King Solomon, each column being engraved"Solomon the son of David. " The Jews of Rome told me that every yearupon the 9th of Ab they found the columns exuding moisture like water. There also is the cave where Titus the son of Vespasianus stored theTemple vessels which he brought from Jerusalem. There is also a cavein a hill on one bank of the River Tiber where are the graves of theten martyrs[26]. 

[p. 11]

In front of St. John in the Lateran there are statues of Samson inmarble, with a spear in his hand, and of Absalom the son of KingDavid, and another of Constantinus the Great, who built Constantinopleand after whom it was called. The last-named statue is of bronze, thehorse being overlaid with gold[27]. Many other edifices are there, andremarkable sights beyond enumeration. 

From Rome it is four days to Capua, the large town which King Capysbuilt. It is a fine city, but its water is bad, and the country isfever-stricken[28]. About 300 Jews live there, among them greatscholars and esteemed persons, at their heads being R. Conso, hisbrother R. Israel, R. Zaken and the chief rabbi R. David, sincedeceased. They call this district the Principality. 

From there one goes to Pozzuoli which is called Sorrento the Great, built by Zur, son of Hadadezer, when he fled in fear of David theking. The sea has risen and covered the city from its two sides, andat the present day one can still see the markets and towers whichstood in the midst of the city[29]. 

[p. 12]

A spring issues forth from beneath the ground containing the oil whichis called petroleum. People collect it from the surface of the waterand use it medicinally. There are also hot-water springs to the numberof about twenty, which issue from the ground and are situated near thesea, and every man who has any disease can go and bathe in them andget cured. All the afflicted of Lombardy visit it in the summer-timefor that purpose. 

From this place a man can travel fifteen miles along a road under themountains, a work executed by King Romulus who built the city of Rome. He was prompted to this by fear of King David and Joab hisgeneral[30]. He built fortifications both upon the mountains and belowthe mountains reaching as far as the city of Naples. Naples is a verystrong city, lying upon the sea-board, and was founded by the Greeks. About 500 Jews live here, amongst them R. Hezekiah, R. Shallum, R. Elijah Hacohen and R. Isaac of Har Napus, the chief rabbi of blessedmemory. 

Thence one proceeds by sea to the city of Salerno, where theChristians have a school of medicine. About 600 Jews dwell there. 

[p. 13]

Among the scholars are R. Judah, son of R. Isaac, the son ofMelchizedek, the great Rabbi[31], who came from the city of Siponto;also R. Solomon (the Cohen), R. Elijah the Greek, R. Abraham Narboni, and R. Hamon. It is a city with walls upon the land side, the otherside bordering on the sea and there is a very strong castle on thesummit of the hill. Thence it is half a day's journey to Amalfi, wherethere are about twenty Jews, amongst them R. Hananel, the physician, R. Elisha, and Abu-al-gir, the prince. The inhabitants of the placeare merchants engaged in trade, who do not sow or reap, because theydwell upon high hills and lofty crags, but buy everything for money. Nevertheless, they have an abundance of fruit, for it is a land ofvineyards and olives, of gardens and plantations, and no one can go towar with them. 

Thence it is a day's journey to Benevento, which is a city situatedbetween the sea-coast and a mountain, and possessing a community ofabout 200 Jews. At their head are R. Kalonymus, R. Zarach, and R. Abraham. From there it is two days' journey to Melfi in the country ofApulia, which is the land of Pul[32], where about 200 Jews reside, attheir head being R. Achimaaz, R. Nathan, and R. Isaac. 

[p. 14]

From Melfi it is about a day's journey to Ascoli, where there areabout forty Jews, at their head being R. Consoli, R. Zemach, hisson-in-law, and R. Joseph. From there it takes two days to Trani onthe sea, where all the pilgrims gather to go to Jerusalem; for theport is a convenient one. A community of about 200 Israelites isthere, at their head being R. Elijah, R. Nathan, the expounder, and R. Jacob. It is a great and beautiful city. 

From there it is a day's journey to Colo di Bari, which is the greatcity which King William of Sicily destroyed[33]. Neither Jews norGentiles live there at the present day in consequence of itsdestruction. Thence it is a day and a half to Taranto, which is underthe government of Calabria, the inhabitants of which are Greek[34]. Itis a large city, and contains about 300 Jews, some of them men oflearning, and at their head are R. Meir, R. Nathan, and R. Israel. 

From Taranto it is a day's journey to Brindisi, which is on the seacoast. 

[p. 15]

About ten Jews, who are dyers, reside here. It is two days' journey toOtranto, which is on the coast of the Greek sea. Here are about 500Jews, at the head of them being R. Menachem, R. Caleb, R. Meir, and R. Mali. From Otranto it is a voyage of two days to Corfu, where only oneJew of the name of R. Joseph lives, and here ends the kingdom ofSicily. 

Thence it is two days' voyage to the land of Larta (Arta), which isthe beginning of the dominions of Emanuel, Sovereign of the Greeks. Itis a place containing about 100 Jews, at their head being R. Shelachiah and R. Hercules. From there it is two days to Aphilon(Achelous)[35], a place in which reside about thirty Jews, at theirhead being R. Sabbattai. From there it takes half a day to Anatolica, which is situated on an arm of the sea[36]. 

From there it takes a day to Patras, which is the city whichAntipater[37], King of the Greeks, built. He was one of the foursuccessors of King Alexander. 

[p. 16]

In the city there are several large old buildings, and about fiftyJews live here, at their head being R. Isaac, R. Jacob, and R. Samuel. Half a day's journey by way of the sea takes one to Kifto(Lepanto)[38], where there are about 100 Jews, who live on thesea-coast; at their head are R. Guri, R. Shallum, and R. Abraham. Fromthere it is a journey of a day and a half to Crissa, where about 200Jews live apart. They sow and reap on their own land; at their headare R. Solomon, R. Chayim, and R. Jedaiah. From there it is threedays' journey to the capital city of Corinth; here are about 300 Jews, at their head being R. Leon, R. Jacob, and R. Hezekiah. 

Thence it is two days' journey to the great city of Thebes, wherethere are about 2, 000 Jews. They are the most skilled artificers insilk and purple cloth throughout Greece. They have scholars learned inthe Mishnah and the Talmud, and other prominent men, and at their headare the chief rabbi R. Kuti and his brother R. Moses, as well as R. Chiyah, R. Elijah Tirutot, and R. Joktan; and there are none like themin the land of the Greeks, except in the city of Constantinople. 

[p. 17]

From Thebes it is a day's journey to Egripo[39], which is a large cityupon the sea-coast, where merchants come from every quarter. About 200Jews live there, at their head being R. Elijah Psalteri, R. Emanuel, and R. Caleb. 

From there it takes a day to Jabustrisa, which is a city upon thesea-coast with about 100 Jews, at their head being R. Joseph, R. Elazar, R. Isaac, R. Samuel, and R. Nethaniah. From there it is aday's journey to Rabonica, where there are about 100 Jews, at theirhead being R. Joseph, R. Elazar, and R. Isaac. 

From there it is a day's journey to Sinon Potamo, where there areabout fifty Jews, at their head being R. Solomon and R. Jacob. Thecity is situated at the foot of the hills of Wallachia. The nationcalled Wallachians live in those mountains. They are as swift ashinds, and they sweep down from the mountains to despoil and ravagethe land of Greece. No man can go up and do battle against them, andno king can rule over them. They do not hold fast to the faith of theNazarenes, but give themselves Jewish names. 

[p. 18]

Some people say that they are Jews, and, in fact, they call the Jewstheir brethren, and when they meet with them, though they rob them, they refrain from killing them as they kill the Greeks. They arealtogether lawless[40]. 

From there it is two days' journey to Gardiki, which is in ruins andcontains but a few Greeks and Jews. From there it is two days' journeyto Armylo, which is a large city on the sea, inhabited by Venetians, Pisans, Genoese, and all the merchants who come there; it is anextensive place, and contains about 400 Jews. At their head are thechief rabbi R. Shiloh Lombardo, R. Joseph, the warden, and R. Solomon, the leading man. Thence it is a day's journey to Vissena, where thereare about 100 Jews, at their head being the chief rabbi R. Sabbattai, R. Solomon, and R. Jacob. 

From there it is two days' voyage to the city of Salonica, built byKing Seleucus, one of the four successors who followed after KingAlexander. It is a very large city, with about 500 Jews, including thechief rabbi R. Samuel and his sons, who are scholars. 

[p. 19]

He is appointed by the king as head of the Jews. There is also R. Sabbattai, his son-in-law, R. Elijah, and R. Michael. The Jews areoppressed, and live by silk-weaving. 

Thence it is two days' journey to Demetrizi, with about fifty Jews. Inthis place live R. Isaiah, R. Machir, and R. Alib. Thence it is twodays to Drama, where there are about 140 Jews, at the head of thembeing R. Michael and R. Joseph. From there it is one day's journey toChristopoli, where about twenty Jews live. 

A three days' voyage brings one to Abydos, which is upon an arm of thesea which flows between the mountains, and after a five days' journeythe great town of Constantinople is reached. It is the capital of thewhole land of Javan, which is called Greece. Here is the residence ofthe King Emanuel the Emperor. Twelve ministers are under him, each ofwhom has a palace in Constantinople and possesses castles and cities;they rule all the land. At their head is the King Hipparchus, thesecond in command is the Megas Domesticus, the third Dominus, and thefourth is Megaa Ducas, and the fifth is Oeconomus Megalus; the othersbear names like these[41]. 

[p. 20]

The circumference of the city of Constantinople is eighteen miles;half of it is surrounded by the sea, and half by land, and it issituated upon two arms of the sea, one coming from the sea of Russia, and one from the sea of Sepharad. 

All sorts of merchants come here from the land of Babylon, from theland of Shinar, from Persia, Media, and all the sovereignty of theland of Egypt, from the land of Canaan, and the empire of Russia[42], from Hungaria, Patzinakia[43], Khazaria[44], and the land of Lombardyand Sepharad. It is a busy city, and merchants come to it from everycountry by sea or land, and there is none like it in the world exceptBagdad, the great city of Islam. In Constantinople is the church ofSanta Sophia, and the seat of the Pope of the Greeks, since the Greeksdo not obey the Pope of Rome. There are also churches according to thenumber of the days of the year. A quantity of wealth beyond telling isbrought hither year by year as tribute from the two islands and thecastles and villages which are there. 

[p. 21]

And the like of this wealth is not to be found in any other church inthe world. And in this church there are pillars of gold and silver, and lamps of silver and gold more than a man can count. Close to thewalls of the palace is also a place of amusement belonging to theking, which is called the Hippodrome, and every year on theanniversary of the birth of Jesus the king gives a great entertainmentthere. And in that place men from all the races of the world comebefore the king and queen with jugglery and without jugglery, and theyintroduce lions, leopards, bears, and wild asses, and they engage themin combat with one another; and the same thing is done with birds. Noentertainment like this is to be found in any other land. 

This King Emanuel built a great palace for the seat of his Governmentupon the sea-coast, in addition to the palaces which his fathersbuilt, and he called its name Blachernae[45]. He overlaid its columnsand walls with gold and silver, and engraved thereon representationsof the battles before his day and of his own combats. He also set up athrone of gold and of precious stones, and a golden crown wassuspended by a gold chain over the throne, so arranged that he mightsit thereunder[46]. 

[p. 22]

It was inlaid with jewels of priceless value, and at night time nolights were required, for every one could see by the light which thestones gave forth. Countless other buildings are to be met with in thecity. From every part of the empire of Greece tribute is brought hereevery year, and they fill strongholds with garments of silk, purple, and gold. Like unto these storehouses and this wealth, there isnothing in the whole world to be found. It is said that the tribute ofthe city amounts every year to 20, 000 gold pieces, derived both fromthe rents of shops and markets, and from the tribute of merchants whoenter by sea or land. 

The Greek inhabitants are very rich in gold and precious stones, andthey go clothed in garments of silk with gold embroidery, and theyride horses, and look like princes. Indeed, the land is very rich inall cloth stuffs, and in bread, meat, and wine. 

[p. 23]

Wealth like that of Constantinople is not to be found in the wholeworld. Here also are men learned in all the books of the Greeks, andthey eat and drink every man under his vine and his fig-tree. 

They hire from amongst all nations warriors called Loazim (Barbarians)to fight with the Sultan Masud[47], King of the Togarmim (Seljuks), who are called Turks; for the natives are not warlike, but are aswomen who have no strength to fight. 

No Jews live in the city, for they have been placed behind an inlet ofthe sea. An arm of the sea of Marmora shuts them in on the one side, and they are unable to go out except by way of the sea, when they wantto do business with the inhabitants[48]. In the Jewish quarter areabout 2, 000 Rabbanite Jews and about 500 Karaïtes, and a fence dividesthem. Amongst the scholars are several wise men, at their head beingthe chief rabbi R. Abtalion, R. Obadiah, R. Aaron Bechor Shoro, R. Joseph Shir-Guru, and R. Eliakim, the warden. And amongst them thereare artificers in silk and many rich merchants. No Jew there isallowed to ride on horseback. 

[p. 24]

The one exception is R. Solomon Hamitsri, who is the king's physician, and through whom the Jews enjoy considerable alleviation of theiroppression. For their condition is very low, and there is much hatredagainst them, which is fostered by the tanners, who throw out theirdirty water in the streets before the doors of the Jewish houses anddefile the Jews' quarter (the Ghetto). So the Greeks hate the Jews, good and bad alike, and subject them to great oppression, and beatthem in the streets, and in every way treat them with rigour. Yet theJews are rich and good, kindly and charitable, and bear their lot withcheerfulness. The district inhabited by the Jews is called Pera. 

From Constantinople it is two days' voyage to Rhaedestus[49], with acommunity of Israelites of about 400, at their head being R. Moses, R. Abijah, and R. Jacob. From there it is two days to Callipolis(Gallipoli), where there are about 200 Jews, at their head being R. Elijah Kapur, R. Shabbattai Zutro, and R. Isaac Megas, which means"great" in Greek. And from here it is two days to Kales. 

[p. 25]

Here there are about fifty Jews, at their head being R. Jacob and R. Judah. From here it is two days' journey to the island of Mytilene, and there are Jewish congregations in ten localities on the island. Thence it is three days' voyage to the island of Chios, where thereare about 400 Jews, including R. Elijah Heman and R. Shabtha. Heregrow the trees from which mastic is obtained. Two days' voyage takesone to the island of Samos, where there are 300 Jews, at their headbeing R. Shemaria, R. Obadiah, and R. Joel. The islands have manycongregations of Jews. From Samos it is three days to Rhodes, wherethere are about 400 Jews, at their head being R. Abba, R. Hannanel, and R. Elijah. It is four days' voyage from here to Cyprus, wherethere are Rabbanite Jews and Karaïtes; there are also some hereticalJews called Epikursin, whom the Israelites have excommunicated in allplaces. They profane the eve of the sabbath, and observe the firstnight of the week, which is the termination of the sabbath[50]. 

[p. 26]

From Cyprus it is four days' journey to Curicus (Kurch), which is thebeginning of the land called Armenia, and this is the frontier of theempire of Thoros[51], ruler of the mountains, and king of Armenia, whose dominions extend to the province of Trunia[52], and to thecountry of the Togarmim or Turks. From there it is two days' journeyto Malmistras, which is Tarshish, situated by the sea; and thus farextends the kingdom of the Javanim or Greeks[53]. 

Thence it is two days' journey to Antioch the Great, situated on theriver Fur (Orontes), which is the river Jabbok, that flows from MountLebanon and from the land of Hamath[54]. This is the great city whichAntiochus the king built. The city lies by a lofty mountain, which issurrounded by the city-wall. At the top of the mountain is a well, from which a man appointed for that purpose directs the water by meansof twenty subterranean passages to the houses of the great men of thecity. The other part of the city is surrounded by the river. It is astrongly fortified city, and is under the sway of Prince BoemondPoitevin[55], surnamed le Baube. Ten Jews[56] dwell here, engaged inglass-making, and at their head are R. Mordecai, R. Chayim, and R. Samuel. 

[p. 27]

From here it is two days' journey to Lega, or Ladikiya, where thereare about 100 Jews, at their head being R. Chayim and R. Joseph. 

Thence it is two days' journey to Gebal (Gebela), which is Baal-Gad, at the foot of Lebanon[57]. In the neighbourhood dwells a peoplecalled Al-Hashishim[58]. They do not believe in the religion of Islam, but follow one of their own folk, whom they regard as their prophet, and all that he tells them to do they carry out, whether for death orlife. They call him the Sheik Al Hashishim, and he is known as theirElder. At his word these mountaineers go out and come in. Theirprincipal seat is Kadmus, which is Kedemoth in the land of Sihon. Theyare faithful to each other, but a source of terror to theirneighbours, killing even kings at the cost of their own lives. Theextent of their land is eight days' journey. And they are at war withthe sons of Edom who are called the Franks, and with the ruler ofTripolis, which is Tarabulus el Sham[59]. At Tripolis in years gone bythere was an earthquake, when many Gentiles and Jews perished, forhouses and walls fell upon them. There was great destruction at thattime throughout the Land of Israel, and more than 20, 000 soulsperished[60]. 

[p. 28]

Thence it is a day's journey to the other Gebal (Gubail), whichborders on the land of the children of Ammon, and here there are about150 Jews. The place is under the rule of the Genoese, the name of thegovernor being Guillelmus Embriacus[61]. Here was found a templebelonging to the children of Ammon in olden times, and an idol oftheirs seated upon a throne or chair, and made of stone overlaid withgold. Two women are represented sitting one on the right and one onthe left of it, and there is an altar in front before which theAmmonites used to sacrifice and burn incense[62]. There are about 200Jews there, at their head being R. Meir, R. Jacob, and R. Simchah. Theplace is situated on the sea-border of the land of Israel. From thereit is two days' journey to Beirut, or Beeroth, where there are aboutfifty Jews, at their head being R. Solomon, R. Obadiah, and R. Joseph. Thence it is one day's journey to Saida, which is Sidon, a large city, with about twenty Jews. 

[p. 29]

Ten miles therefrom a people dwell who are at war with the men ofSidon; they are called Druses, and are pagans of a lawless character. They inhabit the mountains and the clefts of the rocks; they have noking or ruler, but dwell independent in these high places, and theirborder extends to Mount Hermon, which is a three days' journey. Theyare steeped in vice, brothers marrying their sisters, and fatherstheir daughters. They have one feast-day in the year, when they allcollect, both men and women, to eat and drink together, and they theninterchange their wives[63]. They say that at the time when the soulleaves the body it passes in the case of a good man into the body of anewborn child, and in the case of a bad man into the body of a dog oran ass. Such are their foolish beliefs. There are no resident Jewsamong them, but a certain number of Jewish handicraftsmen and dyerscome among them for the sake of trade, and then return, the peoplebeing favourable to the Jews. 

[p. 30]

They roam over the mountains and hills, and no man can do battle withthem. 

From Sidon it is half a day's journey to Sarepta (Sarfend), whichbelongs to Sidon. Thence it is a half-day to New Tyre (S[=u]r), whichis a very fine city, with a harbour in its midst. At night-time thosethat levy dues throw iron chains from tower to tower, so that no mancan go forth by boat or in any other way to rob the ships by night. There is no harbour like this in the whole world. Tyre is a beautifulcity. It contains about 500 Jews, some of them scholars of the Talmud, at their head being R. Ephraim of Tyre, the Dayan, R. Meir fromCarcassonne, and R. Abraham, head of the congregation. The Jews ownsea-going vessels, and there are glass-makers amongst them who makethat fine Tyrian glass-ware which is prized in all countries. 

In the vicinity is found sugar of a high class, for men plant it here, and people come from all lands to buy it[64]. A man can ascend thewalls of New Tyre and see ancient Tyre, which the sea has now covered, lying at a stone's throw from the new city. 

[p. 31]

And should one care to go forth by boat, one can see the castles, market-places, streets, and palaces in the bed of the sea. New Tyre isa busy place of commerce, to which merchants flock from all quarters. 

One day's journey brings one to Acre, the Acco of old, which is on theborders of Asher; it is the commencement of the land of Israel. Situated by the Great Sea, it possesses a large harbour for all thepilgrims who come to Jerusalem by ship. A stream runs in front of it, called the brook of Kedumim[65]. About 200 Jews live there, at theirhead being R. Zadok, R. Japheth, and R. Jonah. From there it is threeparasangs to Haifa, which is Hahepher[66] on the seaboard, and on theother side is Mount Carmel[67], at the foot of which there are manyJewish graves. On the mountain is the cave of Elijah, where theChristians have erected a structure called St. Elias. On the top ofthe mountain can be recognized the overthrown altar which Elijahrepaired in the days of Ahab. The site of the altar is circular, aboutfour cubits remain thereof, and at the foot of the mountain the brookKishon flows. 

[p. 32]

From here it is four parasangs to Capernaum, which is the village ofNahum, identical with Maon, the home of Nabal the Carmelite[68]. 

Six parasangs from here is Caesarea, the Gath[69] of the Philistines, and here there are about 200 Jews and 200 Cuthim. These are the Jewsof Shomron, who are called Samaritans. The city is fair and beautiful, and lies by the sea. It was built by Caesar, and called after himCaesarea. Thence it is half a day's journey to Kako[70], the Keilah ofScripture. There are no Jews here. Thence it is half a day's journeyto St. George, which is Ludd[71], where there lives one Jew, who is adyer. Thence it is a day's journey to Sebastiya, which is the city ofShomron (Samaria), and here the ruins of the palace of Ahab the son ofOmri may be seen. It was formerly a well-fortified city by themountain-side, with streams of water. It is still a land of brooks ofwater, gardens, orchards, vineyards, and olive groves, but no Jewsdwell here. Thence it is two parasangs to Nablous, which is Shechem onMount Ephraim, where there are no Jews; the place is situated in thevalley between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, and contains about 1, 000Cuthim, who observe the written law of Moses alone, and are calledSamaritans. 

[p. 33]

They have priests of the seed (of Aaron), and they call them Aaronim, who do not intermarry with Cuthim, but wed only amongstthemselves[72]. These priests offer sacrifices, and bringburnt-offerings in their place of assembly on Mount Gerizim, as it iswritten in their law--"And thou shalt set the blessing on MountGerizim. " They say that this is the proper site of the Temple. OnPassover and the other festivals they offer up burnt-offerings on thealtar which they have built on Mount Gerizim, as it is written intheir law--"Ye shall set up the stones upon Mount Gerizim, of thestones which Joshua and the children of Israel set up at the Jordan. "They say that they are descended from the tribe of Ephraim. And in themidst of them is the grave of Joseph, the son of Jacob our father, asit is written--"and the bones of Joseph buried they in Shechem[73]. "Their alphabet lacks three letters, namely [Hebrew:] He, [Hebrew:]Heth, and [Hebrew:] Ain[74]. The letter [Hebrew:] He is taken fromAbraham our father, because they have no dignity, the letter [Hebrew:]Heth from Isaac, because they have no kindliness, and the letter[Hebrew: Ain] from Jacob, because they have no humility. 

[p. 34]

In place of these letters they make use of the Aleph, by which we cantell that they are not of the seed of Israel, although they know thelaw of Moses with the exception of these three letters. They guardthemselves from the defilement of the dead, of the bones of the slain, and of graves; and they remove the garments which they have wornbefore they go to the place of worship, and they bathe and put onfresh clothes. This is their constant practice. On Mount Gerizim arefountains and gardens and plantations, but Mount Ebal is rocky andbarren; and between them in the valley lies the city of Shechem. 

From the latter place it is a distance of four parasangs to MountGilboa, which the Christians call Mont Gilboa; it lies in a veryparched district. And from there it is five[75] . .. , a village wherethere are no Jews. Thence it is two parasangs to the valley ofAjalon[76], which the Christians call Val-de-Luna. At a distance ofone parasang is Mahomerie-le-Grand, which is Gibeon the Great; itcontains no Jews. 

From there it is three parasangs to Jerusalem, which is a small city, fortified by three walls. It is full of people whom the Mohammedanscall Jacobites, Syrians, Greeks, Georgians and Franks, and of peopleof all tongues. 

[p. 35]

It contains a dyeing-house, for which the Jews pay a small rentannually to the king[77], on condition that besides the Jews no otherdyers be allowed in Jerusalem. There are about 200 Jews who dwellunder the Tower of David in one corner of the city[78]. The lowerportion of the wall of the Tower of David, to the extent of about tencubits, is part of the ancient foundation set up by our ancestors, theremaining portion having been built by the Mohammedans. There is nostructure in the whole city stronger than the Tower of David. The cityalso contains two buildings, from one of which--the hospital--thereissue forth four hundred knights; and therein all the sick who comethither are lodged and cared for in life and in death[79]. The otherbuilding is called the Temple of Solomon; it is the palace built bySolomon the king of Israel. Three hundred knights are quartered there, and issue therefrom every day for military exercise, besides those whocome from the land of the Franks and the other parts of Christendom, having taken upon themselves to serve there a year or two until theirvow is fulfilled. In Jerusalem is the great church called theSepulchre, and here is the burial-place of Jesus, unto which theChristians make pilgrimages. 

