been made the mountain of cursing.* Joshua, his successor, is afterwards represented as setting up the altar on Ebal, and offering burnt-offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord, and inscribing on the plastered stones, as directed, the law which Moses had left to the children of Israel. † The Samaritans have, in these places, substituted Gerizim for Ebal, and they accuse the Jews of having maliciously altered their text, out of odium to the Samaritans, putting for Gerizim, Ebal, upon no other account but only because the Samaritans worshipped in the former mountain, which they would have, for that reason, not to be the true place appointed by God for his worship and sacrifice. Such was the account of the chief priest of these people to Mr. Maundrell, who questioned him on the subject. To confirm this, says the same traveller, he pleaded that Ebal was the mountain of cursing, as we have seen before, and in its own nature an unpleasant place; but, on the contrary, Gerizim was the mountain of blessing by God's own appointment, and also in itself fertile and delightful; from whence he inferred a probability that this latter must have been the true mountain appointed for these religious festivals, and not, as the Jews have corruptly written it, Hebal. ‡ Mr. Maundrell thought that there was some truth in the Samaritan priest's observations on the superiority of Gerizim to Ebal; for, says he, though neither of the mountains has much to boast of as to their pleasantness, yet, as one passes between them, Gerizim seems to discover a more fruitful aspect than Ebal. My own impression, from seeing both these hills from several points of view, was, that Gerizim was by far the more agreeable, and might be made the more productive of the two, not only from its principal side, or that hanging over Nablous, having a northern aspect, and being therefore less burnt up by the sun in summer, but from its slope of ascent being less abrupt than that of Ebal, and from * Deut. xxvii. 1-4. + Joshua, viii. 30-32. the soil being therefore more liable to accumulate, and less subject to be washed down by the vernal and autumnal rains.* Their altitudes appeared to be nearly equal, and neither of them exceeded seven or eight hundred feet from the level of the valley, though much higher from the sea, as the whole country here is elevated. We had not an opportunity of ascending either of the hills ourselves; but from all the information I could collect regarding them, no one knew of any great stones or other vestiges of buildings remaining on them, though it must be confessed that we met with only two persons out of at least fifty whom we consulted, that had ever been on the summit of both these hills; and to these the subject, as well as the motive of our enquiry, was alike strange and unaccountable. * When Benjamin of Tudela visited this spot, he says that Mount Garizim was full of fountains and gardens; while Ghebal, as he writes it, was arid and rocky.-Bergeron's Collection. THE call to afternoon prayers was heard as we re-entered Nablous, and as there was no time to be lost, we mounted and set out on our way back to Sanhoor. We now went out at a northern gate in the side of the town, and ascending a hill there, to go by a shorter road, we had a commanding view of the city, and of the valley in which it stands, from the heights above. Nothing could be more interesting than this sight; the lofty hills of Ebal and Gerizim approaching close to each other; the beautifully fertile valley at their feet, covered with olive-woods, and cornfields of the freshest green, and the white mass of flat-roofed dwellings and tall minarehs, which the busy town offered in contrast to the rest of the scene, formed altogether a new and charming picture. When we lost sight of the town, the remainder of our way was over rude and barren hills, almost constantly ascending and descending; and as it was altogether an unpractised road, we neither saw a human habitation, nor a single living being, till we came out at the village of Jubbagh, near to Sanhoor. It was now already sunset; but spurring our horses across the rest of the way on plain ground, we arrived in time for supper, which had been retarded for us by our kind host, from the moment that advice had been given him of our being seen from the Castle-gate, galloping towards the fort with all speed across the valley. Nothing could exceed the welcome with which we were received on our return; and there appeared to be as much sincerity as warmth in the gladness of the chief and of his dependants. We supped together on several excellent dishes, and when we had finished, all the rest partook in their turns, as is usual among them. Our conversation was as interesting as that of the preceding evening; and I only regretted, as I had done a thousand times before, the impossibility of remembering all the new and curious observations which occur in interviews and parties of this kind. My disappointment in not finding the caravan, and the best route of proceeding to the northward, were also talked of; and Hadjee Ahmed pressed me, by the kindest invitation, to remain with him for the next month, until the Damascus caravan should again depart from Nablous, assuring me, at the same time, that nothing in his power should be wanting to make my stay agreeable. I told him how sensible I felt of so much generosity, and said, what I really thought at the moment, that I knew of no suitable return which it would ever be in my power to make for it; when he replied, that, besides the satisfaction of doing good, in entertaining the stranger who is distant from his home, his country, and his friends, the curious facts which my knowledge of other people and of other lands had made me acquainted with, would always make my conversation interesting, and cause me to be as agreeable as I should be a welcome guest. If I could have followed my own inclination, I would certainly have remained here for a few days at least; but I considered my duty to call me to fresh exertions, and determined therefore to return to Nazareth, to make new enquiries. When this determination was communicated to my host, he did all he could to combat it, and it was matter of so prolonged a dispute, that it was past midnight before our party broke up, when I retired to the excellent bed I had before slept in, and was attended by the hasnader or treasurer of the pilgrim chief in person. As I could not with delicacy make any direct enquiries respecting Sanhoor, and as I had no opportunity of seeing it but from without, excepting only the small portion which we passed through in our way from the gate to the house, I knew little more of it than its outline features. It is a walled town, seated on a hill, the ascent of which is steep on all sides; and it commands the view of a fine broad valley or plain to the northward, and of a narrower one to the southward of it, both of which are cultivated. The walls of Sanhoor are strongly built, and are apparently of old Saracenic work. There are two gates of entrance, in opposite quarters of the town; but the whole circuit of the walls is less than half a mile. The houses within are thickly placed, and well built; the streets are narrow; the population is abundant for the size of the place, and the whole of the inhabitants are Mohammedans. Hadjee Ahmed Jerar, the chief, is tributary to Damascus, but is still an absolute lord within his own domain, as there are no military or other agents of the superior government ever stationed throughout his territory. His establishment is quite a feodal one, and he has several other towns and villages, besides extensive lands around them, attached to his service and |