8

RETURN TO JERUSALEM.

been rubbed with an acrid liquor; this continued for some time; and next day our hair, which had been wetted, was stiffly matted, and so bituminous as to cover the thumb and fingers by which it was pressed with a sticky substance. This continued for a week or more, and was very unpleasant.

It was now noon, and we had planned to sleep at St. Saba, not that we wished to see the convent, but because our Arabs insisted that we could not reach Jerusalem. But when they were promised the pay of three days instead of two if they would conduct us back to Jerusalem in time to enter the gates the same evening, they exclaimed Tiebe! tiebe! and immediately struck directly up the mountain; and under a burning sun, such as we experience at home in July or August, we toiled up and down the southern mountains of the "wilderness of Judea," and came to Neby Mousa, or Tomb of Moses, a large, Saracenic building, with nine domes, where the Arabs say Moses was buried. It is situated in the midst of the barren hills, and commands a view of the Plains of Jericho and the Mountains of Moab. We were not permitted to enter the buildings, and having got a little water, we departed, and saw no more of our guards until they came next day to receive their pay. We reached the city too late; the gates were shut, and we pitched our tent just above the Tomb of the Virgin, about 200 feet north of Gethsemane.

PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.-PRATIQUE.

9

CHAPTER II.

JERUSALEM TO NABLOUS.

Preparations for Departure.-Pratique.-Conversation with the Pasha.-Departure.—View of Jerusalem from the North.-Bîreh, the Beeroth of Scripture.-Flocks and Herds.-Beitin, the Bethel of Scripture.-Remains of a Church.-Yabroud.-A Feud.-A running Fight.-Village of Lubban.— Shiloh.-Mount Hermon.-Fertile Country.-Mountains of Samaria.— Gerizim.-Ebal.-Position of Nablous, the Shechem of the Old Testament. -Jacob's Well.-Jacob's Tomb.-Approach to the City.-Tombs in the Mountain-side.

AFTER returning from the Dead Sea, we devoted one day to writing letters, visiting friends, and preparing for our journey northward to Nazareth. To secure comfort and independence, we decided to take with us our tents, cuisine, and usual stock of provisions. George was left sick in the convent, with medicine, and orders to be well in four days, then to proceed to Jaffa, embark for Beyrout, and await our arrival. At noon on the 12th March, having remembered the convent and all who had served us personally, we emerged from the strong portal of the casino, and found the narrow street impassable from the crowd of donkeys, horses, and muleteers engaged for our service; indeed, the confusion and excitement was little less than at the departure of the camel caravans from Cairo and Akabah. We had mounted, and were about to set off, when I learned that the health officer had not given us our pratique when he discharged us from quarantine. To remedy this oversight, we repaired to the health office at the Jaffa Gate, but no one was in attendance. Fortunately, the magnificent tent of the Pasha was pitched just outside the portal, where, surrounded by his officers,

10

LAST GLANCE AT JERUSALEM.

he was judging the people, as the chiefs of Israel had done on that very spot three thousand years before. Upon hearing our case, he ordered the necessary papers to be prepared immediately, and brought to the tent. During their preparation I chatted with his excellency, rather familiarly I confess, while his attendants stood at a respectful distance, and when spoken to, answered with a profound bow, at the same time placing their hands reverently on their breasts. He inquired if we had visited the church; and being told that we had, and that we had witnessed many things that displeased us, he simply replied, "There are many fine things in it." I expressed a wish to visit Damascus, and he remarked that the country was unsafe beyond Tiberias, and offered to send a guard with us. During the conversation, he amused himself by tossing a gold snuffbox rapidly from one hand to the other, and occasionally taking a whiff from a beautiful pipe which rested on the carpet, while the richly-wrought stem leaned against the divan on which he sat.

Upon taking leave of his excellency, we swept round the northwest angle of the wall, and fell into the Nablous road near the tombs of the kings, and crossing the Kedron, ascended the height from which the first view of Jerusalem is obtained by the traveller coming from the north. For this reason in part, and also because the view is truly striking, the height has been called Scopus. I had fallen behind my companions, and pausing, took one long, last look at Jerusalem; I turned towards Bethel, and in a minute, as I looked back, nothing but the vanishing point of the gilded minaret of the mosque on Mount Zion glanced on my sight, and the City of God disappeared forever from my earthly vision. I burst into tears, and was startled at the sound of my own voice as

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