[p. 36]

Jerusalem[80] has four gates--the gate of Abraham, the gate of David, the gate of Zion, and the gate of Gushpat, which is the gate ofJehoshaphat, facing our ancient Temple, now called Templum Domini. Upon the site of the sanctuary Omar ben al Khataab erected an edificewith a very large and magnificent cupola, into which the Gentiles donot bring any image or effigy, but they merely come there to pray. Infront of this place is the western wall, which is one of the walls ofthe Holy of Holies. This is called the Gate of Mercy, and thither comeall the Jews to pray before the wall of the court of the Temple. InJerusalem, attached to the palace which belonged to Solomon, are thestables built by him, forming a very substantial structure, composedof large stones, and the like of it is not to be seen anywhere in theworld. There is also visible up to this day the pool used by thepriests before offering their sacrifices, and the Jews coming thitherwrite their names upon the wall. The gate of Jehoshaphat leads to thevalley of Jehoshaphat, which is the gathering-place of nations[81]. Here is the pillar called Absalom's Hand, and the sepulchre of KingUzziah[82]. 

[p. 37]

In the neighbourhood is also a great spring, called the Waters ofSiloam, connected with the brook of Kidron. Over the spring is a largestructure dating from the time of our ancestors, but little water isfound, and the people of Jerusalem for the most part drink therain-water, which they collect in cisterns in their houses. From thevalley of Jehoshaphat one ascends the Mount of Olives; it is thevalley only which separates Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. Fromthe Mount of Olives one sees the Sea of Sodom, and at a distance oftwo parasangs from the Sea of Sodom is the Pillar of Salt into whichLot's wife was turned; the sheep lick it continually, but afterwardsit regains its original shape[83]. The whole land of the plain and thevalley of Shittim as far as Mount Nebo are visible from here. 

In front of Jerusalem is Mount Zion, on which there is no building, except a place of worship belonging to the Christians. FacingJerusalem for a distance of three miles are the cemeteries[84]belonging to the Israelites, who in the days of old buried their deadin caves, and upon each sepulchre is a dated inscription, but theChristians destroy the sepulchres, employing the stones thereof inbuilding their houses. These sepulchres reach as far as Zelzah in theterritory of Benjamin. Around Jerusalem are high mountains. 

[p. 38]

On Mount Zion are the sepulchres of the House of David, and thesepulchres of the kings that ruled after him. The exact place cannotbe identified, inasmuch as fifteen years ago a wall of the church ofMount Zion fell in. The Patriarch commanded the overseer to take thestones of the old walls and restore therewith the church. He did so, and hired workmen at fixed wages; and there were twenty men whobrought the stones from the base of the wall of Zion. Among these menthere were two who were sworn friends. On a certain day the oneentertained the other; after their meal they returned to their work, when the overseer said to them, "Why have you tarried to-day?" Theyanswered, "Why need you complain? When our fellow workmen go to theirmeal we will do our work. " When the dinner-time arrived, and the otherworkmen had gone to their meal, they examined the stones, and raised acertain stone which formed the entrance to a cave. Thereupon one saidto the other, "Let us go in and see if any money is to be foundthere. " They entered the cave, and reached a large chamber restingupon pillars of marble overlaid with silver and gold. 

[p. 39]

In front was a table of gold and a sceptre and crown. This was thesepulchre of King David. On the left thereof in like fashion was thesepulchre of King Solomon; then followed the sepulchres of all thekings of Judah that were buried there. Closed coffers were also there, the contents of which no man knows. The two men essayed to enter thechamber, when a fierce wind came forth from the entrance of the caveand smote them, and they fell to the ground like dead men, and therethey lay until evening. And there came forth a wind like a man'svoice, crying out: "Arise and go forth from this place!" So the menrushed forth in terror, and they came unto the Patriarch, and relatedthese things to him. Thereupon the Patriarch sent for Rabbi Abraham elConstantini, the pious recluse, who was one of the mourners ofJerusalem, and to him he related all these things according to thereport of the two men who had come forth. Then Rabbi Abraham replied, "These are the sepulchres of the House of David; they belong to thekings of Judah, and on the morrow let us enter. I and you and thesemen, and find out what is there. "

[p. 40]

And on the morrow they sent for the two men, and found each of themlying on his bed in terror, and the men said: "We will not enterthere, for the Lord doth not desire to show it to any man. " Then thePatriarch gave orders that the place should be closed up and hiddenfrom the sight of man unto this day. These things were told me by thesaid Rabbi Abraham. 

From Jerusalem it is two parasangs to Bethlehem, which is called bythe Christians Beth-Leon, and close thereto, at a distance of abouthalf a mile, at the parting of the way, is the pillar of Rachel'sgrave, which is made up of eleven stones, corresponding with thenumber of the sons of Jacob. Upon it is a cupola resting on fourcolumns, and all the Jews that pass by carve their names upon thestones of the pillar[85]. At Bethlehem there are two Jewish dyers. Itis a land of brooks of water, and contains wells and fountains. 

At a distance of six parasangs is St. Abram de Bron, which is Hebron;the old city stood on the mountain, but is now in ruins; and in thevalley by the field of Machpelah lies the present city. 

[p. 41]

Here there is the great church called St. Abram, and this was a Jewishplace of worship at the time of the Mohammedan rule, but the Gentileshave erected there six tombs, respectively called those of Abraham andSarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. The custodians tell thepilgrims that these are the tombs of the Patriarchs, for whichinformation the pilgrims give them money. If a Jew comes, however, andgives a special reward, the custodian of the cave opens unto him agate of iron, which was constructed by our forefathers, and then he isable to descend below by means of steps, holding a lighted candle inhis hand. He then reaches a cave, in which nothing is to be found, anda cave beyond, which is likewise empty, but when he reaches the thirdcave behold there are six sepulchres, those of Abraham, Isaac andJacob, respectively facing those of Sarah, Rebekah and Leah. And uponthe graves are inscriptions cut in stone; upon the grave of Abraham isengraved "This is the grave of Abraham"; upon that of Isaac, "This isthe grave of Isaac, the son of Abraham our Father"; upon that ofJacob, "This is the grave of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son ofAbraham our Father"; and upon the others, "This is the grave ofSarah, " "This is the grave of Rebekah, " and "This is the grave ofLeah. " A lamp burns day and night upon the graves in the cave. 

One finds there many casks filled with the bones of Israelites, as themembers of the house of Israel were wont to bring the bones of theirfathers thither and to deposit them there to this day[86]. 

[p. 42]

Beyond the field of Machpelah is the house of Abraham; there is a wellin front of the house, but out of reverence for the Patriarch Abrahamno one is allowed to build in the neighbourhood. 

From Hebron it is five parasangs to Beit Jibrin, which is Mareshah, where there are but three Jews[87]. Three parasangs further onereaches St. Samuel of Shiloh. This is the Shiloh which is twoparasangs from Jerusalem. When the Christians captured Ramlah, theRamah of old, from the Mohammedans, they found there the grave ofSamuel the Ramathite close to a Jewish synagogue. The Christians tookthe remains, conveyed them unto Shiloh, and erected over them a largechurch, and called it St. Samuel of Shiloh unto this day[88]. 

From there it is three parasangs to Mahomerie-le-petit[89], which isGibeah of Saul, where there are no Jews, and this is Gibeah ofBenjamin. Thence three parasangs to Beit Nuba[90], which is Nob, thecity of priests. 

[p. 43]

In the middle of the way are the two crags of Jonathan, the name ofthe one being Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh[91]. Two Jewishdyers dwell there. 

Thence it is three parasangs to Rams, or Ramleh, where there areremains of the walls from the days of our ancestors, for thus it wasfound written upon the stones. About 300 Jews dwell there. It wasformerly a very great city; at a distance of two miles there is alarge Jewish cemetery[92]. 

Thence it is five parasangs to Y[=a]fa or Jaffa, which is on theseaboard, and one Jewish dyer lives here. From here it is fiveparasangs to Ibelin or Jabneh, the seat of the Academy, but there areno Jews there at this day. Thus far extends the territory of Ephraim. 

From there it is five parasangs to Palmid, which is Ashdod of thePhilistines, now in ruins; no Jews dwell there. Thence it is twoparasangs to Ashkelonah or New Askelon, which Ezra the priest built bythe sea. 

[p. 44]

It was originally called Bene Berak. The place is four parasangsdistant from the ancient ruined city of Askelon. New Askelon is alarge and fair place, and merchants come thither from all quarters, for it is situated on the frontier of Egypt. About 200 Rabbanite Jewsdwell here, at their head being R. Zemach, R. Aaron, and R. Solomon;also about forty Karaïtes, and about 300 Cuthim. In the midst of thecity there is a well, which they call Bir Abraham; this the Patriarchdug in the days of the Philistines[93]. 

From there it is a journey of a day to St. George[94] of Ludd: thenceit is a day and a half to Zerin or Jezreel, where there is a largespring. One Jewish dyer lives here. Three parasangs further isSaffuriya or Sepphoris. Here are the graves of Rabbenu Hakkadosh, ofRabban Gamaliel, and of R. Chiya, who came up from Babylon, also ofJonah the son of Amittai; they are all buried in the mountain[95]. Many other Jewish graves are here. 

[p. 45]

Thence it is five parasangs to Tiberias, which is situated upon theJordan, which is here called the Sea of Chinnereth. The Jordan at thisplace flows through a valley between two mountains, and fills thelake, which is called the Lake of Chinnereth; this is a large andbroad piece of water like the sea. The Jordan flows between twomountains, and over the plain which is the place that is calledAshdoth Hapisgah, and thence continues its course till it falls intothe Sea of Sodom, which is the Salt Sea. In Tiberias there are aboutfifty Jews, at their head being R. Abraham the astronomer, R. Muchtar, and R. Isaac. There are hot waters here, which bubble up from theground, and are called the Hot Waters of Tiberias. Near by is theSynagogue of Caleb ben Jephunneh, and Jewish sepulchres. R. Johananben Zakkai and R. Jehudah Halevi[96] are buried here. All these placesare situated in Lower Galilee. 

From here it is two days to Tymin or Timnathah, where Simon theJust[97] and many Israelites are buried, and thence three parasangs toMedon or Meron. In the neighbourhood there is a cave in which are thesepulchres of Hillel and Shammai. Here also are twenty sepulchres ofdisciples, including the sepulchres of R. Benjamin ben Japheth, and ofR. Jehudah ben Bethera. From Meron it is two parasangs to Almah, wherethere are about fifty Jews. There is a large Jewish cemetery here, with the sepulchres of R. Eleazar ben Arak, of R. Eleazar ben Azariah, of Chuni Hamaagal, of Raban Simeon ben Gamaliel, and of R. JoseHagelili[98]. 

[p. 46]

From here it is half a day's journey to Kades, or Kedesh Naphtali, upon the Jordan. Here is the sepulchre of Barak the son of Abinoam. NoJews dwell here. 

Thence it is a day's journey to Banias, which is Dan, where there is acavern, from which the Jordan issues and flows for a distance of threemiles, when the Arnon, which comes from the borders of Moab, joinsit[99]. In front of the cavern may be discerned the site of the altarassociated with the graven image of Micah, which the children of Danworshipped in ancient days. This is also the site of the altar ofJeroboam, where the golden calf was set up. Thus far reaches theboundary of the land of Israel towards the uttermost sea[100]. 

[p. 47]

Two days' journey brings one to Damascus, the great city, which is thecommencement of the empire of Nur-ed-din, the king of the Togarmim, called Turks. It is a fair city of large extent, surrounded by walls, with many gardens and plantations, extending over fifteen miles oneach side, and no district richer in fruit can be seen in all theworld. From Mount Hermon descend the rivers Amana and Pharpar; for thecity is situated at the foot of Mount Hermon. The Amana flows throughthe city, and by means of aqueducts the water is conveyed to thehouses of the great people, and into the streets and market-places. The Pharpar flows through their gardens and plantations. It is a placecarrying on trade with all countries. Here is a mosque of the Arabscalled the Gami of Damascus; there is no building like it in the wholeworld, and they say that it was a palace of Ben Hadad. Here is a wallof crystal glass of magic workmanship, with apertures according to thedays of the year, and as the sun's rays enter each of them in dailysuccession the hours of the day can be told by a graduated dial. Inthe palace are chambers built of gold and glass, and if people walkround the wall they are able to see one another, although the wall isbetween them. And there are columns overlaid with gold and silver, andcolumns of marble of all colours[101]. And in the court there is agigantic head overlaid with gold and silver, and fashioned like a bowlwith rims of gold and silver. It is as big as a cask, and three mencan enter therein at the same time to bathe. In the palace issuspended the rib of one of the giants, the length being nine cubits, and the width two cubits; and they say it belonged to the King Anak ofthe giants of old, whose name was Abramaz[102]. 

[p. 48]

For so it was found inscribed on his grave, where it was also writtenthat he ruled over the whole world. Three thousand Jews abide in thiscity, and amongst them are learned and rich men[103]. The head of theAcademy of the land of Israel resides here[104]. His name is R. Azariah, and with him are his brother, Sar Shalom, the head of theBeth Din: R. Joseph, the fifth of the Academy: R. Mazliach, thelecturer, the head of the order: R. Meir, the crown of the scholars:R. Joseph ben Al Pilath, the pillar of the Academy: R. Heman, thewarden: and R. Zedekiah, the physician. One hundred Karaïtes dwellhere, also 400 Cuthim, and there is peace between them, but they donot intermarry. 

It is a day's journey to Galid, which is Gilead, and sixty Israelitesare there, at their head being R. Zadok, R. Isaac, and R. Solomon. Itis a place of wide extent, with brooks of water, gardens, andplantations. Thence it is half a day to Salkat, which is Salchah ofold[105]. 

[p. 49]

Thence it is half a day's journey to Baalbec, which is Baalath in theplains of Lebanon, and which Solomon built for the daughter ofPharaoh. The palace is built of large stones, each stone having alength of twenty cubits and a width of twelve cubits, and there are nospaces between the stones. It is said that Ashmedai alone could haveput up this building. From the upper part of the city a great springwells forth and flows into the middle of the city as a wide stream, and alongside thereof are mills and gardens and plantations in themidst of the city. At Tarmod (Tadmor) in the wilderness, which Solomonbuilt, there are similar structures of huge stones. [106] The city ofTarmod is surrounded by walls; it is in the desert far away frominhabited places, and is four days' journey from Baalath, justmentioned. And in Tarmod there are about 2, 000 Jews. They are valiantin war and fight with the Christians and with the Arabs, which latterare under the dominion of Nur-ed-din the king, and they help theirneighbours the Ishmaelites. At their head are R. Isaac Hajvani, R. Nathan, and R. Uziel. 

From Baalbec to Karjat[=e]n, which 1s Kirjathim, is a distance of halfa day; no Jews live there except one dyer. Thence it is a day'sjourney to Emesa, which is a city of the Zemarites, where about twentyJews dwell[107]. Thence it is a day's journey to Hamah, which isHamath. It lies on the river Jabbok at the foot of Mount Lebanon[108]. 

[p. 50]

Some time ago there was a great earthquake in the city, and 25, 000souls perished in one day, and of about 200 Jews but seventy escaped. At their head are R. Eli Hacohen, and the Sheik Abu Galib and Mukhtar. Thence it is half a day to Sheizar, which is Hazor[109], and fromthere it is three parasangs to Dimin (Latmin). 

[p. 51]

Thence it is two days to Haleb (Aleppo) or Aram Zoba, which is theroyal city of Nur-ed-din. In the midst of the city is his palacesurrounded by a very high wall. This is a very large place. There isno well there nor any stream, but the inhabitants drink rainwater, each one possessing a cistern in his house[110]. The city has 5, 000Jewish inhabitants, at their head being R. Moses el Constantini and R. Seth. Thence it is two days to Balis[111], which is Pethor on theriver Euphrates, and unto this day there stands the turret of Balaam, which he built to tell the hours of the day. About ten Jews live here. Thence it is half a day to Kalat Jabar, which is Selah of thewilderness, that was left unto the Arabs at the time the Togarmim tooktheir land and caused them to fly into the wilderness. About 2, 000Jews dwell there, at their head being R. Zedekiah, R. Chiya, and R. Solomon. 

Thence it is one day's journey to Rakka[112], or Salchah, which is onthe confines of the land of Shinar, and which divides the land of theTogarmim from that kingdom. In it there are 700 Jews, at their headbeing R. Zakkai and R. Nedib, who is blind, and R. Joseph. There is asynagogue here, erected by Ezra when he went forth from Babylon toJerusalem. At two days' distance lies ancient Harr[=a]n, where twentyJews live[113]. Here is another synagogue erected by Ezra, and in thisplace stood the house of Terah and Abraham his son. The ground is notcovered by any building, and the Mohammedans honour the site and comethither to pray. 

Thence it is a journey of two days to Ras-el-Ain[114], whence proceedsthe river El Khabur--the Habor of old--which flows through the land ofMedia, and falls into the river Gozan[115]. Here there are 200Jews[116]. Thence it is two days to Geziret Ibn Omar, which issurrounded by the river Hiddekel (Tigris), at the foot of themountains of Ararat. 

[p. 52]

It is a distance of four miles to the place where Noah's Ark rested, but Omar ben al Khataab took the ark from the two mountains and madeit into a mosque for the Mohammedans[117]. Near the ark is theSynagogue of Ezra to this day, and on the ninth of Ab the Jews comethither from the city to pray. In the city of Geziret Omar are 4, 000Jews, at their head being R. Mubchar, R. Joseph and R. Chiya. 

Thence it is two days to Mosul, which is Assur the Great, and heredwell about 7, 000 Jews, at their head being R. Zakkai the Nasi of theseed of David, and R. Joseph surnamed Burhan-al-mulk, the astronomerto the King Sin-ed-din, the brother of Nur-ed-din, King ofDamascus[118]. Mosul is the frontier town of the land of Persia. 

[p. 53]

It is a very large and ancient city, situated on the river Hiddekel(Tigris), and is connected with Nineveh by means of a bridge. Ninevehis in ruins, but amid the ruins there are villages and hamlets, andthe extent of the city may be determined by the walls, which extendforty parasangs to the city of Irbil[119]. The city of Nineveh is onthe river Hiddekel. In the city of Assur (Mosul) is the synagogue ofObadiah, built by Jonah; also the synagogue of Nahum theElkoshite[120]. 

Thence it is a distance of three days to Rahbah, which is on the riverEuphrates. Here there are about 2, 000 Jews, at their head being R. Hezekiah, R. Tahor and R. Isaac. It is a very fine city, large andfortified, and surrounded by gardens and plantations. 

Thence it is a day's journey to Karkisiya which is Carchemish, on theriver Euphrates. Here there are about 500 Jews, at their head being R. Isaac and R. Elhanan. Thence it is two days to El-Anbar which isPumbedita in Nehardea[121]. Here reside 3, 000 Jews, and amongst themare learned men, at their head being the chief rabbi R. Chen, R. Mosesand R. Jehoiakim. Here are the graves of Rab Jehuda and Samuel, and infront of the graves of each of them are the synagogues which theybuilt in their lifetime. Here is also the grave of Bostanai the Nasi, the head of the Captivity, and of R. Nathan and Rab Nachman the son ofPapa. 

[p. 54]

Thence it takes five days to Hadara, where about 15, 000 Jews dwell, attheir head being R. Zaken, R. Jehosef and R. Nethanel[122]. 

Thence it takes two days to Okbara, the city, which Jeconiah the Kingbuilt, where there are about 10, 000 Jews, and at their head are R. Chanan, R. Jabin and R. Ishmael. 

Thence it is two days to Bagdad, the great city and the royalresidence of the Caliph Emir al Muminin al Abbasi of the family ofMohammed. He is at the head of the Mohammedan religion, and all thekings of Islam obey him; he occupies a similar position to that heldby the Pope over the Christians[123]. He has a palace in Bagdad threemiles in extent, wherein is a great park with all varieties of trees, fruit-bearing and otherwise, and all manner of animals. The whole issurrounded by a wall, and in the park there is a lake whose waters arefed by the river Hiddekel. Whenever the king desires to indulge inrecreation and to rejoice and feast, his servants catch all manner of'birds, game and fish, and he goes to his palace with his counsellorsand princes. 

[p. 55]

There the great king, Al Abbasi the Caliph (Hafiz) holds his court, and he is kind unto Israel, and many belonging to the people of Israelare his attendants; he knows all languages, and is well versed in thelaw of Israel. He reads and writes the holy language (Hebrew). He willnot partake of anything unless he has earned it by the work of his ownhands. He makes coverlets to which he attaches his seal; his courtierssell them in the market, and the great ones of the land purchase them, and the proceeds thereof provide his sustenance. He is truthful andtrusty, speaking peace to all men. The men of Islam see him but oncein the year. The pilgrims that come from distant lands to go untoMecca which is in the land El-Yemen, are anxious to see his face, andthey assemble before the palace exclaiming "Our Lord, light of Islamand glory of our Law, show us the effulgence of thy countenance, " buthe pays no regard to their words. 

[p. 56]

Then the princes who minister unto him say to him, "Our Lord, spreadforth thy peace unto the men that have come from distant lands, whocrave to abide under the shadow of thy graciousness, " and thereupon hearises and lets down the hem of his robe from the window, and thepilgrims come and kiss it[124], and a prince says unto them "Go forthin peace, for our Master the Lord of Islam granteth peace to you. " Heis regarded by them as Mohammed and they go to their houses rejoicingat the salutation which the prince has vouchsafed unto them, and gladat heart that they have kissed his robe. 

Each of his brothers and the members of his family has an abode in hispalace, but they are all fettered in chains of iron, and guards areplaced over each of their houses so that they may not rise against thegreat Caliph. For once it happened to a predecessor that his brothersrose up against him and proclaimed one of themselves as Caliph; thenit was decreed that all the members of his family should be bound, that they might not rise up against the ruling Caliph. Each one ofthem resides in his palace in great splendour, and they own villagesand towns, and their stewards bring them the tribute thereof, and theyeat and drink and rejoice all the days of their life[125]. Within thedomains of the palace of the Caliph there are great buildings ofmarble and columns of silver and gold, and carvings upon rare stonesare fixed in the walls. 

[p. 57]

In the Caliph's palace are great riches and towers filled with gold, silken garments and all precious stones. He does not issue forth fromhis palace save once in the year, at the feast which the Mohammedanscall El-id-bed Ramazan, and they come from distant lands that day tosee him. He rides on a mule and is attired in the royal robes of goldand silver and fine linen; on his head is a turban adorned withprecious stones of priceless value, and over the turban is a blackshawl as a sign of his modesty, implying that all this glory will becovered by darkness on the day of death. He is accompanied by all thenobles of Islam dressed in fine garments and riding on horses, theprinces of Arabia, the princes of Togarma and Daylam (Gil[=a]n) andthe princes of Persia, Media and Ghuzz, and the princes of the land ofTibet, which is three months' journey distant, and westward of whichlies the land of Samarkand. He proceeds from his palace to the greatmosque of Islam which is by the Basrah Gate. 

[p. 58]

Along the road the walls are adorned with silk and purple, and theinhabitants receive him with all kinds of song and exultation, andthey dance before the great king who is styled the Caliph. They salutehim with a loud voice and say, "Peace unto thee, our Lord the King andLight of Islam!" He kisses his robe, and stretching forth the hemthereof he salutes them. Then he proceeds to the court of the mosque, mounts a wooden pulpit and expounds to them their Law. Then thelearned ones of Islam arise and pray for him and extol his greatnessand his graciousness, to which they all respond. Afterwards he givesthem his blessing, and they bring before him a camel which he slays, and this is their passover-sacrifice. He gives thereof unto theprinces and they distribute it to all, so that they may taste of thesacrifice brought by their sacred king; and they all rejoice. Afterwards he leaves the mosque and returns alone to his palace by wayof the river Hiddekel, and the grandees of Islam accompany him inships on the river until he enters his palace. He does not return theway he came; and the road which he takes along the river-side iswatched all the year through, so that no man shall tread in hisfootsteps. He does not leave the palace again for a whole year. He isa benevolent man. 

[p. 59]

He built, on the other side of the river, on the banks of an arm ofthe Euphrates which there borders the city, a hospital consisting ofblocks of houses and hospices for the sick poor who come to behealed[126]. Here there are about sixty physicians' stores which areprovided from the Caliph's house with drugs and whatever else may berequired. Every sick man who comes is maintained at the Caliph'sexpense and is medically treated. Here is a building which is calledDar-al-Maristan, where they keep charge of the demented people whohave become insane in the towns through the great heat in the summer, and they chain each of them in iron chains until their reason becomesrestored to them in the winter-time. Whilst they abide there, they areprovided with food from the house of the Caliph, and when their reasonis restored they are dismissed and each one of them goes to his houseand his home. Money is given to those that have stayed in the hospiceson their return to their homes. Every month the officers of the Caliphinquire and investigate whether they have regained their reason, inwhich case they are discharged. All this the Caliph does out ofcharity to those that come to the city of Bagdad, whether they be sickor insane. The Caliph is a righteous man, and all his actions are forgood. 

