Volume 2

246 Life of Jesus Christ
Gerasa partly in ships, and partly over the bridge of the
Jordan higher up. There were many anl0ng them who had
joined the caravan for the purpose of hearing the Prophet.
A company waited upon Jesus to know whether the
Prophet would teach in Capharnaum. But He told them
that they should not now go to Capharnaum, but encamp
on the declivity of the mountain to the north of Gerasa,
whither the Prophet would soon go. There was something
in Jesus' tone and manner that made them respond:
"Master, Thou too art a Prophet!" and His glance roused
in them the doubt as to whether He might not Himself be
the one for whom they were in search.
When Jesus entered the inn outside Gerasa with His
disciples there to lodge, the crowd of heathens and travellers
was so great that He left at once, but the disciples
stayed with the heathens, talking to them of the Prophet
and instructing them.
Gerasa lay on the declivity of a valley about an hour
and a half from the lake. It was larger and cleaner than
Capharnaum and, like almost all the cities of these parts,
it had a mixed population of heathens and Jews. The
former had their' own temples. The latter formed the poor
and oppressed portion of the inhabitants, although they
had their synagogue and Rabbi. There was much business
carried on and the trades were numerous, for the caravans
from Syria and Asia passed through Gerasa going down
into Egypt. I saw before the city gate a long building,
seven and a half minutes in length, wherein were
manufactured long iron bars and pipes. They forged the
bars flat, and then soldered them together into a circular
form. Leaden pipes also were made. The furnaces at
which they worked were not fed with wood, but with
some kind of a black mass dug out of the earth. The iron
they used came from Argob.
The heathens of the caravan had encamped to the north
of Gerasa and on the southern side of the rising mountain.