Ramleh is nine miles to the southeast from Joppa, and is one of the best-built towns on the Plain of Sharon. It is environed for miles with fig-orchards and orange-groves. Containing a population of 3000 inhabitants, the majority of whom are Greek Christians, tradition identities Ramleh with the Ramah of Samuel, the birthplace of Nicodemus, and the native city of Joseph of Arimathea. Chosen by the Crusaders to be their southern rendezvous, it became the head-quarters of Richard of England in 1191 A.D. Its chief architectural attraction is a noble square tower 120 feet high, built of hewn stone, and standing a mile to the west from the town, amid the ruins of a large quadrangular inclosure. There is nothing, either in its construction or in history, to indicate whether it it is the campanile of a Christian church or the minaret of a mosque. A flight of stone steps, narrow and spiral, leads to the top, from which is obtained a view of surpassing beauty. In all its amplitude and richness, the Plain of Sharon spreads out before the eye, extending from the roots of Carmel on the north, to the promontory of Joppa on the south, and from the hills of Samaria and Judea on the east, to the Mediterranean on the west; while on every hand appear fields of grain, groves of fruit-trees, and towns, whose white domes shine in the sunlight like diamonds in a circlet of emeralds.
A ride of forty minutes through an embowered avenue brought us to Ludd, the Lod of the Old Testament,[417] and the Lydda of the New.[418] It is an Arab town of 2000 inhabitants, and, though unsurpassed by the beauty of its environs, it is neither remarkable for the elegance of its buildings nor the regularity of its streets. To the Christian, Lydda is interesting as the place where Peter cured Eneas of palsy, and where he was stopping when he was informed of Tabitha’s death. To Englishmen it is memorable as the birthplace of St. George, England’s patron saint, and as containing his tomb, in which he was interred near the close of the third century, after his martyrdom in Nicomedia, under the relentless Diocletian. According to William of Tyre, the Emperor Justinian reared a noble church over the ashes of the saint and martyr, which, at a later period, was destroyed by the revengeful Moslems. Rebuilt by Richard Cœur de Lion, it was partially destroyed again by the troops of Saladin. The walls and a part of the vault of the eastern niche of this monumental structure remain, adorned with pilasters, capitals, and cornice. On the south side of the grand aisle is a pointed arch of great elegance, supported by massive clustered columns with marble Corinthian capitals, forming one of the most picturesque ruins in Palestine.