[p. 60]

In Bagdad there are about 40, 000 Jews[127], and they dwell insecurity, prosperity and honour under the great Caliph, and amongstthem are great sages, the heads of Academies engaged in the study ofthe law. In this city there are ten Academies. At the head of thegreat Academy is the chief rabbi R. Samuel, the son of Eli. He is thehead of the Academy Gaon Jacob. He is a Levite, and traces hispedigree back to Moses our teacher. The head of the second Academy isR. Hanania his brother, warden of the Levites; R. Daniel is the headof the third Academy; R. Elazar the scholar is the head of the fourthAcademy; and R. Elazar, the son of Zemach, is the head of the order, and his pedigree reaches to Samuel the prophet, the Korahite. He andhis brethren know how to chant the melodies as did the singers at thetime when the Temple was standing. He is head of the fifth Academy. R. Hisdai, the glory of the scholars, is head of the sixth Academy. R. Haggai is head of the seventh Academy. R. Ezra is the head of theeighth Academy. R. Abraham, who is called Abu Tahir, is the head ofthe ninth Academy. R. Zakkai, the son of Bostanai the Nasi, is thehead of the Sium[128]. 

[p. 61]

These are the ten Batlanim[129], and they do not engage in any otherwork than communal administration; and all the days of the week theyjudge the Jews their countrymen, except on the second day of the week, when they all appear before the chief rabbi Samuel, the head of theYeshiba Gaon (Jacob), who in conjunction with the other Batlanimjudges all those that appear before him. And at the head of them allis Daniel the son of Hisdai, who is styled "Our Lord the Head of theCaptivity of all Israel. " He possesses a book of pedigrees going backas far as David, King of Israel. The Jews call him "Our Lord, Head ofthe Captivity, " and the Mohammedans call him "Saidna ben Daoud, " andhe has been invested with authority over all the congregations ofIsrael at the hands of the Emir al Muminin, the Lord of Islam[130]. 

For thus Mohammed commanded concerning him and his descendants; and hegranted him a seal of office over all the congregations that dwellunder his rule, and ordered that every one, whether Mohammedan or Jew, or belonging to any other nation in his dominion, should rise upbefore him (the Exilarch) and salute him, and that any one who shouldrefuse to rise up should receive one hundred stripes[131]. 

[p. 62]

And every fifth day when he goes to pay a visit to the great Caliph, horsemen, Gentiles as well as Jews, escort him, and heralds proclaimin advance, "Make way before our Lord, the son of David, as is dueunto him, " the Arabic words being "Amilu tarik la Saidna ben Daud. " Heis mounted on a horse, and is attired in robes of silk and embroiderywith a large turban on his head, and from the turban is suspended along white cloth adorned with a chain upon which the cipher ofMohammed is engraved. Then he appears before the Caliph and kisses hishand, and the Caliph rises and places him on a throne which Mohammedhad ordered to be made for him, and all the Mohammedan princes whoattend the court of the Caliph rise up before him. And the Head of theCaptivity is seated on his throne opposite to the Caliph, incompliance with the command of Mohammed to give effect to what iswritten in the law--"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor alaw-giver from between his feet, until he come to Shiloh: and to himshall the gathering of the people be. " The authority of the Head ofthe Captivity extends over all the communities of Shinar, Persia, Khurasan and Sheba which is El-Yemen, and Diyar Kalach (Bekr) and theland of Aram Naharaim (Mesopotamia), and over the dwellers in themountains of Ararat and the land of the Alans[132], which is a landsurrounded by mountains and has no outlet except by the iron gateswhich Alexander made, but which were afterwards broken. Here are thepeople called Alani. His authority extends also over the land ofSiberia, and the communities in the land of the Togarmim unto themountains of Asveh and the land of Gurgan, the inhabitants of whichare called Gurganim who dwell by the river Gihon[133], and these arethe Girgashites who follow the Christian religion. Further it extendsto the gates of Samarkand, the land of Tibet, and the land of India. In respect of all these countries the Head of the Captivity gives thecommunities power to appoint Rabbis and Ministers who come unto him tobe consecrated and to receive his authority. 

[p. 63]

They bring him offerings and gifts from the ends of the earth. He ownshospices, gardens and plantations in Babylon, and much land inheritedfrom his fathers, and no one can take his possessions from him byforce. He has a fixed weekly revenue arising from the hospices of theJews, the markets and the merchants, apart from that which is broughtto him from far-off lands. The man is very rich, and wise in theScriptures as well as in the Talmud, and many Israelites dine at histable every day. 

At his installation, the Head of the Captivity gives much money to theCaliph, to the Princes and the Ministers. On the day that the Caliphperforms the ceremony of investing him with authority, he rides in thesecond of the royal equipages, and is escorted from the palace of theCaliph to his own house with timbrels and fifes. The Exilarch appointsthe Chiefs of the Academies by placing his hand upon their heads, thusinstalling them in their office[134]. The Jews of the city are learnedmen and very rich. 

[p. 64]

In Bagdad there are twenty-eight Jewish Synagogues, situated either inthe city itself or in Al-Karkh on the other side of the Tigris; forthe river divides the metropolis into two parts. The great synagogueof the Head of the Captivity has columns of marble of various coloursoverlaid with silver and gold, and on these columns are sentences ofthe Psalms in golden letters. And in front of the ark are about tensteps of marble; on the topmost step are the seats of the Head of theCaptivity and of the Princes of the House of David. The city of Bagdadis twenty miles in circumference, situated in a land of palms, gardensand plantations, the like of which is not to be found in the wholeland of Shinar. People come thither with merchandise from all lands. Wise men live there, philosophers who know all manner of wisdom, andmagicians expert in all manner of witchcraft. 

Thence it is two days to Gazigan which is called Resen. It is a largecity containing about 5, 000 Jews. In the midst of it is the Synagogueof Rabbah[135]--a large one. He is buried close to the Synagogue, andbeneath his sepulchre is a cave where twelve of his pupils are buried. 

[p. 65]

Thence it is a day's journey to Babylon, which is the Babel of old. The ruins thereof are thirty miles in extent[136]. The ruins of thepalace of Nebuchadnezzar are still to be seen there, but people areafraid to enter them on account of the serpents and scorpions. Near athand, within a distance of a mile, there dwell 3, 000 Israelites whopray in the Synagogue of the Pavilion of Daniel, which is ancient andwas erected by Daniel. It is built of hewn stones and bricks. Betweenthe Synagogue and the Palace of Nebuchadnezzar is the furnace intowhich were thrown Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and the site of itlies in a valley[137] known unto all. 

Thence it is five parasangs to Hillah, where there are 10, 000Israelites and four Synagogues: that of R. Meir, who lies buriedbefore it; the Synagogue of Mar Keshisha, who is buried in front ofit; also the Synagogue of Rab Zeiri, the son of Chama, and theSynagogue of R. Mari; the Jews pray there every day. 

Thence it is four miles to the Tower of Babel, which the generationwhose language was confounded built of the bricks called Agur. 

[p. 66]

The length of its foundation is about two miles, the breadth of thetower is about forty cubits, and the length thereof two hundredcubits. At every ten cubits' distance there are slopes which go roundthe tower by which one can ascend to the top[138]. One can see fromthere a view twenty miles in extent, as the land is level. There fellfire from heaven into the midst of the tower which split it to itsvery depths. 

Thence it is half a day to Kaphri, where there are about 200 Jews. Here is the Synagogue of R. Isaac Napcha, who is buried in front ofit. Thence it is three parasangs to the Synagogue of Ezekiel, theprophet of blessed memory, which is by the river Euphrates[139]. It isfronted by sixty turrets, and between each turret there is a minorSynagogue, and in the court of the Synagogue is the ark, and at theback of the Synagogue is the sepulchre of Ezekiel. It is surmounted bya large cupola, and it is a very handsome structure. It was built ofold by King Jeconiah, king of Judah, and the 35, 000 Jews who came withhim, when Evil-merodach brought him forth out of prison. This place isby the river Chebar on the one side, and by the river Euphrates on theother, and the names of Jeconiah and those that accompanied him areengraved on the wall: Jeconiah at the top, and Ezekiel at the bottom. 

[p. 67]

This place is held sacred by Israel as a lesser sanctuary unto thisday, and people come from a distance to pray there from the time ofthe New Year until the Day of Atonement. The Israelites have greatrejoicings on these occasions. Thither also come the Head of theCaptivity, and the Heads of the Academies from Bagdad. Their campoccupies a space of about two miles, and Arab merchants come there aswell. A great gathering like a fair takes place, which is called Fera, and they bring forth a scroll of the Law written on parchment byEzekiel the Prophet, and read from it on the Day of Atonement. A lampburns day and night over the sepulchre of Ezekiel; the light thereofhas been kept burning from the day that he lighted it himself, andthey continually renew the wick thereof, and replenish the oil untothe present day. A large house belonging to the sanctuary is filledwith books, some of them from the time of the first temple, and somefrom the time of the second temple, and he who has no sons consecrateshis books to its use. The Jews that come thither to pray from the landof Persia and Media bring the money which their countrymen haveoffered to the Synagogue of Ezekiel the Prophet. The Synagogue ownsproperty, lands and villages, which belonged to King Jeconiah, andwhen Mohammed came he confirmed all these rights to the Synagogue ofEzekiel[140]. 

[p. 68]

Distinguished Mohammedans also come hither to pray, so great is theirlove for Ezekiel the Prophet; and they call it Bar (Dar) Melicha (theDwelling of Beauty). All the Arabs come there to pray[141]. 

At a distance of about half a mile from the Synagogue are thesepulchres of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and upon theirsepulchres are large cupolas; and even at times of disturbance no manwould dare touch the Mohammedan or Jewish servants who attend at thesepulchre of Ezekiel. 

Thence it is three miles to the city of Kotsonath, where there are 300Jews. Here are the sepulchres of Rab Papa, Rab Huna, Joseph Sinai, andRab Joseph ben Hama; and before each of them is a Synagogue where theIsraelites pray every day. Thence it is three parasangs to Ain Siptha, where there is the sepulchre of the prophet Nahum the Elkoshite. Thence it is a day's journey to Kefar Al-Keram, where are thesepulchres of Rab Chisdai, R. Azariah, R. Akiba, and R. Dosa. Thenceit is a half-day's journey to a village in the desert, where there areburied R. David and R. Jehuda and Abaji, R. Kurdiah, Rab Sechora, andRab Ada. 

[p. 69]

Thence it is a day's journey to the river Raga, where there is thesepulchre of King Zedekiah. Upon it is a large cupola. Thence it is aday's journey to the city of Kufa, where there is the sepulchre ofKing Jeconiah. Over it is a big structure, and in front thereof is aSynagogue. There are about 7, 000 Jews here. At this place is the largemosque of the Mohammedans, for here is buried Ali ben Abu Talib, theson-in-law of Mohammed, and the Mohammedans come hither. .. . 

Thence it is a day and a half to Sura, which is Mata Mehasya, wherethe Heads of the Captivity and the Heads of the Academies dwelt atfirst[142]. Here is the sepulchre of R. Sherira, and of R. Hai his sonof blessed memory, also of R. Saadiah Al-Fiumi, and of Rab Samuel theson of Hofni Hacohen, and of Zephaniah the son of Cushi the son ofGedaliah, the prophet, and of the Princes of the House of David, andof the Heads of the Academies who lived there before the destructionof the town. [143]

Thence it is two days to Shafjathib. Here is a Synagogue which theIsraelites built from the earth of Jerusalem and its stones, and theycalled it Shafjathib, which is by Nehardea. [144]

Thence it is a day and a half's journey to El-Anbar, which wasPumbedita in Nehardea. [145] About 3, 000 Jews dwell there. The citylies on the river Euphrates. Here is the Synagogue of Rab and Samuel, and their house of study, and in front of it are their graves. 

[p. 70]

Thence it is five days to Hillah. From this place it is a journey oftwenty-one days by way of the deserts to the land of Saba, which iscalled the land El-Yemen, lying at the side of the land of Shinarwhich is towards the North. [146]

Here dwell the Jews called Kheibar, the men of Teima. And Teima istheir seat of government where R. Hanan the Nasi rules over them. Itis a great city, and the extent of their land is sixteen days'journey. It is surrounded by mountains--the mountains of the north. The Jews own many large fortified cities. The yoke of the Gentiles ishnot upon them. They go forth to pillage and to capture booty fromdistant lands in conjunction with the Arabs, their neighbours andallies. These Arabs dwell in tents, and they make the desert theirhome. They own no houses, and they go forth to pillage and to capturebooty in the land of Shinar and El-Yemen. All the neighbours of theseJews go in fear of them. Among them are husbandmen and owners ofcattle; their land is extensive, and they have in their midst learnedand wise men. They give the tithe of all they possess unto thescholars who sit in the house of learning, also to poor Israelites andto the recluses, who are the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and whodo not eat meat nor taste wine, and sit clad in garments of black. 

[p. 71]

They dwell in caves or underground houses, and fast each day with theexception of the Sabbaths and Festivals, and implore mercy of the HolyOne, blessed be He, on account of the exile of Israel, praying that Hemay take pity upon them, and upon all the Jews, the men of Teima, forthe sake of His great Name, also upon Tilmas the great city, in whichthere are about 100, 000 Jews[147]. At this place lives Salmon theNasi, the brother of Hanan the Nasi; and the land belongs to the twobrothers, who are of the seed of David, for they have their pedigreein writing. They address many questions unto the Head of theCaptivity--their kinsman in Bagdad--and they fast forty days in theyear for the Jews that dwell in exile. 

There are here about forty large towns and 200 hamlets and villages. The principal city is Tanai, and in all the districts together thereare about 300, 000 Jews. The city of Tanai is well fortified, and inthe midst thereof the people sow and reap. It is fifteen miles inextent. Here is the palace of the Nasi called Salmon. And in Teimadwells Hanan the Nasi, his brother. It is a beautiful city, andcontains gardens and plantations. 

[p. 72]

And Tilmas is likewise a great city; it contains about 100, 000 Jews. It is well fortified, and is situated between two high mountains. There are wise, discreet, and rich men amongst the inhabitants. FromTilmas to Kheibar it is three days' journey. People say that the menof Kheibar belong to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, whomShalmaneser, king of Assyria, led hither into captivity. They havebuilt strongly-fortified cities, and make war upon all other kingdoms. No man can readily reach their territory, because it is a march ofeighteen days' journey through the desert, which is altogetheruninhabited, so that no one can enter the land. 

Kheibar is a very large city with 50, 000 Jews[148]. In it are learnedmen, and great warriors, who wage war with the men of Shinar and ofthe land of the north, as well as with the bordering tribes of theland of El-Yemen near them, which latter country is on the confines ofIndia[149]. Returning from their land, it is a journey of twenty-fivedays to the river Virae, which is in the land of El-Yemen, where about3, 000 Jews dwell[150], and amongst them are many a Rabbi and Dayan. 

[p. 73]

Thence it takes five days to Basra (Bassorah) which lies on the riverTigris. Here there are 10, 000 Jews, and among them are scholars andmany rich men. Thence it is two days to the river Samara, which is thecommencement of the land of Persia. 1, 500 Jews live near the sepulchreof Ezra, the priest, who went forth from Jerusalem to King Artaxerxesand died here. In front of his sepulchre is a large synagogue. And atthe side thereof the Mohammedans erected a house of prayer out oftheir great love and veneration for him, and they like the Jews onthat account. And the Mohammedans come hither to pray[151]. Thence itis four days to Khuzistan, which is Elam. This province is notinhabited in its entirety, for part of it lies waste. In the midst ofits ruins is Shushan (Susa), the capital, the site of the palace ofKing Ahasuerus. Here are the remains of a large structure of greatantiquity. The city contains about 7, 000 Jews and fourteen synagogues. 

[p. 74]

In front of one of the synagogues is the sepulchre of Daniel ofblessed memory. The river Tigris divides the city, and the bridgeconnects the two parts. On the one side where the Jews dwell is thesepulchre of Daniel. Here the market-places used to be, containinggreat stores of merchandise, by which the Jews became enriched. On theother side of the bridge they were poor, because they had nomarket-places nor merchants there, only gardens and plantations. Andthey became jealous, and said "All this prosperity enjoyed by those onthe other side is due to the merits of Daniel the prophet who liesburied there. " Then the poor people asked those who dwelt on the otherside to place the sepulchre of Daniel in their midst, but the otherswould not comply. So war prevailed between them for many days, and noone went forth or came in on account of the great strife between them. At length both parties growing tired of this state of things took awise view of the matter, and made a compact, namely, that the coffinof Daniel should be taken for one year to the one side and for anotheryear to the other side. This they did, and both sides became rich. Inthe course of time Sinjar Shah-ben-Shah, who ruled over the kingdom ofPersia and had forty-five kings subject to his authority, came to thisplace. 

[p. 75]

He is called Sultan-al-Fars-al-Khabir in Arabic (the mighty Sovereignof Persia), and it is he who ruled from the river Samara unto the cityof Samarkand, and unto the river Gozan and the cities of Media and themountains of Chafton[152]. He ruled also over Tibet, in the forestswhereof one finds the animals from which the musk is obtained[153]. The extent of his Empire is a journey of four months. When this greatEmperor Sinjar, king of Persia, saw that they took the coffin ofDaniel from one side of the river to the other, and that a greatmultitude of Jews, Mohammedans and Gentiles, and many people from thecountry were crossing the bridge, he asked the meaning of thisproceeding, and they told him these things. He said, "It is not meetto do this ignominy unto Daniel the prophet, but I command you tomeasure the bridge from both sides, and to take the coffin of Danieland place it inside another coffin of crystal, so that the woodencoffin be within that of crystal, and to suspend this from the middleof the bridge by a chain of iron; at this spot you must build asynagogue for all comers, so that whoever wishes to pray there, be heJew or Gentile, may do so. " And to this very day the coffin issuspended from the bridge. And the king commanded that out of respectfor Daniel no fisherman should catch fish within a mile above or amile below. [154]

[p. 76]

Thence it takes three days to Rudbar where there are about 20, 000Israelites, and among them are learned and rich men. But the Jews livethere under great oppression. Thence it is two days to Nihawand, wherethere are 4, 000 Israelites. Thence it is four days to the land ofMulahid. Here live a people who do not profess the Mohammedanreligion, but live on high mountains, and worship the Old Man of theland of the Hashishim[155]. And among them there are four communitiesof Israel who go forth with them in war-time. They are not under therule of the king of Persia, but reside in the high mountains, anddescend from these mountains to pillage and to capture booty, and thenreturn to the mountains, and none can overcome them. There are learnedmen amongst the Jews of their land. 

[p. 77]

These Jews are under the authority of the Head of the Captivity inBabylon. Thence it is five days to Amadia where there are about 25, 000Israelites[156]. This is the first of those communities that dwell inthe mountains of Chafton, where there are more than 100 Jewishcommunities. Here is the commencement of the land of Media. These Jewsbelong to the first captivity which King Shalmanezar led away; andthey speak the language in which the Targum is written. Amongst themare learned men. The communities reach from the province of Amadiaunto the province of Gilan, twenty-five days distant, on the border ofthe kingdom of Persia. They are under the authority of the king ofPersia, and he raises a tribute from them through the hands of hisofficer, and the tribute which they pay every year by way of poll taxis one gold amir, which is equivalent to one and one-third maravedi. [This tax has to be paid by all males in the land of Islam who areover the age of fifteen. ] At this place (Amadia), there arose this dayten years ago, a man named David Alroy of the city of Amadia[157]. Hestudied under Chisdai the Head of the Captivity, and under the Head ofthe Academy Gaon Jacob, in the city of Bagdad, and he was well versedin the Law of Israel, in the Halachah, as well as in the Talmud, andin all the wisdom of the Mohammedans, also in secular literature andin the writings of magicians and soothsayers. 

[p. 78]

He conceived the idea of rebelling against the king of Persia, and ofcollecting the Jews who live in the mountains of Chafton to go forthand to fight against all the nations, and to march and captureJerusalem. He showed signs by pretended miracles to the Jews, andsaid, "The Holy One, blessed be He, sent me to capture Jerusalem andto free you from the yoke of the Gentiles. " And the Jews believed inhim and called him their Messiah. When the king of Persia heard of ithe sent for him to come and speak with him. Alroy went to him withoutfear, and when he had audience of the king, the latter asked him, "Artthou the king of the Jews?" He answered, "I am. " Then the king waswrath, and commanded that he should be seized and placed in the prisonof the king, the place where the king's prisoners were bound unto theday of their death, in the city of Tabaristan which is on the largeriver Gozan. At the end of three days, whilst the king was sittingdeliberating with his princes concerning the Jews who had rebelled, David suddenly stood before them. He had escaped from the prisonwithout the knowledge of any man. 

[p. 79]

And when the king saw him, he said to him, "Who brought thee hither, and who has released thee?" "My own wisdom and skill, " answered theother; "for I am not afraid of thee, nor of any of thy servants. " Theking forthwith loudly bade his servants to seize him, but theyanswered, "We cannot see any man, although our ears hear him. " Thenthe king and all his princes marvelled at his subtlety; but he said tothe king "I will go my way"; so he went forth. And the king went afterhim; and the princes and servants followed their king until they cameto the river-side. Then Alroy took off his mantle and spread it on theface of the water to cross thereon. When the servants of the king sawthat he crossed the water on his mantle, they pursued him in smallboats, wishing to bring him back, but they were unable, and they said, "There is no wizard like this in the whole world. " That self-same dayhe went a journey of ten days to the city of Amadia by the strength ofthe ineffable Name, and he told the Jews all that had befallen him, and they were astonished at his wisdom. 

[p. 80]

After that the king of Persia sent word to the Emir Al-Muminin, theCaliph of the Mohammedans at Bagdad, urging him to warn the Head ofthe Exile, and the Head of the Academy Gaon Jacob, to restrain DavidAlroy from executing his designs. And he threatened that he wouldotherwise slay all the Jews in his Empire. Then all the congregationsof the land of Persia were in great trouble. And the Head of theCaptivity, and the Head of the Academy Gaon Jacob, sent to Alroy, saying, "The time of redemption is not yet arrived; we have not yetseen the signs thereof; for by strength shall no man prevail. Now ourmandate is, that thou cease from these designs, or thou shalt surelybe excommunicated from all Israel. " And they sent unto Zakkai the Nasiin the land of Assur (Mosul) and unto R. Joseph Burhan-al-mulk theastronomer there, bidding them to send on the letter to Alroy, andfurthermore they themselves wrote to him to warn him, but he would notaccept the warning. 

[p. 81]

Then there arose a king of the name of Sin-ed-din, the king of theTogarmim, and a vassal of the king of Persia, who sent to thefather-in-law of David Alroy, and gave him a bribe of 10, 000 goldpieces to slay Alroy in secret[158]. So he went to Alroy's house, andslew him whilst he was asleep on his bed. Thus were his plansfrustrated. Then the king of Persia went forth against the Jews thatlived in the mountain; and they sent to the Head of the Captivity tocome to their assistance and to appease the king. He was eventuallyappeased by a gift of 100 talents of gold, which they gave him, andthe land was at peace thereafter[159]. 

From this mountain it is a journey of twenty days to Hamadan, which isthe great city of Media, where there are 30, 000 Israelites. In frontof a certain synagogue, there are buried Mordecai an Esther[160]. 

[p. 82]

From thence (Hamadan[161]) it takes four days to Tabaristan, which issituated on the river Gozan. Some [four] thousand Jews livethere[162]. Thence it is seven days to Ispahan the great city and theroyal residence. It is twelve miles in circumference, and about 15, 000Israelites reside there[163]. The Chief Rabbi is Sar Shalom, who hasbeen appointed by the Head of the Captivity to have jurisdiction overall the Rabbis that are in the kingdom of Persia. Four days onward isShiraz, which is the city of Fars, and 10, 000 Jews live there[164]. Thence it is seven days to Ghaznah the great city on the river Gozan, where there are about 80, 000 Israelites[165]. It is a city ofcommercial importance; people of all countries and tongues comethither with their wares. The land is extensive. 

Thence it is five days to Samarkand, which is the great city on theconfines of Persia. In it live some 50, 000 Israelites, and R. Obadiahthe Nasi is their appointed head. Among them are wise and very richmen. 

[p. 83]

Thence it is four days' journey to Tibet, the country in whose foreststhe musk is found. Thence it takes twenty-eight days to the mountainsof Naisabur by the river Gozan. And there are men of Israel in theland of Persia who say that in the mountains of Naisabur four of thetribes of Israel dwell, namely, the tribe of Dan, the tribe ofZebulun, the tribe of Asher, and the tribe of Naphtali, who wereincluded in the first captivity of Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, as itis written (2 Kings xviii. 11): "And he put them in Halah and in Haborby the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes[166]. "

The extent of their land is twenty days' journey, and they have citiesand large villages in the mountains; the river Gozan forms theboundary on the one side. They are not under the rule of the Gentiles, but they have a prince of their own, whose name is R. Joseph Amarkalathe Levite. There are scholars among them. And they sow and reap andgo forth to war as far as the land of Cush by way of the desert[167]. They are in league with the Kofar-al-Turak, who worship the wind andlive in the wilderness, and who do not eat bread, nor drink wine, butlive on raw uncooked meat. 

[p. 84]

They have no noses, and in lieu thereof they have two small holes, through which they breathe. They eat animals both clean and unclean, and they are very friendly towards the Israelites. Fifteen years agothey overran the country of Persia with a large army and took the cityof Rayy[168]; they smote it with the edge of the sword, took all thespoil thereof, and returned by way of the wilderness. Such an invasionhad not been known in the land of Persia for many years. When the kingof Persia heard thereof his anger was kindled against them, and hesaid, "Not in my days nor in the days of my fathers did an army sallyforth from this wilderness. Now I will go and cut off their name fromthe earth. " A proclamation was made throughout his Empire, and heassembled all his armies; and he sought a guide who might show him theway to their encampment. And a certain man said that he would show himthe way, as he was one of them. And the king promised that he wouldenrich him if he did so. And the king asked him as to what provisionsthey would require for the march through the wilderness. 

