which those buried belonged, was called Mariseh.  The passage in A and all printed editions as to Shunem and Toron de Los Caballeros is corrupt.  Shunem was a small place in Galilee, and is not likely to have had 300 Jews at the time of the Crusaders, still less so Toron the present Latrun.]

[Footnote 88:  Shiloh, at the time of the Crusaders, was considered to occupy the site of Mizpeh, the highest mountain near Jerusalem, where the national assemblies were held at the time of the Judges.  The present mosque is dilapidated, but the substructure, which dates from the Frank period, is beautifully jointed.  The apse is raised.  The reputed tomb of Samuel is on the western side of the church.  It is still called Nebi Samwil, venerated alike by Jew and Moslem.]

[Footnote 89:  This and Mahomerie-le-grand, already mentioned, are Crusaders’ churches.  See Rey, Les Colonies franques de Syrie aux XII’e et XIII’e siecles, p. 387; also Conder, The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.]

[Footnote 90:  Beit-Nuba near Ramleh has been identified without proof with Nob.  Richard Coeur-de-Lion encamped here some twenty-five years after Benjamin’s visit.  He with the army of the Crusaders passed through Ibelin on his way to Askelon.  Cf.  Vinsauf’s Itinerarium Regis Ricardi.]

     [Footnote 91:  See an interesting Paper, “Der Pass von
     Michmas,” by Prof.  D.G.  Dalman, Z.D.P.V., 1904, vol. 
     XXVII, p. 161.]

[Footnote 92:  Asher renders [Hebrew:] Ramleh, for which there is some justification.  Ramleh did not exist in Bible times—­it was founded in 716.  It prospered to such an extent that it became as large as Jerusalem.  It was a good deal damaged by an earthquake in 1033.  Ramleh had a large Moslem population, and the Jews there remained comparatively unmolested by the Crusaders.  This latter fact accounts for the somewhat large number of Jews residing there.  Asher’s reading, and that of all the printed editions, is “about three Jews dwell there.”  This is obviously wrong.  Probably the copyist is to blame in taking [Hebrew:] to be an abbreviation for [Hebrew:] The reports of contemporary Arabic authors will be found in Guy Le Strange’s Palestine, pp. 303-8.]

[Footnote 93:  Ali of Herat, Benjamin’s contemporary, writes:  “Askelon is a fine and beautiful city.  There is near here the well of Abraham, which they say he dug with his own hand.”  Bohadin, in his Life of Saladin, gives a detailed account of the demolition of the city in 1192, after the conclusion of peace between King Richard I and Saladin.  Ibn Batutah in 1355 found the town in ruins, but gives a detailed account of the well. (Guy Le Strange, pp. 402-3; cf.  Dr. H. Hildesheimer, Beitraege zur Geographie Palaestinas.)]

[Footnote 94:  The cathedral at Lydda with the tomb of St. George was destroyed