d, and
quivers in a manner to which we are accustomed in our Western lands.*
Towns grew and multiplied upon this rich and loamy soil, but as these
lay outside the usual track of the invading hosts--which preferred to
follow the more rugged but shorter route leading straight to Carmel
across the plain--the records of the conquerors only casually mention a
few of them, such as Bitshailu, Birkana, and Dutina.**

* Shechem is not mentioned in the Egyptian geographical
lists, but Max Mueller thinks he has discovered it in the
name of the mountain of Sikima which figures in the
_Anastasi Papyrus_, No. 1.

** Bitshailu, identified by Chabas with Bethshan, and with
Shiloh by Mariette and Maspero, is more probably Bethel,
written Bit-sha-ilu, either with _sh_, the old relative
pronoun of the Phoenician, or with the Assyrian _sha_; on
the latter supposition one must suppose, as Sayce does, that
the compiler of the Egyptian lists had before him sources of
information in the cuneiform character. Birkana appears to
be the modern Brukin, and Dutina is certainly Dothain, now
Tell-Dothan.

Beyond Ono reddish-coloured sandy clay took the place of the dark and
compact loam: oaks began to appear, sparsely at first, but afterwards
forming vast forests, which the peasants of our own days have thinned
and reduced to a considerable extent. The stunted trunks of these trees
are knotted and twisted, and the tallest of them do not exceed some
thirty feet in height, while many of them may be regarded as nothing
more imposing than large bushes.* Muddy rivers, infested with
crocodiles, flowed slowly through the shady woods, spreading out their
waters here and there in pestilential swamps. On reaching the seaboard,
their exit was impeded by the sands which they brought down with them,
and the banks which were thus formed caused the waters to accumulate
in lagoons extending behind the dunes. For miles the road led through
thickets, interrupted here and there by marshy places and clumps of
thorny shrubs. Bands of Shausu were accustomed to make this route
dangerous, and even the bravest heroes shrank from venturing alone along
this route. Towards Aluna the way began to ascend Mount Carmel by a
narrow and giddy track cut in the rocky side of the precipice.**

* The forest was well known to the geographers of the Graeco-
Roman period, and was still in existence at the time of