[p. 85]

And he replied, "Take with you bread and wine for fifteen days, foryou will find no sustenance by the way, till you have reached theirland. " And they did so, and marched through the wilderness for fifteendays, but they found nothing at all. And their food began to give out, so that man and beast were dying of hunger and thirst. Then the kingcalled the guide, and said to him, "Where is your promise to us thatyou would find our adversaries?" To which the other replied, "I havemistaken the way. " And the king was wroth, and commanded that his headshould be struck off. And the king further gave orders throughout thecamp that every man who had any food should divide it with hisneighbour. And they consumed everything they had including theirbeasts. And after a further thirteen days' march they reached themountains of Naisabur, where Jews lived. They came there on theSabbath, and encamped in the gardens and plantations and by thesprings of water which are by the side of the river Gozan. Now it wasthe time of the ripening of the fruit, and they ate and consumedeverything. No man came forth to them, but on the mountains they sawcities and many towers. 

[p. 86]

Then the king commanded two of his servants to go and inquire of thepeople who lived in the mountains, and to cross the river either inboats or by swimming. So they searched and found a large bridge, onwhich there were three towers, but the gate of the bridge was locked. And on the other side of the bridge was a great city. Then theyshouted in front of the bridge till a man came forth and asked themwhat they wanted and who they were. But they did not understand himtill an interpreter came who understood their language. And when heasked them, they said, "We are the servants of the king of Persia, andwe have come to ask who you are, and whom you serve. " To which theother replied: "We are Jews; we have no king and no Gentile prince, but a Jewish prince rules over us. " They then questioned him withregard to the infidels, the sons of Ghuz of the Kofar-al-Turak, and heanswered: "Truly they are in league with us, and he who seeks to dothem harm seeks our harm. " Then they went their way, and told the kingof Persia, who was much alarmed. And on a certain day the Jews askedhim to join combat with them, but he answered: "I am not come to fightyou, but the Kofar-al-Turak, my enemy, and if you fight against me Iwill be avenged on you by killing all the Jews in my Empire; I knowthat you are stronger than I am in this place, and my army has comeout of this great wilderness starving and athirst. Deal kindly with meand do not fight against me, but leave me to engage with theKofar-al-Turak, my enemy, and sell me also the provisions which Irequire for myself and my army. "

[p. 87]

The Jews then took counsel together, and resolved to propitiate theking on account of the Jews who were in exile in his Empire. Then theking entered their land with his army, and stayed there fifteen days. And they showed him much honour, and also sent a dispatch to theKofar-al-Turak their allies, reporting the matter to them. Thereuponthe latter occupied the mountain passes in force with a large armycomposed of all those who dwelt in that desert, and when the king ofPersia went forth to fight with them, they placed themselves in battlearray against him. The Kofar-al-Turak army was victorious and slewmany of the Persian host, and the king of Persia fled with only a fewfollowers to his own country[169]. 

[p. 88]

Now a horseman, one of the servants of the king of Persia, enticed aJew, whose name was R. Moses, to come with him, and when he came tothe land of Persia this horseman made the Jew his slave. One day thearchers came before the king to give a display of their skill and noone among them could be found to draw the bow like this R. Moses. Thenthe king inquired of him by means of an interpreter who knew hislanguage, and he related all that the horseman had done to him. Thereupon the king at once granted him his liberty, had him clad inrobes of silk, gave him gifts, and said to him, "If thou wilt embraceour religion, I will make thee a rich man and steward of my house, "but he answered, "My lord, I cannot do this thing. " Then the king tookhim and placed him in the house of the Chief Rabbi of the Ispahancommunity, Sar Shalom, who gave him his daughter to wife. This same R. Moses told me all these things. 

Thence one returns to the land of Khuzistan which is by the riverTigris, and one goes down the river which falls into the Indian Oceanunto an island called Kish[170]. It is a six days' journey to reachthis island. 

[p. 89]

The inhabitants neither sow nor reap. They possess only one well, andthere is no stream in the whole island, but they drink rain-water. Themerchants who come from India and the islands encamp there with theirwares. Moreover, men from Shinar, El-Yemen and Persia bring thitherall sorts of silk, purple and flax, cotton, hemp, worked wool, wheat, barley, millet, rye, and all sorts of food, and lentils of everydescription, and they trade with one another, whilst the men fromIndia bring great quantities of spices thither. The islanders act asmiddlemen, and earn their livelihood thereby. There are about 500 Jewsthere. 

Thence it is ten days' journey by sea to Katifa, where there are about5, 000 Jews. Here the bdellium is to be found[171]. On thetwenty-fourth of Nisan rain falls upon the water, upon the surface ofwhich certain small sea-animals float which drink in the rain and thenshut themselves up, and sink to the bottom. 

[p. 90]

And about the middle of Tishri men descend to the bed of the sea byropes, and collect these shell-fish, then split them open and extractthe pearls. This pearl-fishery belongs to the King of the country, butis controlled by a Jewish official. 

Thence it is seven days' journey to Khulam which is the beginning ofthe country of the Sun-worshippers[172]. These are the sons of Cush, who read the stars, and are all black in colour. They are honest incommerce. When merchants come to them from distant lands and enter theharbour, three of the King's secretaries go down to them and recordtheir names, and then bring them before the King, whereupon the Kingmakes himself responsible even for their property which they leave inthe open, unprotected. There is an official who sits in his office, and the owner of any lost property has only to describe it to him whenhe hands it back. This custom prevails in all that country. FromPassover to New Year, that is all during the summer, no man can go outof his house because of the sun, for the heat in that country isintense, and from the third hour of the day onward, everybody remainsin his house till the evening. Then they go forth and kindle lights inall the market places and all the streets, and then do their work andbusiness at night-time. 

[p. 91]

For they have to turn night into day in consequence of the great heatof the sun. Pepper is found there. They plant the trees thereof in thefields, and each man of the city knows his own plantation. The treesare small, and the pepper is as white as snow. And when they havecollected it, they place it in saucepans and pour boiling water overit, so that it may become strong. They then take it out of the waterand dry it in the sun, and it turns black. Calamus and ginger and manyother kinds of spice are found in this land. 

The people of this country do not bury their dead, but embalm them bymeans of various spices, after which they place them on chairs andcover them with fine linen. And each family has a house where itpreserves the embalmed remains of its ancestors and relations. Theflesh hardens on the bones, and the embalmed bodies look like livingbeings, so that every man can recognize his parents, and the membersof his family for many years. 

[p. 92]

They worship the sun, and they have high places everywhere outside thecity at a distance of about half a mile. And every morning they runforth to greet the sun, for on every high place a solar disc is madeof cunning workmanship and as the sun rises the disc rotates withthundering noise, and all, both men and women, offer incense to thesun with censers in their hands. Such are their superstitiouspractices. And throughout the island, including all the towns there, live several thousand Israelites. The inhabitants are all black, andthe Jews also. The latter are good and benevolent. They know the lawof Moses and the prophets, and to a small extent the Talmud andHalacha. 

Thence it is twenty-three days by sea to Ibrig[173], and theinhabitants are fire-worshippers, and are called Duchbin. Among themare about 3, 000 Jews, and these Duchbin have priests in their severaltemples who are great wizards in all manner of witchcraft, and thereare none like them in all the earth. In front of the high place oftheir temple there is a deep trench, where they keep a great firealight all the year, and they call it Elahutha. 

[p. 93]

And they cause their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, andeven their dead they throw into it. Some of the great men of thecountry make a vow to die by fire. In such cases the man communicateshis intention to the members of his household and his relations, andsays:--"I have vowed to throw myself in the fire whilst I am yetalive, " then they answer, saying: "Happy art thou. " And when the dayof the performance of his vow arrives, they prepare for him a grandbanquet, and if he is rich he rides on horseback, if poor he goes onfoot to the border of the trench and throws himself into the fire. Andall the members of his family shout to the accompaniment of timbrelsand dancing until the body is entirely consumed. At the end of threedays two of their high priests come to his house and to his childrenand say unto them: "Arrange the house, for this day your father willcome to give his last directions as to what ye shall do. " And theybring witnesses from the city. Then Satan is made to appear in thelikeness of the deceased, and when his widow and children ask him howhe fares in the other world he answers: "I went to my companions, butthey would not receive me until I had discharged my obligations to themembers of my house and to my neighbours. "

[p. 94]

Then he makes his will and divides his property among his children, and gives directions that all his creditors should be paid and thathis debts should be collected. Then the witnesses write out the will, and he goes his way and is seen no more. And by means of this trickeryand witchcraft which these priests practise, the people are confirmedin their errors and assert that there is none in all the land liketheir priests. 

Thence to cross over to the land of Zin (China) is a voyage of fortydays. Zin is in the uttermost East, and some say that there is the Seaof Nikpa (Ning-po?), where the star Orion predominates and stormywinds prevail[174]. At times the helmsman cannot govern his ship, as afierce wind drives her into this Sea of Nikpa, where she cannot movefrom her place; and the crew have to remain where they are till theirstores of food are exhausted and then they die. In this way many aship has been lost, but men eventually discovered a device by which toescape from this evil place. The crew provide themselves with hides ofoxen. 

[p. 95]

And when this evil wind blows which drives them into the Sea of Nikpa, they wrap themselves up in the skins, which they make waterproof, and, armed with knives, plunge into the sea. A great bird called thegriffin spies them out, and in the belief that the sailor is ananimal, the griffin seizes hold of him, brings him to dry land, andputs him down on a mountain or in a hollow in order to devour him. Theman then quickly thrusts at the bird with a knife and slays him. Thenthe man issues forth from the skin and walks till he comes to aninhabited place. And in this manner many a man escapes[175]. 

[p. 96]

Thence to Al-Gingaleh is a voyage of fifteen days, and about 1, 000Israelites dwell there. Thence by sea to Chulan is seven days; but noJews live there. From there it is twelve days to Zebid, where thereare a few Jews. From there it is eight days' journey to India which ison the mainland, called the land of Aden, and this is the Eden whichis in Thelasar[176]. The country is mountainous. There are manyIsraelites here, and they are not under the yoke of the Gentiles, butpossess cities and castles on the summits of the mountains, from whichthey make descents into the plain-country called Lybia, which is aChristian Empire. These are the Lybians of the land of Lybia, withwhom the Jews are at war. The Jews take spoil and booty and retreat tothe mountains, and no man can prevail against them. Many of these Jewsof the land of Aden come to Persia and Egypt[177]. 

Thence to the land of Assuan is a journey of twenty days through thedesert. This is Seba on the river Pishon (Nile) which descends fromthe land of Cush[178]. And some of these sons of Cush have a king whomthey call the Sultan Al-Habash. There is a people among them who, likeanimals, eat of the herbs that grow on the banks of the Nile and inthe fields. They go about naked and have not the intelligence ofordinary men. They cohabit with their sisters and any one they find. The climate is very hot. When the men of Assuan make a raid into theirland, they take with them bread and wheat, dry grapes and figs, andthrow the food to these people, who run after it. 

[p. 97]

Thus they bring many of them back prisoners, and sell them in the landof Egypt and in the surrounding countries. And these are the blackslaves, the sons of Ham. 

From Assuan it is a distance of twelve days to Heluan where there areabout 300 Jews. Thence people travel in caravans a journey of fiftydays through the great desert called Sahara, to the land of Zawilah, which is Havilah in the land of Gana[179]. In this desert there aremountains of sand, and when the wind rises, it covers the caravanswith the sand, and many die from suffocation. Those that escape bringback with them copper, wheat, fruit, all manner of lentils, and salt. And from thence they bring gold, and all kinds of jewels. This is inthe land of Cush which is called Al-Habash on the westernconfines[180]. From Heluan it is thirteen days' journey to Kutz whichis K[=u]s, and this is the commencement of the land of Egypt. At Kutzthere are 300 Jews[181]. Thence it is 300 miles to Fayum, which isPithom, where there are 200 Jews; and unto this very day one can seeruins of the buildings which our forefathers erected there[182]. 

Thence to Mizraim is a journey of four days. 

[p. 98]

This Mizraim is the great city situated on the banks of the Nile, which is Pison or Al-Nil[183]. The number of Jewish inhabitants isabout 7, 000. Two large synagogues are there, one belonging to the menof the land of Israel and one belonging to the men of the land ofBabylon. The synagogue of the men of the land of Israel is calledKenisat-al-Schamiyyin, and the synagogue of the men of Babylon iscalled Kenisat-al-Irakiyyin. Their usage with regard to the portionsand sections of the Law is not alike; for the men of Babylon areaccustomed to read a portion every week, as is done in Spain, and isour custom, and to finish the Law each year; whilst the men ofPalestine do not do so, but divide each portion into three sectionsand finish the Law at the end of three years. The two communities, however, have an established custom to unite and pray together on theday of the Rejoicing of the Law, and on the day of the Giving of theLaw[184]. Among the Jews is Nethanel the Prince of Princes and thehead of the Academy, who is the head of all the congregations inEgypt[185]; he appoints Rabbis and officials, and is attached to thecourt of the great King, who lives in his palace of Zoan el-Medina, which is the royal city for the Arabs. 

[p. 99]

Here resides the Emir al Muminin, a descendant of Abu Talib. All hissubjects are called "Alawiyyim[186], " because they rose up against theEmir al Muminin al Abbasi (the Abbaside Caliph) who resides at Bagdad. And between the two parties there is a lasting feud, for the formerhave set up a rival throne in Zoan (Egypt). 

Twice in the year the Egyptian monarch goes forth, once on theoccasion of the great festival, and again when the river Nile rises. Zoan is surrounded by a wall, but Mizraim has no wall, for the riverencompasses it on one side. It is a great city, and it hasmarket-places as well as inns in great number. The Jews that dwellthere are very rich. No rain falls, neither is ice or snow ever seen. The climate is very hot. 

The river Nile rises once a year in the month of Elul; it covers allthe land, and irrigates it to a distance of fifteen days' journey. Thewaters remain upon the surface of the land during the months of Eluland Tishri, and irrigate and fertilize it. 

The inhabitants have a pillar of marble, erected with much skill, inorder to ascertain the extent of the rise of the Nile. It stands inthe front of an island in the midst of the water, and is twelve cubitshigh[187]. 

[p. 100]

When the Nile rises and covers the column, they know that the riverhas risen and has covered the land for a distance of fifteen days'journey to its full extent. If only half the column is covered, thewater only covers half the extent of the land. And day by day anofficer takes a measurement on the column and makes proclamationthereof in Zoan and in the city of Mizraim, proclaiming: "Give praiseunto the Creator, for the river this day has risen to such and such aheight"; each day he takes the measurement and makes his proclamation. If the water covers the entire column, there will be abundancethroughout Egypt. The river continues to rise gradually till it coversthe land to the extent of fifteen days' journey. He who owns a fieldhires workmen, who dig deep trenches in his field, and fish come withthe rise of the water and enter the trenches. Then, when the watershave receded, the fish remain behind in the trenches, and the ownersof the fields take them and either eat them or sell them to thefishmongers, who salt them and deal in them in every place. These fishare exceedingly fat and large, and the oil obtained from them is usedin this land for lamp-oil. Though a man eat a great quantity of thesefish, if he but drink Nile water afterwards they will not hurt him, for the waters have medicinal properties. 

[p. 101]

People ask, what causes the Nile to rise? The Egyptians say that upthe river, in the land of Al-Habash (Abyssinia), which is the land ofHavilah, much rain descends at the time of the rising of the river, and that this abundance of rain causes the river to rise and to coverthe surface of the land[188]. If the river does not rise, there is nosowing, and famine is sore in the land. Sowing is done in the month ofMarheshwan, after the river has gone back to its ordinary channel. Inthe month of Adar is the barley-harvest, and in the month of Nisan thewheat-harvest. 

In the month of Nisan they have cherries, pears, cucumbers, and gourdsin plenty, also beans, peas, chickpeas, and many kinds of vegetables, such as purslane, asparagus, pulse, lettuce, coriander, endive, cabbage, leek, and cardoon. The land is full of all good things, andthe gardens and plantations are watered from the various reservoirsand by the river-water. 

The river Nile, after flowing past (the city of) Mizraim, divides intofour heads: one channel proceeds in the direction of Damietta, whichis Caphtor[189], where it falls into the sea. 

[p. 102]

The second channel flows to the city of Reshid (Rosetta), which isnear Alexandria, and there falls into the sea; the third channel goesby way of Ashmun, where it falls into the sea; and the fourth channelgoes as far as the frontier of Egypt[190]. Along both banks of thesefour river-heads are cities, towns and villages, and people visitthese places either by ship or by land. There is no suchthickly-populated land as this elsewhere. It is extensive too andabundant in all good things. 

From New Mizraim unto Old Mizraim is a distance of two parasangs. Thelatter is in ruins, and the place where walls and houses stood can beseen to the present day. The store-houses also of Joseph of blessedmemory are to be found in great numbers in many places. They are builtof lime and stone, and are exceedingly strong[191]. A pillar is thereof marvellous workmanship, the like of which cannot be seen throughoutthe world. 

Outside the city is the ancient synagogue of Moses our master, ofblessed memory, and the overseer and clerk of this place of worship isa venerable old man; he is a man of learning, and they call him AlSheik Abu al-Nazr[192]. The extent of Mizraim, which is in ruins, isthree miles. 

[p. 103]

Thence to the land of Goshen is eight parasangs; here is Bilbais[193]. There are about 300 Jews in the city, which is a large one. Thence itis half a day's journey to Ain-al-Shams or Ramses, which is in ruins. Traces are there to be seen of the buildings which our fore-fathersraised, namely, towers built of bricks. From here it is a day'sjourney to Al Bubizig, where there are about 200 Jews. Thence it ishalf a day to Benha, where there are about 60 Jews. Thence it takeshalf a day to Muneh Sifte, where there are 500 Jews[194]. From thereit is half a day's journey to Samnu, where there are about 200 Jews. Thence it is four parasangs to Damira, where there are about 700 Jews. From there it is five days to Lammanah, where there are about 500Jews[195]. Two days' journey takes one to Alexandria of Egypt, whichis Ammon of No; but when Alexander of Macedon built the city, hecalled it after his own name, and made it exceedingly strong andbeautiful[196]. The houses, the palaces, and the walls are ofexcellent architecture. Outside the town is the academy of Aristotle, the teacher of Alexander. This is a large building, standing betweenother academies to the number of twenty, with a column of marblebetween each. People from the whole world were wont to come hither inorder to study the wisdom of Aristotle the philosopher. 

[p. 104]

The city is built over a hollow by means of arches. Alexander built itwith great understanding. The streets are wide and straight, so that aman can look along them for a mile from gate to gate, from the gate ofReshid to the gate by the sea. 

Alexander also built for the harbour of Alexandria a pier, a king'shighway running into the midst of the sea. And there he erected alarge tower, a lighthouse, called Manar al Iskandriyyah in Arabic. Onthe top of the tower there is a glass mirror. Any ships that attemptedto attack or molest the city, coming from Greece or from the Westernlands, could be seen by means of this mirror of glass at a distance oftwenty days' journey, and the inhabitants could thereupon putthemselves on their guard. It happened once, many years after thedeath of Alexander, that a ship came from the land of Greece, and thename of the captain was Theodoros, a Greek of great cleverness. TheGreeks at that time were under the yoke of Egypt. The captain broughtgreat gifts in silver and gold and garments of silk to the King ofEgypt, and he moored his ship in front of the lighthouse, as was thecustom of all merchants. 

[p. 105]

Every day the guardian of the lighthouse and his servants had theirmeals with him, until the captain came to be on such friendly termswith the keeper that he could go in and out at all times. And one dayhe gave a banquet, and caused the keeper and all his servants to drinka great deal of wine. When they were all asleep, the captain and hisservants arose and broke the mirror and departed that very night. Fromthat day onward the Christians began to come thither with boats andlarge ships, and eventually captured the large island called Crete andalso Cyprus, which are under the dominion of the Greeks. [The otherMSS. Add here: Ever since then, the men of the King of Egypt have beenunable to prevail over the Greeks. ] To this day the lighthouse is alandmark to all seafarers who come to Alexandria; for one can see itat a distance of 100 miles by day, and at night the keeper lights atorch which the mariners can see from a distance, and thus sailtowards it[197]. 

[p. 106]

Alexandria is a commercial market for all nations. Merchants comethither from all the Christian kingdoms: on the one side, from theland of Venetia and Lombardy, Tuscany, Apulia, Amalfi, Sicilia, Calabria, Romagna, Khazaria, Patzinakia, Hungaria, Bulgaria, Rakuvia(Ragusa?), Croatia, Slavonia, Russia, Alamannia (Germany), Saxony, Danemark, Kurland? Ireland? Norway (Norge?), Frisia, Scotia, Angleterre, Wales, Flanders, Hainault? Normandy, France, Poitiers, Anjou, Burgundy, Maurienne, Provence, Genoa, Pisa, Gascony, Aragon, and Navarra[198], and towards the west under the sway of theMohammedans, Andalusia, Algarve, Africa and the land of the Arabs: andon the other side India, Zawilah, Abyssinia, Lybia, El-Yemen, Shinar, Esh-Sham (Syria); also Javan, whose people are called the Greeks, andthe Turks. And merchants of India bring thither all kinds of spices, and the merchants of Edom buy of them. And the city is a busy one andfull of traffic. Each nation has an inn of its own. 

By the sea-coast there is a sepulchre of marble on which are engravedall manner of beasts and birds; an effigy is in the midst thereof, andall the writing is in ancient characters, which no one knows now. 

[p. 107]

Men suppose that it is the sepulchre of a king who lived in earlytimes before the Deluge. The length of the sepulchre is fifteen spans, and its breadth is six spans. There are about 3, 000 Jews inAlexandria. 

Thence it is two days' journey to Damietta which is Caphtor, wherethere are about 200 Jews, and it lies upon the sea. Thence it is oneday's journey to Simasim; it contains about 100 Jews. From there it ishalf a day to Sunbat; the inhabitants sow flax and weave linen, whichthey export to all parts of the world[199]. Thence it is four days toAilam, which is Elim[200]. It belongs to the Arabs who dwell in thewilderness. Thence it is two days' journey to Rephidim where the Arabsdwell, but there are no Jews there[201]. A day's journey from thencetakes one to Mount Sinai. On the top of the mountain is a largeconvent belonging to the great monks called Syrians[202]. At the footof the mountain is a large town called Tur Sinai; the inhabitantsspeak the language of the Targum (Syriac). It is close to a smallmountain, five days distant from Egypt. The inhabitants are underEgyptian rule. At a day's journey from Mount Sinai is [[203]the RedSea, which is an arm of the Indian Ocean. We return to Damietta. Fromthere it is a day's journey to] Tanis, which is Hanes, where there areabout 40 Jews. It is an island in the midst of the sea[204]. 

[p. 108]

Thus far extends the empire of Egypt. 

Thence it takes twenty days by sea to Messina, which is thecommencement of Sicily and is situated on the arm of the sea that iscalled Lipar[205], which divides it from Calabria. Here about 200 Jewsdwell. It is a land full of everything good, with gardens andplantations. Here most of the pilgrims assemble to cross over toJerusalem, as this is the best crossing. Thence it is about two days'journey to Palermo, which is a large city. Here is the palace of KingWilliam. Palermo contains about 1, 500 Jews and a large number ofChristians and Mohammedans[206]. It is in a district abounding insprings and brooks of water, a land of wheat and barley, likewise ofgardens and plantations, and there is not the like thereof in thewhole island of Sicily. Here is the domain and garden of the king, which is called Al Harbina (Al Hacina)[207], containing all sorts offruit-trees. And in it is a large fountain. The garden is encompassedby a wall. And a reservoir has been made there which is called AlBuheira[208], and in it are many sorts of fish. Ships overlaid withsilver and gold are there, belonging to the king, who takespleasure-trips in them with his women[209]. 

[p. 109]

In the park there is also a great palace, the walls of which arepainted, and overlaid with gold and silver; the paving of the floorsis of marble, picked out in gold and silver in all manner of designs. There is no building like this anywhere. And this island, thecommencement of which is Messina, contains all the pleasant things ofthis world. It embraces Syracuse, Marsala, Catania, Petralia, andTrapani, the circumference of the island being six days' journey. InTrapani coral is found, which is called Al Murgan[210]. 

Thence people pass to the city of Rome in ten days. And from Rome theyproceed by land to Lucca, which is a five days' journey. Thence theycross the mountain of Jean de Maurienne, and the passes of Italy. Itis twenty days' journey to Verdun, which is the commencement ofAlamannia, a land of mountains and hills. All the congregations ofAlamannia are situated on the great river Rhine, from the city ofCologne, which is the principal town of the Empire, to the city ofRegensburg, a distance of fifteen days' journey at the other extremityof Alamannia, otherwise called Ashkenaz. 

