and approaching me with a bow, proposed to hold it for me while I read; in five minutes we were comfortably seated, with the lamp between us-he deep in his paper, I in my book. My Perseus was a broad-shouldered young man, with a handsome face, and a soft Western

accent.

After we had read for an hour or more, he began to talk, and I found that my companion came from Helena, in the territory of Montana. We talked of course about the West and its marvellous capabilities, and he spoke of the wonderful growth of Helena: that it was only five years old, and had 30,000 inhabitants, and that he should have to travel 500 miles by coach before he reached it; he then said he had served in the war, and had been captured and confined in the Libby Prison, of whose horrors he gave me a full account. The story of his life in a prison encampment in the woods, without shelter and almost without clothing or food, of his escape and fight with bloodhounds, was very exciting.

The time passed away quite pleasantly till the conductor came to make up our berths. He pulled the seats to pieces, put down mattresses, spread sheets and counterpanes, arranged pillows and bolsters, and hung up in front heavy woollen curtains; behind these we crept, one into the top-shelf, the other into the lower. The novelty of the position, the jolting of the car, the constant and steady downfall of grit from the engine, kept me awake for hours. Through the windows just on a level with my pillow, I could see the stars apparently swinging and rolling backwards and forwards, and the black telegraph lines dipping up and down across them. Then the train pulled up at a little shanty to take in water, and lights flashed up and down, and men shouted to each other; and then the bell rang, and away we rushed off again under the swinging heaven.

Ah! who can tell of the horrors of the grit! When we awoke in the early dawn, we found our pillows and

everything about us covered with a thick layer of this unpleasant substance, and we had to call to mind. the successful enterprise of Belzoni and Layard* before we had the courage to attempt to rise. With much perseverance and more patience, we performed our simple toilette; the only position in which I could do this, owing to the shaking of the cars, was kneeling on my shelf, with my head firmly pressed against the roof above. This over, I staggered to the rear of the car, and washed my face in the never-failing ice-water. Soon our mattresses, pillows, and curtains disappeared, and we were seated once more on our red velvet cushions, with the windows open, the sweet fresh air pouring in, and the wide green ocean lying like a kindly future before us, mysterious in the dim tender lights-blue, grey, and gold-of sunrise,

After breakfast our Montana friend joined us with the morning paper; and on the rolling prairies, four thousand miles away from Paris, we read the words of Jules Favre, uttered twelve hours before, declaring for the deposition of the Emperor, and for the Republic of France. "There's Chicago!" said our companion, in the midst of the war-talk which followed. We sped on, past large tracts of level ground covered with one-storeyed wooden houses-past immense lumber-yards, machine-shops, gasworks, through streets and across railways-and pulled up at last in a big, dusty, dark, wood-built, barnlike station. There, on the platform, stood my -whom last I had seen in a London drawing-roomlooking bright, fresh, and handsome, as if there were no such things as dust and cinder-grit and impossible toilets!

*Explorers in Egypt and Nineveh.

friends

CHAPTER XXXV.

PALESTINE EXPLORATION.

SOME years ago the Palestine Exploration Fund was established, with a view of determining accurately the character and aspect of ancient Palestine, and more especially of ancient Jerusalem. The modern city is built upon heaps of rubbish, under which no doubt lie the ruined buildings of the ancient metropolis; and it was felt that, though the work would be difficult and tedious, it would amply repay any trouble or expense, if the explorers could find the remains of the Temple and of the other places in Jerusalem mentioned in Holy Scripture.

An account of what has been done has been published, from which we gather some interesting and some very melancholy facts.

First, much has been done to settle the position of the site of the Temple walls; and the assertion of Josephus, that these walls on the east side stood at an immense height over the Kedron valley, has been confirmed. The whole of Mount Zion has been found to be honeycombed with cisterns, which must have collected every drop of the rainfall, and under severe pressure might have supplied the city all the year round. One of these cisterns, called the "Great Sea," held two millions of gallons.

In olden times Jerusalem was "a fair place, the joy of the whole earth." Its water-supply and drainage were admirable, as the exploration shows. It is now one of the unhealthiest places in the world. Captain Warren, one of the explorers, describes the soil as so impregnated with poisonous matter, that it makes sores on the hands which are scratched digging it. It is this shocking

state of things which in a great degree hinders the progress of the explorations.

Other examinations in the north have almost fixed the sites of Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin. The last-named place has been found, under the name of Kerazeh.

We now give one extract from the history of the exploration, namely, an account of the Lake of Galilee:"The lake is pear-shaped, the broad end being towards the north; the greatest width is six-and-threequarter miles, from Medjel, 'Magdala,' to Khersa, Gergesa,' about one-third of the way down, and the extreme length is twelve-and-a-quarter miles. The Jordan enters at the north, where it is a swift muddy stream, colouring the lake to a distance of a good mile from its mouth, and passes out pure and bright at the other end. On the north-western shore of the lake is a plain two-and-a-half miles long and one mile broad, called by the Bedawins' El Ghuweir,' but better known by its familiar Bible name of 'Gennesareth'; and on the northeast, near Jordan's mouth, is a swampy plain, El Batîhah, now much frequented by wild-boar-formerly the scene of a skirmish between the Jews and the Romans, in which Josephus met with an accident that necessitated his removal to Capernaum. On the west, there is a recess in the hills, containing the town of Tiberias; and on the east, at the mouths of Wadys Semakh and Fik, are small tracts of level ground. On the south the fine open valley of the Jordan stretches away towards the Dead Sea, and is covered in the neighbourhood of the lake with luxuriant grass.

"The water of the lake is bright, clear, and sweet to the taste, except in the neighbourhood of the saltsprings, and where it is defiled by the drainage of Tiberias. Its level, which varies considerably at different times of the year, is between six hundred feet and seven hundred feet below that of the Mediterranean

-a peculiarity to which the district owes its genial winter climate. In summer the heat is great, but never excessive, as there is usually a morning and an evening breeze.

"Sudden storms are by no means uncommon; and I had a good opportunity of watching one from the ruins of Gamala, on the eastern hills. The morning was delightful: there was a gentle easterly breeze and not a cloud in the sky to give warning of what was coming. Suddenly, about midday, there was a sound of distant thunder, and a cloud, 'no bigger than a man's hand,' was seen rising over the heights of Lubieh to the west. In a few moments the cloud appeared to spread, and heavy black masses came rolling down the hills towards the lake, completely obscuring Tabor and Hattin.

"At this moment the breeze died away; there were a few minutes of perfect calm, during which the sun shone out with intense power, and the surface of the lake was smooth and even as a mirror. Tiberias, Mejdel, and other buildings, stood out in sharp relief from the gloom behind; but they were soon lost sight of, as the thunder-gust swept past them, and rapidly advancing across the lake, lifted the placid water into a bright sheet of foam. In another moment it reached the ruins, driving myself and companion to take refuge in a cistern, where for nearly an hour we were confined, listening to the rattling peals of thunder and torrents of rain. The effect of half the lake in perfect rest, whilst the other half was in wild confusion, was extremely grand; it would have fared badly with any light craft caught in midlake by the storm; and we could not help thinking of that memorable occasion on which the storm is so graphically described as 'coming down' upon the lake.

"The Sea of Galilee is well stocked with various species of fish, some of excellent flavour. One species often