Page:Domestic Life in Palestine.pdf/377

370 "Now, a short time afterward, the young man went down to the river to wash himself, without taking thought of the danger which he in his wickedness had spread there.

"The crocodiles swiftly approached him, and seized upon him and destroyed him.

"Such was the will of God, and thus the wicked fall into the nets which they spread for their neighbors."

On the south side of the river stands an isolated stone building, now in ruins. We supposed it to have been an outpost of Cæsarea, and perhaps it marks the site of the city called by ancient geographers, "The City of Crocodiles."

We found the river rather difficult to ford, for it was deep, broad, and rapid, and there was no one near to guide us to the easiest fording-place. A few hours sometimes makes a vast difference in the character of the mouth of a river; the wind may entirely carry away the sand-bar, or change its position. Our kawass made many experiments before he found a safe path for us, which we traversed carefully, one after the other in single file, and landed on the opposite side very wet and chilly.

We soon came to a picturesque but dangerous and rocky bay, where small coasting-boats are often wrecked. Here Colonel the Hon. F. Walpole had a short time previously attacked a party of Arabs who were remorselessly plundering some half-drowned sailors, and pillaging their wrecked vessel. Some of the wreckers were taken to Yâfa as prisoners by the Colonel. We saw about fifty rice-baskets on the beach, relics of the freight of the vessel which he had protected.

In the year 1858 a little Arab craft—laden with rice and oranges, and carrying a Jewish family, consisting of a father and mother, and several children—was wrecked here in a fearful storm. The boat struck, and was split in half. One or two of the boatmen were saved; the passengers were all drowned or dashed to death on the rocks, with the exception of a boy about a year old, who was thrown by a