[p. 110]

And the following are the cities in the land of Alamannia, which haveHebrew congregations: Metz, Treves on the river Moselle, Coblenz, Andernach, Bonn, Cologne, Bingen, Münster, Worms, [211] [All Israel isdispersed in every land, and he who does not further the gathering ofIsrael will not meet with happiness nor live with Israel. When theLord will remember us in our exile, and raise the horn of hisanointed, then every one will say, "I will lead the Jews and I willgather them. " As for the towns which have been mentioned, they containscholars and communities that love their brethren, and speak peace tothose that are near and afar, and when a wayfarer comes they rejoice, and make a feast for him, and say, "Rejoice, brethren, for the help ofthe Lord comes in the twinkling of an eye. " If we were not afraid thatthe appointed time has not yet arrived nor been reached, we would havegathered together, but we dare not do so until the time for song hasarrived, and the voice of the turtle-dove (is heard in the land), whenthe messengers will come and say continually, "The Lord be exalted. "

[p. 111]

Meanwhile they send missives one to the other, saying, "Be ye strongin the law of Moses, and do ye mourners for Zion and ye mourners forJerusalem entreat the Lord, and may the supplication of those thatwear the garments of mourning be received through their merits. " Inaddition to the several cities which we have mentioned there arebesides] Strassburg, Würzburg, Mantern, Bamberg, Freising, andRegensburg at the extremity of the Empire[212]. In these cities thereare many Israelites, wise men and rich. 

Thence extends the land of Bohemia, called Prague[213]. This is thecommencement of the land of Slavonia, and the Jews who dwell therecall it Canaan, because the men of that land (the Slavs) sell theirsons and their daughters to the other nations. These are the men ofRussia, which is a great empire stretching from the gate of Prague tothe gates of Kieff, the large city which is at the extremity of thatempire[214]. It is a land of mountains and forests, where there are tobe found the animals called vair[215], ermine, and sable. 

[p. 112]

No one issues forth from his house in winter-time on account of thecold. People are to be found there who have lost the tips of theirnoses by reason of the frost. Thus far reaches the empire of Russia. 

The kingdom of France, which is Zarfath, extends from the town ofAuxerre[216] unto Paris, the great city--a journey of six days. Thecity belongs to King Louis. It is situated on the river Seine. Scholars are there, unequalled in the whole world, who study the Lawday and night. They are charitable and hospitable to all travellers, and are as brothers and friends unto all their brethren the Jews. MayGod, the Blessed One, have mercy upon us and upon them!

 Finished and completed. 

INDEX

The references in this Index are made to the pages of _Asher'sEdition_, which are marked in the margin of the foregoing Englishtranslation. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 1: Tudela was called in Benjamin's time _Tuteila_. Sepharad is Spain. ]

 [Footnote 2: There is a considerable difference of opinion as to the exact dates at which Benjamin began and completed his journey. In my opinion, the period can be placed within a very narrow compass. Early in his journey he visited Rome, where he found R. Jechiel to be the steward of the household of Pope Alexander. This can be no other than Pope Alexander III, who played so important a part in the struggle between King Henry II and Thomas a Becket. The German Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, supported the anti-Pope Victor IV, and in consequence Alexander had to leave Rome soon after his election in 1159 and before his consecration. He did not return to settle down permanently in Rome until November 23, 1165, but was forced to leave again in 1167. Consequently Benjamin must have been in Rome between the end of 1165 and 1167. Benjamin terminated his travels by passing from Egypt to Sicily and Italy, then crossing the Alps and visiting Germany. In Cairo he found that the Fatimite Caliph was the acknowledged ruler. The Caliph here referred to must have been El-'Adid, who died on Monday, September 13, 1171--being the last of the Fatimite line. A short time before his death, Saladin had become the virtual ruler of Egypt, and had ordered the Khotba to be read in the name of the Abbaside Caliph el-Mostadi of Bagdad. (See the _Life of Saladin_, by Bohadin: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, p. 61. ) It is clear, therefore, that Benjamin's absence from Europe must be placed between the years 1166 and 1171. Benjamin on his return journey passed through Sicily when the island was no longer governed by a viceroy. King William II (the Good) attained his majority in 1169, and Benjamin's visit took place subsequently. It will be found in the course of the narrative that not a single statement by Benjamin is inconsistent with this determination of date; see p. 3, n. 4; p. 9, n. 2; p. 15, n. 4; p. 61, n. 1; and p. 79, n. 2. ]

 [Footnote 3: Saragossa was called in Benjamin's time _Sarakosta_ (= Caesar-Augusta). Charisi, in _Tachkemoni_, 46, refers to some of the Rabbis. ]

 [Footnote 4: The imposing ruins at Tarragona comprise prehistoric walls of enormous unhewn blocks of stone, as well as the remains of Roman aqueducts, tombs, amphitheatres, &c. Here and generally in this narrative the letter R is used as an abbreviation for Rabbi. ]

 [Footnote 5: See Graetz, _Geschichte der Juden_, vol. VI, pp. 230 et seq. ; also notes 1 and 10 at the end of vol. VI. ]

 [Footnote 6: The ancient name of Gerona was Gerunda. ]

 [Footnote 7: See Geiger's _Jüdische Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Leben_, p. 281. The Records of Narbonne bear evidence of sales of lands standing in the name of R. Kalonymos (_Archives Israelites_, 1861, p. 449). His ancestor, R. Machir, came to Europe in the time of Charlemagne. ]

 [Footnote 8: R. Abraham ben Isaac (Rabad II) was author of the Rabbinic code; Ha-Eshkol, and was one of the intermediaries between the Talmudists of France and the Scholars of Spain. He died 1178. ]

 [Footnote 9: A parasang is about 3-2/5 English miles, and the distance from Narbonne to Beziers is correctly given. 10 parasangs make a day's journey. ]

 [Footnote 10: The King of Portugal is even now styled King of the Algarves. ]

 [Footnote 11: Cf. Graetz, VI, p. 240, also Joseph Jacob's _Angevin Jews_, p. 111. R. Asher was one of a group of pious Rabbis known as Perushim--who might be styled Jewish monks. His father, Rabbenu Meshullam, died 1170. ]

 [Footnote 12: He is referred to in _Tosafoth Temurah_, fol. 12a and b. ]

 [Footnote 13: This eminent Talmudist, known as the Rabad, was son-in-law of the R. Abraham of Narbonne before referred to. See Graetz, VI, 243. ]

 [Footnote 14: The Abbey of St. Aegidius was much resorted to in the Middle Ages. The Jews of Beaucaire, and the neighbourhood, enjoyed the patronage of Raymond V, Count of Toulouse, called by the Troubadour poets "the good Duke. " See Graetz, VI, note I, p. 401. It is impossible to enlarge in these notes upon the several Jewish scholars referred to by Benjamin. An interesting article by Professor Israel Levi on the "Jews in Mediaeval France, " and other articles, in the _Jewish Encyclopaedia_, also Gross, _Gallia Judaica_, might be consulted with advantage. ]

 [Footnote 15: The BM. MS. Calls R. Abba Mari dead, which statement, unless qualified, as in a few other instances, by the insertion of the word "since, " would be unintelligible. ]

 [Footnote 16: Asher's Text and Epstein's MS. Give the distance between Arles and Marseilles as three days' journey. The actual distance is about fifty-three English miles. Probably the Roman roads were still in use. ]

 [Footnote 17: R. Isaac, son of Abba Mari, is the celebrated author of "Baal Haittur"; he wrote this work at Marseilles, 1179. It is doubtful whether he was the son of Count Raymond's bailiff. ]

 [Footnote 18: His full name is R. Jacob Perpignano. See Graetz, VI, note 1, p. 399. ]

 [Footnote 19: The meaning of course is that the Genoese pillage Christian and Mohammedan places alike. ]

 [Footnote 20: See Dr. H. Berliner's work _Die Geschichte der Juden in Rom. _ His derivation of the Hebrew word used for Pope, [Hebrew:] from Peter, is questionable. It is the Greek [Greek: hepiphoros]. See Talmud, _Aboda Zarah_, 11 a. ]

 [Footnote 21: The great work alluded to is the _Talmudical Dictionary_, completed in 1101. See Graetz, VI, p. 281. ]

 [Footnote 22: The palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill is no doubt here referred to. ]

 [Footnote 23: [Hebrew:], quoted by E and Asher, is a corrupt reading for [Hebrew:]. ]

 [Footnote 24: This is Josippon's story. Benjamin occasionally embodies in his work fantastic legends told him, or recorded by his predecessors. His authorities lived in the darkest period of the Middle Ages. Josippon, Book I, Chap, iv, speaks of 320 senators. I have followed Breithaupt, and rendered [Hebrew:] "consul. "]

 [Footnote 25: Having regard to the various readings, it is possible that the Thermae of Diocletian or more probably the Flavian amphitheatre, which early in the Middle Ages began to be called the Colosseum, is here referred to. It had four stories, each floor composed of arcades containing eighty separate compartments, making 320 in all. Our author in the course of his narrative speaks more than once of buildings erected on a uniform plan corresponding with the days of the year. ]

 [Footnote 26: I. Heilprin, the author of _Seder Hadoroth_ (Warsaw, 1897 edition, p. 157) as well as Zunz, appear to have here fallen into error, assuming as they do that Benjamin refers to the ten teachers of the Mishna, R. Gamaliel, R. Akiba and the other sages who suffered martyrdom in Palestine at the hands of the Roman Emperors. The ten martyrs here alluded to are those referred to in the Preface to Hakemoni, published by Geiger in [Hebrew:], Berlin, 1840, and [Hebrew:], Berlin edition, fols. 151-2 [Hebrew:] Rome, as so many other cities, had its own martyrs. ]

 [Footnote 27: This is the statue of Marcus Aurelius now before the Capitol. ]

 [Footnote 28: Even in Benjamin's time the Campagna was noted for malaria. ]

 [Footnote 29: Professor Ray Lankester, in a lecture given on Dec. 29, 1903, at the Royal Institution, illustrated changes in the disposition of land and water by pointing to the identical ruined Temple referred to by Benjamin. It now stands high above the sea, and did so in the second and third centuries of the present era, but in the eighth and ninth centuries was so low, owing to the sinking of the land, that the lower parts of its marble pillars stood in the sea, and sea-shells grew in the crevices. ]

 [Footnote 30: Josippon gives these legends in Book I, chaps. Iii and iv, when speaking of Zur, whom he associates with Sorrento. Benjamin had few other sources of information. In the immediate neighbourhood of Pozzuoli is Solfatara, where sulphur is found. A destructive eruption from the crater took place in 1198. Hot springs abound, and the baths at Bagnoli are much frequented to the present day. The underground road is the Piedi grotta of Posilipo, constructed by Augustus. ]

 [Footnote 31: R. Isaac, the father of R. Judah, must be the "Greek Locust" against whom Ibn Ezra directed his satire when visiting Salerno some twenty years before R. Benjamin. See Graetz, VI, p. 441. ]

 [Footnote 32: Cf. Isaiah lxvi. 19. ]

 [Footnote 33: This city was destroyed by William the Bad in 1156. It was ordered to be restored by William the Good in 1169, so that Benjamin must have visited Bari before that date. See p. 79, note 2. We have here another clue as to the date of Benjamin's travels. ]

 [Footnote 34: See H. M. Adler's article on Jews in Southern Italy, _J. Q. R. _, XIV, p. 111. Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, chap. Lvi, describing the reconquest of the southern provinces of Italy by the Byzantine Emperor Manuel, 1155, says. "The natives of Calabria were still attached to the Greek language and worship. "]

 [Footnote 35: The river Achelous falls into the Ionian Sea opposite to Ithaca. ]

 [Footnote 36: Anatolica is now known as Aetolicum. ]

 [Footnote 37: Patras, the ancient Patrae, was founded long before the time of Antipater. _Josippon_, II, chap. Xxiii, is again the questionable authority on which Benjamin relied. ]

 [Footnote 38: Lepanto in the early Middle Ages was called Naupactus or Epacto, and to reach it from Patras the Gulf of Corinth had to be crossed. ]

 [Footnote 39: Chalcis, the capital of Euboea or Negroponte, is even now called Egripo. It is situated on the Straits of Euripus. ]

 [Footnote 40: Some twenty years later the Wallachians were in open revolt and became independent of the Byzantine Empire. Gibbon, chap. Lx. ]

 [Footnote 41: See Gibbon, chap. Liii. He often quotes Benjamin. ]

 [Footnote 42: The Grand Duchy of Kieff was called Russia. See page 81. ]

 [Footnote 43: The Petchinegs, as well as the Khazars, Bulgarians, Hungarians, and Turks, are called by Josippon, I, chap. I, descendants of Togarma. Patzinakia was the country from the Danube to the Dnieper, and corresponds with Dacia of classical times. ]

 [Footnote 44: The readings of E and A are corrupt. R has [Hebrew:], and BM. Has [Hebrew:], the southern provinces of Russia were spoken of as the land of the Khazars, especially by Jewish writers, long after the Russian conquest about the year 1000, and the Crimea was known to European travellers as Gazaria. It took Rabbi Pethachia eight days to pass through the land of the Khazars. See Dr. A. Benisch, _Translation of Petachia's Travels_. In note 3, p. 70, he gives a short sketch of their history. The ruling dynasty and most of the inhabitants embraced the Jewish religion. ]

 [Footnote 45: _Procopius_, vol. I (Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society), gives a full description of Constantinople. ]

 [Footnote 46: The commentator, wrongly supposed to be Rashi, gives an interesting note upon the passage in I Chron. Xx. 2, where it is mentioned that David took the crown of the king of the children of Ammon, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and it was set upon David's head. Rashi states that the meaning of the passage must be that this crown was hung above David's throne, and adds that he heard in Narbonne that this practice was still kept up by the kings in the East. ]

 [Footnote 47: See for a full account of these powerful Seljuk Sultans F. Lebrecht's Essay on the Caliphate of Bagdad during the latter half of the twelfth century. Vol. II of A. Asher's _Itinerary of Rabbi Benjamin_. ]

 [Footnote 48: Ibn Verga, _Shevet Jehuda_, XXV, states that a predecessor of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus issued an edict prohibiting the Jews from residing elsewhere than in Pera, and restricting their occupation to tanning and shipbuilding. ]

 [Footnote 49: This place is mentioned by _Procopius_, p. 119, as having been fortified by Justinian. It is now known as Rodosto. ]

 [Footnote 50: Ibn Ezra visited Cyprus before his arrival in London in 1158, when he wrote the _Sabbath Epistle_. It is not unlikely that the heterodox practices of the sect of whom Benjamin here speaks had been put forward in certain books to which Ibn Ezra alludes, and induced him to compose the pamphlet in defence of the traditional mode of observance of the Sabbath day. This supposition is not inconsistent with Graetz's theory, vol. VI, p. 447. See also Dr. Friedlander, _Ibn Ezra in England, J. Q. R. _, VIII, p. 140, and Joseph Jacobs, _The Jews of Angevin England_, p. 35. ]

 [Footnote 51: See Gibbon, chaps, lviii and lix; Charles Mills, _History of the Crusades_, I, p. 159; C. R. Conder, _Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem_, p. 39. ]

 [Footnote 52: The several MSS. Give different readings. The kingdom reached to the Taurus mountains and the Sultanate of Rum or Iconium. ]

 [Footnote 53: Beazley remarks that Benjamin must have passed along this coast before 1167, when Thoros died at peace and on terms of vassalage to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus. Malmistras is forty-five miles from Tarsus. Both had been recaptured by Manuel in 1155. _Josippon_, I, chap. I, identifies Tarshish with Tarsus. ]

 [Footnote 54: No doubt the river Fer, otherwise Orontes, is here referred to. Ancient Antioch lies on the slope of Mount Silpius, and the city-wall erected by Justinian extended from the river up to the hill-plateau. Abulfeda says: "The river of Hamâh is also called Al Urunt or the Nahr al Maklûb (the Overturned) on account of its course from south to north; or, again, it is called Al' Âsi (the Rebel), for the reason that though most rivers water the lands on their borders without the aid of water-wheels, the river of Hamâh will not irrigate the lands except by the aid of machines for raising its waters. " (Guy le Strange, _Palestine under the Moslems_, p. 59. ) It is strange that R. Benjamin should call the Orontes the river Jabbok, but he always takes care to add that it rises in the Lebanon, to avoid any misconception that the Jabbok which falls into the Jordan is meant. ]

 [Footnote 55: Boemond III, surnamed le Baube (the Stammerer), succeeded his mother in 1163. We owe the doubtless correct rendering of this passage to the ingenuity of the late Joseph Zedner. Benjamin visited Antioch before 1170, when a fearful earthquake destroyed a great part of the city. ]

 [Footnote 56: It must be inferred from the context here, as well as from other passages, that when Benjamin mentions the number of Jews residing at a particular place he refers to the heads of families. ]

 [Footnote 57: Gebal is the Gabala of ancient geographers. See Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 25. Many travellers, among them Robinson, identify Baal-Gad with Banias, others suppose it to be Hasbeya. ]

 [Footnote 58: Hashishim--hemp-smokers--hence is derived the word "assassin. " See Socin, _Palestine and Syria_, pp. 68 and 99. Ibn Batuta and other Arabic writers have much to say about the Assassins or Mulahids, as they call them. They are again referred to by Benjamin on p. 54, where he states that in Persia they haunted the mountainous district of Mulahid, under the sway of the Old Man of the Mountain. The manner in which the Sheik acquired influence over his followers is amusingly described by Marco Polo (_The Book of Ser Marco Polo_: translated and edited by Colonel Sir Henry Yule; third edition, London, John Murray, 1903): "In a fertile and sequestered valley he placed every conceivable thing pleasant to man--luxurious palaces, delightful gardens, fair damsels skilled in music, dancing, and song, in short, a veritable paradise! When desirous of sending any of his band on some hazardous enterprise the Old Man would drug them and place them while unconscious in this glorious valley. But it was not for many days that they were allowed to revel in the joys of paradise. Another potion was given to them, and when the young men awoke they found themselves in the presence of the Old Man of the Mountain. In the hope of again possessing the joys of paradise they were ready to embark upon any desperate errand commanded by the Old Man. " Marco Polo mentions that the Old Man found crafty deputies, who with their followers settled in parts of Syria and Kurdistan. He adds that, in the year 1252, Alaü, lord of the Tartars of the Levant, made war against the Old Man, and slaughtered him with many of his followers. Yule gives a long list of murders or attempts at murder ascribed to the Assassins. Saladin's life was attempted in 1174-6. Prince Edward of England was slain at Acre in 1172. The sect is not quite extinct. They have spread to Bombay and Zanzibar, and number in Western India over 50, 000. The mention of the Old Man of the Mountain will recall to the reader the story of Sinbad the Sailor in _The Arabian Nights_. ]

 [Footnote 59: See Parchi, _Caphtor wa-pherach_, an exhaustive work on Palestine written 1322, especially chap. Xi. The author spent over seven years in exploring the country. ]

 [Footnote 60: Socin, the author of Baedeker's _Handbook to Palestine and Syria_, p. 557, gives the year of the earthquake 1157. It is referred to again p. 31. There was a very severe earthquake in this district also in 1170, and the fact that Benjamin does not refer to it furnishes us with another _terminus ad quem_. ]

 [Footnote 61: See the narrative of William of Tyre. ]

 [Footnote 62: Gubail, the ancient Gebal, was noted for its artificers and stonecutters. Cf. I Kings v. 32; Ezek. Xxvii. 9. The Greeks named the place Byblos, the birthplace of Philo. The coins of Byblos have a representation of the Temple of Astarte. All along the coast we find remains of the worship of Baal Kronos and Baaltis, of Osiris and Isis, and it is probable that the worship of Adonis and Jupiter-Ammon led Benjamin to associate therewith the Ammonites. The reference to the children of Ammon is based on a misunderstanding, arising perhaps out of Ps. Lxxxiii. 8. ]

 [Footnote 63: _The Quarterly Statements of the Palestine Exploration Fund_ for 1886 and 1889 give a good deal of information concerning the religion of the Druses. Their morality is there described as having been much maligned. ]

 [Footnote 64: Tyre was noted for its glass-ware and sugar factories up to 1291, when it was abandoned by the Crusaders, and destroyed by the Moslems. ]

 [Footnote 65: This name is applied to the Kishon, mentioned further on, celebrated in Deborah's song (Judg. V. 21), but it is about five miles south of Acre, the river nearest to the town being the Belus, noted for its fine sand suitable for glass-making. It is not unlikely that R. Benjamin alludes to the celebrated ox-spring of which Arab writers have much to say. Mukkadasi writes in 985: "Outside the eastern city gate is a spring. This they call Ain al Bakar, relating how it was Adam--peace be upon him!--who discovered this spring, and gave his oxen water therefrom, whence its name. "]

 [Footnote 66: Gath-Hepher, the birthplace of Jonah, near Kefr Kenna, in the territory of Zebulon (Joshua xix. 13), is not here referred to, but the land of Hepher, I Kings iv. 10 is probably meant. ]

 [Footnote 67: In Benjamin's time hermits, who eventually founded the Carmelite order of monks, occupied grottoes on Mount Carmel. ]

 [Footnote 68: Benjamin travelled along the coast to Caesarea. Mr. Guy Le Strange (_Palestine under the Moslems_, 1890, p. 477) writes: "Tall Kanîsah, or Al Kunaisah, the Little Church, is the mound a few miles north of Athlith, which the Crusaders took to be the site of Capernaum. " Benjamin must have known very well that Maon, which was contiguous to another Carmel (referred to in Joshua xv. 55), belonged to Judah, and was not in the north of Palestine. Here, as in the case of Gath and elsewhere, he quotes what was the hearsay identification current at the time he visited these places. See an article by C. R. Conder on "Early Christian Topography" in the _Quarterly Statements of the Palestine Exploration Fund_ for 1876, p. 16. Cf. _The Ancient Hebrew Tradition_, by Prof. Fr. Hommel, p. 243. ]

 [Footnote 69: In the time of the Crusaders Gath was supposed to be near Jamnia, but nothing definite is known as to its site. (Baedeker, _Handbook to Palestine and Syria_, 1876, p. 317. )]

 [Footnote 70: It lies between Caesarea and Lydda. See Conder's _Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem_. Munk's _Palestine_ might also be consulted with advantage. ]

 [Footnote 71: The tomb of St. George is still shown in the Greek church at Lydda. ]

 [Footnote 72: Mr. A. Cowley in an article on the Samaritan Liturgy in _J. Q. R. _, VII, 125, states that the "House of Aaron" died out in 1624. The office then went to another branch, the priest being called [Hebrew:], the Levite Cohon. Cf. Adler and Seligsohn's _Une nouvelle chronique Samaritaine_. (Paris: Durlacher, 1903. )]

 [Footnote 73: The small square building known as Joseph's tomb lies a short distance north of Jacob's well, at the eastern entrance to the vale of Nablous. ]

 [Footnote 74: Cf. Guy Le Strange, _Palestine_, 381, and Rapoport's Note 166, Asher's _Benjamin_, vol. II, p. 87. ]

 [Footnote 75: The MSS. Are defective here; starting from Shechem, Mount Gilboa, which to this day presents a bare appearance, is in a different direction to Ajalon. It is doubtful whether Benjamin personally visited all the places mentioned in his _Itinerary_. His visit took place not long after the second great Crusade, when Palestine under the kings of Jerusalem was disturbed by internal dissensions and the onslaughts of the Saracens under Nur-ed-din of Damascus and his generals. Benjamin could at best visit the places of note only when the opportunity offered. ]

 [Footnote 76: This and most of the other places mentioned by Benjamin are more or less identified in the very important work published by the Palestine Exploration Fund, _The Survey of Western Palestine_. Our author's statements are carefully examined, and Colonel Conder, after expatiating upon the extraordinary mistakes made by writers in the time of the Crusaders, some of whom actually confounded the sea of Galilee with the Mediterranean, says: "The mediæval Jewish pilgrims appear as a rule to have had a much more accurate knowledge both of the country and of the Bible. Their assertions are borne out by existing remains, and are of the greatest value. "]

 [Footnote 77: King Baldwin III died in 1162, and was succeeded by his brother Almaric. ]

 [Footnote 78: The reading of the Roman MS. That there were but four Jewish inhabitants at Jerusalem is in conformity with R. Pethachia, who passed through Palestine some ten or twenty years after R. Benjamin, and found but one Jew there. The [Hebrew: daleth] meaning four would easily be misread for [Hebrew: resh] meaning 200. ]

 [Footnote 79: The Knights of the Hospital of St. John and the Templars are here referred to. See Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_; Charles Mills, _History of the Crusades_, 4th edition, vol. I, p. 342, and Besant and Palmer's _Jerusalem_, chap. Ix. ]

 [Footnote 80: Cf. The writings of Mukaddasi the Hierosolomite, one of the publications of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society. See also Edrisi's and Ali of Herat's works. Chap. Iii of Guy Le Strange's _Palestine_ gives full extracts of Edrisi's account written in 1154 and Ali's in 1173. See also five plans of Jerusalem designed between 1160 and 1180, vol. XV, _Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. _]

 [Footnote 81: Ezek. Xx. 35. The idea that the Gorge of Jehoshaphat will be the scene of the last judgment is based upon Joel iv. 2. Cf. M. N. Adler, _Temple at Jerusalem_ and Sir Charles Warren's Comments. ]

 [Footnote 82: In memory of Absalom's disobedience to his father, it is customary with the Jews to pelt this monument with stones to the present day. The adjoining tomb is traditionally known as that of Zechariah, 2 Chron. Xxiv. 20, King Uzziah, otherwise Azariah, was buried on Mount Zion, close to the other kings of Judah, 2 Kings xv. 7. Cf. P. E. F. , _Jerusalem_, as to identification of sites. Sir Charles Wilson, _Picturesque Palestine_, gives excellent illustrations of the holy places, and his work might be consulted with advantage. ]

