[p.29]

Ten miles therefrom a people dwell who are at war with the men of Sidon; they are called Druses, and are pagans of a lawless character.  They inhabit the mountains and the clefts of the rocks; they have no king or ruler, but dwell independent in these high places, and their border extends to Mount Hermon, which is a three days’ journey.  They are steeped in vice, brothers marrying their sisters, and fathers their daughters.  They have one feast-day in the year, when they all collect, both men and women, to eat and drink together, and they then interchange their wives[63].  They say that at the time when the soul leaves the body it passes in the case of a good man into the body of a newborn child, and in the case of a bad man into the body of a dog or an ass.  Such are their foolish beliefs.  There are no resident Jews among them, but a certain number of Jewish handicraftsmen and dyers come among them for the sake of trade, and then return, the people being favourable to the Jews.

[p.30]

They roam over the mountains and hills, and no man can do battle with them.

From Sidon it is half a day’s journey to Sarepta (Sarfend), which belongs to Sidon.  Thence it is a half-day to New Tyre (S[=u]r), which is a very fine city, with a harbour in its midst.  At night-time those that levy dues throw iron chains from tower to tower, so that no man can go forth by boat or in any other way to rob the ships by night.  There is no harbour like this in the whole world.  Tyre is a beautiful city.  It contains about 500 Jews, some of them scholars of the Talmud, at their head being R. Ephraim of Tyre, the Dayan, R. Meir from Carcassonne, and R. Abraham, head of the congregation.  The Jews own sea-going vessels, and there are glass-makers amongst them who make that fine Tyrian glass-ware which is prized in all countries.

In the vicinity is found sugar of a high class, for men plant it here, and people come from all lands to buy it[64].  A man can ascend the walls of New Tyre and see ancient Tyre, which the sea has now covered, lying at a stone’s throw from the new city.

[p.31]

And should one care to go forth by boat, one can see the castles, market-places, streets, and palaces in the bed of the sea.  New Tyre is a busy place of commerce, to which merchants flock from all quarters.

One day’s journey brings one to Acre, the Acco of old, which is on the borders of Asher; it is the commencement of the land of Israel.  Situated by the Great Sea, it possesses a large harbour for all the pilgrims who come to Jerusalem by ship.  A stream runs in front of it, called the brook of Kedumim[65].  About 200 Jews live there, at their head being R. Zadok, R. Japheth, and R. Jonah.  From there it is three parasangs to Haifa, which is Hahepher[66] on the seaboard, and on the other side is Mount Carmel[67], at the foot of which there are many Jewish graves.  On the mountain is the cave of Elijah, where the Christians have erected a structure called St. Elias.  On the top of the mountain can be recognized the overthrown altar which Elijah repaired in the days of Ahab.  The site of the altar is circular, about four cubits remain thereof, and at the foot of the mountain the brook Kishon flows.