THE PLAIN OF GENNESARETH.

SOME special notice ought to be taken of the Plain of Gennesareth, perhaps in fertility and beauty the gem of the East, as it certainly was the gem of Palestine. We have already quoted Josephus' glowing description of it. It must not be thought of as of great extent. Josephus makes it thirty stadia long by twenty broad: and Porter, in his Handbook, 'three miles long by one broad;' but two miles and a half long by one broad is all that is allowed to it by recent explorers. Here Nature had lavished her tropical profusion and glory. Trees retained their foliage throughout the whole year, and during ten months of the year grapes and figs ripened. In this rank soil grew the finest wheat of the land.

Strabo mentions a sweet or aromatic rush or cane as growing here, that was highly prized. We find the 'tents of Gennesareth' referred to, and the explanation given that ' temporary shady bowers or small tents were made,' in which the people lodged who 'gathered the fruits of its noble gardens.' Still, its superior and delicious fruits were not found at Jerusalem at the feast, lest, as we have seen, some persons might attend them for the sake of enjoying these fruits alone. Ritter, borrowing a phrase from Hippocrates, says that its climate was a ' harmonious mingling of the seasons,' and the Rabbis referring to it as being near Tiberias, affirmed that it possessed both ' gardens and paradises.' To make the name 'Gennesareth ' suggestive of the richness of the soil, or of the sweetness of its fruits, several fanciful interpretations have been adopted, such as referring it to the Hebrew kinnor, 'a harp,' signifying, ' its fruit is sweet as the sound of a harp; ' to gan, 'garden,' and sar, 'prince,' meaning 'garden of princes,' or to gan and osher, 'riches,' i.e. 'a garden rich in fertility and productions.' We are not obliged to accept these explanations, still they serve to indicate the high estimation in which this little plain has been held by those who have known something of its natural wealth and beauty.