 [Footnote 83: Pillars of salt are to be met with elsewhere, for instance at Hammam Meskutim in Algeria. They are caused by spouts of water, in which so great a quantity of salt is contained as at times to stop up the aperture of the spring. The latter, however, is again unsealed through cattle licking off the salt near the aperture, and the same process of filling up and unstopping goes on continually. Cf. Talmud Berachot, 54 a. ]

 [Footnote 84: See Baedeker's _Palestine and Syria_, pp. 233, 236; also Schwartz, _Palestine_, 1852, p. 230 and Dr. Robinson's _Palestine_, I, p. 516. ]

 [Footnote 85: Edrisi in 1154 writes: "The tomb is covered by twelve stones, and above it is a dome vaulted over with stones. "]

 [Footnote 86: Compare R. Pethachia's account of his visit (_Travels of Rabbi Petachia_: translated by Dr. A. Benisch; London, Trübner & Co. , 1856, p. 63). See papers by Professors Goldziher and Guthe (_Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins_, XVII, pp. 115 and 238) for an account of the opening of the tombs at Hebron in 1119, as given in a presumably contemporaneous MS. Found by Count Riant. Fifteen earthenware vessels filled with bones, perhaps those referred to by Benjamin, were found. It is doubtful whether the actual tombs of the Patriarchs were disturbed, but it is stated that the Abbot of St. Gallen paid in 1180 ten marks of gold (equal to about £5, 240 sterling) for relics taken from the altar of the church at Hebron. The MS. Of Count Riant further mentions that before the occupation of Hebron by the Arabs, the Greeks had blocked up and concealed the entrance to the caves. The Jews subsequently disclosed the place of the entrance to the Moslems, receiving as recompense permission to build a synagogue close by. This was no doubt the Jewish place of worship referred to by Benjamin. Shortly after Benjamin's visit in 1167 the Crusaders established a bishopric and erected a church in the southern part of the Haram. See also Conder's account of the visit of His Majesty the King, when Prince of Wales, to the Haram at Hebron. (_Palestine Exploration Fund's Quarterly Statement_, 1882. )]

 [Footnote 87: Beit Jibrin was fortified by King Fulk in 1134. See Baedeker's _Palestine and Syria_, p. 309; Rapoport's _Erech Milin_, p. 54; also a preliminary notice on the Necropolis of Maresha in _P. E. F. Q. S. _, Oct. , 1902, p. 393. The text has [Hebrew:], but it should be [Hebrew:]. Inscriptions on tombs near Beit Jibrin show that the town, to which those buried belonged, was called Mariseh. The passage in A and all printed editions as to Shunem and Toron de Los Caballeros is corrupt. Shunem was a small place in Galilee, and is not likely to have had 300 Jews at the time of the Crusaders, still less so Toron the present Latrun. ]

 [Footnote 88: Shiloh, at the time of the Crusaders, was considered to occupy the site of Mizpeh, the highest mountain near Jerusalem, where the national assemblies were held at the time of the Judges. The present mosque is dilapidated, but the substructure, which dates from the Frank period, is beautifully jointed. The apse is raised. The reputed tomb of Samuel is on the western side of the church. It is still called Nebi Samwil, venerated alike by Jew and Moslem. ]

 [Footnote 89: This and Mahomerie-le-grand, already mentioned, are Crusaders' churches. See Rey, _Les Colonies franques de Syrie aux XII'e et XIII'e siècles_, p. 387; also Conder, _The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem_. ]

 [Footnote 90: Beit-Nuba near Ramleh has been identified without proof with Nob. Richard Coeur-de-Lion encamped here some twenty-five years after Benjamin's visit. He with the army of the Crusaders passed through Ibelin on his way to Askelon. Cf. Vinsauf's _Itinerarium Regis Ricardi_. ]

 [Footnote 91: See an interesting Paper, "Der Pass von Michmas, " by Prof. D. G. Dalman, _Z. D. P. V. _, 1904, vol. XXVII, p. 161. ]

 [Footnote 92: Asher renders [Hebrew:] Ramleh, for which there is some justification. Ramleh did not exist in Bible times--it was founded in 716. It prospered to such an extent that it became as large as Jerusalem. It was a good deal damaged by an earthquake in 1033. Ramleh had a large Moslem population, and the Jews there remained comparatively unmolested by the Crusaders. This latter fact accounts for the somewhat large number of Jews residing there. Asher's reading, and that of all the printed editions, is "about three Jews dwell there. " This is obviously wrong. Probably the copyist is to blame in taking [Hebrew:] to be an abbreviation for [Hebrew:] The reports of contemporary Arabic authors will be found in Guy Le Strange's _Palestine_, pp. 303-8. ]

 [Footnote 93: Ali of Herat, Benjamin's contemporary, writes: "Askelon is a fine and beautiful city. There is near here the well of Abraham, which they say he dug with his own hand. " Bohadin, in his _Life of Saladin_, gives a detailed account of the demolition of the city in 1192, after the conclusion of peace between King Richard I and Saladin. Ibn Batutah in 1355 found the town in ruins, but gives a detailed account of the well. (Guy Le Strange, pp. 402-3; cf. Dr. H. Hildesheimer, _Beiträge zur Geographie Palästinas_. )]

 [Footnote 94: The cathedral at Lydda with the tomb of St. George was destroyed when Saladin captured the place in 1191. It was rebuilt by a King of England in the seventeenth century. ]

 [Footnote 95: A. M. Lunez in his Year-book for 1881, pp. 71-165, gives a complete list of the reputed Jewish tombs in Palestine. There are many records of the graves of Jewish worthies in our literature, but it is not easy to reconcile the different versions. See Jacob ben Nethanel's Itinerary given in Lunez's _Jerusalem_, 1906, VII, p. 87. ]

 [Footnote 96: Both BM. And R have [Hebrew:], whilst E and A have the faulty reading [Hebrew:]. The Seder Hadoroth has the same reading as E and A. Jehuda Halevi died about thirty years before Benjamin's visit, and the question of the burial-place of our great national poet is thus finally settled. ]

 [Footnote 97: The common belief is that Simon the Just was buried near Jerusalem, on the road to Nablous, about a mile from the Damascus Gate. ]

 [Footnote 98: Cf. Schechter's _Saadyana_, p. 89. ]

 [Footnote 99: The passage referring to the Arnon is evidently out of place. ]

 [Footnote 100: See Deut. Xi. 24. ]

 [Footnote 101: For a description of the city and its great mosque, see Baedeker, also Guy Le Strange, _Palestine under the Moslems_, chap. Vi. The most eastern dome of the mosque is to this day called Kubbet-es-Saa, the Dome of Hours. Mukaddasi gives an elaborate description of the mosaics and other features of this mosque. ]

 [Footnote 102: Cf. _Midrash Raba_, chap, xiv: [Hebrew:]; also Josephus, _Ant_. I, vii, 2 who quotes Nicolaus of Damascus in the words "_In Damasco regnarit Abramus. _"]

 [Footnote 103: Pethachia estimates the Jewish population at 19, 000. This confirms the opinion already given (p. 26) that Benjamin refers to heads of families. ]

 [Footnote 104: Dr. W. Bacher with justice observes that, at the time of the Crusades, the traditions of the Palestinian Gaonate seem to have survived at Damascus. See _J. Q. R. _, XV, pp. 79-96. ]

 [Footnote 105: Galid as a city cannot be identified. Salchah is in the Eastern Hauran, half a day's journey from Bosra, and is spoken of in Scripture as a frontier city of Bashan. (Deut. Iii. 10; Joshua xii. 5. ) It lies a long way to the south of Damascus, whilst Baalbec lies to the north. ]

 [Footnote 106: Tarmod is Tadmor or Palmyra. ]

 [Footnote 107: The important city Emesa, now called Homs, is here probably indicated. In scripture, Gen. X. 18, the Zemarite and the Hamathite are grouped together among the Canaanite families. In this district is the intermittent spring of Fuwâr ed-Der, the Sabbatio River of antiquity, which Titus visited after the destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus (_Wars of the Jews_, Book VII, sec. 5) describes it as follows: "Its current is strong and has plenty of water; after which its springs fail for six days together and leave its channels dry, as any one may see; after which days it runs on the seventh day as it did before, and as though it had undergone no change at all: it has also been observed to keep this order perpetually and exactly. " The intermittent action is readily accounted for by the stream having hollowed out an underground duct, which acts as a syphon. ]

 [Footnote 108: Hamath is often mentioned in Scripture, situated at no great distance from the Orontes. In the troublous time after the first crusade it was taken by the Ismailians or Assassins. The earthquake of 1157 caused great damage. Twenty years later the place was captured by Saladin. ]

 [Footnote 109: Robinson and Conder identify Hazor with a site near Kedesh Naftali, but Sheiza is doubtless Sheizár, the ancient Larissa. Having regard to the readings of the other MSS. , there is no doubt that Latmin, the next stage on the way to Aleppo, is the correct name of the place. See M. Hartmann's articles, "Beiträge zur Kenntuis der Syrischen Steppe, " _Z. D. P. V. _, vols. XXII and XXIII, 1900 I. Cf. The article on the Boundaries of Palestine and Syria by M. Friedmann, Luncz's _Jerusalem_, vol. II. ]

 [Footnote 110: Edrisi writes that there was abundance of water at Aleppo, but there is no discrepancy between Benjamin's and Edrisi's statements, as Asher supposes. The old waterworks were restored by Malek about the year 1200, some thirty years after Benjamin's visit. ]

 [Footnote 111: Edrisi and Abulfeda speak of Balis and Kalat Jabar. See Guy Le Strange, p. 417. Zengy the Atabeg was slain at Kalat Jabar. ]

 [Footnote 112: Rakka is on the left bank of the Euphrates. It was an important city of Upper Mesopotamia, commanding the Syrian frontier. Salchah is in the Hauran. See p. 30, note 5. On the right bank of the Euphrates, nearly opposite to Rakka, was Thapsacus. Here Cyrus forded the river, and here Alexander crossed in pursuit of Darius. ]

 [Footnote 113: Harr[=a]n, the city of Nahor, is twenty-four miles SSE. Of Edessa on the Balikh. Mustawfi tells us of Abraham's Shrine. ]

 [Footnote 114: Ras-el-Ain, probably Rhesaina. The river Khabur--the Araxes of Xenophon--flows from the Kurdistan mountains southwards, and runs into the Euphrates. ]

 [Footnote 115: The Gozan river cannot be, as tacitly assumed by Asher, the Kizil Uzun (also known as the Araxes). The Kizil Uzun is on the right of the watershed of the mountains of Kurdistan, and falls into the Caspian Sea. The Khabur above referred to flows through Mesopotamia, not through Media. The misconception arises probably from the author being too mindful of the passage occurring repeatedly in Scripture, e. G. 2 Kings xvii. 6: ". .. And placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. "]

 [Footnote 116: All the MSS. Except BM. Have here: "Thence it is two days to the city of Nisibis (Nasibin). This is a great city with rivulets of water, and contains about 1, 000 Jews. "]

 [Footnote 117: Josephus (_Antiquities_, I, 3) mentions that Noah's Ark still existed in his day. Rabbi Pethachia, who travelled through Armenia within twenty years after Benjamin, speaks of four mountain peaks, between which the Ark became fixed and from which it could not get free. Arab writers tell us that Jabal Judi (Koran, ch. Xi, ver. 46) with the Mosque of Noah on the summit, could be seen from Geziret. See also _Marco Polo_, Bk. I. Ch. 3. ]

 [Footnote 118: See Lebrecht's Essay "On the State of the Caliphate at Bagdad. " Sin-ed-din, otherwise known as Seif-ed-din, died 1149, some twenty years before Benjamin's visit, and Graetz (vol. VI, note 10) suggests that the appointment of Astronomer Royal must have been made by Nur-ed-din's nephew. None of the MSS. Have this reading, nor is such a correction needed. R. Joseph may have been appointed by Nur-ed-din's brother, and would naturally retain the office during the reign of his successor. ]

 [Footnote 119: Irbil, or Arbela, is two days' journey from Mosul. See Saadyana, _J. Q. R. _, vol. XIV, p. 503, and W. Bacher's note, p. 741. ]

 [Footnote 120: For a full account of Mosul and other places here referred to, see Mr. Guy Le Strange's _The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate_, 1905, also Layard's _Nineveh and its Remains_ and _Nineveh and Babylon_. Layard carefully examined Nebbi Junus, which is held in great veneration by the Mussulmans, and came to the conclusion that the tradition which places Jonah's tomb on this spot is a mere fable (p. 596). It will be seen that Benjamin speaks of the Shrine as a _Synagogue_. At Alkush near Mosul the tomb of Nahum is pointed out, and the Arabs say that after Jonah had fulfilled his mission to the people of Nineveh they relapsed into idolatry. Then Nahum denounced the city and was slain by the populace, who proclaimed him and Jonah to be false prophets, since the doom the latter foretold does not come to pass, See Schwarz, _Das Heilige Land_, 1852, p. 259, identifying Kefar Tanchum near Tiberias with Nahum's burialplace]

 [Footnote 121: As to Jewish seats of learning in Babylon refer to Dr. Krauss's Article "Babylonia" in the _Jewish Encyclopaedia_; see also Guy Le Strange, p. 74, who suggests that Pumbedita means "mouth of the Badat canal. " Cf. _J. Q. R. _, XVII, p. 756. ]

 [Footnote 122: Hadara goes under the name Alhathr or Hatra. There must exist great doubt as to whether Benjamin had personally satisfied himself as to the Jewish population he gives for this and the other places he tells of, till he comes to Egypt. Up to this point the Traveller has always appeared to under-estimate the Jewish population. Henceforth it will be found that he gives apparently exaggerated figures, --and this lends colour to the view that Benjamin did not proceed beyond Ispahan, but found his way thence direct to Egypt. The statements concerning the intervening places must therefore be taken to have been based upon hearsay information. Pethachia's remarks are significant: "In the land of Cush and Babel are more than sixty myriads of Jews; as many are in the land of Persia. But in Persia the Jews are subject to hard bondage and suffering. Therefore Rabbi Pethachia visited only one city in Persia. " (Dr. Benisch's edition, p. 19. )]

 [Footnote 123: The Caliphs of the Abbaside Dynasty traced their descent from Mohammed. Benjamin here refers to the Caliph El Mostanshed. The Caliph is aptly compared to the Pope. In addition to his temporal authority at Bagdad, he exercised as Leader of the Faithful--Emir al-Muminin--religious authority over all Mohammedans from Spain to India. At a later time the vizier arrogated all authority to himself, and the Caliph spent his time either in the mosque or in the seraglio. ]

 [Footnote 124: _Lebrecht_, p. 391, states that this was a scarf of black velvet, generally a portion of the hangings of the mosque of Mecca, which was suspended from a balcony of the Palace and was called the Sleeve of the Caliph. ]

 [Footnote 125: The statements here made are strangely contradictory; see a suggestive article by Dr. Goldziher in _Z. D. P. G. _, 1905, p. 151. ]

 [Footnote 126: A valuable work, _Bagdad during the Abbaside Caliphate, from Contemporary Arabic and Persian Sources_, appeared in 1900, written by Mr. Guy Le Strange, which helps to explain Benjamin's account of the Moslem metropolis. The Caliph Mansur in 762 selected it as the Capital of the Empire. Numerous references in the Talmud prove that a Jewish settlement was there long before. Mansur built a double-walled Round City two miles in diameter on the western side of the Tigris. It formed the nucleus of suburbs, which spread over both banks of the Tigris. A very fair idea of the metropolis may be obtained if we imagine the Round City as situated on the Surrey side of the Thames, having the "Elephant and Castle" for its centre. At this spot stood the great Mosque of Mansur, where the Friday services were held, and where the Caliph took a prominent part in the service on the Bairam, at the close of the Ramazan fast. The Round City being subject to periodical inundations, the government buildings were gradually transferred to the eastern side of the river. The Royal Palaces, in the grounds called the Harim, which were fully three miles in extent, occupied the site similar to that from Westminster to the City. At one time there were as many as twenty-three palaces within the royal precincts. The Caliph, when visiting the Mosque in state, left the palace grounds, and proceeded over the main bridge, corresponding to Westminster Bridge, along a road which in Benjamin's time led to the Basrah Gate quarter. At the close of the ceremony in the Mosque, the Caliph returned, crossing the bridge of boats, and proceeded to his palace by a road corresponding to the Thames Embankment. The members of his court and the nobles entered barges and escorted him alongside the river. 

 The Arab writers mention that certain palaces were used as state prisons, in which the Caliphs kept their nearer relations in honourable confinement. They were duly attended by numerous servants, and amply supplied with every luxury, but forbidden under pain of death to go beyond the walls. Lebrecht, p. 381, explains the circumstances under which the Caliph Moktafi imprisoned his brother and several of his kinsmen. There were large hospitals in Bagdad: the one to which Benjamin alludes is the Birmaristan of the Mustansiriyah, in Western Bagdad, which for three centuries was a great school of medical science. Its ruins, close to the present bridge of boats, are still to be seen. The reader must bear in mind that at the time when Benjamin visited Bagdad, the Seljuk Sultans had been defeated, and the Caliphs stood higher than ever in power. They, however, took little interest in political affairs, which were left entirely in the hands of their viziers. ]

 [Footnote 127: Asher and the other printed editions give the Jewish population at 1, 000. Pethachia makes the same estimate, which, however, is inconsistent with his statement, that the Head of the Academy had 2, 000 disciples at one time, and that more than 500 surrounded him. The British Museum and Casanatense MSS. Solve the difficulty; they have the reading _forty thousand_. It would be wearisome to specify in these notes all the places where a superior reading is presented by these MSS. ; the student will, however, find that not a few anomalies which confronted Asher are now removed. ]

 [Footnote 128: The last or tenth Academy. ]

 [Footnote 129: This appellation is applied in the Talmud to scholars who uninterruptedly apply themselves to communal work. ]

 [Footnote 130: The first line of Exilarchs, which ended with Hezekiah in the year 1040, traced their descent from David through Zerubbabel. Hisdai's pedigree was through Hillel, who sprang from a female branch of the Royal line (see Graetz, vol. VI, note 10). Pethachia writes (p. 17) that a year before his arrival at Bagdad Daniel died. A nephew, David, became Exilarch jointly with R. Samuel, the Head of the great Academy, whose authority over all the communities in Asia became paramount. Samuel had an only daughter, who was learned in the Scriptures and the Talmud. She gave instruction through a window, remaining in the house, whilst the disciples were below, unable to see her. ]

 [Footnote 131: The office of Exilarch had but recently been revived, and the Mohammed here referred to may have been Mohammed El Moktafi, the Caliph Mostanshed's predecessor. ]

 [Footnote 132: The Alans throughout the Middle Ages occupied Georgia and the regions of the Caucasus. As to the Iron Gates which Alexander made, Yule in commenting on Marco Polo's text (_Travels of Ser Marco Polo:_ edited by Sir Henry Yule, 3rd edition, London, John Murray, chap, iii) says that Benjamin was the first European traveller to mention this pass. Benjamin and Marco Polo both record the general belief currrent at the time that the Pass of Derbend was traversed by Alexander. It is still called in Turkish "Demis-Kapi" or the Iron Gate, and the Persians designate it "Sadd-i-Iskandar"--the Rampart of Alexander. Lord Curzon, however, in his valuable work _Persia and the Persians_, vol. 1, p. 293, proves conclusively that the pass through which Alexander's army marched when pursuing Darius after the battle of Arbela could not have been at Derbend. Arrian, the historian of Alexander's expeditions, writes that the pass was one day's journey from Rages (the noted city mentioned in the Book of Tobit) for a man marching at the pace of Alexander's army. But Derbend is fully 500 miles from Rages. In Lord Curzon's opinion, confirmed by Spiegel, Droysen and Schindler, the Sirdara Pass, some forty miles from Teheran on the way to Meshed, must have been the defile which Alexander's army forced. I think it will be found that Marco Polo's geography is less reliable than that of Benjamin. In the third chapter referred to above, Marco Polo speaks of the Euphrates falling into the Caspian Sea. ]

 [Footnote 133: Probably the Oxus, called by the Arabs "Gaihun. " Rabad I, a contemporary of Benjamin, speaks of the land of Gurgan in his Sefer Hakabalah. The Nestorian Christians are probably here referred to. ]

 [Footnote 134: It is interesting to compare this account with that of the Installation of the Egyptian Nagid (_J. Q. R. _, IX, p. 717). ]

 [Footnote 135: This is a well-known sage, whose name often occurs in the Talmud. ]

 [Footnote 136: The Babel of Bible times was captured by Sennacherib; after stopping up a dam of the Euphrates, the country was placed under water and the city destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar restored the city; he also erected a magnificent palace for himself--the Kasr--also the Temple of Bel. Herodotus, Book I, chaps. 178-89, fully describes these edifices, and dwells upon the huge extent of the metropolis, which was estimated to have a circuit of fifty miles. Xerxes destroyed the city. Alexander the Great contemplated the restoration of Bel's Temple, but as it would have taken two months for 10, 000 men merely to remove the rubbish, he abandoned the attempt. The ruins have been recently explored by Germans. The embankments which regulated the flow of the Euphrates and Tigris have given way, and at the present time the whole region round Babylon is marshy and malarious. In the words of Jeremiah, li. 43, "Her cities are a desolation, a sterile land, and a wilderness, a place wherein no man dwelleth. "]

 [Footnote 137: The Valley of Dura mentioned in Daniel iii. Is here referred to. See Dr. Berliner's _Beiträge zur Geographie und Ethnographie Babyloniens_; also Layard's _Nineveh and Babylon_, p. 469. Cf. Berachot, 57 b. ]

 [Footnote 138: Bereshith Rabba, chap, xxxviii, says the tower was at Borsippa, and the ruins here spoken of are probably those of the Birs Nimroud, fully described by Layard, _Nineveh and Babylon_, chap, xxii, p. 496. He says: "The mound rises abruptly to the height of 198 feet, and has on its summit a compact mass of brickwork 37 feet high by 28 broad. .. . On one side of it, beneath the crowning masonry, lie huge fragments torn from the pile itself. The calcined and vitreous surface of the bricks, fused into rock-like masses, show that their fall may have been caused by lightning. The ruin is rent almost from top to bottom. No traces whatever now remain of the spiral passage spoken of by the Jewish traveller. " Cf. Professor T. K. Cheyne's article, "The Tower of Babel, " in the new _Biblical Cyclopaedia_. Nebuchadnezzar, in his Borsippa inscription, records that the tower, which had never originally been completed, had fallen into decay, and that the kiln-bricks had split. These are the Agur bricks mentioned by Benjamin; cf. Isaiah xxvii. 9. Al-ajur is the word still used by the Arabs for kiln-burnt bricks. ]

 [Footnote 139: Niebuhr, vol. II, 216, gives a full account of his visit to the tomb. Layard, speaking of Birs Nimroud, says: "To the south-west in the extreme distance rise the palm-trees of Kifil, casting their scanty shade over a small dome, the tomb of Ezekiel. To this spot occasionally flock in crowds, as their forefathers have done for centuries, the Jews of Bagdad, Hillah, and other cities of Chaldea. .. . It is now but a plain building, despoiled of the ornaments and MSS. Which it once appears to have contained" (_Nineveh and Babylon_, p. 500). Alcharizi composed a beautiful ode when visiting this tomb (chap, xxxv, also chap. L). ]

 [Footnote 140: This Mohammed, as in the case referred to p. 40, must have been a predecessor of the reigning Caliph, as the Prophet was never in Babylonia, and in no case would he have granted favours to the Jews. It should be noted that the British Museum MS. On which our text is based, as well as the Casanatense MS. , generally styles the Prophet [Hebrew]. The MS. , on which the Constantinople _editio princeps_ is based, had probably all passages where this epithet or other objectionable remarks were used excised by the censor, and it will be seen that the passage before us, with reference to the grant of land by Mohammed, as well as that further on, referring to Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, do not appear in any of the printed editions. Dr. Hirschfeld is of opinion that, on the one hand, the epithet is the translation of the Arabic _majn[=u]n_, a term against which Mohammed protested several times in the Koran, because it means he was possessed by a _jinn_, like a soothsayer. On the other hand, the word was chosen having regard to Hosea ix. 7. This was done long before Benjamin's time, by Jafeth and others. ]

 [Footnote 141: See picture of the traditional tomb of Ezekiel in the _Jewish Encyclopaedia_, vol. V, p. 315. ]

 [Footnote 142: The Talmud (Sabbath, II a) speaks of the destruction of Mata Mehasya. Sura took its place as a centre of learning. ]

 [Footnote 143: See Berliner, pp. 45, 47, 54, and 57, for particulars derived from the Talmud and Midrash as to the several centres of Jewish learning in Babylonia. ]

 [Footnote 144: This synagogue is repeatedly mentioned in the Talmud. Zunz (Note 255) omits mentioning Aboda Zarah, 43 b, where Rashi explains that Shafjathib was a place in the district of Nehardea, and that Jeconiah and his followers brought the holy earth thither, giving effect to the words of the Psalmist: "For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof" (Ps. Cii. 14). ]

 [Footnote 145: Benjamin visited the various seats of learning in the neighbourhood, and thus came again to Nehardea, which has been already mentioned on p. 34. Rab Jehuda, not Rab, is there associated with Samuel. ]

 [Footnote 146: Asher, at this stage of Benjamin's narrative, has the following note: "For the illustration of that portion of our text which treats of Arabia, we refer the reader to the Rev. S. L. Rapoport's paper, 'Independent Jews of Arabia, ' which will be found at the end of these notes. " No such account appeared in the work, but in the _Bikkure Haittim_ for the year 1824, p. 51, there appears an interesting essay in Hebrew on the subject by Rapoport, to which the reader is referred. It is a matter of history that the powerful independent Jewish communities which were settled at Yathrib, afterwards called Medina, and in the volcanic highlands of Kheibar and Teima called the Harrah, were crushed by Mohammed. Dr. Hirschfeld, in the _Jewish Quarterly Review_, vol. XV, p. 170, gives us the translation of a letter found in the Cairo _Genizah_, addressed by Mohammed to the people of Kheibar and Maqna, granting them certain privileges from which the Jews, who were allowed to remain in their homes, benefited. Omar, the second Caliph, broke the compact, but allowed them to settle at Kufa on the Euphrates. Although pilgrims pass annually up and down the caravan tracks to Mecca, the information respecting the old Jewish sites in the Harrah is most meagre. Edrisi and Abulfeda throw no light on Benjamin's account. In the year 1904 an able work by Mr. D. G. Hogarth appeared under the title of _The Penetration of Arabia_, being a record of the development of Western knowledge concerning the Arabian Peninsula. He gives a full account of the European travellers who have described the country. Niebuhr, who visited Yemen in 1762, repeated the statement made by the Italian traveller Varthema that there were still wild Jews in Kheibar. The missionary Joseph Woolf visited Arabia in 1836, and he gives us an account of an interview he had with some of the Rechabites. No weight, however, can be attached to his fantastic stories. W. G. Palgrave, who resided for some years in Syria as a Jesuit, where he called himself Father Michael (Cohen), was entrusted in 1862 with a mission to Arabia by Napoleon III in connexion with the projected Suez Canal; he was one of the few visitors to the Harrah, but he makes no special reference to the Jews. Joseph Halevi made many valuable discoveries of inscriptions in South Arabia, which he traversed in 1869. He visited the oppressed Jewish community at Sanaa in Yemen; he further discovered traces of the ancient Minaean kingdom, and found that the Jews in the Nejran were treated with singular tolerance and even favour; but he was not able to tell us anything respecting the Jews of the Harrah. 

