It was with much reluctance that I withdrew from these scenes, fraught with so many associations of my earliest youth, when, in the simplicity of childhood, I had marvelled at the strange accounts of the extraordinary deeds performed in this vicinity, which I was required implicitly to believe, without understanding their import, or the bearing they were intended to have upon subsequent and more important

events.

I will leave you now for this evening, and will resume again to-morrow morning (in order to conclude our journey to this place), before the time our friends have appointed to accompany us in our first day's rambles among scenes of the Holy City.

*

The many digressions and remarks which I unintention. ally permitted to insinuate themselves into my last night's narrative, I perceive, have left me much ground to go over ere I can bring you under the walls of Jerusalem; but I will endeavour to prevent such intrusion for the present, and indite for you a plain unvarnished tale of my adventures for the last three days.

On leaving the Sea of Galilee we crossed a high mountain, and then descended into the beautiful plain which we had seen the day before from the Mount of Beatitudes. From this we entered into another plain, in the middle of which stood an extensive khan, for the accommodation of caravans. This is one of those buildings peculiar to the East, and a description of this will serve for the whole with very little variation. A large quadrangular court is surrounded by a suite of apartments standing on arches. The ground floor is destined for the horses and their loads, and the open court for the camels of a caravan. The upper apartments are for the use of travellers, who are supposed to bring with them all the necessaries they have occasion for, as nothing but the bare walls and stone floor is to be found in them. In

the present instance, a caffijé had located himself in one of the rooms near the entrance, who furnished coffee and pipes to the muleteers. The outside of this edifice looks very like a fortress, with high stone walls, and no other opening than a low archway, guarded by a strong gate, which, when shut, protects the caravans from plunderers at times when the country is in an unsettled state. We saw at the farther end of the court the ruins of a mosque. This building seems to have suffered much during some of the late wars which have devastated the country. Near it stands a strong ancient fortress, dating probably from the time of the cru. sades, when the Saracens held possession of the interior, and the crusaders of the seacoast. After reposing for an hour or two at the khan, we directed our caravan to proceed and en. camp at a suitable place at sunset, while we rode forward in order to ascend Mount Tabor. A long and difficult path led to the top of the mountain, where, after an hour's climbing, we found a beautiful level plain of many acres in extent, en. tirely surrounded by a strong stone wall, once the exterior defences of an important city. Within these are the remains of some extensive buildings, but the greater part of the space is covered with fine trees and other luxuriant vegetation. This important point has been an object of con. tention from the earliest times, and has often been besieged and taken.

It seems scarcely possible, however, that an enemy could ever succeed in reducing a place so defended by nature as this is. The present walls and gates are said to be those built by Josephus. There is not a living soul now inhabit. ing this deserted city, though a more delightful residence could not be found in all Palestine. The view from it is splendid, standing as the mountain does apart from all others, and surrounded by luxuriant plains.

It seems to be a disputed point whether or not this is the mountain of the Transfiguration. The tradition is question

ed on the ground that, at the time when that event took place, the top of this mountain was covered by a city. I will not now enter upon this debatable ground; yet I cannot leave Mount Tabor without paying a tribute of eulogium to its very remarkable beauty; it is the most beautiful mountain I have ever beheld in any part of the world. It is of an

oval form, rising from the midst of a plain, so steep as not to admit of a direct ascent, yet not precipitous. Its sides resemble an English park, with its due proportion of forest, free from underbrush; but, instead of being horizontal, the grounds here are nearer vertical.

The descent was too steep to be performed on horseback; we were obliged to walk the whole distance down to the base of the mountain. We now entered upon the great Plain of Esdraelon, and, after two hours' ride, we discovered our en campment beside a copious fountain. On the way from Mount Tabor we passed near the towns of Endor and Nain; the former remarkable for the miracle of the sorceress, to whom Saul applied to have Samuel brought before him, 1 Sam. xxviii., 7-25. It was at the gate of the city of Nain that Jesus raised the widow's son to life, Luke vii., 2-15. Both these places are now mere villages. The place where we passed the night was at the fountain of El Geleed, or the cold spring, from which rises a stream that reaches to the sea, near Mount Carmel.

The next morning we continued our ride for four hours more on the Plain of Esdraelon, which is about twenty miles in diameter from north to south, and I should think much more from the Jordan to the sea.

It is exceedingly fertile, but very little cultivated. We reposed during the heat of the day near the town of Jeneen, the ancient Jezreel. It was one of those places over which Ishbosheth, Saul's son, reigned after his father's death, 2 Sam. ii., 9. Before the battle of Gilboa, in which Saul was slain, the Israelites encamped by a fountain in Jezreel,

1 Sam. xxix., 1. Ahab, king of Israel, and Joram, his successor, both resided in Jezreel. At Jezreel, Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, and Joram, his son, were slain by Jehu, 2 Kings ix., 33; viii., 29; ix., 15–24.

The city of Jezreel is now reduced to a small village. From this place the hill country commences, and we rode up a narrow valley for three hours, when we encamped for the night at the foot of the hill on which stands the town of Jibba.

The next morning we took a guide, who conducted us over several steep and stony hills to that on which formerly stood the great city of Samaria, afterward called Sebaste. This was the capital of the ten tribes of Israel. There is nothing left of the Jewish city; but of that built by Herod there are some very interesting remains.

The hill being very steep, it was necessary to cut its side into terraces, in order to make level ground for houses and gardens. No road or street could be carried directly up from the valley. We rode up an avenue which had been engineered with some skill along the side of the hill, rising so gradually that a carriage might easily be drawn to the summit. This was the approach to the splendid temple of Herod. On each side we saw an immense number of large columns, each of one single stone, lying prostrate, some broken, but many entire. About eighty of them are still erect on their bases. From the length of the avenue and the distance between the pillars of the colonnade, we computed that there must have been originally about six hundred columns! On the summit remain a few columns of the por. tico of the palace, from which I caused a piece to be broken as a souvenir of the place.

There is a magnificent view from the area on which stood Herod's palace. The Mediterranean can be seen from thence.

On one side of the hill there is another fine ruin, afford.

ing abundant proof of this having once been a magnificent capital.

"Samaria was a fenced or fortified city. It was twice besieged by Benhadad, king of Syria, without success. It was taken by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, after a siege of three years."

The prophets Elijah and Elisha here performed many miracles.

At the foot of the hill stands a very singular building. It is a cathedral in ruins. The architecture is a curious mixture of Greek, Gothic, and Saracen. It was erected by the early Christians (some say by Helena) over a dungeon cut in the rock, in which tradition says that John the Baptist was beheaded by order of Herod. It may be so. Who is there now to deny it?

From the summit of the hill of Samaria we obtained a very correct idea of the scientific manner in which the ancients rendered their steep conical hills susceptible of such extraordinary cultivation and production, by means of terraces or steps. There are many hills round about Samaria which have more the appearances of gigantic artificial earthen pyramids with their steps, than natural elevations.

Such hills in the "hill country" as are not terraced, or where the terraces have been suffered to be washed down by the rains of ages, present a very barren appearance, gray with fragments of the decomposed surface of the limestone which forms the entire structure of the whole "hill country."

1 shall never forget my interesting visit to Samaria. In two hours after we left it we arrived at Nablous, the Sichem of the Old Testament and Sychar of the New. The Romans called it Neapolis, the Arabs now call it Nablous.

It is situated in a narrow though beautiful valley, between two high and almost perpendicular hills: one is Mount Ge. rizim, and the other Mount Ebal. Joshua mustered “all Israel and their elders, and their officers and their judges,