§ 8. The Northern Province.
Haifa and Mt. Carmel.—Haifa, the capital of the Northern Province, is a flourishing port of some 34,000 inhabitants situated at the foot of Mt. Carmel. Archaeologically, however, it has nothing of interest to offer.
Mt. Carmel, famed from Old Testament times for its beauty, is one of the most attractive regions of Palestine. Not very high (its highest point is only 1,810 ft.), it is more than twelve miles long, running from Haifa in a south-easterly direction. Its perennial green, which it owes to a heavy dewfall, contrasts pleasantly in summer with the rest of Palestine, while re-afforestation by the Government is endeavouring to repair the ravages to its once thick forests. At a height of 560 ft., commanding a wide view, stands the Carmelite Monastery, the parent-house of a monastic order which was founded here in 1156 and takes its name from the mountain. Accommodation in the monastery is occasionally available on application to the Vicar of Mt. Carmel. The so-called "Place of Burning," commemorating the miracle of Elijah and the priests of Baal (1 Kings, xviii.), is on the south-eastern point of Mt. Carmel, at a height of 1,685 ft.
Athlit and Caesarea.—On the coast south of Haifa lies the Crusaders' castle of Athlit, a stronghold of the Knights Templar under the names of Chateau Pèlerin and Petra Incisa. It was the very last possession of the Crusaders in Palestine, being captured by Melek al-Ashraf on the 14th August, 1291, after Acre had already fallen. The Department of Antiquities has recently undertaken certain work of clearing and preservation in the castle, and has exposed the remains of a polygonal church.
Very little remains to-day of the ancient city of Caesarea, after 70 A.D. the capital of Roman Palestine and residence of the Procurators, and the ecclesiastical capital until 451 A.D. (cf. Part II., § 6). S. Paul was a prisoner in Caesarea for two years. The town was taken by the Crusaders under Baldwin I. in 1101, when the booty included