 C. M. Doughty was, however, more successful when visiting this district in 1875. Of Kheibar he says "that it is now a poor village whose inhabitants are a terrible kindred, Moslems outwardly, but, in secret, cruel Jews that will suffer no stranger to enter among them. " See C. M. Doughty's _Arabia Deserta_, vol. II, p. 129. "Teima is a Nejd colony of Shammar; their fathers came to settle there not above 200 years past. Old Teima of the Jews, according to their tradition, had been (twice) destroyed by flood. From those times there remain some great rude stone buildings. It is now a prosperous open place" (vol. I, p. 286). 

 The only writer that casts any doubt upon Benjamin's record as to independent Jewish tribes in Arabia is R. Jacob Safir, who visited Yemen and other Arabian ports in the Red Sea in the year 1864. See chaps. Xv and xliii of _Iben Safir_, Lyck, 1866. Dr. L. Grünhut, in his introduction, _Die Reisebeschreibungen des R. Benjamin von Tudela_, Jerusalem, 1903, p. 16, refutes Safir's statements. 

 In Hogarth's work, p. 282, is shown a print of the Teima stone, with its Aramaic inscription, considered to belong to the fourth or fifth century B. C. , and on p. 285 will be found Doughty's interesting sketch of Kheibar. ]

 [Footnote 147: It is clear that, when speaking of the population of some of these places, the whole oasis or district is intended, and not a particular town. ]

 [Footnote 148: In reading through the foregoing account of the Jews in Arabia, it is quite clear that Benjamin never visited the country, nor did he pretend to have done so. In the words of Mr. C. E. Beazley (The Dawn of Modern Geography, p. 252), "It is no longer, for the most part, a record of personal travel; it is rather an attempt to supplement the first part 'of things seen' by a second 'of things heard. '" But Beazley is wrong when he characterizes as "wild" the account of the Jews of Southern Arabia "who were Rechabites. " Does Benjamin say so? There is no such reading in the MS. Of the British Museum. The student, it is thought, will by this time have come to the conclusion that it is the oldest and most trustworthy of our available authorities. The whole misconception has arisen from the fact that the unreliable MS. E and all the printed editions have transposed the letters of [Hebrew:] and made [Hebrew:] of it. Rapoport, in the article already referred to, seems to suspect the faulty reading: to justify it, he connects the men of Kheibar with the Rechabites and the sons of Heber the Kenite, basing his argument upon Jer. Xxxv, Judges i. 16, I Sam. Xxvii. 10, and I Chron. Ii. 55. 

 Neither Zunz nor Asher makes any comments upon this chapter of the itinerary. Graetz gives an abstract of Benjamin's account; he, as well as all other writers, is unable to identify Tilmas, but is of opinion that Tanai must be Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, which, however, is twenty-five days' journey beyond Kheibar. It is well known that Yemen has, since Bible times, harboured a Jewish population, who--notwithstanding all oppression, intensified under Turkish rule--inhabit many of its towns and villages to the present day. It is comparatively accessible, owing to its proximity to the sea. We must cherish the hope that Great Britain, now that it claims the Hinterland of Aden, will extend its protection to the Jews. 

 The volcanic highlands (Harrah) of Kheibar were always inaccessible, owing to their being surrounded by waterless deserts and fanatic Bedouin tribes. 

 R. Abraham Farissol, who flourished at the beginning of the sixteenth century, writes that there was a large number of Jews in the district, who lived in tents and in wooden houses or huts. His contemporary, David Reubeni, who crossed from Arabia to Abyssinia and came to Europe in 1524, pretended to be brother of Joseph, king of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half-Manasseh in the desert of Chabor (Kheibar). Benjamin takes care to qualify his statement as to the origin of the Jews of Kheibar by adding [Hebrew:] "_people say_ they belong to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, whom Salmanesser, King of Assyria, led hither into captivity. "

 I would here mention an interesting work of Dr. R. Dozy, Professor of History and Oriental Languages at Leyden, _Die Israeliten in Mecca_, 1864. By a series of ingenious inferences from Bible texts (1 Sam. Xxx, 1 Chron. Iv. 24-43, &c. ) he essays to establish that the tribe of Simeon, after David had dispersed the Amalekites who had already been weakened by Saul, entered Arabia and settled all along in the land of the Minaeans and at Mecca, where they established the worship at the Kaaba and introduced practices which have not been altogether abandoned up to the present day. Dr. Dozy further contends that after Hezekiah's reign numerous Jewish exiles came to Arabia. 

 Hommel, in two articles in Ersch and Gruber's _Encyclopaedia_, under "Bedouins" and "Anzah, " gives full particulars respecting the Anizeh, otherwise Anaessi, tribe--that they were in the habit of joining the Wahabees and other Bedouin tribes in attacking caravans and levying blackmail. The Turkish Pasha at Damascus had to pay annually passage-money to ensure the safety of the pilgrims to Mecca. On one occasion two of the Bedouin sheiks were decoyed by the Turks and killed; but the Anaessi, aided by other tribes to the number of 80, 000, took ample revenge by pillaging the Mecca caravan on its return. They seized a quantity of pearls, and the women were said to have attempted boiling them with the rice. Seetzen (_Journey through Syria, &c. _, I, ch. I, p. 356) says, "In Kheibar are no Jews now, only Anaessi. " Layard and other modern writers often refer to the Anizeh Bedouins. Travellers go in dread of them in the Syrian desert and all along the Euphrates. Doughty mentions that they, more than any other tribe, resemble the Jews both in appearance and disposition. 

 Ritter (_Geographie_, vol. XII), in quoting Niebuhr, makes mention of the widespread Anizeh tribe of Bedouins who were anciently known to be Jews. He further states that the Jews of Damascus and Aleppo shun them as they are non-observant Jews, considered by some to be Karaites. Does all this give ground for any presumption that they are or were crypto-Jews, the descendants of the former Kheibar Jews, possibly also of those whom Omar allowed to settle at Kufa?

 This lengthy note may be closed fitly with the following mysterious remark in Doughty's usual quaint style (vol. I, p. 127), in connexion with the murder of a Bagdad Jew who tried to reach Kheibar: "But let none any more jeopardy his life for Kheibar! I would that these leaves might save the blood of some: and God give me this reward of my labour! for who will, he may read in them all the tale of Kheibar. "]

 [Footnote 149: It will be seen further on (p. 67) that Benjamin speaks of Aden as being in India, "which is on the mainland. " It is well known that Abyssinia and Arabia were in the Middle Ages spoken of as "Middle India. " It has been ascertained that in ancient times the Arabs extensively colonized the western sea-coast of the East Indies. Cf. The article "Arabia, " in the ninth edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ and Supplement. ]

 [Footnote 150: The Casanatense MS. Here interpolates: "Thence it takes seven days to Lusis, where there are 2, 000 Israelites. " Asher substitutes for Lusis Wasit, a place near the Tigris. I am unable to identify the river Virae, and the words "which is in the land of Al Yemen" are evidently out of place. ]

 [Footnote 151: See Dr. Hartwig Hirschfeld's account of a Fragment of a Work by Judah Al-harizi, being a description of a pilgrimage through Mesopotamia with a view to visit Ezra's grave. The Arab geographer Yakut locates the grave in the village Maisan on the river Samara near the place where the Euphrates and Tigris unite (_J. Q. R. _, vol. XV, 683). Layard writes as follows:--"We stopped at the so-called tomb of the prophet Ezra, about twenty-five miles from the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates, at Korna. The building, which is of a comparatively modern date, consisted of two chambers, an outer one which was empty, and an inner one containing the tomb built of bricks, covered with white stucco and enclosed in a wooden case, over which was thrown a large blue cloth fringed with yellow tassels with the name of the donor embroidered on it in Hebrew characters. No trace of either the large synagogue or of the mosque mentioned by Benjamin now exists, and it may be doubted whether the present building covers the tomb which was seen by the Hebrew traveller. We could find no ancient remains near it, as the Tigris is constantly changing its course, and was still eating away the bank of alluvial soil, upon the edge of which the building stood. It is highly probable that the tomb seen by Benjamin of Tudela had long before been carried away by the river. " Layard's _Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia_, vol. II, p. 214. See also an elaborate note of Dr. Benisch, p. 91 of his edition of Pethachia's Travels, and I. J. Benjamin II, _Eight Years in Asia and Africa_, p. 167. ]

 [Footnote 152: As for the river Gozan see p. 33, n. 3, and p. 58, n. 4. The mountains of Chafton, referred to also in pp. 54, 55, would seem to include not only the Zagros range, but also the highlands of Kurdistan. ]

 [Footnote 153: _Marco Polo_, book II, chap, xlv, says of Tibet: "In this country there are many of the animals that produce musk. The Tartars have great numbers of large and fine dogs which are of great service in catching the musk-beasts, and so they procure a great abundance of musk. "]

 [Footnote 154: The reputed sepulchre of Daniel is situated between Schuster and Dizful in Persia, close by the river Shaour, an affluent of the Karun river, which is supposed to be the Ulai of the Bible, Dan. Viii. 2. It is within sight of the vast mound which denotes the site of Susa, the ancient Shushan. Here Mme. Dieulafoy in 1881 made extensive excavations of the palace of the Persian kings, many relics of which are now on view at the Louvre in Paris. 

 The tomb of Daniel has been fully described by Layard--see _Early Adventures_, vol. II, p. 295. It is of comparatively recent date, not unlike the shrines of Mussulman saints, and is surmounted by a high conical dome of irregular brickwork, somewhat resembling in shape a pine cone. The reader is referred to the beautiful pictorial illustrations of Daniel's reputed tomb, of the ruins of Susa, and of Schuster and its bridges in Mme. Dieulafoy's _La Perse, la Chaldée et la Susiane_, Paris, 1887. 

 There is nothing to connect the building on the banks of the Shaour with the tomb of Daniel save the Mussulman tradition. There are many legends connected with the reputed sepulchre, one of which is to the effect that the men of Susa diverted the river in order to bury Daniel's coffin in its bed. See Guy Le Strange, p. 240. 

 E. N. Adler, in his recent work _Jews in many Lands_, Jewish Historical Society of England, p. 224, in describing Samarkand, writes as follows: "Tradition has it that Tamerlane had seen the tomb at Susa in Persia, with a warning inscribed thereon, that none should open its door; and so he broke it open from behind, and found it written that Nebi Daniel was there buried. The impetuous conqueror had the sarcophagus removed with all reverence, and carried it with him to his own capital to be its palladium. The sarcophagus is over twenty yards long as beseems a prophet's stature. It has been recently covered by a brick chapel with three cupolas, but photographs of the ancient structure can be had in Samarkand. It is grandly placed at the edge of a cliff overhanging the rapid river Seop. The local Jews do not believe the story, nor do they quite disbelieve it, for I went with two who prayed there at the grave of the righteous. "]

 [Footnote 155: The reader will recollect that reference to this sect has already been made on page 16. See Guy Le Strange, p. 220 and p. 354. ]

 [Footnote 156: Amadia (Imadiyah) is a city in Kurdistan in a mountainous district, north of Mosul. Ben Virga and R. Joseph Hacohen, the author of _Emek Habacha_, state that 1, 000 Jewish families lived in the city at that time. It is strange that in all the MSS. , including Asher's text, this city is called Amaria instead of Amadia. The mistake doubtless arose from the fact that the copyists mistook the [Hebrew letter 'resh'] for a [Hebrew letter 'daleth']. The scribe of the British Museum MS. Had made other errors of this kind, writing [Hebrew:] for [Hebrew:], [Hebrew:] for [Hebrew:], &c. See Guy Le Strange, p. 92. ]

 [Footnote 157: The author of _Emek Habacha_ gives the date of the Alroy tragedy as 1163. It should, however, be antedated by a few years. Benjamin must have passed through Egypt on his return journey some time before Sept. , 1171. See note 2, p. 1. He here tells us that the Alroy catastrophe took place just ten years before his visit to Bagdad and the neighbourhood. It is clear therefore that 1160 is the latest date when this event could have taken place. ]

 [Footnote 158: This Turkoman may have been the Prince of Arbela who in 1167 joined Saladin in his successful invasion of Egypt. He was remarkable for his great strength and courage (see Bohadin's _Life of Saladin_, Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, p. 51). ]

 [Footnote 159: The accounts given by Ben Virga in _Sheret Jehudah_, and by Joseph Hacohen in _Emek Habacha_, are evidently based upon Benjamin's record, and throw no fresh light on this Messianic movement. Asher, vol. II, note 300, promises but fails to give the contents of an Arabic document written by a contemporary, the renegade Samuel Ibn Abbas, which the savant S. Munk had discovered in the Paris library; a German translation of this document appears in Dr. Wiener's _Emek Habacha_, 1858, p. 169. The name of the pseudo-Messiah is given as Menahem, surnamed Al-Ruhi, but Munk satisfactorily proves that he is identical with our David Alroy. Being a young man of engaging appearance and great accomplishments, he gained considerable influence with the governor of Amadia, and had a considerable following among the Jews of Persia. With the intention of occupying the castle, he introduced a number of his armed adherents into the town, who were careful, however, to conceal their weapons. The governor detected the conspiracy, and put Alroy to death. The excitement among the Jews lasted for a considerable time. Two impostors, with letters purporting to emanate from Alroy, came to Bagdad, and worked upon the credulity of the community. Men and women parted with their money and jewellery, having been brought to believe that on a certain night they would be able to fly on angels' wings from the roofs of their houses to Jerusalem. The only thing which made the women feel unhappy was the fear that their little ones might not be able to keep pace with them in the aerial flight. At daybreak the fraud was discovered, but the impostors had meanwhile decamped with their treasure. The chronicler adds that the year in which this occurred was called The Year of Flight. 

 De Sacy, in his _Chrestomathie Arabe_, I, p. 363, gives a similar story, the authorship of which he ascribes to Schahristani. ]

 [Footnote 160: Asher, vol. II, p. 167, n. 304, gives expression to a keen desire for further particulars as to this tomb. Dr. J. E. Polak, formerly Physician to the late Shah of Persia, gives the desired information, on p. 26, in an interesting work on Persia. He writes as follows: "The only national monument which the Jews in Persia possess is the tomb of Esther at Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, whither they have made pilgrimages from time immemorial. In the centre of the Jewish quarter there is to be seen a low building with a cupola, on the top of which a stork has built its nest. The entrance is walled up for the greater part; there only remains below a small aperture which can be closed by a movable flat stone serving the purpose of a door and affording some protection from attacks, which are not uncommon. In the entrance hall, which has but a low ceiling, are recorded the names of pilgrims; also the year when the building was restored. Thence one gains access into a small four-cornered chamber in which there are two high sarcophagi made of oak, which are the monuments of Esther and Mordecai. On both of them are inscribed in Hebrew the words of the last chapter of the Book of Esther, as well as the names of three Physicians at whose expense the tomb was repaired. " Dr. Polak states that in the Middle Ages the Jewish population of Persia was very large, especially in the southern provinces. In recent years it has greatly diminished in consequence of dire persecution. He was assured that not more than 2, 000 Jewish families remained in the country. Eighty years ago the entire community at Meshed were forcibly converted to Islam. Cf. E. N. Adler, _Jews in Many Lands_, p. 214. ]

 [Footnote 161: Referring to Benjamin's statement that Mordecai and Esther are buried at Hamadan, an interesting article by Mr. Israel Abrahams upon the subject, with an illustration of the traditional tomb, as well as a picture of ancient Susa, will be found in the _Jewish Chronicle_ of March 19, 1897. In the issue of March 4, 1898, Mr. Morris Cohen, of Bagdad, furnished a full copy of the inscriptions in the Mausoleum, but they possess no historical value. The reputed Prayer of Esther seen there by former travellers is no longer extant. 

 The statement of E. Jehiel Heilprin, in the _Seder Hadoroth_, that Mordecai and Esther are buried at Shomron is devoid of foundation, and may have arisen through reading here [Hebrew:] for [Hebrew:]. For information derived from the works of mediaeval Arab writers respecting Persia and the adjacent countries the reader should consult Mr. Guy Le Strange's book, _The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate_. The maps will be found most useful. ]

 [Footnote 162: The British Museum version omits this passage. An inspection of the map will show that Tabaristan lies a long distance to the north of the trade route which leads from Hamadan to Ispahan. ]

 [Footnote 163: The great extent of Ispahan is accounted for by the fact that it consisted of two towns; the one called Jay, measured half a league across; the other, Al Yahudiyah, the "Jew Town" two miles to the westward, was double the size of Jay. Mukadassi states that the city had been originally founded by the Jews in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, because its climate resembled that of Jerusalem. Le Strange, p. 203. ]

 [Footnote 164: Lord Curzon, in his work on Persia, devotes chap. Xix in vol. II to a description of the City of Ispahan, and of his journey there. Chap. Xx contains an account of his journey from Ispahan to Shiraz. The distance between the two cities is 81 parasangs, equivalent to 312 miles. It will be seen that here, as well as in the cases of Ghaznah, Samarkand, and Tibet, Benjamin altogether under-estimates the true distances. ]

 [Footnote 165: Asher, following the printed editions, quotes the Jewish population of this place as 8, 000, and assumes, without any justification, that Khiva is here referred to. He also substitutes Oxus for Gozan. In the Middle Ages the Oxus was known under the name of Jayhun or Gihon (Gen. Ii. 13). The name of the city according to our text is Ghaznah, which eight hundred years ago was the capital of Afghanistan. Ibn Batuta says it was ten stages from Kandahar on the way to Herat. Le Strange (p. 348) writes as follows: "Ghaznah became famous in history at the beginning of the eleventh century as the capital of the great Mahmud of Ghaznah, who at one time was master both of India on the east and Bagdad on the west. " Istakhri says: "No city of this countryside was richer in merchants and merchandise, for it was as the port of India. " The river Gozan, on which we are told Ghaznah lies, must appear to the reader to be ubiquitous. On p. 33 we find the Habor of Kurdistan is its affluent; on p. 55 it is at Dabaristan; on p. 59 in Khorasan. There is a simple solution of the difficulty. In each of the localities Benjamin was told that the river was called Gozan; for in the Mongolian language "Usun" is the name for water or river. Thus "Kisil-Usun" means "Red River. " The addition of a "g" before a "u" or "w" is quite a common feature in language; it occurs, for instance, in the Romance and Keltic languages. ]

 [Footnote 166: The British Museum text has: "And he put them in Halah and in Habor and the mountains of Gozan and the mountains of the Medes. " Having regard to the passages 2 Kings xix. 12 and Isaiah xxxvii. 12, Nöldeke maintains that there was a tract of land watered by the river Gozan, known as Gozanitis, which Scripture refers to. See _J. Q. R. _, vol. I, p. 186. 

 Naisabur is a city near Meshed, and close to high mountains which are a continuation of the Elburz mountain range. 

 We draw attention to the cautious manner in which Benjamin speaks here and elsewhere when alluding to the whereabouts of any of the ten tribes. The tradition is widespread that independent Jewish tribes were to be found in Khorasan until recent times. Mr. E. N. Adler was told that in an Armenian monastery near Kutais, ancient records are preserved which conclusively prove that the Jews were paramount in certain districts three or four centuries ago; _Jews in many Lands_, p. 178. Cf. _Wo wären die zehn Stämme Israels zu suchen?_ Dr. M. Lewin, Frankfort, 1901. ]

 [Footnote 167: It should be remembered that _Cush_ in ancient Jewish literature does not always signify Ethiopia, but also denotes parts of Arabia, especially those nearest to Abyssinia. The name _Cush_ is also applied to countries east of the Tigris, see p. 63. ]

 [Footnote 168: Rayy is the ancient city of Rages, spoken of in the Book of Tobit i. 14. The ruins are in the neighbourhood of Teheran. ]

 [Footnote 169: The incidents here related are fully gone into by Dr. Neubauer in the third of his valuable articles "Where are the ten tribes?" (_J. Q. R. _, vol. I, p. 185). There can be little doubt that the Kofar-al-Turak, a people belonging to the Tartar stock, are identical with the so-called subjects of Prester John, of whom so much was heard in the Middle Ages. They defeated Sinjar in the year 1141; this was, however, more than fifteen years prior to Benjamin's visit. To judge from the above passage, where the allies of the Jews are described as "infidels, the sons of Ghuz of the Kofar-al-Turak, " Benjamin seems to confound the Ghuzes with the Tartar hordes. Now the Ghuzes belonged to the Seldjuk clans who had become Mohammedans more than 100 years before, and, as such, Benjamin would never have styled them infidels. These Ghuzes waged war with Sinjar in 1153, when he was signally defeated, and eventually made prisoner. It is to this battle that Benjamin must have made reference, when he writes that it took place fifteen years ago. See Dr. A. Müller's _Islam, _ also Dr. G. Oppert's _Presbyter Johannes in Sage und Geschichte, 1864. _]

 [Footnote 170: It will be noted that Benjamin uses here the terms [Hebrew: ] evidently implying that he himself did not go to sea. 

 In the Middle Ages the island of Kish or Kis was an important station on the trade route from India to Europe. Le Strange writes, p. 257, that in the course of the twelfth century it became the trade centre of the Persian Gulf. A great walled city was built in the island, where water-tanks had been constructed, and on the neighbouring sea-banks was the famous pearl-fishery. Ships from India and Arabia crowded the port. Kish was afterwards supplanted by Ormuz and Bandar-Abbas; England held possession of the island from 1820 to 1879, and it has recently been visited officially by Lord Curzon. For a description of the island see _The Times, _ Jan. 18, 1904. ]

 [Footnote 171: Katifa or El-Katif lies on the Persian Gulf, on the East coast of Arabia, near Bahrein. Bochart is of opinion that this part of Arabia is the land of Havilah, where, according to Gen. Ii. 11 and 12, there is gold, bdellium, and the onyx stone. Jewish authorities are divided in opinion as to whether [Hebrew] is a jewel, or the fragrant gum exuded by a species of balsam-tree. Benjamin follows Saadia Gaon, who in his Arabic translation of the Bible renders it [Hebrew], the very word used by our author here for pearls. Masudi is one of the earliest Arabic writers who gives us a description of the pearl-fisheries in the Persian Gulf, and it very much accords with Benjamin's account. See Sprenger's translation of Masudi's _Meadows of Gold_, p. 344. At the present time more than 5, 000 boats are engaged in this industry along this coast, and it yields an annual income of £1, 000, 000. See P. M. Sykes, _Ten Thousand Miles in Persia_, 1902. ]

 [Footnote 172: Khulam, now called Quilon, was a much frequented seaport in the early Middle Ages where Chinese shippers met the Arab traders. It afterwards declined in importance, being supplanted by Calicut, Goa, and eventually by Bombay. It was situated at the southern end of the coast of Malabar. Renaudot in a translation of _The Travels of Two Mohammedan Traders_, who wrote as far back as 851 and 915 respectively, has given us some account of this place; Ibn Batuta and Marco Polo give us interesting details. Ritter, in the fifth volume of his Geography, dilates on the cultivation of the pepper-plant, which is of indigenous growth. In Benjamin's time it was thought that white pepper was a distinct species, but Ritter explains that it was prepared from the black pepper, which, after lying from eight to ten days in running water, would submit of being stripped of its black outer covering. Ritter devotes a chapter to the fire-worship of the Guebers, who, as Parsees, form an important element at the present day in the population of the Bombay Presidency. Another chapter is devoted to the Jewish settlement to which Benjamin refers. See _Die jüdischen Colonien in Indien_, Dr. Gustav Oppert; also _Semitic Studies_, (Berlin, 1897), pp. 396-419. 

