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 Kanisah, 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