The spring which rose here presented to us a deep and capacious basin of beautifully transparent water, of the colour of those precious stones called aqua-marines, and more purely crystal-like than any fountain I had ever beheld. It rose in bubbles from the bottom; but though deeper than the height of a man, a pin might have been distinguished at the bottom, or the inscription of a medal read, so unusually clear was the whole mass. The odour emitted in its steam was highly sulphureous, but its taste was considerably less so. Its heat at the fountain-head was such as to render it painful to the hand, if immersed beyond a few seconds; but a fact, for which we could not account, was, that at a few yards distant from its source it was sensibly hotter.

From the fine transparent green of its central and deepest parts, the shade grew lighter as it approached the edges, and around the immediate rim of this natural basin, as well as on a little cataract formed by fallen masses of the ruined bath, the water had deposited a coating of the purest white, which gave an additional beauty to the appearance of the whole. The quantity of the water, and the force of its stream was sufficient to turn the largest mill; and it made a sensible addition to the waters of the

Hieromax, where it joined that river only a few yards below.

As we found, that by gradual immersion the heat of the water could be borne, one of our old Arabs, Abu-Fatheel, and the Albanian Mohammed stripped and bathed in the upper basin, but described it as hotter than the hottest cistern of a modern Turkish bath. As I was lifted off my horse, while Mr. Bankes had his feet washed, I was glad to follow his example, and to bathe my bruised leg therein under the hope of some relief.

Though the Roman edifice that accommodated here both the victim of luxury, and the less sensual invalid, was now deserted and destroyed, the fountain which furnished its healing waters to the bath is still visited in search of restoration to health, by those who suffer an interruption of the enjoyment of that blessing; and though among them there are none perhaps sufficiently wealthy to build temples to Hygeia, yet none seem to have departed without leaving some humble offering, either propitiatory or grateful, as in front of the southern wall are about a thousand relics of hair, and nails, and teeth, and rags of every kind and colour, deposited by Arab visitors of the present day.

Josephus, in his account of the building of Tiberias, at the Lake of Gennesareth, says, that

there were warm baths at a little distance from it, in a village called Emmaus. * These were distinct from the hot baths at Tiberias itself, which are mentioned in another place † ; but whether the hot spring here on the banks of the Hieromax was one of those that belonged to Emmaus, we could not determine, though its vicinity to Tiberias led us to suppose that it was. +

There appear, indeed, to have been several places of this name, and situated in different parts of Palestine. § In the march of Vespasian's army, after passing from Cæsarea to Antipatris, and from thence to Lydda and Jamnia, he came to Emmaus. This was evidently in their neighbourhood, and to the westward of the Jordan; for, after returning again to the same place from an excursion into Idumea, the army came down from thence to Neapolis or Sichem,

* Antiq. of the Jews, b. xviii. c. 2. s. 3.

† Jewish Wars, b. ii. c. 21. s. 6.

‡'Appaous. Ubi thermæ sunt, prope Tiberiada. Jos. Ant. 233. -Reland. Palæst. Illust. 1. iii. de urbibus et vicis Palæstinæ, p. 560.

§ Vide Reland. 1. ii. c. 6. " de intervallis locorum in sacro codice notatis, situ Emmauntis, Bethaniæ, aliisque." p. 425 ad 430; and again in l. iii. de urbibus et vicis Palæstinæ, "Tria loca sunt nomine Emmauntis nota in Palæstina; 1. Urbs hæc, Nicopolis dicta postea. 2. Vicus in Evangelio Lucæ memoratus. 3. Locus vicinus Tiberiadi, qui à thermis nomen videtur traxisse." p. 758.

.

and from thence to Jericho. *

This may pro

bably be the same with that Emmaus, which Titus assigned to the eight hundred of his veterans, whom he dismissed honourably from the army, and gave this place to them for their habitation, when he ordered all the rest of Judea to be exposed to sale. It is there said to be distant from Jerusalem threescore furlongs, or little more than six miles, which is too near for the Emmaus by the Lake of Tiberias. ‡ There was still another city of this name, which was the place of the government of Julius Africanus, in the beginning of the third century, and which he then procured to be rebuilt, after which rebuilding, it was called Nicopolis, or the City of Victory. § The village of Emmaus, mentioned by St. Luke, is evidently the same with that assigned to the soldiers of Titus, since both of them are stated to be at the same distance of threescore furlongs from Jerusalem, and might

* Jewish Wars, b. iv. c. 8. s. 1.
↑ Ibid. b. vii. c. 7. s. 6.

Emmaus, iupaoùs; timens consilium, vel matris augentis consilium, seu populus abjectus. D. nomen castelli distantis ab Jerusalem stadiis 60. Luc. xxiv. 13. Onomasticum Sacrum, p. 115.

§ Emmaus

notabilem victoriâ Maccabæi, et facto Servatoris quo se discipulis duobus aperuit, eo ipse die, quo à mortuis resurrexerat. (Luc. xxiv. 13.)

Nicopolis. Cluverius, 1. v. c. 20.

Postea, hoc oppidum dicta