 Under the heading of "Cochin", the Jewish Encyclopaedia gives an account of the White and Black Jews of Malabar. By way of supplementing the Article, it may be well to refer to a MS. , No. 4238 of the Merzbacher Library formerly at Munich. It is a document drawn up in reply to eleven questions addressed by Tobias Boas on the 12 Ellul 5527 (= 1767) to R. Jeches Kel Rachbi of Malabar. From this MS. It appears that 10, 000 exiled Jews reached Malabar A. C. 68 (i. E. About the time of the destruction of the Second Temple) and settled at Cranganor, Dschalor, Madri and Plota. An extract of this MS. Is given in Winter and Wünsche's _Jüdische Literatur_, vol III, p. 459. Cf. Article on the Beni-Israel of India by Samuel B. Samuel, _The Jewish Literary Annual_, 1905. ]

 [Footnote 173: The British Museum text has Ibrig, and the Casanatense has Ibriag: neither can be identified. The printed editions have [Hebrew:] the islands of Candig, which Asher thinks may be taken to refer to Ceylon, having regard to the name of the capital, Kandy. It was not the capital in Benjamin's time. The difficulty still remains that it does not take twenty-three days, but about four days, to reach Ceylon from Quilon. Renaudot states that in the tenth century a multitude of Jews resided in the island, and that they took part in the municipal government as well as other sects, as the King granted the utmost religious liberty. See Pinkerton's _Travels_, vol. VII, p. 217. A full description is also given of the ceremonial when any notability proceeds to immolate himself by committing himself to the flames. ]

 [Footnote 174: Benjamin's statements as to India and China are of course very vague, but we must remember he was the first European who as much as mentions China. Having regard to the full descriptions of other countries of the old World by Arabic writers of the Middle Ages, and to the fact that the trade route then was principally by sea on the route indicated by Benjamin, it is surprising that we have comparatively little information about India and China from Arabic sources. In none of their records is the Sea of Nikpa named, and it is not improbable that Benjamin coined this name himself from the root [Hebrew:] which occurs in the Bible four times; in the Song of Moses (Exod. Xv. 8): [Hebrew:] "The depths were curdled in the heart of the sea" (not "_congealed_" as the Version has it), Job x. 10: [Hebrew:] "curdled me like cheese"; and in Zeph. I. 12 and Zech. Xiv. 6. The term "the curdling sea" would be very expressive of the tempestuous nature of the China Sea and of some of its straits at certain seasons of the year. ]

 [Footnote 175: Marco Polo has much to say about the bird "gryphon" when speaking of the sea-currents which drive ships from Malabar to Madagascar. He says, vol. II, book III, chap. 33: "It is for all the world like an eagle, but one indeed of enormous size. It is so strong that it will seize an elephant in its talons and carry him high into the air and drop him so that he is smashed to pieces; having so killed him, the gryphon swoops down on him and eats him at leisure. The people of those isles call the bird 'Rukh. '" Yule has an interesting note (vol. II, p. 348) showing how old and widespread the fable of the Rukh was, and is of opinion that the reason that the legend was localized in the direction of Madagascar was perhaps that some remains of the great fossil Aepyornis and its colossal eggs were found in that island. Professor Sayce states that the Rukh figures much--not only in Chinese folk-lore--but also in the old, Babylonian literature. The bird is of course familiar to readers of _The Arabian Nights_. ]

 [Footnote 176: Neither Al-Gingaleh nor Chulan can be satisfactorily identified. Benjamin has already made it clear that to get from India to China takes sixty-three days, that is to say twenty-three days from Khulam to Ibrig, and thence forty days to the sea of Nikpa. The return journey, not merely to India but to Zebid, which Abulfeda and Alberuni call the principal port of Yemen, seems to take but thirty-four days. With regard to Aden, the port long in England's possession, and the so-called first outpost of the Indian Empire, it has already been explained (p. 50) that this part of Arabia as well as Abyssinia on the other side of the Red Sea were considered part of Middle India. Ibn Batuta says about Aden: "It is situated on the sea-shore and is a large city, but without either seed, water, or tree. They have reservoirs in which they collect the rain for drinking. Some rich merchants reside here, and vessels from India occasionally arrive. " A Jewish community has been there from time immemorial. The men until recent times used to go about all day in their Tephillin. Jacob Saphir devotes vol. II, chaps, i-x of his _Eben Saphir_, to a full account of the Jews of Aden. ]

 [Footnote 177: We must take Benjamin's statements here to mean that the independent Jews who lived in the mountainous country in the rear of Aden crossed the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb and made war against the inhabitants of the Plains of Abyssinia. J. Lelewel, in a series of letters addressed to E. Carmoly, entitled _Examen geographique des Voyages de Benjamin de Tudèle_ (Bruxelles, 1852), takes great pains to locate the land of Hommatum [Hebrew:] in lieu of which our text reads [Hebrew:] the land of the Plains; but he quite fails in this and in many other attempts at identification. The Jews coming from Aden had to encounter the forces of the Christian sovereign of Abyssinia, and sought safety in the mountainous regions of that country. Here they were heard of later under the name of Falasha Jews. Cf. Marco Polo, vol. III, chap. Xxxv. The reader is referred to Colonel Yule's valuable notes to this chapter. He quotes Bruce's _Abstract of Abyssinian Chronicles_ with regard to a Jewish dynasty which superseded the royal line in the tenth century. See also Dr. Charles Singer's interesting communication in _J. Q. R. _, XVII, p. 142, and J. Halevy's _Travels in Abyssinia_ (Miscellany of Hebrew Literature: 2nd Series, p. 175). ]

 [Footnote 178: Assuan, according to Makrizi, was a most flourishing town prior to 1403, when more than 20, 000 of its inhabitants perished. Seba cannot be identified. No doubt our author alludes to Seba, a name repeatedly coupled in Scripture with Egypt, Cush and Havilah. ]

 [Footnote 179: Heluan is the present Helwan, fourteen miles from Cairo, which was greatly appreciated by the early Caliphs for its thermal sulphur springs. Stanley Lane Poole, in _The Story of Cairo_, p. 61, tells us of its edifices, and adds: "It is curious to consider how nearly this modern health-resort became the capital of Egypt. " Heluan is situated on the right bank of the Nile. One would have thought that the caravans proceeding to the interior of Africa through the Sahara Desert would have started from the left bank of the Nile; but we must remember that ancient Memphis, which stood on the left bank and faced Heluan, had been abandoned long before Benjamin's time. Edrisi and Abulfeda confirm Benjamin's statement respecting Zawila or Zaouyla, which was the capital of Gana--the modern Fezzan--a large oasis in the Sahara Desert, south of Tripoli. ]

 [Footnote 180: This sentence is out of place, and should follow the sentence in the preceding paragraph which speaks of the Sultan Al-Habash. ]

 [Footnote 181: Kutz, the present Kus, is halfway between Keneh and Luxor. The old town, now entirely vanished, was second in size to Fostat, and was the chief centre of the Arabian trade. The distance of Kus from Fayum is about 300 miles. The letter [Hebrew: 'Sin'] denotes 300, not 3. ]

 [Footnote 182: In the Middle Ages the Fayum was wrongly called Pithom. E. Naville has identified the ruins of Tell-el-Maskhuta near Ismailieh with Pithom, the treasure city mentioned in Exodus i. 11. Among the buildings, grain-stores have been discovered in the form of deep rectangular chambers without doors, into which the corn was poured from above. These are supposed to date from the time of Rameses II. See _The Store City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus_: A Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund. E. Naville, 1885. The Fayum, or Marsh-district, owes its extraordinary fertility to the Bahr Yussuf (Joseph's Canal). 

 The Arab story is that when Joseph was getting old the courtiers tried to bring about his disgrace by inducing Pharaoh to set him what appeared to be an impossible task, viz. To double the revenues of the province within a few years. Joseph accomplished the task by artificially adapting a natural branch of the Nile so as to give the district the benefit of the yearly overflow. The canal thus formed, which is 207 miles in length, was called after Joseph. The storehouses of Joseph are repeatedly mentioned by Arabic writers. Cf. Koran xii. 55, _Jacut_, IV, 933 and _Makrizi_, I, 241. ]

 [Footnote 183:'Mr. Israel Abrahams, in _J. Q. R. _, XVII, 427 sqq. , and Mr. E. J. Worman, vol. XVIII, 1, give us very interesting information respecting Fostat and Cairo, as derived from Geniza documents, but to comprehend fully Benjamin's account, we must remember that at the time of his visit the metropolis was passing through a crisis. Since March, 1169, Saladin had virtually become the ruler of Egypt, although nominally he acted as Vizier to the Caliph El-Adid, who was the last of the Fatimite line, and who died Sept. 13, 1171, three days after his deposition. The student is referred to the biography of Saladin by Mr. Stanley Lane Poole, 1878. Chap, viii gives a full account of Cairo as at 1170 and is accompanied by a map. The well-known citadel of Cairo, standing on the spurs of the Mukattam Hills, was erected by Saladin seven years later. The Cairo of 1170, which was styled El Medina, and was called by Benjamin [Hebrew:], was founded in 969, and consisted of an immense palace for the Caliph and his large household. It was surrounded by quarters for a large army, and edifices for the ministers and government offices. The whole was protected by massive walls and imposing Norman-like gates. The civil population--more particularly the Jews--dwelt in the old Kasr-esh-Shama quarter round the so-called Castle of Babylon, also in the city of Fostat, founded in 641, and in the El-Askar quarter, which was built in 751. These suburbs went under the name of Misr or Masr, but are called by Benjamin "Mizraim. " Fostat was set on fire on Nov. 12, 1168, by the order of the Vizier Shawar, in order that it might not give shelter to the Franks who had invaded Egypt, but was soon rebuilt in part. It now goes under the name Masr-el-Atika, and is noted at the present day for its immense rubbish heaps. See Stanley Lane Poole's _Cairo_, p. 34. ]

 [Footnote 184: Cf. Two elaborate papers by Dr. A. Büchler, "The Reading of the Law and Prophets in a Triennial Cycle, " _J. Q. R. _, V, 420, VI, I, and E. N. Adler, ib. VIII, 529. For details as to synagogues, see _J. Q. R. _, XVIII, 11; Letter I of R. Obadja da Bertinoro; _Miscellany of Hebrew Literature_, p. 133; Joseph Sambari's Chronicle in Dr. Neubauer's _Anecdota Oxoniensia_, p. 118. Sambari must have had Benjamin's _Itinerary_ before him, as has been pointed out by Mr. I. Abrahams, _J. Q. R. _, II, 107. ]

 [Footnote 185: Zunz was the first to put forward the supposition that R. Nethanel is identical with Hibet Allah ibn al Jami, who later on became Saladin's physician (Asher, vol. II, p. 253). Graetz, vol. VI, p. 307, inclines to the same view. Dr. Steinschneider, _Die arabische Literatur der Juden_, 1902, p. 178, confirms this opinion, and gives a detailed account of Hibet Allah's medical and philosophical works. Dr. Neubauer, in an article, _J. Q. R. _, VIII, 541, draws attention to a Geniza fragment which contains a marriage contract dated 1160, wherein R. Nethanel is called a Levite. Benjamin does not style him so here. The same article contains the so-called Suttah Megillah, on which Professor Kaufmann comments, _J. Q. R. _, X, p. 171. It would appear that R. Nethanel never attained the dignity of Nagid. During Benjamin's visit to Egypt Sutta, in his capacity of Chief Collector of Taxes, filled nominally that office. Later on, after Sutta's fall, the dignity of Nagid was offered to Moses Maimonides, but was not accepted by him. ]

 [Footnote 186: This term (which is not given in the printed editions) means that the people were followers of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, founder of the Shiite sect. ]

 [Footnote 187: This same Nilometer is readily shown to the visitor at the south end of the Island of Roda, which is accessible by means of a ferry-boat from the Kasr-esh Shama, not far from the Kenisat Eliyahu, where the Geniza manuscripts were found. See E. N. Adler's _Jews in Many Lands_, p. 28, also _J. Q. R. _, IX, 669. The Nilometer is in a square well 16 feet in diameter, having in the centre a graduated octagonal column with Cufic inscriptions, and is 17 cubits in height, the cubit being 21-1/3 inches. The water of the Nile, when at its lowest, covers 7 cubits of the Nilometer, and when it reaches a height of 15-2/3 cubits the Sheikh of the Nile proclaims the Wefa, i. E. , that the height of the water necessary for irrigating every part of the Nile valley has been attained. The signal is then given for the cutting of the embankment. We know that the column of the Nilometer has been frequently repaired, which fact explains the apparent discrepancy between the height of the gauge as given in Benjamin's narrative and the figures just mentioned. ]

 [Footnote 188: It has only been established quite recently that the periodical inundations of the Nile are not caused by the increased outflow from the lakes in Central Africa, inasmuch as this outflow is quite lost in the marshy land south of Fashoda. Moreover, the river is absolutely blocked by the accumulation of the Papyrus weed, known as Sudd, the [Hebrew: êis] of Scripture, Exod. Ii. 3-5. The inundations are brought about purely by the excessive rains in the highlands of Abyssinia, which cause the flooding of the Blue Nile and the Atbara in June and July and of the lower Nile in August and September. ]

 [Footnote 189: In a Geniza fragment C quoted by Dr. Neubauer in _J. Q. R. _, IX, p. 36, this city is called [Hebrew:]. Probably the first two letters denote that it is an island. Compare the passage in Schechter's _Saadyana_, pp. 90, 91, [Hebrew:]. ]

 [Footnote 190: Ashmun is described by Abulfeda as a large city. We read in a Geniza fragment that David ben Daniel, a descendant of the Exilarch, passed through this place on the way to Fostat, _J. Q. R. _, XV, 87. The fourth channel is the Tanitic branch. See p. 78, n. 2. ]

 [Footnote 191: See Koran xii. 55. Sambari, who being a native of Egypt knew Cairo well, explains very fully, p. 119, that Masr-el-Atika is not here referred to, but ancient Memphis, the seat of royalty in Joseph's time. He explains that it was situated on the left side of the Nile, two parasangs distant from Cairo. See Reinaud's _Abulfeda_, vol. II, p. 140. ]

 [Footnote 192: See _Makrizi_, vol. II, 464, and _J. Q. R. _, XV, p. 75; also XIX, 502. ]

 [Footnote 193: E. Naville in his _Essay on the Land of Goshen_, being the fifth Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1887, comes to the conclusion that the land of Goshen comprised the triangle formed by Bilbais, Zakazig, and Tel-el-Kebir. He is of opinion that the land of Ramses included the land of Goshen, and is that part of the Delta which lies to the eastward of the Tanitic branch of the Nile. The capital of the province--the Egyptian nome of Arabia--was the Phakusa of the Greeks. A small railway station is now on the spot, which bears the name Ramses. Cf. Gen. Xlvii. 11. ]

 [Footnote 194: Ain-al-Shams was situated three parasangs from Fostat, according to Jacut (III, 762), who records that in his day the place showed many traces of buildings from Pharaoh's time. Benha is now a somewhat important railway station about thirty miles north of Cairo. Muneh Sifte is a station on the Damietta arm of the Nile. ]

 [Footnote 195: Samnu is perhaps Samnat, Dukmak, V, 20. On Damira see Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 82; Worman, _J. Q. R. _, XVIII, 10. The zoologist Damiri was born here. Lammanah in the other versions is Mahallat or Mehallet-el-Kebir, mentioned by Abulfeda as a large city with many monuments, and is now a railway station between Tanta and Mansura. Sambari (119, 10) mentions a synagogue there, to which Jews even now make pilgrimages (Goldziher, _Z. D. P. G. _, vol. XXVIII, p. 153). ]

 [Footnote 196: In the Middle Ages certain biblical names were without valid reason applied to noted places. No-Ammon mentioned in Scripture (Jer. Xlvi. 25 and Nahum iii. 8), also in cuneiform inscriptions, was doubtless ancient Thebes. See Robinson, _Biblical Researches_, vol. I, p. 542. Another notable example is the application of the name of Zoan to Cairo. Ancient Tanis (p. 78) was probably Zoan, and we are told (Num. Xiii. 22) that Zoan was built seven years after Hebron. It can be traced as far back as the sixth dynasty--over 2, 000 years before Cairo was founded. ]

 [Footnote 197: Josephus, who had the opportunity of seeing the Pharos before it was destroyed, must likewise have exaggerated when he said that the lighthouse threw its rays a distance of 300 stadia. Strabo describes the Pharos of Alexandria, which was considered one of the wonders of the world. As the coast was low and there were no landmarks, it proved of great service to the city. It was built of white marble, and on the top there blazed a huge beacon of logs saturated with pitch. Abulfeda alludes to the large mirror which enabled the lighthouse keepers to detect from a great distance the approach of the enemy. He further mentions that the trick by which the mirror was destroyed took place in the first century of Islamism, under the Caliph Valyd, the son of Abd-almalek. ]

 [Footnote 198: It will be seen that the list of names given in our text is much more complete than that given by Asher, who enumerates but twenty-eight Christian states in lieu of forty given in the British Museum MS. In some cases the readings of _R_ and _O_, which appear to have been written by careful scribes, and are of an older date than _E_ and the printed editions, have been adopted. In our text, through the ignorance of the scribe, who had no gazetteer or map to turn to, some palpable errors have crept in. For instance, in naming Amalfi, already mentioned on p. 9, the error in spelling it [Hebrew:] has been repeated. Patzinakia (referred to on p. 12, as trading with Constantinople) is there spelt [Hebrew:] not [Hebrew:]. [Hebrew:] may be read [Hebrew:]; I have rendered it Hainault in accordance with Deguigne's _Memoir_, referred to by Asher. Maurienne (mentioned p. 79) embraced Savoy and the Maritime Alps. It was named after the Moors who settled there. ]

 [Footnote 199: Simasin or Timasin is doubtless near Lake Timsah. Sunbat is spoken of by Arabic writers as noted for its linen manufactures and trade. ]

 [Footnote 200: Elim has been identified with Wadi Gharandel. It is reached in two hours from the bitter spring in the Wadi Hawara, believed to be the _Marah_ of the Bible. Burckhardt conjectures that the juice of the berry of the gharkad, a shrub growing in the neighbourhood, may have the property, like the juice of the pomegranate, of improving brackish water; see p. 475, Baedecker's _Egypt_, 1879 edition. Professor Lepsius was responsible for the chapter on the Sinai routes. ]

 [Footnote 201: A journey of two days would bring the traveller to the luxuriant oasis of Firan, which ancient tradition and modern explorers agree in identifying as Rephidim. From Firan it is held, by Professor Sayce and others, that the main body of the Israelites with their flocks and herds probably passed the Wadi esh-Shekh, while Moses and the elders went by Wadi Selaf and Nakb el-Hawa. The final camping-ground, at which took place the giving of the Law, is supposed to be the Raha plain at the foot of the peak of Jebel Musa. It may be mentioned that some explorers are of opinion that Mount Serbal was the mountain of revelation. There are authorities who maintain that Horeb was the name of the whole mountain range, Sinai being the individual mountain; others think that Horeb designated the northern range and Sinai the southern range. See Dr. Robinson's _Biblical Researches_, vol. I, section iii: also articles _Sinai_ in Cheyne's _Encyclopaedia Biblica_ and Dean Stanley's _Sinai and Palestine_. ]

 [Footnote 202: The monastery of St. Catherine was erected 2, 000 feet below the summit of Jebel Musa. It was founded by Justinian to give shelter to the numerous Syrian hermits who inhabited the peninsula. The monastery was presided over by an Archbishop. ]

 [Footnote 203: The passage in square brackets is inserted from the Oxford MS. The city of Tur, which Benjamin calls Tur-Sinai, is situated on the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez, and affords good anchorage, the harbour being protected by coral reefs. It can be reached from the monastery in little more than a day. The small mountain referred to by Benjamin is the Jebel Hammam Sidna Musa, the mountain of the bath of our lord Moses. ]

 [Footnote 204: Tanis, now called San, was probably the Zoan of Scripture, but in the Middle Ages it was held to be Hanes, mentioned in Isa. Xxx. 4. It was situated on the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about thirty miles south-west of the ancient Pelusium. The excavations which have been made by M. Mariette and Mr. Flinders Petrie prove that it was one of the largest and most important cities of the Delta. It forms the subject of the Second Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1885. The place must not be confounded with the seaport town Tennis, as has been done by Asher. In the sixth century the waters of the Lake Menzaleh invaded a large portion of the fertile Tanis territory. Hence Benjamin calls it an island in the midst of the sea. In a Geniza document dated 1106, quoted by Dr. Schechter, _Saadyana_, p. 91, occurs the passage: [Hebrew:] "In the city of the isle Hanes, which is in the midst of the sea and of the tongue of the river of Egypt called Nile. "]

 [Footnote 205: The straits of Messina were named Faro. Lipar has reference, no doubt, to the Liparian Islands, which are in the neighbourhood. ]

 [Footnote 206: Cf. Bertinoro's interesting description of the synagogue at Palermo, which he said had not its equal, _Miscellany of Hebrew Literature_, vol. I, p. 114. ]

 [Footnote 207: Hacina is the Arabic for a fortified or enclosed place. ]

 [Footnote 208: Buheira is the Arabic word for a lake. The unrivalled hunting grounds of William II are well worth visiting, being situated between the little town called Parco and the magnificent cathedral of Monreale, which the king erected later on. ]

 [Footnote 209: King William II, surnamed "the Good, " was sixteen years old when Benjamin visited Sicily in 1170. During the king's minority the Archbishop was the vice-regent. He was expelled in 1169 on account of his unpopularity. Asher asserts that Benjamin's visit must have taken place prior to this date, because he reads [Hebrew:] _This is the domain of the viceroy. _ The Oxford MS. Agrees with our text and reads [Hebrew:] _This is the domain of the king's garden. _ Chroniclers tell that when the young king was freed from the control of the viceroy he gave himself up to pleasure and dissipation. Asher is clearly wrong, because a mere boy could not have indulged in those frolics. The point is of importance, as it absolutely fixes the date of Benjamin's visit to the island. It was in the year 1177 that William married the daughter of our English king, Henry II. ]

 [Footnote 210: Edrisi, who wrote his Geography in Sicily in 1154 at the request of King Roger II, calls the island a pearl, and cannot find words sufficient in praise of its climate, beauty, and fertility. He is especially enthusiastic concerning Palermo. Petralia is described by him as being a fortified place, and an excellent place of refuge, the surrounding country being under a high state of cultivation and very productive. Asher has no justification for reading Pantaleoni instead of Petralia. ]

 [Footnote 211: The passage in square brackets is to be found in most of the printed editions, as well as in the Epstein (E) MS. , which is so much akin to them, and is comparatively modern. The style will at once show that the passage is a late interpolation, and the genuine MSS. Now forthcoming omit it altogether. ]

 [Footnote 212: See Aronius, _Regester_, p. 131. This writer, as a matter of course, had only the printed editions before him. His supposition that [Hebrew:] is Mayence is more than doubtful, but his and Lelewel's identification of [Hebrew:] with Mantern and [Hebrew:] with Freising has been accepted. Aronius casts doubts as to whether Benjamin actually visited Germany, in the face of his loose statements as to its rivers. It will now be seen that he is remarkably correct in this respect. ]

 [Footnote 213: The Jews of Prague are often spoken of in contemporary records. Rabbi Pethachia started on his travels from Ratisbon, passing through Prague on his way to Poland and Kieff. ]

 [Footnote 214: Benjamin does not tell us whether Jews resided in Kieff. Mr. A. Epstein has obligingly furnished the following references: In [[Hebrew:], Graetz, _Monatsschrift_, 39, 511, we read: [Hebrew:]. In [Hebrew:], _Monatsschrift_, 40, 134, [Hebrew:]. This Rabbi Moses is also mentioned in _Resp. _ of R. Meir of Rothenburg, ed. Berlin, p. 64. Later records give the name [Hebrew:]. ]

 [Footnote 215: The vair (vaiverge or wieworka in Polish) is a species of marten, often referred to in mediaeval works. Menu-vair is the well-known fur miniver. ]

 [Footnote 216: Lelewel, having the reading [Hebrew:] before him, thought Sedan was here designated. H. Gross suspected that the city of Auxerre, situated on the borders of the province of the Isle de France, the old patrimony of the French kings, must have been intended, and the reading of our text proves him to be right. The Roman name Antiossiodorum became converted into Alciodorum, then Alcore, and finally into Auxerre. The place is often cited in our mediaeval literature, as it was a noted seat of learning. The great men of Auxerre, [Hebrew:], joined the Synod convened by Rashbam and Rabenu Tam. See _Gallia Judaica_, p. 60, also Graetz, vol. VI, 395 (10). ]

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