[Illustration: Map of Palestine]


PALESTINE
OR
THE HOLY LAND.

From the Earliest Period to the Present Time.


BY THE REV. MICHAEL RUSSELL, LL.D.




PREFACE.

In giving an account of the Holy Land, an author, upon examining his
materials, finds himself presented with the choice either of simple
history on the one hand, or of mere local description on the other; and
the character of his book is of course determined by, the selection which
he makes of the first or the second of these departments. The volumes on
Palestine hitherto laid before the public will accordingly be found to
contain either a bare abridgment of the annals of the Jewish people, or a
topographical delineation of the country, the cities, and the towns which
they inhabited, from the date of the conquest under Joshua, down to the
period of their dispersion by Titus and Adrian. Several able works have
recently appeared on each of these subjects, and have been, almost without
exception, rewarded with the popularity which is seldom refused to
learning, and eloquence. But it occurred to the writer of the following