out from the monastery, at one in the morning, for Mount Tabor, in order to perform mass there. I accompanied them. Two guides went before us. We were all on horseback: a mule carried the things required for the ceremony.

We passed Mary's fountain; a concourse of people was already there.

The road was unequal and stony; and, consequently, more difficult for me than for the others with my short-sighted eyes I could scarcely discern the head of my horse in the dark. I was obliged, therefore, to trust entirely to his instinct: fortunately for me, he was a steady animal and accustomed to these roads.

At sun-rise, Tabor met our view, apparently quite near, though we were still at a considerable distance from it. To us, it seemed to be totally isolated. Behind it, however, at the western part of its base, rises a very high hill, but it is not perceived when you come from Jaffa and descend from the hills of Galilee into the plain of Esdrelon. Our guides took us through fields of corn: the observations of the good Fathers, and the severe reproaches added by me, made no impression upon them; they assured us that there was no other way, and we followed without believing them.

The sun had been for some hours above the horizon when we arrived at the foot of Tabor. It was a magnificent morning; a sweet and profound calm pervaded the country; the ground was yet damp with dew; a great number of birds were fluttering and singing about us; and the grass was so high that it came up to our horses' chests. We halted at Debora, a small village,

VOL. II.

D

built on the very spot where Sisera, after being defeated by the army of Israel, was killed by Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, to whose tent he had fled : and thence we contemplated, for a few moments, the scene of the miraculous victory gained by her whose name is still borne by the place where we where.

We now began to ascend the mountain. The sides of the Tabor are unequal, rugged, steep, covered with odoriferous trees and shrubs, which spring up out of the interstices of the rocks: wherever grass can grow, the ground is carpeted with verdure and flowers. The paths are almost impracticable, and, stanch as the horses may be, they have the greatest difficulty to get over some of the most dangerous passes. My mare fell in one of these places, in such a manner that I was, I may say, under her. I kept my seat, pressing her flanks: she rose with me, and, thanks be to Heaven! where I might have been crushed to death, I received not a scratch.

At length we reached the summit. The writers who have asserted that it terminates in the form of a sugarloaf, are mistaken. The top is a platform, about half a league in diameter, where you meet with nothing but very high grass, briars, shrubs, small copses on the most elevated points, and enormous piles of stones, the ruins of the churches erected by command of St. Helena to commemorate the mystery which was accomplished there. Game abounds every where. The woody places and the hollows of the rocks afford retreats to panthers, wild boars, and other beasts.

Forcing our way with great toil through brambles, thorns, and thick underwood, we came to a chapel in

ruins, the only one that is now left. The community at Nazareth go thither on pilgrimage every year, on the day of the Transfiguration, to perform mass, and to chant the following Gospel :

"And Jesus taketh Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

"And was transfigured before them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

"And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

"Then answered Peter and said, Lord, it is good for us to be here if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.

"While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

"And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were sore afraid.

"And Jesus came and touched them, and said: Arise, and be not afraid.

"And when they had lift up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.

"And, as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying: Tell the vision to no man until the son of man be risen again from the dead."-(Matth. xvii. 1-9.)

St. Matthew, as you see, from the passage that I have quoted, has not named the mountain on which this vision

took place; he merely observes that it was high; and no more is told us by St. Mark and St. Luke. Some have conjectured that the transfiguration occurred on the mountain of Cæsarea Philippi; and have assigned for a reason, the too great distance between the place from which Jesus took his apostles and Tabor. But this opinion is neither the most received nor the most ancient. From the earliest ages, the contrary tradition has been current; and, on this account, the churches and the monastery built by St. Helena on the summit of the Tabor were called the churches and the monastery of the Three Tabernacles.

I confessed myself at the foot of a tree, and had the happiness to communicate at the mass which was said. beneath the canopy of heaven. After mass, the Gospel was solemnly chanted.

The summit of the Tabor is sometimes so shrouded in fogs, that it is difficult to distinguish even the nearest objects; the spectator is then deprived of the most magnificent view in the world. Fortunately for me, the sky was serene and cloudless, and the weather heavenly.

To the south extended, for the space of fifteen leagues, at least, the theatre upon which Jesus displayed his infinite beneficence by so many miracles. I cast my eyes. upon it: moved, affected, my soul filled with recollections, I paused to contemplate it. The immense plain of Esdrelon, from the patches of verdure which mark its best cultivated spots, looks like a prodigious draughtboard. A few leagues beyond it, I saw Mount Hermon, at the foot of which is situated the village of Naim, celebrated for the resurrection of the widow's son; still

farther, Mount Gilboa; at bottom, Endor, whither Saul sent to consult the witch; and, quite in the background, as the last point of the perspective, the hills of Samaria.

Towards the north, the lake of Nazareth, or sea of Tiberias; the mount on which Jesus addressed his admirable sermon to his disciples; the plain where he fed five thousand persons with five loaves and two fishes; Cana, where he performed his first miracle; and, in the distance, the Mediterranean, presented a picture not less enchanting.

We descended from the Tabor on foot, leading our horses by the bridle, and proceeding cautiously, lest we should meet with wild beasts, the traces of which we had discovered, and which one of our companions even thought that he had perceived among the bushes. On coming to the corn-field through which we had passed in the morning, our guide avoided it, and made us turn into a path on the left. I took it into my head to ascribe the respect which he showed this time for the property of another to the salutary effect of my rebuke: but I was wrong. He had caught a glimpse of some Turkish mowers, cutting down the corn in the field, and their presence had made him apprehend a more severe and more painful lesson than our reprimands. This we did not fail to remark to him. Alas! how infatuated is man! when doing wrong, he is afraid of being seen by other men who might punish him for it, regardless of that eye which penetrates through the thickest darkness, the eye of Him who will infallibly punish..

I was going to close my letter, my dear friend, without giving you the explanation of the riddle that I pro